Big Green Ogres

Xena: Mock Execution Princess?

2007-12-10T13:13:00.000+11:00

In many episodes of the tv show Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena cut off the flow of blood to the brains of her enemies to interrogate them. From the second she started, the victims had roughly 30 seconds to live.

Yet no-one's referred to it as a mock execution or torture, or said that she shouldn't be doing it.

In the show, the techniques are useful, and are done for the "greater good", rather than being done needlessly.

Does this mean that the show promotes torture, or that the viewers are ok with it? Perhaps because it was being done mostly during the Clinton administration?

I don't think so. Xena, like many vigilante (anti-)heroes, acts outside of our sense of ethics. As well as blood deprivation, she sometimes killed her enemies when she didn't really need to do so. She did what many of us idly wish would happen to the bad guys. They "have it coming". But when it comes to real life, we realise we can't act in this way. Asking whether terrorists "have it coming" clouds the issue. The right question is whether allowing torture is a good idea, and the answer is no.

The long tail of Crocodile Hunting?

2007-05-06T07:57:00.000+10:00

In The Crocodile Hunter - Collision Course, one of the funniest parts of the film was when the CIA was doing a background briefing about Irwin. Irwin had been to many political hotspots, including South America during two coups, in Kenya when the USA embassies were bombed, and in East Timor soon after its civil war. He has had access to America's military. The Australia Zoo is expanding at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. And you don't get that kind of money from cable television. Therefore, he must moonlighting as an enemy agent.

Every one of the statements made is true, but the conclusion is absurd. It is a good warning on the perils of bad logic. A similar, but real-life, conspiracy theory can be seen here asking how wikipedia can only operate with 2 full-time employees and a million-dollar budget that mainly pays for equipment, concluding that it must be a CIA front.

The flaw in the argument about Irwin is assuming that his only source of revenue is from cable tv. While talking about an ad series promoting Australian quarantine, he said that the A$175,000 he charged was tiny compared to his other fees for commercials - he'd have to add a zero or two. Steve Irwin may be a litle bit into hyperbole, but in this case it sounds plausible.

Irwin wasn't in it for the money, though. The more money he raised, the more conservation he did. The more conservation, the more documentaries and attention. The more attention, the more money to play with.

What a vicious circle.

Take CAIR before making donations for Citizendium

2007-03-27T09:41:00.000+10:00

Citizendium, an online encyclopedia project similar to but different from Wikipedia, has just made some of their articles visible to the public. I'd view it as an interesting experiment, but I'm worried about their current (temporary) funding model.

They are being funded through the Tides Center. Legally speaking, you give money to the Tides Center, and they say that they'll give the money to Citizendium, minus what Citizendium calls a very reasonable administration fee. But Citizendium makes no promise that that money will be spent on administration, and I do not know that they can make such a promise.

The Tides Center funds a variety of groups. One of them is CAIR. The group is involved with a SLAPP lawsuit involving the "Flying Imams" trying to identify John Doe fellow passengers who acted in good faith with what they reasonably perceived was a potential danger.

If Citizendium can guarantee that money will go where it should, I'll be glad to hear it. And the sooner it becomes independent of the Tides Center, the sooner I'll be confident that Citizendium can write without a conflict of interest on the Tides Center, the Tides Foundation and those that fund or are funded by them.

Washington, DC

2005-10-07T20:25:00.000+11:00

A building I saw during a tour of congress. I'm curious as to what it is.

Statues of an eagle, a woman and a snake winding around a column. Surprisingly, the snake seems not to be a baddie - it is representing knowledge.

A statue of a woman on a chariot with a clock as the wheel.

I'm not sure what it is. Probably the local mosque.

While waiting for a tour of congress, I checked out the nearby glasshouse. In a room dedicated to endangered plants, I saw a Wollemi pine, a plant that doesn't live far from Sydney.

Woods Hole and New York

2005-09-10T18:44:00.000+10:00

Photos from Woods Hole, MA and New York, NY.

The statue in this picture featured in the Left Handed DNA Hall of Fame in 2001.

Fixed! Now only the number on one of the buildings looks wrong.

Birds on a wire. Woods Hole, MA.

What part of "9.8 metres per second per second" doesn't the water understand? Woods Hole, MA.

Snow sculptured by the wind. Woods Hole, MA.

Photo taken on bus between Woods Hole and New York.

Photo taken on bus between Woods Hole and New York.

Art work in New York central park.

Times New Square

Narrow-way

Fidel Castro, the world's oldest dictator, and Yasser Arafat, the world's oldest terrorist (and dead as well).

A pretty lousy Charlie Chaplin imitation, and the one on the right isn't much better...

Wayne Gretzky, hockey player, about to check Michelle Kwan, figure skater. I fear for the former...

Along with Woody Allen, Bill Gates is one of the shyest figures in the museum.

A photo of photos at the former Meow Mix.

This is a building, to use the technical term.

The site of the former World Trade Center buildings.

What amazed me when I saw the area was that it looked more like a construction site than a place of death and destruction.

London and Bergen

2005-07-13T13:26:00.000+10:00

Photos from London and Bergen, Norway.

Trafalgar square.

The symbol for London on a gate.

Part of the Tower of London.

Statues in the city square of Bergen.

Bergen to Oslo

2005-07-12T13:35:00.000+10:00

Photos from Bergen to Oslo, travelling with "Norway in a Nutshell".

Snow, ice, and award-winning fjords. 'Nuff said.

Oslo pictures

2005-07-03T15:47:00.000+10:00

Pictures and notes from the Oslo part of my trip.

But you only read this blog for the articles, so you won't be clicking on the hyperlink below, will you?

Ok, looks like you did.

Do not feed the troll. He's not hungry. Holmenkollen ski jump and museum, Oslo.

Just to the left of the blue picture, a pair of skis, one ski short and with fur underneath to provide push, the other ski long for gliding. Holmenkollen ski jump and museum.

Ski poles featuring weapons or kitchen utensils. Holmenkollen ski jump and museum.

There must be a rational reason for this building being where it is. Photo taken from Holmenkollen ski jump.

No, I can't see my house from here. But if I lived in Oslo, I might be able to. Photo taken from Holmenkollen ski jump.

I'd like to say I abseiled down this. A private group did so. Holmenkollen ski jump.

It doesn't look that scary from this angle.

Or this angle.

Hey, that's nice. It slopes up at the end.

This angle looks benign too.

Now this photo gives a good reckoning of the ski jump. Holmenkollen ski jump.

National Theatre, Oslo. At least I think it is. It's a fancy building near the National Theatre subway station. A google image search for Oslo National Theatre found another photographer of the same opinion.

Clothing display, probably within Oslo town hall.

Oslo town hall clock. As well as being able to tell the time, it can indicate the current zodiac sign and apparently the current phase of the moon.

Me ice-skating in Oslo.

Oslo traffic light. Scandinavians are very law-abiding people, so in order to send out a firm message on jay-walking, they have two red non-walking pedestrian figures. Between Grefsen station and Haraldsheim YHA.

Oslo pedestrian crossing sign. Dig the hat and the walking style, man.

Rattus Norvegicus, I presume? Googling suggests the rat actually originated in Northern China, and also has the name of wharf rat. Maybe it got the name from Norway's history as a shipping nation. Between Grefsen station and Haraldsheim YHA.

Photo taken from train going from Oslo central to the airport.

Photo taken during flight from Oslo to Copenhagen.

Another photo taken during the flight. Has anyone seen lines in the snow like this? If so, what are they?

Dirty Harry and the detainee from Afghanistan

2005-06-28T15:00:00.000+10:00

Underneath the hard copy headline "Inmates sent potty", they had a photo of a man with 200,000 bees on him (a close up of this photo). The photo was not of a detainee being interrogated, but someone trying to set a world record. A bit of poor placement by the Daily Telegraph.

More fictitions to follow.

GUANTANAMO BAY: US military guards are taking extraordinary new measures to make terror suspect detainees confess at the controversial Camp X-Ray base in Cuba.

Camp X-Ray was closed on July 29 2002.

The use of the word "confess" implies that the guards just want the jihadis to confirm what they are saying to them, like a bent cop wanting to wrap up a case. Who knows, maybe they're more interested in gathering new intelligence about the known unknowns and unknown unknowns? No other articles in google news used the word "confess" with regards to the use of Harry Potter books.

Interrogrators at the base where Australian David Hicks is held are spending hours reading Harry Potter books to the inmates in an effort to crack them.

Is an "interrogrator" an interrogator who uses the technique of grating on the detainee?

I'd expect to see this level of inaccuracy in broadsheets like the New York Times or the Sydney Morning Herald, but in a tabloid? What is the world coming to?

Poor journalism reigns in Reuters

2005-06-28T14:58:00.000+10:00

From Reuters:

Friday's vote exposed deep class divisions in the oil-producing nation of 67 million people.

Ahmadinejad's humble lifestyle and pledges to tackle corruption and redistribute the country's oil wealth have appealed to the urban and rural religious poor.

...

In wealthier north Tehran, Rafsanjani voters said they feared Ahmadinejad would reverse modest reforms made under Khatami that allow women to dress in brighter, skimpier clothes and couples to fraternise in public without fear of arrest.

Yeah. The "conservative" won because of stupid red-staters. Nothing to do with the thousand-odd candidates blocked by the regime.

I don't know much about Iranian "politics", but generally the strongest supporters of fundamentalism are rich and university-educated. But the media wouldn't make things up, would they?

Don't answer that.

Life imitates Clarke and Dawe

2005-06-28T14:56:00.000+10:00

7:30 report December 2004:

INTERVIEWER: OK, now we'll just try that again in case you're rolled, Mr Latham, OK?

When do you think you'll get into government?

MARK LATHAM: Look, Bryan, I mean, the Prime Minister is a low-life little skunk.

He doesn't mind misrepresenting the position to the electorate at large and I think if the absolute galahs and dopes who've tipped me out of office are not Prime Minister by Easter, they should bloody well give the game away.

Reality:

Mr Latham, whose political biography is due out later this week, is said to have written off the Federal Labor Party as a "spent force" ...

What I Did On My Holidays

2005-06-14T22:38:00.000+10:00

In February (plus a few days in January and March), I went around the world.

Vancouver

Steam driven clock
Snow-shoeing
H R McMillan Space Centre
Science World British Columbia
Storyeum
Harbour Centre Tower
Stanley Park (including the "girl in the wetsuit")

Notes: The Steam driven clock can "chime", and was built only a few decades ago. I learnt at the Storyeum of the Doukhobors, who bombed and stripped naked for their pacifist ideals. Sounds somewhat familiar. Everyone in the Storyeum photos looked very serious, even the hurdy gurdy girls.

Whistler

Skied and snowboarded

Seattle

Space Needle
Seattle Aquarium
Seattle Underground Tour

Notes: Not all seals form harems, and some species of octopus stop eating after reproducing and look after their offspring until they die. The underground tour is great, though not recommended for those with delicate sensibilities.

Calgary

Canada Olympic Park
Calgary Tower
Glenbow museum

Notes: You can go up one of the ski jumps. As well as magnificent views, they have information on ski jumping. Apparently it's safer than it looks, and for most of the flight you're only a few metres above the ground. Canada Olympic Park saw the Olympic debut of Michael Edwards ("Eddie the Eagle") and the Jamaican bobsled team, and last year it saw the debut of Australia's women's skeleton team. Skeleton is for those who like going at over 100 kilometres an hour, but think going feet first (like lugers do) is entirely too sensible.

Canmore

Cross country skiing

Notes: The cars stop for you if you want to cross the road!

Toronto

Hockey Hall of Fame
Whistle Brewery
CN Tower
Royal Ontario Museum
Bata shoe museum
Toronto Olympic Spirit Museum

Notes: For the Whistle Brewery, instead of paying an admission fee, you have to buy a souveneir. At the Royal Ontario Museum, you can buy replicas of some of the exhibits. I bought a replica of a painted relief from the tomb of Metjetji (spelling may vary). The Toronto Olympic Spirit Museum had information, photo opportunities and sports practice.

Washington, D.C.

Smithsonian museums
Congress
United States Botanic Garden

Notes: While waiting for a tour of the capitol, I visited the United States Botanic Garden, and saw a Wollemi pine. Not bad, considering that about a decade ago, it only existed undiscovered in a single area a few hours from Sydney.

New York

Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum
Katz's Deli
The former World Trade Centers 1 & 2

London

The Tower of London

Bergen, Norway

Hanseatic Museum
Fishing museum
Funicular

Notes: I took the "Norway in a Nutshell" trip from Bergen to Oslo. The scenery was amazing.

Oslo, Norway

Hollenstein ski jump and museum
Oslo town hall
Fram museum

Notes: The Fram had gone further north and further south than any other boat. The museum also had an exhibit on Australian Antarctic bases. On the flight I took from Oslo to Copenhagen, the TVs showed the plane's-eye view of the take-off.

Bring back the blog

2005-06-09T13:33:00.000+10:00

Welcome to Bullletin readers, Tim Blair viewers, and long-suffering souls waiting for my next post.

It'll happen real soon now, and it'll be on What I Did On My Holidays.

For those who wish to email me, take my 6-letter pseudonym, add on an "at sign" and then geocities.com. If you don't get a reply, it may be because of the anti-spam filter: send it again and give me a shout in the comments section that you've sent an email.

Tsunami

2005-01-01T21:58:00.000+11:00

Ugh. The death toll from the tsunami is unbelievable. My thoughts go out for the survivors and for the relatives of the dead.

Keith Suter wrote in an opinion piece on aid delivery in war zones:

Meanwhile, the undemocratic Burmese Government is playing down the number of deaths. It is internationally unpopular and the subject of economic sanctions. Its tally of less than 100 victims is probably untrue. But it is a closed country, so it will be difficult to get at the true figure.

I suspect Keith is right here. But what can we do? Threaten to punish Burma's regime unless it allows us to help its people? Maybe satellite photos can be used to show that Burma isn't being entirely honest about the extent of devastation.

The country is a complete "free market": no government, no security, individuals rely on their guns to protect themselves in the clan warfare. One of the world's poorest countries has again suffered another calamity.

A free market, for better or for worse, never meant the absence of government protection against violence and theft. In addition, you could argue that the clans are a form of government.

Here is a checklist of the flashpoints to watch out for in the current crisis:
First, there is a temptation by governments and their opponents to try to exploit a natural disaster for their own political purposes. They may try to restrict relief aid from going to areas controlled by their opponents to help starve them into submission.

This is a real enough risk - this has been reported as happening in Zimbabwe.

Second, relief operations run by the military carry the risk that they become a ruse to conduct military operations under the guise of supposedly providing help. Military personnel are employed to conduct military operations.
They may be deployed temporarily on relief operations, but their prime purpose is warfare and they will not want to miss an opportunity to continue their core business if the targets should appear.

This may vary from government to government, but I'd rather think that military operations are viewed by governments as a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

Third, there is a new danger arising out of the blurring of the traditional distinction between military personnel and relief personnel. Traditionally both groups of personnel were distinct. However, in recent years defence forces have been encouraged to provide their equipment to help transfer relief supplies.
For example, relief convoys in the new warfare state are now targets for warlords and bandits. Some relief organisations have had to resort to armed guards to protect the convoys.
The problem with this new level of co-operation is that warlords have been less careful about their targeting. The experience in Chechnya, for example, showed that relief workers were regarded as targets by warlords. In the previous era of international conventional warfare relief workers may have been killed accidentally but rarely deliberately.

I'd have to disagree with his analysis here.

First, international warfare wasn't always Geneva-compliant, Marquis de Queensberry-like combat. In many international conflicts, there were simply no relief workers at all. One would have to assume that it wouldn't be safe for a relief worker to be there.

Secondly, he doesn't seem to explain how the military assisting relief workers would lead to deliberate targeting of relief workers. Perhaps a more plausible explanation for the change of policy is that irregulars are less concerned about negative PR than governments are (even governments that are not concerned about human rights may be concerned about PR).

Mark Steyn argues in Being sad isn't enough that negative PR seems not to be a problem with some "Chechens" even compared to other non-state-actors:

When your asymmetrical warfare strategy depends on gunning down schoolchildren, you're getting way more asymmetrical than you need to be. The reality is that the IRA and ETA and the ANC and any number of secessionist and nationalist movements all the way back to the American revolutionaries could have seized schoolhouses and shot all the children.
But they didn't. Because, if they had, there would have been widespread revulsion within the perpetrators' own communities. To put it at its most tactful, that doesn't seem to be an issue here.

Keith also notes a potential problem not discussed much:

Finally, there is the problem of unexploded ordnance. During the Vietnam War three decades ago I noticed that the downpour of monsoonal rains meant that previously "cleared" areas ran the risk of landmines and other unexploded ordnance being moved from one rice field to another. It remains to be seen how the tsunami may have likewise shifted unexploded ordnance. All of the conflicts in the countries affected by the tsunami have experienced the use of landmines. (Australia and Antarctica are the world's only two continents that have no landmines.)

Keith sees some reasons for hope:

Are there any "good" developments to watch out for? One might be the scope for "earthquake diplomacy". In 1999 Greece gave help to its traditional rival Turkey when it suffered from an earthquake. This helped improve relations between them.
There is a hope that opposing sides to an internal conflict may be drawn together to deal with the common problem of the tsunami. Having then seen how much they can gain from co-operation, this may provide an opportunity for political progress. All of the conflicts in the area affected by the tsunami are long term and intractable. The tsunami may provide an opportunity for building peace.

I'll answer with a emphatic "maybe". Food aid given to Afghanistan (both pre and post September 11) didn't lead to Osama's extradition to the USA, and North Korea worked on its nuclear program while the USA has and is giving food aid to it. I doubt the aid we'll be giving Aceh will lead the hard-core Islamists to like us, but it may make the ordinary Acehnese more sympathetic to us, and more likely to volunteer useful information if some of them commit a terrorist attack against Australians.

Thoughtlessness a bigger threat

2004-12-08T23:06:00.000+11:00

Saudi newspaper Arab News has an article proclaiming that
Global Warming Is Mankind’s Greatest Threat

Yesterday was a black day with an attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah, exacting a terrible toll in human lives and suffering. Yet, as dreadful as these kinds of occurrences are — and nobody can deny that terrorists are, indeed, a global and worsening plague — one wonders whether the Bush administration should concentrate on this to the exclusion of all others, in particular the urgent need to curtail global warming.

At the end, the article notes "Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback.".

As far as I can tell, she mainly writes for middle eastern media, so it's not a syndication of something written for The Guardian or the like. And yet Saudi Arabia's major (legal) export is not mentioned in the article.

I may send her feedback. I hope she welcomes it.

Update Friday December 17: Yes, she does welcome feedback.

I asked

I read your article “Global Warming Is Mankind’s
Greatest Threat” in Arab News. In the article, you
deplore excessive consumption of oil without
criticising the countries that supply the western
world with as much oil as is asked for. Would you be
able to explain why you didn't criticise those
countries?

and in less than 24 hours I got the following reply:

Dear Andrew,

When oil producing countries attempt to cut production, prices shoot up and they are blamed for consequent worsening economies. We must also consider politics when it comes to Mid-East oil producers. When supplies were severely cut in response to the 1973 war, this was considered by the West as a hostile act. We should ask ourselves whether Mid-East suppliers, in particular, truly have a free hand and what the consequences would be if they unilaterally decided to severely curtail flows.

More importantly, the biggest polluters are not oil producing countries but oil importers. If the polluters sought other, environmentally friendly, sources of energy then the producers would eventually lack buyers and prices would substantially decrease benefiting everyone.

Best regards,

Linda Heard

Calling all lizardoids

2004-12-01T14:49:00.000+11:00

A news service called "Executive Intelligence Review", associated with Lyndon LaRouche, is syndicating on Google News. Opinions about Lyndon vary: some think that he's a Jew-hating fascist, while others think he's just plain nuts.

Meanwhile, Daily "Screw them" Kos has been removed from Google News.

I have got a bridge to sell you

2004-11-21T13:36:00.000+11:00

No, really. It ain't exactly the Brooklyn bridge, but a 10-tonne, 115-year-old bridge isn't something to be sneezed at. I didn't steal it myself though, I'm acting as the, um, fence.

The way the cops know it wasn't a local job? The thieves were wering industrial boots, whereas locals would wear thongs (as jandals / flip-flops, not as in G-strings).

Oh, and Atlantis has been found.

International crisis centre puts brakes on thought

2004-11-21T11:44:00.000+11:00

I'm a bit late with posting this, but it's just so stupid that I couldn't leave it alone:

Puritanical form of Islam puts brakes on terrorism.

Far from promoting violence, the teaching of fundamentalist Islam in Indonesia may be a barrier to the growth of terrorism.

Just days after the bombing of the Australian Embassy, the International Crisis Centre issued a report arguing that a puritanical form of Islam, known as Salafism, is more likely to act as a brake on terrorist groups and finds organisations like Jemaah Islamiah anathema.

"Salafi" is another word for "Wahhabi". One prominent Salafi/Wahhabist is Osama Bin Laden.

What next, arguing that national socialism puts brakes on invading Poland?

Clean smell of success

2004-11-21T11:06:00.000+11:00

Australia is making a clean sweep with its soaps:

The world has a serious problem with Australian soaps. It just can't get enough of them. Whether it's the allure of eternal sunshine or fly-screen doors that are never locked, it seems we've cracked the code for serial dramas that hit the cross-cultural spot.

...

Home and Away, now in its 17th year of production, is distributed to more than 48 countries (and can be seen in as many as 120 countries due to the satellite footprint). Subtitled or dubbed (in Lithuania, one person voices all the parts), Home and Away is an international hit, watched by more than 60 million viewers daily. It's loved in Britain, but is just as well received in Botswana, Kenya and Dubai. Neighbours, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, is seen in 12 countries and has a worldwide daily audience of 120 million.

British viewers continue to be the biggest consumers of our soaps. In 1988 a peak of 18 million tuned into Scott and Charlene's wedding on Neighbours and both Neighbours and Home and Away still attract daily audiences of more than 6 million viewers. Neighbours consistently rates No. 1 in its daytime slot.

That peak figure of 18 million in 1988 is equivalent to Australia's 1995 population.

Dr Mike Minehan, head of communication at Insearch, University of Technology Sydney, says the cross-cultural appeal is not surprising. "There is a sense of freedom and the new world about Australia that the older world looks upon with some envy. They watch our soaps and think that everybody lives in a beautiful home, everybody is young and attractive, everybody goes to the beach, and that it's always sunny. That's what our soaps play on. It's a bit like a dream they would like to live."

So much for people only wanting local voices telling local tales. Free trade is a two-way street. If we want our programs exported to the world, we should accept overseas programs being allowed to screen here.

Besides, if it weren't for trade in tv programs, Xena wouldn't have screened in Australia. That would have been a bad thing.

National Shocker

2004-11-17T23:20:00.000+11:00

Some regard Hollywood as dominating idotiarianism, but we have our own achievers:

Pitcairn men were following custom: McCullough

Not to be confused with the favourite excuse of "just following orders".

The best-selling author Colleen McCullough has joined the debate on the Pitcairn Island rape trials, saying the men convicted of the rapes should have been allowed to follow their "custom" and have sex with young girls.

She joined the debate, and left planet earth.

"They are as much Polynesian as anything else," she said. "It's Polynesian to break your girls in at 12."

So it'd be UnPolynesian to not "break" "your" girls at 12?

"The Poms have cracked the whip and it's an absolute disgrace.

Ahh, railing against an evil hedgemon. Very popular with the intelligentsia.

"It's hypocritical, too," she said. "Does anybody object when Muslims follow their customs? Nobody's afraid of 50 Polynesians, but they are very afraid of a million Muslims."

That's a bit closer to the mark than I'd like to admit, but some have objected when bad things are done under the guise of "customs". Heard of Theo Van Gogh?

The trial deeply divided the community, with some arguing that sex with young girls was part of the island culture.

But the Pitcairn public prosecutor, Simon Moore, said the trials had sent a strong signal to a society in which men had abused young girls with impunity for decades.

To quote Mark Steyn in "Multiculturalists are the real racists":

A British district officer, coming upon a scene of suttee, was told by the locals that in Hindu culture it was the custom to cremate a widow on her husband's funeral pyre. He replied that in British culture it was the custom to hang chaps who did that sort of thing.

How terribly judgemental.

Pitcairn Islanders are descended from HMS Bounty mutineers and Polynesians, and about a third of Norfolk Island's 1800 residents trace their ancestry back to the 194 Pitcairners who settled the abandoned penal colony in 1856.

They make us Aussies look good by comparison.

McCullough is visiting Melbourne this week to promote her new novel and 16th book ***** ****

Maybe she isn't crazy, but just wants to create controversy. I guess she'd be following in Greer's footsteps in talking about child sex.

If she's one of the 100 Living National Treasures of Australia, I'm glad I'm not one.

Bombs not bongs

2004-11-15T23:27:00.000+11:00

Terrorists face a sentence reduction of up to six weeks to celebrate Idul Fitri, while alleged Australian marijuana smuggler Schapelle Corby faces execution.

Someone once noted that in Iran, adultery is treated as a criminal matter while murder is treated as a civil matter. It seems Indonesia is similarly getting its priorities the wrong way around.

Planet Earth calling Mr Trad

2004-11-15T23:03:00.000+11:00

From the Sydney Morning Herald: Carr preaches tolerance, attacks US adventurism

[Carr] also said Australians must bear down on acts of prejudice directed at Islamic people and institutions.

Tolerance is a two-way street, Bob.

A Muslim community leader, Keyser Trad, described John Howard and George Bush as warmongers and said their re-elections were a setback for Australian Muslims during a year of "atrocities against Muslims".

Since September 11, 2001, two schools and four mosques had been set on fire or vandalised and race-based attacks continued against Muslim Australians in an "atmosphere of Islamaphobia and intolerance".

And now for Keyser's attempt to combat intolerance:

Mr Trad said Mr Howard was steering "our great nation away from our ethos of fair-mindedness towards the fearful neo-conservatism and total dependency on America and Israel for direction".

The VP of the Lebanese Muslim Association making claims about the USA controlling Australia wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but titty little country Israel? Half-way around the world? Population less than 7 million (assuming Palestinians aren't conspiring to control Australia)? How would it put pressure on us? Threaten retaliation once it becomes eligible for UN security council membership?

Likening Mr Bush to a modern-day Pharaoh, Mr Trad said he had displayed a reckless disregard for human life in US policies and military campaigns in Iraq and Palestine. "He rules the world with one eye and rampages with one horn, like a rhino amongst a flock of lambs."

Haven't you read your Moir cartoons? Howard's the one with one eye.

The Islamic cleric Sheik Shadi Suleiman, of the United Muslim Association, said Islam had been maligned. "It's a mistake for those who ever think Islam is terrorism. It is a mistake to believe that Islam accepts the killing of innocent women and children."

Islam doesn't kill innocent women and children, people acting in its name do.

Excuse? We don't need no stinking excuse...

2004-10-28T23:17:00.000+11:00

Nemesis asked Tim Dunlop why he blogged.

I have a theory that if you're trying to [change] people's opinions, then blogging is not the medium to do this.

Sometimes blogging can change opinions. Tim Blair sometimes posts on excesses in the anti-smoking movement, and it probably played a role in my feeling that the NSW's proposed ban on smoking in pubs is going too far. So blogging isn't a total waste of time.

In addition, when blogging you can find out info that can be useful when talking with "undecideds" about an issue.

In a world where most people and political parties (in the West at least) are moving steadily towards centrist positions, the old Left/Right bollocks just doesn't work anymore - yet blogging still seems to be stuck in this old paradigm. Until it breaks out of this mould it will never realise its true potential, I fear.

Is it an either/or proposition? Either a one-dimensional political spectrum, or no spectrum at all?

Maybe some other bloggers have a view on this. Would love to hear from them.

The reason I have a blog? I wanted to make a comment at another blog, was told that I had to register or post anonymously, and ended up with this as a bonus.

Why do I blog? The advantage of blogging over commenting is that you can set the agenda. I don't have to look for some blog mentioning SBS's article on the PKK, or the obscene James Hardie payout.

Why do I discuss politics online? It allows me to discuss politics while keeping my "real life" friendships intact. Especially as most of my friends were opposed to the invasion of Iraq.

Salem, you cheese eating surrender monkeys!

2004-10-24T23:37:00.000+11:00

French UMP party deputy Jacques Myard told Le Monde: “English is the most-spoken language today, but that won’t last. ... If we must make a language compulsory, it should be Arabic”. This is not a scrappleface article.

Meanwhile, the abscence of the 50-foot cone of silence for early voters is mourned here.

On ABC news tonight, they did a piece on women trying herbal medicines to treat menopause because of scares over hormone replacement therapy. Not one of the people interviewed noted that HRT has undergone far more scrutiny than herbal medicine, and therefore the absence of known problems with herbal remedies may well reflect our ignorance. Rumsfeld's talk about knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns comes to mind.

"Emma Bovary took arsenic; Anna Karenina went under a train, Tess of the D'Urbervilles was hanged." - Adele Horin on adultery. Um, yes, Tess got hanged, but not for adultery.

Involuntary embedding

2004-10-24T17:47:00.000+11:00

Meanwhile, it has been reported that SBS journalist John Martinkus was kidnapped by ~~terrorists~~ ~~militants~~ insurgents and was subsequently released.

My sympathy goes to those who have been kidnapped by terrorists. I am glad he made it back to Australia safely.

However, I take a dim view of someone who says "There was a reason to kill (British hostage Kenneth) Bigley, there was a reason to kill the (two) Americans (kidnapped with Bigley). There was not a reason to kill me."

After such a callous comment (though not as bad as comments by Moore or Pilger earlier this year), others saying unkind stuff about why the terrorists let him live seems minor in comparison.

Sure, you can claim that John wasn't explicitly condoning the murder of Bingley or his associates. But if someone had came back from Nazi Germany saying that "There was a reason to kill Anne Frank", I expect people would regard such a comment as offensive.

All I can say about John's account of how he was kidnapped is hmmmmm. 25% more offensive than Tim Blair's one-word-gate! No, actually, I've got more to say. If he was lying, then it was uneccessary. Many people in such a situation would have done what the terrorists had told them.

And what happend to John's driver and translator? Are they just redshirts, extras whose fate we are not supposed to be concerned about?

SBS - now embedded with terrorists

2004-10-24T17:44:00.000+11:00

SBS - now embedded with terrorists

The SBS's Dateline piece on the terrorist group PKK was one of the most subservient pieces of journalism I'd seen.

Apart from troubles elsewhere in Iraq, the north of that country is bracing itself for a another guerilla war - this time between Turkey and the Kurdish independence fighters of the PKK.

Except they say they don't want independence anymore - does SBS think "militant" is too harsh a word?

Matt Carney gained exclusive access to the PKK base inside northern Iraq and he discovers quite an anachronism for the region - a guerilla group that shuns religion and treats women as equals.

Treating women as equals isn't the anachronism, the rest of the region is the anachronism.

High in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq, near the Iranian border, a volleyball game is under way. These are the woman guerillas of the PKK or Kurdistan Workers Party.

Governments can send olympic teams, but terrorist organisations can't. This is so unfair...

WOMAN (TRANSLATION): The only thing you want to do as you approach the enemy or as the enemy approaches you is to kill so as not to get killed yourself.

Try to think of the government's "root causes". Why do they want to kill you?

America and Europe call them terrorists, but to many of the 20 million Kurds of the Middle East, they are freedom fighters.

Yeah, and America claimed that Saddam had WMDs, and we know the truth about that, don't we?

This is the first time in five years they’ve let a camera in to film their mountain sanctuary.

The obvious question is "Why was the SBS the first in five years?"

The PKK is surrounded on all sides - Iran, Turkey and Syria all want to wipe them out.

The mention of Iran and Syria is news to me. A google of "PKK Iran" (without quotes) have some hits saying Iran supports the PKK, and some saying it is cracking down on the PKK.

Very often the enemy of your enemy is also your enemy. The PKK stays in that category for me regardless of their alleged opposition to Syria and Iran.

Even the other Kurdish parties in Iraq, along with their American allies, want to see the back of them.

Dare I suggest that to many of the 20 million Kurds of the Middle East, they are not freedom fighters?

RECRUITS’ PLEDGE (TRANSLATION): Our slogan is freedom for our leader Apo, peace for Kurdistan, my people, my martyrs, my flag, my party. On my honour, I swear, I swear.

The first and last things mentioned are the leader and the party. It appears loyalty to the organisation is more important than loyalty to the cause.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the PKK was involved in a bloody struggle for Kurdish liberation inside Turkey. 30,000 people lost their lives.

A prime example of the passive voice if ever I have seen one.

The PKK has spent the last five years building up its ranks. There’s about 10,000 fighters in these mountains. Half of them are women.

Half of them female? Perhaps. All of them 18 or older? Nope.

Unlike most of the Middle East, there is absolute equality between the sexes here.

Sure, the PKK has been accused of raising money from prostitution (by pimping, not by PKK members offering sex themselves, that is), but business is business, no?

LEYLA ZIREK (TRANSLATION): When I was a child I used to see women in my neighbourhood. Indeed even, my mother. At home they would force her. She could do nothing without my fathers permission. I used to think, why should women be controlled by men? When I found the PKK through friends, I knew I’d found my dream. This was the "better place" I’d always hoped to find.

The way SBS portrays it, it's almost like running away to join the circus.

What can a girl in such a situation do? Getting documentation would be difficult, and she can't sneak into a country as she isn't fleeing for her life.

Murad admits that abandoning the armed struggle and the movement’s Marxist orientation has not been easy. ... A paradigm has been developed based on democratic, ecological and gender revolution.

What? No mention of gay rights?

George Bush has already labelled them evil terrorists

If he did, google indicates that he didn't use that precise phrase.

Cicek is barely 5-foot high but she says, in her 10 years of fighting, she has killed countless Turkish soldiers. Cicek joined the movement when she was just 11.

SBS didn't comment on her young age. Kill early and kill often!

I started googling for the youngest girl soldier known, but when I came across one description of a girl being abducted into service (the organisation was not PKK-related) at the age of five, I decided I'd found out more than enough.

CICEK (TRANSLATION): When I was a child, we had no schools and no roads. We were deprived of everything.

This is the kind of thing SBS would have you believe is the "root cause" of terrorism. I guess it'd be inconvenient to mention that the PKK destroys schools and attacks teachers, and blows up bridges and plants mines on roads, wouldn't it?

The ideology here seems such a throwback to last century that it’s easy to forget the PKK is still a fanatically disciplined group that demands sacrifices.

Is that a polite way of saying "dictatorial"?

Marriage is banned because, according to the party program, it’s a bourgeois concept based on ownership and is an instrument of patriarchal and imperialist power. Sex is also forbidden until truly free gender relations exist and that won’t happen until the revolution arrives.

Well, I can't accuse the PKK of not knowing about sex and exploitation.

His ideas are paramount, even though they do study other feminist theories.

ZILAR SIBARK (TRANSLATION): We don’t consider it quite right that they consider the problem only within the context of being anti-male, opposing men. That’s not our philosophy. We even aim to include men and to transform them in the process.

Being told by terrorists that our idea of feminism is too combative. Ouch. That's gotta hurt.

But there is another reading to Murad’s optimism. America is committed to its war on terror and it’s probably only a matter of time before America moves with Turkey to destroy the PKK, the Kongra Gel and everything else here. The only cause for delay is America’s battle in the rest of Iraq.

Hasta la vista, PKK? One can only hope that now that Saddam is gone, the PKK will disintergrate without too much bloodshed.

It is reasonable to accuse SBS of being objectively pro-terrorist.

Massive James Hardie payout

2004-10-24T01:15:00.000+11:00

James Hardie has just paid an individual $9 million.

It didn't go to an asbestos victim though - it went to CEO Peter Macdonald.

To pay any CEO $9 million is excessive. To do so while current compensation for asbestos victims is inadequate is callous. But to pay that much money when they were guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct? Simply unbelievable.

Unless a very large cheque comes the way of asbestos victims soon, I hope Peter is unemployed until the day he dies.

Poor taste by World Today

2004-10-15T11:40:00.000+11:00

On Thursday's "The World Today". Media visits Saddam's mass graves on eve of US elections:

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Well, is there a link between the US presidential election campaign and the timing of a media visit to the site of a mass grave in Iraq's north overnight?

The grave containing the bodies of up to 3,000 Kurds was actually discovered two months ago, but pictures of the grave have only just been circulated.

How cynical can the media be? They're suggesting Bush doesn't care about the murder of these people, that all he cares for is a well-timed poll bounce.

The grave itself is nothing new, but the images serve to remind people of how evil Saddam Hussein really was. For once insurgents are off the nightly news, replaced instead by a reminder of Saddam's atrocities.

Stop beating around the bush and accuse Dubya of using propaganda.

The ABC also trots out a familiar furphy:

At the time, both Britain and the United States maintained close relations with Saddam's regime.

Britain and the US combined sold Saddam less than 1% of Iraq's weapons imports.

And a lecturer from Adelaide complains about trial by media:

GRANT NIEMANN: The evidence should be displayed before the court, preferably, rather than having a trial in the media.

You know, why is it being displayed now, when it's been around for a long time? You do ask the question.

Why don't you spell out the answer, Grant?

And should the war crimes trial for Saddam be long and drawn out?

ALISON CALDWELL: The world is familiar with the trial of Slobodan Milosevic. That's taken quite some time and faced many hurdles. Will the trial of Saddam Hussein be similar?

GRANT NIEMANN: Well it ought to be.

Australians Against Further Immigration For Forests

2004-10-14T15:39:00.000+11:00

For the first time in my life, I voted Liberal. In all of the previous elections I voted in, I voted Labor or preferenced it after voting for parties even more left-wing.

This time, I voted in Bradfield for: first preference Liberal, then Democrat, ALP, Greens and put Families First last.

For the Senate, I decided not to vote directly for the Coalition, just so they don't get too cocky, but vote for Liberals for Forests - unless they got elected, their preferences would flow to the Coalition, right?

Wrong. Here's a sampling of some of their preference ticket:

1-2 Liberals for Forests (primary vote 0.5 %)
10-11 HEMP (0.61%)
31-32 Citizen's Electoral Council (0.06%)
33-34 Australians Against Further Immigration (0.27%)
35-36 Family First (0.54%)
37-38 Australian Progressive Alliance (0.06%)
39-41 Australian Democrats (2.12%)
42-43 Save the ADI site party (0.08%)
44-48 Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile group) (2.61%)
49-52 Labor (36.99%)
53-58 Liberal / Nationals (43.9%)
59-61 One Nation (1.86%)
62-67 The Greens (7.12%)
70-71 Nuclear Disarmament Party (at least of Yankee and Hymie) (0.05%)

After hearing that the Coalition could control the senate, I thought "maybe I should have voted against the Coalition in the Senate". And now it looks like I have. It reminds me of a joke in Cafe Arabica:

My Syrian friend told me this joke was going around when she was in Syria at voting time...
A sweet little old lady went to vote. After voting, she walked away and then realized she made the wrong decision, so she went back to try and change it.
''Excuse me dear, '' she said at the polling booth. ''I was wondering whether I can change my vote.''
''That's O.K, Ma'am. We've already done that for you!''

But I still feel dirty that my preferences may flow to ratbags like CEC and AAFI.

Dead tree news roundup for October 9

2004-10-10T01:14:00.000+11:00

Stripped of facts: A page three (really!) article in the SMH stated that Tony Vincent was arrested by police. The article stated that Tony was "one of Sydney's old-time underworld figures", a "former friend of the late crime boss Lennie McPherson" and that he ran a strip club. If a terrorist had been arrested with no charges being mentioned, the paper would have complained long and hard about it.

One HECS of a claim: On page 11, the SMH claims Perth soccer coach David Piggott has said that HECS changes will force "your daughters and even your sons" into prostitution to pay debts. He cited Eros Association research that the proportion of students amongst female sex workers has doubled (anyone able to find this report?). Considering that HECS is deferrable and required repayments are based on income, the claim is just plain ludicrous. You have to worry about the amount of research that is more plausible, but is equally bogus.

Jailhouse rock the vote: "The Greens want all murderers, rapists, drug lords, and armed robbers to be able to vote on who makes the laws of this country". Apparently it's worse than it was a month ago, where the Greens only wanted to give the vote to murderers and rapists. C'mon Eric, we know you're just jealous that hardened crims don't vote Liberal.

Latham - hater or empty chatterer?: Latham said that he regretted saying he was a hater and wanted his children to despise his political enemies. "I shouldn't have used that word at that time. I'm raising my children in a loving way, and they'll make their own mind up about politics.". I don't get it - has his personality and parenting style changed, or was his statement about him and his children "inoperative" from the start? Perhaps we should ask Simon Crean, Mark Latham's mother.

Naked Bush: Barbara Bush reportedly was part of a naked party at Yale in 2002. This is not newsworthy. Really.

French whine: France is complaining about the US making allegations about French officials and companies receiving bribes from Saddam. This is good news - it means the allegations aren't just being ignored.

"Games turns deadly for Gaza children": the article reports some Palestinian children found it fun to make Israeli forces think they were firing a RPG at them, and two of them died from Israeli fire. Hillary Clinton talked about it taking a village to raise a child - here it is more like many of those in a village poisoning each other. I don't like to demonise any race or religion or nationality, but solving this conflict will involve more than just borders or settlements.

Australia decides ... at last

2004-10-09T13:38:00.000+11:00

Who'll manage the majority of Australia's $800 billion economy? You.

John Clarke and Brian Dawe did a skit a while ago making fun of how we're supposedly capitalist societies, yet a major campaign issue is how well the candidates would manage the economy. Maybe Liberal party ads mention the size of the economy because they don't want to mention the size of the current government.

****

Wishing for a nuke-free Iran and North Korea? Don't vote for the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

A search of their media releases for Iran only finds two releases mentioning Saddam's war with Iran.

A search for North Korea finds a complaint about Downer "telling the North Koreans and the Chinese what they should or should not do", and a release alleging that "[the US] has done nothing about the far greater nuclear threat posed by North Korea", going on to say "This has sent the terrible message out to the world that the only way a country can prevent itself from being invaded by the US is to develop nuclear weapons" (but remember, the NDP is against nuclear weapons).

A search for Pakistan finds some complaints about the treatment of Mahmoud Habib, and a complaint about Pakistan and the Pentagon supposedly suggesting (American?) tactical nukes should be used. It also says (less than 2 weeks after September 11 2001) "On first examination of the problems which we all face the situation seems complex, with so much aggression being shown by so many people, but closer analysis suggests that a single diagnosis can be made and that is US imperialistic military aggression".

Neither hit for India were about its nuclear weapons.

No hits were found at all about China, or of France.

Guess who gets a mention with regards to nukes? Yes, the Zionist entity and loads of mentions of America.

In the policies section, mention is only made of the USA, Israel and China with regards to nuclear weapons.

And, surprise surprise, they opposed the invasion of Iraq, which was months away from acquiring nukes according to Mahdi Obeidi.

They aren't anti-nuclear-war, they're on the other side.

****

I predict that the Democrats will win at least 2 seats in this election, most likely in South Australia (a Democrat stronghold) and NSW (where people will be voting as much for melanin-enriched Aden Ridgeway as for the Democrats). The minor party with the most primary votes doesn't always win the final senate seat. In 2001, both the Democrats and One Nation got more senate votes than the Greens in NSW, and the Greens candidate got up. One Nation also didn't have any luck in Queensland or WA despite getting more primary votes.

****

And remember, a vote for Labor is a vote for Bashir!

Sexed up headline

2004-09-16T09:43:00.000+10:00

From ABC online: Turkish may drop adultery plans.

Not a plan to commit adultery, but a plan to outlaw it.

The plans have outraged Turkish liberals and women's groups and have also upset the European Union, which Ankara hopes to join.

The EU opposing legislation that has superficial merit but is a waste of time and makes government excessively intrusive? I thought I'd never see the day.

Update: As seen in Google News:

Teen faces dressing down after groping supermodel

Blast of criticism

2004-09-13T22:40:00.000+10:00

Isn't it interesting that few if any of the bloggers, politicians, commentators, etc. who complained bitterly about the USA "interfering" with Australia's "domestic politics" have a problem with Sharia supporters doing so, with the only complaints being the methods used?

On the subject of bloggers who complained about the USA "interfering", if Tim Dunlop wants me to come back, it could help if he ~~renounce~~ denounce claims that [insert code-word for Jews] control America / Australia / the media / your fridge.

Just saying.

Bombed out big time

2004-09-12T03:07:00.000+10:00

My sympathies to the victims killed or injured in this latest terrorist attack.

After anger at the attack, my main reaction has been that the terrorists have stuffed up. All they have achieved is the death of several of their compatriots and the wounding of a 5 year old Australian girl. The former will make Indonesia loathe the terrorists even more, and the lack (I hope) of Australian deaths suggests that JI is getting weaker and that terrorism can be defeated without appeasement.

So much has happened since September 11 2001 - Bali, the Moscow Theatre hostage crisis, Madrid, Marriott hotel, and regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the attacks by the terrorists are continuing, they are growing more impotent and obtaining less respect. I only hope Australia and our allies have not lost too much will to fight in the process.

Was Australia targetted in this attack? The obvious answer would be "yes", but we may read too much into what the terrorists do. Sidney Jones writes in response to the assumption "The bomb was related to Australia's upcoming elections.":

Until the perpetrators are arrested, we won't know their motives. But, if this bombing fits the pattern of earlier ones, the embassy would have been one of several targets considered - a final selection would have been made on the basis of both symbolic value and logistic feasibility.

The Marriott bombers looked at another hotel, the Jakarta International school and the Australian school, and chose the Marriott because it was a US chain, and it was easy to drive up to the entrance. In Makassar in 2002, the bombers also considered other targets.

First decide to launch a terrorist attack, then find a target, then write about your "root causes".

And if you're going to talk root causes, try something better than this:

We decided to settle accounts with Australia, one of the worst enemies of God and Islam. A mujahideen brother succeeded in carrying out a martyr operation with a car bomb against the Australian embassy.

Um ... if you're after "enemies of God", the embassy of North Korea is just down the road.

What you need to know about militantism, but were afraid to ask

2004-09-09T14:36:00.000+10:00

"Iraqi" "resistance" kidnap French. Possible conclusions:
1) Islamists terrorists do not just want to change our foreign policy. After that has been achieved, they'll try to change our domestic policies.
2) Terrorists kidnap/murder first, think of a "reason" later.

"Chechen" "rebels" hold schoolchildren hostage. Conclusions:
1) There's no action too heartless and gutless for you to be called a "rebel", or "militant" or "activist" by the media.
2) Islamists don't just dislike America and its close allies. They dislike pretty much everybody.

Protecting America from vicious terrorists is not a Democratic ... issue

2004-09-09T13:31:00.000+10:00

Compared to what the media are attributing to Cheney, this is an accurate quote of John Edwards.

Soak the poor

2004-09-09T13:14:00.000+10:00

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Brimming over with wrongosity.

CATHERINE MCGRATH: No, but their incomes are going to be reduced under a Labor Government, particularly for those earning under about $35,000 a year?

BOB MCMULLAN: Don't just be trite. These people don't live in segments to say, this is me in the tax package, and this is me, a different person in public housing. And this is me, a different person trying to go the doctor, and this is me, a different person worried about my kids going to school.

They're the same people, and I'm saying they will be the significant beneficiaries of what we're going to do in the tax package about finding them jobs, about public housing, about public schools, about Medicare, about all the other programs that we've got still to announce.

...

BOB MCMULLAN: I have not found the low income people in my constituency as unable to understand the range of benefits from government they benefit from as people who try to live their life in segments and say, but there was a decision you made over here that might affect these people adversely, which we don't accept.

But even if it were true, it is more than compensated by substantial improvements in public health, in Medicare, in public schools, in public hospitals, in the availability of dental care - the people on low incomes are the beneficiaries of all the major programs we've announced and they will continue to be. And fortunately for us, they know it.

Silence, plebs. The money is going to be used for the common good. It's not like the money belongs to you.

Bob's attitude to the media is equally charming:

The people on low incomes are the target of the public housing policy we've already announced, that the critics seem to have forgotten.

...

Don't just be trite

...

BOB MCMULLAN: Look, I have to say, they are smarter than the Press Gallery.

BOB MCMULLAN: It means they understand even if you don't.

BOB MCMULLAN: I have not found the low income people in my constituency as unable to understand the range of benefits from government they benefit from as people who try to live their life in segments and say, but there was a decision you made over here that might affect these people adversely, which we don't accept.

But even if it were true, it is more than compensated by substantial improvements in public health, in Medicare, in public schools, in public hospitals, in the availability of dental care - the people on low incomes are the beneficiaries of all the major programs we've announced and they will continue to be. And fortunately for us, they know it.

I don't have a high view of the media, but this criticism lacked style.

Blue Planet

2004-09-08T13:23:00.000+10:00

While looking up google news for John Kerry's view of Australia I came across a ZNet article called Republicans Among Us:

The march's banner, "The World Says No to the Bush Agenda," was broad enough to unite a wide array of anti-Bush voters and activists opposing the continued occupation of Iraq. ... One man carried an "Electoral Map of the World" with a few places like Texas, Saudi Arabia, and Australia marked as red states; the remaining globe was covered in a sea of blue.

What do Texas, Saudi Arabia and Australia share in common?

Oil exporters? No, Australia is a net importer.
Supporters of war in Iraq? No, Saudi Arabia's contribution to the war has been on the other side.
Supporters of Israel? Another no for the Wahhabiist entity.
Countries not submerged after sea levels rise? Australia is one of the flattest continents in the world.

The only thing I can think of that is shared by the three is that they each have a lot of desert. Does anyone else have any theories?

Tim Dunlop, revise your history

2004-09-02T00:45:00.000+10:00

Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the class:

And this bit about Austria was also great:

When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead."

Um, actually, Arnold. They were there as part of the liberation force. The tanks were there to get rid of the Nazis. And yet still you were scared and concerned? Now you know how the Iraqis are feeling.

Um, Tim? Schwarzenegger was born after Germany surrendered, by a couple of years.

Is someone being maximally naughty?

2004-08-22T14:42:00.000+10:00

From Saturday's letters section of the SMH:

Reactions to the revelations surrounding the children overboard affair and the fake Norma Khouri story tell us a lot about the nature of prejudice in Australia.

In the first case, there has been a tendency to respond with the idea that while the refugees may not have thrown their children into the sea, they sunk their boat anyway, which makes them just as evil as we thought.

Similarly, with the Khouri affair, the response is that while her story may have been fabricated, "honour killings" do happen, so it is good that she has raised awareness about the issue.

In both instances, the willingness of large numbers within the Australian population to not only accept these fake stories, but also to believe that they are broadly representative of foreign cultural problems, exposes a latent but powerful racism that is easily tapped and exploited for a variety of purposes.

Wake up, people. To believe that Islam routinely encourages the degradation or murder of women, or that certain cultural groups are willing to sacrifice children to achieve their evil ends, shows supreme ignorance.

Women and children are abused and killed within every culture, including ours, for a variety of reasons. You can be sure that anyone telling you otherwise, be they politicians or writers, are using you for their own cowardly interests.

(name and location deleted) August 20.

The name seemed to be so ridiculously Jewish that I thought it was a joke or a fake. It wouldn't be the first time a letter with a fake name had been published.

But I checked white pages, and the details seemed to check out, and it seems someone with that name has written several letters to the editor.

But his letter all but saying that "honour killings" does not occur (criticising the attitude "the response is that while her story may have been fabricated, "honour killings" do happen") because a single claim has been attacked is almost as crazy as holocaust denial.

Yes, domestic violence does occur in many societies. But where there's a trend for domestic violence to be seen as acceptible on certain grounds, that trend should be noted and condemned.

The terrorists can look out for themselves

2004-08-22T13:22:00.000+10:00

Peter FitzSimons notes a markedly non-sheep-like view on terrorism:

"Nah, I've got a gun." New Zealand shooter Nadine Stanton gave this response when asked if she was worried about the potential for terrorist activity in Athens.

Iraq! Iraq! Iraq! Oi! Oi! Oi!

2004-08-22T12:40:00.000+10:00

Iraq has won the men's quarter finals in soccer. It has also fielded its largest olympic team since the depleted Moscow "What if we had a war and nobody came to our olympics?" 1980 games.

To the mainstream media, and to anti-war writers who thought that Saddam did some bad stuff but made the trains run on time, the good news is some sort of fluke. Reuters described the team as "war-weary"and having a "fairytale Olympic run", as if it just happened by magic. And as Bob Ellis reckons that no needless torture occurred in Iraq, the team shouldn't be going as well now as it did when Uday tortured athletes that failed to live up to his expectations.

Elsewhere, the news is not as good. Amir Taheri notes

According to officials in Athens, the number of Muslim women participating in this year's game is the lowest since 1960. Several Muslim countries have sent no women athletes at all; others, such as Iran, are taking part with only one, in full hijab. And state-owned TV networks in many Muslim countries, including Iran and Egypt, have received instructions to limit coverage of events featuring women athletes at Athens to a minimum.

Apartheid South Africa, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Saddam-era Iraq ... bad things happen to regimes that violate the olympic spirit.

With the advent of wild card entries, there should be no excuse for a team not sending at least one female athlete.

No child left eyeless ... needlessly

2004-08-15T18:16:00.000+10:00

The following extract (in the August 7 "Good Weekend") from Bob Ellis's book "Night Thoughts in Time of War" sums up one of the most loathsome arguments made by those opposed to war with Iraq.

No matter, it seems, the man was a monster, it's good he is gone. He killed hundreds of thousands of his own people. He used chemical weapons on his own people. He, or his agents, gouged out the eyes of a child while the parents watched appalled and screaming.

And so it goes. In most war propaganda a bogeyman kills or tortures children: Herod slaughtered the firstborn of Israel (no he didn't), the Kaiser's mad-eyed ogres bayoneted babies (no, they didn't). It's the first big lie in any war whose cause, like this one, is insufficient.

It's all so vulgar and creepy. I mean I assume Saddam, a ruthless, ambitious fan of Stalin, did bad things and killed a lot of people in his time. But kill them pointlessly? I don't think so. He was too shrewd for that, too shrewd to make enemies needlessly: the extended family of the boy with the gouged eyes and the girl in the rape room, the tribe of the men fed feet first into the human shredder. You don't gain total power by being so diffuse in your targets. You don't keep total power without knowing whom to kill. You don't make enemies needlessly.

Saddam is too smart to harm anyone needlessly. Unlike Yanks in general and Dubya in particular:

The Americans have killed 70 people in a raid on a "terrorist training camp" in Iraq. ... What utter f...ing fools they are. The 70 dead will have 500 siblings and 5000 cousins who will be coming for them soon.

Many anti-war arguments boil down to "At least Saddam isn't as dumb as Bush". Saddam is too smart to launch WMDs on his neighbours, he's too smart to give them to terrorists, and now, he's too smart to use them on his own people.

Nonsense.

Not again

2004-08-12T23:26:00.000+10:00

The second desecration of New Zealand Jewish graves in a month occurred last Friday.

NZ parliament passed a motion condemning anti-semitism. As far as I can tell, Helen Clark was absent. If she can be bothered making a big noise alleging Mossad was behind the theft of Kiwi passports, she ought to be prepared to condemn Jew-hatred and this second desecration of graves.

Thanks to Silent Running, which has been following things there.

Eel out of water?

2004-08-06T22:38:00.000+10:00

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

For the past month, Eric "the Eel" Moussambani has sat idle in his hometown of Malabo, waiting for a phone call that has yet to come.

Summoned back to Equatorial Guinea from his Spanish training base, supposedly to collect his Athens accreditation, the iconic African swimmer has recently learned that an application glitch may derail his dream of competing in Greece.

The article goes on to list government incompetence damaging Eric's aspirations. Having read Freedom house's report on Equatorial Guinea, I'm not surprised.

While not wishing this bad luck on anyone, Eric's possible non-start could be a relief for Ian Thorpe.

Something old, something new

2004-08-06T22:11:00.000+10:00

Margo Kingston fan Tim Dunlop has been rubbed off the link list, and some new blogs that have linked to me have been added.

The last straw was Tim's comment

As to Lieberman: what a jerk. One of those liberal hawks who provided cover for the Iraq mess and without an ounce of credibility in these matters. A Zell Miller in the making. As John Stewart said: the candidate for those who think the only thing wrong with Bush is that he isn't Jewish enough.

I mean, really, quoting a comedian that is unaware of the manyfold domestic differences between Lieberman and Bush? That's beyond the pale.

Actually, that would be a giant. Now cartoonists, they're much worse

2004-07-27T21:22:00.000+10:00

Don Quixote: Has trouble distinguishing between giants and windmills.

Alan Moir: Has trouble distinguishing between dragons and giants.

Andjam: Has trouble distinguishing Alan Moir and Margo Kingston from employees of Der Sturmer.

Moral inbredism

2004-07-16T01:22:00.000+10:00

Moral equivalence of the week goes to Tim Dunlop:

Let's put that another way: al Qaeda "do their best in good faith" as far as they're concerned. It ain't an excuse.

And in this post, Julia, Tim and Garry have accused me of regarding sexual abuse as ok.

Nice work, guys.

UN blues

2004-07-14T17:19:00.000+10:00

I can't find anything on the web, but in The Australian, Thursday July 8 2004, page 18 (Media section), there were some articles about Jim Waley wearing a flack jacket.

Nine snapped that it was only following advice from its security consultant, AKE, and that the vest was the "UN blue" favoured by news chiefs around the world to avoid confusion with anything military.

Makes you feel almost sorry for the United Nations. Almost.

Rudd needs to change direction

2004-07-14T17:13:00.000+10:00

Kevin Rudd is, as far as I can tell, one of the best shadow ministers in the federal Labor party. He is bright, supported Australian troops staying in Iraq until Latham over-ruled him, and is not an extremist.

And now he's criticised Howard's policy over Taiwan, saying it was pragmatically risking democracy there in order to maintain good relations with China.

Sorry. I got that the wrong way around. Aus Opposition calls for govt to increase pressure on Taiwan:

Australia's Federal Opposition has called on the Howard Government to increase diplomatic pressure on Taiwan over its desire to declare formal independence from China.

Labor's Foreign Affairs Spokesman Kevin Rudd says tensions on the issue were running high when he was in Beijing last week for talks with Chinese officials.

It's one thing for the government to be pragmatic, but usually opposition parties are more idealistic.

Oh, and about tensions running high? It isn't Tawain planning to practise war against a neighbour.

Democrats take moderate stance

2004-07-14T12:18:00.000+10:00

While the Australian Democrats did not support the invasion of Iraq, (can someone explain "They don't rely on the large scale mass media to run them, but I think as Howard Dean showed, the use of the Internet skilfully can have a big impact." to me?), they support Australia's troops staying until at least the elections.

Passion of the Cross

2004-07-14T12:12:00.000+10:00

You've seen the movie, now join the political campaign!

MEL Gibson plans to spend more than $140,000 to keep a tiny religious cross on a government seal.

The devout Catholic will bankroll a campaign by a conservative religious group to protest against the removal of the cross on the official Los Angeles county seal.

As halal as a ham sandwich

2004-07-11T18:23:00.000+10:00

As halal as a ham sandwich

The Great Vegemite Airlift is being augmented by Adelaide lawyer Stephen Kenny.

Lawyer Stephen Kenny, who is based in Adelaide, will meet Hicks for three-and-a-half days from Wednesday inside the US base at Cuba - taking with him items including Vegemite and chocolates.

Hicks must be going through it at a reasonable rate, or sharing it with others, as he was sent some late last year.

Minor problem: Vegemite is no longer kosher, and therefore is probably not halal. Considering that there were over twice as many Muslims as Jews back in 1996, it is surprising that the original newspaper article didn't touch on this potential issue.

If Hicks chooses to eat haram food, especially if he's fought for a regime that beat women caught eating ice cream, the only thing that comes to mind is the quote attributed to Alfred Adler that "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."

Of course, David Hicks will be heartbroken over not being able to eat any Vegemite other than the "small jar" he currently has, right? I mean, despite there being no mention of Vegemite being requested or sent in The President Versus David Hicks, we aren't to think this is some sort of PR stunt done by the same people who are trying to paint John Howard rather than David Hicks as the traitor, are we?

On a separate note: An Australian Navy newsletter ( http://www.navy.gov.au/foreigntraining/documents/2004WebNewsJanuaryFebruary.pdf - hyperlink awaiting Adobe Acrobat's halal certification), with advice from Defence International Training Centre, on feeding foreign Muslim students gives as a meal suggestion: "Bread with jam (definitely not vegemite because of taste)". We await with interest Al-Qaeda guidelines on feeding Australians.

Bad practice

2004-07-10T03:01:00.000+10:00

China plans to practise invading Taiwan:

CHINESE soldiers will for the first time practise a D-Day style invasion of Taiwan on a densely populated island off the mainland coast this month.

The difference with D-Day being that D-Day involved democracies invading a dictatorship.

Reports of the exercise were greeted with thousands of supportive messages yesterday in mainland internet chatrooms, a sign of the immense popularity of Beijing's policy of striving for the eventual return of Taiwan.

While I doubt that support is that strong, it is depressing how often nationalism acts as one of the pillars of dictatorship.

One said: "Taking back Taiwan by force is only a matter of time. We don't have to be afraid of the US. China is never afraid of a paper tiger."

Just like nuclear weapons were a "paper tiger".

China is concerned that Mr Chen is moving further towards declaring independence - a step that would probably trigger a Chinese military response, possibly a naval blockade.

If Taiwan wishes to declare independence, why not let it do so, and just negotiate a China-Taiwan free trade agreement?

Tyranny fries

2004-07-10T01:09:00.000+10:00

Animal farm:

Comrades! You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in
selfishness and privilege ... Milk and apples (this has been proved by science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the wellbeing of a pig. We pigs are brain workers, the organisation of the farm totally depends on us.

North Korea:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has introduced one of the strongest culinary symbols of capitalist America - hamburgers and french fries - as "quality food" for students in the Stalinist state.

A hamburger factory was built in North Korea at Kim's instructions in 2000, the North Korean government newspaper, Minju Joson, said.

...

In September 2000, Kim called a senior official to say: "I've made up my mind to feed quality bread and french fries to university students, professors and researchers even if we are in hardship."

Thereafter, Kim received reports on the construction of the hamburger factory and ordered the use of up-to-date facilities for mass production, the paper said.

Hamburger factories? Not small-business fast food outlets? No doubt the North Koreans are wary about hamburgers on the grounds that it may lead to capitalism.

Climate Changed

2004-07-06T23:21:00.000+10:00

Turkish hostages Murat Kizil and Soner Sercali were released last Friday after their employer, the Turkish company Kayteks, agreed to stop working for the US military.

What work were they doing for the imperialistic hedgemon?

Kayteks had supplied air conditioners for soldiers' barracks.

The terrorists have won. There's no way the soldiers will be able to withstand the brutal Iraqi summer now.

Osama and Me

2004-07-03T03:41:00.000+10:00

Some over-hyped American movie by a self-obsessed stupid white man has been released recently. I decided instead to watch a foreign-language film instead.

The story is about a girl who pretends to be a boy so that she can work (there are no males in the family). The actors are non-professional (I mean by that that they've got no filmography, not that they're prima donnas). No good guys kick butt. So why see it?

Charles' comment at Little Green Footballs asking

"Has anyone noticed that, in the three years since the US homeland suffered its worst attack in history, Hollywood has not produced one single film that advocates the American side in the War On Islamic Fascism?"

has a little to do with why I saw it. It seems that virtually the only people who have made anti-Taliban films are from Afghanistan and Iran. The film has been described as the first film from Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban (and the first since the rise of the Taliban). But I came away feeling that the movie seemed so real to me. It broke my heart to see protesting women flee when the Taliban arrived, whereas in a typical movie the women would have at least confronted them at first.

For those wondering, like I was, whether the name "Osama" was based on the person wanted in connection to bad stuff happening in September 2001, the best I can say is "quite possibly". There was a brief mention of bin Laden by one of the children being rounded up to go to a training camp.

I'm giving it a 4-star general.

Go to hell, terrorists

2004-07-03T03:32:00.000+10:00

Amr Moussa once warned that war against Iraq would "open the gates of hell". One response was "Good! We'd like to get out!". But recent comments suggest the traffic is two-way:

"Please let us not be afraid by those outlaws ... Some of them have already gone to the fires of hell and others are waiting their turn."

Stupid cowboy Texan.

You only need a gruaniad

2004-06-23T14:24:00.000+10:00

A British newspaper, reporting on "Fahrenheit 9/11", says it "has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America, meaning no one under 17 can see it.". R can be seen by those 17 or younger if they have suitable supervision. And NC-17 can't be seen by 17-year-olds.

Update: The Guardian has since done a stealth edit, saying the film "has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America, meaning no one under 17 can see it unless accompanied by an adult." And while my statement about the R classification was technically correct, 17-year-olds can see an R-rated film without supervision.

Bowling for Hizb'allah

2004-06-23T10:48:00.000+10:00

You can't make this stuff up (warning: web site possibly overloaded). If you did, Mike Moore would sue. (Heads up from LGF reader rumpole)

The company distributing filmmaker Michael Moore’s Bush-bashing movie “Fahrenheit 9/11” says it won’t reject an offer of help from Middle East terrorist organization Hezbollah.

The excuse given for accepting Hizb'allah's offer was “We can’t go against these organizations as they could strongly boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria.”

And how much revenue would the film get in Lebanon and Syria?

Maybe it isn't about the money. Mike was willing to boycott Israel and apartheid-era South Africa with the film "Roger and Me" on the grounds that they practiced segregation. A fair enough call for South Africa, but one of the main demands by Israel's critics is to remove Jews from the West Bank and Gaza - they are demanding that Israel practice segregation. (Incidentally, hizb'allah sponsor Iran and the countries distributors are so interested in, the United Arab Emirates and Syria all practice segregation)

Either Moore has grown more capitalistic since "Roger and Me", or he regards Israel as worse than Hizb'allah.

But really, willingly getting help from a terrorist organization to help promote your movie? How low can you go? And how many Moore fans will tolerate this?

Reckless stunt

2004-06-20T00:12:00.000+10:00

In order to further some ideology, a person was in a deep pit covered by wooden planks. He suffocated.

Why do people do stunts such as burying themselves? In part, to get media attention. I know, I'm media, I'm giving it attention, but I'm not mentioning his cause or anything.

A reaction to his death was pretty pathetic too.

"It's all god's will," one devotee said.

"Perhaps his mission on earth had come to an end. We still revere him as god's own representative on earth."

He wasn't the messiah, he was a very reckless person, and now he's dead.

History re-invention

2004-06-19T23:11:00.000+10:00

Madonna says she pulled the anti-war video for her American Life single last year, fearing a "lynch-mob" patriotism, saying "I have children to protect and I just didn't think it was the right time.".

As far as is publicly known, the only people who've threatened her children have been Palestinian terrorists, but apparently she's known for a while what the greatest threat is.

Life imitates Space Balls?

2004-06-19T13:31:00.000+10:00

The Sydney Morning Herald, via The Guardian, claims that the eight-digit code for launching nuclear weapons was, for many years, 00000000.

Kind of puts lousy password practices by lesser mortals in perspective.

Other references to Spaceballs: All Things Christie, F'n Geeks and comments in Nuke-free zone.

Sad little article

2004-06-19T03:50:00.000+10:00

Quagmirista Paul McGeough writes a full-blown rant in this article. It starts off with

There is a growing sense that Americans have become victims of September 11 in a way that has blinkered their democratic instincts.

So now the hard questions are being put in a pre-September 11 context. Would Americans ordinarily tolerate a president who lies and exaggerates? A leader who uses fear to manipulate his people to his own ends? A president whose staff blow the deep cover of a CIA agent as political payback? A president whose Administration channels billions of dollars to crony corporations on false pretexts? A president who deems torture acceptable?

And goes downhill from there.

The only bit that caught my attention was him saying

In less than two weeks the US-led occupation of Iraq gives way to the saddest little "sovereign" government the world has seen in a while.

The saddest government in the world?

In the same paper, Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic and someone who knows first hand about dictatorships, describes the horrors of North Korea's dictatorship, and urges decisive action against it.

David Hicks: Jihadi tryhard

2004-06-14T00:08:00.000+10:00

David Hicks has recently been charged by the US. In some ways, charging him is a mistake, as it gives credibility to the notion that the US is required to either charge the detainees at Guantanamo bay with an offence or release them.

The US is under no such obligation. They are entitled to keep David and the rest until the Taliban and Al Qaeda either surrender or the US makes peace with them.

I'm not certain what to make of the charges, or reports that he decided to return to the front lines after seeing footage of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the side of the terrorists and the regime protecting the murderers.

But I will comment on reports of one of his new names being "Abu Muslim al Austraili". It reeks of him being a wannabe. "Abu X" means "father of X", and is a popular choice for Nom de Guerres. For example, Abu Mazen, Abu Bakar Bashir, Abu Jihad. "Al X" means something like "the person from X", for example Muqtada al-Sadr, Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti. So his name translates roughly as "Father of Muslim from Australia".

Really. Is this the best Osama could recruit from here?

Crocodile pushed into sea?

2004-06-08T12:12:00.000+10:00

East Timor (who have the crocodile as a national icon) does not exist.

At least, this is the opinion of OPEC, an organisation whose membership reads like an extended axis of evil. Visit OPEC's web site, click on "Member countries", check out the area designated as belonging to Indonesia and therefore not East Timor and ask "Dude, where's their country?". (For those wondering where East Timor is, a map is available on this link).

This had better not be the start of a new trend. There have been many cases exposed by the blogosphere of maps of the middle east that don't have Israel in them. Many Islamists reject East Timor leaving the Dar-al-Islam, and no doubt want to take it back by jihad. "Mainstream" organizations such as OPEC failing to recognise East Timor only makes things that much worse.

It's alive!

2004-06-08T12:00:00.000+10:00

Now really, it's rude enough being alive when no one wants you, but showing up uninvited to the blogosphere?