Canberra riot; Labor answers raise more questions.

Cartoon: By Pickering.

As Labor tries to distance itself from the embarrassment of the botched attempt by party functionaries to paint Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as a racist with a riot aimed at him, the spin becomes more obvious, even to journalists and the parties statements raise more questions.

Sacked media advisor Tony Hodges admits that he was attempting to have a couple of tent embassy personal confront Abbott over a statement earlier in the day. What seems clear is that Labor attempted to embarrass him by creating a situation where he was to be accused of racism by Aborigines at an Australia Day function in the presence of the PM. So much for Bipartisanship. After this things got out of hand:


The statement by Abbott was innocuous in response to an ABC journalist asking him on the 40th anniversary of the tent embassy if it was still relevant:

“Look, I can understand why the Tent Embassy was established all those years ago. I think a lot has changed for the better since then. We had the historic apology just a few years ago, one of the genuine achievements of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. We had the proposal, which is currently for national consideration to recognize indigenous people in the Constitution. I think the indigenous people of Australia can be very proud of the respect in which they are held by every Australian and yes, I think a lot has changed since then and I think it probably is time to move on from that.”

Gillard maintains that Hodges did not embellish the story and did nothing wrong, but this does not explain his sacking nor why Abbott’s statement somehow got misconstrued to mean he wanted the tent embassy bulldozed into the ground and the inhabitants dispersed.

The Aboriginal community has suffered a serious setback from the PR perspective over this issue and has good reason to believe that they were set up on this issue. This does not excuse the behavior on display here. The correct response would have been to contact Abbott’s office and request a meeting to discuss the issue rather than confront him en masse.

The type of conduct during this event will lose the Aboriginal cause a lot of public sympathy. Intemperate conduct is generally not tolerated other than on the left of the divide, where it is encouraged owing to the apparent belief in those circles that the people they pay lip service to are brainless to the point where they are only capable of acting according to the emotion of the moment and are incapable of coherent thought.

Advice to Aboriginal people; stop proving them right.

Press leads our 'cultural cringe'

Most Australians other than the self-styled cultural elite are pretty comfortable with who they are and don’t give a damn if others dislike it. On the other hand there are the breast-beating pompous prats who have a vision of excellence for us, which they firmly believe we should abide by to give the right image of the nation and its people to others. Governments are very fond of telling us what Australians ought to be.

The rest of us are fairly accustomed to the reality that our leaders are ashamed of us and feel we don’t deserve them and couldn’t care less about their discomfort. There are though, a small proportion of suck-ups who aspire to present an approved image. Leading the charge among these is the press, which tends to find every criticism of us justified.

As an example, the rather sycophantic Malcolm Conn of the Herald Sun had the following to say about the Perth Test Match drinking incident:

IT'S been confirmed to many millions of Indians that Australians are a bunch of drunks. (Awwwwww)

Just hours after India captain MS Dhoni made the spurious claim that Australia’s players concocted stories about his divided team over a few beers, India television showed a dozen WACA staff drinking on the Test pitch.

Australians it seems will drink anytime anywhere without any respect or regard. Is there anything more sacred or central to a Test match than the pitch on the evening before the match? And there they were, half of them sitting, half of them standing in the middle of the WACA wicket before a match that could well decide the series.

What an insult to Test cricket and the visiting Indian team. Perception is reality and this is now reality to a significant chunk of the largest and most powerful cricket nation in the world.

The reality is that the WACA staff were having their traditional pre match drinks when the curator decided to do a final inspection of the wicket. They walked out to watch the process and were filmed by Indian television. The Indian media tend to be extremely sanctimonious about Australians and thus, it hit the fan.

While it is desirable that respect be proffered to residents of other countries where it is due, it seems that in the eyes of those like Malcolm Conn that we should be properly obsequious to anyone who wants to bitch about us over anything at all, no matter how trivial.

Next time Malcolm; tell them to go take a running jump.

Nuclear submarines for Australia?

This suggestion is similar to LDP policy.

The Australian government and Defense Department have been thrashing around for some time over replacing the rather problematic Collins Class submarines. The discussion at present still revolves around conventional powered craft; Australia still suffers from a Luddite obsession with all things non nuclear.

Former senior Defense official Ross Babbage has called for this option to be put on the table and offers reasons why this is a good idea:

If directly threatened, coerced or attacked, this country needs credible means of deterring and countering even a major power. It needs one or more powerful instruments with a capacity to stop a belligerent country in its tracks. Advanced submarines are one of very few capabilities that can contribute meaningfully to this.

To do this, Australia needs more than just small submarines to serve as crocodiles in the ditch of our immediate approaches. We need vessels that can travel rapidly to East Asia and to the distant reaches of the Indian Ocean to maneuver there with high security for extended periods.

In a crisis, the new boats should not only be able to sink ships and destroy maritime installations but also fire cruise missiles to precisely strike high-value targets well inland. The right submarine force can give Australia this credible deterrence. That is why getting the submarine decision right is vital. …

Option five is to buy or lease Virginia-class submarines from the US. The Virginias are fast and have almost unlimited endurance. They carry sensors with extraordinary performance such that they can routinely see potential opponents well before they themselves can be detected, often at trans-oceanic distances. They have also been designed from scratch to be very flexible and perform a broader range of functions that would deliver Australia strong deterrence power even against a major power.

The Virginia class is in series production, hence the project risks are low. The contract for the 14th Virginia has been signed for a price of $1.2bn, but by the time they are fully fitted out, the sail-away price is $2.5bn. These boats are demonstrating exceptional operational performance and high reliability and would provide class-wide training and upgrade programs. Operating RAN and USN Virginias in close partnership would also take the ANZUS alliance to a new level.

It is not known whether the US would be willing to do this deal although Canada is interested in doing the same thing. What is remarkable is that the only political party that has proposed the acquisition of nuclear powered submarines is the pro defense libertarian, Liberal Democratic Party which has had this as a major policy plank for several years. The LDP argues that without the carrier capacity to give air cover to a surface fleet, we would lose such a fleet in the opening volleys of hostilities:

Consistent with similar provisions in the 2009 White Paper, the LDP would concentrate resources into key areas in support of a maritime defence strategy.

The LDP believes the focus of our full-time military should be on the three strategic capabilities able to achieve long distance force projection. These comprise a strategic bomber capability, an effective submarine fleet, and a rapid reaction, air-mobile expeditionary force including Special Forces.

Concurrently, the LDP believes that primary responsibility for the defence of Australia’s landmass should be transferred to a part-time force.

To achieve this the LDP supports proceeding with the F35 fighter purchase but would also replace the F-111 fleet with a squadron of B-1B strategic bombers, paid for in part by a reduction in our order of F-35s.

The LDP would replace the current six-boat Collins Class submarine fleet with a greater number of new submarines. Ideally this would be twelve small nuclear submarines (similar to the French Rubis design), but if these are not procurable or affordable then eighteen submarines with air independent conventional propulsion equipped with land attack cruise missiles.

The Virginia Class is somewhat bigger than the Rubis Class, but comes with the advantage of being the same as is used by our greatest ally. European nations are not really reliable suppliers given their distance, trade barriers, and approaching insolvency. Clearly, the first requirement would to be electing a government with a big enough pair to implement such an initiative.

More voters rely on the Internet – Rasmussen.

Image: By ‘Maksim’ at The Peoples Cube.

Most people have known for some time that the net was becoming more prominent across the world and has been increasingly influential in the political discourse of the election cycle. We have all noticed the decline of most newspapers and the demise of some attributed to the rise of the net, the increasing use of its power by politicians, and the successful use of it to get the message across.

Many of us rely on it as a primary source of information without recognizing the degree to which it has become just that. A recent Rasmussen poll tells us that almost a quarter of voters rely on it for political news:

Most voters will continue to rely on either cable or traditional television news to stay up with politics this year, but the Internet will provide the election coverage for a quarter of the nation.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 32% of Likely U.S. Voters will get most of their political news in 2012 from cable television and 22% from traditional TV network news. The number following the election news online has inched above the audience for traditional TV networks. Twenty-four percent (24%) will primarily rely on the Internet for coverage of Election 2012. Nine percent (9%) who will still rely on print newspapers and seven percent (7%) will chiefly count on radio.

The big advantage of the net as opposed to mainstream media is the almost infinite variety of information available to those wishing to check out what is really going on. Whereas the mainstream media tend to follow a line and report news as it applies to the thinking of the organization, the more anarchic nature of the net allows the user to track down the real story.

Not all of what you read on the net is true, (as Abraham Lincoln pointed out ☺ ) but those who are net savvy are aware of this and are not taken in by sites like those of the White House or Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Women tentatively rebelling in Saudi Arabia.

Image: A 'daring' piece of arm from a Saudi FB page. From WebProNews.

Here in the West we have always had some difficulty in persuading the fairer sex that we men know what’s best for them. Try as we might, women not only refuse to accept this simple truth, they actually appear to resent the very suggestion. “Let me take you away from here and show you how to dress modestly and avoid the attentions of other men,” is not a recommended pickup line in Australia. It may work better in the US.

In Saudi Arabia though, they have a God who has decreed that things are totally different there. Women are subservient and do as they are told even down to the way they dress and are freed from dangerous ideas of independence by strict principles of Sharia law, enforced by the morals police. Latest reports though indicate the first stirrings of rebellion are in the air:

There is an emerging trend among young Saudi women who post pictures of parts of their body without revealing their identity. Journalist Mariyam Jaber said she found several social websites where just the body parts of what appears to be Saudi women are displayed, such as feet, just the body or even fingernails, but without betraying her identity.

“This reveals a woman’s desire to liberate herself from social restrictions and express herself, and Facebook or other networking sites are the easiest platforms to achieve this,” she said.

The number of Saudis on Facebook is estimated at 2.3 million out of the 5 million in the Gulf. According to figures, 29 percent of Saudi Internet users visit Facebook and women under 25 account for 48 percent of all Internet users in the Kingdom.

“Most women on social networking sites use fake names. By displaying parts of their body and sometimes in glittering colors, young women must be achieving some sort of gratification or release of their emotions while anonymity guarantees them immunity from social censure or parental displeasure,” said Amal Al-Saleh, a university graduate. …

But help is at hand. The cause has been identified:

Professor of Social Sciences at Umm Al-Qura University Mahmoud Al-Kesnawi warned the spare time a young woman has at her disposal because of spinsterhood or unemployment is a factor that prompts her to seek refuge in computers and mobile phones.

Saudi Arabia is probably one of the most oppressive Islamic regimes as far as the treatment of women is concerned, equal if not worse than Iran. While this development does not in itself represent a major turnaround, it does give some sign of a changing view by younger people, especially women. The dour nature of Islamic rule may be sewing the seeds of its own destruction as wider communication via the web gives its subjects windows into a much freer world that they will aspire to be part of.

The threat offered by Western values to tyrants the world over is not military, but is the philosophy of liberty.

Greece fails on austerity measures and entitlement reform.

Cartoon: By Lisa Benson.

Greece is broke to the point where it has had to throw itself on the charity of the Euro zone and IMF to stave off inevitable bankruptcy for another month or so. It seems odd therefore to see reports in the media over the past couple of days that indicate that there is to be an expansion of welfare benefits to some new and interesting categories of disabled.

Some of these are sex offenders, criminals, and weirdos:

Greek disability groups expressed anger Monday at a government decision to expand a list of state-recognized disability categories to include pedophiles, exhibitionists and kleptomaniacs. …

The Labor Ministry said categories added to the expanded list — that also includes pyromaniacs, compulsive gamblers, fetishists and sadomasochists — were included for purposes of medical assessment and used as a gauge for allocating financial assistance.

But NCDP leader Yiannis Vardakastanis, who is blind, warned the new list could create new difficulties for disabled Greeks who are already facing benefit cuts due to the country's financial crisis. …

The new list gives pyromaniacs and pedophiles disability pay up to 35 percent, compared to 80 percent for heart transplant recipients.

"It's really not serious to grant Peeping Toms a 20-30 percent disability rate, and 10 percent to diabetics, who have insulin shots four or five times a day," said Vardakastanis.

The Greek Labour Ministry however is issuing a denial of sorts, claiming that it is only for the purpose of medical evaluation rather than benefits:

The Labour ministry said the new list "solely concerns medical evaluation, not the provision of social benefits." The ministry rushed to clarify the issue after Labour Minister George Koutroumanis was derided in news reports for giving "bonuses" to criminals.

The list released in Greece's official government gazette in November, had included gamblers, pyromaniacs, kleptomaniacs, fetishists, flashers, voyeurs, paedophiles and sadomasochists among the mentally disabled.

Greece is not only overburdened with unsupportable entitlements, but has a somewhat chaotic system mired in fraud and overpayment. Merely fixing this system would not save the Greek economy, but would help to set the nation on the right path as long as a massive reduction in government and public services was included.

Americans and Australians have good reason to take an interest in what is happening in Europe, and especially Greece. The Obama Administration intends to pour billions into rescue funds, and we have been told by Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan, that we ‘have a responsibility’ to ensure that the IMF is adequately funded to help struggling Europeans retire at fifty after a life on disability or unemployment benefits.

Understanding that this may be difficult for us, the government is encouraging older workers to stay on the job well after the traditional retirement age of 65. It has not been explained to us just why we are responsible for the Greek economy, nor what Greece has done for us to incur such a debt to them, but it may have something to do with the high proportion of Greeks in Melbourne, which contains Gillard’s electorate.

Australian pot use highest in world; treaties prevent innovation..

This week we have been told by the press that we in Australia have the highest marijuana use in the world, closely followed by the Kiwis. There is little surprise there; the Kiwis are always trying to catch up to us and beat us if possible in everything we are really good at. It’s a fair bet they will fund a study of recreational drug use, try to find out how we do it and try to go one better:

Cannabis is the most widely used drug worldwide, with up to 15 per cent of pot smokers from the Oceania region of Australia and New Zealand, followed by North America and Western Europe. Three papers in The Lancet this week discussed global use and health effects of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines and opioids like heroin and methadone.

Melbourne-based Centre for Alcohol Policy Research director Professor Robin Room said existing international drug treaties were not working. "In terms of suppressing the illegal markets, there is very little evidence of success. The illicit use of drugs is very much greater than it was in 1961," Prof Room said.

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre Professor Louisa Degenhardt said illicit drug use accounts for 1.3 per cent of deaths in Australia -- surpassing alcohol deaths at 0.8 per cent but well below tobacco-related deaths at 11.7 per cent.

While the press seemed to dwell on our high usage there are other aspects to the report that need some additional coverage. The first among these is the odd degree of flexibility in the estimates, such as; (Worldwide) “125-203 million smoke cannabis,” with a 40% variability between the higher and lower figure. It creates some doubt as to whether there is much accuracy involved.

One aspect that needs to change is mentioned in the report, namely that many efforts at drug control are based on knee jerk reactions rather than detailed knowledge. Also some international treaties are inhibiting innovative initiatives:

The report warned that many initiatives to control drug use are based on insufficient evidence. It also said that beyond a certain point, increasing punishment for drug offences has diminishing benefits and can lead to negative side effects.

The report's authors suggest that nations wanting to try new approaches to drug legislation will have to move outside the existing international treaties. They believe the existing international drug control system has not worked.

'The system's emphasis on criminalisation of drug use has contributed to the spread of HIV, increased imprisonment for minor offences, and contributed to legitimising extremely punitive national policies,' their report said. Meanwhile, while NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell avoided the standard political histrionics on needing new and more potent laws, which is commendable, (at least for an MP) he tends to lose the plot in criticizing the report over the fact that doctors are supporting legalization rather than nanny state penalties:

"What's disturbing is in the aftermath of the release of this report, hearing doctors continue to talk about the legalisation of drugs," Mr O'Farrell told reporters in Sydney on Friday. "The link particularly between cannabis use and mental illness has been documented.”