Possibly because it can’t be spun as a story about TEH EVIL UNION BOSSES or something (or at least not the right kind of story, but more of that later), there’s not much debate around the traps on the ALP conference’s endorsement of a fairly limited form of same sex civil unions along the lines of the Tasmanian legislation.
Andrew Norton has a post examining opposition from SDA head honcho Joe de Bruyn (who Gough Whitlam has described as “a Dutchman who doesn’t like dykes”) in light of some newly available survey data from the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2005.
Mr de Bruyn’s shop assistant members were 53% in favour, 32% against…
That’s one union boss we can do without in federal politics. All he’s pushing here is his own conservative view of the world, shared not by his membership but by the ex DLP-ers who seemingly put more effort into whipping up a storm about lesbians and IVF or whatever than securing better pay and conditions for people working in retail. Oh, and determining who the next secretary of the ACTU will be.
If things get really desparate for the government this year, will they be tempted to take a leaf out of Utah Republicans’ book?
“Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan’s influence on illegal immigrants. (…)
Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan’s minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.
Via Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings.
Riverbend, the author of Baghdad Burning, whose blog has become well known around the world, is finally packing up and leaving Iraq. Two million Iraqis have already done so.
After such an insipid and tragic tournament, there is some appropriateness that the tournament ended in farce.
Australia were so far in front of the field this time around it wasn’t funny; despite not having arguably their best one-day paceman in the team, they utterly crushed every team they faced, including Sri Lanka, clearly the second-best team in the competition. There were very few close matches throughout, even in matches not involving Australia. The cricket was formulaic.
There have been a number of suggestions about problems with the number of teams playing, not to mention the drawn-out format. But are there deeper problems with the one-day game itself?
Russell Degnan argues that part of the problem is what he sees is the overly restrictive rules of the current one-day format; particularly, the requirement to bowl five bowlers, forcing fielding captains to go on the defensive for those ten overs while some part-timer trundles in.
Any other suggestions as to what could be done to rescue one-day cricket from itself?
Well, the battle-lines are now drawn. Labor’s widely expected decision to scrap the “no new mines” policy scraped through the national conference. However, the reaction of state governments is variable, with Western Australia promising to not allow mines, while South Australia and the Northern Territory looking forward to expansion. Labor remains resolutely opposed to nuclear power domestically, however.
Meanwhile, the conservatives have announced their plans on the topic. The key section of the plan is below the fold
Continue reading ‘The nuclear thread we had to have’
Please, share the best reading you’ve found this week with the rest of the class.
Most intriguing idea I’ve seen this week: the 24 hours of Flickr project for May 5th, encouraging everyone to carry a camera, document their day, and post the shots to their Flickr account. It will be mayhem, obviously, but it could also be fantastic.
As said last week, stick to 2 links per comment or you will trigger the automoderator, mmmkay?
Despite the fact that there’s rumours the upcoming budget is going to throw money at putting solar panels on people’s roofs, the conservatives are no fan of solar cells. And you know what? They’re dead right.
Solar panels are one of the most expensive forms of renewable energy out there, and, despite claims of cost reductions in the pipeline, they haven’t gotten any cheaper over the past five years. Particularly if you factor in the cost of batteries if you’re trying to completely replace grid electricity. For that reason, while solar panels may be the energy source of the future, right now, they’re one of the most expensive ways imaginable to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But the temptation of endless power from the sun is, well, tempting - there’s more than enough energy available, it’s just that a cost-effective means of tapping it is required. So it’s unsurprising that a less complicated but perhaps more affordable technology is getting a lot of attention at the moment - solar thermal energy.
Continue reading ‘Concentrating on solar power’
I don’t blog on disability issues very much, but I noticed at tigtog’s place a link to a blog that’s new to me - The Gimp Parade, and also via that link, I became aware of one of the very many multifaceted blog carnivals that tigtog has also previously blogged about here - in this instance, the disability carnival. So I thought I might give this post a rerun, originally written (with the aid of quite a few gin and tonics, so please be kind to me) almost two years ago, because I’d like to participate. I hope reposting it might also be justified because I think LP has a wider and different audience than back in July 05. LP was a bit more of an intimate place back then, and the post feels a bit raw to me now, but I’d still stand by it. Hope it’s of interest to folks who may not have seen it the first time around.
Continue reading ‘Reprise: What’s it like to have one leg?’
Meanwhile, up here in Brisvegas, I’ve just noticed on my stumble home from the Valley Jazz Festival, The Curious-Snail headline for tomorrow is framed by a huge picture of Rudd, and the headline reads something like “This man will help you”. (I think there was just a tad more Rudd cheering to it, but I’ve had a few gin and tonics!)… The Queensland branch of the Murdoch Empire has obviously got the message.
Update: Here’s the actual headline, now that I’ve bought the paper:
My name is Kevin, I’m from Queensland and I can help
Check out this report puff piece:
Continue reading ‘Open Labor Conference thread’
An open thread where, at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
A guest post by Mick
Something really weird is happening in science right now, it seems that the blogosphere is changing the nature of scientific discourse.
A great example of this, and one that I’m familiar with because it’s a flame war that’s been raging in my field, made its way to the New York Times a few weeks back. Now I won’t go on too much about this stoush, but it involves the recent public demonstration of “The World’s first commercial quantum computer” (TM) by D-Wave systems, a Vancouver-based tech startup. The controversy really erupted when Dave and Scott, two well-known quantum computing theorists and who also happen to be bloggers, posted articles that were sceptical of D-Wave’s demonstration and the huge amount of misinformation and hype that seemed to be emanating from D-Wave’s CEO, Herb Martin, and also from their founder (and fellow quantum blogger) Geordie Rose. The ensuing stoush involved some of the biggest names in the field of quantum computing and involved dialogue between people with no knowledge at all about the field through to tenured MIT professors. The argument wasn’t just a public name-calling match, it evolved from a blog stoush into a very serious scientific discussion about the direction of some cutting-edge research into which many millions of dollars are invested. The big deal was that this discussion happened in public and in real time.
Continue reading ‘Quantum geek blog stoushes hit the big time’
Trevor Hart fans will get the reference.
Following on from Mark’s Valley Jazz Festival post last night, two bands worth seeing tonight are The Sarah Collyer Trio at the Bank Vault (corner Ann St & the Brunswick St Mall) at 6pm and Dancing About Architecture at the Fringe Bar on the corner of Ann and Constance Sts at 7pm.
To get into the mood, over the fold is John Coltrane playing the sublime ‘Alabama’ on tv in 1963.
Continue reading ‘I remember the first time I heard John Coltrane’
The death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has called forth a range of appraisals of his contribution to the demise of the Soviet Union and the development of democracy in Russia. Monica Attard, who reported so memorably on the drama of the Stalinist coup against Gorbachev in August 1991, and Yeltsin’s role in defying it, has produced a critical appraisal in yesterday’s Australian. However much other commentary has been both far less critical and far less well informed, portraying Yeltsin as having single-handedly brought democracy and freedom to the former Soviet states, defending all his actions (including his unconstitutional and deadly dissolution of the Russian parliament in 1993) as consistent with this project, and exonerating him for setting in place the institutional conditions for Vladimir Putin’s erosion of democracy. One such hagiography is provided by David Boaz of the Cato Institute. Tuesday’s editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald also managed to descend into the fatuous cliche-mongering of post-Cold War liberal triumphalism. Consistent with this approach, the SMH refers to Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika initiatives as “Tinkering with communist party control”, overlooking the fact that such “tinkering” had, amongst other things, enabled Yeltsin to be elected Russian President in the first place.
In this post I want to consider Yeltsin’s legacy in the light of the problem of replacing Russia’s centuries of autocratic and unaccountable executive dictatorship (whether in its Tsarist, Leninist-Stalinist or Putinist manifestations) with a framework of enduring democratic institutions including strong parliaments and other elected deliberative assemblies, the rule of law and constitutional guarantees of citizens’ rights, and the recurring phenomenon of the democratic project in Russia being railroaded by what can be termed Jacobin foundational projects which, whilst able to run in harness with the democratic project whilst in opposition to a decaying autocratic ancien regime, become objectively hostile to democratic institutions and practices when they place a brake on the foundational project.
Continue reading ‘Boris Yeltsin and the problem of Russian democracy’
Good policy, dumb cutesy name, concern over the scope of its powers.
Trevor Cormack has an excellent analysis at Solidarity.
For some time now Howard with the assistance of some people who should know better has been establishing a meme that Labor’s 60% emissions target by 2050 will wreck the economy. Labor and the Greens with their 80% target are “peas in a pod�, both “crazy� and “Irresponsible�. We’ll all be rooned for sure.
This meme started back before Easter when within 24 hours at least three public figures repeated the theme. First there was our fearless leader, then John Roskam (the IPA guy) on local Melbourne radio and finally Max Walsh had a go on Saturday Breakfast, with Walsh warning about severe economic implications if instead of doubling power consumption we reduce it by 60%.
Then last week Terry McCrann really let fly, saying that the state premiers had declared war on their citizens.
Continue reading ‘The 60% emissions target: science or ideology’
Recent comments
derrida derider, Chris, Pavlov's Cat, Klaus K, tssk, Klaus K [...]
Iain Hall, Ute Man, FDB, Ambigulous, Iain Hall, FDB [...]
derrida derider, Bismarck, Chris, Klaus K, Stephen Lloyd, Anthony [...]
Steve, Ute Man, Ambigulous, Howard C, Paul Norton, Howard C [...]
Eye, Eye, Klaus K, Klaus K, John Greenfield, Klaus K [...]
Roger Jones, Peter Wood, Robert Merkel, Brian, Robert Merkel
Pavlov's Cat, Youie, silkworm, Klaus K, David Rubie, Pavlov's Cat [...]
Brian, Elizabeth Hart, Elizabeth Hart, pablo, Mole, Aubrey Meyer [...]
joe2, Ambigulous, MICHAEL FOSS, Winifred, Danny Yee, Chris [...]
Klaus K, John Greenfield, Fine, Ambigulous, Emily Litella, Casey [...]
Kim, tigtog, Pavlov's Cat, H.P. Handicraft, Darryl Rosin, Kim [...]
Robert Merkel, cows say moo, Robert Merkel, David Rubie, FDB, feral sparrowhawk [...]