Who is this Election For?

Some 10% of the voting public you would have to say. The rest of us do not matter.

I would prefer to see much less on the 'tax cuts front' (except those earning under $2o,ooo a year who should pay no income tax) and most available money directed to the struggling service sector and decent infrastructure. Let alone, the work that needs to be done to face up to drought and climate change.

Australia has serious problems to deal with but we are reliant on these 'swingers'. Can you imagine being in a room with these people? The party focus groups must be excruciating. A real window into the psyche of moi, moi , moi.

Would you prefer a tax cut or see your granny on a hospital trolley for 2 days waiting for a bed. "I will take the tax cut because she has health care or probably doesn't want to live much longer anyway". Pass the Pretzels, please.

The system is really broken. We are living in a 'clotocracy'. All policy is filtered through the prism of some of the most dumb and venal. All of them working, at our ultimate expense, for the two major parties, tracking, the only ones that matter.

EAT AT JOE'S declares a fatwa against advertising executives, selling away our democracy, as if it were soap powder.

So No Worms Allowed in this Club ?

"With a name like National Press Club, you'd think it would be out there defending the free press and the rights of the media. Instead, it rolled over supinely when John Howard said you've got to ban the worm. That was the problem last night. The Press Club was started by journalists but it's become a haven for PR people, log-rollers (and) real estate agents. It's forgotten what it's supposed to stand for. They should be condemned."

Nice work/words from Laurie Oakes!

Congratulations, as well, to Glenn Milne, vice-president of NPC, who looks to be the only commentator to have given Howard a victory in The Great Debate. And was he the bloke that pulled the plug on worm power?

Political Droppings

I have been reliably informed, since cleaning the sand out of the sedan, after the recent fishing trip, that an election has been called for Australia. Indeed, the country has been thrown into caretaker mode. It got me to thinking how great it would be if we lived in a democracy and rabbits.

Some members of The Chaser Team joined our glorious leader on his morning walk. Boy, was he grumpy. He has never shown any sign of a sense of humour but reckons that they are "a lot funnier when they pick on someone who is alive". Since Howard is technically still alive, men dressed up as rabbits, chasing him, and wondering when he is going to "pull a rabbit out of the hat", is actually very funny because he is such a natural straightman. Video and story.

Funnier still is Chasers' "top blokes after death" that stirred up a bi partisan squirm. Neither of our prospective leaders could cop it. It has to be some of the most edgy, clever, satire you will see.

Blog Back.

Back again with a tip for the election date and a potpourri of thoughts concerning politics and society. First up, I noticed this report in The Age a while back. Chip Goodyear couldn't resist a little crack at the great unwashed as he headed back Stateside with a big bag of loot after years at the top of the now BHP Billiton tree. Apparently, Australians just don't realise how bloody good they have it.

"I read the papers complaining about health care this, or something else, but the facts are that it's a very high quality of life in Australia and the vast majority of people around the world could only dream of the opportunities that they have here," he said.

One thing I am quite certain about is that he has very little to complain about... "when he leaves the country after nine years — five of them as BHP's chief executive — he will be carting home a shareholding worth close to $60 million. His share rewards are in addition to his annual base salary and cash awards, which in the 2007 financial year were $2.03 million and $1.72 million respectively".

Thanks Chip, the peasants are grateful for all you haven't given us. Next time I sit in emergency, waiting 8 hours for a bed, I will try not to moan so much.

Here we are still in perpetual election mode. Obviously the running of government is a pretty slack job. The wheels just keep turning, though our P.M. and Ministers are on the road all the time, and have been for over a year. And fools keep making a case for them being underpaid. The money being spent every day on election propaganda, dressed up as community service announcments, is scandalous. Bushfire Bill a blog commentator has put his finger on the great "heist".

"Howard is not failing to call the election because there is so much more pork to hand out to his cronies. This includes the “information” ad campaign. It doesn’t matter if it fails. The moolah will have been paid out - at full freight - just in time for the discounts to the party to arrive, come the campaign. The cronies are minting money and it’s all coming from our taxes… pissed up against the wall.

He still needs a parliamentary session to lock in some legislation (nuclear waste disposal, anybody?) that will bind a future Labor government or force it to pay millions, if not billions in reparations to the cronies. forget nuclear power. That’s a trojan horse. The aim is to get the ancilliary industries up and running. The rest is diversion (which many are falling for by arguing about the siting of power plants).

The aim is not to win the election. That might be a bonus, but it’s not of paramount importance. The aim is to shovel out as much money as possible into the hands of urgers, sycophants, business cronies, advertising gurus and suchlike. It will all be repaid whether or not the Libs win… after the election… and in private, in the form of jobs for the boys, consultancies, positions on various boards, discounts to the party on election campaign ads, donations to the party and backdoor deposits to Swiss bank accounts.

The aim isn’t to grease the palms after the election. They’re already being greased, and plenty. What we are seeing is one of the biggest heists in Australian history, right in front of our noses."

Sums things up you would have to say.

A diversion next to the speech made by John Buchanan at politics in the pub which apparently made everything he has said or done since totally without value. I would have liked to have heard more.

Now for the election date prediction stolen from Damien Kingsbury who really seemed very confident about it. December 3rd with a visit to Yaralumla in the next few days to save a return of parliament, next week. And a special thanks to Bilegrip Admin for their kind words and always compelling blog.