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 

Corruption in the world economic system

Great to see Stephen Long chasing the financial structure run by Indian overseas investors .I hope he uncovers the truth and the implications for our government in dealing with Adani . I fear there is too little focus on the former and too much on the latter . A short look not a long look is not a good look - but normal
 We baby boomers need to face the fact that we have been ignoring the dangers beyond our shores and focusing too much on the unconvincing and unjustified attacks/debilitating cynicism  on our own system .The Libs are not the worst disease affecting the country.
We gave money to the poor , often ignoring the fact that we can't really help countries whose own rich exploit them . We are not real wise about real politics - esp when we wander off telling others "How "to do things .
If we are going to do more than be good samaritans with individuals ( our historical and limited territory) we must not ignore the evil which corrupts and can corrupt even our own eco system.

As Susan Neiman has pointed out we lack wisdom in this area and in particular the post Christian reactionaries lack wisdom about evil .
The only way you can tackle real politic is to understand it and understand it in our own system.  Most important of all - understanding it as it happens close to home .
Only by being complete political and jericho road realists can we hope to really keep Australia great .

Do we not also have to decide whether our cynicism. ignorance and fear of evil  is preventing us believing we can be great again . Self loathing is not just the other blokes problem

Ignorance and Arrogance on Environment

Nothing will help modern Australian governments more than finding a way to get OBJECTIVE advice about soil water land and biodiversity questions . Neither farmers nor armchair experts and Green activists  can be trusted on this .
Our world, its wars , its food and its security in investment are dependant on getting this right  The mess of constant fighting about who knows what could go on for centuries .
There is a way forward cultivate local specific objective environment advice and ditch the empires and those who build them . A better democratic project for the 21st century I cannot think of .
Recent letter of mine to the papers .

Common advice to new Councillors is to "take expert advice seriously" . This is good advice ,but it is definitely not the best advice. The best advice is to take on " much advice " as is written on the floor of the Victorian Parliament .
The people in the big smoke don't know everything and one person can't be trusted to know all there is to know on the public good subjects in question.Sorry people, but those of you who live in cities are especially ignorant and arrogant on the subject of environmental risk --if only your leaders would admit it.    

Which of your former Councillors briefed themselves widely on the environmental risk questions which often plague their terms of office . I know having written to many many Shires on the subject of environmental risk for over thirty years, just how little that happens. The waste extends up to the golden thread weavers in Spring street who once thought they could make water .
Many post Kennett Councils have made the very bad and expensive habit of taking and seeking little advice, and from outsiders to the local area. They pay monkeys, and not with peanuts.   

Please Councillors, don't be a bunch of smart arses ( alecs) who think the only good advice comes from above.

.Democrats used to all believe in wisdom from the ground up. I wish all new Councillors well in keeping a better balance that truly respects local sources of wisdom.

Do we really need Emergency services hierarchies

The answer is No . We need leaders but not empires . Many emergencies services can be run by devolved services within existing more local organisations .The shires, hospitals police CFA and forest and  land and water management groups .  

The fact is that emergencies  don't occur every day and they are varied in their extent severity and focus. Permanent agencies are only necessary where both planning and recurrence demand it  Dedicated agencies will get lost between drinks if they don't deal with issues ( often much smaller scale and not called disasters) at very high  return periods
Risk is not an unknown in the country,  but it is to many city centrics , However well trained, city centric  managers are , they cannot have enough experience to properly  manage the range of  them unless they have worked long term at a local level . .

Much environmental risk management is best managed by people who work with related everyday issues ( soils ,water rivers  forests shires  The UFF - CFA dispute  is only the tip of an iceberg of increasing empire building and sus performance within the emergency services industry ,

Craig Lapsley and his staff have too much authority and too little responsibility . Yes govt may need agencies to show and show coordination,- but it should build, as required, from the boots up.

Anyone who knows how the modern emergency services organisation compete with each other and their members will not be surprised that we are not always getting good cost benefit from many of the new ones .

EXAMPLE September 25th September 2016    Forbes floods

'"  all sorts of dialogue is being offered up about situations where so-called managers are out of their depth."

 Incompetent comment in    Italics
Competent responses in      Normal 

"Flood waters hide deep holes and there is risk a car could overturn if a driver attempted to drive through.""  

In designing creek crossings I would consider it poor design if a 1 in 100 year flood eroded the roadway pavement . Ie any holes are Councils or Vicroads fault in most cases . Even  gravel roads should have safe crossing edges ,flood level markers and water over road signs  Public authorities should close the particular road and avoid broad blanket access  .

It is not difficult to prevent the tunneling problem but there would frankly be plenty of low flow crossings that should be on the agenda for work 

"Could get more water  in next few days"     The whole role of EM is to anticipate each situation as it likely to arises not use realtime  situation or unknowns as broad fear factors   

" this is a different flood from the last one "    Em should not talk like public do about risk , They should speak to anticipated risk directly by saying  This is a 1 in 10 i in 100 etc . Each flood behaves differently but the stream manager should be able to plan and design responses on the basis of proper risk assessment calls ( return period - likely rain ,
The geomorphology is known and an  Em who talks vaguely about breakouts and changes in flows has NOT been studying them in the many quiet times between floods . 

.
CONCLUSION
Emergency agencies are making the most of the risks,  but are not responding to them in a cost effective manner .
If the locals area reticent about their statement Ministers must take it seriously . A high  number of  disobedients may mean the agency is outta touch with real world risk management  The longer this goes on , the more the system will be corrupted

 Don;t expect the public or the media to pick a sound way through the rhetoric. Cultivating respect for leaders depends on onground credibility , consistent words and ideas like return period


FIRES
see another time 

Projection

Takes one to know one is a great test -well applied . People accuse others of things they know lots about . Tanya wants us to believe her maths is better than the incumbents when it was her party that was the one  rejected at last election for  mismanagement  of Tax .
"According to my figures " we did OK
More here 
.

One Wonderful Wednesday

I talk a lot ( please be patient and listen this time) but this Wednesday I saw the most powerful standing in silence I have ever seen.   Hours of it --It was beautiful - to be treasured forever .
I love the system of governance we have inherited. Seldom have I loved it as much as I did  on Wednesday when I stood with 3 groups outside Parliament (Victoria)
eh -Its hard to love it at moment with all the noise and superficiality ( 4wks to election)

The very founders of our Colony put gold in the roof and green wisdom on the floor , We hopefully will continue to do the same.
Study it and show yourself truly following their reliable wisdom that's fixed on the floor .IiTs beauty is more than skin deep - reliable resilient.  A place of noise yes but a place where the framework for  peace and rest has been set .
To be continued shortly

Can any good come out of ABCTV ?

Clearly yes . Tonights more interesting QANDA program probably has nothing to do with formula but  more to do with a lack of one -the old one (stacked)  .
Few polys , real diversity and few interruptions and directions by Jones always helps.
The great question and statements by the  young voter in dark suit were not adequately addressed, This is an area where SABC have little credibility - with young people .  ABCTV followup of him would make more sense than next week's worry or whatevers new campaign

The young blokes concern that BB adults are out of touch was demonstrated,  if not discussed.
All hands to him and others like him .
The Libs need to worry as Pru  seemed least exposed to the realities on the street.

Wading through the murk

The mystery of Q and A (ABCTV)  is why the directors think pollies know things -- too many at the ABC clearly know nothing and clearly don' t know where to go to find more than projection and prejudice built entertainment .They swim too low in the stream .
The real leaders whom they should have on , swim above the murk , Get them on like SBS do!
Those who commit only to  the middle get told what to think --eh Malcolm. they wander around in the murk and  ,   say what they are supposed to say.

Radical anti --Christians can't have it all ways . Infact to get rid of Christianity you have to get rid of a lot of stuff . Not just ideas and values about ( equity and autonomy ) but every persons value, equality and autonomy before God and the theory of just punishment and responsibilities to others Exodus 20.  You have to get of all the laws that have built up over centuries or just hope they work in written formal alone like the Pharisees once did . That or hope lawyers get loved to death like gods .

The reactionaries have been beavering away at it for years but cause they have nothing to replace it  they will end up with nothing - just a few laws they hope will hold water - for them .

You can't say as they have said that its all mind construct without undermining your own mind  and its games .

....we start our week really weak with the lame old ABC.

Comedy expansion  --what a laugh - They know what they need but not how to get there -more taxpayers money wasted in chasing the mere name ONLY ..  
If only the ABC stuck to its job -reporting ,  we would hear more entertaining news  more princes in disguise, more surprises 

 The monday night game at the coliseum is often to see somebody sacrificed ,That person or group maybe in the panel  but maybe not . You can rest assured if they are in the panel,  they will be alone . Appearances of course may disguise the old predictable game they play to win.
Not that the irresponsible directors get it all their own way -  the child can sometimes intervene.

QandA loses lots of it appeal if its just same old same old ; projecting guilt and shame onto someone else -- same old reactionary framework for the ever changing trans everything generation , The amount of blood required to get the same hit increases. The paradox of life severely constrained by reaction to the well established never seen .

This overly predictable reworking of the predictable was another waste of time last night .Jane Caro should have been taken off her banging on pedestal of the pedestrian years ago .
Wise members of the panel had to spend OUR time correcting her about how money was actually spent in public schools .Previous to that we have night after night of spin and stupidity .
The popularity of the simple is however completely understandable .
As for real dialogue and conversation - you couldn't cut a slice of fun  out of that overly controlled  format.and next week - just an anorher illusion of their own making . ho hum never get to the gist mam .

Its all about TRUMP

No it can't be all about Donald TRUMP . It must ALSO  be about the people .
Until we look at ourselves   we won't really understand why the face of stupidity stares right back at us , The hypocrisy

The presumption  that government should ACT  when we don't.

The government should KNOW what its doing when we don't


Most importantly of all for this moment

The government should act tough when we have been weak 

Despite this weak moment in history and perception ( That its all determined )

WE have the power
we are the ricest people in history and can make it work

Are we not decieved? if so by whom? 
We abandon the freedom and call for personal responsibility for the security of tyranny

Who is voting for him ?
Are young people voting for him because the only thing they are interested in is entertainment , After all isn't that the sort of thing we taught them at home and at school?

Damaged or Destroyed ?

Waleed Aly on The Project last night tried to nail the Environment Minister Greg Hunt with a "really big problem the government needed to something about ". If there is something environmentally wrong, according to the wannabes , its gotta be with our reef- something obvious colorful and precious makes a popular if misguided target  . The truth is , Some ( most?)  think not enough because the really substantial  problems are more subtle than that . More subtle than the color of coral and more long lasting than colloids in a salt solution --
The serious thing is they all got it wrong; everyone in that story is barking up the wrong tree as we say in this country .  
The public are too easily influenced by the superficial and polys often only follow. Waleed failed to make the case while Greg failed too to do anything but react - his science, technology and political response was all over the place .his advisors will be part of his problem
If we fail to find the target , as American foreign policy and Dick Smith testifies this week( on population - another superficial fear) , all the money in the world won't do what we all want it to do - that is to help fix the damage and the destruction . 

The consensus issue amongst us is that we are not looking after the world and its people .This focus is absolutely on target and good on The Project for seeking to deliver this great quest differently . We want so much to do so ( many at least ) ---that's really good.
 Its HOW the next generation do it that will make all the difference. But No , we are not doing it  .We haven't got a vision of HOW to do it .

If young are going to make any better impact than my generation ( who failed ) they are going to have to think smarter and reject some of the simple nonsense pushed by my generation .

Some common myths and mistaken ideas still common 

1. That if the problem is going to be fixed it will be have to be the government that does it . Governments can be crass and incompetent and just waste our taxes .
2. That big business is the bad bloke   
3. That its the other blokes problem . The coal industry , The dredgers , the powerful
   
   Young people have already shown us the way on choice in the supermarket -very positive  pay more for eggs , don't buy bottled water unless you are going to die from the local ( Planet ArK) 
4. That the environment is like us -needs cushions and grants . As if it like too many of us,  full of excuses and hard done by stories . The reality is that the environment shows great resilience ( half the stories on permanent destruction in the news are rubbish )and we can and should work with it.
    
5. We as , Carl Jung says ,  are the basket case , The problem is primarily with man . 

If you are a young person reading this

1. Don't make the same mistakes as your parents on this 
2. Don't be superficial 
3. Don't project the problem onto others- get involved somewhere near you 
4. Study the problems in detail.  Do your physiology, chemistry and physics, even if you redo it . 
5. Don't assume the problem is just technological -- this is still a very common mistake 
6. Assume there is a spiritual and emotional dimension ( see S .Neiman on religious and political ambitions)  - we struggle to deal with our damaged vision and ambitions as Carl Jung has said and Homer Simpson shows 

That said ,  all hands to you young people . The environment is a great place to work because it is so resilient .  This means that when we fail to protect the environment sometimes it helps itself. Its our sister not our mother , Working with people is harder work too, but you sort of have to - if we are going to make a dent  in the ongoing real and thoroughly unacceptable damage problems .The killing fields ---

Colloids will not kill the reef ( my work is with soil, water and plants) but panic will waste another opportunity to do something well and truly satisfying.---and it the right place and time .

I wish you well in your quest

Confusing ourselves

I like it when Arts grads like Art , but I would,  if I was Mark Scott,  insist they limit their appreciation to some Good Art that's gone before.  If ABC reactionaries  don't grow up soon they will have forgotten that despite the inadequate of the past , there was some good succinct stuff that we learnt from our parents , and they theirs.
This shallow excuse of "evolving progress"  is not demonstatable and its annoying because most of us know better; we know better than to have faith in mere mechanism . Its a god assumption - Ok if that god is that capable . Clearly its leadng the left into a false hope in the power of government and the higher taxes to do that
For a  biologist like me,  its altogether too much;  Claiming evolution territory that noone really owns it  doesn't even get past amino acids and adaption and its not faultless or visionary   .

We don't see  enough good old Art as it is /was ( meddle with Chesteron last week) on ABC  which brings me to my second point .
That I wish ABC journos would stop trying to do science .They inevitably confuse correlation with causation . They only seem to have time for One "why" or "howasat" question ---- all they have time for before they "move on ". No wonder our kids and people aren't learning .

One question is, let me tell you , never enough for a thinking person, let alone a scientist . Sure journos  can comment in their own right on" chances of  this and chances of that " like Chris Uhlmann does ad infinitum -- but please ---not while reporting .
Suddenly whats happening in Ireland is important - of course;;;I see ;; they voted on gay marriage.To be really up with it,  we suddenly do what the Irish do - its a bit irish isn't it ? Like Al Gore and investing in carbon stocks Or Greens and Green Labor ( Carbines and co in Victoria ) call for making water some years ago

If they rememeber , George Orwell suggests that game chasing is a perfect recipe for missing the scoop.  Maybe they don't remember their science of good journalism -surely they don't believe this new counter cultural doctrine --"the latest innovations is best -- its evolving ???" Good science builds on work of others ..........dummies.  Clearly its another example of confusing your own noted item of coorelation and calling it casuation--- wow .

What I hate  ( cause it misleads listeners ) is the adjectives added to news reports. It not hard to tell which person "the reporter "doesn't like .

Eg the report on the brumbies in the high country cull tonight  . "Politically that will never fly " Well neither would Jack sparrows dogs if it wasn't for Barnabys common sense attack on the Politically Correct . Behind , not outfront and prophetic Now we have to bludgeon Barnaby - unwatchable ABC

All it takes for evil to prosper is for the media to solve the worlds problems in a moment - their moment of fame or frame . Trade of beef to Indonesia another eg  Population control amongst people on boats ( today)

Stop making fools of yourselves and do your jobs properly. Be truly part of the respectful of other professions in the clever country.  How about you actually ring up someone OTHER than your favourites!!
Our children need real jobs so they can use their science training .Not you and the Greens and now Labors leader  pretending to know things they don't. ( that he could solve the rfeuge crisis if only TONY would listen )

Seriuosly stupid thinking

Is to assume Polys know what they are doing. Get that..

If you read no further ,,,, you won't waste any of your normal  thinking time.

Careless talk on the subject of POLLUTION                The faith is ---the market ( thats" the tram" and "the pricing" words)
he trusts the technology of markets ( like so many) . The problem is multifaceted
-if C02 is not the problem decades of rhetoric are wasted 
-even if the way to deal with it is also completely obscured by faith ( as if breathing( stoma) , farting can be controlled by " the market ")

What the people want is not science but something really simple ! 

 If we are going to tell the truth here we need to be careful quoting any poly of any kind . Stick to science and not the technology for eg of how to reduce emmissions.
Technically C02 is NOT a pollutant .It is usually recycled being one of the most durable and safe and relaible associaites of living systems . It can be considered for example as a fertilizer . Double the conc of C02 in atmos and you double the rate of photosynthesis . [ C02] concentration is a rate limiting equation for most photosynthesis on the planet.

Gluttony &Envy but who cares ? Sins are not serious anymore

That's what we hear from the TV --"The church wrong to frighten us with talk of sin"  .The TV tries to say "Everything will work out fine really in the end"    There no cliffs,  only flat landscape to drive fast through when your God is a PhD . PhD Progressive hopeless Determinism -let me call it.

Hamlet saw this flat unweeded garden - why can't we ?

Our Jennifer Byrne ( ABCbookclub )has enough knowledge of the old civilization sustaining  faith to know that we can and have over millennia now gone where angels fear to tread, She has not enough knowledge of the substance of sin  to avoid falling through the cracks that angels and devils still know about .
Lots of light footed observers like her have their eye on " New ideas and so called science " and their feet firmly in publicly funded studios.
Science doesn't always help us decide when mind over matter matters . Infact, the greatest advocates this century of PhD were tyrants . Angels , evil and devils still exist  - kids know it ( games dress and in house talk)  even if their parents are in denial about it -esp in own household where it matters

 Presumably her regular colleagues couldn't cope with her fearless foray into real fear territory , but then, she never got there anyway . Playing around the edges on the The Book Club  ABC
Her Seven deadly sins were like her picture of reality -  an outside glance that's positive ....whatever is in the woods behind the trees, doesn't matter ; we have sunshine and grass on this landscape with comfortable chairs ,books and unreality. Dull and Flat up close but maybe curved on the horizon ?
On the book club ,to  its all smiles, its late ,we only have 1/2 an hour and its fiction/fantasy after all . Not hard to see why determinists enjoy escape even more than we do -- the world according to them has been fixed in concrete formulae for eons --it will do what evolution means it to do and that 's that .
Mind over matter is useless chatter , so lets play with words and some more  constructs,  Reality is  ..just steps and blocks , even if we talk  the blocks (components of reality ) on the show ----- we know its only Lego and we are only doing child's play. Suits us.... its that time of night and maybe we in that mood ?
As Chesterton said , rather a philosophy that deals with the evil inside and finds something good there than one that is bright and positive on the outside --but never deals with the rottenness beyond skin deep. Trouble with breaking the surface is you maybe  breaking bad; you don't know how deep you are going to go;-maybe one step too far ( now there is real fear territory) Maybe there are cliffs and no comeback ?

ABC  Book club photos show them all smiling as they talk about and dismiss guilt and ineffectively try to explain it away - as children do.  Guests too come unread and unaware of the soft floor and soft centred sweets when talking of sin.( The apple after all was sweet ) Lets dismiss what we don't like ; No such thing as temptation or restraint let alone good intent mixed with evil action. appetite rules so gluttony must be at least half positive  Lets dismiss what can't be pushed into a simple equation 1+1=1. No tension when we are being pulled and drawn through history.

The phenomenon of superficial featured in all the episodes I saw = not getting to the gist of why a good God would make life better and easier by naming bad choices . Even kids today now talk more than her crew about it - call them" the breakout generation" and lets hope they get beyond the superficial.

Take Gluttony which is not about how much but about taking seriously our role as members of community ( the ecological view ). We are designed in the image of God to make things and to share them . Its not bad to have excess (Who wants the stupid stoicism and simplemath of marx when you are offeredand given  the abundant life)  Its just not good to keep the excess for yourself . Equations even tell us that .  God is concerned if he's made you wealthy, how you use it . Equally God created the world not like some endless chocolate factory but with limits . We are are here to share and enjoy sharing like microbes and other " lower life ;' do . Scarcity and Abundance are normal parts of the cycle  . Enough is not a threat- its our God given opportunity,
God made the world good- his rule for the stewards who have dominion is to share . He gives us ENOUGH  - not all we want , but enough . Wise occupants of the planet know this and poor people know it best ( why is that ?) Why don't rich people get it and why do they seem not to have enough . Has someone deceived them , or have they deceived themselves about what they really need .
 If Jennifer and her colleagues ever dig deep enough they will find that to really identify and hate sin is a positive thing cause its the real waste factor of life .

Practical example  - we are in  denial about what we and others really need   .. 
IF ABCTV had dug deep over the last decades,  it might realise that its science programs on "need" ( Landline Quantum,  Innovation news in Ag) are quite ill focused / distracted. The problem with food is NOT a science one ( higher production as the myth ) but a sharing one . All this concentration on getting more kg/ hectare has pushed the earth too far in the wrong direction - those hectares and that sin ( over the edge , what,s good turns bad; what threatens  resilience limits ) .
Wrong prognosis of poverty traps  has lead to even less wisdom in action - real waste. My generation have failed to progress the science of poverty.    REAL progress is about the RIGHT direction . Real productivity is good;  real waste is evil =sin . But we are not to know that via ABCTV .  Hear about it here

Are we to to believe them when they assume that the best problem  solving occurs when everyone goes off in their own chosen direction ?   Whitehead saw this nonsense coming

"The church frightened us with talk of SIN " true  .PhD's  focus on the fear and miss the point of warning .

In denial it has to be that everything will work out fine.  .    It always does as their predictable god is named  PhD Progressive if hopeless Determinism  itself .(but also  featureless and cruel to individuals ) The only trouble with this clear cause and effect religion is that it leaves us mere mortals and individuals out of the picture;  so , maybe even atheists need a mind construct of their own to cope-- maybe they have to invent some power over evil of their  own?-- books and fantasies ?  .

Maybe too  its just easier to just keep on ignoring the effects of sin, guilt ,anger hurt ,waste and robbery  ( how did Seven deadly sins come up anyway?)
Maybe if we just  keep acting on what we feel and spend the rest of our lives justifying why we let our hormones rule our heads. If that's progress and moving on ( Tony Jones favourite phrase 2 date )  I'm outta here.

PS On moving on.  When something appears in the rear view mirror that we don't like , like the flashing red and blue ,it doesn't always help to speed up. It pays to slow down reflect and maybe even take a different route  Good on it when government ministers stick to the real guns and are not tempted by fantasy, fatalism. and fast fixers

Haven't you sold it all yet ?

One day our parliament will realise the consequence of not believing in its role as owner and gatekeeper will be that its off the main highway . Sounded like a good idea at the time .
 Not only  have we have sold the Telecom lines to some rich capitalist, but somehow that new philosophy of ownership means that that  capitalist purchased the right to employ his servants to ring us over tea time to join the chorus of business quacks to tell us how some new fear should envelop us .
Tonight I had a call from a servant determined to give me some free light bulbs-
"I don't care how many globes you give me mate" - I don't want to support the Govt. to try and persuade me it knows what's good for me .

Worse,  business sure knows how to drum up business - get us worried about something.  

I thought we put the Libs in to stop this presumption and give us back our freedom to be good , our freedom to learn ( so we didn't fear )  and our freedom to put our own choice of globes in .

Edge or Centre politics

Most politicians are easily confused.  ( partly because even good ones have lots to think about ) When they talk the value of diversity( Proverbs 11:14) but don't practice it ( like now) best ,I feel,  to refer to someone who observes one of their key church doctrines ( well at least Capitalism) with some objectivity.  Lester Thurow .


Thurow is his imaginative work on the Future of Capitalism makes some very telling points about the cost of not using older trained people into old age . It costs a fortune to educate one person and yet the way the government follows the quick fixers ( pges 286 etc of his book) to take over , its no wonder Joe Hockey has finally realised they need to very positively encourage SOME people to stay in the workforce ( esp desperately lean public service in some areas like environment) till they are 70's --typically the liberal dummies think they can motivate us with mere money!

Not that reading Hockey an dthe others know what they are missing now it gone . maybe its just that 4/5 of people are looking to the pension and SKIING through the later years and te realization that like Labour they have no effective long term savings policy
tI  was forced out at 56 with at least 20 of my best years to my first love -- service of the public good. They like the PPublic service "of now,  hardly know the fun of saving a dollar before you make a dollar . All they know about is handing out our dollars . All the fun jobs are gone when all you see all day is accountants  studying 2 columns ( and out of context)  

Letter to the editor

If Vic Libs want a sure way to win the November election they should ditch the monitoring disease that insults the initiative and sense of responsibility of our talented and trained citizens . The disease and its cause  "misanthropy" were so well named by ( Brendan O Neill on  ABC's  Q&A last week . Whether its the fisherman at Apollo Bay or the teacher trying to teach, the distrust and monitor madness is killing initiative and common sense. 
So why is this now , the most unproductive exercise in the country , still being pushed by polys of all kinds.  We know they don't trust us, but does this glass half empty downer have something to do with they  fact that they don't know very much , and a pile of stats is better than what they have to go on otherwise .

Either way,  we deserve better treatment so we aren't spending our lives trying to show we are competent to those who are not- to those who think accountability is about filling out forms. 

Most polys don't deserve the job - they don't ask enough questions

It has always been the role of Western governments  to anticipate risks for the sake of its people . Thats one way they have helped BUILD and lead highly productive ( in both the short and long term ) countries with sound health and environment policies.
We think the Greens are bad for losing faith in our history of effectiveness in this ( which means losing faith in our training and governing methods) -You don't believe me tell me HOW they would run " the education revolution " and see if you would vote for their suggestions !  Naturally the ABC Big Ideas hasn't tested the water on this , even though its suddenly realised recently that its "dangerous new ideas"( not highly inflated concepts of Big ideas ?)  that are really critical in the history of sustainable change .

But the Liberals are just as bad . Having caught the same disease of self abnegation about themsleves ( not admitted of course) parliament and the people,  they have been hellbent on demolishing the systems of learning training and disciplining as well.Some CEO , by definition, is supposed to know hat he's doing .  Like some quiet revolution, many Libs,  if they ever thought about what they say they believe in,  would be happy with no government.They are the dummies who gave us excessive faith in CEO's - a top down "we know what we are doing "CEO culture .
You want an example - take The idea of improving water supply 
specifically Take the way both sets of ignoramuses have let Coca Cola Advertisers and Pure water manufacturers steal our children's right to a panic free future with OUR rain. We now pay really big for NO apparent or known RISK factors.


All you need to make money out of the consumer and keep your party in the media spotlight these days is to create a bit of fear .The wannabes aren't wise enough to know either way - nothing new there.

What's new about this pathetic lot of wannabes is that  they no longer care that they are "ill advised"   And so then where "the public health benefit system" when the public needs em? ---when the vulnerable audience to " authority " need  a good cooling off over media induced panic and a little bit of common sense talk about real risk levels.  .

Democracy dies ,not with a bomb, but with wimps (afraid to ask questions and challenge the popular myth)