The lack of care taken by a number of politicians about something as basic as their eligibility to sit in the parliament speaks volumes about the lackadaisical attitude of Australia’s political class to the rules of their road, which reflects our entirely deficient mechanisms for accountability and enforcement in politics.

Politics is an art form like religion and painting nudes. Religion is calcified artistic imagination. Politics is fluid and some people describe it as a science but to tell the truth, there's more sociopathy in politics than of sciences. And this is unfortunate. This sorry state of affairs is mostly due to our ability to con people and to be conned by people. 

Quoting Gus Leonisky:

Profit is theft, in our current economy. That is the profound conclusion that must be addressed. But surely no one will agree with this on its face. It sounds equally absurd. But corporate/ceo/shareholder profit would not exist if workers were paid the full value of their work. All workers contribute to the profit or losses of a business. But in traditional capitalist practice, only the owners or shareholders receive the profits while 99% of the workers - the working class minus management usually - receives a static wage. And this wage *must* be depressed lower than the full value of their work otherwise profit could not exist.

Here we are when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, Annabel springs an analysis of democrasea upon us. Those murky waters need not to be disturbed, unless we recall the joyful Whitlam years:

"I shall continue to accept the advice that I and my predecessors have accepted — that in the interests of security I should travel by Royal Australian Airforce aircraft. In this context I want to assure honourable gentlemen that the body guards they see accompanying the Leader of the Opposition are not to prevent other people from shooting him but to prevent him from shooting himself."

                       Gough Whitlam

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Many priests are presently defending the sanctity and secrecy of confession. And this is fair enough. But there is a difference: many sins are not even catalogued as crimes in the penal code. Take the deadly sin of "gluttony" for example. It even does not rate a mention at a Jenny Craig Clinic.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has announced "conditional support" for the Federal Government's shake-up of media ownership and regulation.

Some people seem to equate evolution with pre-determination. The annoying cads... They believe that accepting the origin of consciousness as emanating from our body biochemistry would be limiting our desires and scope of “freedom of choice”. This misconception is at the source of much defence of religious and spiritual hullabaloo, which in itself is limiting the true freedom of choice, that of the real investigation and improvements of our bio-constructs with further possibilities — including investing in Artificial Intelligence — beyond silly rituals and the calcified imagination of dogmas. 

I been to cities that never close down
From New York to Rio and Old London Town
But no matter how far or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home-ophobic

‘Rent-seeking’ is a term understood by most economists. It refers to the ability of powerful groups to extract special concessions and favours at the expense of the wider community.