There is no threat from changing the definition of Marriage

The wholesale rejection of any problems with major changes to the language of marriage has deeply disturbed many of us
Subject : Same Sex Marriage Voting  in Australia ( voting letters go out first week of September 2017

Thankfully,  for me at least,  this focus on the heart is not an issue up front for me because politics ( and therefore civil marriage )  must be,  underneath all the hype, practical  .
Unfortunately though the outcome could well be more about simple emotions than public good for all and children and parental influence in particular.

The practical politics of marriage

Civil marriage is necessary/good idea for a number of reasons As as wisely Susan neiman says when reason is missing as it is  -history &good  practice support it . On the negative side (because laws in a libertarian country should only be implemented when really necessary)  some clear statute involving mothers fathers and children and the state are  necessary because marriage creates the biggest risk of all ( children) and caring for the products of failure is partly ALL of our responsibility ( via taxes ) On the positive side, setting a high bar for fathers,( in particular ) and the community to do their darnedest to make it work makes perfect practical sense .

The expected outcome of the survey IMO
 If it doesn’t cost anything and it makes you feel good ,most people will buy it .. too simple for words!

So what influence are other emotions having ?
Christians are particularly passionate about marriage . That strong passion could be enough to rile non- Christians and bigot haters to vote yes .
If reaction to passion isn't enough,  then the simple appeal to the heart for one small group complaining  of exclusion may well be.
Who needs reasons when you have marketing..  simple buyin


Any place for reality therapy ?  A bit of perspective from history 

A. In the very best libertarian tradition we outta say thus far and no farther with the lawmakers - only laws that are necessary  ( ABOVE )Don't mess up the straight marriage focus
The Russians fell for the Orwellian described simplicity around the concept of equity  -unsustainable

B.  In the very worst tyrannical tradition,  we have self centered groups playing with words in their own interest.  In the very worst tyrannical tradition yes advocates tap the emotional rather than the rational energy of the people.

What are we seeing so far ? 

Having watched a few interviews on ABC recently ( Sep 7) with opposing views featured,  I was never more struck by the self-centeredness of the Yes lobby and their blindness to the adverse and other probable  consequences of their own willfulness -esp for children.

Wanna Buyin to the big picture?
watch the film BABE 

Which Aussie Pollies are most like President Trump

Most of us are surprised that Donald Trump has become the new  president of the United States .
No one like him has ever got the opportunity to change the world in the USA .
Maybe this is happening elsewhere - esp with the French the Greeks. Leaders who have no background to back them.  
Without taking sides,  I am suggesting we discuss the TRUMP PHENOMENON (TP )and whether we see signs of it in our own country .
Former advisor to the Greek Presidents has helpfully talked ( on ABC Radio National) to the phenomenon of insiders and outsiders in leadership struggles . Why is this news to us ?

 If he is right,  both the left and the right are in deep trouble - because these old clubs and their rhetoric are not working - Outsiders are more likely to take control than we ever expected ,

Clearly the once hallowed shared doctrines of reason and reasonability working for the good of democracy  are being REJECTED- the values that were our democracies food are long gone and now the mere shell is about to fall.
 Whether left or right , the ruling party in a  democracy in a technological world that doesn't work is thrown out . The parties are not only being thrown out , they throw their own out . The reasons espoused by the powerful old groups are limiting them
Please contribute your thoughts on the phenomenon

Let me suggest that , as Bertolt Brecht said of Hitler (" the bitch that bore him is in heat again")" that a  particular person may not be the best way to understand the phenomenon that rightly concerns us .

Some characteristics of TP are listed in an earlier post .

I will suggest that the current Leader of the greens Richard di Natale is the most Trump like  because the only thing that seems to matter to him is his passion for what  he thinks is needed . He is the most convinced that  he and the greens could make Austalia great again - but really has no idea how to really do it .

Sure he talks about worthy causes but where is his ability to negotiate and appreciate real world solutions and the other side of the praxis  story?
Donald trump seems to exhibit TP less after 100 days than Di Natalie seems to after years in office . A privilege of unrepresentative opposition ?
If we get an odd ball - which is worse s>
One who admits he doesn't know or one who for years thinks he knows ? 

The Left have a got a problem - and it is a big problem

The Left  don't really know what they stand for. Did they ever ?  I think they did, but its some way back now .
Like the chameleons most have them have been for a generation, they have not noticed how all their color changes have impacted on their credibility. Taking their lead from the  "cynical of business "extreme left they have irresponsibly justified ignorance as the end of their discussions - leaving the public ignorant of the complex job of parliament.

 They talk of listening to scientists but they themselves are not scientists and do not show the discipline a scientist must show to influence/ properly support practical outcomes that will work . Proper reporting would have saved them but no-- they have to comment .
The leaders have got comfortable and the public service, which has provided free homes for so many of them, doesn't challenge them deeply enough to be truthful and truly accountable on the wicked and reason short  problems of politics . To make things worse they effectively choose to waste moneyon unworkable solutions .  being more idealistic than practical.
They talk about science credibility, but they don't allow science controversy ( real life), showing they haven't a decent scientific board of review amongst them . Oh yes , they have broad range  of pedantic speculative theoreticians with degrees . Yes profs have their place, but if it was a panel advising industry they would be accountability there ; not peer reviewed papers : briefs to credit or crucify them --like those of us in industry have to do daily. The recent  attack on credible physiology / pharmacology on Catalyst revealed a profound disease/ deficit in the ranks
Brian Schmidt lost a great opportunity on QandA to give CSIRO credit by not agreeing with  the audience ( who talked of the problem of alternative facts )
Brian should have said  that the ABC gets it wrong and worse - it can muddy the water for decades as the media political train on water did in 2006-7 drought  In the most ridiculous of ways,  the ABC checks it own facts .( which takes just enough time to enable the leader to move on )
By chasing their version of the latest in science ( sexy stuff ) ABC have been party to the lefts destruction of the hard substance --  the ongoing building of professions and  politically effective consensus policy advice on science ( the substance on water or conservation or eg ) many other areas also , Desperately the dummies focus on something simple like coal .

Everyone know the elephant in the room on water on Qanda was the highly favoured Flannery and in other areas , the entourage of chosen experts who agree to be ABC - if you were a practical scientist in the area in which Robin Williams and Phillip Adams constantly venture WEEKLY you would have switched off like us,  in disgust -decades ago. .Time for action to give someone else a go  .

The comfort zone of the lefts  urban mandated honor (they are the easy choice for the growing working class and disaffected youth) has hid the reality that the city is home to the  advertisers/promoters  of childish impulses and the poor me cries who have gotten us to this day when the toxic cult of sentimentality rules .
What they forget in all their righteous indignation about Trump is that they have had the power and its not working . (They laud democracy but its the urban hothouse that both gives them power and keeps them away from eco reality)
The left  are so short of ideas they can  talk about "more money for this and that "as if mere money  is the limitation. Everyone knows the left just wastes money cause it doesn't concentrate on effectiveness , Speaking of left with credibility - remember John Cain ?
What the left  forget in all their righteous indignation about Trump is that they have become religious themselves . The modern left is in some sort of self proclaimed  cloud thinking they hold the high moral ground . From  calling morality bunk in the 70's these immature adults have managed to convince them selves they are the only party who really cares -- they have become more marxian than the marxists of old . Defending the poor and the disadvantaged is fine but the left had the power and did not make their money work . Even Gonsky is about money we may not have?
The only food samaritan  pay for the needs of others out of their own pocket .And real needs come first
Reminded as they were on Qand A on monday that these worries about the bad behavior of men convinced themselves that they needed to make water , The imposters  will not recant , even though they have burdened their own young people with debts over water that are not needed . Now there  attention has turned to coal. where is the ABC report on current energy sources and how they are used . No way were they ever going to alert us to the power crisis .

Yes the religious left are so high and mighty they think that their moral choices  entitle them to spend OUR money on criticizing the opposition in public . ( Josh Frydenberg ) Their fanaticism in doing this sort of unacceptable spending is evident . Vic Labor have corrupted the good name of science by putting the departments badge on the sign . The new false values of the public service ( once held to account for not showing them) are on full show at Camberwell Junction .

The thing about religiousness is that it makes you think you know . The lefties in church "know "that CC is going to kill the world and they must do all in their power to stop it .Despite the doubts of outsiders the religious left are tied down to both a damnation and a salvation process. The real weakness in this new faith is its hardly convincing about the damnation process let alone the salvation . Nobody in church doubts that " a big tax" will bring the heretics to heel .

Most galling is that scientists who arr supposed to back both processes are not getting any work except that dictated to by the church. Too bad if informed and trained students of environment can't get work because the politics and problem solving of environment has become so simple.

This sign is proof that that the Victorian Labor Party don't know what they're doing in science but they are ALSO prepared to corrupt their science advisors department to do so , How much different is ABCTV? Can anyone tell the difference ?

Why don't they get whats funny on the ABC?

Often because they are not serious . The ABC cultivates the main qualification for authorship to be a reactionary . That means in thinking terms they don't really know what is --- the baby goes out with the bathwater , They are NOT funny because they don't know whats serious ( Peter Ustinov)
They have tried everything and learnt little -

The Trumpers and the waste they create

Note on the name TRUMPERS ( 17th March 2017) While stimulated by the phenomenon of President Donald Trump and his quickfix solutions, my idea in making up the word TRUMPERS is to find a new expression for a very old disease phenomenon in the recent Western tradition-- the word also carries the image of a pretty card which miraculously breaks the rules of reason in the game. There is a lot of sound common sense in playing cynic with every new complete savior technology and quick fix presented by wannabes .

This is what the well respected sociology Professor Jaques Ellul tried to tell the West nearly one hundred years ago . A.N Whitehead did also

The new saviors are typically not COMPLETE solutions ,There is ALSO a lack of real perspective , the need for catch up and a failure to really face the limits of what caused the problem .

Some other catch ups to come

1. - a lack of recognition that Trumping is what got our wannabes to try and make water -----Australia
2. -- the lack of recognition by taxpayers that Trumping ideas are what many poorly trained ignorant ideas people public servants licence themselves to practice when they sit down to work each day (Rob Sitch's honesty in Utopia ABC)
3. - the suck eggs revelations we see trotted out post disaster by the press. Many disasters have a strong man made component that is not acknowledged, let alone understood by observers in the media.( Not OUR problem)
4. -unseen consequences :the experiments this excitement about "new" creates results IS defunding of the old practices and any great commitment to their further refinement ( huge issue across the public service where its growing inability to do old things better is testimony to its changes of direction ( The imposition of a CEO - a change everything often type leader??) loss of real understanding of the wickedness of political problems.
5. - ignorantly asserts world leadership of the particular wannabe and the need to change things that aren't broken. Fixers are out of a job and sycophants get one
6. - As its driven by public servants ,wannabes and the public desperation for hope, it usually lacks cost control, realism and sound cost benefit analysis. It is rightly asserted as quick fix
7. - the dressing up of old as new is an irrational and unsound reality . windmills , fossil fuel and hydro use are not new ( all advocated as if new today

Minor things to check before Weatherill, Freydenberg and the public will see daylight ( only a few)

-The cost to the community of high momentum additions to cars and trucks with heavy batteries

- the inefficiency of DC power for reliable delivery of power over distance.

-foot prints of creation are ignored in Li-Ion case just as they are if we use gas instead of coal.( CO2 outputs similar

-- the way they have switched on and off solar and gas research at a whim

- limits of resources to build such a huge volume of batteries

-the lack of efficient opportunities and probable poor cost benefit of new hydro in Australia

-ongoing explosions risks as there is no likelihood of ever getting better than storing 1,5 volts per cell making chemical storage of KW and high voltage DC a costly and risky physical presence -- their own excitement generated in part by their own ignorance of how things work ( yes they are not alone !)

Most importantly The HUGE and ever present problem is the lack of perspective NOT provided to the public by our problem solving press and their vulnerability to Trumping philosophies.

example :No press campaign as yet stated the LIKELY reality that petrol will be the most likely future fuel because of its easy transport , high energy value and ease of manufacture from algae and other renewable plant material.

Perspective is what we are denied by trusting in Trumpers.; these well dressed glorious desperate dinosaurs that call themselves gods. .

The appalling ignorance and dishonesty of our approach to environmental protection

It will be twenty years this year since the many deaths from 2 building failures at Thredbo created Australia's biggest Coronial enquiry. 
The photo shows the now empty site from the Alpine way above the 2 buildings involved. I wrote a suggested and finally proved correct basis for the tragedy to that Coronial enquiry. 
My work is in remote sensing ( predictions based on geology soils slopes, landscapes runoff, infiltration and vegetation from maps/ photos ;
As its very hard to get real " landslides" in weathered granite ( which this was ) I just couldn't see how the slope failure would happen without negligence of some kind. I knew many examples of both " "natural "and man made "slope failures" ( the proper term)
In 1997 when it happened, I had been looking after the prediction and remediation of landslides in the biggest landslide area in Australia.. You win some you lose some .
While many want to call it Australia's biggest natural disaster ( and blame nature not ourselves? ) , I wrote in 1997 that it was probably an avoidable planning disaster - which is what it proved to be .


Even today, there is still a high risk of slope failures simply because we don't plan the use of soils and water runoff very well.

Our polys should hang their heads in shame because they haven't the guts to train people to plan our environment properly