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Dear Penny Wong
Hope I can call you Penny. You see I think of you as a kind of political representative of mine. I mean, I know you’re not geographically my representative, but since you are in charge of climate change and water I sort of feel that you are representing the people in Australia who care about those things. We are your constituents. So I hope you won’t mind me (a) calling you Penny and (b) giving you some advice.
See I read the other day that you had pretty much given up on the Murray River. What can you do you seemed to be asking. Washing your hands (if only there was water to do so) of the whole thing. Sending in the bulldozers to open up the Coorong to the sea. I get that, I mean this is a real Penny’s choice situation isn’t it? Let acidity destroy the Coorong Lakes or flood them with salt water and destroy them. Continue Reading »
Tags: climate change , energy , environment , labor , penny wong Comments (0)
Mission Unaccomplished
WSJ’s Peggy Noonan says, “It strikes me lately, when the President talks about the economic crisis, that he seems like a commentator upon the crisis as opposed to the leader in the crisis. There is the sense that he is watching it saying we need to do something, as opposed to we will do something”.
Today, though it’s not particularly relevant anymore, Gallup poll has his approval rating at 27% (his lowest, ever). Crawford must seem like a long way away…
Tags: Uncategorized , george w bush , iraq , media , us politics Comments (0)
Fairfax suggests Wall St can be saved by fashion
Either ‘quality journalism’ is back on life support at Fairfax or The Financial Crisis is far worse than we ever imagined. I’m not an economist but I don’t see how Hank Paulson wearing a dress will help get US$700 billion passed through Congress:
Tags: business , online media , us politics Comments (0)
Only $2 million to find out what you think of wife bashing?
Federal Labor certainly knows how to spend your tax dollars. Minister for Women Tanya Plibersek has announced the Rudd Government will provide $2 million to commission a national survey of community attitudes relating to violence against women. One can only imagine what the results will be…. is this one of those surveys which if you agree you are satisfied with the current standard of domestic violence, a non-domestic violence unit will be around to your place pronto for some re-education?
Apparently, amongst all the other promises during the 2007 election campaign, Kevin Rudd promised a ‘comprehensive high school education program to help young men to develop respectful relationships’. So 12 months later we have a survey which will ‘enable the Government to benchmark community attitudes and progress of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children‘. Clocks ticking…. let me guess, next year will see the formulation of a plan and a few pilot programs, followed six to twelve months later by a review to confirm whether Australian’s are still opposed to violence and sexual assault against women. Then, in say early 2010, Labor will announce the launch of a national program to commence just after the next federal election!
Plibersek has outlined the strategy against violence and sexual assault. It consists of:
- supporting victims of violence; (what was the previous strategy? Play good cop/bad cop with victims of violence?)
- ensuring that the legal system is effective; (Whoa, hang on! Is that like, accept the decisions of the court unless you don’t like the decision?)
and
- reducing the cycle of violence for future generations. (Sweet, I was worried this would be the first announcement by Labor not to include a motherhood statement).
Tags: Uncategorized , family first , kevin 24/7 , kevin rudd , labor Comments (0)
The Boss of Me Now
Can I do it? Can I? Here goes then - two weeks ago I agreed with Tony Abbott about something.
There, I’ve done it. But, I hastily add, I agree with his diagnosis not his prescription. Tony said that apart from the signing of Kyoto and the “Sorry” speech, the Rudd government has either done nothing or followed Howard policies. I agree, although for reasons diametrically opposed to those of Mr Abbott (can’t keep calling him Tony, feels … wrong), who undoubtedly thinks that Rudd should just announce that he IS continuing all the Howard policies and get it over with. In fact I would go further, and suggest that Rudd is not only carrying out Howard policies but has adopted the Howard persona - the angry red-faced Boss, the workplace bully, all stick and no carrot, my way or the highway, and if you don’t like it get another job. Continue Reading »
Tags: Uncategorized , kevin rudd , labor Comments (0)
A Cause For Celebration
It’s sometimes hard to process all of the different issues swirling about us in the world today. Trying to make sense of religion, and politics, and economics, entertainment, art, celebrity, the nature of good and evil. Such a bewildering array of information sources assail us today, giving contradictory views. It can induce intellectual and moral paralysis to make any attempt to discern the right way to think and to act.
With that in mind, it is a sweet and refreshing change when a development comes along that relieves us of the ambivalence and doubt plaguing our every step, and crystallises everything elegantly and beautifully.
So thank God, say I, for the news that on Wednesday some scientists are going to turn on a machine that will destroy the world.
The Large Hadron Collider is set to make all our worries and cares wonderfully irrelevant. So let’s all sit back and relax.
Cross-posted at BPWWOO.
Tags: Uncategorized Comments (0)
Miranda Devine on Palin: Like a cyborg created in Republican Party headquarters
Apparently that’s a good thing. In recent days, Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine have predictably filed their, how dare those feminists disapprove of Sarah Palin…. she is a woman (and Feminist for Life)! Such a detailed and rich analysis of the sapient behaviour of the female brain is too extensive for the limited space available here. It’s not the last time we will be reading that criticism of Palin is sexist.
Perhaps Devine has revealed something more though, and Sarah Palin wasn’t the first in the GOP production line.
Tags: Uncategorized , culture wars , gender , george w bush , john mccain , online media , us politics Comments (0)
Enjoy a tasty hot cup of Obama
In the spirit of democracy and promotional opportunities, Campos Coffee has launched an exciting new flavour for the discerning drinker, ‘looking for change’: The Obama Blend.
I don’t know a cup of joe which can match this: “Great depth of character, strong, and eloquent. This very appealing blend unites coffees from Africa and the Americas to produce a cup which has gotten us excited. Formidable middle palate flavors, syrupy with an uplifting finish. Excellent drink for going forward.
I think there should be more of this. International Roast could launch a new instant coffee flavour, The Nelson Blend. ‘Pale, tepid and consistently watery. Inoffensive yet almost lacking any identifiable characteristics. Vanilla like middle flavors quickly overcome by somewhat rambling, Rainman-like aftertaste. Excellent for entertaining unwanted guests’
Tags: barack obama , brendan nelson , culture wars , media , online media , pop culture Comments (0)
Perhaps this Merits your Attention
News Corp has a seductive and zesty lure. I love sub editors committed to enraging persons of all political hues. Rudd to bring back compulsory uni fees runs the headline. Naturally, I began plotting his demise from within. I’d wear taupe, speak like a sensual middle manager and dazzle him with Power Point presentations before WHAM undoing his complex of deceit. And then, er, we note that this is actually a piece about union fees. Remember them? Howard abolished them in a valiant and manly effort to rid Australia of shady gay fifth columnists. Because, as we all know, union monies were invariably disbursed to the left. And those troublesome lacrosse teams. Anyhoo, anger abated for the morning. In fact, anger was supplanted by reminiscence for my own youthful embezzlement in the service of Stalin and ball games. And then in a contrasting report the SMH tells me that these union fees are off the agenda.
A girl is exhausted.
Tags: Uncategorized Comments (0)
Postcard from Beijing: One World One Scream
Apparently this image has not been Photoshopped:
Tags: china , culture wars , media , online media Comments (0)
