raging against reality

For those who know me, the following will not surprise anyone. For those satisfying my delusions of being an international writer of a must-read blog, brace yourselves. We are in a situation where our federal government is about to be in the absolute power of the Liberals. This may come as a shock to some, but over the last few years I have mellowed a little and actually agreed with some actions and policies. Smoe put this down to me getting older, I basically put it down to being bribed by the increased carer payment allowance and occassional one-off larger payments that usually arrive at a very good time (pre sheriff visits etc). Don't get me wrong, I am still a proud Labor girl (although appalled at the sheer inability of those in office in Canberra) which is the driver for my current fury about a comment by John Howard (herewith referred to as Johnnie) about removing foreign and cross media ownership laws in Australia in today's SMH. He stated it was important but not that important as it would be something that would only affect a few not the community... Excuse me??? (and I hate people who say that in moments of cranky incredulity) That such a removal of restrictions is of no affect to the community? That its not important (as in bad important) that our media outlets could be held by overseas interest, that a majority of our media (read: news distributors) outlets could all fall into the hands of a few megalomaniacal businessmen who have no dedication, no commitment and worse, no care to the concept of impartial, balanced, bi-partisan presentation of issues and events? I'm certainly not saying we have that now, but at least we have journalists and media outlets and organisations that try. So John Howard plays his flute and we all trudge down a path to a world where not only will there be a greater divide between the have and the have-nots, but also a growing ignorance due to his willingness to throw away legislation that goes some distance to letting both sides of whatever debate is centre stage to be heard. Enjoy it Johnnie while it lasts, because those who were short-sighted enough in their voting to let this situation arise, will hopefully have learnt a very sage lesson...and never let it happen again. God, the more that man has power the more we become like the US...and that is not a good thing. On any single level except for the rampant consumerism in terms of gross amounts of choice of product on supermarket shelves, which I see in movies and yearn for...