Thursday 31 July 2014
Tuesday 29 July 2014
Mr Abbott - Why Should We Believe You Tee
For those that don't know, Australia's coalition federal government was elected on the strength of three word slogans and one of the most frequently used was 'stop the boats.'
This particular little gem appeals to many Australian's who worry that brown skinned people will either steal their jobs* or their carpark at the suburban shopping centre and was vomited up by Liberal and National party candidates at every opportunity.
Having won the election the coalition gave their immigration policies an important, military, sounding name (Operation Sovereign Borders) and proceeded to veil it in a cloak of secrecy that would put many fascist dictatorships to shame.
The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, has taken to answering every question with 'we do not comment on operational matters' and it seems to roll so easily and often from his tongue that I wonder if he has actually said anything else since coming to office. (I have disturbing visions of Scott Morrison's wife asking him what he would like for breakfast and him answering 'we do not comment on operational matters' but that's nothing compared to election time when I thought Tony Abbott would cry 'stop the boats' during sex)
My point is that, regardless of your position on refugees and asylum seekers, whether you think there should be more or less or whatever, every Australian should be very concerned that this government (the employee) has stopped communicating with the public (it's employer) because government secrecy is not consistent with the aspirations of an open democracy.
So the next time the minister or some other government hack or LNP troll tells you that there have been no boat arrivals since January ask them to prove it, better still tell them that you've heard there have been ten boat arrivals since January and when they tell you you're wrong, ask them to prove it - then sit back and watch their argument implode because they can't.
More Refugees T-Shirts
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*I would suggest that if you think you are in danger of losing your job to a poor person from another country who has few contacts, very little support and may not even speak English, you should think about getting another job or try a bit harder.
Sunday 27 July 2014
Saturday 26 July 2014
Corporate Media - It's Like A Scar Free Lobotomy Tee
To mark the anniversary of The Australian newspaper, Uncle Rupert gave an interview to Sky News Australia and shared some wonderful little nuggets of wisdom:
On Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott:
“My impression is that he is the most admirable, honest, principled man, something we really need in a prime minister, someone we can look up to,” he said. “However, how much does he understand free markets and what should be happening? I don’t know. Only time will tell.”
Corporate Media T Shirts by retrofitthefuture
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On Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott:
“My impression is that he is the most admirable, honest, principled man, something we really need in a prime minister, someone we can look up to,” he said. “However, how much does he understand free markets and what should be happening? I don’t know. Only time will tell.”
High praise indeed for someone who went to an election promising, open and accountable government, no new taxes, no cuts to the ABC or SBS, no cuts to Education or Health and no changes to pensions - then went on to deliver a federal budget which did the exact opposite of what he promised.
Honest and principled? - my arse!
Uncle Rupert then goes on to explain what he thinks of renewable energy and why Tony Abbott thinks 'climate change is crap'
“The car industry is leaving us, all I can see from this distance is the prospect of a lot of unemployment unless we can get small people starting businesses and some bigger industries coming too. We can be the low-cost energy country in the world. We shouldn’t be building windmills and all that rubbish.”
Rupert explains that climate change should be approached with great scepticism because, well he's a billionaire media magnate and he knows better than every climate scientist on the planet who has not being bankrolled by the polluters to discredit climate change science.
“Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here. And there will always be a little bit of it. At the moment the north pole is melting but the south pole is getting bigger. Things are happening. How much of it are we doing, with emissions and so on? As far as Australia goes? Nothing in the overall picture......The worst case scenario was that there would be a 3C rise in temperature over 100 years and only “one of those [degrees] would be manmade”
But my favourite snippet, for it's complete detachment from reality and breathtaking callousness, was this
“What it means is if the sea level rises six inches it’s a big deal, the Maldives might disappear, but we can’t mitigate that, we can’t stop it, we just have to stop building vast houses on seashores."
Mr Murdoch, you are 83 years old so even if you live to see 100, it won't be you that is most affected by climate change but your children and grandchildren will be.
Corporate Media T Shirts by retrofitthefuture
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These tees are available from Zazzle but you can find a larger range of Corporate Media Tees with honest slogans at the Retrofit The Future Communitee Store by clicking here
Anti Australian Fascism Tee
How does Fascism happen?
Anti Australian Fascism Tee Shirt by retrofitthefuture
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Laurence W. Britt has just published this article through the Information Clearing House which looks at the conditions under which Fascism took hold in seven countries in the 20th century.
Fascism anyone?
Fascism’s principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for.
By Laurence W. Britt
The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often we fail to learn from history, or draw the wrong conclusions. Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm.
We are two-and-a-half generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany, although constant reminders jog the consciousness. German and Italian fascism form the historical models that define this twisted political worldview. Although they no longer exist, this worldview and the characteristics of these models have been imitated by protofascist1 regimes at various times in the twentieth century. Both the original German and Italian models and the later protofascist regimes show remarkably similar characteristics. Although many scholars question any direct connection among these regimes, few can dispute their visual similarities.
Beyond the visual, even a cursory study of these fascist and protofascist regimes reveals the absolutely striking convergence of their modus operandi. This, of course, is not a revelation to the informed political observer, but it is sometimes useful in the interests of perspective to restate obvious facts and in so doing shed needed light on current circumstances.
For the purpose of this perspective, I will consider the following regimes: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. To be sure, they constitute a mixed bag of national identities, cultures, developmental levels, and history. But they all followed the fascist or protofascist model in obtaining, expanding, and maintaining power. Further, all these regimes have been overthrown, so a more or less complete picture of their basic characteristics and abuses is possible.
Analysis of these seven regimes reveals fourteen common threads that link them in recognizable patterns of national behavior and abuse of power. These basic characteristics are more prevalent and intense in some regimes than in others, but they all share at least some level of similarity.
To read the full article, which goes on to identify fourteen defining traits of Fascism, click here.
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Thursday 24 July 2014
Wednesday 23 July 2014
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