Time Travel

"I am focused on spending my waking hours and my energy over the next three days in saying to that group of people ... if you think that Howard hasn't done a bad job, if you think the economy's good and national security's being looked after, if you're flirting with change just for the sake of change, remember that you can't have a changeless change of government." John Howard.

"John Howard is running in this election to retire, it's an extraordinary thing, unprecedented in Australian political history that a leader walks into an election campaign and says I'm going. The problem with being a lame duck, and John Howard is a lame duck, is that your promises don't count. Anything you say does not bind your successor." Kim Beazley.





He didn't know why he was wanted. It wasn't safe anymore. Cracks kept appearing where ever he looked, he didn't know why. His head was full of things he shouldn't have known. There were even little video clips running in his head of their last dozen visits. They were being watched, even back then. He wished he could withdraw everything that had happened, but it was impossible. Regret was mashed up with a jumbling set of priorities, he would have to act. His boss was at him, again and again. She never gave up. He swallowed every last shred of dignity and bowed his head to his desk. There was no way out.

There was more political turmoil running on the screens constantly, politicians denouncing each other in a strangely restrained way; as if the truth was something no one could face. For a moment, deciphering the streams of propaganda, he thought it was a fight between those with implants and those without. He could see the government's press releases, call them up in chronological order, collate them by topic. It was useless information and his head was full of it.

Don was no ordinary friend. Their friendship blossomed in a different time; away from the fluorescent lights that now pierced his soul; in quiet suburban streets where secret networks pulled towards each other; where all their lives had been destroyed by government agencies and there was nowhere to go. There was no sanity in the system. There was nothing to keep them safe; nothing to make them belong. He crawled up inside and knew the answer; plain as the nose. It was all there, the recordings of their conversations. Strangely, considering the normally shot nature of his memory, he could recall every last word of their last encounter. That cryptic look, those cryptic words. It all made sense now. How far would he betray someone, for the sake of a story? How far was he driven, to do what he did?

THE BIGGER STORY:

Howard says Rudd would be for life, not just Christmas
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - 1 hour ago
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, who today received a 90000-signature petition calling for the laws to be scrapped, challenged Mr Howard to release the ...
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Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - 5 hours ago
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Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - 9 hours ago
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Gulf Times Australia's Rudd will sign Kyoto pact if wins vote
Reuters - 18 Nov 2007
By Rob Taylor CANBERRA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Australia's Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd said on Monday he would lead his country's delegation to December's ...
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Waxing frugal, praise rings in Rudd's ears
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LIVENEWS.com.au Media complicit in Rudd's spin
LIVENEWS.com.au, Australia - 13 hours ago
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Sky News Australia Election an IR 'referendum'
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Rudd dismisses interviews criticism
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia - 13 hours ago
LABOR leader Kevin Rudd has dismissed criticism that he has not made himself available for challenging news interviews, instead preferring soft media ...