Category: Politics
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When Sydney Ruled the World
I’ve been watching a lot of the Olympic coverage from Beijing this week. To be honest I’m not sure what to make of it all. So far the Games themselves have been good; the events have been much closer than in recent years and Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt have been outstanding. It’s a moment…
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The modern face of racism
Image: Racism by Temi00 on Deviant Art Has anyone seen Lost in Translation? I’ve been catching up on some DVDs recently and I’d forgotten how good it is. I liked it at the movies but I think it plays better on DVD; it feels more intimate somehow. Bill Murray’s performance is wonderful and it’s a…
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A time of change
So Easter’s over for another year. It’s amazing how quickly it’s gone; I was thinking earlier that it’s hard to believe we’re almost at the end of March… the year’s gone quickly, even if it has been the earliest Easter in years. I’ve always liked Easter. I’m more spiritual than religious but I like the…
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Some important dates
There are a few important dates coming up over the next month, so I thought I’d do a quick post in case anyone didn’t know about them. One might be of interest to anyone looking to follow up on BlogCatalog‘s Blogging Against Abuse Day. The first is that October is international Breast Cancer Awareness Month,…
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An update on WordPress and Turkey
It was my birthday yesterday. I don’t like my birthday much; it just feels like a reminder of another year gone and what I’ve got to look forward to for another year. Still, it was nice to spend a few hours with my family, and I’m putting some money together with savings to get a…
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WordPress blocked in Thailand as well
First WordPress.com was blocked in Turkey, now it seems like Thailand has followed suit. Reports have been coming in since August 22 that the WordPress.com domain has been blocked by the state-owned TOT telecommunications company, preventing their users from accessing all blogs hosted on WordPress.com. The FACT (Freedom Against Censorship in Thailand) blog reports that…
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A slow extinction from apathy…
Democracy’s a strange thing. We’re well into election season now in Aus; with the launch of Kevin 07 and John Howard’s YouTube videos, everything seems to be moving towards a federal election in November. Along with that, the attack ads have started on TV, parties trading insults in the breaks between the nightly news… it…
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Politics and the YouTube generation
I’ve just been looking at the “Kevin07” website. I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. It’s good that politicians are trying to engage their audience in new ways, but doesn’t this all seem a bit cheesy? It’s very patriotic; bright colours, videos of supporters, news… it serves its purpose, I guess. But there’s…
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When does protection go too far?
This hasn’t been a good period for John Howard. Howard forgot a Tasmanian Liberal candidate’s name on air, and then the ridiculous upgrades to the government’s VIP aircraft were revealed: $100,000 worth of upgrades, including $9000 in silk wall panelling and $6200 in almond-coloured leather added to the ceiling (refits that were later dropped). The…
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Banning people with HIV from entering Australia
HIV border control suggested to stop outbreak Am I the only one who finds John Howard’s comments here difficult to understand? Or am I getting senile or something, because the reaction to these new guidelines has been very muted. The new system proposed by Tony Abbott would require visa applicants over the age of 15…