Dumbed down Australia

Julia is concerned about  "education" . Joe Hockey is preoccupied with  "productivity" and Penny Wong likes, this week at least , the word "resilience" .(ABCqanda 6 Feb 2012)  Pack of dummies the lot of them .
Just throwing these words around,  as carelessly as they do,  shows they can't be trusted to unpick the processes that would cause them to cut deeply on these subjects  .
Some may argue that they are appealing to the ignorant,  or some bottom line in the audience understanding of issues . Q&;A format doesn't help; just like it doesn't answer questions (but speculates on motivation )but allows Jones to dumb down any deep issue.  Judith Sloan  at least got a few words in edgeways (explaining them) .
I say , don't do it too often or you'll only reinforce the view amongst thinking Australians that this tribe of wannabes don't think ; by treating us as dummies - becoming dummies yourself
Everyone must unpick the word or kill the spirit of the idea:
Otherwise the idea that they don't know what they are talking about will dominate: as it does amongst children trying to watch Q&A

Nothing in recent days proves the dumbing down than the silly and simple consensus  that a piece of paper and a particular word ( W1, W2 or W3) should identify the scapegoats for the OLD floods (Blame is  never allowed to be a poly) - the flood managers of Wivenhoe dam.   (I know the media  think W1 is a process but that's still the sort of stupid limits we put on ideas these days .

 Let the pedants rule and we spend our last dollar fighting each other in the courts

 Scientists shouldn't be judged on compliance with guidelines they draft , but on decisions they make. Q&A and pollies are not credible when they speak for scientists but don't LET them speak for themselves.
An all party problem - that's how deep the dumbing down is going 

Fighting off disaster

Nothing breaks up the parties of wannabes and their worrier friends than a real environmental event. The chooks are all amok because of floods.   Rural people are used to wavering fear dread and disaster talk from the left field . What Australia,  that country of innovators and planners don't seem to see  is that while the wooriers are in charge noone is safe .
If the worriers are not looking in the right places  (eg science in practice focus) , so the tax effort and all the bells and whistles are all wasted.
The key clue to the disaster in crude old Canberra  is that, like Captain Bligh the latter ,  they think that good decisions come from a piece of paper,  not a person . Personal responsibility is the be all , end all of Western politics and many of our pollies don't even know it .
We need not fear being physically overtaken by the east , we are already been overtaken by it by the way we think /don't think .