Obama

During and just after Punk - Great Aussie Music

There can be only one (fantasy)

Now that the good years of prosperity look like ending for a while, we Western types (howdy) are being snapped back into the real world so fast it requires a really good metaphor/hyperbole to indicate the pace at which the snapping back is occurring. But who has the time? Well, I do - I'm on holidays and speaking of which I played Call of Duty 4 with my son all day on Monday, but not before I bought a really huge mousepad from our local Korean DOTA dealer (that's a mod of Warcraft that Koreans are largely addicted to). The YUMPIE indulgence of 'climate change' which is a kind of environmentalist fantasy game (much like DOTA) is being replaced by economic reality. Yesterday's press conference with Professor Garnaut perfectly illustrated this. The Professor turned up to give a speech and shake hands with Kevin from Queensland only to be told to "get lost loser" by the Prime Minister's press secretary. Why? because he is in fact a bit of a loser and the stock market had just had its worst day since money was invented. Kevin didn't have time for climate change because something real was happening and when something real happens it usually takes precedence over fantasy. Like for instance, if I was playing Call of Duty 4 with my son and the 24" LCD caught on fire, I would definitely make that round my last round, and on top of that would calmly tell my son to gather up all the other games and meet me outside. By the way, gold is up (see graph) and the Professor has largish shares in a gold mining company, so thankfully he'll still have enough money to buy expensive, toxic, bad for your eyes light globes.

It's an accepted fact of life that people do and say crazy things under pressure. The fact that people have been losing interest in global warming over the past couple of years means Tim Flannery and Professor Garnaut have to say more outrageous things to get the attention they used to get when the fantasy game was at its peak. Like when Flannery said, "I think there is a fair chance Perth will be the 21st century's first ghost metropolis." Never mind the fact that Perth shares boomtown status with Darwin. Or three years ago when he predicted the drought would, "leave Sydney's dams dry in just two years." In early August our dam levels were at 66% and climbing... Tim even said that Adelaide might run out of water by early next year - in fact Adelaide's dam levels have been climbing sharply since June. Yesterday in Canberra, (current levels 51.2% and climbing) the pressure was on, only this week a study by the Lowy Institute concluded that climate change now rates lower than a strong economy and job security. For those who don't make a living from climate panic, reality is kicking in and even a Fairfax editorial can see it:

It [the study] was conducted in July, just when Australians were feeling the economic pinch from higher interest rates and global financial turmoil. After 17 years of uninterrupted good times it is hardly surprising that people should now feel less magnanimous about nominating the environment as their main worry.

But like I said, those who don't make a living from climate panic are starting to focus on the economy and jobs. In the same week the Lowy study was published and having his speech bumped for that very reason in Canberra yesterday, what did the professor say to a yawning press gallery in the afternoon?

"The failure of our generation would lead to consequences that would haunt humanity until the end of time."

Somebody's been watching too much Highlander.

As Arnold Rimmer says in Red Dwarf: Better than Life, "My mind...just keeps fantasying the horribleness..."