Posts tagged "Politics"
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Open Australia are doing amazing stuff
I've been hovering around the open data movement for a while. I lived in London through the early development of what ended up becoming They Work For You around the amazing NTK -driven London tech sce…
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Healthcare spending: worst of both worlds
A few years back The Economist had a great chart on health care spending showing the split between public and private spending. What's interesting is the huge proportion of government spending from th…
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I was duped by a microparty
My first real job after high school was working for a mail order porn video company. It was a great job, management was very professional and I got really great opportunities after showing aptitude in…
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Ahhh democracy
Spent the morning handing out for The Greens in Marrickville. The powers wielded by local government are quite incredible. According to one old Greek lady, since the Greens came in she's had to pay so…
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Let's put the people smugglers out of business
Clive Palmer has a knack for making statements that get him loads of publicity. This time around he's said something really sensible. ABC reports: "If a family wishes to fly to Australia and they don'…
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Depressing to be an Australian at the moment
via anonymouslefty.wordpress.com Our heartlessness has sunk to new lows. It makes me ashamed to be Australian. And Labor, what a bunch of political halfwits. If they think adopting the Opposition's po…
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Impartial journalism at its finest from today's Terror
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Labor, what's with the kid gloves?
The Australian Labor Party needs to grow a pair and get serious here. This is a political party whose internal bastardry is legendary, yet they can't seem to use the same kind of RealPolitik tactics o…
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Who are Doctors for the Family? Let's crowdsource it!
Last Sunday, Mother's Day no less, an organisation calling itself Doctors for the Family had their submission to the Senate Committee on Marriage Equality published with all kinds of unsubstantiated c…
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The lie at the heart of the gambling "debate"
via smh.com.au Cathy Wilcox hits the nail on the head. Any societal good that clubs bring by spending some of the money they make from problem gambling is more than outweighed by the societal damage o…
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Classy one Liquorland
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Mandatory existing commitment technology
via kudelka.com.au Harsh but reasonable
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The Official Organ of the NSW Liberal Party
Business leaders demand say in running Sydney Businesses are fed up... Lord Mayor Clover Moore / Pic: Ella Pellegrini. Source: The Daily Telegraph via dailytelegraph.com.au Limited News abandons all p…
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ALP finally ready to turn the guns on News Limited?
Mike Quigley is no more responsible for the corruption at Alcatel than John Hartigan was for the corruption at the Melbourne Storm. via abc.net.au A tip in Crikey pointed out this quote from AM this m…
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Chomsky: My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death
We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exce…
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Recent reading: gambling politics, nose to tail, non-rail public transport and the Chernobyl death toll
I've been using Instapaper to push longer articles to my Kindle for later reading. The tool isn't without some significant limitations but it works well enough for me. It's great to no longer skip rea…
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Inconceivable!
via fuckyeahdementia.com
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Blot unveils the new "I'm not racist, but..."
I am very uneasy about laws limiting free speech. via blogs.news.com.au This is the man fighting a court battle about free speech, aiming to protect his right to vilify Aboriginal people who aren't Ab…
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What does the Marrickville Council boycott of Israel resolution actually say?
I've been having a bit of a twitter debate with my mate Josh about Marrickville Council's Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) resolution, when I realised I hadn't read the actual text of th…
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Japan is incredibly well-equipped for disaster
For your reference, as approximately the lowest person on the org chart for Ogaki City (it’s in Gifu, which is fairly close to Nagoya, which is 200 miles from Tokyo, which is 200 miles from Miyagi, wh…
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Just reporting the news at The Australian
Follow up question (from The Australian journalist): "So you'd like people to pay more for petrol and diesel, Senator?" Christine: "My view is it would be fantastic to have really good public transpor…
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You wouldn't be politicizing the floods would you Tony?
As Julia Gillard warned tough budget choices lay ahead, the Opposition Leader said the $36 billion network was an “expensive luxury that Australia cannot afford”. “The one thing you don't do is re-do…
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Dear Australian Retailers
Your recent campaign to get GST levied on all Internet transactions has some rather major logical flaws. 1. Your prices are much more than 10% higher than overseas prices. It's interesting that Angus…
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Wikileaks: major news reports miss the major point
Is it just me or are the major news services missing the whole point of the Wikileaks US embassy cables? Sure it's a bit embarrassing for the Yanks that their data all got into the public domain, but…
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An alternative to anti-siphoning: unbundling
The federal government's sport anti-siphoning list is in the media today. Bernard Keane pointed out in yesterday's Crikey that it's a giant, anti-competitive con that hands sports broadcasting rights…
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Is your News Limited?
titch of sydney Posted at 2:40 AM Today to the critic open your eyes alot more iraquis would have died at the hands of the taliban regime if we did not intervene via news.com.au Only the smartest make…
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Dear Labor, please vote down gay marriage, sincerely Greens
It appears Labor will vote as a bloc against the Greens gay marriage bill. To get to the lower house it will probably require the support of the Liberals, but tactically that might be a smart move on…
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Catholic? You share the blame.
An Onymous Lefty claims that protests against the Pope's visit to the UK are aimed at the church, not its members. His reasoning is that it's the church hierarchy at fault for its various ills, not th…
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Churches get opt-out point on same-sex adoption bill
THE independent state MP Clover Moore has moved to shore up support for her same-sex adoption bill by giving church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to gay and lesbian couples without br…
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Charlie Brooker: 'Ground Zero mosque'? The reality is less provocative
I once had a poo in a pub about two minutes' walk from Buckingham Palace. I was not subsequently arrested and charged with crapping directly onto the Queen's pillow. That's how "distance" works in Bri…
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Bring back National Service
Now before you wonder what reactionary has taken over my blog, some background. On Saturday I spent the morning handing out Greens How To Votes at Wilkins Public School. One of the disturbing things a…
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At last, everyone might get a say
Instead of everyone - even ministers - finding out about major reforms after the arguments have been had and the brochures printed, non-kitchen cabinet members might actually get some say. Instead of…
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Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me
What's in the Federal Election for you YOUR complete guide to how the election policies of Labor and the Coalition will hit your hip pocket. via news.com.au Everything that's wrong with Australian pol…
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Immigration in context
the issue of the boats (full set) via batteriesredux.blogspot.com Next time you're arguing with a redneck that refugees arriving by boat aren't a problem, show them this graph. See that huge ramp up?…
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Cute ALP attack ad ripping off Rocky Horror
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Oil: A History
via good.is Excellent visualisation
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SMH runs opinion without detailing who holds it
The watermelon party July 31, 2010 Green or red, it is not necessarily the Greens' political colours that should interest voters, but their economic philosophy, write Nick O'Malley and David Humphries…
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Saint Paul's Letter to the Electorates: Chapter 3
iii) 'Blessed are those who dig in the earth and profiteth from the treasure therein, for they shall see me afterwards. xiv) For Gough begat Malcolm and Malcolm begat Bob. And Bob begat Paul, although…
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Complaint Reference: ACMA278584515
A great example of how arbitrary our current Internet censorship is, and it's the model for the new censorship regime. Somehow describing in detail how to make hash brownies is not "detailed instructi…
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Bob & Blanche, Jeff Tracy & Lady Penelope
Thunderbirds are go! Watching Channel Ten's interview with Bob Hawke and the misses last night it struck me where I'd seen them before... via Crikey It's uncanny! Now we just need International Rescue…
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Reverse stereotype
via fuckyeahdementia.com
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Dear left-wing ALP voters: read this
Dear deluded fools left-wing ALP voters, I have a bunch of friends who perversely vote for the Australian Labor Party while professing views diametrically opposite those the party actually implements.…
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New Australians, 2009
via i.imgur.com This improves on the previous one by using population increase instead of immigration vs static population.
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Boat people: this is what you are “anxious” about
via crikey.com.au
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Careful with that dog whistle Julia
As part of her cleanup of issues the government was getting slammed with, Julia's looking at immigration and refugees next. She's given every indication that her approach will pander to the braying ra…
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Yes I see Julia has had much more important things to focus on than twitter
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I hate 24 hour news channels
So the ABC is launching "ABC News 24". Full marks for the totally unique name. I want to have a kvetch about 24 news channels. My pattern of use of these channels, I suspect, isn't that different from…
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One thing about the NBN that annoys me
One of the things that's annoying me about all the NBN talk is the insistence on metro-equivalent services in regional and remote areas, as though this is a reasonable thing to require. I live in the…
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Who should get my Haiti donation?
I've got a bit of a dilemma. I want to give some money for disaster relief in Haiti following the terrible earthquake. Problem is, none of the relief organisations active in Haiti meet my criteria for…
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Get a response from your local member: be rude
Yesterday I sent a rather terse and rude email to my local state member, Carmel Tebbutt complaining that I'd received no response from my email sent last December. It seems being rude helps! Does she…
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131500 site is the reason people are developing third-party apps
Back in early March I wrote to the NSW Transport Minister by email about Shittyrail threatening developers of third-party apps using Sydney timetable data. Late last month Parliamentary Secretary for…
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Cops kill man in London
After Jean Charles de Menezes was murdered by London police in 2005, you'd think the press would be more skeptical when the Police make claims. But no, when Ian Tomlinson was assaulted and, ultimately…
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Blackouts and their causes
Back in 1998, Auckland had a major blackout lasting five weeks. Oh how we mainlanders laughed. The cause, we were all told: privatisation. Now we've got regular blackouts here in Sydney. Oh how the Ea…
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Pro-censorship Morans
You really couldn't make this up. The pro-censorship brains trust has descended on article about a death threat received by an anti-censorship campaigner. SALLY of TOOWOOMBA Posted at 12:54pm today PO…
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Five percent
So Rudd has announced that we're going to reduce our greenhouse emissions by a staggering five percent. How ambitious! Worse, every polluting industry and his lobbyist appear to be in line to get a ha…
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Private school funding
If people want to send their kids to a school that is a social, single-gender and/or religious ghetto in an attempt for them to meet the "right" people, keep away from the "wrong" people, live out the…
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But how does it work in theory?
Last night on Radio National's Australia Talks, Paul Barclay hosted Clive Hamilton and Mark Pesce to discuss the Internet censorship proposal from Labor. The host was pretty clearly pro-censorship, an…
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How much for the soul, Pete?
I sure hope Peter Garrett got a good price for his soul because his principles sure haven't amounted to much. He seems to have a Short Memory with his politicans, party lines, don't cross that floor!…
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Genoa police riot: cops get off
The police who raided and smashed the crap out of a building full of peaceful protestors in Genoa in 2001 will get off completely from all their crimes, despite being found guilty. A statute of limita…
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Booga booga booga
Jamie Wilson recently posted this LOLCeleb to a list I'm on. Brilliant! Update: Apparently some backwards people don't get the reference. See Wikipedia iz in ur brain, knowing your stuffs!!1!!.
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Intelligent economy design?
So now that the free market absolutists have become interventionist socialists, are they moving from the economic equivalent of survival of the fittest to some kind of intelligent design theory? On th…
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Nonphilately
A great letter in this week's Guardian Weekly. If Bill Goodman (Letters, September 5) is indeed correct that atheism is in and of itself a religious belief, then surely not collecting stamps is a hobb…
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How the hell do NSW local council elections work?
On Saturday NSW local councils (or at least the ones that haven't been dissolved) had their elections. I was handing out material for The Greens in St Peters and one of the voters asked me how we were…
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A Family First of their own
Today's Crikey carries a letter that reminds us that Family First, currently causing problems for the ALP in the Senate, are a creation of... the ALP. Andrew Burke writes: Every time Stephen Fielding…
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Factional map of the ALP
For those wanting to follow Australian politics, it's critical to understand the factional structure of the Australian Labor Party and the influence this has on events. For example, the Left has tradi…
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Senate recommends ignorance on unit pricing
One of the government's laudable policies was a plan to introduce unit pricing into supermarkets. As seems to be common with this government, even this straightforward aim has been put on the inquiry…
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Two birds, one stone
Wow, looks like the NSW conservatives have achieved two excellent outcomes for the state in one. Power privatisation is off (until the Tories do it themselves, that is) and Michael Costa says he's gon…
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The Obama Blend
I just bought some coffee beans at the phenomenally-busy Campos Coffee on Missenden Road. I had to write down the description to share with you. The Obama Blend Great deptch of character, strong and e…
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Police riot in Genoa goes unpunished
Nick Davies gives an update on the police attack on 93 unarmed demonstrators at the Diaz Pertini school building at the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. It seems despite clear evidence that the police…
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World (Catholic) Youth Weirdos
Spotted this morning walking through Sydney Uni, some Catholic pilgrims (the lanyard and pass is a giveaway) taking a photo of... the wall of HK Ward gymnasium. Weird. Maybe they saw Mary? I'm trying…
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Petrol prices are going up: Yay!
I watched SBS's Insight on Tuesday this week. It's a discussion programme and this week's episode was about petrol prices. You couldn't find a more shameless group of rent seekers than the majority of…
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Planning Alerts
The amazing people in and around the mySociety have a new project in test. PlanningAlerts.com allows you to enter an email address, a UK postcode and a region that you want to watch. Any planning appl…
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Marching Catholics
Is it just me or does marching thousands of rabid Catholics through the heart of gay Sydney seem somewhat similar to Nationalist Protestants marching through Catholic areas of Belfast? I suppose the p…
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Dear King Pig
My mate Don sent a letter to the King Pig and the Special Minister for World (Catholic) Youth Day in NSW in regards to his freedom to annoy Catholics. Dear Minister It was my intention to be involved…
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Why direct action is important
The Guardian has a great piece about direct action group Plane Stupid, who are all about preventing the expansion of the aviation industry in the face of climate change. It presents a passionate and w…
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Carbon pricing and petrol
Australia is in the midst of deciding how its eventual carbon taxation and trading environment will work, and the conservatives have switched back to their default climate change denial position, as t…
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GetUp does Fuelwatch
GetUp are collecting money to run a very funny ad about the Fuelwatch junk politics going on. Well worth watching.
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Where's Bin Laden?
Things are getting desperate in the hunt for Bin Laden, with Britain's Special Boat Service being called into the hunt in Northern Pakistan. Last time I looked, there wasn't a lot of water up on the P…
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Ban this filth!
It seems according to Hetty Johnson's version of "community standards" that any photograph of a person under the age of 18 in anything more revealing than a full burka is pornography. Anne Geddes, wat…
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Competition policy isn't that hard
Politicans seem to have been constantly making a hash of competition policy in Australia. The idea behind such policy is to smooth the way of competition, and allow markets to improve the lot of consu…
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They do things differently in Tassie
The government of Tasmania (that'd be the Lennon government, not Gunns in case you're confused) do things differently in Tasmania. They paid for a big DC power link from the island to the mainland, wh…
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Flint claims bias because panel not rigged in favour of monarchy
Pimms-and-lemonade enthusiast David Flint claims the governance panel at the 2020 Summit was stacked to get a pro-republican outcome. That, of course, would be totally different from that other summit…
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Wowsers for hire
It used to be the best guarantee of bestseller status for a publisher was to be listed on the Catholic Church's Index Liborum Prohibitorum. These days, it seems you can engage an assortment of wowsers…
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Prohibiting the sale of ineffective drugs "an insult to parents"
The chemists' lobby group says banning the sale of cough medicine for children under two is "an insult to many parents". No, what's insulting is selling something that doesn't work, even in adults. Wo…
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Action for Transport 2010: archive
Back in 1998 the NSW government announced with great fanfare a rather modest plan for transport improvement in NSW. Nearly ten years on, there's little to show for it except the road projects, which p…
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Chutzpah is...
Continuing my series on chutzpah. Chutzpah is demanding that your successor do what you spent eleven years refusing to do.
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Why I read the Guardian
Buried on page 15 of this week's Guardian Weekly is how they treated this important story: Heather Mills has been given £42m in a divorce settlement with Paul McCartney. That's why I read this newspap…
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Transport Plan 2010
I got a letter in today's Herald about my lack of faith in the delivery of this North-West metro the NSW government is promising. The bit they chopped off was: You'd be hard pressed to find Action for…
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Background Briefing: Greenwashing
I've been a long time listener of the ABC's Background Briefing, ever since I was interviewed for one of the programmes back in 1998. It's always well-researched and very interesting. What's more, the…
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Swan is indeed inexperienced
That's right opposition fucktards, Wayne Swan is inexperienced as Treasurer. He's never been Treasurer of Australia before. Then again, neither has Tony Smith. In fact, Tony Smith has never been a gov…
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The first step is taken at last
We are at last on the path to reconcilliation with Prime Minister Rudd saying sorry to the Stolen Generations, nearly 11 years after Bringing Them Home. It's a momentous step and Rudd's speach was mag…
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Dangerous dog bites woman, but cops blame the woman
I just love the attitude of these cops. A police dog bites a woman who's doing nothing wrong, in a public place. The police blame her for doing something very normal. And of course, "The spokesman sai…
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Pay the tax cut into super
Birmo is always entertaining, but today's little rant contains an incredibly smart idea at the end. Rudd has painted his way into tax cut corner and desperately needs to find a way out. Birmo suggest…
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Mr Abbott, I'd like you to meet the pot
Tony Abbott, the man who would like to tell all Australians how to behave in bed, and wants to have control over womens' bodies, has called Krudd a control freak. That's a bit rich doncha think?
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All coppers are corrupt
I'm rather forthright with my opinions of our servants in blue. They're all bent as a peg. My reasoning here is that I've seen enough petty and very serious corruption, whether it's collusion to suppr…
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Economic conservative
So apparently when the economy was tanking and interest rates were high, Brendan Nelson took out another mortgage and ran his business on credit. I bet he wasn't paying his employees' super or keeping…
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Memo to Liberal Party: welcome to the wilderness
You might want to take a seat. You could be here for some time. In case you haven't heard, the Tories just elected a man who believes "intelligent design" should be taught in schools. What is it about…
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Guess what's on an iced vovo?
Our new PM told his staff to limit their celebrations to a strong cup of tea and an Iced VoVo before getting down to work. I doubt he meant it this way, but the hilarious thing about this is that one…
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Ruddslide!
What an exciting time. Our new overlord, Kevin Rudd, wiped away 11 years of reactionary rule under lying rodent John Howard. The weather has brightened. The mood has risen. The future looks bright. I'…
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Remember one thing: Greens in the Senate
Tomorrow is the big day, Howard's End. Something I've been waiting 11 years for. The day his particular breed of reactionary politics is shown the door. There's really only one thing you must remember…
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It's the style, not the content
The 7:30 Report last night followed the campaigning in the so-called bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro, which is where I grew up. Watching the incumbent Tory campaign against the Labor candidate, I had a…
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Normal programming resumes next week
Stig asks if I have an RSS feed without all the political crap. The election is this Saturday, so by Monday I'll be over it and the realisation that Rudd is almost (but thankfully not quite exactly) t…
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Good Rid-Dance
A party in People's Republic of Newtown is planned for election night to celebrate the (expected) ousting of 11 years of Tory government. There's a MySpace page and in keeping with MySpace tradition,…
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No pork for Grayndler
When you live in a safe Labor seat the porky treats don't seem to flow so fast. The best local Labor ubergruppenfuhrer could muster was insulating the local high school against aircraft noise and clea…
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Predicting the federal election
It's always dangerous picking the winner of an election, but it should be pretty clear to just about everyone now who's going to win. The question remains, by how much. So going out on a limb somewhat…
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Is that a core promise Mr Howard?
Howard is categorically stating that there's no Workchoices sequel in the wings, should they be re-elected. I can't believe the opposition hasn't come out asking if that's a core or non-core promise.…
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Greens in London
Some of the Greens volunteers Voting started last week at the busiest polling place in Australian elections, Australia House situated on The Strand in London. The embassy is open all this week, includ…
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Why vote for minor parties?
The Greens have done a great short video explaining how parliament works, and why voting Green in the upper house is so important, regardless of how you vote in the lower house.
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A tax and spend election
This election I've spent some time making fun of the tax-dodging gun nuts, but they make an excellent point about Howard's campaign launch yesterday. While promising $4 million a second, the Liberals…
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Floating utopias
Easily Confused pointed me at this great article (via Danny) about floating libertarian microstates. It's a remarkably common theme amongst the tax-dodging no-such-thing-as-society fear-the-black-UN-h…
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A vote for a minor party is not a wasted vote
I was in Stanmore this morning handing out flyers for The Greens and yet again I had to explain our preferential voting system to a number of people. These aren't stupid, uneducated people, just peopl…
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Preferences are out
The Senate group ticket preferencing deals are out. These are the preferences that apply for the majority of voters who vote above-the-line. Some interesting things have popped up -- I'm looking at th…
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Liberty and Democracy Party: some enthusiasts respond
So my previous post about the Liberty & Democracy Party got some responses. I had a long conversation with one Terje Petersen and he seemed pretty rational, a nice guy really. We disagree on a number…
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Got access to a photocopier in London?
The Australian federal election is coming up and this time around I'm not in London to coordinate for The Greens when the 20,000 or so people vote at Australia House in London. Instead we've got the v…
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Who's this Liberty and Democracy Party?
So anyone got any details of this new Liberty & Democracy Party? They push themselves as libertarians, but that often tends to start sounding like LaRouche nutjobism. So do these people talk about vas…
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Parties should show their commitment
Glen Turner has good things to say about political parties showing their comittment to a cause. Why aren't they out there building houses, paying doctors' bills, rather than just promising to use our…
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Howard: the grumpy old codger
I didn't see last night's "debate" (how can you have a debatge when they agree on almost everything?) as we went to see the absolutely amazing Control, about the life of Ian Curtis of Joy Division. Th…
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Crikey: I won't be renewing
I just got my renewal notice for Crikey, a daily email newsletter about Australian politics. I won't be renewing, even though there's an election coming up. My main problem with Crikey is Christian Ke…
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T-shirt spotted on King Street
John Hunt is a Coward. I like it!
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GetUp buys ad space on the AFL Grand Final
Australia has four popular "football" codes, most of which involve more hand than feet, but the most popular nationally is Aussie Rules. It's a very strange game for anyone who hasn't seen it before,…
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Raise the bar
NSW has retarded liquor licensing laws. You can drink all day and all night in venues that don't serve food, but you can't order a glass of wine to drink with your meal in most restaurants. Contrast w…
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Anonymous policing
Surprise surprise, coppers taking their identification badges off during the APEC summit won't be punished. Supposedly they'll have velcro name tags in future. I'll believe that when I see it! The sam…
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Opel contract a sign of impending election writs?
Senator Coonan spent the weekend signing contracts with the Opel consortium for rural broadband. This despite pending legal action, and no real need for hurry. Could the haste be a sign there's an ele…
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Cops removing badges
News that cops removed their name tags at the APEC protests should come as no surprise. This tactic has been around since the Vietnam War protests, allowing the coppers to get away with beating hell o…
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Because I said so
Lawyer for the police says "a full-scale riot was probable because in a crowd a mob mentality easily takes over." I couldn't agree more, and considering there will be more coppers than protesters, we…
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Rudd stands for something: SHOCK!
Kevin Rudd has actually taken a stance on an issue, this time the sale of uranium to India, a nuclear-armed country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Amazing! Is this the first…
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Kevin Andrews must resign
Kevin Andrews, Australia's minister of immigration, has defamed an innocent man and tarnished Australia's reputation as a country of fair dealing. He must resign. You can also demand he does.
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Dealing with terruhists
So Haneef is out and heading back home. I suspect he's going to be a rather wealthy man by the time his lawyers are finished, but then again he's now on every blacklist under the sun and probably won'…
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Brave freecycler
This just came through on freecycle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freecycle_Network Have an extra one of these that came with a phone upgrade last year. Expires in November. Pack opened but unused. (P…
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Rudd sells out Tasmania's forests
With both the logging companies and pro logging unions supporting Rudd's just-announced forestry policy, you can be sure the one thing it doesn't do is protect any trees. Yet another sellout from the…
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I guess I'd fail the character test
So I guess I would also fail the character test by having associated with convicted criminals. After all, I've met a man who was jailed today, and probably have met others. I guess this means all crim…
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If Hitler had died of cancer, would he get obits like this?
The obituaries for the taxi driver's choice of right-wing shock jock Stan Zemanek are sickening. By dying of cancer he seems to have been rehabilitated as some kind of lovable, mildly eccentric but ge…
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Peter Garrett: liar as well as sellout now
So he's not just a sellout with no morals any more, he's now willing to lie in a very obvious way. But Mareike puts it better than me. On a related note, you can't see that photo and tell me Daniel is…
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Tranny cops: masters of disguise
As you can see the Tranny Cops are masters of disguise. Clearly our police overlords had trouble distinguishing them from regular plods. Fortunately our eagle-eyed judges were able to spot the imposte…
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The wit of The Economist
I'm a big fan of The Economist as a foil to the hopelessly biased, provincial papers in Australia. Their clipped, accurate prose and quality proofreading make it a joy to read. They're also not above…
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Cynicism is the default when talking about transport in NSW
Ben Fowler is right to be cynical about the NSW government's planned metro railway. After all, Action for Transport 2010, launched in 1998, was supposed to see us have a railway line from Chatswood to…
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Howard's right: it is our hurricane Katrina
Howard has been quoted as saying the "emergency" in Australian indigenous communities is "Australia's own hurricane Katrina" and I think he's right. Just as Bush did nothing for years knowing about th…
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Sydney has a long way to go on transport
I've been out to Telstra Stadium in the Olympic precinct twice in the last few weeks. The first for the Australia vs Uruguay football match and last night for the Swans vs Collingwood AFL match. They'…
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Church sticks nose into state
A delusionary man who believes in fairies has stuck his nose into NSW politics threatening our representatives with "consequences" if they support a law expanding stem cell research. Evidently this th…
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I'm all for the resumption of whaling
Last night on the news the Japanese delegation to the International Whaling Commission proposed a compromise that would see commercial whaling start up again. They want to allow coastal whaling in Jap…
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Dawkins is right, if a little abrasive
There's been a lot of criticism of Richard Dawkins and his anti-theist, with him being compared to fundamentalists and proselytizers. Yes, he can be a bit abrasive and he can certainly offend people,…
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Telstra moaning: the media finally catch up
It seems the media has finally caught up with the real story behind Telstra's rants and raves. If I were a conspiracy-minded person, I'd suspect that the proprietors were waiting until Telstra had boo…
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TAFE needs to lift their game
I want to learn how to weld, as I think it's a useful skill to have. So I go to the obvious place for tertiary education, TAFE NSW who provide exactly this kind of thing. Sure enough, they have what l…
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Budget speech as tag cloud
Crikey has rendered last night's budget speech as a tag cloud which is a very clever thing to do. Interesting to see that the word "reform" doesn't even make it into the cloud. Nor "environment" or "g…
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How out of touch is the Treasurer?
One of the most jarring points made by smirk-meister Costello in last night's Budget was his comments about part-time workers. It really shows a man out of touch with the real world. People who are wo…
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Why nukes? Making sense of the political equation
I've been thinking about this great push to nuclear power in Australia, and wondering why it's happening. Modern politicians don't push hard on something like this without a reason. They'll either thi…
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Radioactive Garrett
Well to match the radioactive rodent I've made a radioactive former human being with a conscience. That's right, Peter Garrett fresh from his sell-out tour of the Labor conference.
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Radioactive Howard
Davyd has made a few very cool graphics related to Howard's plans to build nuke power plants in Australia. Mind you, we might need a Peter Garrett one shortly too, given his recent sell-out. What a fu…
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I'll vote Labor if...
It's almost ten years after the Bringing Them Home report about the Stolen Generation. The report has been mostly ignored. I will preference Labor as number 2 on my ballot if they make a clear stateme…
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A solution to Sydney's water problems
If you're not in Sydney you probably don't know this, but it's been raining solidly for the last 36 hours or so. Of course none of this rain is going to reach the catchments of the dams that supply Sy…
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Farmers: Spare change?
I couldn't help imagining my local bum's plaintive "spare change" request when I saw Ben Fargher (now there's an unfortunate surname), CEO of the National Farmer's Federation on the telly last night.…
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Gun control saves lives
Howard has talked about my post on gun laws, and talks about the laws and their effect in the UK. There's been a massive increase in gun crime in the UK in recent years, fuelled partly by smuggling fr…
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Gun laws are good
Back when the Port Arthur Massacre had just happened and the debate raged over gun control, it was common to hear about Texans saying things like "never woulda happened in Texas". They'd say this beca…
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The Wasp Nest Principle
I've been listening to a great radio play called The Department from Radio 4. It's very sharp satire. This afternoon I listened to the episode where the team tackle terrorism, and it had this brillian…
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Turnbull says something intelligent: Shock!
Malcolm Turnbull yesterday said something I find difficult to disagree with: " I think religion is a very poor guide to public policy. " Can't argue with that! Doesn't mean I actually like the Vauclus…
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Fred Nile: racist (part three)
I thought I could have a reasoned debate with Erik, but his latest post's first argument quotes me out of context and ignores the entire point. Thus, not much point continuing as it will just descend…
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Fred Nile racist, or just playing politics?
Erik de Castro Lopo has responded to yesterday's post about Fred Nile's recent conversion to racism. Erik makes the pedantic claim that Islam is not a race. In this era of the dog whistle I thought th…
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Fred Nile: racist
I don't suppose I have too many hardcore Xtians reading my blog, what with me thinking it's perfectly okay to ridicule adults who still have imaginary friends. Just in case I do, it's worth pointing o…
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Costello: all tip, no iceberg
Keating's still got it. The prime minister who made question time worth watching still has his acid tongue. "The thing about poor old Costello is he is all tip and no iceberg." Brilliant!
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Ethical dilemma: "defence" industry employers
I've just received a job description for a contract at a software company whose customers include a bunch of organizations in the killing business. Australian, New Zealand and Malaysian Navy, Australi…
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Sex shops sell porn: SHOCK!
Our ever-smart coppers have made a shock revelation in the Sydney's red light district. The sex shops there sell porn! Australia's film classification system allows for a bunch of different ratings, w…
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DNA testing shows Hanson is a mongrel
This is just too funny. DNA testing has shown Pauline Hanson is of mixed race, including some middle eastern blood. That's just too good! Of course a smarter racist would have expected this and refuse…
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Grubby deals and doings between Liberals and crazy Jesus freaks
It's starting to come out the grubby links between the Liberal Party and the extremist separatist Christian cult Exclusive Brethren. Expect the story about their ads being billed to the Liberal Party…
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The right reason to ban the flag
The Big Day Out are discouraging people from taking Australian flags to the festival because they're worried about boneheads draping themselves in the flag. A better reason would be because our flag i…
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Short memory
Short memory must have a sho-oo-oort memory.
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Congratulations to Mohammad Yunus
Mohammad Yunus has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He's notable for starting the Grameen Bank, which was notable for designing a system that allowed poor people to borrow small amounts of money an…
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Amazing use of Google Earth
The Wilderness Society have released overlays for Google Earth that show the scale of the destructive logging going on in Tasmania. It's incredible that we allow this to happen in such a beautiful, un…
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How not to do a viral campaign
The Liberal (that's Tory for you non-Australians, yes it's confusing) party have quickly shoved out an attempt at a viral campaign, Same Old Labor in the wake of this morning's leadership spill. It's…
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Notice any similarity?
This photo was taken by Gabe at Critical Mass last Friday. This appeared in both the printed and online editions of yesterdays Daily Terrorgraph. I see the Terror's respect for the law only cuts one w…
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There's Lear Jets over Kulgera
Might be time to dust off the old Red Gum song Lear Jets Over Kulgera. And there's Lear jets over Kulgera Where the Dust dances in the heat Sing a song for the poor young little rich country As they b…
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New Kyoto won't be as sweet a deal
Howard is dissembling about a new Kyoto agreement to take heat off the fact that the largest per-capita greenhouse gas emitter won't sign the existing agreement. Thing is, Kyoto was a fantastic deal f…
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A plan to end farmer welfare
I have a plan to stop farmers sponging off the state. Many farmers in Australia farm extremely marginal land that is regularly very badly affected by drought. Australia is a place that has droughts. E…
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Lovely newspeak from the UK Treasury
Under the heading " Pension Tax Simplification " you can read all about the complicated new rules that have been introduced this year. Orwell had nothing on these guys. Reading around with the experts…
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Heard this morning at Stockwell tube station
"For your safety this station is fitted with recorded closed circuit television cameras." Well that's about time isn't it?
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Finally, a union with a clue!
So all the council workers are out on strike today. Their union, Unison, has put excellent information about why they're striking on their web site. Compare and contrast with the fatcat train drivers…
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Death and Taxes
This is a fantastic visualisation of US government spending. Would be great for comparison purposes to do something similar for other governments.
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Ahhh election season
There's one good thing about election season: I get to tell Tories quite how much they disgust me in the comfort of my own doorstep. And they have to be polite! Hours of entertainment. This is more fu…
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Howard's 10th Anniversary
Today is a good day to reflect on the fact that there will be kids in Australia starting high school this year who can't remember a prime minister other than John Howard. Scary. The sooner we get the…
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Independence Day
So Gordon Brown wants a British "Independence Day" like the Yanks. Well I guess first we have to throw off the shackles of the British Monarchy. Might I suggest the Romanov Solution?
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Top of the heap?
According to this article in yesterday's Guardian, the hierarchy of road users that traffic engineers should be: disabled and visually impaired people first, pedestrians next, then cyclists, public tr…
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Intelligently designed comic
Doonesbury is one of the comics I read every day. It's not often that it's laugh-out-loud funny, normally it's only wrly funny. Today's strip is an exception, and reminds me why I read this comic. Som…
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Unlicensed minicabs
Those of you outside London probably won't know, but London operates two separate taxi services. The familiar Black Cabs are easily spotted and can be hailed in the street. However, due to their high…
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Oil junkies
Is it just me or is there something junkie-desperate sounding about BP and Shell's current campaigns to show how "green" they are, doing renewables research. It just sounds so much like: "I can give u…
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Sharon the peacemaker?
Who would have thought that Arial Sharon, the butcher of Sabra and Shatila could start to look like a peacemaker. Could it possibly be that the man has realized that humiliating the Palestinians is ne…
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Anti-strike laws: the new slavery
Today is a national day of protest against the Australian government industrial relations " reforms ". For those not up-to-date, they're taking away a huge swathe of rights from Australian workers inc…
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The Dismissal
On this day thirty years ago, the most important event in Australian political history of my lifetime happened, and I was only four months old. After the opposition Liberal (that is, conservative--yea…
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DRM: A cautionary tale; or: How to piss off you customers in one easy step
In a couple of weeks I'm running a murder mystery adventure. They're live role-playing events and lots of fun. Everyone dresses up as their character, someone gets killed and we all race around trying…
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UK media has the wrong idea about these French riots
The UK media seems to be focussing on the lack of integration of these kids into French society. I think they're more integrated than they appear. After all, they're taking their grievances to the str…
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Oh to be a fly on the wall
Riding past Madge's place it seems the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, is on a state visit. Chinese flags on The Mall, and coppers everywhere. I'd love to see the conversation between Hu and Bliar: Tony…
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Mass
Went to Mass tonight. Won't Mum be happy? Well, maybe not that kinda Mass:) Was a huge turnout, following the porcine types' threats last month. Also an unseasonably warm night (17 degrees by my bike…
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His heart really isn't in it
Just saw Blair on the news singing the Labour anthem, The Red Flag. He really didn't seem to have his heart in it. Hilarious!
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Being a geek is not a crime!
Very scary story from yesterday's Grauniad about a geek who was stopped and searched by coppers in a tube station for... carrying a laptop and wearing a jacket. This errorism bollocks is getting reall…
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Why are we appeasing the terrorists?
Uncle Dubya keeps telling us that terrorists "hate freedom". So why is it that every time they attack us, we appease them by removing some of our freedom? Doesn't that mean they've won?
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Where's the fridge magnet?
Our local council clearly isn't taking the terror threat seriously. They sent some cardboard leaflets telling us what they're doing and the like. How could they be so stupid? Everybody knows that the…
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Google News is just so good
Google News is just so good. Here, you get to see the different sides to a story. The official mouthpiece of the US military tells how Guantanamo Bay guards are very respectful when handling the Koran…
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Looks like I'll have to work for big companies
Well it looks like when I eventually return to Australia, I'll have to work for companies with more than 100 employees. Otherwise I could be unfairly dismissed with no right to challenge it. So where'…
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Australia Uber Alles
The Australian Attorney-General's Department is saying " Individual human rights need to be rethought in the age of terrorism and more consideration given to community rights ". I'm sure I've heard so…
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Woken up with a Tory MP
Well, this morning I woke up with a Tory MP. It feels worse because I've actually met the smarmy bastid and voted Labour despite Bliar. Worse still, Saddam-loving George "permatan" Galloway succeeded…
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Vote early, vote often
So it's the big day. I trundled down to the Indian Cultural Centre around the corner to do my civic duty this morning. Xed the appropriate (Melanie Smallman, Labour) box and headed out. Dead easy, can…
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Voting Labour
Last night I went to Hammersmith and Fulham FOE 's pre-election meet-the-candidates thingy to try and make up my mind about who to vote for. The Lib Dem was, as expected, a dorky looking type without…
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Let Habib tell his story
The Australia government is attempting to stop illegally imprisoned Australian Mamdouh Habib from selling his story to the press when he is returned from Guantanamo Bay. They're apparently trying to u…
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Not lovin it
What part of no junk mail were you having trouble with, McDonald's?
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Chilling effect...
I've been thinking about the election result this morning. It's very depressing, but has to be done. If Howard's agenda with control of the whole parliament is as radical as I would expect, things cou…
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Emigrate
Need I say more?
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Are Australians this fucking stupid?
It's crunch time. The election is on tomorrow and I'll know by London lunchtime whether Australians have goldfish memory. The result also has a very big bearing on whether I head home to Australia in…
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Joke of the campaign?
Bob Brown, to the news that logging trucks were going to blockade Launceston in support of the PM on forestry: "This is the axles of evil on show".
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Shock: Pot calls kettle black
A beautiful quote from Howard in this article about Labor's long-awaited Tasmanian forests policy. " It's a grubby preference deal " which is pretty amusing coming from the party that is preferencing…
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Liberal attack-dogs in London too
My, isn't this a surprisingly on-message letter to the The Australian Times from one "Cameron Reynolds"
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Summary Offences revistied
An email on the Critical Mass Sydney email list brought a court case involving the NSW Summary Offences Act to my attention. My last clash with this insidious piece of legislation was when organising…
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Where's my fridge magnet?
Looks like the UK is finally getting a propaganda booklet about terrorism and emergencies. As usual, the poms are years behind everyone else. What's more, it doesn't sound like it's going to be a frid…
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Is Latham also a suckhole?
So now Mr Latham is trying to prove he's not beholden to US policy. So where's the condemnation of Howard voting the US policy line with esteemed suckhole company of Marshall Islands, Micronesia and P…
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Seems I do have a vote
Spoke to a very helpful woman at the AEC and it turns out Holly and I are enrolled to vote, just not at the address we expected. I'm sure we enrolled and registered as overseas voters from my parents'…
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I've been Florida-ed
I just checked on the AEC web site and it seems I've been dropped off the electoral roll in Australia. This is despite the fact that I registered as an overseas elector before we left the country. I h…
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Election night television coverage
I don't normally pass these things on, but this is a classic. Forwarded from a friend... The Sydney Morning Herald's Monday "TV Guide" has a section devoted to home entertainment with a Q&A column whe…
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Peter Garrett sell-out watch episode 1
Peter Garrett has already sold out on one of his main principles. He now doesn't want to see Pine Gap shut down, which puts him in line with ALP policy but puts him a long way from his own Nuclear Dis…
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Peter, what are you thinking?
Peter Garrett, WTF are you thinking? I can just see the thought process here: "I'll change them from within". Poor, deluded fool! The ALP is a single-minded organisation. They have one aim: to get int…
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Predator has left the building...
My good friend and partner in activist geekery, <predator>, died over the weekend. He had been battling it out with cancer for some months. The world, and Sydney's activist community in particular, ha…
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Bush invokes Godwin's Law
Well it looks like Bush has invoked Godwin's Law in the debate on the fight about terror. Application of Godwin's Law means that he has, of course, lost the argument.
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Anti-semitism on the rise in Europe?
There have been recent press reports about an unreleased report on anti-semitism in Europe claiming it is on the rise. I'm not sure it every went away. On that note, you may have been on the receiving…
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Critical Mass rides again
Wow what a ride! That's right I'm talking about the monthly Critical Mass rides in Sydney. Every last Friday of the month, hundreds and even thousands of cyclists head for Hyde Park and ride around th…
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Put it back in the ground!
"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exchausted all other alternatives." - Abba Eban The great news is that ERA have abandoned the Jabiluka mine in possibly the most i…
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When will Carr make his move?
Recently there's been speculation about Bob Carr making the move to Federal politics in Australia. But when will he make his move? He'll let Crean stumble through the next election, handing another vi…
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Free State Project: Amerikkka's lead plumbing?
The Free State Project is an interesting idea run by a bunch of no-government, libertarian, gun freak nutjobs. The plan is to get 20,000 people who share their paranoid world - view to move to one spa…
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Vote early, vote often
Well I got to vote in my first British election today. I wasn't enrolled for any of the previous ones. Yes, pommies, we colonials are allowed vote in your elections, but you can't vote in ours when yo…
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Poor Pauline
Today started rather inauspiciously. Yawn. Bash alarm off. Crawl out of bed. Grunt at girlfriend. Remember it's a weekday and (ugh) I have to go to work. Then when I got to work, one of my colleagues…
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There's goes the voice of reason
I used to be incredibly impressed by Claire Short's principled stance on issued of development and peace. She had the balls to put her cabinet post on the line over important issues. But I always had…
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Apple miss the point
Looks like Apple and the music industry have worked out that the music industry is over. So they've mounted a rear-guard assault to try and claw it back. Let's go through the problems, shall we. To st…
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An idea whose time has come?
Looks like I'm not the only one to come up with the idea of compulsory licensing to pay musicians. Fred von Lohmann is a senior staff attorney at the EFF and has this article talking about the issue.…
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The music "industry" is over
I've talked about it before and it seems to be in the final death spiral. That's right, the music "industry" is terminal. "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallwa…
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Getting at the heart of the matter
This war has seen even more of a control freak approach to news dissemination. That, coupled with purposefully inaccurate releases of information from both sides has made it very interesting to watch.…
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Chirac est un ver
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gallery/image/0,9353,-10104389507,00.html) Of course the French are finding this all a bit odd. And of course they see right through it to the three things that are real…
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So that's what a million people looks like
Wow the anti-war marches were absolutely amazing. Melbourne had 250,000 people, Sydney had 200,000 or more, even Terrigal had a small turnout. London was amazing with at least a million. It's hard to…
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Anti-war marches go global
The world has started the massive protests against war on Iraq, which Melbourne sporting up to 250,000 demonstrators, depending on who you talk to. London is expecting half a million or more tomorrow.…
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Elected Upper House? Perish the Thought!
A strange thing is happening to a strange pre-democracy relic in this country. The House of Lords is about to vote on whether it should be abolished. For those of you who don't understand, the House o…