DrShrinks home on the web

2003-04-15T02:08:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the lack of responses. This war has put me off the blogging scene momentarily. Enough are living the times of their lives for both sides using the action of war to further their own ideologically based political debate. Using everything for "proof" of their own sides and views superiroty in views. Ijust didnt think it really worht debating at a time likle this. Nor did i feel as much

2003-03-20T23:50:00.000+10:00

Mind goes wandering. How can it be that we only have laws to stop people doing things that hurt us. (and its an experiment we usually arnt winning, problems occuring faster that the legislatiure to cure each and every of societyies ills.In a self perpetuating quest to why this isnt the utopia our morals senses demand it should be. Why the story of genesis with Adam and eve in the bible then

2003-03-13T13:44:00.000+10:00

Howards final plea for war Well Heres my Assesment of the PM John Howards National Press Club Address (this time given at Parliament houses Great hall due to security fears). The Press Club has often been the stage of many a momentus and important speech for the nation. And though Howard has avoided it often in his term, it was good to see him use it as a platform for a final public statment of

2003-03-12T20:08:00.000+10:00

Two thoughts struck me today : 1) Howard's dropping support and the story of the boy who called wolf. First came Refugees, and we got so scared of them, we put them in cages in the desert, and had our navy cruisers shoot at their unarmed boats. Then came terrorism, we believed him for sure this time, but the Fridge Magnet seemed to look like not even care about it. Finally Iraq. This 'evil'

2003-03-12T19:41:00.000+10:00

The Bulletin attempts to lighten the national mood I’m, wondering exactly why the Bulletin has hired Tim Blair. Is it as a joke ?. Comic enlightenment of the most banal kind in an otherwise serious and usually respected piece of journalism. ? This week, Blair unsurprisingly went after the kids in the school protests. We knew it was too big a target for him. All those people with less

2003-03-06T21:04:00.000+10:00

Government scampers on bulk billing with some good old fashioned smoke and mirrors It seems the Howard government has finally admitted defeat. On bulk billing that is. There was a time in early 1997 where they boasted how they were improving labors 80% levels of bluk billing. Not anymore. And rather than admit they have caused problems, rather than actually fix it, they've decided to

2003-03-03T23:00:00.000+10:00

I dont want this to turn into a left wing version of the smug cheat shot childish antics of Tim blairs blog But this opinion piece by the man whos been wrong about everything Padraic P. McGuinness takes the cake. In it padraic claims that should the USA not blow up Iraq the west will destory itself. And the ones we should blame are baby boomers who want to leave nothing to come after them. As if

2003-02-27T00:38:00.000+10:00

Generation G : Who stole all our fun... and wheres the last pretzal ? You notice that the world is going conservative, simply because more and more people are becoming elderly. Hence those young who rise to the top are not the best, like our favored parents generation, who broke free with the hippies, but merely those who enunciate and market the 50-60 yrs olds ideas. As the world ages, so

2003-02-27T00:37:00.000+10:00

The sport of Meejwa watching Two things on the media , 1) This excellent article in the Guardian http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,873395,00.html On the American Press although, it applies pretty much here as well. ""It's not that the press is uncritical of the people it covers," says Steven Weisman, the New York Times's chief diplomatic correspondent, "but it's critical

2003-02-18T12:18:00.000+10:00

Today i thought id turn towards history and how it will view J.Howard. One hopes that in the dictionary besides the words 'decietful,lying,rort' will be his face. But sadly no. Where he will end up, i dont know, i think almost menzies like in the eyes of the right. In the eyes of the rest of us, a snide little man whos ship came in, who danced with G.W. Bush whilst the country difted away,

2003-02-17T21:36:00.000+10:00

Marketing the War on Iraq I thought today id look at the way the war has been marketed. And focus on thsoe claims and arguments which have most hurt what should be an open and shut case for a war on a brutal dictator. At the heart of the image of this war debate is the issue : Why couldnt they have told the truth. Here are 3 of the smartest political operators, on an issue they should by all

2003-02-13T01:11:00.000+10:00

In other .. Other News ive decided Alston should resign, if not his seat, the ministry carnt be allowed to be kept in the hands of a man, who Presides over the question of which digital format to use, and goes with Telstra version. When deal is done we find that he then went and : A) Accepts a 10'000 TV from a company involved in the descision he just made. B) Conffers to see if its the right

2003-02-13T01:07:00.000+10:00

I fear tonight the break up has begun. Those 50 stablish (ish) years of world wide boom, 1945 - 2003 is over. In the history books of tomorrow, this will be the point at which the first indents in the timeline show up. Step back a bit and you can see history being written. Take this story from todays News. Australians are terrorist targets and violent extremism must be tackled on a global

2003-02-10T21:48:00.000+10:00

Does bush understand why people dont agree with him ? An idea struck me today, watching Bush on the news, as he gave his usual spiel on Iraq with his determined yet slightly perplexed look always present. He doesn’t understand why others have opposing positions. Now its most evident when he’s talking off the cuff, where you see him in his finger tapping best. He has managed the dumb monkey

2003-02-04T22:42:00.000+10:00

Special report : Channel NINE cant do their homework Well that 'leaked document' supposedly committing troops to Iraq, was in fact discussing Australia’s current troop commitment to the UN in regards to enforcing sanctions against Iraq, and patrolling, checking their water space. Channel Nine in an 'exclusively gained' leak now has a whole lot of egg on its face, especially Laurie Oaks.(It

2003-02-04T19:17:00.000+10:00

Howard justifies war, Crean finds passion, DrShrink pushes buttons Shame this leaked document didn’t come out before today’s, parliamentary debate, ahh well I’m sure we should see some good use of it by the front benchers and speakers in tonight’s parliamentary debate. If you haven’t heard , a document has come out which records a official conversation between Alexander Downer and a NZ

2003-02-03T19:17:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the long delay between updates. With work im kinda busy, but ill get back into it, now that things are setteling down again. The Disappearing Prime Minister trick Here we are, less than 24 hours away from the peoples representatives debating if Australian troops will face fire in Iraq and our PM is ready to leave to the USA(3rd time in a year) to party with Bush and Blair over their

2003-01-23T17:43:00.000+10:00

The posts have been long and lean of late i know. The reason for that is two fold. 1) The Bushfires As you know, over 530 houses have gone up in flames here in Canberra. And as a resident of Curtin which lost 3 houses only a street away, we saw some of the worst of it. Saturday was a tough day, but the house still stands(not our 'homo' as Federal Minister for Territories Wilson Tuckey managed to

2003-01-13T01:44:00.000+10:00

See proving Im actually trying to be nice to Americans and the wider community heres another Pro world post. Govenor George Ryan the soon to be retiring govenor of Illinois has commuted all 164 men on death row to life sentences and the other 3 to 40 year sentences. In effect disabeling the death penalty in chicago. Heres His speech which outlines some of his thinking as well. So for once

2003-01-12T19:22:00.000+10:00

Today i thought i'd follow the Minister for Multicultral affairs and re-enforce the good things about this nation. And the best way i saw of this was from pushing forward the music of a young Australian band i recently heard about and have very quickly become a fan of. The band in question is the John Butler Trio. Formed around John Butler your typical art school hippie with dreadlocks and a

2003-01-11T20:06:00.000+10:00

Ominous signs of a scared(fascist?) Goverment The minister for Multicultral affairs has announced hes sending notice to all ethnic broadcasters 'not to incite racial hatred'. Not only must they be on their best behaviour(above and beyond the mainstream)The minister said that they shouldnt just repeat what they take in other languages from other countries without applying Australian editorial

2003-01-10T03:19:00.000+10:00

Latham Vs Costello From Todays SMH.com.au. 'The Opposition Leader, Simon Crean, is preparing a reshuffle of his frontbench which would pit the aggressive Sydney MP Mark Latham against the prime minister-in-waiting, Peter Costello. Promoting Mr Latham to shadow treasurer would establish a more combative dynamic in the Parliament, shifting some of the focus of the Opposition attack away from the

2003-01-09T01:56:00.000+10:00

Privitisation and screwing workers for profits I noticed this The Australian article whilst surfing tonight. Not only has Telstras plan of privitisation of its NDC sector(construction and maintinence) failed within 4 years, its decided to lay of another thousand workers. So in 1998 Telstra had 6'000 people on Maintinence and construction. Now it wants 2'000 people to do the same job. This

2003-01-08T21:03:00.000+10:00

Bush launches $674 billiopn tax plan.. One condition : Its for the rich only Guess we shouldnt be suprised that every economic plan Bush has was written in the 80's under Regan and involves tax cuts for the top 5% but lets go through the motions anyway. This is the real focus of the plan - TOM DASCHLE, US DEMOCRAT SENATOR: "Those making $1 million will get a $24,000 tax deduction. They will

2003-01-08T20:18:00.000+10:00

Changing styles, changing formats. Dont worry if the page jumps around for a while im working on setting it up. Course im too lazy and broke to pay for a good full featured site but this should be sufficient.

2003-01-08T20:08:00.000+10:00

A Return to the bad old days Though id kick into gear this years blogging by showing just how great a job we are doing. From Todays SMH.com HSC text that evokes bad memories repressed By Linda Doherty, Education Writer January 8 2003 "The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres has been dumped from the Higher School Certificate study list due to fears that a passage dealing with

2003-01-04T14:59:00.000+10:00

I think its a sign of just how desperate we have gotten of late. With a media to timid to attack, and world goverments out to destroy the world we live in it seems we have had to tuen to those who fought in the 60's and 70's to take up the charge again. Mungo Mcallum, the brilliant Political journalist of the late 60's and 70's has written two crackers of articles for todays SMH A blast for

2002-12-29T22:52:00.000+10:00

We are now officially 'Suspicious but not alarmed' By now you all should have seen the fantastic new National Security Adds. I for one was proud that my $1c was spent on this project. That instead of helping pay for nurses, teachers, or even saving famrers in the drought that we paid $15 million so we can all know to be 'suspicious but not alarmed' Finally Australia shall be a safe nation. If

2002-12-25T15:39:00.000+10:00

Guess what today is Well my mood was fine till M.Jackson filled my mp3 list and tv screens with his christmas message so the idea of good cheers to the online world from this corner of the blogsphere has been flung like a stinking dog carcas out to the highway to be savaged. As you can see my usual prose is somewhat distorted right now. As so often happens when i read Hunter S Thompson. And i

2002-12-24T17:51:00.000+10:00

Sometimes, People get too worked up in the battle, And forget why they are there The USA Democrats with enough pressure have forced the racist Republican Trent Lott out of the plum position of senate leader and instead of claiming sucess, building on it via proving why they are the better party for people to vote for, they have slipped right back into opposition mode. Instead of claiming the

2002-12-24T17:08:00.000+10:00

Ok ive changed the template around as the old one was getting too annoying to read especially for those late nite editing sessions with bleary eyes and tired jittery fingers from all that coffee. Things around here are pretty quiet, im trying to ignore much of the world of politics but i cant keep away. I should be writing i know it, fiction is my calling not the back stabbing,pretenscious,

2002-12-19T01:24:00.000+10:00

Appointing a judge is a funny time. As one retires the elected party immediatly jumps in to put in someone to follow in their own shadow and someone to keep them in mind at times. As we saw in Bush Jr's win thanks to those installed by Daddy's reign, or here in Australia in the 1975 crisis (advice given by a conservative judge) choosing a new judge is always a fun moment in the public squabble

2002-12-18T16:58:00.000+10:00

Im not normally a follower of legal cases, their mere outcome and ramifications if political is usually enough for me, but this case i found Interesting and well worth watching. The case im speaking of of course is the Richard Carlton vs Media watch over a 1998 story carlton as a 60 minutes reporter ran on the Yugoislavian massacres. The problem was that Carlton substituted video footage of

2002-12-16T23:53:00.000+10:00

The normally decent Gerad Henderson has written a well ....strange opinion piece for the SMH. Much of it is worth reading about the continual battle within leftist camps whether to try for the full revolution/social swivel in one fell swoop or achieve it through incrimental change. As we saw in the Republican debate its a battle thats often bitter and decisive. What intrigues me though is

2002-12-15T19:24:00.000+10:00

Phillip Adams from The Australian has a great article this weekend. On how much the human species and man in particurlar loves to go to war. Phill doesnt waste our time thinking we can stop this war mongering behaviour. Its so ingrained its impossible to remove, but he does make some good points on limiting it. Somehow we have to calm ourselves down. Beat our penises into ploughshares.

2002-12-13T14:38:00.000+10:00

Double dissilution election seems set for march 2003 Well seems our fearless leader has decided to send back the ASIO bill to the senate EXACTLY in the shape they rejected. Meaning When the senate rejects it again as it is certian to do, Howard can go to a Double dissalution election in March. Labor has supported much of the bill but these are the three point which it will not pass and which

2002-12-13T02:17:00.000+10:00

Update time, plus goverment V Business the title fight decider Sorry for the lack of updates. Ive been very busy lazy. Im on holidays and enjoying myself for a while. Im reading a lot more and leaving some of the day to day politics alone or dropping it down a lot to consider the world. At the moment im reading War and peace by Leo Tolstoy Patrick White's biography by David Marr Stupid White

2002-12-04T23:14:00.000+10:00

Pre-emptive strikes, a shit storm in a tea cup of our own making John Howard’s little mistake in a Sunday morning chat has continue to blow around. Downer in an act of damage control has called in the ASEAN ministers to explain little jonnies faux-pau. Now whilst we might all be tempted to say well it was far too early in the morning to think straight and if he says sorry we will forgive him.

2002-12-03T22:39:00.000+10:00

An idea struck me whislt running tonight...A third way for voting in Australia ? Its a work in progress but if you could give me your opinions of it id appreciate it. I dont claim it to be the answer but its a possibility i havent heard of before. A mix between proportional voteing and highest vote per seat voteing systems. Its been discussed before and as you know Australia has a highest

2002-12-03T16:27:00.000+10:00

Asylum seekers and immigration. Labours take for 2003 Heres the outline of details if you want some info from the ALP’s site Heres the catholic commission for justice and peace views on it. (They are the social arm of the catholic church in Melbourne) SMH.Com.au (scroll down for the point by point analysis) Personally id like to see mandatory detention removed, but I think the new policy

2002-12-02T14:37:00.000+10:00

Why the left attacks the USA I want to have a quick look at the topic of much debate within the political forces in this nation, especially since Sept 11. Theres been far too many attacks on the left to link or mention but im sure youve seen enough to know what im talking about. These attacks are the subject of todays rant. Im proud of my position as a Lefty and of some one who sees the

2002-12-02T13:15:00.000+10:00

Details handed down from the educated elite, and the problem of entertainment politics I think people undervalue the public too much. The reason they don’t seem to worry about details is because we've been slack or apprehensive of the masses knowing the details and so they are held back or just skipped over lightly. As Tim's Blairs blog shows, playing fast and loose with the facts for

2002-12-01T13:22:00.000+10:00

Democracy in action Our Prime Minister shows just how committed he is the the democratic process announcing he will have a Parlimanetary debate about Australin actions over Iraq. But Conceeds "I'm not going to commit myself to such specificity in relation to a hypothetical event, except to restate the principle and that is, if we make any decision in future it's an executive decision," he

2002-12-01T11:39:00.000+10:00

Labour takes Victoria, 62 seats landslide The Voters have spoken The Labour party ahs been returned in Victoria with the largest win for the party in state history. Labour will pick up 62 seats. Liberals are cut from 32 to 17 and somehow the nationals held onto their seats despite taking 4% of the vote. The Greens got 8% but no seats it seems. Its a 9% swing to Labour and a HUGE bodyblow to

2002-11-30T17:12:00.000+10:00

Well first reports in for the Anti-IRAQ War protests held around the country all look positive. On this rainy miserable day a minimum 10'000 people turned up in sydney, although could be as high as 15'000. All the other major towns had protests, and marches. More on the issue later when i return home. Ohh and the Victorian Elections are on, make sure you watch the vote. Tip is labour

2002-11-26T13:51:00.000+10:00

Wander through this link if you haven’t already about a woman who took her life because she didn’t want to reach the age of 80. Ordinarily such a story may reach the gutter columns of the tabloids or just one of those oddity stories we share and laugh at. But this ones actually grabbed some media attention because of the woman’s links with pro-euthanasia campaigner Dr Phillip Nietzche. In fact

2002-11-25T18:15:00.000+10:00

I’m rather amused by John Brogden NSW's struggling Opposition Leader and his plan for schools to become centres of discipline.. Now I’m pretty sure that the smiler is only doing so in a vain attempt to appease the conservatives in the party as part of their 'lets all be john' plan. He's a known liberal (a liberal in the liberal party, certainly a rare sight), but if he wants to keep his job he’s

2002-11-19T17:23:00.000+10:00

It always amuses me in the blogging scene and in politics in general when the merest chance to scorn those opposing leads people to blindly ignore the facts that brought about the situation. No matter how bad the situation if a blogger can score a political point. Watch out. Take this recent post from Tim Blair. First he posted this transcript from 60 minutes show. Garrett: "The real guts

2002-11-17T16:19:00.000+10:00

It amuses me currently with the political commentators especially those on the right and their dismissal of the WTO protests held in Sydney. On the basis of a few fools and anarchists they dismiss the entire weight of criticism against the WTO. Now I agree there was far too much of a foolish mixing of motives at the rally, too many causes, not enough time. And true they lack the few chosen

2002-11-16T15:33:00.000+10:00

Tony Blair in his major foreign policy speech for the year, it seems has proved we may have mis-judged him in his alliance with Bush. Blair has come out and stated that the middle east conflict casts a "dark shadow" over the world. "What is happening in the Middle East now is ugly and wrong - the Palestinians living in increasingly abject conditions, humiliated and hopeless, and Israeli civilians

2002-11-15T22:25:00.000+10:00

What’s in a word. Today with the Anti-globalisation protests i thought id look at just what globalisation is. As in the word itself and its necessary conitation. Personally I dislike the term 'globalisation'. Simply because the initial idea of globalisation i.e. a global world, ability to communicate and conduct interaction with anyone in the world has had the free trade and pro capitalist

2002-11-14T12:02:00.000+10:00

I found this opinion piece in today’s SMH. Quite a good little piece written by an economist, banker etc who is now involved in the anti-WTO protests currently on in Sydney. The article doesn’t say a lot, but just swings around some basic undeniable realities economists would probably prefer you don’t know about. Free marketers will just dismiss it out of hand without responding as they do

2002-11-12T14:42:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. Times escaping me at the moment and im not doing to much about it. But ill post more stuff here in a while. Anyway for today a quick opinion piece i think one major problem facing us today is we are all too willing to take sides and then stick with that side till the very end. We don’t want to accept we may have made a mistake initially so keep on going in the

2002-11-09T22:41:00.000+10:00

< Drought Proofing Australia The drought as you well know is currently hurting Australia, whilst we will manage for a while yet, the real damage is to be felt in 6-12 months time and probably some effects 4-5 years later (i.e. the grape crops if wiped out take years to bring back to speed). Something needs to be done. What I’m proposing to "Drought Proof Australia" though is not to turn the

2002-11-03T01:27:00.000+10:00

Intresting article this. About a guy who grew up in a Hitler youth group, was a good little nazi, joined the SS.(though never killed a Jew) and considers himself in the end a good person. Now what’s he done wrong ? Fought for his nation at war. Maybe killed people defending it - That’s not a crime Believed the propaganda his country told him for 15+ years, the stuff his parents family and

2002-11-01T20:15:00.000+10:00

HEAVEN AND HELL I’ve had a bit of an insight today. Its to deal with Religion and the various problems it has and will caused. The problem as I see it is not God per say, but the idea of Heaven. That single idea is the source of so much angst and frustration, pain and suffering on this earth. Heaven is the place of eternal happiness. Its the ultimate party and it goes forever. Pretty inviting

2002-11-01T01:44:00.000+10:00

If your looking for something to do, go have a look at these WW2 Properganda posters. Puts a lot of it in perspective at times. Just how close and how far we are from images like this appearing. What man could resist an image just as this :

2002-11-01T01:38:00.000+10:00

And another thing..(In response to the questions raised in yesterdays post*) If the Left as a group can show simply what it stands for as labour failed to do last election, it will help when arguing politically. The right love to just ignore the extremists then paint the morderates with the brushes of the extremist in an effort to not even have to consider the views of others. But sweep on the

2002-10-31T23:34:00.000+10:00

In his muddled way as a repeater box of the right wing Tim Blair in this article he raises the idea of the left neededing rallyi monkeys, not monkeys at rallies. Ignoring the jibe it raises the intresting question. What does the left rally behind. ?. This also raises a further question of what when attacked can the left fall back on as absolute proof of their ideas working. Ill explain a

2002-10-30T14:41:00.000+10:00

*Update* Umm... as you can see we are having a few problems here. Codes wandering around and killing tables and so such. I'll try squaring it all up soon. But maybe not, i kind of like it like this in many ways. More room for the text. We now return you to your normal blogging------------------------> Intresting article in The Australian today. Cant find a link for it, but its entitled ' The

2002-10-28T15:02:00.000+10:00

How to remove the idea of victory in a political debate ?. Thats the question Australia must seriously ask itself if we are to go beyond our current petty squabbeling system. It used to be people joined political groups inside their party and even the party of their choice soley on ideological basis. The joinign with like minded individuals to push your own views. It was the views they wanted to

2002-10-28T13:30:00.000+10:00

Intresting news days today. The SMH's big revelations of howards rated above the fold on the front page, but yet fails to be mentioned on their front page online. Mores the shame. None of the other papers have taken notice but thats in many ways expected, the SMH wants its exclusive. But that the other news outlets havent highlighted and picked up on the story despite it being on the SMH.com

2002-10-28T02:10:00.000+10:00

Intresting line from the SMh.com today "But there is one thing I fervently admire about him, and that is the incandescent rage that he arouses in student radicals, Radio National broadcasters, the arts community, intellectuals and Bob Ellis. This is his greatest achievement - and no one will ever be able to take it away from him." The writer gives howard respect by being hated by the young, the

2002-10-27T00:20:00.000+10:00

The USA is out of control. Rumsfeld and Bush simply have to go. I think theres no other option. No not political assination as has been rumoured In this case with the plane crash and death of a leading liberal democrat. A man who voted against the war on iraq and consistently against bushes 'social' policies. He also was one of the key figures to see if the democrats can retain support of the

2002-10-26T16:36:00.000+10:00

Adds, ahhhhh! ADDS everywhere. They are driving me crazy. I think im finally beginning to realise why there are so many people with angry personas online. Its simple : They are seeing too many adds, being inundated with thousadnds upoin thousands of pop-ups and simply cant take it anymore. I of course had been accused of being a mellowed lefty from my use of Opera with its handy 'refuse pop ups'

2002-10-24T23:32:00.000+10:00

Ever just get up and think boy what an ugly news day ? First we have 750-1000 people held hostagewith threats to blow them all up, unless Russians war on Chechyna is ended in 7 days - An ideal you know will only end in death, either of the rebels or of the hostages. One group of these will die, maybe both, but the war will continue. Secondly the findings of Reith having lied to the public seems

2002-10-23T21:19:00.000+10:00

More musings (i really like that word) on this strange day in town. The wind seemed threatened to hijack us all, buffeting things around, the clouds hung overhead like soggy laundry just waiting for you to go outside before dropping their load on you, but in the end it turned out pretty much alright. A sharp sunset, clear skies and not even too cold. Anyway a dust storms heading down the east

2002-10-22T17:02:00.000+10:00

Ive been musing about the house all morning, and finally thought i should get something on paper. Many thoughts, discussions arguments have wanderdd by over at the ABC Political Animal religion , drugs, feminism, malism (does the term exist ?, or more to the point would a campaign to improve mens issues be acceptable to the public -discuss) It also raises the issue of if you can argue against

2002-10-20T17:19:00.000+10:00

According to This Sydney Morning Herald Story the "real" test for crean is still to come after labours loss in the cunningham by-election. You almost have to feel sorry for crean, though an un-inspiring leader he hasnt done anything necessarily wrong like Lie to the public and yet every week theres a new "real" test of his leadership. Still this isnt a game for also-rans and were he to have a

2002-10-16T22:50:00.000+10:00

Politics, in these image times is a funny game. Its not so much what you can prove, or what you beleive in but whats "real". A few weeks ago labour held its forum on reforms and changes for the party. Despite how desperate or minor these changes needed to be for the sake of the party machine, what was more important was not that the reforms occured, but that they were seen to take place. That

2002-10-13T17:20:00.000+10:00

How to change the world : The world is in a pretty shonky situation right now. That much is undeniable. much of our worlds population live in third world copuntries, in extreme poverty. They live with diseases and problems we eliminated in the 50's. They live in a world where there is little hope, and no real escape. Meanwhile both in the west and east the environment, the very world we are

2002-10-08T13:01:00.000+10:00

Broad thoughts on this cold news day... Ever notice how the right was formed and maintains to this day on the pure focus of beating the left, whilst the left (though oft badly done) was focused on the issues. The first workers groups (a union) were formed because workers rights stunk. Change was needed. Right wing groups only formed to protect the owners the managers, against the lefts

2002-10-03T20:11:00.000+10:00

Today, a focus that waxes and waynes in public notice. It will be the lead story for two days, then off the map the next. Yet the issues remain, and whilst they wont lead to WW3 as Iraq may do, its still a vital issue in the enforcement of justice and peace around the world. Of course I am talking about Zimbabwe and the reign by Mugabe. The question of what should other nations do is still

2002-10-02T13:07:00.000+10:00

What a suprise, just like right before the last election, and the one before that, and strangely the one before that, and at a time when the goverment is taking a minor beating at the hands of the media, suddenly Alston sucks up to the media mogouls announcing media cross ownership law changes. What a suprise. If the goverment was serious they would have changed it years ago, this is the end of

2002-09-29T23:35:00.000+10:00

For once i wont ramble and rave, thats a touch over done these days. But point instead to a great example of how a modern opinion piece should be. And this time written by an american no less. From the NY Times By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/opinion/29FRIE.html Go check it out.

2002-09-24T23:22:00.000+10:00

OK this time something slightly diffrent. A quick 400 word rant on the intresting topic raised "Are humans evil" Are Humans Evil ? Humans are by nature a almost violent, selfish race. A species that can easily commit such acts as we would label 'evil'. And I think we by instinct know almost no other way. Whilst Humans are one of only two species on this planet who commit reckless murders (

2002-09-23T12:18:00.000+10:00

How bush can save the day and still invade Israel Its undeniable that bush will invade Iraq soon, its just a matter of when. The real danger in this however is Israel. It has already said unlike the Gulf War that if attacked, it will strike back. This is where however Bush can gain that vital UN and world support. Were he (and i think this is highly unlikely as intelligent as it is) To

2002-09-22T15:05:00.000+10:00

IN the 70's and 80's newspapers went on crusades, an idea or government they disliked story took hold and it was run with, actively supported, publicly announced and went on until the idea achieved or the result impossible. Today’s newspapers don’t even go near the basis of these papers from yester year. Good or bad, it was a way of focus and concerted effort by some people to get the world to

2002-08-25T16:32:00.000+10:00

Today a look (inspired from a topic and much of this appears in a topic reply i wrote on the ABC Political Animal forum (Link to the left) This addresses the quality of our politicians, our elected representivies. Today listen to any talkback channel, or surf over to any political forum and apathy with out politicians seems rife. There is then the easy step so beloved of the elderly to say 'it

2002-08-23T13:35:00.000+10:00

Well since this is a political focused blog i guess the champagne must end and as we sit down cranky, tired and half drunk(ie the perfect mood to do journalism) we must turn to the big story of the day. Natasha Stott Despoja's resignation. In my view this is political suicide for the democrats. Especially in the short term, and now i fail to see them being able to have much effect by the next

2002-08-22T12:29:00.000+10:00

This is indeed the first blog on this here website. So maybe its worth making this special. For one id like to hope the typing bar up here (where you cant see it haha), can be altered, ie made bigger than its current convention of being about the size of my left nut. (which admitedly is huge.. :P) But for my long rambeligns this could prove inhibity, and dangerous for my readers as i cant redily