More religious than we think

Current contenders for PRIME MINISTER in AUSTRALIA could be considered "Pious".

You 'll note that I am using the word  in both the common "religious" sense and the more profound 'Cultural "sense in which Chesterton used it against "the First Fabian". Noone but noone,  including me likes to be called pious in the common understanding of the word . Sort of implies " other worldliness " , out of touch with reality -,
Its confronting nature is why we need to take it serioulsy . Just to repeat myself Chesterton had in his Biography of his friend Shaw seen his very popular ideas work through a war and was not about to allow another; by careless reaction against the culture that bore HIM and US into freedom and dignity . 

Grab yourself a copy of "Eternity Magazine " or Roy Williams book "In God they Trust " for more about our pious leaders:  very interesting as both have widely differing drawing patterns to their clear commitments there. The idea is important because many of Australians intelligensia think that religion is not only not necessary but dangerous . Dangerous it certainly is which is all the more reason to take it seriously .The fear of the average non commited aussie of religion needs to be addressed too with facts,  as freedom of speech could be removed simply because the wannabes want to restrict the amount of " heat" in debates about " what is right " and "what is correct to believe" . Such a freedom was hard fought for but easily lost in the same it was lost before ? 

Psychologists tell us we all " have  religion " so denial of the need too,  is not helpful.
 A culture which teaches forgiveness and acceptance of political diversity is however a little different to one which supports revenge and  political control . 

The "Muslim protest in support of Egypt's leader in Sydney yesterday , it seems to me , is not about race but about proclaiming the superiority of one cultural idea ( one pietas ) over another . Many Christians would agree with the thinking Muslim that western culture has lost its way and is MOST vulnerable because it has a faith that is failing to deliver .
The problem then is not the religiuos,  but those who say faith systems don't matter . Its th e deniers  who need to change their minds and engage with the cultural ideas that motivate men. 

Rudd Rhetoric - Same old same old , revolutionary reformer

We used to just say - "keeps on going around in circles"  Circle work CW
Maybe its not content , but attitude that matters . Mr Rudd is relentlessly positive while Mr Abbott is "Mr Negative" . The parent,  at least , can be trusted .
If you were a pedant you would tell yourself that CW is both revolutionary , reactionary and reformist .Wonderful comforting words.Perfectly logical -- if you are a pedant .
... and don't want to see the world as an outsider might see it

Playing the air game , and being light on your feet can  be very useful with a weary public - got to pick your time and moment . Labor can jump ahead and call the opposition "full of negativity" . " "no new ideas " party . Life is too short to be always chasing new ideas and much shorter and less satisfying if you don't really reform the good old ones .Rudd has at least hit the nerve there this week .
You  can as a pedant  have it all ways with the words but still not be moving in practice - just treading air and hoping that noone would notice that its recycled air , not "fresh air " you were ingesting( today he announced the most momentous  featureless large democratization ritual ever undertaken  by the Labor party ) .
Feeble spirits use all the right words and right words of passage ( " history long time hard work") from the past but because they do not really  study the past,  they repeat past mistakes ( more Pacific solutions )

Mouths are aghast that Kevin Rudd can be King again by playing the chameleon . He's always moving on and zipping the opposition before they have time to form a question.  Port Moresby or the Highlands absolutely no one understands how we got there - clearly he got there on the universe explorer Politicaceleste.- a featureless place to most Aussies ; perfect place for a landing

Like Julia he's just got away today with finding a real solution to the refugee problem - by naming a new ( always that way ) country . PNG .
No one with half a brain can fathom the acceptance of this zipped brain scheme.
Its not a joke and its not a good look for the media too ,, who are mesmerized by change. The faith of our society is complete in theory ( evolutionary is how good things happen ) but devolutionary and destructive in practice ( just uses up resources saved to enable future investment) 

Even the word reform can have a new meaning each week - "we have thought long and hard about this" suggests anything but  .

Noone in their right mind can digest the idea that what was announced today in regard to democratization of Labor " is the most significant , the most important  change ". ( words often chanted by preachers from the pulpit) The acceptance of this nonsense is due to the widespread false faith in progress - that what comes tomorrow is better,  more evolved than what was here yesterday

All Fabians have used the "change is good card" since Chesterton wrote about Shaws addiction to it . Its hard to ask a good question about the future.
"All feeble spirits naturally live in the future,"  We don't need to look far to see the faith in the future merchants as they dance around responses with the "moving on" imperative that fixes them in the old church from which they come .
Some would say this "god of the gap flller " works,  but it only works as a daily and costly fix.  It only survives as a weekly meal because its powered by the public purse and .. perhaps only in areas of church  where they too do not accept the public curse of faith in mere progress.

If you don't know which church YOU belong to ,
ask yourself the question .
Are conservative people just full of negative ideas ( implies that only one direction is positive )
The air may appear fresh,  but true movers use a car that has wheels ( real history of ideas) and doesn't reinvent them every time it wants to go somewhere .( Rudd calls for new ideas today showing what a shallow showman he is !)
"Feeble spirits live in the future because it is featureless"  It can look big and its up there 

Labors iron fist

The ongoing deceptive projection of either Gillard or Rudd as fronts for Labor says something terrible about Labor - we don't know what they stand for and its not clear they know either. Moving so easily from left to right suggests, not that they are a broad church , but that  there is nothing in between the images. No doubt they will be busy pre election trying to talk broadchurch and stability of policy .
Let's assume, as is our bent here,   that the issue is not issues ( the substance thereof  --as the desperate reactionary rhetoricians would have it ) but impressions. Clearly just  toughness imaging  is not the issue, but toughness undermined by substituting left for right is the credibility cruncher for thinking people - terrible twin concatenation  to many.
None of us like the hidden extremes in Labor ( glove and fist ) but we MUST always be aware of them - such extremes suggest a vacuum in between. Their ongoing attempts to use the glove is a hypocrisy and thinly veiled tragedy of emptiness we best reject forever.
The mass exodus of Julia's operatives ( 1/3 of cabinet have just quit) suggest this overblown balloon of rhetoric about "world shattering" has no real their commitment to being implemented ; belated arguing for world changing policy --eggshell thin excuses and "I, me and my exit speeches " . Watch Rudd soften the hard edge of this shallowness and lack of substance!  Is winning everything ?- watch the threatened throw up survival changes to policy that was once said to be sacrosanct .
Is it only an impression that Gillard's cabinet were never as convincing as Rudd's - 2 years of birdbath depth defences for heavenly policies that we will see washed clean or even empty  over the next few months?
If anyone gets the prize for lightweight and narrow focused, it is this natural association between the left and the greens. 
Julia may have labelled herself and the party "as god like" but she surely she went down because she has not performed like god -let alone sound like.
So how deep does the god like imagery in Rudd run?  Clearly Rudd's alternative humility cop will be attractive to many.
Before anyone else gets carried away,  all parties ( including the most pretentious godlike Greens ) will be judged , not on the power they presume, but there respect for their limited power .
Rudd clearly has an advantage over some in the Liberal party who have never doubted they are infact godlike and always were.
The big question is : Will we be fooled to accept for a second time that Rudd is the kid glove type  covering an iron fist of  a few fanatics in behind him  . Labor's  hold on the intellect and internal substance is as shaky as their long term reliance  on Barry Jones as a symbol of it . Behind Labors policy is not substance of the many but interest of the few. Totally ineffective industry and employment development policy and a clever country policy as shallow and shaky as the walls of their hypocritical building education buildings policy .
Abbott would do well to focus on the facade.

At least Angels move Up and Down the ladder

The aristocrats in Canberra are complaining they need to have a voice ( ABC today )  As far as "angel hierarchies" ("next to God "as Sir Humphrey would say )  go they are near the top . The question is whether they really know what's happening below.
I say,  be convincing and convicting and you ( and others ) will have all the voice our democracy needs.   Know what you know and keep attention - a tension
You can't have a tension between two old doctrines  ( Chris Berg's point from the IPA )  if you abandoned one or other doctrine a long time ago. The left have trouble talking to any doctrine - let alone 2.
There is no such thing as doctrine for "the progressives" -those whose faith is in the evolution of good doctrine .In other words they can't tell you anything definite ; either because the best answer is yet to come or its defined by reaction to the last answer ( whatever universe it came from )
I can't work out why anyone would call themselves Fabian when their commitment lead them big government and no further ; when it has lead them to such strange unsustainable new condoctrines and concoctions such as  Marxism,  Fascism and now fighting amongst themselves for wisdom neither of them have .
True democrats always believed that the power was in "much advice"  from below- not the wisdom of the aristocracy .What does Canberra know ? What do Canberra mandarins know that they can't share with their mates in the press ? Give it a rest - The arsitocracy are going where angels fear to tread and don't even know it!
Carbon policy doesn't work because no one up top really knew what they were doing - both parties are both in deep trouble and they keeping making it so - by their own heresies

As for the heading : When Jacob was sleeping on a hard rock in a hard place ,  he dreamt of angels . They were moving up and down the ladder . So it is with good doctrine . Hierarchies are to build communication and their effective abandonment ( recent history of western politics) ) means LESS communication rather than more : less responsibility  rather than more - you don't change  the precious place of listening  unless you really know what you are doing .Need I say more ?Some people dream without angels . Perhaps they dream they are angels ?

Half baked doctrines create waste :time , money and lives . Best be rid of anything that is just a faint hope in the future.
 ( You heard it first on Blogger 23 April 2013 )

Always best to check whats happening on the ground

Before you get carried away with what YOU can achieve in parliament, study the method ( its tried and tested,  in case you have forgotten!)
Here it is written down for you, on the ground as it were, in the simplest of forms Proverbs 11:14 . Right down on the floor of parliament.(Vic)

The tried and true method that Churchill and Queen Victoria ( standing in the background) and many others for whom the aforementioned are but a symbol ,  gave us as a legacy. That legacy is being undermined by the very same lack of vigilance that they identified in their day; People who think that life emanates out of a set of laws; whose education revolution is so tightly bound it only ever works through rules and learning them well ( I can see Alan Bond smiling at such stupidity and blinkeredness - go see my lawyers ! - great legacy !)
. Name calling pedantry preoccupations instead of practicing principle .Accusations and counteraccusations instead of acceptance of sin ,trial by hearings,  adminstration of justice and mercy and regeneration ( even if it means pulling down  before building up again - the old gas buildings ) to top it off .
 Melbourne is one of the most livable cities in the world and it isn't because of any superheroes , mayors or developers OR RULES .
The planning system, like our  legal appeals system was built on a flexible framework of advice and review courts.  Planning is what makes any country great .
YET Look what a mess our legal systems and goverenments have made of the Tribunal system ( eg VCAT) - turned half baked into righteous pedantry and pathetically unreliable justice with no mercy and often now for the poor old taxpayer , no hope of real regeneration ( while leaders just throw money at " problems" .

What they wouldn't do for us

With our money . The largess of government needs to be seen to be believed. Currently in January it is not seen and therefore not believed:  Julia Gillard and Christine Milne can promise to save us: promise to save us from ourselves even . If I didn't have a spiritiual bent, I would suggest that  all of us are infected with "a disease" ; a disease that exaggertes our image of our power , our influence and our influence over ourselves .Its a mentall illness issue because it is a power that not even God has. ,We seem to think WE have power we do not have  . Weird .

Over 2 decades ago when some simple Libs were trying to sell off the SIO office I wrote to and called Ranald McDonald(3LO ABC) and asked him to check out whether 3rd party situation in particular - whether they were infact, despite all the simple rhetoric, efficient and effective . Knowing the "allwise" cynicsm about public authorities , I reminded him , as a risk analysist and public policy person,  that participation was important and that cross subsidization was Ok ( all heresies that are still too complex fro simple idealists  and practical policy incompetents ).
I knew that SIO were very efficient in that area because they , and our forefathers,  didn't let mere price determine everything - participation and responsibility must be taught and shown in practice and prosecution - its a basic principle of ecomia ,, but do our kids know and see that! - We used to save them by drawing their attention to danger - prevention and protection , not by concentrating on fire fighting services. ( Believe me , i been there --the Bureau love them for being so stupid and making their job so much more single focused than it should be )
The SIO made money then and they still do ( as far as i am aware ). There is therefore no reason ( apart from the simple logic of some, like the IPA) why BASIC house and other spread risk issues insurance couldn't be mandated .
Care is required to make any private public partnership work . While Jim........... is probably right that private insurers are making a killing ( esp when all the hard "GOD caused it " is now taken on the NOW very broad shoulders of our angel friends in power ) the paradox is that Private insurers are NOW doing a better job than some public talk on the subject ( which is just plain careless) because the private professionals hold people responsible for taking high risks and RIGHTLY SO ." You want insurance for your 300 HP sports car ?" Fine - it will cost you more .

You wanna live in the bark laden native forest ? Something like kindling standing up and with enough space between the pieces  to make it blow when it burns ?"Well - its your choice BUT ......

We need to respect those who study to show themselves approved in these complex areas. When everyone is an expert, the important voices can be easily lost in wild speculation, http://ondewolf.blogspot.com. Julia and The Greens leaders (Ms Milne) should keep their mouths shut until they are sure they know what they are talking about
Its a wonderful thing ( when  life is affordable and not taxed out) when the jounos actually listen and learn from those involved in a costly and local way. Fortunately Ranald was that sort of bloke . He wrote me a note back saying " you were right "and we kept the SIO from being sold ( The sale was all expected to happen at that time )

Study to show yourselves approved and give our children a legacy of low cost, low risk living free of high taxing high claiming saviours and freeloading high risk takers . Be realistic about real risks and prosecute those who are careless with our/their resources.  I have fought many forest and grass fires and protecetd people from them directly ( and the same applies to floods) .

We seem to be living in an age of fear and stupidity; And these three things in combination .
( you are wondering about the third one - well that's for YOU  to add - after all if we are to build a consensus we have to agree that there is more to knowing than any number of categories will ever know or show you ) 

Government is not god

Try telling that to some of our leaders and media who seem to think they have the power to do just about anything . In a typical simplicity the LABOR and GREEN dummies ignore the fact that PRIVATE insurers NOW  often do a better job of directing investment in some areas of risk management . Why ?-we wonder :Because they hold people responsible for their actions.
 Private insurance companies must be laughing all the way to the bank with the current government offering to save everybody from everything .Current mood of government to not insist ( as private insurers do ) that people take responsibility for taking higher than normal risks is dangerous because it will cause those of us who expect to be treated fairly to pay for others high risk taking . It is no joke  or coincidence that we have all been slugged fire and flood levies when fire and flood risks have NOT increased overall and  most of us DO NOT live in high fire and flood risk areas. Appeals are often needed and can do a good job if tied down in a community ( as testified above) .Professional risk and insurance management has a preventative and protective focus. Our governments are sadly growing organs that run around trying to putting fires out--- instead of preventing them. My work has been in assessing these and many other site related risks  http://designwithnature.blogspot.com