Watermelon Rant

Obama, what the?

2008-11-06T00:52:00.000+11:00

Obama won. I just want to know one thing - how seriously inflamed are those red-necks?

That's no rash, that's no excema, but keep scratching mother fuckers. Maybe it'll go away in several years.

Fuck me this is a sight for sore eyes.

In my grade 6 end-of-year play, we enacted a scene of the fucked up treatment of African American's, singing negro spirituals that stay with me today, with paper and balloon ball-and-chains, lyrics mourning a life of cotton-picking, and worse.

I'm not so much pleased Obama won, I'm just over the moon at the thought the ignorant hate-filled bastards in the US have to face a serious reality-check today, as their pathetic ancient neanderthal traditions have been officially declared a minority opinion. They will feel older than they ever have - the dinosaurs that are dying out.

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T13:49:00.000+11:00

What a year, Howard gone and Hicks out. Will post more next year. Celebrate good times, c'mon!

It changed.

2007-11-25T11:57:00.000+11:00

We have a new Prime Minister. That's pretty cool.

Plant a sapling day.

2007-07-28T15:29:00.000+10:00

(Photo courtesy of eBay....)

It's ~~World~~* Tree Day tomorrow (29th July - 27th for schools).

Tree's are pretty nifty things - they supply food, homes, wood, refuge, solace, oxygen, prevent erosion, strengthen embankments, create stable micro climates, etc. Only 1.5% of Australians had a go last year, planting just over 5 trees each.

It'll be nice to be able to point out to your grand kids "see that tree there little Timmy? Right next to it is a block of flats, and your old Pa planted a native blackwood there. Before it was 'dozed and turned into the very same paper used to make your report card." Timmy: "Wow! Your occasional bouts of lucidity really undermine the rampant senility!" You: "Ya-huh, just get in the hover-car."

Or something like that. I don't imagine the tree you plant can withstand the urban expansion for too long - not much is held sacred these days. You don't have to hug it, just plant it - because trees can't plant themselves y'know.

* - actually it's just an Australian thing - Planet Ark's National Tree Day - not official or anything.

Bracks goes.

2007-07-27T14:35:00.000+10:00

At the ripe old age of 52, Steve Bracks, Premier of Victoria, has retired - as well as some other ministers no one cares about. I hope he manages to find employment with one of the many companies he allowed to rort the PPP's, because I doubt the parliamentary pension will be enough for the poor lad.

I'd like to thank him for the Upper House reforms, even though it was in their own interests, and seemed to turn the ALP into a Greens hating machine.

GOOD THINGS:
Upper House reforms.

BAD THINGS:
Continued privatisation of public transport.
Bay dredging.
Public-private partnership scams.
All that logging.

BEST THING I CAN SAY ABOUT HIM:
The last Premier was worse.

Making demons.

2007-07-22T12:07:00.000+10:00

The media seems to be continuing to use the grainy photocopied image of Haneef, The Age has it on the front page as I type. The real image, as seen at DeadRoo, (courtesy of TVoTAY) shows Haneef is, well. A complete dork.

Dork's cannot look evil. You can't take them serious enough to consider them a threat. Maurice Moss from the IT Crowd is a great example. But can he be made evil with selective images? Let's try!
First step, grey scale, and cropping. Obvious in the Haneef photo.

Next step, to simulate the nice quality deterioration of repeated photocopies, duplicate the main layer, add some edge enhancement, and adjust the opacity of the layer to around 14%.

Next up, add another layer, fill it with noise, soften it, switch the blend mode to hard light, and adjust opacity to around 48%.

Now adjust the contrast to lose some of the finer details that make him look human. The almost-smirk has gone, the near-dimples have faded, and he looks less rediculous and possibly more sinister. It's hard to tell.
His afro and double-chin add too much to his character, so we can crop those out, and voila! A plausible suspect.

(As a site note, I can understand why the photo would lose quality when photocopied, but that doesn't explain why it's cropped, removing his dorky features.)

John Howard YouTube

2007-07-18T01:10:00.000+10:00

I couldn't resist. But then again, I also couldn't tolerate his voice any longer to produce anything decent, so I uploaded it as-is. Enjoy.

The Great Global Warming Swindle.

2007-07-12T20:01:00.000+10:00

The gigantic, intercontinental conspiracy to accuse pollution of having disastrous consequences.

Or, to put it into weasel words – The Great Global Warming Swindle.

Swindle is a nice word – conspiracy isn’t. So let’s say swindle, despite the claim the entire climate change thing is a big old lie.

But, this thing goes all the way to the top – the governments of the world – from Communists to Democracies, it’s ensnared the UN, it’s changing the world’s laws, companies and populations are being convinced, changing their ways, their light bulbs, the colour of their power, there is no doubt this swindle is going to affect every single one of us.

So call it what you claim it to be – a conspiracy. This thing is JFK, Roswell, the reptilian overlords and 911-truth tenfold. It is big, very big – and the only reason proposed by the theorists for this monumental deception is that it keeps the jobs of some scientists secure.

Now, some people get a bit upset when unionists might push for a strike of some kind to protect workers jobs – but putting fear into the minds of all of mankind has to be some new record in protectionism.

The great tragedy seems to be our willingness to accept our actions of consequences – when our goodwill and concern is being exploited.

If these scientists get their way, and end the debate on climate change, there would be no more research to be done, and they’d be out of a job. I’m not entirely sure how putting yourself out of a job can be considered to be protecting your job – but I have yet to find a denialist that acknowledges this contradiction.

I still haven’t seen Al Gore’s movie – he’s not a scientist, and neither are opinion columnists – I’m not impressed that scientists have to rely on such a mouthpiece, and I am steamed the politicians seem more interested in vote-grabs than doing what logic would suggest needs to be done. I have seen the Great Global Warming Swindle, and I have seen this brilliant and complete destruction of it.

I do recommend tuning in to the ABC tonight to check it out, but I am still a little confused how the BBC could have produced this terrible pile of dung.

Views of France

2007-07-11T00:29:00.000+10:00

The Tour de France is back - I have to say, whoever came up with the idea of scrolling cameras across practically an entire European countryside for hours upon hours upon hours, gets my vote for the most brilliant TV idea since political satire.

It's just a shame they let freaks and junkies on push bikes into frame now and then.

No detention if u gotz skillz

2007-07-05T00:41:00.000+10:00

Wait wait… let me get this straight – we get all these refugees, give them the old ALP/Liberal mandatory detention, with the possibility of indefinite detention (thanks Keating), breach their human rights, lock up children, etc – because they might be dangerous.

And then some doctors imported from countries which, for some odd reason, don’t have as many doctors as they need, turn out to be dangerous?

Perhaps WE (we, as in: Howard) decide which refugees come to this country, and the circumstances in which they come, but it’s the business lobby that decides which skilled migrants come.

Don’t expect skilled guest workers to be holed up in a detention facility for years on end, it’s not going to happen.

A bleeding man comes, they chuck him in a cell and check his accent.
A skilled man comes, they chuck him a job and check his skills.

There will be no rigorous terrorism-test, they rely on, and love exploiting these people. The Howard government’s commitment to protecting us from terrorism is not greater than it’s commitment to opening Australia’s doors to workers so grateful for the opportunity to be here that they’ll work their fingers to the bone under shit conditions.

If a terrorist wants to enter Australia, they need only collect a few dollars or a few skills – they’re not going to jump on a boat. Lock up all immigrants and refugees if that’s your solution to the problem, or else don’t lock them up at all.

Because the disgusting contradiction just reared its fucking head - and Howard's shame is laid bare. Actually, come to think of it – this contradiction was pointed out by a Senator, around about the same time the Border Protection Bill got bi-partisan support, can’t remember his name though, Bob something.

Smoking bans

2007-07-03T19:18:00.000+10:00

Smoking is now banned in pubs here in Victoria (and NSW), with all indoor smoking outlawed. Except for a few high roller rooms in casinos – which is fine, because the patrons there are immune to cancer because of their wealth, and any risk to the staff is offset by the sheer honour of serving our dear betters.

It’s a good thing. But there is still one hazard in our bars that is a threat to the wellbeing of patrons and staff – drinking. Violence, lowered inhibitions, sexual assaults, and the general unco-ordination of inebriated patrons is a hazard no lesser than smoking.

We should ban drinking from bars.

There will be a public outcry, but there is little reason for it. Smoking can be made safe indoors with creative use of divisions and exhaust, but drinking is nigh on impossible to make safe. There are already laws on serving alcohol to then drunken, but they aren’t enforced to anything remotely acceptable. Plus – in this day and age – there is NO excuse to encourage the consumption of alcohol away from the home of the drinker. No drinking in pubs will mean less cases of drink driving.

But maybe an outright ban isn’t necessary, perhaps patrons should be encouraged to pop outside to drink when they feel the urge. Maybe only serve low (light) alcoholic beverages.

High rollers.

I can understand why the high rollers need to be exempt from laws, such as the smoking ban, but I find it outrageous that they are, unfairly, restricted to their exclusive rooms in the casinos.

The wealthy should be exempt from the indoor smoking ban in all establishments. I propose a tag, attached with a lanyard – that indicates the status of the wearer. One part press tag, one part diplomatic immunity.

Wikipedia becomes Skynet, makes first termination.

2007-06-29T23:31:00.000+10:00

Wikipedia, long thought to be a repository of knowledge, has grown sentient. It now abuses our willingness to volunteer and spread information, to collect data on the species it will soon devour. Us.

Critics of the online encyclopaedia never suspected it would become self-aware, they mostly questioned its accuracy. But, it seems, it was this very desire for accuracy that would become instilled in the system, and the motivation for Wikipedia to kill.

At 2:30 PM EDT, police stumbled upon the bodies of pro wrestler Chris Benoit and his wife and child. 14 hours earlier, a user had amended his wiki, noting the death of his wife. It was removed, but Wikipedia didn’t stop there, an hour later, the mind of another editor was compelled to enter the same fact again. A resident of Sydney Australia – where the time zone is 14 hours ahead of EDT.

It is unclear whether Wikipedia is altering reality itself, or manipulating the minds of users and editors, but one thing is clear – it will decide what is true not just because it is used as a source of knowledge, but because the electronic sentient being itself will coerce humans to make it’s version of reality come to pass.

And I, for one, welcome our Wikipedian overlords.

AboChoices

2007-06-25T19:16:00.000+10:00

Just recently, some of the Aboriginal communities in Australia's Northern Territory (in the storage area for the native population) have suddenly and abruptly begun drinking, molesting uneducated children, and worst of all, accessing pornography, on a massive scale.

"It's like Katrina" claims PM John Howard. "The levies held up strong - the children were safe, learned, and the entire community was completely sober for 11 wonderful years. Then, like a hurricane, things changed overnight. I blinked, and suddenly there was a crisis - I even cancelled my holiday, eventually."

"But don't worry" Howard chanted boldly, with advisors projecting a halo above the PM's head, while several others struggled to restrain the horns from protuding from his forehead. "I am here to save the day. I have stood by these people before, watching their entirely self-reliant communities as they went about their lives, never once requiring intervention on a federal level. I can be trusted, I would never sit idly by, never exploit suffering ethnic children for political gain. To do so would be a most heinous crime."

Squished in custody.

2007-06-21T22:10:00.000+10:00

Salary

2007-06-19T23:39:00.000+10:00

Wage increase gained for members by evil unionist? 2%
Salary increase gained by parliamentarians? 2.5%

The fact one gets sacked by the ALP (despite gaining no personal benefit) for such a disgraceful figure, and the other will (most likely**) be accepted by the very same party? Priceless*.

(* - may not actually be priceless, may be an actual monetary figure, level of hypocrisy directly related to public outrage.)

(** - will change "most likely" to "did" if/when Labor fails to request something a bit more rational.)

I should also note the unions increase was about 2/3 of inflation, the politicians seems to be around double.

Dam NSW

2007-06-19T23:31:00.000+10:00

It's like something out of an Al Gore movie... again...

Look, I'm a practical man - let's cut our losses, sand-bag around NSW, and make ourselves the world's largest dam.

Kev....

2007-06-19T22:39:00.000+10:00

Watch it Kev, watch where you put your documents, don't try anything dodgy, they'll tear you a new one. The public is hanging for an excuse to justify voting with their wallet. This is important.

No to Yes Men

2007-06-16T18:43:00.000+10:00

The Yes Men have done it again – this time they infiltrated the Gas and Oil Exposition in Calgary, purporting to be NPC and Exxon reps, announcing an initiative to maintain oil flow by using the corpses of the starving masses that had a reliance on oil, and no access to the dwindling resource.

How dare they thought-provoke these people. Their entire livelihoods rely on a blissful ignorance of the repercussions of their industry, and these pranksters can only be seeking to harm them by implanting awareness. Savages.

We can only pray there were no consciences damaged in this stunt, and that those with a weakened ability to fend off empathy can get the treatment they need to continue their work.

But we can help, consider a donation to the Apathy Without Borders (Apathique Sans Frontières). They’re a secular, anti-humanist NGO – that counsels those whose empathy-affliction inhibits their ability to perform their duties across the globe, with the slogan “the blood on your hands need not stain”.

Labor First and Last.

2007-06-15T00:39:00.000+10:00

Got up today to a rather chilly morning - dropped to -1C around these parts. Thankfully a bunch of folk around the late 1800's decided to keep trees here - you really appreciate the frost protection provided by towering gums at times like this. That soccer pitch I passed on the way to work, with its own personal metre-thick blanket of fog, might have fared a little better with a few trees around.

Even more chilling was diving into the ACTU campaign manual the Liberals are busy crowing about. Turns out, there are two marginal seats in Victoria they'll be campaigning heavily on. And I'm in one of them. La Trobe. 5.8%. A margin of 5,176 votes.

Translation: every vote counts. Despite my disdain for the ALP as they stand, in order to ensure the removal of the Howard government, I'm going to have to put them first in the lower house. Maybe it's unprincipled to put Labor first in the Rep's, and last in the Senate, and as much as I hate getting sucked into the lesser evil mentality, I don't see any other choice.

But it'll take some serious wooing for them to get out of last place in the upper house. The will to protest is strong.

The economy could die! Long live the economy!

2007-06-12T19:35:00.000+10:00

So Costello tells us the economy is doing extremely well, it's robust and booming.

Which is great, it means we can give those that would fumble the economy a go.

Which is bad, Costello will have to spin himself out of this. How can you claim a car is both fixed, and needs the fixers to keep fixing it? The finest spin doctors are on the case:

"This is like a highly engineered racing car, one miscue - you take one corner a foot too wide - and it will crash. I would say that it's highly calibrated and highly delicate at the moment. It's a proposition that says you need a good, experienced driver in control of this highly calibrated economy. I wouldn't be putting an L-plate driver in the cockpit at the moment."

So, the economy is strong, yet weak. It's highly powered, but very unstable, prone to failure, volatile, and fragile - so you need Teh Experts.

Tread lightly on our precious and mighty economy folks.

Climate Judgement

2007-06-12T12:06:00.000+10:00

Now this is must-read stuff. From the Australian VoteClimate site, a climate change policy analysis for the Federal election. (They disendorced a Greens candidate in the Victorian election due to failed support for a wind farm, and there deoesn't appear to be any bias - so these guys don't seem to be partisan hacks, which is excellent.)
There are a few striking differences in the minor parties, but not a great deal in the major two. The Socialist Alliance is the greenest party, followed by the Greens, Democrats, and trailing quite a way behind is Labor then Liberal.

It's a good example of how pragmatic the Greens are - at least when compared with Socialist Alliance. And how there isn't a single party with zero-emission goals.

Blog Juice

2007-06-11T23:49:00.000+10:00

Before I forget, ~~Fuck Skippy~~ Dead Roo, the more lefty Larvatus Prodeo wanna-be group-blog, had a great post about blogger Kieren's garden. Like a lot of their posts, it didn't attract many comments. Well, two. From the blogger themselves. But there's the kick-arse line: "Gardening, it’s a political act."

I've planned up my backyard orchard + vegetable permaculture thing, but I keeping running low on elbow grease.

I should also give a heads-up to the Magic Bellybutton blog, whichs seems to be updated multiple times a day, with huge wads of interesting words and such.

Justine's blog is still to deep and intellectual for me to fathom. I just furrow my brow in a vain attempt to understand the posts.

(And while I'm on about blogs - why can't I switch off word verification for my own posts, yet I can for guest posters? - I RECOMMEND DOING THIS - the S.P.A.M. doesn't seem to happen anymore. And why must you insist upon refusing to accept the first word veri' I get, just because it's sat there for a few seconds? I don't even bother trying to type it in first time anymore, I know it's not going to work. And stop saving my drafts automatically, I've lost posts relying on that.)

The Hollywood-Reality Merger

2007-06-11T23:36:00.000+10:00

I have a new saying - it's a bit of a twist on an old cliche. When you see footage of, say, the NSW floods, or, say, the NSW drought, you declare: "Wow, it's like something out of an Al Gore movie."

Green Tip #2

2007-06-11T22:42:00.000+10:00

Organic home-grown home-made pet food.

Serving up any pet food picked up from the supermarket is a bit shameful - it's quick, easy, and made with whatever filth the manufacturers have lying around.

Choice magazine has whipped out a guide to making your own pet food, from Professor David Fraser of Sydney University. (I've read some guides on the 'net, but to be honest - the internet has people like me writing on it - and I just don't trust me, but that guy is a professor of some sort.) I'll reproduce it here with scant regard for their copyright, but I'm a member, and this information needed to be freed. Plus it's freely available here.

NOTE: Obviously, you're only likely to be able to grow the potatoes yourself. But, for dog food at least, I've read giving them vegetables (just not onions, garlic, and I assume, shallots) is good, but there are quite a few to be careful of. Do your own research, ask your vet, if you stray from this guide, make sure it's OK, and probably just supplement their diet with this - don't make a sudden switch.

MY TIP: Buy a GIANT pot, get serving-sized containers, and make about a weeks worth in one hit. I would freeze the meat, it's never wise to keep meat in the fridge for too long, or just stew some up every second day.)

Adult dogs:

Ingredients:
550 g boiled potato
350 g lean meat (lightly stewed)
80 g raw sheep or beef liver
20 g corn oil
20 g bone meal (Can be found in certain healthfood stores, excellent source of calcium)
5 g table salt

Mix all the ingredients together and feed it to your pet once a day.

Dog weight / Serving size
5 kg / 270 g
10 kg / 460 g
15kg / 620 g
20 kg / 770 g
25 kg / 900 g
30 kg / 1000 g

Adult cat

250 g boiled potato
600 g lean meat (lightly stewed)
100 g raw sheep or beef liver
20 g corn oil
25 g bone meal (Can be found in certain healthfood stores, excellent source of calcium)
5 g table salt

Mix all the ingredients together and feed it to your pet once a day.

Cat weight / Serving size:
2 kg / 100 g
2.5 kg / 120 g
3 kg / 140 g
4 kg / 190 g
4.5 kg / 210 g
5 kg / 240 g

For more information, check out the Choice article. Then Google as much as possible - and relish in the somewhat conflicting information and lack of official dietary advice.

Religion + Politics = ??? + Profit!

2007-06-10T22:06:00.000+10:00

Seems the SDA is attempting to gain ground on the CFMEU as The Union Most Despised By Me*. A Labor Senator, Linda Kirk, supported therapeutic cloning and RU486 – and so the SDA withdrew support for her, and she’s expected to be punished by losing her spot on the Senate ticket.

The union covers shop assistants, fast food workers, etc – but for some reason campaigns for the ‘Catholic right’ (gays bad, foetus good). Mr Lefty tried to point this out as a flaw in Labor over at Larvatus Prodeo, and, as expected, got shot down for his pesky pro-Greens stance.

Another Labor MP, Tony Stewart, made a nice comment on the Pell’s threats on the therapeutic cloning bill – “Maybe I'll go to hell but if I go to hell I'm going to do so by saving a lot of lives, because that's what this bill is about.” (It’s OK, he’s catholic, so he can say that.)

Bob Brown jumped on board pointing out the illegality of coercing a member of parliament.

Democrat blogger Andrew Bartlett made a post about all this – noting how the mainstream media and blogosphere is covering it well.

But… what’s this? He links with the words ‘on a number of blogs’ to The Daily Flute, a news.com blog, Club Trobbo, and The Voice of Today’s Apathetic Youth! Sarah gets the parliamentarian nod – nice.

* Self-obsessed much? Unions actual concern in regards to my opinion may not exist. Actual tally of unions most despised by me may not be an actual tally.

Green Tip #1

2007-06-10T19:46:00.000+10:00

Don't ALWAYS cook your vegetables. Fresh raw vegetables rock - and there's research that suggests a mix of raw and cooked vegetables is the best option. So if you're whipping up a stir fry - chuck them in, if you're boiling them on their own - just serve them raw.

Electric stoves use a lot of power, and gas stoves still use fossil fuel, so cut back a bit on non-essential cooking.

Green Brownie Points

2007-06-09T01:06:00.000+10:00

As we all martyr ourselves on the altar of inconvenience to save the world, there’s something important to remember:

There is NO guilt relief.

Once you know your impact, action is not just compelling, it's compulsory.

It doesn’t matter if you are carbon negative or even if you’re personally responsible for influencing entire nations to reduce their impact, none of it is optional, so there is nothing to be proud of.

Pat yourself on the back if you volunteer for a community group, or donate to a charity – you deserve it. In most cases you’re just filling in the gaps left from governmental neglect, but it is to be commended nonetheless.

But you want a medal for using a polypropylene bag instead of a polyethylene one? For buying green power? Maybe even growing your own food?

You don’t get praise for brushing your teeth – you use them to chew and bite.
You don’t get praise for cleaning your house – you live in it.
You don’t get praise for avoiding polluting your planet – you live there too.

There is always more you can do, and nothing is optional. There is no quick fix, this is no fad, this will continue long after we've rejoined the soil, and becoming overwhelmed is not an option. Inaction is cowardice. Do what you can, and then do more. Just don't stop.

Green Tips That Should Not Be

2007-06-09T00:22:00.000+10:00

You can greatly reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by living at work instead of driving back and forth each day.

The Chinese are many green-miles ahead of the West in work-residences. The average Australian can save 100 bazillion tonnes of greenhouse gasses (68 galigo-pints* of carbon) by living on site.

There are many ways to do this:
* sleep in your car
* camp on the pavement
* purchase a van/shaggin'-wag'n/Sandman/caravan - for all the comforts of the home you're neglecting.

No more traffic jams! No more nagging wife and kids! No more playing victim to the oil cartels! Sacrifice your family life to help save the planet.

Save the world. Stay at work.

Brought to you by The Institute For Exploiting Climate Change Concern to Make Great Profit Benefit in Race to the Bottom.

* This is a bit of a piss-take on the 'you can save n tonnes of greenhouse gasses' point being thrown around - NEWSFLASH - we are not going to be shocked by the weight of an invisible gas. Stick with a quantity of black-balloons or something.

Green unions.

2007-06-05T18:59:00.000+10:00

Man, this steams me.

OK, so apparently the ETU head-thug, Dean Mighell admitted to pulling off a “bullshit stunt” in a pattern agreement, which was “good fun”, and “dickhead” employers paid “millions of dollars” to workers, which they “shouldn’t have”.

A tape of this got to the media and Rudd gets him out of the ALP. I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect its part of his Tough on Unions campaign. (And I’m sure this is the first Labor has heard of any such activity, despite its ties with the union movement.)

Apparently he “bragged about obtaining pay rises for workers by threatening strike action.” It’s all to do with pattern bargaining, which the ALP claims it doesn’t support.

So, the workers can be united, but not so united they unite with other workers on other sites? But that means the ALP only supports individual-workplace agreements.

Anyways, Labor handed back the cash that the ETU had donated. Mostly as a PR exercise, because the Liberals will milk it for all its worth.

The Greens got some ETU donations as well, but refused to return the money. It’s not the first time the Greens have received union donations, but they usually come as a protest against the ALP, and go to other minor parties as well. Just recently, there were a few news articles looking at the Greens from a workers rights perspective – which is ace.

Bob Brown: “Labor seems to be drifting away and feeling frightened to back its traditional union base. The Greens would not do that.”

Rachel Siewert: “A number of them are realising and are seeing day by day the ALP step back from some key IR positions: AWAs, collective bargaining, right to strike, unfair dismissal and now the Building and Construction Commission. I think it's fair to say a number of them are concerned."

Senator Siewert said the likelihood of the Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate meant her party would seek to amend Labor's legislation in key areas and ensure WorkChoices was removed

Richard Di Natale: “The Greens were increasingly seen as the workplace party".

Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate is becoming quite important. The ALP can then safely lose the less worker-friendly policies, whilst retaining their business cred – but there are many issues where they can ensure Labor is kept honest.

Pike takes a swipe:

Victorian Health Minister Bronwyn Pike, who fought a tight campaign against the Greens to retain her seat at the last state election, criticised Mr Mighell's donation.

"The Greens have been working hard to get rid of Labor members in Melbourne and his donation is hardly an action that would see a Rudd Labor government elected," she said.

That’s the same Pike that ran an anti-Green smear campaign against the Greens in Victoria, where the Greens defended themselves without attacking Labor back. Her seat was the best chance for a Green win, which seemed to have triggered the anti-Green brigade into action – and it hasn’t, obviously, ceased.

And her point is, in itself, bizarre – donating union funds to the Greens won’t elect Labor? Even if donations to the Greens meant more votes for them, then more votes would expire and then end up flowing to Labor, as they always do, thereby ensuring a Rudd Labor government. So even if it made sense, it’d still be wrong.

What the unions said:

AMWU acting national secretary Dave Oliver said his union would be looking to work with both the Greens and the ALP to "get rid of these rotten laws".

CFMEU national construction secretary Dave Noonan said no decision had been made yet about donations to the Greens.

Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Stephen Jones said he "wouldn't be disappointed" if the Greens held the balance of power in the Senate. "It's good to see the Greens taking a principled stance on IR," he said.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said unions acknowledged the Greens had a strong history of supporting workers' rights. "However unions well understand that the only alternative government that could reinstate fair and balanced IR laws would be a Labor government," she added.

That’s not too bad, considering Oliver is not only an ALP member, but his position was previously held by Doug Cameron (before he got launched into a safe Labor seat). Sharan Burrow’s position was also previously held by Greg Combet (before he got launched into a safe Labor seat.) Not sure about the others, but from an ALP bunch – I guess that’s the best they can manage.

Andrew Bartlett has his say:

Andy points out how in 2004, Labor previously claimed he was supporting “fascist” and “evil legislation” when he supported the ABCC. Labor now plans to maintain the commission (in worse form than when the Democrats supported it) until 2010, which has upset a few unionists. He also notes the other Labor backflips, and stresses the need for an independent and rational voice in the Senate.

Nothing wrong with that, I agree. But he then slams the Greens as an inappropriate choice for that voice, because they are too busy “courting large trade union donations”, and “positioning themselves as more union than Labor”.

He then slams them again in the comments, because their claims of “donations eroding the democratic process” are a “double standard”, and that the Greens have attacked him for smaller donations before. He makes a note about how important the size of the donation is, and claims Democrats deserve the credit for the disclosure laws anyway. Ouch.

But the Greens are freaks, they have 3 pages of bylaws dedicated to preventing corruption in their own party through donations. There’s a review process, restrictions on who can donate, who can accept donations, transparency requirements, rejection policy, a definition of what constitutes a donation, and a detailed description of what constitutes a conflict of interest – using the OECD standard.

The Democrats seem to only have a few lines that meet this requirement – a pledge to not be “beholden to groups” (under Objectives), and a promise to obey funding laws (under Funding, in the Constitution).

There are many examples of corruption in the major parties, so checking their policies isn’t necessary. But essentially, I just don’t see how anyone could buy the Greens.

My point:
It's good to see the Greens' worker-justice policies being recognized.

And to the guy on Bartlett's blog that claims "there’s no reason why the Greens are any more or less immune to influence than any other political party." There are 883 reasons why - because that's how many words in the bylaws that prevent it. They are beholden to the Charter. Under no circumstances (not even under a conscience vote) can they act in contradiction of the Charter. They can act against national policy under conscience, or in the interests of the electorate.

This is spelled out in black and white, well thought out, thorough, and brilliant. The Greens can be branded 'just another party' when the others come close to this level of protection. Until then, give it a rest. They'll support unions in their social justice role regardless of whether they get no donations, or tens of thousands of dollars worth - because that's what they do.

The new deal.

2007-06-02T15:31:00.000+10:00

I'm trying to keep track of Labor vs Liberal policies, and judge them accordingly for the election, but it's still a pretty fine line between outrage against ALP weak policy, and (expected) Liberal terrible policy.

So I'll make a deal with the ALP:

You take a gamble with unprincipled preferences again, and you go last.

Now I don't mind Fielding, I'm impressed with his voting patterns, considering - but he's no Risstrom. Another Green would have empowerd Barnaby ten-fold, and made a massive difference.

And by the way Kevin:

(From the ma of Ms Fits/that-chick-from-that-book-club-show/3RRR-lady. Meme'd up by Magic Bellybutton.

The halogen myth.

2007-05-28T20:12:00.000+10:00

Halogen globes, how I loath thee.

LOW VOLTAGE DOES NOT MEAN LOW POWER.

THE STEP-DOWN FACTOR:
Firstly, the things are most likely running on a transformer, and not a switch-mode power supply (which are more efficient), so straight off the bat you’re wasting power. Dropping 240 AC to 12 DC comes at a cost. You have to factor that into the bulb wattage – a 50 watt bulb is probably using close to 60. Put your hand on the transformer if you know where it is – notice that warmth? That requires energy.

Edison lost the current wars – we don’t get DC power pumped into our homes. It needs to be converted. Depending on how it’s set up, you might even be using power when the lights ARE NOT EVEN ON.

THE QUANTITY FACTOR:
People have swarms of halogen down-lights – they pockmark the ceiling. Here’s a tip – the power each one uses gets multiplied by the quantity you have. Got 10 of the “low-power” 50 watt’ers? News flash – that’s 500 watts! (600 if you consider the loss in the transformer.)

This is irritating in the extreme. I’ve had arguments with people about it. I’ve been assured by some people that they are low voltage, and thus use hardly any power at all.

I repeat:
LOW VOLTAGE DOES NOT MEAN LOW POWER.
(Low voltage CAN be low power, but low wattage IS low power.)

I’m not going to explain voltage, current and wattage here, if you want to know how much power something uses, stick with watts. Low voltage allows electrical appliances to be run from solar panels, batteries and cars, because these involve limited power sources, most 12v goods use low power. Low voltage is less likely to arc (read: safer), and also allows you to legally do your own wiring (240 volt self wiring is a big no-no), and have them exposed to the elements – like garden lights. Halogen lamps are, to be blunt, a bit of a scam.

They are still incandescent globes, and thus produce a substantial amount of heat. In fact, quite a dangerous amount – the globe itself needs to be shielded (and not just from the heat, the shielding helps contain ‘explosive bulb failure’ shattering, and filter the UV rays that would otherwise provide a suntan.)

They do last longer and are more efficient than standard incandescent bulbs, but it’s marginal, and doesn’t compare with CFLs or LEDs.

FOOLS!
They’re marketed as being low voltage, giving the impression of low power (which I'm sure is entirely accidental, and not an attempt to exploit ignorance at all). Even in an old ReNew magazine there was an article about a woman’s super self-sustaining home, and how she “had some bad advice” and had halogens installed. She ended up replacing them.

And now, new homes are using more power than existing homes. The five-star rating – which Bracks promised would be 50% more energy efficient in 2004 – hasn’t worked (new home emissions are 6% higher - and that's on top of the increased energy use of existing homes). There’s nothing wrong with the standard itself, it just doesn’t factor in these “hip” lighting choices, nor the size of new homes. The Age believes the five-star rating cannot be revamped until 2009 at the earliest, which is a disgrace for the Steve “the great environmentalist” Bracks.

This article describes an award-winning home with 10 halogen lamps lighting the front porch alone.

Summary:
* Halogen lamps are a scourge on energy efficiency.
* CFLs and LEDs (go for Luxeons) that fit into halogen recessed lighting fixtures are available.
* The state government needs to fix the five-star rating, and spread the word on halogen lamps.

I,heart.

2007-05-25T19:04:00.000+10:00

The heart symbol.

What does it depict? There is some controversy.

It doesn't look much like a human heart, does look a bit like a cow heart, but does appear to closely resemble the following:

* turtle heart
* male prostate gland
* spread vulva/pubic mound/buttocks/breasts

But the most realistic explanation seems to be found in the seed of the silphium plant:

This is an ancient silver coin depicting the seed.

"The seeds are distinctly heart-shaped. Since this plant was widely used as an ancient herbal contraceptive or abortifacient, this shape may have come to be associated with sexuality and love."

Yes, the all-but universal sign of love, is just a way of telling your partner you can abort or avoid any unwanted foetus.
I guess these didn't make the cut.

Funny Plant Names #1

2007-05-21T18:28:00.000+10:00

Titan arum, or (Ancient Greek) Amorphophallus titanum - which translates to:
Giant, misshapen penis.

Flying = hatred of environment.

2007-05-20T23:41:00.001+10:00

If an environmentalist fly’s in an airplane, they often get derided for it. Bob Brown, Al Gore, and now Leonardo DiCaprio – they wheel out the same argument all over again. Leo cracked it at Cannes when this false contradiction was put forward to him.

Did you fly on a gas-guzzling jet to arrive at the premier of his Eco-doco?
No, I took the friggin’ train.

(Paraphrased – “friggin’” was added for dramatic effect.)

A Toyota Prius gets 5L/100km.
Modern commercial flights get 3.5L/100km.

Aviation and jet fuel have around the same energy (MJ) per litre as petrol, around 20% of CO2 emissions in the US are from cars, around 4% from planes, etc. etc.

There are many other factors to consider, but the fact remains – unless you’re car-pooling your freaking Prius, cycling, or taking bus/rail, it’s better to fly.

The real issue is whether the flight is necessary at all. (Oh and private jets are ridiculously inefficient, and do not apply.)

Teste-ing my patience, and I'm ovary it.

2007-05-20T22:11:00.000+10:00

There are a few issues fundamentalist and extremist Christians seem to put a lot of emphasis on.

Gay/lesbian relationships. Any partners that have the same genitals should have less rights.
Abortion. They’re against unwanted cells being removed from the female genitals.
Pornography. Basically any film that shows genitals.

I’m noticing a theme… Genitals. Genitals are pretty neat, they provide enjoyment and procreation. Our species, as with others, requires them to avoid extinction. But somehow, they’re evil. Not entirely sure how or why that works, but it’s not the most irrational position of religious folk. It’s somewhere between compulsory facial hair and abstaining from certain foods on certain days.

We have plenty of laws to appease these people on the pornographic side – age restrictions, content restrictions, advertising restrictions, airing restrictions, heck, I can’t even fetch the newspaper while airing out Little Larry.

I know – strange at it may seem – there are folk out there that aren’t even impressed with the sight of my equipment. But somethings you have to learn the hard way.

Regardless, they’ve won. A moral victory in the war against whatever it is that access to pornography does. I’m sure they must have a Hairless Palm Appreciation Society or something. Those of us that meet the requirements, and are considered mature enough to access the material, can admire the beauty of God’s handiwork until the cow’s come home.

(Note to self: change that metaphor.)

But something sinister is afoot – “A NSW council will use money from a secretive religious sect (the Exclusive Brethren) to appeal against a court decision allowing a sex shop to go ahead, says an adult industry association.”

Of course, the Exclusive Brethren usually shoots for “it wasn’t us, it was just one of our members.. they acted as a concerned individual..” They use this excuse each and every time they’re accused of meddling. Even when the election ads are almost identical across different countries.

But it this case, the money was donated directly by the cult itself, without using a member as a proxy. Actually, I’m lying, it was donated by a “businessman”, the council had no idea he was even a member of EB.

Another sect member spontaneously meddling in the politics they deride – what an amazing coincidence. Mysterious ways indeed.

Green and golden showers.

2007-05-19T22:31:00.000+10:00

In an effort to deal with the effects of climate change without putting effort towards preventing it, the CSIRO has received government funding into kidney research.

Human kidneys will be genetically engineered to adjust the filtration process. Only potable water will be delivered to the bladder, making urine safe for the garden, safe for the laundry, and safe for human consumption.

“I think once the public get over the yuk-factor, there will be a high uptake on GE kidney replacements” claims the CSIRO director. “Golden showers will become crystal clear showers – and unlike traditional methods of hygiene, there is no need to warm the water.”

Remember where you stood

2007-05-19T11:56:00.000+10:00

ChoiceWork

2007-05-17T18:34:00.000+10:00

Don't like WorkChoices? You'll love ChoiceWork! It's the same policy, just rebadged! Sure, only an idiot would fall for such a ruse, sure it's an insult to the Australian public, but c'mon - it's ChoiceWork! 'Choice' is slang for good, and 'Work' puts food on the table, who could possibly argue against it?

UPDATE: Sez has a post about this, including the Mcleod's Daughters AWA Sacking clip...

WordChoices

2007-05-17T00:26:00.000+10:00

One in three drivers taken to hospital following major car accidents have drugs in their system - a figure doctors believe is "disturbingly high".

Magnificent choice of words.

Sciencefictionology

2007-05-17T00:00:00.000+10:00

Scientology. Commonly accused of messing with people’s heads, causing mental anguish, harassment, etc.

Their plan to disprove this involves showing a video clip of an otherwise sane and composed man, a man whom they harassed, having a loud outburst. The sort of outburst commonly associated with mental anguish.

Well shit, I’m sold.

Single sentence post #1

2007-05-16T01:54:00.000+10:00

If an employee of a company (that just happens to own shares in the same company) pushes for greater dividends, which results in greater government lobbying, which results in softened industrial relations laws, which results in the employee getting the sack – do his cries make a sound?

Baby jacking.

2007-05-16T00:04:00.000+10:00

Howard successfully hijacks an abandoned infant!

Not wanting News Corp to soley capitalise on the plight of a baby, the Prime Minister has cock-sucked his way into both Rupert's good-books, as well as being "That Guy To Vote For Wot Said Wot I Was Thinkin'".

Libs - 2.

GMOh?

2007-05-13T03:24:00.000+10:00

I have no particular beef with GMOs. I'm sure they'll have some amazing benefits one day, something that makes patents on life worthwhile. One day. Apparently Victoria is set to lift it's moratorium on them.

That's concerning.

But what is NOT concerning is - people may not know. If we are not ALLOWED to know whether man has genetically altered a product before we consume it, that is not concerning.

It is an outrage.

If the public MIGHT be concerned about that aspect about a product (and they will be), they deserve to know. Like trans fats, like all the other warnings that deserve to be (or are already) on products.

I haven't read The Age's coverage on this, but if the moratorium is lifted without any labelling requirements, Labor are down 4 points - otherwise, only 1 point.

UPDATE: Read The Age's coverage, found nothing about labelling.

Party Ratings

2007-05-12T12:27:00.000+10:00

OK, here is my updated Party Ratings chart. Rudd ruled out statutory contracts, which there was a small amount of doubt over, so points for that. I like his trades-in-highschools plan, it seems to allow students to be flexible in their studies, rather than be condemned to either in a high/tech school. I'm not a fan of Kevin painting himself as fiscally conservative, I don't see that as Labor's role, it's not a joy seeing the alternative to the conservative party call themselves conservative, we've just had a decade of fiscally conservative rule and it'd be nice if that could change at some point.

Liberals and Greens haven't done anything to raise or lower their positions, although I was proud the Greens, once again, didn't attempt to smear the ALP while defending themselves against the pro-nuclear slander.

Rupert Murdoch goes green.

2007-05-10T23:58:00.001+10:00

Rupert Murdoch goes green.

I’m not really sure of his motivation. How can you make such a dramatic switch, from no concern to steadfast determination to prevent? It does happen, so it’s not entirely unrealistic. There is money to be lost in climate change, and money to be gained in avoiding it, so there’s the possibility it’s merely an economic move.

Maybe it’s just the latest rich-guy fashion, maybe it merely serves to ease the guilt, who knows.

He bought himself a hybrid car. Good, hybrid private jet/glider would be nice.

He plans on making the entire News Corp business carbon neutral. Aside from cashing in on carbon credits, I’ll assume that this will come at a cost, and mucho kudos for that.

It’s important to be cautious of Greenwashing, and those planning to exploit climate concerns, but I doubt this applies here.

However, I have reservations. *ahem*

“This one is clear. Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly can't afford the risk of inaction”

But Mr Murdoch signalled that News Corp would not be reporting climate change as "the end of the world".

Uh.. what?

"The challenge is to revolutionise the message," he said. "For too long, the threats of climate change have been presented as doom and gloom — because the consequences are so serious.

"We need to do what our company does best: make this issue exciting. Tell the story in a new way.

Clear, catastrophic threats, can’t afford the risk of inaction, I got that bit. But not the end of the world, revolutionised message, no doom and gloom, make it exciting, tell it a new way? Sorry, you may have just lost me.

And I think Murdoch just admitted guilt to the long list of accusations of media manipulation right there.

So let me get this straight, just so we’re clear on this Mr Murdoch. The Australian, The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail, The Cairns Post, The Gold Coast Bulletin, The Townsville Bulletin, The Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun, The Weekly Times, MX, The Geelong Advertiser, The Advertiser, The Sunday Mail, Messenger Newspapers, The Sunday Times, The Mercury, The Sunday Tasmanian, Northern Territory News, The Sunday Territorian, The Tablelands Advertiser, The Tablelander, Fiji Times, Nai Lalakai, Shanti Dut, Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, The Sun, News of the World, Times Newspapers Ltd., The Sunday Times, The Times, New York Post, The Timesledger, Bayside Times, Whitestone Times, Flushing Times, Fresh Meadows Times, Little Neck Ledger, Jackson Heights Times, Richmond Hill Times, Jamaica Times, Laurelton Times, Queens Village Times, Astoria Times, Forest Hills Ledger, Ridgewood Ledger, Howard Beach Times, The Courier-Life Newspapers, Caribbean Life, and Fox News will all now be reporting that climate change is bad yet exciting, but not the end of the world.

So, what you’re saying is, for this whole time, for the decade of the Kyoto Protocol, you’ve had the ability to adjust the reporting angle of climate change from the news sources that most citizens of the western world get their news from, and you’ve decided NOW to allow it be considered real and a threat?

You are a monster. What was the policy before – claim it’s not real, spin it as not a threat? I’m pretty sure that was the angle, and I’m pretty sure the angle was your decision because you just admitted your own ability to twist the reality of news in your publications.

Imagine the public opinion you’ve shaped in that time. Giving equal credence to conspiracy nuts? What ignorance you’ve spread, what inaction are you culpable of?

You want to claim the pro-environment viewpoint now, you carry the blame for the anti-environment viewpoint of the past, and every single perception of the changing world in the millions upon millions of minds that have laid trust in the accuracy of your publications.

Go repent elsewhere.

Budge it

2007-05-10T01:36:00.000+10:00

I feel obliged to post on the Budget 2007™©®, but I could care less. An election year budget from a tax-cut-vote-buying party facing a hostile electorate?

Gee, I wonder what it could possibly contain.

Not impressed they’re spending more on military (sorry, ‘defence’) than education, but more is spent on industry, workforce, infrastructure, transport and energy spending – if you add them up together. I haven't examined it with much gusto, the environment spending and tax cuts was more than I could stomach.

I’m a little more concerned about VICTORIA’S POWER STATIONS BUYING WATER FROM THE INTERNET in order to run.

Little worried about each kilo of ice costing Australia $284,000, tripling in the last 4 years.

A bit troubled by Rudd failing “to repeat Labor's pledge to abolish all statutory contracts — despite being asked six times yesterday.”

I believe I read uni’s may have the option to allow 100% of students to be full-fee paying in selected subjects – wouldn’t mind finding out more about that.

I'm not sure what else was snuck in whilst the fascinating dollar-numbers were jiggled in front of the media like shiny, pretty-coloured keys.

So forgive me if I neglect to comment on the pre-election bribes – it didn’t even deserve to even make the news.

LAST (thus far)

2007-05-08T01:19:00.000+10:00

Fuck it.
L A S T

Last last last.

Lastie lastie lastie last.

Welcome to lastsville, population: you.

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!11one

Knock knock,
Who's there?
Last
Last who?
Just last. Just plain old last. Not second last, not third, precisely last. I'ma get dat ballot, and put da fuggers last.

Stage 3 Policy Restrictions

2007-05-06T16:40:00.000+10:00

Australia is experiencing a decade-long political-empathy drought, and the major parties have initiated Stage 3 policy restrictions.

What State 3 Policy Restrictions mean:
Under Stage 3 policy restrictions policies can be released on specified days, usually during a sporting event, tragedy, or other distraction. A vague press release fitted with spin and rhetoric can be used to educate the public on party policy.

A policy dripper system can be used to slowly release policies, making collection and overall understanding of policy difficult, as well as delaying any critical judgement until the last minute, when the full policy can be argued against.

Personal attacks:
To keep the public from straying into awareness of policies and promises, a concerted effort will be used to focus on personality. For example: emphasis on the leader, his/her experience, which one of the two leaders would you trust, the deputy leaders’ hair/attire/menstruation. The topics raised should have no effect on the future of the nation.

Ignore the future:
Avoid promises, such as no child living in poverty by 1990, not by setting realistic goals, nor by devising policies in an attempt to achieve those goals, simply avoid promises regarding outcomes altogether. Concentrate on the past – claim that under a party’s previous reign a certain poverty statistic was worse, rather than work towards eliminating poverty itself.

Willy Heffernan

2007-05-05T14:15:00.000+10:00

Bill Heffernan has announced his resignation 24 hours after his decision to become unable to maintain an erection. “Three months ago, I decided to lower my sperm count to zero. There was probably the odd one or two of the little soldiers floating around, so I figured I was still fit for public office."

"However, on Thursday I successfully attempted erectile dysfunction, which I enjoyed. I plan on maintaining my lack of erection, therefore I must resign from my position as Chief Planter of Slander and Smear into the Public Consciousness.”

Industrial scurvy.

2007-05-05T12:33:00.000+10:00

When Howard got the senate, he removed practically all the food from the workers rights pantry, and we were very upset. Previously it was stocked with all manner of healthy food.

But Rudd promised to rip up this no-food policy, and we were pleased. However some were concerned by the fact he was only promising a food aid package that didn’t meet some of the minimum nutritional requirements of the ILO.

Then Howard attempted to trump Rudd, with a new pro-food policy:

A half-eaten cookie.

The Digg'ers, United, Will Never Be Dugg Down.

2007-05-03T23:48:00.000+10:00

I popped into Digg the other day, only to find each and every site linked on the democratic-news site included a reference to a certain hexadecimal number. Apparently this number helps some rich folk get richer, and they'd been throwing threats around to ensure this illegal number didn't get onto the Intertubes.

The number of Digg's for each was quite impressive, I thought it was a potential defacing, but it just turns out it was democracy in action. It was nice witnessing this new form of protest - apparently it's the "online equivalent of the Boston Tea Party."

It made international headlines.

Wikivolution

2007-05-03T23:35:00.000+10:00

I had an idea to create a video clip demonstrating the evolution of a Wikipedia page a few days before I a video appeared which did just that. Which leads me to believe either someone is stealing my thoughts, or great minds think alike.

Lock-in the latter. Anyway, it's "a timelapse of the first 12 hours of the Wikipedia article documenting the VT Massacre", and it really shows the evolution of knowledge-collection of Our Dear Information Repository. The mechanical and slightly haunting soundtrack really highlights the mystique behind the phenomena.

Water water nowhere

2007-05-03T23:20:00.000+10:00

Less than 30%!!

We knocked our Melbourne water storages down below 30%. Congratulations everyone! I’d like to thank the excessive gardeners, especially you over-waterers – couldn’t have done it without you. Urine flushers? Where are you? Prop’s che, you helped make this milestone a possibility. Obsessive compulsives, hygiene and body odour nutters, industry, sporting associations – I couldn’t possibly list them all, but well done. It’s a great day.

But our Great Work is not yet done. Today it has, strangely, rained heavily directly into the catchments. So keep on wasting!

How many compact fluorescent bulbs can I safely eat?

2007-04-30T21:02:00.000+10:00

Many folk are alarmed at the mercury content in CF lamps, mostly due to the fact they either eat the bulbs, or break the globe and lick the broken glass to clean it up (the standard hazardous materials handling method).

(For the benefit of everyone, I’ll exclude accidental compact fluorescent suppository incidents).

So how many CF lamps would the Food Standards agency recommend consuming?

* Each CFL contains 4mg of mercury.
* Total permitted methylmercury intake per week is 221.1 micrograms per week for an average person over 2 years of age. (105.6 for preggies, 62.7 for infants).

The Australian standards would only recommend eating 2.8 compact fluorescents per year for the average person over 2 years of age and weighing around 67kgs. Pregnant women should restrict themselves to 1.38, and infants should only eat 0.8 bulbs per year.

Oh, and you probably shouldn’t eat fish.

Facts from here and here.

More Ruddy IR

2007-04-30T20:37:00.000+10:00

As I predicted (insert my own trumpet where appropriate) Kevin Rudd has released the better policies after the worst ones.

LIST OF "CHANGES"
1. Hours of work Standard working week of 38 hours.
2. Parental leave Guaranteed 12 months' unpaid leave for both parents.
3. Flexible work for parents Guaranteed right for parents to request flexible work arrangements until their children reach school age.
4. Annual leave All full-time, non-casual employees will be guaranteed 4 weeks' paid annual leave.
5. Personal, carer's, and compassionate leave Guaranteed 10 days' paid carer's and personal leave. An additional two days a year for the death or serious illness of a family member or person the employee lives with.
6. Community service leave Employees will be entitled to leave for community service such as jury service or emergency services.
7. Public holidays Guaranteed public holidays including Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday.
8. Information in the workplace Employers must provide employees with a statement containing information on rights and entitlements.
9. Termination Guaranteed fair notice. Less than one year service, at least one week notice period. Less than three years, at least two weeks. Less than five years, at least three weeks. More than five years, at least four weeks.
10. Long service leave Nationally consistent long service entitlements

REVIEW OF "CHANGES"
1. Same as WorkChoices. Not sure whether the averaged-over-a-year will be repealed.
2. Same as WorkChoices. I originally thought it was an improvement – but Rudd says only one parent at a time – WC says the primary caregiver.
3. Ah, see, you have to read these things carefully. “Guaranteed right for parents to request“ – not a “right to”. I imagine that will be worded with escape clauses for employers. I predict the word ‘reasonable’.
4. Same as WorkChoices. Not sure whether the option to cash-out will be repealed.
5. Worse than WorkChoices – it appears to be the same quantity of leave, but WC did guarantee at least 2 days carers leave unpaid.
6. Better than WorkChoices. Potentially. It’s a bit of a grey area. It seems to be absorbing the jury service rules from the states rather than adding any non-existing protection. Protection for emergency services personnel might be new.
7. Better. Penalty rates will be reinstated. (Although in removing AWAs, this was always a given.)
8. Good. Workers get pamphlets – should tackle a bit of ignorance.
9. Same. This is exactly how the law already reads. WC only removed the ability to include termination notice in awards – no word on whether that’s being reinstated.
10. Unknown. It could be good for some states, worse for others.

On point 4, Rudd claims “that, we believe, is the pro-family way.” That, Mr Rudd, is the WorkChoices way. It words it: “Parental leave of up to 52 weeks unpaid after the birth or adoption of a child for the primary caregiver”, as one of the 5 minimum conditions. Sounds strikingly similar to your own stance.

SUMMARY:
Mostly the same as WorkChoices.

PROS:
Parents get to ask for flexible working arrangements.
Emergency services are guaranteed leave. (Not sure if they have that already.)
Penalty rates for public holidays returned.
Possibly better long service leave entitlements.
Workers get pamphlets on their rights.

CONS:
Standard working week might still be averaged over a year.
Option to cash out annual leave might not be repealed.
Two days unpaid carers leave might be repealed.
Possibly worse long service leave entitlements.

RANT:
Rudd may as well have got up and said he was going to read out the Workplace Relations Act, because that’s essentially what he did. I’ve struggled to find the benefits, but workers get public holidays and a booklet. Amazing. But it’s too easy to get mired in the spin, let’s get a list of the changes made by WorkChoices, and see what’s changing. Here’s my WorkChoices graphic, which does just that:

GRAPHICS FOR THE HARD OF THINKING:

This is based on Wikipedia’s WorkChoices article describing the scope of changes. I added in AWA's because they're a big part of it (despite the fact they were brought in before WorkChoices). I'm sure this graphic is subject to change, but it seems accurate so far. (Critiques welcome.)

UPDATE: As I feared, the right to flexible work hours for those with young children won't be binding. Employers need only reject the request in writing, with no fear of challenge or penalty. Which kind of hollows out the proposal - a guaranteed right to ask? I would have assumed asking for flexible hours wouldn't exactly be grounds for dismissal.

Ruddy-IR from blogland.

2007-04-29T23:56:00.000+10:00

We’re not going to get much in the way of critical analysis of Rudd’s IR from business – they’ll toe the ‘oh no, Labor is standing up against us evil bastards’ line, unions are wedged against Howard and a hard place so they won’t be picking through it, and the media has been quite weak on the matter. So we’ll turn to blogs.

The Solidarity blog started off positive but cautious – “all in all, Fair Work Australia seems like a good idea”. Then lost a little faith with further examination – “Labor’s IR plan is an unacceptable restriction on workers’ legitimate right to take industrial action, including strikes. It should not be supported by the union movement.”

Andrew Bartlett believes Rudd’s changes will leave IR not quite where it was before the Coalition got control of the Senate.

The Age had some good commentary, with a Your Say section here, with arguments for and against.

Mikey loves the laws. But I noticed some comments that were interesting.

Here’s a result of searching for Mikey’s opinion on unfair dismissal laws.

2005-10. Mikey defends unfair dismissal, claims only 3% went before the courts.
2005-11. Mikey gets into his argument for unfair dismissal with his boss.
2005-12. Mikey claim no access to unfair dismissal could result in sexual assault.
2006-02. Mikey refers to unfair dismissal and right to charge before incarceration as only affecting 0.001% of economic growth.
2007-04. Rudd unveils ALP's weaker unfair dismissal laws.
2007-04. Mikey claims the same unfair dismissal laws he was previously defending were broken, abused, needed fixing, and Rudd’s new plan adds balance.

I don’t want to slander Mikey, he’s a good bloke and I feel bad even mentioning this, but I found it annoying. Maybe he’s toeing the party line, maybe he just neglected to mention his opposition to unfettered unfair dismissal until after the ALP decided to restrict it, I don’t know. I hope his opinions are not a result of any organisation’s stance, but stem from his own senses.

Howard neuters, Rudd kills.

2007-04-26T00:04:00.001+10:00

Is there a new April Fools Day? Is it today? Please tell me it’s today, because I just read that Kevin Rudd plans to scrap the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

I know, it’s absurd, couldn’t possibly be true.

SCRAPPED UNDER LABOR:
* Australian Industrial Relations Commission (103 years old)
* Fair Pay Commission (2 years old)
* Office of the Employment Advocate (10 years old)
* Office of Workplace Services (2 years old?)
* Australian Building and Construction Commission (3 years old)

One of these was NOT created by John Howard. In fact, it was created several decades before he was even born.

Why the AIRC? Mr Rudd claims:
1. It is “a 20th century institution that is too remote from the needs of modern Australian workplaces”
2. “Australian working families need an industrial relations system with a fair and independent umpire.”

1. So it doesn’t meet the needs of today’s workplaces? How? Is it too far away? Too slow? Favours justice? I’m pretty sure it’s met the needs of everyone I know that has utilised its services. In fact I’m not aware of any single incident that would suggest such a thing. I must be missing something – there must be overwhelmingly different workplace requirements around now for this to be justified. What are they?

2. Its not fair or independent? I don’t recall unions or employers seriously making any such claims. But there must be overwhelming proof of bias - otherwise Rudd wouldn’t have said it. Where is it?

There is no proof of any need, nor any call, for the AIRC to go. An efficient institution that has safeguarded worker’s rights for a century is not your play-thing, Kevin. Do not destroy them with your petty Orwellian IR projects.

Rudd wants a new system. And He shall call it:
'"Fair Work Australia."'

I would have gone with Super-Happy-Good-Worker’s-Worry-Place, but his is good too. Howard neutered the AIRC. Rudd would have it put down.

ALP will now be placed last on my ballot paper. Final straw.

UPDATE: There is simply no need to scrap the AIRC in order to ease any issues caused by distance - increase the number of courts, and space them around. It's a fair court system with due process. A guy coming into the workplace with powers to judge, and make a quick binding decision, is not. I have a lot of trust in the AIRC, much like other courts, and a lot of distrust of those that seek to scrap it.

I know our legal system is expensive, slow, and inconvenient - but justice is neither cheap or easy. I have no intention of tolerating police with the power to try and convict on sight, and the same goes for IR justice. I doubt Hockey's claims that "Fair Work Australia" will be a biased pro-union hit squad, but even if that was the case, I'd mourne the loss of an actual independent arbitrator no less.

And Sharan Burrow from the ACTU, the plan does not "make a lot of sense". "Working Australians will be well served by a one-stop shop that is geographically accessible and less legalistic".

Legalistic? LEGALISTIC?! Nuzzling away towards a parliamentary pension much, Sharan? I am steamed.

Anzac Day

2007-04-24T23:16:00.000+10:00

ANZAC DAY. The day, that we sit back, and solemnly appreciate those young men that invented that awesome, awesome biscuit.

But it’s not just about the cookie. Lots of old dead people died in wars to protect our freedoms. Some of them didn’t die, some were just maimed, and some survived to tell the tale of war.

Until, over time, most of them died too. Which shows that war is like time. Only quicker.

But what IS war good for? Population control for one. Territory for another. A bit of strategic fun for generals. Ego-fiddling for leaders. Weapons testing. Defoliation. All manner of things.

But war comes at a cost. The economies of many nations were damaged severely in both world wars – this was before the US developed incredibly advanced techniques enabling them to profit from active warfare.

And on this day, the 25th of April, each year, we should lament the tragic economic losses from war. As the diggers died on the shores of Gallipoli, a great sadness fell upon the employers of Australia.

They knew their trained workers would not be returning.

The economy and jobs, as stressed by the leaders of today, should always be our prevailing concern. Lest we forget how much the ASX dropped.

Some “humane” individuals choose to neglect to emphasise the economy during remembrance activities. They highlight the human losses, the futility of war, the suffering of families, and the freedoms that were defended.

Australia has protected the freedom of its people in all the wars it has fought. When the Vietcong stormed Canberra, and tried to remove our right to free speech, we went to war for our freedom. When Saddam invaded Brisbane, and removed our right to a fair trial, we went to war for our freedom.

Some say we should mourn and appreciate the loss of those that died protecting these freedoms. Some say we should never allow wars to be fought unless absolutely necessary, only when the intelligence is unquestionable, the situation dire, the threat ominous. That engaging the army in war on a whim is hideously disrespectful to every soul lost in just wars – but we, the eternally remembering public, would never, EVER, allow that to happen.

ABC LOUD?

2007-04-22T20:17:00.000+10:00

Has anyone else noticed the ads on ABC TV are now incredibly loud? Precursor to paid ads, or just my amp up too loud? You decide. I can't be bothered checking the compression.

The ice epidemic we had to have.

2007-04-22T16:44:00.000+10:00

You restrict the import of heroin, people make their own meth/ice.
You restrict the manufacturing of ice, people start sniffing paint.
You restrict the sale of paint, people start stealing pharmaceuticals.
You restrict legal drugs, people start sniffing glue.
You restrict the sale of glue, people start sniffing petrol.
You restrict the sale of sniff-able petrol, people start taking cactus/mushrooms.
You restrict the growth of illicit plants, and people start injecting spider venom.

And good luck restricting insects.

Why would someone want to inject venom? Because their source of other drugs was restricted. Why do they want to take drugs in the first place? Welcome to the real question.

The term zero-tolerance is being used incorrectly. No one can seriously condone simply accepting drug abuse, the damage is too obvious for that. But it’s used in place of the far more accurate ‘zero-help, maximum-laws, maximum-trauma, maximum-votes’.

You don’t get an epidemic if your illicit drug solution is working. Heroin deaths are down, ice use is up. The supply is linked to the demand, you remove one supply and another will, and has, replaced it.

The drug problem will continue to degrade unless logic is applied to drug laws.

If a political party refuses to endorse solutions that aren’t popular, but have been proven effective, then educate the public – do not cowardly assume the popular/inaccurate position. We will be forced to continue to tolerate drug abuse, while they claim a zero-tolerance approach. Legalising all illicit drugs would fail just as current policies have, the only difference being lessened incarceration costs. Both positions are irrational.

I have zero tolerance for any party that refuses to accept effective drug laws, this is a heinous scourge on our society, and inaction is reprehensible.

Rudd spends time with septuagenarian.

2007-04-22T01:12:00.000+10:00

Politicians will usually act with alterior motives. Not so with Kevin Rudd. On a short trip to the US, he took time out of his day to spend with an elderly man, for no nefarious purpose whatsoever. It is these small acts of kindness that highlight their decency and humanity, and we should all commend them for it.

We should all aspire to lend an ear to our many seniors.

Industrial Action != Strike

2007-04-18T23:57:00.000+10:00

Industrial action can mean the following:

a strike
go-slow
work-to-rule
general strike
slowdown
overtime ban

Can people in the media not confuse industrial action with strikes, please?

Rudd's IR

2007-04-18T19:41:00.000+10:00

Rudd’s current IR plan:

1. AWA’s abolished.
2. “Return the right” to “basic working conditions” – penalty rates, overtime, public holiday pay.
3. Ensure a minimum wage, set by “independent umpire” that “keeps track with living standards”.
4. Federal jurisdiction of IR laws, and a “uniform” system.
5. Industrial action outlawed unless voted by a majority secret ballot.
6. Industrial action outlawed during the term of, and in support of, a collective agreement.
7. Industrial action outlawed if there has been “genuine good faith bargaining”.
8. Industrial action outlawed in support of “industry wide agreement”.
9. Pay during industrial action outlawed.
10. No unfair dismissal for 6 months with less than 15 employees, and 12 months for larger businesses.
11. Unfair dismissal dealt with by new local “industrial umpires”, heard in 7 days, no lawyers, effort to “resolve claims by discussion”, else umpire makes decision.
12. A Fair Dismissal Code – a guideline for employers to follow, to help them sack employee’s fairly.

It’s not fantastic, but it’s not complete yet. Getting rid of AWA’s solves the problem of reinstating the No Disadvantage Test, having the minimum conditions, etc.

NOTES:
1. No qualms.
2. Devils in the details, this pledge is meaningless as it stands.
3. I don’t see how this is any promise to abolish Work Choices’ Fair Pay Commission. It sounds like that’ll be retained – in fact the wording is almost identical to the description of the commission.
4. The corporations power ensures federal control regardless, so unless Labor plans to hold a referendum to alter that section of the constitution, this seems a moot point.
5. Secret ballots will have to be paid for, waited for, etc. This serves more to delay and disenfranchise than to protect employees from (I’d imagine quite illegal) harassment.
6. This is a nuisance. Collective agreements can, and usually do, go for several years. Action can only be taken during bargaining. Also, taking action to protest a safety hazard, or any other grievance is outlawed. Not good.
7. Not easy to enforce, but the wording doesn’t sound too insidious.
8. I’d need to be convinced that industrial action taken to support industry wide agreements were sufficiently damaging in order to justify outlawing it.
9. This is a removal of the right of both employers and employees to make an agreement. It ensures that workers suffer during industrial action, which is not particularly humane.
10. This isn’t particularly bad, but it IS worse than what it was for most of Howard’s term. With Work Choices, employers could trial for 6 months instead of 3. Not sure what’s happening with that, but it gives the employers the same employee – checking abilities as this law, so I’d hope the trial gets reduced or abolished.
11. Umpire is a weasel word – at least Howard’s “taskforce” was more honest. Otherwise a seemingly sound policy.
12. This seems to be the government doing the work of industry/small/large business groups. It encourages sackings, and I fail to see how it is necessary – compared with a simple requirement for 3 written warnings. It might not be sinister though.

BETTER? BY HOW MUCH?

It’s hard to judge such a rough vague policy sketch, but it can be reduced to three main points.

AWA’s, unfair dismissal, and protected action.

Lower is better for workers. Higher mark represents degradation in worker rights for each issue. Middle is bad, top is worse.

This graph shows in 1996 that AWAs were introduced, and protected action restricted. Then with Work Choices, they were both attacked, as well as unfair dismissal being heavily restricted. 2008 is Rudd’s proposal, protected action unchanged from WC, unfair dismissal restrictions reduced instead of removed, and AWAs abolished altogether.

Lower is better for workers. Uses same data as above, with 1 point given to bad, 2 for worse.

This graph shows four periods – before Howard, Howard with no balance of power, Work Choices, and Rudd’s proposal. It shows Rudd’s proposal is worse than the IR system under Howard (before Work Choices/balance of power). Whilst the AWA-issue would be improved, unfair dismissal and the right to protected action will be further restricted.

Another Infamy Day.

2007-04-18T00:13:00.000+10:00

I don't feel I have any right to lament the tragedy of Virginia Tech here. I do not regularly mourn senseless Iraqi deaths, nor those of any other region. To show sympathy for one is disrespectful, so I send my sincere condolences to all those affected by senseless violence and death around the world.

Rudd on IR: Not news?

2007-04-17T18:55:00.000+10:00

Apparently Kevin Rudd has finally (after however many state elections were campaigned, and won, on his IR policy) decided an ACTUAL IR policy.

I read a short article in The Age, which was a little light on the details, so I resorted to the Herald Sun. Only to find:

The same article. (Click for a more detailed view.)

It's not entirely the same, but The Age has the decency to admit it's an AAP article. But it begs the question - why weren't any of the Australian newspaper journalists able to write an article themselves? It was held at the National Press Club... weren't they invited? Is it too quick to press? Or is this really just a non-issue?

(I'll do a proper commentary once someone decides this is news and gets something detailed published.)

Greens v Family First

2007-04-16T22:18:00.000+10:00

Aha! I’ve caught those dastardly Greens lying!

They accused Family First of 'coming to their senses', and being ‘soft on drugs’, and dropping their zero-tolerance drug policy.

Here’s there latest policy:
"Family First believes a balanced and comprehensive strategy is needed to combat the increasing problem of substance misuse and abuse. The Party believes Australia’s response to illegal drugs and health in general should primarily be preventative through educating the public as well as supporting rehabilitation services.

Family First rejects harm minimisation as the primary strategy for combating substance abuse. The Party favours prevention, rehabilitation and avoidance as more acceptable primary strategies."

And here’s there policy from 2005 (according to archive.org, this seems to be their first drugs policy since the site opened in 2001.)
"Family First believes a balanced and comprehensive strategy is needed to combat the increasing problem of substance use and abuse. Family First believes Australia’s response to drugs and health should primarily be preventative through educating the public as well as supporting rehabilitation services.

Family First rejects harm minimisation as the primary strategy for combating substance abuse. It favours prevention, rehabilitation and avoidance as more acceptable primary strategies."

The changes are clerical. There is no reference to zero-tolerance in Family First previous policy statements at all. Fielding has pushed a zero-tolerance platform a few times (including today – for alcohol-induced “drunkenness”), but the Greens media release specifically claims the 2007 policy has "softened".

In fact, the Family First drug policy hasn’t even changed. The old text is STILL under their Health policy, they’ve just created a slightly edited one under “Illegal Drugs including Marijuana”. Doubling-up policy. Tre professional.

But, if I’m going to slag off the Greens, I should probably try and find deception in Family First. Oh look, here’s one, from Friday:

"Yet the extreme Greens have NO policies for families or small business, which shows how out of touch they really are."

Was that carefully worded? They have no policies FOR families/small business? Is that no policies that apply to them, or no policies that actively support them? I am intrigued, best investigate.

15. provide incentives to workplaces which offer not-for-profit childcare in house and flexible childcare, including ‘childcare credits’, where workplaces assist parents to place children in childcare close to home.

I like that one, it provides support FOR business and ACTIVELY SUPPORTS families all in one hit. Everyone’s a winner. Except Fielding. In fact, while I'm on a tangent already, here’s some of the things from the press release he claims FF has supported thus far:

Voted against WorkChoices.
Voted against Telstra privatisation
Voted against “unjust” asylum seeker processing
Voted for anti-terror laws
Voted for welfare changes
Voted for new laws to “protect small business”
Voted for cutting petrol tax
Voted against Qantas sale
Voted for stopping tax rorts

"The question for families is: Which party do they want holding the Balance of Power in the Senate? Do they want a party like FAMILY FIRST that supports family values or a party like the Greens that promotes extremism?"

I’m sorry, didn’t they vote the same way as you on at least half of those issues? Wouldn’t that mean that Greens support family values too? Does it mean they’re not extreme, or that both FF & Greens are extreme?

Don't use grey water.

2007-04-15T13:12:00.000+10:00

Gravel reed bed for grey water.

I’d like to send out a quick message to all Bandwagon-Greenies. They’re the ones that suddenly give a crap about the world around them because they saw this DVD from Blockbuster about bad environmental stuff, or they saw some ad on TV about how our water is vanishing somehow. Not that those aren’t totally valid reasons to care, but they’re merely a starting point.
You shouldn’t get your science from ex-vice presidents OR shock-columnists, and you need to know your facts before you jump aboard the green train.

Here’s an important tip:
Don’t re-use grey water.

Just don’t. Install water saving devices, get a rainwater tank, flush when brown, collect clean shower water (otherwise wasted while it’s warming up), just don’t use grey water. Everyone’s doing it, but almost no one is doing it properly, and there are consequences. You screw up your soil with excessive sodium, and the best cure is to flush it with fresh water. Great water saving technique. Listen to talk-back garden programs, and you’ll hear time and time again stories of people destroying plants and soil with grey water. Just stop it now.

There are pathogens, E. coli, oils, reedbed filters, sodium quantities, differences between laundry and bathroom grey water – and which to use on veggies and fruit trees, food residues, pH, petrochemicals, phosphorus, the many and varied laws for grey water, the pointlessness of most legal grey watering systems, sulphur, storage issues, laundry powders vs. laundry liquids, living walls, the list goes on.

Here’s what you can do:
1. Throw the grey water onto grass straight after you collect it. To do more than that will require you to throw money, or your brain, at it. Grey water systems are complicated and elaborate, you won’t get much in the way of returns on your investment – they are purely for the committed.
2. Use Earth Choice, Aware, or Seventh Generation products. There are better ones, but it's likely you'll be able to find these.

As an example, here’s the effort a “proper” greenie would put into choosing a laundry detergent:
There is a round-up of laundry detergents in Renew (Jan-Mar 2007), and Choice (April) magazines, gathered by http://www.lanfaxlabs.com.au/, so you’d aim to use the product that has the lowest sodium, phosphorus and sulphur, then further checking needs to be done to ensure that isn’t tested on animals, not made with petrochemicals, Australian made/product/owned (product miles), make sure it has recyclable packaging, doesn’t have phosphates or other magical brightening/softening/perfume/colour chemicals, is any of that data reputable in the first place, and ultimately – can I buy it easily (most decent products aren’t even on the average supermarket shelves) and does it even work well (this will require testing). After some research and testing, you'll know what's good.

5 Rage clips

2007-04-11T19:24:00.000+10:00

I got the taggage, so here’s the goods:

What I’d put on Rage:

Duran Duran - Girls On Film.

Because, well. It’s handy for Rage’s demographic. Was that pun too subtle?

Pearl Jam - Do The Evolution.

It’s got it all. Man’s evolution from barbarian caveman to barbarian modern man, and all the inhumanity in between. A poignant work of art.

Rage Against The Machine - Sleep Now In The Fire.

I shouldn’t really need to say why this rocks. But they stage an illegal gig outside the NYSE, Michael Moore gets detained, it parodies Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, got kick arse lyrics, passion, brilliant.

A Perfect Circle – Counting Bodies.

This appears to be a flash animation, but in music video form. Nice and powerful though.

Eminem – Mosh (Post election version)

The silly twat may have released it a LITTLE too late to have any effect, and it’s a tad corny. Heck, it’s probably even dishonest bandwagon-jumping, but it still rocks.

NB: I would have chosen Metallica’s One, (the one from the movie, not of the band) but it was taken

This wood smells illegal.

2007-04-10T18:53:00.000+10:00

AUSTRALIA will consider banning or confiscating furniture and other products made from logs illegally harvested overseas, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has pledged, as part of his initiative to combat global warming.

He claims consumers and the private sector should be alert to the origins of timber and to reject any suspect wood. How?

Well, it is obvious to anyone that knows anything about wood.

Illegal wood tastes different. It has a lighter and fruitier flavour than legally logged wood. Many materials have a similar tang when processed in violation of local laws, so this is not unusual.

When purchasing any timber product, Australian consumers have the right to request a taste-test prior to monetary exchange. This provides us the ability to ensure legality. Many unscrupulous dealers have been reluctant to allow buyers to take a sample, however the onus is on the consumer to insist that it is his/her right and responsibility to do so.

We should be very grateful for the specific taste difference of illegal wood, because without such a thing, it would be completely impossible to ensure that timber was harvested in a sustainable way – unless we have severe restrictions on any importation from nations that do not effectively enforce sensible logging practises.

Greenpeace has repeatedly called on the Government to follow the European Union, which is considering banning timber that cannot be independently certified as being legally logged.

Ultimately, Turnbull is considering a ban on illegal wooden goods, he even pledged it. Well, not to actually do it, he just pledged to consider it. My hero. Might want to look into our own illegal logging while he's at it. Y'know those ones where it's a handful of greenies against the government/loggers? Take the log out of your own pulp mill, etc.

Rant

2007-04-05T22:21:00.000+10:00

OK, I’m just going to have a rant.

First up: GlaxoSmithKline.

Now I can understand how a jar of homemade marmalade sold at a local fete might not have the most accurate nutrition information slapped on the side. I’ll forgive it because there is hardly an easy way for Mrs Jones from down the road to get access to scientific instrumentation to analyse said product.

She doesn’t have the same equipment as, say, the second largest pharmaceutical company in the world. And, it seems, even a business of that size can struggle with checking its own claims. But if 14 year old students are expected to perform the lab work for multinationals, there’s a problem.

What happened here? Did you forget to chuck in the vitamin C into Ribena? Was the vitamin guy off sick? Did your obsessive processing reduce the quantity of the nutrient? How did you not notice? Surely you didn’t just simply lie? You are mostly a drug company, it’s kind of important for you to do adequate testing on your products.

And while I’m at it – can you cut back on the doctor kick-backs a little – there’s one GP I dub ‘the GlaxoSmithKline lady’ – no matter what ails you, they have a product that can cure it. Like when I went in for a certificate for a cold I was almost entirely over (just a bit of mucus left) – and got a prescription for freaking Ventolin.

Climate Change Denials.

I don’t have any particular problem with ExxonMobil’s impressive efforts to question the validity of climate change. They’re protecting their interests; a lot of companies do the same in various ways.

I start to have a problem when they enter the realms of both deception and risk. All businesses and people should be free to protect their interests by funding studies, lobbying, etc, just as long as it does not depart from reality or pose a danger. And if they do indeed resort to both (which is obviously the case for ExxonMobil) their argument is void, and there should be penalties.

The fossil fuel sector is hardly at fault, it is merely a machine of business, there will be no success in pleading to its morals if they conflict with its existence. Business is never going to work that way, but feel free to boycott. Legislators bear the entire blame for any corporate machine that protects its survival at the risk of living beings.

Easter

2007-04-05T01:04:00.000+10:00

It’s Easter time.

Sure it’s a religious day, but there’s a four day weekend, an encouragement to eat round bits of chocolate, and everyone lies to children about magic bunny rabbits. What’s not to like?

They solve murders in Norway over Easter, as well as play Yahtzee. In Central Europe they have some freakish spanking ceremony – which I think should be extended to our culture.

But it’s really about that bohemian Jew, Jesus. When He died for the sins of man, and then came back to prove He really was the Messiah by visiting numerous reputable sources before flying away like Superman.

Jesus. The man that came down and to update the People Training Manual that God wrote. I think the Old Testament was a beta version or something, still had a few bugs in it – but as always, there was a rush to print. He must have been God’s secretary/sub-editor, and also His son. Probably a small family business I guess.

Anyway, he died for our sins. Which means two things:

1. He was executed for REALLLY trumped-up charges. For ALL the sins that will ever be committed? How could he be charged with things that were to occur millennia after his death?

2. There is only one person in Hell. Jesus. He died for our sins – all our sins are his to bear. He’s in Hell. With the devil. Playing poker.

We can honour this great martyr by:

1. Ensuring that trumped-up charges are never accepted ever again. Justice shall be a high priority, in His name.

2. Never worry about going to Hell. That would be tantamount to questioning Jesus’ commitment to dying for our sins. Maybe he skipped a few sins when filing the guilty plea? We might still go to Hell due to a clerical error on behalf of the Son of Man? I don’t think so – that’s blasphemy. I wouldn’t recommend committing sins willy nilly, just because the bar tab is paid in-full in advance, doesn’t mean become an alco' – it just means your concern about the price you’ll pay (in the afterlife) is no longer a concern.

So slack-off, spank, scoff, spin lies to children, and maybe, just maybe, do a little bit of sinning.

Hijacking misfortune

2007-04-04T20:39:00.000+10:00

Hijacking misfortune is a disgraceful act. A simple example would be to steal the wallet of an unconscious person, or exploiting vulnerable people in a financial scam.

There are more extreme examples, like hijacking disaster.

(Some) Christians have been doing this with recent disasters, the most recent being the Gizo quake/tsunami combo. I don’t have a problem with attempts to explain “acts of God”, or any attempts to help people cope with the situation. But to exploit tragedy for explicit desired outcomes – surely a special place in hell is reserved for those involved.

From an article titled: "Clergy blame sinners for tsunami."

Many clergy in the Solomon Islands… have blamed the catastrophe on people straying from Christian ways.

In Malakera, someone has painted on a smashed water tank the slogan: "Sin - contributing factor to destruction".

"This is a turning point for everybody. A reminder that God created the Earth," one young female survivor said.

Y’know what I reckon? Its proof that God thinks cheese can be pretty darn yummy. I’m speculating of course, and despite the assertion being no less absurd than God angrily killing people for obeying Him (yet disobeying His son), at least I don’t stand to gain from my explanation.

My lovely carbon lumps.

2007-04-03T22:42:00.000+10:00

There is a comforting thought that seems to be quite popular amongst people in this democracy: That despite the voters’ petty grievances and political differences, the politicians ultimately know better, and will do what is just.

Sure there might be an economic rationalist tweak with the Libs, but that will get a socialist twang with Labor, and we all break even in the end. They’re all knowing, all caring, and all doing. (Obviously this doesn't really apply to those that pay attention with an open mind, but that demographic is a freak-minority at best.)

But the issue of climate change completely throws that idea on its backside.

Svante Arrhenius was the first scientist to speculate in detail how burning fossil fuels and the increase in atmospheric carbon could lead to global warming.

In 1896.

111 years ago. The same year x-rays were discovered, and just over a decade after the first gasoline automobile. (The greenhouse effect itself was "discovered" in 1824.)

And his predictions aren’t that far from current IPCC estimates – although he thought it a positive scenario. Of course, it wasn’t until the 60-70's that the science solidified, and the threat became clear.

Our government has really done much since then. Recycling became the norm, a few environmental flows went into the rivers, a few token biomass and wind turbines in recent years, a few banned pesticides, catalytic converters, changes in fuel.

But we’re still the world’s second worst polluter on a per capita basis.

Victoria’s state ALP government can’t even bring itself to go ahead with the planned decommission of the dirtiest power station in the industrialised world.

We have both federal and state governments refusing to allow electric cars to be made legal (apart from the recent eleventh-hour WA trial), while other nations subsidize the very same vehicles.

The current political fight to be seen as dealing with climate change has not only steered well clear of making the tough decisions, but is based almost solely on gaining votes rather than environmental concern. I wouldn't hold the public accountable for this - they were mostly unaware (or doubtful) of climate change (sounds like a conspiracy, and if the government is doing nothing, it must be rubbish), and thus couldn't create the voting pressure to affect change. The blame lies solely in the governments that knew, ignored advice, and did nothing. Garnering votes was considered more important than saving the environment.

Today’s policies should have been 1970, 1980, 1990 policies. You can’t turn around from those decades of inaction and claim to champion the cause. It won’t fly. Today’s decisions are harder than they could have otherwise been.

(Just saw Kevin Rudd shovelling chunks of carbon piled high, pending their great journey into the atmosphere on the news, I think that about sums it up.)

Quotes.

2007-04-03T21:08:00.000+10:00

Here are my 5 quotes from that tagging thing Mikey did ages ago.

1. "The mobile phone user is the new drink driver"
Bicycle Victoria president Harry Barber. Very true.

2. “Windmills do not work that way.”
Morbo, Futurama. See here. Cracks me up everytime I hear it.

3. “Elastic bands are made from recycled steam trains.”
Uncyclopedia article on elastic. So subtle, yet so ludicrous.

4. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride. Brillo.

I had a fifth, but I'm not sure where it went.

Terminator vs Jesus

2007-03-30T23:36:00.000+10:00

Brilliant.

Things I've figured out by myself.

2007-03-29T01:39:00.000+10:00

The homophobic often make the claim that being gay is a choice, which seems rediculous to most straight or openly gay people, because we just simply look at the gender we do not preference and say: "nup, not doing anything for me. Them's the breaks."

It's not complicated, they just don't get the juices flowing. Willing but not able.

I had a thought though - the seemingly strange homophobe idea that its a choice may simply stem from the fact that it IS a choice - to them.

Not that it SEEMS like a choice, it IS a choice. They're gay, but they CHOOSE not to be. And they despise the fact all these cunningly attractive homosexuals, and they way they wiggle oh-so temptingly, taunt them away from their choice.

Why would you choose to be gay? It may be trendy in some way, but it's hardly convenient. Why would you choose to be straight? Ooh, where to begin. Persecution? Hatred? Fear? Shame?

Stop bashing gays or get out of the closet. That's your choice.

Hicks scores holiday.

2007-03-28T19:21:00.000+10:00

It seems David Hicks will face the harshest prisons we can throw at him, or as he will see the situation: he’ll be rewarded with a holiday.

Suspected terrorists? Violate their rights!
Actual terrorists? Free international flight to comparative vacation camp*

I feel safer already.

* Flight dependant on the political convenience of plea.

Chaser's Countdown.

2007-03-26T00:27:00.000+10:00

What the hell is this?

There's some sort of weird Chaser countdown reality-TV website, like a freakish late night quiz show but without any overtly obvious purpose whatsoever. People seem to sit around in a room, making idle words, strewn with a reminder of the countdown and taking phone calls and SMS's.

Best check it out soon, there's 2 days left of counting down to go.

I'm as excited as the next bloke, but.. odd.

http://www.countdowntothechaser.com.au/

Gut-full.

2007-03-22T23:30:00.000+11:00

I think I may have just had a gut-full.

I’m growing incredibly tired of Labor’s attacks on the Greens.

Firstly it was Morris Iemma’s slamming their drugs policy. Saying they are out of touch, it will never happen, "it is just an absurd and ridiculous and disgusting policy."

*sigh* Thanks. Thanks heaps for that, I wasn’t aware – when Family First, the Liberals, Exclusive Brethren, and random right wing columnists, bloggers and others made the same judgement, I just wasn’t paying attention.

It’s not absurd, ridiculous or disgusting. It’s logical, proven effective (unlike the current strategy, which doesn’t appear to be working), and recommended by drug NGO’s. I doubt Iemma believes the policy is so repulsive either, he is simply exploiting a double-whammy by scoring points with the average-Joe as well as tainting the Greens with the extremist brush.

Harm to the Greens helps the Labor party, but it doesn’t help the left-wing cause. Nor does it raise the ALP up the moral ladder. What are the NSW Greens doing with their preferences in response to Iemma’s attack? Still giving them to the ALP of course. The Greens will once again help elect the same party that molested them.

Paul Austin hits the mark in today’s Age.

The emergence of the Greens as serious players on the Victorian political stage… has exploded the myth that Labor and the leftist minor party are somehow de facto partners against the conservative forces. In fact, the Greens are an electoral threat to Labor in its heartland.

Bracks relished the face-to-face combat with the Greens during the campaign, rejoiced in his success in putting down the Greens challenge in the lower house, and is on a mission to ensure the Greens never do as well again at a Victorian election. The tactic now is the same as it was during the campaign: to link the Greens hierarchy — the strategists and now the MPs — with the Liberals, when the average Greens rank-and-file member regards the Liberals as beyond the pale.

Labor's campaign manager… reckons he knows why the Greens' support fell away in he last days of the campaign. He has told cabinet and caucus members it was because of Labor's loud assertions that the Greens had done a secret preferences deal with the Liberals.

Labor is quite proud of its slander.

Labor strategists believe it is electoral poison for the Greens to be seen to be in bed with the Liberals. That's why the Government is now talking up the Greens' voting record in the upper house. In the 30 or so split votes since November 25, the Greens have never sided with Labor. Not once. They have, almost without exception, voted with the Liberals.

The Greens haven’t sided with Labor, and with good reason. They voted for more government transparency – a left position. Liberals want it because it will help their numbers (they are against such things when in power, so it’s a shift of position). Labor voted against it because it will expose their shame. Greens voted for it because IT WAS THEIR ELECTION PROMISE TO DO SO. The Greens aren’t siding with the Liberals, the Liberals are siding with the Greens.

The Greens and their supporters want things changed and fixed. It’s not easy, it’s frustrating at every turn trying to be green/left. Infuriating even. Case in point - a fellow-traveller today got gang-mocked during his lunch break by apolitical peers when discussing global warming – for suggesting it was even remotely a concern. Right-wing assaults are expected, the inability for the average-Joe to read all party policy and judge for themselves is wearisome, but ALP (or Democrat) assaults to gain popular votes in spite of progressive progress are an absolute disgrace.

The decision to put Labor second is not automatic, it is pained over. This crap will only make that decision a little easier.

I (didn't particularly) wanna be sedated.

2007-03-19T19:16:00.000+11:00

"Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no oh oh oh oh."

(Methinks the Ramones were a little ahead of their time.)

Also, I've speculated that future history classes will discuss the (national disgrace) David Hicks situation more than (just another PM) John Howard. Currently on Wikipedia, John Howard's article is 15 pages long, David Hicks' is already 16.

The Impersonator

2007-03-16T20:20:00.000+11:00

The Pentagon has released further confessions of terror suspect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - claiming it proves that torture provides excellent testimony. According the transcript, Khalid (pictured) has confessed to starting World War 1, sinking the Titanic, and impersonating Ron Jeremy*.

* It had to be said, we were all thinking it - don't pretend you weren't.

News Crunch.

2007-03-14T21:59:00.000+11:00

China to cut executions. The number of executions in China is a state secret, but we are now to be assured that whatever it is, it’ll be slowly reduced. Mmm.. comforting.

Greens groups slam 'ghost flights'. An airline has been running passenger-free "ghost flights" for five months to hang on to a prized landing slot at Heathrow. I just want to know if the ghosts are carbon neutral.

Leftie me. Cartoon hero Michael Leunig brings out big sarcastic word-guns and opens fire. Classic.

Out of the $410 million spent in the Federal Government’s $500 mil low-emission technology development fund, $335 mil went to fossil-fuel, and $75 mil to renewable sectors. Weak.

The Work-Life Balance

2007-03-13T00:32:00.000+11:00

I thought I'd mess around with Flash today and see how hard it'd be to whip up a simple, yet thought-provoking, animation. So I did.

(It's just easier to chuck it on YouTube instead of finding a Flash host.)

Wiki-Hunt

2007-03-07T23:33:00.000+11:00

OK, this is lame, and I have no life. I call it.. um… a Wiki-Hunt.

You decide on a prominent article in Wikipedia, and your goal is to reach that article via links, starting from a random article.

I tried it, to see if it works – check it out:

Desired article: Jello Biafra.

Clicked Random Article, got:
Lysogeny broth, a nutritionally rich medium used to grow bacteria. Not sure where to go, I click on:

Vitamins. It has a link to Russia, when it mentions that in 1881, Nikolai Lunin studied the effects of scurvy.

Russia. It has a link to the USA.

USA. Now it gets tough, there are many places to go here. I chose conscription for some reason – sounds like something he’d be against.

Conscription. That links to libertarians. Getting warmer.

Libertarianism links to Green libertarianism, which links to Green Party (US), to Ralph Nader, to Category: US Green Party politicians, to Jello Biafra.

It works! But I don’t think it’s much fun.

ALP bites Greens.

2007-03-05T20:34:00.000+11:00

The Bracks ALP state government is accusing the Greens of:
* hypocrisy
* trying to help the Liberals win government
* the Greens had moved closer to the Liberals
* it's a natural coalition of convenience but there is extraordinary hypocrisy
* the state Greens and state Liberals are tactically planning every single step in Parliament
* they work in total tandem, they operate together
* they are as tight a coalition in Parliament as the federal Liberal and National Party coalition are in Government
* the Greens were attempting to weaken Labor to win seats from them at the next election
* the hypocrisy of this is they make it more likely to have Liberal governments

Labor's leader in the upper house, John Lenders, said that on every vote where the two major parties had split in the Parliament, the Greens had supported the Liberals.

He said the parties were on different ends of the political spectrum and it would be like Labor having an alliance with One Nation.

Sounds nasty.

But Greens MP Greg Barber said the Greens were only doing what people had
elected them for.

"The Greens platform at the last election, above all else really, was to make the Parliament work, to give it the tools to do its job," he said. "That's what we've been doing, pretty successfully, and the Government doesn't like it."

Mr Barber defended the Greens' ability to work with the Liberals. "What he (Mr Lenders) is saying is 'if you are not with us, you're against us'. Where have I heard that before?" he said.

The Greens were only trying to give Victoria "the most open and accountable Parliament there is", he said.

Mr Barber said that when Parliament resumed, the Greens would push to make key parliamentary committees more independent and give the Parliament more power to demand documents from the Government.

Greens count the gains

Victorian Greens MP Greg Barber says his party's achievements within the first three weeks of Parliament include:

■ Reforming question time.
■ Establishing a gambling inquiry.
■ Allowing more time for private member's bills and debates.
■ Allowing equal speaking rights for all parties and members.
■ Proposed donation law reform.

From what I’ve seen, the Greens haven’t strayed from the goals stated in their election campaign. “Mr Barber also vowed to pursue the continuous reform of Parliament… But it was on poker machines that Mr Barber indicated the Greens would push the Government hard.” - from Greg Barber's maiden speech.

That’s not hypocritical, that’s doing exactly what they said they would. Increasing accountability and transparency, establishing a gambling inquiry isn't going to damage a decent government.

*ahem*

Latest news bits.

2007-03-05T19:08:00.000+11:00

Howard 'very angry' over Hicks delay

How does he make the transition from 5 years of indifference to very angry? What an act.

Gangland lawyer, Zarah Garde-Wilson, in court accused of owning an unregistered pistol.

Letters to the editor confirm: many males content to have her own their unregistered pistols.

This just in - despite News Corps stake in Fairfax, The Age still totally refuses to go down the Page 3 Girl route.

This also just in - The Age also has a gallery of "Melbourne's glamour lawyer", with plenty of cleavage and tight busty attire! Classy.

Keating comes to Rudd's defence
On an issue absolutely no one cares about. Seriously, people haven't heard of Mr Burke, and they just don't give a flying.

1000 words x 8

2007-03-03T13:08:00.000+11:00

As Mikey and Jezza point out, the Liberal's site is all set for an election win, and the looping images at the top are great:

John Howard watches the shores.
Guardian against evil boat-persons.

(Must be an old photo - back when rain-coats had a purpose.)

John Howard deceives children with tall fishing tales, whilst demonstrating the open-hand, palms-facing-each-other technique used during elections.

Howard explains to Downer the open-hand gesticulation for the third time. Tony and Peter wish Alexander could learn things more easily.

After rounding up all the children that wave the Australian flag backwards, Howard begins the process of re-education.

Here we see one of the handful of people that have approached Howard over the years and said something positive about him, his party, and where he can shove his policies.

Peter Costello, the Treasurer. Not the leader, the treasurer. Here he is with financial data, because that is what he plays with all day, and that's not going to change. Ever.

Bra straps just fall off when the ladies see Howard's Akubra.

Howard demonstrates his patented double-high-five, perfected over his many successful elections.

Clean Filth

2007-02-25T21:00:00.000+11:00

Recent scientific developments have resulted in some remarkable achievements.

Clean-Filth - a device has been designed that will convert the filth in the home into Clean-Filth, rather than simply cleaning the house itself.

Ice-Lite - a low calorie and slightly-reduced-methamphetamine drug, which should make it entirely legal and incredibly safe to be used even by children, and those operating heavy machinery.

Dehydrated Water - sure to solve the water crisis, an empty satchel can be poured into your water tank that will adjust the quantity of water to approximately 100%.

Major-Cop-Out - a technique developed by the All Change Is Inherently Evil Institute, that encourages the continuation of the status quo (such as safeguarding jobs for the sole purpose of maintaining votes), regardless of impending environmental consequences, etc.

Idiot-Free Politics - both major parties disband.

Clean-Coal: Rudd proposes clean-coal fund.

It's uncanny!

Cluster buster.

2007-02-25T11:36:00.000+11:00

46 nations push for cluster bomb treaty

Forty-six countries agreed Friday to push for a global treaty banning cluster bombs, a move activists hope will force the superpowers that oppose the effort — the U.S., China and Russia — to abandon the weapons.

Cluster bombs. I like to call them, itty-bitty-auto-terrorists, on account of the fact they like to hang around and kill children far more than other ordinance.

Well, except land mines.

Japan, Poland and Romania rejected the declaration. The U.S., Russia, Israel and China snubbed the conference, but Canada, Britain and Germany were on board this time.

Apparently, the Ottawa Treaty that bans anti-personnel land mines still hasn’t been signed by China, Russia or the US, and has been quite effective in stopping the major powers, so it's a positive sign.

Also, mines placed during the Falklands War have kept humans away from areas of Argentina and The Falkland Islands, which resulted in a safe haven for penguins to breed.

The Watched Get To Whinge.

2007-02-23T23:33:00.000+11:00

Media Watch victims to have their say on air.
This is great news. A great day for justice and fairness.

You see, the evil lefties at Stalinist ABC's Media Watch, for some reason, cast a judgemental eye on the media.

I know - I cannot think of a single person that would have thunk that.

They pick of frivolous things. Deceit, lies, plagurism, race hate, the list continues.

This is all directed at those in the media - journalists, editors, opinion columnists. Where the great injustice lies, is with the right of reply. How on earth are those directly involved in the media supposed to get access to the media in order to defend themselves? It's impossible, an absurd notion. Their ability to defend themselves is a great concern to the public.

Suspended Exclusivity

2007-02-23T23:11:00.000+11:00

No luxuries. Except vehicles it seems.

The SMH and The Age picked this up (and Sez got to it before me) – in Tasmania, 3 members of the Exclusive Brethren got suspended sentences due to criminal activity.

Seems a chap left the Brethren, and “extraordinary and appalling” steps were taken to ensure he never had a relationship with his children. Seems its “emotional abuse.” Seems they flouted court orders.

To be fair, they did go through the proper channels to get family law changed, lobbying government - kudos goes to all parties for preventing that from happening. But, if the government you support won’t make your inhumane actions legal, you have little right to continue unabated.

The old Brethster is often accused of amassing “fighting funds” that are given to families to fight Family Court cases against infidel heretical parents. In this case, $50,000 was amassed for the case to be fought in the Family Court – but, according to the mother, it was just a loan.

Apparently, “it's a system of society of love that you (the father’s council) probably don't understand.”

I don’t know if it’s that difficult to understand. Love may be a four letter word, but it doesn’t usually involve tens of thousands of dollars to hire a QC to prevent your children knowing their father due to the fact he has made slight adjustments to his religious beliefs.

That’s more a system of society of reprisal, or possibly hatred.

During evidence, the mother laughed when asked if there was a photograph of the children's father in the house.

Asked if she had told him that he became a grandfather late in January, she said: "That's not my responsibility."

"That's extraordinary," Justice Benjamin said. "How sad it was that this house was so poisonous to the father that they could not even have a photograph of the father in their home."

Ice cold. And it doesn’t seem like it’s over yet – “The mother also gave evidence that if according to her conscience the law of the land conflicted with God's law, she would reject it.” I don’t know law, but if you violate the same order that resulted in a suspended sentence, I imagine you get a bit of jail time.

Be a martyr, anonymous EB mother, I double dare you.

Two finals notes – the mother’s other lawyer failed in an attempt to close the court to The Age (glad that failed), and why isn’t Family First championing this fight instead of the Greens? These are families directly under attack.

Blunnies.

2007-02-18T20:01:00.000+11:00

I was going to comment on Blundstone manufacturing leaving these shores, especially after I praised them many posts ago, but I didn’t.

Now I’m going to, because they soaked up 100’s of 1000’s of dollars before it moved, and will be applying for more.

$345,000 to be precise, from a scheme to aid an industry struggling against cheap imports – the government claims it wouldn’t have paid, had they known.

They’ve received $10 million in the 16 years since 1991 and they produce 1.4 million boots a year, 200,000 would still be made in Hobart, with almost 250 job losses.

Let’s do a little math on that.
250 people make 1.2 million boots a year.
Each manufacturing employee makes 4,800 boots a year, or 13 boots a day.
The prices retail from around $80 to $125, with kids around $65.
Let’s say they get a decent wage, around $20 an hour, or $160 a day.
$160 to make 13 boots is about $12 in labour costs per boot.

But wait, they get money from the government, should factor that in.
$345k from 1.2 million is about 28c off that, so $11.72.

Of course, $10 million over 16 years means they usually get twice that - 60c, $11.30 per boot.

Let’s say retailers have a whopping great 100% markup, and for every manufacturing dollar spent, there is one for sales/marketing, and another for management.

So a $100 shoe is $50 wholesale, $11.30 + ($12 x 2) to make, leaves $35.30. A profit margin of 29.4%. That margin increases to 48%, assuming the shipping and labour is free. Which it isn’t.

It’s not done because of necessity, it done:
* out of greed
* it’s a nice way to increase profit margins
* there is little penalty in outsourcing overseas (read: tariffs)

You cannot stop greed or a desire to increase profits, that’s communism.
You can reduce the feasibility of outsourcing overseas, that’s protectionism.

If you want any jobs, let alone real and diverse jobs (and true independence) in any given country, you have to pick one.

They have a marketing “Here are the facts” on their website now, which just lists the same information reported in the media, while just neglecting the negative facts.

Buying Blundstone is still plausible – just make sure to check the label. But I don't imagine they'll survive the boycotts from their greatest customers.

V Day.

2007-02-14T20:55:00.000+11:00

It’s Valentine's Day, and you know what that means!

Self-righteous bloggers harping on about the commercialisation of it, the pointlessness (and odd admiration) of mutilated plants and the meaning of giving them (here, they smell nice, they look nice, so try to stop them from dying straight away), and giving overpriced chocolate boxes to that special person blah blah blah, you get the idea.

Well not this little green puppy, I say – bring it on. We’re just doing what we normally do, and nothing special or interesting. But – I just really don’t care about it.

My Boony/Beefy dolls had a valentine’s message – I think Beefy said “go on, give us a kiss then” to Boony, which is great. Homoerotic dolls.

Wikipedia.

2007-02-13T23:04:00.000+11:00

I was looking up on cetaceans, and I discovered a fascinating fact - as one often does when browsing Wikipedia...

I was sceptical at first, but it was on Wikipedia, so it must be true. Evolution Is A Lie, God Created Everything.

See, I had no idea. Wow. It's Also Acceptable To Place All First Letters In A Sentence In Uppercase. Double wow.

Holy crap, I just refreshed that page and that enlightening info appears to have been removed. Darn.

Couple of things.

2007-02-12T22:03:00.000+11:00

Why isn’t this news? I was flipping through the latest Hansard when I came across this:

SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS
Senator NETTLE (New South Wales) (10.45 am)—I move:
That the Senate notes the right of the Australia Capital Territory Government to legislate for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

AYES: ALP, Greens, Democrats, Family First.
NOES: Liberals, Nationals.

On page 15 (PDF page 29), of 08/02/2007 Hansard.

Family First, sticking up for the rights of same-sex couples? Nice, although Fielding just seems to be voting the same was as Greens on everything nowadays... People, please - read Hansards.

REVA

In other unrelated news, apparently the Reva electric car has, seemingly in the 11th hour, been accepted for a trial in WA. It's not much, but it's a start.

Howard sizzles.

2007-02-12T21:34:00.000+11:00

Little Johnny, the cracks are showing.

Wow, just.. wow. First Howard cocks up by mis-hearing a climate change question in parliament, then he gets both pwned in the polls, and makes some hideously irrational jibe at US Democrat hopeful Obama.

It's a little sad to see him burn out like this. I think I noticed a slight tear whilst he was (obviously) feigning a jolly disposition.

The Exclusive Brethren better start backing Labor, or maybe Dem/Greens - we need that strong US alliance to fend off those pesky Asians.

Speak of EB,

I notice Sarah and I had our blogs linked to by peebs.net, "a cyber-community where those who have escaped (or are about to escape) the EB can come to find Help, Friends and a Safe Place." I've been there a few times, they appear to provide an amazing service to survivors, for which they should be commended.

Apparently, the clarity of my post was encouraging (I'm honoured), and "the above commentary was echoed in another well-constructed Blog called 'The Voice of Today's Apathetic Youth'".

Coal Miners Saved!

2007-02-12T01:59:00.000+11:00

Anna Boobs Nicole Sm.. boobs.

2007-02-10T00:26:00.000+11:00

Anna Nicole Smith was found unresponsive in her room around 1:30Am.

I'd just like to say - that pretty much sums me up, I'm unresponsive until around 8-ish most days.

Anna, you are weak. Goodbye.

Oh, and drugs - they're bad.

Australian's all let us fear this:

2007-02-09T18:51:00.000+11:00

So Mandy wrote a song about all the things we, as Australians, value. Not sure if it's what we all value, or what most of us value, or just some of us, or if it's what we are supposed to value if we are true-blue Aussies, or if these are just the values FOB's are supposed to value, if they are for immigrants as well as refugees, darkies as well as proper people, or what. (I could go on.)

I have penned (does entering it via a keyboard count as penning it?) I have keyboarded a bit of a song, it's unfinished so far, about all the things we, as Australians, fear.

(Or are supposed to be fearful of.) Some of it rhymes already, the rest are just notes.

I call it: Nothing To Fear, But:

We have nothing to fear but:

(RHYMES:)

Airline cutlery
Heavily spectated scenes

Brownies on the beaches
Polly-fiddling preachers

Pocket knives, box knives
All a threat to your lives
Any metal - don't fly
That guys got a shifty eye

Bombs in: buses and planes,
And the Commonwealth Games, (ooh I wrote this a while back, but it was a big issue.)
Any underground trains
Wiggling plastic in the brain (with respect, I believe that's one of Vanstones...?)

(DOESN'T RHYME:)

towel heads
hermits from afghanistan
icbms
running rampant government
authoritiarian states
lost freedoms
poverty
hidden women in burkas
bulky out of season clothing
backpacks
suspicious activity
the use of a garage in strange hours
photography of buildings, bridges, statues,
North Korea (not) South Korea (but) Marilyn Manson (We Didn't Start the Fire ref.)
insurgents
extremists
queue jumpers
etc..

and maybe, if there's any left, you might just fear fear itself.

That's all so far, I'm sure there's more we need to fear. Hopefully it will be completed one day, and it can be ~~a matra~~ sung at schools, so that our children, and our children's children, can be constantly reminded of what we are supposed to fear. Lest they forget, and grow relaxed and content.

Exclusive Brethren at it again.

2007-02-09T00:18:00.000+11:00

Those Exclusive Brethren just can’t get a break. The Age got hold of a nasty little letter (which doesn't show up in their own search anymore - cease and desist maybe?) from a few years back, that pretty much said the following:

Howard will maintain economic prosperity.

It seems Howard’s Christian reign is the Exclusive Brethren’s reward for their “maintenance of the Divine standard". I’m not entirely sure why God can no longer be trusted, but it seems he needs a helping hand. Maybe they’ve strayed from their path, and direct action to support Howard is the only way.

There is an “Asian threat” that Howard will deal with.

We need to strengthen ties with the USA and Britain to ‘protect us from the Asian threat”.

And the Whitlam Labor government years were “awful”.

“There was (a) serious decline in moral standards resulting in bad laws, strikes and union strife, poor economic management, high unemployment, very high interest rates (and) difficult trading conditions”.

From Matthew, 21:12: “Thou shalt strive for good laws, obedient workers, weak unions, good economic management, low unemployment, low interest rates, and above all else (bar support of Jesus), thou shalt strive for a free market economy.”

(You sort of have to translate it a bit creatively, but that’s hardly new…A more accurate translation has Jesus having a bit of a hissy fit over people mixing business with religion – which is pretty much exactly what the Exclusive Brethren does.)

"The media have joined with the opposition to attempt to discredit the Prime Minister (John Howard) and make him a liar based on falsehoods …" they said. "We should be cast on our faces before God and be united in spirit and in prayer, so that He may come in for us in view of the present government being retained."

It’s a media-ALP conspiracy to call him a liar by lying about his lies! Howard is (or at least, his spin doctors are) mostly too clever to lie outright, but there are a few out there. But what I don’t understand is, how can you tell that the media is spreading lies when you are not allowed access to media due to your faithful convictions? How does that work? Did you accidentally glance at a newspaper and pick all that up? Without access to any form of media, how can you have the vaguest idea of what’s happening in the outside world, let alone anything resembling a (seemingly not obvious to the rest of us) detailed knowledge of modern politics and a current media conspiracy?

Maybe God told them? Must've.

Their ex-leader claims this is a “call to arms”, but the next day (and someone in the Brethren must got the heads-up from Jesus about the article in the newspaper about them) a certain Phil McNaughton from Beecroft NSW wrote a letter to the editor.

Phil claims the article had a “number of inaccuracies”. It wasn’t a call for action, it was just a call to pray for Howard to win (I guess the action that ensued from the call-to-action-that-wasn’t must have just been a misunderstanding.) Actually, not a misunderstanding according to Phil, just a coincedence.

All those occurrences, in the USA, New Zealand, Australian federal, Tasmanian, Victorian – coincidences. Just because Exclusive Brethren members in various locations just happened to do the same thing at the same applicable time, sometimes in the same format, is just a fluke.

They do regret the use of “Asian threat” as a term, what they meant was that ties with the US and Britain need to be totally solid especially due to the South-East Asian terrorism threat.

Because, y’know, helping them out in every single war thus far just doesn’t cut it. And, well, the US has been known to leave us both to die alone before, so it could happen again. And if anyone knows how to stop the terrorists, it’s those two.

Anyway, he continues thusly:

“Mr Bachelard claims the letter was signed by each of the church's state leaders. The church has no state leaders. In fact, four of the eight signatories live in NSW.” I have no idea how that last sentence has any purpose whatsoever. Four of the eight are from NSW? The other four could be from the remaining 5 states. And don’t chastise a reporter for inaccuracies about a secret cult – that’s like getting mad when someone doesn’t know the number you’re thinking of. There is only one leader, and that’s Jesus Christ. Actually no, it’s Bruce Hales. Sorry, I always get those two mixed up.

“The letter was written by concerned senior members of the church.” Oh, they weren’t leaders, just one Elect Vessel, and it’s just a simple little letter by concerned folk. Senior folk. That all signed it.

“Considering the outcome of the 2004 election, I am confident many Australians, whatever their religious beliefs, shared their views.” Oh so true, we’ve never been in so much debt, the country is on fire or burnt (no word on brimstone), there’s no water, interest rates are up, there’s a struggle to find homes, to simply survive, we can only make any money from selling rocks...

Yeah, I’m with you on that one.

(Oh, and under Rudd, the ALP might grow some balls and vote for the Greens renewed call for an inquiry, he's "concerned", but hasn't committed. Will update with the results.)