52midnight wrote on May 23
rd, 2012 at 8:19am:
Well, some good news from Dr Dennis Jensen:
... those statistics of yours are nonsense. They have come from a similar email that originated in the US, regarding their Congress, and even then they were wrong.
Unfortunately, the sentiment you express is not uncommon, and the behaviours of some of my colleagues has certainly made people's opinion of politicians even lower, if that were possible.
Kind regards
Dennis
... and mine in return:
Dennis
Yes, I'm aware of that; I sent this to all FedReps and Senators with a published email address. Yours is the second reply, and I'm heartened to see you accept some responsibility for the situation. Rob Mitchell's was the first, and he got angry as soon as I refused to back down.
I'm of the opinion that our centuries-old system is no longer adequate for modern needs; on the other hand, a new system has so many problems I wouldn't know where to begin. But I suspect it must start with some sort of "Council of Elders" who are above and apart from politics. Just how one goes about establishing that is another quandry.
Kind regards
But, of course, the indignant, self-righteous school-marms (of both sexes) are a dominant faction, and insist on blaming everyone except themselves:
You have just spread an appalling lie - about me and my colleagues in this instance.
The email that you forwarded was created in 1999 - 13 years ago and was about the US Congress at the time - although it was not seen to be true then, as it is hard to imagine that someone would do all that research and not name a single person. The original version referred to 535 members of the US House of Congress. If you do a quick google, you will find that many of the versions about Australia still refer to the 535 members of the Australian Parliament - they are a clear copy of the US email. You will also find the same contents, but referring to the Indian Parliament, and the British House of Commons. These figures do not relate to Australia - they certainly don't relate to me in any way.
If you expect high standards from politicians about truth and justice and just straight out fair play, you should perhaps start expecting it of yourself. Afterall, you are one of the people responsible for picking us and you are one of the people spreading lies.
Sometimes things are said, or spread around - in the way that you spread this email - and while people may believe it - spreading it doesn't make it true. That is why we have a system in this country that separates the courts away from politics. It is called the separation of powers, and why we have a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Every other member of Parliament is entitled to that same presumption, particularly when there are people around (like you) who are prepared to believe and spread lies. I support both of the principals and your spreading of these lies confirms my belief that people should not be tried in the court of gossip and public opinion - but in a court of law.
You are probably thinking that 'there behaviour is bad and that's why I believe this stuff' - in other words, it's politicians' fault that you believe whatever a person puts in front of you. Well, someone else will read your email, believe it, then use the list that you told them to colour their judgment of us. You are creating your own reality. Congratulations. There are decent people in the Parliament now. But if people like you keep spreading lies about our Parlimanet, how can you expect decent people to want to be there in the future. Keep going. Eventually you will make it true.
The only person that this emails puts into disrepute is you. USE YOUR BRAIN!
If you receive emails like this in the future, do a quick google with a few words of the email and the word 'snopes' and you will usually find an analysis. The more amazing or outrageous the email is, the less likely it is to be true. Do you really think that 1 in 3 members of the Australian Parliament were arrested for drunk driving in the last year? Do you really think that nearly half of us have been bankrupt? Do you really think that if three members had 'done time' for assault that we wouldn't all know their names? Do you really think that the public at large wouldn't know the names of people arrested on drugs charges. Look at the attention on Craig Thompson and he hasn't been arrested or charged with anything. If 14 were actually arrested for drugs and 7 for fraud, don't you think you'd know who they were? Do you really think that half of us have bad credit ratings? THINK!
Julie Owens
Federal Member for Parramatta
Personally, I ceased believing anything any of them said years ago. How they can still expect any credibility at all is beyond me.
Obviously you've never heard of the phrase "quit while you're ahead". You should've quit before you started, you fool. Always check your facts before mouthing off - this kind of thing just makes you look stupid.