So, which side of politics is gonna make the most of this little nugget. Just Three days before the Federal Election, someones gotta be able to get some political mileage here, or else they just aren't trying hard enough. And i like to know my pollies are trying their utmost.
16 rescued from sinking boat
AUSTRALIAN navy warships have rescued 16 people from a sinking wooden boat off the West Australian coast.
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said the the identity of those on the boat plus other details were unknown and would be determined by staff from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
Showing posts with label Federal election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Federal election. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Federal Election: Molotov Cocktails Not Required.
Two weeks til this whole Federal Election thing is finalised. I can't wait. Was gonna stock up on Molotov Cocktail making implements before I remembered that I am in Australia, where the worst we do is hurl abuse at each other. We have a more civilised "sticks and stones" approach to political differences, as opposed to other nations where people regularly get attacked, killed and maimed. Somehow I don't think these people are ready to put their hearts into it.. We're so civilised we even complain about the impost created by having to vote. In fact it won't be long til some green loon decides elections should be banned due to their carbon footprint.
With much trepidation some of my friends have invited me to an election party, I say trepidation as they are all rabid greenies and anti everything, who are convinced that nothing is sustainable, in fact I am surprised they are able to sustain the rage. Although since most of them drive cars, wear expensive clothes, and spend their weekends getting drunk and partying, I am guessing the rage is just a front, but a politically correct front (which is the best type) Whereas I on the other hand, think that spending too much time in a room full of people depressed about the state of Life the Universe and Everything, who will quite happily procreate whilst yelling that mankind is the worst thing that could have happened to the universe is definitely unsustainable, and in a more immediate sense of the word.
With much trepidation some of my friends have invited me to an election party, I say trepidation as they are all rabid greenies and anti everything, who are convinced that nothing is sustainable, in fact I am surprised they are able to sustain the rage. Although since most of them drive cars, wear expensive clothes, and spend their weekends getting drunk and partying, I am guessing the rage is just a front, but a politically correct front (which is the best type) Whereas I on the other hand, think that spending too much time in a room full of people depressed about the state of Life the Universe and Everything, who will quite happily procreate whilst yelling that mankind is the worst thing that could have happened to the universe is definitely unsustainable, and in a more immediate sense of the word.
So, why am I going, well duh, there'll be beer, and like I said before girls who are happy to procreate. Can anyone advise on the shelf life of a Molotov Cocktail?
Thursday, November 8, 2007
'Closing The Space Between Us - The Rights of Aboriginal Children'
Got sent this speech to read the other day by my dear friend Michelle, who quite rightly knew it would get my back up. Hence she had enough time to put on the flame retardant suit before i responded. Read the speech here, having done that, the rest of this diatribe should make a lot more sense.
Well
Where do I start.
I CHOOSE TO START THIS RANT ......... NOW!!
Firstly, he identifies a problem, and there is a problem, but makes it sound like it has all come about in the last 11 years. It is all a failure of John Howard's Government, implying that everything was perfect before. He never mentions the other parties, and when he does mention Bob Hawk he does not mention Labor it is as if he is a politician without a party. Didn't Bob Hawk promise in the mid eighties that no child would be living in poverty? Anyway, see i am doing the same thing he did, make provocative statements that highlight the problem but don't contribute to the solution.
The problem has been around for decades, attempts have been made but they have failed. For example for many years Aborigines were given more generous welfare payments, easier access to welfare, and positive discrimination in terms of education, housing etc. These attempts failed, and I believe it is untrue to say that the failure was foreseeable. As a rule if you assist someone financially, you would expect them to prosper more than they would have without the assistance. This does not seem to have happened with many Aborigines. Although I believe that if you look at the data, from now, and compare it to 30 or 50 years ago, there would be a notable increase in the number of aborigines in full time employment, with professional and trade qualifications who are capable of standing on their own two feet without Federal or state assistance. The issue is that not enough of them have reached that point, and many of them live in the conditions described.
Point 10 is one that I partially agree with. I agree that as a nation we need to apologise for what was done in the past, but i know we are not gonna get every individual to do so, so I'm not gonna waste my time trying. I musta done something wrong, I've only been in the country twenty years, but already I'm apologising for the sins of someone Else's fathers. I think there is something in that for everyone.
Anyway, i think we could get most of this to go away if we were truly committed to the policies of equity and diversity, which don't try to treat everyone as equals, but recognise that some people have different needs, Muslims need to pray at certain times of the day facing Mecca, and so should be afforded this right, aborigines need assistance recovering from the institutionalised racism of the recent past, and so should be afforded whatever assistance is required.
There is one waste of time we can't get rid of, and that is politics, the sugar coating of policy to make it equitable. Find me a politician that didn't sugar coat anything, and i will vote for him. he'll lose, but at least he'll do it for being honest.
Anyway back to my three key questions;
Why is it so?
Can we change it?
Should we change it
Well
Where do I start.
I CHOOSE TO START THIS RANT ......... NOW!!
Firstly, he identifies a problem, and there is a problem, but makes it sound like it has all come about in the last 11 years. It is all a failure of John Howard's Government, implying that everything was perfect before. He never mentions the other parties, and when he does mention Bob Hawk he does not mention Labor it is as if he is a politician without a party. Didn't Bob Hawk promise in the mid eighties that no child would be living in poverty? Anyway, see i am doing the same thing he did, make provocative statements that highlight the problem but don't contribute to the solution.
The problem has been around for decades, attempts have been made but they have failed. For example for many years Aborigines were given more generous welfare payments, easier access to welfare, and positive discrimination in terms of education, housing etc. These attempts failed, and I believe it is untrue to say that the failure was foreseeable. As a rule if you assist someone financially, you would expect them to prosper more than they would have without the assistance. This does not seem to have happened with many Aborigines. Although I believe that if you look at the data, from now, and compare it to 30 or 50 years ago, there would be a notable increase in the number of aborigines in full time employment, with professional and trade qualifications who are capable of standing on their own two feet without Federal or state assistance. The issue is that not enough of them have reached that point, and many of them live in the conditions described.
So to me the questions become
1. Why is it so?
2. Can we change it?
3. Should we change it?
But back to those questions later.
The third paragraph really pissed me off, he says the following"
"Children and mothers make up 75% of the world's poor."
Newsflash children and others make up 75% of families!! Well that would appear to be normal to me, if the average family in Australia has 2.4 children, making the average family 4.4 people, and rounding down to four people, i would expect hat 75% of them are women and children. Amazing. I wonder what the statistics are for all male aboriginal families is, I suppose in that case only fifty percent would be living in poverty (since there are no women)!!
On page three, paragraph one of, he says "The medical evidence indicates that we will only....." But then does not state what the evidence is, who did the research, he provides us with no means of confirming that is being said. Admittedly in a speech you would not have full references but in a written transcript of said speech, particularly one put out by a uni, i would think they could provide some references. He makes the same mistake numerous times
"More than thirty major reports on child abuse state....."
is just one example. At least tell us which organisation did some of those reports, no need to mention all of them in the speech, but mention the ones that he gives the most weight to.
Anyway, the major issue in my view is "aboriginal autonomy", and he talks about it, but in the exact opposite context to what i would say. He says aboriginals should be autonomous and blah blah blah, I gathered that that was what is causing part of the problem, not enough autonomy. They have a degree of autonomy to deal with their own issues under their own law, and in many cases can't be compelled to follow western practices. No problem with that. But what happens when those practices are below the minimum level accepted by the rest of us. If under tribal law, the penalty for rape or child abuse is lesser than the western penalties, what should we do about that. He speaks of autonomy as if it is the end of all aboriginal problems, when in fact it causes some problems of it's own.
He also says "It is increasingly clear that this intervention is using the emotive language of child abuse to implement a radical indigenous policy agenda"
Whoa, the government has an agenda! Well Newsflash, i got no problem with that. The standard welfare based system we have used has not worked, all previous attempts have failed, some radical thinking is required. If someone wants to hide behind child abuse, to improve the standard of living of aborigines, whilst incidentally preventing or lowering the instance of child abuse, well that's okay by me.
He says, "The question for you my fellow Australians is, do you believe John Howard has changed? That is the Consequence of your Vote?"
Wrong Question, the question should be "Do you think that John Howard's Actions, however much you like or dislike him, will result in an improvement in Aboriginal living standards" It does not matter whether you like him or not, what matters is whether he is doing the right thing, and saying i would do it differently is a cop out. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but you don't want to stand around arguing about the best way, whilst the cat decomposes. Let the leaders lead, and and the cat is more likely to get skinned.
Personality politics is often full of crap. In the first ever televised political debate between JFK and Nixon, those who watched it on television overwhelmingly said JFK won, those who listened on the radio overwhelmingly said Nixon had won. What the hell is going on there. Evidently JFK had better personality, more presence on camera etc etc etc. Evidently this was more important than his policies. Utter Tosh, I say.
"The first Australians do have a right to autonomy that is once again being denied" like i said before, i suspect this is part of the problem, but is quoted here as part of the solution.
And finally he presents his 10 point plan. People, Friends, Australians, country men, one nation voters ET AL, I say this to you. Do not trust anyone that has a 10 point plan. 10 point plans are full of crap. If it was a 9 point plan, or an 11 point plan, i would have more respect for it. People inflate plans to get to 10 because 10 sounds important, 'Ten Commandments" "Americans Ten Most Wanted" "Top Ten Songs" top ten blah blah blah. If I saw this in a report, opinion for the author would probably go down, after i had confirmed that there were some plan padding in action. So, what have we here in this plan;
All Australians should sign a new statement pledging to support a national effort to achieve equality for all of our children.
Point 10 is one that I partially agree with. I agree that as a nation we need to apologise for what was done in the past, but i know we are not gonna get every individual to do so, so I'm not gonna waste my time trying. I musta done something wrong, I've only been in the country twenty years, but already I'm apologising for the sins of someone Else's fathers. I think there is something in that for everyone.
Anyway, i think we could get most of this to go away if we were truly committed to the policies of equity and diversity, which don't try to treat everyone as equals, but recognise that some people have different needs, Muslims need to pray at certain times of the day facing Mecca, and so should be afforded this right, aborigines need assistance recovering from the institutionalised racism of the recent past, and so should be afforded whatever assistance is required.
There is one waste of time we can't get rid of, and that is politics, the sugar coating of policy to make it equitable. Find me a politician that didn't sugar coat anything, and i will vote for him. he'll lose, but at least he'll do it for being honest.
Anyway back to my three key questions;
Why is it so?
Can we change it?
Should we change it
Well i will leave that up to you. Maybe they should come up with an Automatic-Vote-Amatic for those who don't want to make decisions. By not writing anything down, i can't be questioned so in response to my own three questions, i choose to be enigmatic and maintain a dignified silence. "Go forth and solve this problem i say, but beware, if it should come to my attention that you have been dilly dallying, i shall be most put out!"
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Federal Erection Stunt .....
It's election time, time to let the blood run free. Most impressed with the free money (admittedly i had to earn it, then give it to them, so they can give it back free, but hey it's like the fifty bucks you find in your other pants) that the liberals have decided to throw in my direction. I like the smell, the feel, the texture of money. People say money can't buy you happiness, but I still reckon you can still have a lot of fun trying, or at least get distracted from any petty issues like, um mm, sadness.
Ball is now in the ALP's court, show me the money. Oh, and get Julia to mention the Karma Sutra again, I got a one track mind, which means I can't think about both the Karma Sutra and money at the same time. I suspect i might have gotten the wrong idea, but i like the idea of someone with more positions than the Karma Sutra. If you want my vote, you gotta listen to me, the number one constituent. Show me the the money, or show us your other electioneering assets.
Now that the erection has been called, it's time to pull out all the erection stunts.
Ball is now in the ALP's court, show me the money. Oh, and get Julia to mention the Karma Sutra again, I got a one track mind, which means I can't think about both the Karma Sutra and money at the same time. I suspect i might have gotten the wrong idea, but i like the idea of someone with more positions than the Karma Sutra. If you want my vote, you gotta listen to me, the number one constituent. Show me the the money, or show us your other electioneering assets.
Now that the erection has been called, it's time to pull out all the erection stunts.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Weekly Horrorscope by A Guy Called Nostrildamus
Tuesday 31 July 07
--
This John Winston Howard, flush from his recent Birthday trip to East Timor, will be forced to deny that he had anything to do with the Dr Mohammed Haneef Incarceration for terrorism. He will further be forced to deny that he influenced the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in his review of the case and that he was aware of the existence of the DPP or what his role is. It's called culpable deniablility.
--
This week noone will be held accountable for releasing Dr Haneef's private details, including e-mail adsdresses, home adresses of family members, mobile phone numbers and other private detrails, including that hisf avourite colour is not purple, when his lawyer leaked his interview transcript to the media.
--
Aguycalledbrad will fail to be acknowledged as the individual who had this transcript removed from The Age and Australian Web pages, when he pointed out to the editors that is was not fair include personal details of people not involved in the case, especially since Australia, like every other country has it's own fair share of nutcases ready to waive innocence until proven guilty based on a story in the "Daily Telegraph".
--
Ninety nine percent of Australians, including my friend Michelle who stayed up getting Asian Cup Quarter Finals highlights via text message from me (Australia Lost on penalties), will not be able to name the eventual finalists or the winner of the Asian Cup.
--
Should a Federal Election be called this week, as with the previous Federal election, all Liberal supporters will go into hiding in secret bunkers meaning it will be impossible to find anyone willing to admit they intend to vote Liberal.
--
At least three polls will be published showing that the Labor government holds an election winning lead, and would have been a shoo-in if the election had been held yesterday, last week, last weekend or whenever. None of these polls will mention that the same occured during the last three elections. No point undermining the credibility of a questionable poll with inconvenient historical facts or context.
--
Someone will suggest that Dr Haneef needs to sue the Commonwealth for damages. I know that i would.
--
Al Gore will again refuse to justify why his personal Carbon Footprint (excluding all the international air travel he does) is so much higher than the average Americans. The Truly Inconvenient Truth that GW Bush, has a much lower Carbon footprint than Gore will fail to be discussed at all in the media.
--
Collingwood will defeat whichever team they are playing.--
--
No Cute furry animals were harmed in producing this horrorscope.
--
This John Winston Howard, flush from his recent Birthday trip to East Timor, will be forced to deny that he had anything to do with the Dr Mohammed Haneef Incarceration for terrorism. He will further be forced to deny that he influenced the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in his review of the case and that he was aware of the existence of the DPP or what his role is. It's called culpable deniablility.
--
This week noone will be held accountable for releasing Dr Haneef's private details, including e-mail adsdresses, home adresses of family members, mobile phone numbers and other private detrails, including that hisf avourite colour is not purple, when his lawyer leaked his interview transcript to the media.
--
Aguycalledbrad will fail to be acknowledged as the individual who had this transcript removed from The Age and Australian Web pages, when he pointed out to the editors that is was not fair include personal details of people not involved in the case, especially since Australia, like every other country has it's own fair share of nutcases ready to waive innocence until proven guilty based on a story in the "Daily Telegraph".
--
Ninety nine percent of Australians, including my friend Michelle who stayed up getting Asian Cup Quarter Finals highlights via text message from me (Australia Lost on penalties), will not be able to name the eventual finalists or the winner of the Asian Cup.
--
Should a Federal Election be called this week, as with the previous Federal election, all Liberal supporters will go into hiding in secret bunkers meaning it will be impossible to find anyone willing to admit they intend to vote Liberal.
--
At least three polls will be published showing that the Labor government holds an election winning lead, and would have been a shoo-in if the election had been held yesterday, last week, last weekend or whenever. None of these polls will mention that the same occured during the last three elections. No point undermining the credibility of a questionable poll with inconvenient historical facts or context.
--
Someone will suggest that Dr Haneef needs to sue the Commonwealth for damages. I know that i would.
--
Al Gore will again refuse to justify why his personal Carbon Footprint (excluding all the international air travel he does) is so much higher than the average Americans. The Truly Inconvenient Truth that GW Bush, has a much lower Carbon footprint than Gore will fail to be discussed at all in the media.
--
Collingwood will defeat whichever team they are playing.--
--
No Cute furry animals were harmed in producing this horrorscope.
--
haneef chatSunday, July 22, 2007
Weekly Horrorscope by A Guy Called Nostrildamus
Monday 23 July 07
--
This week Al (my scientists are better than your scientists) Gore will once again continue his crusade to take global warming to the masses, whilst steadfastly refusing to debate the issue with anyone who both disagrees with him, and has a greater than primary school education. His point being it's so obvious even a primary school kids understand it (why else are the kiddies having global warming nightmares), hence debate will be limited to pre-schoolers.
--
Recent predictions that petrol prices are expected to drop to close to a dollar a litre will be dismissed as a pre-election stunt by John Howard. How John Howard is supposed to control fuel prices will not be explained, after all, why ruin a good story facts.
--
A major newspaper will publish an article implying that John Howard should do more to reduce fuel prices, possibly by reducing fuel taxes. The rationale will be that the Aussie Battler can no longer afford to run his or her car. This same newspaper will publish an article bemoaning Australia's dependence on fossil fuels in light of global warming stating that we need to increase usage of public transport. No irony will detected in either article.
--
Thousands of disappointed Australians will spend Monday and Tuesday morning trying to locate Japan on a World map in light of Japan knocking Australia out of Asian Cup. Even more Australians will state that we are not even Asian anyway, and it's not as if it's the World Cup in which case we would have tried harder. These same Australians have no idea who Australian would have faced in the semi finals had it defeated Japan.
--
On Monday I will ring my dad again to make sure he is aware that Collingwood defeated Essendon in the AFL on the weekend.
--
Should a Federal Election be called this week, as with the previous Federal election, all Liberal supporter will go into hiding in secret bunkers meaning it will be impossible to find anyone willing to admit they intend to vote Liberal.
--
This week, Galloping Morgan will publish a survey stating that Kevin Rudd's brother being forced to resign as a member of the Labor party has had no effect on the member of the opposition's preferred prime minister standing. The survey will not indicate what John Howard's position on Rudd's brother donating to the Liberal/National Coalition is.
--
Al Gore will once again state that he has no intention to run for US president in 2008 whilst refusing to categorically rule out running for president. He will continue to spend a few minutes each day practising his, "I know i said i wouldn't but the situation is too dire speech." Al Gore supporters, due to insanely high levels of gullibility present in their blood stream will be genuinely surprised when he does announce he is running.
--
As soon as Australia's east and southern coast start to warm up, indicating the onset of Spring, every newspaper will publish dire global warming heatwave predictions. This will indicate that Climate Change (who stood in for global warming during the coldest winter in living memory)has left the building and Global Warming is in the house.
--
Collingwood will defeat whichever team they are playing.
--
Having forgotten who El Nino was whilst Global Warming/Climate change was in the house, Australians will start to re-acquaint themselves with him, just in time to wave goodbye to this foreign weather. Aussies will once again be too preoccupied with Global Warming to get acquainted with La Nina.
--
No Cute furry animals were harmed in producing this horrorscope.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)