Wonderings

I was wondering a few things recently.. What ever happened to Mamdouh Habib? Why is Channel 31 not on digital TV? Does the new kick-arse recently opened student radio station SYN stream online? And.. I wonder if the Howard government could possibly be any worse?

Well, Mamdouh Habib is still with us. Hicks is.. well, fucked royally still. I love how his rep (Michael Mori) has turned from dutiful US militarian to THIS SHIZNAT IS A FUDGE-PACKING DISGRACE!!!11

I was actually wondering why Habib seemed to fade away into obscurity (PTSD aside.) I'm sure ASIO is still monitoring his lavatory and is attempting to deconstruct any possible patterns in his bowel movements that might be being used to transmit information important to terrorists.

I love the story from late August 2005, where he was 'hit from behind and attacked with a knife by three men near his home' when going for a walk, a car hit the lights, and he was told something like 'this should keep you quiet'. A suspicious car was noted by his son earlier, and the power was cut to his home for a brief period when he got home. The funny bit is that despite being threatened in such an extreme manner, he went to the police and the press. I guess the whole keeping quiet thing didn't really sink in - but cojonesie.

But as far as I can gather, Habib is pretty much a medicated foetal rocking post traumatic vegetable who will probably only last a few more years before the nightmares get the best of him (there's a fuckin' prediction for ya).

Anyway, back to SYN, it does stream. From the little I've heard, there's some whole-hearted typical-student zero-tolerance for political incompetence and typical-student complete and total social awareness goings on. And the fuckers have Habib on Monday, 9-10 AM. Awesome.

They also have a few TV shows on Channel 31. Awesome.

So I check 31's site, click on the Digital TV button, getting all excited, thinking I might be able to tune in (even on our shadow-of-the-mountain shitbox UHF community repeater which goes out if the wind blows too hard) - but no, they are attempting to lobby the federal government - Helen "WE ARE GOING TO BECOME DINOSAURS - WALKING FUCKING BIRD-LIZARDS FROM THE JURASSIC PERIOD WITH SCALES MUCH LIKE MY OWN IF WE DON'T SERIOUSLY ENACT SOME DODGY FORCED DIGITAL TELEVISION BILL THAT ALSO ALLOWS GREATER MONOPOLIES AND FOREIGN OWNERSHIP - DINO-FUCKING-SAURS" Coonan no less - to get it done.

Apparently Helen Coonan's comment "there is a compelling case for change and if the Government does not act, then there is a genuine risk that Australia will become a dinosaur of the analog age" - does not extend to actually allowing community television access to the digital spectrum - if you want to watch, use the analog tuner.

Why does everything come down to politics, and more precisely, the Liberals?