 Editorials from the Public First Program aired on Gippsland FM 104.7, Thursdays at 11:00am (AEST). An alternative viewpoint on local, national and international events. Often polemic, always controversial. Highly researched and presented by Shane Elson an award winning radio commentator and producer. Available free of charge. Only ask is that, if used, quoted or otherwise referred to, that proper acknowledgement be given.Primary Format :
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April 2009 #1 - Foot Spas R US
On my way to work on Wednesdays, I sometimes take the long way round. On the longer route I pass a 'spa'. Its housed in a renovated factory type place. You know the kind, all angles, glass and cement. Very trendy and upmarket. The kind of place you don't take the kids, if you know what I mean.
When I walked passed it the other day there was a sign out the front. It read “Easter Bunny Specials” and included the listing “Spiced Chocolate Foot Spa. 15 Mins. $35”. It got me thinking. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
March 2009 #1 - TV or Bust
Have you ever had one of those months where its suddenly the end and you are hard pressed to recall what you did over the last 30 or so days? If so, welcome to the brave new world of disasters, terrors, wars, gluts, downturns, failures, frauds and fiscal miscreants. How are we meant to keep up?
According to the producers and programmers employed by our TV networks, we aren't. They tell us we (that is the unwashed viewing public) don't want tough, thoughtful, insightful programs after a ha ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
January 2009 #1 - Gaza, Gas and War
Have you ever heard of British Gas? Or perhaps the BG Group? Or what about the Consolidated Contractors Company? OK, then what about Tony Blair, Mahmoud Abbas, Ehud Olmert? I guess these last three are recognisable. But what do all these names share in common? Two things Gaza and gas.
In 2000 a $4 billion US dollar gas field was discovered just off shore from the Gaza strip. The field is under waters that, by international recognition, makes it the property of the Palestinians. Kind of li ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
December 2008 #4 - Gaza Again
As I sat down to finish off the last of the Christmas fare I switched on the evening news. It was not a pretty sight.
The lead item was the latest genocidal attack by Israel against the civilians of the occupied Gaza strip. The first pictures were of the bombing of the university in Gaza city followed by a montage of shots of ambulances disgorging wounded civilians and other pictures of injured children being carried into hospitals by their distraught parents.
Then the cruncher. The repo ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
December 2008 #2 - Human Rights or Our Shame?
Sixty three years ago the global community drew its collective breath and sighed in relief at the end of World War II. Millions had died and many more millions were displaced, suffering under conditions that the so called “civilised” world found repulsive. In a collective head spin the leaders of the “free world” came together to assemble what we now know as the United Nations. Ironically, an Australian politician, Herbert (Doc) Evatt, was the foundation President of the UN.
Some ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
December 2008 #3 - Gouge Your Eyes Out
So now George Bush knows what its like to be a friend of Dick Cheney! Well, at least the guy didn't have a shotty. Might have made for better tele though! Nonetheless, Muntadhar al-Zeidi will continue to languish in an American controlled Iraqi jail until he confesses … whatever. We haven't seen shoes used in such reverential surroundings since Nikita Khrushchev took off his off and banged them on a desk in the UN.
What is interesting is that his reason for doing so was when a delegate ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Dec 2008 #1 - Dentists, Dole and Private Schools
There are two places I really don't like. The first is dentist's waiting rooms and the second are dole offices. Being in both give me a sense of dread.
In the dentist's waiting room I begin to sweat a little and my knees begin to ache. I imagine the huge I mean really, really big needle that will be plunged into my gums and the way in which my jaw will ache for a day or two afterwards. I imagine the recurrence of the dreaded 'dry socket' which is even worse than the toothache. In the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Nov 2008 #4 - Not Winning. Losing
Its amazing how time flies when youre having fun. And havent we been having some fun lately. Work, mortgage, work, car repayments, work, groceries, work and on and on it goes.
Meanwhile, out in the real world, elections have been had, grand finals lost, economies collapsing and all that stuff. If it wasnt for the distractions of work, mortgage, work, car repayments, work, groceries, work and so on, one could get very depressed.
Take the oldies. A bunch of them recently got together ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
July 2008 #2 - The Real Danger WithinWe live in troubled times. Perhaps the words of George Orwell in 1984 were prophetic in some small way. Who knows, maybe he did have an alien implant that gave him foresight? But perhaps that is my paranoia speaking. Whatever the situation, it seems that as time passes I cant help but think that things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser.
Before I go on, I think its important to acknowledge that for many communities within our society life is rough, tough and often brutal. There are ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
July 2008 #3 - Obama-Danger to the Middle EastAny of us who have attempted to speakoff the cuff in a public setting know just how dangerous it can be. We can muddle our words, prattle on incoherently and mis-speak important facts. So when it comes to politicians delivering speeches we can rest assured that the words we hear were carefully planned and scripted. Not onlydo the words have to make some kind of sense, they have to fit the established narrative they are creating based on the historic record that precedes them. Of course ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
August 2008 #1 - The Royal GosperEveryone loves freebies. You know, a free hat or t-shirt to remember an event by. Even Royalty like to be in on them. The Olympic Family are royalty. Well at least thats what they like to think of themselves as, not mere mortals who must adhere to the strictures of even mundane things like the truth or moral obligation. No, this group, who control the multibillion-dollar circus we lovingly call The Olympics, are not like us. They inhabit a universe to which many aspire but must remai ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
August 2008 #2 - Georgia On My MindYou may have heard about the little stoush being fought out in the Republic of Georgia at present. Georgia is a little country that grew out of the former Soviet Union. Bordered by the Black Sea to the west, Turkey and Armenia to the South, Azerbaijan to the east and Russia to the north, this little country could well be the flash point for a new cold war.The bloody rule of the communist leaders of the former Soviet Union, during most of last century, saw thousands killed and many more disp ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
August 2008 #3 - Its all Relative I SupposeThe six thousand dollar a week man lives in a house like ours. Well, it has walls, floors and ceilings. He earns his six thousand dollars a week by occupying a chair in an office in a central city high-rise building. The six thousand dollar a week man has to make important decisions. He is paid, not by the number of decisions he makes, but by remaining committed to theteam and by ensuring that all his decisions are positive towards the team outcomes.
We have an office. Well its really ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Sept 2008 #1 - In a Split SecondMaking split second decisions is something we do all day. Do we choose the ham and cheese sandwich or the salad and lamb? Do wear the blue shirt or the green one? Do we have our coffee in a mug or a cup? Obviously not all decisions carry the same weight or consequences.I had to make a split second decision last Sunday morning. It was, on reflection, perhaps not my best. I got knocked off my bike by a forby. You know, a Toorak tractor. I certainly didnt expect that outcome from my decision ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
September 2008 #2 - Finance for DummiesHeres how economic life works.
You want to buy something and I own or make what you want to buy. You dont have enough cash at hand to pay for it. In order to obtain enough ready cash to purchase my product or good, you go to a bank and get a loan. This is called being practical.
The bank gets you to sign a contract. Now, in the real world a contract is a document that sets out agreed terms that both parties negotiate. When you go to the bank, the real world stops at the door and you e ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
September 2008 #3 - Goldman's ChickensIts funny, isnt it, that as the capitalist system tries to reinvent itself, the so called market leaders, who caused the problem in the first place, have now been put in charge of designing the fix. Although not unlike putting the foxes in charge of the chicken coop, the main difference is, this time, the farmers are shooting, cleaning and serving up the chooks for the foxes.
One of the main characters in this story is a rather large and influential firm called Goldman Sachs. They are ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
June 2008 #2 - Lurking Lippy Danger - Reprise
As we read, hear and see more about how the Imperial adventure in the Middle East is going bottom up, a little known terrorist threat is looming on our back door. A bioterrorist threat more dangerous, destructive and devastating than anything seen before. This little discussed threat is, Im sure, being monitored at the highest levels of our intelligence community and is receiving the just attention it deserves. It was only by luck (good or bad is yet to be determined) that I stumbled acro ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
June 2008 #1 - Left Right or Wrong
All hail, the Left is dead! Well at least according to the reality in which Ken Phillips of the Institute of Public Affairs exists. Ken is one of the Directors of this organisation and I guess he is far more qualified than me to make such a bold claim.
In an article in the Business section of The Age a week or so ago, Ken wrote that, About six years ago some left thinkers in Labor made the shift to acceptance of market capitalism. I wont argue against the words he writes but I will t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
May 2008 #4 - Art, Power and Parenting
Most parents begin exercising power over their children by using the fear factor. Dont touch. Youll get burnt or Dont play with that. It / you will break. While these types of directives often have very practical and necessary applications, they do remain a fairly central theme as we try and guide our children / teenagers / young adults through the complex maze we call life.
However, for many parents there comes a time when all we can do is hope that weve given them enough of a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
May 2008 #3 - Al-Nakba and OptimismMargaret Thatcher once proclaimedthere is no alternative! She made this pronouncement during the miners strike that almost shut down England during the 1980s. A closer examination of the subtext of her speech and this declaration reveals that, from a position of state based, capitalist supported and ideologically endorsedpower, there can be no alternative to the will of the rulers being imposed on those they rule.
When we turn to examine the so called problems in the Israeli occupied ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
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