An article responding to the government’s planned super changes targeting the wealthy, has recommended killing off the poorest 20 per cent of Australians as an alternate way to balance the nation’s budget.

“A modest cull would strike at the root of our fiscal dilemma,” suggested author Toby Ralph in his piece titled “Kill the poor” published on the website of Liberal Party-aligned think tank, Menzies house.

http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/kill-th......551.html

Hmmm

My advice is that you poor people better start getting yourselves some money quick.

Vaguely reminiscent of political contributions from Vlad the Impaler.

Even though they are liberal party. WOW that's truly some free thinking, unfortunately a very poor example of it.

It is what they are doing anyway. They call it austerity.

Pat Paulsen when he ran for president said that we could solve the unemployment problem by shooting 500 bums a week.

Hi Steve,

Respectfully submitted, but, I think you need to read up on Prince Vlad III Basarab. He was NOT in favor of killing the poor. In fact, Prince Vlad killed the boyars (nobles) who were stealing FROM the poor and who were a threat to his rule. Yes his methods were cruel, but, many of his contemporaries and some rulers even a century or two later were far far worse - does Russia's Ivan the Terrible ring a bell?

Prince Vlad III is considered by many Romanians as a hero.

A better analogy would have been Jonathan Swift's satirical piece titled "A Modest Proposal." Bear in mind that this was a satirical piece aimed at the excesses of royalty. Swift proposed that infants should be sold as food. Give it a read sometime.

Back to Vlad III for a moment: compared to many of his contemporaries, he was actually a very forward thinking monarch in many ways. Under his two reigns, the peasants actually flourished. At the time, Islam was sweeping into Europe. The Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. What is now known as Romania was one of the strongholds against the onslaught - and it was violent - of Islam into Christian Europe.

Namaste,

The "other" Vlad

Yeah, but after he died, Vlad came back and drained the poor folks dry.

Said the Mental Vampire

We’re really suckers, you understand, us at the bottom.

You wound me deeply, Van Helsing.

:eek:

It was meant as a compliment master.



'The genealogy shows I am descended from Vlad the Impaler, so I do have a bit of a stake in the country,'

- Prince Charles

Good one, Tommy! Did Charles really say that?

Yes he is trying to save the trees in Transylvania.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-......nia.html

It should be noted that the Australian Liberal Party is not 'liberal' in the American sense.

It is the Aussie equivalent of the Republican Party, though on many issues, to the left of the Democrats.

It's so interesting and horrifying that yesterday's satire has become today's reality. It's enough to make The Onion go out of business--how can they compete?

Personally I'd begin the cull with youtube magicians. Then move on to the poor

Not exactly Swift, eh?

Not only do they Kill the poor to balance the budget but kill the poor to balance nature. Which is why they raise the cost of living past what the poor can afford and freeze to death in their homes etcetera, that's if the poor are lucky enough not to be homeless. Such is life, as Ned said.

Thanks for the info Vlad,

I can be a little ill-informed at times but am always keen to learn, great to see that its not just a magical education that you get around here.

Can see why he was demonised by certain sects of society.

Regards,
Stevie

Hey Stevie,

You're welcome! It's interesting that you mentioned how he was despised. Much of the bad press if you will came from much later Russian and German "accounts" of Vlad's rule. No he was no saint by any stretch, but much of what was written of Prince Vlad III was unsubstantiated.

If you feel like a little non-magic reading, a great book to get is In Search of Dracula by Dr. Raymond McNally and Professor Radu Florescu. McNally was a professor of Russian and Eastern European studies and presents a very balanced view of Vlad III and his expertise in Russian history helps immensely to explain and dispel many of the more outlandish myths about Vlad III.

Namaste,
Vlad

I just finally read the article and noticed Menzies house was established by Cory Bernardi - he's our local one man amalgam of the Tea Party and Westboro Baptist Church.

This was an interesting sentence:

"“Traffic would move faster unhampered by windscreen cleaners, streets would be cleared of pavement artists and beggars while homeless shelters in our better suburbs could be turned into agreeable gastro pubs, Cafés and wine bars."

I suspect the article was written with an international audience in mind. I have only seen windscreen cleaners in overseas movies. The only pavement artists I've ever seen were talented buskers, working under license from their local municipality. Our cities do suffer the odd beggars but not as many as most places because Australia has one of the most comprehensive social welfare systems in the world. And I can think of no homeless shelter in a 'better suburb' - even in not so 'better suburbs' the protests come thick and furious if there's so much as consideration of public housing, much less homeless shelters.

I'm surprised that in such a 'progressive' country that provides so many social programs for the poor that people would protest public housing or homeless shelters.