I am such a man. I am such a manly man. Surely I am the manliest of men to ever walk the Earth. Why you ask? What has caused this celebration of hirsutey goodness? Well, it takes a real man to admit his mistakes and I have made a mistake….a bit. Maybe not really a mistake, maybe just jumped the gun. In fact, maybe, with all available evidence at the time of writing I was correct and all my opinions and assumptions were brilliant. After all, hindsight is 20/20 and that is how all judgment calls are judged.
So, what is all this about? Well, in my last Daily Shout piece I was on the defensive for Peter Garrett and his role in not only the deaths of four insulation installers, one hundred or so house fires and the failure of a scheme that in reality should have been meat and potatoes for the Government. I’m not going to go back on everything that I wrote; as the majority of it is true. The one point that I would like to correct is this: Peter Garrett was very aware of the dangers that this scheme posed.
Shortly after my first election piece was posted I came into some knowledge that Peter Garrett was directly given, and I mean directly, hand-delivered as it were, information that the way the Insulation scheme was going to be run would result in shonky installers, inferior insulation and deaths. If this is true, and judging the source, it is, then this brings a whole new level of culpability, not to only Peter Garrett, but also to Kevin Rudd.
There, mistake corrected, everyone move along, nothing to see. I think I now have chest hair.
Mr Rudd has now swung into action to fix the problems caused by the bungled scheme and I’m pretty sure he will do fair job of it. It will be, however, an answer to a problem that never should have existed. If Peter Garrett’s excuse for the problems was that he only read a ten month old risk assessment document ten days ago, then maybe someone else needs to have a crack at being the Environment Minister. It’s going to become an increasingly important Portfolio and probably not the realm of a second term politician.
Anyway.
Despite this upset, at this early stage I’m still giving my support to Labor in the upcoming election. There are a few reasons for this, one, I refuse to give my vote to Tony Abbott and two, I still like Kevin Rudd, even though he is fence-sitting on certain issues. There is one thing he brings to the position that was missing in the Howard years, yet, for some reason he is being criticised for it, that is, intelligent use of the English language. (Sorry, I don’t usually hope in on other people’s writing, but his time I just can’t help myself. WTF?? Skoe, you can’t be serious!!! - Ed)
Why must everything be dumbed down these days? I love listening to K-Rudd talk and before I go any further may I ask a question? Who would you prefer to listen to talk for an hour, Kev or little Johnny? Exactly. This is the man who represents us on the world stage and I would personally prefer it if this man didn’t us either ‘um’ or ‘ah’ as every second word. I also like the idea of today’s so-called journalists scurrying for their dictionary and thesaurus every time Kev rips out a speech, apparently though, he is not connecting with the common man. Is this Kev’s issue or is it the fault of our media for not continuing to educate the masses with intelligent programming and news reports?
It’s a side issue but rather than provide us with something to expand on the knowledge we obtained through various years and modes of schooling they would much rather plump for a show based on a premise like, “Insert Celebrity Type Here”, searching for love, money, food or vague hope of restoring dignity. However, I digress.
There has also been much maligning of the election promises Kevin and his team have failed to deliver. I am also upset about some of them, particularly the easy ones, Broadband Internet for example. I, like many others, are forced to use Wireless Internet, which doesn’t work. I’m only twenty kilometres from the city yet I have no access to DSL. This makes me mad. The biggest problem with the implementation of this system is that it is being overseen by an idiot and his one man cause, the internet filter, (I’m not going to go into the whole filter thing here, I think Justin did a piece on it if you’re interested). The whole filter issue could be fixed by a single statement: “They’re your kids! You supervise them!” Problem solved, now can we please get the internet fixed?
However, while the Broadband thing remains the fault of the current government, the failure of some election promises is not. After all, it’s hard to get things introduced in parliament when the deciding vote comes down to an idiot who is the puppet of the opposition. To remove all doubt here I’m talking about Senator Steve Fielding. Can the people who voted this moron in please remove their heads from their arses in the next election and use their own minds to decide who to vote for and not what the Liberal party suggests? Of course, this state of affairs could be worse; Fielding could be in charge of the Internet implementation.
The Liberal Party remain in disarray, with Joe Hockey seemingly doing everything he can to shoot down Tony Abbott and votes in Parliament being deferred because half the Libs want to cross the floor. This is not a party I want to entrust my future to. I’d also like to give Labor another term just to see what else they can do. After all, the handling of the GFC was done pretty well and there are many reports from retailers big and small that the $900 bonus worked a treat. Sometimes, things just take a little longer than three years.
Oh yeah, did you see Tony Abbot almost getting killed on Colac Road?
Just sayin’….again.
!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|



Election time! Which means every media hound in the country is straining at the leash like a corgi in heat. Here at the Tribune, we’ve decided that there’s very little point...
There is very little in sport that has made me happy lately. And it may surprise you to know that, from time to time, I like being happy. And I miss...
I’m a rampant media consumer, way too much of the time I should spend being productive I am instead wandering around the internet reading about stuff. Politics and religion and sex...
Another storm in a media teacup ysterday. Jason Akermanis, who doesn’t appear to hate publicity, wrote a column in the Herald Sun, who also don’t appear to hate courting controversy, saying...
I'm no journo, but this much I know: newspapers come in two types, broadsheets and tabloids. Generally, broadsheets have produce higher quality reporting than tabloids, which tend toward more sensationalism and...
There is a point in everyone’s almanac where they admit defeat on summer’s behalf and embrace winter. The scarves and jackets are retrieved from the cupboard above the wardrobe, and the...
The people from the internet have been wailing and hand wringing about how all the recent earthquakes were caused by Mother Earth being all mad and getting her revenge on.Most of...
Ok, I know I’m a little late coming to the WTF party on this, but let’s overlook that and just embrace the fact that I’m almost 40 and I still bothered...
Well I’m so grateful to Fremantle for showing me the error of my ways.Having advised you to Never Ever Tip Freo, they’re unbeaten after three rounds, achieving their last over the...
It’s been an interesting week in the whirligig of fun that constitutes my understanding of feminism. Tony Abbott came out in favour of paid maternity leave! I get that he’s chasing...
No matter how hard Kevin Rudd tries to lose the next election, the Coalition keep handing him big plates of gold. Abbott admitted to being, effectively, a compulsive liar. Joe Hockey...
Wow hasn’t sexuality and in particular which side of the fence you are on become a hot topic of late! First up, on my right, we have the thinking man’s meathead,...
I’m a right-wing, red-wine-guzzling carnivore. I have even been known, after guzzling a few red wines, to rant about how vegetarianism is an eating disorder. So writing about the evils of...
There’s a great deal of debate going on right now over mandatory internet filtering, or the “Clean Feed” proposed recently by our PM, Mr Illustrious KRudd.I’ve been happily coughing curse words...
The weather’s cold and pissy. So is Wife, because, cheap horrible cruel bastard that I am, I won’t tolerate the thermostat being set to “the heart of the sun”, instead suggesting...
The Bushfires Royal Commission has heard final submissions and will deliver its final report to the Governor on July 31. Should the Commissioners accept the thrust of what Counsel Assisting, Jack...
Dave Graney isn’t a musician that you like, or love, or even get. Dave, you can only dig, and I really dig the Dave. From the first time I heard his...
I’m fairly sure I’ve said it before, but for anyone who had more interesting things to read that day, I’ll say it again. I’m a right wing (small L) liberal. I...
No, this is not a short history of all the arses I have known. Firstly, that wouldn’t be short, and secondly, I don’t like having bricks thrown through my window. This...
There’s Cat. I could chase her. I really should chase her, but there are no humans around to suck up to. So I’m looking at Cat, and she’s looking back at...
So, everyone familiar with the Tribune will notice that we are now printing in colour. Doesn’t it look lovely? Notice the colour artwork people, appreciate it, maybe even sniff it a...
I have recently come to the conclusion that having too many options can be a bad thing. As I sit here, a blustery and rainy Melbourne day thrashing about outside, I...
Well we survived the Christmas dinner with my appalling in-laws. Just after we’d finished making jokes about how much fun it was going to be doing it next year with my...








