the cars in Iowa

 

 

Comrades,

Once you let the nuclear genie out of the bottle, that's it. There is no putting it back in. It's on the loose, and if yr not very very careful, it has a tendency to get right away from you. Like every anti-nuclear activist from way back, I was simply horrified by the nuclear submarine deal that gives the unsuspecting world AUKUS, and fundamentally changes geo-politics. The French, of course, were blindsided and mightily indignant about being ratfucked by the Australians, and who could blame them? So many acres of old growth forest have been felled for commentary on the atomic submarine switcheroo, I won't subject you to more. Suffice to say, Le Kid President Macron is up for re-election in six months time, and will probably win with the weight of incumbency, so of course he's quite right the French have been outrageously insulted, and Gallic Pride is something that is not to be messed with, oh no siree. They have very long memories, too, and Emmanuel will take great pleasure in cocking his not inconsiderable snoot at ScoMo for evermore. You can also read all about how former Defence Minister David Johnston said back in 2014 "I wouldn't trust the Australian Submarine Corp to build a canoe", and draw yr own conclusions. You can thumb your way through endless reports on the Collins class sub being a slow, noisy dog of a boat if you want, back to the years when we had less than one of the six Collins' in seaworthy order at any one time, let alone finding a crew. And, among the general public, nobody gave a shit then, just as they don't now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fprYfInkErg

DJ Albo was as flummoxed by this one as anyone and had to look up the Labor Party platform to get a handle on it (which is, most unfortunately, just go with the flow). PJ Keating - who well remembers the days of the Three Mines Policy - was spot on - we give up our sovereignty for a very expensive, dubious defence asset that we then have the privilege of paying for, and what with variations and what not the final chit will be well north of $100B. Kevin07 just called it unnecessary "chest-thumping". The Greens "floating Chernobyl's" analogy didn't fly (do yr research: every nuclear reactor built since 1986 has been designed to make another Chernobyl impossible - it was a once off that can never be repeated that way again), but that said, you wouldn't be too certain that the average punter in Sydney would be all that thrilled to find nuclear reactors floating around on the Harbour in some grim dystopian future. Surely Lucas Heights is enough to supply nuclear medicine? Of course these ships that our Great & Glorious Leader has signed up for are not nuclear armed, but come on, are we are buying silent long-range  weapons platforms to just launch conventional shooters? If so, just what are they good for then? The Poms run nuclear subs for the sole purpose of delivering The Bomb. There is no other way they can drop The Big One - and their submersibles can carry up to 36 nuclear tipped warheads. Now, that's what you call clout.

None of the above really bothers me, except for the nuclear bit. Back in the day, we would've taken to the streets en masse in 'waddawe want? No nukes! Whenawe wanit? Now!" protest marches, but the anti-nuclear movement in Australia - such as it survives - has barely raised a whisper or whimper of discontent. Never mind that there is no enthusiasm for the Ban the Bomb folks anymore despite the Maralinga debacle and howling shitfight that went on what seems like eons ago now, the Yoof of Today (i.e. anyone under 60) never experienced their parents having a genuine fear of The Bomb. One split atom is one too many for mine, but no-one gives a shit about that anymore, and that's what shits me to tears about the whole damned brouhaha. The righteous outrage seems to have gone away, replaced by fascists, neo nazi's and stark raving lunatics masquerading as builder's labourers. Learning from the past so you can clearly see the thin edge of the wedge seems to have gone right out of fashion.

But you can just imagine the cars in Iowa bouncing along nicely and being furiously tumbled end-over-end on the crest of the shock wave and ending up with a dent in every panel - what a ride! Ma, Pa and the kiddo are doing the right thing with their backs to the blast, but they all have that "we're seriously fucked here" look on their faces. As you would:

 

 

the COVID CANYON

 

Comrades,

Phew, at last...as of today 12 Sept 2021, you can drive, cycle or walk clean through NSW from south to north from the Murray to the Tweed and return via the thoughtfully created COVID CANYON, proudly brought to the all-singing all-dancing Berejiklian Govt.

 

it checks out

 

Hallie Bateman, "C'mon Gladys".

 

Comrades,

Everyday it becomes even more political/public health be buggered.

I do not get this:

"Parts of the Mid North Coast, North Coast, north-west, Albury, Riverina and Murrumbidgee will emerge from lockdown on Saturday. However, Queensland border restrictions will remain in place and Premier Gladys Berejiklian cautioned the state is 'definitely not out of the woods', with 39 regional areas remaining in lockdown for now, along with Greater Sydney."

On the one hand, The Ruby Princess is trumpeting all these fancy new "freedoms" we will be granted once 70% of the state's population is fully vaccinated - and yet the regions above "emerge" from lockdown at the weekend, when they have not reached anything like anywhere near 70%...not even 1st jabs.

Hello? Is it any co-incidence then that the Country Party holds the seats of Tamworth, Monaro, Myall Lakes, Cootamundra, Clarence, Upper Hunter, Northern Tablelands, Oxley, Tweed, Dubbo, Coffs Harbour, Bathurst...all of which - with the exception of Dubbo and Upper Hunter - will be out of lockdown on Saturday. Let's have a look at just a few of the fully vaccinated rates in the bush then, shall we? Tweed 36%, Coffs 33%, Clarence 32%, Tamworth 34% and on it goes - all of them well short of 70% first jabs. It's virtually the same everywhere in the countryside.

Whatever happened to one-in all-in? Are we all in this together? Nah, of course not. One rule for the Squattocracy, another rule for those filthy bastard Labor voters - godless people who live in squalor - all of them.

Can the NSW Tory Govt. spell E-Q-U-I-T-Y?

That's all, folks.

Hallie Bateman, "It Checks Out".

 

no turkey for you kiddo

 Comrades,

Here's a joyous thought - there will be no children at Xmas this year. Why? Because they will all be unvaccinated.

"Freedom!" (whatever that might mean in the Brave New World) is limited to the vaccinated only, right? 'Vaccine passports' and all that. That can only mean "you haven't got the papers, so no turkey for you kiddo, stay right there in the laundry", or is that wrong? With all the mixed messaging you'd be hard pressed to have even the faintest idea. 'Generation Alpha', the 0-14 year olds, number very close to five million in Australia. Imagine the nightmare scenario of a city the size of Sydney jammed full of kids, and you start to get the picture. And they're all a big fat doughnut zero % inoculated.

Never mind the entirely forgotten 40-59 year olds who desperately want, and are advised by their doctors, to get a Pfizer vaccine but are unable to obtain one for love nor money. The lengths they go to are legion, many even taking the Govt's lead and resorting to downright deception - but let's put them to one side for the moment because as far as the Govt. is concerned, they don't matter, even if the last time anyone looked they've still got the vote. Let's cut to the chase - going by the disgraceful debacle that's happening in Dubbo and Wilcannia, if you're black, then you better stand way back. If you're white, then join the queue here, please. If you're poor, ethnic, old, mad, unemployed, crippled, halt or lame then you're on your own. So if these mythical 70% and 80% targets are to be achieved across the board, including all the most vulnerable and marginalised segments of society - you'll be waiting way way beyond Christmas just for a start off.

And if you think the anti-vaxxers aren't a problem for you because you are a fine upstanding member of the community, think again. Studies suggest that somewhere between 6% and 8% of the adult population will never get a vaccine of any kind, ever. Add in those who just couldn't be arsed, and you've got a good ten per cent, right there. And some folks have a pathological fear of needles. It's a given you will never get beyond 90% full vaccination rates, 80% is a huge ask, and even 70% will be very difficult to achieve. Just as more people are jabbed and supply ramps up in Dec/Jan, demand will inevitably plateau - as it has in the rest of the developed world - and like Singapore, we'll end up giving away our "use-by-date due to expire next week" Pfizer vaccines to some poor suffering souls worse off than us.
In the UK, where supply now vastly outstrips demand, the 'at least one-shot vaccination rate' has all but stalled, taking almost two months to get from 69% to 72%.
They are really struggling to even get the 70-80 numbers among staff in nursing homes for Chrissake, when 100% is mandated by September 17 deadline. WA and QLD - predictably - are dragging the chain, with both achieving just 50% one-shot coverage only yesterday (51.0% and 51.1% respectively, SA no better at 53.2%); they're taking ScoMo's words very much to heart: "This is not a race". So amid all the sacrosanct "modelling", why isn't anyone asking the question - forget the Federated States Border Wars - what happens if 70% can't be reached, let alone 80%? Is that just forget it, we've arrived in Doomsville? Let 'er rip? Or what, precisely?

If those numbers are to include every last man, woman and child, regardless of race, creed, class or custom in every last corner of the vast Wide Brown Land - as they bloody well should, never mind must - before we get to ScoMo's famous "snap back", we will be waiting a very, very long time indeed: read forever. Since the Delta mutant arrived, the term "herd immunity" seems to have mysteriously vanished from the lexicon. And if you are thinking things will rosily "get back to normal" or even a "new normal" if and when the arbitrary round number targets are met, you're dreaming. Scotty from Marketing is waving an appeasement roadmap around 'I have a piece of paper', so he's obviously oblivious to the fact that street directories went out of fashion years ago. And double dip recession be buggered, ever heard of The Great Depression? The free money tree in the economic forest will fall eventually. The fear is no one will be there to hear it.

Whatever happens, Our Great and Glorious Leader's famous words "we will be living life different at Christmas than we are now" will, without a shadow of a doubt, come back to haunt the Bogan-in-Chief. Now there, that's a nice lovely downer for the 10th week of a two week lockdown, eh? Brighten up. Be happy. It could be worse. A lot worse.

 Homeless person sleeps outside a closed Coronavirus testing station, 26 August 2021, Vienna, Austria.