Election 2004 | Day 16 | Roundup
Local Stuff That Nobody Else Will Care About
David Bradbury, who is the mayor of Penrith, decided a while ago to run for federal parliament, for the ALP. The arsewank Liberal members of council (Jim Aitken and Ross Fowler, if you must know) went ballistic over this, claiming that he used his term as mayor to boost his profile and all this shit, even though he's spent less on public appearances than the previous mayor in the same amount of time. All the council's figures add up, yet the Libs still want to bitch. He has since resigned from position of mayor (isn't Clover Moore both the mayor of Sydney and a state indie MP?), and is now running against Jackie "Nobody Goes To Uni In My Electorate" Kelly (whose sanity I question more and more with every public statement she makes) and others for the seat of Lindsay. GO FOR IT DAVO! No links for this story unfortunately, as the local papers aren't online.
The Anti-Greens Flyers
Seems there's a big shitfight brewing with this, if you follow the Counter Spin blog over at the Sydney Morning Herald. It'll be interesting to see if there's a big backlash over it.
Blah Blah Blah Tax
Okay, so a "concerned mother" called in to talkback bitching that she'd be $461 a year worse off. Doing the math, it's about $8.80 a week. Apparently she was a stay at home mother, whose husband made $35,000 a year, and send one of her kids to a private school. Does it reek of bullshit in here or what?
Now, I would really like to know what percentage of the Australian population are insane enough to have 3 kids if they're earning $35,000 a year with no additional income. Would this caller have been to afford a telephone to call talkback radio? Would she have been able to afford a computer and Internet connection to download the ALP tax policy, then run the numbers? And how the shit could she afford to send her kid to a private school?
$35K a year is around $670 a week. Can you pay rent/mortgage, water, electricity, petrol, groceries, nappies, health insurance, whatever else, and support three kids on that? Maybe, if you siphoned petrol, used candles, drunk from the toilet, took the rotten fruit out the bins of IGA, and lived in a cave.
The whole idea of the tax policy fits into the good old "ladder of opportunity" crap (which pisses me off, but not to the extent that "ease the squeeze" does), which is what Latham has been all about since, well, ever (pick any biography). The whole thing is about seeking to improve your life, taking the opportunities you get, and not sitting back wanting someone else to solve your problems. If you're on $35K a year with 3 kids, you shouldn't be happily living in poverty with nothing better to do than call up talkback radio, you should be looking for a decent fucking job ("Honey, I'm home! Where's my dinner?", or get off your arse and go to work (or your spouse).
Gurgle
Howard slagged off the states that complained about his water policy diverting funds from health/education.
Tony Abbott Acts Like Moron
The Liberals aren't interested in health reform, claims... well, I'd put an insulting nickname in here for Tony Abbott here but I can't be arsed going through his biography to find something. Yes, you heard him say it, TONY ABBOTT LOVES MEDICARE AND TOTALLY DOESN'T WANT TO RAPE IT AWAY. I like this bit:
WOW WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT SENTENCE? How would he know Labor intends to make Medicare look like Britain's National Health Service if he says Labor's reforms would be vague and unspecified?
Private Schools
Here's a list of private schools that will have funding cuts, and the money redistributed to more needy private schools. While this is all good, I can't really give a shit as I'd rather hear what's happening to state schools, as I went to them, and both my parents are state school teachers, and I'm selfish like that.
David Wenham Reckons Labor Is Awesome
Labor announced some arts funding today. $50m for Australian movies. $10m for low-budget movies. $10m for Internet and possibly digital TV. Looks like everyone gave it the thumbs up too.
Other Stuff
The deadline for the hostage thing seems to have passed without anything happening. If I was an insane conspiracy theorist, I'd say that Howard is covering up the identities of the two that are kidnapped, as it's the only safe way to get out of this situation without any electoral fallout (let them die, you cop shit, pull out of Iraq, you cop shit, but if it isn't confirmed any Australians are involved, no-one cares). But while I think he's a total bastard that'll say/do almost anything to get re-elected, that'd be pushing it way too far, even for him. I wouldn't put it past Bush though.
The Liberals seemed really quiet today; no big announcements or anything to take seriously. Maybe tomorrow.
Don't forget to read Piers Akerman's weekly "I'm A Fuckwit" column.
Guess who's back? The Chaser Decides will be on Thursday nights at 9PM, from next week.
David Bradbury, who is the mayor of Penrith, decided a while ago to run for federal parliament, for the ALP. The arsewank Liberal members of council (Jim Aitken and Ross Fowler, if you must know) went ballistic over this, claiming that he used his term as mayor to boost his profile and all this shit, even though he's spent less on public appearances than the previous mayor in the same amount of time. All the council's figures add up, yet the Libs still want to bitch. He has since resigned from position of mayor (isn't Clover Moore both the mayor of Sydney and a state indie MP?), and is now running against Jackie "Nobody Goes To Uni In My Electorate" Kelly (whose sanity I question more and more with every public statement she makes) and others for the seat of Lindsay. GO FOR IT DAVO! No links for this story unfortunately, as the local papers aren't online.
The Anti-Greens Flyers
Seems there's a big shitfight brewing with this, if you follow the Counter Spin blog over at the Sydney Morning Herald. It'll be interesting to see if there's a big backlash over it.
Blah Blah Blah Tax
Okay, so a "concerned mother" called in to talkback bitching that she'd be $461 a year worse off. Doing the math, it's about $8.80 a week. Apparently she was a stay at home mother, whose husband made $35,000 a year, and send one of her kids to a private school. Does it reek of bullshit in here or what?
Now, I would really like to know what percentage of the Australian population are insane enough to have 3 kids if they're earning $35,000 a year with no additional income. Would this caller have been to afford a telephone to call talkback radio? Would she have been able to afford a computer and Internet connection to download the ALP tax policy, then run the numbers? And how the shit could she afford to send her kid to a private school?
$35K a year is around $670 a week. Can you pay rent/mortgage, water, electricity, petrol, groceries, nappies, health insurance, whatever else, and support three kids on that? Maybe, if you siphoned petrol, used candles, drunk from the toilet, took the rotten fruit out the bins of IGA, and lived in a cave.
The whole idea of the tax policy fits into the good old "ladder of opportunity" crap (which pisses me off, but not to the extent that "ease the squeeze" does), which is what Latham has been all about since, well, ever (pick any biography). The whole thing is about seeking to improve your life, taking the opportunities you get, and not sitting back wanting someone else to solve your problems. If you're on $35K a year with 3 kids, you shouldn't be happily living in poverty with nothing better to do than call up talkback radio, you should be looking for a decent fucking job ("Honey, I'm home! Where's my dinner?", or get off your arse and go to work (or your spouse).
Gurgle
Howard slagged off the states that complained about his water policy diverting funds from health/education.
"I would have thought the public of Australia would rather that money be spent on water reform than on other commitments."- Good old Johnny.
Tony Abbott Acts Like Moron
The Liberals aren't interested in health reform, claims... well, I'd put an insulting nickname in here for Tony Abbott here but I can't be arsed going through his biography to find something. Yes, you heard him say it, TONY ABBOTT LOVES MEDICARE AND TOTALLY DOESN'T WANT TO RAPE IT AWAY. I like this bit:
The Opposition intended to make "vague and unspecified reforms" that would make Medicare look more like Britain's much-criticised National Health Service, he said.
WOW WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT SENTENCE? How would he know Labor intends to make Medicare look like Britain's National Health Service if he says Labor's reforms would be vague and unspecified?
Private Schools
Here's a list of private schools that will have funding cuts, and the money redistributed to more needy private schools. While this is all good, I can't really give a shit as I'd rather hear what's happening to state schools, as I went to them, and both my parents are state school teachers, and I'm selfish like that.
David Wenham Reckons Labor Is Awesome
Labor announced some arts funding today. $50m for Australian movies. $10m for low-budget movies. $10m for Internet and possibly digital TV. Looks like everyone gave it the thumbs up too.
Other Stuff
The deadline for the hostage thing seems to have passed without anything happening. If I was an insane conspiracy theorist, I'd say that Howard is covering up the identities of the two that are kidnapped, as it's the only safe way to get out of this situation without any electoral fallout (let them die, you cop shit, pull out of Iraq, you cop shit, but if it isn't confirmed any Australians are involved, no-one cares). But while I think he's a total bastard that'll say/do almost anything to get re-elected, that'd be pushing it way too far, even for him. I wouldn't put it past Bush though.
The Liberals seemed really quiet today; no big announcements or anything to take seriously. Maybe tomorrow.
Don't forget to read Piers Akerman's weekly "I'm A Fuckwit" column.
Guess who's back? The Chaser Decides will be on Thursday nights at 9PM, from next week.
posted by Dave at
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
