Our Treasurer Peter “but he promised” Costello is again telling Australian women to breed for their country.

I find it curious that in every discussion about falling fertility rates the Treasurer focuses his attention on women. In this is he acknowledging that it is the woman who decides to have a baby? Or is he honouring the vital role of mothering? Is the Treasurer perhaps mourning the peripheral role a man plays in the choice to have a child or is he concerned about the growing absent – father syndrome?

I would like the Treasurer to acknowledge a broader concept of primary carer- man, father, grandparent, and other caring adult.

I also want the Treasurer to understand that asking members of the population to consider their contribution to the recruitment needs of the Department of Defence in twenty years time when they contemplate starting a family is going to have them thinking “fuck off” not “let’s fuck.”

In the western world, in 2006, individualism will win out over altruism every time and being a parent requires a lot of altruism.

The above image comes from here. I wonder if this is what the Treasurer pictured when he thought of a woman’s role and not enough military personnel.

In response to criticisms of the governments delay in evacuating Australian citizens, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says;

“The failure so far to get a chartered ship in shows just how hard it is.”

Not too hard for the British who are on stand-by with two aircraft carriers and four other ships, not too hard for India sending four navy ships, not too hard for Russia sending Emergencies Ministry aircraft to pick up its citizens, not too hard for Spain sending a Spanish airforce Boeing 707, not too hard for Brazil sending a Brazilian air force plane, not too hard for Croatia who sent a Croatia Airlines chartered flight, not too hard for France sending a ferry, not too hard for Egypt sending two Egyptian air force C-130 transport planes, not too hard for Italy sending an Italian destroyer, not too hard for Canada who sent six vessels to evacuate their citizens and not too hard for Sweden hiring a ferry boat –Source.

All those years in the top job and our Foreign Minister has not created a reliable network of support.

Image from here

Yesterday, one of my favourite bloggers alerted me to the story of India banning xxx.blogspot.com/xxx.typepad.com/
xxx.blogs.com/and www.geocities.com/xxx. Speculation for the reasons for the censorship banning have been linked to the recent bombings in Mumbai.

In less than a week I see that the pressure was such that the Indian government had to retreat from it’s censorship and state that:

“Because of a technological error, the Internet providers went beyond what was expected of them which in turn resulted in the unfortunate blocking of all blogs.” – said the government official.

One domain name and one web site can create the same type of information as a blog.

Bloggers and the blogosphere- too wired, too smart, too many.

Image from here

The problem with not addressing a deep-seated issue between two people who are in a close relationship with each other to the satisfaction of both of the people in that relationship is that the deep-seated issue does not disappear – it just gets worse. So, ‘shaking hands’ is really just a short-term response to the discomfort or perceived impasse of the issue.

I’m predicting Costello will use the popular tool of the oppressed and powerless – sabotage and passive resistance.

This should be interesting!

Have you ever dated someone and they have a when-it’s-the-right-time-rule-book for intimacy? Sadly, once, I did. He was older than me and stated that it would be disrespectful to rush straight in. We were to take it slowly and get to know one another first before we became intimate. I was young and I thought, “Ok, this must be how grown-ups have relationships.” After too many of these slowly, slowly dates I just thought Fuck! – Can I get some disrespect here? Discussions, like the decision, were one sided. Needless to say, by that point I wasn’t too clear if it was less about passion and lust and more about power and control. I found a new date.

I very quickly realised that things that are organic should not have non-organic elements super-imposed.

This is exactly what has happened to the leadership speculation between HoWARd and Costello. Our PM is using his power to control what is a natural dynamic of a group- that being the progression of a new Leadership. He is doing this to the detriment of the wellness within his party and the confidence of the voters. The longer it goes on, the happier I am as it destabilises the coalition’s position and we may finally vote them out. The longer it goes on the more we realise just what sort of a person HoWARd is. And isn’t he looking like nothing more than a mendacious, compulsive excuse-maker.

By the time HoWARd and Costello wrestle through the power and control and the “but you promised”- the voters will cease to care and the electorate will be dating someone new.