Well done, Pommy, you’ve sent the blog stats into overdrive… I even took a screenshot of the WordPress home page for keepsies. Classic stuff… not sure how it happened, but our most popular post yet. BTW, you can watch (and download) Fitna here.
UPDATE: I should probably also mention that I’ve blogged this over at Catallaxy, in part because I have Dutch relatives and find the whole issue interesting from their perspective.
Welcome to the nanny state, or should I say Labors new even more regressive version of the old one. The federal Government plans to protect the little children by censoring what we can access on the Internet. Little warning was given of this prior to the election, presumably because Howard didn’t say it so Kevvy didn’t have to say “Me too.”
I also imagine as such a move would be unpopular, it was decided to keep us in the dark. Always remember that while politicians are always forthcoming about what they will do for you when seeking your vote, they are usually reticent about what they will do to you after they get it.
Well I suppose we have to catch up with the rest of the world and following the examples of the great liberal democracies like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, and Burma is a promising start.
From The Australian
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story…5006784,00.html
“Church Leader Rues the Price of Libertarian Philosophies”
by Jill Rowbotham
REBUKING “a nation whose love affair with personal freedom has borne unpleasant fruit”, the Anglican archbishop of Sydney yesterday condemned its culture as “resource-rich and relationship-poor”.
Addressing the annual diocesan synod, or parliament, the Most Reverend Peter Jensen also targeted the leading political parties, which had “embraced the economic freedom which they see as essential to our prosperity”.
“They do not see that economic freedom trumps the social conservatism - or better, the Biblical principles - which sustains our values,” he said.
At this time I believe we should be trying to get our beliefs in front of the public in order to prime them in preparation for the federal election. As such I have sent a letter to the editor of ‘The Australian’ on the Haneef matter, concentrating on the rights aspects of the case.
I would encourage all of those who can to follow suit on this sort of activity to do so, and a few press releases by ‘Spokesmen’ for the LDP wouldn’t go astray at this time.
It is probably a good time to brush up our skills on this and your comments and suggestions for improvements in this effort will help.Those with less experience should go for ‘low hanging fruit’ type subjects, - the type of material easily accepted by the public, and if in any doubt about content should contact us with inquiries.
Local papers are a good target as they are widely read within the local community and the letters section is always popular.
This is advice from the editor, “If you haven’t already done so,please include a contact telephone number and home address. Letters sent as an attachment cannot be processed and will need to be sent in the body of the email”.
In the old days the heading ‘Letters to the Editor’ was also required, however I do not know if this is still the case.If anyone wishes to rip this off and use it in another paper they are welcome to do it, but it might be wise to see what our gurus think of it first.
Anyway, here it is, lets see what we can do: -
Rod Liddle, ex-editor of the BBC’s Today program, and now uber-curmudgeon columnist for the Spectator, is one of my favourite journalists. He is always sarcastic, rude, embittered, cynical and negative. Just as all good columnists should be.
His last two pieces for the Spectator have focused on the ‘cultural pecking order’ at the BBC. Here are his views on who is open for attack at the Beeb and who are ‘off-limits’.
I would like to make a recommendation for the film “Mine Your Own Business.” The film’s site can be found at www.mineyourownbusiness.org and has been the subject of some controversy. The film exposes the misanthropic philosophy at the heart of the Environmentalist movement.
The documentary displays how rich western environmentalists oppose economic development, on the grounds that for a poor rural village to develop and progress would destroy its “quaint” culture.
Having lived in the States for five years (from ages seven to twelve) I have some memories of the ferocity with which Americans defend their rights, particularly their right to free speech. American residents regularly push that freedom of speech to the limit. In 2003 my favourite rapper, Eminem, released a song titled ‘We As Americans’. The lyrics included the following bars:
Over at Catallaxy, I’ve decided to have a big think-out-loud session on the parlous state of the media. This has largely been in response to the atrocious coverage of the most recent Middle-Eastern bust up. Rob at Better Part of Valour has done a super job of rounding up all the info, and a quick hop across to his site will tell you pretty much all you need to know, as well as provide a mass of links.
Now I’m a libertarian. I’m really, really suspicious of foreign policy adventurism, and am fairly sure that whatever happens in the Middle East (Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran etc), it’s likely to go badly. How badly is an unknown, however, because the ladies and gentlemen of the press have been very keen to make everything look worse than it actually is. I used to think making shit up was the preserve of novelists (I should know, I am one, and have made up my fair share), but some of this stuff is simply staggering.
With that in mind, I’ve put the legal beagle to work and tried to sketch out a few proposals. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Michael Backman has seen and heard so much of the inner wheeling and dealing of Asia that it is perhaps not a far stretch to suggest he’s seen it all. Backman is author of numerous books and writes a regular column for The Age. A former employee of the Australian Government, he has shed light on the inner workings of Asia – from corruption to trade politics – in a way few others have. This is the transcript of an interview I conducted in 2005:
Why specialise on Asia? Would you advise young people that Asia is a good subject to study given the growing importance of Asia in trade and diplomacy?
I decided to specialise on Asia because it Asia is close to Australia. It’s our own backyard. It simply seemed logical. And yes, of course young Australians should study Asia-related topics.
Is it difficult to forge a career around writing, consulting and speaking?
I don’t find it difficult but I know that many do. I spend more time writing books - so far I’ve written five - than newspaper columns. The consulting and speaking flow from that. But writing does mean long days working on my own. So you do need to be self-motivated, good at organising your time and especially good at controlling interruptions. The average book takes me about eight months of solid work. I keep the same hours as everyone else – I’m at my desk by nine in the morning and I stop around 6 in the evening and I do that every day except weekends. There’s no rubbish about sitting under trees in nice locations to get inspiration to write. I’m not a poet. It’s all about long hard days in an office location, being very focussed and concentrating hard. Read more »
