Or is it just my bullshit detector? The sudden ‘humanitarian’ decision of the Howard Government to send police and military troops to the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities this week is more than a little suspicious. Such a heavy handed response seems excessive and would never have been tolerated or supported by the Australian public. That is until the issue of child abuse came to light last week.
With the release of one report claiming widespread child abuse in ‘all’ Northern Territory communities the government has launched into action. Not with the provision of counsellors or health officials, but with police officers and soldiers.
If I was a more cynical man I might suggest that ‘child abuse’ was the perfect excuse and cover for the government to begin draconian measures to ‘clean up’ the Aboriginal population. After all, who would oppose measures aimed at stopping ‘child abuse’? Anyone remember 'children overboard'?
One can only speculate on Mr Howard’s true motivations. Perhaps we are due for another visit from the UN who have already been very critical of Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population? But then, that would suggest that the government cares about the UN’s opinion. Why should they? They ignored the UN’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq. And Mr Howard ignored them again when they asked for help in Sudan. So obviously they aren’t trying to help the aboriginal communities for the sake of international appearances.
And then I remembered ‘Gav’s Rule of Australian Politics’ which states that: “Government decisions are only made if someone stands to make a lot of money from said decision”.
I do seem to remember last year there were a lot of whispers about uranium mining and proposals for nuclear energy being floated. Where do they mine uranium? Oh that’s right, the Northern Territory. Why did they have problems mining it there before? Oh yeah, the aboriginal population who own the land opposed the mines.
Northern Territory, uranium mining, aboriginal land owners, child abuse claims, police and military intervention…? I’m not sure how those things could possibly fit together. Do you have any ideas?
Stay tuned.
*** Update! Evidence is surfacing. Read this.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Election Problems?
Oh great! It’s an election year. Once again it’s a complete farce but we are acting like we haven’t seen all this before.
John Howard is a great politician. However, I don’t admire him. In fact I hate him, but there’s no denying that he is a great politician. He knows exactly how to pull the strings and play the system to stay in power which is what politics is all about today.
The techniques the government use to stay in power are as transparent as a newly cleaned glass door. You know the ones. The glass doors you see on Funniest Home Videos that people keep walking into over and over again. Hilarious!
I’ve always believed that you will never go broke telling people what they want to hear. It seems that you will never lose power doing that either. The best bit about Australians is that they don’t even know what it is they want to hear so you can tell them that too.
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: You all should chase the ‘Great Australian Dream’. The ‘Dream’ of owning your own home. What? You don’t have enough money to buy a home? Here’s $7000 to get you going.
WHAT IT MEANS: For a small $7000 investment you have just given your mates in the banking industry a new customer. For $7000 you have convinced someone to take out a $300,000 mortgage. On top of that a new home needs furnishings. There’s an instant $40,000 worth of retail sales straight back into the economy. Nice work!
Suddenly the economy is booming and everyone is happy.
Of course we are talking about The Great Australian Dream and it is a dream. The problem with a dream is that somewhere down the line you have to wake up, probably to the sound of the bank foreclosing on you because you can’t keep up with the interest payments.
Losing your home is a scary prospect so you’ve also conveniently created a new bogeyman to keep people in line. Scare people into thinking that those interest rates that you tied them to may increase with a change of government. They’d better keep you in power. Nice huh? That’s like tying a rock to someone’s feet and dangling them over the edge of a river and then telling them that the ‘bad’ guys want to make the rock heavier, so stick with us.
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: The country needs more babies. Our population is in crisis. Here’s $6000 to have a baby.
WHAT IT MEANS: Babies are great consumers. From food to nappies to strollers and clothes. Once again for every $6000 investment you have instantly injected at least $15000 into the retail sector. Once again the balance sheets look great.
NB. In the past these sort of quick fix plans didn’t work because previously when people needed more money they asked for pay rises which caused inflation. Now we have credit cards and revolving lines of credit thanks to the very generous banking industry. So now all those extra retail sales just go on the credit card. ‘But that doesn’t add up’ I hear you ask and you are correct. Somewhere down the line such a system can’t be sustained, but by the time that happens Mr Howard will be long retired. So why should he care? (My previous post on the subject here)
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: You know that lovely home and child we helped you have? Guess what! Terrorists, Muslims, immigrants and home invaders want to take them away from you.
WHAT IT MEANS: Now you have even more leverage to get people to do what you want. A scared nation is a passive nation. If they are suspicious about their neighbours they won’t have time to be suspicious of you. Better still they will turn to you for protection. You can send troops to illegal wars in Iraq (I thought we had a ‘Defence’ force not an ‘Attack’ force) leaving you with ‘not enough troops’ to save the Sudanese who actually want our help.
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: We liberated East Timor and we are heroes.
WHAT IT MEANS: Now we can steal their oil and keep them poor. (Click here for more info)
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: We as a Government are facing annihilation at the next election.
WHAT IT MEANS: This is a call to arms to the ‘true believers’ (Thanks Paul) to make sure that they stay with you. You don’t want to lose your voter base. Swinging voters are less likely to vote for a party that looks like winning by a landslide and by suggesting that you need all the support you can get the people that voted for you last time may just stay on board and get you across the line. Australians always love an under-dog. Even if that dog has bitten you too many times before.
Mr Howard would never admit defeat so easily. He has more tricks up his sleeve. Over the past ten years he has stealthfully taken control of the government and wielded his influence over the spineless and share-market driven media to create a regime driven by money and conservative values. He may even believe that his ideals are best for the nation but it is far more likely that he is aiming for the history books. If he really had the nation’s interests at heart he’d know that he has stolen from the future to benefit today. When history is written it will show him to be a stubborn, merciless and vengeful leader who pandered to corporate interests to serve his own glory.
Don’t be fooled by a prosperous economy. The ‘trickle down’ effect is a myth and the current economic situation has been achieved by selling off the nation’s assets and future.
Would a Labor government do any better? Probably not. But that is not the point. ‘Better the devil you know’ is no longer an acceptable excuse. That is how John Howard has survived this long. In his acceptance speeches at every election he makes a point to say “I have a mandate to govern”. He doesn’t say “I know you aren’t happy with me, but thanks for voting me in again”. He says “You have just given me permission to do whatever I want. I choose to interpret your votes as support for my policies”. This is arrogant and inherently undemocratic but he gets away with it because we keep voting him in.
At the upcoming election please think carefully about your vote. I don’t care who you vote for but make sure you are voting for the future and not just for short term gains. This economic boom won’t last (It's called a boom for a reason). What happens when things aren’t going so well? There is no such thing as perpetual growth. The slump will come at some stage.
Be smart. Be prepared. Mr Howard won’t be there to hear you crying when you are drowning in debt. He won’t care that he put you there. In fact there’s every possibility that he will deliberately lose the election so that it will be Mr Rudd who has to take the blame.
Never forget that politicians lie. They even lie about the fact that they lie. Don’t trust them to look after your interests. If it sounds too good to be true, then you’re being screwed.
Your vote is all you have left in a diminishing democracy. Use it well.
John Howard is a great politician. However, I don’t admire him. In fact I hate him, but there’s no denying that he is a great politician. He knows exactly how to pull the strings and play the system to stay in power which is what politics is all about today.
The techniques the government use to stay in power are as transparent as a newly cleaned glass door. You know the ones. The glass doors you see on Funniest Home Videos that people keep walking into over and over again. Hilarious!
I’ve always believed that you will never go broke telling people what they want to hear. It seems that you will never lose power doing that either. The best bit about Australians is that they don’t even know what it is they want to hear so you can tell them that too.
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: You all should chase the ‘Great Australian Dream’. The ‘Dream’ of owning your own home. What? You don’t have enough money to buy a home? Here’s $7000 to get you going.
WHAT IT MEANS: For a small $7000 investment you have just given your mates in the banking industry a new customer. For $7000 you have convinced someone to take out a $300,000 mortgage. On top of that a new home needs furnishings. There’s an instant $40,000 worth of retail sales straight back into the economy. Nice work!
Suddenly the economy is booming and everyone is happy.
Of course we are talking about The Great Australian Dream and it is a dream. The problem with a dream is that somewhere down the line you have to wake up, probably to the sound of the bank foreclosing on you because you can’t keep up with the interest payments.
Losing your home is a scary prospect so you’ve also conveniently created a new bogeyman to keep people in line. Scare people into thinking that those interest rates that you tied them to may increase with a change of government. They’d better keep you in power. Nice huh? That’s like tying a rock to someone’s feet and dangling them over the edge of a river and then telling them that the ‘bad’ guys want to make the rock heavier, so stick with us.
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: The country needs more babies. Our population is in crisis. Here’s $6000 to have a baby.
WHAT IT MEANS: Babies are great consumers. From food to nappies to strollers and clothes. Once again for every $6000 investment you have instantly injected at least $15000 into the retail sector. Once again the balance sheets look great.
NB. In the past these sort of quick fix plans didn’t work because previously when people needed more money they asked for pay rises which caused inflation. Now we have credit cards and revolving lines of credit thanks to the very generous banking industry. So now all those extra retail sales just go on the credit card. ‘But that doesn’t add up’ I hear you ask and you are correct. Somewhere down the line such a system can’t be sustained, but by the time that happens Mr Howard will be long retired. So why should he care? (My previous post on the subject here)
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: You know that lovely home and child we helped you have? Guess what! Terrorists, Muslims, immigrants and home invaders want to take them away from you.
WHAT IT MEANS: Now you have even more leverage to get people to do what you want. A scared nation is a passive nation. If they are suspicious about their neighbours they won’t have time to be suspicious of you. Better still they will turn to you for protection. You can send troops to illegal wars in Iraq (I thought we had a ‘Defence’ force not an ‘Attack’ force) leaving you with ‘not enough troops’ to save the Sudanese who actually want our help.
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: We liberated East Timor and we are heroes.
WHAT IT MEANS: Now we can steal their oil and keep them poor. (Click here for more info)
WHAT YOU TELL THEM: We as a Government are facing annihilation at the next election.
WHAT IT MEANS: This is a call to arms to the ‘true believers’ (Thanks Paul) to make sure that they stay with you. You don’t want to lose your voter base. Swinging voters are less likely to vote for a party that looks like winning by a landslide and by suggesting that you need all the support you can get the people that voted for you last time may just stay on board and get you across the line. Australians always love an under-dog. Even if that dog has bitten you too many times before.
Mr Howard would never admit defeat so easily. He has more tricks up his sleeve. Over the past ten years he has stealthfully taken control of the government and wielded his influence over the spineless and share-market driven media to create a regime driven by money and conservative values. He may even believe that his ideals are best for the nation but it is far more likely that he is aiming for the history books. If he really had the nation’s interests at heart he’d know that he has stolen from the future to benefit today. When history is written it will show him to be a stubborn, merciless and vengeful leader who pandered to corporate interests to serve his own glory.
Don’t be fooled by a prosperous economy. The ‘trickle down’ effect is a myth and the current economic situation has been achieved by selling off the nation’s assets and future.
Would a Labor government do any better? Probably not. But that is not the point. ‘Better the devil you know’ is no longer an acceptable excuse. That is how John Howard has survived this long. In his acceptance speeches at every election he makes a point to say “I have a mandate to govern”. He doesn’t say “I know you aren’t happy with me, but thanks for voting me in again”. He says “You have just given me permission to do whatever I want. I choose to interpret your votes as support for my policies”. This is arrogant and inherently undemocratic but he gets away with it because we keep voting him in.
At the upcoming election please think carefully about your vote. I don’t care who you vote for but make sure you are voting for the future and not just for short term gains. This economic boom won’t last (It's called a boom for a reason). What happens when things aren’t going so well? There is no such thing as perpetual growth. The slump will come at some stage.
Be smart. Be prepared. Mr Howard won’t be there to hear you crying when you are drowning in debt. He won’t care that he put you there. In fact there’s every possibility that he will deliberately lose the election so that it will be Mr Rudd who has to take the blame.
Never forget that politicians lie. They even lie about the fact that they lie. Don’t trust them to look after your interests. If it sounds too good to be true, then you’re being screwed.
Your vote is all you have left in a diminishing democracy. Use it well.
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