Category: getting the middle over inertia

Awake!

The Bondi Beach massacre gave rise to a number of raw thoughts.

  • Can indiscriminate massacre in a peaceful community be justified by the claim of retaliation for people killed in retaliatory attacks on soldiers within a community?
  • Will the hero, who may well be a Moslem, be safe in Australia?
  • How long before vigilantism rears its ugly head?
  • Surely this will see a swing to the right, with more following Barnaby Joyce’s direction?
  • Will the right to keep and bear arms become of political moment?
  • I thought Netanyahu’s accusation against the Australian government was spot-on!

“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia. You did nothing to curb the cancer cells that were growing inside your country. You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today.”

On a slightly different theme, I was irritated to see the soberly dressed morning show talking heads at the murder scene. Somehow, vultures came to mind. Virtue signalling and looking for gobbets of human pathos are not really what journalists should do.

Not a word yet from Coalition or right wing pollies: too afraid to grasp the nettle.

This is their opportunity to show up the woke, weak Albaanese government for the weak and ineffective leaders they are!

I can almost hear their twittering: “you go first, no it should be you,…. but what shall we say…..”

AAaaarghhh!!

We need someone to speak clearly and simply:

  • no more refugees or immigrants from Palestine and Sudan, no more potential supporters of radical Islam
  • get tough on youth crime
  • stop the mad stampede into renewables
  • stop buying votes with rebates

Men are qualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites. . . . Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.  

The debilitating effect of false sympathy, created by a misguided education

Edmund Burke “A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly”

A tilt at a windmill

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.“

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian 1747 to 1813

The pampering of pets

The other day a wise woman said to me that the amount of money squandered on the pampering of pets is scandalous.

This scratched an irk that has been lurking in my mind for some time.

This irk was concretised by a recent article in the Summer 2025 issue of American Affairs by Peter Pilkington called The Limits of Consumption: Why Consuming More Makes Us Poorer.

It is quite heavy reading! What it said to me was:

We are told year in and year out that living standards are rising, but many people—especially younger people—can feel their quality of life decline as time goes on.

  • quality of life is degrading as GDP increases, i.e. many are getting poorer and some disgustingly richer
  • consumers are spending too much money on valueless crap
  • education, health and housing industries have been artificially inflated to extract more money from consumers.

In the US since 2011, the number of housing units per person stayed roughly constant at around 0.425 – that suggests there should be enough houses.

But average household price has risen by 85% !!

Non economic measures show a large decline in quality of life in recent years, but economic metrics show it is increasing.

Surprisingly the homeless populations and deaths of despair are rapidly increasing.

It is time for economists to admit that their metrics are broken

Basing the economic health of people is based on outdated calculations

Big Pharma, Real Estate tycoons and Universities have found the keys to manipulating governments for money. They inflate their markets. This results in higher prices that consumers must now pay.

There is little value increase for huge price increases, called consumer deepening which has degraded quality of life for many.

The pampering of pets is just a symptom of the general malaise that has infected capitalism:

  • consumers have lost their ability to see real value
    • corporations manipulate governments to provide funding as economic policy
  • white collar information workers are non-producing and increasing, while blue collar workers, who actually produce are disappearing
  • large, entrenched and empowered DEI inspired bureaucracies
  • the lack of willingness in politicians to challenge entrenched practices and bureaucrats
  • ruthless production and marketing of valueless goods

Trump’s rampage in the US has targeted some of these problems. Let’s hope his initiatives are noted and adopted by all (hopefully with a bit more finesse…)

WTF?

I suppose that I could have written the full words. But, I doubt that the internet censors are as civilised as the US President.

There were almost as many headlines about the Trumpeted expletive as there were about whether World War III had started or ended in just 12 days.

My values must be from another age: I cringe when I see Heads of State return salutes of uniformed military personnel. A red baseball cap with a slogan does not compliment a business suit. It probably resonates with younger generations, so whatever?

(Why does he wear a tie for goodness sake? – maybe I should send him my blog on Silly Socks campaigns?)

What really did irk was the frivolous dance and sham theatrics of powerful nations with lethal munitions as props.

Trump stamped his foot and uttered a profanity because his Trumphant plan was spoilt.

Iran, with the largest military force in the Middle East, pre-warned the US of its missile attack! This allowed a total defence to the attack. The Iranian government could report their military audacity to its populace (blinded and deafened without internet and tv). Everyone quickly fell into line.

Now there is doubt over the effectiveness of the strike on Iran’s nuclear armament bunkers – looks like it was all for nought. WTF! Was it all a sham show?

That’ll really pee off the Donald! He’ll look like a right banana! Tee hee!

Will he bomb any new Iranian nuclear facilities? What about the 400 kg of enriched uranium that reportedly eluded the big bang?

Nuclear enrichment elimination was his stated intention. Might become too murky and involved for his liking.Maybe TACO is a good plan B?

No one has said anything about that other cream cracker’s offer to give Iran a few ready made bombs from his ample stocks in North Korea. Is there was any other person more deserving of a bunker bomb or two?

Now we have the NATO conference, where nearly everybody will rush in to kiss Trump’s ring, as if he was a bishop. They will pledge huge increases to their military budgets and the military industrial complex conundrum will rise again.

The political pendulum will be dragged right and war will become a way of life for many for years to come.

What is your call? Will Russia really invade Lithuania as is rumoured?

Will India and Pakistan again rumble or maybe India and China or China and China or Cambodia and Thailand?

Plenty of scope for armament sales for years to come … now that’s a strong basis for re-industrialiation of the mid-West Rust belt.

Think of all the problems resolved by revitalised economies, national service and the perpetuation of western civilisation…

Sorry, got a bit carried away….

I must confess to mixed feelings, again.

I am glad that clear and potent action has been taken to stop Iran’s nuclear kabuki which the world has tolerated for so long. Now that door has been kicked down once, it can be kicked down again.

Iran can read from that lesson that its sponsorship of terrorism in the Middle East and beyond must end. Others will pay attention.

Uncontrolled immigration and the delicate treatment of refugees and illegal immigrants needs the strong treatment.

Burgeoning and entrenched bureaucracies, DEI policies and Woke tactics need to be eviscerated.

Trump is doing the hard yards with these things- not very delicately, but WTF!

How can you hate somebody but like what they’re trying to do?

Paying us with our own credit card

We choose government representatives. They decide how much money to collect from us. They also determine how to spend it for our benefit.

We expect them to be honest, disciplined, anticipatory and prudent.

We expect them to spend only what they can collect.

Without fear, favour or prejudice.

Just before an election the current Australian government is paying more money to every household.

It will have to borrow money to do so.

Is it trying to persuade us it is a good government by paying us money that we will have to pay back?

Well, Jim Horner, that is our pie and our plum – you are not a good boy!

If the people re-elect this government, they deserve what they will have to pay for.

In the future, more will have to be spent on government debt than on services to the people.

This has go to stop!

Tough Love

I have just read “in Cold Blood”, a novel by Truman Capote, based on a real event in Kansas in 1959.

Two petty criminals who met in prison, agreed to rob a rich farmer in Kansas after their release.

They made preparations and an alibi and drove 800 miles, broke in late at night, tied up the four family members. There was no safe. They shot all four victims leaving with just $40 and a portable radio.

All they did leave was a bloody footprint.

They were identified by a former cell mate, who had told them of the rich farmer and been told by them of their plans to rob him

Arrested, they confessed and were tried, duly being sentenced to death.

There was a suggestion that the accused did not feel it was wrong … and that should save them from the noose.

To no avail – they were hanged in 1965 after many appeals.

As was right and just.

Many countries have now abolished the death penalty. Terrible crimes can be punishable by life imprisonment. This can actually mean as little as a dozen years in prison before parole is granted. At huge cost to the State.

I believe that a society that nurtures people who commit ghastly crimes and later releases them is eventually doomed.

If we can’t pull the trigger, we are not up for the job. Remember the Lindt cafe fiasco?

Rehabilitation is an unacceptable gamble.

At the 2021 “Summit for Democracy” President Biden said:

“Today, democracy is under more pressure than at any time since the 1930s….  Will we allow the backward slide of rights and democracy to continue unchecked? Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to renew it with each generation. […] In my view, this is the defining challenge of our time.

President Macron said: ..”… the only political model that allows us to defend these rights and freedoms: democracy” –, adding that the fight was “more necessary than ever”.

Many are beginning to believe that: …the time has come for a world dominated by authoritarian powers, that the historical cycle of freedom has come to an end…..

So we see the surge of influence by authoritarian regimes. They have no compunction in using their power to obliterate opposition.

There, criminals receive short shrift, death penalties are common for all manner of acts. At the same time the sowing of destruction outside borders is actively promoted.

The democratic Western polities struggle mightily with huge issues like the right to declare oneself to be the opposite gender and unfettered rights to abortion.

Governments are unable to say “No”. Police must wear kid gloves to restrain the dangerous and disobedient. They must do so with a compulsory delicate etiquette. Children wreak havoc again and again despite frequent arrest.

Politicians are powerless to act without being pilloried by vociferous public dissent. They seek to keep their positions through the buying of public affection with the reckless disbursement of our revenue.

No wonder we are dissolving into disillusioned leaderless mobs, changing side every week. Soon the demagogues will turn vigilante.

We need some hard leaders who can say:

  • We will act to solve our problems, despite outcry.  We did it in the pandemic, we can do it again.
  • Stop pussyfooting: squash disorder and crime quickly using the most effective means.
  • No more public protests stopping traffic. If students fail, they leave university. If they misbehave, they will be expelled. They will repay their loans in full.
  • The Review Tribunal will clear the Immigration backlog. Illegal entrants will be removed and can appeal from offshore. No more refugees/asylum seekers
  • Tax carbon emissions; incentivise clean energy systems; let the market prevail.
  • Minimise imports, maximise home grown
  • Labour disputes to be resolved by Tribunals.

These are the things I would do if I was PM:

  • Introduce nuclear power stations
  • Introduce National Service for all school leavers
  • Ban gender transition until 18 years of age
  • Bring back the death penalty for murder, child molestation and drug traffickers
  • Limit the right to silence, requiring explanations for compelling evidence. I would also dispense with juries
    • Media would be banned from interviewing witnesses or accused persons.

WGEA

Workplace Gender Equality Act

Women in Australia earn 28% less than men!

This type of bite size statistic is a hallmark of the sensational disinformation used by identity politicians.

In my last blog, I mentioned that the incoming Labor government had added 26000 jobs to the payroll.

This statistic is the type of work they do

It is illegal to pay women less than men for doing the same work.

Prosecute the bastards that do that! Don’t squeal and puff out meaningless statistics.

  • More women than men choose to stay home to care for their children and parents.
  • Fewer women work fewer years than men.
  • Fewer women work in dangerous and isolated occupations than men.
  • Fewer women (only 15%*) follow STEM careers

* https://www.industry.gov.au/

Note the above Ministry also collects gender data…

Of course, I am sure that other identity imbalances have not nearly been addressed appropriately. What about the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual, aromantic/agender people ?

(Oh! don’t forget + additional identities that are not included in the acronym).

All of them should have their own departments and compliance legislation too.

Soon only racist, misogynist, misanthropic bigots will not be employed by government!

That’s what Musk’s job is going to be. He will clear out all that ephemeral, flimsy, dangerous and expensive regulatory claptrap.

Purge

At a time when most Western democracies are burdened by disillusion, poor economic and social outcomes and leadership that lacks either conviction or courage, Trump arrives as a giant on the stage of history

In his campaign Trump has promised “… savage public-sector cuts, a reduction in federal bureaucratic numbers, a purging of regulation, cutting taxes…extending tariffs… dismantling environmental obstacles to development, a domestic war on ..identity politics, boosting defence spending..”

If Trump succeeds …

“the governance model for Western democracy will be shaken to its foundations “

Paul Allan Western Australian 16 Nov 2024

A purge will not be before time, I say. And this should pave the way for all Western democracies to see the writing on the wall and change.

For decades governments have swung back and forth from Democrat/Labor to Conservative/Republican. Each victory led to a replacement of supporters and sponsors. The public service bureaucracy grew because each policy promise required an executive department.

Stalin used the Secret Police in his ‘Great Purge’ in Russia from 1936 to 1938. – his methods were a bit drastic -up to 1 million people were killed.

Politicians, intelligentsia, critics, government officials and the army were targeted.

President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order in 1947 to screen federal employees for possible association with organizations deemed “totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive

Primary targets were government employees, prominent figures in the entertainment industry, academics, left-wing politicians, and labor union activists. McCarthy was his hit-man. Public servants were screened…

So now we will see another purge in a democracy, not a totalitarian state ! Interestingly, the same as it was before, it will be the same types and classes of people who will be purged: the bureaucrats, intellectuals and professionals….

Trump has appointed Elon Musk who said he’d cut $2 Trillion from federal bureaucracies . That’s about one third of all employees! Tell me that won’t cause a riot!

He did it to Twitter / X seemingly without crippling industrial action. Maybe he can do it on a much bigger scale.

“Progressives are no longer the party of the working class or the non- college educated…

… the incompatibility of identity politics with the liberal principle of equality … citizens’ trust in mainstream institutions has been absolutely shattered..corporations and the military, universities and the courts .. trust is gone

When people look (at these institutions) they see progressive values shoved in their faces. It’s ​n​ot the democracy they voted for.”

Politicians don’t purge, because those purged are voters.

Now it seems that this has changed, Trump doesn’t want re-election after this term. He is backed by the working class and opposed by the elites. He wants to change what the elites have done and he doesn’t care about the political risk.

Here in Australia it was reported recently that:

An estimated 70% of jobs growth since 2022 has been government funded….The 2024-25 budget showed the number of public servants had grown  by about 25% since the COVID-19 pandemic

Dan Power, The Mandarin, 18 October 2024

Now we see how politics works! Vote for me an I’ll give you a job!

I hope the Coalition ask Elon Musk for some tips before the next election!

Pastoral

Nevil Shute wrote a love story between an RAF Pilot Officer and a Section Officer in the Womens’ Auxiliary Air Force in World War 2.

He distils the stress and strain during war on lives in a socially divided society. The encounter, enchantment and engagement are all repressed by social convention. Subterfuge had to be employed to discover names and first names were only used after the second ‘date’.

It is all very distressingly proper and restrained. It was not done to be seen together unaccompanied by others: “…. good WAAF officers did not contract relationships with young men on their own station.”

It was the two world wars which radically re-defined social conventions in the western world, particularly in Britain. Working class men showed they could fly, lead and fight just as well as the upper classes, as did foreigners and colonials and they could not be denied entry into officer ranks.

Women stepped out of the domestic and secretarial world and made huge incursions into previously male-only worlds, performing, surprisingly to men, very well.

Once a door has been opened, it is nigh impossible to shut … right Hodor?

These societal changes occurred during savagely destructive warfare, with death just another sunset away for many.

The demands for further changes to society structures and institutions have continued with the woke demands to re-define history, condemn iconic leaders for new-found blemishes, deny platforms to opposing views and tolerate deviances in those deemed to be historical victims.

In an astounding re-definition of apartheid, instead of identity being disregarded as a basis of distinction, it has become the basis for societal status with some requiring exaggerated preferment and others exclusion and condemnation.  

The impacts of this woke wave of change have seen Europe and  the US swamped with unchecked millions of African, Arab  and Latin refugees and immigrants from former colonies. Gone are the days that countries can deny entry to other than formal applicants through proper channels.

You can’t say no to a refugee or return them to their country of birth.

So we in the West are left with a different society, highly stratified and diverse with greater welfare expectations and minimal political principle to withstand changes demanded by social media.

Authoritarian regimes who enforce societal compliance will rise and dominate the world. Sharia law and Social Credit sytems will become the order of the day.

They will halt the woke erosion, by Diktat and gulag!

Just a splatter of thoughts…

I have no drive to develop and blurt out emotions about the current state of affairs, but will perhaps  just  mention  a few things that gave pause for thought.

“Loot” by Tania James is a book centred on Tipu Sahib a fierce but progressive Rajah of late 18th Century India. “Better to live 2 days as a tiger than 200 years  as a sheep.” 

When his son asked his mother which was he: a tiger or a sheep, she replied “neither: you are a boy”. 

I also took a sidestep; I am an old man.

“We are here because you were there” is a piercing retort to those who object to too many Indians in the UK. That is another clear battlefield in the World Woke War!

There are many current issues where one side controls the narrative, and the other is intimidated into silence – making a topic ‘taboo’ is an ideological weapon. Speak the truth while you still can. 

JP of course!

A new woke war cry has clearly been heeded, gender-based health inequity; although how it came to exist, if it really does, is incredible. The far greater majority of medical practitioners are females – I defy those who say they are so feeble as to allow such a state of affairs. 

The Queensland government has clearly drunk the Kool Aid – it has devoted $249 million in its budget to address the problem!

There is another woke battlefield: the virtue of vegan: 

The world’s top food delivery services are failing to implement strategies to reduce meat and dairy consumption, despite the climate emergency.

There is a lot of “I” in this piece. but they are my thoughts…

Kamala did quite well against Donald, I thought. He seemed a bit old, which I haven’t thought before.

Glad the Olimpics are all over, there is such a thing as too much gush…

Sorry to see Bill Shorten go. I mean I didn’t like what he usually stood for, but he was a competent hard pollie with a real backbone; certainly preferable to Albogreasy…

I saw a cane toad this morning: summer is here.