I was listening to 2JJJ last night, our government run national youth network (yes, I still refuse to call it Triple J, due to Barry Chapman‘s sellout), and heard yet another example of how we’re breeding a generation of youth ignoramuses who believe all the record company and branding/youth of today hype.

Anyway, I was listening ever so briefly (I promise) to Super Request with Rosie Beaton, who surprisingly knows a little bit about music pre-1991 (my era), and she was speaking with her producer on air, about tracks that various callers had asked for, particularly on the theme of treadmills.

Now the producer is the one who supposedly looks for each track and makes sure its the correct one, and I’m assuming knowledge of music to some degree would be one of the prerequisites. It was at this point she said:

And several listeners mentioned “Troo-ga-nine-knee” (laughs) or something (laughs) by Midnight Oil.

She’d certainly know Midnight Oil, all Australians do, and you may not expect her to know that Truganini is a song by Midnight Oil, but you would assume, being the lefty and informed station that it is supposed to be, that she would actually know who Truganini was.

Or do you think I’m being over judgemental because I still have a gaping wound about 2JJJ from 14 years ago?

I promise this is the last post about our recently elected right wing fascist government, and as with all final posts, I’ll go out with bang.

You know, today wasn’t too bad, the world doesn’t seem to have changed too much overnight, and I don’t think I’m feeling the breath of John Howard on my collar just yet. Although I do feel very tired, perhaps a lack of oxygen being produced by the few remaining trees in the country.

The one strange thing however, is that I’ve only been able to find one person (perhaps two) out of about 200 who actually voted Liberal. I was at a school reunion over the weekend, in the middle of the Sydney Liberal heartland, and it was seriously like a wake. Out of 106 attendees, across different classes, beliefs and mortgage states, nobody would own up to voting for the government.

Then on Sunday night, I was at a show, and again, of the 20 or so people I spoke to, not one thought the weekend was a particularly good one for Australia. Sure, in this case I’m talking about an arts crowd, but still, you’d expect to find at least one racist gun toting environment destroying economist, surely?

I’m tempted to launch a nationwide contest or reality TV show, like Australian Idol, in search of the people who voted Liberal. Rumoured to be extinct, we scoured the country, looking for Liberal voters who were willing to come out in daylight, and admit to their beliefs. The winner, the last Liberal voter left standing, gets to record their own policy, and join the rest of Australia’s politicians in the biggest reality TV show of all, the House of Representatives.

The other thing that’s annoyed me the last few days, is the number of people saying that they knew the government would get back in, including Labor voters. These are the same people who knew who would win Big Brother and Australian Idol. If I was so sure who was going to win, I’d have won a fortune betting on it already. And anyway, it makes you wonder why we even bothered, if there’s so many people who can see into the fucking future. I’m probably just frustrated because if John Howard had lost, I’d be saying the same thing. “Oh duh, it was obvious he was gonna lose!”

And on that note, my blogging shall now return to regular programming. I’ll speak to you again in another 3-4 years.

I guess this is where I insert the mandatory rant about how disgusted I am with the Australian public for voting back in a divisive blinkered short sighted lying right wing snivelling little turd who has run this country into the ground, and whose primary goal in life is to turn our amazingly beautiful island home into a right wing christian fundamentalist mini-America, extruded from G.W.’s saliva ridden butt hole.

But no, I won’t do that, as there is good news. At least we have a budget surplus, and so much cash in reserve that we can throw it around for in-tunnel filtration units and forestry compensation to keep the swinging voters happy. Because seriously, the economy is oh so much more important than people.

We wish our U.S. friends better luck than us, on 2^nd November. Our hearts and minds are with you.

Well, after the local Liberal party put up signs about funding tunnel filtration, pretending to be local community group protest notices, the following morning they magically disappeared again. Perhaps the Lane Cove Sticker Syndicate Inc. Pty Ltd. didn’t like someone vandalising their property…

Looks like The Lane Cover Sticker Syndicate Inc. Pty Ltd. is at it again. Here’s the sticker they left on our mailbox this week. A bit hard to see, because my camera phone’s not that good at macro shots, but you can see the amateurism and the white mark still left from the previous sticker. Bastards.

Amusingly enough, our local (coalition) member wrote to us this week, saying that if re-elected, he would contribute $10 million in federal money towards filtration of the tunnel. We’ve had signs all along our main roads for the last few years complaining about filtration, erected by the Sticker Syndicate, but this morning those signs changed to “Coalition gives $10 million to filtration, everyone else $0”. However if you got out of your car and walked up close to these signs and read the small print, you’d see that they’re actually Liberal party advertising posters posing as local community public service announcements. That’s slimey, and taking advantage of local residents. Not exactly what you’d expect from a local member, or maybe you would.

This is the same politically minded federal government who says they won’t fund hospitals because they’re a state budget issue, yet with an election looming, are suddenly able to fund a local state government filtration project. Nuts. I’d call that hypocrisy, but at least the money’s being offered.

You know it really makes you wonder what planet some people, particularly politicians, are on. This week the Australian Labor party announced that they would move towards protecting one of Australia’s great natural wonders, our old growth forests in Tasmania. No major party has ever taken this big environmental challenge, especially a party in opposition, going into an election, with the threat of forestry unions pulling out their support for your party. Yet they still had the confidence to do it. That’s a telling statistic!

The government’s best come back? “It’s just a dirty preferences deal!” Sure it is, but at least the forests will hopefully be protected. Talk about hypocrisy, that’s no different to the government sending us to Iraq on false pretences, then justifying it by saying that the dictator was bad and had to go anyway. Who cares why, so long as the benefits are realised.

In many ways, these U.S. and Australian elections are a reflection of the 21st century world in which we live. For the first time in history, the majority of people do care about protection of our natural environment, our flora and fauna, and equality for all people. And with two hopefully outgoing governments, this will be a turning point for the world, regardless of who you prefer to be in power. Kerry and Latham aren’t perfect, but they represent this definitive shift to more left wing policies and support for the lower and middle class.

This is the anti-plastic-bag generation, a generation of people who actually believe in the big supermarket scams (more on this conspiracy later) to move from plastic bags to reusable bags. A generation of people who at last believe that our flora and fauna need protecting, a generation who demand filtered and bottled water, instead of the natural water which falls from the sky. Yes folks, the world has changed, and we haven’t noticed.

The Tasmanian situation has been a political mine field for decades. You can’t protect the forests without pissing off the foresters, who are supposedly a majority large enough to swing the Tasmanian seats. But now we have a major party saying that the time has come to kiss forestry in old growth forests goodbye. Sure, it took a AUD$800M reskilling sweatner to top it off, but studies show that the forestry industry in Tasmania has been naturally declining for many years, and there is this myth that the Tasmanian electorates revolve around axe and chainsaw wielding voters, when in fact polls are showing that the majority of Tasmanians want the forests protected.

Even the official government tourist site for Tasmania, Discover Tasmania, says that their natural environment is pretty much their only attraction.

Yet the blinkered Tasmanian premier, Paul Lennon, doesn’t even understand his own state, and has come out supporting the forestry industry. Perhaps he does get it, but is faking it until the federal election fights his battle for him. Either way, he’s an ineffective patsy for industry. Paul Lennon didn’t get voted in, by the way, he got the job when the previous (and also pro-logging) premier died of cancer earlier this year.

When we see thousands of people marching against the government in the streets of our capital cities over the weekend, when the opposition party says that more money will be spent on hospitals and education (and the government doesn’t), and when they have the political confidence to stand up to the logging unions, surely this is a sign that something in this country, as well as in the U.S., is about change? Perhaps the gradual increase in media coverage has blinded us, but I have never seen so much protesting over our two governments, since at least the Vietnam war. And THAT is a telling statistic!

Our planet, and the conscience of our people has changed immeasurably over the past four years. We’ve seen the rise of anti-corporatism, anti-commercialism, and pro-conservation, the anti-plastic-bag revolution, and unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), our governments and politicians haven’t taken the slightest notice.

Yes, these U.S. and Australian elections will be a turning point for the future of our planet, and will reflect the ground swell we’ve seen over the last 5-10 years, for a philosophical change in the way governments look to and support their people. And it is about fucking time. Bring it on!

Sydney is tunnel mad at the moment. You can’t drive anywhere without bumping into a tunnel. Well, it isn’t that bad, but if you’re a politician trying to get ahead, slap a tunnel onto your platform and you’ll be in Canberra before you know it.

In our local area, there’s a big kerfuffle about a new tunnel they’re building, which will go pretty much under our suburb, and doesn’t include “in-tunnel filtration”. Here’s the official RTA page for the tunnel, and here are some activists for filtration, bicycle support and other bits and pieces, including a transcript of an ABC Stateline story covering the issue.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is that today I found a sticker stuck on my mailbox, which basically complained about filtration in the tunnel, and said that we as a community needed to do something about it.

I thought that in this modern age, that most people would have at least a basic understanding of psychology and the human psyche, and what it takes to mobilise and rally people behind a particular cause, or at least someone in such a group would. To then pick on my house, in a suburb that will not only not be adversely affected by the lack of filtration, but will actually have improved local traffic conditions due to the tunnel, and stick an ugly yellow permanent sticker on my mailbox saying such, is probably not the most ideal way to garner support for your activist group.

I tried scraping off the ugly yellow sticker, and the damn thing won’t come off. It left an even more ugly white square where the yellow used to be. Fuck filtration, I want the testicles of the streetwalker who vandalised my mailbox! After all, it could only have been a male.

So while we were going to start getting involved in the local community campaigning against the lack of filtration, we’re now reconsidering whether we really want to be involved with such muddle headed fools.

I’ve spoken a little about community groups in the past (Trust me, I’m not a psychologist and Community groups — a flawed operational model?), and the key thing, above all else, is identifying the skilled and passionate individuals, and empowering them with the authority and resources to enact the missions of the group.

A mistargeted campaign of sticker vandalism against your main prospect base I’d probably regard as a dumb arse backyard job, certainly by someone without the necessary skills or understanding, and whose knowledge of the issues is most likely flawed as well. Makes you question the activist sites mentioned above, doesn’t it?

Fortunately my green lefty socialist leanings mean I’ll still fight the issue, but I think you get my point.

Speaking of memes, I’m sure this one has been done to death in the last 24 hours, but it’s still pretty funny, if not depressing…

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we,” Bush said. “They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

While this is amusing enough in itself, the White House’s spokesman Scott McClellan’s comments are even funnier.

[..] just shows even the most straightforward and plain-spoken people misspeak. [..]
But the American people know this president speaks with clarity and conviction, and the terrorists know by his actions he means it [..]

Via SMH

I tend to be in an infinite loop at the moment, which is somewhat contradictory, but considering the current state of my head I could probably say anything and think it sounds correct. The loop however is the 3-4 days per week I spend in Canberra picking up cold and flu, then the 3-4 days back in Sydney that I spend recovering, so that I’m just well enough to head back to Canberra again, ad inifinitum.

Anyway, in such frustrating moments, when you feel that you have no weekend, just sick recovery time, you tend to watch a lot of moronic television or DVDs. I watched an elephant dump on a hidden video camera the other night, on some wildlife documentary. Man did I laugh, that’s the level I’ve descended to.

So I happened to catch Ali G The Movie on DVD. His recent series in the U.S. was hysterical, so I assumed the film would be somewhere near as good. Unfortunately not. However it was not the later 86 minutes that annoyed me, it was first minute that really pissed me off.

Not during the DVD load, but only once you select “Play” from the menu, does a 3 minutes mini-doco on piracy appear on the screen, and all the remote controls are disabled, so you have no choice but to watch it before the actual main feature begins. And the commentary over the top of this minute of what looks like a devilish blacksmith, working in the dark trying to heat up then cool down a bunch of branding irons, was this drivel (my highlighting):

The pirates are out to get you. Don’t let them brand you with their mark. Piracy funds organised crime and will destroy our film and video industry. Piracy costs jobs and will destroy our music and publishing industry. Piracy funds terrorism and will destroy our development and your future enjoyment. Don’t touch the hot stuff. Cool is copyright. Copyright is a matter of fact. Don’t let the pirates burn a hole in your pocket.

All that this crap incited me to do was take a copy of the rented DVD before I returned it, regardless of my dislike for the film in the first place, and regardless of the glistening Macrovision logo which flashes up after the credits.

So let us analyse this wonderous anti-piracy spiel shall we.

The pirates are out to get you.

Right, first cab off the rank, the pirates are out to get us. Are they really? And how are they supposed to do that? By selling us copies that are cheaper? Boy, that is really going to get me.

Don’t let them brand you with their mark.

Their mark? What mark would that be? A rather feeble attempt at a metaphor for receiving stolen goods perhaps? OK, fair enough.

Piracy funds organised crime and will destroy our film and video industry.

Organised crime? Are we talking about individuals taking a backup copy of a DVD they own? Or the next door neighbours taking a copy of a rental DVD for later use? Or are we talking about the small time DVD ripper down at the local markets selling copied DVDs? Perhaps we’re talking about the chain DVD rental stores like Blockbuster, who lock their franchisees into long 3 year contracts and then tell them what five or six DVDs they’re allowed to rent out, which is ultimately dictated by the deals they’ve struck with the motion picture companies. Or maybe we’re talking about the large publishing houses, who over the last 50 years have retroactively diluted the right to copy into a million dollar industry based on a flawed interpretation of rights.

Piracy costs jobs and will destroy our music and publishing industry.

Well, that depends upon the business model that these industries choose to base themselves upon. The flawed copyright exploitation model invented by them 50 years ago, in which case of course I can understand their concern, if I had such a gravy train, I’d never want to give it up either.

Piracy funds terrorism

Funnier even than the film itself, here it is again for comedic impact:

Piracy funds terrorism

What a crock of condescending rubbish. Although, the last time I saw Osama Bin Laden, he was down at the local Glebe markets, trying to sell me a copy of Mike Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11.

Don’t touch the hot stuff. Cool is copyright.

Gee, the marketers have been working overtime on this one. What better way to make copyright sound cool and hip.

Don’t let the pirates burn a hole in your pocket.

Nice contradiction. Piracy lowers prices, both of pirated goods and the real thing. This is what has happened in the music industry, and will happen in the film industry. This won’t dilute the pot of cash being spent and won’t send the studios broke. In much the same way as technology has facilitated the piracy of films, likewise technology has lowered the cost of film production, it just isn’t being passed on to the consumers. And as for the high salaries garnered by actors and technical people alike, time to get back to reality.

So, Universal Pictures, ironically started by actors almost 80 years ago, and sponsors of this ridiculous anti-piracy message, get with the times, and get a better marketing firm, because the one you’re using now is pretty clueless.

Oh deary me. Recent news stories are talking up the threat of al-Qaeda terrorist attacks during the U.S. elections, such as this story (US warns of ‘large-scale’ terror attack) in the SMH.

Of course many are suggesting that this is yet another ploy by G.W. et al for election glory, as what better time to want Big Boy Bush in charge of the U.S. military. When you think about it, you’ve got to wonder why al-Qaeda would want to disrupt an election which is looking more and more likely to dump G.W. and pull the U.S. out of the middle east. al-Qaeda’s whole point is that the U.S. is run by nationalistic interventionist infidels.

If G.W. is expecting the U.S. citizenry to believe that one, then… well… yeah…

More amusing however is a quick search on Google News shows about 10 nations, including our very own SMH reporting the fact in their local media before any of the mainstream U.S. media outlets.

However the stupidity doesn’t end overseas, as the Australian government has just signed a $530 million deal to purchase 59 “refurbished and updated” M1A1 Abrams tanks. I’m assuming they’ll go quite nicely with our airforce of 3.5 FA18s or how ever many we own now.

These tanks will be of great use for invading other countries protecting our borders from land based threats from other nations. One wonders if we’re about to be invaded by submersible tanks from New Zealand. Excellently thought through Senator Hill. Periscope up!