- Kevin Rudd, ABC Radio Sunday Extra, November 4, 2006.

"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman ; that is detestable." - Leviticus 18:22.

"In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." - Romans 1:27.

"Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

- Kevin Rudd, News.com.au, February 21, 2007.

Secondly, Tony Blair and the British have also always had a similar withdrawal strategy. The reason for this troop withdrawal is because, in Basra, the job has been done! Mr Blair said:

�It is absolutely true, as we have said for months, that as the Iraqis are more capable down in Basra of taking control of their own security we will scale down. But you�ve got to make sure you have sufficient forces in support and in reserve to be able to help the Iraqis if a particular problem arises...The issue is the operation that we have been conducting in Basra is now complete and that operation has specifically been to put the Iraqi forces in the main frontline control of security within the city."

- Tony Blair, BBC News, February 18, 2007.

Thirdly, Kevin distorts the UK's position on troop withdrawal. The UK has been progressively withdrawing troops since after the invasion in 2003. Even after the current withdrawals there will still be more than 4000 UK troops in Iraq.

- Kevin Rudd, Southern Cross Radio, February 13, 2007.

"People who are arguing that we withdraw from Iraq, to abandon the Iraqi people, to ignore the requests of the democratically elected Iraqi Government - those who argue that we should do that before the Iraqi security forces are in a position to essentially look after their own security, we will by definition hand victory to those al Qaeda and other terrorist networks who see it as important."

- Brendan Nelson, Lateline, February 12, 2007.

Indeed, Nelson's view agrees with the Baker-Hamilton Report,  which Kevin Rudd loves to (mis)quote against the government:

"Al Qaeda would depict our victory as a historic victory. If we leave and Iraq descends into chaos, the long-range consequences could eventually require the United States to return."

- Baker-Hamilton Report, p. 30.

"The core problem in Australia's poor export performance is declining productivity growth, which is now at its worst level in 19 years."

He said the reasons behind the poor productivity performance included declining investment in skills and training, and declining federal investment in infrastructure and research and development.

"Declining productivity growth and declining international competitiveness reflect what leading Australian commentators have described as the great complacency of the Howard government - a failure to sustain the decade-plus economic reform effort of the previous Labor government, which generated high levels of productivity growth."

- Sydney Morning Herald, August 3, 2005.

What really matters is not the deficit itself but how it is funded. The central banking system allows banks to expand credit by creating phony deposits. If credit expansion is particularly aggressive this will result in current account deficits. As in all modern economies, Australian money is created by government fiat. It is printed paper with no intrinsic value, or a bunch of credit entries on a bank ledger. Therefore, a current account deficit does not mean a lesser amount of money in circulation in Australia--it just means that more of those dollars are now controlled by foreigners, in exchange for good and services they have supplied to Australia or in exchange for bonds etc. In reality this represents no outflow of actual money--not even fiat money! Basically, it really amounts to an increase in short-term foreign lending to Australian governments and citizens. Contra Kevin Rudd, this has absolutely nothing to do with declining productivity or lack of international competitiveness, and is anything but "disastrous." It is actually an indication of the strength of the Australian economy, since it indicates a high degree of confidence by foreign investors to invest in Australia. Foreign investment brings capital to Australia--it does not drain it! Contra Kevin Rudd, it promotes growth because it expands industry or creates new industries, and offers new opportunities and developments. It does not lead to unemployment, but rather lowers unemployment because it creates new jobs, as evidenced by Australia's record low unemployment rate.

Australia cannot afford to have such an economically illiterate and naive Prime Minister which is clearly what Kevin Rudd would be!

- Kevin Rudd, Doorstep interview, February 2, 2007.

Dr. R. M. Carter, professor, Marine Geophysical Laboratory, James Cook University, Townsville, says: "Both the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps are thickening. The temperature at the South Pole has declined by more than one degree C since 1950. And the area of sea ice around the continent has increased over the last 20 years."

Dr./Cdr. M. R. Morgan, FRMS, formerly advisor to the World Meteorological Organization/climatology research scientist at University of Exeter, U.K., says: "From data published by the Canadian Ice Service, there has been no precipitous drop-off in the amount or thickness of the ice cap since 1970 when reliable overall coverage became available for the Canadian Arctic."

- National Post, June 7, 2006.

The oceans are not rising in any meaningful way:

Dr. Chris de Freitas, climate scientist, associate professor, University of Auckland, N.Z.: "I can assure [Mr Rudd] that no one from the South Pacific islands has fled to New Zealand because of rising seas. In fact, if [Rudd] consults the data, he will see it shows sea level falling in some parts of the Pacific."

Dr. Nils-Axel Morner, emeritus professor of paleogeophysics and geodynamics, Stockholm University, Sweden. says: "We find no alarming sea level rise going on, in the Maldives, Tovalu, Venice, the Persian Gulf and even satellite altimetry, if applied properly."

- National Post, June 7, 2006.

Global Temperatures have not risen since 1998 (which was the peak).

Concern over bleached corals is unwarranted.

El Nino caused coral bleaching in 1998, but the reef recovered, as it did again in 2002. Dr Andrew Baker, head of America's Coral Research Laboratory, says bleaching may be how a coral adapts � by expelling one of the algaes that help it thrive to make room for a better one. In fact, Australian geochemist Professor Malcolm McCulloch suggests reefs "could do well in a warmer world" since "warmer ocean temperatures allow expansion of reefs to sub-tropical regions."

Furthermore, Dr. Gary D. Sharp, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study, Salinas, California says: "The oceans are now heading into one of their periodic phases of cooling...Modest changes in temperature are not about to wipe them [coral] out. Neither will increased carbon dioxide, which is a fundamental chemical building block that allows coral reefs to exist at all."

- National Post, June 7, 2006.

There are NO environmental consequences now!

"Organisations have been guilty of overplaying the message. There's no evidence to show we're all due for very short-term devastating impacts as a result of global warming; so I think these statements can be dangerous where you mix in the science with unscientific assumptions."

- Professor Paul Hardaker, CEO, Royal Meteorological Society, BBC News, March 17, 2007.

- Kevin Rudd, The Australian, October 28, 2006.

Kevin Rudd suggests Malcolm Fraser and Robert Menzies would disapprove of John Howard�s view that the free economy has the potential to liberate people. The problem is that the Labor Party and other 'social democrats' did not say this about them when they were prime ministers. As Charles Murton pointed out, "To a Kevin Rudd of the 1950s and 1960s, Menzies was the exact opposite of a social liberal: he was the intolerant and ossified head of an ultra-conservative gerontocracy, a slavish lap-dog of the British Empire and the United States, an oppressor of the workers, and a high-hat snob who treated those below him like dirt. Fraser was even worse. He was a literal Nazi: during his time as prime minister every city in Australia was decorated with graffiti in which the �s� in Fraser was replaced by a swastika. Like Menzies he was a privileged bastard who wanted to remove all the social security structures on which the poor depended (this was called �Fraser�s razor�) thereby leaving the poor destitute on the streets, shivering and starving to death. Can Kevin Rudd explain why there has been such a change of heart regarding these two former prime ministers?"

- Kevin Rudd, The Australian, October 28, 2006.

What planet is Kevin Rudd living on? The most damage done to families was through Gough Whitlam�s �no fault� divorce laws, the creation of the [anti-]Family Court, and generous welfare payments for single mothers. In addition, the rise of radical feminism and affirmative action (ALP core policies) have marginalised men who were already disempowered due to high unemployment resulting from uncompetitive and inefficient ALP/Trade Union industrial relations policies.

Furthermore, the Left has always viewed patriotism with great suspicion and revelled in self-loathing. And their attitudes towards religion are almost invariably unremitting hostility. 

Indeed, Gareth Evans (who later became Attorney-General in the Hawke government) stated at a convention of the South Australian Council for Civil Liberties that children wanted a right to sexual freedom and education and "protection from the influence of Christianity."

- Gareth Evans, Sydney Morning Herald, May 7, 1976.

- Kevin Rudd, The Australian, October 28, 2006.

Firstly, is Kevin Rudd that dull that he cannot see the difference between human beings selling their labour, and the selling of human beings themselves ("commodification of human beings")?

Secondly, regardless of what John Howard thinks, labour is subject to the same laws of supply and demand as any other good or service, and if the price of labour is raised above its market level then unemployment will surely follow. 

All this demonstrates is that John Howard understands basic economics while Kevin Rudd does not.