ET TU, TURNBULL? June 30, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics.add a comment
Utegate did not go down well with the punters so the polls suggest. Lest we forget it was supposed to be the political demise of Wayne Swan.
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COURAGE AND COMPLACENCY June 17, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Global Electoral Politics.add a comment
Read the report at Juan Cole’s Informed Comment and marvel at the display of mass and nonviolent courage displayed by people in Tehran. One suspects that numbers help.
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ISRAELI DEMOCRACY? June 14, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Middle East.add a comment
The claim that is made for Israel as the preeminent democracy in the Middle East.
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CONTROL ORDERS THUMBS DOWN June 12, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Human Rights.add a comment
Control Orders were enacted into British law by Parliament in 2005. Now they are doubt after the Law Lords ruled that they breeched human rights leglisation and fundamental legal rights.
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STATELESS UYGHURS June 3, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Terrorism Issues, US Politics.add a comment
The Uyghurs are Turkic speaking people who are indigneous to the North-Western Chinese region of Xinjiang. Some Uyghurs have been waging a guerilla war against the Chinese who have been engaged in cultural violence against the native people.
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WHAT IS NEWS? May 31, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Blogging in general, Duckspeak.add a comment
To the extent that news media and blogs recycle news reports and opinion they are doing the same thing.
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“PERMANENT WAR” May 19, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, US Politics.add a comment
I thought it was the year 1984 redux, but not so. George Orwell had credited The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism to Emmanuel Goldstein. There had been an earlier analysis.
THE LAW OF WAR May 12, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, Terrorism Issues.add a comment
Now it seems the standards of the Australian Armed Forces are descending to the levels of others engaged in “guerrilla wars” in which the enemy cannot be clearly identified.
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EMISSIONS TRADING May 5, 2009
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So what is to be made of emissions trading? The Government appears to have changed its’ policy.
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SEEKING REFUGE April 28, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, CENTRAL ASIA, US Politics.add a comment
The outrage over people in boats seeking refuge in Northern Australia seems not to have taken hold.
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ON THE BEACH April 22, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics.add a comment
The beach is a metaphor for life in Australia. Some of us at like flotsam and jetsam that end up on this shore.
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WOLLONGONG DOWNTURN April 20, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics.2 comments
Four Corners on ABC will feature the economic problems of Wollongong.
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“AUSTRALIA SAVE THE TAMILS” April 15, 2009
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Writing in 1921, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) suggested:
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UNFREEZING THE CONSTITUTION April 8, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics.add a comment
Constitutions are like balance sheets, except rather than snapshots of a business in time, they embody the attitudes of their founders and entrench them in law.
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AUSTRALIAN TOLERANCE April 7, 2009
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Of course, I hope these social research findings are true, and I have no reason to doubt them.
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BUILDING DEVELOPMENTS April 3, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics.add a comment
The Wollongong City Council was sacked for corruption, which took the form of developer payments and gift giving to councillors and some council staff.
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LOCAL ENVIRONMENT PLAN March 30, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics.add a comment
Wollongong City Council have updated their Local Environmental Plan, a process that is common across NSW. I attended a local group meeting last Wednesday, and they recommended that we make individual submissions on the plan.
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RUDD LANDS IN WASHINGTON March 24, 2009
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Will he emerge with clean hands and with his shirt from the Washington machine? “Out damned spot”.
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QUEENSLAND VOTES March 22, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics.add a comment
Anna Bligh has made electoral history by becoming the first woman to win a State Election as Premier.
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ACCESS JOURNALISM March 13, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in Australian Politics, South Asia, US Politics.add a comment
One of the functions any watchdog of democracy is to keep open the range of political discussion.
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