"The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of
our time. It is more than a clash of arms. It is a clash of visions, a
great ideological struggle. On the one side are those who defend the
ideals of justice and dignity with the power of reason and truth. On the
other side are those who pursue a narrow vision of cruelty and control by
committing murder, inciting fear, and spreading lies." -US President George W Bush
This month's update from Democratic Audit Australia has some interesting material on political donations, electoral changes, and the lobbyists' register.
The one constant about democracy is that the job description for the national government never changes. Government is meant to provide security and public infrastructure, to correct for market failure, and to avoid telling people how to live their lives. (George Megalogenis)
The ostensible argument for power privatisation is that NSW needs the money for schools, hospitals and other expenditure. The reality is that sale of capital is touted as the way to finance ongoing expenditure, analogous to the classic case of the farmer who sells off a bit of the farm each year to keep the family clothed and food on the table.
Colonel Davis' testimony could well herald an annulment of the powers of the military tribunal and negate the only conviction it has produced...
You will have noticed some changes over the last few weeks coming from having updated the site to Drupal 5.2: unfortunately, we have found a major problem in the comment management system, and have had to suspend comments until this is fixed.
You will have noticed some changes over the last few weeks coming from having updated the site to Drupal 5.2: unfortunately, we found a problem in the comment management system, and had to suspend comment boxes until it was fixed - which it now has been - thanks, Nigel.
If you throw enough money at something, it will make money. With
publcists you can create a mystique into which nature will introduce
scandal. You can fill people's heads with information that they'd
prefer not to possess. We could be doing so much more to turn more
kinds of music into self-propagating entities, but we don't.
Norman Mailer once wrote: “My long experience with human nature … suggests that it is possible that fascism, not democracy, is the natural state.” Mailer was a novelist, and his business was being provocative. I found his article … to be food for considerable worthwhile thought. After the thinking, I decided he was wrong.
Hope was the last casualty and it was not till 1921 that the family felt they had to let go, and held a memorial service. The file of these letters, some photos of a handsome lad, and a small envelope labeled pressed flowers from the service are all that remain, along with his name amongst the missing on the Menin Gate in the Belgian village of Ypres.
The way the world grows its food will have to change radically to better serve the poor and hungry if the world is to cope with a growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse. (International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development)
The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at Swinburne on how our democracy is working.
Nelson's crusty salts, fresh from their Waterloo, would be better off hoisting John on his own petard than giving him a cushioned chair in the crows' nest. Certainly they don't need a figurehead that, politically speaking, has just killed the electoral albatross?
Kevin Rudd’s comments in London have stirred the pot again on this perennial issue, and Greg Barnes, organiser of the 1999 Republic Referendum Campaign, returns to the fray with his recent Melbourne Age opinion piece.
This is the Crossroads of Australia at the head of the Spencer Gulf, intersection of national highways and railways, of water and gas pipelines, fibre optic cables, botany from north, east and west, and 30 or so different Aboriginal cultures, the focus of the songlines. It might be one of the most redneck towns on the continent; but it’s also one of the prettiest, set in space and light where the Flinders Ranges touch the sea. Read more »
Grain prices have suddenly doubled worldwide and are expected to remain at these levels. For the billions of people who spend a large percentage of their income on food, mostly the urban poor in developing countries, this is and will be a disaster.
As computers become more powerful and more and more information is gathered about individuals it will be very easy to track people simply by their buying habits. We will not need to know their names, just a profile will be enough to identify them. Human being are extremely predictable.
Demonstrations are a legitimate form of public dissatisfaction by those who feel their impotence to influence government action or non action – in the present instance e.g. a boycott of the torch relay in view of the situation in Tibet.
[The Australian-US] alliance is steeped in history. But it is also part of our framework for meeting the challenges of the future. The purpose of my remarks is to reflect on the continued importance of U.S. global leadership, to reflect on the new Australian government's foreign policy framework, and to make some observations on how we both might engage China in the future. (The Hon. Kevin Rudd)
It is through this wider process of continuing regional and global engagement that the new Australian Government is now determined to make its contribution to the future development of a robust international rules-based order that enhances the security and economic wellbeing of us all. (The Hon. Kevin Rudd)
Last year ... I said [the troop surge] is a new tactic used to achieve the same old strategic aim, political stability. And I foresaw no serious prospects for success. I see no reason to change my judgment now. (William E. Odom, LT General, USA, Ret.)
March stats & financials, plus some news on a potential development
The opinion of the press is that nothing radical is going to happen with regard to the management of this most precious resource because the States, individually, retain all the power. So whatever agreement was made is still only nibbling at the edges.
Not long
ago an appealing aspect to life tin Narrung was that the water coming from your
tap was piped directly from the lake.
Well, it was appealing before the water receded. On returning there at Easter I’was greeted by
an initial spurt of green-grey ooze from the plumbing, a clear sign of what had Read more »
How we came
to confront one another is uncertain.
Amid a multitude of conflicts we found ourselves face to face, testing over and over, sometimes mirroring each other’s methods, sometimes
striking unexpectedly into what had been considered safe ground in an attempt
to create a “domino effect” from within. Read more »
The growing realisation of how exposed the financial system is – and from transactions that should never have taken place – is reinforcing the mounting credit crunch, which, in turn, is spooking stock markets. This raises many questions, including – how safe is our superannuation?;
At this time - the end of the year, a time of feasting and thanksgiving - what do Webdiarists want? You may have three wishes: one for the world, one for your loved ones, and one for you.
What, in the modern world, is the accountability of Ministers, should be the accountability of Ministers and where are the origins of that accountability?
"A few weeks ago my wife, frustrated at the amount of time I spend on
Webdiary, said ‘They’re really your community, aren’t they?’ I hadn’t
really thought about it in those terms before, but it’s true.
Webdiarists are part of my community – my virtual community, anyway
(although cyberspace and meatspace have become increasingly blurred as
I meet various diarists face-to-face or over the phone)." David Curry
“I’m Julie. I’m a friend of Brendan’s and he’s sent me to save the world for the workers by giving them the same choice they deserve and sticking it right up that red-haired Welsh bint.” From Chapter 2 of the Chronicles of Nadir – Tale the Second – Prince Crispian, as told from the grave by Tom Lewis.
Bernie was an ordinary bloke who decided to become something extraordinary and through that became an extraordinary hero in our age, an age where we feared we would no longer have heroes anymore. (Kevin Rudd)
"As for Rudd I hope he is no dud, indeed! The only highlight of
his speech was the mention of Bernie Banton and indirectly through him
the role of the unions and the importance of a fair go as a key value
for Australians. Unfortunately no mention of the YR@W campaign, or the
importance of Greens preferences." Carlos
The threat of terrorism is now part of the landscape of daily lives all over the world, yet we have hardly begun to think properly about it. In his new book Terror and Consent and in this lecture Professor Bobbitt argues that we are fighting these wars with weapons and concepts which though useful to us in previous conflicts have now been superseded.
This thread is a work in progress. From this evening on the moderators will add excerpts and links to the speculation, commentary etc. about the first Labor budget since 1995. In the meantime, if anyone wants to start talking about the budget, feel free.
These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? (Lee Iacocca)
Being a carer may not be the most recognised job in the world, but it is by far the most rewarding. Now when people ask me what I do, I am proud to say that I am a carer, knowing that by doing this job I am giving Warren the greatest gift of all - a life worth living. (Tania Hayes)
You will have noticed some changes over the last few weeks coming from having updated the site to Drupal 5.2: unfortunately, we have found a major problem in the comment management system, and have had to suspend comment boxes until this is fixed. In the meantime, comments can be submitted by email to editor@webdiary.com.au
The case against members of ABC TV's The Chaser's War on Everything has been dropped. Here's why.
This well researched book is meant to help labour activists rediscover history, not, Mason says, “to piously learn lessons” but to see where activism leads, what reactions various patterns of revolt bring. He notes that when work becomes humane, fair and representative, the red fire tends to be quashed. If only more would listen.
Back in 1980, Zimbabwe was the bread-basket of eastern Africa. Blacks and whites were living in (relative) harmony, the economy was in good shape. … Now, 28 years on, millions of people have fled to neighbouring countries, inflation runs rampant, and starvation is rife.
If you want the job done, get Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Bogle, Williamson, Schumann, Missy Higgins and Lior into a studio with a well stocked bar for the weekend, and they'll give you what a team of musicologists could never create in a million years.
It seems our ex Prime Miniature is now a cult hero amongst born again Aryans. They have distilled some of his punchier lines and it seems are constructing a new credo around his, err, stirring speeches. Readers of Webdiary may be interested to see some of the interchange.
Robert Manne's collection Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia covers some interesting ground, if relatively superficially (or "readable", according to the blurb). But what I find more interesting is what it doesn't cover.
To make the best of the Australia 2020 Summit, its participants would do well to put into practice some of the Choir of Hard Knocks's street level messages. Not only within the arts, but also by application to life. A ‘vision’ needs to be a popular one; but we can do without the same old spectacle of experts and celebrities that displaces that which it claims to represent.
The financial and economic crisis now upon us is by far the most menacing of the past century - even more so than the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is not just a "subprime" crisis; it is systemic - affecting the entire financial system.
For a cops and robbers tabloid, the Herald Sun has been way off the pace in terms of the underworld connections to Opes Prime. The Age has been leading since day one and today’s front page story is perhaps the most significant contribution yet. (Stephen Mayne)
One thing you can't accuse of our Dear Leader is that he is lacking guts. Not only delivering his speech to students at Peking University in Mandarin, he again repeated his concern about Tibet.
Grain prices have suddenly doubled worldwide and are expected to remain at these levels. For the billions of people who spend a large percentage of their income on food, mostly the urban poor in developing countries, this is and will be a disaster.
A news article on Australia-China Free Trade Agreement negotiations, emphasizing the broader ramifications of the Tibetan issue on economic policies.
[The Australian-US] alliance is steeped in history. But it is also part of our framework for meeting the challenges of the future. The purpose of my remarks is to reflect on the continued importance of U.S. global leadership, to reflect on the new Australian government's foreign policy framework, and to make some observations on how we both might engage China in the future. (The Hon. Kevin Rudd)
It is through this wider process of continuing regional and global engagement that the new Australian Government is now determined to make its contribution to the future development of a robust international rules-based order that enhances the security and economic wellbeing of us all. (The Hon. Kevin Rudd)
Australia is rapidly increasing its population through immigration, yet there is little debate as to what is a sustainable population would be. It is high time we decided just what is the optimum population level for Australia.
I don't know what they were, couldn't see any stingers, but they were in my hair and all over me and four feet above me.
I joined the Liberal Party in 1978, and remained a member until the mid 1980s. Then, for a whole host of reasons, I didn’t renew. Indeed, I switched my vote back to the ALP, and kept voting for them in the House, while voting Democrat in the Senate, until 1996, when I voted for John Howard.
Families are struggling to care for their older parents or grandparents. We need to act now before we are completely overwhelmed by the baby boomers who are just reaching the age where they will require more care. We must not forget our elderly...
It is to be expected that a new government coming into office will take time to settle in, read the files and gradually get used to the idea of being in power. In doing that the Rudd Government is no different to the Howard government, which took the best part of 18 months to settle into the harness. Read more »
Where will the data from the Labor government's plan to record the weight of every Australian child when it turns four be held, who will have access to it and how will it be integrated with other data that has been collected, such as immunisations? At the root of all questions about health informatics is the ability to assign data with supreme and incorruptible accuracy to the correct individual.
He came from nowhere, stands for nothing, is going nowhere, will get nowhere and the real contest that we deserve is nowhere in sight. How can the Liberal Party got it so wrong?
Just three days after many people started contacting new immigration minister Chris Evans to raise the issue of the swathe of refugees holed up on Nauru, he declared his hand.
Please feel free to comment on or review the book, correct any errors I've made, and let others know what's happening where you live.
Every child that enters kindergarten embarks on a process that is meant to prepare them for active participation in our culture. Education is an embodied vision of the future. Thinking about the future really could lead to an “Education Revolution”.
You have come to power at a time of a looming worldwide economic crisis; a time when we desperately need new leadership to deal with the immense problems ahead of us and an end to the deception, denial and neglect that characterised the Howard era. The news is in and it is very bad news indeed.
One of the many things that distressed me about the Howard government was its politicising of the Commonwealth public service, and its subversion of the spoils of office to its own party-political ends. So when Mr Rudd said "I'm very much wedded to the restoration of Westminster and that means the restoration of a continuing independent public service" I was pleased - but how serious was he?
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