An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
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I just watched the infamous Charlie Sheen interview on youtube. It’s awesome!
Poll Bludger are currently doing a Crikey group subscription run. As of early Friday supposedly more than 60 people had signed up so get in quick if you want a $65 subscription as I think it closes next week sometime:
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2011/03/11/crikey-group-subscriptions-offer/
A very long and in depth essay by Robert Manne on the back story of Julian Assange.
By the looks of it The Monthly’s website has crashed due to overwhelming demand so they’ve now put the essay up in three parts on their Facebook page:
“The Cypherpunk Revolutionary”
Part 1: http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-monthly/the-cypherpunk-revolutionary-julian-assange/10150110080678947
Part 2: http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-monthly/part-2-the-cypherpunk-revolutionary-julian-assange/10150110082308947
Part 3: http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-monthly/part-3-the-cypherpunk-revolutionary-julian-assange/10150110083598947
Bob Brown gives Liffey to Bush Heritage Australia, which he founded in 1991. A nice little story on where the Greens began.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/brown-ponders-the-meaning-of-liffey-where-the-greens-began-20110318-1c0lk.html
http://www.bushheritage.org.au/
Nice, salient.
This link stolen from CL on Cattalaxy
Yes, a GREAT idea.
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/03/18/a-great-white-fleet-for-the-21/
@5 JC not CL
With the rising cost of everything, I decided about two years ago to plant a mandarin tree, an orange tree, a lemonade tree and start a little herb garden with old wood from builders skip bins.
I bought the trees for ten dollars at a little nursery down the road and they have given to me a huge yield since planting them. It is great to have a constant supply of cool citrus in the fridge which has more or less cost nothing.
Anyone doing it tough out there, I would recommend planting some citrus in your backyard. Just plant them in about three metres from your boundaries so when they get big they don’t end up in the neighbours yard. The great thing about cirtus is that you don’t need to fuss them.
Remember also if you plan on planting big trees in your yard that most ‘large’ natives need a big yard and need to be at least ten metres from any structure or plumbing or underground cables. Also, plant them well within your yard so the neighbours don’t have the urge to hack them off when they get big and beautiful.
Remember too that most storm water pipes run just a little way in from your side boundary and run straight down to the street gutter. They are usually within a metre of the boundary so go at least three metres in to be well away from them.
Well folks, have a lovely weekend and consider getting dirty this weekend. Have fun.
Re Xmas Island riots.
P kmow I’m sometimes a paranoid old leftie but it seems passing strange to me that ASIO has taken so long to do all these security checks on asylum seekers. (Which I gather is the reason for the numbers of refugees on the island building up to such an extraordinary level.Apart from putting resources in chasing down Australians contributing to Wikileaks on behalf of the US (yes, I do believe Assange on that one – after all he does seem to have extrordinary sources of information)is there any particular reason why ASIO have taken so long to do these checks, thus resulting in the numbers building up in the detention centres? Or, to put it another way, are they up to their old tricks again and would they have taken so long if it were a Coalition Government? As I said, I’m a paranoid old leftie sometimes and I remember the old days.
Sorry for the spelling errors. My sight’s fucked at the moment and will be for a few months until my operation. But at least I’ve worked out how to do zoom on the keyboard so I can read LP now, which I couldn’t really the past week, which is why I haven’t been contributing much. I can srill watch DVDs and read with a magnifying glass so iys not stopping my writing/research yet. I hope tobe repaired by September.
Paul@6. I hope everything goes well for you.
I hope all goes well for you, Paul.
Salient @ 3:
Yes, I read that story in ‘The Age’ this morning. Lovely, but I suspect it won’t rate a mention in the Murdoch rags.
@ Paul Burns: commiserations re your impending op – I’m awaiting the summons for some pretty major surgery myself, but at least I can see. Hope it goes well for you.
Thanks, everybody.
I was diagnosed several years ago but I wasn’t bad enough to operate on. Am assured its a minor op. Only problem is getting an appointment to see the specialist which isn’t until late August because of the waiting list Apparently I’ll go straight in soon after that. Just have to hope it doesn’t get much worse in the meantime.Anyway I can still read and write using magnifying spectacles which is all that matters, and now that I’ve worked out how to use Mozilla by keyboard I’m okay on the computer.
How does Intelligent Design explain gastro bugs?
Weight loss??
[Razor - this comment got held up in automod because you had a typo in your email address - you've dropped that 't' a few times lately - just take a moment to check it and you'll get straight through as usual ~moderator]
CJ Morgan @ 13:
The Oz has had a few teasers on this subject over the past fortnight:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/assange-hid-his-cypherpunk-past/story-e6frg6nf-1226015589312
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/danger-in-a-dark-room/story-fn558imw-1226016752088
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/inside-the-brain-of-wikileaks-julian-assange/story-e6frg6z6-1226015754791
So, the Opposition are saying that if you sent the ‘boat-people’ straight to Nauru there wouldn’t be all this fuss and if there were riots at least you wouldn’t hear about it: have I got that right ?
Citrus are a joy and so easily adapted to our range of soils and climate variations; we have been having an abundance of limes recently but Navels and Lemonades etc yet to reach maturity. However,cyclone YASI took out a Pomelo which didn’t worry us as it offered indifferent fruit and erratic growth.
Our Avocados are also excellent this year and, curiously, the one that self-seeded from a discarded Fuerte seed is out performing the grafted varieties.
The old plant a citrus tree in the back yard trick. I lose more customers that way.
Back on the topic of both sides of the story …
A few days ago, Jeremy Sear over at Pure Poison (Crikey) posted on the question of “balance” in the media. Apparently, the Washington Post is going to adopt a format in which opinion pages with offer a left of centre and right of centre perspective on things. Jeremy, who’s an admirable fellow but somewhat of an empiricist was scandalised and complained on empiricist grounds. Anyhoo … on the evening that I read his piece I was listening to reports of the Christmas Island disturbances on their ABC.
Needless to say, in order to achieve “balance” they ran commentary from the government, the oppostion and the police in close succession. It was very “well-balanced” as all parties were in furious agreement on the most important features of the events – why they happened, what the “troublemakers” wanted and the fitness of the response of the police to circumstances. No party questioned the value of or ethical warrant for mandatory administrative detention.
So while we see that when it comes to climate change, the kind of balance required entails allowing ignorant and utterly unqualified persons to declare on the nature of observable reality as if they enjoyed a standing equal to the world’s best scientists, when it comes to, say, asylum seekers, those with something distinctive and well-founded to say that stands outside the bipartisan consensus that non-English as a first language speaking people on boats are an existential threat to the nation’s vital bodily fluids then balance entails no more than a box-ticking exercise in which different representatives of the consensus may be adduced. One need not even consult the Greens, who are now in an effective coalition with the ALP, leave aside those Australians involved in actually speaking up with first-hand knowledge on the asylum seeker issue.
It does seem that the concept of “balance” in the Murdochracy is a very political and moveable feast.
I attended a packed Sydney Town Hall (appx 2000 people) meeting through the week addressed by Wilkie, Pilger and Burnside on the subject of freedom of expression, freedom of communication and serious threats to Julian Assange’s future. Pilger and Wilkie were solid but the best comment of the night came from Burnside who said that “anyone who believes that Swedish attempts to prosecute Assange and get him back to Sweden have anything to do with misbehaviour by Assange has been living a sad and isolated life for too long a time”.
Or words to that effect.
As an aside recent Wikileaks ‘India Cables’ are reported in the Hindustan Times that huge amounts of cash have been paid over in India to win support for the Indo-US nuclear deal.
I wonder why they’d do that?
akn : I think it has a lot to do with the USA not wanting India to proceed with their plan to build a pipeline to Iran.
The US want India to go nuclear so that they don’t finance Iran. They also don’t want pipelines exiting the Middle East in the direction of China.
much discusion of this in last decade – but recent article at
http://www.chowk.com/Views/The-Uncertain-Future-of-India-Pakistan-Iran-Pipeline
I have posted a “one week on” post on my blog, reviewing one week in Japan after the tsunami and earthquake. It includes discussion of the nuclear problem, of course, but there’s a lot of other material too about what is happening here and how Japanese are responding to the crisis. I’ve tried to base it at least partly on what I see and hear on the TV here, i.e. things that arent’ getting into the foreign press.
I shan’t add to the nuclear debate by talking about that part on this thread though.
Saudi Royals are so much more interesting than the English Royal family.
Any one else notice the Sydney Morning Herald story on
the secret cuts to NSW government schools which have been occurring since January 2010 in part to balance the NSW state budget because teacher salaries are a quarter of the state budget. The Kennett changes are held up as model reforms – they caused nothing but on-going misery for the teachers and public servants retrenched – most of whom have never worked again.
Instead of teacher bashing why not get a bigger tranche from federal government
US House of Representatives authorise massive cuts to funding for public broadcaster.
Democracy: Qld style, or the Peel Street Funnies:
Back story: Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts was ejected from the ETU last year because of his support for the (QR etc) asset sales. A fortnight ago the disputes tribunal recommended the ETUers be expelled from the party. But “allies on the committee had deliberately ( no, not accidentally) sabotaged the meeting, first raising questions over the credentials of members of the administration committee, and then depriving the committee of a quorum”. (Gosh, if they can’t even stack a meeting, should they be allowed to govern?)
So last night they stopped mucking around and
Hmmm, Simmo as the Greens candidate in Anna’s south bris electorate, which she had to go to preferences in last time, p’raps?
PB @ 9, ASIO takes a very long time to do any security assessment.
When I was in the Army Reserve, I needed to be cleared to Top Secret for the particular job I was doing. From the time I filled out the paperwork (a major undertaking) until I was cleared took close to two years. I subsequently got a contract at DSTO, the clearance was still current, and it took ASIO about two months to confirm to DSTO that yes, I was cleared, and didn’t need to sit in a separate building twiddling my thumbs any longer.
I don’t think they’re playing silly buggers.
Good luck with the op, it’s just a pity you have to wait another six months.
About 50 years ago ASIO used to take over 4 months to do security clearances for sensitive jobs, unless the candidate came from a communist country in which case they took 2 days because they couldn’t find out anything from behind the Iron Curtain. I suspect they are unable to find out anything about the refugees so they shouldn’t hold them up waiting for security clearances.
Well actually a few bored bunnies using this site could probably find out whether there is anything in the databases about Individual A or Individual B inside 30 minutes. So why is ASIO stalling?
akn @20 did you see the report at Crikey? It did seem like you came away with quite a different impression of the meeting.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/03/17/hicks-and-the-conspiracy-theorists-hijack-the-wikileaks-debate/
Problems in Egypt?
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/03/19/irregularities-egyptian-vote
Interesting revelations about Thatcher undermining her own party
Thanks for the headsup on the email typo. Now that was funny.
Newman: A tilt at State politics?
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/leadership-tensions-grip-lnp-20110319-1c1nq.html
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/leadership-tensions-grip-lnp-20110319-1c1nq.html
First one did not work, another try.
This is depressing.
“Free-range egg ban shuts bed and breakfast”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2011/03/18/pei-free-range-egg-ban-584.html
As free range egg and pork producers, small mixed farmers and organic farmers gain momentum and broader demand for their products, im sure we will see more and more of this kind of thing.
‘Big Ag.’ are obviously feeling financial/consumer pressure, and not liking the competition.
This kind of interference in our way of life is enough to provoke, in me at least, a certain sympathy for the tea party “small government is good government” line!
F*ckers.
DI (nr)
Glad to know ASIO isn’t p;aying silly buggers. Guess my old suspicions have never truly gone away, and God knows I’ve done a pretty intensive historical study of intelligence organisations over the years, though mostly WW2 stuff and ASIO’s establishment under Chifley.
Billie,
I think apart from the normal beauocrtatic processes outlined by DI (nr) it may be because ASIO has lots of other things to do and refugees are a lower priority.Mind you, there’s no doubt Al-Quaeda is still a real threat and its in the nature of intelligence organisations to be suspicious so I don’t suppose they want to taje any risks. Its worthwhile noting ASIO assessed Haneef as no risk at all. Matters are undoubtedly complicated by the ASIO-CIA relationship, and for all their gadgetry Y suspect the Yanks would always choose to err on the side of caution, and after 9/11 who can blame them. And I suspect they’re much more Gung ho or maybe I’ve just read too much Norman Mailer.
Nevertheless, there must be a quicker more compassionate way to deal with processing asylum seekers so the build up of anger and frustration just doesn’t happen. Spose the political realities prevent that, though.
I must admit, PB, I’d be fascinated to see my ASIO file, given my youthful flirtations with communism and involvement in the anti-Vietnam war movement. I’ll have to ask to see it sometime.
DI(nr) please do. I’d be prepared to wager your file will be highly inaccurate.
My guess as to why ASIO is taking so long is partially frankly sinister as they filter though potential recruits prepared to inform on the resident population of shared ethnicity. This would particularly apply to Iranians, but would also cover others such as chinese, if only as a counter to similar activities of the PRC’s local diplomats. All’s fair in love and war perhaps, but surly this sort of ‘turning’ could be done from civvy street.
@39 – DI(NR) is spot on. As a Fulltime Army Officer it took more than a year to get a security clearance and that was a negative vetting process without any skeletons. Positive vetting (for very high leels of clearance) where hey interview all your referees, family, significant others etc takes even longer and are hugely expensive.
DI(NR) has actually breached the security regulations by disclosing the level of his clearance as that is only meant to be disclosed on a need to know basis and he may have breached the Official Secrets Act – but I think the powers that be have bigger fish to fry. That regulation is really a piece of poor policy as just about everyone is unaware of it and disclose their security clearance level willy-nilly.
DI @ 27 – surely they wouldn’t be vetting the immigrants to the point of Top Secret clearance though? I’ve had to get secret clearance for a job before and it only took a couple of months – and I have lots of family either living overseas in non default friendly countries or have travelled to them.
Perhaps its just that the government doesn’t prioritise/fund it much?
I’m going to say it is a logistical problem.
The increasing delay in vetting irregular boat arrivals is likely due to the hefty increase in their numbers.
It isn’t just those seeking asylum who are being held up by time taken for background checks.
The regular migration programme (i.e. migrants planning to arrive at a port of entry, with passports & visas) has been bogged down for quite some time. Checks which once took a few weeks are now being advised as likely to take 6 months, & in practice are taking more than 10 months.
My latest history post.
http://beingahistoryheadandotherthings.blogspot.com/2011/03/marine-private-edward-odgers-at.html
Not the one about Maria Proctor Stuart Collins. Still researching that – have to take some more notes about her father, do a readable transcript of a new letter of hers I found on line, do a bit of reading about the position of 18C married women of the middling sort, for more context. And I’m still waiting on a book about Nova Scotia which is still in the mail. Still, I think she’s so interesting that I don’t mind its all blown out a bit. Will get it done soon.