BARVENNON.COM
3rd September 2005
AUSTRALIAN DIARY
- CORRIGAN -
Looks as though home grown entrepreneur Chris Corrigan has been
punching over his weight. All that
publicity on the wharves (courtesy of the liberal party) must have gone
to his head. Virgin boss
Branson might look like a cook, but he has not made all that dough by
accident, and Corrigan's doublecross might end up with a situation not
to his advantage.
-
FINGLETON -
Queensland magistrate Di Fingleton is back on the bench, due, it
appears, to one of those quirks of the justice system.
I mean, she wasn't found "not guilty" of being a bully, it was just
found that, even though she was bullying her subordinate magistrates,
she was protected by legislation which allowed her to manipulate
the administration of justice. Mr Beattie, we really can't have
people with that level
of
moral turpitude sitting on our benches in judgment of honest
citizens. (well, maybe in Queensland you can?). And perhaps
that bit of legislation could be repealed?
At least she didn't get back to be chief magistrate, and she has been
shuffled off to an unimportant corner of the magistracy.
-
TAX & THE MP for VAUCLUSE -
The federal member (Turnbull) for Vaucluse suggests that we should
reduce the highest tax rate, and raise the tax free threshold.
This, he says, will benefit the poor.
God knows, I accepted Reaganomics, because I could see that Reagan was
right. But Turnbull has got the wrong end of the stick. I
don t mean about reducing the highest tax rate, I mean about raising
the tax free threshold.
If you want to help the poor, what you must do is lower the tax free
threshold to zero, and levy a flat tax around 30%, maybe rising to a
marginal rate of 45% when income reaches $100,000. Then you pay
everyone a negative income tax of somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000
p/a. That way the
first (say) $15,000 pays $4,5000 tax. We can
then dispense with DSS, the unmarried mum's pensions, the sickness,
disability and all the rest pensions. Then we sack all the
public servants that were supervising all those transfer payments, and
(hopefully) they will become productive citizens, adding to the GDP and
becoming an asset. We don t have to pay subsidies for school;s or
hospitals anymore, because of the $10,000 - $15,000 that each child
gets (which
can be spent on private education), and because people can afford
public health insurance out of their $10,000 - $15,000.
Of course it will require a database of everybody, probably genetic.
-
NEW ORLEANS -
There is a saying that any civilized society is just three days away
from anarchy. The truth of that saying is demonstrated in
New Orleans, as the four horsemen ride. (pestilence, death, famine, war)
The events in New Orleans will be of concern to the people of other low
places, especially Holland, Venice & Bangladesh, as global
warming increases the violence of the weather and raises the sea level.
As for Australian TV journalists who decry the US government for "not
allowing" our diplomats to "rescue" Australians in New Orleans, I find
this a bit hard to accept. I believe that it is more likely that
the US government told them that they were free to go as private
citizens, but that the US would not guarantee their safety, provide an
escort, or allow official Australian military personnel into the
area. I believe that our diplomats decided that New Orleans was
not safe, and that they were not paid enough ($200k?) to risk their
valuable
hides in the area. They are movers & shakers, not James Bonds.
-
BROGDEN -
The member for Pittwater was behaved reprehensibly when he did the
things which he has admitted (made passes at two females, told a racist
joke) but I hardly think that those
were reasons for his resignation. I mean, the females were only
journalists, and it was the wife of his sworn political enemy.
I read one of those female's description of "the pass". From what
I could gather, he walked up, said "Are you available" and when advised
that she had a partner, he retired, apparently embarrassed. I
must say that what a girl calls a "pass" these days would not have been
so
described in my era. If a girl said somebody had made a "pass" we
took it to mean that she had been involved in at least five minutes of
reasonably vigorous maneuvers.
Maybe it's just that I have few illusions about our politicians.
I still recall the midnight meeting of the NSW parliament when they
unanimously voted to double their pensions. I have fewer
illusions about the integrity of journalists. Even the New York
mastheads, (with, we are told, full editorial control & source
checking for greater
reliability), have their share of journalists who invent stories.
Camille Paglia seems to share my view: to ask for powers of scientific or
sociological analysis from the preening parrots currently infesting
American media is a pointless exercise. The time is long gone when
American broadcasting could draw on the talents of foreign
correspondents who honed their skills during the Second World War.
Edward R Murrow, Eric Sevareid, Howard K Smith, and Walter Cronkite had
a gravitas and stoic deliberativeness that seem a million miles away
from the flirty smirkiness of the airheaded moppets and gym-sculpted
pretty boys who now harangue us from the TV screen.(Independent,
5 Sept.2005)
- IRAQ -
Last week a thief broke into my home and stole various goods.
I am so sick of our liberals. One of them on TV was confessing
that
Australia had one of the highest crime rates in the OECD, but (in the
next breath, as though it was a total non sequitur) proudly stated
that we had a much lower imprisonment rate than the USA. If
imprisoning criminals is what it takes to stop crime,
what are we waiting for?
The Iraqi constitution struggles on. The Kurds and the southern
Shia want a high degree of local independence. The Sunni triangle
occupants apparently fear that (if those oil rich regions gain local
independence) they will be left with no oil income. It's a pity
that they didn't elect more representatives when they had the chance
last January.
There is one interesting development. The Shia want the
constitution to specify that Sharia (Koranic law) should be the law of
the nation, but are apparently willing to compromise to a statement
that there should be no law that is contrary to Sharia. (To me,
the two are identical.). This of course would mean that slavery
was legalized, and that thieves would have their left hand cut off for
a first offense. Women would once more be required by law to
accept their proper place in the home.
I notice that the blog by Riverbend
has not been updated recently. I quoted from her blog last
April. I
hope that she has not been hurt in the hostilities. Possibly she
has
been ordered by the men in her household to stop writing her subversive
blog.
Considering the above points, if the Iraqi constitution is enacted,
(and after things quieten down a little) I just might be tempted to
migrate to Iraq. Then again, some Muslim policies (e.g.
genocide) are a little troubling.
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