I wouldn’t normally post a joke directly, but this is kinda relevant to something I’d been planning to post anyway. (No, it’s not new, but keep reading)
While walking down the street one day a senior Australian politician is tragically hit by a truck and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
“Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.”
“No problem, just let me in,” says the man.
“Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.”
“Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,” says the senator.
“I’m sorry, but we have our rules.”
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians
who had worked with him.Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises…
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St . Peter is waiting for him.
“Now it’s time to visit heaven.”
So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
“Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.”
The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: “Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.”
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. “I don’t understand,” stammers the senator. “Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now
there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?”The devil looks at him, smiles and says, “Yesterday we were campaigning…… Today you voted.”
Funnily enough, last night I saw on the news that John Howard has announced a “Drought Relief Package” valued at somewhere beween AUD$350 million and AUD$750 million (more here).
The timing on this makes me think Howard has already started his campaign run, and is greasing everyone up, so they’ll forget he’s screwed us on so many other things.
If Howard really meant to do something, the best thing he could do would be to get serious about climate change, and do something. If the Kyoto Protocol really isn’t effective (in his opinion), then come up with something better - FAST- and do it. Bitching and moaning that it’d cause massive job losses for Australians isn’t a solution.
The EU has implemented carbon trading, which instead of being a massive burden, has been a big boon for businesses. Whether it has a noticeable positive impact, I don’t know - but it’s a step in the right direction. If businesses see a benefit to cleaning up their act, then they’ll do it.
There’s already a move towards carbon trading on a state level in Australia, because there is business demand for it. Some businesses are able to make a lot of money from it, because they’re able to sell off carbon credits, and even a number of big companies are demanding a unified approach to carbon trading on a Federal level. AFAIK, BHP Billiton, Westpac, and a number of others were/are part of a group demanding that such a scheme be set up - so we’re not talking small change here.
There was a good Background Briefing program on this back in August: The Rise of Carbon Traders
