Wanker Of The Day

"America is safer with George W. Bush as president."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

Glenn Milne's column start out badly:

The great thing about visiting California is that it gives you a sense of where Australia is probably headed...

Milne is in California for an Australian government-sponsored trade show, imaginatively titled "G'day USA". Sponsors include Chevron, FedEx, Geothermal, Holland & Knight, Macquarie Bank and Woodside Petroleum. Milne's conclusions, albeit couched in blockbuster Hollywood hyperbole, are predictably in line with his sponsors' agenda:

Schwarzenegger is something of an environmental pin-up boy for Rudd... Schwarzenegger's thinking is crudely simple and effective... Schwarzenegger is using the sheer mass of the Californian economy and, critically, its venture capital base to crash through any resistance on the climate change front.

Got the message, folks? Rampant capitalism, which has brought our planet to the brink of environmental disaster, is the only answer to our environmental problems! Or as The Terminator puts it:

"Capitalism, interestingly enough long the alleged enemy of the environment, is today giving new life to the environmental movement. We have proven in California that we can protect both the environment and the economy."

And how does Arnie do this?

The strategy is to set mandated targets and then for the Government to simply get out of the way.

Got that, Kev? You set some ambitious targets and then you just "get out of the way". Rampant consumerism will set us all free!

Brilliant, innit? Just. Fucking. Brilliant.

UPDATE: Maybe the Murdoch media should just champion the Israeli government's solution to global warming, which is to cut off power completely. It also helps with population control:

The power cut sent already beleaguered Gazans to stock up on food and batteries in anticipation of dark, cold days ahead. Gaza officials warned the move would cause a health catastrophe while a U.N. agency and human rights groups condemned Israel.

"We have the choice to either cut electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients or stop operating rooms," Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said.

Four hours after the blackout, Hamas claimed that five patients died because of the cutoff of electricity in hospitals.

Whaddaya reckon, Glen?