Obama: That 'damn Yank'!

Deep in his little insect-heart The Blowfly is wary about President Obama’s recent visit.

Part of it is jealousy!

With all that lovey-dovey stuff going on between our Julia and the President , The Blowfly suddenly realized his place in her life.

The Blowfly has been very close to Julia on many occasions, bathing in the glow of her perfume and getting his sticky feet into that red hair. But last week it was simply impossible for The Blowfly to get past the SWAT teams.

It was a ‘damn yank’ who stole her heart.

During World War 2 local males used to complain about the Yanks being here. It was said that they were “over-paid, over-sexed and over here”.

Winston Churchill also remarked during World War 2 that “with friends like the Americans, who needs enemies?”

No doubt Darwin will grow into a thriving recreation destination for the US servicemen and women who will be stationed in the Northern Territory. That will be a plus. And many Australian men women will meet and fall in love with those servicemen and live happily ever after.

As well, The Blowfly, in his nightly foray into the garbage bins underneath Parliament House, will feel very secure because we have the Americans on our side. He will only have to worry about other flies not about intruders from overseas.

However The Blowfly realizes that American presence is a two-edged sword.
America has also given us Lehmann Brothers, Goldman Sachs and McDonalds. Not to mention Coca Cola, Mars Bars and Santa Claus.

You only have to drive through regional Australia to see the implications of multiple McDonalds in the larger centres and on the freeways. Local cafes and food places have been dealt a crushing blow. But that is progress!

The global financial crisis was given to us with the compliments of Lehmann Brothers and Goldman Sachs who dreamed up all those fancy financial instruments as a way of keeping their revenues up and transferring risk to other unsuspecting people in the economy.

At the time there were undoubtedly many financial jocks who thought that these instruments were the products of superior minds. It was no doubt seen as progress.

More recently we have seen the advent of Facebook and Google. These are seen as progress too! But they are also a rich source of information about the plethora of human-beings on this planet. The CIA , government agencies and banks are rubbing their hands with glee. One would not want to be too concerned about privacy.

The technology that was used to capture Osama Bin Laden is also the technology that human-beings are embracing to kick our financial and social systems to new heights. Progress?

So when we appear to be drawing closer to the United States of America The Blowfly asks to be forgiven for being a little reticent.

The Blowfly is reminded of the words of former Labor leader Mark Latham’s description of the Coalition’s support for the war in Iraq.

"There they are, a conga line of suckholes,” he said.

Unfortunately Obama’s visit has simply reinforced how similar both sides of politics are in Australia.