DIMIA police state

A good friend of mine visits Villawood detention center regularly - and speaks with the prisoners there. The other day, some Department of Immigration thugs visited her place, and asked her mother about her activities - why she went to Villawood, etc etc. Apparently she was the last person to see a detainee before he escaped. They also asked about her grandfather (a 90+ year old Indian born man) - just to heavy them up.

So - now the Immigration Department has taken it upon themselves to harass those who try and protect the human rights of people seeking refuge in Australia? This has surely gone too far (as if it hadn't already). According to my friend, these detention centres really are run like prison camps - and people are deported in the middle of the night (to avoid disruption) - without telling any of their fellow prisoners, and with no chance to say goodbye.

Can someone tell me why "illegal" immigrants are so harshly punished, but when they are unlawfully detained, there is no penalty? How about we lock up the responsible DIMIA officials - actually, better still, the Minister(s) for 5 years. Whats fair is fair!

What REALLY scares me about this is - what would stop the following scenario unfolding for my friend: DIMIA tells the Federal Police that the escaped illegal immigrant may have had a terrorist background. The Federal Police, under the new laws determine the detainee as a suspected terrorist threat, thereby making my friend an associate of a "terrorist". As such, she could be locked away for 2 weeks and interrogated. Once she is release, she can tell 1 family member about where she was, but they can't tell anyone else, or face jail. In other words, she could "disappear" for 2 weeks - KGB style - just for doing what I think is a very noble and honourable service.

I'm really beginning to hate this country... I really am. And if that makes me Un-Australian, then so be it - because I don't wanna be part of and Australia that defines itself like this. As far as I'm concerned, this Governments Policies are about as un-Australian as you can get - since I thought Australian society was about fairness and equal justice for all - and a fair days pay for a fair days work. This Government has perverted the meaning of "Australian" - and nobody cares.

uTorrent

This ones for all those torrent junkies out there...
uTorrent is a fantastic little torrent client. Functionally and visually, its based on the Azureus look and feel, but unlike the fat Java-based Azureus, this little gem is simply a 98Kb .exe, and has a memory footprint of about 4Mbs. It has all the functionality of Azureus, plus a more advanced speed-scheduler (so you can have different up/down limits at different times, on different days of the week! Highly recommended. Note, thats uTorrent as in "mu-torrent".

Birdflu hits the U.S.

Terror, Toilet Paper and Godly Abominations

Guess what! The vaunted Anti-terror laws are being introduced into parliament next tuesday - and will be voted on on the same day. There will be a mere few hours to scrutinise them before voting them up or down. And.. guess what? Its Melbourne Cup day.

If the Government is honest about the need for these laws, and these laws are the right thing for the country then WHY are they behaving so furtively? Hiding behind big public events to distract people from the decisions, and preventing any proper scrutiny. Surely they don't have anything to hide... do they? Our democracy is going to hell (or, worse, America) in a handbag :(

In other quirky stuff, I was walking to the station from a finance lecturer, and saw a van with boxes of toilet paper (presumably for the uni toilets). It wasn't particularly inspiring to see "JAWS" brand toilet paper, with a picture of a Greate White on each box. Thats gotta hurt!

About 1/2 and hour later, when I was walking home, I was flicking across some crappy pop commercial radio stations. And I heard something terrible. Some damn stupid pop airhead (naturally, i didn't hang around to find out who), had done a "cover" of "Sweet Child 'O Mine". (By the Gunners, for those heretics out there). It was absolute horrifying. Bad 90's synthesizers and cheap drum mixes over a obviously electronically tuned female voice. No soul, no character, no idea, NO RESPECT. Quoting from the 4 prophet's KISS, "God gave rock and roll to you" - and this is most certainly an abomination of god's creation. WITH THIS FENDER STRAT, I BANISH THEE!!

Shoot-to kill? Here's what He-Man says!

Its been a really depressing week in politics.
Johnny has been listening to a little too much Acca Dacca and is pushing for a "shoot-to-kill" provision in the new Terrorism law. Actually, thats probably sensationalising it more than it really is, but as I understand it, heres the situation.

Current Police officers has the right to "use fatal force" to protect themselves or anyone else under their duty of care in a situation. This varies slightly from state to state, and is enacted under common law. This can only be brought to bear on a person resonably suspected of *having committed* a crime.

Now, what is being proposed is that this power will be formalised (as I understand it), and will extend to people under "control orders", if they resist arrest. "Control Orders" are the new thing in the "anti-terrorism" laws, where if you are suspected of being involved in terrorism (or being associated with one, lived with one, lived in the same building with one, purchased something from ...etc), you can have your movements restricted and be forced to do as authorities order at all times. There is no judicial oversight of this process.

The concern comes because the shoot-to-kill powers are apparently being extended to cover people who have not yet committed a crime. This raised the possibility of what happened in Britain - when someone ran from the police (it now turns out that he was running for the train), and was shot for 'resisting arrest'. The counter-argument run by the government, is that these laws already exists, this is just clarifying the police's position, should they be put in such a situation.

Kim Beazly made a good point on Lateline last night - that police, when put in a situation where life is threatened can and will shoot anyways, and are perfectly entitled to, under existing law. Why do we need this change, that suddenly (potentially) extends their legal right beyond neutralising an immediate threat? Do we want that?

The Law Council of Australia has come out hard against these laws, saying it bypasses normal due process. The Government says, nothing will change. I know who I believe.

The new "anti-terrorism" legislation is very important to Australia, because it (potentially) changes many of the social freedoms we take for granted. So by the governments own logic, such a crucial bill should be advertised to the nation. So where is the $100mil advertising campaign for this, johnny? Oh, its not been passed through parliament yet? WELL NEITHER HAS IR! I'm so dismayed that people aren't more angry about the fact that THEIR TAX MONEY is being used to fund LIBERAL PARTY PROPAGANDA! Not a little bit, but THE MOST EXPENSIVE ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN IN AUSTRALIA'S HISTORY!!! Reports are out that they paid the extra's $6000 - and didn't even use all of them! What sheer arrogance to loot the public purse! AND NOBODY CARES! Sorry for shouting, but sometimes i fear that this damn country deserves this damn government.

*ok... deep breath....calm*. And now for something completely different...
A very strange clip of He-Man singing a 70's tune This is a 20Mb Download, but strangely amusing. Thanks to Tim Smith (of ex- The Cage fame) for the link

The head-honcho stupid American...

Continuing on a theme... watch this PAINFUL scripted performance of Bush interviewing the troops. You'd think he'd have script too, because lord knows he can't speak (let alone think) on his own two feet.

Conclusive proof...

That Americans are the dumbest people on earth.

I'm getting a little worried (look at which country they think Iran is!)

Kerry O'Brien for PM

MAN!!! How good is Kerry O'Brien (the 7.30 report presenter, not the ALP Senator). This isn't a response to anything specific, except that he's is such a fantastic interviewer... particularly politically (try saying THAT 10 times fast!).

He's so cool, he anchors AND is the cheif editor of the 7.30 report - non of these fancy bimbo's anchoring the latest washing powder comparison. I hate to think what will happen when he goes - Maxine McKewn is ok, but no Kerry. And the 7.30 report is the last vestige of thorough, correct and unbiased current affairs on TV. (Even though the Government has often tried to redefine "unbiased" as "siding with the government" - refer the case they took against the ABC having "biased" reporting on the iraq war.)

You know you're getting old when...

"Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers becomes a regular on "Classic Hits" 101.7 WS FM.

*Sigh*

Crossing over...

Barnaby Joyce style! Today Babs crossed the floor to vote down a (relatively small and un-noticed) bill to strip the ACCC of its powers to prevent mergers in corporate Australia, if they decide it is against the interest of consumers. This cause great anger in the Liberal and National ranks - to the point where there is a story going round that Bill Hefernen came within whiskers of blows with Babs. All we can hope for, is that this Babs will develop a taste for crossing over, and maybe, just maybe, block the VSU and IR reforms (both of which he has taken issue with).

Look - i'm no fan of the Nats, and no fan of the fact that Barnaby is demanding compensation (in the case of VSU) for regional Universities only - but in such trying times, any potential ally is a good ally.

Bathurst - a really tyring race

This weekends V8 Bathurst race saw Craig Lowndes' car collecting a bouncing tyre straight through the windscreen. Here is the dramatic in-car footage. No wonder they say you never know what the Mountain will throw at you. Literally.

IR changes

I am extremely angry. I feel like laying into Howard (and Nelson, just for good measure) with a blunt Fijian cane knife. I'm serious - i don't think i've every been this furious at a political situation ever before.

Ok - so the Government launched their "Work Choices" package this weekend. They briefed business mates for 2 hours, before making the information publically know (*coughcoughpartydonations*). Then, they gave the media about 2-3 minutes to read the document, before allowing questions to be asked. 2 minutes to prepare appropriate questions. What blatant, arrogant disregard for the people whom this will affect. Firstly, they exclude representatives of the WORKERS from the lockup - which just shows that the changes pander to business only. Then - they try and avoid scrutiny by the media, and by extension, the broader public.

The package is actually a launch of an idea (the legislation itself is a long way off, thus giving the government plenty of 'wriggle room'), and a $20million advertising campaign. The ideas are to remove some of the protections afforded to workers and some of the enshrined basic working rights. In particular, there will be no unfair dismissal recourse for workers in businesses with fewer that 100 employees. This means, provided you are not discriminated against by race or religion (and how the HELL do you prove that?) - your employee can terminate you without reason and without compensation. Meal breaks and holidays can be 'cashed in' - ie , removed from the package, presumably with an increase in base remuneration. The conversion amount for these entitlements is not protected - for example, they could add 20c to your package and remove holidays. And the point here is that once people start doing this, there will be pressure on others to also take up this offer - it may be 'choice' but market forces constrain choice to the lowest bidder - econ1001.

So, what explanation has Howard and his cronies (term used advisedly) given for this? We have a strong economy - its a "workers economy" - and we need to improve productivity by increasing flexibility. So, the subtext is that workers have too many entitlements and they need to be removed, while the economy is good and people won't notice as much. Keep in mind - this government opposed every wage rise that went to the IR Commission whilst they were in office. The "flexibility" can be be afforded now, because the economy is so strong. Workers are able to get jobs, there there will be no issue. The protections are no longer needed in todays economy. So, following this logic, we can say, we have good relations with all countries in the world at the moment, everything is peaceful, so we don't need a defence force. A strong economy isn't guaranteed indefinitely. But the government is asking us to trust them, and trust big business, to "do the right thing". Howard on ABC's 7.30 report, said that these questions of workers rights are based around the assumption that all union bosses are out to get their workers. What NONSENSE! Thats like saying that implementing laws against murder is like saying that all humans are murderers!

What really got me incredibly mad, though, was Howards response to the question of what happens if the employer doesn't provide adequate or desired conditions for a worker. His repsonse - "they can go and find another employer who will give those conditions. WHAT PLANET DOES THIS MORON LIVE ON???? Yeah - sure, i don't like my job so i'll just ring around a coupla places and get something better? Even in todays relatively good job environment - its tough to get good work. Imagine if and when the job market turns down! More to the point - if one employer offers lower wages/conditions than another, basic economics tell you they have a competetive advantage. Other firms will HAVE to follow them (regardless of how well intentioned they are to their workforce). Any dimwit can tell you that. I mean, seriously? They expect us to swallow this?

And finally, to add insult to injury - the government is spending $20million on an advertising campaign to promote these changes under the guise of "informing the public of new legislation". Firstly, there IS no legislation at the moment - so they are selling their own agenda here. Secondly - why the multi-million dollar TV campaign? It costs $90,000 for each 90sec TV slot. PEOPLE!! - THIS IS YOUR TAX MONEY ADVERTISING A CAMPAIGN TO UNDERMINE YOUR WORKING CONDITIONS AND PAY.

In a time when people struggle to balance family and work (this doesn't affect us now, but it will), we are being expected to forego certainty in job hours, rates and conditions, to "keep the economy strong". The economy is a tool to distribute weath. It is NOT a machine that PEOPLE are slaves to, as the Libs seem the believe. Worse, these changes, once made, won't be revoked - giving up these rights is permanent. And when the economic downturn its - we will feel it. I'm not being a doomsayer - but think of the bird flu - potential to rock China's, and therefor our, economy. Think of oil prices - already putting brakes on many economies. THink of the aging population - we will be working longer and harder to fund the baby boomers into retirement - and now with less job protection.

Be afraid people. This is real, and this AFFECTS YOU!

New Element Discovered

A major research institution has announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet know to science - "governmentium." It has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons and 111 assistant deputy neutrons for an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons that are further surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like sub particles called peons.

Governmentium has no electrons and is therefore inert. It can be detected however since it impedes every reaction it comes into contact with. A tiny amount of governmentium can take a reaction that normally occurs in seconds and slow it to the point where it take days.

Governmentium has a normal half life of three years. It doesn't decay but "re- organizes", a process where assistant deputy neutrons and deputy neutrons change places. This process actually causes it to grow as in the confusion some morons become neutrons, thereby forming isodopes.

This phenomenon of "moron promotion" has led to some speculation that governmentium forms whenever sufficient morons meet in concentration forming critical morass. Researches believe that in Governmentium, the more you re- organize, the morass you cover.

I'm not on their payroll but...

Domino's Pizza is the greatest fast food pizza ever! It absolutely OWNS both Pizza Hut and Haven. You've GOT to try their new pizza's with these massive chunks of bacon :). I dunno - for some reason, Pizza hut stick with this tired old menu that never changes. Dominoes have got some great continental pizza, which approach (but of course, are no substitute for) proper freshly made restaurant pizzas. I was just really impressed, so I thought i'd blog about it.

Also, stay tuned for some commentary on the updates to the new IR laws, and the $20 million advertising campaign the government embarking on. Before I launch into a scathing attack, I want to catch up with some news and commentary first... then launch into a scathing attack :p

Alexander the pretty-damn-ordinary

I finally got around to watching Alexander the Great last night. I actually had quite high expectations of it - because it had Colin Farrell and Val Kilmer - who I think are pretty good actors, Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Plummer - who are untouchables in my books, and Angelina Jolie - who... err... *cough cough*.

Unfortunately, it tried to be everthing and was nothing. Maybe 4 years of engineering has wrecked that appreciation of art that was drummed into my head in HSC 3 Unit english, but I really found all the "artistic" touches contrived and confusing. Alexander, as a character was strange. On one hand the "storyteller" - Anthony Hopkins was promoting Alexander as a particular personality, but the actions of Alexander were a complete contradiction. It just didn't make any sense. It was as if they just paid lip-service to creating a character -rather telling us what he was like- and focusing more on creating an epic series of events.

Thematically, there were some interesting areas, such as Alexanders apparent respect for the "East" where all other Greeks saw them as inferior races. Also, grand ideas of humanity living as one were enunciated briefly, counterbalanced against the beliefs that only a single ruler could unite. There were tantalising hints of psychological influences that may have shaped Alexander, including oedipalistic themes, but they failed to be explored enough to make them the concrete. There was great potential in this movie to work with the myth of Alexander, and place it in a historical context - but it was never realised in this movie.

Visually, it was undoubtedly impressive. There were wide sweeping landscape shots, and incredibly close up "in the action" battle scenes. I must say the effect with the eagles perspective was creative and visually impressive. Near the end, however, there are a series of scenes where everthing is show in a red wash-out, with the blood yellow. It worked in Sin City, but here, that technique was totally out of place within the genre. Generally, the acting was very believable, but it was unable to save what were ultimately, poorly constructed characters.

Overall, Alexander the Great was movie that tried so hard to be a grand historical epic, but I think became self-serving, and lost the audience along the way.

1 Indian War Elephant out of 5

Where have all the vultures gone?

A (relatively) small religion in India, called the Parsi's are have a little bit of a problem disposing of their dead. In their religion, called Zoroastrianism, the dead should be wrapped in cloth and left out for the vultures to consume. Unfortunatly, vulture numbers are falling, and they are having difficulty continuing this method of funeral. By the way, Zoroastrianians include the great TATA family in India (Indias largest company making everything from cars to software), and the late great Freddy Mercury of Queen. Full story here.

In other quirky news - an alligator found inside a dead python. Talk about killer indigestion!

A day in the Senate..

I was keeping an eye on Question time and some of the related discussions in today's senate sitting. A couple of things caught my eye. The Greens and Democrats are still pushing for an inquiry into the deportation of one Scott Parker - an American peace activist deported as a "adverse national security threat". He was initially given a visa, then had it revoked, was kept in a local prison cell, then forced to pay for his eviction, plus the fares and accomodation of 2 DIMIA officials who accompanied him back to the 'States. Labor has been given briefed on ASIO's security findings, and has agreed with the decision - but the point of debate wasn't the decision so much as the steadfast refusal to advise anyone, including the Scott or his Lawyer, the reasons for his deportation. Its all very suspicious, because it sets a precence for unilateral government decisions on the fates of people in Australia - and we can't know due to security issues, why the decision has so been made. I can't understand why Labor has not queried this at all - moral and democratic concerns aside, there is great political capital potential in this!

In another frustrating turn, the report on the Alvarez wrongful deportation was released, which condemns the Department of Migration for having a "catastrophic culture" of cover up. What is becoming abundantly clear is that under Ruddock, departmental officials where rewarded (either explicitly or subtly) for applying an iron fist to immigration matters. 3 people were singled out who KNEW that the deportation was wrongful, but went ahead with it anyway. What was particularly frustrating was when Ruddock was asked if he took any responsibility for it, he replied "No. None at all" - in his usual bland but abrupt manner. His utter callousness is breathtaking. Vanstone also faced questions in the senate in regards to this, but also refused to take any responsibility - rather citing that she was being proactive in trying to resolve the issue. So we have a case where Vanstone is saying that she inherited the problem (read: from Ruddock), but Ruddock point blank refuses to address any concerns. And in the mean time, there are people locked up like criminals.

I have a friend who visits (I think) Woomera regularly (forgive me if I got the wrong detention centre) - and has made friends with one of the prisoners. It was scary because apparently they deport people in the middle of the night, to "minimise disruption". She may well be the only person outside of the detention system to know if he was whisked away in the middle of the night.

Australia's apathy is becoming painful to watch. And the opposition is just not offering a real alternative.

Best Star Wars Game Ever!!!

I found these great little Star Wars games, that someone has wrote - free, and unassociated with LucasArts. You can fight the epic Battle of Yavin or Battle of Endor. These are actually some of the best space flight sims I've seen, in terms of actual gameplay. And they are small enough to be a welcome distraction between serious work. Most impressive.

Bali Bombings

I've decided to avoid talking about Bali. The whole terrorism thing is a tough nut - and its in poor taste to drag politics into it. Having said that, I'd just like to make the point that in any effective relationship (be it between nations, cultures, relgions or people) - if the current approach doesn't yield the desired results, its often wise to try something else. I'm getting the feeling that our current approach to terrorism isn't working.

Removal of Compulsory Voting?

John Howard and Nick Minchin (Finance Minister) have both said that they are in favour of non-compulsory voting. Whilst there are no moves to bring this as an election issue next election, Minchin is quite strident in his criticism of the compulsory system. Why? Not sure - he rambled on a bit about "punishing people for not voting is an outrage against the great democratic right to vote". Dunno how that works.

Personally, I think we MUST keep compulsory voting. It is what stops our political system from being an absolute farce, like the U.S. where the agenda is hijacked by extremist (usualy right-wing christian) groups. Lets not go down the U.S path where rights are prescribed. In Australia, and in any good democracy, with rights come responsibility (a concept that is being diminished in our increasingly litigious society). On this odd occasion, I agree with Senator Ron Boswell (Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) - that compulsory voting forces people to take ownership and engage with politics - which is critical in an increasingly apathetic society.

Sincerest Apologies

Hello potential readers, I trust you've all been well. Unfortunately, the last blog site I was with screwed up my old blog royally - and haven't fixed it. I've been itching to post, and the little blue men who live in my cranium are telling me that the air pressure is rising to a dangerous level. I have therefore migrated. Moved onto greener pastures. Moved upmarket. Whatever... this is my new (working) blog. Hope to begin populating it soon. Coming up next... removal of compulsory voting!?!