There are lots of beggars in Barcelona…
When I say «lots of beggars», I simply mean that I’m noticing them. In my home town of Melbourne, I tend not to notice them because they’re part of the normal street scape and one can’t respond to all of them. Of course, when I say that, it’s a simple way of ignoring their plight and not responding to any of them.
Walking down the streets of Barcelona, I particularly liked the one who had several cups in front of himself, each with a different sign. The signs read, “Food, Beer, Lambo, Weed, Disneyland”. While I still don’t know what “Lambo” is, I had to admire both his marketing strategy and his aspiration. After all, who hasn’t thought I won’t respond to this beggar because he’ll probably just waste the money on drugs. With the signs, it’s almost like you’re telling him, “Here, spend this wisely!” in fact, by putting money in the food container, it’s almost like you’re actively discouraging his drug use. And the “Disneyland” cup made me inclined to throw coins in his cup.
Unfortunately there’s an appeal on for Notre Dame and one has to get one’s priorities straight… (Ok, the real reason that I didn’t contribute to his Disneyland fund was that I’d just arrived and the smallest note I had was a twenty Euro note. However, I promise that if I see him again, I will lighten my pockets of all the silly coins I’ve acquired because of my inability to work out what they are when I’m trying to buy something.)
That’s the interesting thing, isn’t it? It’s easy to raise a billion quickly for the repair of the Cathedral, but philanthropy for those less fortunate is another matter entirely. I mean, I do understand the post on social media where the guy was lamenting that it was so hard to create beautiful things because as soon as you do, there’s somebody saying that the money is needed somewhere else. Of course, the reason that Notre Dame was pledged so much so quickly is very similar to reasons that I notice beggars in this city when I’m so impervious to them in my own. We’re all a bit blind to the normal state of affairs, but something out of the ordinary shocks us into doing something. It’s why we can let people die of cold in the streets but, should a building collapse and the same person is trapped alive, we’ll spend large sums of money trying to rescue them. It’s why we can ignore the plight of some countries on an every day basis, but open our wallets when we see some unexpected disaster on TV. Mind you, there are lots of disasters that we never hear about…
This is why Michelle Landry’s concern for those poor Indian women was so refreshing. She told ABC radio that the coal from Adani would be “going to hundreds of millions of Indians who do not have electricity … this is about women and families that are cooking over open fires in huts. They are burning cow dung. There is little ventilation in those huts.”
What a generous gesture! I mean, they must be having a go, so we need to give them a fair go, don’t we? Doesn’t it make you feel that all those hipster city folk, with their so-called love of the planet and their so-called climate change are just a little bit selfish? Denying these poor women access to the same electricity that makes their lattes? The selfish bastards! I’ll bet they’d deny these same women access to plutonium so that instead of burning cow dung, they could all set up their own nuclear reactors.
Yes, it sounds good to suggest that the Adani coal is going to poor Indians who use open fires, but it completely ignores the reality of why this is happening. It’s not because of a lack of coal in India. It’s because they aren’t connected to the electrify grid. And, even if it were nearby, the people Landry is referring to would have even more trouble paying their electrify bill than those retirees we’re meant to be so worried about. ‘
You know, the retirees who won’t be able to afford to pay their electricity bill because they’ll lose $50,000 in franking credits and who’ll have to pay an extra $5000 when they buy their new car which will have to be a Tesla so they won’t be able to pull their caravans, because electric cars have no “grunt” and the weekend is lost for these “hardworking retirees”…
Before I go on, does “hardworking retirees” sound like a bigger oxymoron than “right wing think tank”?
Let’s completely ignore that the franking credits are, at most, 30% of their income from dividends. And income from super isn’t counted until it reaches a substantial amount. Let’s completely ignore the fact that those on even a part pension are exempt from the franking credits changes. Let’s also ignore the idea that Labor isn’t introducing a “new car tax”, but simply insisting on similar emission standards to overseas countries. Apparently in spite of Barnaby Joyce, the Coalition seem to think that emissions are no problem. Let’s even forget the whole idea that somehow the “weekend” will be lost unless your car can make the sort of noises that make one glad to be a One Nation supporter.
No, none of these things are important, because Michelle Landry’s reasoning for allowing Adani wins her the: “I’m not sure if this politician is really this stupid or whether they really think we’re that gullible” prize for the election so far.
Still, it’s a strong field and I wouldn’t declare her over the line yet.
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Perhaps more awards are needed? The polished turd award, the gold, silver and bronze turd awards, the complete and utter arsehole award, the I’m a lying, Christian hypocrite award (thinking of the smirking brick as a prime candidate), the bucket of vomit award, the who’s the most biased media award. Unf#ckinglimitless possibilities.
We must all make a noise so that those contributing to rebuild Notre Dame – and that is a fine thing to do – can be encouraged to contribute to ending starvation amongst children all over the world. I am sure they can find a few extra coins for that.
The Roman Church has the assets to pay for re-building Notre Dame which shows that the Roman church in Australia has the assets to quickly settle the child abuse cases discovered thanks to the great work of Joanne McCarthy, retired Detective Inspector Peter Fox and former PM Julia Gillard.
Michelle Landry has a bad case of Pollyanna Disease; worrying about social conditions about which she can do little if anything at the expense of local concerns, like welfare poverty, Adani poisoning the Great Artesian Basin and failure to have a policy to protect the agricultural enterprises down stream from the SW Qld and NW NSW broad acre farmers ‘stealing environmental flow MDB water with impunity … and probably donations to the Nat$ to pay for it.
WOMEN SUPPORTING ADULTERY SUPPORT NAT$ ….. Michelle Landry and Bridget McKenzie for example.
Michelle Landry is my local member, hopefully just for another month. We also have senator Matt Cavanah here as well. Both are staunch LNP flunkies who toe the party line, spout the mantras mindlessly, sing on key from the hymn book and are fanatical coal groupies (Adani for the moment, while Gina keeps a low profile). They are probably ‘nice’ people but in public they appear hopelessly inept, unable to articulate or explain logically how or why party policy is nation building or sensible, its just four legs good bah bah bah and nutty thought bubbles .. eg Landry’s ABC radio nonsense.
Fear not! The ‘weekend’ can be saved (for rev-heads driving EVs). Unfortunately, even low priced EVs lack the engine/mechanical noise & vibration within the cabin that we are so familiar with re Internal combustion engine(ICE) vehicles. Unfortunately, superior to even the best noise reduction efforts associated with the design aims of luxury priced high end ICE vehicles.
However, thankfully by the power of the ‘Market’, aftermarket engine & vibration noise simulators are available so you can have your EV ‘feel’ & sound like a V8 sports car within the vehicle cabin. Yee-ha!
On a more serious note … externally EVs are literally quite ‘stealthy’ at low speeds or reversing(Quiet!). This actually increases the likelihood(~+20%) of low speed accidents involving inattentive/distracted or vision impaired pedestrians, because of an absence of now accustomed audible noise ICE cues around EVs.
Thank Dog, & Creationism(?), that a simple EV ‘vicinity’, short range, solution has been developed & is already in use on a number of EVs(100,000s), though needs must to be Regulated by Law as a mandatory safety feature, not merely included on a particular model, at a manufacturers whim, or not.
Aptiv’s EV Sound Generator (Youtube 1m 18s)
http://i65.tinypic.com/2replvr.png (Image)
Trish Corry doesn’t like Landry either.
coal for indian power? Are these people so fcking stupid or what. For a start, most of india doesn’t have the infrucstructure such as power poles strung out to every neighbourhood. So a coal power station would have to include the costs of distribution. Renewables like wind and pve are far cheaper as distributed generators. Thats one big nail for Adani.
As for the numbers game that Morrison and his crew are playing, its a flop. So many false accusations flying around , i am sure nobody gives a fig anymore. And the lieberals calling shorten a liar at every turn is surely the lowest of the lows coming from real liars.
We never hear about isolated places in Australia that are off the grid. Electrical connection isn’t a ‘right’ in this country either. Strangely, electricity is not as necessary as the Liberals seem to think. You can live very comfortably without it,
The coal to be exported to India from Carmichael is the cheaper, more polluting sort which will add to the pollution problems already encountered there. There are NGOs supplying cheap home based solar generators instead. These earn their cost in a few months.
The CEO of Adani here says he never got the latest CSIRO and other reports warning of the negative effects of water use at Carmichael, ie approval was granted without Adani even sighting the warning reports.
Adani gave large sums to the Coalition, next a large sum to One Nation. and third, far less to Labor.
Keitha, its already going viral around the world. The ease with which money was raised for the cathedral compared for the poor is well noted. We are not the only ones it seems.
As many have said, Adani is the front man for Gina.
in australia property transcends people and white peoples property transcends all.
The conservatives know it the loonies have just learnt it and labor still lags behind.
ps the philippines must be expensive???
I wish the media would corner shouty. If you believe climate change is happening, you would do anything to stop it, including not opening any new coal mines. Its such a disconnect with reality when he jumps straight to jobs and doing our bit when clearly we are not doing our bit. I would like the media to just ask , ” why are you lying?” so Its ok to call Bill a liar, but is it still a step too far for the media to call him out?
Michelle Landry’s noxious emissions are completely cretinous. She has clearly never been to India. If she’s so determined to improve the lot of women in developing countries she should focus on the conditions that our Aboriginal people endure, particularly Aboriginal women. She could start by accepting that the traditional owners do NOT want the Adani mine to go ahead.
Paul Davis, you poor sod, having not one, but TWO vapid representatives!