May 21, 2009 • 8:01 am 0
Germaine Greer will speak at the Sydney Writers Festival tonight. Here’s a handy tip for those reactionary commentators, bloggers and letter-writers: anything she has to say about Australia is automatically dismissible and lacking in all credibility because she doesn’t actually live here. QED.
Oh, and she also likes younger men! Take that Germaine!
Filed under: Australian values, History, Humour, Media, Politics
May 16, 2009 • 8:42 am 2
Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull had an opportunity to score some political points on the Rudd Government’s 2009 Budget but decided to do a Nelson instead by announcing a tobaco tax policy stunt without consulting the Party room. Consequently, the media attention has been shifted from the Government to the Opposition, but not in a good way.
Bronwyn Bishop immediately declares that the tobacco tax is not a good idea. And it wasn’t a good idea, for it raised the contradiction in Turnbull’s stance of blocking the alcopop tax – a revenue-raising strategy that also discourages teenage binge drinking while reducing the cost on public health in the long term. Turnbull is offering a tax on the poor (the majority of tobacco users) to subsidise private health insurance for the wealthy. He then spent the day after his Budget Reply defending his tobacco tax, fending off questions about increasing tax on all alcohol products and his commitment to maintaining Medicare after suggesting that every Australian should have private health insurance! Way to put pressure on the Government Budget Big Spending!
On the other hand, maybe the whole thing was an elaborate strategy to enable Turnbull to back-flip on the alcopops tax and thus reduce the risk of a double dissolution, which no doubt has many back benchers gravely concerned for their parliamentary future. Brilliant! But it leaves the Opposition looking weak, divided, hypocritical and the electorate still confused about what they actually stand for.
Enter the cavalry! The only Liberal giving any idea what the Opposition stands for is former PM John Howard – Work Choices, a payroll tax holiday, more money to the States and less to individuals (well at least the non-wealthy ones). Well that’s cleared that up, then.
This is what happens when a party is internally divided and can’t come up with a policy platform – and ‘we would be tougher’ is not a policy – it’s an attitude that many interpret as screwing the less well off.
Well done Malcolm on a great week, and good luck with winning government in 2010!
The Force may not be with you.
Filed under: Economics, Howardians, Humour, Politics, Malcolm Turnbull
April 21, 2009 • 9:02 pm 1
No, we’re not going to politicise this tragic event. What…? Apparently we are. It’s clearly resulted from Rudd being soft on illegal immigrants. He lured those poor souls to their tragic deaths by making them think Australia is a soft touch.
So what would you instead?
Well… we’d be tougher. Bring back Temporary Protection Visas! What…? Or maybe not. We should look at it rationally and look carefully to see what works and what doesn’t. But it’s definitely Rudd’s fault.
Filed under: Howardians, Humour, Politics
January 10, 2009 • 2:11 pm 10
“The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.”
“I would suggest that this job is not made any easier by activist-journalists who deliberately set out to deceive…”
“The hoax is really just more misinformation from those who distrust science and is illustrative of the increasing blurring of the line between advocacy and science journalism.”
Jennifer Marohasy » Magazine Duped by anti-GM Activist – A Case of More of the Same
Oh, Jennifer, the irony!
Filed under: Environment, Humour, Media, Activism, Anti-Science, JenniferMarohasy, Windshuttle
March 15, 2008 • 12:39 pm 1
A conservative colleague sent me this anecdote explaining the true meaning of politics:
A little boy goes to his dad and asks, ‘What is Politics?’
Dad says, ‘Well son, let me try to explain it this way:
I am the head of the family, so call me The President.
Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government.
We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People.
The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class.
And your baby brother, we will call him the Future.
Now think about that and see if it makes sense.’
So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to
check on him.He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper.
So the little boy goes to his parent’s room and finds his mother
asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room. Finding the door
locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the
nanny.He gives up and goes back to bed.
The next morning, the little boy say’s to his father, ‘Dad, I think I
understand the concept of politics now.’The father says, ‘Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think
politics is all about.’The little boy replies, ‘The President is screwing the Working Class
while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and
the Future is in deep shit.
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