Time Machine

The Business Council of Australia warned, "You cannot support productivity growth in the 21st century while turning back the clock to a 1990s or 1980s workplace relations system." (West Australian 18/4/07)

Instead we propose going back to the early industrial revolution era before minimum hour weeks and penalty wages...

Just like fashion, politics has it's own retro movements, the nostalgic nod back to Whitlam or Keating. The fond recollections of Menzies and Joh. Just like fashion it will also continue to keep reviving moments from it's past sometimes because they are classics (the LBD/enterprise bargaining), because they are reminiscent of a more wholesome era (twin sets & pearls/hardcore censorship laws) or because they appeal to the elites (Haute couture/tax breaks for bussiness). Everyone's got to heark back to some era, i'll take the 80s and 90s ideas of workers rights and Salt n' Pepa over the alternative proposal of economic policies from the 19th Century and social mores from the 1950s.

The miracle of the VPL

Weasel: About John Paul II's possible miracles to qualify for sainthood (from smh): "a number of inexplicable recoveries from cancer as well as "miraculous pregnancies" were among the potential miracles reviewed"

I believe there's another way of describing 'miraculous pregnancies'..

CVM: What about the miracle of the church causing more war, assisting the spread of HIV and only really being a bunch of nancies poncing about in dresses and wearing ridiculously large hats?

Now that is a miracle.

Weasel: "In world news today, John Paul II was canonised for the miracle of being taken seriously while wearing drag and a big hat and being considered a humanitarian whilst being responsible for the deaths of millions... the canonisation of Pope Benedict now looks assured, as > his ascendancy to papal office itself after being a member of hitler youth is widely considered a miracle"

"Miracles by the dozen" - I love it.

Reasons to keep that subscription..

As a symptom of a not misspent enough youth i find myself a proud and sometimes confused member of P.Ruddy's press release email list. Most of the time it's this or that judge being appointed here or there but every-so-often the full text from one of his doorstop interviews is uploaded. We all already know that he has all the personal charm and charisma of a McDonalds Chicken McNugget but reading his thoughts about why other people can't get married is particularly hearwarming.

First he identifies a problem with the ACT civil union legislation:

The first is that it involves a formal ceremony. If you're having partnership agreements and you're registering them you don't have to have a formal ceremony which is marriage-like with a celebrant. I note that they're not requiring marriage celebrants to do it but they can do it and it provides for registration of other celebrants.

No ceremony? Sheesh, as if anyone could do the pomp and ceremony like the gay community, remember Elton John dressed as Marie Antoinette and extrapolate.

Then he dodges a question by talking to gay relationships on all fours:

Ross Solly:
Do you believe that a same-sex couple can have the same level of love for one another as a couple in a heterosexual relationship?

Attorney-General:
Well our principal concern is to - and I'm not being judgmental about relationships - our principal concern is to where we can to remove discrimination and we're seeking to do that. We don't think putting those relationships on all fours with marriage is the appropriate direction to go.

Then he tells us how he deals with his own gay friends:

Look, I understand that people can have longstanding relationships and the relationships between them are very strong and I'm not judgmental about those matters, but I don't expect them to be entering into marriages.

I pity his speech writer. Those politics and that level of charisma kill words from 50 paces.

Carbon Dating

For all those people who claim there's no point Australia doing anything about Kyoto or the environment more generally because India and China will still be polluting, consider the following from the Guardian:

"the average US carbon footprint is 19,800kg, while the impact on climate of the average Aussie is 18,000kg. Developing countries are far more sustainable: the average Chinese carbon footprint is 3,200kg, while the average Indian emits 1,200kg. Indeed, a good rule of thumb is that the poorer a person is, the less they emit - not a good omen in a world where everybody wants to be middle class. The average Tanzanian is highly sustainable, with a mere 100kg of carbon emissions per year, but it is unlikely that they are happy with this situation."

And for all those people who watched the Al Gore film and didn't change to Green Energy it's really easy, just call your energy company and ask them what they offer...

As for carbon dating, I think this might be a new fad we can start on RSVP and gay.com , advertise your carbon footprint as a way to impress?

Who knew?

It appear hancuffs are illegal.

And maces too.

It's so hard to have fun nowadays...

Trials and flights

After 5 years of trying to ignore the case & passing the buck back to the American government David Hicks is tantalizingly close to having a trial date set. There's a sense that after 5 years the only really positive outcome would have been to bring him back home but nevertheless, a trial is a huge step in the right direction.

Alexander Downer seems to have changed his tune on the urgency of the trials too:

"All right, the Supreme Court made its decision earlier this year, but we do want the charges to be brought forward as quickly as possible and we do not want any more unnecessary delay in relation to this case."

Note the word "unnecessary"..

It appears that he has just admitted that the US and Australia have been faffing around and allowing the unlawful combatants in Guantanamo to be deprived of their right to a speedy trial for NO GOOD REASON. Surely not.

Cultural Insensitivity

I can't believe that everyone forgot Sinterklaas and there were no sweeties in my shoes this morning. I even left out my nicest stilettos....