Friday 24 February 2012

1 Vote = 1 Value–Bring on the Republic!

 

So....Labor wins an election in 2007.  Not because they had what it takes.  They were voted in by people who were tired of the antics of a Right Wing Coalition Government.   Lets look at that for a second.  

"Coalition" = 2 parties who will never govern in their own right joining forces to get the numbers to form a Govrnment.  

Yes, people were so sick of them they voted in Labor.  Hang on a minute; who else could they have voted for?   They could have voted for the minor parties who will never govern in their own right but,  those minority parties MUST align themselves with either Labor or the Coalition and, do a helluva lot of sucking up to get what they want.  So, in reality, there are only 2 parties in Australia who run the country.

In 2007, Kevin Rudd said it was the people who voted him in as Prime Minister.  But wait..... This is Australia.  We DON"T vote  someone into the Prime Ministers' job.  We vote for a person from our local area who we believe will do the best job for our local area!   In fact, this is also flawed because if a Member of Parliament is voted in by the local population, even the things they want to achieve for that area are dependant on their own Partys' Policy!   Kevin Rudd was voted in as the local Member for his electorate.  It was the Labor Party who put him in the Prime Ministers spot.  And now I quote the words of a not so famous Aussie....Quote - "The Party gives and, the Party taketh away"[that's my quote ha ha].

Down the track a little bit, his own Labor Party colleagues portrayed him as a bullying, arrogant, obnoxious, uncaring person when not in front of the media.  He couldn't make a decision and stick to it  because he was driven by media popularity and paid too much attention to the polls.   His leadership faulted and, the Labor Party, running our Country became, for want of a better word......er.......'Rudd'erless.

Somehow Kevin screwed things up and they changed their minds.   In comes Julia Gillard and  Kevin is cast aside but, underneath that brave face, he is really pissed because he believes that the people of Australia voted him as the Prime Minister.  Perhaps, subconsciously, he sees himself as the President of Australia?   Anyway, in short years another general election is held.   The people of Australia are so pissed off with both major parties that they don't want either of them.   The election is a virtual tie and each party now relies on those from the Independant Parties to back them up and give them the support and numbers they need to form a majority Government.  The Independants vote. And...the winner is....Labor.   Julia is returned to the Prime Ministership by the skin of her teeth.  It is, however, the minority Independants that hold the sway of power!   The Members of Parliament who got the LEAST votes, are now pulling the strings.  

All this time, that brave little boy Kevin, is on the verge of tears, because the bullies have taken away what the Australian People had 'given' him.  But, he still wants to play with that toy.   So, what does he do?  He undertakes a policy of advertising himself.   Gets himself seen on the media as often as possible to show he is not that mean bully that his closest work colleagues made him out to be.   That video of him ranting and raving seen recently?   I do not think it has been revealed who released that.   I believe that it came from Kevin Rudds office and that they released it simply to point the finger at Julia Gillard and her supporters and, portray them in a bad light to gain Kevin some sympathy.   The ensuing media coverage and suggestion from Kevin Rudd himself that he is 'a changed man' and that he is 'not that bully he once was' caused a stir. It should cause a stir....he has virtually admitted to those things that his Party got rid of him for in the first place!   The media hints at a leadership challenge and that Kevin is ready to come back bigger and stronger.   It is a feeding frenzy on the editors desk for leadership stories. But I have to ask; why would someone stir the pot in this manner?  Why would someone who has said he is dedicated himself to Labor and all those principles, and supposedly wants to do the best for his Country, now open up old wounds and, cause dissention amongst his party because of his rumour mongering?  Why would he try to de-stablize the Government which, even with the Independants on board, appears to be doing a good job in the face of global financial instabilities which also threaten our way of life? 

He now says that he has the support of the Australian People and want them to force Labor to put him back into the Prime Minister spot.  What an arrogant arsehole. His wife said that of all the people ringing electoral offices, that 85% of those want Kevin back as Prime Minister.  She conveniently failed to mention just how many phone calls had been received.  Kevin Rudds' media team have indicated that there has been overwhelming support from the Australian People for him.  Once again, no evidence to back up exactly what is occurring.   He has not yet stated that he will run in the ballot on Monday so, therefore, I see him as being a trouble maker.   I actually believe Julia Gillard when she says that Kevin Rudd lives for the spotlight and the media, but that his leadership of the party that governs our country is lacking.   Kevin Rudd has not even stated if he will stand for the leadership ballot being held on Monday.  Is he serious?   He is like a spoiled brat,  playing this to get maximum attention.   Kevin Rudd, at face value, is a person who appears to perform well, but has no real ability.  So we want that kind of person to lead our country?  I also blame the media for half of this shit fight.   Isn't there enough real stories to put to print?  

Everyone knows what it is like at a place of work.   Staff come and go, bosses come and go.  You might apply for a promotion but don't get it.   What is happening here is nothing different from any normal work place except;  

these people run our Country.  They are the people who determine how much Tax we pay, they are the people who have the authority to send our dedicated Military out to die in foreign lands.   I am fully aware that the Australian people voted them in but, have we ever got what we voted for?

Did we really actually vote them in?   Under our preferential system of voting, a person running for Parliament can give his votes to another party if he does not get the numbers to get a look in.   How many voters have not got what they voted for and, in fact, have had their votes go to a totally different party whose values do not espouse those of the original party they cast their vote for because of the preferential system?   

I wonder who would have been the ruling party if we had a 1 Vote = 1 Value system.

I am not really happy lately with our system of Government.   Is it really a Democracy when there are only really 2 parties that can run the Country and, the best we can do, is the devil we know?

Friday 17 February 2012

An afternoon on the Lake.

The Swimming Place 2 - Belmont
   Kim and I spent late afternoon & dusk at Belmont on Lake Macquarie.   It was a beautiful sunset, the cool breeze off the lake cooled us nicely.   We took Barney with us but unfortunately we couldn’t let him off the leash.   He wanted to go for a swim; and it was all Kim could do to hold him from jumping off the pier into the water.  Mind you, he did get his play in the water the next afternoon at Merewether Rock Pools but, more of that (with an excellent photo) in a later post!   At Belmont there is a swimming area roped and buoyed off from the lake for swimmers.   I don’t know if it is rock or sand underfoot but I hope it’s not squishy lake grass stuff…..eww.   Every now and then a fish would leap out of the water leaving concentric ripples on the surface.  Unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough to catch them!   There are some more photos from this great afternoon on my FB Photography page,  feel free to check them out and ‘like’ the page.  Thanks!
Hope you’re all well.
Jordy

Monday 6 February 2012

Sailing Port Hunter

Taken from Nobbys Lighthouse looking back toward Honeysuckle. The water today was a dirty brown colour as you can see. My only explanation for this is that there has been recent heavy rain from the head of the Hunter River and that all that lovely topsoil is washing out to sea!

 

Sailing on Port Hunter

Newcastle Panorama

The Lighthouse and Meteorological Station on Nobbys Point at Newcastle were open today. They only open them to the public once or twice a month on a Sunday. Unfortunately, I could not get a decent shot of the buildings etc up there as there were too many people in shot all the time. So, I turned the lens toward Nobbys Beach and the city to snap some panoramas. I think I may have to upgrade my camera soon. Although it has served me well for the past 5 years, I am starting to realize just how much better a DSLR would actually be!

Newcastle Panorama from Nobbys Lighthouse

Catching up.

 Well it has been a couple of months since I posted a Blog article.   I don't have any Project or roll of film in particular to share wi...