Ooops! - (there goes the planet)

 .. no wuckin' furries, mate...

   .. we have a spare ...

     .. don't we?

-=*=-

Well, no - there is only the one - and it's looking increasingly buggered.

-=*=-

In the 1st instance, any climate-sceptics may leave (dumb, de dumb - all gone yet? Bye!)

In the 2nd instance, there's a fight going on - as to whether Leibniz or Newton invented calculus - ooops! - red herring; doesn't matter who invented it, but the results are *perfectly* clear: to reduce the amount of 'global warming' to a minimum and simultaneously save our once jewel-like planet's ecosphere, excess CO2 production has to be not just reined in (i.e. no more) - but reduced to below a certain, specific, known value, such that the total atmospheric CO2 content does not exceed a critical (for our ecosphere's survival) value.

Calculus comes in because to achieve that reduction, a curve may be drawn - representing our projected CO2 emissions level, and the area below the curve will (or, most likely will not) show the required reduction - IF not THEN disaster.

It's relatively simple mathematics, easily mastered even by the idiots in parliament - providing, of course, that they can get adequate 'advice.'

-=*=-

But (there's almost always quite a good but:) any effective reduction in CO2 output will require at least these three things:

1. People to use less, and/or

2. Fewer people altogether, AND

3. Digging less coal; pumping less oil.

-=*=-

Q: Will it happen?

A: Not likely.

-=*end*=-

PS

Q: "Please, Sir, may I have some more?"

A: No! (Idiot.)
 

AusBC plus Barker in the Middle East equals

.. Zionist/Jewish and/or US propaganda ...

  .. how utterly undemocratic ...

    .. how *dare* they?

-=*=-

Q: Why 'undemocratic?'

A: Because we the sheople, as voters *and* taxpayers, have a *perfect* moral and legal right to demand that 'our' publicly-financed AusBC fully, fairly and *honestly* informs us. Barker relays - if not actively amplifies - lying Zionist/Jewish and/or US propaganda.

-=*=-

Consider today's 'crop:'

1. Positive start to Iran nuclear talks
By Middle East correspondent Anne Barker
Posted October 20, 2009 08:48:00
  «Western powers fear Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, although Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.» 
[AusBC/justin]

2. UN accuses Israel of spying
By Middle East correspondent Anne Barker
Posted October 20, 2009 09:17:00
  «Israel has not responded to the allegation, but has previously accused Hezbollah of breaching the ceasefire agreement by stockpiling weapons illegally.» 
[AusBC/justin]

-=*=-

Q: Why 'lying propaganda?'

A: You must be "Joe King?" Circular definition: propaganda is deployed to disinform[1] and/or misinform[2]; *exactly* what is going on here with Barker and the AusBC. Adding 'lying' is to clarify and emphasise by tautology. I discuss Barker since she is one of the worst, but one assumes that the AusBC is complicit before the fact, conversant after the fact and probably being 'commanded' by the Aus govt., and that of both Lib *and* Lab 'stripes.'

When Barker writes "Western powers fear" she is *deliberately* misleading us. She is a university-trained journalist; in my book that *should* mean 'honest reporter,' but the agent who fears an Iran A-bomb is definitively Israel, which (via its "Israel Lobby") coerces the already overly-sympathetic US to repeatedly dragoon the US' sycophantic quisling allies to screech "All options!" at Iran in unison.

(It should be noted that to threaten an attack is itself a war crime.)

The 'hidden' Z-agenda is that Israel fears being turfed out of its originally immorally gifted, then illegally invaded and all brutally occupied territory, i.e. the land they have progressively stolen from the original and legal owner/occupiers, namely the poor, hapless and totally involuntarily dispossessed Palestinians.

The hardly 'hidden' US-agenda is a) to 'avenge' the '79 Iranian revolution which reversed the '53 filthily illegal US/UK coup which displaced the democratically elected Mossadeq, and b) to steal Iran's oil (of course! Q: What's wrong with *buying* oil?)

When Barker writes "trying to develop a nuclear bomb," she must know full-well, that a) Iran is under a continuous, intrusive IAEA micro-inspection regime, and that b) the IAEA repeatedly reports "no evidence" of any Iranian violation of the NPT.

Barker must also know full-well, that it is *Israel* who a) refuses to sign the NPT, b) is the only ME possessor of A-bombs and c) that it is Israel itself who/which is the *greatest danger* to ME peace.

When Barker writes "Hezbollah ... stockpiling weapons illegally," she must know full-well, that the poor, hapless neighbours around Israel are primitively armed with comparative pea-rifle types like the AK-47 and tiny rockets, that Israel is massively armed to the teeth with the latest grotesque US killing-machines (tanks, helis, planes, A-tipped cruise-missile subs etc.); indeed, the only thing stopping the Zs being pushed into the sea (or worse) is the continual state of war that the Zs have created.

What Barker *never* writes is that the brutal, genocidal, apartheid and ethnic-cleansing I/J/Z-plex occupation of Palestine equates perfectly to a murderingly criminal gang of terrorists carrying out the equivalent of an hostage-taking home-invasion and consequent police-siege.

With one single, glaring exception: the police (UN? US?) either never show up - and/or are utterly, corruptly complicit.

As is Barker and the AusBC both, vis-à-vis our crippled democracy.

Truth is relatively simple, lying is simply wrong. Presenting only partial, biased or outright incorrect info, or by omitting absolute key detail, a false picture is created; since the AusBC and Barker both claim professionalism, their info-sins must be deliberate.

In a world where truth was respected, journalist-Barker would have to reform or change jobs.

In a world where justice was respected, no single invading Z would have been allowed to enter Palestine at all, ever.

-=*end*=-

Ref(s):

[1] disinformation n. false information, propaganda. [POD]

[2] misinform v. give wrong information to, mislead.  misinformation n. [from *mis-1] [ibid.]

PS My democratic demand: that the AusBC should cease transmitting lies.
 

mass-murder (two hits with one bio-blow)

.. mega-mass-murder ...

  .. err, how mega, please? ...

    .. Q: Would 5bio do? A: About right

-=*=-

The flu is a pretty good 'vector;' one sneeze and the rest in the area/room/bus/plane can and probably do 'get it.'

No wonder they're trying to immunise everyone.

Hmmm, everyone?

Well, most in the Anglo/Judaic world (excepting anti-regime objectors, say; see 'pesky' below), plus the 'lucky' ones in EU, perhaps... basically, only where the US and/or the Zs feel very welcome, plus the so-called 'élites' in any very friendly, local puppet/vassal-regimes (especially where there is some coveted resource; see oil below). Still occupied "Air Strip Two" (the Japs) would be included; their industry to get an unexpected revival.

But it won't be the 'current' H1N1 (swine) flu or even a 2nd wave - Oh, no: that's just too easy to collect from 'the wild.'

Nope; the unique, exclusive, 'v.special' flu is locked away in some (US/UK/Z) germ-warfare laboratories - those without the 'v.special' immunisation will just be left to die - an ugly/ghastly scene, to be sure.

'Targets' like Ramb-O-Bama's extended axis of evil; the Chinks, Iranians plus most other Muslims and the Russkies, then almost the whole of Africa, lots of (communist!) South America - in all about 5bio, give or take.

Two hits with one bio-blow: rid the world of lots of pesky people - and 'save' those left from the excess-CO2 climate catastrophe. So many fewer people, so much less coal and oil burning. Peak-oil would last so much longer, too.

But (there's almost always some but:) Would the 'lucky' survivors be happily grateful to their mega-criminal monster so-called 'leaders?' They (the mega-monster US and Z regimes) do have form you know; see the mass-murdering for land, water, and resources (especially oil) that's already been going on for at least the last 61+ bloody years. The twin A-bombing war crimes (¼mio mostly innocent civilians murdered), the Z's invasion of Palestine and dispossession with concomitant genocide, ethnic cleansing etc. of an entire country's now-former legal owner/occupiers, CIA sponsored coups and El Salvador type death squads, Iraq with 100s of 1000s if not 1.3mio+ dead ... the list of grotesque, murdering-for-spoil infamies is looong.

-=*=-

Just joining a few possible dots, but surely ...

.. they're not that bad ...

  .. are they?
 

cognitive dissonance; thanks, but "No, thanks!" AusBC

.. paid for with our tax $s ...

  .. qualified in our universities ...

    .. but acting like ignorant and/or lying stenographers?

-=*=-

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." - possibly Sergei Bondarchuk, paraphrasing Edmund Burke's:

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

There is no doubt, that the US & Israeli regimes have combined to perpetrate evil; pity us, we the poor sheople.

-=*=-

Consider any crime; there are the actual perpetrators themselves, then any who provide substantial assistance are termed accessories (usually considered as equally guilty as the perpetrators); there are those who seek to explain/excuse - termed apologists (and lately, lying internet trolls), those who see but say nothing (worse than irresponsible), those who see and deplore/call for justice (like this blog, say) and then the rest, those who don't see, perhaps don't even look (these don't see/don't looks are often referred to 'in here' as 'the sheople').

As far as crimes go, there would be few greater than the dispossession of an entire people's country (namely Palestine), preceded by ghastly terrorist acts (like King David Hotel bombing), then followed by bloody murdering (like Deir Yassin massacre), general genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and other such charming, filthily criminal outrages.

In some jurisdictions, witnessing a crime without intervening can itself be considered a crime; think here about the AusBC vis-à-vis Israel. IMHO, the AusBC are clearly beyond inactive witnessing (= irresponsible), go beyond mere rote-reporting (= apologists) into active assistance (= accessories) - to gross and truly ghastly crimes: continually, the Zs mass-murdering for land-theft; 61+ years long now, and no end in sight.

Straight-faced reporting of often lying Z-propaganda is what we are getting via the AusBC, and that's been going on for as long as I've been receiving the AusBC's so-called 'news' broadcasts. It is my 'proof' of the AusBC's perfidy; that until B, B & H's "Shockin' whore" illegal invasion of Iraq (now morphed by the US into a brutal occupation; murder for oil), it had never occured to me that in Palestine an horrible crime had been perpetrated, then deliberately allowed to endure these past 61+ bloody years. Up until B, B & H's Nuremberg-class crime, I'd accepted the poor little Israel/David vs. the ugly Arab/Muslim/Goliath lying propaganda myth. Since essentially my main & almost only news-source had been the AusBC, it's QED as to how I was so miserably misinformed. Although I had noticed their interminable mentions of the so-called 'ME peace-process,' and recognised it as a fictional non-process quite obviously going absolutely nowhere; as Australia's publicly-financed broadcaster, I'd extended them 'the benefit of the doubt,' i.e. trusted them; but sadly no more and never again. Silly me (and hell hath no fury ...[1]) The entire so-called 'modern' state of Israel is also a Nuremberg-class crime; an exceedingly ugly one on an incomprehensibly vicious scale: how, and by what monsters was it ever allowed to happen? It is simultaneously an insult to all honest people, and an utter damnation of all those who 'allow' it to exist, from its utterly unjust establishment continuously up until its equally unjust now. The AusBC, to our great shame, actively assists in its prolongation - by extending the Zs camouflaging 'cover.' One only needs ask oneself: how would one feel, being brutally driven from one's house, ejected from one's country - under threat of immediate death? IF that sounds inhuman (it does), THEN what of the perpetrators?

Here two examples of what I mean by 'straight-faced reporting' of lying Z-propaganda:

Gas masks for everyone in Israel
By Middle East correspondent Anne Barker
Posted October 16, 2009 07:43:00
  «The Israeli military is preparing to distribute new gas masks to the entire civilian population in readiness for a potential chemical attack.
...
It estimates that Israel could face the threat of thousands of rocket warheads, some of which weigh half a tonne.» 
[AusBC/justin]

Comment 1: This is clearly propaganda, designed to evoke sympathy for - the poor little Israel/David. Q: Why do we need to know, let alone pay for the broadcast of such obvious rubbish?

Comment 2: The entire state of so-called 'modern' Israel sits on land brutally stolen from the prior legal, mostly Palestinian owner/occupiers. One assumes that any possible attack on the Zs would be attempting to right that wrong; to return that land to its rightful prior owner/occupiers. In other words, any attack on the Zs would actually be in defence of the improperly dispossessed Palestinians, and any Z-defence is no defence at all, since stealing anything, let alone an entire people's homeland, is totally indefensible. Next:

Israel, Hamas guilty of war crimes: UN Human Rights
Anne Barker reported this story on Saturday,
October 17, 2009 08:06:00
  «ELIZABETH JACKSON: The United Nations' Human Rights Council has formally endorsed a report that accuses Israel and the militant group Hamas of war crimes in Gaza.
Israel has slammed the resolution as a diplomatic farce and says it will damage the Middle East peace process.
...
AHARON LESHNO YAAR: Do you support the importance of the promotion of peace between Israel and the Palestinians?
If you do, if you really would like to see the building of trust and dialogue between the sides, you must reject today's proposal.» 
[AusBC/AM]

Comment 3: The rockets fired by Hamas are tiny primitive things, the usual result of which is a small hole in the ground somewhere; they almost never land anywhere near a person at all. The IDF, on the other hand, equipped with the latest and mightiest US killing-machines, slaughtered somewhere in excess of 1300 people in Gaza '08/9 alone, the majority of them innocent civilians (only the latest in a looong string of Z-atrocities against their neighbours). The actual ratio (Z:P) of dead from one side to the other is about 1:100, redolent of what occurred in 3rd Reich-occupied territories between '39 and '45. Note the ghastly irony - sense of proportion, anyone?

Comment 4: What utter garbage. Note the language: «Israel has slammed ...»; 'slammed' straight from the AusBC dirty-tricks playbook. More language: «Middle East peace process». Oh, yeah; 61+ years, and all that happens is that Z-rael gets ever bigger, steals ever more land. The questions here are Q1: Who (in their right mind) listens to lying Israelis? Q2: Why does the AusBC think Israeli lies are worth reporting? Answers - good answers - urgently needed. We, the people pay them; we the people should be able to sack them.

-=*=-

The difference between rote-reporting (= apologists) and active assistance (= accessories) is what pertinent details the AusBC leave out. As a prime example, the AusBC continuously reports on some putative (but non-existent) ME peace process, say - while as good as never clearly explaining the stolen nature of the land the criminal Zs illegally, brutally occupy.

-=*=-

These people, these AusBC reporters, are so-called 'professionals;' here's what they say about themselves:

  «Anne Barker joined the ABC Melbourne bureau as a cadet journalist straight out of university. Since then she has worked in Federal Parliament, in Sydney, Adelaide, and now Darwin, ...» 
[AusBC/Anne Barker]

  «Liz Jackson is a qualified lawyer and five-time Walkley Award winner who has worked as a journalist at the ABC since 1986.» 
[AusBC/Liz Jackson]

(Jackson has done some terrific work, like some honest reporting about Howard - one of her 'rewards' is the Sat AM slot.)

-=*=-

Fazit: They can't pretend that they don't know what they are doing.

Which is deliberately misinforming us, aka telling us lies.

Lies at home; perverting our democracy.

Lies abroad; criminal accessories.

-=*end*=-

PS There's always more; why does the whole world tolerate the obvious injustice, the outright crime, the associated murder and theft - that Z-rael actually is? That the US also is? They both murder for spoil, one specifically for land & water, the other in general for resources, notably oil. 'They' say, that we have democratic countries observing the rule of law; where is the evidence? We, of the Anglo/Judaic bloc, do not have properly functioning democracies; for example no matter who we elect, we still get war. Including the defective and degenerate publicly financed broadcasters telling us filthy lies adds-up to a world dominated by vicious criminals and their murdering, theiving criminality. How did this ever happen? How can we live in such a world; how can our so-called 'leaders' be so utterly, criminally bad? Then, to the final and real mysteries; Q1: Why does anyone, let alone 'our' AusBC support murdering, thieving criminal Zs, and what of the hapless Palestinians? Q2: What's in it for any Z-supporter (forget the AusBC as mere dishonest 'establishment' tools); more cogently, what's in it for us, we the honest sheople - who just happen to be paying the AusBC's entire cost, via our taxes?

Q3: Where are the Enlightened adults? Are there any at all (always excepting me'n you?) Q4: Where is justice; when can we - and the Palestinians - get it?

-=*=-

Ref(s):

[1] "The Mourning Bride" (1697) by William Congreve. The complete quote is "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

The AusBC scorns both the truth and us, we the sheople.

Boo! Hiss! Straight to gaol!
 

not every AusBC lie (more kicks at Barker)

.. goes totally unnoticed ...

  .. not every AusBC listener ...

    .. is quite as dumb as they think

-=*=-

'Out there,' in the 'real world,' there's a fight going on - which has turned particularly nasty.

'Alle Menschen werden Brüder' sounds pretty good - but it just ain't so, and getting ever less. The 'top' 1% or so have vastly increased their 'grab,' so much so that they are now choking almost the entire economy. In the so-called 'world leading' US, the 'normal people' (aka we, the sheople) are being massively sacked, laid-off or generally going unemployed. It's been a long time in the making, copied also in Aus - only the latest and so far last gasp having been Serf-Choices; at least the last 30 years (basically since the political assassination of Gough), of putting downward pressure on wages and careers both, what with continuous and brutal union-bashing, then down-sizing, out-sourcing and off-shoring; an ugly and wicked neoliberal design, essentially aimed at crippling the general population. 'They' said that they were building a 'new economy' but it was all lies; 1st low and going ever lower wages & conditions, then moving to pushing borrowing to support consumption. That was always gunna be a one-way, down-hill street, and Costello in Aus aped the trend and consciously helped it along with his (undeclared-imported) halving of the CGT.

When times get tough, the borrowing must not just stop but be reversed, and they're now saying that people have started to save - a misnomer, because one can't save before one is out of debt; any so-called switch to 'saving' is people desperately trying to lower their debts. But (there's almost always a but:) people who try to pay off debt cannot be buying as much as they did; in a so-called 'consumption-driven' economy, any reduction in demand means pointing that economy down a decline, IF continued THEN ultimately over a cliff - some things just can't be changed, even by so-called 'masters of the (financial) universe' clever-dicks.

Another thing 'they' say is don't gamble unless you can afford to lose; the fact that the stock-exchange indexes are going up is an indication that there's still a lot of 'funny-money' out there to be put at risk. Q: Do you think that's from people trying to reduce their debts? A: Nope. Further, Q2: The massive $US-printing (multi-trios!!?) is mostly flowing where? A: To banksters & their floozies, that's where.

-=*=-

In addition to the social-contract violating economic warfare being waged against us, we the sheople, there's a different fight going on - a false one, the pseudo-political battle. I say pseudo because it's not a real, let alone fair fight; with the Lib/Lab ugly twins we do not have real options, merely more of a difference only in degree. Look at war; no matter who we vote for, we still get war, most obviously in the US & Z-rael, but UK & Aus as well; all these have recently had 'regime' changes, but the slaughter of innocents goes on: murder for oil in Iraq, murder for pipelines in Afghanistan, in Pakistan war on the people basically for the hell of it ("Yes, we can!") & not just BTW, whack a few more Muslims, then Iran next-up for more "Shockin' Whore" murder for oil. The pseudo-political battle is used as camouflage to the domination-putsch being made by the mainly US-kleptocracy; they seek to dominate the world to rip-off resources (dribbling only the tiniest returns to sovereign resource owners - that us again, we the sheople), and as if that wasn’t bad enough, the domination-putsch is now being extended to impact their own sheople. It's all pure Nietzsche - and we know whose favourite philosopher he was.

The AusBC's Ms Baker makes herself a target because as ME correspondent she's based in Z-rael, i.e. in the bosom of we, the world's people's equal number-one enemy (the other being the equally murdering-for-spoil US.) Ms Baker's reports are dreadfully biased towards the Zs, as has been the AusBC reporting down through the 61+ or so years since the '47/8 Nakba (= disaster). Any reader doubting this can see it immediately, when I ask Q: Why have the Zs been allowed to perform genocide, ethnic cleansing etc. as part of a filthy and criminal process of murdering Palestinians to steal their land - without this vicious iniquity being effectively highlighted by the people's reporters, the AusBC? A: Because the AusBC's reporting is fatally - literally for the Palestinians, more metaphorically for our so-called democracies - fatally biased.

Note that the AusBC's bias is not "left" at all; they're not just pro-Z but they're biased towards the West's 'rulers,' the pro-war, pro-theft psychopathic kleptocrats that pull the strings - and are now in full flight, ruining our once jewel-like planet's ecosphere, on their way to attempting to make themselves even more obscenely rich. I have been reading a few comments to AusBC articles, when one starts of with "Well, Lib(Lab) this or that" one knows it's some dumbed-down, propaganda bait-taking simpleton writing, but the occasional one gets it right by pointing out that the real bias is pro- 'the establishment' - which can include the Libs; they are a bit *more* in the rulers' pockets.

Fazit; Q: Just who gives the AusBC permission to lie to us?

A: It *must* be so-called 'bipartisan' - which, by *not* offering us, we the sheople-voters any proper choice at all, is *deeply* undemocratic.

Boo! Hiss!

-=*end*=-

PS The worst, of course, is the eff'n insults: how *dare* they deceive, how *dare* they try to dumb the sheople-voters down? One can't blame the voters for being down-dumb-able (perhaps it's just the way they are) - but one *can* blame the AusBC for 'taking advantage.' The really big question is Q: "What's in it for the AusBC?" Do they get 'dumbing-down' bonuses? Or do they just do it for 'fun,' to have a big laugh at us, we the poor sheople-voters?

(One thing is 'fur shure;' the AusBC are not *of* the ruling class, never were and never will be. They are the tools of the ruling psychopaths, no more than jumped-up, per diem propaganda 'lackeys.' Boo, again!)

Then the ultimate insult: 'Our' AusBC. Traitors all.
 

lies (peace vs. eternal war)

.. it's a test ...

  .. the US (via Ramb-O-Bama) ...

    .. either stops the filthy lies - or fails the test

-=*=-

Preamble: This is not your 'usual' anti-US tirade; it explores possible "changes we could believe in."

-=*=-

I keep shrieking, Q: "Where are the adults??!"

A: Not overweight and vegetating in front of flat/wide-screen TVs, nor iPod-wanting green-sleeves agitating in the streets of Tehran.

'Normal' disclaimer: all, as usual and of course IMHO.

The real adults include those in power in Beijing, Moscow & Tehran. Throw in a few in South America; yes to Chavez & his ilk, say.

The US has seemingly gone out of its way to create enemies; one real problem is their capitalist model, which insists on ripping-off the absolute maximum 'profit,' see "economic rent," see "Economic Hit Man." The actual, criminal problem with their model is that they've taken it beyond profit into outright, massive theft. The other factor is their out-of-control military; IF one's only tool is a hammer THEN all problems look like nails. IF one's only tool is a rabid military THEN all solutions are attempted by shooting, bombing etc., i.e. destruction, desolation and illegal killing. Hence 'murder for spoil.'

Devastation Row:

First and foremost, Palestine was devastated; keywords "Zionist illegal invasion and brutal 61+ bloody year long occupation." This was some hideous creature's 'original sin;' I cannot concieve how it could ever have been carried out (it should never have happened), let alone justified (it simply can't be). Most of it's already been said and reiterated in these pages - but the Nakba can never be forgotten, nor forgiven. The only 'way out' there, is to restore all of Palestine to its pre-'47/8 legal owner/occupiers. Justice demands nothing less. I was not around to see how much the US & UK contributed to the original gross injustice, but it is now almost exclusively the US that enables the Z's murdering, thieving, ethnic-cleansing & genocidal occupation to continue.

Iran was devastated; keywords "CIA & deposed Iranian leader, Mossadegh."

South America was devastated; keywords "CIA instigated Death Squads."

Russia was devastated; keywords "Yeltsin, privatisation, NATO encroachment."

Afghanistan's devastation is on-going; lying keywords "Fight them over there!" Real keywords 'threaten Asia, pipeline.'

Iraq's 2nd devastation (after Albright's ½mio dead kids) is pretty-well complete; (B, B & H's) lying keywords "We will disarm him!" My keywords: 'murder for oil.'

China is well on the way to being devastated; keywords "off-shoring (of jobs and pollution), the US$ rip-off."

Pakistan's devastation is only beginning; keywords "Get Pakistan's nukes!" Real keywords 'more threatening Asia, more pipelines.'

Iran's 2nd devastation is being actively planned; keywords "All options!" Real keywords: 'more murder for oil.'

(Q1: Any more? Q2: Why do you ask? Q3: Isn't the above enough to condemn them with, and that totally, utterly, terminally?)

-=*=-

Intermezzo #1: I have left some disasters off; (starting only from WW2), the double A-bombing war crimes, Korea (looong ago, perhaps 'novel' because originally thought of as a 'oncer'), then Vietnam, Cambodia (total US failure). Nixon's going off gold was a critical step; 'recruiting' S.Arabia, splitting the Arabs and introducing petro-$s.

Intermezzo #2: Of course, in 2nd place in current woes, the GFC and over-all 1st place and 'real biggie,' the threatening excess-CO2 caused climate catastrophe. If the latter gets as bad as feared, it'll not just be goodnight, but goodbye.

Intermezzo #3: I mentioned "changes we could believe in;" we have seen the devastation wrought by the Zs over 61+ years, and the US for much longer, listed above are some their many crimes. The depredations are driven by greed, and filthily lied about. The liars know they're lying, and the corrupt & venal MSM conduits the lies - but worse, they criminalize themselves by actively assisting. (Boo! Hiss!) The first sign of improvement, certainly a 'change we could believe in' would be to see the lies stop, then the US&Zs begin rolling back their injustices; i.e. we'll know that good changes are on the way when the lies start to dry up.

-=*=-

Fazit: So, now we have the great Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ramb-O-Bama.

Q: Did they award it to encourage 'more of the same?'

A1: IF so, THEN good night.

A2: IF not, THEN hope.

-=*end*=-

PS We will soon know. Cancelling the 1st strike capability aimed at Russia was a hopeful sign; reversing the US press into Asia is a must, as is stopping the demonisation of Iran, and rolling-back the Zs.

PPS Whereas we desperately need hope, depending on it is poor strategy; there's still a vital requirement to keep working on stopping the horrid, murdering-to-thieve US&Zs.
 

not just 'heads in the sand' (AusBC; heads up their ...)

.. not just King Canutes (self-proclaimed 'Born to Rule' Liberals) ...

  .. not just idiotically, wilfully, stupidly 'gimme-more' greedily suicidal ...

    .. they will drag us all down as they go -

      .. all for a few $s *more*

-=*=-

Preamble, #1: This story is a bewdy; almost all-in-one. Foolishness, that is, short-sightedness, that is; arrogance, and traitorous past the point of criminality - any more? Let's see...

Preamble, #2: Since the creepy "All politicians lie!" Howard was turfed out of his own seat, and simultaneously 'his' party thrown out of government, the Liberals have chewed their way through leader after leader (Nelson gone, Turnbull on the skids towards a cliff), with the cowardly-quisling Costello having 'jumped ship.' (Not that he could or would ever lead us anywhere good.)

Preamble, #3: I present this 1st, as a series of yes/no questions; anyone answering a question with a 'no' may subsequently directly exit; this thread is not for nay-sayers.

Preamble, #4: CO2 is a required part of our once jewel-like planet's ecosphere; it is the presence of a certain amount which creates our 'pleasant climate of life,' too little & the planet descends into an ice-age, too much and the climate will warm, some/most/all the ice will melt, apart from agricultural chaos, sea-levels may rise as much as 70m - drowning almost all the world's major population centres. Now, to the questions:

Q1: Do we wish to save the planet from the threatening excess CO2-caused climate catastrophe?

(IF A: No THEN exit.)

Q2a: Excess CO2 comes from burning fossil carbon (coal, oil.) Do we wish to reduce our burning of fossil carbon?

(IF A: No THEN exit.)

Q2b: Australia is a major source of coal. To reduce coal-burning *someone, somewhere* must do a net reduction in coal-mining. Do we wish Aus to reduce the mining of coal?

(IF A: No THEN exit.)

Q2c: Justice for all; we can't expect others to reduce unless we do too. Do we wish to do our fair share towards reducing our burning of fossil carbon?

(IF A: No THEN exit.)

Summary & cut-off; long story short: *someone, somewhere, some-when* has to start saving the planet,

  not a Q but: IF we leave it too late,

    THEN A: It'll all be over.

-=*=-

2nd part; some delicious iron-y, (g'day Bob).

This AusBC item caught my eye: "Turnbull evokes Menzies as stance hardens".

Of course (for some of us), any mention of Menzies evokes pig-iron-Bob (quite a different Bob, but - there's almost always a but:) definitely part of a line of Liberal so-called 'leaders.'

The reason Menzies got his 'pig-iron' moniker was for selling critical raw-materials used to arm prospective enemies, namely the Japs.

Turning to Howard, he crowed loud & long over whopping gas sales to China (recall 'aiding prospective enemies.') No, we needn't mention what Rudd might doing, because that's just a variation on 'more of the same;' we are focussing on this particular AusBC item.

One point (v.important!) to note about Howard's whopping gas sales to China, is that insufficient detail was given. This was/is no accident; they never tell us all the (v.pertinent!) details - such as the final price achieved, the true return to us, we the sheople, we the voters, we the sovereign owners.

Q: Why do we not get all the pertinent details?

A: Because we're always being ripped-off.

Q: How, why?

A: Well, 'why' is obvious (the already filthy-rich making themselves obscenely richer), and 'how' = super-profits, aka economic rent.

-=*=-

Interlude: The best way to see how 'economic rent' works is to consider Iraq; illegal invasion now morphed into a brutal occupation (murder for oil.) Only a cretin or a complete fool would even try to deny that that (i.e. oil) is what the US is after (next: Iran); even considering that it might have been dragged, kicking & screaming (haw!) - by its illegitimate tail, the equally criminal Z-rael Lobby. Anyone who believes that the US would spend vast amounts of treasure (some estimates, now old: $US3trio) and 1000s of lives of their own "young & free" (not to mention the 100s of 1000s, if not 1.3mio+ hapless, avoidably dead, Iraqi 'collaterals') - without it being well 'worth their while' must be more than a little bit - err, crazy? (Try psychopathic.)

Anyway; the approximate cost of 'mining' a barrel of Iraqi oil has long stood at around $US1. Then, notice this: the current oil-price - accent on price as opposed to value; the 'market' is always manipulated, either by producers or (far, far, catastrophically worse!) speculators, and basically people *must* buy no matter what the price (buy - or walk, say) - at the momentary price of around $US71, there is a gap of about $US70, after (low-ish) overheads. As much as they can grab of that $US70 will land in the greedy pockets of the producer/retail chain. This, then, is the source of 'super-profits,' aka 'economic rent.' Which can be super-massive; only a tiny part of which is ever returned to we the sheople, we the voters, we the sovereign owners. That's exactly how we get ripped-off, and why the details are never given (and not just oil or mining; this describes a wide-spread preferred resource rip-off 'model'). What we the sheople, we the voters, we the sovereign owners get is a) jobs during construction of mining infrastructure, b) jobs during the actual extraction, c) some piddling royalties and d) some (ridiculously low) company-tax on the (finagled) profits of the primary producer. The rest of the supply/retail chain is as off-shored as possible; I calculated the 'delivered' price of Howard's gas to China at ¢16.7 when the retail price to us in Aus at the time was about three times that.

The point of this interlude is this: Liberal resistance to an ETS is based (ostensibly) on jobs; the ETS is *designed* to reduce Aus carbon-burning in the short-run, and the world's carbon-burning in the long-run, with the idea of saving the planet. However, the true, direct and massive beneficiary of the Liberal's resistance to an ETS is not we the sheople, but the already rich shareholders (how many o/s? Recall BHP off-shored itself) and their obscenely 'paid' executives all getting ever filthy-richer. The importance of jobs to the people should not be minimised (a major 'achievement' of neoliberalism; not much 'job security' if any, these days), but it is to the short-term benefit of the ravenous resource-exploiters that the Liberals wish to jeopardise the entire world's future.

-=*=-

Sooo, back to the AusBC article, and a truly massive irony:

  «Last night one of the rebels - South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi - got a talking to from conservative commentator and ABC board member Janet Albrechtsen on ABC TV's Q&A program.
"They think they're torchbearers of conservatism by the way, and I'm sorry Cory but you do, and they're not," she said.
"I don't think you are being one here, because at its core, conservatism is about being pragmatic."» 
[AusBC/ibid.]

Presumably, what Albrechtsen's 'pragmatic' means here, is for Bernardi to agree with Turnbull to negotiate with the government on proposed amendments to the ETS (i.e. fiddling on the edges), knowing full-well that they (the 'useless' opposition) will most likely vote to block the legislation anyway, and f**k any chance of ever meaningfully reducing CO2 emissions... recall that any reduction in mining reduces the income of the Lib's main backers, and the Libs don't wanna do that, ever. So much, for 'representing' us, we the sheople.

The irony: one of Murdochs 'babes' (placed on the AusBC board by Howard and 'his' Liberals) dares to lecture a Liberal ETS blocker on being pragmatic - while at the same time being prepared to let the world go down the tubes.