Ahh Christine, condescension is always good. You don't agree with me, therefore - by definition - you have an inability to comprehend. Christine, I truly admire your skills and even most of your morals and politics. I even enjoy your cook/food books. But almost every time someone disagrees with you, out comes not just the bitterness, but the condescension. Your point is taken. I appreciate your efforts and can see your frustrations. Got to admit, I'm not sure if you're talking about the mistreatment of refugees or if 'torturing children' is just a metaphor. Put it down my inability to comprehend. I'd say that, in such circumstances as you describe, there must almost certainly be a third party or an independent against torturing children - or you're living in a country with 'Democratic' in its name. If there isn't such a party, maybe you need to think about starting one or running for the seat yourself. The thing is that by voting, you might not get exactly what you want straight away, but you can usually try to help make it better than it currently is. [And then you get outvoted. Unfortunately, that's democracy.] To me, doing nothing is equally amoral to voting for bad choices. If you find you're not being heard, you could try that tried and trusted avenue of buying a newspaper or TV station and trampling editorial independence. Cheers, Terry From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Christine Kent Sent: Thursday, 16 August 2012 3:28 PM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: OT: Grumbling About Elections... ... you cannot see how utterly corrupt it is. To vote for any of the current parties is like being offered the vote between torturing children in public and torturing children in private. Please vote for your preferred option. But please sir, I don't want to torture children at all. Bloody well vote for one of the other or stop whinging. NO SIR, I will not vote for torturing children any which way. I will speak against you, I will decry you, I will do anything in my power to stop you, but I will NEVER vote for torturing children. This might seem an extreme example and I already know that some of you cannot think conceptually enough to work out the analogy, but it is valid. This is what you are telling me I must do when you tell me I must vote for one imbecillic and corrupt sell-out or another. ...so I know some of you can never, by definition, comprehend the words I say, even though they are such ordinary words. Christine