Humanecology

Reviving this blog

2006-03-23T12:15:00.000+10:00

Like many bloggers I lost energy when nothing ever seemed to happen with the blog entries I had made.

Today I have made the search to remember how I made entries (yes I had forgotten) and this is the result.

Government's slippery slope.

2005-10-18T11:53:00.001+10:00

These letters come from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Power without review a tool of dark democracy
October 18, 2005

By his outrage at the public exposure of his "anti-terrorism" legislation, the Prime Minister shows us the Howard vision of democracy: unseen legislation, drafted after closed-door briefings, rammed through a rubber-stamp parliament. How long before we have a fully fledged secret government, with rule by decree? Oh, and just to make sure everything goes smoothly, there'll be a new crop of ASIO spooks to keep tabs on those who dare question power.
Geoff Saunders Jamberoo

If I appear in public carrying a placard that condemns Australia's continuing military presence in Iraq, what action may be taken against me when the anti-terrorism legislation is passed? What - and who - will constitute or define the fine line between my right as a citizen to protest about government action and the possibility that my actions may be construed as giving succour to the "enemy"?
Jacqueline Lublin Balmain

The contempt John Howard shows in muzzling debate on such a crucial issue as anti-terrorism laws is chillingly familiar to those of us who lived under undemocratic regimes in other parts of the world.
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In my native South Africa I saw the dark side of detention without trial and a government able to quash opposition to unsavoury political objectives under the guise of state security. Democratic rights to strike or protest become a threat to national security (Howard's new industrial relations laws). Next go freedoms of association, speech and debate, like debate over the fine print in the bill Mr Howard wants to keep from Australian eyes - thank you, ACT Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope ("Islamic recruits to bolster spy force", October 17).
Isn't it ironic that it was the very vocal protests of Australians and their government in the 1970s and '80s (before Howard's time, clearly) that helped dump F.W. de Klerk's undemocratic regime?
I may have grown up in a country starved of democracy, but my Australian family deserves better and I will exhort my fellow citizens to speak up loudly to ensure my adopted country never sinks into the same abyss.
Michael Johnson Balmain

What happens when the police make a search under the anti-terrorism legislation, find they were mistaken on the terrorism aspect but find evidence of other illegal activities, which they would not otherwise have been able to obtain without appropriate warrants? It seems that the bill allows them to keep anything likely to result in a two-year jail sentence.
Is this to be acceptable "collateral damage" to an otherwise innocent suspect?
William S. Lloyd Denistone
Michael Burd (Letters, October 17), a Brazilian electrician in London didn't "belong to, finance or support any terrorist organisation", didn't "sell literature, DVDs or videos inciting hatred or violence against any individual or group", didn't "praise the September 11 or Bali terrorist attacks" and didn't "have anything to hide". He ended up with eight bullets in his head.
Rob Parkhouse Kellyville
I always enjoy an irony. Margaret Morgan (Letters, October 17) complains of the draft anti-terrorism legislation "we have the right to an opportunity to object to it". Of course you do, Margaret. Section 30A states: "Seditious intention means an intention to … (b) urge disaffection against … (ii) the Government of the Commonwealth."
This letters page is going be looking a bit spare, isn't it?
Shayne Chester Potts Point

Michael Burd, do not take anything for granted in a police state. There is no guarantee that even a Caucasian with an English-sounding name would not become a victim of gossip, hearsay, revenge or retaliation by a person who dislikes him or her. Before supporting the new anti-terrorism laws, think twice.
Nahid Kabir Churchlands (WA)
When they lock you up for no reason, Michael Burd, none of the rest of us will ever know.
Andrew King Mungindi
There is little, if anything, I can do about the legislation which has been brought to Parliament on the security and industrial relations fronts. So as small as this is I would like to put into print my saddness at watching the needless and retrograde changes being pushed by the Howard G0vernment. I say retrograde because generations of working men and women worked hard to establish the basic rights of working people. Basic rights such as sick pay, holiday pay and overtime rates will be under direct attack.
Still the IR proposals do not sadden me as much as the anti-terrorist proposals. Those who recall history will remember similar moves in Europe during the period of fascism. Historians will point to more than Europe for the slippery slope starts with the introduction of legislation such as detention without charge or trial. This is where it starts.
Have we been under the cloud of terrorism in this country? No. We had the incident in the 1980's aimed at the Indian P.M. and that is it. Is there any evidence that such legislation reduced terrorism? No. Will it heighten a sense of fear and insecurity in an otherwise peaceful land? Yes.
Oh sad day for this is the world my children will inherit.

Government's slippery slope.

2005-10-18T11:53:00.000+10:00

These letters come from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Power without review a tool of dark democracy
October 18, 2005

By his outrage at the public exposure of his "anti-terrorism" legislation, the Prime Minister shows us the Howard vision of democracy: unseen legislation, drafted after closed-door briefings, rammed through a rubber-stamp parliament. How long before we have a fully fledged secret government, with rule by decree? Oh, and just to make sure everything goes smoothly, there'll be a new crop of ASIO spooks to keep tabs on those who dare question power.
Geoff Saunders Jamberoo

If I appear in public carrying a placard that condemns Australia's continuing military presence in Iraq, what action may be taken against me when the anti-terrorism legislation is passed? What - and who - will constitute or define the fine line between my right as a citizen to protest about government action and the possibility that my actions may be construed as giving succour to the "enemy"?
Jacqueline Lublin Balmain

The contempt John Howard shows in muzzling debate on such a crucial issue as anti-terrorism laws is chillingly familiar to those of us who lived under undemocratic regimes in other parts of the world.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
In my native South Africa I saw the dark side of detention without trial and a government able to quash opposition to unsavoury political objectives under the guise of state security. Democratic rights to strike or protest become a threat to national security (Howard's new industrial relations laws). Next go freedoms of association, speech and debate, like debate over the fine print in the bill Mr Howard wants to keep from Australian eyes - thank you, ACT Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope ("Islamic recruits to bolster spy force", October 17).
Isn't it ironic that it was the very vocal protests of Australians and their government in the 1970s and '80s (before Howard's time, clearly) that helped dump F.W. de Klerk's undemocratic regime?
I may have grown up in a country starved of democracy, but my Australian family deserves better and I will exhort my fellow citizens to speak up loudly to ensure my adopted country never sinks into the same abyss.
Michael Johnson Balmain

What happens when the police make a search under the anti-terrorism legislation, find they were mistaken on the terrorism aspect but find evidence of other illegal activities, which they would not otherwise have been able to obtain without appropriate warrants? It seems that the bill allows them to keep anything likely to result in a two-year jail sentence.
Is this to be acceptable "collateral damage" to an otherwise innocent suspect?
William S. Lloyd Denistone
Michael Burd (Letters, October 17), a Brazilian electrician in London didn't "belong to, finance or support any terrorist organisation", didn't "sell literature, DVDs or videos inciting hatred or violence against any individual or group", didn't "praise the September 11 or Bali terrorist attacks" and didn't "have anything to hide". He ended up with eight bullets in his head.
Rob Parkhouse Kellyville
I always enjoy an irony. Margaret Morgan (Letters, October 17) complains of the draft anti-terrorism legislation "we have the right to an opportunity to object to it". Of course you do, Margaret. Section 30A states: "Seditious intention means an intention to … (b) urge disaffection against … (ii) the Government of the Commonwealth."
This letters page is going be looking a bit spare, isn't it?
Shayne Chester Potts Point

Michael Burd, do not take anything for granted in a police state. There is no guarantee that even a Caucasian with an English-sounding name would not become a victim of gossip, hearsay, revenge or retaliation by a person who dislikes him or her. Before supporting the new anti-terrorism laws, think twice.
Nahid Kabir Churchlands (WA)
When they lock you up for no reason, Michael Burd, none of the rest of us will ever know.
Andrew King Mungindi
There is little, if anything, I can do about the legislation which has been brought to Parliament on the security and industrial relations fronts. So as small as this is I would like to put into print my saddness at watching the needless and retrograde changes being pushed by the Howard G0vernment. I say retrograde because generations of working men and women worked hard to establish the basic rights of working people. Basic rights such as sick pay, holiday pay and overtime rates will be under direct attack.
Still the IR proposals do not sadden me as much as the anti-terrorist proposals. Those who recall history will remember similar moves in Europe during the period of fascism. Historians will point to more than Europe for the slippery slope starts with the introduction of legislation such as detention without charge or trial. This is where it starts.
Have we been under the cloud of terrorism in this country? No. We had the incident in the 1980's aimed at the Indian P.M. and that is it. Is there any evidence that such legislation reduced terrorism? No. Will it heighten a sense of fear and insecurity in an otherwise peaceful land? Yes.
Oh sad day for this is the world my children will inherit.

Government shows its colours (again).

2005-09-26T13:00:00.000+10:00

Ther Australian Government has had a record surplus in the 2004-05 tax year. Hardly a suprise when one considers the social and medical spending which has been cut. Now the purse is the largest its ever been will the Government spend on society, reduce GST so the lowest income people can enjoy the achievement, or fund public education or the medical system so they become the envy of the western world? Well, don't hold your breath, it looks more like there will be tax cuts which again will reward those who don't need it and will again ignore all those who were ignored last time. There can be no doubt about the consciousness of this Government.
Here are some thoughts from the SMH Letters page 26/9/05:-
[Blockquote]'Biggest ever surplus' has come at huge expense

Why are tax cuts the best thing to do with a surplus ("Biggest ever surplus: now for the tax cuts", Herald, September 24-25)? The surplus exists because this Government cut funds to health, education, and infrastructure. Tax cuts give more money to those who need it less.
If there is a surplus, why the push to move people off the disability pension? What's the pressing economic rationale for that?
Perhaps all those funds that go to private schools could be reduced, and the money used instead to help those that need it.
Tax cuts are the least effective and the least equitable use of public money.
David Ashton Orange

The size of the budget presents an opportunity to make some real investment in the Australian environment, the basis of our economy and society. Without a healthy, resilient environment there is no future for either.
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David Creevey Lane Cove
Have our political masters no shame? They continue to claim an enormous budget surplus as a sign of sound fiscal management while under-resourced schools and hospitals cry out for funds.
Peter Spencer Newtown

Strange old world isn't is. The numbers and the view by such agencies as Standard and Poors are more important than the wellbeing of the people, their health and social fabric. Somehow I would not care to be one of the ministers in this Goverment, their karma will be difficult to bear.

Our Mysterious Consciousness

2005-09-16T17:12:00.000+10:00

O, what a world of unseen visions and heard silences, this insubstantial country of the mind! What ineffable essences, these touchless rememberings and unshowable reveries! And the privacy of it all! A secret theatre of speechless monologue and prevenient counsel, an invisible mansion of all moods, musings, and mysteries, an infinite resort of disappointments and discoveries. A whole kingdom where each of us reigns reclusively alone, questioning what we will, commanding what we can. A hidden hermitage where we may study out the troubled book of what we have done and yet may do. An introcosm that is more myself than anything I find in the mirror. This consciousness that is myself of selves, that is everything, and yet nothing at all – what is it? And where did it come from? And why?
(The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Julian Jaynes, 1993, Penguin Books, London.)
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In this introduction Jaynes succinctly describes the problem of consciousness. Indeed what is it
and where did it come from and why? Perhaps there are no greater questions for modern
humans for we have so vanquished the physical world, risking reducing it to the unsustainable;
and now we run the risk of global meaninglessness, a descent into a new dark age from which only consciousness can deliver us.
----------------------------------------

From Jung we learned about the collective unconscious, that shared state which underlies culture and generates archetypes. Also we know a little about some of the states of consciousness from ordinary waking consciousness to deep sleep; and neuroscience continues to give us glimpses of brain activity; but really these are about characteristics and not knowledge of consciousness itself.
------------------------------------------

As soon as we raise the question of consciousness we are faced with a serious question;
if 2000 years of philosophy cannot resolve the question then what can we achieve?
Or, how is it that the question is still with us? What is it about consciousness which keeps returning and refusing to submit to a solution? And how are we to make progress?

Perhaps we have been asking the wrong questions or using inappropriate methods to investigate them. Clearly consciousness is not a feature of the body-mind, or any feature based in physicality. Neither is it a problem to be solved. It is a glorious mystery to be expereinced and as we grow in our experiential knowledge so the need for mechanistic explantion falls away.

-------------------------------------------
But aren't we experiencing consciousness every day? Isn't it always with us? Well no actually to both questions. Most of us have had the expereince of driving home and no being aware of the passage of time and the detail of arriving home. Like driving on automatic most of what we do every day can be done without consciousness. The first awareness which we share with all the animals is adequate for most of what we do. And no, consicousness is not always with us.
It appears that just as we have a blind spot in our retina so too we have a blind spot in our awareness.

There is so much we just do not know about consciouness however the subject will continue to resist study by the standard scientific means for it is not some complex to be broken down and analysed. It is a mysterious state of life itself and it will open only to our actively experience.

For more in this vein please visit the articles page at the School of Human Ecology.

Abuse of Power an old story.

2005-09-13T07:51:00.000+10:00

There are security concerns about Scott Parkin, such that it takes six immigration officers to nab him mid-cappuccino in a Melbourne cafe ("Outcry over plan to deport activist as a security threat", Herald, September 12).
A history teacher from Houston, Texas, is involved in non-violent action like street theatre (dressing up as Halliburton executives with their snouts in troughs). What is his weaponry? Artline markers on butcher's paper hanging on a wall, filled with ideas of engagement and dialogue. He has given workshops on non-violent methods of suggesting there might be moral dimensions to the behaviour of governments and corporations.
Against him the US Government (and then, naturally, our own) invoke security so they don't have to explain anything to us. This is how they use the powers they have now, and yet Howard and Ruddock ask us to trust them to give them more.
The war on terrorism has extended to a war on dissent.
Paul Wilson Annandale

When it's an African country like Zambia then the entire Commonwealth comes together to condemn what President Mugabe is doing in using his power to crush dissent. When a friend of George Bush does it in Australia it seems that in the short term there is nothing we can do. We must await the next election to show our feelings about what is starting to look like fascist control. Too strong a word? Well that's how all the fascist regimes of Europe began, with small matters like removing protesters or exiling intellectuals. Once it has taken root this disease will grow until an entire nation is cowed in fear and black shirts patrol the nights knocking down the doors of dissenters.

The writer felt this in a small way this week on an American computer forum. A moderator, who himself seems to enjoy ranting and raving against others, is too thin skinned to take any criticism of his own behaviour so he removed my post and had me banned from the forum. Neat, no need to explain anything to the others, no need to justify an action, just use old favourite of all despots, removal.

May Australians wake up quickly to this dastard development. We are loosing our civil liberties far too quickly and now is the time to stop the process before it takes root.

aWhat will Katrina mean for the USA?

2005-09-07T08:27:00.000+10:00

The tragedy which hit the three southern States in the form of Cyclone Katrina will have more impact on the USA than the physical damage done in the South.

Clearly the analysis must show that the response by Federal Government was at best far too slow. In Australia an unexpected cyclone hit Darwin, a remote city, at Christmas 1974. The city was literally flattened. Within a short space of time and despite the distances involved there was movement in and out of Darwin. So there is no excuse for the tardiness of the US response. Sadly it is beginning to look as if there are questions of racism inovolved.

While American people of colour might well see the desertion of the South as a racial matter; and frankly when bodies are left in public and individuals are left without food and water it seems a fair claim; other middle class Americans might suddenly feel less safe. An idea has been destroyed in this disaster, the idea that the homes of the free and brave are sacrosanct and safety can be taken for granted.

(View more articles at http://www.humanecology.com.au/articles.htm)

Suddenly neighbouring States are drawn into the disaster by having to act as hosts for misplaced 'refugees' and it seems few are happy about "recieving the worst and poorest of the South". Other States, even those far enough away not the have felt any direct effect are experienceing another, slower reaction. This one is the result of the destruction of the sacred idea of the safety of the American home. What with the huge cost of the war on Terror, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and now the recovery process will there be enough money to keep the USA free and brave? Foriegn debt is at record highs, the Chinese are knocking at the door of essential industries like oil refining and in this view there appears a new vulnerability, a new question of security.

The fall out for George Bush and his Republicans must be severe. Will Americans ever forgive this Administration for its mishandling of the crisis? Early signs indicate that this is doubtful and that after the clean-up and resettlement process has been completed attention will turn like a great searching light onto the Administration of George Bush. Leaving American citizens to die for lack of food and water will not be an easy charge to overcome. It's said that the second term of any US President is marked as 'lame duck' because there can be no third term and so bureaucracy awaits a new president and new allocation of jobs. Before long it may be that Bush's term will be viewed as closer to 'dead duck' for citizens will foget what is happening in far away deserts where the people seem to be more interested in killing one another than achieving democracy; and their fury will remain domestic as wounds from this massive disaster are slow to heal.

When is too much Information too much?

2005-09-02T17:58:00.000+10:00

"It took two centuries to fill the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. with more than 29 million books and periodicals, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 57 million manuscripts. Today it takes about 15 minutes for the world to churn out an equivalent amount of new digital information. It does so about 100 times every day, for a grand total of five exabytes annually. That's an amount equal to all the words ever spoken by humans, according to Roy Williams, who heads the Center for Advanced Computing Research at the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena.

While this stunning proliferation of information underscores the ease with which we can create digital data, our capacity to make all these bits accessible in 200 or even 20 years remains a work in progress.

In an era when the ability to read a document, watch a video, or run a simulation could depend on having a particular version of a program installed on a specific computer platform, the usable life span of a piece of digital content can be less than 10 years. That's a recipe for disaster when you consider how much we rely on stored information to maintain our scholarly, legal, and cultural record and to help us with, and profit from, our digital labor. Indeed, the ephemeral nature of both data formats and storage media threatens our very ability to maintain scientific, legal, and cultural continuity, not on the scale of centuries, but considering the unrelenting pace of technological change, from one decade to the next."

For an ecology of mind goto: http://www.humanecology.com.au

2005-09-02T16:44:00.000+10:00

Brazil’s Amazon Deforestation Worsens-Despite a "Green" President
The total area deforested in Brazil between 2003 and 2004 totaled 10,000 square miles, an area the size of Massachusetts and the second-highest figure in history. The pace of deforestation has increased every year for the last decade. The situation actually got worse-at least six percent worse-during the young presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula, as he is widely known, took office in 2003 as Brazil’s first left-leaning president in nearly four decades.

There comes a point where there is little more to say other than perhaps it's time to section a large part of humanity. Section on the basis of lunacy and throw away the key. These (foresters) madmen are attacking earth's lungs and it seems no one can stop them. Weep!

None so blind

2005-08-27T12:20:00.000+10:00

Two of your headlines, "Top earners can expect more tax relief" and "Sole parents lose under welfare changes", say more than any political analysis could.
Graeme Finn St Peters (SMH Sat 27 August)

Amazing isn't it? It is reported that the present Cabinet is collectively the richest ever to be in Government. So perhaps not only can a rich man not fit through the eye of a needle but also he cannot legislate for ordinary people.

I cannot think of one member of the current Cabiner who has ever gone without. They are men who take clean sheets, hots showers, nice clothes, a full time job...for granted. They have not gone a single day wanting food or money for shoes. And so it is hardly surprising that they launch an attack on sole parents even though, as the Treasurer has noted publicly, we need more Australian children. So it it contradictory and mean. Somehow I am not surprised for with power comes distance and with distance comes ivory tower ignorance. The men on the Government's front bench would not know what living on a wage means for they are too concerned with the race to see who can move things further to the right.

When young people still cannot afford housing alarm bells ought to be ringing. Well they are acutally but can't be heard in the luxurious ivory tower. A pox on the 'born to rule' pretenders.

Purpose of this Blog

2005-08-27T05:30:00.000+10:00

While various stories are reported to keep this blog ticking along it is relevant to note its real purpose. This blog provides a place for open comment on any of the content of ASHE-Australasian School of Human Ecology

At present the blog required a log in because this is how it was presented to ASHE by Google and also because it seems reasonable to ask for a name with a comment. In fact the visible name (viz user name) can be anything so actually there is no divulgence of personal privacy.

Classic science cannot solve what is wrong in the world. If tensions are not eased, peace restored, environments cared for then our immediate future is most uncertain. Perhaps the most important understanding to emerge in recent times is the knowledge of inter-dependence.
In short we are all in the same boat. Or to use another common metaphor, we are all on space-ship Earth. No longer is it good enough for me to remain in middle class comfort while you starve, or suffer prejudice, or remain disposessed. It is now a matter of finding solutions and ways of communication which assist all of us and not some of us.

Thus ASHE is a visible face of change, an invitation to transform, a reminder that we now belong together. So your participation is relevant and it will be welcomed. If not on this site then on a similar project somewhere which seeks similar outcomes of awareness raising and transformation.

We need you to comment, critique, praise or question.

Anti American or Pro Common Sense

2005-08-24T02:45:00.000+10:00

Oh no, I thought, as I read "Teachers accused of anti-US bias" ( Herald, August 22), don't tell me Peter Costello does "dog whistling" as well. I thought he may reflect the more thoughtful side of the Liberal Party. But no, the usual banter blaming it all on teachers and they'd be public school teachers too, no doubt.
If I do have any left-leaning views, they weren't formed by my school teachers but by what a Liberal Party government did to one of my teachers in particular.
In 1965, as an 11-year-old student in 5th class at Denistone East Primary School, I saw two burly Commonwealth detectives accompanied by the headmaster forcibly escort our teacher, Bill White, from the classroom.
Bill White was a conscientious objector and a great teacher. Anti-Americanism is in the mind of the Liberal Party and is being bandied about as a political tool to frame its arguments.
Roger Noakes Bendemeer
Peter Costello, I've got news for you. Teaching my students to think critically about US foreign policy by examining its excursions in Vietnam, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Grenada, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq et al, does not constitute anti-Americanism; it constitutes reality. The facts often sit uncomfortably on top of those old '70s right-wing bags.
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Laurie Fraser East Kurrajong
I can't imagine what I or any of my teacher colleagues could possibly have done to upset the Federal Government as much as we obviously have - but, whatever it was, Brendan Nelson and Peter Costello are using it to push their leadership aspirations.
I think they overestimate our influence.
Phil Armour Yass
No, Mr Costello, it is not left-wing teachers who are promoting anti-Americanism, it is American foreign policy, its "imperial hubris", and its arbitrary invasions and wars for oil and the resources of other nations, not to forget its one-eyed Middle East policy.
Stop allowing your neo-con allegiances to blind you to the plethora of killing fields that America has left in its wake.
Keysar Trad Yagoona
"America has found it much easier to spread its mass culture than to spread its high principles," says the Treasurer, and in doing so lays the blame for anti-American behaviour where it solely belongs: America.
It would be laughable, were it not so offensive and cheap, to lay the blame for any terrorist attack in Australia on teachers, when it is obvious to all but our Government-in-denial that our toadying to the US line has endangered its citizens to a much greater degree than our involvement in East Timor did.
Face facts, Treasurer - terrorists do distinguish between Western and pro-American, and your underestimation of them by suggesting otherwise, and your willingness to pass the blame to teachers for political gain, make you unfit to lead … mate.
Morgan Smallbone Potts Point

When did the Government ask for a mandate to Americanise Australia? Yet day after day this process proceeds under the leadership of that that great Americanphile John Howard.

Now the Teasurer Peter Costelly accuses teachers of an anti American bias. Does he proffer any evidence? Does he demonstrate why this is undesireable? No, this look like another punt from the rarified heights of the Born to Rulers empowered now with a Senate majority.

Mr Treasurer let me be crystal clear with you. I am not pro American I am pro Australian. I have friends and family not 'loved ones', I go up in a lift, walk on the footpath and light my way with a torch. I don't approve of carpet bomb diplomacy, hypocracy or global bullying.

Ideology gone mad,Goldgen Goose to be Sold

2005-08-16T02:15:00.000+10:00

Let's keep the $4.4b golden goose in our backyard
August 13, 2005 SMH Letters Section.

I cannot for the life of me understand why the Federal Government is so keen to sell Telstra. This majority-owned government utility has just reported a $4.4 billion profit, much of which I assume goes into consolidated revenue.
I have been running successful businesses for most of my adult life and there would be no way I would sell such a cash cow as this. Imagine having to duplicate the billions of dollars of infrastructure in place.
Does anyone imagine free enterprise will give a fig for helping those in the bush or in isolated areas if it means losing money? Get real.
The rationale is the Government will legislate to make the owners give everyone fair treatment. Pray, what will be the answer to this?
The Telstra network will be gutted by poor maintenance and the private owners will throw up their hands in despair and say: "Look, our shareholders are not getting an adequate return on their investment so you, the Government, will have to throw a few more billion into the kitty if you want this uneconomic service to the bush to continue."
Peter Lagerlow Gymea

Peter Lagerlow says it all for so many of us. Furthermore the Government has not once publicly explained its motive to sell Our Telstra. Once gone of course it is forever gone and we know what the outsome will be. Ask anyone using Sydey airport since privatisation. Historically look at what happens after privatisation of US Railroads.

No one believes that services in the bush will be maintained by a privatised Telstra and recetnly we are receiving evidence of the straight faced lies told to us by members of the Coalition.

Also from the letters page of the SMH 15/8:

Whenever I call Big Pond I hear "we are receiving a higher than normal volume …" and must sit in a queue. As it's been years I would have thought this volume was now normal. Also, I have no choice about sharing a line with other houses, which further slows dial-up speed. I'd like to see some images and use Google Earth; I can't. Why am I charged full-line rental and dial-up?
Michael Ahern Mount Tamborine (Qld)

Certainly services will not improve such as the matters mentioned in this letter.

We can hope I suppose that the share price refuses to budge from around $5 which means T2 buyers have lost a substantial investment which may put off potential bidders for the company. he essential problem is that Telstra is a monopoly. This could be solved quite simply this way:- the Government can retain the physical network which is the basis of our telephony. This physical network (infrastucture) would then be rented out, as is now done to Optus etc, to any company which decides to enter the telephony business. Thus telephony would be mixed with infrastructure owned by the Government on behalf of the people and services probvided by private companies competing for our business.

Anything short of this is pure ideology gone mad.

Women i the Military

2005-08-13T02:00:00.000+10:00

Sending women into battle a poor strategic decision 12 August 2005
THE decision to allow women to be posted to frontline combat zones is a step backward that will exacerbate declining numbers in the Australian Armed Forces as women have a much higher dropout rate than men when placed in dangerous work environments.
Currently there are more than 7000 women in the defence force – 13 per cent of the total peacetime force of just over 52,000.
Defence Personnel Minister De-Anne Kelly has said that allowing women into combat will move the ADF closer to total equality for women. But does the military exist for gender equality, especially as it alters the group dynamic? Combat readiness would be hurt because men, instead of looking out for the needs of their group, would focus on the women leading to a breakdown in male bonding and cohesion.
It comes as no surprise that 10 per cent of US female soldiers are pregnant at any one given time. Since no replacements are provided, this creates additional duties for other soldiers. Consider if you will, what would happen if 10 per cent of men took "time out" for family based reasons. They would be labelled "shirkers" at best, cowards at worst, but it's okay for female soldiers.
Also, female recruits complete less gruelling training schedules than their male counterparts – but they still get equal pay. This leads to a morale issue within the services. Affirmative action fuels the perception that favouritism sees lesser-qualified female candidates get the jobs, and promotions, ahead of better-qualified men.
We spend billions protecting women in this country against violence and assault. Now, here we are wanting to place women directly in the line of fire where there is a very real danger of them being injured, killed or becoming victims of sexual assault.
This nation has a declining birthrate due to the already high female workforce participation rate and high levels of male unemployment. So tell me, why do we need more women in the military?Alan BarronSpokesman: The Memucan Institute of Men's StudiesGrovedale, Vic

Source: The Australian 12/8/05

Admitting women to the Military is more than a strategic error, it is a deep biological betrayal and contrary to human evolution. When one considers that the motivation is shortage of recruits then this profound mistake is even more tragic.

Women have been gathers and collectors, not hunters. When males went away from the settlement to hunt for meat women remained close to the home and ventured out only for the gathering of nuts, fruits, herbs and vegetables. Hence herbal lore has always been in the provenance of women.

This is no mere simple division of labour for it has a profoundly important biological basis. In short women preseved the mother-child relationship while men lost their connectedness to nature during the process of learning to become patriachal. The mother-child relationship is arguably the only unconditional love humans experience. This may or may not be true and even if more highly evolved individuals reach a point of unconditional love for their partners or even humanity as in Panchen Lamas, the Lamas who return to earth to be of service to humanity. Women have preserved this relationship and that is an unrecognised feat for which we all ought to be eternally grateful to women.

We see this in ordinary everyday life and you can attest it for yourself. Women do not like to kill anything, they like to heal and give care. Women nurture not just their own offspring, but the environment around them. Yes this is a generalisation however, it is true and open for anyone to observe.

Men lost their connectedness to nature and this began with misapporpriation. Following a breakdown in the coherence of trust men developed what we now recognise as Patriachy and in this process they learned to kill to enforce control.

To put women in a position where the main task is to kill is sacriligious and profoundly wrong. We can only hope that this attempt fails and that the current level of women in the military falls.

Readers who are struggling with these concepts may wish to study "The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding" Maturana and Verela, 1992, Shambala, London.

Emperor Howard

2005-08-12T00:30:00.000+10:00

Government of the party, by the party, for the party
August 11, 2005

What a quaint notion of democracy John Howard has. Elected representatives owe their primary loyalty not to their constituents but to the Coalition party room ("Pull your heads in, PM tells Nats", Herald, August 10). It makes you wonder why we bother paying all those members and senators when their only obligation is to do the bidding of the Prime Minister, who controls the party room.
Then we have the Senate's role as a house of review being destroyed by the castration of the committee system.
It seems that we must rely on Barnaby Joyce and a few of his braver and more principled Coalition colleagues if we are to retain a semblance of democracy under this increasingly autocratic Prime Minister.
Agnes Mack Chatswood

John Howard made a serious mistake, or perhaps he finally revealed his true feelings, when he claimed MPs owe their allegiance not to the people who elected them but to their political bosses. He has confirmed the adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Noel Buckman Holmesville

As a high school history teacher I have always taught my students the Greco-Roman heritage of our democracy, that our MPs represent their constituents. I guess I had better change my lessons to the Stalinist/Maoist tradition of MPs representing the party.
I will, however, need some help in developing lesson resources for the civics and citizenship content of our syllabuses as it stresses civic involvement of the citizenry via their MPs. Can someone please tell the Board of Studies that it needs to revise the syllabus to include reference to the party? Sounds like another area I teach - Communist Russia and totalitarianism.
Phil Roberts Moss Vale

One minute we're providing a mandate; the next, we're an unrepresentative mob. Who does he think he's kidding?
Michael Ahern Mount Tamborine (Qld)
_________________________________Letters SMH.

As Parliament returned this week we, the people learned that in Prime Minister John Howard's world members are present to serve the party (viz John Howard) and not the people of the electorate from whence they come. Clearly there is no limit to the hubris of this man. In previous times he has taken over the role of Govenor General in order to gain publicity and in that process he deminished the role of the Govenor. Can you tell me one task the present GG has performed? Or what his name is? Can you do the same for William Deane? See what I mean.

The bullying of Barnaba Joyce as he arrived to take his place in the House was nothing short of disgusting and disgraceful. No wonder every school yard has a problem with bullying! And all crfedit to Joyce for sticking to his guns and declaring that indeed he is there to represent the people of Queensland. With a one person majority this must bring cold comfort to the Government.

Surely if John Howard had his way we would become like those African nations where the President elects himself for life and all semblance to democratic process is ejected for the efficency of direct dictatorship. President Howard would then seek the status of a Roman Emperor in the tradition of Napoleon, another little man with a big complex. There would be no end to the hubris.

We can only wonder at what evolutionary process is afoot which can explain the re-election of Howard and his Government. We are being forced down a more American route and once the gate is opened I for one fear that it can never be closed again. And what will we gain? Just look at contemporary America; a nation cut off from nature, which values work above all else, with 30% of the population living in unrepresented poverty, and a sense of total superiority and arrogance. In this direction we have nothing to gain and everything to loose.

I for one hope that an accident befalls the Front Bench; an accident which in one fell swoop removes all these ideologues and their egotistical goals.

Open Directory Project

2005-08-08T02:31:00.000+10:00

If you have a website and you have submitted it to DMOZ and then wondered if anything has happened, you will enjoy this link: http://www.odpinsider.com/
From here you can check out other OPD material.
And for those who are new to web ownership and are looking for directories to submit to then I don't recommend you waste any time with DMOZ.

Justice the American Way

2005-08-07T08:30:00.000+10:00

Sometimes a well edited letters column says it all. Here is today's from the SMH:-

One man's trial is another's kangaroo court

Richard Ackland used the term enemy combatant in his otherwise excellent piece about Guantanamo Bay ("No justice as Hicks thrown to the wolves", Herald, August 5). The term, as used in this context, is a nonsense. An enemy combatant is someone who is out there combating; once captured, he is no longer a combatant, he is a prisoner of war. It couldn't be simpler.
Laurie Strachan Lapstone

For those of us lucky to hear the former High Court judge Mary Gaudron on ABC radio on Wednesday, it was a wake-up call. Forget the politics behind David Hicks for a moment. As Mary Gaudron asserts, the military commission procedures cannot be described as a "trial". Our Federal Government is in danger of disregarding one of the most fundamental principles on which our freedom rests - the rule of law. This may be the enduring legacy of the Howard years.
The response from the federal Attorney-General was to describe a retired justice of the High Court as an "armchair critic". Who should we listen to? One of this nation's most distinguished legal minds or Philip Ruddock, the minister who showed such incompetence in his last portfolio of immigration?
Ian Rodgers Campsie

Would anyone like to join me in chipping in to buy an armchair for the unspeakable Ruddock?
Malcolm B. Duncan Potts Point

When Philip Ruddock wins a Sydney University Medal in law (as did retired justice Mary Gaudron), I will be prepared to accept his assertions that David Hicks's trial (after four years' incarceration) conforms to accepted democratic principles of justice.
John A. Polglase North Haven

Is there not a man or woman in the Government who has the courage to speak out against the unfairness of the US military commission to try the Australian citizen David Hicks? Is there not even one?
John Truman Chatswood
With his description of verdict rigging at the military tribunals as "teething issues", Mr Ruddock may well have set a unique record, for reaching both the zenith (of understatement) and the nadir (of credibility) in the one statement.

Reading about one person's views of another can be revealing. Take the Australian Attorney, Phillip Ruddock's comment about Mary Gaudron. Not only is such a repost totally lacking in wit it is also lacking in substance and indicats that Mr Ruddock is running short on justifying the unjustifyable. Why our pollies have decided to go this route is a mystery as it is so transparent. Oh I just remembered... it's because George Bush wants it this way. Oh of course, we have forgotten that we are a sovereign nation and now cowtow to the US President. Not his fault mind you, it stemmed from and grew rapidly with the manure provided by our very own John Winston Howard, born again American fundie.

Just for the record I would like to restate that I do not wish to live in an American style country.
I do not want to see the lowest 30% live in poverty and lack representation; I do not want to belong to a nation of workaholics. I like our English heritage; I like what England developed over the centuries with democracy; I like our Westminster system and do not want to see every local bureaucrat appointed by the Government of the day. I like a beauracracy independent of the ruling Party.

Oh and by the way that same Mr P Ruddock is most famous for speaking in a manner guaranteed to put even the most recalcitrant insomniac to sleep within five minutes. Personally I fall off after one minute so I have to read what he has to say, as listening is not possible.

Sold Out

2005-08-06T02:00:00.000+10:00

Surely, it must be clear that by selling Hicks out to this process and the ultimate dictates of George Bush, Howard and Ruddock have sold us all out.
source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/hicks-thrown-to-the-wolves/2005/08/04/1123125851922.html

The Hicks case has shown clearly how a handful of old timers, Bush, Rumsfelt, Howard, Ruddock & Downer insist the Emperor has clothes when the rest of us can see his nakedness.
This is a sad day for the principle of the rule of law. John Adams, the second US President said he valued "A rule by law, not a rule by men". Roll over in your grave JA, the new kids are so self important they will not recognise a mistake. Shame, Shame!

Might is Right, Not!

2005-08-02T13:00:00.000+10:00

Emails confirm Hicks won't get fair trial: lawyer
A lawyer for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks says new revelations from two former US military prosecutors prove that the process being used to try his client is biased.
In separate leaked emails, the two men allege that the military commission system is rigged in favour of the prosecution and the cases it is pursuing are "marginal".
Source:http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1427396.htm

My heros, the two young officers who dared take on their boss, Uncle Sam, and put truth before personal profession. Their action demonstrates that a sense of ethical behaviour and desire for the trust exist within the individual but sadly this can no longer be said of the United States' Military.

What will it take to wake Americans up? First Guantanamo Bay then Abu Graib and now this. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark; and this blatant perversion of the course of Justice deserves to be pulled down and shaken out.

The Times Online

2005-08-01T17:42:00.000+10:00

The Times Online

ISLAM NEED TO EMERGE FROM THE DARK AGES.

2005-08-01T15:45:00.000+10:00

Unreformed Islam’s relationship to the Muslim world is equivalent to pre-Reformation Christianity in Europe. The Reformation allowed the west to liberate itself from religious thinking and set free forces of progress; meanwhile, Islamic empires shrank into their shell, refusing reality, rejecting change and resisting “infidel” knowledge. Stupefied by ignorance, they submitted to western conquerors with scarcely a whimper. If today’s Muslim bomb-throwers want someone to blame for their mindless rage, they should look at their own ancestors.

Source:http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-terrorism/reform_2706.jsp

This analysis of Islam is the most meaningful to emerge in modern times. Since 9/11 the West has been asked to learn about this Religion until many are saying, "enough, I have given up enough time to listen to Islam and it just does not make sense." Listening to current Islam will not resolve its relationships with the West. Furthermore many westerners have reasonably wondered how much Islam understands modern Christianisty.

The insistence on wearing medieval costume in modern Western countries is not only offesive to the host culture it declares a religion stuck back in histiry, needing to be brought into modern times. Clothing is only a superficial symbol but it is real, highly visible and declarative. It is rather like the change now occuring in the court-system with the removal of horse hair wigs, a potent symbol of coming of age, modernisation, being with the times. It is up to Islam to change not just the symbol, that ought to be a sign that the transition has occurred, but the substance of it's medieval ways. In short Islam needs a reformation.

The insistence of the Arab world to remain locked away from the processes of modernisation which swept Europe and culminated in the Renaissance, meant that that world had no proper response to the attack upon it by the West. It not only fell far too easily but left a people who seem to be incapable of unification. Sadly there is no contemporary Lawrence and as long as for instance Iraq remains torn between competing factions (Shia, Sh'ite inter alia) it will live with fear and destruction.

China in a sense had to go though the same transition. It too rejected the lessons of the Renaissance and permitted the missionary Jesuits to teach astrology but not science or mathematics. As a consequence China also fell to Western forces and remained locked in the past. Painfully that country is now going through the growing pains of modernisation, finally accepting the lessons of the Enlightenment, at least as far as industrial producation goes. When it can apply these lessons to its Human Rights we will know that China has become a trully modern economy.

The sheer division between sects within Islam ought to be a warning even to the clerics who maintain such divisions. Buddhism has its Dali Lama, Catholics the Pope, Anglicans the Archbishop of Canterbury but Islam has no one. One of the first signs of synthesis for Islam will be the emergence of a united voice, a spokeperson who can guide Mslims world-wide. As long as Islam chooses to remain locked into sectarian, factional battle it will be the theatre of war and terrorism.

Islamic scholars in the West and in Arab countries need to respond to the call for their own Enlightenment. They must pursue this theme and seek ways to embody a shift from centuries ago to today. They must teach it to their classes so that an entire new generation grows up committed to a renaissance. They must write and publish these ideas until the mullahs have become by passed and even the local small farmer knows about the Islamic rebirth and reformation. The message must be put out with intelligence, compassion and great commitment and the time will come when the message will have a life of its own and the work will be underway.

Muslims have nothing to fear from such a rebirth and reformation of Islam; they have everything to gain. It is just no longer tenable in a modern world for one group to kill and maim another group over an argument about the descendant of Mohammad. They will be the ones to gain liberation not just from medieval costume but from medieval morality and thinking. Once before Islam gave to the world in mathematics, geography, the preservation of the classic texts. This was truncated and now is the time to pick up where it was left. Islam needs to emerge into the modern world as a compatible way of being and worshipping and until it does Muslims everywhere will suffer and Westerners will not be safe.

The Labor Party

2005-07-30T01:42:00.000+10:00

With Bob Carr's resignation, we are again seeing Labor Party factions promoting their favourites, no doubt anticipating that favours will be returned if successful. What the people need is the most able candidate, not the one who cuts the best backroom deal. Not that I have any say in the matter, but my advice would be to back whomever Messrs Obeid and Tripodi are not.
Keith Murray Thornleigh (SMH 29/7/05)

It must be hard for those who want an alternative Government in this country. They are faced with a Liberal Government which now is about to attack Industrial Relations and take us all another step towards an American system. Yet what does the Labor Party do at every opportunity? It behaves in a manner which lets the people know that they don't count at all. What counts are the ancient Labor factions. Oh how boring! When will Labor wake up and realise we are not the least bit interested in its factionalism. It is like watching the spoil boys of a public school fight for prefectship.

So we will remain without a Federal opposition and have to listen to the huffing and puffing of a born again and again Beasley who lost his credibility long ago and in NSW I bet that Labor is ousted in the next election.

It must take such enormous ego and arrogance, features which belong to the dark ages. But in the wake of Bob Carr's departure what do we see? The dinasaurs come out and just can't help themselves. O me miserum.

British and proud of it.

2005-07-29T12:45:00.000+10:00

I can't resist posting this article not just because I like it but because I'm tired of political correctness. I live in a country which is not overtly nationalistic; which is generally low key regarding its cultural achievements. Of late it seems that I'm not permitted to question those who while enjoying the freedoms my country has afforded them, are at the same time attacking it. It seems that there is something wrong with saying "I'm proud of my country" and I'm sick of that PC nonsense. Also I'm sick of pussy footing around a minority of foreigners who cause trouble here. Am I an intolerant xonophobe? No, I've travelled around the globe, been broadened, will greet and meet anyone of any persuasion and take them on their merits and I think the anglo celtic people of Australia have been generous, welcoming and very tolerant. In fact there are some 200 recognised language groups living here today. Only one makes a noise and sticks out like that proverbial nail. Why should I tolerate that minority. Bugger their sensibilities, what about mine, my families, my neighbour's?

When I read this I cheered, "hurrah" someone is sticking up for his own. Good on him. Enjoy:-

The opportunity is with us again to be British and to be proud of it.
By W F Deedes(Filed: 27/07/2005)

Not since the victorious end to the Second World War 60 years ago has this country had a better chance of establishing a sense of national purpose and what so many yearn for - a renewal of the feeling "British and proud of it".
In 1945 we were broke, rationed as heavily as at any time during the war, about to dissolve an empire and nervous about the post-war intentions of the Soviet Union. It was no time for singing Land of Hope and Glory.
Since then, we have indulged various fantasies about our role in the world. Harold Macmillan dreamed of us holding simultaneous links with Europe, the Commonwealth and the United States. Winston Churchill's "Let Europe unite" became the chosen course, though with different intentions from those of the Community today.
With his unique experience of both world wars, Churchill believed that a third conflict would wipe us off the map. His call won the support of my generation. How could it be otherwise? Over and again I wrote to my wife from the battle in Europe, saying "somehow we must find a way of avoiding our son, rising two, from having to go through this again."
Europe then widened its intentions in ways which required an ever increasing degree of conformity, and took from sovereign parliaments some of their powers and prestige. The controversy aroused by this contributed to the rejection of a proposed European constitution by two founder members of the Community. We're back at the drawing board there.
With some experience of government, I am sceptical about the human capacity to govern a federal Europe successfully. The United States of America grew up the way it is now. A Europe of perhaps a score of members, differing widely in wealth and culture, would be a much tougher proposition, unmanageable in my judgment. Nothing happening in Brussels, including corruption comparable to anything going on in Africa, makes me less sceptical. We should push hard for a re-think there.
The second influential trend in our post-war lives has been our policy - or lack of it - on immigration and our belief in the blessing of a multiracial society, left free to hold whatever allegiances it pleased. There we are undergoing a shock, discovering with cruel suddenness that we have incubated some who hate us, and hate us so much they are willing to die in exterminating some of us.
This is a sobering thought and will compel us to think afresh on the complex issue of allegiance. We cannot, I think, expect to draw that enviable degree of unity America draws from its diverse society, respect for the flag and so on. America today is top of the world pack. For all the criticism, its citizens have much to feel proud about.
But so in a different way has this small island. Our trouble is not lack of achievement but - pray God a short-lived - radical culture which prefers to dwell on what it sees as our sins rather than our virtues. Queen Elizabeth is an illustration of this. Cast an eye over the history book and those who have reigned over us. You will not find a sovereign who has given us more faithful service.
She makes people of my generation proud to have such a person as our head of state and proud to be British, for no other country has anyone as good. She is, furthermore, the only person in history who has turned a former empire into what we now call the British Commonwealth of Nations. You think it's tiresome? So do some of the politicians who have not given the Queen much encouragement.
She thinks it valuable to have these people as friends rather than enemies, and she is right and knows them by their Christian names.
But what do we find? Modernisers, some of them led by the nose by that implacable republican Rupert Murdoch, want us to have a president rather than a hereditary sovereign. They do not attack the Queen directly but dwell on how much she costs, on the follies of her descendants, the stupidity of her advisers.
To much of the news media, including the BBC, the National Anthem is anathema, the Union flag a joke. I have been in the news media all my working life and I love it, but I cannot deny that it consistently lays before us more to be ashamed of than to be proud about. Bluntly, bad news sells best.
But, of course, it goes wider than that. Crossing the old battle lines in Europe the other day, it dawned on me how much the sheer destructiveness of those world wars had given the nation state a bad name, developed a passion for internationalism and made patriotism sound dangerous. We haven't reckoned enough on the indirect influences on our culture of those two wars.
I thought, too, as we travelled over Europe, of what, notwithstanding the wars' horrors, made us proud to be British at that time. It was because something was being asked of us and we were responding. We were giving our country something, not making demands of it.
Nothing is asked of us today - except to pay taxes and local rates and obedience to a swelling bureaucracy. Politicians seek to win power by doing more for us. Our degree of dependency on the state for different services has become degenerating. It puts more votes into Mr Blair's pocket, but it makes being proud to be British a degree harder. No, I am not suggesting any new form of national service. It's not the right way to go about it and it would not work.
This has got to come from within. It would help if those at the top spoke more about the citizen's obligations and less of his rights and encouraged us to do more service to this country. Too much emphasis on human rights is a deadly creed. And why do they have to keep putting an Army, of which we can be proud, in the shit? I cannot believe it is serving justice or our capacity to defend ourselves.
The reputation we have in distant lands, I have learned in my travels, is higher than we give ourselves. They admire us for our social stability, our parliamentary and diplomatic experience, for fair play, for tolerance, for a willingness to help lame dogs over stiles, as well as for some of the qualities Shakespeare sang about in his plays. Some of these qualities have taken a bit of a bruising of late, but they are still there. The "in yer face" style is a silly, passing phase we shall move on from.
During the last 200 years of relatively modern history, we have suffered all manner of vicissitudes, made our share of mistakes, pulled round, remained much as we always have been, and, when the call came, responded - just as our policemen and policewomen did when London was under attack this month. It's our durability they admire in other lands. We've always been a rude island race. We're survivors. That's what makes me proud to be British.

Asians and Education.

2005-07-28T08:49:00.000+10:00

I found it most interesting that in the photo of five young Australians who did us proud in the International Science and Mathematics Olympics ("Physics trumps physique for science champs", Herald, July 27) thre faces were Asian. A reminder, perhaps, to the racially tunnel-visioned associate professor Andrew Fraser ("Race outburst - uni tries to oust professor", Herald, July 26) that intelligence and ability are not reliant on the colour of one's skin.
Lynette Chamas Auburn (SMH 28/7/05)

Every now and again the issue arises of Asian students and how well they do academically. There was even the joke: "How do you now when a Vietnamese student has broken into your house? " A. Your electonics are missing but your homework has been done.

What is so difficult in understanding that people of any ethnicity, culture or background do well in fields that are valued. Asia and China in particular has a grand history of valuing education. Achieving the public examination in China was viewed with great kudos. As a consequence the society valued eduation. This means that parents supported their kids studying at night instead of playing outside cricket or watching TV. Also it means that the parents are interested in what happens at school and act accordingly.

If we want to see our caucasian students doing better then the answer is not complicated. We as a society have to start valuing education. That means for instance the the portfolio at Federal level is viewed as important. Currently this portfolio is thrown to those who missed out on the important issues. When did we last have a Minister who really knew something about education? I can't remember ever having such a Minister. Education has not even been valued enough to have a Minister who has studied the subject, perhaps worked as a teacher and knows something about the processes of education, it's pedagogy and andragogy.

Such a valuing will trickle down to street level. In such a society we wouldn't value footballers who insist on speaking with double negatives as a sign of their status. We would reward stupidity as we tend to do now. We would not be embarrassed to ask our kids to study of an evening. We would not be alone in trying to support our teachers and learning systems. In short educatation would be something of imort, something to pursue, something viewed by all as valuable. And teaching would not be a struggling profession where the majority of individuals are near retirement age.

Multiculturalism

2005-07-28T01:18:00.000+10:00

It seems the leaders of some ethnic and religious groups in Australia spend a great deal of time and energy trying to change our way of life into the type of culture they were happy to leave in the first place.
Tony Lewis Matcham (SMH 27/7/05)

There seems to be a grain of truth in this sentence. What is it about Islam that is so inflexible, so unwilling to compromise, so intent on insaulting the new welcoming country? Of course it is not just Islam, it is religion. I'm sure Orthodox Jews and fundamentalist Christians are equally inflexible. But for Australian today the question must be asked of Islam. Is there anything more ridiculous on a hot summer's day than seeing a woman covered from head to heel in dark fabric?

No-one has asked Muslims to quit their religious practice. Australia has freely permitted mosques, schools and centres to be built and used. No problems there. So why is it that there can't be a little reciprocity. Would it so damage the soul to dress like other Australians? And does not dressing so visibily differently invite ridicule? Isn't it true in every culture that the nail which sticks out is the one hammered?

Australia provides a standard of living which most imigrants would never achieve in their country of origin. Also a degree of freedom never experienced in societies run by very conservative mullahs intent on stopping any form of fun. What is so difficult about expecting a little in return such as respect for Australian culture which is tolerant, relaxed and flexible. It is wonderful to witness large extended families at Sunday picnics in parks throughout our country; and this itself reflects the safety and freedom enjoyed in this country; yet habit screams difference and by inference criticism of our own dress and behaviour.

Is it really asking so much to want new Australians to fit in? Upon receiving religious freedom and the ability to continue their teaching and practices at home (where most Australians would prefer religion to remain) is it too much to expect some respect in return?

Bombs won't change our way of life!

2005-07-26T13:00:00.000+10:00

Panic and shoot first is the wrong response
July 25, 2005

The circumstances in which a terrorist suspect was killed by police on a London tube station should concern us all ("Bomb suspect shot dead on Tube", Herald, July 23-24). A witness says the man was prone on the floor of the carriage when three police officers jumped on him and shot him five times. They could have knocked him unconscious by a blow to the head, but instead chose to kill him.
Throwing away our civil liberties and democracy to prevent terrorists taking them from us is illogical. Terrorism must be met with a reasoned response, not panic.
Barry Smythe Wallerawang.

The above comes from the letters page of the SMH today. Two related matters are raised here. Firstly there does need to be a review of police action in the light of the shooting of the Brazilian man in London. One wonders why police need to carry a gun at all. The enemy is (presumably) bombs and as far as I am aware a gun is little defence against a bomb. All that heavily armed police will encourage is a wider use of arms for illegal purposes.

The other matter is the contradiction between the public pronouncement that "these bombs will not change our way of life" and " in their goal the terrorists have failed"; contrasted with the increase in public surveillance, cameras, laws and a decrease in our civil liberties. This is a very concering trend.

Every thinking person knows that beyond reasonable national security the real defence against terrorism in Australia lies in healthy communities and neighbourhoods. Every terrorist needs a milieu to arrive to, hide in, plan from and bring explosives to. These activites are unlikely to go on without someone in the community knowing about it. What we need to work on is empowering neighbourhoods and communities so that they feel involved, consulted, part of the solution. Then reporting will make it difficult if not impossible to sustain a terrorist cell of any size.

Meanwhile allowing politicians to run riot with reactive new laws will not help. Such behaviour will propel us towards life in a police state. This indeed would be a victory for the terrorists.

Nano technology comes to solar cells

2005-07-24T09:31:00.000+10:00

It's about time and now it's happening. Nanotechnology is being applied to solar cells for alternative energy generation. You can see the story here or go to the source which is this.

Here's a taste:

"For decades, sustainability gurus have been prattling on about the promise of solar power and other renewable energy sources. But in what is beginning to look like the "new, new thing" to technology analysts, solar power might be finally coming of age thanks to the next generation of tiny flexible solar panels--not to mention billions of dollars in backing from some of Silicon Valley's biggest investors.
Traditional solar panels were the inspiration for new "nanotech" devices.The leading lights of the so-called "solar nanotechnology" revolution are companies like Nanosys and Nanosolar, both of Palo Alto, California, and Konarka of Lowell, Massachusetts. Engineers at these companies have created prototypes of thin rolls of highly efficient light-collecting plastics for spreading across rooftops or embedding in building materials in order to power heating, cooling and other electrical needs within. Company executives claim that once they can mass-produce these products, consumers will be able to generate all their power from the sun while only spending about as much as they do today for non-renewable energy. "

Don't forget to visit other articles of interest.

Absolute Power

2005-07-23T03:15:00.000+10:00

A Gulag With Nukes

Jasper Becker 19 - 7 - 2005
Behind its rhetoric of anti-imperialist defiance the Pyongyang elite starves and enslaves its people. Jasper Becker talks to North Korean escapees who offer chilling testimony of Kim Jong-Il’s world of luxury and fear.

If you have any doubt about the proverb, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely then look no further than North Korea. It is a study in madness and demonstrates again what can become of an otherwise normal human being who is afforded totalitarian power.

Around Kim Jong-Il people are starving literally. Yet he shops for caviar, expensive toys and of course armaments and components for his nuclear game.

It is a sobering read and a reminder to all of us to remain in touch with humility.

______________________________________________________

In other news, the US President, George Bush, appointed a conservative Judge to the High Court. To read the implications go here.

David Hicks Languishes

2005-07-21T02:15:00.000+10:00

The apparent haste with which David Hicks is about to be catapulted into a "legal" military tribunal astounds anyone who has witnessed the obfuscations and delays thrown up by the Bush Administration to date.
Donald Rumsfeld and John Howard are now talking about the necessity for "speed" in this drawn out and horrendous judicial sham. They must be using the Killer Snails versus the Giant Sloth definition of "speedy".
Gas Wylde Dulwich Hill (SMH, Letters 20/7/05)

There are many lesser events which indicate larger ills. One is the practice of UK soccer thugs singing "If you want to bash a Paki clap your hands". Another is the illegality by the bullying USA in regards to David Hicks, an Australian imprisoned for ... well we don't really know as he has never been charged.

This imprisonment of Hicks in Cuba, a questionable practice in itself, reeks of American attitude that it can do what it likes because it is the biggest in the playground. Imagine if Australia were to imprison an American, say in an offshore Reef or Christmas Island. Furthermore imagine is those Australians tortured that American...oh that's right it is not torture to play loud music 24 hours a day, or to compress a human being into a tiny space where s/he can't stretch out or stand, or practice continual intimidation and force continual wearing of shackles.

The attitude of the Australian Government has demonstrated, perhaps more clearly than anything else, its preparedness to suck up to anything George Bush calls for. Mr.Howard appears to drool when in Washington and we all remember Mark Latham's infamous words describing Howard as Mr R Slicker.

Why should an Australian overseas feel secure any longer? For this reason alone our Government ought to have insisted that the US charge David Hicks or release him. But no, not a peep from our end. I think it is a sad day for all Australians.

Now of course we have witnessed a young woman land in Bali with 4 kgs of marijuana in her boogy bag and subsequently be sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Now perhaps Chapelle Corby was absolutely gormless enough to have done it however common sense raises so many unasnswered questions. Why would anyone take coals to Newcastle? It is worth more here than in Bali so where is the incentive? Why has she no history of drug involvement? Why can authorities not find accomplices? And where is the distribution ring in Bali?

Despite these questions left unanswered the Government insisted it was unable to interfere with another nation's legal process. Yeah right! I can just see the Americans saying "oh we can't interfere with another nation's legal system". What nonsense. No one suggested that the Government make a large intervention. However, it could have quietly used it's influence quietly through diplomatic channels to point out the inconsistencies in the case and the actuality that airport staff have since been shown to be involved in illegal activity and in fact one known person was on duty in Brisbane on the day that Corbi flew out. But no, another Australian citizen is left to rot.

I look forward to the return home of David Hicks. I hope it is soon. I don't agree with what he did but I don't wish to stop every young person from altruistic and idealistic behaviour. That's how we humans learn about life.

Meantime my faith in my Government in regards to protecting its citizens who are overseas has fallen to an all time low. History may indeed show this behaviour for what it is.

Identity Cards

2005-07-19T03:20:00.000+10:00

The P.M. just cannot help himself. So rushing into something like creating an identity card is natural to his ideology. After all he wants minimal Government, major control, increased police poweres and quite possibly, recognition of Genghis Khan.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, said the national identity card could be a new weapon against terrorism. (SMH 18/7/05)

Just what part of Mr Howard's control-freak tendency thinks this to be a good idea? And how will it prevent terrorist? "Oh I can't help you bomb Sydney, I've got an ID card".

Those of us who have travelled through coutries who traditionally did use ID cards know well of the abuses. For a start ID cards create another nasty type of public policeman, the one who knows s/he can detain you anytime, anywhere in order to demand sight of your card. Now if you are like me you avoid carrying things on your person because of fear of loss. I don't carry a licence, I leave it in the car. It takes me all my resources to remember to take my video card with me when I go to my video shop.

Such behaviour is not in our interest and not in our ethos. Our brand of democracy simply does not need Goverment to be in our face anytime, anywhere. We had once a brand of tolerance which meant we didn't need a Bill of Rights. I'm not sure if we are still that tolerant after Tampa but I know we are still likely to value free movement, free speech (is there such a thing any longer?) and freedom to tell bullying Government officials to go take a running jump.

I rember a couple of years ago being pulled up in the middle of the main street, outside the Post Office, by two policemen. First of all they failed to identify themselves to me, second of all they utilised standover tactics by stepping right into and over my personal space (one was extremely tall) and all this because they thought I fitted a general description of someone they wanted to talk to. Could I prove my identity they demanded. Well I was right outside the PO so suggested they come in with me and allow the counter staff to provide my identity. Oh no not good enough.
I remember saying to them "The reason I like being an Australian is that I don't have to provide you with a card of identity!" And knowing my rights, and not enjoying their bullying tactics, told them to be fruitful and multiply but not quite in those words.

No to an ID card. No to further Government intrusion into my life. No to empowering some more inferiority complexed twits to detain me in public. No to the ludicrous notion that a card will prevent terrorism. No No No! I already have a unique TFN, a unique Medicare Number and I do not want, do not need, and will not carry an ID Card.

A Nasty Trend in Email Job Offers

2005-07-17T08:23:00.000+10:00

Every now and again those job seekers who use the net come upon attractive offers online.
The current offer concerns a travel agency job. It is described as the job of the year, a good hook. It ready well at least up to the point where all these email offers arrive which is the little step of providing bank account details.
I applied not long ago to see what would happen. Although the company was in Germany my phone soon rang with a caller insistent on having my bank account number. He claimed I was contracted. Nonsense of course but how many innocent folk could be sucked into this one.

It all makes sense; the job entails receiving funds on behalf of the company then using a well known cash fowarding agency to send receipts to the employer. Why should they need someone local to collect their fees? Well they claim all sorts of reasons, the main one being tax considerations. Now this ought to alert prospective employees to the fact that seeking to avoid tax is generally a crime in most countries. But these emails are so convincing and all you have to do is spend a couple of hours a day, recieve and send some emails and of course, transfer that cash.

I really don't understand how these offers have been permitted to continue for this long but on they go. It is up to the source country (sending spam is illegal in Australia) to make the practice illegal and for banks to report strange withdrawals. The income doesn't arrive unfortunately but the job seeker has now provided bank details so you can guess what happens next. Yes, someone offshore takes money from the account and there's nothing the employee can do about it. It's off-shore and local authorities cannot act.

So job seekers beware, there is no legal way to make an income collecting money for others. And under no circumstances whatsoever divulge your bank account details to anyone else.
You have been warned.

Department of Immigration

2005-07-16T04:21:00.000+10:00

Now we have the report. We are told that Immi (Dept. of Immigration) has a culture in which many officers have a poor understanding of the Immigration Act and many overuse the power inherent in such a position. No news to those who have tried to have reasonable dialogue with Immi.
So what is to be done? Apparently these poor findings about the culture of the Department are not the fault of the Minister. This is a new development in the Westminster System wherein the state of a department has been precisely the Minister's responsibility. Minister Vanstone says she wants a more 'client friendly' approach. Well we won't hold our breath.
The Report shows even more clearly the power of the PM who has promoted the former head of Immi to the post of Ambassador to Indonesia. Many in Australia see this as a ploy to be rid of a man who might, down the track, divulge information which would embarrass the Government.
Mr Howard must be delighted as his great good fortune to hold such a majority in both Houses of the Australian Parliament. He can cover up and there is nothing to be done about it.

Ultimately cream rises and so does the truth. It may not be tomorrow but eventually the coverups of this Government will surface and what we suspected will be seen as true. Meanwhile, well there's the Ashes series for a cricket tragic to tend to.

How cynical can the PM be?

2005-07-13T05:00:00.000+10:00

Several letters to the SMH today stole my thunder. They concern the appointment of Bill Farmer as ambassador to Indonesia.

Cynical double dip unjust reward for poor service
July 12, 2005

One of the basic tenets of a democracy is a parliament answerable to the people. When the government of the day can act with such contempt that the head of a thoroughly disgraced government department is rewarded with an Order of Australia and an ambassadorship, we know our democracy and our elected representatives have failed us ("Besieged Immigration chief lands prize job", Herald, July 11).
Timothy Ashton Darling Point

Slap a gong on him and get him the hell out of the country - sounds like the Prime Minister's standard reward to people who have done him a favour and could potentially do him some damage with loose lips down the line. John Howard is nothing if not a master of the cover-up, and we may never know how much of the dodgy goings-on in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs were directed from his office now that Bill Farmer is so publicly bought and paid for.
Andrew Riddle New Lambton

Does Bill Farmer's ambassadorial appointment to Indonesia come with a temporary or permanent protection visa?
George Antonakos Byron Bay

Now that Bill Farmer has been suitably rewarded, I presume the Prime Minister is considering some equally suitable promotion for Senator Amanda Vanstone.
Ron Kerr Page (ACT)
And so on the letters went. Indeed this PM, John Howard, has shown his utter disregard before but such a promotion as this one stands out on the basis that Australia's overseas reputation has been totally ruined during his time in Office. Once a desireable destination of open, free people we have become since Tampa, a zenophobic, nasty nation which locks up children and asylum seekers for untenable periods.
One can hope I suppose that while enjoying his entourage of 20 at Lords to watch the Ashes series, and spending ludicrous amounts of money per night to stay at an hotel where royalty take tea, that the man develops leprosy or someting equally slow and painful.

Is Poverty a real excuse for terrorism?

2005-07-12T10:40:00.000+10:00

I don't have the source for this extract so reproduce it here.

I resent your success. I hate you and your kind. So I shall bomb you

Roger Scruton APOLOGISTS for terrorism (and they are not in short supply) argue that it is a weapon used by people who despair of achieving their goals in any other way. It is a cry from the depths by those deprived of a voice in the political process. The terrorist is not an aggressor but a victim, and we must disarm him not by violence but by addressing the grievance that motivates his deeds. This argument has been used to excuse Palestinian suicide bombers, IRA kneecappers, Red Brigade kidnappers, and even the mass murderers of September 11. Its main effect is to blame the victim and excuse the crime. If you look at the actual condition of terrorists down the ages, however, you will soon discover that the excuse does not match the reality. Some terrorists have been poor and some have been victims of injustice. But those are the exceptions. The Jacobins, who unleashed the original Terror, were for the most part privileged members of the rising elite. The Russian anarchists of the 19th century were no worse off from the point of view of material and social privileges than you or me, and with grievances that were more the work of the imagination than the result of either observing or sympathising with the ordinary people of Russia. There is no evidence that Osama bin Laden’s entourage is any different, and even the IRA, which purports to represent the “oppressed” Catholics of Ulster, is very far from recruiting from those whose oppressed condition it loudly advertises. As for the Islamist terrorists who have targeted our cities, they tend to be well educated, specialists in medicine, engineering or computer science, people who might have helped to provide the Middle East with the stable middle class that it so badly needs, but instead have chosen another and faster route to glory. what terrorists have in common, we look at what is common to their victims. The targets of terrorism are groups, nations or races. And they are distinguished by their worldly success — either material or social. The original Terror was directed against the French aristocracy — soon supplemented by all kinds of real and imaginary groups supposed to be aiding them. The Russian anarchists targeted people with wealth, office or power. The Great Terror of Stalin, initiated by Lenin, was directed against groups alleged to be profiting from the system that impoverished the rest. The Nazi terror picked on the Jews, because of their undoubted material success, and the ease with which they could be assembled as a group. Even the nationalist terrorists of the IRA and Eta variety are targeting nations thought to enjoy wealth, power and privilege, at the expense of others equally entitled. Islamic terrorists bomb the cities of Europe and America because those cities are a symbol of the material and political success of the Western nations, and a rebuke to the political chaos and deep-rooted corruption of the Muslim world. Success breeds resentment, and resentment breeds hate. This simple observation was made into the root of his political psychology by Nietzsche, who identified ressentiment, as he called it, as the distinguishing social emotion of modern societies: an emotion once ordered and managed by Christianity, now let loose across the world. I don’t say that Nietzsche’s analysis is correct. But surely he was right to identify this peculiar motive in human beings, right to emphasise its overwhelming importance, and right to point out that it lies deeper than the springs of rational discussion. In dealing with terrorism you are confronting a resentment that is not concerned to improve the lot of anyone, but only to destroy the thing it hates. That is what appeals in terrorism, since hatred is a much easier and less demanding emotion to live by than love, and is much more effective in recruiting a following. And when the object of hatred is a group, a race, a class or a nation, we can furnish from our hatred a comprehensive stance towards the world. That way hatred brings order out of chaos, and decision out of uncertainty — the perfect solution to the alienated Muslim, lost in a world that denies his religion, and which his religion in turn denies. Of course hatred has other causes besides resentment. Someone who has suffered an injustice may very well hate the person who committed it. However, such hatred is precisely targeted, and cannot be satisfied by attacking some innocent substitute. Hatred born of resentment is not like that. It is a passion bound up with the very identity of the one who feels it, and rejoices in damaging others purely by virtue of their membership of the targeted group. Resentment will always prefer indiscriminate mass murder to a carefully targeted punishment. Indeed, the more innocent the victim, the more satisfying the act. For this is the proof of holiness, that you are able to condemn people to death purely for being bourgeois, rich, Jewish, or whatever, and without examining their moral record. The tendency to resent lies in all of us, and can be overcome only by a discipline that tells us to blame faults in ourselves and to forgive faults in others. This discipline lies at the heart of Christianity and many argue that it lies at the heart of Islam too. If that is so, it is time for Muslims to organise against those who preach resentment in the name of their religion, and who regard the crimes of last Thursday as virtuous deeds, performed with God’s blessing, in a holy cause. Roger Scruton is author of The West and the Rest: Globalisation and the Terrorist Threat

Howard's Industrial Relations

2005-07-08T00:24:00.000+10:00

The Prime Minister, John Howard, has left his holiday to defend his IR proposals.
Now aside from the fact that his holiday actually starts on July 20th when he arrives at Lords to watch the Ashes, along with a retinue, paid for by us, there is something with an odour here.
Australia has been enjoying a period of growth, in real estate values, wages and sharemarket levels so what are the IR proposals for?

The one aspect which seems to deserve close attention is the abolishion of the Unfair Dismissal Laws. Fair enough. Good employees will not be suddenly dismissed for no reason, employers just aren't that stupid. At present it is difficult to become rid of an employee who works against the mission of the firm, by say stealing, turning up late, maintaining a low rate of productivity compared to fellow workers. Thus it is not difficult to see a need to investigate dismissal laws.

Beyond that however this debate is lost in a mire of advertising (surely an issue in itself) , false claims and even more false counter claims. It seems to me that first of all the system does not need fixing, our recent growth attests to that. Secondly, the proposal to remove from existence the IR Court, after a century of good service, is nothing short of vandalism. This institution cannot be criticised by any side of politics for it has built an ethos of fairness and good sense during these 100 years of service. Thirdly, talk of the American holiday standard of two weeks annual leave brings us perhaps closer to the thrust of these proposals; John Howard wants to further Americanise our economy.

On the basis of the third consideration I would oppose the proposed changes to IR. I do not want to become an American, I do not want to live in a workaholic society, I do not want wages that are so low that many workers rely on tips or live in poverty. Along with a frozen attitude to Christianity the USA seems to have also preseved in cold storage the prodestant work ethic. Longer hours, fewer holidays, lower wages seems to be the way there; unless of course you are one of the blessed receiving millions.

These IR proposals deserve much closer inspection. It has been Howard's aim for 30 years to change this system and such an obsession comes close to warranting psychological investigation. What neurosis underlies this obsession? Advertising is no way to convince people of the merits of Government policy; it is an abuse of taxpayers' funds. If we wanted advertisments instead of good policy we would have voted in Mickey Mouse.

There are too many bad smells in these proposals, a lack of transparency and hidden motives held dear for too long by a man who has proven himself an ideologue.

Other topics.

No, You Go First!

2005-07-06T01:20:00.000+10:00

"George Bush said he will drop the US's huge farm subsidies to help Africa out of poverty if the European Union promises to do likewise. "

Curious don't you think, that the world's greatest leader suddenly doesn't want to lead from the front. When it comes to bombing a foreign nation there is no hesitation at all yet the thought of removing the protectionist subsidies (an oxymoron in itself for the preacher of free trade) from American farmers sends the world's greatest President into a "we only did it because they did it" mode.
It is high time that the evangalist of democracy and free trade tended to its own practices. Australia saw the power of the US sugar lobby last year during FTA talks. Needless to say Australian sugar was dumped and our beef must wait 18 years for free access.

Why doesn't George Bush drop the subsidies and then ask members of the EU to follow suit?
That seems to be a more principled approach.

Don't forget to visit.

2005-07-05T01:25:00.000+10:00

From the Sydney Morning Herald today:

Shame of it all - no Live 8 live on free-to-air TV
July 4, 2005

It is a disgrace that the biggest rock event ever was not shown on live free-to-air television in Australia. I ask the networks why. Is it because Australia is not in the G8, or is it that they thought Wimbledon, a cricket match, an AFL match or Hell on Wheels more important? Shame on you all for ignoring this. Shame. The networks are an embarrassment to Australia, to the rest of the world.
Frazer McGilvray Miranda

Definition of irony: the enomous global event Live 8 takes place in eight countries in front of millions of people - local crowds and global viewers - and yet it is not shown live on free-to-air TV in Australia, thus making it impossible for all those living in poverty in this country (yes, there are plenty) to see it.
Australia missed this massive, powerful and historic event because of TV ownership and programming self-interest.
Leigh Catley Sydney

Is this testament to our parochialism? I'm alright Jack! Or merely reflecting the inflexible commerical priorities of TV stations?

I'm tempted to vote for a combination of the two yet also feel that there are many Australians who are thoughtful, not self-centred and actively wanting improvement in Africa.

Aid, unfortunately raises many thorny questions. For example, the World Bank has come full circle with economic theory and returned to the formerly banished notion that economic growth of an economy is the best way to overcome poverty. Not only does this demonstrate clearly how economic theory comes and goes in fashion (and we thought they knew what they were talking about) but if correct raises the questions of arms sales and corruption.

What is the point of aid if it props up a Mugabe, or is spent bying arms? Surely this weakens the position of the poor. So before aid there has to be a social revolution in sub Saharan Africa, a revolution of conscience and selflessness, a revolution of the common good.

Before grass roots economics growth (and I'm thinking of Bangladesh and the Gremene Bank- Schumaker's Small is Beautiful) there needs to be infrastuctural develpment; roads, power lines, water supplies, telephony and most importantly of all Institutions. Institutional maturity is, in my opinion, the key to trasformation of poverty.

What good aid when a nation has no means to provide Justice, Accountability, Education, Hospitalisation....good and fair Government? Thus the revolution needs to begin with Institutional emergence and this is where we can be of the greatest good, helping stuggling countries become places of good human governance.

Google Earth

2005-07-02T09:30:00.000+10:00

The release of Google Earth marks a major milestone in computer history.
Never before have home PC owners had this level of interactivity.

Until now only specialist users had anything even approaching this level of interativity. The major exception is games. Kids' games.

Now anyone sitting at home can become an aeroplace pilot approaching a country, city, airport;
or wander into tall buildings, cross bridges, see over mountain ranges, tilt the view to approach one's own home, in 3D.

This is a remarkable moment. It gives a sense of where we go from here on our computers. Gone are the early static days where the most interactivy a site offered was to click on a link.
Now, we can be in control or at least interact within the parameters of the tool.

While the giant communications company Google, has let this gem out of the bag, quietly and freely (yes you can download a free version) make no mistake this is a major step in computer history. Were I to name it then the name would be the "Interactive Emergence". Emergence because it is emerging as we sit.

Other data movers are also expanding rapidly, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) , blogs such as
www.humanecology.blogspot.com are two of the principle means of data transmission. However they are really both jazzed up versions of a media we are familiar with, namely the newspaper.
Blogs can now accept images however they remain within the 'newspaper' milieu.
None of these data movers is comparable to what we have now in Google Earth, the first genuinely intereactive program which is not a game.

Learning, planning, Peace Studies (yes, a sound grasp of geography is a pre-requisite for peace studies) and communication one to one (hey I can see where you live) will receive a boon.
No longer guestimates and rules of thumb; now the planet is within the public knowledge base like never before. Now the altas is 3 D and we can move any which way we wish, tilt, rotate, zoom...

ASHE-Australasian School of Human Ecology marks this release in time. It is a momentous time. Suddenly our invisibilty, that exotica which drew travellers, is exposed within our homes and offices. Geography is the first great human study and now not only is there no more to learn that is new, due to the entire planet being available to satelite photography, but more importantly we can share a trully known field. A universal referent, our home, Earth.

Thank you for reading this post.
If you enjoyed it you may also like to visit here.

Expansion and Contraction

2005-07-01T09:15:00.000+10:00

Yesterday Google released Google Earth and it is fun to play with.
A magnificent tool which permits the Earth to become a satellite viewed subject for your inspection. Zoom to any address, tilt to see from the ground view, enter buildings.
This tool expands our awareness of physical place and we can even see our own house, or fly like a jet pilot to anywhere on Earth. Check it for yourself, just enter Earth into Google.

On the other hand there is the balance, the yang of expansion is followed by the yin of contraction. Contraction is manifesting in politics. In the USA (where a major poll has Ronald Reagan as the most popular president ever) George Bush is paddling against the current of the Parliament, or House of Reps as they call it there. He can't get passed the Democrats in a wide range of policy proposals. At the same time the federated nation he presides over carries a level of debt which is simply unsustainable and leaves the economy propped by the foreigh investment mostly from Asia.

No wonder that China has signalled its growing economic muscle by making an offer to buy outright a major US energy producer. This time it is making too muc of a cultural shock to go ahead but it brings the next time nearer.

The world continues to change at a rapid rate, watch it through Google Earth, and find your own place and see if you need to withdraw to higher ground.
Continue here.

The crisis of democracy in America Gara LaMarche - openDemocracy

2005-07-01T08:21:00.000+10:00

The crisis of democracy in America Gara LaMarche - openDemocracy: "The crisis of democracy in America
Gara LaMarche
30 - 6 - 2005

The pillars of American democracy � the open society, the culture of law, a free media, independent science and academia � are under assault from the radical right, says Gara LaMarche of the Open Society Institute. A serious, coordinated response is needed, founded on robust and honest debate. "
________________________

This is quite a long article but worth visiting if you are following the theory explained here.

2005-06-30T16:36:00.000+10:00

Hyperlink - feel free to follow.

Google Earth

2005-06-30T01:25:00.000+10:00

With the release of Google Earth it is apparent that there now exists a clear delineation of computer users. One group using broadband can access the wondrous imagery that Google Earth makes available on the home PC while the other group, including this writer, continue to lobby to their Telco to supply broadband.
I love maps, have since my undergraduate geography days and I can't wait to use Google Earth however, in the meantime I must content myself with reading about it.
The Earth is indeed a small planet and this new visual tool makes that clear. Perhaps this visual will begin to wake some politicians up to the state of our Earth. After all there is nothing like seeing for oneself is there. A picture is worth a 1000 words. Well friends, look at these pictures of our planet, our home towns, our neighbourhoods and realise just how tiny and fragile our home is.

Australia seen as land of opportunity - World - smh.com.au

2005-06-29T01:15:00.000+10:00

Australia seen as land of opportunity - World - smh.com.au
The Global Attitudes Project, conducted by the Pew Research Centre, is headed by the former Clinton administration secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, and former Republican senator John Danforth, who was also the US ambassador to the United Nations.

An interesting view of changes in world opinion.

Mullars win Iran

2005-06-28T11:20:00.000+10:00

What a surprise, hard line conservative ex Teheran mayor wins Iran election. Perhaps you might like to look at this story about the current state of conservatism.

"The surprise victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Iranian presidential election means that religious conservatives now have a monopoly on power controlling all of the elected and appointed institutions that govern the country...read on at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4622547.stm

Oh those mad mullahs, if only someone would rid the world of those pesky priests!

[E] - Climate for Change : England Gets Serious About Global Warming (by Jim Motavalli)

2005-06-24T15:26:00.000+10:00

[E] - Climate for Change : England Gets Serious About Global Warming (by Jim Motavalli)
Good read...why don't you click on the link and see it for yourself. It's not long.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | U.N. Officials Seek Guantanamo Bay Visit

2005-06-24T09:01:00.000+10:00

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | U.N. Officials Seek Guantanamo Bay Visit: "GENEVA (AP) - U.N. human rights investigators, citing ``persistent and credible'' reports of torture at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, urged the United States on Thursday to allow them to check conditions there.
The failure of the United States to respond to requests since early 2002 is leading the experts to conclude Washington has something to hide at the Cuban base, said Manfred Nowak, a specialist on torture and a professor of human rights law in Vienna, Austria.
``At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government,'' Nowak said"
_____________________

I find it extraordinary that the US is able to maintain this illegal base in Cuba and alllies fail to protest. It shows the hypocracy that the US is capable of and also demonstrates a nasty corporate ethos. This is the practice of humiliation to get results and obedience. It is not only at Guantanamo Bay but in the board rooms of the US's big companies.
In Australia we saw it when the Govt awarded the contract to manage detention centers and prisons to an American Company.
Riots were frequent and amazingly since that contract ran out there have been no major disturbances in detention centers (with the exception of what happened to the Chinese nationals recently).
Guantanamo Bay is a digrace and if there is an International Court and an effective United Nations (which I doubt) then legal pressure ought to be immeditely brought to bear on the US to disband this horrendous place.

Whaling Commission sees common sense

2005-06-23T02:20:00.000+10:00

Despite it's intense lobbying of African countries (no doubt with some backsheesh at the ready) Japan has failed to convince the world that whaling is defensible. Thier argument about cultural values was not worthy of the country which gave us Sony, Toyota and Aiwa. Here are some details of the International Whaling Commission:-

Membership of the IWC is open to any country in the world that formally adheres to the 1946 convention.
Each member country is represented by a commissioner, who is assisted by experts and advisers.
The chairman and vice-chairman of the IWC are elected from among the commissioners and usually serve for three years.
The present chairman is Henrik Fischer from Denmark and the vice-chairman is Horst Kleinschmidt from South Africa.
The IWC has a full-time secretariat with its headquarters in Cambridge, England. There are 17 members of staff who include a secretary, head of finance and administration, head of science, computing manager and supporting staff.
Full list of members:
Antigua & Barbuda
ArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBelgiumBelizeBeninBrazilCameroonChileCosta RicaCote d'IvoireCzech RepublicDenmarkDominicaFinlandFranceGabonThe GambiaGermanyGrenadaHungaryIcelandIndiaIrelandItalyJapanKenyaKiribatiLuxembourg
MaliMauritaniaMexicoMonacoMongoliaMoroccoNauruNetherlandsNew Zealand NicaraguaNorwayOmanPalauPanamaPeople's Republic of ChinaPeruPortugalRepublic of GuineaRepublic of KoreaRussian FederationSaint Kitts & NevisSaint LuciaSaint Vincent & The GrenadinesSan MarinoSenegalSlovak RepublicSolomon IslandsSouth AfricaSpainSurinameSwedenSwitzerlandTogoTuvaluUnited KingdomUnited States
Source: International Whaling Commission

Winter Solstice

2005-06-22T00:30:00.000+10:00

June 21st, Winter Solstice.
Something ancient is stirred in me on this day. I recall being at Newgrange, north of Dublin, and entering that 4,000 year old mound, walking up the 90' to the head and wondering how so long ago the people managed such an enormous feat. On Winter Solstice, the sun reaches all the way up that passage and sits for about 15 minutes illuminating what is for the rest of the year, dark.

For thousands of years our forebears used this day to mark their calendar, to inform them about the planting season to come. It must have been a tough time in the northern hemisphere with such short daylight hours and such deep cold. A time to remain inside the cave with fire and perhaps lots of sleeping, story-telling, repairing, creating.

I love the sense of regularity. In a world so unpredicatable, so inhuman at times, the sun rolls north then south with perfect precision. It holds no tricks, doesn't use it's light for personal gain or self importance. It remains steadfast, loyal, dependable and then I know that above all this humanity with its suffering, its mal-distributed wealth and its pettiness there lies a greater order which is regular and will not let us down.

So I remember my ancestors and salute their memory. I feel like an ancient human being today and could be at any time, wrapped against mid winter coolness and full of awe and wonder at the rising of the northern sun knowing it has reached it's zenith and will now return lengthening each day and warming the earth in readiness for all that will grow in the coming Spring.

openDemocracy � The global democracy network

2005-06-20T16:55:00.000+10:00

openDemocracy � The global democracy network
It's about guns - not debt
Africa is rich. What it needs isn't debt relief, but to get rid of the 'genocide states' blighting its development - and if G8 leaders really want to help they should ban the arms sales that prop up these states, says Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe. The G8's host, Tony Blair, should listen to the most global of all 21st-century citizens - Africans in Britain, says David Styan

An African renaissance is possible if a new generation of leaders can learn to talk to their people, says Congolese writer Kabasubabu Katulondi. And in Zimbabwe, Mugabe’s mass evictions show the scale of the challenge, says Bev Clark

David Hicks

2005-06-19T03:08:00.000+10:00

From Sydney Morning Herald Sat 18th June
Compare and contrast. Douglas Wood, Australian citizen, permanent resident of the US. Income derived from working in war zone. Kidnapped in Iraq, rescued after six weeks.
David Hicks, Australian citizen, in Afghanistan motivated by religious beliefs (however misguided). Kidnapped by Americans, held in caged prison in Cuba for three years. No criminal charges laid. Still not released.
Sheila Benning Mittagong
As it has proved possible to rescue an Australian, Douglas Wood, from Iraqi terrorists, a question needs to be asked of this Government: why is it proving so difficult and prolonged to rescue David Hicks, another imprisoned Australian, from our American so-called non-terrorist, democratic, fair-playing and freedom-loving allies?
Barry Reece Valla Beach
Now that Douglas Wood has been rescued, perhaps John Howard could divert that special taskforce to Cuba to free David Hicks from the clutches of the Americans.
J. Hussain Glenbrook

And the sun came up

2005-06-18T01:45:00.000+10:00

THERE IS NO SNOW LEFT ON KILIMANJARO!
Never mind...produce that coal fired power, run those air-conditioners, use electricity like its going out of style.

Had a run in with USA morality yesterday. Some unknown person removed comments taken from the 20th century's greatest novel, Ulysses. Oh how I love those yanks...they can bomb the bejesus out of nearly anyone, produce violence and foul language in their movies, assault the rest of the world with their sheer stupidity but by Jove, they won't tolerate anything that even suggests a shadow on their fundamental Christian underbelly. And they don't even realise the hypocracy! Nor do they understand irony so it's not even possible to write a suitable reply...they just don't get it. Oh dear...and they wonder why so many of us are so against American cultural imperialism. Simple guys...we value much much more than the holy US dollar and your obsession with dominance!

Seems like Australia inter alia is all in love again with nuclar power! Never mind that Germany inter alia is closing reactors down and going for sustainable power generation including wind.
When will some people get it .... THERE IS NO KNOWN SAFE METHOD TO DISPOSE OF SPENT FUEL! Period, full stop! Sequestration is a nonsense and has failed all testing. The Australian Aboriginal people call yellow cake (uranium) Poison Fire. How apt!
Yes, I'm ashamed that this country can see no further than income by exporting uranium and tries to tell us that it's safe because there are agreements in place. Oh me miserum!

What's Ecology For?

2005-06-17T10:49:00.000+10:00

One-Fifth of Bird Species Flying Toward Extinction
June 14, 2005
Reporting by Roddy Scheer

Following its annual survey of avian life around the world, the conservation organization BirdLife International says that one-fifth of all bird species are facing extinction in the short term as a result of habitat loss and introduced pests.

"The total number (of bird species) considered to be threatened with extinction is now 1,212, which when combined with the number of near threatened species gives a total of exactly 2,000 species in trouble--more than a fifth of the planet's remaining 9,775 species," BirdLife recently reported. The 1,212 figure represents 10 more species than were on the list last year.

That said, the organization also reported some good news: five bird species have been downlisted from endangered to threatened status, meaning their populations have begun to rebound. One such example is Kirtland's Warbler, a small and brightly colored songbird whose limited range makes it particularly sensitive to even a slightly warming climate.

"This is a credit to the efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others, who have brought this species back from the brink of extinction," said BirdLife's Stuart Butchart. "Today, there are more than 1,200 Kirtland's Warblers, from a low-point of 167 in the 1970s, so its future certainly looks rosier."

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8058650

Because we are human.

June 16th

2005-06-17T00:58:00.000+10:00

Grossbooted draymen rolled barrels dullthudding our of Prince's stores and bumped them up on the brewery float. ON the brewery float bumped dullthudding barrels rolled by grossbooted draymen out of Prince's stores.
- There it is , Red Murray said.Alexander Keyes.
- Just cut it out, will you? Mr Bloom siad, and I'll take it round to the Telegraph Office.
The door of Ruttledge's office creaked again. Davy Stephens, minute in a large capecoat, a small felt hat crowning his ringlets, passed out with a roll of papers under his cape, a king's courier.
Red Murray's long shears sliced out the advertisement from the newpaper in four clean strokes. Scissors and paste.
- I'll go though the printing works, Mr Bloom said,take the cut aquare.
- Of course, if he wants a par, Red Murray said earnestly, a pen behind his ear, we can do him one.
- right, Mr Bloom said with a nod. I'll rub that in.
We.
___________________________________________

Ah to be sure, it's Bloom's day, that day when we give testament to the great book "Ulysses" by James Joyce. The day when we read aloud in public itmes of the day of Bloom's doings in Dublin, 16 June 1904. With language rollicking, frollicking, ranting, rambling, racing, te dum te dum...where Bishops, British, beer, bible and buggery are bungled forth.

I hope you hear a little of Joyce today and when you do don't wonder what that mad sod is doing reading aloud in the street. Listen and catch a glimpse of the greatest novel of the twentieth century, of words to chew and taste, of ideas to prick and please, of images as sweet and earthy as honey and wet mud.

Enjoy and feel alive this Bloom's day. Take it the air free to Jew and Gentile; look at the sky sheltering all of us; take a pint and salute your hero.
And may your God bless you!

Michael

2005-06-15T11:15:00.000+10:00

In a brief time the jury aquitted Michael Jackson on all counts including the provision of liquor to minors.
So what was this trial all about? Another witch-hunt for a paedophile, the scourge of our age? Jealousy over his wealth and the childish way he used it in Never Land?
Some folks trying to get their hands on a lot of money?
Look carefully at his face on TV tonight; can you see a childhood missed? a 40 something trying to get that security and warmth most of us are blessed with as little children?
Check your observation, the thougths they provoke, for this case was no accident. It is another mirror for our age, another window into our collective values and American ostentation.
I'm pleased he was aquitted, he looked to me like a victim, tragic and sad all along.

Is Money Enough

2005-06-15T01:00:00.000+10:00

The G8 will deliver US$40billion of debt relief to 18 sub Saharan nations provided that their Governments start dealing with corruption.
On the surface this is wonderful news...18 nations can start putting money into schoooling and health instead of debt interest payments. But where are the detailed plans? Who has heard about how this will be achieved? What governance is there?

Corruption in poor countries becomes so prevalent that it fails to be seen for what it is. It becomes normalised. How does the G8 propose to make people consicous of this insidious behaviour? How will the organisational structures currently greased by kick-backs be changed?

I for one would like to see much more detail about how this debt relief will be implemented. Too often aid money ends up in the hands of local armies who purchase more weapons. This is a good occassion to bring about genuine social change but so far no one seems to know how to achieve this.

Iraq War

2005-06-14T07:45:00.000+10:00

Iraq: the wrong war
Mary Kaldor
9 - 6 - 2005

The global political economy is producing failed states, networked insurgency and extremist politics. Fighting “old wars” in response, as in Iraq, is a guarantee of failure, says Mary Kaldor.

“In the images of falling statues we have witnessed the arrival of a new era”, said George W Bush on 1 May 1 2003, as – dressed in military fatigues – he announced the end of hostilities in Iraq on the deck of USS Abraham Lincoln, President Bush claimed to have discovered a new form of warfare, one that made use of information technology to make war rapid, precise and low in casualties.

In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, military commentators were jubilant. Bush himself described the invasion as “one of the swiftest advances in history”. Max Boot in Foreign Affairs described the war as “dazzling”: “That the United States and its allies won anyway – and won so quickly – must rank as one of the signal achievements of military history.”

The ongoing war in Iraq is, indeed, a new type of war, in which all kinds of new technologies ranging from sophisticated satellite based systems to mobile phones and internet are used. But if we are to understand the war in ways that are useful to policy-makers, then its novel character should not be defined in terms of technology. What is new about the war needs to be analysed in terms of the disintegration of states and the changes in social relations under the impact of globalisation.

A distinction between “old” and “new” wars is vital. “Old wars” are wars between states where the aim is the military capture of territory and the decisive encounter is battle between armed forces. “New wars”, in contrast, take place in the context of failing states. They are wars fought by networks of state and non-state actors, where battles are rare and violence is directed mainly against civilians, and which are characterised by a new type of political economy that combines extremist politics and criminality.

More than two years and 20,000 casualties (mostly Iraqi civilians) later, any assessment of the American war is bound to be sober. I argue in this article that the United States viewed its invasion of Iraq as an updated version of “old war” that made use of new technology. The US failure to understand the reality on the ground in Iraq and the tendency to impose its own view of what war should be like is immensely dangerous and carries the risk of being self-perpetuating.

It does not have to be this way.

New military strategy, old assumptions

Over the last two decades, successive US administrations developed the notion that the United States could use advanced technology to fight long-distance wars in such a way as to retain US military predominance and thus reassure US citizens that their government can defend them and preserve American security, without risking US casualties and without additional taxation.

The origins of this idea can be traced back to the cold war, when deterrence could be understood as imaginary war with military build-ups, technological competition, espionage and counter-espionage, war games and exercises on both sides. This helped on the US side to sustain a belief in the American mission to defend the world against evil through superior technology. Technological developments responded to what planners imagined the Soviet Union might acquire – the “worst-case scenario”.

The advent of information technologies generated a debate about the future of military strategy in the 1970s and 1980s between the “military reform school” and advocates of traditional American strategy. The outcome was the air-land battle strategy of the 1980s, whose centrepiece was “deep strike” to be carried out by the then new Tomahawk cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads.

This thinking was taken a stage further in the 1990s by the “revolution in military affairs” (RMA). For RMA enthusiasts, information technology is as revolutionary as the invention of the internal combustion engine. RMA is spectacle war, carried out at long distance using computers and new communications technologies. An important aspect is the improvement in virtual war gaming, which underscores the imaginary nature of contemporary conceptions of war. General William Wallace, commander of the Army’s V Corps and in charge of all US army units in Iraq, said that “the enemy we’re fighting (in Iraq) is a bit different from the one we war-gamed against.”

For the Bush administration, the term “defence transformation” has come to supplant RMA as the new jargon. Donald Rumsfeld claims that defence transformation “is about more than building new high-tech weapons –although that is certainly part of it. It is also about new ways of thinking and new ways of fighting”, and he champions “overmatching power” as opposed to “overwhelming” power.

Yet it is hard to escape the conclusion that information technology is being grafted on to traditional assumptions about military forces and to traditional institutional defence structures. The methods have not changed much since 1945. They involve a combination of aerial bombardment at long distance and rapid offensive manoeuvres. The very use of video gaming feeds on the assumptions of the gamers who were schooled in the cold-war framework.

Iraq: war or exercise?

The Iraq war is a prime example of how information technology is being grafted onto traditional ways of thinking about war – in ways that obscured what was actually happening in Iraq. It was showy and dramatic. With the help of accurately targeted air power, the coalition forces were able to claim that they had toppled the Iraqi regime “with a combination of precision, speed, and boldness the enemy did not expect and the world had not seen before.” Much was made of the American information advantage; coalition forces were able to process information received both from satellite pictures and from reports from the ground so that at any one moment, the wireless internet system could show the deployment of troops with enemy forces in red and friendly forces in blue.

The war was also portrayed as a powerful moral crusade. There was always an idealist strain in American cold-war thinking, which Anatol Lieven and John Mearsheimer discuss in recent articles on openDemocracy. There is continuity in rhetoric between Ronald Reagan’s “evil empire” and Bush’s “axis of evil”. The argument is that America is a cause not a nation, with a mission to convert the rest of the world to the American dream and to rid the world of enemies.

The war in Iraq was represented as one victory in the “war on terror” – a global conflict as far-reaching and ambitious as the cold war, one designed to establish a new world order. In fact, there was almost no resistance on the ground. The Iraqi army and the Republican Guard melted away. The Americans dropped leaflets in Arabic telling soldiers to take off their uniforms and go home and most of them obeyed.

The situation appeared initially calm in the weeks following 9 April 2003 not because the US-led coalition controlled the country but because the Iraqi people were ready to give the coalition the benefit of the doubt. When I visited Iraq in November 2003, Iraqis were still referring to the invasion as liberation/occupation. Now, the only areas the American actually occupy are their own protected bases (and even many of these are not completely secure) – everywhere else in Iraq is extremely dangerous for them.

In other words, the invasion of Iraq was not really a war; it was more like an exercise. Nor was it the victory against the Iraqi regime that American policy-makers still portray it as. The post-invasion Coalition Provisional Authority behaved more as a victorious occupier, many of whose steps – like the dissolution of the army and sweeping de-Ba’athification – infuriated and humiliated those very people who had allowed the invasion to take place with minimal resistance.

Read on at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-iraq/wrong_war_2591.jsp

2005-06-14T00:21:00.000+10:00

Today is Queen's Birthday. Of course it's not really the birthday of Elizabeth II (that's in April) but it's a long weekend and a public holiday so who is going to complain? Strange old world. We have to queue up at Heathrow as foreigners yet we share a queen and holiday on her birthday!
For many towns it's cracker night. In the old days it was on Nov 1st but to help avoid accidental fires the remberance of Guy Fawkes, who you will recall, tried to burn down Parliament, is now held in mid winter, today.

On the front lawn there's a pretty, plump wallaby. Beautiful coat and colouring. Not the all brown variety, she has a light coloured front and a light brown back. Like any wise person she sits there in the morning sun, taking in the rays.

humanecology

2005-06-13T09:33:00.000+10:00

This is the blog of humanecology and is primarily designed for others to make comment, suggest articles and ask questions about the project.

Human Ecology is a new trans-discipline; that is it is designed to cover several disciplines and provide a coherent unified language. It has emerged from need, the need to gain coherence, the need to overcome the limitations of tradional research methods and the need to address the pressing state of people and environment everywhere on Earth.

Alliance for Health Freedom Australia

2005-06-12T18:11:00.000+10:00

Alliance for Health Freedom Australia