Abbott’s security laws a giant leap towards the Forth Reich.

Australia is in the same position as Germany was in the early 1930’s. We have a government creating fear and hate as an excuse for exchanging ‘Liberty” for ‘Personal Safety.’ This ignores that Liberty is the way to ensure personal safety. A free, educated compassionate society is the best way of combating radicalization.

What about the deliberate use of fear and hate by the Abbott government to radicalize the Australian people? Is one form of radicalization any less evil than another? We have an extreme right wing government using all the same tricks used by Hitler, Pinochet, Papa Doc and the other right wing dictators who high jacked democracy. We even have our own Ministry for Public Education and Propaganda run by Rupert Murdock copying the methodology and structure set up for Hitler by Joseph Goebbels.

Hitler started by blaming the socialists for everything and grabbed power by having the socialists banned from the German parliament. Abbot of course had Julia Gillard as the source of all that is evil and set out to destroy the Labour government. When blaming the socialist was no longer enough Hitler moved on to engendering hared and fear of the Jews to justify his strangulation of German democracy. Abbott has moved on to hatred and fear of Islam, which is no more justified than the hatred of Jews by Hitler. The rise of Hitler was considerably more dramatic than the antics of Abbott but the pattern is the same: a build up of hatred and fear to justify taking democracy away from the people.

The old story of learning from history or repeat it is terrifyingly true in Australia today. There are so many examples of how right wing politics highjack democracy that follow exactly the same pattern that is repeating itself in Australia, but still we go blindly down the path into the Fourth Reich. Do we learn nothing?

Soulless Economics 101

Van Dormael (1978: 32) quotes the British Economist John Maynard Keynes in 1941 as saying

‘the secular international problem‘ of maintaining equilibrium in the balance of payments – a problem that ‘had that had never been solved since methods of barter had given way gave way to money and bills of exchange.’

(and)

‘To suppose that there is some smoothly functioning automatic mechanism of adjustment which preserves equilibrium if only we trust to methods of Laissez-faire is a doctrinaire delusion which disregards the lessons of historical experience without the support of sound theory.’

Basically the problem with economics is that there is no way of establishing a rate of exchange. What is fair and what is unjust? Who knows? The only alternative seems to be no rules and that as been a disaster. This leaves a situation where human attributes (or lack of them) determine economic policies and outcomes. If the object is create a society that has a soul and acts humanly towards all its peoples then human qualities such as empathy and compassion have to be the guiding principle of economic decision making. If screwing the poor to give to Rupert Murdoch is the aim then Joe Hockey is the man for the job, but don’t suggest for one moment that there is any empathy, compassion or soul involved in Hockey’s policies.

Presenting spending years of mental and physical suffering in a squalid concentration camp with no charges laid and no prospect of release as being the only alternative of crossing the seas in a leaky boat is the act of a totally soulless country. How can a country that rushes to war in a foreign country at the slightest excuse, and without being asked but refuses to give significant aid to help stop Ebola until being forced to by universal condemnation from the rest off the world say it has a soul.

I used to like Australia when it had a soul, the days before Abbott became leader of what used to be the Liberal Party. The days before Kevin Rudd sent refugees of to concentration camps. But those days are gone. Can those days be revived?

The simple answer would be to bury Abbott and his whole front bench down the same hole as Azazel never to be seen again until judgement day, but that would be too simplistic. The problem is that if a despot is deposed what happens then? Is there any alternative? Sadly in Australia at this time I don’t see any viable alternative. Bill shorten seems a reasonable sort of fellow but he is no match for Abbott and he leads a party that has lost it’s soul. A beginning for labour would be to accept that Rudd’s refugee policy was a political move that failed and that it was also inhuman. If Labour reversed its refugee stance and supported speedy onshore process and humane treatment of all peoples it would be a beginning. A little bit of soul is better than no soul. Bill Shorten moving aside for Tanya Plibersek would be a major step forward. Tanya is a lady who seems to have empathy and compassion as well as the ability to stand up to Abbott.

With only about eighteen months to the next election we need to begin rebuilding Australia’s soul now because if the extreme right of the Murdoch/Abbott government becomes entrenched Australia’s soul could pass beyond revival.

Reference

Van Dormael, Armand. 1978. Bretton Woods: Birth of a Monetary System. United Kingdom: Holmes &; Meier Publishers.

Is the Internet really killing print media?

The old truism that the press can never underestimate the intelligence of the public does not seem to be true. We have reached a stage where as the quality of MSM descends ever more into the gutter readership also drops. This drop in readership is not as a result competition from the Internet but from the increasing lowering of the ‘reporting’ and the lack of integrity of MSM to a stage where there is virtually nothing in MSM that can be classified as news.

Descending to the bottom of the gene pool for readership inevitably alienates those with an education level past year nine (and dropping). Whilst simple slogans and words of no more than two syllables are all the targeted readers can manage it is hardly likely that this format will appeal to a wide audience. If Mr Murdoch wishes treat readers as imbeciles why is he surprised his readership base is decreasing?

Print media is not under attack from the Internet because if there is quality in both the two mediums are complementary. The attack on print media comes from the policies of the people running it. If the quality returns to print media so will the readership.

Silent government now invisible government.

Scott Morrison will now replace weekly briefings with written statements. Just how gutless can a government minister be? This is typical of the Murdoch/Abbott dictatorship, and this is the actions of a dictatorship. How else can you describe a government that does what it likes behind closed doors and acts as if it has no accountability to the people of Australia?

I had many misgivings when Abbott was elected but I never dreamed it could be as bad as this. In four months the government of Australia has gone from a battered democracy to a Nazis government who sometimes releases statements based on keeping the bogans happy rather than truth. I cannot believe a word that this government says.

Fortunately opponents to Nazism have a tool that the German people in 1930 did not have, social media, and as long as we can keep the Internet out of hands of Rupert Goebbels democracy will win out in the end. It is unfortunate that democracy in Australia may depend on WordPress and Twitter.

This government must fall if Australia is to return to democracy and social media has become the only way of getting the message out. Your blogs and Tweet become more important as each day passes.

Australia’s Fascist Government

There are several characteristics of a Fascist government. Two of them are using military forces to control civilians. Another is censorship. The using of the Navy to tow boats carrying refugees back to the edges of Indonesian territorial waters and then censoring any news of the event should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that Australia now has a Fascist Government. Why are so many Australian’s too polite to say so?

If we are to have democracy we must be prepared to speak out against totalitarian governments. I am not anti-Liberal, but Abbott does not lead a Liberal government; he leads a Fascist government.

If a government is elected democratically there is no complaint whoever wins the election, but when a government is elected on false propaganda generated by a biased monopoly media it is not democracy. It is time for all Australians who believe in democracy, whether Labour, Liberal, Green or free thinking in their political leanings to speak out and say ‘no’ to Fascism in Australia.

The Murdoch/Abbott government will fall. Dictatorships always do in the end. The question is ‘How much damage will this government do before it goes down in flames?’ Can we please try to make the Murdoch/Abbott fall as soon and as complete as possible?

Remember history or repeat it.

New year supposed to be a time to look forward not back. In the case of the Murdoch/Abbott government if we don’t look back the future will be very bleak. The Murdoch/Abbott government is not breaking any new ground. Abbott, as a disciple of B.A. Santamaria has his philosophies laid out in full. Santamaria may be dead but his ghost lives on in physical form in the body of Mr T Abbott. Remember that central to Santamaria policy is that all public and private policy must be in strict accordance with Catholic dogma. Abbott’s radical Catholicism, a form of Catholicism rejected by most Catholics, has become part of Australian government policy. Starting with Howard radical religion has increasingly become part of politics in spite of a definite point in the Australian Constitution separating state and religion.

The policies of the Murdoch arm of the Australian government mirror the policies of Joseph Goebbels. The fundamentals of both Goebbels and Murdoch are 1) work on the week and uneducated. 2) Feed them simple slogans often. 3) Never engage in philosophical argument. 4) Pick one ‘enemy’ for special treatment.

Look back at Joseph Goebbels and compare that with the Murdoch media campaign that elected the Abbott government. Look at Hitler’s writings on propaganda in Mein Kampf and the way to hijack a country is laid in detail. It is detail that has been followed exactly by Abbott and Murdoch. In Mein Kampf you will also find that Hitler followed a radical form of Catholicism similar to Abbott and Santamaria. Hitler and Santamaria both believed that they were on a mission from God; a delusion that is being carried forward by Abbott.

Delusional radicals from either side of politics are dangerous for any country. It is healthy for democracy to have a wide range of ideas and opinions, but there is a point on both sides of politics beyond which belongs to the dangerous lunatic fringe that potentially can destroy a country. We now have a Murdoch/Abbott government that belongs to that dangerous lunatic fringe.

We need to remember history if the future of Australia is not to be a repeat the very worst of history.

Is Abbott on a Mission from God?

This is a comment on my blog Abbott and Santamaria that needed more prominence than the comments section.

Yosef, I’m afraid that yes, we do forget the lessons of history very quickly. And yes, you have every reason to be afraid of his economics and his politics. I strongly suspect that Tony is on ‘a mission from God.’ Why else would he use the expression ‘act of contrition’ after meeting with Malaysian leaders, or ‘the government is on the side of the angels’ after refusing to stop GMH  from leaving the country? I think that Tony honestly believes that God is a neo-liberal and that he’s been put on earth to carry out God’s work.

This is not the first time such lunatics have caused social dislocation on a massive scale. In China, during the 1850s, a gentleman who claimed to be the brother of Jesus started the T’ai Ping Rebellion and literally millions died as a result. ‘Sam Collinson’ (Hung Hsiu-ch’aun) believed that he was creating  ‘Dai-ping, Dai-guo’, a Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. Hung was barking mad of course but then again insanity has never been an impediment to entering politics (Hitler, Stalin, Mao). I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if Abbott feels that he’s creating his own ‘kingdom of heavenly peace.’ With a little help from George Pell (spiritual adviser) and Rupert Murdoch ( Ministry of Information).

Author : edward eastwood (IP: 58.6.227.69 , 58-6-227-69.dyn.iinet.net.au)

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Will someone please tell me Abbott is a bad dream?

If I was in any doubt that Australia has a feral bogan for a Prime Minister those doubts are now gone. His overseas performance must be taken as his intentions at home. If he knows and approvals of tapping the mobile phones of the Indonesian President, his wife and top government ministers what does that say for our telephone/internet security once he has given the internet and communications to Rupert Goebbels? Abbott won’t have to tap our phones because his Minister for Public Education and Propaganda will own the phones.

Is the acceptance of ‘Extraordinary measure’ (torture) in Sri Lanka an indication of the methods he is prepared to use against asylum seekers arriving by boat or will there be ‘rendition’ of Sri Lankan asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka for ‘Extraordinary’ treatment? We already have a blackout of boat arrivals and no idea of who has been sent to the ‘offshore’ concentration camps. This is a very dangerous situation. Nameless people shipped off unseen and unrecorded to inaccessible place with no way of checking on their conditions or their well being and now Abbott has given tacit approval for ‘Extraordinary Measures.’ This is how it begins. Refugees now, Australian citizens next? Every time we do not protect the rights of the vulnerable our own rights are eroded. This must not happen in Australia.

Abbott was elected because Rupert Goebbels mobilised the minority bogan underbelly of Australian society. A minority acting as a block does not have to be large to distort democracy and it would be untrue to label Australians as bogan when they are only a small part of our society. Does Abbott even understand why he is Prime Minister? He is Prime Minister because Rupert Goebbels used the same tactics as his predecessor Joseph and used the media to mobilise a relatively small block of the gullible to vote for the Australian Tea Party, which made the return of the Labour government impossible. It is an old tactic but one that still works.

Does Abbott understand that he cannot treat the Indonesian Government like the bogans who were used to elected him? We are now part of Asia and we have a Prime Minister who treats the governments of other counties as if they are uneducated simpletons like his own government. If Abbott continues the way he is going in Asia it will take decades to undo the damage he is doing to Australia. He cannot treat Asia the way he is trying to treat the citizens of Australia. How can this be happening to Australia? It has to be a bad dream.

Reply from Malcolm Turnbull on NBN.

As part of the campaign to persuade the coalition government to go ahead with the Labour NBN scheme emails have been sent to Malcolm Turnbull.

Here is the standard reply from Malcolm Turnbull with comments by myself inserted in italics. Before that another issue.

The following quote comes from the coalition NBN policy statement.

“To put further downward on prices, the Coalition will unshackle the competitive telecom market that Labor has tried to stamp out, and reduce the cost of the NBN to prudent levels.”

For this read “give the NBN to Rupert Murdoch.”

This Is Malcolm Turnbull’s letter.

If you wish to contact Malcolm Turnbull his emails address is Malcolm.Turnbull.MP@aph.gov.au

MT

Thank you for writing to me about the Coalition’s plan to deliver better broadband to all Australians sooner, cheaper for taxpayers and more affordably for consumers.

YA

Under the coalition scheme the user will have to pay $5000.00 for the final connection. If you add all the $5000.00 together the quoted cost by the coalition becomes just another con.

MT

The Coalition has been very open and transparent about our broadband policy that we took to the election. It is available online here: http://www.liberal.org.au/fast-affordable-sooner-coalitions-plan-better-nbn.

Unlike Labor we do not regard technology as an ideological, or even political, issue. The objective which we should all share is to ensure that all Australians have access to very fast broadband as soon, as cost effectively and as affordably as possible.

YA

But the broadband must be adequate. The coalitions policy says speeds of 25-100 megabits/sec. We are now at web 2.0 and 25 megabits is barely enough. Web 3.0 is just beginning. This is the era of 3D printing where it will be able to order and item on line and you home printer will print it for you. The US military is already trialing war zone 3D printing so they can print equipment at the battlefront and not try to deliver ordinance under difficult conditions. This technology is going to take enormous power and even the labour scheme will need to continuously updated to keep up with Technology.

MT

While fibre optic cable to the home (FTTH) does indeed offer the prospect of the highest possible speeds that has to be weighed up against the cost and time of deployment versus alternative technologies, the service levels offered by alternatives and the value or utility of those service levels to consumers.

YA

With same things, like the NBN must be right or it is no use at all. The Coalition plan is already out of date. An almost good enough scheme is no good at all.

MT

The Labor NBN plan took these factors into account when it decided that 7% of Australia would not get FTTH because of very high cost of deploying it in less populated areas. 

YA

The coalition has no answer to this problemeither. It needs some serious research and the answer will probably not be cheap.

MT

Labor’s mistake was never to undertake a cost benefit analysis of the project let alone weigh up the cost effectiveness of alternative technologies. 

From that initial mistake, Labor has done everything it could to conceal the fact that the project is missing all of its targets – after four years less than 2% of the fibre build has been completed. At this rate Australians will be waiting decades for very fast broadband.

YA

There is no cost benefit in something that doesn’t work. MT knows that the beginning of a project is where the bulk of the work is done with very little sign of progress. The ends brings it all together

MT

But unlike Labor we do not propose simply to make claims about the project. We will ensure that there is conducted an open and transparent audit of the project and a thorough cost benefit analysis.

YA

We saw with the coalition policy costings at the resent election they can never be open and transparent about anything.

MT

We will make sure that all Australians know how much it will really take in dollars and time to complete the project on the current design and then how much can be saved by making changes to it including on the lines set out in our policy. We will also ensure there is a clear disclosure of what alternative technologies mean in terms of service levels and relate them to both current and projected demand.

I know there are some people who say we should build FTTH regardless of the cost. It is important that Australians understand what those costs really are and what the alternatives are.

YA

The alternative is a disaster if it isn’t done properly. Yes it is will be expensive, but we must avoid another Collins Submarine debacle.

MT

Every public infrastructure project has to be carefully and honestly analysed so that governments, and citizens, can weigh up the costs and benefits. 

This information is vital for the public to be fully informed and our redesign of the project will reflect this information.

The NBN debate is not over but the Coalition will ensure that from now on it is at least fully informed. 

YA

I agree with MT that the debate is not over.

Regards,

Malcolm Turnbull

Propaganda should be popular, not intellectually pleasing. Joseph Goebbels

This is a comment I received from zwetschgen after my blog on Murdoch and the Fourth Reich. It is an excellent addition to the conversation so I have included it in my blog with permission from zwetschgen.

“On his Australian social experiment/political manipulation, Rupert Murdoch has already tweeted, “other nations to follow in time” – perhaps he’s has been reading Joseph Goebbels.

“To attract people, to win over people to that which I have realized as being true, that is called propaganda. In the beginning there is the understanding, this understanding uses propaganda as a tool to find those men, that shall turn understanding into politics. Success is the important thing. Propaganda is not a matter for average minds, but rather a matter for practitioners. It is not supposed to be lovely or theoretically correct. I do not care if I give wonderful, aesthetically elegant speeches, or speak so that women cry. The point of a political speech is to persuade people of what we think right. I speak differently in the provinces than I do in Berlin (Canberra?), and when I speak in Bayreuth (Western Sydney?), I say different things than I say in the Pharus Hall (the Party Room). That is a matter of practice, not of theory. We do not want to be a movement of a few straw brains, but rather a movement that can conquer the broad masses. Propaganda should be popular, not intellectually pleasing. It is not the task of propaganda to discover intellectual truths. Those are found in other circumstances, I find them when thinking at my desk, but not in the meeting hall.”

***Speech by Joseph Goebbels 9 January 1928 to an audience of party members at the “Hochschule für Politik”, a series of training talks for Nazi party members in Berlin.
(bracketed suggestions are mine)
original quote taken from, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels”

 

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