An awakening Down Under

Re “In an Australian landslide, Rudd ends the Howard era,” Nov. 25

This article regarding the election in Australia states that former Prime Minister John Howard, with Parliament, enacted workplace legislation that “proved disastrous” yet fails to explain why such legislation was a disaster.

This anti-market/anti-business bias has no place in a news article. Why is it The Times views legislation that would help business disparagingly, whereas legislation that favors treating business as welfare for lazy employees is so sought-after? Bolshevism failed miserably -- see former Soviet Union and “The Age of Turbulence” by Alan Greenspan.

Linas Udrys

Glendale

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The latest slap at the Bush administration is the electoral ouster of Howard, who has been unabashedly pro-American and a strong supporter of our ill-advised, ill-fated war in Iraq.

It is no wonder that the Australians sent Howard packing, given their strong sentiment against the war, a passion mirrored by Americans.

Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd is expected to withdraw a significant number of his country’s troops from Iraq, which will serve to further isolate the United States and cause our occupation to be seen as even more unilateral.

It is a sad time for our nation as the respect and prestige we have enjoyed in the eyes of other nations have sustained a precipitous decline through consistent foreign policy bungling. A new president will have to repair the extensive damage done by the Bush administration.

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper St. Clair, Pa.