Friday Night Possum Rescue, Political News
On our way home tonight ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
caseopaya spotted a possum sitting in the middle of Yarra Blvd. It was clearly alive, but barely moved when I picked it up, but became somewhat more animated as we returned home, giving me a nip on the thumb. It was clearly somewhat wounded, with a bloody eye, probably on the receiving glance of a car. We rang Wildlife Victoria and then took the (now caged) critter to Lort Smith Animal Hospital.
It's been a busy week in politics. Last Tuesday I attended a Kew branch meeting of the ALP, and on the following night decided to drop out of the Federal campaign committee for Kooyong. I don't really have the time for working in a seat that we can't win; and in any case I've publically said in the past that the ALP shouldn't run candidates in seats liking Kooyong and Higgins that it can't win (plus it needs to work with the Greens to keep the LNP out of office). Apropos, ten questions that Labor MPs should be asking themselves. On Wednesday met with Benjamin P. of the Generation Alpha (FB) environmentalist group on Facebook.
The Tories have taken the opportunity to display their classic mentality with a pretty sexist menu, with a restaurant owner taking the role of patsy. As is often the case sexism is matched with homophobia, and West Australians can are blessed with the sacking of shock-jock, Howard Sattler. I think I was twelve at the time (way back in 1980!) when I was first published in a major newspaper with a letter to the editor criticising Sattler (it was on republicanism). If I can find that letter I'll repost.
caseopaya spotted a possum sitting in the middle of Yarra Blvd. It was clearly alive, but barely moved when I picked it up, but became somewhat more animated as we returned home, giving me a nip on the thumb. It was clearly somewhat wounded, with a bloody eye, probably on the receiving glance of a car. We rang Wildlife Victoria and then took the (now caged) critter to Lort Smith Animal Hospital.
It's been a busy week in politics. Last Tuesday I attended a Kew branch meeting of the ALP, and on the following night decided to drop out of the Federal campaign committee for Kooyong. I don't really have the time for working in a seat that we can't win; and in any case I've publically said in the past that the ALP shouldn't run candidates in seats liking Kooyong and Higgins that it can't win (plus it needs to work with the Greens to keep the LNP out of office). Apropos, ten questions that Labor MPs should be asking themselves. On Wednesday met with Benjamin P. of the Generation Alpha (FB) environmentalist group on Facebook.
The Tories have taken the opportunity to display their classic mentality with a pretty sexist menu, with a restaurant owner taking the role of patsy. As is often the case sexism is matched with homophobia, and West Australians can are blessed with the sacking of shock-jock, Howard Sattler. I think I was twelve at the time (way back in 1980!) when I was first published in a major newspaper with a letter to the editor criticising Sattler (it was on republicanism). If I can find that letter I'll repost.
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Yeah, I sincerely believe the restaurant owner will be getting a metaphorical thankyou card very soon.
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I suspect that the Tories are still smarting over the Lindsay Pamphlet Scandal of 2007.
Racist, bigoted, sexist, and homophobic. It's what they believe in.
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(N.A. possums don't carry rabies, they're just evil.)
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We used to let one visit our flat in St. Kilda, and would leave carrot and apple out for it.
http://levlafayette.com/files/possum03.jpg
It even tried the Linux operating system (Mandriva, if I remember correctly)
http://levlafayette.com/files/possum02.jpg
The good people at Lort Smith did mention that I should keep a couple of minor scratches (which did pierce my skin) clean; I had already done so with tea-tree oil and I'm already on antibiotics. It's already pretty much healed.
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Good idea, sounds like last week when my dog nipped me, I just put ointment on it and a band-aid to keep it from getting dirty. It's a good thing she's cute too.
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But ours are cute. Sooo cute.
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So wrong that my response to this is "ooooh" rather than "ewww". But it is.
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(Google fu fails me, I get "possums in plague proportions" (especially prefixed with 'pest') from New Zealanders.
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RE: the 10 questions; "extra memo: remember to stop letting people get away with calling it a tax"
This has been one of the defining aspects of this government for mine. They're perfectly willing and able to call out sexism when they see it, and have done so rightly and effectively, but they have been rubbish at calling people out when they're just speaking bullshit. When the Julia Gillard is a liar meme started, why wasn't every ALP MP out there saying "yes, she said we wouldn't have a tax, and we don't". They could have put the pressure on business groups by saying "the public clearly want us to switch to the floating price so why don't we do that". Big business would have been up in arms demanding the floor price remain for the time it was supposed to and it would have made it look like it was they who wanted the tax. Similiarly, why has the idea that the mining super profits tax isn't raising revenue because there has been a collapse in mineral prices meaning no super profits been part of the narrative at all. Then there's the pink batts, a scheme that made the industry safer, saved lives and tonnes of CO2, yet that muppet Garret was left with his dick in his hand looking like the useless prick he is the whole time.
This is the problem of the ALP. They've spent the last five years obsessed with their own petty internal issues or fighting culture wars (which is important don't get me wrong) and, actually governing relatively well, but have spent no time speaking about what they've achieved or their vision for the future. I thought it was the media at first but it's not. The ALP is a group of navel gazing, ideologically inept, power mongers. My only hope for the coming election is that enough of the right people get wiped out to clear the way for some people who are interested in governing for the common good rather than personal glory, because I see very few of those sitting in parliament right now.
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Indeed, peak business groups recommended just that a few months ago. I'll send if I can find the link. Labor, surprisingly, rejected the proposal.
Here's the ink; the AIG saying that Australia should move to a market-based rate immediately...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-07/business-group-proposes-compromise-on-carbon-price/4557818
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Not really; One Nation had a policy of given preferences against whomever was the sitting member. Given that their support base was in conservative seats it was a real problem for them.
In contrast the Greens have constantly given their preferences to Labor. I think there was one Sydney ward where they didn't, sending Paul Howes in to a flap, and a handful of cases where they've run open tickets. But generally they've preferenced Labor.
Yet, a supposed member of Labor's left, Alex White, has come out with this nonsense.
"And if the Greens party did a preference deal with the Liberals, like they did in the seat of Melbourne, then there is an outside possibility they could leapfrog Labor."
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4751636.html
It's complete crap of course. The Greens gave Labor their second preference.
http://greens.org.au/sites/greens.org.au/files/VICvotingcard.pdf
They could have put the pressure on business groups by saying "the public clearly want us to switch to the floating price so why don't we do that".
Indeed, peak business groups recommended just that a few months ago. I'll send if I can find the link. Labor, surprisingly, rejected the proposal.