News That's Fit To Punt - 14/Dec/2012

How Low Can You Go, Bro(ugh)?

We all want to know this, now that the Federal Court has thrown out James Ashby's case. What's interesting about the case is not only did judge Steven Rares throw out the case, he awarded costs against Ashby. Which is to say, the judge thinks Ashby has not just been a public nuisance but a malicious muck-raker unto Peter Slipper and now must make amends to the man.

This has led to ALP front benchers accusing the Coalition of being part of a conspiracy, and Julia Gillard has called for Mal Brough to front up to a press conference in Canberra. It's all a little too late for Peter Slipper himself, as Anna Burke will stay Speaker of the House. Mal Brough will stay the candidate for the LNP trying to unseat Peter Slipper, and the Coalition has been pretending that they had nothing to do with Ashby's case. the problem of course is that the first person to fail the Cui Bono test is Tony Abbott and the second person to fail is everybody else in the Federal Coalition. 

In my books, you don't call this sort of thing a 'conspiracy'. It's called gaming the system, and it's exactly why the judge threw out the case - he did not wish the court to be made into the Coalition's play thing. I'm sure there will be retaliation from the Coalition once they get into power; and it has to be said, they will deny that it is revenge when they exact it upon the judge.

We'll all have to hold our noses so long we'll go blue and die.

Weasel Words

Julia Gillard has said Abbott has to stop using weasel words:

As Mr Abbott today denied there was a Coalition conspiracy, Ms Gillard said Mr Abbott had to stop using ''weasel'' words over the matter and disendorse the Liberal National Party candidacy of Mal Brough - who the Federal Court found worked with James Ashby to harm Mr Slipper.

Which is funny because the Conservatives delight in weasel words. It's their credo that the language they speak is not English but Weasel Words. Pointing this out doesn't even constitute an insult. it's like telling a leopard won't change his spots - of course not, not only is it impossible, he's proud of them. I just thought I'd mention that.

Bob Carr's Lucky Break

This week, Julian Assange has been making noises he will run for the Senate in earnest. This is interesting because I've also noticed that the person who has been the least helpful to Asange's cause might be the foreign minster of Australia himself, Bob Carr. Yes, he who used to be the Premier of NSW and jumped before he got found out for running a corrupt ship of fools. There he was languishing in retirement, doing power walks around the footpaths of Iron Cove, and voila, his lifelong dream of being a foreign Minster opens up because Mark Arbib had to fall on his sword.

I seem to recall Mark Arbib got named as a CIA informant in leaked documents - documents leaked via good old Wikileaks - and so he had to fall on that sword; Mark Arbib's senate seat never would have opened up had it not been for the good work Julian Assange did in exposing that RattusRattus. Bob Carr is a net beneficiary there of the chain of events.

Well, it occurred to me today that Bob Carr should be thanking Julian Assange for allowing his lifelong dream to come true, and that he should do a much better job of protecting Mr. Assange and bringing him home.

I know he won't see it that way - he's the master of non sequitur responses and would claim some arcane reason why he's not - but it seems obvious as daylight if you bother to read the newspapers. Oh I forgot, nobody does that anymore.

The Gender Card

Julia Gillard, Feminist Superstar

You have to admit, the world moves in mysterious ways. Overnight, Tony Abbott became an international laughing stock as  result of Julia Gillard's big rant.

The most enthusiastic praise came from US women's site Jezebel, which described Ms Gillard as "one badass mother----er".

"In an impassioned 15-minute smackdown in front of the House of Representatives, the country's first female leader gave a scathing speech calling out opposition leader Tony Abbott's extremely misogynistic comments, actions, views on abortion and single women, all while pointing in his face."

Jezebel also highlighted some of her "choice quotes" including:
- "I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man, I will not. And the government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever. The leader of the opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well, I hope the leader of the opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the house of representatives, he needs a mirror.
- "I was very offended personally the Leader of the Opposition said abortion is the easy way out."
- "I was offended when he stood next to a sign that described me as a 'man's bitch.'"

Online political magazine Salon said US politicians such as Todd Akin, who said "legitimate rape" did not result in pregnancy, and Allen West, who was blasted after telling a Democrat she was "not a lady", could learn something from Ms Gillard.

"If only the US could borrow Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to take on Congress's misogynist caucus," Salon said.
"We wonder if Gillard takes requests: Todd Akin, R.-Mo., and Allen West, R.- Fla., to name just a couple, could certainly use a similar treatment."

And so it went. Germaine Greer, eat your heart out, the world has a new poster-child for Feminism. And yes, Tony Abbott looked a right git toward the end of Gillard's rant.

Shut Up 'n' Take Yer Medicine Tony

Of course today, Tony Abbott's trying to come back at the rant, trying to characterise it as 'playing the gender card'.

Mr Abbott said today he would not retreat from his criticism of the Prime Minister.
He called on Labor to stop playing the gender card.
''Just because the Prime Minister has sometimes been the victim of unfair criticism doesn't mean she can dismiss any criticism as sexism or she can dismiss any criticism on gender grounds,'' Mr Abbott said.

The staggering chutzpah of Tony Abbott is that he nary shows that he has to acknowledge he got beat by his own cudgel yesterday, good and proper. Maybe this kind of chutzpah is something admirable to a certain kind of conservative mindset, but I wonder if he's going to ever overcome the international PR damage of being 'that guy who had to sit there and take that 15minute rant from the first female Prime Minister of Australia'.

The sad (and decidedly ugly) point about the whole Peter Slipper affair is that Peter Slipper was indeed a one time friend of Tony Abbott, who got sold down the river by Tony Abbott. Peter Slipper - for whatever reasons of his own - made his move to accept the role of Speaker of House if for no other reason than the money and prestige. It certainly damaged the Coalition because it went against the overall aim of destabilising the fragile Parliament where the independents held so much power, however it really must be asked whether it was realistic of Tony Abbott and his front benchers to expect the apple of government to fall on their laps like some gift from the gods.

To this - mostly imaginary, partly mirage-like - end, Tony Abbott has bent his considerable effort at portraying the Prime Minster as a lying witch, bitch slut and whatever else, as well as hunted Craig Thomson into a kind of wilderness where he may never get a fair trial should he ever have to face charges. The utter lack of restraint and the most naked of blind ambitions has made him less of a candidate for the highest elected office of Australia.

Now, he might complain and call all this dressing down he got from Julia Gillard as Gillard playing the gender card, but no, no, no, Mr. Abbott, this is just the beginning. It is fairly clear that the polite, protective rubber gloves are off, and Julia Gillard has stainless steel fists.

Why Does Paul Sheehan Even Have A Job At The SMH?

I know he only writes opinion pieces but really, somebody should tell him the tone of his writing is as low as he accuses others of being.

After sending out two attack dogs, Gutter and Sewer, to do the dirty work, after hiding behind two political zombies, Insufferable and Unspeakable, to stay in power, after using the Minister for Innuendo and the Compromise-General to play the gender card, the mask has finally dropped away to reveal the driver of the politics of hate in Australia.

The mask fell at exactly 2.42pm in the House of Representatives. Looking on were the member for Gutter, Anthony Albanese, the member for Sewer, Wayne Swan, the Minister for Innuendo, Tanya Plibersek, and the Compromise-General, Nicola Roxon, and the independents who will do anything to avoid facing their electorates, Mr Insufferable, Robert Oakeshott, and his fellow regional zombie, Mr Unspeakable, Tony Windsor.

Someone had to set Gutter and Sewer loose. Someone directed Innuendo and Compromise to play the gender card. Someone paid the bill for Insufferable and Unspeakable. Someone's authority still rests on the vote of Craig Thomson. And someone had to approve making Peter Slipper the Speaker despite his being manifestly disrespected by either side of the house, a low point of political opportunism.

At 2.42 pm on Tuesday that someone rose to speak. The mask fell away. Julia Gillard came out snarling. The Parliament had before it a great issue, the dignity of the house itself, which had been traduced by the scandal that had attached itself to Slipper.

Instead of directly addressing the issue of a discredited speakership which had become engulfed in an expensive and degrading legal action that did no credit to anyone involved, least of all the Attorney-General, the Prime Minister wasted no timing in using misdirection and personal abuse.

That's all pretty vulgar as he is trying to paint the Prime Minister for daring to point out the blindingly obvious - the reason why the Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott cannot be taken seriously for his motion against Peter Slipper on the basis of misogyny and sexism is that the only way to interpret Tony Abbott's public utterances and prevarications and qualifications and babble-burble-bicker-banter is that he himself is sexist and a misogynist. And no amount of hauling Abbott's wife out into the limelight is going to fix that fact - not perception, but fact on the public record. Similarly, no amount of name-calling and belittling of the Prime Minster (for being a woman, I guess)  is going to add any moral authority to a man who has made hypocrisy a sport all his life and can't even tell when he's doing it.

Paul Sheehan then goes on to argue that Julia Gillard lied about the Carbon Tax.

"Lied"!

Now, regular readers of this blog will well know that I do not approve of Julia Gillard and will not vote for her or the ALP at the next Federal Election. My mind is made up; she cannot persuade me otherwise. This is between me and my political conviction.

All the same, even I know and understand and remember well enough, that what happened with respect to the Carbon Tax was that she had to go ahead with it in order to form government with the one Green MP and the 3 independents. It didn't matter that she campaigned against it and removed Kevin Rudd in order not to have the ETS. It was the hung Parliament that forced her to agree to the Carbon Tax. To argue that she "lied" given these circumstances is stretching the truth way beyond breaking point. It's one thing for idiot pundits like Alan Jones and other shock jocks to call this a lie: They're not smart enough to understand how things went that led up to that point in history. They're intellectual pygmies (and I'm being un-nice to real pygmies when I say that) preaching to the brain-damaged sub-literate morons who cannot read newspapers nor hold a thought long enough to understand history (but alas as citizens have the vote nonetheless).

However, a man who is paid to write opinion pieces in the Sydney Morning Herald website ought to have a better understanding than calling Julia Gillard a liar. It's willfully stupid and blind to the facts.

If I had Gina Rinehart's money to buy Fairfax, I'd make a point of sacking Paul Sheehan too.

As Ugly As It Gets

Just Ugliness To The Bone

I don't know how we came to this pass so quickly (or not soon enough depending on your cynicism), but as of this writing, Peter Slipper has resigned as House Speaker. This leaves the ALP government totally dependent on the support of former ALP independent Craig Thomson and now, former Liberal and renegade independent, Peter Slipper as well as the trio of Rob Oakshotte, Tony Windsor, Andrew Wilkie plus the lone Green, Adam Bandt.  That's quite a list of people to be counting on to maintain your government.

Then again, all these people are also saying they still won't swap sides and join Tony Abbott, so you have to wonder how bad Tony Abbot really is as a human being. Yes, adding to the ulginess was Tony Abbott, who may or may not have intentionally used this phrasing:

Mr Abbott said every day the government defended Mr Slipper would ''be another day of shame for this Parliament and another day of shame for a government which should have already died of shame''.

...and then promptly denied it had anything to do with Alan Jones' recent crack that Julia Gillard's father had died of shame. Would Mr. Abbott backtrack and apologise? Not on your life, and what did you expect?

Still, you do wonder at all the twists and turns tat led us all to this, the most strident horrible, nasty, and defiantly ugly sitting of Parliament. It's enough to make you wonder, have things ever been this bad?

Peter Hartcher recently penned an article saying we have short memories and that there have been other times when politics looked bad; but I will say this for both Julia Hillard and Tony Abbott alike, I don't think even the ugliest moments of Keating's insults or John Howard's xenophobia or Bob Hawke's ocker act or Malcolm Fraser's patrician act got quite as ugly as they have in this hung Parliament; and it wouldn't have been a hung Parliament, had it not been Julia Gillard who led the ALP to the last polls. It wouldn't have been a hung Parliament had the opposition put up a leader with more credibility than Tony Abbott. Whatever the swinging voters did, they squirmed and writhed as they tried not to commit to either Gillard or Abbott; and can you blame them for that?

Had it not been a hung Parliament, I don't know how far into the closet the Coalition would have reached into Craig Thomson's closet for skeletons or exposed Peter Slipper to be the warped human being that he is. Truth be told, as sordid as all these 'sexts' are, I think the exposure did little to make me think Coalition were on any kind of moral high ground in hounding these two members. I'm not a moralist enough to find their failings to be any worse than my own failings or for that matter Tony Abbott's failings - be they his odious, obvious, rank, misogyny and sexism. People do and say all sorts of crazy stuff in their privacy. Pulling it out under the light of courtrooms and parliamentary privilege just plain sucks.

Whatever you might think of all this, well, here we are today: Hung Parliament, much ugliness by the bucketful.

News That's Fit To Punt - 25/Apr/2012

Trying To Slip His Peter

This Peter Slipper business for the last few days has been a bit of a joke. It's a scandal for sure, but should he resign?

It's all a bit messy, what with Andrew Wilkie out there trying to get even for the betrayal, and let's not forget the spectre of Tony Abbott as PM on the horizon. If he resigns, then surely it puts an early election on the agenda for the government and of course the chances of the ALP wining that are miniscule.

John Birmingham had this snarky paragraph today:

Allow me to exaggerate. The Gillard government is doing itself more damage than Abbott could ever hope to hand them. I'm not talking specifically about the Peter Slipper fiasco here. I'm talking about everything. Pretty much every decision they have made, every action they have taken since they scraped back into power last time, or arguably since they cut down Kevin Rudd, has been calculated to lower not just the standing of the government of the day, but the standing of the party for a generation. Hmm, I know that was exaggeration, and yet it didn't feel like it.

That pretty much sums up how we're feeling out here in voter land.

If the point of forming government with Andrew Wilkie led to the pokies legislation which they then side-stepped with placing Peter Slipper in the Speaker's chair, then surely all this nonsense is merely a function of a hung Parliament. Somehow I think the electorate is going to demand an election if Peter Slipper is made to resign. It's all so precarious for Julia Gillard.

Gen Y Anger In The SMH?

I've seen all this before in Japan where demographics screwed over Ge-X and they're in a right mess over there. Jessica Irvine has written this thing today - I imagine because the infeasibility of the numbers is hitting home for her, as it hits most others - and it has this tidbit in it worth quoting:

The phenomenon of children resisting the sale of the family home to unlock funds for a parent's retirement, so that the children can inherit the wealth tax-free - otherwise known as the ''nailing granny to the floor'' phenomenon - must also be addressed, possibly through an inheritance tax on housing.
It is true that many young people stand to inherit great wealth in the form of housing. But they'll do so not because of their labours, or their ability to reinvest it productively, but pure dumb luck as to who their parents are.

It is one of those demographic questions that nobody is addressing. If all this wealth is locked up in housing and a good deal of it belongs to the old, then surely there will be more and more of this 'nailing granny to the floor' phenomenon that takes place.

The question is how the aging Baby Boomers will accept the changes to legislation that eases them out of their big empty nests. I imagine with a big 'no fucking way' at the ballot box; which means we can probably chalk up the future to more of this kind of 'nailing granny to the floor' thing. It's the new way of sharing the wealth around across generations.

The post-Bubble is going to be drawn out and traumatic. The slow de-leverage model being carried out by the RBA may end up being just another way to die, only, it will be by a thousand cuts rather than one big stab to the heart.

Bad Press Is Better Than No Press

Kazakhstan has finally admitted the Borat sensation was good for their tourism.

Seems like they finally got the joke.