A problematic politician

Simon Webster over at the Sydney Morning Herald is exploring the tricky and frankly unusual situation of what to do about a powerful politician who appears hell bent on keeping his campaign promises now he’s actually in office and traditionally expected to be surprised anyone took him seriously.

From the article:

…talkback radio was ablaze with opposition to Parliament’s message to the stolen generations last week.

Dozens of ordinary decent Australians in pointy white hats demanded Rudd say sorry for saying sorry. The Sorry Sorry campaign will be called the SS for short, which is quite handy because many campaigners already own uniforms bearing those initials.

Pouring oil on the troubled waters that are the feelings of those fun-loving members of the Australian arm of the KKK aside [1], Webster raises some key points in his article, the most important of which is:

If politicians start telling the truth we’ll have to start paying more attention to what they say. And no one wants that.

Old dogs

And Webster is absolutely right.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and if the Australian federal electorate can’t be likened to an old dog that simply wants to be left alone to sleep and fart and snuffle and dream of better days on the back veranda of life [2], then why, I ask you, did we elect John Howard for 4 consecutive terms as PM?

It can’t be because we were addicted to the truth, or because we wanted to be treated with respect as citizens of a Western democracy, because under Howard we got precious little of the first, and I honestly haven’t stopped giggling since I typed the thing about “wanting to be treated with respect as citizens of a Western democracy.” That’s priceless, that one is. Someone call Rove and tell him he can use it.

Tough Choices and Better Days A’Comin’?

And yet, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Australia under a Rudd Government. If K-Rudd continues the way he has begun, then there really is an outside chance that Work Choices will be dismantled, and who knows what kind of equitable living standards chaos that might unleash?

I do know that since the Rudd Government was elected, the drought in South East Queensland has eased, with record rainfalls flowing into dams, and talk of lowering water restrictions dominating local news. Maybe it’s a little misguided to lay this completely at the feet of His Ruddness, but there’s a hint of something hopeful in the air, and who knows — perhaps one of the many Gods worshipped in this land has smiled on the peaceful regime change that took place at the end of last year and has decided to give us a break.

Still, I think we can all agree that it’s a shame Mackay is now 6 feet under water as a result…

Sex with robots?

For some reason Webster’s article finishes with a short piece about the impending reality of sex with robots. On the face of it, this doesn’t appear to have a whole lot to do with Kevin Rudd, the Australian Government, or the future of Our Great Nation, but when you delve a little deeper you realise it really is just a topic Webster nailed onto the end of the article to add a couple of lurid giggles before you are forced to turn back to the depressing reality of real news.

All in all, a very entertaining article, which you can read for yourself somewhere over here: Emphasis on the truth (smh.com.au).