Election 2004 | Day 8 & The Start Of 9

"...you only need a safety net if you turn the health system into a high wire act..."

- Mark Latham, April 15 2004

That's an ooooooold quote that I found in Latham & Abbott, by Michael Duffy. I like it, even though it has little to do with the contents of this post.

Now for random thoughts.

What I find interesting about far right fuckwits is that they will consider certain races and cultures to be superior to others. And they themselves are always invariably part of that superior, more intelligent and richer culture/race, and know what's best for others, even if they're talking out of their arse 99% of the time. Imagine if it worked the other way around. I wonder if there's right wing Iraqis going "it's a good thing those Americans are bombing the shit out of us and inadvertently killing civilians, as we're one hell of an inferior race of people compared to them. I mean look at us, we don't even have cheese in a can for fucks sake!"

Anyway, today's news... well, bugger all happened really. Latham won the NRL tipping contest that he's in, and it made headlines. That's what kind of a day it was.

Medicare
Todays (real) news... Howard and Latham both bullshitted over Medicare. Yes good old Howard... I mean they've been slowly raping Medicare to death over the past 8 years, then announce that they're going to improve shit. And hand out tax cuts/bribes too. This'd be one of those non-core promises I'd say. Howard apparently announced this when he was down in Penrith (down the road from here) today, with Tony "Fuckwit" Abbott and Jackie "I Slag Off The Electorate I Represent" Kelly. I would've gone down to the Riff and paid them a visit, had I known they were all going to stroll around there.

I'll believe Latham's aim of 80% bulk billing however. I don't think they'd manage to raise it that high if they got in, but I just think they'd at least try. The whole Medicare arguing today didn't really interest me much, it feels like both Latham and Howard will have forgotten everything they said about it by the end of the week.

Cow Farts vs The War On H2O
I'm not sure what my favourite craziest story of the day was. Either this...

War could erupt over water resources just as it had over oil, Australian Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett said today.

Senator Bartlett said unless the Howard Government gave a stronger commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions it would face not only worsening climate change, but a less stable global security situation.

"Increased competition for resources such as water and agriculturally productive regions has global security consequences comparable to terrorism," Senator Bartlett said in Brisbane.

Or this (can also be found on page 6 of the SMH)...

The Cattle Council of Australia demanded reassurance from Labor that it would not introduce a so-called fart tax.

The fart tax, known in polite circles as an animal emissions tax, has been considered in other countries, most recently New Zealand.

The aim is to cut the amount of methane, a greenhouse gas, produced by cattle and other ruminant livestock by changing what is in their feed or switching to less gassy breeds.

Cattle Council president Keith Adams said a fart tax on Australia's 27 million bovines would be a tragedy that would do little to help the environment.

Peter Costello - "Mr Speaker, I'll uhh, Mr Speaker, do whatever my uhh, Mr Speaker, boss tells me to do, Mr Speaker"
It's rumoured that if Howard wins government again, Costello will be taking over in two years. Peter Costello... Like Simon Crean, he has no charisma whatsoever. Unlike Simon Crean, he also has no testicles whatsoever. I think the Liberals will be fucked (not fucked as they are under Howard, I mean fucked as they'll be fucked like Labor were under Beazley/Crean) under him.

Downer Realises Something Everyone Else Knew 3 Years Ago
And now onto the Hicks/Habib saga. You all know the story. Two Australians are captured by the US, accused of being terrorists, and are locked away for three years without a trial. What does the Australian government do? Fuck all. It'd require Howard getting out of the doggie position with Bush, running the risk of getting pink socked. The issue of whether they're guilty or not doesn't come into this. Bring them home and trial them here. If they're guilty, whoop de doo, they go to gaol. No harm done. If they're not, wow, at least they didn't have to unfairly spend 3 years in a military prison when they were innocent! It's good to know that your government will stick up for you when you're Australian. Oh wait...

Anyway, now that election time has come around, the government has "vowed" (non-core promise) to bring them home if they're found not guilty. The trial has kicked off, and Alexander Downer, his eyes miraculously opened, comes to this conclusion:

The United States military commission trying David Hicks had proceeded with ill-defined rules which neither the prosecution or defence completely understood, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

Mr Downer said the Government would raise objections with the US about the military commission process trying terror suspect Mr Hicks for attempted murder, conspiracy and aiding the enemy.

"Oh yeah, look, it's a sailboat."
"You saw it too? Damn it!"

Sorry. This whole situation just reminds me of that for some reason.

The moral of the story: If you're going to go overseas and end up caught in a Bangkok Hilton-esque situation, MAKE SURE IT HAPPENS AROUND ELECTION TIME. Otherwise you're basically fucked, because your government doesn't give two shits about you.

For more information on this story, check Government "Playing Politics" Over Hicks, Government Lied: Hicks Lawyer, Hicks Move Just Politics: Labor (all from news.com.au).

Murdoch Press Uses Logical Paradox As Headline
And the latest (yes I've been whoring news.com.au quite a lot today) stupid thing I've heard: Faith In Howard, Trust In Latham. How can you have faith in someone you can't trust? That just makes no fucking sense.

The Kyoto Protocol
Lastly, Kyoto. It's meant to be a global pact aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions, so the planet can start to recover from the fucking over we've all given it. Howard pulled out of it, and so did some other leader that's a puppet of corporate America. Can't remember his name right now. You know, that idiot guy?

It is needed. Even Bob Carr thinks so, which is quite surprising, as Bob Carr is quite a dick, and I didn't think this'd be an issue he cared about, what with him sitting back and not really doing anything as we slowly move towards running out of water in Sydney within 3 years. But good on him for caring!

Enrolments End Tomorrow
Remember to somehow magically get your enrolment form to the AEC by 8PM today (posting it tomorrow won't cut it). As Wil Anderson said on Triple J last week, if you had the opportunity to vote and didn't, then you have no right to bitch about the outcome.