I Hate Thick Pollies

Who Said "Ban The Flag"?
No, they're not banning the flag at the Big Day Out. They're asking people not to bring them.
In response, the usual chorus of idiots and mediots have suggested that it might be best to throw out the baby with the bathwater instead:

ORGANISERS should cancel the Australia Day eve Big Day Out concert in Sydney rather than ban the flag at Thursday's event, parliamentary secretary for immigration Andrew Robb said.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma and the RSL also condemned the decision to ban the flag, describing it as "outrageous" and "unbelievable".

The Daily Telegraph today reported that organisers of the Big Day Out at Homebush had decided they would confiscate any flag or bandana featuring the national symbol at the gates.

Event organiser Ken West was quoted as saying fans' behaviour last year in the wake of the Cronulla riots and the recent ethnic violence at the Australian Open tennis tournament had forced his hand.

"The Australian flag was being used as gang colours. It was racism disguised as patriotism and I'm not going to tolerate it," Mr West said.

BDO organisers issued a statement this morning saying the flag was not banned, but they said they did not want concert-goers taking it into the event.

"We are not banning the Australian flag but are simply discouraging its use for anti-social purposes at the Big Day Out," the statement said.

The issue has prompted a chorus of disapproval from top politicians, including Prime Minister John Howard, and the RSL.

Mr Robb said the flag was not the problem and should not be banned.

"If they have got a security problem, they need to deal with that, not with the flag. The flag is a symbol of unity," he told Channel 9.

"To compare the flag to a gang colour I think is just outrageous, and totally unacceptable."

Which bit of the events in Cronulla didn't Mr. Robb understand? Or did he actually approve of that crowd that draped itself in the Australian flag as it ran as a mob? Did he think their use of the flag was highly commendable? Patriotism is always the first refuge of the scoundrel, and these pollies are nothing if not but scurrilous. Otheriwse, the only other interpretation of their position is that they do want people to drape themselves in the national flag and commit violent crimes.

However, it's not just the conservative morons who are complaining; it's also opposition leader Kevin Rudd.

"Organisers have got it plain wrong when they try to hide our flag as if it's some symbol of shame. It's not. We should fly it with pride," he said on Channel 9.

Is Kevin Rudd completely stupid? Does he think it would be better for Australia to have gangs dressing themselves up as patriots? If so, then he's actually lining up with the Nazis and brownshirts; because that's where things lie in the history books.

If he's characterising what the organisers are doing as being ashamed of the flag, then he is a willful dingbat and a very bad student of history. After all, my interpretation of the BDO organisiers is that they are in fact so proud of our flag, they would rather not let rightwing morons and racist hicks and rednecks hijack it for their sad little cause; that they are trying to preserve the dignitiy of the flag.

I guess there isn't much of a 'youth vote', but a great big 'xenophobia vote'. It seems to me the people most upset by the Big Day Out decision are indeed the most scurrilous of the lot.
As the Japanese say, there's no ointment you can apply to the stupid.