Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Two Speed Economy Is An Act Of Warfare
Don't be fooled by moral panics re: supposed alcoholic violence.
Prices up to curb drinking? What a joke.
We all know who the aggressors are, and they earn $1000 a day.
The Barnett Government is creating nothing less than class war.
The implementation of a Two-Speed Economy is artificially impoverishing anybody who does not capitulate to the whims of transnational mining interests.
We live on land that they want to convert into a quarry.
So, the Barnett Government have the guns (police) while their boyfriends in mining own the propaganda machine (newspaper). One can give mandate to the other.
It's terribly obvious, and so damn easy, they must wonder at night why the CCC hasn't busted in the door of the Weld Club with an axe.
This whole thing is of particular concern for the educated middle class, for whom economic imperative does not necessarily outweigh ecological and social concerns.
If you fit that category, and you want to maintain a clear conscience, you're on a fast-track back to poverty.
Western Australia could very easily slide into sheer hell if the appropriate people do not grow some testicles quickly.
This means you.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Western Australian Douche-Bag Of The Week Awards
^^ Opposite of douche-bag: An amazing pic from the Kimberley blockade.
(Pic thieved from Ben Collins at the ABC. Sorry about that, Ben.)
Third Place must surely go to the fine folks at Woodside and their enablers in WA Parliament.
These shit-heads have sent in contractors to clear land at James Price Point despite the fact that environmental approval is yet to be forthcoming, and simultaneous to recommendations that 20 million hectares of Kimberley Country be declared a national heritage site.
It's wonderful to see the people of the Kimberely sticking it up these greed-merchants. They have my full support!
Douche-Bag Number Two is the Idiot Who Decided To Outlaw Kronic.
Now, I haven't taken this synthetic marijuana substitute, nor do I necessarily condone illicit drugs, but everyone with a brain knows that prohibition fails to address any of the social or health issues surrounding those kind of shenanigans.
Yet WA, the same state who was, you'll remember, most reluctant to pass the legislation in 1967 granting Aboriginal people the same basic citizenship rights as other Australian human beings, has embarrassed itself publicly yet again. It's the same old shit from cowardly fascists.
Pretty sure the Premier is sitting back drinking some of his special Rio Tinto clean-skin faux-sauvignon blanc tonight......
Helen Lovejoy: Sort of like Margaret Court, except I'd bone her.
(source)
On that note, prize for the Biggest Douche-Bag Around goes to the Absolute Jerk-Off Who Revoked The Bakery's License For 24 Hours so that they couldn't send Kronic out in style.
Just to re-iterate for any gibbering, McDonald's munching Repressive State Apparati reading this, I'm not necessarily pro-drugs. What I am defending here is personal freedom and civic democracy.
But this decision was an absolute disgrace, and any tatters of credibility that this government has left have crumbled like shitty synthetic fibres in the rains of makuru.
How dare Cockroach Barnett turn around and feed The Bakery this one:
When you receive Government funding with it goes some mutual obligations and responsibilities. [source: The West]Veiled threat? I wouldn't say it was veiled at all...
This scum-bag and his party full of CEOs and Old Money are a disgrace to the very word "liberal" and all that "liberalism" stands for.
They are Tories, plain and simple, and this is just another excuse to lock up young people and anybody else who dares to question whether the laws we're handed are actually beneficial in any way.
The kicker, and this is where the powers-that-be really start showing their colours, is that the organisers of the Kronic party turned around and decided to hold a Say 'No' To Legal And Illegal Drugs Party at the Civic Hotel (a private venue) instead.
Then, according to promoter Kron Voyage:
Nobody seems to be able to answer the question re: what legal grounds, exactly, the Civic was threatened, or what they're supposed to have done wrong.
Oh, and while I'm at it, the Encouragement Award for this week's Douche-Baggery goes to Commercial Media who beat up this entire thing in the first place. You know who you are. I bet you're so fucking proud of yourselves for making deadline. I hope your brother gets put in gaol.
OK, so, to round out this post: props to The Bakery / Artrage, a ballsy-as-hell promoter, and the Save The Kimberley mob for their pro-democracy stance this week. Positive vibes all 'round.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
You know you're from Perth when...
(Don't even think about it, pal)
(pic stolen from this guy)
You get onto the bus.
You look for a seat.
All of the double seats are taken, by one person each.
Each of those people has politely sat on the window side of the double seat.
(Probably reluctantly, mind, but people are looking.)
You kinda roll your eyes internally and decide to stand.
Too many cunts on the bus.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Q&A WA: Don't mention the war!
This one's an opinion piece...
In November 2010, the ABC's Q&A programme came to Perth.
As I have, in recent times, been reasonably interested in What Goes On, I was particularly keen to become involved.
Eventually, after a near-miss in which I was not selected, a friend of mine came to the party with a guest pass.
It probably goes without saying that this event was intense.
On the panel was my most loathed of jerks: the enviro vandal and Protector of Big Business, the Right Honourable Cockroach, Mr Colin Barnett.
This man has an utterly infuriating position on everything.
Early in the programme he made the blanket announcement that if Australia became a republic then WA would effectively secede:
I tried repeatedly, in vain, to question this man regarding the loathed Stop & Search bill; which was still on the table at the time.
But it seems the show was focused on more nationally-important (I suppose) issues: the relationship between the mining industry and Aboriginal people, asylum seeker policy, and the like.
The intensity on the ground floor was insane and bizarre. It's something I won't forget in a hurry.
The weirdest part was the audience dynamic.
Now, it seems that most people are generally good people; and most of the rest are at least well-intentioned.
It doesn't take half a heart to realise that, even though I'm sure most people would probably prefer that the issue would just go away, what's going on with asylum seekers in this country is pretty fucked.
So generally, and this is just an example issue, most people in the crowd were pretty appalled by the Premier's attitude toward the issue and the vague lip service paid by the ALP's representative Stephen Smith.
Only the Greens' Rachel Siewert was willing to show some balls.
Unfortunately she is a sensible and informed, quietly spoken woman who can't really hold a candle to sensationalist questions such as this one from Gerrit Van Der Sluys:
These infuriating ideologues have to be in the highest category of 'jerk' known to man.
As I quickly learned by squabbling with them on Twitter later in the evening, they hold belligerent and dismissive attitudes towards every idea that's not based on neo-liberal post-colonialism.
They probably represented about a third, or maybe a quarter, of the audience on this particular evening. That's pretty high odds. There were heaps of them.
One of them (LYLSWA Treasurer Anthony Spagnolo) was even referred to by name by Barnett.
It's actually to the ABC's credit that these people were given a chance to speak--and they spoke a fair bit.
But it's an example of their boisterous ingratitude that they were on Twitter throughout the proceedings claiming that the "communist ABC" was censoring them and swinging the debate in the leftist direction.
If anything, these douche-bags were over-represented.
It would be disingenuous for me to claim that there isn't a place for conservative politics within the Grand Plethora. Of course there is, so long as all other angles of discourse get a look-in.
But if this is the future of the conservative party in this country then we are completely and utterly fucked.
Between Barnett--with his monarchist, protectionist, neo-liberal agenda--the steely-eyed lost cause Julie Bishop, and these kids in the audience, there wasn't one among them who came out not looking like a complete fuck head.
The only conservative who came out looking like he actually had a soul was mining industry fucko Andrew Forrest.
His attempts to give Aboriginal people large-scale employment in the mining industry are admirable, but, of course, they fail to take into account the fact that not everybody views life the same way he does.
Thank christ, then, that Marianne Mackay had managed to land herself a spot in the front row.
This relentless woman, who I'd not encountered before but have seen talk a couple of times since, pointed out fiercely that the traditional Aboriginal worldview of Country is anathema to large-scale industrial mining, and asked what the point was of employing Aboriginal people to do the one thing they didn't want to do:
(It's important to note that the one Aboriginal member of the panel, Tony Wiltshire, is a successful businessman and is clearly down with the capitalist paradigm as a way forward for equality.)
But the thing I'll remember most about this whole ordeal--and it was indeed an ordeal--was the man who slipped me a piece of paper imploring me to ask his question.
He'd evidently sussed me out and desperately wanted his question answered.
"I can't ask this," he told me urgently.
"I work in mining. If I ask it, I'll lose my job."
Shit, I'll try! I thought, but I was unsuccessful in this regard.
Peering down at the neatly typed and folded piece of paper he had given me I saw the following words... written repeatedly.
Somebody needed to ask this question, because it's one of the most fundamental ones that Western Australian society is facing.
There's no question we're getting fat off digging up shit and selling it, but what (on Earth) are we going to do afterward?
We in WA don't exactly have the best track record of pulling off these kinds of large-scale stunts without screwing ourselves long-term... one look at the Wheatbelt should remind us of this.
As Andrew Forrest said in his final speech, to the baffled consternation of many people both in the studio and on Twitter:
The question I was handed by an anonymous source
from within the mining industry.
Source: scanned.
from within the mining industry.
Source: scanned.
In November 2010, the ABC's Q&A programme came to Perth.
As I have, in recent times, been reasonably interested in What Goes On, I was particularly keen to become involved.
Eventually, after a near-miss in which I was not selected, a friend of mine came to the party with a guest pass.
It probably goes without saying that this event was intense.
On the panel was my most loathed of jerks: the enviro vandal and Protector of Big Business, the Right Honourable Cockroach, Mr Colin Barnett.
This man has an utterly infuriating position on everything.
Early in the programme he made the blanket announcement that if Australia became a republic then WA would effectively secede:
That is a distinct possibility. [see transcript]Later, he dismissed the issue of Aboriginal incarceration in the WA prison system; going on to explain:
You know, many of the young Aboriginal people in prison are there for traffic offences, for driving without a licence in Aboriginal communities. Well, that's clearly a ridiculous situation. [see transcript](To be fair, he did briefly mention that leglisation would be introduced to try and combat this. Whether it ever happens is another matter.)
I tried repeatedly, in vain, to question this man regarding the loathed Stop & Search bill; which was still on the table at the time.
But it seems the show was focused on more nationally-important (I suppose) issues: the relationship between the mining industry and Aboriginal people, asylum seeker policy, and the like.
The intensity on the ground floor was insane and bizarre. It's something I won't forget in a hurry.
The weirdest part was the audience dynamic.
Now, it seems that most people are generally good people; and most of the rest are at least well-intentioned.
It doesn't take half a heart to realise that, even though I'm sure most people would probably prefer that the issue would just go away, what's going on with asylum seekers in this country is pretty fucked.
So generally, and this is just an example issue, most people in the crowd were pretty appalled by the Premier's attitude toward the issue and the vague lip service paid by the ALP's representative Stephen Smith.
Only the Greens' Rachel Siewert was willing to show some balls.
Unfortunately she is a sensible and informed, quietly spoken woman who can't really hold a candle to sensationalist questions such as this one from Gerrit Van Der Sluys:
...here in WA we are increasingly used as a perceived dumping ground for possible asylum seekers ... why is it that these people are being given more help and better treatment then homeless and impoverished Australian citizens? [see transcript]Enter the Young Liberals.
These infuriating ideologues have to be in the highest category of 'jerk' known to man.
As I quickly learned by squabbling with them on Twitter later in the evening, they hold belligerent and dismissive attitudes towards every idea that's not based on neo-liberal post-colonialism.
They probably represented about a third, or maybe a quarter, of the audience on this particular evening. That's pretty high odds. There were heaps of them.
One of them (LYLSWA Treasurer Anthony Spagnolo) was even referred to by name by Barnett.
It's actually to the ABC's credit that these people were given a chance to speak--and they spoke a fair bit.
But it's an example of their boisterous ingratitude that they were on Twitter throughout the proceedings claiming that the "communist ABC" was censoring them and swinging the debate in the leftist direction.
If anything, these douche-bags were over-represented.
It would be disingenuous for me to claim that there isn't a place for conservative politics within the Grand Plethora. Of course there is, so long as all other angles of discourse get a look-in.
But if this is the future of the conservative party in this country then we are completely and utterly fucked.
Between Barnett--with his monarchist, protectionist, neo-liberal agenda--the steely-eyed lost cause Julie Bishop, and these kids in the audience, there wasn't one among them who came out not looking like a complete fuck head.
The only conservative who came out looking like he actually had a soul was mining industry fucko Andrew Forrest.
His attempts to give Aboriginal people large-scale employment in the mining industry are admirable, but, of course, they fail to take into account the fact that not everybody views life the same way he does.
Thank christ, then, that Marianne Mackay had managed to land herself a spot in the front row.
This relentless woman, who I'd not encountered before but have seen talk a couple of times since, pointed out fiercely that the traditional Aboriginal worldview of Country is anathema to large-scale industrial mining, and asked what the point was of employing Aboriginal people to do the one thing they didn't want to do:
If people want to help Aboriginal people get employment, don't help our people kill our land. You know, save our environment. Get on environmental protection. [see transcript]I'm white, of course, but I'm also an environmentalist and I wish this point had been discussed further.
(It's important to note that the one Aboriginal member of the panel, Tony Wiltshire, is a successful businessman and is clearly down with the capitalist paradigm as a way forward for equality.)
But the thing I'll remember most about this whole ordeal--and it was indeed an ordeal--was the man who slipped me a piece of paper imploring me to ask his question.
He'd evidently sussed me out and desperately wanted his question answered.
"I can't ask this," he told me urgently.
"I work in mining. If I ask it, I'll lose my job."
Shit, I'll try! I thought, but I was unsuccessful in this regard.
Peering down at the neatly typed and folded piece of paper he had given me I saw the following words... written repeatedly.
Mr Premier, would you let us know whether your government has any public policies or strategies to maintain at least the current prosperity and living standards of all Western Australians, after you have send [sic] the last shipment of WA's non-renewable resources overseas? [see image above]It shits me greatly that I wasn't quicker on the uptake.
Somebody needed to ask this question, because it's one of the most fundamental ones that Western Australian society is facing.
There's no question we're getting fat off digging up shit and selling it, but what (on Earth) are we going to do afterward?
We in WA don't exactly have the best track record of pulling off these kinds of large-scale stunts without screwing ourselves long-term... one look at the Wheatbelt should remind us of this.
As Andrew Forrest said in his final speech, to the baffled consternation of many people both in the studio and on Twitter:
I've got a number of incredibly rich friends and I can assure you they're no happier than anyone in this audience. [56:10]Well, if money doesn't make you happy, what does? And where are our priorities? And what legacy are we leaving behind?
I do hope Q&A returns at some point, because all I was left with after this one was dozens of questions, mild confusion and a battered psyche.
NB: All unattributed quotes in this article are the author's own interpretation based on ground floor experience. It's not possible, to my knowledge, to link to old #qanda quotes on Twitter, but if it is please let me know and I'll attribute them more thoroughly. The specific Q&A episode can be streamed, and the transcript accessed, here.
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