Who would have thought that money, of all things, would fix the environment?

That’s what Tony Abbott says.

He says he’ll also put 100,000 solar panels on Australian rooftops every year.  If any Government were to do that, which they wont, it will only lead to “grid-fed” electricity prices will go through the roof.
Just like how thousands of homes got water tanks – *ahem* sorry, taxed water tanks- has seen the price of water skyrocket.

Mr Abbott also claims that this won’t “cost” the public anything, which means one of two things:

1. $3.2 billion will be made out of nothing and put pressure on interest rates

or

2. The $3.2 billion will be created by making cuts to other sectors.

I think number two is more likely as our schools, hospitals, income tax rates are all at a perfect level.

If he takes a signle cent from anyother sector, the public ARE paying for it by proxy through the degeneration of another portfolio.

What is remarkable , however, is that the confessed skeptic would devise and plan to implement a great plan for the environment.

That last sentence would be true if his plan was actually good for the environment.

Here is some quick blink reactions to the announcement:

• He didn’t mention changing our main source of electricity from coal to a renewable source
• He announced the EXACT same 5% cut in emmissions – the same laughable 5% target

I don’t care if one is a “Greenie” or not; a 5% cut by 2020 is disgraceful and will not effect the Global environment, let alone our local environment one bit.
Both sides have set this target because it is easy to reach and doesn’t ruffle too many feathers.

I only say it doesn’t ruffle many feathers because the big polluters have kept unusually quiet about this.
They are quiet because they know they can do their part for this easy taget without having to change their major business model.

By sucking up to industry and the commercial sector both sides of Government have effectivly sold out our childrens future and ignored the desires of the electorate.

He also announced he would plant 20 million trees by 2020. I will let a quote from Ken Caldeira, of the global ecology department at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Stanford,  speak for me:

The idea that you can go out and plant a tree and help reverse global warming is an appealing, feel-good thing [...] To plant forests to mitigate climate change outside of the tropics is a waste of time.

Both of these plans (the ETS and whateverthehell Abbott calls this policy (which is the equivalent of a fingerpainting)) are reactionary plans, not thought out and while sound nice and make great headlines, don’t even beging to scratch the potential this country has for making strides in the face of neo-environmantalism and carbon emission cuts.

That is all.

-db

From the 25th to the 29th the main page of the opinionation will show an in-browser popup “blackout” to each new visitor.

This is to protest the Australian Government’s plan to “clean the feed” and filter out objectionable content.

Please see the following resources for more information:

http://www.internetblackout.com.au/

http://nocleanfeed.com/

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet

Civil Liberties Australia

Somebody think of the children!

- db

Yeah… I don’t buy it either.

In a desperate attempt to shift the current public belief that he doesn’t believe in Global Warming / Climate Change, Tony Abbott’s PR team, whom I suspect have yet to graduate from any public relations course, have set him up with photo ops to sway our opinion.

The problem for the Opposition Leader is that Generations X and Y aren’t as easy to fool as the hypocritical Baby Boomers. In order to have any hope of not looking like a fool on election day, he must find a way to connect with the two later generations. Unfortunatly, Generation X and Y aren’t what one would label “passive” audiences. Through schooling and general distrust of the media and Government the younger generations have learnt to smell a rat. A picture of a man planting a tree just doesn’t cut it as far as changing perceptions. We are all well aware of what a staged photo op is and this is the most basic of all. It’s also painfully obvious that by appearing in a blue top, fluro vest and Khaki pants he is trying not only to connect with environmentalists, but also the blue collar worker. Although I’d class both parties as elitist conservatives, the Liberal party has a history of not being kind to the working class.

One photo doesn’t make up for what we know he believes. How can we know? We get our information straight from the mentally challenged horse’s mouth:

“Notwithstanding the dramatic increases in man-made CO2 emissions over the last decade, the world’s warming has stopped”

I don’t want to critisize the “man” for an opinion that many people hold, but this point of view flies directly in the face of what GenX, GenY and… science believes. His vague and almost comical plan for a “15,000-strong ”green army” to tackle land degradation” will not get him any favours from the voters.

The job of a Prime Minister should be to listen to the people and act in the best interest of the country. When over 90% of the population wants real action on Climate Change via green energy plants and tough regulation on industry – you do it. Not because you believe it, but because we do.

I am not suggesting the Government should act on every whim from the electorate. For example, even if 90% of the electorate supoprted mandatory internet filtering, the Government of a “free” and democratic society shouldn’t even entertain the thought. But when the whim is backed up by the vast majority of scientific data and common everyday observances – it must be upheld, especially of the cost of non action, according to the latest scientific data, is the possible extinction of our species.

Not that I’d suggest anyone would ever buy this pathetic attempt to appear environmentally concious (“Oh look, he has a hammer he MUST believe in climate change”), but those who might be entertaining the thought – what do you think a man who thinks the worst is over is really going to do for the wellbeing of our lands and the planet? Tony Abbott has shown in the past to be a man who acts based on his beliefs and morality, do you think, if elected, he would honestly “waste his time” dealing with a cause he doesn’t believe in?

Didn’t think so.

- db

No other issue in today’s society polarizes the populace like religion.

I am often criticized when playing the “blame game” where religion and its influence is ultimately my answer for the world’s ills. I have been known to say that religion is the root cause of many human atrocities from hate crimes to poverty. I am aware that my deity bashing produces either vitriol to be sprayed in my direction or, worse for me; people just stop listening as I am “unreasonable”.

My latest argument centers on the proposed ISP internet filtering scheme championed by Senator Steven Conroy.  It is my view that this scheme and the heavy censorship that takes place in Australia everyday is the result of pandering to the religious.

Those on the same, if not similar, wavelength to me will probably respond with a resounding “duh”, but many people (still) fail to see the link.

To begin with the current hot topic in censorship, Australia is the only Western country without an R18+ rating for video games. As a result many games don’t arrive on our shores without being “tweaked” if at all. Some may say this is trivial, but it means that there are adults in Australia who cannot play the video games they want due to a manufactured morality being pushed upon them. Others would argue that gaming is meant for minors and therefore video game distribution should be monitored, but that is what Michael Atkinson, SA Attorney General, would like one to think. In The Interactive Australia 2009 report it found that the average age of an Australian gamer is 30. I would argue that the majority of gamers are over the 15 year old limit placed on the current highest rating. The highest rating a video can receive at the moment is MA15+ – restricted for sale to anyone under the age of fifteen.

Recently the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) CEO posted a prefabricated/stock standard letter he received from Mr Atkinson about this issue. The letter is full of unsubstantiated claims, like the link between simulated and actual violence, and backhanded remarks like suggesting that if someone has an issue about it, they should run against him in 2010. The letter with responses is available here: http://www.igea.net/2009/12/igea-ceo-responds-to-atkinsons-form-letter-on-r18/ , and I suggest everyone give it a read, if only to get a feel for the smug tone.

So if it isn’t actual facts that cause Mr Atkinson and others to take the viewpoint that banning or modifying a game to fit what is suitable for a fifteen year old, what else could it be?

I would be inclined to argue that the Government’s automatic stance to take the “parenting” out of parenting is at work, however, the same iGEA report found that 92% of parents are aware of what their child is playing and over 60% of parents actively play these games with their children.

The only other alternative is the Government trying to push its values, conservative values, on the populace and where do I contend that these conservative values come from? Religion – I’ll return to this in a little bit.

The gaming industry isn’t the only sector to be constrained by the conservative censoring beast that is the Australian Government, the film industry has had its fair share of run-ins with the Classification board and don’t get me started on the pornography industry.

As I had mentioned earlier, Steven Conroy has championed a plan by the Labor party to implement a mandatory filter to stop access to illegal websites.  As with most censorship plans, the official line from the top mentions that this proposal is necessary to stop “evil”. In this case it mentions the distribution of Child Pornography. They have also thrown the “terrorist” threat in the mix as well by claiming to make a safer country by blocking access to sites that contain information of terrorist recruitment camps.

It is the definition of the word “illegal” which gets the back up of all liberal minded citizens. By its own definition Euthanasia is illegal, as is the use of marijuana – this would mean any site that gives someone information on euthanasia or how to smoke marijuana in a safer way could, and probably would, be blocked.  Under this scheme, the only way to find out about terrorist camps would be from the Government and the Government alone.  Any reasonable Australian who doesn’t have a problem with the idea needs to read it again slowly.

The only way to find out about these “illegal” things would be from the Government and the Government alone.

Given that in 2003 it has been found that the Government had lied about the knowledge of the existence of WMD’s in Iraq, one would be very careful believing what we are told.

Whilst Steven Conroy is the dominant poster child for the filtering scheme, he isn’t the father of it. The idea has been buried within Labor’s plans since at least 2006, and has only been brought to the surface due to political lobbying by the conservative right and Family First Senator Steve Fielding.

There isn’t much that can be said about Fielding that a lot of smarter people have said in smarter ways. He is conservative, anti-freedom and an out and proud religious apologist / believer.

Which brings me around to the rather bold claim I made a few paragraphs back – all conservative stances originate from religion.

Unfortunately, for the argument, the issue of censorship isn’t as polarizing as say abortion or gay marriage. There would be religious folk who think the mandatory filter is a bad idea and there would be non-religious folk who support it. What the non-religious don’t understand is the want, or in some cases need, to control what people know or do in the privacy or their own home stems from the idea that the “Great Auditor of Thoughts” is watching.  I should clarify, I am fully aware of the actions of the USSR and how that would be a perfect example of non-religious censorship and control – the difference is the USSR wanted complete control over its population to control dissent whereas in the West and most certainly in this case, control is wanted to uphold a certain moral view.

It is no coincidence that this moral view being projected onto all Australians is that of the Judeo-Christian variety. Like a finale of Australian Idol, the fix is in. The conservative right in Australia is pulling the strings.

I confess I don’t know enough about the inner workings of the major religions to know exactly why controlling what other consenting adults do with their spare time or what someone does with their computer is important. One would think that by having more temptation around would make one look all the more pious!

Perhaps it’s the insecurity that their God has shown from both the original book and its sequel. The “us or them” attitude runs rampant. One gets the feeling that they actually believe that if we aren’t all living the Christian lifestyle than we must be working to destroy them.

After the 2009 Bushfires, Catch the Fire Ministry released a statement claiming that the reason thousands suffered and hundreds perished was because God was angry about the legalisation of Abortion in Victoria. If this is the case I fear the wrath of God when he finds out I’m free to look at his competitors are up to, or if I choose to look at scantily dressed women for sexual arousal.

I know I haven’t made my case as well as I would like to. The censorship issues we face both in videogames and on the internet stem from the elephant in every room ever made: Religion.

By effectively lobbying from within and outside of Government the Judeo-Christians have successfully and covertly stolen liberties from us without our knowing and until recently, our caring.

It is time for every Atheist and every Secularist to stand up and be counted. This country has apparently stood for tolerance of all races and creeds and lack thereof. It is hypocritical of the same country to be defining its laws and morals then, based on an intolerant and hypocritical religion.

Unfortunately, unlike our brethren in the United States, we have no law declaring that our Government is to be for all intents and purposes secular. While this may change if we were to become a republic it is the duty of every citizen who enjoys the freedom this country offers to ensure that any and all laws are separate from one sided religious dogma.

For the time being it is still our country, and I don’t plan on handing it over socially conservative, superstitious and ignorant fools.

-db

It’s time for a sequel!

A year ago I posted a blog entitled “resolutions are for ‘tards” in which I listed a bunch of resolutions…. seemingly because I’m a ‘tard….

To my surprise some of them are still relevant today, in fact one of them is front page news! Yep, I am that smart. The resolution was made for my fellow Melburnians:

Promise you will not be surprised that the Myki System is: Over budget, Not released, cumbersome, broken, a bad idea and all around FUBAR.

I’m not sure if people are surprised, but MyKi was launched yesterday, over budget, three years late and guess what? It doesn’t work! With an election year coming up I sure hope Lynne Kosky has her resume in order – my crystal ball can see a public speaking job in her future.

But that’s last year – what about this one?

2009 was a year to forget. Many years can fit that description but this one was really – REALLY bad.

It didn’t start out too bad, in January Barack Obama was sworn in as President among much fanfare.  As a dizzying high as that was, it was really all downhill from there.

The wrongly titled “Global Financial Crisis” really broke in early February and markets around the world began to free fall. Corporations and banks began to panic, here in Australia major banks froze big ticket accounts to stop people getting empty their accounts – unsuprisingly the Australian Government, used to grabbing it’s ankles, did nothing.

Interest rates were slashed to all time lows, a legitimate loan was harder to come by than a liberal in Mississippi – it was chaos. Massive Job slashes across the Western world uncertainty and fear were rampant.

In early February Victoria also saw the worst of nature and of tabloid journalism when the Black Saturday bushfire’s wiped King Lake and Marysville off the map, hundreds died – it was a human tragedy.

By mid year the full extent of the “GFC” was known Europe and the United States entered am economic depression and there was no end in sight. In Australia fears of entering a recession caused the government to give every taxpayer in the previous financial year – living or not – $900 to spend on… well anything they wanted. People were urged not to pay bills with it, but to spend it at the stores to boost the economy. I got an IPhone and the scheme worked, by the 3rd quarter, however, it was deemed premature and probably unnecessary. Australia who has most of it’s economic ties with Asia found that the “GFC” wasn’t really a “GFC”. Asia and Australia would go technically and comparability unscathed. In the early 90’s Australia’s recession was dubbed “the recession we had to have” this year the feared recession was comically dubbed “the recession we never had” .

The second half of the year saw notable people drop like flies from the King of Pop, Punk Icons to the real life “Rain Man” and celebrity starletts.

The last quarter of the year also saw disillusionment set in for the Global Environmental movement, which has been steadily growing since around 2004. The people told their Governments the environment matters, the of course ignored the people or payed them lip service – but when it looked like it could cause economic turmoil a lot sooner than predicted a mass meeting was held in Copenhagen the world watched as the fruits of our incessant bitching would be turned into a unilateral agreement of action. It was exciting until they started talking. A week of talk and in the end it was unilaterally agreed that Global Warming is a problem and carbon emissions should be cut.

That was about it. Go Government! Woo!

Around the same time in Australia Stephen Conroy – a douche I have been berating here on The Opinionation for the better part of a year – said that he would go ahead with placing mandatory moral filters on the Internet. This caused an outrage as evidenced on Twitter under the hash tag ”#nocleanfeed“.

Of course I’m missing other big events like the Iran election among others but, you’ll get over it.

So 2009 was a pretty crappy year. So what is to look forward to in 2010?

Nothing good it seems.

• In Febuary world leaders will reconvene to try to agree to a plan to combat human caused climate change. Nothing will happen.

• Victorian Politics will heat up, with the government planning to raise the price of an average pack of cigarettes to $20. As I mentioned on a previous blog :

Socioeconomic status is known to be strongly associated with many health conditions and health risk factors, and this is particularly true of tobacco smoking. The rate of smoking is much higher in areas of socioeconomic disadvantage.
After adjusting for age differences, 33% of men and 28% of women in the most disadvantaged areas reported being daily smokers, compared to 16% of men and 11% of women in the most advantaged areas…

Trying to tax the poor in the interest of health? Good luck with that in an election year.

• Although the economic crisis is over across the globe, the little people like us won’t know about it for a while yet. The economic comeback will be slowed due to lack of investor confidence. And with the Australian Reserve want to up the interest rate as quickly as they cut it, to balance out the Governments spending, watch the number of mortgage defaults skyrocket thus exposing the rental crisis when people can’t find homes.

• Australian federal politics will also hit boiling point as Australians get angry that in the upcoming Federal election we will have to choose between a conservative right wing twat and a center right wing censorship kingpin. Hopefully this will give to the rise of the Greens and the comeback of the Democrats – but will most likely end in political atrophy.

• Overseas, Obama will try to get his health care reform through, which as it’s now bust the debate stage will pass as the majority of the public would want affordable or in some cases free healthcare.

• The ironically self titled “Teabaggers” will find out why the world laughs at them when they Google search the term “teabagging”. They will probably change their name to something less funny like “The Job Rimmers”.

2010 will be known as “The year of the suck”. It’s hard to be this pessimistic, but there really isn’t anything to look forward to – with the exception of the Large Hadron Collider.

My resolution for this coming year is for everyone, everywhere around the world:

Buckle up, and prepare for the suck

Happy New Year and all that, now go and binge drink then drive become a statistic! Just stay away from me and mine when you do.

-db

Dear All,

It is with deep regret I inform you that Chrismas has been cancelled for the second year in a row. As you should know, last year the tough economic environment caused Santa to shut up shop for a year and to his dismay, sell some of his reindeers for meat. After Obama was sworn in Santa recieved his share of the bailout money – and by changing his companies name from “Christmas” to “Xmas” he was able to avoid tax repercussions.

After a few months of restocking and rehiring of little people (they gotta work somewhaere) it appeared that 2009 would see the normal output of gifts and joy from Santa’s home in the north pole. In September this year, when taking his new reindeer for a test takeoff he noticed his runway was a little shorter than last year. Not dettered he went about his business.

By late October his runway was almost completly gone. Thats right folks, Santa’s iceberg appeared to be melting. Santa, being the resourceful guy he is, ordered some of his fairy assistants to sprinkle some of their magic dust on the land and grow it out, but alas the fairies had none. This again, normally wouldn’t be a problem until Santa found the key ingredient in the fairy dust is unrefined oil – which was selling for almost $100 a barrel at the time.

With only a few months to go Ol’ Saint Nick had to do something – he decided to overhaul his entire operation to run smaller, faster and cheaper. He replaced three of his flying mammals with the latest hybrid models and ordered all elves to work longer hours without breaks. Needless to say a few failed takeoffs and elf strikes later it was December and Santa hadn’t even got around to even making his list. To sum up the entire botched operation a few days ago his annual letter drop landed in the water an estimated 2 kilometres off his new, shorter coastline.

The incredible mis-calculation was due to the unseasonable and un predictable srtong West to North Westerly winds. Santa couldn’t recall a time when these winds hit in Winter.

At a small press conference yesterday Santa reluctantly said that although he will meet his shopping mall appearence obligations, this year he would be unable to produce the goods on the Jewish guy’s birthday…again.

When questioned if he felt his current circumstance could be due to Global Warming and Climate change, Santa laughed and said he didn’t believe in bad science and could see no connection between the rising sea temperature and the vanishing of his iceberg. Santa mentioned that he will spend the rest of his summer fising off his coast as new fresh water fish have appeare in the traditionally salty waters – a process he says is completly natural despite him never witnessing it before.

Mrs Claus was not available for comment but is said to be “Ropeable” at her husbands “inability to see reason”.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Lets hope Santa gets it together for 2010!

-db

Cleanest of Feeds

What a mess.

We have two conservative parties all scrambling to come up with reasons for or against the Orwellian, anti-human right, anti democratic “Clean Feed” plan.

On the one side we have a quiet yet vocal douche-bag, Steven Conroy who has now had international mocking from the UK to Fox news in the US. An seriously, if you get owned by Fox News – you have a serious problem. On this side we also have a very quiet Prime Minister as if he might even let Conroy drown for this one.

Then we have the “Liberals”. A few back-benching nobodies have spoken out against the filter. At first I thought “Good, they have some common sense”. But then I remembered two things:

1. They are in Opposition and therefore will say the opposite of what the Government says.

2.  They are career politicians.

There is nothing more disgusting than a career politician. They will say and do ANYTHING to keep their seat and most of the time will just tow the party line to stay in favour of the person in charge.

Mr Briggs said constituents under 25 in his electorate overwhelmingly disagreed with the plan. ”There’s no way I’m supporting this. I joined the Liberal Party because I believe in individual responsibility,” he said.

- the age

This quote had me El Oh Elling. Mr Briggs joined the Liberal Party because he believes in “individual responsibility”? The Liberal Party was originally going to call themselves “The Conservative Party” but decided it would be better to start the lies at the naming ceremony.

Why in the name of Nathan Buckley would someone who supports social liberalism join the party that has been upfront about it’s liberty aversions from day one?

We all know that the Government isn’t going to do anything about Climate Change™.  It’s a battle we cannot win, protecting our freedom however is something that’s achievable. And who knows, maybe this will cause some of our minor parties (Australian Democrats, Liberal Democratic Party, Greens) to get a little foothold to make sure things like this don’t happen… EVER.

For a split second I almost thought that it would be different, better even, if Abbott’s idiots were in charge, his backbenchers are flaring up there are conservatives out there that think this is a violation of freedom… maybe… just maybe….

The Coalition has expressed “concerns” about the filtering scheme but it is believed the conservative leadership team would have difficulty opposing legislation designed to protect children online.

..maybe not.

Like a Record Baby

This would be the first time that I don’t think anyone is taking the bait when it comes to Labor spin doctoring.The papers (or should I say propaganda machines?) having been touting that Conroy’s blacklist would be produced using a public complaint mechanism.

On it’s face it seems like a compromise, but then again public opinion is often skewed by the vocal, and as lefty’s like me have an “each to their own” approach to life, we don’t complain very much.

In fact I don’t think a liberal minded would ever complain about a website that may be in “poor taste”. I don’t think there is liberal that would agree with banning anything (that wasn’t exploitative like child porn).

It would be the right winged conservatives that would use that avenue to get things banned, and I don’t see the Minister allowing public discussion on the final word – we don’t even get an appeal process against games made for people over the age of 15.

In any case, even if it relied on a member of the public reporting a site the final say on blacklisting it would be the Government.

I don’t think they would be able to spin their way out of this…

The God Conspiracy

I don’t want to echo Richard Dawkins (even though he is a hero of mine), but the elephant in the room here is religion.

Terrorism,  Conservatism,  Guy Sebastian,  Racism,  Censorship and Climate Change™ (or rather the inaction towards Climate Change™) can all be linked back the humanities most destructive creation.

We have allowed religion, lets be honest here Christian (Dead-Jew-Zombie-Worship) religion, find it’s way into our Government.

Australia doesn’t have a constitution that outlines our rights and responsibilities or a clear mandate on the separation of Church and State. This is evident in allowing taxpayers money go to catholic schools and the performance of the Lord’s Prayer before each parliamentary session. And don’t give that shit about being a Christian country, because we aren’t, while Christianity and it’s derivatives are the largest religions here, they don’t come close to making up for the vast majority of the population.

We have a big problem here, the Government wants to practise soft paternalism, and we want to let them (in most cases). The question must be asked, however, where desire to be told what to do be a larger and more powerful force come from? oh yeah… religion.

On my Twitter page I asked a friend why the US Government hasn’t stepped up and said anything about this. They seem content on spreading democracy and freedom and their bill of rights onto unwilling middle eastern countries but they can’t do the same for their “Close Ally”? And to get even more ridiculous where is our Queen? All laws must get the royal assent from her representative here in Australia, the Governor General. Surely they will put a stop to this!  I mean it’s not like they are a conservative and or religious person right? RIGHT?

oh.

I am a firm believer that it is not the role of the Government to tell me how I should live my life. The role of the Government is to run the economy and ensure that the public services like health, education and transport and available and up to standard.

I don’t know what to expect really, I mean health, education and transport aren’t looking so hot.

Our hospitals are a mess and my fiancee has been waiting OVER FIVE YEARS for a knee reconstruction.

Our schools can barely compete internationally and our universities, while good, can’t provide enough spots for students with loans to attend. To keep money flowing in they must cater more towards full fee paying students and the lucrative international student market.

Our public transport systems are half broken at the best of times and it’s far too expensive.

Whilst some of these are “State based projects” I would expect, nay demand the federal government come in and bitch-slap them for the way these services are being run.

And no, Kevin, having a meeting about health care reform doesn’t count as actually doing something.

The proposed clean feed plan is due to be voted on just prior to the next election and will be implemented just after the next election. We still have time to kill this thing.

#nocleanfeed

- db

PS. If you want to get involved in stopping the Australian Government from stripping you of your freedom online visit some of the following sites:

Australian Democrats

GetUp!

Electronic Frontiers Australia

Liberal Democratic Party

Tony Blair has come out.

He has come out and said there were other reasons for going to Iraq as well as invisible and PRE-PROVEN non existence of WMDs.

Step right up and here some “other reasons” right here on The Opinionation!

Tony Blair’s Top 8 “other reasons” for going to Iraq

8. Oil

7. Shits

6. Giggles

5. The weather

4. Oil

3. To find Osama… just kidding.

2. Oil

1. Misspelt “Iran” on the post-it note

-db

Walk Against Warming Melbourne

The world is meeting in Copenhagen to decide the future of our planet but our politicians are still bickering over Australia’s role. They need to see that Australians care about climate change – a huge gathering this weekend will do just that.

Where: Meet at the State Library, Swanston St (to walk to Princes Bridge to make a human sign)
When: Saturday 12 December at 12 midday

I have to admit, I really do admire the peeps at GetUp!

They have been selective in their campaigns targeting important issues that if enough groundswell took place, could be changed.

There is a Getup! team on the ground in Copenhagen right now, and they are ensuring that the rational, intelligent albeit cautious Australians get their point across.

I won’t be there tomorrow as I am a raging hypocrite, happy to yell and scream, but not actually do anything.

There is another reason I’m not going tomorrow. As long as there are Climate Change DENIERS on the oppositions front bench, nothing will be passed.

I’ll say it again, I am opposed to the ETS as I feel it doesn’t do enough if voted in the Government(s) can use it to distract us for years to come.

For example, say the Democrats or Greens get into Opposition – they tell the people that RuddCo aren’t doing enough. RuddCo responds with “The ETS has only been in place for X years, we can not judge yet if it is enough.”

Yeah, that answer would be a cop out, but if the opposition pushed the issue more, they would look like nagging, obsessive sycophants.

I get the feeling that if the ETS in it’s current form passes, it will be the death knell for any climate change action until a more progressive person/party gets at the very least a swing vote.

This whole climate change issue confuses me. Like the fact that it is an issue at all. I’m not going to say that it’s 100% true, because I don’t know – but any second grader with a list of average temperatures and CO2 levels to tell you that it’s at the very least “Highly Probable”.

Take Melbourne for example, the seasons appear to have shifted ahead at least 3 -4 weeks in my lifetime alone. The heat wave happen in mid Feb, as opposed to January the rain is happening now instead of last month and it has been years since a truely “stinkin’ hot” Christmas day. It doesn’t even get cold until late July, our seasons have shifted. another word for shifted has change, seasons are part of our climate – uh oh OUR CLIMATE HAS CHANGED.

One of Abbot’s right wing whack jobs said that he (notice how over 90% of his cabinent is a ‘he’) isn’t prepared to back ANY action until the US does.

I know this argument.   I know it well and it is the most selfish, ignorant and backward argument ever.

We are to spend money and be tough on pollution, not just because it is good for the environment, but it’s THE RIGHT THING TO DO and for once, THE RIGHT THING IS ATTAINABLE.

How in the hell can people sit there and say “Well China isn’t cutting emissions, why should we?” ?

This would imply that you agree cutting emissions should be done but you won’t do it until they do.  This makes you a hypocrite and an asshole.

How dare Australia have any say in the future of the planet (Climatically speaking) if we aren’t prepared to do the right thing?

Another argument the moron used was “If we cut emissions without the rest of the world doing it, it won’t make a difference”

Aside from my “right thing to do” argument, the benefits to the local air quality and the bay region would be huge. Imagine country air in the city, clean beaches and naked chicks.

OK, the naked chicks don’t necessarily come with the clean air, but the chances of them being around greatly increases with NOT BEING A HYPOCRITE.

I don’t hate this country, I love it. I know we can do so much better, but we refuse. When I heard the Oppositions comments on the non-existence of climate change, coupled with RuddCo’s lack of intestinal fortitude when standing up to big business (he is the Unions bitch after all…) it all became clear.

Our country is spineless and is heading for atrophy. We have only been on the world stage for 20 odd years and we have only managed to show everyone that our minds are as small as our floating continent.

Anyway, thats why I’m not going to the walk.

That and the lazy thing.

-db

@JamesBeattie:  Now that Tiger has earned himself a bit of street cred, will we see a hip hop album sometime soon?

@danebraddy: I heard his new single is called “(She hit me) Wid da Club”

@danebraddy: And the album title? “Mambo Par. 5″ or “Mulligan?”

Seriously though, Why the hell do we care?

As far as I’m concerned if I had his money and “power” I’d do exactly the same thing. And why are we surprised? Are we that sexually oppressed and depressed that we find it shocking that a guy had possibly hot sex with HOT chicks?

This week our leaders are attending a summit on the most important issue we face today and all we can talk about is a sports star cheating on his wife?

I hop I never have to make a post like this ever again.

-db