The wonderful thing about Australian politics is the rarity of the third and fourth-term government. It is pretty much understood that, whilst it is usually pretty easy to grab that first and second term, without major changes (ie of leader, of cabinet, of direction, or of opposition), a third term is difficult – and a fourth practically impossible to achieve. This trend, however, has also made governments a little complacent about the consequences of their policies beyond about 8 years.

It is in this context that I sit – revelling in the imploding of the housing market bubble, the inevitability of the 7-year-business-cycle-that-has-somehow-been-avoided, the non-core promises, and, most of all, the whining of the mullet majority about how Honest John let them down. Shock horror surprise!

John “teflon” Howard inherited an economy that was destined for ‘boom’ after the infamous 90’s recession. Good wages, good investment in services, as well as a refocus into South East Asia meant that Australia was put into a good position by the Hawke/Keating government. Growth was inevitable. But, John Howard reaped the benefits, citing his cutbacks on Medicare, Higher Education and industrial deregulation as the cause. What he effectively did was erode the systems that are in place to protect people from the harshness of the business cycle.

Now, however, with a fourth term under way, and the economic realities of the Liberals’ cutbacks hitting middle Australia, I have to admit that I am feeling at least a little bit of “I told you so” coming on. The Liberals won a fourth term. The Senate has been rendered useless. The cutbacks and compromises are continuing, and yet I feel strangely optimistic. Not because Tony Abbott has egg on his face for the second time in a month, but because now, after stealing the ALP’s economic boom, and mollycoddling the market and preventing the inevitable for 5 years, we are going to see a recession.

And, with cutbacks to every possible area of public spending, and industrial deregulation (and no unions), more people will get fired than ever before, and they won’t be able to access any payments. And god forbid if they are unfairly dismissed – they’ll have no recourse. John Howard is going to have to lay in the pile of shit he has created – and he’ll have to take responsibility, because the ALP haven’t been in power for 9 years.

Had a quick gander at my stats this morning, and, like many of my fellow lefties, have found some rather strange Googling habits that lead people to my site. The two most predominant ones are “I hate breastfeeders” (wtf?!) and “America sucks” (not so surprising :)). So, I always get a bit of amusement out of looking at the kinds searches that lead people to my site.

Recently, since my post about Peter Rowsthorn’s Pizza Hut commercial, searches about him came up. One that intrigued me, however, was a search that came from a Disney proxy in the US.

Is Mr Rowsthorn soliciting himself as the next big teenage superstar, aka Lindsay Lohan and Hillary Duff? Is he taking the Pizza Hut guide to healthy eating to the big screen? Only time will tell, it seems! I thought ET was a Dreamworks thing (ooh nice Aussie reference there! If you know that then you’ve seen more than enough Aussie standup!)?

Anyway, just in case Disney are stalking Mr Rowsthorn for a big budget flick, I HEART you Peter and I am your NuMbEr 1 fAN!!!!1!

I stumbled upon this little news item the other day:

Executives at fast-food giant McDonalds have apparently noticed rappers habits of unabashedly shouting out brand names in their songs. While it’s usual Cristal or Jacob the Jeweller that gets the biggest mention, McDonalds is looking to change that shout-out to “Big Mac”. They’ve started a campaign that will give rappers incentives to start paying homage to the man with the big red afro.

If a rapper includes a mention of a Big Mac burger in their song, McDonald’s is willing to pay them $1-$5 for each time the song is played. No small matter, if someone like 50 Cent decides to jump on the bandwagon, McDonald’s could be paying rap artists millions upon millions of dollars.

I thought it was a bit ridiculous, but hey, it doesn’t affect me, right? I don’t listen to that crap anyway.

Then, yesterday, I was listening to Nellie McKay’s “Sari”, and this line hit me:

Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t apologize so much
that it’s jive it’s a crutch
I just used when I’m judged
bein’ fudged by a face I can’t erase and can’t see
cuz I misplaced a dossier or Monty Python CD
or somethin’ stupid like that
but jesus is that so bad
to make my ego go splat
like a tire goin’ flat
or fat on a big mac
I’m bein’ attacked
tit for tat
you fuckin’ bureaucrats
you can just apologize back

And then I went ‘hmmmm’. As a dedicated vegan an animal rights activist, I would suspect that Ms McKay is unaware of this new deal. Or is she? If you ever get the chance to hear the album, you might realise that she is probably the least likely person to be in bed with McDonalds. But still, it is a mildly amusing thought…