Category: Law and Politics

Election Day, Say Hooray

Do all your shopping at Walmart!

Well, today’s the US Election, when we’ll see if the leadership of the free world (TM) is seized by the evil usurper Romney, or retained by the evil incumbent Obama.

(Personally I’m hoping for the evil incumbent)

For those needing a refresher on their Presidents, here’s Jonathon Coulton’s wonderful song on the matter…

(Note that this is the original 2005 version that doesn’t include Obama or the correct year of Garfield’s assassination)

Let freedom ring people!

10 Years On

Well, it’s ten years on from the Bali bombings.

I didn’t really feel much when the bombings happened. No anger, no terror, just a sense of dull numbness and weary resignation. I think I was still – even over a year later – in a state of shock from the September 11 attacks. I’d kind of readjusted my mind into a state of acceptance that terrorism was the new reality and that a bunch of innocent people getting horribly murdered was the kind of thing that was going to happen from now on – where and when being mere, irrelevant details.

I didn’t really snap out of it until the 7/7 attacks in London. I guess enough time had passed for the shock to wear off – the fact that I have a disproportionate love of that city no doubt helped.

Now, on the tenth anniversary, I still don’t feel much. I’m just glad that there haven’t been any more attacks on Australians as bad as Bali.

16 Quotes From Tony Abbott to Remind You Why He Shouldn’t Be Prime Minister

Via Nikki J’s Scrapheap…

On immigration:

1. ‘Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia.’

2. ‘These people aren’t so much seeking asylum, they’re seeking permanent residency. If they were happy with temporary protection visas, then they might be able to argue better that they were asylum seekers’

On rights at work:

3. ‘Bad bosses, like bad fathers and husbands, should be tolerated because they do more good than harm’

On women:

4. ‘The problem with the Australian practice of abortion is that an objectively grave matter has been reduced to a question of the mother’s convenience.’

5. ‘I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons’

6. ‘I think there does need to be give and take on both sides, and this idea that sex is kind of a woman’s right to absolutely withhold, just as the idea that sex is a man’s right to demand I think they are both they both need to be moderated, so to speak’

7. ‘What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it’s going to go up in price and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up, every year…’

On Julia Gillard:

8. ‘Gillard won’t lie down and die’

On climate change:

9. ‘Climate change is absolute crap’

10. ‘If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax.’

On homosexuality:

11. ‘I’d probably … I feel a bit threatened’

12. ‘If you’d asked me for advice I would have said to have – adopt a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy about all of these things…’

On Indigenous Australia:

13. ‘Now, I know that there are some Aboriginal people who aren’t happy with Australia Day. For them it remains Invasion Day. I think a better view is the view of Noel Pearson, who has said that Aboriginal people have much to celebrate in this country’s British Heritage’

14. ‘Western civilisation came to this country in 1788 and I’m proud of that…’

15. ‘There may not be a great job for them but whatever there is, they just have to do it, and if it’s picking up rubbish around the community, it just has to be done’

On Nicola Roxon:

16: ‘That’s bullshit. You’re being deliberately unpleasant. I suppose you can’t help yourself, can you?’

It’s Budget, It’s Budget Time!

It’s budget day! The one day of the year when being a single, childless, mid-thirties, fully employed, tax-paying, caucasian male doesn’t actually pay off.

You don’t think that maybe next year you could include some kind of stimulus payment for people who quietly contribute to the economy without demanding child-care, educational support, unemployment benefits or family payments? Just a few dollars? Please? ;D

Miscelleny

Miscellaneous Stuff Part 1: I got a brochure in my letter box yesterday telling me that I could get the Sunday Times delivered each week for only $1.80! Seriously, if I need packing material I can grab a copy of the local paper for free.

Miscellaneous Stuff Part 2: Surely Bob Katter can’t get any more ridiculous? Yes, yes he can…

Miscellaneous Stuff Part 3: Another excellent blog I should have mentioned earlier – someone’s posting the entire Diary of Samuel Pepys – day by day. They’re up to March 1668, but you should really go back and start at the beginning. Fascinating stuff.

Kony

Is Joseph Kony a monster who needs to be brought to justice? Yes.

Is it good that the central African conflict is getting some attention for once? Yes.

Is Kony responsible for everything that’s wrong with central Africa? No.

Will capturing Kony solve central Africa’s problems and turn everything to sweetness and light and happiness with unicorns and ice cream? Hell no.

Are parts of the Invisible Children video inaccurate, outdated and misleading? Hell yes.

Don’t imagine for a second that putting up a poster, liking something on Facebook or pinning blame on one man is going to ‘save’ the people of central Africa. Do some research into just how complex and fethed up the conflict/region is, hold off on buying that new smartphone, and then get back to me.

Dachshund Antibiotics

The title is a pun…

OK, I couldn’t get the code installed to take the Wyrmlog offline in protest over SOPA/PIPA today. Let’s just pretend, OK?

Here’s some info about the issue.

Saw the Doc yesterday and he’s confirmed that I probably have typhus. I’m on some pretty powerful antibiotics (the kind where you can’t go outside because your skin will slough off on exposure to sunlight) that should sort me out in short order.

I hope.