Tuesday 26th of November 2024
Home » Blogs » Gus Leonisky's blog

look at me, look at me .....

look at me, look at me .....

Rudd's big fraud: all symbols & no substance …..

Right at the heart of the Rudd Government is an emptiness - a vacuum between the rhetoric and the reality; between the empathy and the action. 

All last year Kevin Rudd wandered around Australia, in and out of petrol stations, supermarkets and hospitals. He built the expectation that he could fix our problems - prices would be lower and waiting lists shorter. 

And when he wasn't doing that, he had Peter Garrett in tow with a couple of solar panels strapped to his back, ready to tell us about our new clean, green energy future.

And since election day we have had one grand symbol after another. Kyoto ratified, a Sorry statement, even a new promise to disarm the world of nukes to provide a theme for Rudd's latest overseas trip. 

But symbols without substance are a fraud. And while Rudd loves the spotlight, he appears blinded by the harsh light of the reality of Government.

Far from reducing petrol prices, Rudd has FuelWatch, a scheme his own expert departments say will reduce competition and put prices up. Far from greening Australia, Rudd has destroyed the solar panel industry by slashing the Howard government rebate. 

Rudd's Big Fraud: All Symbols & No Substance 

----------------

Gus: so far you were travelling fine, hard into the wind, Malcolm. But then you ask the loaded question:

Why has Australian consumer confidence taken a greater dive than after the September 11 attacks in 2001

Gus: With your fluttering answer you joined the gangsters of the Howardian era.  

The true answer lies in the fact that people have been burnt by rising interest rates, mostly brought on by the policies of the Howard government, some due to international dynamics.  

The people have been burnt by banks being troubled by shonky deals on sub-prime real estate in the US. People have seen their superannuation vaporised by the greed of the hedgers...  

The answer also lies in the fact that for too many years the Howard government was surviving on illusions that could not be sustained, including puffing up the real estate prices in this country.  

The answer lies in the fact that Rudd has inherited a country in which the Howard government became "debts free" and profited by shifting enormous social and public services "consumerism" debt onto the public at large.

The fact is that despite a few gaff-tape fix, the Howard government did not plan for the future except for more revenue collection.  

The fact that growth at all cost, as promoted by the Howard government, is not sustainable.  

The fact is that the international economic climate is in the doldrums and is worse than in Australia.  

The fact that the price of petrol is going through the roof is an indirect way for the entire world to pay for the illegal war waged in Iraq by Bush, Blair and Howard. Had John Howard stayed on, his continuing fluffy smart rhetoric would have sunk us further below the credibility and "moral" factors.  

Sure the situation in Iraq is slowly improving. Not so much due to the jackboot surged efforts of the US but mostly due to the resilience and will of the Iraqi people who are very nervous about the US pimping them to the big oil companies. Today the US has lost 7 troops nonetheless... 

And the worse thing that the US did, was to print more money to throw into the ill-wind...  

The $150 billion slush from the Fed Bank was mopped up quickly by the vultures, while the "market" still remains soft in the centre and on the edges (or hedges)... Now they are taking measures to help the bottom dwellers which should have been the first step to take, a step that would have helped the higher echelons of the social structure, without appearing to be a direct throw — to the rich band of usurers who got their fingers singed by a bit too much greed — like that first $150 billion was... 

It takes a long time for the disastrous momentum of confidence trick played on the Australian people by the Howard government to be arrested and restructured into a more solid proud foundation.  

Consumer confidence is often a dirty trick played on the moral value of a society. Should our heart be dark and black when our wallets are full of stolen moneys or should we be light of spirit from washing off the stains of war and acknowledging past sins while being less able to "consume" because of factors mostly outside our control?

Sure, the Rudd government has to do better and can do better, especially on the solar panel industry... But so far, the mistakes are few and that of a bean counter. Global warming is the oncoming train in our pathway and anything that can reduce the impact should be encouraged. Possibly Rudd is getting the same rotten advice from bureaucrats that were giving advice to John Howard... ? 

Keep the fight and spin like a wind vane as you wish, Malcolm, but do not give us the triple somersault with pike and a twist that only a Howard could do with "magic": "We" could not see the strings, but strings that could tie up a Tampa there were.

Enshrine it

There is debate at the moment to formalise polygamy in this country. Not a debate really.

I'm all in favour of it, but with an upper limit of ten males for a woman and ten women for a male. Other ratios such as five males for six women, or two women for nine men would apply as long as the happy married union does not go above eleven (GST adjusted). One needs to be reasonably abstemious pass this number. One needs to manage one's health via moderation...
Furthermore, I would allow the trading of wives and hubbies on the usual circuits: net,Trading Post, SMH and Paddy's Markets.
Say, a young wife would be worth about 20 camels, while an old one would sell for no more than a dead one (camel that is).
an ugly one could fetch five to 12 camels should she be a good breeder.
A hunk of a young male could sell for half-a-Merc or a souped-up Skyline while an old male would fetch a used wheelbarrow, tops. Anyone with a Lexus let me know. I would trade it for a Hilux and a good woman.

Of course under-age marriages have to be allowed under section 2b of act III, of pedophiliac exclusion (article 7.3)

In the interest of maintaining other good traditions from Gustaphiania, I would also ratify slavery. My ancestors were slave traders since Biblical times and we do not want to see this noble merchant craft disappear.

I would lobby the authorities to allow the hacking of hands in juste retribution, such as those of my next door neighbour because he robbed me blind the other day and this is the treatment reserved for such callous characters in Leoniskia (adjacent country to Gustaphiania, where my pseudo-grand mother came from). So there.

While the iron is hot, may as well include child labour too. Although some ten year olds can unofficially play with extraordinary dexterity by operating the tills at your local corner store, for years, anti-child labour laws has deprived this country of a fantastic economic benefit, especially in the porn and salt-mine industries.

Of course the removal of pleasurable genitalia would have to be mandatory in these new freedom laws to satisfy the Gods of Preecks, adjusted to the spectre of terr-ism.

Enshrine it, Mr Rudd. With the support of Brendan and Malcolm it will be a breeze...

political wombat...

From the BBC

...An editorial in the Daily Telegraph noted that "given half a chance, most of us would happily take several weeks off work to play with wombats in their native environment. But most of us aren't the Treasury Secretary."

"I think we all love the hairy-nosed wombat," opposition politician Brendan Nelson said.

But he expressed concern that Mr Henry will be out of telephone contact while Australia "is going through one of the most challenging economic periods that we have seen in recent history."

His government colleagues say the leave was approved and Mr Henry will return refreshed and ready to tackle Australia's economic problems.

"It's appropriate he takes a break now and gets recharged," said Treasurer Wayne Swan.

----------------

The daily Telegraph is a bit over the top when it says: "most of us would happily take several weeks off work to play with wombats". I know that some people (most) could not care less about a hairy-nosed wombat. Sure nearly 100 per cent of us would take an offer to go and loaf, but taking care of the wildlife is not as easy as it looks. It demands great dedication, knowledge and an ability to rough it. That Ken Henry, treasury secretary, takes some time off from fondling the Aussie economy won't make a hoot of difference to the price of fish oil, but could make a vast difference to the survival of the rare wombat species. And why is it so rare? Nothing new: human greed degraded its habitat, human pets went feral, and other such troubles as this wombat species used to be "common"...