http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-worlds-10-happiest-countries/2013/05/31/fb519bfa-c86f-11e2-8da7-d274bc611a47_gallery.html?tid=ts_carousel#photo=1

Under constant attack from a weirdo biased media lead by the merde-och press, one could feel ashamed of voting Labor if one did not know better. First, no-one is perfect and to expect perfection from our pollies is pure folly.

At least, despite some shortcomings, Labor largely protects us from being the most selfish people on earth as well as being 'the happiest" (see above)... The conservatives with the support of the main-stream media are selling the illusion that we could even be happier... When one looks at the devilish details of their ugly push for power, one can see that floggings would be a-coming — while sense and social responsibility would go out of the window to be replaced by narcissistic selfish individualism in which trampling people over in order to try and climb the ladder of richness would be the new norm, "all offset" by charity to give our heart the glow of self-righteousness and amuse the down-trodden, while we push their head in the mud...

One thing for sure, when a labor party is in for re-election, business ALWAYS put the brakes on investments in a bid to punish Labor no matter how good Labor is. When a Liberal (conservative) government is on for re-election business ALWAYS boots investments as to give more cred to a lousy performance. Obvious...

Meanwhile, Independent Australia has an article that seems to promote the idea of selling off the ABC to private enterprise. I hope it's done in jest... though at the end it calls for sheer improvements:

The challenge is before those who want to retain publicly-funded news and current affairs to demonstrate that they can be independent and impartial. They were once. They are not now.

Despite appearances the ABC has sold off to right wing opinionators and the merde-och slant, it is still obliged by its charter to be "balanced"... Thus we're getting 50 per cent crap in support of the conservative, but we are not getting the balancing 50 per cent for the other side. So why not? I believe opinionators for social justice and Labor policies have gone weak at the knees for fear, of ridicule or of reprisal from the the merde-och led media that has been so effective to make them despise Labor's small faults, instead of seeing the great work Labor is doing...

 

Please, don't push for a sell off the ABC, PLEASE!... The major problems at the ABC came from the Chadwick inquisition instituted by John Howard and his puppy Mark Scott...

I believe that Mr Chadwick has left by now and that proper news reporters are breathing a bit more fresh air but are still watching their backs... More Remedies are needed to fix the "unbalanced" problem that this crazy unit posed for decent ABC journalists....  For  example it seems for a few years under Chadwick, the concept of global warming could not be raised without balancing it off with 50 per cent denialism, while 97 per cent of climate scientists were in agreement with the theory... 

 

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/business/media-2/abcs-furdoch-news-blows-case-for-public-funding/

 

There is no shame in voting Labor, while voting for the coalition would be a complete sell-out of our better selves... Vote Green if you must...

A Nicolle Flint — a 

PhD student at Flinders University and an "Age columnist" who has previously worked as an adviser to Liberal leaders and is a member of the Liberal Party —

tells us that "Abbott is the thinking person's prime minister", then goes on to say we should also want a prime minister who demonstrates depth of compassion and sensitivity...

 

To those who don't know much here, Tony goes "pollie pedal for charity" and send the government the bill for expenses... Thus he is a compassionate man....

But when REAL issues like the asylum seekers' boats come along, Tonicchio shows as much compassion as the Atlantikwall...

 

When it comes to health and/or asbestos, he's got the charm of a pile of fibro-rubbish.

 

When it comes to workers, Tony Abbott has got the whip-hand of a slave master.

 

When it comes to economic solutions, he's got the banks and the rich-fellows on his bleeding heart.

 

When it comes to the NBN, he follows orders from Uncle Rupe to sabotage the project.

 

When it comes to global warming, his "direct action" policy is abominably costly is highly ineffective. Tony Abbott does not believe in global warming. He does not know much about it except what is fed to him by Andrew Bolt and Cardinal Pell. Ninety nine per cent of the Liberals don't want to know about global warming...

 

In regard to "abortion" a compassionate issue raised by Nicolle, Tony Abbott is no more than a low rent moralisationer...

 

In short, for anyone with a brain — the REAL "thinking person" — Tony Abbott should be the pits of a choice for prime minister... Not only that, Tony Abbott has shown time and time again that he lies... 

The misogyny speech by Prime Minister Gillard was correct. Tony had just accused her of being misogynist for supporting (which she was not, she was following parliamentary protocol) Peter Slipper who had made some PRIVATE mild derogatory remarks about female genitalia... And for goodness sake TONY ABBOTT had been A FRIEND OF PETER SLIPPER for yonks and was best man at his wedding... or such. But it seems Tony Abbott has been part of a conspiracy to rubbish Peter Slipper as much as possible to the point a court judge said that the case against Slipper was POLITICALLY MOTIVATED, in which of course BROUGH was involved...

 

TONY ABBOTT IS UNFIT TO BE WHERE HE IS. 

And Nicolle adds that if Rudd and Prime Minister Julia Gillard wish to continue to fight this election playing the man not the ball, by tackling the person not the policy, then let's assess Abbott on this basis. Let's ask ourselves what sort of person we want to govern our nation?

 

ACTUALLY, DESPITE THE BAD PRESS, JULIA GILLARD IS FAR MORE COMPASSIONATE THAN TONY ABBOTT...

In fact, Julia Gillard rarely played the man, while the reverse has been the case — Abbott and the Liberals (conservatives) play the woman ALL THE TIME — but one thinking person should know that Tony Abbott's loony policies would not only be bad for this country and that they are completely hypocritical and built on lies...

 

TONY ABBOTT IS NOT FIT TO BE PRIME MINISTER DESPITE ALL THE COAT OF GLOSS PAINTED ON HIM BY THE MAD MASS MEDIA... including Nicolle...

 

 

 

The Gillard government oversaw the smallest increase in cost of living of any Australian government for at least 25 years despite the introduction of the carbon tax, a new study has found.
Moreover, Australian households have seen real incomes - disposable income minus cost of living increases - rise 15 per cent since just after Labor took office, giving the average household a $5324 a year boost, or $102 a week.

The results of the survey by the University of Canberra's national centre for social and economic modelling go much of the way to answering the question Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has asked repeatedly throughout the election campaign: ''Are we better off than we were six years ago?''
The answer, at least in terms of family incomes, is an emphatic ''yes'' according to the centre's research. Since Labor took power, the ''standard of living'' - the centre's term for rises in disposable income subtracted by cost of living increases - has risen 2.6 per cent a year, the exact same average annual increase as during the 11 years of the Howard government.

During the first Rudd term, the cost of living rose 3.3 per cent each year but disposable incomes were up almost 6 per cent over the same period. During Ms Gillard's term, from 2010 to June 2013 (when the latest data was available), the cost of living rose 1.6 per cent while disposable income rose 4.2 per cent.
Treasurer Chris Bowen said: "Labor's world-recognised management of the economy through the GFC has flowed through to households.''

The Coalition has made easing cost of living pressures a central theme of the election campaign, with Mr Abbott, his senior colleagues and Coalition candidates regularly mentioning their determination to remove the carbon tax as a boon for families. The tax's axing will raise annual family incomes by as much as $500, the Coalition says.

Over the past year, there was a strong jump in electricity and gas prices as utilities rose almost 14 per cent, in part because of the carbon tax. There were also strong increases in housing (up 5.7 per cent) due to rising council rates, health (up 6 per cent) and education (up 5.5 per cent).

But these items account for less than 15 per cent of household expenditure.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/life-is-much-better-under-labor-after-all-says-study-20130830-2sw8l.html#ixzz2dUU0GT8H

See toon at top... And this feat was achieved during a very trying Global Financial Crisis that sunk the economies of Europe and the USA.

 

 

Australia is the 18th happiest country in the world, according to a report released this week.

Gallup Inc conducted interviews with around 1,000 people in 138 countries, aged 15 and over, to see if they laughed, smiled, felt respected, experienced enjoyment or felt well rested the day before.

The results were then tabled in a global positive experience index.

Overall, the world is the happiest it has been since Gallup began tracking positive emotions eight years ago.

The global positive experience index was 71 out of 100

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-23/australia-the-worlds-18th-happiest-country/5471108

We wuz first! Now we're down to 18!!! Hell... All this due to Tony Abbott's crap!. See toon and story at top.

 

The Danes’ reign as the happiest nation on Earth has been usurped by Switzerland, but the Nordic nations still take up half of the top 10 places on an exhaustive and increasingly influential index of global wellbeing.

In the third World Happiness Report, now encompassing 158 nations, Denmark has slipped to third, behind both the Swiss and Iceland, with Norway, Finland and Sweden also near the top. The UK is 21st, once place higher than the second edition, in 2013.

 

The study, edited by a group of international academics, including the celebrated US economist Jeffrey Sachs and Richard Layard, head of the Well-Being Programme at the London School of Economics, ranks countries by a series of factors, some nationally determined, for example GDP per capita and healthy life expectancy. Others are worked out through information gathered via the Gallup World Poll, a vast system of surveys that began in 2005 and now covering more than 160 countries.

The idea of assessing population by contentment rather than just wealth has proved influential, and is promoted by both the United Nations, whose Sustainable Development Solutions Network publishes the index, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

While the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan remains best known for its “gross national happiness” credo, David Cameron was another pioneer, in 2010 instructing the Office for National Statistics to collate data on contentment.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/23/swiss-reign-supreme-in-world-happiness-ranks

 

Of course Australia has fallen off the perch (seen toon at top) as our illustrious Turd-in-Chief made sure that this country was all gloom and doom. Despite some people disliking Julia, the economy — and the happiness index — was going somewhat much better than under this lying lot of turds in government. Of course my predictions in early 2013 were 100 per cent accurate, unlike the BoM with the weather...

See also:  if it quacks like a duck and poops like a duck, it could be a robot...

 

 

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

IN LIGHT OF RECENT news, Australia has once again been confirmed as the greatest place on Earth. The announcement was made earlier today during a gala event in Washington D.C. hosted by out-going ambassador Kim Beazley. Australia was found to be the greatest place on the planet by a number of independent research groups, which polled people on various topics on topics ranging from economic policy to international relations.

read more: http://www.betootaadvocate.com/uncategorized/recent-world-news-confirms-australia-as-best-place-on-earth/

 

Meanwhile:

CLIVE PALMER HAS become only the fourth Member of Parliament to climb Mount Kosciuszko while in office. Doing it for charity, Mr Palmer said it was easy to make time. However, rather than don the snow boots or hiking shoes, the 61-year-old opted to ascend the nation’s highest peak in his late model Bentley Flying Spur. In the summer months, it’s possible to drive up to Kosciuszko base camp. From the base camp, it’s only a matter of minutes to the summit.

read more: http://www.betootaadvocate.com/uncategorized/clive-palmer-conquers-grueling-mount-kosciuszko-climb-in-bentley/

Gus: Oh, them snows-matching them glorious Clive Palmer's hair... See toon at top... Today, the second of October, is seeing the start of summer though we're not even halfway through spring... Inner Sydney is enjoying a weather way above average temperature, clear skies and the promise of rain within six months. Mind you up north in central Queensland the drought continues and is entering its fourth year. Meanwhile hurray, HURRAY, our little dope who never understood the problem of global warming is gone... Tony Abbott is gone ! Whoooosh...! GONE ! Now we can or should address this major problem scientists call global warming... Combined with a strong El Nino, it is likely to make Sydney's summer a scorcher... Beautiful skies and hot weather that will kill a lot of old people... But they would not have it any other ways... Dying in paradise, in an air conditioned retirement village on the North Shore, is the way to go...

And by the way, don't forget that the Beetota Advocate is a satirical blog...

 

Many people think that democracy is the right system in terms of being fairer and delivering the best outcomes for people, but does it actually make us happier?

Dr Matthew Beard, an ethicist and moral philosopher from the Ethics Centre, has looked closely at the issue by correlating three indexes on happiness, wellbeing and democracy.

Dr Beard used the Economists Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index report, published in 2016, which ranked different nations based on how democratic they were.

The index scored each country based on their electoral process, how well the government functioned, the level of political participation, political culture, and people's civil liberties.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-17/democracy-does-it-make-us-happy/83...

 

See toon at top...

 

...

Another reviewer on the site described the Grand Canyon as “nothing special” while one dismissed the Sydney Opera House as a “silly damned egg carton”.

In fact, nowhere in the world seems to be above a one-star review on TripAdvisor. One visitor to the Louvre – who explained they had finally made it to the Parisian gallery after 30 years – described it as: “Not very interesting at all.”

A past survey of travel agents by Thomas Cook and Abta revealed more tourist complaints. “On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food at all,” said one. “Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined, as my husband spent all day looking at other women,” said another.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/shortcuts/2018/sep/23/theres-a-rock-o...

 

Read from top.

From Annabel Crabb

...

Loneliness, crime, job security, getting older; all cost the wealthy less sleep than those who earned $599 a week or less, and the only factor that was more of a problem at the top end of town was work/life balance.

Voting for the Coalition, it seems, is another way of staying positive about life.

Not only were LNP voters the most likely to endorse Australia as the most liveable country in the world, but they were also the most optimistic grouping in the political spectrum about Australia's future.

In fact, the most optimistic electorate in Australia for the nation's future is Cook — the south-Sydney coastal seat named for Captain James Cook, which for the past five elections has returned the man who presently serves as Prime Minister — Scott Morrison.

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2019/guide/cook

——————————


Come on Annabel, be a bit more astute… or flag your sarcasm a bit bit better if it was sarcasm…. The most enlightened electorate isn’t Cook… Yes yes yes, we know, Ignorance is bliss. And you just confirmed that. 

Cook is an electorate of mostly privileged whitey commuters from law firms, of oil-middle-execs, advertising accountants (like Scummo) and of coal burning evangelical bourgeois who fight tooth-and-nail against scientific knowledge as they watch the Games of Throne on Netflix and go to their singing Pentecostal pantomimes on Sundays — entertaining their sheltered lives with fire-ban defying barbecues in leafy estates from which all the koalas have been chased away or road-killed and where global warming isn’t happening. 
----------------------
And not all “Cookians" support our devious idiot Scummo.

First preferences


Liberal    Scott Morrison (MP)    Vote: 63.7%

Labor Party    Simon O’Brien    Vote: 23.1%

Greens    Jon Doig    Vote: 6.8%

One Nation   Gaye Cameron    Vote: 3.5%


At least the enlightened One Nation candidate, Gaye Cameron, had the courage to recommend preferences to Labor before Scottus Morrisonus...

etc. Read from top.

A decade ago, Australia was lauded worldwide for its accomplishments and today it is condemned for its racism, selfishness and corruption, says Alan Austin.

THERE WAS NO question which the world’s most admired country in 2011. Australia’s achievements included:

• The world’s highest median wealth, according to Credit Suisse;
• The greatest economic freedom in the OECD, according to the Heritage Foundation;
• 20 years of continuous GDP growth, alone in the developed world;
• Triple A credit ratings with all three global agencies for the first time in history;
• A jobless rate down to 4.92% in June, among the lowest five in the OECD and a level not achieved since;
• The Australian dollar hit a 30-year high of 1.095 U.S. dollars;
• The world’s best Treasurer, according to other global finance ministers;
• Australia’s first carbon pricing scheme was enacted, thereby joining the world on climate action; 
• Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s speech to the U.S. Congress was interrupted six times for standing ovations, ten times for seated applause and received a record three-minute standing ovation at the end; and
• Australia was nominated at the 2011 G20 leaders’ summit to chair the G20.

That’s the top ten. There were plenty more. ANU astrophysicist Brian Schmidt won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics; Samantha Stosur won the U.S. Open; and Sally Pearson was named IAAF world athlete of the year. It was a great year for global recognition. It's a pity that so few successes were reported in Australia.

Fast forward one decade and Australia is now condemned globally for its abject failures on more than ten substantial issues.

 

Read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australia-slides-from-worlds-greatest-country-to-pariah--in-just-ten-years,14825

 

See toon at top...

 

See also: learn aussie values...in it feels as though there’s a quiet desperation about it...

In the Daily Telegraph today (05/04/2022) there is a double page advert for Peta Credlin's show on FOXTEL...

One would suspect that the NeoConnasse supports the NeoCons and the right-wing idiots and vice-versa. 

One should be frightened from this Murdoch assault on the intelligence of the voters. The Advert seems to be about the political machinations below the closed doors of the ScoMo sinking ship. I hope you won't watch the show, because you can assume the angles of this explosive puff piece...

To start with, the Neoconnasse quotes her most famous puppet, Tony Abbott, the moron of past prime ministership who has the gall to tell us we should be better... Fuck! He's the one who destroyed our betterness! See toon at top. 

abbott

 

The next blurt is by the guy who invented Brexit, Nigel Farage,... who is "horrified" by what is happening here...

 

But the most insidious piece of Neoconnery is from Karl Rove... to tell us the amount of information to stuff up our vote is staggering... So Peta will tell you how to simplify your choice and vote for the ScoMo mob, after having ventured into "mean girls" territory... or some small potatoes... all designed to make you vote for Dunny ScoMo... Unless she wants you to vote for Labor... (JOKE).... But I don't think so: see in the advert, ScoMo is placed a good two centimetres higher than Albanese... (I worked in print advertising and I know the psychological tricks)

 

peta

 

READ FROM TOP....

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!