Has anyone noticed the media, all trailing along after our ABC.

Ruddy wanted the carbon tax, [we call it a carbon trading scheme] off the agenda, & the front page.

He grabed a few oranges, in the form of a $2 increase in tax on smokes, & a bit of faceless packaging, & rolled them passed our grand news hounds.

God, would you believe it. Off went the ABC hounds, chasing these decoys, with all the rest of the media following like playful puppies. It is a bit like a fox hunt, with the hounds replaced by a bunch of french poodles.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It was not a very edifying glimpse of the quality of our media, you know, the ones who like to think of themselves as hard bitten.

Ok, I've figured it out, it is funny, I'll laugh, just as soon as I stop crying.

What a load of yesterday nonsense. The reason for the $2 increase is for people to stop killing themselves on a by-gone product which has no more relevance in today's world than steam powered trains. When you have a deep look at the costs of our already overburdened health system, the $2 increase has a two way street involved, and Hasbeen, I take it you disagree with the increase.
Hasbeen. Smoking has been and "gone ( No punt intended ) by' period, and the money that will be made, will bring great pluses to all that are afflicted with the past calls, like! "any-how have a ........'and so on.

I too, am one of these people, and we all remember the adds. Look at it as a blessing, not another whipping stick from the GOV.

I say, a ten dollar increase,( and that's being nice ) because who wants there child to stick a smoke in their mouth.

Think about this. The money that,s been generated will go back into the system for people like you.( if you smoke ) and you already pay ( wtf ) for a two dollar hike ( punt intended ) for ATM transactions, and your call has what? to the currant problem ?

What are you trying to say?

TTM

What rubbish. My post was about the media.

I have no interest in the price of cigarettes, & a couple of dollars added to the all ready huge tax on them, is neither here or there, although it may be for some pensioners who are addicted to the things.

My interest was in the hew & cry from the ABC, doing exactly what Ruddy wanted, & tearing off at a tangent. I wonder if he told them what to do, or if they are just that easily distracted from the main game?

If they wanted to say something, they could have pointed out that the state premiers had stuck a ring through Ruddys nose & led him, like a tame bull, to making his huge expenditure to get his pretend health care reform through. That's the reason for this tax hike, nothing to do with the fool's interest in smokers wellbeing.

My amusement was at the "independant" media, following along in the ABCs wake, on the same nothing story, as if it was something worth reporting. I wonder if any of them ever have an original thought.

I am told that nicotine is the hardest addiction to brake. That being the case, it seems a bit unfair that we spend millions on helping those addicted to illegal drugs & then slug the poor smoker of a legal drug.

There are very large numbers of old age pensioners who's only pleasure is the odd beer, & a smoke. As they are probably incapable of giving up their addiction to nicotine, it's not quite right that we make these poor old buggers, give up food, to service their addiction to their legal drug, so we can use the tax to treat anothers addiction to an illegal one.

"What rubbish. My post was about the media."

OK. That,s your opinion, and ABC or other........... some-times, well........media...........and worth a toss you might say, mmmmmmmmmmmmm interesting.. But you do agree with some of the above?

Put yourself in leaders prospective, and how and what would you do? It,s all good to sit there and winge, quite frankly that's all Australians seem to do. All my point was, is about the smoking problem and the taxes involved with it, and Iam sure you can see. Sorry for spoiling your post. ( if you think so )

A wise man once said, Those who sit, will only gather moss. but yes the ABC................. I will say no-more.

TTM

Hasbeen each and every one of us lives within their own reality.
We all see things our way.
We often sneer at another's views, yet we can and are, often wrong.
Like the Fonz in happy days we too find it hard to say, or even think, I got it wrong.
I prefer the ABC, some are barred from my radio.
Rudd may have reasons to tax more, costs us much more than the saved tax to help smokers in their last days.
Media follows no one, each manufactures its news in its own factory.
Just maybe you are wrong here, well if you are not I am,very much so.

Belly "Media follows no one, each manufactures its news in its own factory"... would be 'OK' if it were a true reflection of how the media operated.

Sadly, it is not. There are very few news agencies in the world, and all media people draw from them, so the 'news' is homogenised tripe.

The views expressed within the media are consistently middle class, status quo views, that rarely if ever question too much.

There is a 'news cycle', and all inhabit it at the same time. See how quickly, like fashion' stories evaporate once published.

The GFC, for instance, has not bee 'solved' at all, yet our papers are full of the next round of growth talk, and all memory of why and how we were gifted the GFC has gone.

See the goons in the US all berating Goldman Sachs officials.... who deregulated though, Goldman Sachs or those goons in the US Senate and House?

Yes, hasbeen is probably correct to some extent, Rudd is seen as being a dud, but still a 'better bet' than Abbott, the only negative that keeps the ALP afloat at the moment.

But it's good to get the Storm fiasco off the front page.