trying to make sense of it all

Not red and blue, educated and not.

2008-11-13T11:05:00.001+11:00

Here's a short jab at the state of America, which I feel could be said to be a slightly exaggerated version of Australia.

An iPhone App that needs writing.

2008-10-12T23:24:00.001+11:00

If you read this article and you have an iPhone you may be rather concerned about someone else coming into possession of your personal information. Now, I dont really know, but I imagine, rather I hope, that the iPhone has a locking code option so that if you want some extra security you can configure it to request a password each time you want to bring it out of sleep mode. Most phones have this, and most people dont use it because it is a pain to have to type a code every time you want to recieve a txt or make a phone call. The iPhone however has its fabulous touch screen and accelerometer, what if you can use these to make an unlock sequence of actions...! This could make the lock/unlock experience a lot more safe than the current 'swipe bar.'

If this is a little far out for you, then how about a simple fingerprint or facial recognition lock using the camera...? Lots of ways to avoid the code, which on a touch screen is even more annoying.

US$165m in aid from Britain to Bangladesh

2008-09-16T01:12:00.001+10:00

So why the cash?

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. Experts say it is experiencing more rainfall, flooding and droughts, as well as cyclones as a direct result of global warming.

Alexander [Britain's International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander] said the new 75 million pound (93 million euro, 130 million dollar) aid pledge would help Bangladesh "protect its people further from impacts such as rising sea-levels, water-logged land and increased salinity." Yahoo News

For a view on the extent of damage possible due to rising sea levels, check out the Sea Level Rise Explorer from globalwarmingalert.com and head over Bangladesh's way. That red and yellow bit (that takes up the majority of the country) is the home turf of over 150 million people and it is entirely possible that this area will be under water by the end of this century.

For an excellent article summarising a pair of well researched books on the effects on and of climate change, check out Comment by Robert Manne in The Monthly

The Equitable Emissions Trading Scheme v2.1

2008-08-10T21:55:00.001+10:00

My 2nd ETS theory. Bizarrely again in all my reading on the subject, I've not come across such a scheme as this one either.

Each and every tax paying citizen* is transferred an equal quota of carbon credits into a carbon credit account, the total initial amount may be decided on by a transparent panel of scientists and economists or the government, or even an independent federal reserve like body.

Each person can sell whatever portion of this quota they wish to on an open market at the going rate. Businesses and government buy the credits to spend on carbon emission permits, issued by an independent, lawfully accountable body required to stay on track towards a target. It is the extra cost of purchasing these credits that eventually filters down to the public, allowing price to be a deterrent from carbon intensive purchases.

To work out how much the initial quota may be we could look at the most recently acknowledged total co2 equivalent emissions expelled in Australia which is 576,035,430 tonnes in 2006 (Kyoto Accounting, Dept of Climate Change). If we say that 1 credit = 1 tonne of said emissions, then divide that by our tax paying population. The initial cost of an emission permit is 1 carbon credit for 1 tonne of emissions.

The credits, when handed back to the governing body in return for permits, are then automatically distributed evenly into the accounts of the population at the end of each day of trading. These redistributed credits however are restricted from sale for 365 days (366 on a leap year). The possibility of too many members of the public sitting on their credits and not selling would be a massive problem to the economy. Creating a one year expiry date from the date of distribution is I believe a worthy encouragement to negate this harmful possibility. Since the aim of an E.T.S. is to reduce emissions over a period of time by way of market influence, the governing body increasing the cost of a permit will inflate the worth of each carbon credit.

For example, say by 2030 we want to be producing 40% less emissions than we're currently emitting. Each year we gradually change the cost of a permit until by 2030, 1 carbon credit pays for 0.6 tonnes of emission.

If we are to design this system with the aim to be part of a future global carbon emission reduction scheme, we would direct our reduction target towards an equitable figure. This figure would be measured on a per capita basis. We'll use 1990 because that's the yard stick that Kyoto uses. In 1990, the world population was about 5.26 billion people, and produced 21,563,000,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses. That's equal to 4.1 tonne per person. Australia had a population of 17 million in 1990 and emissions of 543,200,000 tonnes. That is equal to about 32 tonnes per person. This figure I assume is before our carbon sinks (bush, rain forrests, etc) are accounted for as the US Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC) puts us at 16.2 tonnes per person in 1990, and 16.3 tonnes per person in 2004.

Say the world leaders get together and decide that they need to reduce their emissions to 1990 levels together and then continue to reduce even more, and to be completely ethical about it, it has to be measured on a per-capita basis. There will need to be some serious adjustments to the energy inequality humanity currently faces. Essentially, to be entirely ethical, when we talk of emissions targets, we should be talking in targets of emissions per capita. The change of the climate that is caused by pollution is everybody's responsibility.

In this respect, if we are to have a target of 15.5 tonnes per person in year 2 of the Equitable ETS described above, then the cost of the permits would have to change to (15.5/16.2=0.957)tonnes per carbon credit. And so on until we reach 4.1 tonnes per person where emission permits would be at (4.1/16.2=0.253)tonnes of co2 equivalent per carbon credit. If this reduction process was a calculated and gradual one, then it would be easier for businesses to understand what is in store for the future economically and can plan/invest for it.

Ideally, it would be great if all nations were put on notice that they must achieve 4.1 tonnes or less per capita by say 2025. Countries like China will likely be more encouraged to join this system because they still have a little way to go, and may be able to slow their massive increases over recent years. They're currently at about 3.9 tonnes per capita. The huge job that western nations have before them would be encouraging for China and India.

If governments around the world were given a portion of the total co2 credits which reflected their population right now, and we all would have to trade for the right to pollute, this would be a massive upset of the balance of power around the world. If we planned to open the world's carbon markets in 2025, when all countries have been warned and have had ample time to restructure, then the shock would be lessened and equality would prevail.

*Of course this theory is entirely open to discussion, however I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who has any thoughts on who should be given the carbon credits, be it everyone (baby -> deathbed), taxpayers only, 18+...? I dont know. Thoughts? I chose taxpayers because it would be easier to keep them accountable, with less room for corruption of the system.

The Equitable Emissions Trading Scheme

2008-08-06T05:55:00.000+10:00

My ETS theory. Bizarrely in all my reading on the subject, I've not come across such a scheme.

Each and every single person in Australia is GIVEN an equal quota of carbon credits, the total amount may be decided by a panel of scientists and economists or the government, or even an independent federal reserve like body.

Each person can sell whatever portion of this quota they wish to on an open market. Businesses and government buy the credits. When you make a purchase of fuel, food, toys, computers etc you pay on top of your cash, a certain amount of carbon credits. Hitched on like a tax. This form of ETS encourages everyday people to be frugal with their emissions with the reward being the trade of said credits on the market for cash.

The quota handed out by the government gradually gets less and less over the years with an aim to reach a carbon emission target.

This doesnt appear to have a net effect on the economy, because, underneith, the economy basically works the same. It just adds a layer of an environmentally skewed credit on top.

When it really gets interesting is when it goes global! think about the effect on the people of poor countries to posess a portion of something valuable, equal to that of every other person in the world. Wow, I tremble with anticipation at the thought of it. It would practically eliminate poverty overnight. Obviously it would have to be a slow transition, otherwise the world economy would be deeply in shock, but eventually, say in 25 years time maybe, we'd see an equitable world carbon market... as they say on TED.com, "I felt that that was an idea worth sharing."

Prisoner's Dilemma and the Climate Debate

2008-08-04T08:09:00.000+10:00

Assumptions: Humans have influenced climate change significantly and its a significant problem for the future.

In a prisoner's dilemma, which is an example of Game Theory, you have two criminals, each under questioning by a law enforcer. If Crim1 gives Crim2 up whilst Crim2 abstains, Crim1 goes free and Crim2 gets 5 years jail. If each incriminates the other, they both get 3 years. If neither speaks, they both get 1 year. In testing (I'm not entirely sure of the circumstances) the occurrence of neither criminal speaking, which offers the least overall jail time, is chosen 40% of the time. To choose to abstain, one is recognising that the other person is in the same predicament, they too would prefer to spend minimal time in jail. When one chooses to abstain, one puts oneself at high risk with the possibility of a better outcome for all.

In regards to climate change, this is a similar predicament. By making a decision whether or not to act now, before the summit in Copenhagen next year, we can use the prisoner's dilemma hypothesis. If we were already at the summit, the prisoner's dilemma would not be relevant as we could all observe and discuss what each other are doing thus negating its logic.

So, if we act now to combat climate change, but others do not, we lose out because we have diminished spending power to deal with the effects of a warmer climate. If we do not act, and then nobody acts, we all have some cash to deal with the warmer climate (exaggerated weather patterns, ie. harsher and more frequent droughts, cyclones, floods etc), though whether it will be enough cash at all is appearing less and less likely.

If however we chose to act, and the rest of the world follows suit. There is a possibility with all this restructuring going on that we dont lose so much in the money side of things. And added to that, there is the possibility that we may stop the worst of climate change happening. So, like the crims above, if we take the personal risk, there is the possibility that we can reach the best overal outcome.

Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery recently spoke of 'flawed thinking' (Crikey, 4th August, 2008) where some people believe that the option to wait for a global consensus before acting ourselves is the right one to take. The idea that developing nations, Flannery reasons, such as China and India will somehow be convinced to act whilst we, a developed nation of the highest per capita polluters in the world, have not set an example to lead the way is simply ridiculous.

The thought process that brings someone to disregard the per capita emissions argument and only consider the national totals is blatant elitism. It is this elitism that has kept the poor, poor, and the rich, rich. Somehow they consider that an Australian is allowed to emit more than 30 times the amount of CO2 of a Chinese person. Why? In a just world, our island nation should be emitting around 76 times less than China (population ratio 76:1). Which brings me to my concept of a just emissions trading scheme, but more on that in the next post.

Returning to the prisoner's dilemma, a recent example of the PD is in the film The Dark Knight *SPOILER ALERT*, where the Joker has rigged up two large ferries with explosives. On ferry A, which is filled with convicts, they have the trigger for the explosives on ferry B, and on ferry B, which is filled with ordinary people, they have the remote trigger for ferry A. Elitism, mistrust and mob mentality comes into play where the ordinary people on ferry B vote in favour of pressing the button on the remote to guarantee their own safety at the demise of the convicts. They reason that the convicts have had their chance in life, that the lives of the ordinary folk are somehow more important. Thankfully, and to the Joker's disappointment, they eventually find that no one person will press the trigger and be responsible for the deaths of others and are forced to sit it out.

The worst thing about the climate debate, is that there is an utter lack of empathy and perspective, where one cannot consider themselves in the position of the decision maker to understand the full impact of their choices. It is, and I love to use Arundhati Roy's words, it is 'a failure of the imagination.' Those who argue the case for acting 'later' but are not in a position to make the grand decision are failing to imagine a world without borders and how climate change is hindered by no line on paper. For those who are in such a position of power, if they choose the path away from taking responsibility then they show their true colours, that of stubborn elitism and utter cowardice.

Related:
The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

New iPhone Leaked!

2008-06-07T17:30:00.002+10:00

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/06/06/breaking-exclusive-leaked-pics-of-the-iphone-2-thinner-design-check-different-colors-check-video-chatting-check-and-check/

Tapered edges on its anodised backing, obviously coming in two or more colours, lovely! Styling is totally in sync with the macbook air and the ipod range.

It was well known that apple were bringing out a more powerful 3G version of the iPhone, and it would be crazy to not include video chat. Really looking forward to handling one of these.

It wasn’t long ago that my inbox was full of screen caps from an image editing program of a new iPod, it was a fat yet small iPod that we now know as the 3rd gen Nano. We posted the photos and were later told by Apple’s legal team to take them down.

A similar tipster tonight has very generously given us these pics of the iPhone 2, or iPhone 3G as some are calling it. Like the Fat Nano from last summer, the images come from Apple or AT&T promotional material that shows not just the new iPhone, but also gives away a couple secrets.

It’s thinner than the current model, for sure, with a more MacBook Air-like bezeling. It’s got stereo speakers on the back and what appears to be the same screen as the current generation. But the real news here isn’t the Exchange support, but the front facing camera for iChat AV.

Cool viral advertising campaign from the UK Gov

2008-06-04T10:53:00.002+10:00

Oil Futures: A series on oil, the future, and you

2008-05-29T23:58:00.002+10:00

Crikey.com.au

The high price of petrol today is causing discomfort among motorists. So much so that our federal politicians have spent almost a week haggling over whose scheme is best suited to knocking a few cents per litre from the pump price.

But in a world where oil is increasingly scarce, where the security of supply remains a problem, and where the environmental cost of using fossil fuels to power your car is soon to be factored into the pump price, is that the right response? What are the long terms solutions to our oil dependence? And is this the beginning of a new era of high-priced oil?

Crikey asked a panel of experts to answer questions on the good old days of cheap oil, what the politicians should really be arguing about, and how our economy will look when petrol costs many dollars per litre.

Today, Adam Grubb, the Australian editor of Energy Bulletin, answers Crikey’s questions.

Have we entered a new energy era of high-priced oil? Are the days of $1/litre petrol gone for good?

Yes, the fundamentals would suggest so. We appear to have reached the peak in oil production. Global conventional oil production peaked in May 2005. Australia as a net importing nation is particularly vulnerable. Our internal oil production peaked in 2000, as shown in this US
Department of Energy graph.

Australian oil production

Most of the major countries we depend on for imports are themselves past their own peaks of production: Vietnam, PNG, Malaysia, New Zealand and Indonesia. Internal affluence and oil consumption is increasing in most of these countries such that exports are falling far more rapidly than actual oil production. Of the major countries we depend on, only the UAE has not been decreasing exports in recent years. (See, for example, this graph on Indonesia.)

This is a trend we are seeing globally. Competition for increasingly scarce oil exports will make procuring replacement oil an expensive exercise, perhaps one sometimes resulting in conflict. Only a fairly severe
global recession is likely to make oil a less scarce commodity, and then only temporarily.

As a policy response, how useful is lowering the fuel excise in combating the rising price of oil, both in the short and long term?

Of course there may be some short term relief for struggling families. However we need to face the reality that oil is never going to be as cheap again as it was in the late eighties and nineties. As global oil
exports continue to fall, prices will continue to rise in real terms. So we would merely be delaying the inevitable, while reducing government revenue which might be better spent helping those in need
with more long term strategies and preparing the country for a leaner, and greener, future.

Peak oil and climate change present us with an unprecedented challenge: how to begin consuming radically less fossil fuels while maintaining dignified lifestyles and essential services. At a personal and national
level we need to be investing much of the remaining fossil fuel energy into sustainable infrastructure, research and behaviour change. Electrifying transport, building renewable capacity, restructuring
university courses, energy retrofitting buildings, relocalising economies; these are major investments, and they require energy. We simply won't be capable of making the investments on the scale necessary if we wait until we no longer have access to cheap energy.

It's also worth considering just how cheap oil is in energetic terms. A litre of petrol contains the energetic equivalent of a worker performing three weeks of hard manual labour. Might you not consider that cheap, even at $20 or $200 a litre? Sadly, we've built an economy, housing, food and transport systems dependent on extraordinary amounts of cheap energy, such that someone commanding enough energy to put an
Ottoman sheik to shame can be just barely getting by, working two jobs and paying back a mortgage.

What sort of policies should Australia be developing to cope with high-priced oil?

We need to radically increase investment in renewable energy technology; implement a Tradable Energy Quotas (TEQs) system for allocating personal carbon allowances; adopt the Oil Depletion Protocol on top of the Kyoto Protocol; encourage in every way urban and small farm organic food production; extend public transport services; promote suburban mixed-use planning, to allow people to work near where they
live; encourage the rebuilding of local industries, with an emphasis on the small scale production of reliable, repairable essential items; develop sustainable forestry practices; stop all new freeway development; produce public education campaigns directed at the understanding of the issues and resulting in behavioural change.

For all this we need a strong sense of purpose and common goals. The collective history of all Australians must be drawn upon, we must feel ourselves part of a story, as a nation that rises to challenges with
good humour and that values self reliance and the land we live on. We must be made to feel we are going forward into a healthier, earthier, more community oriented future. The suburban dream didn't work out that
well for most people. There is much to be gained by the challenges ahead of us. The government must provide the leadership necessary to bring the nation together for these challenges within a spirit of good
will.

Sketch a picture of the Australian economy when petrol is $5/litre and rising, considering things like food, infrastructure, the family budget and inflation?

The McMansion suburbs are likely to fall into disrepair as the price of commuting and mortgage repayments cause many houses to be completely abandoned and stripped for copper wiring and other resources. Many
formally middle class people who have lost their homes will be living out of their cars, perhaps even in gated car camps as are already being set up in the US.

Many adult children won't be able to afford moving out of home, and many households may take in boarders and relatives, creating larger households.

Repair and reuse industries will flourish, many based in garages and sheds. Urban and peri-urban food production will increase and vacant lots will be turned into food gardens. The streets will be more lively, with
ad-hoc markets in used goods and home produce.

Use of foot transport, bicycles and public transport will increase. Street crime will not necessarily increase in direct proportion to economic hardships, as greater social use of the streets, due to less cars and the presence of walkers may provide a level of surveillance.

Some infrastructure and centralised social services may be slowly beginning to break down. Important phone lines will be left unanswered more often, unfilled potholes will be more prevalent. Many services of the
welfare state may be withdrawn, depending on the political climate.

Restaurants, tourism, recreation, personal services and electronics are likely to be some of hardest hit industries. The cheap airline industry will collapse.

There may be food rationing of basic items.

Despite rapidly rising input prices, farmers, where the season is kind, will once again be making fair returns on their efforts, and will be able to employ some of those moving from the cities.

Those with strong community or family bonds will fare better than new immigrants and the otherwise socially isolated. Adaptability and resilience will be key personal strategies. Those too institutionalised by schooling and wage work, and those who consider high consumption lifestyles a birthright and the alternatives unthinkable will have a psychological struggle to adapt. Ecologically inspired strategies such as permaculture design will move from being an environmentally inspired hobby to a core economic strategy.

Those who are looking for solutions which simultaneously tackle environmental impacts, build social bonds, save money and increase health and wellbeing, will find ideal solutions in local food production and a network of manufacture and repair microindustries.

First Dog On The Moon

2008-05-29T23:16:00.001+10:00

See: www.firstdogonthemoon.com

Brilliant!

Political power of lobbyists

2008-05-27T00:50:00.001+10:00

Just a quick note to make people aware, I may comment further later.

See: Another Henson show banned, but not Strange Cargo from the SMH

"I would have thought if there was going to be controversy it would have happened with the 30-year retrospective [of Henson's work] at the Art Gallery of NSW [in 2005]," said Mr Mitzevich, now director of the University of Queensland Art Museum.

"I think it's curious as to why it's happening now. I think people need to look at the political motivations now."

The Strange Cargo website continues to display some of the Henson photographs that were featured in the exhibition.

Very interesting, this reminds me of a thought I had when reading Clive Hamilton's article in Crikey and seeing such lines as:

"Over the last decade or so advertisers and the wider culture have increasingly er-ticised children."

"This has been a recent phenomenon ─ previously it was only teenagers of around 16 or more who were presented this way ─ yet it has occurred slowly enough for most Australians to be inured to it or to accept that that is just how the world is. After all, when even respectable retailers like David Jones er-ticise 10 and 12-year-old girls in their advertisements"

"The er-ticisation of childhood"

What I was reminded of was that I was thinking a few days ago, before the Henson images caused such public craziness, that public debate is being steered, as it has before many times, by the increasingly powerful Australia Institute. This body only recently published its report titled "Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of Children in Australia" to recieve a summons to court from David Jones.

Now after very little digging it is of note that Mr Clive Hamilton, was until recently the director of the Australia Institute and was its founding member. Its clear he's still a strong supporter.

Something also of note is that to keep an eye out for pursuasivness of the Sydney Institute, whom the dubious Gerard Henderson is the Exec Director, with heh heh his wife, Anne as Deputy.

2008-05-26T23:30:00.002+10:00

Barns: Henson a Victim of Abuse of Process
Monday, 26 May 2008

Greg Barns writes:

Bill Henson is the victim of vigilantism and a police force seeking to utilise the criminal law in a way that borders on abuse of process.
The driving force behind the public execution of Henson is, it seems, Hetty Johnson, a self proclaimed child abuse campaigner, who runs an organisation called Barvehearts. She claims to have had a role in the resignation of former G-G Peter Hollingsworth in 2002, after revelations about his less than sataisfactory handling of child abuse complaints when he was Archbishop of Brisbane.
Johnson is, like most morality campaigners, myopic in her vision, and more than happy to go after high profile scalps to further her obsessive campaign. Like Senator Joesph McCarthy, the notorious anti-Communist of the 1950s, Ms Johnson plays investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury. Her comments last Friday to the media, after the New South Wales Police raided Ros Oxley’s Paddington gallery to remove Henson’s images, confrim Johnson’s readiness to prejudge issues.
"It's child exploitation, it's criminal activity and it should be prosecuted, both the photographer Bill Henson ... but also the gallery because these are clearly images that are sexually exploiting young children," Johnson said.
"They are clearly illegal child pornography images, it's not about art at all, it's a crime and I hope they're prosecuted."
These comments show a cavalier disregard for fairness on Johnson’s part.
Bill Henson by the way can rest easy. He should not be charged with any criminal offence, but if he is his lawyers should examine an abuse of process argument against the New South Wales Police. Ms Johnson and the officers in the New South Wales Police who decided to investigate Henson and the Ros Oxley Gallery have obviously not bothered to read section 91H of the New South Wales Crimes Act.
Section 91H deals with the offences of production and dissemination of child pornography. It defines child pornography to mean material that depicts or describes a child under 16 engaged in sexual activity; in a sexual context or as a victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse, "in a manner that would in all the circumstances cause offence to reasonable persons."
Surely even the most junior constable in the New South Wales Police could see that the Henson photographs comprehensively fail to fit within that definition.
But even if they did, section 91H provides a defence to Henson and the Ros Oxley Gallery. It provides that it is a defence to a charge of producing or disseminating material if it can be shown that, "having regard to the circumstances in which the material concerned was produced, used or intended to be used, the defendant was acting for a genuine child protection, scientific, medical, legal, artistic or other public benefit purpose and the defendant’s conduct was reasonable for that purpose."
And what of the alleged breaches of Commonwealth law? The Commonwealth Criminal Code makes it an offence to communicate by email, or via the Internet, or other means child pornography images. But once again child pornography is defined in a manner similar to the New South Wales law.
Henson and the Ros Oxley Gallery have done nothing wrong – the law in this area is clear. What is wrong is the conduct of the New South Wales Police and Hetty Johnson - both have clearly misunderstood the law. In the case of Johnson that is to be expected, but there is no excuse for the New South Wales Police.

from: crikey.com.au

I totally agree with Mr Barns. His article clearly covers the legality of Mr Henson's actions and the excessive response from the NSW Police and vigilantism of Ms Johnson.

One of the comments below the article stated "If you downloaded these photos from a website called lolita.com and looked at them in the privacy of your home then the Police would like a chat with you." Well, maybe a chat, with the presumption of innocence, to determine whether or not you downloaded them with the intention of criminal behaviour or for another reason, such as investigative research. You may be shaking your head right now, but have you ever considered people who are searching for missing children, or phd students compiling statistics on exploited children with the hope to one day reduce said exploitation...? My point is, not everything is black and white. Images of naked children are not only viewed by people sexually, there are of course other very valid reasons for such images to be seen. If all you feel when you see photographs of a naked young person, irrespective of the context in which its shown, is a strong sense of distaste, then I pity you and the society that has conditioned you this way.

Where Clive Hamilton wrote in another Crikey article "Putting the images on the internet was unforgivable, for in doing so they relinquished all control over how the images are seen and consumed." I personally totally agree, if it were my child, I would be furious, though to feel outrage is indeed up to the child depicted and her guardian. If they show such outrage, THEN it is news. In the enclosed gallery however (and any other private venue that Mr Henson has permission to express his photography from the young girl and her guardian), these pictures are art, designed to invoke emotions and subsequently promote discussion, I am glad we have laws protecting the rights of all of these parties involved to have their art displayed where they desire. I would propose further discussion however around the idea that we have a law protecting minors from having identifiable nude images of them, art or not, made available in easily reproducible forms, such as on the internet or television, and anyone who copied with the intention of distributing said images could be prosecuted. This I would support.

I'd also like to point out the ridiculousness of how Channel 10 portrayed the pictures last night. Showing three of the artworks, the first, blurring the model's face and privates, whilst the second and third included no blurring at all! Splashed on mainstream television was the face of the minor involved when I'd be fairly secure in assuming that she signed up to be only viewed by the arts community. I sincerely hope that she has metaphorically thick skin, the poor girl is taking a battering. That said, I also strongly hope that Mr Henson and his young model have a case to sue for damages.

"Above all, we are coming to understand that the arts incarnate the creativity of a free people. When the creative impulse cannot flourish, when it cannot freely select its methods and objects, when it is deprived of spontaneity, then society severs the root of art." -John F. Kennedy

Laura Marling on Later... With Jools Holland

2008-01-07T16:54:00.001+11:00

Blogged with Flock

Nelson's Joint Strike Fighter Scandal

2008-01-02T12:18:00.000+11:00

When one looks back to the "Flying Blind" doco on ABC's Four Corners program that describes the process or lack of process through which the Howard government under Defense Minister Nelson went to decide the future of our air force fighter planes, its very comforting to read the article in the SMH entitled "Axe set to fall on Nelson's Fighters"
It was a ridiculous and farcical decision that I'm really glad is being reassessed.

Pressure

2007-12-11T19:03:00.001+11:00

I hope that a day will come in which no one will be oppressed based on his or her sexual orientation!

Blogged with Flock

We have a decade, tops, to save the planet

2007-11-21T18:55:00.001+11:00

Sophie Black from Crikey writes:

Climate scientists in Australia have been shaking their heads over the political hot air that's puffed out of this election campaign. Some have completely disengaged from it. These scientists have been waiting decades for global warming to hit the agenda, so now that it's at the top of it, why aren't they hanging off the parties' promises?

Maybe it's because they were watching the satellite photos of the Arctic sea ice melt months ago. Here they are on the NASA website (click on image):

These photos show that the sea ice shrunk to 40 per cent below its average size, losing an area twice the size of NSW. And no-one saw it coming.

This is not a panic puff piece or a tabloid beat up, this is just one of the findings cited in the report prepared by Dr Graeme Pearman, the former head of CSIRO's atmospheric research unit and the Climate Adaptation Science and Policy Initiative at the University of Melbourne.

Pearman's report, commissioned by the Climate Institute, says that the evidence of global warming has dramatically increased in the past 12 months. The report also states:

The growth in carbon emissions, mainly from fossil fuels, has leapt in the past decade from 1.1 per cent a year to 3 per cent a year. This means that greenhouse emissions are rising faster than the worst-case IPCC scenarios.
The global temperature warming trend is accelerating faster than expected. If continued such a trend will lead to a temperature rise of approximately 3 degrees by the end of this century (relative to pre-industrial temperatures) tipping us into dangerous climate change - defined as over 2 degrees. The average global warming is now 0.8 degrees over the past century, with recent warming growing at 0.2 degrees per decade. If continued such a trend will lead to a temperature rise of approximately 3 degrees by the end of this century (relative to pre-industrial temperatures). Climate models also suggest that this ‘business as usual’ trend will produce global warming of around 3 degrees by the end of this century. This would be the highest global temperature rise recorded in recent palaeoclimate history.
The recent rapid decreases in Arctic sea ice extent are occurring much faster than any of the climate model projections suggest would happen. The current summer minima are approximately 30 years ahead of a range of simulation model forecasts. On the basis of current trends, an ice free Arctic Ocean might occur much earlier than 2050 – 2100 as previously thought.
Recent scientific work suggests that the capacity for the land and oceans to absorb carbon dioxide emissions is declining. As terrestrial ecosystems respond to anthropogenic climate change, including warming everywhere and drying in some regions, it is likely that some regions that have been sinks of atmospheric carbon will change to sources, through decreases in net primary production, increased occurrence of wild fires, and changes in ecosystem composition.
A recent review of climate observations compared to projections suggests that the IPCC projections may have underestimated sea-level rise. The observed sea-level rise for 1993 to 2006 shows a linear trend of 3.3 +/- 0.4 mm/year - higher than the IPCC projected best estimate of 2mm/year. Rahmstorf estimates a sea level rise of 0.5 to 1.4 meters by 2100, which is much higher than the range of projections in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.

These are the kind of findings that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is quibbling over ahead of the release of their fourth report for the year in Valencia, Spain, this week.

The IPCC is attempting to filter thousands of pages of scientific findings down to a 25-page document – a synthesis to guide government policymakers around the world. But there are widespread concerns that their findings are already out of date given this year's results.

According to Pearman's estimate, the world only has 5-10 years to take drastic action. So what has to happen in that incredibly short amount of time to mitigate major disasters?

John Connor, CEO of the Climate Institute, told Crikey, "all new energy must come from clean energy from now."

"We must drive a new sustainability revolution that dramatically cuts energy wastage, now and brings forward new clean technology," says Connor.

"The window of opportunity for a smooth transition is narrowing rapidly. People can’t just be climate consumers but climate citizens, this just requires political will, the technology is there siting on the shelf it just has to be employed," says Connor. "Pressure must be placed on political and business leaders to act now."

Assuming those leaders can take time out from arguing over tax cuts, laptops, communism, union thugs, budget surpluses, nuclear reactors, when to retire, who's the bigger economic conservative and ear wax, that is.

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To people who oppose Clover's reduction of liquor license fees...

2007-11-14T00:41:00.001+11:00

Think about this people, its a well known fact that your surrounding environment (architecture, lighting, comfort, etc) effects your state of mind. Take a dimly lit, small lounge bar playing jazz music (just an example, not trying to be a tosser), this environment encourages people to feel comfortable and ultimately show more care and respect for their surroundings. In the same way, a bar/club that has thumping music, is sparsely furnished, and lit like The Haçienda encourages excitement and a sense of anonymity.

People who want to go and get smashed will have little desire to visit a quiet boutique venue, even if already drunk. Sure maybe occasionally there will be some idiot who just wants to cause trouble, but gradually these kinds of people will over time become bored with the area and go somewhere else thats more accommodating to their alcoholic needs, like George st, Oxford st, or Darlinghurst Rd.

By supporting the establishment of smaller venues by lowering licensing costs, you give people more options to get away from the boozing culture and into something a little more sophisticated and less harmful.
Its about priorities. Should we encourage people to go to venues that makes most of its money from booze and pokies or should we encourage people to go to venues like, Bar Me for example that serves delicious food and supports local musicians?

Oh and my underlying assumption here is that a venue wont be a hit unless we adults have a little tipple to swirl around in our glasses.

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Andrew Denton Makes Significant Impact on Kyle (Cartman) Sandilands

2007-11-07T20:42:00.001+11:00

My name is Kyle and I'm sorry | NEWS.com.au

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Peter Andren: a more honest bastard than me

2007-11-06T21:41:00.001+11:00

Irfan Yusuf

It's one thing to talk about keeping the bastards honest. But how do you keep yourself - so often the biggest and hardest bastard of all - honest in the midst of a hard-fought political contest? How do you stay true to yourself when doing the opposite looks like the only way to survive?

I can't say I have any solutions worth mentioning. The closest I came to federal politics was being involved in federal campaigns in various Sydney seats for various Liberal candidates and sitting Members. Plus I had my own campaign in the hard-luck seat of Reid in 2001.

That election was fought around terrorism and security issues. It was a post-9/11 environment, a time when Aussie troops were deployed as part of an international force to overthrow the Taliban. It was also a time when the Liberal Party's strategy was to destroy Pauline Hanson by offering a policy platform that included immigration and asylum policies couched in Hanson-type rhetoric.

Not even the grieving uncle of two young siblings who drowned in the SIEV-X incident could convince me to publicly declare what I really believed. What did I have to lose? It wasn't as if I was going to beat sitting MP Laurie Ferguson. But for me, Reid represented a stepping stone. Sticking to the Party line, co-operating with Campaign HQ, achieving a good swing, diverting Ferguson's attention and resources from the next-door marginal seat of Parramatta - all these were a means to some nebulous ambitious political end.

The best I could do without falling foul of Campaign HQ was to express my true feelings in languages that they would never understand. I expressed thinly veiled disgust at the SIEX-X tragedy in community newspapers published in Urdu, Arabic, Turkish and Vietnamese. It was more a cop-out than a sacrifice. Honesty gave way to political expediency.

Hundreds of miles away, a more independent-minded and honest political player showed far more guts and decency than me and all the other Coalition and ALP candidates combined. Peter Andren was the Independent MP of the largely rural seat of Calare in Central Western NSW, a seat that would normally be considered safe National Party territory. Andren had much more at stake, and most observers would have forgiven him for staying silent on an issue where support for the Howard government's position was so strong.

But unlike myself and other Liberal candidates (with a few notable exceptions), Andren placed truth and conviction before political expediency.

When Andren first won the seat in the 1996 Federal Election, he shocked National Party strategists for whom winning the seat was a given. Calare was National Party heartland. It stretched from Lithgow in the east (just west of the Blue Mountains) to Cowra in the South West, taking in the regional cities of Bathurst and Orange. One National Party rep remarked, no doubt in a state of frustration: "Andren is wasted space. It would have been better for the electorate had the Labor candidate won."

In each subsequent election, Andren increased his majority. In 2001, Andren pulled off the politically unthinkable. He managed a primary vote of over 50%. His two-'party' preferred vote was over 75%.

Andren had the good fortune of spending years as the local news anchor in both TV and radio. In his 2003 autobiography The Andren Report: an independent way in Australian politics, Andren summed up the importance of this personal recognition in the words of some of his supporters from a Country Women's Association branch in his electorate.

"One lady, fortyish, a farmer and mother, said she would miss me reading the fortnightly news because I'd been living in her living room all those years. A friend butted in across the acres of scones, jam and cream: 'He's been in my bedroom all those years!'"

Andren battled local attitudes and a vicious National Party smear campaign to win the 2001 election despite taking a principled stand on Tampa and asylum seekers. He writes in his autobiography od one of his voters who'd heard widely circulating rumours that local Afghan asylum seekers were planning terrorist attacks.

"These bloody terrorists, we've got to keep them out! Guess what we heard down the street the other day? Well, there's a couple of Afghans cutting asparagus down on the river just outta town and they've been seen talkin' on their mobiles... They're plannin' to blow up Wyangala Dam."

Andren writes about the time in August 2001, well before any 9/11 terrorist scare, when the PM tried to introduce and pass the Border Protection Bill. Howard personally telephoned Andren, seeking his support to expedite the Bill's introduction, without which a lengthy debate in Parliament would have ensued.

Andren agreed, but insisted on seeing the Bill. He was shocked by its contents and the speed with which such a Bill, which sought to overcome all human rights legislation and obligations, would be voted on and potentially passed.

At 6:45pm that evening, the House of Representatives assembled. At 7:12pm, Andren rose to address the House.

"A few moments ago I spoke to a close relative(my sister) and tried briefly to explain to her what this piece of legislation was all about. She told me she supports the Prime Minister right up to the hilt; perhaps my electorate supports this legislation right up to the hilt - but I do not."

Andren then spoke words that secured his position as the conscience of not just his electorate or the Parliament but of the nation.

"We cannot claim the high moral ground in sending our troops against Saddam, we cannot condemn the Taliban extremists, if we aren't prepared to accept there are thousands of persecuted victims of those regimes who manage to escape ... If this is the way to win government in this country, then whoever exploits that way holds a poisoned chalice, and the victory would be political but certainly not moral."

Now Peter Andren has returned to meet his maker. On judgment day, when the SIEV-X victims are called to give evidence in the divine court, who knows how many (including myself) will be pronounced guilty of ignoring their plight. But Andren will be able to stand tall and declare he at least kept himself honest, even if he couldn't keep the rest of the bastards in line.

Read all responses to this article

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What Costello Has In Stall For Australia

2007-11-06T14:03:00.001+11:00

There appears to be a whole lot of confusion over what would be in stall for us given a Coalition win, Howard's retirement and subsequently Costello in the big chair, see Handover shrouded in secrecy. To shed a little light on this, and as always I ask you to add more if you care to, I will give a few examples of Peter Costello's priorities.

"The federal Treasurer yesterday announced changes that would
leave groups that organise boycotts against companies for moral or
ethical reasons at greater risk of prosecution. The changes,
described as "McCarthyist" by the Greens, will give the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission powers to initiate legal action
and seek compensation on behalf of companies targeted by
boycotts." Costello aims to make protesters pay for boycotts - Jessica Irvine, Sydney Morning Herald, February 23, 2007

Sounds like a lovely idea, remember the issue is not arguing for or against mulesing, its whether or not people have a right to stage a protest boycott when they feel strongly about something a business practices. By proposing this law, Costello insults the general population's ability to determine whether or not they wish to join a boycott. Removing the voice of these lobby groups ultimately encourages people to shop without considering the consequences of creating demand for a certain product. Groups like PETA seek to wake consumers from their thoughtless states and inform them of the power they possess.

Expect: Protection of businesses even at the expense of civil liberties.

"Mr Costello said the government proposed to amend corporate laws to make hardcore cartel conduct a crime punishable by jail sentences of up to five years and fines of $10 million or three times the cartel benefit.
He said the aim was to criminalise conduct in which businesses colluded to dishonestly fix prices ..." Fed: Costello foreshadows jail terms for cartel execs - AAP General News (Australia), February 2, 2005.

Mr Costello must have really cared about this one to have followed it through so well. Note most recent cartel litigation where Australian consumers were over a five year period directly and indirectly overcharged almost $900 million by VISY and AMCOR price fixes. See article: Why Visy copped the heaviest cartel penalty ever. This 'heavy' penalty was awarded to VISY, at $36M, and Mr Pratt is not personally required to pay anything, nor serve any time in prison. See image below:

Mr Pratt looking really sorry for himself.

Expect: Corporations to continue to influence government and conduct unjust activities as Peter Costello wont stand in their way.

In this interview "Respect Australian values or leave: Costello" on Lateline with Tony Jones, Mr Costello tries to defend a day of voicing "the sort of thing you hear in pubs, the meaningless populism you hear on talkback radio" to gain solidarity with the racial vilifiers and bigots of our society.

Expect: Vilification of minority groups when it suits

Sounds like a future leader I'd like to avoid.

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ABC's Senate Calculator

2007-11-06T09:35:00.001+11:00

Senate Calculator

I find this to be absolutely brilliant. It clearly outlines the process of how preferences can be distributed out and highlights the importance of making an educated decision to where your preferences will go. I only wish that after the election, there will be an application where we will be able to enter into a similar web form where we actually put our preferences (if we chose them ourselves, or if we simply put a 1 in one of the top boxes) and it will produce the odds on where your vote ended up being counted. THAT would be cool.

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Could the government be any more rediculous??

2007-11-02T11:56:00.001+11:00

Andrews in the dark over Haneef 'plan' - National - smh.com.au

My take on this is that when the government heard of the link between Haneef and his cousin, they considered him guilty until proven innocent and even in the face of proof, as is typical of men in government, they couldn't apologise. They're more concerned about saving their own skins than that of the innocent. And now with even the Visa descision being overturned by a federal court, the government wants to APPEAL! Best thing to do guys is let it go, dont bring it further into the spotlight, this is BAD for your image, not good.

I liken this government to someone who is a compulsive lier. When they're found out, they make up another lie to cover the slip up. They've been very good at it to hide their incompetence for so long. I'm still not convinced the wider public understands the extent of their gross incompetence, but at least the public is starting to get a whiff of the stench which follows them everywhere.

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Nice! I'm liking these spin-offs!!

2007-11-01T18:48:00.001+11:00

Four Corners - Flying Blind

2007-10-30T22:08:00.000+11:00

This is another very serious blunder by Brendan Nelson, Robert Hill and the Coalition Government.

I used to think that it was just Johnny Howard who was star struck by the yanks, but it appears a number of people in his cabinet are just as affected.

Four Corners - Flying Blind

Its just lovely what path this government has placed us upon. We now:
- Allow Locheed Martin to sell us useless planes for billions in taxpayers money without respect for a tendering process.
- Allow Boeing to do the same thing
- Allow Halliburton to build a heavy railway from Adelade to Darwin which just 'happens' to pass through three of the recently proposed possible sites for nuclear waste dumps.
- Allow AWB to bribe the Iraqi government with $millions
- Allow Gunns to build a massive pulp mill which would more than double their net assets without properly considering the full environmental impact.
- Allow the massive concentration of media ownership critically impacting diversity of opinion and increasing the already massive powers of those who own the conglomerates. Also increasing the divisions among Australians by having a dichotomy of opinion in the major newspapers. Simply look at the polls taken on both news.com.au and smh.com.au and you will see the same polls with significantly different responses.
- Allow changes to Australian universities which among other effects are causing departments which cant pull any revenue from private industry to close. This is currently happening to the Psychology dept in UNSW.
- Allow experts in the Australian solar industry to move overseas because we don't afford them any considerable funding.
- Allow the mining industry to mine such sites as Kakadu, the Hunter Valley, and East Timor's waters.

Please comment if you think of more, I'm simply too tired and depressed to continue.

YouTube - Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

2007-10-30T16:21:00.000+11:00

YouTube - Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

Nelson Interferes with Research Funding

2007-10-29T15:51:00.000+11:00

Many people have suspected Brendan Nelson of seriously biased interference in the functioning of universities whilst Minister for Education, Science and Training, but aside from his well known and criticised university reforms, little has been made available to prove any of it. Now the most serious evidence of the minister's secret use of his ministerial powers has surfaced, actually dictating what research (of the ones already passed by the rigorous Australian Research Council's approval process) should not be given access to a research grant. Supposedly on the grounds of National Interest.

The concept of what is in the national interest is to most people a very valid idea which deserves its place in our constitution, but I challenge this because it is so subjective and rarely qualified with explanation or evidence. Commonly if an action is said to be done in the national interest, it is then said that it is in the national interest to keep the motivation for such action secret. This is so rarely justifiable, yet so often applied I feel it is a violation of our democratic right to make informed decisions come election time. When one of the 9 or 10 research projects deemed to be not in the national interest by Brendan Nelson, the only one we now know the topic of, was to research the way politicians had managed the media during the 'children overboard' affair and four other scandals, one would be blind to not see who's interest was really being served by denying funding.

I put forward an idea (if it has not already been done) called the National Interest Bill, whereby the usage of "National Interest" would be defined accurately in the constitution. Given the evident cases of misuse considering its broad nature, it should be followed by a clear, succinct list of possible reasons that make obvious any motivation for secrecy, without giving away the secret itself. A point from this list must be referred to when National Interest is used as a reason for any political decision for it to be deemed acceptable. This process would truly be in the interests of the nation when it is coupled with the right for members of the public to demand and receive a confirmation of the reasons behind the secrecy by an independent court of high regard subject to the strongest tests of impartiality.

SMH - How Nelson gagged researchers

For anyone who needs an introduction to Bob Brown

2007-10-23T16:39:00.000+10:00

Decide what policies you approve of and we'll tell you who to vote for

2007-10-23T13:22:00.000+10:00

I was skeptical, but it turned out to be fairly impressing.

VOTE-O-MATIC

With comedian Tahir

The Flash presentation also gives you a video from each of the top five party leaders once you've finished answering the questions.

Federal Election 2007 | You Decide 2007 | News.com.au - Vote-O-Matic

Young citizen canes Turnbull on climate

2007-10-03T19:25:00.000+10:00

An article strangely hidden from the front page of the Herald today that is in some ways amusing, whilst in others deeply depressing regarding a government consistently in denial over the gravity of the global warming issue and the serious need for a holistic approach (in this instance, it can be referred to as an overhaul) to addressing it.

Clover Moore's Daylight Saving Change

2007-09-29T13:35:00.000+10:00

From her eNEWS email bulletin:

"Daylight saving will start three weeks earlier and end one week later
under a Bill that passed the Legislative Assembly this week. When
Parliament extended daylight saving for the Commonwealth Games in 2005
I moved to make the changes permanent. They were opposed because
agreement was needed with other States. I am pleased that this has now
occurred.

I supported the Standard Time Amendment (Daylight Saving) Bill.
Extended daylight saving increases time for families and friends,
encourages people to stay outdoors and be active, and saves energy by
reducing the need for artificial lighting. It reduces the fear of
crime by giving people time to travel home in daylight. It is good for
business, increasing trade for shops, bars and outdoor cafés.

If the Legislative Council passes the Bill, daylight saving will
start on the first week of October and end on first week of April,
beginning in 2008."

Sounds good to me!

Ron Mueck

2007-09-26T17:26:00.000+10:00

Ron Mueck - Watch more amazing videos here

-See Video-

The music is totally there to make what you see have more of an artistic and thoughtful appeal, but its really not necessary, Ron Mueck's work is amazing.

The One that Fits Inside the Bathtub

2007-09-25T17:15:00.000+10:00

-See Video-

I really enjoyed this, I think its a film that anyone who views my site would enjoy, its a wonderfully reflective story, spoken by a beautiful young lady.

Publisher's Description: A short experimental film exploring ideas of belonging, the need to fit in, the labels we place on ourselves and others as well as the need to find spaces in this world that we can call our own and feel safe in.

Google Australia's Federal Election Watch Websites

2007-09-25T17:03:00.000+10:00

The Google hub
The YouTube hub

Australian Democrats: The new citizenship test

2007-09-25T16:50:00.000+10:00

Indonesia extending an open hand

2007-09-11T11:12:00.001+10:00

Cultural exchange a way to build mutual trust - Opinion - smh.com.au

Respect to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Respect.

Some political satire for your day

2007-08-13T10:14:00.000+10:00

Synopsis: A short film parodying the government's anti-terrorism hot-line advertisements

Recurring Dream

2007-06-28T16:56:00.000+10:00

When Bush sent troops to Iraq, generally the international community were saying, hey hang on here now, there's something fishy going on, there's no evidence of Al Qaeda support in the Iraqi government...
When Howard sent troops to NT, generally people were saying, hey, hang on, isnt this a bit rushed, drastic, over the top... there's something fishy going on, this shouldn't be used as a ratings grab...

Why did Bush choose Iraq to attack? Possibly to protect the Americans' energy hungry way of life, or to give money to the war machine that helped him and his daddy get into government, or somehow to create an environment in Iraq that facilitated American oil companies to deal their cards more effectively and make more money. Either way, it was over oil.

Why did John Howard, within a week of the publishing of a particular report which is the same as many other reports that have been published over the past 20 years, send police and the army into a particular Aboriginal community in the NT? Is it because he cares about the plight of Aboriginal Children? Hardly, he's known about these problems for years and has done nothing until now. Is he worried about Australia's international image? Maybe, the state of outback Aboriginal communities and general welfare has been noted in numerous UN reports and may be being used against us in international negotiations.

But what has been the strength of his career in politics? Keeping the economy strong he keeps telling us. But how? Its commonly understood that with the sad state of our manufacturing industry and the drought, it has been the mining boom that has bolstered our economy to its current successes. And as America is addicted to Oil, our politicians are addicted to coal, iron ore, zinc and uranium. Its been unfortunate for Howard that so much of these money making assets lie under the ground that was given to the Aboriginals so many years ago. In Howard's mind, he cares little about people who cant help themselves, and who he thinks also want to tarnish his country's good image by highlighting the 'blemishes' of the colonial past. He cares about white Australia, he cares about the wealthy, his 'base' as Bush puts it.

This is why he has concocted this hideous plan to take away Aboriginal land rights under the despicable guise of helping those who are disadvantaged. Thousands of Australians have applied to help these 'poor children' in remote Aboriginal communities, and they've all been hoodwinked.

Bush said he was sending troops to Iraq for a good reason, it was for oil.
Howard says he's sending troops to NT for a good reason, its for uranium with the added bonus of further eradicating the Northern Territory's and Aboriginal community's powers of self governance.

Long-serving Sydney political journalist Alex Mitchell writes in Crikey:

2007-06-27T16:02:00.000+10:00

"This is the last throw of the dice for John Howard. He is doing one big favour for the mining industry which he has faithfully served in public life for the past 30 years by rolling back Aboriginal ownership of their tribal lands. Cynically, cruelly but utterly predictably, he’s doing it under the hypocritical colours of humanitarianism. (Very similar to the invasion and occupation of Iraq sold as “spreading democracy”). In his four terms as PM, he has starved indigenous health, education and housing of funds, abolished ATSIC and pointedly marginalised the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio. This particular pre-election pitch is aimed at Lateline viewers, readers of The Age and The SMH and ABC stalwarts, the demographic that constitutes Australian (small “l”) liberalism. These are the feeble-brained, hand-wringers who are congenitally incapable of separating the wood from the trees. They are types currently heard sobbing: “I’m no fan of Mr Howard, but at least he’s DOING SOMETHING!” Yes, he is: he’s giving the mining giants the leg-up they need to start exploring, digging and quarrying in indigenous lands in the Northern Territory and then elsewhere. He is being aided and abetted by Kevin Rudd’s craven behaviour. Instead of falling into line with Howard’s agenda, he should have demanded complete details of the plan, the highest-level briefing, sought face-to-face meetings with Aboriginal leaders, state premiers, police and army officers and taken the lead in a national debate. Instead, he mouthed pieties such as “I’m taking Mr Howard at his word” and “I believe the Prime Minister when he says he is responding to a national crisis” etc etc. Has anyone realised that these are almost the same words used by Kim Beazley when he backed Howard during the Tampa scam? By his pusillanimous approach, Rudd has vacated leadership on the tragic issue of rescuing Aboriginal communities and given Howard the opportunity to play his sickening Father of the Nation role. Paul Keating, you were right about the Rudd team of fixers, hucksters, flyweights and spineless opportunists."

Alex Mitchell

Mutitjulu Community Leaders

2007-06-27T11:49:00.001+10:00

Crikey - Mutitjulu community leaders: please listen to us

I'm glad at least one national publication will hear the other side of the story.

Bill Bailey for Eurovision 2008!

2007-06-22T14:10:00.000+10:00

Bill Bailey's Views On His Entering Eurovison 2008 - Click here for more home videos

Alex Hawke

2007-06-18T05:51:00.001+10:00

Labor attacks 'extremist' Hawke - National - smh.com.au

This young man is an interesting character, sounds particularly nasty if you ask me. If you have any idea of how branch stacking works, you would agree. Its basically a combination of disregard for honest democracy and bullying. This aside, I think its best that everyone watch him closely, it feels like we're going to hear a lot from him in the future.

Hawke is currently a staffer for David Clarke, a member of the NSW Legislative Council and has been blamed for the losses of a number of preselections of moderate libs to be replaced by neo-cons usually by dubious methods such as branch stacking again. Who you will find on his Wikipedia entry is a member of Opus Dei, along with his wife. Considerable religious links there.

Light entertainment :)

2007-06-14T10:48:00.001+10:00

Watch this,

http://chime.tv/aloha/w7cd

then watch

http://chime.tv/aloha/w7cz

Bahahahahah too funny!

Awesome research tool and social bookmarking service!

2007-06-13T17:40:00.001+10:00

Here's my bookmark list, but thats all it is so far, it will be so much more! I'm even writing this blog entry from its toolbar :)

staffordvp's Diigo Bookmarks

Crikey - Politics Etc - What's a teacher worth? Pay and politics

2007-06-12T17:28:00.000+10:00

Crikey - Politics Etc - What's a teacher worth? Pay and politics

Julie Bishop, Minister for Education at the time of publishing, is one nasty piece of work. In order to big note herself as a woman of vision and change, she's decided to push an agenda that (as is typical of the Libs) plays on the lowest common denominator again. She feels that teachers in the public system are lazy and slack and need to be influenced by market forces to improve. The influence of headmasters, PNC, fellow teachers, the curriculum, Department of Education, and the State and Federal Govts have not failed, its the teachers themselves, they lack inspiration. Care they do not about the welfare of their students in these times of great peril from terrorism, increases in the gap between the rich and poor, lack of funding for facilities (books included), and the stretching thin of the public health-care system. Money will fix it! Yes, but we wont give them more, we'll make them produce results for their pay! Forget about personal satisfaction and pride in one's job, forget about the thrill of watching and having an impact on the way children's minds grow and develop, its the get results or starve method that will produce the best opportunities for our children. Great idea Julie, tremendous.

Teaching in Australia is one of the last university graduate professions where every worker is on a relatively similar wage (between $50K and $73K according to Crikey). This tends to bring a sense of togetherness and support. It means that no teacher is particularly more or less advantaged than another (aside from their posting). This sort of relationship is necessary for consistency. No child wants to overhear teachers bitching amongst themselves about another teacher brown nosing and getting special treatment. Kids don't need to care about that, they are in a very impressionable time of their lives where they need to be taught that everyone should be treated fairly no matter what they look like on the outside or what friends you have or don't have.

I can imagine the synonymous little Jimmy getting a lesson on equality after being caught teasing an overweight kid, and then retorts 'Why does Ms Harper get more money than you Ms Jane? is it because you're fat and Mr Jones [the principal] doesn't like you?' 'Why would you say such a thing James?' 'I heard Mr Clarke talking to Mr Robinson about it...'

Something to ask Ms Bishop about, Jimmy.

***Sorry, I know my argument is a bit simplistic, but this is just such a stupid idea you don't need to go to complexities to bag it out***

17 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre: The Tank Man

2007-06-09T22:17:00.000+10:00

from: http://www.irintech.com/x1/blogarchive.php?id=1171

Lest we forget

The machine is us...

2007-06-09T21:28:00.001+10:00

I just thought this was amazing and so well done, it hopefully enlighten you on the Internet revolution that is XML and Net 2.0. How it is changing the way we use the Internet.

ZDNet article

Another somewhat more amateur, although interesting take on Web 2.0. It uses a shopping centre as a metaphor of a web2.0 compliant internet.

Please help me... sob sob

2007-06-01T09:08:00.000+10:00

It seems a regular duty of mine to advise people that in fact these things don't work, they're fake. Their numbers are dwindling, but we must keep up the fight! I'm sorry, its like a brief spark of hope that corporations actually care about people who aren't shareholders, but they don't. If they did actually care, they would have helped the man without giving him a task to do which increases as opposed to decreases the flow of useless information around the Internet, and goes against a number of terms in US anti-spamming regulation.

Its actually quite a funny image, this one above, it uses a 500-2500 year old lie to make a prop used in another lie, which is the advert that was more recently doctored to make the lie we have today.

There are lots of other reasons for this being crap but I've gotten bored and I'm over it. I hope you all are too.

Economist Harry Clarke discusses petrol prices and public transport

2007-05-31T11:13:00.000+10:00

Harry Clarke: High petrol prices & worsening congestion increase use of public transport

Corporate social responsibility and the Beijing Olympics test

2007-05-24T22:53:00.000+10:00

Matt Marks, managing director, Marks Strategies, writes in Crikey.com.au:

While various large corporates in Australia are keen to play up their increasing focus on corporate social responsibility, most simply have done the easy yards.

Money for remote Aboriginal communities, check. Money for education programs, check. Reduction in corporate carbon footprints, check.

The real test on how serious large Australian companies are about corporate social responsibility is coming up and it is called the Beijing Olympics. While there has been little focus on the Beijing Games in Australia beyond whether or not Thorpie was going to swim or not, a much more serious debate on the subject is occurring overseas.

In the recent French presidential campaign, centrist candidate Francois Bayrou raised the prospect of a boycott of the Beijing Olympics over the Chinese Government’s ongoing support of the regime of Sudan and the lack of action over Darfur. The response from one Chinese Foreign Ministry official was: “We can see that the Darfur issue is very complicated and sensitive.”

Actually, it’s not complicated. Fathers tortured and killed in front of their families, women gang-raped and children dying from preventable diseases in overcrowded refugee camps.

In the United States an even stranger thing has happened than the French call for a boycott. Despite the bitter divisions in the American body politic, the issue of China defending the Sudanese Government, buying most of Sudan’s oil, and supplying weapons to the regime has managed to unite Hollywood liberals and Washington neo-conservatives.

The “One World, One Dream” games are fast earning the nickname the “Genocide Olympics” overseas. Significantly Sports Illustrated recently carried an article by a leading writer detailing exactly what Chinese action or inaction means for the citizens of Darfur.

Where do Australians companies stand on this issue?

BHPBilliton announced a sponsorship deal with the Beijing Olympics in 2005.

On their website, BHPBilliton highlight their extensive corporate social responsibility credentials including this statement in their Sustainable Development Policy ... “wherever we operate we will ... ensure ... we understand, promote and uphold fundamental human rights within our sphere of influence".

The question that must be asked is whether a company can claim to subscribe to these CSR principles on the one hand, and on the other be a sponsor of the world’s largest sporting event in a country whose officials describe the Darfur issue as “very complicated and sensitive”?

I’ll let readers be the judge of that question.

Pakistan On Brink Of Disaster

2007-05-14T17:23:00.000+10:00

The Newshoggers: Pakistan On Brink Of Disaster

Hmph

2007-05-14T17:17:00.000+10:00

TvNewsLIES.org » A Mother’s Day Message to George!

I pity the French

2007-05-07T20:58:00.000+10:00

Sadly Nicolas Sarkozy, the French presidential candidate for the far-right has won the election. The man responsible for the excessive crackdowns on protesters in late 2005. Having seen the reaction of the armed police today on two separate occasions using tear gas on protesters, this is not a god sign for the future streets of France. I hope the French voters know what they're doing.

"Dow Jones is not for sale, at any price, to Rupert Murdoch"

2007-05-07T20:49:00.000+10:00

Jim Ottaway Jr. quoted in Crikey.com.au

On a side note, Crikey was not given access to the press club for the third budget in a row. Tens of thousands of people consider Crikey.com.au to be one of the last truly independent reputable news sources in Australian Press. I guess then its little wonder why such illustrious publications as The Illawarra Mercury, The Border Mail, The Newcastle Herald and The Gold Coast Bulletin have been given invites, but no, not Crikey, it hasn't been bought by Rupert yet.

Gender politics

2007-05-05T19:53:00.000+10:00

I really liked this article, it follows a debate in the French election and making note of a specific altercation between the two debaters where even their body language is studied to show the speakers for whom they really are.
Madeleine Bunting - Gender politics

American diplomacy under Condi

2007-05-05T11:31:00.000+10:00

Lady in red brings abrupt end to US-Iran gala dinner date - Independent Online Edition > Middle East

This is hideous. Its an example of the pathetic state of and attitude to diplomacy the US is residing over.

According to the report, the US Secretary of State, Condi Rice, wants to meet with her Iranian counterpart. This hasnt happened since 2001 when relations went icy after the axis of evil speech.

After some supposedly cryptic words were spoken briefly between the two earlier in the week it was understood by the US that to meet over dinner would be acceptable to the Iranians.

Sounds nice, although odd considering the Iranian's public position that he was not actually ready to meet with her.

Now think for a moment, if you have someone over for dinner, be them an exchange student or friend, you try to cater for their cultural beliefs, right? If they're vegetarian, you could make sure there is no meat products. If they're Hindu or Muslim, no pork or alcohol. Its not a difficult concept, to show the extent of your hospitable nature you make a few sacrifices, and really, its part of the spice of life right?

Now I'm sure you have imagined by now, this is not how the Americans behaved. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki walked into something that wasnt a private dinner, but was in fact a banquet of sorts to find himself positioned opposite Condi amongst other invited guests at the table, alcohol was available at everyone's placemat, and a woman in a revealing red dress was playing the violin nearby. The minister promptly turned and walked out.

I dont blame him. I'm sure it was like being slapped in the face and told to like it.

What happened to cultural and religious sensitivity? You want someone to be comfortable enough to talk, you need to make the surrounding environment as neutral as possible.

Sadly it appears typical of the Republicans' our-way-or-the-highway attitude.

I guess what I was aiming to mention before I got depressed about the ridiculous state of affairs was the tone of this article, it doesn't give the feel that Condi's team were at fault. It should. They were insensitive, cocky and simply stupid to expect people to wow at or be seduced by their 'fine dining culture'. The article tends towards the notion that the Iranians are so painful to deal with and everyone from the west is just confused and frustrated as to why it didn't work.

If the Americans really want to speak with the Iranians they have not proven it, they have to be serious and sincere about it and that definitely doesn't mean joking about the issue Mr Burns.

Pearls Before Breakfast

2007-04-11T09:57:00.000+10:00

This morning I read an article from the Washington Post (I was directed there from Crikey's blog-watch). It was a study of human perceptions of art/beauty in the modern day, where they chose a subway station in downtown DC to present this art to the pedestrians. This art was the world famous, widely acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell. He was set up in casual clothes and busked in the subway's entrance hall (with lotto ticket booth and shoe shiners to boot) with his US$3.5M violin.
Pearls Before Breakfast

What's In John Howard's Briefcase?

2007-03-21T14:23:00.000+11:00

Thanks to Crikey.com.au and Rob Keniger for this comedic moment :)

What's in John Howard's briefcase? Mini-John of course!

"Australia Day"

2007-01-30T01:12:00.000+11:00

This is an email a friend of a friend wrote:

Happy Survival Day

Today is both a sad day in history yet also one of triumph and resilience. I
hope that you take the time to discuss with as many people as possible the
genocide that occurred in the country we call home. If not then at least
reflect upon the truth and maybe whilst drinking and eating tonight,
celebrating what a great country Australia is, consider with an open mind,
what it is you are celebrating! In a country like Cambodia where genocide
wiped out approx. 1.7 million people, ask yourself this "Would I celebrate
the Khmer Rouge by drinking and eating free food and calling it 'Khmer Rouge
day'"

I have been privileged enough to work in Indigenous communities for some
time and in the process have heard many personal stories of tragedy and
triumph. None were told in a "woe is me" framework, but rather, this is what
we endured, and our culture still survived, imagine the strength that
requires! Here are some facts of our history to consider.

Australia was invaded by the British in 1788. Since then, European
authorities staged a genocidal campaign against the Indigenous Nations of
the continent. This included the removal of all rights as well as strategic
policies aimed at "eradicating them in three generations". This occurred
several ways, the usual raping of womyn that comes with war and genocide.
When their children were born "Half caste" they were removed as they were
deemed superior to the "more primitive aborigines" and afforded more rights.
They hoped that the "Superior aboriginals" would procreate and eventually
wipe out the race.

This was one of many genocidal population policies. In conjunction with
raping the womyn, it was illegal for men and womyn to be married and be
parents, thus they were forced to decide between love and children. However
men were also owned by a "white fella" and were forced to move around and
were rarely home. Many many men who refused to accept that system of order
were taken out to remote parts, chained to the ground and left to perish.
Missions were established to control and enslave the people, anyone who
attempted to escape the mission were deemed criminal and tracked down as
such.

The infamous stolen generation, stolen wages is presented in mainstream
media as a thing of the past, however to this day it still occurs, only in a
far less overt manner, it is now more cunning and deceptive; aboriginal
children being removed from the family home and placed in care, due to not
conforming to western perceptions of 'family' and 'home', (I have witnessed
this personally for over 5 years), work for the dole, demonized images
portrayed by mainstream media, little space to conduct cultural practices in
their own land, The list goes on and on.

I realise most of you are aware of this and may consider me moralistic for
sending such an email, but the reality is, many of us do not think of this
today. The only way things will change is if we actively seek change.

Recognise Indigenous Nations: negotiate a treaty
* Compensate the Stolen Generations
* Repeal the Native Title Act and abolish all racist land laws
* Stop Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
* Extend and improve Indigenous health
and other community needs through fully funded targeted
services controlled by Indigenous Australians and their
communities.
* Abolish work for the dole - employ all workers in Community
Development Employment Programs on locally negotiated
award wages. Pay back the decades of stolen wages in full.
* Defend and extend Indigenous programming on the ABC, SBS
and community broadcasters; an end to the racist and destructive
portrayal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,
organisations and communities in some sections of the media.

True this is depicts at times a very negative viewpoint on Australian history, but its a history that must not be forgotten.

Wikileaks

2007-01-21T23:31:00.000+11:00

If you haven't heard about it yet, check it out. This is big, real big. So big, so earth shatteringly big, its hard to fathom its eventual consequences. This could be massive. This is their tag line:

WikiLeaks.Org

We open governments.

www.wikileaks.org

This website, which I had assumed to be part of the Wikimedia Foundation which has brought you Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and Wikibooks to name a few, is actually a separate entity just using the same Wiki style referencing. Its basically a concept designed to recieve sensitive documents from organisations and make them open to public discussion without risk of the whistle blower being traced, electronically at least. Check out the formal description here.

After reading that, think about the consequences:
-more people will be willing to disclose documents citing unjust measures or information because of the enhanced security making uploaded documents untraceable over the Internet.
-think of the people who are the usual early uptakers of Internet services, tech heads, computer geeks, etc. Where do most of these people work? in IT. What is the part of every organisation that is necessary, but no-one actually understands except the people who manage it? The IT department. Companies around the world will be exposed by those in their IT department who technically have free reign over all documents with their administration passwords. They've only needed a place into which they can copy these files without being traced. Now they have it. (Jeez! this is information anarchy!)
-this will create a snowball effect giving more people the courage to stand up for what they believe should be public knowledge.
-imagine being a journalist, and the power that this site will give you. Try making a 'Google alert' for anything that refers to the NSW Parliament, or John Howard from site:wikileaks.org you will have good stories being sent to you daily, or even as soon as anything has been uploaded, straight to your inbox!
-the consequences further down the track, especially for the intended targets of this software, being oppressive govts of China, Iran, etc may be very serious. Hopefully it doesnt happen too suddenly, as this may bring further oppression and possibly even violence against those who stand up before their voice is strong enough.

I look forward to Wikileaks' development. Accountability is lacking in governments all around the world, anything to improve the situation is sorely needed.

First Update of 2007

2007-01-09T14:32:00.000+11:00

Updated design, blogger.com has some really impressive template handles now, makes updating a breeze compared to what I used to have to do!

Hope you like!

Lanny's Article

2006-12-22T13:13:00.000+11:00

I thought I'd better post this for any possible readers of my site. This site seems to be just a place for myself lately. Anyways, check this out, its very well written. Hopefully you will scoff at the responses after the first one like we did.

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5272

I do like it when columnists really speak their minds :)

2006-10-21T23:24:00.000+10:00

SMH - Unbending PM gives Beazley a break

Bush's mission impossible

2006-06-15T04:41:00.000+10:00

A good article, summing up the situation in Iraq quite succinctly.
It is untrue to say the US president visited Baghdad. For his own safety, he saw only the fortified "green zone". - Haifa Zangana

Kofi Annan has a reflective moment for the Guardian

2006-06-14T02:24:00.000+10:00

If only world politics could be as well organised as the world game

No more gay unions for the ACT

2006-06-13T16:12:00.000+10:00

In response to the article:
Government bans gay unions - The Advertiser
and the forum:
Your Say Blog Post - News.com.au

For anyone who wants to respond

Lets not get carried down into old territory here, this decision by the feds is not to defend the 'sanctity of marriage' its an stubborn message saying that people in the ACT do not have or deserve equal rights based on their sexuality. The reason being religious bigotry or just plain old fashioned homophobia.

Why is this so obvious to me? The ACT never said that homosexuals could marry! And as stated by some who have posted here, many homosexuals (and heteros for that matter) don't even want to be married because its considered a religious act. What the ACT was doing was giving homosexuals something that resembles a big step towards equal rights, allowing them equal benefits, such as in tax arrangements, family/living arrangements, and possibly even visa arrangements, where married heterosexual couples currently get favoured treatment.

Now I'm all for giving homosexual couples the right to marriage, because I couldn't give a rat's ass about the religious tradition, but this isn't about that!

Why can a single parent raise a child but a civil union of equal sex cant? (Thanks Nathan) The only reason for this division is discrimination due to homophobic prejudice. I cannot think of any other reason.

Why in a multicultural society do we have a government that is insistent on pushing their own beliefs on us. Cant they see that it only breeds prejudice?

I would never go so far as to say religion should be banned, that is in itself a violation of people's rights to make up their own minds. Yes religion has been the prime cause of millions/billions of deaths around the world and still is, but people should be encouraged to think for themselves and understand life's complexities through education (psychology/anthropology, science and history), and never by force. The communists tried by force, and I believe that this one of the prime reasons why communism failed. The restrictions on people's rights to make their own decisions on what they wish to believe in.

The plot thickens

2006-06-07T22:18:00.000+10:00

Poland and Romania allowing the US to house torture camps in their territories!

DW-World.de
SMH.com.au

A very honest portrayal of Russel Crowe

2006-06-07T15:27:00.000+10:00

Its long, but worth it, there's no catch at the end, its just a very honest depiction of Jack Marx, the SMH journalist/columnist's 6 month dealing with Mr Crowe.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/06/06/1149359738242.html

It kinda makes you sad, sad to think that there are actually people like this out there who are just so damn blindly narcissistic its almost beyond belief.

A beautiful woman

2006-06-05T14:56:00.000+10:00

Arundhati Roy

"Donald Rumsfeld said that his mission in the War Against Terror was to persuade the world that Americans must be allowed to continue their way of life. When the maddened king stamps his foot, slaves tremble in their quarters. So, standing here today, it's hard for me to say this, but "The American Way of Life" is simply not sustainable. Because it doesn't acknowledge that there is a world beyond America."
www.weroy.org

Please if you get the chance, read some of her works. She's an inspiration beyond all inspiration, she speaks in honesty and humbleness that I've not heard of since the supreme pacifist Ghandi himself.
"Everything is being violated" - An interview with the Indian writer Arundhati Roy on the war in Iraq and the global resistance against American hegemony. By Michael Sontheimer
"The End of Imagination" - Arundhati Roy on India's Nuclear tests, published in the Guardian
"What we call peace is little better than a capitulation to a corporate coup" - Arundhati Roy writing for the SMH during her visit to Australia to collect the 2004 Sydney Peace Prize

Winter Party 13-6-08

2006-06-05T00:34:00.001+10:00

Just to make my reasoning perfectly clear

2005-12-18T22:56:00.000+11:00

To support my arguments on Nationalism and Patriotism, read:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/12/17/1134703644879.html?
and if you really feel like getting upset:
http://www.fightdemback.org/2004/12/02/the-life-and-times-of-jim-saleam/
and his thesis:
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/otherradicalism/

I was just thinking, what do we do with people like this? He has been to gaol so many times now, and has not changed his ways in the slightest, except to be more and more covert in his dealings.
I always try to look for an alternative to the locking up and throwing away the key option, but is there any other way to deal with someone with such hate as this?

And technically is someone who has had such a 'colourful' history with the law allowed to be a political representative? I can understand that by putting the shoe on the other foot, I would definitely hope that a member of the publically condemned (and nearly outlawed) Communist Party of the 60s would still be allowed to represent. But in this case, we're talking about a guy who actualy supports hate filled injustices and inciting physical threats to human lives, all of this in the name of ethnic segregation/cleansing to retain his ideal of White Australian Culture.

What do you think can be done?

Micro-regulation of universities ignores real issues

2005-12-16T08:58:00.000+11:00

see smh.com.au

You wanted it, so here it is: Cronulla and beyond, the rant

2005-12-15T22:51:00.000+11:00

Hi guys, I suppose you've been wondering when I would be making my own comment on the happenings of the week down south (what's with the 'south' breeding hicks anyway??). To tell you the truth, I've not really wanted to write anything, its all been dreadfully disappointing and depressing.

Anyway for the sake of discussion, here it goes.

If you have lived under a rock for the past week, you would still find it hard to not know about what has happened in Cronulla and beyond. Angered by the beating of two lifesavers a week earlier by a group of youths, the Cronulla community participated on mass (around 5000 people) in a peaceful protest condemning these beatings on the previous Sunday at the beach. In the early afternoon after a lot of sun and alcohol consumption, the 200 or so people who had come to protest against and target a specific racial group got very vocal and physical and ultimately ended up abusing and then ferociously assaulting innocent people who appeared to fit the profile of their target. This was whilst holding Australian flags and chanting Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi, or waltzing Matilda. When the police protected those who are being targeted, the police themselves and ambulances were also targeted by beer bottle throwing and physical assaulting.

This was blasted across every news station, paper, and radio throughout the night and next day. The shock I felt after watching these visions was quite overwhelming, I was so upset, not only from the visions but also from the reactions of those in the pub whom I had hoped knew better.

Since then, we've had many attempts at retaliation from the groups targeted on Sunday. Cars have been vandalised, random people have been bashed up, a church has been burnt down (although it has not been confirmed to be directly related) now a Molotov cocktail has been thrown. End result, lots of people are angry, upset or beaten and in hospital, whilst Cronulla appears desolate with local shops losing all but a miniscule trickle of trading.

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi was always a terrible rip off of a British football chant and I have cringed whenever I've heard it. Take it as you may, and its really another story, but I care very little about nationalism, I feel it gives too much importance to competition between nations with little regard for working together over international issues such as climate change, poverty, and human rights. I feel that as a repercussion of nationalism, patriotism has in recent times, with religion, played a key role in the majority of wars and major violations of human rights across the world. Why? Because it harbours an 'us and them' mentality, aligning people to a fairly general, non-descript group based on their religion, where they were born, or what racial group they appear to descend from invites people to generalise about these groups when each group is really as diverse in opinion and lifestyle as the next.

Many people's opinion of patriotism and nationalism mean that you can only be aligned to one such group, that is, if you're French, you cant be English, or if you're Greek, you cant be Australian, no matter how long you live here you cant be both. Some people love their group, and are so devoted to it that they defend it from outsiders. No one else may claim rights to that group when they are different to what is the perceived image of a group member. People who claim rights to being from a Lebanese origin and learn their customs cannot call themselves Australian according to many so-called 'patriots'. And it is this belonging to a group mentality that gives people the strength they need to defend it. For example, by the guys down in Cronulla putting a flag over their shoulders, they felt supported by the millions of people aligned to that flag, and with that support, they felt that what they were doing was not only for the members of that group but they felt that they were all fighting alongside one another.

On the issue of groups, how do we suppose people who are born in Australia to immigrant parents feel when they want to join the Australian community but are constantly put in the nationality group of that of their parents, even though they have no allegiance to it. I heard someone the other day make the comment, if these people were to be sent to where we have branded them to be of origin, they would be treated as Aussies, but in Australia, they are treated as outsiders. They are in a limbo where everyone else belongs to a group that they are not allowed to be a part of.

Radio Shock Jocks do have a lot to answer for. I have listened to way too many for my own liking in the past week and feel sick for it. I wont go into specifics as its too late at night to begin, but I must comment on it generally. I believe that Talk-Back Radio without effective moderating gives people strength to make a bad decision. Consider yourself having just been harassed by some guy on the train, and you listen to TBR where lots of listeners are calling up having their say about, for the sake of a far-out example, Jamaican thugs giving menacing stares or yelling obscenities, or even conducting physical violence towards random people. You remember that the guy that harassed you on the train sounded Jamaican and you so easily make the judgment that Jamaicans are violent. The more you listen to TBR and people on it passing their own judgments on the perpetrators, the more convinced you become that there is a big problem, and soon you make a public stand about the criminal traits of Jamaicans in Australia. The reality is in this case that there were 3 Jamaicans, and 2 men from Haiti that made each of the isolated incidents and now the whole Jamaican community in Australia has been completely offended because of your inability to see the big picture.

Groups built around nationality or religion should never be generalised. If you are Chinese, you can be considered to be of Chinese origin or feel a great allegience to the country for some reason, nothing more. It does not necessarily mean you are a communist, into the internet and games, or hate the Japanese. To be Chinese is completely irrespective of these things. So to meet someone who introduces themselves as Chinese it would be very presumptuous to believe that they hate the Japanese without this person specifically telling you so. I guess all I'm saying is that we are all human, we have our own opinions and beliefs that are individual in every way.

How to solve this problem of hostility in Australia? Well we've had numerous statements from the Morris Iemma and numerous celebs about coming together, or token images of racial and religious leaders all being affectionate with each other. But it doesn't matter because these people have never been perceived to be prejudicial. The person who seems to have the respect of these 'patriotic' people who have shown serious racial prejudices, is one who has himself shown his own prejudice and unwillingness to admit that racism is a problem. This person is John Winston Howard. This man as a representative of the Australian 'group' needs to make a statement about what it is to be Australian, one that is encompassing of all nationalities in our multicultural society, imploring us all to work together because we are all equals in Australian society.

Where is his leadership now? He has said that if we treat this all as simply a law and order issue, we can "more readily get back to a situation we all want." Which really means back to the way it was a few weeks ago, with racial tension bubbling under the surface. As usual a tough situation emerges and he brushes it aside and refuses to acknowledge its gravity and will lose his opportunity to do something honorable. Its a very right-wing thing to do, to take what is in reality a very grey area and make believe that it is really only a 'black and white' situation which truly shows his lack of empathy because if it was only a straightforward issue, people wouldn't be getting so fucking emotional about it!!! I don't even want to mention how I feel about federal labor at the moment for not doing a damn thing, as per usual.

Lets hope it never happens again, there are bigger problems in the world, we don't need to be fighting amongst ourselves.

Site Update

2005-12-02T23:36:00.000+11:00

Updates will be slow for a while, as I'm working 7 days a week and I'm finding it hard to fit everything in. This is really a cosmetic update as I've had comments about the design being hard to read/follow, hopefully this new look is a little easier for everyone.

All the best guys, thanks for visiting! Come back soon!

Sedition Stage Script

2005-11-30T00:02:00.000+11:00

from smh.com.au

Jonathan Biggins, satirist

The Scene: A struggling cabaret venue. A jester is halfway through his biting 20-minute political routine. Enter a messenger.

Messenger: I prithee, hold! The evil Sheriff Ruddock hast gained wind of thy performance and yea, e'en now, hath dispatched officers of the federal police to surround the building!

Jester: Surely thou takest the piss? Under what law, pray tell, do I offend?

Messenger: Sedition!

Jester: Pah! 'Tis a law from the dark ages.

Messenger: These are the dark ages.

Jester: Thou hast a point. But how dost I transgress? My impression of King John? Hilarious, I grant thee, and right scornful of his foreign policy - yet it tips not o'er the boundaries of decency, 'tis fair comment!

Messenger: Fair comment, aye. But hilarious? The critics thought not so.

Jester: (miffed) I read them not.

Messenger: Nay, 'tis thy routine on our old foes the French that hath roused grim Ruddock's ire.

Jester: That be five minutes of my best material! And the war hath been on the go for 98 years - what sin is it to say perchance the Frenchmen have a reason for what they do, that we needs must look beyond our differences and understand the root causes: dire poverty, frog consumption, et cetera and so forth?

Messenger: Thou givest aid and comfort to the enemy.

Jester: Pullest the other one, it hath bells. Ah, foul government's hypocrisy doth gnaw my vitals!

Messenger: Take care. Thou must not bring the government into disrepute.

Jester: A plague on both their houses!

Messenger: That be seditious as well - thou canst not bring either house of Parliament into disrepute.

Jester: Can its repute be more dis? The lower chamber is a bordello of harlots, pimps and coxcombs; the Senate nought but a braying stall of yea-sayers …

Messenger: Coz, I beg thee be silent! Sedition catches all - who can say that it not be soon against the law to bring pimps and coxcombs into disrepute?

Jester: They may arrest me and be damned - none can silence my creative voice in a free land!

Messenger: But they can withdraw thy funding.

Jester: What?

Messenger: King John and his cohorts canst place a noose about the neck of the Artes Council. Dost thou in all seriousness think that thy regional tour will get the green light? What venue will chance seditious words or taketh a box-office riske with an out-there modern dance piece that displeaseth the government? Such a bomb would be suicidal!

Enter Ruddock

Ruddock: Arrest that man! Thou darest to speak of suicidal bombers?

Messenger: Thou cannot arrest me - I'm only the messenger!

He is dragged away

Jester: Boom tish! Never saw it coming, didst thou? Ladies and gentlemen, thou hast been a lovely audience yet I fear this is farewell - I needs must hie to the Macquarie Bank for safer employment. Would the last soul to leave the premises please snuff out the candle? I thank thee and good night!

Venezuela giving aid to America???

2005-11-25T12:31:00.000+11:00

Have a read of this enjoyable article, its very left leaning and makes a few unsupported assumptions at times, just try to filter through all that and enjoy yourself hearing about someone who has the power to really make a difference and give ole George W a slap at the same time.

Two weeks of violence in France

2005-11-11T14:28:00.000+11:00

After having such crap media coverage in Australia, I went abroad to find news as to why people are actually rioting. All I'd heard in Aus was how much damage was being caused, which countries have given travel warnings, and what racial groups are committing the offences. The only people talking about why are the shock jocks on radio and they're only pushing their uneducated views about multiculturalism and immigration being bad ideas. Anyway, the further I got into this the more familiar it all seems, just on a larger scale. These are people who are poor by their country's standards and commonly discriminated against in everyday life, from the suspicious looks they get from a passer by, to not being given a job because more racial prejudice, such as 'you wouldn't fit in' or simply you don't look trustworthy. These problems do not help when trying to get people out of poverty. And it is in poverty stricken, or welfare dependent areas of modern countries, 'slums' as they've been called in the media that a lower importance is given to education as survival is made an issue, and with this comes more frequent violence, desperation, breakins, etc. And because of this, more police focus on these areas, and when these police have some of the same racial prejudicial traits mentioned before, respect is not given to the citizens, and therefore a high degree of distrust for authority is born. And finally! (damn you're good for still reading!) When two kids are electrocuted whilst hiding in a power substation from police that were allegedly chasing them, the community blames the police. End result, rioting.
Its a complex situation, and is so similar to that of the Thomas "TJ" Hickey incident which sparked the Redfern riots last year that more should be done to prevent it from happening. I firmly believe that the first place to start is in our attitudes.
The seriousness of these events warrant further debate.

Something to think about on the topic of racism:
- Are you suspicious of someone you haven't ever met before?
- Is describing someone's race or culture a way of vilifying them?
- Are you still a racially tolerant person?

Female President... in Africa???

2005-11-11T12:36:00.000+11:00

If the controversy turns out to be insignificant then this really is a big event for the African continent, and such a huge winning margin too! There have been accusations of fraud, we'll wait to see how this pans out.

Check it out in the SMH
Or a more detailed account, showing all issues on both sides, go to swissinfo.org

How PM 'tipped off' suspects

2005-11-09T22:09:00.000+11:00

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/11/08/1131407639657.html

Nice and cynical

2005-11-09T21:35:00.000+11:00

Love this quote, one for the books:

"We'll all be free from terror when we're able to do whatever we want to people anywhere in the world and they'll just lie there and take it without complaining." - Leunig

Anyone feeling seditious?

2005-11-09T13:58:00.000+11:00

The Australian Government is proposing to outlaw public sedition in our country. What does this mean to us all exactly? Well that's open for discussion... ;)

If anyone can bring to light whether or not this outlawing of sedition is related to terrorism specifically or across the board, it would be greatly appreciated

Sedition n. - "Conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state"

Now, I don't know about you, but this seems inherently floored to me, and really only aims to facilitate keeping the current govnt in power by squashing any alternative views. For you Howard supporters out there, if some bizzare stroke of amazing fortune hits the Greens and somehow Bob Brown is made PM, wont it be against the law for you or the media to say that his policies are wrong? And to talk of banding together in the hopes of toppling his government would be completely out of the question. Funny, I thought that a group of people forming a collective to vote for and publicise what they believe in is actually what underpins our whole election process... And where has the concept of free speech gone in Australia when minority opinions are outlawed if they are opposed to those of the masses?

"The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with" - Eleanor Holmes Norton

thoughts...

Sydney and Melbourne's Anti-terror raids

2005-11-09T13:33:00.000+11:00

Catch up if you've been with your head in the sand...
Check out Crikey.com.au's summary
Or what the US is saying

I personally believe that it is highly likely that during the period that the Aus government has been trying to push its ever unpopular anti-terrorist laws (which seriously go against international laws on human rights) they learnt from ASIO that their 18 month investigation was going to come to arrests in a few days. So Honest Johnny Howard whooped it up as though there was an imminent threat (possibly was, but he knew that ASIO was about to nab them beforehand anyway) and used it as an excuse to pass some preliminary laws he said were neccessary to stop the terrorist attack.
Now just so you know, according to a number of members of parliment, the preliminary laws that were passed two days before the arrests, were almost entirely already present in the laws of australia, its the currently proposed laws that are a serious concern for the freedom of Australian citizens and international visitors.
Also, the arrests were already planned before the preliminary laws were even tabled, and according to police representatives, the prelim laws made no difference to the operation of the police raids or the result.
And now, since the arrests, supporters of the proposed anti-terrorist/sedition laws are barking that the arrests wouldnt have been possible without the prelim laws and thus the proposed laws are just as valid and necessary.
So why oh why do we put up with this shite? Our laws and policing methods are working well as they are. there is absolutely no need for draconian changes that will severly inhibit our way of life.

The media seemed to know all about it before any official notices were made, how is this possible when it is an obvious breach of the Official Secrets Act

thoughts anyone...?

trying to make sense of it all

Not red and blue, educated and not.

An iPhone App that needs writing.

US$165m in aid from Britain to Bangladesh

The Equitable Emissions Trading Scheme v2.1

The Equitable Emissions Trading Scheme

Prisoner's Dilemma and the Climate Debate

New iPhone Leaked!

Cool viral advertising campaign from the UK Gov

Oil Futures: A series on oil, the future, and you

Crikey.com.au

First Dog On The Moon

Political power of lobbyists

Laura Marling on Later... With Jools Holland

Nelson's Joint Strike Fighter Scandal

Pressure

We have a decade, tops, to save the planet

To people who oppose Clover's reduction of liquor license fees...

Andrew Denton Makes Significant Impact on Kyle (Cartman) Sandilands

Peter Andren: a more honest bastard than me

What Costello Has In Stall For Australia

ABC's Senate Calculator

Could the government be any more rediculous??

Nice! I'm liking these spin-offs!!

Four Corners - Flying Blind

YouTube - Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

Nelson Interferes with Research Funding

For anyone who needs an introduction to Bob Brown

Decide what policies you approve of and we'll tell you who to vote for

Young citizen canes Turnbull on climate

Clover Moore's Daylight Saving Change

Ron Mueck

The One that Fits Inside the Bathtub

Google Australia's Federal Election Watch Websites

Australian Democrats: The new citizenship test

Indonesia extending an open hand

Some political satire for your day

Recurring Dream

Long-serving Sydney political journalist Alex Mitchell writes in Crikey:

Mutitjulu Community Leaders

Bill Bailey for Eurovision 2008!

Alex Hawke

Light entertainment :)

Awesome research tool and social bookmarking service!

Crikey - Politics Etc - What's a teacher worth? Pay and politics

17 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre: The Tank Man

The machine is us...

Please help me... *sob sob*

Economist Harry Clarke discusses petrol prices and public transport

Corporate social responsibility and the Beijing Olympics test

Matt Marks, managing director, Marks Strategies, writes in Crikey.com.au:

Pakistan On Brink Of Disaster

Hmph

I pity the French

"Dow Jones is not for sale, at any price, to Rupert Murdoch"

Gender politics

American diplomacy under Condi

Pearls Before Breakfast

What's In John Howard's Briefcase?

"Australia Day"

Wikileaks

First Update of 2007

Lanny's Article

I do like it when columnists really speak their minds :)

Bush's mission impossible

Kofi Annan has a reflective moment for the Guardian

No more gay unions for the ACT

The plot thickens

A very honest portrayal of Russel Crowe

A beautiful woman

Winter Party 13-6-08

Just to make my reasoning perfectly clear

Micro-regulation of universities ignores real issues

You wanted it, so here it is: Cronulla and beyond, the rant

Site Update

Sedition Stage Script

from smh.com.au

Jonathan Biggins, satirist

Venezuela giving aid to America???

Two weeks of violence in France

Please help me... sob sob