Is it worth reporting on politics?

[Old Koreelah]

Interesting point, Red, but with Trump the truth does not matters. His comments don't need any basis in reality; they are made to give his loyal (and ignorant) supporters something to believe. Another ridiculous example was the lame excuse given by the White House after the grub didn't turn up at a ceremony to honour America's WWI dead (it was raining). His staffers claimed the great and considerate man cancelled his appearance to spare the poor Parisian motorists a traffic jam.

 

 

[red750]

Apparently his big green helicopter couldn't fly due to low cloud.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...Amazingly, this nuclear opposition from the greens is wrecking the planet as much as the carbon denialists. It's probably too late now to go nuclear but it could have saved civilization.

Okey Bruce, I'll bite. Improvement in renewable energy technology is now so rapid it's outstripping any advances made in Nuclear. The cost of clean renewable energy is coming down so fast that business are throwing money at clean power, not nuclear.

 

 

[kgwilson]

Former White house staff (of previous regimes) have stated that there is always a contingency plan if the weather is poor. There are numerous previous examples where weather has stopped the helicopter from flying & they used other methods.

 

 

[Bruce]

Australia could have several big power stations in stable arid unpopulated places and have the cheapest and safest power in the world. Just because the Russians had a poorly-maintained old design in a highly populated area doesn't mean that we would have to. And (I thought better of the Japanese) we wouldn't build one on an earthquake seafront either.

 

Roxby uranium and Kakadu uranium is plentiful.

 

And, old K, did you know that organic muesli, along with everything else, is radioactive? It is all a matter of degree and both sunbaking and flying are much worse than working in a modern nuclear power station.

 

But it's too late now. By the time the politics was halfway settled, what we foolishly call civilization will be over. It will suffer as climate change and resource depletion fix the overpopulation problem.

 

 

[facthunter]

The USA servicemen and women are increasingly from lower socio-economic white people( and blacks coloureds,. There used to be a tradition of service in some families. Many presidents have avoided military service by devious ploys. Eisenhower and Kennedy had war service but that was WW2 where the ethics were more clearly accepted.. by the populace.

 

John Gorton was an RAAF Pilot and was injured quite severely. There were others back then who served in the forces probably in both parties. they didn't talk of it much. That was typical of the way things were handled at the time..

 

Trump is proposing to extend the wars into space . We have with him , Pence and his associates the most war wishing government imaginable in the US. Nev

 

 

[Marty_d]

And what's worse, the useless ars*ewipe will probably get another term. Especially if the DNC run Hillary again.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

The nuclear debate will take a lot more time than I have - suffice to say, there is not enough investment in nuclear technology development to ensure a cheap base-load. But then, it could be argued, even in the UK, there will always be somewhere in the country where the wind is blowing or the sun is shining (especially with climate change), that the requirement for a nuclear baseload will diminish over time.

 

On the politics front, I am not sure the other side is any better, really. The Clintons just canive in a much more socilaly accepted manner; in the UK, Corbyn is as, if not more dangerous than May; I don't know much about Shorten, but I do know enough about politics in Aus that it is rarely the leader that has real control...

 

I also think that Bush Jnr was a far more war-mongering president...Trump is definitely more belligerent, but that strikes me as his negotiating style - he has often backed down when the rubber hits the road...

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

... There used to be a tradition of service in some families. Many presidents have avoided military service by devious ploys. Eisenhower and Kennedy had war service but that was WW2 where the ethics were more clearly accepted.. by the populace.John Gorton was an RAAF Pilot and was injured quite severely...

Gorton wasn't the only former airman who served as PM; this bloke flew 170 missions, many over Japanese-held islands where captured airmen could expect torture and beheading:

 

[ATTACH]49674._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[Bruce]

My father-in -law was a junior armourer and he served at the same base as Whitlam. He said Whitlam was a real gentleman who always treated the men in a friendly manner.

 

 

[Bruce]

Jerry, don't you think that Australia with its vast empty spaces and plentiful uranium is better for nuclear power than the uk?

 

 

[willedoo]

My father-in -law was a junior armourer and he served at the same base as Whitlam. He said Whitlam was a real gentleman who always treated the men in a friendly manner.

That's interesting Bruce. My dad was a WW2 veteran and very conservative in his political persuasions (ie: not a Labor voter). He often mentioned that Gough Whitlam held the record for putting people on charges for not saluting him. I was always a bit doubtful of that and put it down to urban myths that used to go around the RSL's in days past.

 

Other inaccurate stories among the ex diggers in those days were the one about Blamey and the Dutch War medal, and the Aboriginals claiming the centre section of Australia to split the nation in two so the Indonesians could invade and occupy it. There were a lot of wild theories and myths getting around, but as the diggers got older, the urban myths seemed to die out.

 

I'd tend to believe your story on Whitlam to be much closer to the truth.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Jerry, don't you think that Australia with its vast empty spaces and plentiful uranium is better for nuclear power than the uk?[/Quote]

Certainly Australia's vast interior is a better location for solar farms and they're being built right now.

[spacesailor]

But Why are the solar farms erected so close to the ground, Stick them a lot higher so the animals can walk beneath them.

 

A rider on horseback with an extendable duster can clean the higher panels if necessary.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Bruce]

I never heard those stories wille. I grew up in Alice Springs and I would have heard about claiming the centre I reckon. Not that anybody would have taken notice if they did. Aborigines had exactly no power and lived on whitefellers handouts as far as I could see as a kid. They were a bunch of warring tribes who would kill each other if they could. The idea of them getting together and making land demands in those days is ridiculous.

 

The father in law also told a story about Blamey making a horrible speech in New Guinea which angered the troops there, but this was second-hand in that he wasn't there but some of his mates were. Apparently Blamey told them that the Japanese were not much more advanced than monkeys and only dangerous if you turned your back on them while running away.

 

In the 1970's I was at some event attended by Whitlam and the father in law, and Whitlam remembered him well and they chatted for a bit. A few years ago, I could have checked out the story about saluting, but alas its too late for that.

 

 

[old man emu]

Have a look at Gough's Air Force Record: View digital copy

 

 

[Bruce]

gosh OME, the power of the net amazes me sometimes. That report confirms that the RAAF thought Whitlam was good too. Not that I approved of all his politics though. Bringing in thousands of Lebanese moslems was harmful, but at least he did it for compassionate reasons.

 

And they are still wondering about Connor's north-south pipeline. I reckon that needed more analysis before dismissing it. It was too easy and nasty to call it a pipe dream.

 

 

[willedoo]

This is an interesting obituary on John Gorton by the UK Independent:

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-john-gorton-36180.html

 

 

[Bruce]

Read it and was impressed willedoo. He was a better bloke than I thought.

 

 

[willedoo]

I've always thought of John Gorton as a legend. If the Libs had thrown their full support behind him, Gough would have had a tougher competition on his hands. For Gough, Billy Big Ears was a pushover. I can see the similarities between McMahon and Abbot. Both wreckers, both as thick as two short planks and both widely disliked (and that's being diplomatic).

 

 

[willedoo]

For what it's worth, this has been my impression of Australian PM's in my lifetime (born 1954).

 

Bob Menzies - too young to remember.

 

Harold Holt - just 13 when he drowned. Remember lots of press photos of him in his budgie smugglers.

 

John Gorton - a lost opportunity, one of the best.

 

William McMahon - doesn't rate a comment.

 

Gough Whitlam - a great man, a conviction politician, he had a great vision but had some trouble handling the books.

 

Malcolm Fraser - also doesn't rate a comment.

 

Bob Hawk - another great man, wore his heart on his sleeve, genuinely wanted to improve Australia as a nation, loved the limelight.

 

Paul Keating - greatest Prime Minister Australia ever had. Was willing to lose government for his convictions and did just that. If Paul was PM for another ten years, we would be so far ahead of the game as a nation and society compared to where we are now.

 

John Howard - a true professional politician. Was able to take some credit for the end result of Keating's policies and went on to pull off some reforms of his own. Along with Keating, a co architech of the modern Australian economy. A steady hand for the conservatives.

 

Kevin Rudd - probably tried to be good.

 

Julia Gilliard - also probably tried to be good.

 

Tony Abbott - not worth the wear and tear on the fingertips to type a comment.

 

Malcolm Turnbull - meant well but always had to fight the two major parties at the same time.

 

Scott Morrison - a leopard trying really, really hard to change his spots before the next election.

 

In reference to the above, just for the record on political persuasion, in my lifetime I've voted Labor, Liberal, National Party, Democrat, One Nation, Katter's party, Greens and Independents. Been round the block so to speak, so not really biased one way or the other.

 

These days, I try to look harder at policies and how they all vote in the Senate to make the laws final. That's the real game; the eye opener. If I had to give anyone political advice on how to vote, it would be to forget the media, read Hansard. Find out what your heroes are doing in the house.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

The Age had some interactive tool, where it asked questions on one's position on all sorts of issues from environment, economy, education, crime/justice and others. It then ranked how close each party is aligned to one's position. Surprisingly, the Greens came out with an over 80% ranking for me; everyone else was so far behind, it was not funny. Of course, there is no verification that the questions contain no bias nor the processing of the rankings is in anyway sound.. but it did outline each party's position on the questions it asked, and it wasn't too far off.. And I am not what I would call a greenie...

 

 

[Marty_d]

There was a similar one on ABC last year (might have been the same tool). I also came out 84% Green and reasonable level Labor. Unsurprisingly very low for the LNP...

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

The one (fallible) question is - do the minor parties have the experience to govern rather than just challenge. Of course, the major parties are showing a clear ineptitude themselves, however, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes resources both of the majors have that the smaller ones just don't.. I think that is probably on the mind of a lot of the electorate when they cast their vote (or am I allocating too much faith in the wider electorate?)

 

 

[old man emu]

Panem et circenses - Bread and circuses

 

In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace — by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses).