Archive for August, 2007

govt still meeting with extremist Christian group, rabid anti-Islamic ‘thinker’

22Aug07

Repeating the mantra that members of parliament meet with Australian citizens “all the time”, it has emerged that the Government’s links to the extremist Christian sect the Exclusive Brethren remain as strong as ever. As mentioned previously (1, 2), the sect both prohibits its members from voting or from participating in society generally, and […]

trade your vote in for a new one

08Aug07

This is an interesting development in the US - an appellate court has ruled that it is legal to ’swap’ votes, and also to facilitate the swapping of votes.
The idea emerged in the 2000 presidential election campaign - supporters of third-party candidate Ralph Nader and supporters of Al Gore would strategically swap votes to maximise […]

use telstra and no-one gets hurt

02Aug07

This has to be a new low in corporate spin, even for Telstra.  Apparently if genuine competition is allowed in the Australian broadband market, we will be more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Conveniently this directly links Telstra’s near-monopoly position and commercial success with the safety of Australians who (rightly or wrongly) are genuinely afraid of terrorism. 
Obviously the […]

a big week for the separation of powers

01Aug07

This week is turning into a big week for the notion of the separation of powers in Australia.  As you (should) know, the separation of power between the judiciary and the parliament/executive is one of the devices included in our Constitution to prevent abuses of power by those who govern on our behalf.
In addition to the clash […]