Labor thrills to poll rise, in July the backslapping stops.

Cartoon: By Pickering.

By all reports Treasurer Wayne Swan has hit the microphones this morning in the wake of a new poll in which Labor has made some moderate gains. In the first one released since his ‘cheques in the mail’ budget, Labor’s primary vote has risen by three points to 30%, and on a Two Party Preferred basis, they only trail the coalition by 10%, - 45% to 55%.

This is hardly good news for the party, and especially not for the PM whose satisfaction rating has dropped a point to 27% in spite of the massive cash splash being sent out to lower income families across the nation as an attempt to buy votes. Some minor improvement may occur over the next couple of polls as the cheques start arriving but after that it is down hill all the way.

In July, the massive $23 per ton and rising carbon tax hits the hip pockets, something the government is keeping quiet about for the moment in its advertising blitz. In fact, in a $36 million taxpayer funded campaign to inform us of how good we should think the government is to offer us compensation for taking our money away from us and increasing prices across the board, they fail to mention the tax itself:

Catching up with Time, or, "We’re from Newsweek, and we’re here to help."

Given the potent mix we currently have of post modernist political thought, a cheerleading media, and the availability of Photoshop, it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between genuine articles and satirical posts in the upmarket media.

For example, which of the following is fake and which is a genuine Newsweek post?:

You see the problem here, both have the same degree of logic behind them, and both share the same relevance and importance to people out in the real world.

For those who are confused, the one on the left is the real deal, the one on the right is satire from Red Square.

Given the impact of the recent man child breast feeding cover by Time, and the manner in which it changed attitudes out in flyover country, Newsweek has been left scrambling for something to trump its competitor. Finally an opportunity was presented by President Obama, who after a long transition of conflicting views on gay marriage has come out in favour of it after being against it, after being for it, after being ...

Anyway, believing that it would help the President if people were able to indulge in same sex marriage thus taking their minds off the economy being on the slag-heap, and alluding to Bill Clinton's claim to be the first black President, they came up with the cover below. It sure beats anything Time could come up with and it is reasonable to assume that the editors are already hanging the framed thank you letter on their wall.

It is difficult to find any reason for this issue to be anything other than a distraction. Few rational people give a toss about what others get up to consensually in private. The problem arises because the government chooses to regulate relationships and grant special privileges to those in the ones it approves of.

Some who disapprove of same sex relationships on religious grounds shouldn't find it too difficult to adopt the attitude of allowing others to go to Hell in their own way. No edict from the state ever saved a sinner, if that is what objectors claim them to be.

Just to ensure that this post is not seen as picking on Newsweek, and to achieve 'balance' here are two 'Time' images, one genuine, one satirical from the same source as above. Can you guess which is which?

ANU’s last lingering death threat fizzes.

The issuance of death threats is symbolic of ignorance, inarticulation, intemperance, and is generally the action of a loser who can’t make a rational case for his preferred position. Falsely claiming to have received death threats is much the same, with the addition of cowardice, untruthfulness, and manipulativness.

The Australian National University (ANU) recently gained, firstly some sympathy, then derision, after it claimed to have had to move its climate scientists into more secure accommodation after receiving such threats. In the wash-up, a blogger made an FOI request for said threats. The ANU strongly opposed releasing them citing security and privacy. This lead to statements such as, “The dog ate my death threats.”

The long and short of it is that eventually the Privacy Commissioner released a report citing eleven supposed threats, ten of which contained no threats, and the eleventh could possibly be considered somewhat "intimidating."

This involved an ANU ‘public engagement’ event where a radical climate denying fascist redneck skeptic who had been invited to attend had become frustrated, showing what he claimed was a gun license to people sitting at the table, before claiming he was a “good shot”. The individual is understood to have left voluntarily. It all sounds bad.

Unfortunately for ANU the aforesaid radical climate denying fascist redneck skeptic saw the guff and recognized his input and decided to set the record straight:

I feel I can now throw some light on the matter. The document viewed as most "threatening" referred to an alleged Deliberation at the ANU about climate change in the Canberra region at which one person “made a death threat” (sic) by showing his gun licence and boasting about his skill as a sniper..

Only two people dropped out of the conference only one of those who did so attended the even meal. Me. I am certainly the one who is alleged to show someone their gun licence. That is not true while at the evening meal (of poor quality) comments moved to eating game meat and I was approached by the Commissioner for the Environment ACT, Dr Maxine Cooper who recognized me as someone involved in the kangaroo culling program in the ACT.

She politely asked if she could sit at the vacant seat next to me and asked if I had past the recent licence test - not easy. I replied yes and showed her my current licence. I also impressed on any one interested the high standard of marksmanship necessary to allay any cruelty concerns.

I might add that earlier in the day I had challenged two speakers to comment on a letter in the Canberra Times that claimed that temperatures had not increased in the Canberra area for decades. They were unable to do so, having not apparently checked the record despite the “Deliberation” (conference) supposed to be about rising temperatures in the Canberra region. As all daytime conversations were recorded (we all signed waivers to allow this) this can easily be checked.

ANU is looking worse the longer this goes on. Turning an innocent conversation into something sinister by persons who were onlookers and must have been aware of the context of the discussion is contemptible.

Stop laughing, it probably happens here.

Image and H/t; Courtesy, The Peoples Comrade.


“Never hold an inquiry unless you know what the result will be” – Sir Russell Hinze and Sir Humphrey Appleby.

We in Australia are used to inquiries being held as a sure fire method of making an issue go away, or at least kicking the can down the road far enough to make it somebody else’s problem. We are also not unused to inquiries into inquiries, or multiple inquiries on the same issue.

We have this from the (US) ABC. This is fair dinkum, you just can’t make this stuff up:

The Pentagon was inundated with so many studies in 2010 that it commissioned a study to determine how much it cost to produce all those studies. Now the Government Accountability Office has reviewed the Pentagon’s study and concluded in a report this week that it’s a flop.

The study of a study of studies began in 2010 when Defense Secretary Robert Gates complained that his department was “awash in taskings for reports and studies.” He wanted to know how much they cost.

Two years later, the Pentagon review is still continuing, which prompted Congress to ask the GAO to look over the Pentagon’s shoulder. What they found lacked military precision. The GAO found only nine studies that had been scrutinized by the Pentagon review, but the military was unable to “readily retrieve documentation” for six of the reports. …

The cost of the study of the study of the studies was not available from the GAO.

Enough said.

Can Johnson swing the election?

One of the usual criticisms of third party candidates in any election and especially strong third party candidates is the old claim that they will rob the candidate that the critic supports of his God given right to be President. In this US cycle, Republicans who opted to allow MSNBC to vet their candidates are hitting LP Nominee Gary Johnson with that claim.

Johnson denies it and believes he can take substantially more votes off the Democrats:

Would Johnson take votes away from the eventual GOP nominee and perhaps throw the electoral votes of key states to Obama? Without hesitation, he shot back: “I reject that analysis. You’re saying that people who support marriage equality [gay marriage], ending our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and smoking marijuana would vote for the Republican candidate if I wasn’t in the race?”

Although believing he would take more votes from among Democrats and independents than Republicans, Johnson did concede that some of his agenda and his record as governor of the Land of Enchantment — including 750 vetoes and cutting taxes 14 times — might appeal to conservatives. He also believes in abolishing the corporate, capital gains and income taxes in favor of a consumption (or “Fair”) tax, not unlike Mike Huckabee’s proposal in 2008.

According to a recent Rasmussen survey, he is probably correct in this assumption. Although the survey was done on the basis of Ron Paul standing as an independent, it is reasonable to assume that were Ron not to do so, a fair swag of his support would go to Johnson:

Three-Way Race: Romney 44%, Obama 39%, Ron Paul 13%

Texas Congressman Ron Paul appears more interested in influencing the direction of the Republican Party than in running as an independent presidential candidate. But perhaps Democrats should be careful what they wish for: Even if Mitt Romney’s remaining GOP challenger should run as a third party candidate, new Rasmussen Reports surveying finds Romney the winner of a three-way race.

The latest national telephone survey shows that 25% of Likely U.S. Voters think Paul should run as a third party candidate. Sixty-one percent (61%) disagree, but 13% more are not sure.

At the time the poll was taken, Romney was leading Obama by the same margin, indicating that Paul was getting equal support from both sides. Assuming Paul does not run, and much of his support migrates to Johnson to add to his 3-5% support, Johnson is likely to get into the 15% range he is hoping for to get into the debates.

Disillusioned Democrats may be more prepared to support Gary than Ron. Gary, unlike Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr, has not been profiled by DHS or MIAC as potential insurrectionist militia leaders, nor have his supporters been considered by those ‘august’ bodies as possible terrorists.

Which ever way it goes, it is typical of the arrogance and imperious nature of the established major parties to believe that all others should stand aside for them to have a clear run at being the ‘ins and outs’ after the election. Ruling classes have never exhibited much other than disdain and contempt for their downtrodden.

Labor delivers a redistribution of wealth budget.

Cartoon: By Pickering.

In delivering what they hoped would be a surplus budget, Labor has stuck to the tried and true formula of abandoning promises in a ham-fisted attempt to buy votes. The projected surplus of $1.5 billion is miniscule and even then is unlikely to come to fruition. It has to be remembered that the projected deficit for the last financial year was about $21 billion; the reality, more than double that.

Ever since the mining tax was mooted the government have attempted to sell it by claiming that it was needed to fund a cut in the corporate tax rate. This was supposed to ease the pressure on the business community, which was claimed to be suffering the effects of a ‘two speed’ economy. This has been dropped in order to hand out money hand over fist in order to buy votes.

Business has not had a change in fortune and no explanation was given as to why the tax cut was no longer necessary. Just suck it up guys.

Rather than being a responsible budget designed to put a halt to the ever ascending debt spiral, it is as Swan said a typical Labor budget with smoke and mirrors, designed with the next election in mind. Rather than being about being fiscally responsible, it a massive handout budget; rather than cutting government expenditure, it increases it by over $200 million.

Much of it has been achieved by the addition of the carbon tax and the mining tax added to ‘savings’, which are actually tax increases. A great deal has also been done by bringing projected expenditure for next year forward into this year, and deferring more into the following year.

This budget effectively strips funds from major employers with the mining and carbon taxes, reduces infrastructure spending and diverts it into increased welfare entitlement spending.

Swan’s ‘balanced budget' overshadowed by sleaze.

Cartoon: By Pickering.

It hasn’t been a very bad week for Julia until now. Our PM Jules, that is, not President Obama’s composite welfare tart who was put out there to let women know that they can never make it in the real world without state intervention.

Jules had managed to string together almost two consecutive days without a major screw-up or scandal and was looking forward to Treasurer Swan’s smoke and mirrors ‘balanced budget.’ Unfortunately, just at that stage, the senate released the report by FWA on the HSU scandal:

A Fair Work Australia (FWA) report has found former Labor MP turned crossbencher Craig Thomson used work credit cards to pay for escort services while he was national secretary of the Health Services Union (HSU). A senate committee has published the 1,100-page report after being handed the document by FWA this afternoon.

The report found more than 150 breaches of union rules by Mr. Thomson, including that he spent almost $6,000 using union credit cards on escort services while he was travelling away from home and staying in hotels.

The report says the money was spent either for Mr Thomson's benefit or that of someone else. It also details almost $270,000 in spending on activities connected to helping Mr Thomson win his seat in parliament.

The budget will come down as ‘balanced’ aided by the already programmed end to stimulus spending, and taking the NBN and other items off budget. Given that during the incumbency of the current government, the nation has been in the midst of an unprecedented mining boom, it begs the question, “Why the hell have we been borrowing our way into bankruptcy to stimulate the economy in the first place?”

The Bolt Report has an interview with economics professor Judith Sloan who at the three minute mark in the video details some of what is going on: