December 31, 2003
Aboriginal Culture and Its Critics - posted by peter
The continued predicament of Aboriginal people in Australia is a festering sore that sooner or later must be healed. There appears to be a growing contingent of mostly right/conservative people that wants to deal with this issue by completely discounting... More
Posted by peter at 12:37 PM
| Comments (1)
December 30, 2003
The Year Ahead - posted by peter
Oh what a year it promises to be! The world becomes more and more unstable in almost every way, and there are crucial elections in the US and Australia. Will things turn around in 2004? In 2003 hopes that the... More
Posted by peter at 12:38 PM
December 29, 2003
The Year that Was - posted by peter
Some of the more important events of 2003 had an air of inevitability about them. President Bush II was always going to invade Iraq and Simon Crean was always going to get knocked off as ALP leader. Looking back, the... More
Posted by peter at 04:06 PM
| Comments (3)
December 28, 2003
Year ends with another push poll - posted by Graham
What is Newspoll up to? According to the Sunday Mail today 66 percent of people favour banning tobacco smoking in pubs and clubs, and 77 percent believe that the number of poker machines should be reduced. Both figures are probably true, and elicit a “So-what?” response from me. More
Posted by Graham at 10:49 PM
| Comments (1)
December 27, 2003
Don’t SMS Guy - posted by Graham
World Idol last night (be prepared to wait if you click on their link, it’s one of the worst professionally designed sites you’re likely to ever use). It’s not as good as the regional competitions. It is a one-off Eisteddfod style competition... More
Posted by Graham at 10:39 PM
| Comments (1)
December 26, 2003
Powderfinger, My Dad and Christmas - posted by Graham
One Christmas I remember being given a game of “Pick up sticks” where the aim was to gradually extract tiny straws from a tangle without moving any of the others. It is an entirely opportunistic exercise where you take relationships... More
Posted by Graham at 11:52 PM
| Comments (3)
December 23, 2003
And So This Is Christmas... - posted by peter
Whenever Christmas rolls around and there is the usual debate about how commercial it all is these days, it just brings into stark relief how much we need to have a sense of moral direction in our lives. Our new... More
Posted by peter at 02:04 PM
December 22, 2003
Two days, 19 hours and 54 minutes - posted by Graham
That’s the time it takes to get a response from the National Party’s dobber site www.GovernmentWaste.com.au based on an entirely unrepresentative sample of one. Given that the two days were the weekend, I think that’s more than satisfactory. [In fact,... More
Posted by Graham at 08:49 AM
December 21, 2003
Nuremberg's Legacy - posted by peter
If only because of the way Saddam Hussein has been compared to Hitler, the process of ending his rule reminds us of the Nuremberg trials held after WWII. Running from 1945 to 1949, ten Nazi leaders were eventually executed, and... More
Posted by peter at 01:04 PM
December 20, 2003
Crime, Punishment and Causation - posted by peter
Brutal dictators like Saddam Hussein often have a history of being physically abused as children. In such cases, the personal tragedy is translated into a social one. So the costs of ignoring this connection can be enormous. We are regularly... More
Posted by peter at 05:08 PM
December 19, 2003
Unlearned Lessons from 9-11 - posted by peter
SBS recently showed another interesting documentary on US intelligence failures before September 11, 2001. I know they have their problems at the moment, but SBS continues to make the ABC look staid and timid, especially because they regularly air docos... More
Posted by peter at 12:14 PM
| Comments (3)
Queensland opposition launches "dobber" Internet site - posted by Graham
National Party leader Lawrence Springborg has taken an early lead in the Queensland election cyber race with a "dobber" site. While the major parties have their own slick campaigning sites, Springborg's is the first, to my knowledge, to venture where... More
Posted by Graham at 12:11 PM
| Comments (1)
December 16, 2003
Civilisation and the death penalty - posted by peter
The UN and Britain have both come out against the death penalty for Saddam, and so should have Australia. I suspect Saddam's fate may become one of those defining moments of civilisation, like the Nuhremburg trials after WWII. Terrible things... More
Posted by peter at 01:43 PM
| Comments (4)
Is Howard racist? - posted by peter
John Howard has copped some flack over his hardline stand over Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth, including claims emanating from parts African of racism. Considering that two of Howard's most controversial stances involve race (Aboriginals and refugees), is he open to... More
Posted by peter at 02:45 AM
Dare to be different, Mark - posted by peter
Interesting that Online Opinion's own research backs up the current idea that Mark Latham needs to differentiate himself from Howard (and Crean and Beazley, for that matter) by taking a strong position and sticking to it. So, too bad he... More
Posted by peter at 02:00 AM
| Comments (8)
December 15, 2003
On Dictators - posted by peter
A pathetic, scruffy old man is dug out of hole, and one of the more nasty dictatorships of the last century comes to an end. President Bush will be relieved that he won't have to go to the next election... More
Posted by peter at 01:13 PM
December 14, 2003
Opportunity knocks for Nigerian email scammers? - posted by Graham
According to Wired News the US State of Virginia has indicted two spammers for breaking its newly proclaimed anti-spam legislation. One of the two, Jeremy Jaynes, "is number 8 on the top 10 worldwide spammer list". Virginia is a particularly... More
Posted by Graham at 10:13 PM
Mark, you’re no Bob Hawke - posted by Graham
The public has a Pygmalion impulse to try to mould public leaders in their own desired image and when they succeed they loathe and then despise them, muttering about “poll-driven politics”. More
Posted by Graham at 09:14 PM
| Comments (1)
December 12, 2003
First qualitative research on Latham - posted by Graham
On Line Opinion prides itself on being the only journal in the country to base its political coverage on letting Australians talk for themselves about the issues. Our latest poll was on Mark Latham. More
Posted by Graham at 10:08 AM
| Comments (9)
December 11, 2003
How do you tell the top of a boom? - posted by Graham
This morning I got a bellhop tip about the internet boom. I’m used to receiving emails from slightly louche soon to be ex-dignitaries in places like Nigeria More
Posted by Graham at 10:41 PM
| Comments (3)
Pilger's Persistence - posted by peter
Whatever you think of John Pilger, he consistently does what an investigative journalist should do - dig up and report on hidden or ignored facts. His piece recently aired on SBS on the so-called War on Terror (as if you... More
Posted by peter at 02:25 AM
A More Inclusive ALP - posted by peter
There is a new spirit in the ALP. I'm not sure this is due so much to Latham's ascendancy as a perception that the deadly days of saying and doing as little as possible under Beazley are gone. And I'm... More
Posted by peter at 02:02 AM
| Comments (3)
December 10, 2003
Bragging Rights - posted by Graham
So, if the US really wants to provide a model of democracy in the Middle East, perhaps they should make music not war. More
Posted by Graham at 11:04 PM
Man-handling O.K., woman-handling not? - posted by Graham
Apparently Senator Natasha Stott Despoja has made some comments about the Bartlett affair. Anonymous sources are quoted in The Australian today saying she claimed that the principal issue was "violence against women – which is neither negotiable nor excusable". More
Posted by Graham at 02:47 PM
December 09, 2003
The Inhibited Academic - posted by peter
I alluded in an ealier blog entry to the fact that far too few academics participate in public discourse. One problem is that such activity is either actively discouraged or at best only half-heartedly supported by their institutions and colleagues... More
Posted by peter at 08:25 PM
| Comments (4)
Crowe tells the Drama Queens off - posted by Graham
It’s a pity that our film industry appears to be constructed around our losers rather than our winners, and that it’s so parochial it can’t see that its future lies as part of the larger English language culture, not some provincial creek. More
Posted by Graham at 02:23 PM
The Value of Mistakes - posted by peter
It comes as no surprise that the Coalition have targetted Mark Latham's past, even comparing him unfavorably with 'Boozer' Bartlett. Latham has had an interesting time, and like most of us, he's made mistakes. The less you experience of life,... More
Posted by peter at 12:20 PM
| Comments (1)
December 08, 2003
Ah, the Democrats.... - posted by peter
I've got a soft spot for the Democrats - I think what they were trying to do was a legitimate experiment in Oz politics. But with all the structural change that has hit them, like the rise of One Nation... More
Posted by peter at 10:37 PM
| Comments (3)
December 06, 2003
Academic Meltdown - posted by peter
I've just finished a long decade working as an academic. I've been very successful in my teaching and research, even being awarded a special university medal a few years back for my efforts. More importantly, personal and professional feedback from... More
Posted by peter at 12:18 PM
| Comments (7)
New Political Uncertainties - posted by peter
Last night's last Lateline for the year was a funny one. Here was Grahame Morris (ex-Howard staffer) waxing enthusiastic about the new Labor leader and Michael Costello (ex-Beazley staffer) being pretty negative. Is this indicative of the new uncertainties that... More
Posted by peter at 12:00 PM
| Comments (1)
December 05, 2003
Techno-Fantasy - posted by peter
One of the more disturbing aspects of the constant development of new technology that underlies our increasingly global civilisation is the tendency it creates in some people to see all problems in technical terms and all solutions in new technology.... More
Posted by peter at 11:03 AM
December 04, 2003
Short Term Politics - posted by peter
Although we will see how much leadership changes Mark Latham's views, on the surface of it we now have two political leaders who assume that a new era of market-based social realtions is upon us. As such they both focus... More
Posted by peter at 05:07 PM
December 03, 2003
Malthusian alchemy - posted by Graham
Not that the demise of Southern Pacific means there is no future for the shale oil deposits themselves. This article puts the case that we are rapidly running out of economic stores of liquid fossil fuels, and if it is correct that means that the price of reserves of these fuels, including oil shale, will soar. More
Posted by Graham at 11:07 PM
| Comments (2)
"What I Really Meant Was..." - posted by peter
Mark Latham's first job is to disavow all those interesting things he said before the gravitas of leadership transformed him. Like Howard being an arselicker and Bush being flaky. Funny thing, of course, is that his forthrightness - such a... More
Posted by peter at 12:32 PM
| Comments (4)
Cream of the working class - posted by Graham
Kim Beazley’s father famously observed that once the Labor Party was full of the cream of the working class, but that now it has become full of the dregs of the middle class. Latham may be generational change, but if he is, it is retro – he is the cream of the working class More
Posted by Graham at 06:11 AM
| Comments (1)
December 02, 2003
Latham for PM! - posted by peter
There is a fair bit of confidence within the ALP that Labor can win the next Federal election. The view is that the electorate is fed up with Howard and would try any sort of genuine alternative. So how does... More
Posted by peter at 11:58 AM
| Comments (2)