HILL END: "Two sisters, a similar vein, Star of Hope, aureum buyers, stained glass…" PLInkletter rambled, "just picture it if you can, hi ho, silver!"

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

19^th October 2010

Tuesday: I chatted to cousin Vee in Broome today, to catch up with his health outcomes, and there is some encouraging news with a little weight gain.

Lateline: The (Leigh) Sales Graph: Ms Sales interviewed Prime Minister Julia Gillard, both in Canberra, and it was well worth watching for several reasons, least of all the fact that both women looked fabulous.

Leigh Sales asked, and kept asking, some challenging questions, of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, fragrantly and professionally, on Lateline

As an aside, we might have been witnessing the current Prime Minister being interviewed by a future Prime Minister. I've said it before. Ms Sales would have to summons up some (artificial) Inner Mongrel, because politicians, especially leaders, seem to need a higher IMQ (Inner Mongrel Quotient) than others. So that would be a bit sad, but if anyone could do it and keep her inner beauty, my money's on Ms Sales.

Now my first overall impression is that Ms Sales managed to tread that delicate line of remaining polite and professional, while asking and pursuing some lines that Ms Gillard would doubtless prefer not to have to be examined on in public. Rather than lose all balance and bludgeon the Prime Minister – do a Kerry O'Brien – Ms Sales achieved the difficult goal of remaining fragrant, helping her honoured interlocutor portray herself well also, while not shying away from Ms Gillard's discomfort zones.

This would not be easy to pull off, and Ms Sales did it very well.

The subject which was threatening the Prime Minister's comfort zones was Australia's military and civil involvement in Afghanistan, the subject being debated in Parliament for the first time today, thanks to the Howard Government's going all the way with GWB almost a decade ago without parliamentary examination first.

I am dismayed that both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott both assiduously avoid, assuming they even understand, some inexorable facts that plague the whole Afghanistan mission. To help illustrate what I mean, let's do a thought experiment:

Australia, all alone, militarily invaded a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan almost a decade ago, to remove that dangerous and barbaric leadership which gave safe haven to Al-Qaeda. The vast bulk of the population welcomed us, and still do. The people crave a liberal democracy, long denied them, wherein equality of the sexes would be the norm, as would freedom of religion.

Although the cost of the military and civil input is large, Australia is so well off that it is just small change, with little of importance back on home soil not being adequately funded for the maintenance and betterment of the nation. No health waiting lists, no-one sleeping on the streets, no environmental issues worsening, everything on the up and up.

And so our military command is running the show, neither answerable to any allies nor dependent upon them. The government of Afghanistan is corruption free, and their military is rapidly training up to world's best discipline and ethical standards, paralleling our own.

Afghanistan's neighbour Pakistan is squeaky clean, and fully cooperating with the effort to eliminate the refuge for violent fundamentalists across the shared mountainous border. No other nation is interested in helping insurgencies or locals to defeat us.

Need I continue the fairy tale?

A quick look now at what the actual case is:

Virtually half the population of Afghanistan consider the other half as inferiors, who have far less right to an education, health care, justice, freedoms of any kind.

Virtually all of the population subscribe to a religion that practices severe intolerance of religious freedom, and insists on the church being the state. Thus our soldiers and civil personnel are considered to be infidel, with the negative connotations that come with that.

The nation of Afghanistan, or should I say that collective of tribes, has no long hard fought and fruitful experience with the institutions of a liberal democracy, has no extensive modern infrastructures to speak of serving the government, health, environmental, energy, agricultural, and justice needs of its people. Might we not have to be there for fifty years, even with their wholehearted cooperation?

The allies running the combination of operations known as Operation Enduring Freedom and International Security Assistance Force are mostly undeclared bankrupts, most especially the USA followed by Britain, no less than the two powers doing the lion's share. The Netherlands has withdrawn, having been largely based in Uruzgan Province; Canada is leaving by July next year, Kandahar Province being their main base.

The amount of things that have to keep working cooperatively to pull the whole show off eventually are myriad.

Imagine that Australia succeeds brilliantly in Uruzgan Province, bringing the region into the 21^st century against the odds, taking billions of our dollars to do it, and a lot more lives and health of our soldiers. Then the national government implodes, is taken over by rabid fundamentalists again, the allies dump their commitments throughout the rest of the country… How long will Uruzgan Province last as a bastion of a liberal democracy in the making, doing Australia proud?

All of our efforts, every drop of Australian blood and every cent of Australian money, depend for their lasting success upon the wholehearted commitment from a hotchpotch of lily-livered confused thinking bankrupt nations, rapidly losing the support of their voters. It does not bode well does it?

As awful as it is to consider, it may well be better to cut our losses, and leave a sinking ship before our bodies melt into jelly on the sea floor along with the whole battleship. 21 Australian lives and mission UNaccomplished may be far better than hundreds more Australian lives and mission NEVERaccomplished.

Does it make sense to join with an ally when it does something ill-thought through? John Howard leapt in with Bush and Blair because we are allies. Gillard used the same reasoning tonight under Ms Sales' questioning. Yes we're allies, but no we don't have to be stupid. The peanut gallery in charge of the United States at the time of the 9/11 atrocity demonstrated an appalling grasp of global dynamics, and only made a bad situation far worse. Why keep justifying to ourselves that we haven't been a part of that stupidity?

Faced with two paths, the less stupid and the more stupid, how stupid is it to keep choosing the more stupid?

It was clear to me from Leigh Sales' questions that the journalist is far from convinced of the arguments that the leaderships of the Labor and Coalition parties are mounting for continuing the mission in Afghanistan. Our leaders need to be kept in the frying pan of scrutiny.

Prime Minister Gillard said, in answer to a very clear and simple series of excellent questions from Ms Sales, "Our mission, of course, is to make sure Afghanistan doesn't become a safe haven for terrorists." Well, how impossible, given the mindset of the populace as well as the fundamentalist sewer across the inhospitable and porous border with Pakistan, and even if it was possible, how redundant, given the globalisation of terrorist opportunity, assisted mightily by the internet; how many British have died at the hands of British terrorists this decade?

The PM also highlighted her own lack of understanding or honesty with the Australian citizenry – or was it a flagging of her gullibility? – when in answer to Ms Sales' characteristically precise question: "But to what standard (government provision of services), I guess I'm wanting to know?

"Because in looking to benchmarks you need things that can be measured and there's a big difference between the sort of elections we have here, for example, and the sort of elections you have in Afghanistan.

"So I'm wondering where in that continuum you would think that that's a functional government?"

Julia Gillard: "Leigh, in part this is for the Afghan national people to determine.

"We are not there nation building in that sense. The Afghan people have to do that nation building themselves."

Here is the immense risk: the determination that the 'Afghan national people' reach will be far from satisfactory from our national interest position, nowhere near commensurate with our sacrifices of life, health, and finances, even very harmful to us.

Imagine the advantages we could be leaving in the shape of a trained military and civil infrastructure to the next bunch of fanatics to hold the reins of power in Afghanistan! Even if 'moderates' rule Afghanistan, how much of our hard-earned and hard-sacrificed will assist women, children, civil society, and how much will further hard-line Islam? 

And let me be clear: I would dearly like to be wrong, and see the fruition of the allied efforts with a rapid achievement of a peaceful self-governing society in a stable and developing Afghanistan, with a consequent orderly and soon wind-down of all military engagement by all concerned. The nation would obviously be Islamic flavoured, but how about a moderate flavour? And let it then hold its head high a part of the United Nations of peaceable forward-striving collective of humanity.

A great interview conducted most skillfully by Ms Sales, and most politically astutely by a weasel-worded Ms Gillard. This quality of interview is so valuable, to alert the thinkers among the Australian people of the spin that infects and directs our national policy, and also for posterity when a higher quality of history-motivated citizenry will be able to study just how mealymouthed our politics was.

+paytontedwithlove+

WASHINGTON: "It's hardly rocket science," PLInkletter maintains, "more like a singalong: 'Oh give me space, lots of space, under starry skies above…'"

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

01^st October 2010

Friday: Uber 'late' to bed (sunrise), so uber late up. And with a disturbance, an hour before my one p.m. rising, when Missus Inkletter came in to let me know she was taking our over the road neighbour Deelia, who's approaching her eighties, to the doctor, for she had become quite ill.

I also had the alabaster dragon phone Bob's people (my people got in touch with Bob's people) to see if he wanted to go to the city today, as I had not planned to see him this week, and Bob was keen, so when I surfaced it was a mad rush for me to get crank up and get ready and arrive at Guildford before three.

And so we spent three hours doing the things Bob enjoys in Perth CBD, which is changing at a rate of knots again these days, with so many new skyscrapers and other projects steaming ahead. They've even ripped up half of St Georges Terrace (I can't quite get over the missing apostrophe, while also on the same terrace is St George's Cathedral, where my parents married) out front of London Court! (Some historically formed typos are worth keeping, but some aren't, and I for one wish Perth City Council would rename it.) I was struck by how thin the road base is.

And so I was rather whacked when I got home about half seven, and by half eight, after din dins, Cadbury spent the next four hours on my lap as we watched news and docos on Aunty and SBS. That cat will be the best informed feline on current affairs and politics in Australia, before the year is out.

Lateline: The Missing (Leigh) Sales Graph, instead The Tick(y Fullerton) Check Mark: Ticky Fullerton anchored Lateline tonight in Leigh Sales' stead, who is gallivanting around the United States for a while, where she will doubtless rediscover that North America has an abundance of political pricks and dickheads just as does Australia. Speaking of political pricks and dickheads, Ms Fullerton's guests tonight for the Friday night fight club were Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis and, well, I could stop there.

I won't keep you in suspense for long as to the identity of the other politician, but first, a note on Ms Fullerton's appearance: she looked fantastic, and was a just-controlled fire, as the photo demonstrates:

Her bright red jacket only failed to ignite Ticky Fullerton's hair because it is so much shorter now

The other polly was Minister for Trade Craig Emerson. Both men were on-screen, and both looked superb.

Mr Brandis opting for a black and white theme (Freudian slip?), with even a bold striped tie in black and white upon his white shirt and surrounded by his dark suit jacket; Mr Emerson came close to imitating Mr Brandis, except that Mr Emerson's tie had a dash of fire in it also:

There's nothing quite like black and white in politics: Craig Emerson and George Brandis were predictably starstruck by their own side's performances

This interview highlighted to me the fact that practice makes perfect, for these two boys got stuck into each other with overtalking a few times while completely ignoring Ms Fullerton's attempts to pull them into line. Leigh Sales is getting so much practice at controlling unruly politicians that she would have pulled them into line more quickly and probably with good humour; Ms Fullerton's interlocutors over at Lateline Business are usually in a more docile frame of mind.

Some delights for me were the use of the term 'shirtfronted' by Ms Fullerton in reference to Peter Slipper's acceptance of the Deputy Speaker role, as well as her rhyme "despairing of pairing", in regard to the obstinance of Tony Abbott's stand on pairing with the Speaker.

Mr Brandis kept up the imbecilic Opposition line that Prime Minister Gillard broke a pre-election commitment to not introduce a carbon tax: George, like I advised Joe Hockey the other day, do your best to understand what a hung parliament means and the changes it forces upon the whole of the new Government's agenda, and when you've done that, stop insulting our intelligence with your side's stupid and disingenuous line. Had you formed government you would be in the identical predicament.

Mr Emerson is spot on with his early remark that Tony Abbott (and his cohorts) "…is still sulking as a result of the Australian people not electing him, he's obviously angry with that." I haven't an abundance of respect for any Opposition we've had for decades, however, the Coalition in opposition over the last three years have been the pits of bitterness, petulance at being turfed out, and smallness of many kinds. And that has been under three different leaders, which suggests the problem is deeper than their leaders.

Sadly, yet again, I have to award the interview to Mr Emerson in terms of mature behaviour and believable statements, but not by a country mile. I say 'sadly', because Australia would be far better served by a higher calibre Opposition, which also implies, of course, by a higher calibre Government.

Well done Ms Fullerton, being thrown back into the bear pit of Lateline and performing professionally.

Oh how nice it would have been to sweeten things up with a chat with Stephen Long; hurry back Mr Long!

I managed a slower than usual late walk, on this humid cool night, around four a.m. Some hoons appeared to be yelling out at me from the local shops carpark at one stage of the walk. I am pleasantly surprised at how little untoward behaviour I encounter in the dead of night around this patch of our suburb.

Very late, well, time is so blurred and smeared around my life these days, very early, till and after sunrise, I wrote more on 'After the Rain', exhausting myself but feeling strangely alive.

+paytontedwithlove+

QUFU: …say, "He who keep making up mystelious clyptic brog headrines of plecisery 150 chalacters, either velly stupid or must be Payton L. Inkretter."

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

28^th September 2010

Tuesday: 'Yesterday' blurred for me into a typical evening, night, day, and it wasn't till noon that I finally lay down to sleep. And so, come half six in the evening, I was not well rested, when I arose to do my first 'job', and deliver hot vittles to The Dear Leader., fresh from being phlebotomised this morning.

It had been a warm spring day, and Cadbury is certainly in molting mode, with a long winter coat that is of reducing use to her. I must use the Furminator again on her tomorrow in daylight and outside. Anyway, with minimal fur ruffling, she spent over two hours on my lap watching Aunty with me, until her meowing messages convinced me she needed a spell outside, about half ten.

I always enjoy Tony Windsor interviews, and Kerry O'Brien gave us another on The 7.30 Report. What a dream if every politician in Australia, state and federal, had his restraint, composure, and bearing. Both men looked excellent in their dark suits and boldly striped ties.

Pictures coming…

The one point I'd highlight from that interview is Mr Windsor's calm observation that Tony Abbott is "missing an opportunity to be constructive", in his leadership of the Opposition for our 43^rd Parliament.

I could easily be persuaded to call Tony Abbott the incredible shrinking politician, due to just how small minded he is behaving. I'll say more on this in my Lateline observations below.

Lateline: The (Leigh) Sales Graph: Leigh Sales chose a casual look tonight, and looked wonderful, in a double pocketed longsleeved dark blue shirt, her only jewellery a set of gold ring earrings, subtle-effect makeup, and attractively flaring hairstyle. Her eyeshadow strength and shade was ideal.

Picture coming…

Her long interview subject was the first day of our new Parliament, with the finely tuned numbers and their consequences. The sucker from the Opposition who fronted up, on-screen from Canberra, to discuss the day's developments, was Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, whose dark pinstriped suit and white shirt, enhanced with a white tie with medium width black stripes, cut him a handsome figure.

Picture coming…

This interview's mood was sombre. And that was the right tone, for here we had the Shadow Treasurer giving away the sad truth of the state of mind of his side of politics, with regard to the recent election and their failure to form a government. I don't believe that even Mr Hockey believes that the non-cooperative stance his side has adopted, under the leadership of Tony Abbott, is the best thing to do.

It became evident through Ms Sales' thorough and researched questions, that Mr Hockey was the latest harbinger from his mob that this Opposition has not got sufficient goodwill towards the Australian nation, to help make this latest Parliament as productive as possible.

Tony Abbott is demonstrating that he hasn't got the greatness to accept that, according to the rules we've been running on for a century and more, his side did not form government, and he did not become Prime Minister, which sadly, might be as much the point.

I reckon Ms Sales is very aware of the smallness that is oozing out of the Opposition from all angles, and her questioning indicated this. She thus let Mr Hockey indict himself and his colleagues. How spot on Ms Sales was with the spirit in the following question: "Is there a risk that that (the 'wrecker' appellation) will resonate with the public if the Opposition does pick fights over comparatively minor courtesies like pairing?"

His lame comeback included the following non sequitur: "And how ironic it is, Julia Gillard accusing us of breaking a deal, whereas before the election she promised the Australian people there would no carbon tax." Mr Hockey and your cohorts, listen carefully to Tony Windsor and, if necessary, get someone with more intelligence than you are displaying to the public to explain the implications of the following: IT'S A HUNG PARLIAMENT. Thus, many campaign commitments are thrown into doubt automatically. The Coalition would be in an identical situation if it had formed a government under the current balance of numbers; some of its promises would doubtless have to be purged.

How easily most of our politicians are prepared to keep insulting our intelligence with irrelevancies, redundancies, and falsities. Give us more Tony Windsors, Rob Oakeshotts, Bob Katters, Nick Xenophons!

In years to come, I would not be surprised if Mr Hockey looks back to these days, even this interview, and cringes.  He, at the bidding of the small-spirited leader he works under, demonstrated that he can talk and defend smallness also.

However, I am not confident that the Australian people will punish the Coalition for its tactics born of bitterness, formulated through the distortion of their smarting eyes. That remains to be seen. I hope the Coalition is punished electorally for its ongoing puerile and nasty behaviour, only to impress upon our politicians, and aspiring politicians, of every flavour, to behave with a far higher level of maturity towards the honour they are awarded to represent and lead us.

I was impressed with the fact that Ms Sales had a good grasp of the history of the situation 70 years back when we last had a hung parliament. She is a studious researcher, and it shows. I wonder when she sleeps.

Thank you Leigh Sales for an interview which had Joe Hockey exposing as much of what the Opposition doesn't stand for and which it should, by omission, as for the same by commission.

Lateline Business: The Tick(y Fullerton) Check Mark: Ticky Fullerton looked great when she anchored tonight's program. She wore a dark jacket and a simple Carolina blue camisole, with subtle-effect makeup and just tiny earrings for jewellery, her new shorter hairstyle suiting her very well, with its full forehead exposure and convex flaring at the sides.

Picture coming…

I get a chill whenever I think of big foreign businesses buying food production assets in our country, and so I was not the most comfortable I've ever been during the long interview Ms Fullerton had with Sunny Verghese, the Managing Director of Olam International. Mr Verghese looked like a new dollar, billions of them to be precise, but with a dark blue theme to his jacket and tie.

Picture coming…

The topic was about the plans by Olam International to double its business, already a $2.6 billion enterprise. I cannot help but think that this business and most like it are not first and foremost dedicated to feeding people while being profitable, but rather to make profits first and foremost, and all else being secondary. I hope I'm wrong with Olam International.

Ms Fullerton did raise the concerns of the various countries about their farming assets, including water rights, being sold to overseas interests, with Mr Verghese, and while he spoke a lot of words back, they didn't amount to addressing the basic problems of local insecurities, in my opinion. He interestingly gave a reply including this line: "…for us the more important licence that we need to seek and get is the licence from the communities and where we operate."

Well, that prize will depend on the greatness, the character, of Olam International, and will best be evidenced over time and under duress. Specifically I speak of the duress of the locals in the countries his business operates in, when food prices rise above manageable needs for the poor. Just how his company behaves at such times will be the acid to determine the above mentioned licence of which he claims he seeks.

It's a big issue, and a big problem. We've all got to eat. And of course, agricultural business has to be profitable, and – especially – sustainable, ideally continuously improving the health of the ecosystems in which it operates.

A litte more story coming…

+paytontedwithlove+

BROOME: "The original crocodile hunter, alas, hunts no more," sadly notes PLInkletter, "but I'll bet he'll be across the top with the game up yonder."

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

23^rd September 2010

Thursday: After 15 hours sleep I felt only partly refreshed. Even with the help of three white comforters last night when I crashed at ten with a throbbing head.

And it may as well have been a summer's day, much to Janny and my disappointment. And the forecast for the next week has no rain in it. Gulp! And the new spring water restrictions are the worst they've been for years.

Enough complaining; we set off in the afternoon for a shopping outing, which neither of us particularly enjoy having to do, except that it is time together; just another set of chores. Oh, did I say I'd finished complaining? I wasted my time in a queue at the Post Office only to learn that they don't have a particular form (State Traffic Certificate) which I have to submit regarding my traffic record for my work with Bob, since I drive him places (as well as another, a National Police Certificate, totalling about 75 bucks at my expense: funny thing is, I've been working with Bob for 17 or so years, without either!). The woman who served me spent ages 'out the back' only to inform me, incorrectly as it turned out, that I have to go to such and such a department in Morley or Joondalup to get the form. I checked online this evening to learn that the one is from the Post Office, the other from a Police Station.

Between the three places we shopped, the remainder of the afternoon went west, and back home I got a tiny bit of weeding done out in the backyard plus some watering before dark. Pooh! I had hopes of getting much more done.

Lateline: The (Tony) SilverToes aka Tojo (Jones) Assay: I can not get enough of Tony Windsor, Independent MHR for New England, who was Tony Jones' long interview guest tonight. Mr Jones was decked out in a dark pinstripe suit, close to white shirt, and dark purple richly patterned tie; he looked immaculate as always, but a lighter brighter tie would have really set him on fire.

Tony Jones had the pleasure of interviewing Independent MHR for New England, Tony Windsor, on LATELINE. Mr Windsor diplomatically inferred that Tony Abbott is lower than a snake's belly.

Mr Windsor looked very smart, in his dark suit, white shirt, and red shade tie with white dots, and his endearing weather beaten face and crooked teeth.

Tony Windsor spoke forthrightly throughout his interview with Tony Jones on LATELINE, as is his wont. He related, when pressed by Mr Jones, his disappointment with Tony Abbott's attitude of business as usual for the new Parliament.

He politely and calmly, diplomatically and with grace, told us what a bastard most of us already know Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is. It seems certain now that the next three years, if the Parliament lasts that long, will be characterised by the smallness of the Opposition's last three years. They're led by a small minded bitter man, and sadly this seems to be a reflection of the troops he leads' mindset.

+paytontedwithlove+