Public Comment

Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia has employed the navy to stop boats packed with refugees, from reaching Australia’s shores. Others have been held at detention centers on small islands where many of the children have suffered sexual abuse; many of the detainees are given marijuana in exchange for sex, a dirty secret that the Austrian government has gone to great lengths to hide. Reporters face up two years for blowing the whistle; contrast that with lengthy sentences’ for failure to report similar abuses in Australia. Abbot seems to be suffering from a serious bout of amnesia, conveniently forgetting that Australia was colonized by convicts from the UK. 

Donald Trump and many Republicans must be envious of Abbot’s creative solutions. The right to lifers may want to break their long silence. Scream loud when fetuses are aborted but stifle a yawn when refugees succumb from their travails. 

Abbott has urged European leaders to follow his creative model. 

The UK has taken 260 refugees. Germany by contrast has agreed to accept in excess of 800,000. The refugee crisis is likely to intensify with increase conflicts, depleting resources and rising sea levels. Perhaps President Bush could atone for his illegal war in Iraq by offering to open his Texas ranch to Iraqi refugees. Likewise Dick Cheney could accommodate more refugees on his Wyoming ranch from the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains from Halliburton. 

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