Thanks to the wikileaks releases see here we're getting to confirm what we've always suspected about the Indian authorities in Kashmir - there's systematic abuse and persecution of the Muslim majority.
While I won't get into the politics of who should control the region, the current overseers India are behaving the way (unfortunately) most states do when administering a hated minority within their boundary.
While India is a nation of about a billion people and its easy to find negative examples to make a point about their government, it would appear to clearly show now that India is a systematic abuser of the human rights of its Muslim occupants in Kashmir (at least).
But India is not a country we hear much about in relation to extremists and terrorists in the western media. They're too strategically important a country to get off side, and we're (the west) even willing to throw nuclear export technology their way to keep them happy....even though they refuse to sign the nuclear non Proliferation Pact.....which I consider scandalous, and not to mention incredibly irresponsible.
So instead we continue to paint this rosy picture of India as the world's biggest democracy with harmonious ethnic minorities. Yet the state continues to brutalise the Kashmiries, and the Hindu extremists continue to go to work on their perceived enemies too.
I don't forsee a bright future here......
Thursday, December 30, 2010
rail union picking a fight with Ted Baillieu over the PSOs
I was interested to read the chest thumping recently by the Rail,Tram & Bus Union (RTBU) over the incoming Baillieu Government's policy of having Victoria Police Protective Services Officers (PSOs) on every train station after 6pm.
The RTBU came out (predictably) against the plan, and even went so far as to hint at strike action over the proposal. This union has been quite pragmatic since the Kennett era public sector purges of the 90s nearly destroyed them, having shown admirable evasiveness and flexibility to first survive, then to strengthen. The RTBU (through its ambitious ALP pre-selection hopeful Trevor Dobbin) wants the 940 odd prospective PSO recruits to be converted to rail customer service staff instead, but of course the true reason for this is that the RTBU wants another 940 union members which helps cement their strength....it has nothing to do with what's good or bad for the travelling public. It is a turf war plain and simple, better we have 940 new members rather than the police union?
But the union's move in making veiled threats of strike action was bad politics if nothing else. Think about it, you have a newly elected Government coming to power on one of the few election promises that actually resonated with the voters, a plan to visibly reduce the perceived safety threat on public transport! Now they just look like an out of touch band of 70s style ruffians.
A much better way to get their point across to government would be to seek meetings to sort through the logistics of the proposals (of which there are many), and if the RTBU doesn't like the answers they get back, there are plenty of ways to frustrate the government and win concessions. For example, the union can instruct all station staff to refuse to cooperate with the PSOs in any way, ie. refuse to let them in the station to use the toilet or have a meal break etc, and plenty of other little tricks along the same line.
But since we're talking about introducing a massive new transport policing department of over a thousand officers (including the extra Transit (real) Police), why not do the job properly and reestablish a "railway police" department like we previously had for over a 100 years? Unlike the PSOs who have limited prosecutorial powers (unless there's legislative changes?), the old railway police had full police powers on railway property, and prosecuted cases themselves before the courts without having to waste Vic Pol resources. But the Coalition Govt will never go down that route, mainly out of embarrassment that their conservative predecessors were the ones who abolished the concept in 1992, which admittedly was the nationwide fashion of the time. But as a digression, it's interesting to note that the only state not to abolish their railway police in the 90s in favour of a takeover by the State Police was Western Australia. And is it a coincidence that they've got the best best run transport system in the country right now?
The RTBU came out (predictably) against the plan, and even went so far as to hint at strike action over the proposal. This union has been quite pragmatic since the Kennett era public sector purges of the 90s nearly destroyed them, having shown admirable evasiveness and flexibility to first survive, then to strengthen. The RTBU (through its ambitious ALP pre-selection hopeful Trevor Dobbin) wants the 940 odd prospective PSO recruits to be converted to rail customer service staff instead, but of course the true reason for this is that the RTBU wants another 940 union members which helps cement their strength....it has nothing to do with what's good or bad for the travelling public. It is a turf war plain and simple, better we have 940 new members rather than the police union?
But the union's move in making veiled threats of strike action was bad politics if nothing else. Think about it, you have a newly elected Government coming to power on one of the few election promises that actually resonated with the voters, a plan to visibly reduce the perceived safety threat on public transport! Now they just look like an out of touch band of 70s style ruffians.
A much better way to get their point across to government would be to seek meetings to sort through the logistics of the proposals (of which there are many), and if the RTBU doesn't like the answers they get back, there are plenty of ways to frustrate the government and win concessions. For example, the union can instruct all station staff to refuse to cooperate with the PSOs in any way, ie. refuse to let them in the station to use the toilet or have a meal break etc, and plenty of other little tricks along the same line.
But since we're talking about introducing a massive new transport policing department of over a thousand officers (including the extra Transit (real) Police), why not do the job properly and reestablish a "railway police" department like we previously had for over a 100 years? Unlike the PSOs who have limited prosecutorial powers (unless there's legislative changes?), the old railway police had full police powers on railway property, and prosecuted cases themselves before the courts without having to waste Vic Pol resources. But the Coalition Govt will never go down that route, mainly out of embarrassment that their conservative predecessors were the ones who abolished the concept in 1992, which admittedly was the nationwide fashion of the time. But as a digression, it's interesting to note that the only state not to abolish their railway police in the 90s in favour of a takeover by the State Police was Western Australia. And is it a coincidence that they've got the best best run transport system in the country right now?
celebrities and State funerals
While the recent death of the indigenous talented ex footballer Maurice Rioli is a sad thing, one can't help but cringe at the increasingly epidemic pattern of awarding State funerals to every washed up has been sports star and celebrity. And how undignified it was to see Rioli's brother Sebastian pre-empting the process by publicly demanding a tax payer funded memorial. Maybe I'm a little old fashioned, but I would've thought the classy thing to do is humbly accept a state funeral IF it were offered, not EXPECT one, like some kind of God given entitlement?
But hang you say, what about his service as Member of the NT Parliament, surely that makes him worthy of State honours? Well let's have a look at that record then;
he was caught out pawning a tax payer provided bar fridge from his electorate office to cover gambling debts, as well as lending his car to an unlicensed teenager who then proceeded to crash it.
Not a particularly distinguished career of public service in my view.....and not that you can find much reference to it on google either, it seems to have been airbrushed from history? Another common occurrence with sporting celebrities in this country I would argue.
But my criticisms are not directed towards Rioli per se, so much as I'm using him as a perfect example to highlight this country's obsession with $3 celebrities and the airbrushing of the inconvenient truths. In the great scheme of things some footballer contributes very little to the enhancement of society, yet we embarrassingly fawn on them in a truly cringeworthy way.
I mean when was the last time a scientist or a doctor was awarded a state funeral for some truly worthy breakthroughs in their respective fields of endeavour....in areas that truly contribute to society?.....the silence is deafening I know!
But hang you say, what about his service as Member of the NT Parliament, surely that makes him worthy of State honours? Well let's have a look at that record then;
he was caught out pawning a tax payer provided bar fridge from his electorate office to cover gambling debts, as well as lending his car to an unlicensed teenager who then proceeded to crash it.
Not a particularly distinguished career of public service in my view.....and not that you can find much reference to it on google either, it seems to have been airbrushed from history? Another common occurrence with sporting celebrities in this country I would argue.
But my criticisms are not directed towards Rioli per se, so much as I'm using him as a perfect example to highlight this country's obsession with $3 celebrities and the airbrushing of the inconvenient truths. In the great scheme of things some footballer contributes very little to the enhancement of society, yet we embarrassingly fawn on them in a truly cringeworthy way.
I mean when was the last time a scientist or a doctor was awarded a state funeral for some truly worthy breakthroughs in their respective fields of endeavour....in areas that truly contribute to society?.....the silence is deafening I know!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
goodbye and good riddance to Brumbles...er..Brumby
While most of us on the progressive side of politics were thrilled with the election of the "accidental Premier" Steve Bracks in October 1999 after the savage cost cutting and contemptuous Kennett Government, the longer the Labor Govt stayed in office, the more and more disheartened I became with their performance. And that revulsion only intensified after Bracks "retired" and Brumbles took over (I've always referred to him as "Brumbles" since Kennett mocked him and pretended he couldn't remember his name).
I've often (half jokingly) said that the only things this Labor Govt achieved during their whole time in office were;
restoring the powers of the Auditor-General
instituting proportional representation in the upper house
invoking a human rights charter
and banning smoking in restaurants (and to a lesser extent in night clubs)
I guess the first thing that really started to cheese me off about them was the covert revenue raising by restricting the tolerance levels on speed cameras to a ridiculous 3 kms, which of course meant when the inevitable camera faults occurred, people essentially had to cop it sweet because they really had no way to disprove the reading, as the onus of proof was on the victim, not the state! And what did the Govt do every time their cameras were embarrassingly exposed as faulty and innocent people getting booked?......they'd come out with that infuriating pre scripted line about "we don't apologise for trying to save lives etc".....I mean for f*ck sake, you should be down on your hands and knees apologising for the needless stress you've put honest citizens through!! And behind the scenes those of us in the know knew that the real reason for lowering speed tolerance was to subversively increase state revenue without publicly increasing taxes. Then this cheeky thought process led to the other brilliant idea of indexing all state charges and fines every year, to once again raise more revenue without having to tell the public you're making unpopular tax increases.
There's a whole list of other reasons why Brumby had a "shock" election loss, but it's probably summed up best by Labor apparatchik George Droutsas in this op-ed piece see here .
But as for me the final straw in abandoning this Govt was its cynical attack on State institutions, after being elected on a platform of transparency. The use of tax payer funded tv ads to cynically glorify itself used to really just get my blood boiling, and using the "commerical in confidence" to pay (what is essentially) slush money to Bernie Eccelstone to keep that f*cking awful Grand Prix in Melbourne. I mean how much does that race cost? Sorry I can't tell you coz it's a secret! Perhaps one day this State will follow California's policy of no "commercial in confidence" agreements, and make ALL financial transactions will private companies a matter of public record!
But I think today's revelation see here pretty much sums up the former Govt perfectly. Once again attacking State institutions by being "prepared to disadvantage two public servants because one of them had performed her duties in compliance with the act".
Some of my friends in the lead up to the election asked me with bewilderment why I was supporting the conservatives? I guess apart from the reasons mentioned above, I believe strongly in transparency, and state institutions, and a government's responsibility to uphold them. But over time all we got was slick cynical spin and what I can only describe as a contempt for the electorate. So yeah, I guess it's a case of goodbye Brumbles....and GOOD RIDDANCE!
I've often (half jokingly) said that the only things this Labor Govt achieved during their whole time in office were;
restoring the powers of the Auditor-General
instituting proportional representation in the upper house
invoking a human rights charter
and banning smoking in restaurants (and to a lesser extent in night clubs)
I guess the first thing that really started to cheese me off about them was the covert revenue raising by restricting the tolerance levels on speed cameras to a ridiculous 3 kms, which of course meant when the inevitable camera faults occurred, people essentially had to cop it sweet because they really had no way to disprove the reading, as the onus of proof was on the victim, not the state! And what did the Govt do every time their cameras were embarrassingly exposed as faulty and innocent people getting booked?......they'd come out with that infuriating pre scripted line about "we don't apologise for trying to save lives etc".....I mean for f*ck sake, you should be down on your hands and knees apologising for the needless stress you've put honest citizens through!! And behind the scenes those of us in the know knew that the real reason for lowering speed tolerance was to subversively increase state revenue without publicly increasing taxes. Then this cheeky thought process led to the other brilliant idea of indexing all state charges and fines every year, to once again raise more revenue without having to tell the public you're making unpopular tax increases.
There's a whole list of other reasons why Brumby had a "shock" election loss, but it's probably summed up best by Labor apparatchik George Droutsas in this op-ed piece see here .
But as for me the final straw in abandoning this Govt was its cynical attack on State institutions, after being elected on a platform of transparency. The use of tax payer funded tv ads to cynically glorify itself used to really just get my blood boiling, and using the "commerical in confidence" to pay (what is essentially) slush money to Bernie Eccelstone to keep that f*cking awful Grand Prix in Melbourne. I mean how much does that race cost? Sorry I can't tell you coz it's a secret! Perhaps one day this State will follow California's policy of no "commercial in confidence" agreements, and make ALL financial transactions will private companies a matter of public record!
But I think today's revelation see here pretty much sums up the former Govt perfectly. Once again attacking State institutions by being "prepared to disadvantage two public servants because one of them had performed her duties in compliance with the act".
Some of my friends in the lead up to the election asked me with bewilderment why I was supporting the conservatives? I guess apart from the reasons mentioned above, I believe strongly in transparency, and state institutions, and a government's responsibility to uphold them. But over time all we got was slick cynical spin and what I can only describe as a contempt for the electorate. So yeah, I guess it's a case of goodbye Brumbles....and GOOD RIDDANCE!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Australian "terrorists"?
While the Murdoch tabloids rage about the would be "terrorists" see here with captions in bold type of the nasty things these guys said about Australia, it is perhaps time to put some of this in perspective. The last time I checked this was still a free country and people were allowed to call us infidels, be happy that bushfires killed lots of non muslims, and call us a "filthy people". It will be very interesting to see what type of sentence they get in the new year, because it seems to me that these goofballs are guilty of not much more than being loudmouths and bignoters. They never obtained weapons, or got further than "talking" about doing something rotten. In fact I would argue that if the police had never discovered this "plot", nothing would've happened?
Joseph Gutnick responsible for Middle East violence?
I know it seems like 100 years ago now, but can anyone remember the political climate before Binyamin Netanyahu became Prime Minister of Israel in 1996? Remember the time in the mid 90s when there was GENUINE optimism of achieving peace in the Middle East? When Arafat attended Rabin's funeral as a GENUINE mark of respect for his partner in peace?
But then something funny happened, the likely winner of the upcoming elections and successor to the peace process Shimon Peres was the victim of a barrage of money (in the form of political donations) going to his opponent Netanyahu in the last week or so of the campaign by none other than the Australian Rabbi Joseph Gutnick. With the help of Gutnick as well as extreme forces on the Israeli Right, Netanyahu pulled off a shock victory. And needless to say what these forces wanted in return for their support? Not an inch of land to the Philistines......er...I mean the Palestinians! And what have we seen since that time? Nothing but violence, mayhem and fanaticism, with only a brief respite of the Camp David near agreement of January 2001. And with the election of the disgusting figure of Sharon went out the door any hope of human decency having any weight in the peace process.
Some may say it's a stretch to blame Gutnick for what's happened since 96, but before you ridicule that hypothesis, just imagine for a moment what the Middle East would've looked like today had Peres won the 96 poll?
But then something funny happened, the likely winner of the upcoming elections and successor to the peace process Shimon Peres was the victim of a barrage of money (in the form of political donations) going to his opponent Netanyahu in the last week or so of the campaign by none other than the Australian Rabbi Joseph Gutnick. With the help of Gutnick as well as extreme forces on the Israeli Right, Netanyahu pulled off a shock victory. And needless to say what these forces wanted in return for their support? Not an inch of land to the Philistines......er...I mean the Palestinians! And what have we seen since that time? Nothing but violence, mayhem and fanaticism, with only a brief respite of the Camp David near agreement of January 2001. And with the election of the disgusting figure of Sharon went out the door any hope of human decency having any weight in the peace process.
Some may say it's a stretch to blame Gutnick for what's happened since 96, but before you ridicule that hypothesis, just imagine for a moment what the Middle East would've looked like today had Peres won the 96 poll?
ACT's Human Rights Act
This is quite a ground breaking case read here as it appears that the Human Rights Act is being used in relation to a civil suit, long after the people involved were convicted in the criminal courts. While I can't say much while this case is proceeding, I do think generally that it's great to see that people are becoming aware of their rights under the various state and territory human rights act/charters.
While a number of the usual suspects of the chattering classes will no doubt come out against the Act, the mere fact that a jurisdiction has a Human Rights Act in place ensures that every civil servant in a position of power will think twice before acting on their less than benevolent instincts. In fact one of the stats you'll never read is how many citizens have NOT been victimised by the State by the mere fact that an authority figure has thought twice before taking a controversial decision?
While a number of the usual suspects of the chattering classes will no doubt come out against the Act, the mere fact that a jurisdiction has a Human Rights Act in place ensures that every civil servant in a position of power will think twice before acting on their less than benevolent instincts. In fact one of the stats you'll never read is how many citizens have NOT been victimised by the State by the mere fact that an authority figure has thought twice before taking a controversial decision?
Thursday, December 23, 2010
"new age" silliness and simpleton celebrities
I read today that the consumer watchdog the ACCC has come out against those ridiculous "power balance bracelets" see here by stating that "there is no credible scientific basis for the claims". But what's disturbing about the whole fiasco is that we as a society are so stupid that we need to be told by the authorities before we accept the blindingly obvious.
How sad it is that a piece of plastic junk that's probably made in China can be marketed as something that provides better "balance" by working with the wearer's "natural energy field", and we just gobble it all up because we see some $3 celebrity wearing it, so we need to have one too!
But I guess this leads me to ask the question, are the celebrities involved paid to market a scam by the company, or are they just victims who've jumped on the "new age" bandwagon? Because remember, in this shallow empty decadent secular world that your average celebrity lives in, they're easily sucked into the latest fad or new age malakia (sorry, but some words need to be emphasised in Greek!)....or worse.....Scientology or heretical pentecostal Christianity!
How sad it is that a piece of plastic junk that's probably made in China can be marketed as something that provides better "balance" by working with the wearer's "natural energy field", and we just gobble it all up because we see some $3 celebrity wearing it, so we need to have one too!
But I guess this leads me to ask the question, are the celebrities involved paid to market a scam by the company, or are they just victims who've jumped on the "new age" bandwagon? Because remember, in this shallow empty decadent secular world that your average celebrity lives in, they're easily sucked into the latest fad or new age malakia (sorry, but some words need to be emphasised in Greek!)....or worse.....Scientology or heretical pentecostal Christianity!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Australia's worst ever Foreign Minister
''Let the whole place go to shit, that's the best thing that could happen'', and so said then Australian FM Alexander Downer about North Korea click here .
This villainous little weasel was almost sacked from the job in his first year due to incompetence, but apart from being incompetent, he's also a great humanitarian it would seem....not! This guy really is a piece of work, apparently the best way to end "tyranny", is to starve the populous to death? It is amazing however to watch someone transform when they get into power and get to ingratiate themselves with their American counterparts. I'm pretty sure I remember old "Lexy" starting off as a moderate? But somewhere along the way he became essentially a neo con with little thought for human suffering their policies would cause to living breathing human beings, with their only focus being their supreme goal.....an Anglo-Saxon Hegemony controlled from Washington.
This villainous little weasel was almost sacked from the job in his first year due to incompetence, but apart from being incompetent, he's also a great humanitarian it would seem....not! This guy really is a piece of work, apparently the best way to end "tyranny", is to starve the populous to death? It is amazing however to watch someone transform when they get into power and get to ingratiate themselves with their American counterparts. I'm pretty sure I remember old "Lexy" starting off as a moderate? But somewhere along the way he became essentially a neo con with little thought for human suffering their policies would cause to living breathing human beings, with their only focus being their supreme goal.....an Anglo-Saxon Hegemony controlled from Washington.
"dikileaks" and privacy laws
"To infer that I would pose for a photograph naked knowing that it was going to be kept is just absolute garbage and offensive". And so said St Kilda player Nick Riewoldt, but this is maybe a bit of a stretch, as a club leader and a sports celebrity he shouldve known this would end up all over the internet? click here .
Assuming the footballer's version of events is true that they don't know the girl and let her take pictures of them naked (which I certainly don't rule out considering the reputations of the average footballer), I personally think we need to put the breaks on the building momentum to overhaul internet privacy laws after this fiasco. I believe there's enough laws in place to cover character assassination etc, and surely people can sue for "pain and suffering" if they've suffered severe ridicule? Just because some footballer was made to look an idiot, doesn't mean we should all go out of our way to change the laws of the land?
And in fact while I was writing this, I saw a link which lists the possible actions the aggrieved party can take. list of options .
Assuming the footballer's version of events is true that they don't know the girl and let her take pictures of them naked (which I certainly don't rule out considering the reputations of the average footballer), I personally think we need to put the breaks on the building momentum to overhaul internet privacy laws after this fiasco. I believe there's enough laws in place to cover character assassination etc, and surely people can sue for "pain and suffering" if they've suffered severe ridicule? Just because some footballer was made to look an idiot, doesn't mean we should all go out of our way to change the laws of the land?
And in fact while I was writing this, I saw a link which lists the possible actions the aggrieved party can take. list of options .
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