Prime Minister and Treasurer,
We elected you to make the decisions and frame the legislation for the good running of this great country.
You have been in government now for six months so take the "bit in your teeth" and start telling the Banks not to put extra on their rates just because they want to.
Stop letting the likes of Woolworths and Coles have a mark up percentage of up to 1000%.
We as your constituents have to manage our money to make ends meet, these big companies just do what they like to please their share holders.
It is time for you and your government to tell them what to do and that failure to do so will incur huge fines. Eliminate the "loop holes" and the "shades of grey."
In the 50's and 60's shops were only able to have a mark-up percentage of 33 1/3 % with perishables being able to be sold with a mark up of 100%.
My late father had a small shop in the little town of Maclean, he employed two men to help out with the running of the business.
One of these men had three children and a wife and the other had seven children and a wife.
Dad met all of his commitments and supported a wife and two children and in many cases gave stuff away to help the less fortunate survive.
If the country could survive with such small percentage mark ups in those years I can't see why the country can't manage now on the same margins.
Forget what the economists say, as in most cases they are looking after their own interests and probably getting a "sling" for doing so. The mere threat of introducing such a form of price fixing would send a shudder right through the business world.
Many people in the electorate would applaud such action, particulary if it was like old "true Labor practices."
We are depending upon your Government to set the ship on a true course and eradicate the practices of the Howard Government.
It is you and "The New Broom" that we depend upon to get this country, (and if you will allow me to use the good old Australian term) "out of the sh*t." We must stop "greed" or control it if we are to receive the benefits of what our Soldiers fought for to make it a better place for all.
You probably won't agree with what I have written but may I tell you, at the age of 68 years , I and my peers have seen the best of this country and would greatly appreciate it if our children and grand children were able to enjoy the same.
The "Ball is in your Court", you don't need a miracle all you need is common sense and a will to look after those who put you in the position that you now have.
For Authentication Purposes :-
[redacted for privacy reasons]
Clarence Valley NSW
* Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical guest comment from Northern Rivers residents.
Tuesday 27 May 2008
British academic freedom definitely in WTF territory, as allegedly 'illegal' al Qaeda documents found absolutely everywhere
On Saturday 24 May The Guardian reported that a UK uni student was held for six days, then released without charge, because he had downloaded information from a US Government site concerning the training practices of al Qaeda.
The post-graduate student was held under the Terrorism Act 2006 and could have been held for up to 28 days.
He was reported to authorities by a staff member at Nottingham University.
The student, his supervisors and tutor say that he was researching for legitimate study purposes in order to complete his masters degree and appears to have downloaded the edited version.
From the newspaper's description this downloaded information is very similar to information which has been freely available for years from a number of sites, including the US Dept.of Justice.
In fact a 28 page excerpt from the so-called al Qaeda training manual were released in 2001 for PR purposes and can still be found on the world wide web here.
In 2003 the blog Smoking Gun published around 160 gif images of the manual pages here.
The Federation of American Scientists has a 140 page version complete with cover gif here.
As this manual is almost always found on the Internet in alleged translation, the blogosphere is still unsure of its provenance and it may be that it is part of a government propaganda exercise.
An allegedly third edition of this document around 5,000 pages long is supposedly found at Yahoo Geocities here.
This is what Global Security says about the document.
The legend that ricin can be made from a recipe on the Internet using only household chemicals will probably never die. A big reason for this is its regular vetting by authority figures and government agencies.
The best example of this can be seen in how the "al Qaeda training manual" is regarded. Discovered in a search of an al Qaeda member's home in England and entered into the public record in the January 2001 trial of the embassy bombings in Africa, the manual includes a page devoted to explaining how to purify ricin from castor beans. With minor changes, it is the discredited formula that was common in "anarchy files" uploaded to private bulletin boards and the web over the past decade. In other words, it's the same useless lye and acetone procedure that has long been in residence on the Temple of the Screaming Electron web site. (See National Security Notes 02/20/2004.)
The al Qaeda training manual was translated in its entirety and made into an Adobe Acrobat file prior to September 11. With some searching copies can still be found on the Internet.
However, on September 11, America was seized by fear. The manual's section on poisoning and ricin concoction was expurgated by government authorities and subsequently republished on the Department of Justice's web site. The surgical removal of this section granted it gravity, effectively validating what was actually a procedure of no worth.
The validation was echoed in other places, notably the popular Smoking Gun web site, which displayed a fragment of the item.
"The manual ... instructs [al Qaeda] members on how to produce poisons from readily available materials," read an article in the National Journal on December 3, 2001. "For example, dimethyl sulfoxide, which is used as a topical analgesic by veterinarians, can be mixed with herbal poisons such as ricin, which is obtained from castor beans."
Even simple common sense broke down when considering the al Qaeda training manual and its supposed recipe for ricin. The expurgated portion also contains a passage which suggests that the consumption of three cigarettes could be used in assassinations. While this might be inspirational to those searching for a reason to give up smoking, normally it would raise doubts in even the most disinterested reader on the knowledgeability of the author of the section of the manual in question.
But the war on terror is not a normal time and often clear thinking and sophisticated analysis goes right out the window when evaluating potentials for mayhem.
Literally thousands of people world-wide have viewed one or all of these 'training' documents.
In fact this particular 10 minute search appears to indicate that a credit card will get me a complete copy of the manual.
Given that all this information is out there and freely available in hyperspace, why was this student detained under British anti-terrorism laws and why is the person who printed out the document for him to be deported?
One has to suspect that ethnicity and religion played a big part in the minds of Nottingham police.
In response to the wrongful detentions, academics from the University of Nottingham will be doing a public reading of the research material that led to arrests under the Terrorism Act on campus, outside the Hallward library, University Park Campus, at 2:00pm, on May 28. The reading will be followed by a silent protest where students and academics will symbolically gag themselves to object to the attack on academic freedom.
This establishment stupidity is a salutary lesson for us all. Reading material on the Internet, downloading and emailing it, is dangerous for your health and safety in our topsy-turvey world.
The Australian Federal Police also tend to lose their commonsense whenever the word 'terrorist' is mentioned.
I wouldn't be going anywhere near His Holiness when he visits in case either Sydney or Commonwealth police decide to look at me sideways.
After all I clicked the links to that manual - ooh aaah.
The Beeston Quakers on the subject of arbitrary arrest and censorship here.
The post-graduate student was held under the Terrorism Act 2006 and could have been held for up to 28 days.
He was reported to authorities by a staff member at Nottingham University.
The student, his supervisors and tutor say that he was researching for legitimate study purposes in order to complete his masters degree and appears to have downloaded the edited version.
From the newspaper's description this downloaded information is very similar to information which has been freely available for years from a number of sites, including the US Dept.of Justice.
In fact a 28 page excerpt from the so-called al Qaeda training manual were released in 2001 for PR purposes and can still be found on the world wide web here.
In 2003 the blog Smoking Gun published around 160 gif images of the manual pages here.
The Federation of American Scientists has a 140 page version complete with cover gif here.
As this manual is almost always found on the Internet in alleged translation, the blogosphere is still unsure of its provenance and it may be that it is part of a government propaganda exercise.
An allegedly third edition of this document around 5,000 pages long is supposedly found at Yahoo Geocities here.
This is what Global Security says about the document.
The legend that ricin can be made from a recipe on the Internet using only household chemicals will probably never die. A big reason for this is its regular vetting by authority figures and government agencies.
The best example of this can be seen in how the "al Qaeda training manual" is regarded. Discovered in a search of an al Qaeda member's home in England and entered into the public record in the January 2001 trial of the embassy bombings in Africa, the manual includes a page devoted to explaining how to purify ricin from castor beans. With minor changes, it is the discredited formula that was common in "anarchy files" uploaded to private bulletin boards and the web over the past decade. In other words, it's the same useless lye and acetone procedure that has long been in residence on the Temple of the Screaming Electron web site. (See National Security Notes 02/20/2004.)
The al Qaeda training manual was translated in its entirety and made into an Adobe Acrobat file prior to September 11. With some searching copies can still be found on the Internet.
However, on September 11, America was seized by fear. The manual's section on poisoning and ricin concoction was expurgated by government authorities and subsequently republished on the Department of Justice's web site. The surgical removal of this section granted it gravity, effectively validating what was actually a procedure of no worth.
The validation was echoed in other places, notably the popular Smoking Gun web site, which displayed a fragment of the item.
"The manual ... instructs [al Qaeda] members on how to produce poisons from readily available materials," read an article in the National Journal on December 3, 2001. "For example, dimethyl sulfoxide, which is used as a topical analgesic by veterinarians, can be mixed with herbal poisons such as ricin, which is obtained from castor beans."
Even simple common sense broke down when considering the al Qaeda training manual and its supposed recipe for ricin. The expurgated portion also contains a passage which suggests that the consumption of three cigarettes could be used in assassinations. While this might be inspirational to those searching for a reason to give up smoking, normally it would raise doubts in even the most disinterested reader on the knowledgeability of the author of the section of the manual in question.
But the war on terror is not a normal time and often clear thinking and sophisticated analysis goes right out the window when evaluating potentials for mayhem.
Literally thousands of people world-wide have viewed one or all of these 'training' documents.
In fact this particular 10 minute search appears to indicate that a credit card will get me a complete copy of the manual.
Given that all this information is out there and freely available in hyperspace, why was this student detained under British anti-terrorism laws and why is the person who printed out the document for him to be deported?
One has to suspect that ethnicity and religion played a big part in the minds of Nottingham police.
In response to the wrongful detentions, academics from the University of Nottingham will be doing a public reading of the research material that led to arrests under the Terrorism Act on campus, outside the Hallward library, University Park Campus, at 2:00pm, on May 28. The reading will be followed by a silent protest where students and academics will symbolically gag themselves to object to the attack on academic freedom.
This establishment stupidity is a salutary lesson for us all. Reading material on the Internet, downloading and emailing it, is dangerous for your health and safety in our topsy-turvey world.
The Australian Federal Police also tend to lose their commonsense whenever the word 'terrorist' is mentioned.
I wouldn't be going anywhere near His Holiness when he visits in case either Sydney or Commonwealth police decide to look at me sideways.
After all I clicked the links to that manual - ooh aaah.
The Beeston Quakers on the subject of arbitrary arrest and censorship here.
Little Brennie unleashes the values police, but gets nabbed himself for supporting snedgers
Everytime I switch on the radio or open a newspaper these days, it seems that the thought and values police are setting the dogs on someone.
Yesterday was Little Brennie Nelson's turn, as he suddenly decided that Labor's candidate for the Gippsland by-election (caused by a former Howard Government minister deciding that the money we pay isn't good enough for him to hang around and do the job for which he was elected) was a B-A-D man when he promoted a musical as director of a Gippsland cultural festival.
Fer gawd's sake Brendan, mate. Fancy saying stuff like; "(Mr McCubbin) has been promoting a show which is sexually explicit, would offend the vast majority of Australians and is inconsistent with the sort of values we would want to see represented in a candidate for the federal parliament.", when you personally support strange snedgers in your own party.
Need I remind you, that you went on the record less than a month ago.
"FEDERAL Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says the chair-sniffing Western Australian Liberal Leader has his "full support and confidence".
Troy Buswell, WA's Opposition Leader, yesterday admitted to sniffing a female Liberal staffer's chair in 2005.
He broke down at a press conference yesterday as he confirmed the woman's account but said he would not be standing down.
Dr Nelson said Mr Buswell was apologetic and still had his backing."
Know whose character I would be backing here and it wouldn't be the snedger over the musical featuring a blowup doll.
And Glen Milne loses it because he thinks he IS the values police
Glen Milne in The Australian yesterday.
"And just as Rudd's failings are beginning to make an impression nationally, along comes Darren McCubbin, the ALP candidate for Gippsland. McCubbin, you'll remember, was shoehorned into Gippsland by Labor's Melbourne head office over the local branch's preferred candidate, David Wilson, a veteran party member.
McCubbin, a local mayor, only joined up as a true believer on the day of his preselection. It was apparently enough to satisfy the moral conscience of a once great movement.
Labor's Victorian headquarters is in West Melbourne, spitting distance from the inner-city theatre district. Which might explain McCubbin's tastes. And his enthusiastic party endorsement. He is, you see, among other things, a director of the local Gippsland cultural festival, Water, Water, whatever that means.
In fact, we do know what it means, in part because McCubbin, as a director of the festival last year, chose to include and promote a lovely little act called the Beautiful Losers in his local show in the regional city of Sale, slap in the middle of the conservative rural electorate.
Listen up. According to a laudatory review in Melbourne's InPress magazine the Beautiful Losers consists "of three men, a piano and a guitar, not to mention some very wrong and rather amusing lyrics about all manner of depravity".
Yesterday was Little Brennie Nelson's turn, as he suddenly decided that Labor's candidate for the Gippsland by-election (caused by a former Howard Government minister deciding that the money we pay isn't good enough for him to hang around and do the job for which he was elected) was a B-A-D man when he promoted a musical as director of a Gippsland cultural festival.
Fer gawd's sake Brendan, mate. Fancy saying stuff like; "(Mr McCubbin) has been promoting a show which is sexually explicit, would offend the vast majority of Australians and is inconsistent with the sort of values we would want to see represented in a candidate for the federal parliament.", when you personally support strange snedgers in your own party.
Need I remind you, that you went on the record less than a month ago.
"FEDERAL Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says the chair-sniffing Western Australian Liberal Leader has his "full support and confidence".
Troy Buswell, WA's Opposition Leader, yesterday admitted to sniffing a female Liberal staffer's chair in 2005.
He broke down at a press conference yesterday as he confirmed the woman's account but said he would not be standing down.
Dr Nelson said Mr Buswell was apologetic and still had his backing."
Know whose character I would be backing here and it wouldn't be the snedger over the musical featuring a blowup doll.
And Glen Milne loses it because he thinks he IS the values police
Glen Milne in The Australian yesterday.
"And just as Rudd's failings are beginning to make an impression nationally, along comes Darren McCubbin, the ALP candidate for Gippsland. McCubbin, you'll remember, was shoehorned into Gippsland by Labor's Melbourne head office over the local branch's preferred candidate, David Wilson, a veteran party member.
McCubbin, a local mayor, only joined up as a true believer on the day of his preselection. It was apparently enough to satisfy the moral conscience of a once great movement.
Labor's Victorian headquarters is in West Melbourne, spitting distance from the inner-city theatre district. Which might explain McCubbin's tastes. And his enthusiastic party endorsement. He is, you see, among other things, a director of the local Gippsland cultural festival, Water, Water, whatever that means.
In fact, we do know what it means, in part because McCubbin, as a director of the festival last year, chose to include and promote a lovely little act called the Beautiful Losers in his local show in the regional city of Sale, slap in the middle of the conservative rural electorate.
Listen up. According to a laudatory review in Melbourne's InPress magazine the Beautiful Losers consists "of three men, a piano and a guitar, not to mention some very wrong and rather amusing lyrics about all manner of depravity".
Monday 26 May 2008
American politics have always seemed strange, but Obama has just made the whole scene weirder
The Obama for America team, US Democratic candidate Barak Obama's official campaigner, has recently sent out an invitation for supporters to take part in a survey which supposedly will assist him in planning further strategy.
Quite an innocuous exercise, except.....
On the first of three pages is this little question.
How often do you attend religious services?:
More than once a week
Once a week
Less than once a week
On important holidays
Never
It seems in Obama-style politics, your churchgoing is just as important (or even more important) as which political or social issues concern you most.
Does Barak Obama think he is running for presidential nomination in a democracy or a theocracy?
Quite an innocuous exercise, except.....
On the first of three pages is this little question.
How often do you attend religious services?:
More than once a week
Once a week
Less than once a week
On important holidays
Never
It seems in Obama-style politics, your churchgoing is just as important (or even more important) as which political or social issues concern you most.
Does Barak Obama think he is running for presidential nomination in a democracy or a theocracy?
National Reconciliation Week 27 May - 3 June 2008
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) was initiated in 1996 to provide a special focus for nationwide reconciliation activities. It’s a time to reflect on achievements so far and on what is still to be done to achieve reconciliation.NRW coincides with two significant dates in Australia's history which provide strong symbols of our hopes and aims for reconciliation.May 27 marks the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum in which more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to remove clauses from the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians. The referendum also gave the Commonwealth Government the power to make laws on behalf of Aboriginal people.June 3 marks the anniversary of the High Court of Australia's judgment in 1992 in the Mabo case. The decision recognised the Native Title rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the original inhabitants of the continent, and overturned the myth of terra nullius - that the continent was empty, unowned land before the arrival of Europeans in 1788.The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2008 is: Reconciliation: it’s all our story.
Online Events Calendar here.
In the Clarence Valley:
Free bus tour of Lower Clarence significant sites - May 28 10am pickup The Boulevard, Maclean
Clarence Valley Council free BBQ breakfast - May 29 7.30am-11.30am Market Square, Grafton
Official opening of ceramic art exhibition, Grafton Regional Gallery - May 30 5pm
Mal Borough's messianic delusions of granduer
The Libs and Nats as teh Coalition do not hold government anywhere in Australia.
Not in Canberra, not in the states and territories, and not in any little bush shire.
Yet still we have this Coalition disrupting Parliament whenever it chooses to dummy spit and in the last fortnight we see it threatening to block budget measures.
Now former Howard Government minister, Mal Brough (thrown out on his ear at the last federal election) has the hide to call the Labor Prime Minister "un-Australian" because he won't appoint Brough to a commission covering indigenous affairs.
It seems that Mal (B)rough is away with the fairies along with his more electorally successful compatriots Nelson, Turnbull, Downer and Abbott.
You lost the election, mate - the country had jack of you.
And, it wasn't just high interest rates, the leadership issue, or the fact that your government had been in power for over a decade.
You were all heartily disliked, chum. Especially when one of you cried that it was un-Australian not to think like you. Then you stank like seven day-old fish left out in the sun.
Just last week the Australian Election Study 2007 was released and was reported here.
It shows that the Coalition mob had virtually lost the election before the writs were issued.
So try to be a man, Mal - accept that you're in civvy street now and your opinions and desires don't matter more than the next bloke's.
In fact, because you made a bit of a dog's breakfast of your ministerial portfolio, they probably matter a lot less.
Not in Canberra, not in the states and territories, and not in any little bush shire.
Yet still we have this Coalition disrupting Parliament whenever it chooses to dummy spit and in the last fortnight we see it threatening to block budget measures.
Now former Howard Government minister, Mal Brough (thrown out on his ear at the last federal election) has the hide to call the Labor Prime Minister "un-Australian" because he won't appoint Brough to a commission covering indigenous affairs.
It seems that Mal (B)rough is away with the fairies along with his more electorally successful compatriots Nelson, Turnbull, Downer and Abbott.
You lost the election, mate - the country had jack of you.
And, it wasn't just high interest rates, the leadership issue, or the fact that your government had been in power for over a decade.
You were all heartily disliked, chum. Especially when one of you cried that it was un-Australian not to think like you. Then you stank like seven day-old fish left out in the sun.
Just last week the Australian Election Study 2007 was released and was reported here.
It shows that the Coalition mob had virtually lost the election before the writs were issued.
So try to be a man, Mal - accept that you're in civvy street now and your opinions and desires don't matter more than the next bloke's.
In fact, because you made a bit of a dog's breakfast of your ministerial portfolio, they probably matter a lot less.
Sunday 25 May 2008
Obama seeks campaign feedback
Yesterday's Obama for America email.This is a pivotal moment in the election, and right now your feedback will shape the next phase of this campaign.
We have three more contests to go, and we're going to fight for every delegate to secure the Democratic nomination.
But we've also been through more than four-dozen contests in the states and territories, and your experience so far is an important factor as we plan for a 50-state campaign to take on John McCain.
Your feedback is crucial. Whether you've been involved heavily or just a bit, been a supporter since the beginning or are new to this movement, your feedback will inform the planning for the next phase of this extraordinary campaign:
http://my.barackobama.com/feedback
Millions of people across the country have been engaged in this campaign at the grassroots level.
Your work, your passion, and your stories have defined this movement and have been instrumental in our success -- and as we move into the next stage of this race, your input is more valuable than ever.
What was successful? What wasn't? How can our campaign organization improve moving forward?
Share your feedback now -- it's essential to moving our campaign forward:
http://my.barackobama.com/feedback
Thanks to you, Barack Obama is within reach of the Democratic nomination.
We've learned a lot together over the past 16 months, but we're preparing for a journey more demanding than any challenge we've faced.
Yet in this challenge we also have an opportunity to run the broadest, most effective grassroots presidential campaign in American history.
Thank you in advance for your participation in this important survey. You and people like you in communities across the country are the heart of this campaign.
Thank you,
Jon
Jon Carson
Voter Contact
Director
Obama for America
A Sunday stroll through Northern Rivers art....
Jan Pilgrim Blue Fairy Orchid
Digby Moran Blackfish
Louise Mann Pink Delight
Guy Gilmore Railway Sunset
Ruth Rich Dancer 1
What's younger than John McCain? Almost everything according to blogosphere pundits
Now that the heat is going out of the Clinton-Obama contest, here's a little something on the U.S. Republican presidential candidate.
It seems almost everything is considered younger than John McCain, including:
the state of Alaska, jet engines, Daffy Duck, polystyrene, the bikini, credit cards, microwavable food, Tupper Ware, hulahoops, the CIA, atom bombs, air bags, duct tape and velcro.
Of course a quick flick around Google shows it's not hard to find things greener than this Republican candidate.
If the world's population is around 6.6-6.8 billion and the median age is about 28 years of age, then John McCain is definitely older than at least half the people in the known world.
As the US population is now thought to stand at over 304 million and its overall median age is around 35 years; then John McCain is, without fear of contradiction, older than 152 million of his fellow Americans and counting.
And with one birth occur every 7 seconds or so in the U.S., McAncient is getting older than more people by the minute.
With my age being nearer this candidate's than further away, I should have some sympathy for him with regard to this ageist attack led by the Democrats.
But even though an old man gum is a venerable sight in the bush, an old pollie is simply an old pollie, and a U.S. president in his seventies is a good few years too old for comfort in a world where America rides roughshod over us all.
There's even a song on the subject found at a Democrat-leaning blog Younger than John McCain and video at a number of sites.
Here's another little offering at:
http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/mccain-84.mp3
It seems almost everything is considered younger than John McCain, including:
the state of Alaska, jet engines, Daffy Duck, polystyrene, the bikini, credit cards, microwavable food, Tupper Ware, hulahoops, the CIA, atom bombs, air bags, duct tape and velcro.
Of course a quick flick around Google shows it's not hard to find things greener than this Republican candidate.
If the world's population is around 6.6-6.8 billion and the median age is about 28 years of age, then John McCain is definitely older than at least half the people in the known world.
As the US population is now thought to stand at over 304 million and its overall median age is around 35 years; then John McCain is, without fear of contradiction, older than 152 million of his fellow Americans and counting.
And with one birth occur every 7 seconds or so in the U.S., McAncient is getting older than more people by the minute.
With my age being nearer this candidate's than further away, I should have some sympathy for him with regard to this ageist attack led by the Democrats.
But even though an old man gum is a venerable sight in the bush, an old pollie is simply an old pollie, and a U.S. president in his seventies is a good few years too old for comfort in a world where America rides roughshod over us all.
There's even a song on the subject found at a Democrat-leaning blog Younger than John McCain and video at a number of sites.
Here's another little offering at:
http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/mccain-84.mp3
Saturday 24 May 2008
Warning, warning! Google Health may be injurious to your privacy
Now I'm sure that the good people at Google have no intention of harming a soul with their brand new product Google Health, a free online medical record storage facility.
However, before you plunge into another commitment to supply or store personal details on the world wide web, think of the implications of storing your most personal details out there in hyperspace.
Robert Merkl commenting at Core Economics last Tuesday gave us one scenario:
I’d have to strongly disagree with your statement that there’s no extra privacy implications.
If your doctor gets broken into, maybe a few hundred medical records get stolen. If Google Health gets hacked, millions of health records get stolen.
Furthermore, because it’s all electronic, it’s in a much more easily searchable form.
Here’s a for-instance. Say you’re an intelligence agency, looking for somebody in a large organization to blackmail. With the old system, there’s no way in the world you could burgle every doctor every member in that organization has visited.
Now, let’s rerun our hypothetical with everybody’s medical records on Google Health. Your crack team of hackers breaks in and gets you full access. You do a search for STDs, abortions, mental illnesses, etc. etc. etc on the entire organization, until you find somebody to blackmail.
And, yes, in this case it is entirely plausible to imagine such a technically-adept attacker as an intelligence agency.
Back when I was in the CS department at Melbourne, there were some people doing work on computer security. You might want to consider having a chat to some of them at some point. You may never use internet banking again…
Google Health's own privacy policy also gives pause for thought as it does not completely rule out selling-on some medical data from the site and handing personal data on to law enforcement agencies or third-parties etc:
Google will not sell, rent, or share your information (identified or de-identified) without your explicit consent, except in the limited situations described in the Google Privacy Policy, such as when Google believes it is required to do so by law.
The current Google Health medical advisory board has some interesting CVs on it as well.
I'm not sure that having a history with RAND or Wal-mart, or indeed being a super accountant, is going to make me feel confident in this product.
One of the first entities to 'utilise' this new site will probably be that digital superspy, Server in the Sky.
However, before you plunge into another commitment to supply or store personal details on the world wide web, think of the implications of storing your most personal details out there in hyperspace.
Robert Merkl commenting at Core Economics last Tuesday gave us one scenario:
I’d have to strongly disagree with your statement that there’s no extra privacy implications.
If your doctor gets broken into, maybe a few hundred medical records get stolen. If Google Health gets hacked, millions of health records get stolen.
Furthermore, because it’s all electronic, it’s in a much more easily searchable form.
Here’s a for-instance. Say you’re an intelligence agency, looking for somebody in a large organization to blackmail. With the old system, there’s no way in the world you could burgle every doctor every member in that organization has visited.
Now, let’s rerun our hypothetical with everybody’s medical records on Google Health. Your crack team of hackers breaks in and gets you full access. You do a search for STDs, abortions, mental illnesses, etc. etc. etc on the entire organization, until you find somebody to blackmail.
And, yes, in this case it is entirely plausible to imagine such a technically-adept attacker as an intelligence agency.
Back when I was in the CS department at Melbourne, there were some people doing work on computer security. You might want to consider having a chat to some of them at some point. You may never use internet banking again…
Google Health's own privacy policy also gives pause for thought as it does not completely rule out selling-on some medical data from the site and handing personal data on to law enforcement agencies or third-parties etc:
Google will not sell, rent, or share your information (identified or de-identified) without your explicit consent, except in the limited situations described in the Google Privacy Policy, such as when Google believes it is required to do so by law.
The current Google Health medical advisory board has some interesting CVs on it as well.
I'm not sure that having a history with RAND or Wal-mart, or indeed being a super accountant, is going to make me feel confident in this product.
One of the first entities to 'utilise' this new site will probably be that digital superspy, Server in the Sky.
Six months on from election of the Rudd Government and Cynthia is no longer willing to sleep on the wet patch
As today marks six months since the November 24 election brought the Rudd Government to power, this piece serves as a gentle reminder that all is not well with Kevin On Earth's agenda.
Cynthia Flobberbutton (in New Matilda) think it's time that the Federal Labor honeymoon was officially declared to be over and done with.
Oh come now, I hear you gasp. It's only been six months; it's a bit fanciful to expect a new government - especially one that has been out of office for more than a decade - to right all wrongs in six months.
To a certain extent these sentiments are true. Labor may have wrested control of the ship but it will take time to prise off all the nasty barnacles that burgeoned under the previous administration, let alone to reorient the vessel. But this is not an issue of petulance regarding changes not yet enacted. Rather, it's a call to question the course that has already begun to be charted.
Me-too-isms aside, the election of the ALP arose predominantly from the distinction the Party was able to establish between itself and the incumbent. In addition to his Fresh Approach for Working Families, Rudd himself was put forward as the anthropomorphic representation of the future: shinier, sprightlier, more culturally sensitive, more compassionate, more intellectually rigorous, and less likely to be swayed by xenophobic populism.
But now in office, the ALP is arguably working hard to subdue those elements of civil society that risk exposing the reality that it will not herald anything close to a social democratic utopia. In days gone by, these tactics were referred to as co-option. Under Rudd they have been shrewdly repackaged as the 2020 Summit.
In addition to offering the chance for delegates to be considered one of the New Labor Government's 1000 most trusted confidants, the 2020 Summit cemented the elitist idea that hand-picked "experts" should drive public policy. Tripping over egos in the rush to be anointed as among "Australia's best and brightest", the foundation was neatly laid for the influential class's support for the "Kevin Again in 2010 (Three Years is not Nearly Enough)" campaign.
Summit delegates were not only conveniently encouraged to ignore the pivotal role of broad-based, grassroots social movements in delivering electoral success for the ALP, but to forget how those movements managed to stave off some of the worst excesses of the Howard government, even when it controlled the Senate.
All this is by no means an effort to downplay the significance of some of the Federal Government's policy announcements. An apology to our Indigenous people, abolition of temporary protection visas for refugees, repealing (parts of) WorkChoices and a commitment to withdrawing (some) troops from Iraq are important shifts in rhetoric and practice. But for those of us who have grown used to fighting for the crumbs hurled in our direction, it is tempting to mistake ALP initiatives as dramatic steps forward rather than an amelioration of policies that should never have been countenanced in the first place.
It would be a mistake to unquestioningly accept these initiatives as sufficient compensation for failing to actually move public policy in a progressive direction, or as balance for new regressive measures. An apparently greater willingness to talk with advocacy organisations should not be confused with a commitment to meaningful consultation - and action.
Ultimately, the Federal Government must be judged on the strength of its policies, not on how they compare to the policies of the previous administration, or to hypothetical horror scenarios imagining 15 years under Howard.
So while there may still be some reluctance to call an end to our starry-eyed rebound affair with Rudd, it's time for those of us who are committed to creating a truly just and sustainable Australia to begin pointing out that we're no longer willing to sleep on the wet patch.
Oh come now, I hear you gasp. It's only been six months; it's a bit fanciful to expect a new government - especially one that has been out of office for more than a decade - to right all wrongs in six months.
To a certain extent these sentiments are true. Labor may have wrested control of the ship but it will take time to prise off all the nasty barnacles that burgeoned under the previous administration, let alone to reorient the vessel. But this is not an issue of petulance regarding changes not yet enacted. Rather, it's a call to question the course that has already begun to be charted.
Me-too-isms aside, the election of the ALP arose predominantly from the distinction the Party was able to establish between itself and the incumbent. In addition to his Fresh Approach for Working Families, Rudd himself was put forward as the anthropomorphic representation of the future: shinier, sprightlier, more culturally sensitive, more compassionate, more intellectually rigorous, and less likely to be swayed by xenophobic populism.
But now in office, the ALP is arguably working hard to subdue those elements of civil society that risk exposing the reality that it will not herald anything close to a social democratic utopia. In days gone by, these tactics were referred to as co-option. Under Rudd they have been shrewdly repackaged as the 2020 Summit.
In addition to offering the chance for delegates to be considered one of the New Labor Government's 1000 most trusted confidants, the 2020 Summit cemented the elitist idea that hand-picked "experts" should drive public policy. Tripping over egos in the rush to be anointed as among "Australia's best and brightest", the foundation was neatly laid for the influential class's support for the "Kevin Again in 2010 (Three Years is not Nearly Enough)" campaign.
Summit delegates were not only conveniently encouraged to ignore the pivotal role of broad-based, grassroots social movements in delivering electoral success for the ALP, but to forget how those movements managed to stave off some of the worst excesses of the Howard government, even when it controlled the Senate.
All this is by no means an effort to downplay the significance of some of the Federal Government's policy announcements. An apology to our Indigenous people, abolition of temporary protection visas for refugees, repealing (parts of) WorkChoices and a commitment to withdrawing (some) troops from Iraq are important shifts in rhetoric and practice. But for those of us who have grown used to fighting for the crumbs hurled in our direction, it is tempting to mistake ALP initiatives as dramatic steps forward rather than an amelioration of policies that should never have been countenanced in the first place.
It would be a mistake to unquestioningly accept these initiatives as sufficient compensation for failing to actually move public policy in a progressive direction, or as balance for new regressive measures. An apparently greater willingness to talk with advocacy organisations should not be confused with a commitment to meaningful consultation - and action.
Ultimately, the Federal Government must be judged on the strength of its policies, not on how they compare to the policies of the previous administration, or to hypothetical horror scenarios imagining 15 years under Howard.
So while there may still be some reluctance to call an end to our starry-eyed rebound affair with Rudd, it's time for those of us who are committed to creating a truly just and sustainable Australia to begin pointing out that we're no longer willing to sleep on the wet patch.
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