So a year later, what do you think now?

The upcoming federal election will be interesting regardless 

Lovely to read some intelligent, compassionate comment on Rudd- I work with Aboriginal homeless and see the direct impact that govt policy makes on people's day to day existence. ♥ 

 Sadfish wrote: 
Hi, Sadfish.  I didn't know those facts....I do remember reading that he grew up in a country town (must have been in Qld ;) ).

ps. Havent' heard your "Barcode' for a while. Would like to.

Kevin Rudd is a Queenslander and Rugby League fan and thats good enough for me....

But the rest...

 crushedvelvet wrote: 

Hi people. In the first year of KR's post (btw, he's "Labour Party" which used to be blue collar but is now general low to mid middle-class) he's done the following:

-Addressed the Chinese government and Beijing university students in Mandarin (which he speaks fluently), subtly and diplomatically expressing his support for Tibet.

-Issued an historic formal apology to indigenous Australians, for the taking away of children during the 'Stolen Generation' years (1930's to 70's approx).  This has been requested for the last 2 or 3 decades by Indigenous people and was denied by j.Howard.

-Supplied quarterly payments to pensioners who pay for their own Internet home connections.

-Granted a $1400 payment to all welfare recipients in the month of December 2008, to help them face the financial crisis as Christmas was approaching.  Strangely, they were encouraged to spend it at shops on gifts, to help "support the economy".  yeah, right.  I wacked mine on to my credit card, but deeply appreciated it anyway.

-Has provided funding to Child Care Centres, plus carers of disabled people (usually family members) who can't get any other income, because that's their full-time responsibility.  Both of these groups suffered a lot under J.Howard.

-Has very recently declared his intention to halve the number of homeless in Australia.

He's actively spiritual.  He's a practicing Christian.  I wouldn't care if he's Buddhist, Mystic or what, but the thing is he's practicing, and I believe that's what makes him both humble and compassionate.

Last year I read an astrological calendar that said that leaders 'who were actually capable of leading (after a long time of leaders that werent' i.e. Bush & Howard I guess, and  i.e. with love and humanity), would step up to the plate.  You guys got Obama, we got K,Rudd.  I for one, look forward to seeing how those two work together.