spin of the week

The Australian runs a ridiculous front page story which describes a poll showing an electoral disaster for the Government as “HOWARD CHECKS RUDD’S MARCH!!!!1!!!11!!” (NB: there may have been fewer ‘!!1!’s).

Independent (and very excellent) political analysis

islamofascists want to blow up your cat

…at least that seems to be the case according to “Let’s Get Ready Sydney“, a disturbingly Cold War-esque (and red, really, really red) website about planning for an ‘emergency’ that might cause you to leave your home in…

Australia: subject to the laws of the United States

You may have come across this story over the last few months – one Mr Hew Griffiths, an Australian software pirate – was extradited to the United States and prosecuted for offences under US copyright law. He subsequently

an enemy of the open society

This article from The Australian, entitled “Silencing Our Basic Freedom”, is compulsory reading for anyone who cares about the future of democracy in Australia. This blog is frequently critical of that particular newspaper, but on this issue it is fighting…

petitio principii

This is a dangerous piece of circular reasoning: the solution to the problems created by an ageing population is to increase population growth.

The ‘logic’ employed appears to be that, in order to sustain the current number of…

census: ‘no religion’ now equal to Anglicanism in Australia

The 2006 census has been published, and amongst many interesting trends, the figures show that people of “no religion” numbered 3.7 million at the time of the census – only 11,691 fewer than the number of Anglicans, and…

a good compromise leaves everyone unhappy

This proposal about reform of the way the board of the national broadcaster is composed is very welcome news – both in the context of ensuring that there is at least one relatively neutral and unbiased source of…

are we, or the media really this stupid?

This is the headline this afternoon from the ABC news website:

The headline is a reference to the proposal that Australia implement a carbon trading scheme to (finally) start doing something about our greenhouse…

david hicks in sa – a bill of attainder?

As you are no doubt aware, David Hicks is now back in Australia and locked away in a maximum security prison in Adelaide. The South Australian government in its wisdom has now announced legislation to stop Hicks from…

exclusive brethren under investigation for election advertising

The Electoral Commission has finally referred the matter of the Exclusive Brethren cult’s involvement in the funding of pro-Government election ads at the last election to the Australian Federal Police.   A company linked to the cult spent more…

politician got on his jogging shoes

…he must be running for office, got no time to lose

I really enjoyed this post over at Blueberry Fool about the symbolism of concerns about terrorism leading to the public (and indeed, the Treasurer whilst…

how long can I stay drunk on fear out in the wilderness?

Amnesty International has published its annual report, and it’s not pretty reading for Australia. New Holland comes in for criticism in relation to a range of areas, but in particular our approach to terrorism, women’s rights, and the…

purity control

You’ve no doubt seen the proposed question for the Australian cultural and ideological purity control test over the weekend: link here in case you haven’t.

Some of the questions are, as John Quiggan puts it, nothing…

those who fail to learn the lessons of history

Is the government doomed to repeat the lesson Paul Keating and the ALP received in 1996? This article is certainly cause for reflection: a summary of the major newspapers’ views on the parties leading into the 96 election.…

cold november rain

It sounds very much like we will be having a federal election in November, which is no great surprise. It’s interesting to reflect for a moment on why the hell we have a system in which…