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Open Thread

A Nation's Health: the good, the bad and the ugly

An open thread in which to dicuss the ramifications of legislation currently being voted upon in The House. Will American citizens benefit as much as the Health Corps? Will the trillion-plus fistful of dollars be enough to make a dint in the diseases of the underclasses? And what will need happen for lawmakers to release a few dollars more to help their constituents in West Baltimore, “South Central” L.A. and those who like to go Deer Hunting with Jesus (the one reputed to have been a legendary healer himself, in his day)?

1,291 replies on “A Nation's Health: the good, the bad and the ugly”

KatieLou,
Even more exciting than David Frum, will be Possum’s response to tonight’s 4 corners on “battgate”, if the AB friggin C start fiddling around with the numbers. 👿

There are few things more enjoyable, than watching an angry Possum stick out his claws when people start talking nonsense about statistics. 😆

1003
Chris B says:

Typical. You’ve got to watch these Greens MP’s. Especially the women.

I’d do a Tony Abbot if I were you Chris. 🙂
Get on your bike and start pedalling as hard as you can.
I suspect Jen will be along shortly…….With a baseball bat. 👿
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Off to Canberra for a few days.
Hopefully for a coffee with Gouldie and the highlight will be shaking hands with Ranga on Wednesday night.
See you all on Thursday.

Let me say that in the case of Adele there is simply no accounting for taste.,
I am seriously hoping that she has not set a precedent.

This is an entertaining piece. Andrew Sullivan is convinced Palin will be the GOP 2012 presidential nominee.

Add Palin to the mix and you have a whole new machine in American politics – one with the capacity, as much as Obama’s, to upend the established order. Beltway types roll their eyes. But she’s not Obama, they say. She doesn’t know anything, polarizes too many people, has lied constantly and still may have dozens of skeletons in her unvetted closets.

To which the answer must be: where the fuck have you been this past year?

It doesn’t matter whether she’s uneducated, unprincipled, unaware and unscrupulous. The more she’s proven incapable of the presidency, the more her supporters believe she is destined for it. It’s a brilliant little gig she’s devised. She may be ignorant, but she is not stupid. She has the smarts of all accomplished pathological liars and phonies. And this time, she will not even bother to go on any television outlets other than Fox News. She will be the first presidential nominee never to have had a press conference. She will give statements by Facebook. She will speak directly to the cocoon that is, at least, twenty percent of Americans. The press, already a rank failure in exposing her fraudulence, will be so starstruck by the chance to make money that we will never have a Couric-style interview again. it will be Oprah all the time. Because Palin lives in an imaginary world, the entire media world will be required to echo it or be shut out.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/04/a-halfterm-former-governor-with-a-tv-show-ctd-1.html
And this one by

Gaffy, don’t forget to take some warm clobber and say g’day to David. The revenue raisers in blue check are prolific on HWY 15; a pig sniffer and cruise control are de rigeur. It’s so easy to goof off listening to music or the radio, even when you get the warning that cameras are up ahead.

Btw is Townsville airport top heavy with spook-a-traveller but catch-a-terrorist personel?

—————————————-

Mon Apr 26:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/tom-toles

Apr 26:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/matt-bors

Apr 26:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/pat-oliphant

Apr 23:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/ben-sargent

—————————————
Bread and Circuses, home-style, century 21:

“Didja see Australia’s Funniest Celebrity Fuck-Wit last night? Laughed so much I nearly spewed my Domino’s.”

On the upside, before we contemporary earthlings all fall off our individual perches, we’ll have a good idea precisely how fouled the planetary nest that we leave for coming generations of fauna and flora will be.

Cockroaches and rats are well positioned biologically to inherit the earth. Fat cat survivalists in bunkers will be only as good as their supplies of food and water. On paper or with their “golden electrons” in cyberspace, the progeny of Big Carbon & Allied’s executives and top-end functionaries will be “technically wealthy”, but there won’t be any places where their money has currency.

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/84984

And alos this one on Obama’s competency by Mark Halperin (also a conservative commentator):

Before the jabberers on the right (What about the huge debt, the broken tax pledge, the paucity of overseas accomplishments?), the yammerers on the left (Guantánamo hasn’t been closed, gays aren’t serving openly in the military, and too many policies cater to business interests) and the chides in the media (POTUS and party poll numbers are down, and Washington is more partisan than ever), look at the two key metrics that underscore Obama’s accomplishments. It is too early to assess the ultimate measure of victory: whether the President’s actions have been prudent and beneficial, domestically and internationally. But by Election Day 2010, Obama will have soundly achieved many of his chief campaign promises while running a highly competent, scandal-free government. Not bad for a guy whose opponents (in both parties) for the White House suggested that he was too green in national life to know how to do the job — and whose presidency began in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis that demanded urgent attention and commanded much of his focus.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1984460,00.html

Statement by the President on Financial Reform
*************************************

“I am deeply disappointed that Senate Republicans voted in a block against allowing a public debate on Wall Street reform to begin. Some of these Senators may believe that this obstruction is a good political strategy, and others may see delay as an opportunity to take this debate behind closed doors, where financial industry lobbyists can water down reform or kill it altogether. But the American people can’t afford that. A lack of consumer protections and a lack of accountability on Wall Street nearly brought our economy to its knees, and helped cause the pain that has left millions of Americans without jobs and without homes. The reform that both parties have been working on for a year would prevent a crisis like this from happening again, and I urge the Senate to get back to work and put the interests of the country ahead of party.”

He’s getting serious now.

I think there might be a few more law suits there. Maaybe a good piece of political mileage as well.

Solid Majority Backs Financial Reform Bill
The Senate is expected to hold a test vote on a financial regulation reform bill later today, but it appears Democrats do not yet have the 60 votes needed. However, Roll Call notes that rarely have Senate Democrats “been so calm about losing a vote.”

The reason? Democrats are prepared to excoriate Republicans for blocking very popular Wall Street reforms.

A new Washington Post/ABC News Poll finds approximately two-thirds of Americans support stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business.

“Majorities also back two main components of legislation congressional Democrats plan to bring to a vote in the Senate this week: greater federal oversight of consumer loans and a company-paid fund that would cover the costs of dismantling failed firms that put the broader economy at risk.”
http://politicalwire.com

Obama’s Underappreciated Success
President Obama’s “right-wing opponents have cast him as a socialist failure. His left-wing hecklers see him as an over-cautious hedger. But, critics notwithstanding, President Obama is on the path to be a huge success by the time of November’s midterm elections,” Mark Halperin writes.

By the end of this year, Obama “will have soundly achieved many of his chief campaign promises while running a highly competent, scandal-free government. Not bad for a guy whose opponents (in both parties) for the White House suggested he was too green in national life to know how to do the job — and whose presidency began in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis that demanded urgent attention and commanded much of his focus.”
http://politicalwire.com

Mining lobbyist: ‘The president has parked his tanks on our front lawn.’
****************************************************

This weekend, as President Barack Obama traveled to West Virginia to mourn the deaths of 29 miners in the Massey coal explosion, the mining industry attacked the president with militant right-wing rhetoric. Obama has supported the U.S. coal industry with an agenda of investing “huge subsidies” in the advanced coal technology that he misleadingly calls “clean coal.” His administration has begun to crack down on the industry’s worst safety violators and most egregious practices like mountaintop removal, but has also announced that any limits on carbon pollution would not begin until 2011. The day before Obama praised coal as “the energy that powers our country and powers the world,” National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich attacked the president as a military invader of coal country:

more here…

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/26/mining-lobbyist-coal-tanks/

Let’s see. An election year. No West Virginia senate election. There is Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania senate elections (must be connections to WV in those states). Plus a lot more coalmines in other states as well as a heap more unions watching this.

KL @1008,
The very thought of the Fundies getting their woman into the White House makes me want to build one of those nuclear shelters of old…well, the 60’s.
Just when you think the world is slowly returning to it’s senses, ignorance and belief in ‘the rapture’ means they can gamble with the rest of our futures , as they’re assured of their place in the much lauded afterlife!
Ecky,
was moved by your sentiments Anzac day. I find the day concentrates the sense of loss, of other losses life, and the futility increasingly sad as the years race by.

Nick Clegg: I could work with Labour, just not Gordon Brown
• Nick Clegg changes stance on talking to last place party
• Liberal Democrat surge has not faltered, ICM poll finds
————————————————————————-

Nick Clegg hurriedly revised the Liberal Democrat post-election negotiating position today by insisting that he had not ruled out a possible deal with Labour in a hung parliament. However, he said that if Labour came third in share of the vote – with polls suggesting that is a distinct possibility – he did not believe that Gordon Brown could remain as prime minister.

His clarification marks a shift from the weekend when he appeared to suggest Labour would have forfeited the right to govern if it came third on 6 May. His remarks had alarmed some on the progressive left who argued that he was in danger of reducing the anti-Tory tactical vote.

more here…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/26/nick-clegg-hung-parliament-labour
After thinking I would completely ignore the election. Now I will be on the edge of my seat come election day.

Nick Clegg is likely to be given free rein by his party’s activists to negotiate a post-election deal if he secures the Lib Dems an extra 40 seats, as some polls are predicting he may be able to do.
———————————————————————————-

The Liberal Democrats are among the most devolved parties and, in the event of a hung parliament, Clegg will have to navigate their “triple lock” to secure the support of his MPs, the party’s executive committee and possibly all its members.

The Lib Dem leadership moved quickly today after what it regarded as over-interpretations of its position that it would work with the Tories if Labour came third at the poll in terms of its share of the vote.

Clegg said that while he would not work with Gordon Brown, he might be able to work with Labour under another leader.

He said: “I just don’t think the British people would accept that [Gordon Brown] could carry on as prime minister, which is what the convention of old politics dictates when, or rather if, he were to lose the election in such spectacular style.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/26/nick-clegg-bargaining-predictions-extra-seats

Volunteers Across the Country Begin Laying the Groundwork for 2010
*******************************************************

“No great piece of reform ever starts in Washington. It starts in places like this.” — Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner, speaking to local grassroots volunteers. Organizing for America held Camp OFAs across the country last weekend—trainings where volunteers gathered to strategize about 2010, learn the skills they’ll need, and get fired up about the road ahead.

http://www.barackobama.com/2010/?source=FB

KatieLou – loved Tim Dunlop’s article 😆
and megan
– the thought of Palin in power is so utterly absurd that it would be hilarious – if it wasn’t so frightening.
Same goes for Abbott … it’s a parallel universe, but after Bush and Howard, the reality is that it has happened before and so it could again.
We really do get the politicians we deserve, which doesn’t say much for us to date. 😡

1025
Come on Jen, we don’t really get the polly’s we deserve. Otherwise we’d still have Jeff Kennett in power. 👿 😆

However…..it appears they get exactly what they deserve in WA.
Asking Troy Buswell to be treasurer, ranks up there with asking Rupert Murdoch to be fair and balanced.

But since we don’t always get what we want in Victoria.
We just might get what we need. A green member for Indi. :mrgreen:

I am so bloody cross.
Rudd is pathetic.
Shelving the ECTS and then blaming the Greens -( oops, forgot to mention that a 2 billion dollar slush fund might be good for an election.)
Well Kevvy – we are saying Do It Now.
Put a carbon tax in place. That gives everybody room to negotiate and get something useful through the senate instead of expecting us to lock in an unworkable scheme for at least the next 30 years.

“Cowardly and immoral” – he said it himself when accusing the Libs.

And btw -a dear friend just pointed out that Adele got rid of the treasurer of WA – (she may be smarter than i first thought 😉 )

Green women turns Scarlett:

Jen sez…..”And btw -a dear friend just pointed out that Adele got rid of the treasurer of WA – (she may be smarter than i first thought)”

Indeed, Jen, an accomplishment not to be sniffed at. The bloke’s a prize grub. For the good of Terra, maybe Adders had to lay back and think of Gaia? 🙂

Hussey, are you lurking? Need a quick email witchoo on the side, s’il vous plait.

Say, with the oil rig and the mining disaster. Will we have McCarthyist style hearings before the senate. In a run up to November. That would be sensational!

Chris, would you like to start off a thread on the UK election? Your enthusiasm is infectious. Thought The Pretender would have Buckley’s but now he’s not the roughest. Just polish and plonk it in the comments box on “Editorial Policy”, give me a hoy and

*Alla-Kazam!*

magically, it will materialise on our Home Page.

CBet UK General Election – WINNER
CONSERVATIVES 1.20
LABOUR 5.25
LIB DEMOCRATS 21.00

A man of faith, political hope and psephological courage might even consider having a few bob on the LibDos. 👿

———————————–

Thanks, megan, smoke got in my eyes when writing that section.

1028
Truly stunning bravery from st Kevin Jen.
The sleazeball has (seemingly) never met a challenge he couldn’t run away from.
I can’t believe he’s got such a pissweak team of spin doctors, that they don’t realise you can’t show weakness to the media.
They’re never going to like Kevin. And now they don’t even fear him.
Bob Brown of lateline now.

1040

Bobby B. have anything sharp to say, paddy

Not really Ecky. He looked very tired and didn’t really make his points very well tonight.
I think we need a cut through pollie like PJ Keating to kick this process of pricing carbon along. Alas, there’s not one in sight.
All very bloody sad. 🙁

Bewdy, Chris. Like a gnarled and salty cyber-fisher, I’ll trawl the Euro News seas for toons. Hope nobody minds, in this quest, if one casts the odd gill net. Strictly in the interests of best practice campaign trawling and of course, a deep and over-riding sense of integrity.

Our motto:
Never bent or biased; always fair and balanced.

Jeeperz, ya take a couple weeks off blogging and the crypto-cons start linking to Mark Halperin and Andrew f’n Sullivan.

Here’s some sanity. 😀

A New Climate Movement in Bolivia
by Naomi Klein

It was 11 am and Evo Morales had turned a football stadium into a giant classroom, marshaling an array of props: paper plates, plastic cups, disposable raincoats, handcrafted gourds, wooden plates and multicolored ponchos. All came into play to make his main point: to fight climate change, “we need to recover the values of the indigenous people.”

Yet wealthy countries have little interest in learning these lessons and are instead pushing through a plan that at its best would raise average global temperatures 2 degrees Celsius. “That would mean the melting of the Andean and Himalayan glaciers,” Morales told the thousands gathered in the stadium, part of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. What he didn’t have to say is that the Bolivian people, no matter how sustainably they choose to live, have no power to save their glaciers.

Bolivia’s climate summit has had moments of joy, levity and absurdity. Yet underneath it all, you can feel the emotion that provoked this gathering: rage against helplessness.

It’s little wonder. Bolivia is in the midst of a dramatic political transformation, one that has nationalized key industries and elevated the voices of indigenous peoples as never before. But when it comes to Bolivia’s most pressing, existential crisis–the fact that its glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, threatening the water supply in two major cities–Bolivians are powerless to do anything to change their fate on their own.

That’s because the actions causing the melting are taking place not in Bolivia but on the highways and in the industrial zones of heavily industrialized countries. In Copenhagen, leaders of endangered nations like Bolivia and Tuvalu argued passionately for the kind of deep emissions cuts that could avert catastrophe. They were politely told that the political will in the North just wasn’t there. More than that, the United States made clear that it didn’t need small countries like Bolivia to be part of a climate solution. It would negotiate a deal with other heavy emitters behind closed doors, and the rest of the world would be informed of the results and invited to sign on, which is precisely what happened with the Copenhagen Accord. When Bolivia and Ecuador refused to rubber-stamp the accord, the US government cut their climate aid by $3 million and $2.5 million, respectively. “It’s not a free-rider process,” explained US climate negotiator Jonathan Pershing. (Anyone wondering why activists from the global South reject the idea of “climate aid” and are instead demanding repayment of “climate debts” has their answer here.) Pershing’s message was chilling: if you are poor, you don’t have the right to prioritize your own survival.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/23

————–
Email away Ecky.

Paddy, it is sad but no time to dispair. Because the hierarchy of The Greens is not as rigid as the majors, it’s posible for a charismatic communicator to emerge who can get the climate message to resonate in the minds of voters. A brilliant media performer with eminence grise, Bobby, closeby and nodding approvingly. It’d work, or a least it’s worth a go. Ease The Talent in slowly maybe.

With The Game being very much about perceptions, it’s not a smart move to appear tired and bedraggled on national telly. A decent kip, a chance to get some lethal lines together and deal with the MSM feeling and looking sharp the next day.

1031 ChrisB –
there’s only so much a girl is prepared to do … Christopher Pyne, Joe Hockey, Tony Abbott?.. ugh.

Just heard Penny Wong being left to wriggle on the end of Rudd’s fishhook… wonder where the Big Boss is skulking?
Leadership by passing the buck.

SENATORS CALL OUT GOLDMAN OVER ‘SH*TTY DEAL’ LIVE VIDEO, UPDATES .. GOLDMAN CEO LLOYD BLANKFEIN TAKES THE STAND.
***************************************************

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is testifying this morning in front of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which alleges the company’s executives misled investors with toxic mortgage securities, earning billions at the expense of their clients. The panel, lead by Senator Carl Levin, points to internal emails that suggest the company knowingly shorted the housing market throughout the year.

McCarthyist hearings it ain’t. But it is great stuff in an election year. News Radio is running continuous updates on the progress.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/goldman-sachs-hearings-li_n_553318.html#s85332

1046
I tried to listen Jen, I really did. But it was just too depressing. 🙁
Meanwhile…..
Crikey’s morning summary of the Rudd’s latest (and greatest) piece of political cowardice.
http://is.gd/bKxsj

Isn’t it funny that Malcolm Turnbull rises as the last one with intergrity (amongst the major parties)? There’s some life in his political career yet, imo.

1050
Katielou says:

Isn’t it funny that Malcolm Turnbull rises as the last one with intergrity

I don’t know about *funny* KL.
More like just plain sad. 🙁
Firstdog’s choice of drawing Kevin Rudd as a balloon seems somewhat prescient.
Such a big *brave* balloon too.
I’m beginning to wonder just how long the backbench will roll over for a hypermanic, godbothering control freak, who is rapidly starting to smell.
While I guess in the short term it will be positive for the greens, it’s a worry that the party of govt appears to be losing the plot quite so fast.
It all smells a bit like panic and that’s generally not a good sign for any govt.

paddy –
it is not about it being good for The Greens – i’d rather see a gvernment that acted with some integrity 😡

and yeah – FirstDog got the hot-air head right.
Wong and Garrett and the other Labor ministers must be fuming. Rudd is becoming more Howard with every day.
Once the electorate loses respect you’re fcked.

Nothing like being handed part of your election strategy on a plate.
*****************************************************

In a move cheered by both parties, all 41 Republicans stuck together and blocked an attempt by majority leader Harry Reid to start debate on a bill that would rein in Wall Street Banks in an attempt to prevent a repeat performance of the 2008 meltdown and subsequent bailout. The Republicans are cheering because they handed the Democrats a defeat and also because they hope this will force the Democrats to cave to their demands and substantially weaken the final bill. They have no illusions about killing the bill, as they did with health insurance. It would be political suicide to kill it. The Democrats are cheering because this vote will be fodder for a hundred campaign ads saying: “So-and-so (R) voted in favor of the Wall Street banks and doesn’t give a hoot about your job, your house, or your life. All he cares about is protecting Wall Street profits.”

It ties in very well with Goldman Sachs in the Senate. Great election footage in the making. None of the polls take into account what is going on at the moment.
more here…
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2010/Senate/Maps/Apr27-s.html#1

Agreed Jen. It really *is* an issue that’s much *much* bigger than party politics.
I probably expressed myself poorly in that last post.
Too angry to think straight!!!
I don’t give a flying f*ck which party enacts the legislation. I just want to see some *real* movement towards decarbonising the economy.
I suspect it’s a blessing that the CPRS bit the dirt. It was always a dog of a bill that didn’t do anything but wave a feather at the core problem of CO2 emissions. It’s a good thing it’s dead!!

What’s *NOT* good, is that slimy toad’s assumption that we’ll all sit by and let the govt do nothing for three years. Fuck Kevin Rudd and fuck his pissweak spin doctors.
Time for the back bench to grow some fucking spine and start talking to the greens and what’s left of the “liberal’ party.
Not a happy bunny here. 🙁

Not happy eithyer Paddy!
And now the boody media is trying to lump The Greens with the climate denialist Lberals for not passing what was a terrible ETS scheme. It wasn’t “better than Nothing”- it paid big polluters and locked it in for 30 years which would have cost millions and millions to try and change when we needed further reductions.All to achieve a negligible result.
We want to negotiate a better scheme in line with Garnaut’s recommendation: (let’s not forget The Government’s OWN report) and in the meantime implement a straight carbon tax efective immediately.
And now- nothing for at leat 3 years. 😡 😡

Agreed Jen. BTW Here’s a nice summary from Bernard Keane in today’s Crikey. Worth quoting in full.

Killing the ETS was a team effort
by Bernard Keane

And then there was one.

Malcolm Turnbull — ostensibly still leaving, but hopefully announcing this week that he’ll remain — is now the only senior politician in federal parliament who wants to take effective action on climate change.

Turnbull’s successor in the coalition leadership doesn’t, mainly because he thinks climate change is “crap”. Liberal moderates are too cowed or too self-interested to say otherwise. Greg Hunt, he of the thesis on emissions trading and the oft-proclaimed commitment to climate change action, cut and ran last December to save his shadow ministry, signing up to a “direct action” policy that he is smart enough to know is utter bollocks.

The government is no longer interested, pushing an ETS off into the never-never, into a sort of timeframe that should be called Nelsonia, after the hapless Brendan who lost his job for suggesting similar timing. Who in the government ever really believed in the cause of taking effective action on climate change? Peter Garrett, most assuredly. Who else? Not, it appears, Kevin Rudd or his Teflon-coated Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, who seems to have escaped responsibility for presiding over a complete debacle.

The Prime Minister rightly copped it last week for letting Greg Combet and Kate Ellis — Kate bloody Ellis — announce some bad news. Yesterday Rudd did the dirty work himself (assuming he would have done so had not Lenore Taylor pushed him into it), but Wong needs to bear considerable responsibility. I said ages ago that if Julia Gillard had been running this issue — because, as we all know, she has a lot of spare capacity — we might have had a very different outcome. Hell, even Nicola Roxon has been able to secure passage through the Senate of controversial Bills.

But as much as Rudd and Wong are the stand-out performers here — played strong, done fine — it was a team effort. Reading the savage commentary from the press gallery this morning, I was reminded that my dear colleagues in the press have had a not-insubstantial role in this. I speak not merely of that malignant tumour on the face of Australian policy debate, The Australian, but of the many other outlets that did so much to corrupt debate over the ETS and, ultimately, over climate change itself.

Every journalist and editor who ran a piece on dodgy polluter-commissioned modelling from economics consultancies, with their patented Rubbish-In-Rubbish-Out Job-Loss-O-Meters, demonstrating that vast swathes of industry would close because of a 1% or 2% increase in costs —  you too can hold your heads high. Every editor who gave climate denialists and their wingnut theories coverage — you too can claim some credit.

And our friends at the national broadcaster should not be forgotten — the ABC’s sterling commitment to “balancing” climate science with the ravings of conspiracy theorists (“balance” in some cases meaning ignoring the former and giving generous coverage to the latter) earns them a nod as well.

So, all those swingeing, outraged attacks on Rudd today from the press? Let he who is without sin, etc.

In the early days of the Rudd government I thought the question would be whether it would be a major reforming governments in the Hawke-Keating-Howard tradition, or a risk-averse, Bob Carr-style government that achieved incremental reform, spun big but let long-term problems pile up. That question has now largely been answered: Kevin Rudd is much closer to Carr than to Hawke and Keating.

History suggests governments’ second terms are better than their first, but also that they run out of reform puff after two terms. The Rudd government is nearing halfway through what history suggests will be its most reforming years and what has it got to show for it? It’s been fine at valuable small and medium-level reforms (like the over-hyped health package, or Chris Bowen’s excellent financial services reforms), but what about the big-picture stuff?

With an economy set to resume a resources boom and big questions around infrastructure, housing, the banking sector and skill shortages, there’s no lack of reform opportunities.

Its two excuses don’t wash. The coalition’s reflexive opposition to pretty much everything needn’t be a barrier. Labor routinely tried to stymie John Howard’s most significant reforms, but he negotiated many of them through the Senate, figuring the benefits of reform were worth doing deals with clowns such as Mal Colston, Brian Harradine and Meg Lees.

And yes the GFC has stripped the Budget bare of surpluses that could have been used to fund reform, but the Hawke, Keating and Howard governments all had poor fiscal circumstances to deal with — and it made them even hungrier for reform.

This Sunday’s Henry Review could be the last chance for the government to set itself a real economic reform goal. Like the health system, our tax system is routinely bagged but actually works well compared to internationally. Nevertheless, there’s considerable room to improve efficiency — not to mention fixing the problem John Howard (not Peter Costello) bequeathed us of an over-reliance on corporate tax.

Instead, there’s the sense that anything that might cost Labor support is off the agenda for Rudd. And you can’t take on real reform without risking support.

Which leads to a question for Rudd: what exactly does he want to achieve as Prime Minister? Because that’s not clear any more.

On Tuesday evening, CNN reported that Republican Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) is poised to join Democrats and vote in favor of debate:

The American people “want us to get something done,” Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said in explaining why he would eventually join Democrats in insisting that the bill be debated on the floor.

Voinovich, who is not seeking re-election in November, would not say exactly how long he would wait before switching his vote but said, “I have an idea of how much time it takes to cut a deal.” He also said he expects “a whole bunch” of other Republicans to make the same decision.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/dems-use-goldman-hearing_n_554598.html

How quickly things can change.
——————————————-

Terry Goddard Leads Jan Brewer In Arizona Gov’s Race: Hispanic Voters Flocking To Democratic Candidate.
State Attorney General Terry Goddard (D) leads Republican incumbent Gov. Jan Brewer in Arizona’s 2010 gubernatorial election, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling released on Tuesday.

The poll finds Goddard ahead of Brewer 47 percent to 44 percent in what is becoming an increasingly competitive match-up. An earlier poll from several weeks ago found the candidates to be locked in a tight contest, highlighting a dramatic shift in the race since last fall when the Arizona governor held a 10-point lead over her Democratic challenger.

Will it be reflected in polls in neighbouring states?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/terry-goddard-pulls-ahead_n_553823.html

The only thing Kruddy’s got going for him is that he’s not as loathesome as the alternative.

I did worry that the ETS was going to be ineffective – so I’m not so sorry to see that proposal go. I agree that a carbon tax should have greater efficacy in dealing with the problem. But to take climate change off the agenda is just so disappointing.

I suspect not many people here will agree with me, but IMO tax reform coming out of the Henry Review is highly likely to fall short as well because gutless political expediency kept a change in the GST rate out of the review. Though I do think the idea of a resource rent tax is good to ensure greater contribution to the coffers arising from the continued commodities boom – ie those reaping the windfalls should contribute more, plus we need to get out of the structural deficit that Peter Costello built into the budget.

Senate Republican Candidates Mired In Season Of Discontent.
*************************************************

A series of recent developments in various Republican Senate races has once again called into question whether the party’s committees are squandering a historic opportunity as they approach the 2010 elections.

In several races throughout the country, candidates who either have the explicit backing of the party apparatus or are widely considered the establishment picks find themselves either in deep electoral holes or seriously challenged on personal or policy grounds.

As a whole, the GOP still stands to make major gains when voters go to the polls in eight months. But political observers and even some Republican strategists are wondering how and why the party is in its dysfunctional state when, traditionally, its guns should be united against Democrats.

In the aftermath of the November elections the Republicans will be looking for an excuse. Here it is laid out for them. 😈
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/senate-republican-candida_n_554055.html

Just had a fellow in who voted for Rudd to get rid of Howard, but thinks “at least Abbott says what he thinks”.
FFS.

Tony Abbot announced this morning that the broadband upgrade should be scrapped because its a luxury. Luxury! He wouldn’t know luxury if he fell over it. I lived in a cardboard box till I was 21. A blanket is what I call luxury!

Maybe Tony Abbot could introduce a telegraph system and make it compulsory for everyone to learn Morse code.

1065
Chris B
A cardboard box!!????
You clearly haven’t a clue about *real* hardship.
My family of 25 would have killed for a cardboard box.
We were only allowed to *eat* cardboard on birthdays and xmas.
It was the most expensive part of the meal. 👿
(With apologies to Monty.) :mrgreen:

Well you two – get used to it.
now that Rudd has abandoned us to the full effects of climate change with no willingness to negotiate then the cardboard boxes will be flooded, burnt and the possibly the most appetising meal around.
Of course Australia makes no difference – except that how the hell can we ask developing nations to do anything if one of the richest on the planet won’t?

Just watched the Goldman-Sachs lot do their “not my fault” act…
you really have to wonder how long before people in the streets start baying for blood.

And then the lovely Penny on 7:30 Report. I wonder how long she will be prepared to wear the flack for Kevvy. She must be so pissed off.

Gut feeling here-
but I suspect that no one quite knows what to make of this situation. Rudd has just replicated Copenhagen right here in Australia, and we are all – Labour , Liberal and Green alike, left stunned that any serious government wuld just shelve the issue. Even Howard didn’t do that, as much as he wanted to. He just denied it.
Rudd is trying to bury it – at his own peril .
Choices are – Rudd -no balls, all hot air. .
Abbott -all balls, no brain.
or scare them all into action…. Greens.

GOP Set for First Defection
**********************

Senate Democrats are set to pick off their first Republican vote on financial reform, although they’ll need one more to overcome the unexpected opposition of one of their own, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. CNN reports that Ohio Republican George Voinovich will soon switch his vote to support opening debate on the financial-reform bill after the GOP blocked it for a second time on Tuesday.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/gop-set-for-first-defection/financial-reform/?cid=hp:mainpromo1

1065 and 1067:

No doubt about it, you blokes did things tough.
When us mob was on Struggle St. we all pitched in to doll the old digs up. Mum though it would be nice to add a bungalow for visitors. Buildin’ materials bein’ so expensive ‘n all, we had to live off the smell of the local bakery for a week, but it was worth it, the joy it brought her.

http://www.happyfolding.com/files/images/Brill-Matchbox.jpg

—————-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeBwHZpWHO4

Inside Democrats’ Election-Year Immigration Push — ‘Either Way We Win’
**************************************************

“Reid obviously needs it to invigorate his base – Clark County Hispanics and union members. He needs to get those people invigorated and out voting and one way to do that is to get an immigration bill moving,” a Democratic House committee staffer familiar with the immigration debate told me in an interview. The staffer asked for anonymity to be able to speak freely about the political nature of the issue.

“Either we do it for political show or we get a bill done. Either way we win,” the staffer said. “If Republicans block us they will forever cement themselves as rural, white angry party, and that’s fine either way. Hispanics will see on Telemundo and Univision the angry white people in the Republican blocking the American dream. Who wins? Democrats do.”

Read the entire article here…
https://politic.osm.net/2010/03/a-nations-health-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comments

The border region between Mexico and the U.S. has had its troubles for a couple of hundred years. A lot of decent people have been wasted for no good reason, mostly Mexicans.
In view of the latest legislative bastardry by Arizona officials, the following film has resonance aplenty , despite being set and shot in Texas and adjacent Mexico, much of it on Jones’ land.
The Cheyrl Crow track is not in the soundtrack, forget that maudlin shlock and check out the faces in the clip.
Anyway, Tommy Lee Jones’s border masterpiece tables many elements of this modern human tragedy. Any decent dvd shack will have it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkuHolVnDPc&feature=related

😳 1075 😳 The correct link is below.
——————————————————————————-
Even more juicy bits from the above article.
************************************

With immigration back on the table the GOP could face a repeat of 2006 and 2007, when the party was bitterly divided on what anti-immigrant protesters said was “amnesty.” Republicans suffered badly in fundraising from that wing of the party, Sen. John McCain was labeled a RINO for working with Sen. Ted Kennedy and Congressional switchboards melted as angry voters said immigrants were on the brink of getting rights they didn’t deserve. The backlash led to the GOP walking away from a deal which President George W. Bush had been attempting to craft for several years. Even though Bush did well among Hispanic voters for his reelection in 2004, the voting block overwhelmingly backed Democrats in 2006 and 2008.

NDN today is releasing a report called “Hispanics Rising” that shows staggering growth in the Hispanic electorate, noting that Latinos are critical swing voters in presidential elections.

I love it when the Democrats talk dirty.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/inside-the-new-immigration-push—-an-election-year-boost-for-reid-boxer-bennett.php?ref=fpb

History Repeats Itself: Immigration Once Again Rips the GOP Apart.
*****************************************************

Think back to 2004. The Bushies actually tried to do something about immigration reform, and unwittingly pitted their corporate overlords against their crazy xenophobic base. Minutemen groupies like the Anchor Baby screamed NO SHAMNESTY!!!! while the GOP bosses looked on in horror.

Well, it’s happening again with Arizona’s Show Me Your Papers Act.

http://firedoglake.com/2010/04/28/history-repeats-itself-immigration-once-again-rips-the-gop-apart/

Paddy @ 1073
I enjoyed fucktard.com, but I feel the site has an incomplete description of the extent of Abbott’s fucktardry. Fore example, I think it should document his George Pell moment on Lateline, his comments on Bernie Banton and his behaviour while health minister on the abortion drug. I’m sure others can think of more.

1080
Katielou, in a career of so many highlights, I guess they just couldn’t fit them all in. But I agree, leaving out Bernie Banton was a major oversight.
Never mind. Tone has an entire election campaign ahead of him to add a few more “magic moments”. 👿

Mind you. I suspect that Kevin will catch up soon in the fucktard stakes. 🙁

Crist To Run As An Independent.
*************************

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will declare he is running as an independent in Florida’s race for Senate at a news conference tomorrow, Fox News and other news outlets report.

Crist’s campaign issued a statement on Wednesday morning indicating that the Florida Governor will officially announce the future of his candidacy at a “qualifying event” in St. Petersburg on Thursday at 5:00 pm.

Assuming Crist wins, he would be a help as an independent. Not tied to party line votes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/28/florida-senate-2010-elect_n_516222.html

1084
Let’s hope it doesn’t get *that* bad Jen. 🙁
Meanwhile Ben Eltham has a good piece in New Matilda today.

The Great Moral Backflip Of Our Time

The decision to delay the introduction of its emissions trading scheme until 2013 is the Government’s most serious betrayal of voters yet, writes Ben Eltham

http://newmatilda.com/2010/04/28/great-moral-backflip-our-time

Plus GetUp has sent out a plea for outrage. Doubt it will make any difference to the great moral coward. But it can’t hurt to try.
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/ClimateActionNow&id=1052

Alternate Plan Devised for Immigration Senate Democrats Pivot to Strategy for Moving Ahead Without GOP Support.
****************************************************

Senate Democrats appear dead set on moving comprehensive immigration reform this year even if it comes without GOP support, and they began laying the groundwork Wednesday for a Democrats-only alternative to a bipartisan deal.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (N.J.) released a detailed summary of a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The outline — which is based on negotiations between Schumer and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that collapsed earlier this month — would require a series of border security benchmarks to be met before broader reforms could be implemented.

The legislation includes tougher controls on the hiring of illegal immigrants, new work visa provisions and a pathway for citizenship.

Has anyone noticed that the really good bills are now hitting the floor? Also, the Democrats are being a lot stronger.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_124/news/45703-1.html

1009
EC

Btw is Townsville airport top heavy with spook-a-traveller but catch-a-terrorist personel?

Sure is and i draw the powder monkey at every airport whether i have carry on baggage or empty hands. Like flies to shit, are the powder monkies to Gaffhook.
Didn’t need a pig sniffer flew both ways.
Drew the runner up but a good night was had by all.

Caught up with David and swapped a few lies.

Looks like youse have been havin fun, i have some catching up to do.

1006
Jen

Let me say that in the case of Adele there is simply no accounting for taste.,
I am seriously hoping that she has not set a precedent.

as long as it doesn’t become compulsory for you to cross over and hook up with Sofi Cinderella! :mrgreen:

1087
Katielou
OMG!!! What a surprise. 😆 😆
Not content with refusing to support “courageous” politics.
Kevin can’t even bring himself to support bad legislation like this dross.
Hardly surprising though. As I think Conroy mumbled something about it not being debated till after the new year.
Hopefully, we won’t hear anything more about it and it will die in a ditch. Unloved and unmourned by everyone but Steven Fielding. 👿

KatieLou, that’s great news about the Web Strangler’s journey to Coventry. Got a hunch the Seps leaned on the ALP and Conroy about the fact that over-regulation would be bad for globalised commerce. Bewdy. Now ideas will be strainer-free as well.

Such a monumental 180 would not have happened without Chris B’s tireless petitioning. Btw, CB, do you approve of Chrissie Pyne’s power-frock? 🙂

————————————-

And now with their nicotine tax hike, a caring govt. is able to express its deep and ongoing concern for the lungs of its electors.
Too bad about Gaia’s.

paddy, Moon Doggy gets it down with The Book of Abbott. The Bosch bits especially.

—————————-

gaffy, “powder monkey” is so perfect! Is it yours?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhdiSqt6sXE&feature=PlayList&p=8CCFF1597C4561BF&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=9

But this is much more than an immigrant issue. Giving police the authority to stop a person on the “reasonable suspicion” he or she is an illegal immigrant clears the way for the arrest of anyone from an American-born Latino doctor to an Indian-American professor to an English immigrant who somehow offended an angry, ignorant or oversensitive police officer.
Such statutes are a step toward a police state, and the president and Congress should get to work on a federal immigration law immediately. In the meantime, stay away from Arizona.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/stay_away_from_arizona_20100429/

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/unconventional_arizona_20100428/

Apr 27:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/ben-sargent

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/85100

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/85157

By Post Author

gaffy, “powder monkey” is so perfect! Is it yours?

EC i have never heard anyone else call them that so i guess i can claim it.

Every time i go through an airport they nail me.
I have got to the stage now when they call me over i say to them, “I know you have a job to do but every time i fly i get the powder puff. Are you all sexually attracted to me?”
In a very nice way.
There will probably be a bloke one day who will say Yeah and i will tell him to go fuck his boot, but if one of the females says yeah i will have to think long and hard about it. :mrgreen:

Very good show on Antarctica on Catalyst right now.ABC1 Such a nice change. Sane science with nary a Monkton in sight.

Cat-alyst,
(btw- where is she) ,
was scary. How on earth has it come to this point wherer the evidence ios able to be so dismissed?
The Denialists are getting all the airplay.
Did a talk back on ABC radio yesterday and every caller was a “Sceptic”….(* biting tongue*) and I was abruptly cut off, while Sophie got ongoing coverage.
😡

Cat-alyst,
(btw- where is she) ,
was scary. How on earth has it come to this point where the evidence is able to be so dismissed?
The Denialists are getting all the airplay.
Did a talk back on ABC radio yesterday and every caller was a “Sceptic”….(* biting tongue*) and I was abruptly cut off, while Sophie got ongoing coverage.
😡

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