i'll take that as a comment

Hi, Penny. I heard you were on #qanda this week. I mean to submit a question but it turns out that I am now too late. It's ok though; I went to church and my priest forgave me. He told me it would be unAustralian to have submitted my question on time. And that the Prime Minister was a bit late at getting around to the holy sacrament of marriage. He asked me to ask you if you could pass that on. Thanks. Anyway, I read a newspaper this week. I think it was one of those big, intellectual ones that noone reads. They tend to like you guys. Myth of the liberal media or somesuch. Socially Progressive blah blah, etc. They had a news article in this newspaper that said the NBN was pushed backed two years. This, along with the four Hail Marys and ten Our Fathers my priest told me to say, made me feel much better. Also, just so you know, noone out here in the real world understands what the NBN is. Or why it is good really. But that's Conroy's job. Maybe you could pass that on. Thanks. Anyway, hey so you're the finance minister now. That must be fun. I did like your work when you were in charge of pollution though. You were much better at that than Peter Garrett. He used to stand for things. Now he's a politician and not an activist he doesn't anymore. I like politics. How do I become a politician? Anyway, finance is fun too. I mean you've got to decide whether to continue to fund medical research that could potentially help all of humankind. And also, like, whether to keep giving money to disabled people who do nothing for it. I mean, who even knows if they're disabled? As far as I'm concerned disability is a rort. They call be a disability skeptic but, you know, what with all the lack of medical research, we can just let the disabled die anyway. I mean there's no money in a cure. If people just get better then they'll go out and spend tax-payers dollars on whatever they want. One day I hope we have another GFC; it was less tasty that KFC but i did get a widescreen TV out of it. Anyway, I spend most days watching Kim Kardashian on TV. Despite the fact she is famous for pretty much nothing and has no particular wit, skill or intellect, it makes me less angry than Australian politics. Anyhow, Penny - I hope you don't mind me calling you Penny - its just that when the Prime Minister was on #qanda people got upset when other people called her Julia (apparently it was disrespectful). See the thing is noone ever called Kevin Kevin. We called him Krudd. It was a pun you see. A play on words. We cleverly took his first initial and then appended it to his entire surname so that it sounded like the word crud. It was the ultimate mark of respect. We had branded him with a nickname. People like him better before he was PM. Maybe you could pass that on. Thanks. Also, maybe people appeared at first to like him more than they actually did because he wasn't John Howard. Man that guy got old. Literally. People like Julia better before Shorten and Arbib arranged for her to be PM. But then again, noone knew who Shorten was before some miners in Tasmania died. I think miners would be better at workplace safety if you increased their taxes. And apparently a few years back Arbib had something to do with why the ALP is now irrelevant in NSW. Anyway, Penny - is that short for Penelope? So, Penny, your surname is Wong. I have also seen pictures of you around and about the place. Anyway, it appears you may be of Asian descent. Don't worry, I'm not racist. In fact noone in Australia is racist. We're a multicultural, tolerant, cosmopolitan society you see. We used to be racist. But then we abolished the White Australia policy sometime around 1973 and that cleared all that up. Thanks, Gough. By the way, East Timor thanks you too. Maybe you could pass that along. Plus, you know, even if we were racist, Asians have it much better in Australia than Aborigines anyway so you've got nothing to worry about. How's that carbon tax coming along? Or is it an ETS? I'm not really sure. Noone out here can explain it to me. Apparently its the right thing to do for the future. The greatest moral challenge of our time. Apparently Tony doesn't like it. He is running a furious scare campaign. Like the one Keating ran against the GST. Which Howard introduced after he said he never, ever would. But it's ok, that turned out to be a non-core promise. Beazley said Labor would rollback the GST if he were elected. But then he wasn't. But then Labor was. But they rolled back Work Choices instead. Man that GST sucks. Mostly for you, being the finance minister and all. I mean, you have to give all of that money to the states. Federalism just fucks up everything. Anyway, I didn't even get to watch you on #qanda. I like how when our elected representatives go on that show, they ostensibly get asked a question but a member of the studio audience who, in turn, is ostensibly a member of the general public. And, much like when they are asked a question by a journalist, instead of answering the question, they use the juncture at which the audience member stops talking as a cue to say whatever they were going to say anyway on whatever topic they like. Anyway, Sophie Mirabella said Julia was as deluded as Gaddafi if she believed her people with her on the carbon tax issue. This was deeply offensive. Cos, you know, he's an evil, dictatorial, tyrant who's been in power for 40 years or something. Which we didn't mind so much until Time's 2010 Person of the Year and the Winklevoss twins liberated Egypt. Damn internet. How's that filter coming along? If you could check with Conroy, that would be great. Hey, do you like beards? Julia had a go a Rob Oakeshott when parliament resumed after the summer break. She said his newfound bearded facial growth was pretty ordinary. I was wondering, what do you think would happen if Tony stood up in parliament and expressed the opinion that Julia was having a bad hair day. Tim would be so upset. Anyway, the ALP are polling at about 30% of the primary vote. Lowest on record. Tony's gone back to being crazy (he only acts "normal" during election campaigns, when more people are watching). And yet were an election to be held today and the polling trends were accurate, he would be the leader of this country. Why do you think that is?

sometimes break beats give me gas

the age won't "publish" my lunacy but you will google. bless the internet for its sanity providing goodness. naievete is an admirable quality. so are romantic notions like "i can make a difference" OR "it takes a village" OR "HOPE". my response;

1. this is an incredibly simplistic and disjointed treatment of a complex topic; not the least because it concerns the life and liberty of an australian citizen.

2. as far as i am aware, julia gillard is yet to recant the following statement "I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the WikiLeaks website - it's a grossly irresponsible thing to do and an illegal thing to do"

3. the AFP found (subsequent to the PM making this statement) that wikileaks had broken no australian law.

4. Fairfax NEVER publish leaked information

5. i am just glad i can still go out and buy a gun with either my visa OR mastercard tomorrow.

6. you will not read this

Furthermore, the ALP will not hold seats federally thanks to Greens preferences, they will retain government only in coalition with the Greens

a celebration of music

i cannot like this enough. very necessary

has anyone seen the movie tron?

is reminded of the episode of the simpsons where the boys see the naked lunch. upon exiting the theatre nelson turns around and, looking at the billing, says "there are two things wrong with that title"

(sometimes 140 characters is not enough)

how wrong can andrew bolt be?

disclaimer: i don't like sarah palin. to argue that she is not a fool would be foolish. but i'm happy to leave that argument to bolt. the problem with palin, as a potential future president and current hate-monger, is that she is not the seat of power. the devil does, in fact, wear prada. much like george bush before her, whose folksy charm and genuine stupidity saw him elected twice (the first time illegally and the second as a war time president; a conflict entirely of his own making), she is the front. the extremist, ultra-conservative and religious right who may put her there are the real problem. and they have guns. and use them to express their democratic opinions. which is one of the freedoms they are entitled to as the fattest nation on earth. the delicious irony in all of this, is that bolt in defending attacks on palin is, in effect, minimising the acts of a accused murderer and child-killer. bolt is lucky because, much as i dislike his views, i am able to express them freely and openly here without having to resort to putting a bullet in his brain. there are things that upset me abuot the world. about politicians and governance (mainly hypocrisy, which seems to afflict only the liberal media). all the time. but bolt is paid to be a professional shit-stirrer/controversialist. his opinions verge from the extreme to the ridiculous. he makes no positive impact to the world. he works in no way towards its betterment. its easy to hate. what are you going to do about it?

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’"-George Bernard Shaw

remorse, irony, hypocrisy and insulation

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.


Short memory, must have a. Short memory


Did I say something true? Did I have a point of view?


I'm not sorry

top 10 albums of the 1990s (imho)

naivety, hypocrisy and tplac

ms lin hatfield dodds, president of the australian council of social security (acoss), national director of uniting care australia and act australian of the year, yesterday withdrew from the olympic torch relay which will be meandering through beijing's sister city tomorrow. she cited recent human rights violations in tibet as her reason for abdicating her position, quote "i hope that it send a message to the world at large that human rights matter." human rights do matter, they mattered in 1989 and 1951 as well not just when the cameras are rolling

i have an opinion and i'm not afraid to use it

the well credentialed lars and the real girl suffered enormously from a supposed indie-crowd this past monday at the nova who for some reason believed they were watching superbad. a subtle, nuanced and well-handled piece was effectively ruined by an ill-tempered audience through whom a contagion of riotous laughter spread. any poignancy or deftness was routed by the gutbusting guffaws of the masses whose delight at the premise if not the execution was obvious. that i maintained any semblance of fondness for the film is a testament to its worth. themes of engagement, illness and alienation were addressed and, on the whole, satisfactorily resolved. this was not a movie about a sex doll with heart. this was a film with heart which i saw with a bunch of dicks.

guess who's back?

it is my intent to appear here again more regularly. but, as they say, roads paved with good intentions lead everywhere. i deactivated my facebook acount today. i don't know why. probably to stop feeling like this.