I have just been reading a petition for the removal of the means test for a Solar Subsidy when you put Solar panels on the roof of your house. It makes interesting reading and some of the additional comments make a mockery of supposed environmentally aware attitude of the folk who left them.

Firstly, I can see where the Government is coming from here. Assuming their figures are correct, and I’m happy to see them challenged, it offers a better outcome than subsidising the whole industry. Folk with the means to afford the panels (those earning over $100k by Government reckoning), should be happy to do their bit rather than ask the Government to help them be responsible.

The subsidy is designed to bring more folk into market. Those not quite rich enough to be able to afford the panels. If people of wealth drop out simply because we, the Tax Payers, won’t give them money, then the environment must be of little concern to them. I’d call that cutting off your nose to spite your face. “Yes, the environment has gone down the toilet but I gave Rudd a bloody nose.”

With the changes we are facing in response to Global Warming, people had better start thinking about how they can play THEIR part. It’s a cop out to expect the Government to carry your can for you. Especially if you have the ability to pay your own way.

I’m happy to concede that some folk on the subsidy margin are not going to be able to afford it, but I would rather see them raise the threshold to $150k or perhaps higher, than waste money on folk who will already do the right thing. That way we get the highest possible number of participants.

In all the complaining I don’t see too many asking for a threshold increase which seems to me to be the more thoughtful approach.

There is a long way to go on addressing Global Warming and of course it’s going to cost. Campaigns suggesting everything can be paid for out of the Magic Pudding of Government revenue are simply unrealistic.

Women's Lib was front and center in the Media when I was a lad. It was the time of Germain Greer's Female Eunuch and a ground swell of interest arose supporting the girls getting a “fair go”.

 

In those days the girls generally got lower wages for performing  the same job and it wasn't until Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister that this anomaly was addressed. Unfortunately this "fair go" didn't extend down to the poor piece workers but at least the top end got a better deal.

 

These days the fire seems to have gone out of the equal rights argument with most folk happy to just play along but I'm worried things have actually gone backwards rather than simply marking time. I base observation on

-  wait for it 

- the Big Brother TV program.

 

Now before you flick to more mainstream comedy hear me out. Love it or loath it, Big Brother does give an insight into how some of our kids think. Regardless of the actual players in the show being representative or not, the show drops out players based on the voting audience. If the pundits are to believed, this is predominantly teenage girls.

 

Now take a look at who gets the boot. Every year it follows a path of the guys getting their heads together and dominating the game until the Producers modify the rules to evict the worse ones. Early on, the more self assured girls get dumped out and the dizzy ones (often bottle blondes) sail through.

 

I don't know about your daughters, but the McCarthy girls have been raised to reject the 2nd class citizen role. Dominant males are regarded with the derision they deserve. These blokes are generally not the brightest chaps you are ever going to meet too, so why would you allow them to call the shots? My daughters are smarter than them anyway so by my lights, these mental pygmies should be taking orders not giving them.

 

Maybe the pundits have it wrong. Maybe the votes are coming from some good old fashioned mothers who cling to the "male as head of the household" dogma. Either way, it's a pretty poor situation whoever is doing the voting and probably time for the Bra Burners to arc up and stop the girls back sliding.

The desperate situation of the Libs continues despite a small blip in Kevin 07's popularity last week. Kevin down to something like 63% while young Brendan was up to somewhere around 14%. If that’s the good news I'd hate to see a bad news day for Dr Nelson.

 

I believe the cause of the change was the petrol tax  attack. Initially I wondered how the Voters might react to the Lib campaign against the tax on petrol. I don't blame them for trying to win some support on the matter, it looked like easy points, but happily it has hardly had a stunning result even though it appealed to our natural greediness.

 

I think the result is a reflection of why the Libs lost power last time around and their mishandling of life in Opposition.

Last Election is was bleeding obvious that the Libs had no idea how to deal with Global Warming. For years Howard was a denier of the concept and when he finally realised the Voters were concerned, he had Ministers like Nick Minchin still stuck in the original rut. It also destroyed their claim to be economic masterminds too. If you can't come up with ideas in times of change then you really aren't up to the job and if you can't understand that the changes are going to impact the Economy then you really have lost the plot.

 

On top of not having any idea of a plan for the future economy, they have been getting strident over things of very little consequence. Kevin's trip to Japan, our requirement to suck up to America by staying in Iraq, even our reaction to Robert Mugabe. Silly things that have no interest to the everyday voter. It makes the Opposition look like folk who have to disagree with everything as a matter of principal. Regardless of the merits of the case.

 

Labor actually learned about the self-defeating process of always taking the opposite view in Victoria.  They had to move John Brumby from the position of Opposition Leader precisely because he came over too negative. Steve Bracks took over and shocked Jeff Kennett at the very next Election. Kevin 07 showed he had learned the lesson when he took over. He earned the label "Me too" by agreeing with some Howard ideas that he actually agreed with.

 

It's quite amazing to see the party that applied wedge politics so successfully has forgotten the rules so quickly, especially considering quite a number of the original crew of the good ship Lost Cause are still warming the Opposition benches. Both Brendan Nelson and Malcolm should both be aware of how to play the game but they seem distracted by their battles.

 

It should make the next Federal Election a pretty easy for Labor come election time. Unless they come up with some solutions to changing the economy why would anyone even think about putting them back in power? Kevin 07 won by being an ideas man. No one in Opposition can lay claim to that title. Even Malcolm Turnball is bereft of ideas.

One of the benefits of the unplanned return was a chance to pickup the bike the cops had recovered in Victor Harbour but it didn't go completely to plan.

Firstly, we were arriving on a Saturday and they only operate Mon to Fri.Happily the case manager was prepared to send a patrol down to hand over the bike when we came past so we told them we would be swinging by on Saturday.

Once we arrived at Victor Harbour we gave them a call and were advised a patrol would be along shortly. After half an hour a squad car came along and disappeared inside the garage out the back of the cop shop.  No acknowledgment from them as they flew past.

After another half hour, and no sign of any activity, Liz gave them another call to see if the message had been passed on. It had, so the controller wasn't sure what was going on. More delay and I was quite happy to forget the whole process.

Eventually even Liz had had enough so we decided to head off again. Nice try. The car battery had lost some charge through the van and we couldn't start the car. A challenging call to RACV eventually got the location sorted and then Mr Plod came out to cough up the bike so everything got sorted after wasting a couple of hours.

 

On recovering the bike we discovered the seat and post have been removed so it's not quite ready for riding just yet.

As much as I am enjoying the intelligent style of Kevin 07, I must admit to a bit of nervousness when I see the blooming of wowserism of late. Now for those of you overseas I guess I had better explain this excellent piece of Aussie slang. A more recent term that has evolved recently is Fun Police but the original term generally was applied to folk with an inclination towards temperance coupled with the idea that everyone else should be forced to follow their non-drinker lifestyle.

 

As you can imagine, these busybodies were treated to a good deal of derision by the general populace in the thirsty climate of Oz but persistence they have in spades. Once they realised they couldn't convince folk with the assistance of their Invisible Friend, they resorted to trying to force a change via political pressure.

 

These things go through cycles of course. We have had anti grog movements before and can expect more over the coming decades, but we still have to deal with these attitudes each time they pop up.

 

I guess my main complaint is these folk always opt for making it illegal to do something, then start jailing folk when the inevitable happens. The current "war" on alcohol is a case in point. The problem is underage kids getting drunk often. Some of the solutions are bizarre, doomed to failure and encouraging folk to be comfortable with breaking the law.

 

Worst suggestion so far has to be raising the drinking age to 21. It currently stands at 18 Australia wide. Firstly, how does stopping a 20 year old drinking stop underage kids from breaking the law? The youngsters are already breaking the law. Do they think they will stop if only older folk can drink? All this rule change will produce is a bigger pool of kids breaking the law.

 

Lately we have had lots of new laws and increases in penalties when something is not deterring bad behavior. This is one of my pet hates. A law is introduced, people ignore it, hardly anyone is prosecuted then they crank up the penalty. Another case in point. Speed limits through road works. I obey these limits but plenty of folk don’t. I never see anyone booked for breaching the limit and I think some folk don't bother because so many other folk ignore them. The Government solution was to bring in hoon laws and impound vehicles. My solution would have been to set up speed cameras and hit the hip pocket.

 

The result of the new rules is ignorant drivers are being hit with a severe penalty that was supposed to just get the real dummies off the road. On top of that we have another law that weakens the moral authority of the government. And we weaken the social stigma of being classified as a hoon.

We are underway again and I thought I might add a map this time for those who are interested.

This first week will be pretty much straight through until we hit the coast and only updated when I have access to the Net.

I must be losing my edge. I certainly haven’t been keeping up with Plonka’s blog.

Plonka's excellent blog

 

I was horrified to discover my patronage of Gloria Jean’s coffees has had me help fund those shifty Hillsong Christians. The very same folk who have resorted to exorcisms for troubled teens and pinched their $200 to boot.

They have also been part of the Howard initiative to bury Evangelists in Australian schools in preference to qualified social workers. Something Howard promised to not to do to secure the legislations passage through the Senate. The plan was supposed to provide priests and no membership drives to be allowed.

To think I have sold my soul to a 5^th column Christian organisation for a free coffee every dozen cups is quite depressing.

Aussie company or not. I certainly won’t be funding such a dishonest company in future.