Last Saturday Don Farrell was awarded the top spot on the SA Labor Party Senate ticket - apparently because he was the best person for the job. But by Tuesday he had decided that he should hand that spot over to Penny Wong because - well who knows?
Apparently the initial *gift* was the result of a democratic process. Strange really given that Farrell has no profile anywhere and Wong is the well respected Federal Finance Minister.
Anything to do with the fact that Farrell was one of the "faceless men" involved in the *putsch* that replaced Rudd with Gillard?
Well I suppose you could call the process democratic if you branch stack the party with your supporters and then ask them to vote for you. In your dreams that might be democratic - but in the dreams of the rest of us it is just factional malarkey.
South Australia used to be known as the "shopkeeper" state. What seems to have changed is that the shop "assistants" have risen up and now dictate terms to the Labor Party and via them - to the rest of us.
How do you feel about that, Virginia?
And it's not just the Labor Party that has been infected by the right wing dingbats. Remember Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi - doesn't he hold the top spot on the Lib Senate ticket?
Our political parties just don't get it - they are now owned by the arseholes on the right - but they think we voters haven't noticed and don't care.
Think again sunshine.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
What a dilemma?
When you - Mr and Ms Australia - eventually take some time to think about why our polity is so broken - and start to analyse our political personalities and their parties - then I urge you to take a moment to reflect on this.
It was 2001 when George W. Bush sent US troops into Afghanistan and 2003 when he started the Iraq war. The war in Afghanistan is still going - 11 years later. President Obama - to his credit - pulled US troops out of Iraq in December 2011 after *only* 8 years of death and destruction.
The next US president will probably start another *rabid right wing* war in the Middle East - this time with Iran. Or that's what Willard and his mate Bibi say they want to do.
The Iraq war in particular was started under false pretences - three so-called western countries (USA, UK and AUS) working in concert manufactured evidence and ignored facts. Worse - they sent our young men and women off to fight without any consideration of consequences.
4,805 of them were killed and 32,753 were wounded. And to date in the Afghanistan adventure 39 young Australian's are also dead. What a waste.
Clearly our politicians aren't very good at history.
But what's worse is that our current Prime Minister doesn't want to find out why we went to war in Iraq - and what lessons we should learn to stop it from ever happening again.
She thinks that it's best not to investigate - because she knows that it would expose lots of political stupidity - not only that of little Johnny and his cabinet - but also of her current puppet masters in the US.
And we couldn't have that - could we. Not when our entire Foreign Policy is built on the serious "suck-up".
Fascinating isn't it - she knows that a proper investigation will show Howard and his cabinet (including Hockey and Abbott) up as compliant fools - but she won't risk alienating big brother. What a dilemma ;-)
Which is why it is so important for all Australian's to support this group.
It was 2001 when George W. Bush sent US troops into Afghanistan and 2003 when he started the Iraq war. The war in Afghanistan is still going - 11 years later. President Obama - to his credit - pulled US troops out of Iraq in December 2011 after *only* 8 years of death and destruction.
The next US president will probably start another *rabid right wing* war in the Middle East - this time with Iran. Or that's what Willard and his mate Bibi say they want to do.
The Iraq war in particular was started under false pretences - three so-called western countries (USA, UK and AUS) working in concert manufactured evidence and ignored facts. Worse - they sent our young men and women off to fight without any consideration of consequences.
4,805 of them were killed and 32,753 were wounded. And to date in the Afghanistan adventure 39 young Australian's are also dead. What a waste.
Clearly our politicians aren't very good at history.
But what's worse is that our current Prime Minister doesn't want to find out why we went to war in Iraq - and what lessons we should learn to stop it from ever happening again.
She thinks that it's best not to investigate - because she knows that it would expose lots of political stupidity - not only that of little Johnny and his cabinet - but also of her current puppet masters in the US.
And we couldn't have that - could we. Not when our entire Foreign Policy is built on the serious "suck-up".
Fascinating isn't it - she knows that a proper investigation will show Howard and his cabinet (including Hockey and Abbott) up as compliant fools - but she won't risk alienating big brother. What a dilemma ;-)
Which is why it is so important for all Australian's to support this group.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Eternal Love
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are neck and neck because - well who knows? But the fact that they are says volumes about the collective intellect of the American people. Because "The Wisdom of Crowds" was supposed to even out the bias and the BS of the vested interests and the stupid people.
Obama is a middle class and middle of the road Democrat who has been doing his best to clean up the god-awful mess that he was left by George W. Bush. He isn't perfect by any means but he is trying hard and he has been making good progress for 4 years. He deserves another term. His biggest failure is that he spent lots of time negotiating with the Repubs - thinking they were reasonable folks.
The main reason that his progress has been slow and intermittent is because those Repubs have been blocking his every move. Plus they just won’t accept the fact that a black man is in the white house. Some of us call that racist.
And Romney is part of the 1% and probably just another "ugly far right wing Republican". But even that is a guess - because he has had more contorted positions than Linda Lovelace. He won the Republican nomination by being further to the right than Attila the Hun - but donned the useful disguise of "just another harmless old man" in the debates.
My guess is that he is probably a better actor than Ronald Reagan - and will revert to "ugly right wing Republican" when and if he wins the election.
Which will be a pity - because the last thing the world needs is another half-arsed US President - exporting Republican ignorance and arrogance via US military might. George W. Bush did enough stupid stuff in his eight years to last the US a lifetime.
But the fascinating thing for me is that 300 million Americans appear so evenly split. This decision should be a no-brainer - but apparently it isn't. Very scary stuff.
And Australian politicians thought it was a good idea to pledge "Eternal Love" to the US. We seem to be as mad as they are.
Obama is a middle class and middle of the road Democrat who has been doing his best to clean up the god-awful mess that he was left by George W. Bush. He isn't perfect by any means but he is trying hard and he has been making good progress for 4 years. He deserves another term. His biggest failure is that he spent lots of time negotiating with the Repubs - thinking they were reasonable folks.
The main reason that his progress has been slow and intermittent is because those Repubs have been blocking his every move. Plus they just won’t accept the fact that a black man is in the white house. Some of us call that racist.
And Romney is part of the 1% and probably just another "ugly far right wing Republican". But even that is a guess - because he has had more contorted positions than Linda Lovelace. He won the Republican nomination by being further to the right than Attila the Hun - but donned the useful disguise of "just another harmless old man" in the debates.
My guess is that he is probably a better actor than Ronald Reagan - and will revert to "ugly right wing Republican" when and if he wins the election.
Which will be a pity - because the last thing the world needs is another half-arsed US President - exporting Republican ignorance and arrogance via US military might. George W. Bush did enough stupid stuff in his eight years to last the US a lifetime.
But the fascinating thing for me is that 300 million Americans appear so evenly split. This decision should be a no-brainer - but apparently it isn't. Very scary stuff.
And Australian politicians thought it was a good idea to pledge "Eternal Love" to the US. We seem to be as mad as they are.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Crowd source the Country
I am starting the search for a new country - because I am pretty much over the one that I already have.
I won't get into the details here but 40 odd years of pisant, populist politics has so fcuked this place that there is just zero possibility for us to get back into the main game. Most of the rest of the region has already bypassed us and those countries that haven't will probably do so in the next decade.
You won't like them but here are just some of my gripes.
* Our national industry policy appears to have been developed by a kindergarten class out in the burbs of Canberra. Because there is zero recognition of the need to resource, build and develop any smart industries that employ people - or which add any value.
* We have all been encouraged to think that the path to happiness and wealth is by owning a double priced McMansion in suburbia. And we encourage every high-school dropout to spend their life's work - jerry building them. What an enormous waste.
* We won't put our effort into a small business - because we know it will be trampled by a monopolist big business - so our investments are all around buying and selling real estate. All supported by the biggest tax scam in history - "negative gearing".
* Australian's who earn real money - work at digging holes and shipping dirt overseas. They fly-in and they fly-out and think they are the new upper class. Our entire national infrastructure is dedicated to supporting their day jobs.
* As a result almost no-one these days has been educated beyond high-school - or if they have then it's a lightweight little degree that was on special somewhere - or found under the flap of a weet-bix packet.
* The Reserve Bank's main job is to keep the housing bubble inflated - and if Uncle Glenn ever took his eye off the ball - then our "national wealth" would disappear down the plughole faster than a Collins Class submarine in "dive mode".
* The Government's main job is to distribute our hand-outs and to help us to acquire McMansions - it's all become a bit of a circular argument really.
* Our real thinking and design and science and engineering jobs disappeared years ago - as conservative politicians’ fcuked with the education system and did their best to ensure that Australian graduates were replaced with cheap 457 visa holders.
* And we acquire large imported 4wd's because we think they enhance our *status*. You probably don't want to hear what I think.
* Our entire population is obese and unhealthy. Because we are so poorly educated that we can't tell the difference between salt, sugar and essential vitamins and nourishment.
* We demonise asylum seekers who approach our shores seeking our protection. And then we send them off to detention hell for 5 years before allowing them to come back and join us at the pub or the footy.
* We have been conned into allowing expensive monopolies across all the touch points of our life. If it's not a government agency screwing us - then it is usually a bank or a supermarket or a retailer or a utility giving us the finger.
* About one eighth of our people live below the poverty line - but that is OK because they are too poor to be of any value to our political or media classes - so no-one gets to hear much about them.
* And BTW, our media is also fcuked. Mostly our so-called journalists can't work out how they lost their influence - and so they have reverted to even more outrageous and made-up faux BS each day. Seriously, have you watched morning television recently?
* That our federal government values a budget "surplus" above funding "research" tells you a bit about their priorities.
* And our state governments are all about creating jobs for life - for their political class. Some of whom spend an entire lifetime on the seat while sucking at the teat.
* And speaking of politics - we have two opposing federal political leaders who have zero international experience - but who we allow to start wars overseas in our name - and who send our troops into harms way at the whim of every half-arsed US President.
* Our political class are so in love with the US that they pledged eternal loyalty years ago - without bothering to tell us. And now we can't escape that deadly embrace.
I am so outa here - and I am looking for your inputs to help me decide where I should go.
I won't get into the details here but 40 odd years of pisant, populist politics has so fcuked this place that there is just zero possibility for us to get back into the main game. Most of the rest of the region has already bypassed us and those countries that haven't will probably do so in the next decade.
You won't like them but here are just some of my gripes.
* Our national industry policy appears to have been developed by a kindergarten class out in the burbs of Canberra. Because there is zero recognition of the need to resource, build and develop any smart industries that employ people - or which add any value.
* We have all been encouraged to think that the path to happiness and wealth is by owning a double priced McMansion in suburbia. And we encourage every high-school dropout to spend their life's work - jerry building them. What an enormous waste.
* We won't put our effort into a small business - because we know it will be trampled by a monopolist big business - so our investments are all around buying and selling real estate. All supported by the biggest tax scam in history - "negative gearing".
* Australian's who earn real money - work at digging holes and shipping dirt overseas. They fly-in and they fly-out and think they are the new upper class. Our entire national infrastructure is dedicated to supporting their day jobs.
* As a result almost no-one these days has been educated beyond high-school - or if they have then it's a lightweight little degree that was on special somewhere - or found under the flap of a weet-bix packet.
* The Reserve Bank's main job is to keep the housing bubble inflated - and if Uncle Glenn ever took his eye off the ball - then our "national wealth" would disappear down the plughole faster than a Collins Class submarine in "dive mode".
* The Government's main job is to distribute our hand-outs and to help us to acquire McMansions - it's all become a bit of a circular argument really.
* Our real thinking and design and science and engineering jobs disappeared years ago - as conservative politicians’ fcuked with the education system and did their best to ensure that Australian graduates were replaced with cheap 457 visa holders.
* And we acquire large imported 4wd's because we think they enhance our *status*. You probably don't want to hear what I think.
* Our entire population is obese and unhealthy. Because we are so poorly educated that we can't tell the difference between salt, sugar and essential vitamins and nourishment.
* We demonise asylum seekers who approach our shores seeking our protection. And then we send them off to detention hell for 5 years before allowing them to come back and join us at the pub or the footy.
* We have been conned into allowing expensive monopolies across all the touch points of our life. If it's not a government agency screwing us - then it is usually a bank or a supermarket or a retailer or a utility giving us the finger.
* About one eighth of our people live below the poverty line - but that is OK because they are too poor to be of any value to our political or media classes - so no-one gets to hear much about them.
* And BTW, our media is also fcuked. Mostly our so-called journalists can't work out how they lost their influence - and so they have reverted to even more outrageous and made-up faux BS each day. Seriously, have you watched morning television recently?
* That our federal government values a budget "surplus" above funding "research" tells you a bit about their priorities.
* And our state governments are all about creating jobs for life - for their political class. Some of whom spend an entire lifetime on the seat while sucking at the teat.
* And speaking of politics - we have two opposing federal political leaders who have zero international experience - but who we allow to start wars overseas in our name - and who send our troops into harms way at the whim of every half-arsed US President.
* Our political class are so in love with the US that they pledged eternal loyalty years ago - without bothering to tell us. And now we can't escape that deadly embrace.
I am so outa here - and I am looking for your inputs to help me decide where I should go.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Ranny's nasty little legacy
Blue or red, Liberal or Labor - it doesn't seem to matter much - because South Australians often end up with repugnant laws - regardless of the colour or the marketing ideology of the political party that is in power.
And this particularly nasty law is just one of them. By any measure, the confiscation and selling or crushing of citizens vehicles - by the state goes completely against any concept of natural justice, personal rights and fairness.
Chris Kourakis is *so* right to oppose this.
This state government and their police force are terribly out-of-control.
What is particularly galling is that they have already had "world class" advice on how to deal with the road toll - and have just ignored it. If you missed it, the report is here.
This is one of the very nasty legacies of the Rann era. All because media Mike was finely tuned to the 20% of voters - mostly right wing geriatrics - who are Authoritarians and who would cheer him on when he beat up the "Bikies" and the "Hoons".
Who's next for some unwanted police attention - the grandma's and grandpa's who like a little bit of horizontal folk dancing on Saturday afternoons?
I wonder what they are all thinking now that Ranny's best mate Lance has been found to be a cheat? Are the police going to confiscate his bike - and crush it ;-)
It's a sick little state, Virginia.
And this particularly nasty law is just one of them. By any measure, the confiscation and selling or crushing of citizens vehicles - by the state goes completely against any concept of natural justice, personal rights and fairness.
Chris Kourakis is *so* right to oppose this.
This state government and their police force are terribly out-of-control.
What is particularly galling is that they have already had "world class" advice on how to deal with the road toll - and have just ignored it. If you missed it, the report is here.
This is one of the very nasty legacies of the Rann era. All because media Mike was finely tuned to the 20% of voters - mostly right wing geriatrics - who are Authoritarians and who would cheer him on when he beat up the "Bikies" and the "Hoons".
Who's next for some unwanted police attention - the grandma's and grandpa's who like a little bit of horizontal folk dancing on Saturday afternoons?
I wonder what they are all thinking now that Ranny's best mate Lance has been found to be a cheat? Are the police going to confiscate his bike - and crush it ;-)
It's a sick little state, Virginia.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Mobile Broadband - mostly crap
Spare a thought for regional Australian's who are trying to find reliable mobile broadband services beyond the boundaries of the big cities.
Where I am today - in a large regional centre not very far from a capital city - the mobile broadband services are - to use a technical term - *mostly crap*.
I have a variety of 3G devices (from Huawei and Sierra Wireless) registered with three of the local carriers (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone) - just so I can kid myself that one of them might actually work when the others don't.
Everyone will tell you that the Telstra service is the best performer in this space - but that is not my experience at all.
It is true that the Telstra Next G service is marginally faster than that of the competing 3G services. But it is terribly unreliable and just stops for minutes (sometimes hours) at a time - it even does this in the big cities. The other 3G services are much slower but they usually do keep going.
I am not technically knowledgeable about this gear - but it looks to me like the Telstra service is just hugely congested - and that is probably also true for the other carriers. I was in a Telstra shop today and the geek there was trying to sell me the new Telstra 4G service. From all accounts it is much better.
But - do I really need three 3G services and a 4G service - just so I can access the internet when I am away from home base?
I will probably acquire the 4G thingy - and it will probably be better for a while - but when that starts to slow down will they release something called 5G? And what will I then do with all my existing services and hardware?
Does anyone out there have any suggestions about how to deal with this problem?
Where I am today - in a large regional centre not very far from a capital city - the mobile broadband services are - to use a technical term - *mostly crap*.
I have a variety of 3G devices (from Huawei and Sierra Wireless) registered with three of the local carriers (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone) - just so I can kid myself that one of them might actually work when the others don't.
Everyone will tell you that the Telstra service is the best performer in this space - but that is not my experience at all.
It is true that the Telstra Next G service is marginally faster than that of the competing 3G services. But it is terribly unreliable and just stops for minutes (sometimes hours) at a time - it even does this in the big cities. The other 3G services are much slower but they usually do keep going.
I am not technically knowledgeable about this gear - but it looks to me like the Telstra service is just hugely congested - and that is probably also true for the other carriers. I was in a Telstra shop today and the geek there was trying to sell me the new Telstra 4G service. From all accounts it is much better.
But - do I really need three 3G services and a 4G service - just so I can access the internet when I am away from home base?
I will probably acquire the 4G thingy - and it will probably be better for a while - but when that starts to slow down will they release something called 5G? And what will I then do with all my existing services and hardware?
Does anyone out there have any suggestions about how to deal with this problem?
Friday, October 19, 2012
They are at it again
Over the past 42 years - the Liberal Conservatives in South Australia have been in charge for 12 years and the other team - the Labor Conservatives have run the State for 30 years. That's 2.5 to 1 in favor of Labor - not that it makes much difference.
You would imagine that those numbers would cause a little bit of reflection at Liberal Party HQ. But you would be wrong.
And one of the main reasons is because the South Australian Liberal Party has no idea how to win - and never has. They have no policies, no people of substance, no plan for the state, no idea where they are going or how they will get there. They are clearly a party of politicians who prefer opposition.
They think that they can constantly shuffle leaders and that will make them attractive to voters. All this in a state where large numbers of voters are naturally conservative - and would actually vote for the Liberal party - if the party and it's leaders had half a blue clue.
This is one of the most amazing "stuff-up's" in Australian political history. And the scariest thing is that their seat warmers in the State Parliament still don't get it.
Because next Tuesday they are at it again - to decide who their new *Leader* will be.
You would imagine that those numbers would cause a little bit of reflection at Liberal Party HQ. But you would be wrong.
And one of the main reasons is because the South Australian Liberal Party has no idea how to win - and never has. They have no policies, no people of substance, no plan for the state, no idea where they are going or how they will get there. They are clearly a party of politicians who prefer opposition.
They think that they can constantly shuffle leaders and that will make them attractive to voters. All this in a state where large numbers of voters are naturally conservative - and would actually vote for the Liberal party - if the party and it's leaders had half a blue clue.
This is one of the most amazing "stuff-up's" in Australian political history. And the scariest thing is that their seat warmers in the State Parliament still don't get it.
Because next Tuesday they are at it again - to decide who their new *Leader* will be.
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