politicalowl

From the SMH website: Greens call for more scrutiny of abattoirs to protect animals : "Abattoirs and knackeries in NSW would have to video the stunning and slaughtering of all animals, and keep the recordings for at least three months, under laws being proposed by the Greens. On Wednesday, the same day a western Sydney abattoir and one of its former employees face animal cruelty allegations in court, the Greens MP Cate Faehrmann plans to introduce amendments to the Food Act that would make it mandatory for all slaughterhouses to make visual and audio recordings of their operations. Failure to do so could result in a six-month custodial sentence. The concept is not new. A handful of Australian abattoirs already use CCTV voluntarily, the RSPCA says." 'via Blog this'

They just keep coming and every failure to deliver reinforces Prime Minister Julia Gillard's biggest negzative - she doesn't keep her promises. From the SMH website: Pokies ACT precommitment trial sunk : "An ACT trial of precommitment technology for poker machines is dead and has been an expensive "thought bubble", the federal opposition says. The Canberra pokies trial appears sunk after Canberra clubs on Thursday voted against participating in the trial until after the federal election. Clubs ACT boss Jeff House said 23 of the organisation's members unanimously agreed not to start the trial until after the September 14 poll date. The coalition, which doesn't support mandatory precommitment measures for pokies, is likely to dump the trial if it wins government." 'via Blog this'

It was nigh on 50 years go that I ventured to India as a young Arts graduate and became acquainted with the worth of my hard earned degree. I had barely been in the country before I came across the reality of the BA bus driver. Having the tertiary qualification, I was told, was a pre-requisite for steering an omnibus through the streets of New Delhi. What strange people, I thought back then. All those years of eduction to get such a humble earn. In the years since I have become less superior. An Arts degree from an Australian university these days probably would not guarantee you a bus driver interview. And in the United States, I read tonight, i t takes a B.A. to find a job as a file clerk. Reports The New York Times: The college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job. This prerequisite applies to everyone, including the receptionist, paralegals, administrative assistants and file...

So there are those in the Labor party who think it is good bye to bad rubbish now that the Greens have declared their agreement with the government is effectively over. Well those political Labor geniuses are in for a shock. For from now until the dissolution of parliament the Greens have every incentive to show just how necessary their support has been to good government. Sure they will continue to support supply bills and oppose no-confidence motions but they are smart enough to defeat any other legislation for which there is a half a good reason to do so.

There was a note of sympathy for Nick Xenophon in the way the news.com.au website reported the Senator's deportation from Malaysia. Quite apart from sitting around in an airport terminal for most of the day the poor fellow " was forced to sleep on a plane in economy class for two nights." A politician's lot surely is a hard one.

Forgive me for being cynical but history has taught me to be scared when the world’s financial ministers think it necessary to proclaim that something or other is not a problem. Hence I have an increased, rather than decreased, apprehension this morning about an outbreak of “beggar thy neighbour” exchange rate policies. For the G20 finance ministers in a communique issued after their meeting in Moscow declared last night that members would refrain from devaluing their currencies to gain economic advantage, amid fears of a new "currency war". Writing in London’s Sunday Telegraph , Liam Halligan commented: The very fact, though, that Japan’s recent yen-weakening antics escaped official censure means that efforts to competitively depreciate currencies – in Japan, the US, the UK and the eurozone too – are now more likely to continue than ever. The yen has dropped from 80 to almost 94 against the dollar in the last two months, a fall that other countries are eyeing jealously. ...

I am indebted to that wonderful Cut and Paste section of The Australian  this morning for drawing my attention to this item from Thursday's Sydney Morning Herald. It is an item that would certainly hold its own with the very best that London's Private Eye  has ever published in its Pseuds Corner.