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Issue No. 308 | 26 May 2006 |
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If the Answer is Nuclear ….
Interview: Out of the Bedroom Industrial: Cloak and Dagger Unions: Lockout! Legal: The Fantasy of Choice Politics: Labor Pains Economics: Economics and the Public Purpose Corporate: House of Horrors History: Clash Of Cultures International: Childs Play Culture: Folk You Mate! Review: Last Holeproof Hero
The Soapbox The Locker Room Parliament
 Spotlight on WorkChoicesNoll OnRiders on the StromNo Gerry CanInsight Fires Up
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Tool Shed The Peter Principle
*****
Prime Minister Peter Costello is a scary thought. The idea that this trumped up hypocritical martinet is one heartbeat away from the second highest office in the land proved to be more than the incumbent, Howard, could bear. Howard scuttled home after receiving an Irish welcome with all the warmth of that which greeted Cromwell. What he found on return was the dropkick with all the sincerity of a corflute real estate sign putting in his two cents worth. Peter Costello is always on shaky ground when he lets go his loud guffaw, usually after saying something about as funny as a dead baby's doll. Thus it was that he thought WorkChoices was terrific that you could get a 2-cent an hour pay rise by trading off sick leave, overtime, holiday pay, leave, decency, self esteem, humanity and your first born child. He gets into this mode of 'just keep smiling' and it projects with all the integrity of Brad Cooper's coke dealer. The problem for this Tool among Tools, our very own King of Diamonds, is that he increasingly erratic behaviour is starting to scare the kiddies. How unhinged this economically illiterate inflatable lounge of a man has become after the years in the very small shadow of Dear Leader Howard is becoming a matter of much speculation. Many out here in $1.45 a litre land, or anyone having to actually buy food and keep a roof over their head, are having some difficulty connecting Costello's utterances on this golden age we apparently live in with their immediate experience of what is going on in front of their faces. Costello has never hid his lack of compassion for working people - actually, come to think of it, his lack of compassion for any people - showing all the humility of Paris Hilton as he swanned around filling Howard's very small shoes for the week. Never in the history of Australian politics has someone presented who looked completely at sea in a leadership role. Frank Forde was a statesman next to this bloke. His handling of the situation with our near neighbours showed all the diplomatic finesse of Reg Reagan. The crowning achievement though of this galoot is his ongoing lie about the state of this country's finances. Now, any idiot can go to a pub, bludge money and get pissed. The problem is that after a while, sometimes a very short while, the idiot might run out of people willing to continue to extend that sort of largesse Yet this is the central underlying economic principle Peter the Lesser has adopted for Australia, the country he is allegedly treasurer of. Now, no one can ever accuse Costello of being an intellectual giant, more an intellectual goldfish, (which, admittedly, is being a bit rough on goldfish), so no wonder he keeps grinning like a loon while the manufacturing sector is taken out behind the woodheap and shot, and the rest of the economy heading south faster than a consultant disappears at the first sign of trouble. No one knows quite what Costello is on, but whatever it was it had a remarkable impact on his grasp of reality, which appears to be steadily diminishing from it's already tentative state. Anyone who c an say this with a straight face obviously has serious delusional tendencies: "The government's Work Choices legislation enables employees to come to agreements with employers which suit both of them, with terms which are protected by the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard." To think that anyone would believe that is embarrassing enough. To think that someone could believe that and think they were fit to walk the streets is scary. That they may want to run the country when they patently couldn't run a tap is unbelievable. This shambolic wreck of a tool has outlived whatever usefulness he may ever have had and we can only hope his end will be soon, swift and sudden.
Nominate a Tool!
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