I've been such a slack blogger in the last month or so. This is due to being super busy but mostly being lazy.

If you’re currently residing in Australia you’d know that the Federal Election is being held this Saturday 21^st August. It’s come down to the wire- Julia Gillard (ALP) vs Tony Abbott (LNP).

Please don’t waste your vote. People in other countries go to war over their right to vote. It’s something that we shouldn’t take for granted.  It so depresses me when people say that they’re just going to tick any name or put in a blank ballot sheet (Mark Latham, I’m looking at you).

As the anti Abbott propaganda all over my blog may suggest, I will not be voting for the Coalition on Saturday and I urge you to do the same.  I’m not saying that you have to vote for Labor/Julia Gillard, I’m just saying don't vote for Liberals/Tony Abbott.

Tony Abbott is living in the 1850's. He has no idea about anything and is currently acting like a 5 year old by refusing a debate on the economy. He's refusing this because he has NO economic plan for Australia. 

Please watch this video, it only goes for 1 minute and will really open your eyes up to the backwards, racist, sexist and brainwashed culture that Abbott wants for this nation.

Please, please, please don't vote for Tony Abbott.

I also think that this anecdote is relevant.

'Tony Abbott, the man who on Sunday may be in charge of Australia's $1.3 trillion economy, actually slept through the most important economic vote in living memory. That's right, as the Federal Parliament debated Federal Labor's stimulus package, Mr Abbott was asleep in his office.'

A few short weeks ago, Julia Gillard claimed "There's more chance of me becoming the full-forward for the Dogs (Western Bulldogs) than there is of any chance of a change in the Labor Party". Exactly 7 days after that statement, there'd been a leadership spill in the Labor Party and the next morning, Julia Gillard was Prime Minister.

All I'm going to say about the Labor leadership spill is that the saying 'be careful what you wish for' has never been truer for the Conservatives and their Murdoch cronies. Their panicky, hysterical crucifying of Rudd has ensured that through Gillard, it will be a Labor victory at the next election. The joke is on them.

An autocue would have been more discreet than this

Well I seem to be having a good week for opposing different aspects of various holidays.

My latest whinge topic is Australia Day.

There is so many things wrong with this day, I don't even know where to begin. 

January 26th 1778. The day that hundreds of European settlers arrived in Botany Bay on the First Fleet. This was also the day that many, many Aboriginal people lost their lives by being murdered, simply for existing. Our ancestors marched right into someone else's home and killed these people for absolutely no good reason. 

A large majority of the Aboriginal or Indigenous community of Australia refer to Australia Day as 'Invasion Day' and I think that's pretty spot on. It's disgusting the way these innocent people were treated by the Europeans. We shouldn't be celebrating our country on this date. It's like celebrating the fact that our ancestors came in and killed for no reason.

The way people celebrate it also gives me something to complain about.

Australia Day celebrations have turned into a VB drinking/meat eating/flag wearing/other race hating competition. Being Australian shouldn't be about how many beers you can skull, or if you wear thongs or watch the Cricket. Being Australian should be about being thankful that we live in a pretty peaceful environment, that we have a good health and schooling system (these don't even exist in some countries), that we have social security and that we don't have bombs dropped on our heads each week. 

Unfortunately, Australia has quite a number of bogans. The sad thing is that the individuals which engage in such seedy behaviour are proud of it. How is this something to be proud of? Wearing tshirts bearing the slogan "We grew here, you flew here" or one with "F*ck off, we're full" inside the outline of Australia is apparently considered 'cool'? People need to learn respect, humility and appreciation for how lucky they have it and how worse off they could be.

Back to Australia Day being on such an inappropriate date, it's such a tough debate as to which date it should be shifted to. 

January 1st is an option as it's the anniversary of when all the states federated to become one nation in 1901. People argue that this shouldn't happen because January 1st is already New Years Day and a public holiday in itself.

Anzac Day (25th April) has also been suggested but many don't believe it's a good idea as this day belongs solely to the ANZAC's who fought so hard for our country. 

 

I like the idea of having Australia Day on 13th February. The anniversary of the date when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the formal apology to the Stolen Generation of Aboriginals. It was such a day of cultural awareness and reconciliation and it felt like everyone in this country was on the same level. The Government will never change the date to this though because unfortunately there is such a huge population of individuals who were totally against the formal apology.

I understand that Australia Day has forever been known to fall on January 26th and we're all used to it, but surely we can compromise a bit and try and empathise with the Aboriginal community because of what happened on that date all those years ago. 

Also, on a side note- how do people get away with wearing flags as capes or how do companies even get away with making thongs, bikini's, shorts etc with the Australian flag on it? It's considered an offence to have the Australian flag touch the ground when being pulled down from a flagpole. This isn't even logical if people are allowed to wear the flag as a bikini. 

What do you think? Should Australia Day be changed? If so, what date should it be?

Surely when you read the title of this post, you thought as I did "What the fuck?"

But yes, unfortunately- Sarah Palin has signed on with Fox News as a political commentator and part time host.
I feel sorry for all the American people who have to be subjected to her every day.
But then again, if you think Fox News is good- you probably deserve to see her every day.

The announcement that she will be joining their current line up has spawned another one of Palin's "I don't have a brain" comments:

"I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at Fox News. It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news"

Idiot.

It's a universally known fact that Fox News shows extreme bias towards right wing politics. They're not exactly subtle about their conservative views. It's not even an exaggeration to say that Fox News is almost comic in political reporting style.

I'm sure Sarah Palin will just add to this surge of political bias.

If you're not familiar with the crap that Palin goes on about normally, here's a few quotes for entertainment purposes:

Regardless of political opinion and which way you swing- you can't deny that this photo isn't amusing.

Alexander Downer (former Foreign Minister of Australia) has made comments saying that Barack Obama should not have been given the Nobel Peace Prize. He writes in AdelaideNow "This was a very bad decision and Barack Obama should have been man enough to refuse the prize." Downer also says "he would have helped preserve the integrity of the Nobel Peace Prize and also demonstrate a disarming degree of modesty."

Pft, Shut up, Downer. As long as this photo exists, I'm not listening to you.



Read all of Downer's comments at Adelaide Now

Today, I found another reason to be down on the ground, bowing to U.S President, Barack Obama.

He called Kanye West 'a jackass'.

I don't really have a big opinion on the whole Taylor Swift debacle at the VMA's, I thought Kanye was an idiot before he ruined her moment.

What do you all think about the Kanye vs. Taylor Swift situation?

We all (if we're Australian and have any interest in politics) know that Kevin Rudd & the Australian Labor Party (ALP) blitzed the 2007 election, defeating John Howard and the Liberal Party (LIB) by quite a bit.

Since that November day, Kevin Rudd's popularity and approval ratings have continued to ascend higher and higher. According to to studies conducted by The Australian, Kevin Rudd is the most popular Prime Minister that Australia's ever had.

So the underlying question begs to be asked. Why is Kevin Rudd so popular?
Is it because he's not John Howard? Perhaps it's his ability to hire marketing teams that create catchy slogans (Kevin 07)? Or is it because he has MySpace, Facebook and Twitter? What's his secret in making a super nerdy guy cool and popular?

For me, I like Kevin Rudd for a few reasons.
I agree with a lot of his policies (which I won't go into for not wanting to start a hectic debate)
I also think he's 'human'. Examples such as the NY Strip Club incident in 2003, his formulation of random words and phrases/soundbites; "Political shitstorm", "Out the back door", "Working Families", "Fair shake of the sauce bottle" etc etc, and almost any episode of The Chaser's War on Everything (and also the infamous ear wax eating in Parliament) show that he can laugh at himself, have a joke about things and not be so stern, anti social and concrete faced.. Unlike a previous PM who shall remain nameless.

And one more thing that I consider very, very important...............he doesn't wear a Wallaby tracksuit.

Let me know what you guys think, why is Kevin Rudd so popular?

Today, I received my first token distastful text message about the Della Affair. It was so cringeworthy, yet amusing, I thought I must share it with you.

What happens when Belinda Neal has something cooking in the oven?

John Della Bosca whips up a tart in the bedroom.


:P




If you guys have any other distastful Della Affair jokes to share, please leave a comment with them :)

(Photo via SMH Online)

Although I'm a couple of days slow on this, I only have two things to say about the John Della Bosca scandal-affair-with-Kate-the-26-year-old-postgraduate-student-from-Newton. (Lets start taking bets now, how many hours will it be until the media find out Kate's full name? Bets starting at 2hrs 45mins) EDIT: Her name is Kate Neal and she's a comedy writer. (How ironic that she has the same surname as his wife...)

1. I wonder what this has done for Belinda Neal's (Della Bosca's wife) anger management problem..Does everyone remember Iguanagate?
2. Trashy tabloid papers would have *so* been weighing up whether or not to use the headline 'JOHN DELLA BONKER'.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, story at SMH Online

Apparently his lover has regrets over the affair. I can't imagine why...