words matter
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Christianity, like most religions, is a useful fiction to have in the background if you are interested in power. Here you have a collection of arcane stories purporting to be in someways associated with the word of God. People in power, in many places, often, refer to their own faith, as if it is a one size fits all stamp of righteous authority. That their belief in the God of the religion, shared by the dominant cohort, conveys some moral probity within their quest for power. Card carrying Christians wave their bonafides in the face of all and sundry who may question their ascendancy. The illusory nature of religion can be bent into all sorts of shapes.
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I am, by choice, petless in my life. That is, without a furry companion to share my domicile. For four weeks, however, this changed, when I was invited to house sit on holiday in WA. Thus, the title of this post – Doggie Dementia: My month of pet poop and piss in Perth. It was a family arrangement with a sibling, she and partner were off to Bali, whilst I would hold down the fort. Water a few sheltered pot plants, turn on the irrigation system, take out the trash, something about feeding worms, and look after Misty – the Shih tzu Maltese Terrier Cross.
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Here is an idea for Anthony Albanese to take up for the betterment of Australia. Ban companies that use tax havens. The PM could ensure that the Australian government does not do business with those multinational corporations who do not pay their fair share of tax via the nefarious means of profit shifting to tax havens. Microsoft does it. Meta does it. Amazon does it. Google (Alphabet) does it. News Corp does it. Apple does it. Pepsi too. Lots of them do it, as tax accountancy consultancy firms facilitate this behaviour.
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The Trump regime is attacking boats from Venezuela, blowing them up in international waters. Why this focus on a South American nation? Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. The US has a great tradition of going after countries with lots of oil and administrations that don’t bend over backwards for them. Donald Trump is a firm believer in fossil fuels. His administration has already reversed much of the good work that was done under Joe Biden, when it came to renewables and the transition away from climate damaging fossil fuels. Trump is the ultimate head in the sand guy, when it comes to global warming.
The Trump regime is attacking boats from Venezuela, blowing them up in international waters. Why this focus on a South American nation? Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. The US has a great tradition of going after countries with lots of oil and administrations that don’t bend over backwards for them. Donald Trump is a firm believer in fossil fuels. His administration has already reversed much of the good work that was done under Joe Biden, when it came to renewables and the transition away from climate damaging fossil fuels. Trump is the ultimate head in the sand guy, when it comes to global warming.
We do not have a progressive national news platform in Australia. We have a rabid right wing News Corp, which controls most of the nation’s newspapers, has a national radio network and produces Sky News Australia and Fox News. Nine Fairfax and Seven West Media can be comfortably described as corporate legacy media on the right of centre, politically speaking. The ABC, our only truly national broadcaster, follows the News Corp lead in what it sets as the daily news agenda. This was not always the case, as a couple of decades ago the ABC contained the most intelligent and passionate journalists working around the nation. How the ABC lost its progressive soul? Is a question well worth asking.
SCOTUS has virtually guaranteed that Donald Trump will not be tried prior to the Presidential election of 2024. US Supreme Court slow walks Trump immunity claim appeal and stay from prosecution. By deciding to take the case it has undermined the unanimous denial of trump’s claims by the federal court of appeals. The stacking of SCOTUS with conservative GOP aligned justices by Trump is obviously paying benefits. The legal rule of law was really the last hope for America in holding Donald Trump accountable for attempts to subvert the Constitution in 2020. The US is now an international disgrace and no longer can be considered a leading democratic nation.
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I thought that it could be useful, in light of the apparent rise in the populist politics of grievance, to ask, so, what does it mean to be Australian? Anti-immigration is the flag waving vanguard theme of One Nation and the remnants of the Liberal party. Blame it on the immigrant appears number one on the political grievance charts downunder. Therefore, it provokes the question – what does it mean to be Australian? If it is not out-and-out racism, as those on the Right deny it to be, who, then, qualifies to be considered an acceptable Australian?
Culture Democracy Fresh Government Politics Power I thought that it could be useful, in light of the apparent rise in the populist politics of grievance, to ask, so, what does it mean to be Australian? Anti-immigration is the flag waving vanguard theme of One Nation and the remnants of the Liberal party. Blame it on the immigrant appears number one on the political grievance charts downunder. Therefore, it provokes the question – what does it mean to be Australian? If it is not out-and-out racism, as those on the Right deny it to be, who, then, qualifies to be considered an acceptable Australian?
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I thought that it could be useful, in light of the apparent rise in the populist politics of grievance, to ask, so, what does it mean to be Australian? Anti-immigration is the flag waving vanguard theme of One Nation and the remnants of the Liberal party. Blame it on the immigrant appears number one on the political grievance charts downunder. Therefore, it provokes the question – what does it mean to be Australian? If it is not out-and-out racism, as those on the Right deny it to be, who, then, qualifies to be considered an acceptable Australian?
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We have seen a spate of one-size-fits-all welfare payments and subsidies. You know, instead of governments helping the most needy they make stuff free for all. This is done for political purposes in attracting votes at elections. All this does is increase wealth inequality. Well off property owners should not be receiving government assistance in maintaining their lifestyles. This brings us to the Alan Kohler call for free childcare downunder. While I support the general idea, I question why wealthy Australians should qualify for these types of assistance. How about a carve out for those over a certain income and capital asset threshold? We need to reverse the widening wealth divide after decades of American style neoliberalism funnelling riches to a select few in Australia.
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Trump starts war with Iran in concert with Israel and vandalises the world economy. This irresponsible fool then passes the buck to America’s former allies, demanding they re-open the Strait of Hormuz. Nobody wants to follow the US into this mess of their own making. This is what you get when you elect a convicted felon and multiple bankrupt to the presidency. The stupidity of America is on full display. The greed and selfishness of Americans is up on the world stage for all to see. Listening to a lying, loud mouthed idiot is taking the United States and the world to the brink of collapse and destruction.
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We need an Inquiry into why LPG gas deals have been so financially bad for the nation as a whole. Why do the gas companies pay so little tax and royalties on the huge amounts of gas they export for enormous profits? When elected representatives are deaf to their constituents, you know something is wrong with our democracy. Polling has indicated that 75% of Australians support a 25% export tax on LPG gas. Yet, this federal Labor government has knocked back proposed legislation to make this happen.
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Unfortunately, many in the world still look to America as the leading example of humanity in the current era. The superpower in military and economic terms remains a showcase for much of the world. In 2024, however, we have reached a nadir via Trump and his influence on American political and cultural life. The anti-elite mood of that nation now glorifies what is stupid, nasty, and brutish about the USA. Fascism is making a cyclical return to the political spectrum via the GOP in its current form. White supremacy and the shadow of America’s slaver past seems to be infecting the future of this once great country. Looking to America is fraught with illustrations of what is worst about humanity.
Supposedly we live in an age defined economically, where the dollar worth of everything matters most. Why then are our politicians and their strategists forever focusing attention upon cultural stuff? The war on woke, the attacks on LGBTQI folk, and the endless anti-elite ethos. Every politician and political party wants to stand with the ordinary voter, apparently. Finger pointing at those categorised as elite reinvokes the old class warfare it seems. We the people vs those individuals too superior to represent our interests. These are all manipulations and part and parcel of the politics of grievance.
The expression feet of clay is meant to indicate the flawed earthly nature of man. Donald J Trump has always been a most unlikely candidate for saviour and champion of any group. White America and Christian Nationalists have got behind the former president as their guy they are hoping to put back in the White House. Trump is facing multiple criminal and civil indictments in courts across the country. Only the most partisan and cultish among his supporters could fail to recognise the writing on the wall when it comes to Trump’s likely fate. It tells us that America’s orange Jesus has clay feet.
In Australia, we live in one of the most concentrated corporate markets in the world. In every sector duopolies and oligopolies control markets to the detriment of competition and consumers. Surely it’s time to stop all mergers. Mergers benefit companies and shareholders at the expense of the market. Productivity is not improved via this concentration of corporate control over markets. This can be observed via the evidence, as the concentration of market power into the hands of fewer businesses has accompanied years of falling productivity. If companies don’t need to compete for market share they do not innovate and improve productivity rates.
America has made its bed and now it has to lie in it. A while ago, expert political strategists worked out that voters engage more fully with the democratic electoral system on an emotive level than a mere rational one. Therefore, they made negative attack ads which painted their candidate’s political opponents as demons. These campaign strategists formulated speeches and oped content full of emotive finger pointing about stuff upsetting sections of the electorate. In a culture of complaint they developed the politics of grievance. This has now culminated with presidential candidate Trump, who lights the bonfire of hate every time he opens his mouth to speak.
Australians spend most of their money and time buying and selling property to the tune of $400 billion every year. That is not making anything new or manufacturing useful things for the world. The Great Australian Dream is home ownership and that has become a very expensive obsession for most of us. What it does do is make our banks very rich and provides real estate agents and state governments with their fair share too. Australia wasting its money and future on housing market is a troubling indicator of where we are as a nation.
They say that you can tell a lot about a nation/culture by the kind of movies that comes out of that country. Well, American movies are by and large full of guns and really stupid characters doing dumb things. Films and popular culture are a mirror held up to that nation. No wonder democracy is reputedly on its last legs in the US of A. The greater mass of American movies are dire tripe. The screenplays of many of them must have been written by 13 year old’s with foetal alcohol syndrome (with apologies to 13 YO’s). The plot, characterisation, and dialogue are so putrid that turning them off is the only option. American movies celebrating guns says a lot about the culture. Amazon, as a streaming service, must have the worst selection of American films I have witnessed in a long time. Dumb and dumber must be their mission statement or cheap and cheaper perhaps.
The state supreme court in Colorado has declared Donald J Trump unfit to be on the ballot for the 2024 presidential race in that state. Many of us who have been following the Trump vs democracy saga would say – about bloody time! How can you have a candidate vying for the presidency who continually casts doubt upon the veracity of the electoral system? A man who promulgates ‘the big lie’ that he was robbed of victory in the 2020 election. This is despite numerous private and judicial enquiries into election fraud finding nothing that merits this erroneous belief. Even the investigator paid by Trump’s own legal team has come out and said he found nothing.
My late mother loved the ABC. She was a big fan of Philip Adams: and attended the Save Our ABC rallies back in the day. I wonder what she would make of the shallow rendition of the national broadcaster today. The ABC has lost its way after a decade of Coalition bullying. Budgets were slashed and repeated threats were made to the management about apparent bias. There was no bias, it was just the journalists and presenters standing up to the government and holding them accountable.
The sudden axing of the ABC’s current affairs programme The Drum is the final nail in the coffin for a progressive national broadcaster. More than a decade of Coalition sniping and undermining of the ABC has denuded it. Silencing of The Drum death knell for […]
