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President Trump Congratulates Record Breaking Astronaut (NHQ201704240005)

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Today, we heard that  Donald Trump has given his approval for the AUKUS deal. Why wouldn’t he? In this deal, Australia pays billions of dollars to the US to boost their nuclear submarine building capacity. There are, however, no iron clad guarantees that we will receive any submarines. Donald Trump would love such a deal with billions going to the US military industrial complex and delays are always par for the course with these kinds of arrangements. Australia is kissing the ring of Trump by relinquishing our sovereignty by allowing a greater US military presence within our territory and becoming further subservient to American interests.Continue Reading

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Free School Athens Raphael image

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Oligarchies have been around for a very long time in modern terms. The word itself comes from the ancient Greeks, like many of our words for social structures and types of government. What can we do about the oligarchs? Oligarchy versus democracy was first billed as a clash of governing systems some 3 millennia ago in Athens. The original Greek oligarchies were based on class and wealth, as the two most often went hand in hand. Democracy came about as a means to break the grip of noble families on governing Athens, the city state. This new expansionary form of government spread to other Greek city states.Continue Reading

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white bus on road near in high rise building during daytime

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Do you know who is driving the bus? By this I mean, who is leading our societies and who is making the important decisions that we all follow? It is not the obvious candidates and by this I refer to the politicians. Business leaders make the decisions which effect our lives and livelihoods. These profit driven CEOs are laser focused on the bottom line for their companies and shareholders. A major shift has occurred over the last 35 years, where workers and consumers have been shunted to the back of the queue and shareholders have become everything to companies under the guidance of their boards and CEOs.Continue Reading

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person holding debit card

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Welcome to Neoliberalism. Bienvenida. Here in downtown Neoliberalis there is a new kind of freedom. You are free to pay for everything. User pays, you see. There are no evil socialist  institutions, none left anyway. No universal healthcare. No social security, no welfare from the government. Indeed, we are doing away with the whole concept of government. Business can do it better. Business can do it cheaper and much more efficiently. Then, we don’t need public servants, do we? Non, monsieur. Only honest, salt of the earth billionaires to run the show. Welcome to Neoliberalism: Be free to pay forever.Continue Reading

close up of solar panels on a roof of a house

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Professor Martin Green and his team from UNSW developed Passive Emitter & Rear Cell (PERC) technology, which graces the billions of solar panels transforming the energy grids around the world. Australian science paved the way for the solar revolution. A solar revolution has been happening globally and it is only going to get even bigger. Despite this Peter Dutton has nothing good to say about solar power in Australia. New Corp, who owns much of the media in this country, likewise, rarely, if ever, has anything positive or even balanced to say about solar and renewable energy in Australia. This strikes me as unAustralian. I wonder why the LNP Coalition and Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers and networks are in lockstep over deriding free energy from the sun? Could it be ideological? Indeed, could it, also, be about propping up the fossil fuel sector, and all those multinationals? Those campaign donors and mates in the neoliberal boys club, which likes to think it runs Australia?Continue Reading

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man in blue denim vest and black cap sitting on brown wooden chair

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Democrats in America are scratching their heads over Trump’s victory in the recent presidential election. Soul searching is going on, as to how they lost this contest. Democratic elections are popularity contests. They are part evaluations, part bribery, and mirrors held up to societies. Op eds are being written about the role of working class America in the outcome. Chasing this vote is problematic in my view. Why appealing to white working class folk is a race to the bottom? Demagogues, like Donald Trump, falsely court this vote and pretend to champion their grievances. Trump did not deliver for them the first time around and will not again. It is a cynical game and losers always lose out in the end.Continue Reading

The Albanese Prime Ministership So Far

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Australia is one of the most secretive democracies in the Western world, according to those in the know. International experts have deemed our governments more secretive than the United States in the way we go about the business of government. In my estimation it is career politicians killing democracy, which is at the heart of this problem.  Careerism invariably puts the interests of the exponent over that of the community when it comes to cutting the mustard. Politicians in Australia like to stay in their comfort zone when it comes to governing the country or the state. Avoiding the glare of the media and the voting public, whenever possible, is always high on their agenda.Continue Reading

ethnic businessman shaking hand of applicant in office

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Western democracies spruik their hopefully meritocratic qualities. The belief that through hard work and talent you can reach the upper echelons of your profession or work place. Careerism: Self-interest’s acceptable public face exists on this basis. Striving for success in any field is encouraged and culturally rewarded. Many bemoan the ever present dangers of nepotism and cronyism within our societies and nations. The elite private schools and old boy’s networks which operate in counter to any ideas of equal opportunity and fairness. Those of us with any pragmatic awareness of how the job market actually works know that it is largely driven by who you know and not what you know. This makes a mockery of any meritocratic ideals believed to be operating within Western democracies.Continue Reading

Self-Portrait (1910-1911) modern art painting

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We all do it and it is happening more often most of the time. The ‘Me’ filter: Perceiving life self-obsessively. Some religious folk point to the popular demise of the Christian ethos – a cultivated concern with the welfare of others. Now, not every Christian was genuinely any good at this lifestyle orientation but it was widely proselytised at the time. These days, more of us are openly much more devoted to self-interest in all walks of life. What’s in it for me? Is asked at the ballot box and elsewhere in our negotiations and dealings with work, life and play.Continue Reading