lies

When I wanted this for a title, I was of course thinking of the Knickerbockers song from 1966. But checking on guitartabs, I also find other eminently suitable references: "A Thousand Lies" - Machine Head; "Read Between the Lies" - Slayer; "All Lies" - New Kind of Normal (I like both the song and band names, that's the world we are living in!); "Outright Lies" - 88 Fingers Louie; "Tell Me More Lies" - David Gray (one for the 51% of the electorate, I imagine); and "One of my Lies" - Green Day.

No surprises where this is leading, is there?

In the Bulletin today, Laurie Oakes lays it on the line (at bloody last): "Cardinal Pell is right to be concerned. These laws will lead to lower pay and worse conditions for a not insignificant number of workers. The government has known it all along. It lied in claiming otherwise." Oakes also spends a fair bit of time detailing how answers to his questions by the PM on Sunday were obfuscatory, as were responses by Costello to Alan Jones on radio. Oakes uses the Macquarie Dictionary definition of obfuscate - "to confuse or stupefy" and these examples are illuminating - but not as accurate, and to the point, as "lying".

Some more from Howard on IR: "Under no circumstances will a Howard government create a wages system that will cause the take-home pay of Australians to be cut. Under a Howard government, you cannot be worse off." Why doesn't someone call him on this and say "prove it?" What'll we get, the usual macro it will be good for the economy response?

On the other hand, maybe we should take a deep breath and watch this space (bearing in mind that this comes from that red rag The Age, and is by definition untrustworthy).

Finally, with the continuing neutering of our system of governance - the changes reforms to the Electoral Act plus the changes to the system of Senate Committees - we have truly got the government that we other people voted for. I was also captivated by Minchin's support for the reforms on TV tonight: the 1994 changes were in response to particular circumstances at the time, it's all about efficiency and, well, we have the Senate numbers. Yar boo sucks, in other words. If we ever get a Labor Government again, won't the Libs squeal when these changes are retained? (In the name of efficiency, of course.)

But..some people are still sanguine.