Whatisname and I had a meeting of minds

It was an almost comic situation.
In full camera glare Kevin Rudd watched political triumph threaten to turn to smoke on the breeze, as President Obama first forgot his title and then had obvious difficulty recalling Our Kev's name in the middle of one photo opportunity for the gathered media during the Australian Prime Minister's visit to Washington this week.

Yamba named best town in Australia in March 2009

The Australian Traveller Magazine has just named Yamba, at the mouth of the Clarence River on the New South Wales North Coast, the best little town in Australia.

It heads the list of 100 towns voted on by the judging panel, when asked the question:

"Regardless of where the town is located, would you recommend a good friend drive an hour out of their way specifically to visit this town?"

Pictures found at The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Examiner and Google Images

21st century history wars U.S. style?

Former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney may be disappointed that George W. Bush didn't hand out blanket pardons for his partners in political crime when he left the highest office in America, but he is still determined to defend the 'honour' of the administration of which he was a part.

Cheney started out on 2 April 2009 warning of fresh terrorist attacks against a weakened America.

By 15 March on CNN's State of the Nation he further fleshed out his assertion that President Obama's changes to former Bush Administration policy placed America at risk:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday defended the Bush administration's economic record, the invasion of Iraq and the treatment of suspected terrorists, warning that reversing its anti-terrorism policies endangers Americans.

"We've accomplished nearly everything we set out to do," ex-Vice President Dick Cheney says Sunday about Iraq.

In a wide-ranging interview with CNN's "State of the Union," Cheney said the harsh interrogations of suspects and the use of warrantless electronic surveillance were "absolutely essential" to get information to prevent more attacks like the 2001 suicide hijackings that targeted New York and Washington.

"President Obama campaigned against it all across the country, and now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack," he said.

Critics said the Bush administration's "alternative" interrogation techniques amounted to the torture of prisoners in American custody, while the administration's warrantless surveillance program violated federal laws enacted after the Watergate scandal.

Since taking office in January, Obama has announced plans to close the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to halt the military trials of suspected terrorists there, and to make CIA officers follow the Army field manual's rules on interrogations. Cheney said the administration appears to be returning to the pre-2001 model of treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue, rather than a military problem.

"When you go back to the law enforcement mode, which I sense is what they're doing, closing Guantanamo and so forth ... they are very much giving up that center of attention and focus that's required, that concept of military threat that is essential if you're going to successfully defend the nation against further attacks," he said.

One gets the general impression that Cheney can't wait to complete his own memoirs and wants to start massaging the historical record right away.

Still, the poor man is being sorely tested by the blogosphere which saw Slate earlier this year posting 'exclusive excerpts' from these same memoirs after Cheney announced that he was writing his version of events.

Some of which were oddly prescient of his current attitude:

Mark my words: There will be another terrorist attack. Thousands will die. Millions will suffer. When it happens, America will see at last that we were right. History will vindicate us, and we'll receive the respect we rightfully deserve. Not that I would ever want that, of course.

FOAD is not alone

"Under Schedule 7 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) ACMA must investigate complaints it receives from the public about suspected 'prohibited content.' " {Australian Communications amd Media Authority website}

A rumour is going round the Northern Rivers that Foad (the Melbourne blogger who tested ACMA's complaint system and got an anti-abortion web site added to the current black list) is not alone.
That those pen pushers at Censorship Central are receiving a number of complaints about Australian blogs linking to banned sites and that most of these complaints are not dinkum, but very tongue-in-cheek via anonymous email addresses.

Cartoon cops from Machine Gun Keyboard

One aspect of the Streisand Effect - Conroy now outranks Goebbels in Australia

A week in politics is certainly a long time as Australian Senator Stephen Conroy (Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) can now attest.

His name and silly antics over Sweden-based Wikileaks' publication of an alleged Australian Communications and Media Authortiy blacklist has seen Google Trends searches using the term "stephen conroy" outstrip searches based on the name "josef goebbels" or "paul joseph goebbels"

Give the intransigent senator another week and he might then outstrip searches using the better known version of the name of another popular propaganda minister, the Third Reich's Joseph Goebbels.














So intense has been the world-wide interest generated by those clumsy Rudd-Conroy moves against freedom of speech in Australia that the sheer volume of its site visitors swamped Wikileaks and it was virtually uncontactable for much of last week.

Are you walking around in sweat shop clothes?

The international charity Oxfam has released its March 2009 report concerning the clothing industry: Transparency Report II: Have Hong Kong Companies Improved Their Reporting On Labour Standards?

The report was produced by CSR Asia and is essentially positive in outlook. Noting increased company sensitivity to the need to be seen as socially responsible with sustainable manufacturing.

However, there is a long way to go before reasonable working conditions for clothing industry workers are achieved.

According to ABC News:
Oxfam is calling on Australian companies to publish the names and addresses of the factories where goods are made and monitor labour conditions.

Of those Hong Kong-based companies and subsidiaries studied Chickeeduck, Esprit, Giodorno, Blue Star Exchange, Blue Navy, Jeans West, Quicksilver Glorious Sun, PMTD, and Li & Fung produced clothing lines sold in Australia or manufactured for Australian clothing companies.

These companies scored between 0 and 33 out of 100 per cent on the Oxfam manufacturing industry report card, based on governance and risk management, code of conduct, stakeholder engagement, management, auditing and reporting.

Li & Fung reportedly manufactures garments for Australian companies Pacific Brands, Just Jeans and Myers.

Now would be a good time to look through your wardrobe and see just how much of an ethical purchaser you actually are.

Senator Conroy and Mr. Hyde

You've just gotta love that Senator Conroy, he is both a blogger's and journo's dream at the moment.
His thin secular veneer over a heart of Opus Dei (if Wikipedia is to be believed) turns this hapless pollie into a modern day version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The Age yesterday:
THE Government will begin trawling blog sites as part of a new media monitoring strategy, with documents singling out a website critical of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy for special mention.
Soon after Senator Conroy praised Singapore's Government for reducing monitoring of blogs, tender documents issued by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy reveal it is looking for a "comprehensive digital monitoring service for print and electronic media".
The department later attached a clarification confirming the term "electronic media" included "blogs such as Whirlpool".
Whirlpool, the only blog site mentioned, has criticised Senator Conroy's plans to filter internet content and his handling of the Government's $15 billion national broadband network. It is a community-run internet forum devoted to discussing broadband internet access.
Senator Conroy this month told a conference in Germany that it was a "really positive sign" that the Singaporean Government had given up monitoring blogs.
But the documents suggest the Australian Government is just about to start. Senator Conroy's spokesman said it was "only natural" that the tender include services for monitoring relevant blogs.
"Whirlpool is a long-established online platform for news and information covering a wide range of topics across the telecommunications sector," the spokesman said. "It and other websites provide valuable insight into the industries in which we work."

The Whirlpool discussion boards are of course already having fun at ol' Hyde's expense:

User #144693 968 posts iCE654 BAN CENSORSHIP! Whirlpool Enthusiast

NufffRespeKtZ writes... I wonder when Whirlpool will appear on their blacklist. Probably next week. I mean after all, WP links to a page that links to a page which links to a another page which links to a page with a link to dentist porn. A new term should be inserted into the Oxford dictionary; Dentist Porn A fictitious term which originated in Australia during the first decade of the 2000 millennium. It is used to refer to something that has been blocked/censored ridiculously and arbitrarily without explanation. Context example: A moderator deleted a post which didn't contain any breach of the rules. Oi, Mr moderator, you deleted dentist porn wtf!!?!?

herring anchor Reply to this post Send whim posted Saturday at 12:50 am