Sunday, 5 December 2010
Oh, poo - we lost!
Not only did we lose the FIFA Fútbol World Cup venue bidding war, we lost resoundingly:
2022
Round 1: Australia 1 vote, Japan 3 votes, Korea Republic 4 votes, Qatar 11 votes, USA 3 votes (Australia eliminated)
Round 2: Japan 2 votes, Korea Republic 5 votes, Qatar 10 votes and USA 5 votes (Japan eliminated)
Round 3: Korea Republic 5 votes, Qatar 11 votes, USA 6 votes (Korea Republic eliminated)
Round 4: Qatar 14 votes and USA 8 votes (Qatar obtained an absolute majority)
And here I was hoping that for the next decade there would've been a national meeja topic which might occasionally actually drown out Tony Abbott's carping, Mark Lahtham's whining, Paul Howe's big noting, Kristina Keneally's scolding, Chris Mitchell's posturing and John Howard's revisionism for whole days at a time.
Apparently the failed bid also cost the Aussie taxpayer about A$45.6 million and all we got for the money was this little video:
Saturday, 4 December 2010
The stupid and dangerous fireworks season is underway - there ought to be a law against it!
Actually, there is, so why isn't it enforced?
Where: Yamba, NSW, 2464
When: Saturday, 4 December, 8.30pm
What: Illegal fireworks
WorkCover NSW requires that:
The possession, use, storage and transport of display fireworks is restricted to individuals holding a:
- pyrotechnician's licence
- fireworks (single use) licence.
There are safety and security requirements for the storage of fireworks depending on the amount and type of fireworks to be stored. Licences are also required to:
- handle fireworks without supervision
- manufacture fireworks
- sell fireworks.
A licence will only be issued for a legitimate reason such as an organised public display that is open to the public. The display must be organised by a community or private organisation for a show, fete, carnival, cultural, religious or sporting event.
Notified fireworks are displayed on WorkCover's site and can be found here.
According to U.S. Government Assange not a journalist or a whistleblower, but a biased anarchic political actor with an 'agenda'
There is an awful fascination in watching a geo-political giant set out to eliminate one individual and website from any visible presence in cyberspace.
The fascination is heightened by the fact that Julian Assange was born in Townsville, Australia and spent some of his primary school years living in the NSW Northern Rivers region at Lismore.
The latest censorship effort resulted in the whistleblower website losing its U.S. domain name according to an Associated Press report.
In what may be considered the first World Wide Web information war, www.wikileaks.org appears to only be available in Google Cache at the time of writing.
However, this is cyberspace we are talking about and Wikileaks can now be accessed at http://88.80.13.160/ and Cablegate specifically at http://213.251.145.96/cablegate.html. While Wikileaks at Twitter is at http://twitter.com/wikileaks.
From the daily press briefing at the U.S. Department of State on 2 December 2010:
QUESTION: From your perspective, what is WikiLeaks? How do you define them, if it is not a media organization, then?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, as the Secretary said earlier this week, it is – one might infer it has many characteristics of some internet sites. Not every internet site you would call a media organization or a news organization. We’re focused on WikiLeaks’s behavior, and I have had personally conversations with media outlets that are reporting on this, and we have had the opportunity to express our specific concerns about intelligence sources and methods and other interests that could put real lives at risk.
Mr. Assange, in a letter to our Ambassador in the United Kingdom over the weekend, after documents had been released to news organizations, made what we thought was a halfhearted gesture to have some sort of conversation, but that was after he released the documents and after he knew that they were going to emerge publicly. So I think there’s been a very different approach. And Mr. Assange obviously has a particular political objective behind his activities, and I think that, among other things, disqualifies him as being considered a journalist.
QUESTION: What is his political objective?
QUESTION: The same letter --
MR. CROWLEY: Hmm?
QUESTION: What is his political objective?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, his – I mean he could be considered a political actor. I think he’s an anarchist, but he’s not a journalist.
QUESTION: So his objective is to sow chaos, you mean?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I mean, you all come here prepared to objectively report the activities of the United States Government. I think that Mr. Assange doesn’t meet that particular standard.
QUESTION: But just so I understand, P.J., what – I mean you just said the – that you thought he was --
MR. CROWLEY: Well, but I mean – let me – he’s not a journalist. He’s not a whistleblower. And there – he is a political actor. He has a political agenda. He is trying to undermine the international system of -- that enables us to cooperate and collaborate with other governments and to work in multilateral settings and on a bilateral basis to help solve regional and international issues.
What he’s doing is damaging to our efforts and the efforts of other governments. They are putting at risk our national interest and the interests of other governments around the world. He is not an objective observer of anything. He is an active player. He has an agenda. He’s trying to pursue that agenda, and I don’t think he can – he can’t qualify as either a journalist on the one hand or a whistleblower on the other.
QUESTION: Sorry. What is that agenda, that political agenda? Can you be more --
MR. CROWLEY: I’ll leave it for Mr. Assange to define his agenda. He has been interviewed by some of your news organizations. He has the ability to talk for himself. But you asked -- I was asked a specific question, “Do we consider him a journalist?” The answer is no.
* In an allegedly unrelated matter Interpol released this:
_____________________________________________
Sweden authorizes INTERPOL to make public Red Notice for WikiLeaks founder
LYON, France - INTERPOL has made public the Red Notice, or international wanted persons alert, for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the request of Swedish authorities who want to question him in connection with a number of sexual offences.
The Red Notice for the 39-year-old Australian, which was issued to law enforcement in all 188 INTERPOL member countries on 20 November, has now been made publicly available by INTERPOL following official authorization by Sweden.
All INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) have also been advised to ensure that their border control agencies are made aware of Assange's Red Notice status, which is a request for any country to identify or locate an individual with a view to their provisional arrest and extradition.
Many of INTERPOL's member countries however, consider a Red Notice a valid request for provisional arrest, especially if they are linked to the requesting country via a bilateral extradition treaty. In cases where arrests are made based on a Red Notice, these are made by national police officials in INTERPOL member countries.
INTERPOL cannot demand that any member country arrests the subject of a Red Notice. Any individual wanted for arrest should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
___________________________________________________
UPDATE:
An interesting dilemma for one local newspaper
One of the persistent news items recently in a local newspaper has been the question of Wooli village and the potential effects of ongoing beach/land erosion.
What is interesting about this coverage is the fact that at least one senior staff member is reputed to own property there and, at the time of writing this post, one journalist (currently on leave) is listed as part of the 10 member media team on the Save Wooli website.
Readers could rightly suspect the motives of any published article on the subject which does not carry a byline and, when appropriate, a declaration of interest.
Medicalising social media in 2010
I suppose it had to happen. The medical profession and drug companies big and small have been redefining the human condition as dysfunctional and in need of pharmaceutical intervention for so long that any significant change in our social culture is bound to become the subject of scrutiny.
This week it was reported that:
Presumably Sanofi-aventis which owns the Cenovis brand is wanting to explore increasing its market share in relation to an allegedly stress-reducing substance which seems to be aimed at the younger end of the consumer spectrum.
What better way than by co-opting the media into doing a bit of free advertising for a small survey?
K-K-Keneally hits back at jibe about her alien birth
So.... it's not just the front bar at my local.
NSW Parliament Hansard 2nd November 2010:
Mr ANDREW STONER: My question is directed to the Premier. After 15 years of Labor and a year of her Premiership, in which she has spent attacking the New South Wales Liberals-Nationals in the absence of any substantial policies, will she finally spell out her plans to fix the State, or is she still in denial about the problems?
The SPEAKER: Order! The House will come to order.
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: I will answer that question but, as members know, in recent days I have spent a lot of time at my desk reading. I have an advanced copy—
Mr Barry O'Farrell: Point of order: I refer to Standing Order 129, relevance. In the spirit of the season, I have a book for the Premier with a few facts about Australia. It is the Little Aussie Fact Book; it has everything the Premier needs to know about Australia!
The SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease clapping. Members will come to order. I call the member for Lismore to order. I call the member for Wakehurst to order.
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: What a remarkable contribution by the Leader of the Opposition!
[Interruption]
Hear me out, because I am about to pay the member for Murrumbidgee a compliment. A few years ago the member for Murrumbidgee made a private member's statement about how people should value the contribution of those who have immigrated to this country.
The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Epping to order.
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: In a private member's statement in this House the member for Murrumbidgee talked about valuing the contribution of people, regardless of what country they come from or with which accent they speak. I acknowledge him and his leadership in doing so. Often on weekends I attend functions with the Leader of the Opposition. Every time he stands in front of a multicultural community group he gives a speech about valuing the contribution of migrants to this country.
The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Hawkesbury to order.
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: He attends functions, whether it is the Korean community fair, the Chinese New Year—
Mr Andrew Stoner: Point of order: I refer to Standing Order 129. I hate to interrupt the Premier's soliloquy, but this is a serious question to which the people of New South Wales deserve an answer.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals will resume his seat. The Premier has the call.
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: The point of order of the Leader of the Opposition deserves to be acknowledged and addressed, because he attends a number of multicultural community functions.
Mr Andrew Stoner: Point of order—
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: Members opposite can try to use my time, but I will get this out.
The SPEAKER: Order! I have ruled on the point of order. Does the Leader of The Nationals wish to take a different point of order?
Mr Andrew Stoner: No, it is still relevance.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals will resume his seat. I call the Leader of The Nationals to order.
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: I find it extraordinary. The Leader of the Opposition attends multicultural functions and makes speeches about valuing the contributions of migrants and the contribution they make to the people of Australia. However, when there is a cheap political point to be made in this Chamber he is willing to make it.
Mr Adrian Piccoli: Point of order: I refer to Standing Order 129, relevance. If the Premier uses a prop to make a smart alec point, then she is asking for it.
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Murrumbidgee will resume his seat. The Premier has responded to the point of order taken by the Leader of the Opposition, but I remind her of the question before the House.
Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: I will end on this point: Today we have seen a gross example of hypocrisy. The Leader of the Opposition stands condemned.
The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Epping to order for the second time. As today is the last question time of the year, I have extended a degree of latitude. However, members are pushing the envelope way too far. I will not tolerate further unparliamentary behaviour. Members who continue to interject will be removed from the Chamber.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Cablegate highlights geo-political hypocrisy
Michael Rennie and Benno Hansen deserve a big thank-you for trawling through the Wikileaks Cablegate website for information on climate change geo-politics.
Michael is posting on Think About It and Benno’s document collection can be found at Scribd.
With DOS attacks being more frequently reported by Wikileaks during the last week and Amazon terminating its hosting service to the website, it may be that second party reports such as these will eventually become the blogosphere’s primary source on this subject.
While website connection problems drag on, Wikileaks’ Twitter account continues to offer intriguing hints on other international issue such as:
WikiLeaks reveals US Nuclear Weapons in the Netherlands http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2009/11/09BERLIN1433.html
Mark Stephens of Finers Stephens Innocent, who represents Julian Assange in the UK, is a trustee)
26 November
Julian Assange, Editor in Chief, WikiLeaks
to
US Ambassador to London, Louis Susman
27 November
Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser, United States Department of State
to
Julian Assange, Editor in Chief, WikiLeaks
28 November
Julian Assange, Editor in Chief, WikiLeaks
to
US Ambassador to London, Louis Susman
It is interesting to note that in this exchange a U.S. Government (increasingly careless of international law and human rights) asserted that release of the diplomatic cables would:
Place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals – from journalists to human rights activists and bloggers to soldiers to individuals providing information to further peaceand security.....
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