Proud Australian?

Harrangueman's latest post, with the great title:

Advance Australia Fair should be taken out the back and shot

really struck a chord with me. I am, as far as I know, something like a seventh-generation Australian. I love Australia- overall it's got to be one of the greatest places to live on earth. And that includes Tasmania. We have some of the greatest and most unique animals and plants anywhere in the world. Seeing groves of Eucalypts in Botswana brought a warm and fuzzy feeling to my heart. Somehow I couldn't care that they are a noxious weed that leaches precious groundwater from an already parched country. They're a beautiful noxious weed, and I felt strangely proud. I felt attached. Surely such irrational thought has to be one of the hallmarks of patriotism?

But I can't be proud of our 'national anthem' and our hideous flag. I can't be proud of the fact that we still have a foreign monarch ruling as our head of state. I cringe at the original lyrics to the song that took until 1984, a year after I was born, to replace 'God Save the Queen' as our national anthem. According to Wikipedia:

It was adopted as the national anthem by a 1984 decision of the Labor government of Bob Hawke, although it required a proclamation by the Governor-General for the decision to become official.

We needed official permission from the representative of the foreign head of state who reigns over Australia to change our own bloody anthem- even if it was changed to the godawful one we've got now.

I'm a proud Australian, but I am ashamed of our staid, unrepresentative anthem and our Union Jack-bearing flag. I am ashamed of the fact we have not rid ourselves of the Queen of England as our head of state. Sure, they were a colonial power here once, but if we were to take that as a precedent there would scarcely be a country in existence that did not have some white european as their head of state. Some countries are actually proud of their independence. While we have many things to be proud of as Australians, all of the above-mentioned don't count among them.

First things first; we'll need to rid ourselves of the man in power who has a permanent hard-on for England. And a taste for expensive wine paid for by taxpayers, but that's another matter.

It's a shame that the rights to the song that would be my number one pick for national anthem (albeit significantly abbrieviated) are owned by Telstra. Perhaps we can buy it back one day. It would be nice to have a national anthem to be proud of, whose words are meaningful to Australians, rather than just a crap piece of music we sing just because we're proud to be Australian. There's a big difference.

Gay Rights More Evil Than Axis of Evil

The real axis of evil.

Apparently those of us who thought that gay rights groups were organisations dedicated to achieving equal human and social rights for homosexuals and heterosexuals were gravely mistaken. Two gay rights groups, the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and the International Lesbian and Gay Association, based in Belgium, had applied to be included in the 3000-odd non-governmental organisations that are granted 'consultative status' with the UN.

Luckily for the future of civilisation as we know it, the US decided to side with Iran, Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe- all nations the State Department has cited in annual reports for their human rights abuses against homosexuals- in measures introduced by Iran aimed at blocking the admittance of the gay rights groups.

I guess it's good to see they can lay this 'axis of evil' stuff and the quibbling over Iran's right to nuclear power aside in order to tackle the greater issues that threaten the world today.

Playboy Jokes of the Month

According to a new study by the Center for Disease Control, half of American teenagers are having oral sex. The other half are still wearing braces.

A busy couple whose schedules allowed them to have sex only once a month bought a box of 12 condoms so they would be set for a year. Three months down the road, the wife went to get one and found the box empty. "What happened to the other 10 condoms?" she asked.
He nervously replied, "Er, I masturbated with them."
Later she shared the story with a male friend and asked, "Have you ever done that?"
"Yeah, once or twice," he told her.
"You mean you've actually masturbated with a condom?" she asked.
"Oh," he said, "I thought you were asking me if I've ever lied to my wife."

A sequel to The Exorcist is being filmed that is a little different from its predecessor. In this one a woman hires the devil to get a priest out of her son.

Don't You Know Who I Am?

I thought the NSW police were doing a pretty good job of tracking down the various people involved in the Cronulla riot bashings and reprisals. Then they sacked Superintendent Dennis Bray, hastily followed by a reinstatement into a position of lesser profile after the other police on the cronulla taskforce threatened to go on strike. Now it appears that the NSW Labor government is eager to match NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam's tactic of pandering to that significant proportion of voters who are racist.

The new police commander of the squad investigating the Cronulla riots has proclaimed that "Senior members of the Arabic community need to really have a close look at themselves" because of the low numbers of people from middle eastern backgrounds who have come forward with information for police investigating subsequent so-called 'reprisal bashings' (calling the bashings reprisals is about as sensible as calling the riots a reprisal for terrorism or gang rapes, as others have done. It seems to be almost an attempt at justifying unjustifiable actions).

Meaning no disrespect to Detective Superintendent Ken McKay, as it seems that the media has attempted to whip his remarks up into a meaning he never intended for them, but holding the leaders of the 'middle eastern community' responsible for the inability or inaction of a few individuals is a bit rough. It's like holding Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell 'drain diver' Newman responsible for a bunch of St Lucia failing to identify Gam and I from some dodgy video footage for whatever reason. Given the size of the community compared with the number of people we actually know or interact with, chances are that most of them would be unable to identify us. And Mr Newman would be least likely of all. So why do we hold middle eastern community leaders to a different standard?

Sorry About Your Future, Here's $100000

The US military, falling short of its recruitment targets, is employing millions of dollars in advertising to help raise the numbers of recruits. They perpetrate the old myth that joining the US military will enable young people to achieve their dream of going to college, create a fulfilling career, start the life they always dreamed of... and then they wind up like Jason Poole. What a fucking disgrace.

One to Watch: Eric Bana in 'Munich'

I avoided Stephen Spielberg's last big film, War of the Worlds, partly because of the hype, partly because of bad reviews from friends, and mostly because it was a Tom Cruise vehicle. His next film, Munich, I am definitely going to watch, as it not only stars Eric Bana and Geoffrey Rush, but it has been condemned by the Zionist Organisation of America for 'humanising terrorists', and by a former member of the Black September group for humanising the Israeli victims. So it sounds like a good film. I've liked Eric Bana ever since I was a kid and my dad taped Full Frontal for us, and it's always nice to see a hard-working Aussie make it big if they aren't a complete dickhead (cough*RussellCrowe*cough).

One thing I'm curious about, with regard to Munich, is if they will mention Mossad's 1973 murder of Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent waiter gunned down in front of his pregnant wife by Mossad agents in Lillehammer, Norway, after being mistaken for one of the planners of the Munich murders. The Mossad agents served extremely short sentences in jail (I think it was in the vicinity of 5 years?) before being pardoned by Norway. Twenty-three years later, in 1996, the Israeli government paid compensation to Bouchiki's family, but would not admit any responsibility for the murder.

Osama- Future Host of TVSN?

"Helen, this toaster is just fantastic: it slices tomatoes and babysits your kids!"

This is pretty funny. World's #1 Terrorist Osama Bin Laden recommended a book, 'Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower' by William Blum to Americans in his latest video message. It was ranked at 209 000 on Amazon's sales list, according to the SMH, and by yesterday had soared to number 30. Osama bin Laden might be a stark-raving woman-hating religious loony, but he's smarter than US Preznit Bush, and has at least double the credibility.

Morbier

Morbier! The cheese we had at Christmas whose name I couldn't remember. I was mistaken in thinking it was a layer of blue mould through the centre of the cheese- apparently it is ash. The bitter aftertaste must have been what I mistook for blue mould. Very tasty.

Our New Baby- First Pics

Had to catch the lizard and take pics with the other hand, as Gam wasn't around to help. Nonetheless, isn't it cute?

Support Our Troops (TM)

Yesterday Gam and I walked past a car that had a big yellow bumper sticker on the rear saying "Support Our Troops". I assume this car didn't belong to someone who thought that the best support we can provide for our troops is to only ask them to put their lives on the line when Australia is actually at risk and needs defending, not just whenever someone John Howard has a huge hard-on for asks us to join them in invading a foreign country.

Very few Australian soldiers have died since we sent them off to Afghanistan and Iraq. You can probably still count the dead on one hand. What I've posted below shows that it's not just the number of dead we should be concerned about. The soldiers who come back alive are often fucked up for life, or what there is left of it. My first experience with the phenomenon called Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, came when I worked as a secretary for a local private psychiatry practice. A significant proportion of the patients at that practice were suffering PTSD brought about by their service in the Vietnam war. Most of them had never been wounded; some had not even been in combat, but the things they witnessed during their service were enough to induce terrifying flashbacks, night terrors, depression and a propensity to abuse alcohol that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Whether it was witnessing a single member of the enemy Viet Cong die a horrible, terrifying death with his intestines spilling from his torn abdomen, seeing a friend injured in a vehicle accident, merely seeing the dead bodies of the enemy, or hearing gunfire and explosions on a regular basis, in many cases the only scars our soldiers took away from that war were ones on their mind. They felt unable to connect properly with their families, unable to talk about what they had experienced. In the marriages that survived, some of their wives had to sleep in a separate room because their husband, the Veteran, suffered nightmares that would cause him to lash out in his sleep, to attack his own wife, believing her to be one of the enemy he fought decades ago. Many of them turned to alcohol, some consuming as many as 50 beers every night. Just about every single Veteran had trouble holding down a job that matched their level of qualification. Some had been fine for a decade or so after the Vietnam war ended, until PTSD struck. Those that had children invariably felt emotionally distanced from them. The thought of being a bad husband and father probably only added more pain and guilt.


And I don't even know the half of it.

I want us to have learned our lesson. The thought of putting any more Australians through what the Vietnam Vets and those that served before them in World Wars I and II have suffered, of putting them through a lifetime of distress caused by PTSD, without having a very bloody good reason for it is frankly abhorrent. Iraq is not a good reason, no matter how 'safe' the area in which the Aussie troops are stationed. I support our troops. A good many of them are around my age. But they are not out defending Australia, as the deceptive name of 'Defence Force' would imply: they are out defending George Bush's war under the orders of John Howard, a man who has never seen active duty; a man whose children will never see active duty and instead lead lives of privilege- a statement perhaps even more true of the US President George W. Bush. Which leads me to the other reason for this post; something I read in Steve Gilliard's blog, written by a US Soldier who has since committed suicide. PTSD is a debilitating disorder that affects people for the rest of their lives. There is no 'cure' for it. You would think that sending hundreds of Australians in the prime of their lives into a war would entail serious consideration for their well-being. Instead, as is typical of politicians, the only consideration is for the political implications. The job of the Australian Defence Force is to defend Australia. Sending them on valuable humanitarian missions such as that in East Timor and the Solomon Islands is traumatic and dangerous enough. Sending them to Iraq should be a crime.

Anyone who really supports Aussie troops would want them brought home .

Latham Steals Telecrap Reporter's Camera

The media knives are out for Mark Latham again, this time after he spotted a photographer from the daily telegraph lying in wait outside the Hungry Jacks 'restaurant' where he had taken his two young sons Oliver and Isaac for lunch. Given that Mark Latham is now out of the public eye and therefore it is less likely that the photographer would have received a tip-off on his whereabouts than previously would have been the case, it is a fair assumption, and one Latham probably made, that the photographer tailed him and his young sons to the restaurant. Latham allegedly punched the photographer, injuring (strangely) his wrist. I would have thought it more likely that the wrist was injured in wresting the guy's camera from him, but let's just blindly believe what the papers report, because I doubt we'll be getting Mark Latham's side of the story.

After taking off with the camera, the SMH reports, it is thought that Latham smashed the camera to little bits in the shed of his home at Glen Alpine.

While I can't condone the alleged assault and theft that took place, I feel a bit sorry for Mark Latham, because he made a deliberate move out of politics in order to avoid the public spotlight and spend time with his family. Plus the Daily Telegraph is a piece-of-crap tabloid that we'd all be better off without. On the other hand, as long as any ex-pollie draws a pension from the government's generous taxpayer-funded superannuation scheme, I think they are public property to a certain extent, and that includes Latham.

Thoughtless Arseholes

It's common knowledge that discarding fishing tackle in waterways and oceans leads to the death of birds, fish, marine mammals and turtles, yet people still do it. So the bastards who dumped the fishing line that caused the death of a 150 year old endangered Leatherback Turtle probably couldn't care less. They wouldn't be the first to thoughtlessly cause the death of an animal infinitely more rare and valuable than themselves, and they won't be the last. I just wish it was easier to police fishing, both commercial and recreational. There are probably large fines for dumping fishing tackle, but given the vast area of the rivers and oceans it would be very difficult to actually catch anyone doing it, so such laws are likely more for show than anything else.

Food for Reptiles and Humans

Our new baby.

Today marked the reopening of Brisbane's best fish 'n chip shop A Salt and Battery, after a harrowing 3 week break. Gam and I weren't the only ones to have Monday the 16th of January marked down on our calendar, as we went there around 4.30pm to buy some fresh prawns and barramundi to cook for dinner (ok, Gam did the cooking) and the outdoor seating area was already half full of people tucking in. Although I must admit it has been a long time since I saw it only half full; the very lovely owner (Chris? He's probably forgotten our names too by now!), who used to always find time for a quick chat but was so run off his feet all year that all he could spare was a wave and a yell of 'hello' over the din, was actually able to come over for a chat once again. It's probably the last time we'll get to speak to him all year, given how busy the place gets, but he gave us the good news that he'll once again be making Salsa Verde... previously Gam and I were pretty much the only people who would ask for it, so he stopped making it, which was a real shame because it was mouth-wateringly good. Hopefully the sheer number of customers he now gets will mean that at least a few more people will be interested in trying it instead of aoli or tartare sauce. Not that either of those are bad- he makes them fresh himself, and the tartare is so good my dad always wants a jar of it to take back to NSW, but the Salsa Verde is on a level of its own.

Anyway, we had a damn nice dinner; Gam barbequed the prawns with garlic, butter and fresh basil and oregano, and grilled the barramundi. It was so tasty I forgot to save some for Feifei (he's a fussy little bugger, but he likes his Barra). We are already plotting as to what we'll get next time. We still haven't polished off the last piece of fresh turkish delight, but I'm sure I can bring myself to do it and save Gam the trouble...

Something I haven't blogged about yet is our new 'pet' baby bluetongue. Approximately 15 cm in length, we found it (I think it's a 'her'?) inside the foyer of our unit complex, and Gam had the great idea of putting it in our small back garden- which is actually a small, low wall running the length of our back balcony, the space between the back wall and the low wall being filled with dirt. In one half we keep the Pork Beast, and in the other we keep several continental parsley plants, some small dresina trees, an errant sweet-potato vine (my fault- I had a sweet potato that sprouted and I felt sorry for it) and several trillion garden cockroaches, which are a favourite of many rotund-looking Asian Chirping Geckos. I kind of helped the cockroaches along with fruit and vegetable scraps until it got to the point where the section where I dumped the scraps was literally a crawling mass of cockroaches at night, and they would demolish any organic matter I put in there- from banana peels to dead American or Australian cockroaches... which I have a little phobia of, so I make a point of squishing them... and so what if I get a sick sense of satisfaction out of seeing their corpses being eaten by 'good' cockroaches? It's called Recycling.

Given the sheer number of cockroaches I figured it would be a good idea to have a resident diurnal predator. Plus it was a good excuse to have a bluetongue as a 'pet'. From everything I knew about blue-tongues I was aware that they are most active during the day. Not so with our new friend. I saw it fairly often during the day once I'd become aware of most of its little 'haunts', and I wasn't surprised to see it soon looking perhaps a little more sausage-shaped and a little less gaunt than when I carried it home, but I was surprised to venture out the back one night to see a not-at-all-sleepy little bluetongue sitting happily in the middle of the cockroach patch. Since then I've been leaving the light on for it, not that it needs my help, and tonight I thought I had, for the first time, actually witnessed it hunting.

You see, Gam made some ginger-biscuit dough before Christmas that we never used, and I finally decided to get rid of it two days ago by dumping it in the back garden for the cockroaches. So when I saw the bluetongue sitting in front of the pile of biscuit dough, suddenly getting a glint in its eye before lunging down to snap something up and swallow it, I figured it had picked a garden-cockroach from the dough. When it opened its mouth and bent down to eat something again I looked even more carefully: the little beast had its mouth wrapped around a large chunk of biscuit dough and was busy twisting it off the main bulk of the dough! It then proceeded to swallow the dough before noticing I'd called Gam out to gawp at it too, and scurried towards the back of the garden, no doubt ashamed of its gluttony.

I knew that blue-tongues were fond of things like boiled egg and dog-food, but gingerbread dough? I suppose it was just too much effort to pluck up one of the thousands of slow-moving cockroaches that scuttle around in plain sight. I was kind of looking forward to the day when it grew big enough to tackle the American cockroaches, but it's starting to look like I'll have to catch them and sautee them in butter before serving them to this little monster!

I must get some photos of the blighter before it grows too obese to fit in the camera frame.

France to Put Consumers Before Companies

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this article in the SMH this morning. While the digital copyright protection bill currently before the French Parliament hasn't yet been passed, it says a lot for the representative nature of French democracy that measures are being taken to ensure ordinary consumers who copy their own DVDs or download a few songs on P2P aren't treated the same as people who pirate for profit. The music industry behemoths will no doubt be outraged that they aren't being allowed to write the law, as is essentially the case in the US and Australia (and probably just about every other country). It seems that the French government wanted to introduce restrictions similar to those in the US and Australia, but rebellious MPs from their own party as well as from the Opposition banded together with consumer groups to demand protection for ordinary consumers. To tell the truth it makes me rather envious.

'Insensitive', But Still Smote by God

At it again: Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson, as Harrangueman reported earlier this week, has credited God with the "delightful" Ariel Sharon's massive brain haemorrhage. Sharon was smote by God, according to Robertson, for "dividing God's Land"- i.e. pulling out of Gaza and leaving the ruins to its Palestinian owners.

Israel, in response, said it no longer planned to sign a $50 million contract with Robertson for his planned biblical theme park for which it had agreed to provide land and infrastructure. I must have missed the bit in the bible where God planned a theme park for 'his land', but Pat Robertson has hurriedly apologised- not for declaring that God inflicted Sharon's brain haemorrhage, but for being 'insensitive' for speaking about it while the Israelis were still kind of upset. Robertson, as usual, did not actually retract what he'd said; after all, that would be akin to retracting God's own words, just like when God (through Pat, of course) called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, and when God said (again through Pat) that he would not help out Pennsylvania citizens in the event that they suffer a terrorist attack, because they banned 'Intelligent Design' from being taught in school science classes. Because God never forgives. God is vengeful and likes to see people suffer. That's not what you might have gathered from reading the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, which is why God sent Pat along: To clear that shit up.

Race-Baiting Libs Try to Paint Labor Brown

Peter "White Collar" Debnam

The NSW Opposition have accused the NSW Labor government on being soft on 'ethnic' crime, with Opposition Leader Peter Debnam saying

The statistics would suggest the government is simply not putting the resources into rounding up these Middle Eastern criminals and thugs. The Labor Party seems to be indebted to certain ethnic groups.

Wow. I smell private polling. Sounds like the NSW Opposition are going to try and make the next election campaign a racial-hatred campaign. It's had the foreseeable effect, as Police Commissioner Ken Moroney commented:

One only has to listen to talkback radio today to gauge the effect it's had on the community.

Wrong. You don't need to listen to talkback radio to know what effect it's had on the 'community'. They tend to be rather predictable like that.

Cute Porn

Because we live in a unit I can't have one, so I have to make do with cute pictures. Awwww!

Suite Treat for Premier Lennon

The Premier of Tasmania, Paul Lennon, has been caught with his pants down after it was revealed that he was upgraded from a $200 a night room at the Crown Casino, where he stayed during Melbourne's Spring Racing Carnival, to a six-star suite with a private butler that costs up to $4000 per night. This happened to be just days prior to the Tasmanian government deciding to hand the State's much-vaunted online gaming licence to Betfair, which is 50% owned by the Packer family's PBL. The same PBL that owns Crown Casino. Paul Lennon has just announced to the media that he'd decided to allocate the licence to Betfair before he stayed at the Crown and was upgraded. The Packers probably knew it, too.

Ruddock Patronises Aussie Muslims

I don't know why Philip Ruddock was even invited to this event, but apparently he had the hide to lecture a group of Australian muslims gathered to pray at Lakemba Mosque to "uphold the laws of this country" and to be 'tolerant' of other Australians. Keysar Trad has said that Ruddock's comments demonstrate contempt for Australia's muslims. Damn right they do. When the Libs were visiting Hillsong services in their "suck up to the religious right" campaign during the last election, did they lecture the Hillsong members on being good Aussie citizens and being 'tolerant'? Muslims and Christians and the Howard government all have in common the fact that they aren't known for being 'tolerant' of various groups of people, so the fact Philip Ruddock feels he can lecture Aussie Muslims on tolerance really is a good demonstration of the prejudice that they face from mainstream Australia. Make them feel it, why don't you Phil?

Bird Flu

Common sense could have told us that it is highly likely that people may become infected with bird flu and not suffer severe symptoms, and therefore not bother to seek treatment, thus not being detected in the statistics on the number of cases of bird flu that have occurred worldwide. But the media coverage of this 'epidemic', as with other scares, is almost entirely devoid of common sense, preferring hysteria instead.

We're probably due for a flu pandemic of some sort, but with the media crying wolf all the time it's difficult not to wish they'd just shut up and let health officials and scientists do their jobs.

Spying for Cuba

A 61 year-old college professor and his 55 year old wife have been charged with spying for Cuba. Their alleged crime was not espionage- the passing on of classified or militarily-sensitive information, but merely conveying information on the activities of the Miami-based anti-Castro terrorist groups. Given the history of the US government in granting much more than mere tacit approval of the activities of such groups, is it any wonder that Cuba is interested in their affairs?

US authorities have said that it does not appear that the couple received any financial gain from their decades of alleged spying.

Let's Hope He Wasn't Insured

Because people who treat animals so cruelly deserve this kind of karma. I only wish the bastard had suffered a couple of burns in the process himself. As for the pricks who were involved in the Brisbane 'mouse-eating contest' to whom nothing bad has yet happened (except for a lousy $1250 fine), I hope something even worse happens to them.

Cute picture was found at Rhosgobel

Young Labor Calls for National Service

NSW Young Labor is calling for the introduction of compulsory 'National Service' for high school students. Of course, the SMH and probably the tabloids are sensationalising it, but it appears to be nothing like 'bringing back the draft' as the SMH headline screams. Service would take the form of community activities or joining the local army cadets group with "Community bodies such as sports groups, churches or retirement homes able to apply to the Government to take part in the scheme."

I think that because of the unfortunate connotations the term 'national service' entails this proposal will be a lot more controversial than it should, but nonetheless I believe it will find significant community support. Particularly among older people who aren't in high school, I might add, and I'm one of them. I think it's a bloody good idea, so long as compulsory military service is left out of the picture.

Gam's high school in Botswana had (and still has) a similar compulsory programme of community engagement; hopefully he will find time to comment on this later, but from what I've heard from him it is a programme that has a really positive impact on both the students and the various areas of the community in which they are involved. I was really impressed. The public high school I went to was in dire need of something similar; in particular it may have even gone some way to increasing retention rates and decreasing the high rate of juvenile crime. I hope State and Federal Labor don't shy away from this one.

Update: Several Federal ALP figures have commented on the initiative, essentially only to say that it should exist 'only if undertaken voluntarily'. That's the typical coward's way out taken by the ALP. Voluntary community engagement already exists. The point is that a negligible number of high schoolers undertake it. This blog isn't called Today's Apathetic Youth for nothing. Being one, I know that to succeed, this programme must be made a compulsory part of the school day or kids simply won't partake in it. Just like learning english isn't 'voluntary', neither should be learning the skill of engaging with one's community: both will equip students with indispensable life skills.

Persons of Interest

Jesus' General posts some pretty horrifying accounts from the documentary 'Persons of Interest'.

Land of the Free* indeed.




*excluding all persons of suspiciously middle-eastern descent

Public Education

The real reason the Howard government's 'public education' campaign for its IR reforms didn't result in the public and employers understanding the content of the law was because the ads were never designed to engender such a result in the first place.

Given the government's repeated insistence on labelling its blatantly political, taxpayer-funded advertising as 'public education', perhaps there should be a law that when the purported aim of such 'education' ends in miserable failure, the government should be forced to pay back the public's tax dollars with money from its own party's coffers. If we're paying to be 'educated' on publicly unpopular laws, we should get what we pay for, rather than being assaulted with political propaganda.

Soy Diet Dangers?

The soybean-farming industry is huge. The benefits of traditionally-prepared soy products in the human diet have been extrapolated to apply to any soy product, and I have always suspected this fallacy could be the root of future health issues, given how ubiqitous soy is in our diets these days- more often than not without our knowledge, as it is usually highly processed and included in commonly consumed foods. Some soy byproducts also have industrial uses.

There is a significant problem in Brazil, where the soybean barons are some of the country's biggest and most powerful landholders. They illegally destroy huge areas of Amazon rainforest in order to obtain more land for soybean crops, usually facing no consequences for doing so (often because they are also members of government).

Wikipedia has this to say on Soybean oil:

Soybean oil makes up 80% of the edible oil consumption in the United States. Soybean oil extraction is performed on a large scale in the U.S. The soybeans are cracked, adjusted for moisture content, rolled into flakes and solvent extracted with commercial hexane. The oils are blended for their applications, and sometimes hydrogenated. The oils are exported abroad, sold as vegetable oil, or end up in a wide variety of processed foods. New processes increasingly prepare protein isolates for use as food additives or health supplements

When Gam and I were staying in Ghana a year ago, there was not the usual range of oils to choose from available on the supermarket shelves (or rather the closest thing to a supermarket in Cape Coast). Somehow we wound up with some soybean oil at home, and I wanted a vegie stir-fry for dinner. Gam is a great cook, but the vegie stir-fry he made wound up with a really bizarre taste due to the soybean oil. It was revolting stuff. To this day I always check the ingredients of food items that are typically packed in oil, or a mixture of oil and brine (e.g. artichokes) to make sure that soybean oil isn't one of the ingredients. To me, it's just one of those things that were never designed to be eaten by humans, along with cottonseed oil (commonly used for fast food cooking and potato chips) and canola. Anything that tastes so gross can't be good for you (but then again Gam would say the same thing about vegetables...). In short, I'm of the opinion that people should limit their intake of anything that merely says 'vegetable oil' on the ingredients. The only thing you can be sure of in cases like that is that they weren't using extra-virgin olive oil.

Given the vast size and political sway held by the industries growing these items, you can be sure that any adverse health findings will be heavily suppressed, and probably countered with industry-funded 'research'. With soy, in particular, the huge numbers of dietary supplements available on the market may not have the same health benefits obtainable by including traditional soy products such as tofu or tempeh in the diet; this is not just a phenomenon limited to soy, but many foods or compounds thought to be beneficial to human health. Some evidence has emerged in the case of soy that it may worsen existing heart conditions.

Soy, cotton, canola and corn (also used for oil these days, due to the vast quantities grown by subsidised farmers in the US) are also the top four genetically modified crops in the world. Not that GM is bad thing in and of itself, but the tactics used by the chemical companies such as Monsanto and backed up by FOX hardly give faith that they have the best interests of consumers at heart.

Mexican Wine

I heard a small item on ABC Newsradio this morning about Mexico's burgeoning wine industry. Their biggest problem? Lobbying by the Californian wine industry ensured that the US government introduced laws to prevent US tourists returning home from Mexico with more than 2 bottles of wine. And if that's the case for tourists, what are the odds that Mexican wine is readily available in US bottle-stores?

The joys of Free Trade Agreements with the US, the extent of which Australia is only just beginning to discover!

Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy

Looks like Ariel Sharon is on the way out, and not before time. A corrupt, and powerful scumbag responsible for war crimes that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people (including 1, 2) and lives of misery for many more; who ensured continuing policies of discrimination against Arab Israelis and who did everything in his power to make miserable the lives of Palestinians and of Arabs who lived within Israel, it's a shame in a way that he was never held accountable, thanks largely to the close alliance Israel has with the US.

It's a pity that there are so many more like him in Israeli politics who will simply take his place and continue his policies. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Accept Responsibility? Quelle Horreur!

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney has had the gall, the temerity to suggest that people who drive cars should take responsibility for their actions on the road. The NSW Opposition has retaliated by accusing the Police and the NSW Labor Government of engaging in 'revenue raising' through its anti speeding and anti drink-driving campaigns.

If all the wankers who jump up and down and squeal 'revenue raising' every time they cop a fine for drink driving or speeding really wanted to make a statement, they could ensure the government doesn't 'raise' a cent simply by refusing to break the law. And if the government gets sick of being accused of 'revenue raising' by actually punishing people who break the law, they should just implement a system whereby every person caught speeding loses their licence for six months. No fines, no exceptions. A second offence results in loss of licence for life. And the NSW Opposition could just shut the fuck up, because the government wouldn't be making a cent out of it. Of course, it would be wildly unpopular, and no government would ever implement such a scheme because it would be a guaranteed political suicide, but it sure would be effective.

A significant proportion of the road deaths over this holiday period have occurred in single-vehicle accidents in which speed was a factor. Speeding is breaking the law, but it can also result in death- in some cases the death of the driver's own children who were travelling as passengers in the car. Such parents, if given their time over, would gladly give up their licence for all eternity in exchange for having their child back. Too late. Unfortunate that people don't think of speeding in such terms beforehand.

"Because it's not the car that speeds, it's not the car that crosses double yellow lines, the car doesn't get drunk - it's the person behind the wheel"

More Random Photos

Kerry Packer Was No Battler

Not a point you'd think would need to be made, but after the buckets of syrup smeared all over our pages and screens last week, Andrew West gives us a dose of reality.

Super Beauty Nudes

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'Coliseum'- WTF?

Since when did the spelling of 'colosseum' become 'coliseum'? It's something I've noticed popping up in various places in the last year or so, but even Wikipedia, which usually favours American spellings, hasn't reverted to this. So if the Americans aren't to blame for this one, who is? According to answers.com, both spellings are derived from Latin, with 'coliseum' being derived from Medieval Latin. But why would it take me 22 years to encounter the use of the word spelled as 'coliseum' unless its appearance (or perhaps reappearance) in the lexicon is relatively recent? Perhaps I just read too many Asterix & Obelix comics in primary school and everyone else has been using 'Coliseum' without my noticing...

Two Roads Diverged

Fairly regularly I read in the New York Times articles that I think must be the closest thing to a crystal ball for envisioning the outcome of John Howard's plan for Australia. This is one of them.

The minimum wage for an adult in the state of New York is being raised from US$6 per hour (AU$8.18 per hour at current exchange rate) to US$6.75 per hour (AU$9.21). The Federal minimum wage in the United States is US$5.15 per hour (AU$7.02). It gets worse, though:

For workers who get tips, the minimum wage will go to $4.35 from $3.85, and will rise again next year, to $4.60.

I know the US has a 'tipping culture' while we do not. But imagine being dependent on tips to scrape together a living wage- in New York! You could have a bad day, or a bad week, and a bill will have to go unpaid. Or you get behind on your rent.

To no-one's surprise, it turns out that business lobby groups are the same everywhere:

The raise has been criticized by business lobbyists as a job destroyer that encourages businesses to move to nearby states that have lower minimums. New Jersey's is $5.15, but Connecticut's is $7.10. Mark P. Alesse, the New York director of the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobbying group, said of the increase, "We opposed it successfully for years and got the governor to veto it."

Besides, Mr. Alesse said, "We take care of our working poor." New York, he said, has "the most comprehensive social safety net in the nation."

Yes, if they don't pay poor people a living wage then charity can take care of them. Yay! New York might have the 'most comprehensive social safety net' in the US, but that's like saying you live in the safest neighbourhood in the Gaza strip. Everyone but Americans knows that their social safety net, so-called, is as good as non-existent, and a disgrace to the wealthiest nation on earth.

I think there should be a rule that the spokesperson for every business lobby group should be paid the current minimum wage with no bonuses. So should the people whose decision it is whether to raise it or leave it as is. After that we'll ask for their honest opinion on whether a raise is a good idea or not.

Thanks to the IR reforms, we're hurtling down the path trod by the US at a great rate. Let's hope Australians wake up to themselves and boot out the Howard Government before they are forced to try and raise children on the equivalent of $9 an hour.

Alternate link here. See here for another story on this topic.

Happy New Year!

Typical: my first post of the new year is a whinge, going up before my 'Happy New Year' post. How rude of me.

Gam and I went to Southbank NYE with some friends to see the fireworks. Caught the City Cat in at 9.30pm, arriving at about 10pm because the queues etc were huge. We'd left early to meet another friend (of a friend), who I gather was silly enough to go swimming and chucked a tanty and went home before we arrived because someone stole his expensive watch from his bag. Or something. There was a no alcohol rule at Southbank- the lone crappy pub had expanded its territory with a metal fence and was charging $15 cover charge. Suckers were queuing up for a taste of booze. Who am I kidding though, we might have even paid the $15 if we hadn't found the other place. We had 2 hours to kill, and camping on the grass with thousands of people and their offspring (and their rubbish) didn't appeal. But, fancying ourselves as being a bit smarter than them, we walked for about 10 minutes and found another small bar that people weren't lined up outside and wasn't charging for entrance. They also had a lovely big table with a 'reserved' sign on it that the staff told us not to worry about. Things got even better when we found ourselves being charged only $5 for drinks. You go to a bar in on the very outskirts of an alcohol-free zone on New Year's Eve, you go expecting to be gouged for every cent you've got, so that was a nice surprise. The staff were dressed as pirates, too. Bonus!

We made it out onto the bridge -I think it was the pedestrian bridge- just in time for the fireworks. Not in time to get a fantastic position to watch them, but camping out for 6 hours to watch 10 minutes of fireworks isn't my idea of fun, to say the least. Watching the fireworks with a whole bridge-full of people standing stock still, mouths agape, eyes skyward, was a very Land of the Dead moment.

Afterwards, we all piked and caught public transport home. A sign, I think, that we're all getting a bit old to be students.

Happy New Year everyone :)

Sex Offenders Banned from Driving

From my understanding of this article on the Courier Mail's website, people convicted of 'serious offences' like drug trafficking and child sex offences can be banned from holding a Queensland driver's licence for life. I don't see any mention of people convicted of multiple drink driving offences, speeding offences or even dangerous driving offences being banned for life from holding a licence. Why the hell not? I'm not even sure that child sex offenders are more of a menace to society than people who endanger others' lives by breaking the law on the roads. By all means, punish child sex offenders and drug traffickers in this manner, but these harsh penalties would be mightily effective in punishing people who commit serious road traffic offences too. The only problem is that so many people break the speed limit, so many people drive while drunk that there would be a public outcry if moves were made to give them a life ban from holding a licence.

The fact that no such law exists smacks of Beattie populism.