Vox Pops

I've had a few people ask this question - thought I'd chuck it on here so you can stalk me from a distance. Does that even make sense? In any case - here it is. These are broad plans - I'll be backpacking so I don't have any solid plans beyond Buenos Aires. 4th of August (maybe earlier) Leave Sydney, drive to Brisbane. 12th August fly from Brisbane to Phuket (with friend) 21st August fly to Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand for 2 weeks 4-6th September Bangkok Cambodia 16-27th September Vietnam tour (with Mum) 28th Sept - 1st Oct Hong Kong (with uncle) 2nd Oct - 12th Oct Tokyo (with uncle) 13-17th Oct NYC (with brother and his gf) 18th Oct Buenos Aires - learn Spanish for a few weeks Move down Argentina, go through Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego... Chile Peru Mexico - meet a friend for Christmas Honduras and Guatemala to do volunteer work Cuba Back to Mexico US - drive from Arizona-Las Vegas-San Francisco-Monterey-Vancouver-Salt Lake City (friends)-Winnipeg...

PJK raised a bloody good point on Lateline last night : "... where is the quality of the national debate and why isn't Abbott being flogged by the media for this position (on the Carbon Tax)?" This was f ollowed by the equally good point, " What about that sleepy press gallery of ours? What are they ... ? I mean, is there no premium on quality ?" He's absolutely right. It's utter bullshit that a man who so courageously  says "no" at any opportunity should be given such an obvious free pass. Have we really become that resigned to news companies' bias that we just swallow their "backing" as Joe Hildebrand put it on The Drum last night? And what's worse is people/media/political commentators say Abbott's a good communicator . What?! Are you fucking serious? Even a two year old understands the word "no".  Give me a break. I think there are several salient facts we need to remember in this current environment...