Compare the way the aftermath of Cyclone Larry has been handled in Australia with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Hmmn.
Okay, the comparison is a little bit facile — the scale of the disaster after Katrina was much bigger, due to the geography of New Orleans, and population densities in the Gulf coast area of the US.
My point is mainly that Australia managed to have rescue and clean-up services on the ground around Innisfail hours after the cyclone passed over. Peter Beattie was up there pretty much the next day and two days after, John Howard has also visited the devestated areas. Food, water and tents were sent up as soon as was practical and emergency services are working hard to restore water supplies and electricity to the area.
Today’s news reports suggest that pressures are on the rise in the affected areas and some people feel that help — be it food, water, shelter or even access to money — isn’t coming fast enough. Mostly however it seems to emergency response has been excellent. Volunteers such as SES workers also deserve a special mention, as SES member and For Battle blogger Cozalcoatl pointed out at my site.
It will take time for the communities of Innisfail, Mission Beach and the many other small towns in that area to recover and the clean-up is going to be a long and trying process. My thoughts go out to everyone up north who was affected by the cyclone.
But, I’m also glad that as a nation we still have effective and useful ways of dealing with emergencies and that we can provide our own citizens with the help in times of need. And, of course, I’d like to see this spirit extended to other areas and not just natural disasters.
(Cross-posted at Moment to Moment.)
I’ve been in a bit of fugue the last few days preparing for job interviews and the like and I didn’t realise Kim’s post below was essentially a longer, more articulate version of mine.
So I’ve deleted it. *red faced with embarrasment*
Instead, I thought I’d ask you all — is anyone interested in the Commonwealth Games now they’ve begun? God knows I’m not. My partner, who’s a sports tragic, loves it; but then he’d watch snails crawling around the garden in the name of a good, fair game.
My other question is, should there be an age limit on competing in things like the Games and the Olympics? Our youngest competitor is 13 — a very composed, graceful and intelligent 13, but 13 nonetheless. What are the issues in very young adolescents spending so much of their lives training for a sport, when we wouldn’t countenance them spending the same time working at McDonalds, for instance?
At the same time, if a 13 year old is a musical prodigy I personally don’t feel the same sense of unease at them spending all day playing the piano as I do thinking about young people spending all day perfecting a triple pike with a twist. Which I admit is a curious thing, though I can justify this seeming hypocrisy with the fact that a career in music is likely to be much longer than the relatively short span of a athelete.
Also, most of the youngest competitors are female, in sports like gymnastics and diving. How come men can still compete in both events in their 20s and women can’t?
I’m not trolling, I’m genuinely curious as to why women gymnasts seems to peak at about 16 while male gymnasts don’t seem to become really good until they’re about 21. Is it really to do with biology, or is to do with the judging criteria in these sports?
It’s been a while since we had a proper blog meet-up over here in Perth. So I thought I’d take some initiative and organise one.
Where: Flying Scotsman, Mt Lawley.
When: 7pm, Monday the 6th of March.
Who: Anyone who reads this and lives in or around Perth.
How you’ll know it’s us: I’ll probably have a sign of some sort saying “PERTH BLOGGING MEETUP THING PLEASE DON’T RUN AWAY”.
And yes, I know it’s the Monday evening at the end of a long weekend but what better way to round out three lazy days of not-working with a chance to socialise with other charming bloggy types?
So what do you, oh wise readership, make of the kerfuffle about those ads?
Cheeky? Or just a bit too ocker? Is any backlash merely cultural cringe or are there still people in the world who find the words “bloody hell” offensive?
Clearly, as the ads are being slighty re-worded for certain Asian markets, even the creators think so: and does “where are you?” convery any Australianess at all? Does mild obscenity really capture the spirit of our nation?
If so, what does that say about those bloody Orstrayan Values everyone’s always banging on about?
Here’s some good news from the world of medical research — the Queensland Institute of Medical Research last week announced that it was inching ever closer to a vaccine for malaria. Apparently, as with many vaccines, a tiny exposure to the parasite which causes Malaria can induce a strong immune response, which may offer future protection. QMIR is apparently hoping to begin clinical trials of the vaccine soon.
FWIW, the QMIR is a research body that was initially created by the QLD government. It often works in conjunction with private enterprise too, but if you want to donate to the QMIR to aid its fight against numerous horrible diseases, you can.
Last night I watched a doco on SBS, Prescription for Survival - The Rise of the Superbugs, which was all about drug-resistant diseases. Not something particularly pleasant with dinner, but it’s an interesting topic — if by interesting you mean blood-freezingly awful.
One really disturbing fact presented by the doco was that up to one third of all people on the planet are infected with TB. That doesn’t mean they will all develop TB, but it’s a terrifying statistic. Another terrifying statistic is that after HIV/AIDS, TB is the second most deadly disease in the world, killing some two million people each year. Malaria is the third, killing a mere one million.
The development of antibiotics — TB is caused by a bacteria, whilst HIV is a virus and Malaria is caused by a protozoan parasite — was supposed to be the end of bacterial disease. Unfortunately, thanks to the whole ’survival of the fittest’ paradigm, nature has sidestepped even our most powerful anti-bacterial drugs and now a whole host of horrible diseases are multiple drug resistant (MDR). These are known, rather euphemistically I think, as Superbugs. (Superdeadlybugs might perhaps be more apt?)
Continue reading ‘Germs, Profits and Fear’
The conscience vote has NOT been formally conducted and counted because it was obvious which way the Parliament was going to vote: control of RU486 has been taken away from the Health Minister and been given to the TGA. Instead, the vote was carried by voice.
Personally, I think this is not only a good thing for women in Australia, but also demonstrates democratic processes at work.
Now we can commence stoushing about whether or not the TGA should allow the drug into the country.
Bloggers par excellence, Suki and Susoz, are hosting a blog meet-up this Saturday.
If I were in Sydney, I’d be going, so perhaps someone could get along for me instead and report back?
Any and all bloggers are welcome.
When: Saturday February 18, 3-5pm (to be precise)
Where: Bar Italia, 169-171 Norton Street, Leichhardt - out the back in the garden (unless it’s raining).
I’m not sure yet how you’ll identify Suki and Susoz so check their blogs closer to the day. It looks like fun and I’d have loved to have gone along.
Danna Vale has outdone herself this time. She reckons the reason we shouldn’t allow RU486 into the country is because “we’re aborting ourselves out of existence”. We being white middle class Christians, of course, and into this void will flow those super-fertile Muslims.
Continue reading ‘Oh Danna’
I thought I’d wade into the Right-to-Life survey on Australia’s attitude to abortion. Since I’m not a statistician, I’m only going to look at the questions. If anyone else would love to tackle the methodological bits of the survey, please do so.
For now I’ll just look at the first part of the survey, in the order it is discussed in the media material released.
Cross-posted at Moment to Moment.
Continue reading ‘Abortion survey: push poll or unbiased survey? Part one.’
Well, I’ve just sent in my letter of resignation the the Naked Knitting Feminist World Domination Collective…. laced with anthrax! No, no, I’m joking, it was only talcum powder but I reckon the biohazard clean-up crew’ll just be getting done with the tests about now.
Only the strong will survive in the brave new world, and frankly, I was getting sick of those wishy-washy bloody feminists with their “reclaim the night” and “choice” and all that touchy-feeling b.s. I mean, who do they think they are? Men?
Anyway, I’m calling all my sisters to join me in the “We Love The Patriarchy World Domination Assasination Squad”. We won’t be actually assassinating anyone, because as we know, men are the tough, strong, violent ones — it’s the biology — and women are the soft, squishy, stupid ones… but we needed a tough name. We’re kinda like Charlie’s Angels, though we all want to be Cameron Diaz and not the fat one or the Asian one. (News for you, beyatches! I’m Cameron Diaz.) Anyway, we’re going to sweep through the blogosphere, telling women what they really, really want, and simpering at strong men like Tim Blair. Oh, you show ‘em what for, Timmy.
Anyway, here’s the order for business at the We Love The Patriarchy World Domination Squad’s first meeting. This is the agenda we need to get across. This, women, is the Truth and nothing but the Truth.
Continue reading ‘We Love The Patriarchy’
Continuing my series of posts about women’s rights, I’d like to point out that rape and the threat of rape is a huge problem for women everywhere, especially in the third world. In fact, the word “problem” doesn’t even really sum up how terrible many women’s lives are made by rape, violence and other abuse.
Via Feministing I came across this disturbing report from Pakistan:
A village council in Pakistan has decreed that five young women should be abducted, raped or killed for refusing to honour childhood “marriages”.
Continue reading ‘Rape In The Third World’
Over in the Motherland a recent survey has found some disturbing statistics about the way a significant minority of UK respondents view rape.
Continue reading ‘Rape: Never The Victim’s Fault’
Continuing the short-sleeved, upper-body garment related posts, eagle-eyed Anthony (Australia’s Best FoodbloggerTM) from Spiceblog kindly pointed me towards some splendid shirts I know the LP readership will just love.
Continue reading ‘More T-Shirt Fun’
Susoz has done an excellent job of compiling the second Carnival of the Feminists. And I’m not just saying that because she linked to one of my posts, though it was nice to be included. (I finally feel like a real blogger now…)
I can also see I’m going to have to update my blogroll to include all the wonderful bloggers from this Carnival and the last one. It’s great to see fellow antipodeans and excellent bloggers (as well as a few of esteemed co-LPers) Cristy, Laura, Gianna and Suki included.
The next Carnival will be held by Sour Duck in two weeks.
This Carnival is a great way for feminist bloggers to find each other, to read thought-provoking work by other women, and to show-off the breadth and depth of feminist thought. When you read the links you’ll notice a whole range of opinions. Some may even be contradictory.
That’s because, contrary to popular opinion, feminism isn’t a monolithic ideology with fixed rules and a set agenda. Feminism(s) embrace(s) a wide range of different worldviews, and there is a great deal of room for debate and disagreement in the feminist world. Don’t believe me? Try asking a few different feminists for their opinions of something like pornography, or the headscarf in Muslim culture, or the role of marriage in today’s society, and so on.
Continue reading ‘Carnivale!’
Recent comments
Adrien, Mark, Adrien, Legal Eagle, Michael Sutcliffe, Mark [...]
Adrien, Mark, Ambigulous, Adrien, Katz, Paul Burns [...]
Mark, Admin!!! HELP!!!, Mark, Admin!!! HELP!!!, Mark, Fine [...]
Kevin Rennie, jrbarch, Mindy, Mark, Mark, Leon [...]
Fine, Ambigulous, dylwah, murph the surf, wizofaus, David Rubie [...]
Adrien, Ambigulous, Adrien, Liam, Mark, Liam [...]
David Rubie, Paul Burns, Brian, David Irving (no relation), kymbos, kymbos [...]
Mindy, Admin!!! HELP!!!, FDB, David Rubie, FDB, David Rubie [...]
Ambigulous, suz, Colin, un ami des beaux arts, adrian, suz [...]
Bilko, Paul Burns, Dave Bath, Bilko, Nabakov, Adrien [...]
RobWindt, Pappinbarra Fox, Ai! Que Dolor!, Patrick B, peter jones, Paul Burns [...]
Mark, Adrien, Adrien, Kim, Adrien, smiley [...]