Strange days

Everybody is expecting an Abbot victory in September and the media have already anointed him - the old saying that a week is a long time in politics should remind us all that only in places like Fiji can be taken for given. 

With the media going LibNat full time and full tilt it is up to us in the electronic media to show some balance.
Elections are rarely lost in the part of the cycle we are in.  
Australia's economic indicators are among st the best in the world with unemployment low.
The historically high dollar has hurt exports and the decline in mining revenues are factors but not ones that are credited by any of the chattering class.

Meanwhile we have had one of the most productive governments in recent history with a slew of legislative and policy triumphs against a background of negativity, sleaze and possible corruption.  The Slipper matter has a long way to go but has already implicated Mal Brough and it would be a massive act of will to not see Pyne and Abbott in the equation.

While the government had delivered social programs like the dental and disability schemes, environmental programs like the mining resources tax and the carbon trading arrangements they have been opposed by not just a negative opposition but one that willfully spreads disinformation and mis-truths that are eagerly reported by a slavish press without comment or demurral.  "Australia is going it alone" when in fact 5 billion people live in jurisdictions with carbon trading and the US would if President Obama could get it through the Republican House.

What is lost in all of this is a discussion that is informed by science.  Science that informs us of what is happening in the real world and not what can be spun from the offerings of vested interests or paid mouthpieces of the fossil fuel industry. Our media likes to debate the issue as if there are two sides with valid claims. News and information as entertainment not as a report on reality.
The reality I find beyond the pale is one I hope will not come to pass.  An Abbott government with all the destruction he promises in public let alone what he says he will do behind closed doors in promises to his wealthy mates.
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There is still time - a week can be a long time.