Lies, damned lies, and politicians

[MoreCoffee]

It is popular to denigrate political leaders because of their alleged untruthfulness and they do tell the public lies so the denigration is not entirely undeserved. In the USA there is an example of lies, damned lies, and Donald Trump's executive branch. In Australia we have Malcolm Turnbull and a running saga of dishonesty in politics. Below I include a link to a mp3 file of this morning's AM radio program. AM is a 30 minute radio news program presented on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) radio stations. It is heard at 08:00 week days. Today's report starts (at about 45 seconds into the program) with a story about one Australian state's continuing power supply problems. The state (South Australia is its name) has about 50% of its power supplied by renewable sources - mainly wind, solar, and some ground thermal (hot rocks) power generation - and because renewable sources vary with weather conditions the software needed to manage a power grid is complicated. Having 50% renewable sources adds to the complexity and recently the software has not worked very reliably. How, you ask, is this a case of lies, damned lies, and politicians? It works this way. The Australian Prime minister (Malcolm Turnbull) is making a great show of how irresponsible the South Australian government has been (the South Australian government is Labor while Malcolm Turnbull is Liberal - these are party names in Australia) by allowing 50% of its power generation to be from renewable sources. The prime minister says they have allowed political philosophy to dominate at the cost of having a reliable power system in South Australia. What makes this a lie is that it is Malcolm Turnbull's government that paid for and promoted the installation of the wind farms and solar power stations that supply 50% of South Australia's power. And power generation in South Australia is privately owned and operated. So Malcolm Turnbull funded and promoted the system he says is so bad.

Here's the radio program.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201702/20170216-am-fullprogram.mp3

 

[Brighten04]

I did not listen to the show MC, but, I would think that power from renewable sources would be a plus for the country.

 

[Rens]

You have windmills too?

 

[Rens]

A young man named Chuck bought a horse from a farmer for $250. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. The next day, the farmer drove up to Chucks house and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.’

Chuck replied, ‘Well, then just give me my money back.’

The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.’

Chuck said, ‘Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.’

The farmer asked, ‘What ya gonna do with him?

Chuck said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’

The farmer said, ‘You can’t raffle off a dead horse!’

Chuck said, ‘Sure I can, Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he’s dead.’

A month Later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, ‘What happened with that dead horse?’

Chuck said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at five dollars a piece and made a profit of $2495.’

The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’

Chuck said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his five dollars back.’

Chuck grew up and now works for the government.

 

[MoreCoffee]

You have windmills too?

Yes, lots of them. And our politicians can't resist charging them on their hobby horse in their shining armer with their quixotic lance. Silly people

:smirk:

 

[MoreCoffee]

A young man named Chuck bought a horse from a farmer for USD 250. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. The next day, the farmer drove up to Chucks house and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.’

Chuck replied, ‘Well, then just give me my money back.’

The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.’

Chuck said, ‘Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.’

The farmer asked, ‘What ya gonna do with him?

Chuck said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’

The farmer said, ‘You can’t raffle off a dead horse!’

Chuck said, ‘Sure I can, Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he’s dead.’

A month Later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, ‘What happened with that dead horse?’

Chuck said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at five dollars a piece and made a profit of USD 2495.’

The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’

Chuck said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his five dollars back.’

Chuck grew up and now works for the government.

I think that the dollar sign made your text look funny