In 1964 I recall
listening to a song that commenced with the lines:
My mother said not to
put beans in my ears.
Pity Tony wasn’t around to learn the lesson as a youngster.
It was originally written to satarise the fact that adults
did not listen to children. Its cover in 1996 by Pete Seeger urged LBJ not to
put beans in his ears in regard to the Vietnam war and the rising anger of the
people.
I have been left over the past near six months wondering
where all the dried beans have gone from the supermarket and my growing conclusion is that they are bought up by all the politicians who fly in here for parliament.
Increasingly the direct dialogue
between the elected and the electorate has closed down as if we had woken from
a nightmare into some despotic dystopia.
The current government has decided:
- there are things they will talk about and things they will not (sic: treatment of refugees seeking asylum; defence related spending)
- they can bend and twist the rules to the edge of legality regardless of ethics (When is special access to parliamentarians tied to party membership fees - Oh, isn’t that a political donation?);
- their guffaws, misdeeds and corruptions will be glossed over by the mainstream press; (Take Christopher Pine’s asides in the house whether words or gestures)
- public servants will be directed not speak in criticism of the policies of the government;
- that they can they treat the general populous with disdain as though we are just too ignorant to really understand what is going on and have redefined so many words in the lexicon that I am losing count.(When is a levy a tax? What does it mean when Tony says it’s not what he said that is the problem, but what we heard?) I’m sorry Tony but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then there is no point telling us it is a giraffe. Beware of growing noses and pimples on your tongue.
Through all the angst this is causing me, and just about
everyone else I talk to, I have been puzzling about just what is the purpose of
government. It seems to me that this mob think it is about money and balancing
budgets only. They have forgotten that they have an absolute responsibility to
ensure that all people in our society can access a good life in this prosperous
country - and that means making policy that ensures fiscal responsibility AND
cares for the people. They have forgotten the latter with their mean and
despicable imposts on those who can least afford to pay.
The cigar toting, $50 000 Washington dinner for 60 treasurer
needs to get his head out of his dark nether regions and walk in the shoes of some of the people who live so close to the
bone from week to week that a $7 co-payment for a trip to the doctor is a choice
between eating today or not. This is just cruel policy. And as for suggesting
that $7 is no more than two middies of beer or a quarter a pack of cigarettes-
that’s just arrogant elitism that suggests all people who are in lesser
circumstances than him are there by their own choice and just need a good kick
up the bum.
I note the inclusion of funds for school chaplains in the
budget. I have to say, if being schooled in a religious faith delivers the
bunch of arrogant, hubristic, oligarchs that are currently in charge, that’s
reason enough to eliminate it from the curriculum.
Do I sound angry? You bet I am!
The song I quoted to start this post has an additional line
that says:
You can’t hear the
teacher with beans in your ears.
I’m the teacher Tony. Get some cotton buds!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No ART WORK this week - just too depressed and flaberghasted by government machinations!
.jpg)
.jpg)