The AWB, British politics, Raskin, Ballarat Work and Gaming

[tcpip]

This AWB issue has suddenly cranked up a notch. The basic are that it is believed that the Australian Wheat Board knowingly paid kickbacks to the Iraqi government, defrauded the United Nations and violated sanctions to the tune of almost $290 million dollars. The government has established an inquiry to work out just how much of this went on, why they did it and who knew. (One of the more amusing discoveries was an insight to the brilliant coding technqiues of senior executives; from p_cat - Italy, The League of Nations, Wax and Eggs. But now the Prime Minister is implicated, and Kevin Rudd is going for the throat; "these documents today demonstrate that we have an Australian Prime Minister who is a liar.". On topic, who do you think is executing the Sunnis?

Some may remember a TV series entitled A Very British Coup. Younger readers may remember another series entitled House of Cards (special thanks to imajica_lj for his loan of said DVD). Truth, as usual is strange than fiction, Tony Blair is about to effectively abolish parliament through the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill; and some elements of the press of woken-up to what it means: The Abolition of Parliament Bill; coming closer to a totalitarian state, BTW, the Bill allows for Orders to bind the Crown, so the Monarchy is no defense.

This is circulating fast: Jamie Raskin: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn't place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.". I may paraphrase a quote from stephen_deadman on this issue: "A radical burns the flag and wraps himself in the Constitution. A reactionary, on the other hand..." In Missouri on the other hand, they seem to be confused about the U.S.'s own history in attempt to introduce prayer in school

This weekend caseopaya and I are escaping the Commonwealth games to Ballarat to participate in Linux Users Victoria's first ever regional install fest. Meanwhile at work, MS-SQL server is sending me nuts with simple tasks that just don't seem to work (yeah, maybe there's a MS-SQL admin on my flist). Also have spent a few hours this week making a few changes to the Melbourne Unitarian Church website, and James Nicholson's.

In that other part of my life (i.e., gaming) having just finished my contribution to playtesting Mongoose's new edition of RuneQuest, I have now joined The Chaosium's playtest list for their upcoming "meta-rules system" Deluxe Basic Role Playing. The Chaosium are also holding a Call of Cthulhu module competition (March 31 deadline) which I'd better get cracking on if I want to submit something (damned if I'm going to buy yet another edition of the rules, tho'). GURPS Australian Noir last Sunday solved the Bolshevik mystery of Sans Souci and this Sunday is the return of Vlad Tepes to the mortal world in Outbreak of Heresy.

Comments

[p-cat.livejournal.com]

"... and I use the term precisely and intentionally".

I love Lateline.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The fact that Lateline, Four Corners etc are so truthful and bold is the very reasons why there is a campaign to get rid of them. After all, it would be a lot easier to manage people if governments didn't have such a nasty independent media.

[p-cat.livejournal.com]

Did you see the Four Corners report on the Cronulla riots? I ended up watching it twice and was still shocked.

I've been making a point of watching Lateline recently. I absolutely love it, although I feel that Tony Jones hasn't been hard enough on some of the pollies lately (most notably Downer on AWB last week and Abbott on petrol sniffing the other day).

Did I mention I have a picture of Tony Jones on my fridge? :)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I did watch the Four Corners report on Cronulla. I had a mix of emotions from it; anger at the idiotic displays of violence nationalism, sorrow for the ridiculous prejudice and elaborated stories that the some had swallowed ("they were attacked after lifesavers rescued a Muslim woman"), frustration at the childish moral values ("they did it to us so we'll do it to them").

*head desk*

Missed the Tony Abbot and his magic petrol episode. Love to read it, he's been coming across as such a goody-goody with it.

[p-cat.livejournal.com]

They replayed the most offensive bit on Lateline last night (the playing-with-matches analogy), so I got to shout at him all over again, only this time louder and more drunkenly!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Found it!

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1593747.htm

[catsidhe.livejournal.com]

Ah, but Lateline and 4Corners aren't independant, they're just biased, you see. If they were merely independant, then they'd have the same slant as all the other 'news' providers, because that is just objectively True.

Yes, Consensus is now Truth. By extension, therefore, Doubt is now Falsehood by definition.

The enemy of Freedom is Questions.
-- J. Biafra

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Truth by consensus rather than consensus through truth? Now that's an interesting inversion of reality....

[catsidhe.livejournal.com]

Don't you remember? "Reality-based" reaction is the mark of the inferior (small-l) liberal mindset. Real Men and NeoCons make up 'reality' as they go, leaving the rest of us to play catch-up.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

This, as I have mentioned so many times before, reminds me of Hannah Arendt's analysis of the Pentagon papers where she expresses surprise that they actually thought they could win the VietNam war through public relations at home.

[catsidhe.livejournal.com]

And, (again) by extension, the corollary to that is that anyone at home who questions how well the War is going is by definition hurting the War Effort.

These questions all begin to make sense once one remembers to put on ones Orwell filters.

[blot.livejournal.com]

we spell it misery not Missouri

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

*snerk* Thanks for that, it makes a lot more sense.

[horngirl.livejournal.com]

On topic, who do you think is executing the Sunnis?

It's probably wrong to point the finger at just one group, but things I have heard lately are suggesting Al Qaeda are certainly giving a big helping hand in the insurgency in Iraq. In the meantime, I think someone is trying to encourage a civil war when the people concerned don't really want one.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I think Al Qaeda are being used as a blanket excuse for the hornet's nest.

What is happening in Iraq is four or even five-way civil war. Most Sunni's want to hold the country together and reassert their former political domination. Most Shia want to split the country and sign up as much as they can with Iran along with getting revenge on their former Ba'athist masters and most Kurds want to break the place up and get out now. Al Qaeda, such as they are, will support the most fundamentalist religious alternative (probably the Shia separatists), and a majority of all ethnic groups want the occupation to end.

Strangely enough, so do 72% of the occupying soldiers.

[lardarsegreg.livejournal.com]

"A radical burns the flag and wraps himself in the Constitution. A reactionary, on the other hand..."

ROFL

Have you got the original reference for that quote?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Ahh, spotted on a badge at a science fiction conference I believe.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

In case you haven't seen it already.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did catch that. I have been informed that one of the personality "quirks" (consider it a serious mental disadvantage) of JoHo is that he doesn't have a sense of humour.

[stasiaone.livejournal.com]

What with your various interests (UUism, Linux, SQL, East Freakin' Timor, a PhD thesis on the internet), you must be either very, very cool or very full of shit. I choose to believe the former---occam's razor, you know.

You are far too interesting to limit yourself geographically; we must ensure that your persona/charisma/worldview transcends any narrowing confines. Here are some randow thoughts, that I hope you will take in the spirit intended:

1. Have you thought about participating in UU events, either locally or internationally? I can personally recommend SUUSI.org and First Parish in Cambridge, MA USA. You would fit in well in either locale.

2. Have you participated in any longdistance gamers events? My husband is a D&D freak-at-forty (jjaquinta), but you might enjoy moving in Boston type circles.

IAE, I've friended you (natch). Here's to you, Kid!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I choose to believe the former---occam's razor, you know.

Well, it would be too hard to falfify all the documentation. I'd need a stand-in with the UUs, SQL Server does annoy me no end of times and as for the PhD... Well, that editing is a drag.

Falsifying the East Timorese passport and the letter of recommendation from Jos´e; Ramos-Horta would be a hardest one. I would need an international spy for those.

1) I'm currently trying to get ANZUA to participate more in UUSC; given the fact that they're currently helping out in Acheh and India on the Kashmir border and ANZUA is doing... well, very little.

2) Long distance gaming is tricky, but I have run a few sessions in the past. Must work on my narrativism rules for this to work.

Tagged!

[baconsoup.livejournal.com]

hey, i'm gonna add you. i need a source of foriegn news since its being censored in the states.

is there really a civil war in iraq between the sunnis and the shi-ites, or is the govt wagging the dog for a reason to stay over there?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The possibility of a civil war in Iraq is very real and indeed many say, yes it is already happening see:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/12/MNG9BHMUG81.DTL)


Iraq is a bit of an artificial creation, the result of British colonial adventures in the middle east. Essentially you have three ethnic groups which are geographically quite separate (but meet in the Trigis valley) and with their own axe to grind. The Sunni's are angry at losing power, the Shi'a are asserting their recently gained power and the Kurds want independence. Large numbers of all three groups, of course, want the occupation to end.

In different circumstances all three could, and have co-existed quite happily (e.g., the Abbasid caliphate)

[misnim.livejournal.com]

finally! an erotillectual who's australian!
I honestly don't have time right now to read and digest much of your journal, (though I have this sort of guilt that I probably should) so I'm going to friend you and try to keep up.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Go here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eroticaproject/

and join. You'll be glad you did.