And the reason I haven’t bothered to post is simple! Every time I get the urge to make a comment about conservatives they do it for me!  Tony Abbott and/or his Ministers have this knack of saying or doing something that profoundly upsets their supporters and detractors alike.  The PM is disliked so much that leadership rumbles can be heard.  Will you be dumped Mr Abbott?

The amusing thing (to the ‘detractor’ side of the equation) is that the conservatives just don’t get it!  They cannot understand wtf is happening!  The answer is simple guys.  As Opposition Leader, Mr A created a thick fog of negativity, hate, sexism, distrust and intolerance, and this layer still hangs over Australia like the air of Beijing.

The voters of Victoria have kicked out the conservatives and the voters of Queensland are about to deliver a strong message to the LNP Government.  It seems unlikely that the ALP will win, but the swing towards them should be significant.  Even atheists are praying that the abrasive, duplicitous and arrogant Premier Newman is soundly defeated in his electorate.  If this happens, then hopefully the next LNP leader of that State will be a human!

Climate Change

I am reading Naomi Klein’s “This changes everything: Capitalism versus the climate”, and what a book it is!  Here are some quotes from it and I urge people to read this fascinating, scary and very important book!

• … clearly greed is not so very good after all.  And this is what is behind the abrupt rise in climate change denial among hardcore conservatives: they have come to understand that as soon as they admit that climate change is real, they will lose the central ideological battle of our time – whether we need to plan and manage our societies to reflect our goals and values, or whether that task can be left to the magic of the market. (p 40)
• Conservatives have managed to stall and roll back climate action amidst economic crisis by making climate about economics – about the pressing need to protect growth and jobs during difficult times (and they are always difficult). (p 125)
• … the Heartland audience cheered earnestly for the intellectual breakthrough that is hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) combined with horizontal drilling. the technology that has finally allowed the fossil fuel industry to screw us sideways. (p 142)