A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Stephen Hill and Saint.
Politics
Australian
|
Andrew Bartlett finds, once again, that the politics of the Olympic games makes strange bedfellows. So does Ken Lovell in this startling report of a last-minute boycott of the 2008 games.
Clarrie Rivers reveals Brendan’s secret political idol. Did the “Joh for Canberra” push succeed after all?
clarencegirl is unimpressedby Senate President Alan Ferguson’s willingness to accede to Steve Fielding’s belief that some internet content is Not Suitable for Senators.
Apathetic Sarah notes a case of News Ltd double standards – and another one.
Roll up for the Listening Tour, Roll up! It’s hit Melbourne.
slim is quite certain that the Liberal Party will be in opposition federally for at least a decade ((History backs him up.~gilmae)), so why bother sticking the shiv to Dr Nelson ?
Harry Clarke takes a different tack, being quite certain Labor will stuff up and arguing for the Liberals not to take advice from the enemy.
Ralph Buttigieg, a member of the National Space Society of Australia, posts his senate submission on an Australian space program.
Andrew Norton on a progressive think tank whose output displays a very undeveloped interpretation of Per Capita.
NB Tuesday’s ML might also be late. I’m still in Sydney and not getting home until after midnight so I don’t imagine I’ll be up really early to compile the Tuesday edition. I’ve also not replaced the central strip of Flickr images. Hopefully Jen will have time to select some for the Tuesday edition.
International
Phil Donahue takes on the uberpatriots at Fox News. Again. The Daily Show got in the act as well, with a handful of double standards since we’re on the topic.
Has McCain done it again? Derek Barry suggests that McCain’s declaration that he would be happy for the US to stay in Iraq for a hundred years might have been ill-considered.
What if they announced a continuing trend and no-one was listening? Tim Lambert has the answer.
Saint reports on a Saudi Arabian blogger who has Fitnaedthe bible. The resulting video is quite inferior to the original and obviously the work of a devoutly Wahabbist member of a cadet branch of the House of Saud who funnels his weekly allowance to terrorist organisations through the Cayman islands. ((That’s three beers, and off to Tim B for some re-education ~saint))((What are the first two beers for, exactly? ~GT))
Economics
George Megalogenis looks at prior Reserve Bank mistakes, argues that even if they do make mistake government policy wrecks more havok, and believes the Australian economy is at a crossroads.
Law
Legal Eagle admits to a Grade 4 Careless Bruising and will spend a week on the sideline and a life time of guilt trips. Also, doubts that toddlers can be reliable witnesses.
|
|
|
|
|
Issues analysis
Jim Belshaw museson Fred Argy’s question: “Equality of opportunity: is more policy intervention needed?“
wmmbb contemplates thinking non-violently((I’m willing to admire, but not emulate. The latter would cramp my writing style ~GT)).
Has our boy from Nambour killed Realpolitik? Soi-disantapathete Gam thinks he may have.
Mark ‘Oz Conservative’ Richardson continues his look at the inconsistencies and contradictions of Jean Devanny’s sexual liberation ((she nevertheless seems to have come out smelling better than de Beauvoir ~ saint))
Gummo thoughtCanadian blogger Kathy Shaidle gilded the lily on the Scott Brockie case. That may not be why she and other Canadian bloggers are being suedby former Canadian Human Rights Commission employee (and most frequent complainant): the serially litigant Richard Warman.
Chris Berg responds to Gruen on Hayek on regulation.
Further reprints of Imagining Australia.
James Farrell goes through the standards when looking at the anti-Islamic school dissidents in Camden. ((They don’t seem to mind the Rebels encampment in their midst, though.~gilmae))
John Heard on the implications of finding a gay gene.
Arts
|
Another report from the Kasey Chambers front line, from Cat Politics.
Pretty pictures of Billy Corganby Daniel Boud.
Video should not be allowed on Flickr. Discuss.
Darryl Mason wonders how a Disney Studios film of a Philip K Dick short story will turn out. He also publishes one of Dick’s earliest short stories.
Jason Soon on comic crossover events.
The 1950s as reflected in a decade of delightful Meanjin covers, at Sarsaparilla.
Mark Bahnisch photoblogs a utilitarian landmark that will soon be engulfed by an insipid uninspired landmark:
The Mill Albion draws on the design principles of a traditional village, fusing contemporary and heritage apartments together with everyday retail convenience and commercial opportunities((Just like a traditional village, The Mill Albion will have its upper class, living in the “limited supply of … heritage apartments”; a middle class in living in the “two brand new, designer buildings” and some public housing thrown into the mix to provide a lower class. First time I’ve heard of a developer thinking to include a bit of a slum in the development plan. Now that’s what I call social engineering. ~GT)).
Sport
Alaska: Where men are men and women win the Iditarod.
Snark, strangeness and charm
Glen has the shits with intellectually myopic Americans who can’t see how their conceptual-discursive tools construct them.
tigtog is furious with Gummo((Yes, that Gummo ~GT)) for posting on this New Yorker article. It’s a complete genre spoiler – you’ll never look at Tony Hill the same way again.
Compulsory beards at school formals? Apathetic sarah says no way.
Free speech frolics from tigtog. Once again, a defamation writ against a blogger gets the finger:
Might I remind my gentle readers that I am a US citizen and machinegunkeyboard.com is hosted on web facilities in Dallas. MATHABAs complaint about @ndys bit has a basis in UK case precedent. I can promise you that they dont give a good goddamn for the Queens law down in Texas.
Adrian the cabbie meets a banker with a solvency problem and discovers the women behind the Bra Boys.
This week’s Darwin Herbert Spencer award from KG at A Western Heart.
Gummo, the public housing is a requirement under Queensland law. You can’t put up big new apartment developments without setting aside a certain percentage of the units for public housing.
Interesting law that one, Mark. Must make for some conflict in Brisbane’s more salubrious parts.
It does!
Even if I could edit the note, I don’t think I would. That law sounds like a cop-out from a government looking for a way to provide public housing on a least cost, least controversy basis. Interesting subject for a blog post – pity I’m busy this week.
I might come back to it myself some time. It doesn’t exhaust the funding that the Qld Gov’t puts into public housing. It was conceived for two reasons:
(1) To supplement the collapse in funding from the Commonwealth by drawing on private sector sources;
(2) To ensure that inner city areas remain socially heterogenous to some degree and that people who require services (ie social welfare, drug rehab) can live close to where they’re actually located.
It’s good policy imho.
Are the developers doing subdivision out in the suburbs subject to the same law?
No.
It also doesn’t provide “least controversy”. The developers themselves seem fine with it. They’re subject to a number of other requirements – eg a certain amount of open space, etc. The residents in the “luxury apartments” are another matter entirely, as are commercial tenants.
Eek! Too many issues!
Serves me right for shooting from the lip. Now back to fishing through census data – on housing as it happens. Bleg coming up later, I think.
Flickr’s late entry into the video hosting field has two ways to go. Either they’ve run across a brand new form of compression algorithm or the entire site will bog down. Either way, it’s merely another place to upload video to, just like the plethora of other sites. The whining from Mulletgod smacks of elitism to me
Dear Ken Parish and co, are you guys aware of Burning Words and Cheerful Meglomaniac? Check them out, you may want to include them on your browsing list.
Disclosure: Both Ryan and Bec are mates of mine, but seriously, they’re writing some excellent stuff on the Civil Unions campaign in the ACT, and on trans issues and feminism.
You think Yahoo might have an issue coping with serving up flash video? Really? I mean, like you pointed out, its a solved problem.
Maintaining healthy communities isn’t though. The internet is littered with the corpses, living and dead, of communities that didn’t manage it.
Ah, there’s a whole section of ML for them…around the bottom…/bad joke.
~ ~ ~
What is clarencegirl’s problem? Since labor has already announced that ‘some internet content is Not Suitable for us‘, Ferguson’s conclusion can hardly be doubted. The major premise might be absurd, though, but the fault is certainly not Fielding’s or Ferguson’s.
Speaking of gay genes. Wonder if John Heard saw (Heard saw – that’s funn… sigh) the Channel Nine show Power Of Ten lest week.
Dreadful show, but contained gay gene chat.
Everyone:
On G-G-to-be:
What?
That’s been standard practice in government departments, pretend-independent authorities and major corporations for yonks. What was so different about hers? Did she use mint chocolate flavoured notes or did she write them in a font resembling Ancient Syriac script? I’m busting with curiosity.
As an American, I am ashamed and surprised to say that the United States is quite hypocritical. Americans like to say that they love freedom and justice, but here are some examples of where American actions conflict with American standards:
1. The US inspected a Soviet Union fighter jet that landed in Japan in 1976, but protested that China should not search an American plane that landed in China in 2001.
2. The Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights clearly states that people should not be subject to the same offense twice, but sex offenders can be convicted of crimes and then later be required to register as sex offenders and be held for life under indefinite civil commitment laws even after they complete their original sentences. “John TV” shows that embarrass and punish people arrested on prostitution charges also violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process rights.
3. The Sixth Amendment guaranteeing the right to speedy trials is violated by holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay without charge. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments and is violated by torturing Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Whether the prisoners are foreigners or not makes no difference because it violates the intent of the Constitution and sends the message to other nations that human rights violations are acceptable. Taking the moral high ground is difficult when you are immoral yourself. If you want to prevent terrorism, give terrorists a trial, improve airline security, and don’t give out visas easily. Torturing suspected terrorists only recruits more terrorists. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
4. The Fourth Amendment protection against illegal searches is violated by the Patriot Act that allows secret warrants.
5. The Fourth Amendment protection against illegal searches and seizures, the Fifth amendment that allows due process, and the Eighth Amendment that forbids excessive bail, fines, and cruel and unusual punishment are all violated by DUI checkpoints and asset forfeiture laws.
6. The Fourth Amendment protection against illegal searches and the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees equal protection of the law is violated by Arizona’s immigration law that requires police to question people who look like illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration would be better stopped by having a strong border and fining employers of illegal immigrants, not by profiling Americans who look like foreigners.
7. The United States criticizes Iran and North Korea for developing nuclear power, but the US helps the United Arab Emirates, India, and Vietnam develop nuclear technology.
8. The USA supports democracy, but has overthrown democratically elected leaders in Iran and Chile. The US also supports countries that do not have religious freedom and democracy like Saudi Arabia and has supported dictators like Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines, Ngo Dinh Diem in Vietnam, Suharto in Indonesia, and Saddam Hussein from Iraq .
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06353/747165-109.stm
http://www.military-veterans-for-justice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=13
9. The US opposes terrorism, but has supported Osama bin Laden and freed the accused Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles suspected of blowing up a plane in 1976.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/15/osama-qna.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/may/15/theterroristbushisntafter
10. The United States says that it supports free trade, but foreign companies can currently only own 25% of an airline in the US, while American companies can buy 49% of an airline in Europe.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=atMw6Pzh8Ls0
11. The United States criticizes Airbus for receiving European government subsidies while ignoring the fact that Boeing accepted government tax breaks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/business/global/04wto.html
Maybe it is just human nature, but Americans have always looked for an enemy to blame from witches to blacks to Communists. Today people are aghast that the US had Japanese concentration camps and once allowed slavery and segregation. How will people look back on the treatment of sex offenders, Muslims, and illegal immigrants in the USA 60 years from now?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/opinion/05kristof.html
Criminals should be punished, but only in a way that doesn’t violate the Constitution. Even innocent people can be arrested and wrongly convicted.
If you care about your freedom, write your elected officials. Governments would love to take away all your freedom if they could. Our freedoms are diminishing, not growing. Stand up, fight for your rights, and protect our freedom now!
——–
First they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me, but there was no one left to speak for me.
If only one person is not free, then no one is free.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.