Pissed But Not Responsible

Drunk surgeon naked on letterbox

How I love this nation's acceptance of bad behaviour under the influence of alcohol. Here was a man, so drunk he went to an old address and decided to hop up on a letterbox and have a quiet wank while leering at two women, he was apparently so, so drunk a magistate - a man, of course - let him off.

Yep. Read it and weep.

"He didn't even know what he was doing. What's society got to achieve by a convicting this man? Nothing," he (Magistrate Maloney) said.

Bollocks.

He's a medical practitioner who decided to take it upon himself to drink so hard he got delirious and did several rotten things. My belief is that whether you do something straight or pissed, you're responsible either way because you chose to act in a way that is detrimental to those around you. Being drunk is no excuse.

He should have made it worth his while and killed somebody while he was at it.

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Howard Shows Some Backbone

On something that really matters.

Howard demands tougher line (source: The Age Online)

Howard, for once, is showing a bit of backbone. It appears he has been stung by recent criticism that the Government had bowed to Indonesian pressure over the West Papuan affair when the processing of asylum seekers was offshored once more.

Howard is in Batam meeting Indonesian President Yudhoyono in what is said to be something of a make or break between the two countries. The relationship's prickliness goes back a long way and really went pear-shaped in 1999 with the East Timor debacle and earlier this year again when the West Papuan issue came up.

What's interesting about the relationship between the leaders is that they are both so media-driven. Howard's relationship with the right-wing media is well-known here and Yudhoyono has backed himself into the same corner in Indonesia. Yudhoyono always panders to right-wing xenophobia, (the acceptable kind, the one where epithets are absent to give the guise of respectability) the same way Howard does and conveniently ignores facts when they get in the way of a good political gain.

So these two guys understand each other and their problems. They probably don't believe in half the things they do, they just do what they're told by populist media outlets to maintain the vote. Will Howard stick with his anti-Bashir line? Publicly, you bet. Privately, who knows. Will Yudhoyono ever publicly denounce the infamous, pathetic and tasteless cartoon of Downer and Howard as rooting dogs wanting to take over West Papua? Nup. That would lose votes because it wasn't anti-Muslim.

It will be an interesting few days. I'm very curious as to what the Indon media will dream up to try and force Yudhoyono into something publicly unpleasant. Meanwhile, the sight of Howard with a backbone will surely catch some of us by surprise.

technorati tags:john, howard, indonesian, president, yudhoyono, batam, meeting, australia, politics

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See? I Told You.

ALP vote falls after Beazley vow

That is all.

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Don't Get Sick In Australia

As part of my undercover day job, I went and visited a part of the Health Department of Western Australia.

I grew angrier and angrier as the meeting went on.

It wasn't that they wouldn't buy the software we sell. It wasn't the incredible ignorance of the people sitting before me and their irritating attempt to catch me out (which, by the way, failed).

What made me really, really angry, was this - doctors in hospitals in 2006 in a country as fabulously wealthy as Australia are using computers from the mid-90s, running Microsoft Windows 95 (an operating system no longer supported by its makers), with minimum security measures, to look up patient health records.

Let me run that by you again, but this time in English.

Doctors in hospitals in 2006 are using the technological equivalent of a hammer as anasthetic. This isn't a discussion about Windows because if it were Windows XP or 2000 I wouldn't mind. I also wouldn't mind if the hardware had been purchased in the last three years.

Picture this. You've been admitted to hospital suffering from a strong headache, so strong you are unable to respond coherently to requests. That's ok, says the doc. Suddenly, you go into anaphylaxis. The doctor will rush to a computer to look up your records. The computer is running on what is basically as powerful as a modern PDA but an OS that requires rather more than that. You've just gone into cardiac arrest. The doctor has to make a call because your records still haven't appeared.

You are now clinically dead. Your records still haven't appeared. The staff begin to resuciate. Your osteperosis sees your ribs smashed to pieces and another medical problem means that their attempts to jumpstart your heart, which is stricken by cardiomyopathy means you stand no chance.

You are now dead.

What would it have cost the government to give you a greater chance of survival? Probably around $450. You read that right.

The people I was meeting said there were anywhere from 600 to 3000 computers of this ilk floating around a mere four hospitals in the area. What about the other ones? Not sure...no budget to fix. None of your business, there's nothing wrong with it.

It wasn't just that these computers were still out there, it was the fact these cretins were responding with (at best) a shrug of the shoulders, at worst they were defending this position.

I am so angry about this. We can host Commonwealth Games and piss all manner of money up against the wall on frivolities and I bet you any money that kids on recycled computers in the Congo have more computing power than doctors in Australia in the 21st century. The hand-cranked computer for the third world has more grunt.

I kid you not. This country is going to hell in a handcart and more people are being sent to hell early for the sake of a couple of million dollars in a country swimming in money as a result of a resources boom.

ACT Gay Marriage Vote Fails

(Source)

This has been a classic example of the media purporting to know what Middle Australia thinks.

I am not going to get into a religious discussion about this. Whatever you believe, you believe and if you don't believe gays should marry, that is your right. Unless it's because of blind hatred in which case you're just an idiot who shouldn't be allowed to breed.

Anyway.

The front-pageiness of this entire story is so dubious I just had to have a go. We already have a really good idea what Middle Australia thinks and apart from Big Brother-watching teenage girls, Middle Australia either a) doesn't give a toss b) doesn't want them marrying or c) holds a belief that they shouldn't marry.

How do I know this? John Howard has seen fit to fairly brutally and brazenly crush the ACT laws, swiftly advising the Governor General (who it seems has the constitutional power to roll Territory laws) to bin the law.

He hasn't shown an inkling of understanding, hasn't pretended that he cares about the issue, he has stuck to the family values line and pushed on. The public are largely not talking about this despite the media pushing it as hard as it will go.

Predictably the ABC and SBS have gone hammer and tongs just to make sure and rounded up every gay-friendly member of parliament to say their piece. Without bothering to ask they've done the usual trashing of the Family First guy. This brings me to another point - the media love an independent only if they're a screaming leftie or a jackboot fascist. The media has made up their own mind on this bloke and expect us to follow along.

At no time has the media attempted to educate the Australian people about what this law is about. Whether your gay or straight, atheist or Christian (or whatever), allowing these relationships to be recognised is probably a good legal thing. Many of these relationships are stable and loving whether you like them or not and if they end through death or 'divorce' there should still be protection for both parties. These are the only people in our society where a partnership is not enshrined in law.

I don't believe in gay marriage and it is a contradiction in terms. Gay activists love appropriating heterosexual traditions to try and fit themselves into a society that is often extremely unwelcoming of difference.

When you choose to gay, and for many it is a choice, you choose to participate in a minority and have to live with what that means. Instead of trying to educate and encourage difference, minorities often try and make themselves fit.

This bill was about wedge politics, a way to start levering themselves into a position where adoption of children, access to IVF etc. will become a right. A right they want despite choosing not to be a part of the way things work biologically speaking.

I think the ACT bill should not have been crushed but the endpoint that the gay lobby were after was the reason it was enacted in the first place. If you find that unpleasant, I'm sorry. The religious argument will have to come another day.

The media beat this thing up because the media has a powerful sense of sympathy towards the gay community because so many in the media are gay or have close friends who are. It has been hysterical, ridiculous and in many ways ignorant of the beliefs of those who opposed the eventual intent of the law. And it wasn't good enough. The media is supposed to report on what is going on, not try and shape our views to their own personal ends.

That's what blogging is for and rightly so.

technorati tags:ACT, gay, marriage, law, overturned, middle, australia, australian, politics

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Michelle Grattan Reckons Howard Is Having A Hard Time...

...if only...

"One month ago, Mr Howard was on a high, feted in public and private by George Bush. The euphoria was short-lived."

(Source)

If only. Grattan makes a number of terrific points about why she thinks he's having a hard time. I'm going to contradict myself and say that he is. But guess what. Nobody in the world of voting, at least not enough of them, thinks so or cares. So by his standards, he's having a top time, as per usual. Party bickering, a stoush over the oh-so-important gay marriage bill and he'll sail on. Easy.

I long for the day when this Government is dropped on its arse by the electorate. The only problem is my sentimental favourite won't be responsible and, again, in another contradiction, I hope he isn't. Because Big Kim has lost the plot.

I scoffed when I passed a headline this morning that said Beazley was worse than Latham (The Australian) but you know what? They might be right. The unilateral decision by Beazley to roll back the repugnant IR laws that Howard government recently passed was poorly received by his own party, effectively attacked by the deeply ordinary Kevin Andrews and the now-standard Labor sniping fired up. Do I want these people in charge? Today?

Nope.

That sucks. Howard is going to romp the next one in and hand over to one of the chief architects of the IR laws, Peter Costello.

We're in real trouble. Howard isn't. Howard 7893495960, Us, Nil. As usual.

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Apparently We Don't Get Paid To Work In Australia

...we get paid to slack instead.

On a day where PM John Howard tells Opposition Leader Kim Beazley that his promise to toss out the new IR laws is because the unions had bullied him, there are actually newspaper articles about public figures being implored not to come down on people who don't bother turning up for work after watching World Cup matches.

Sorry?

How come I'm not allowed to roll in late when I've been up watching the second biggest sporting event on the planet (after the World Cup), Formula 1? There's an Aussie in that. I recall being paid to work, not roll into work. Crikey. This country is completely obsessed with bloody sport...

Democracy Is Alive And Well, 'eh?

'Instead of picking fault, the Federal Government should be congratulated for listening to the people and pulling out of the sale of the Snowy (River Hydro Scheme.'

Oh, really? There's an interesting tack. This came from none other than the Victorian leader of the National Party, Peter Ryan. This (slightly paraphrased) sentence poured forth when 774 ABC morning presenter, the incendiary Jon Faine, had suggested that Mark Vaile is left looking dumb as a result of the Government pulling out of the scheme's sale. The Nationals' own Peter Hall, member for Gippsland in the Victorian Parliament himself said this: 'At the end of the day, the three governments involved have listened to the community and backed away from the sale which the Victorian Nationals said was unnecessary and unacceptable from day one.' (Source.)

Right. Anyone see anything amiss there? The party is congratulating itself for pulling out of something they didn't believe in. Excellent. Faine had taunted Hall by saying that the Nationals clearly didn't believe in the sale from a grass-roots level so why had they gone along with it? Ryan got extraordinarily narky and ended up looking a complete tool. Which isn't hard, it's not like he needed Faine's help.

The Federal (Coalition) Government owns 13% of the Snowy River Hydro-Electric system. The main shareholder, the NSW (Labor) Government, owns about 58% with the balance owned by the Victorian (Labor) Government. Now, of course, the Labor Party doesn't own it, but the government does, but if anyone really thinks that the PM has pulled out (to be closely followed by similar jelly-backs, Bracks and Iemma) because he had 'listened to the people' then they are sorely mistaken.

Because, you see, the PM is still going to sell Telstra and Medibank Private and despite nationwide opposition to the Industrial Relations disaster, he still went ahead with that. The sale of the Snowy was going to provide a large chunk of funding for the NSW and Victorian Labor Party to be re-elected. What bothers me most is that Bob Brown thinks that this proves democracy is alive and well. Has he not seen the link? Bracks and Iemma probably did but got on the bandwagon immediately, pulling out of the sale and grumbling that it probably shouldn't have happened in the first place.

A large part of the argument against the Snowy sale was emotional - Australians are rightly proud of the scheme, despite it's fairly hefty but acceptable environmental impact.

That impact - the near destruction of the Snowy River - was another of the hot topics and the one that has hurt the rural-focussed Nationals the most. Going back to the previous outburst, Faine had suggested that the PM had brow-beaten Federal National Leader Mark Vaile into the sale and this backflip made the increasingly hapless Vaile look weak on top of stupid (ref. AWB). The grass-roots opposition to the idea had a lot to do with a very, deeply, practical reason - water.

To have put what would undoubtedly have been a foreign interest or, worse, Macquarie Bank, in charge would have left many farmers in deep trouble indeed. To have a corporate entity control the flow of water down the Snowy is like handing a nuclear weapon to Iran. You're just giving them the opportunity to do something dumb.

And the rubbish that poured forth from pro-privatisation interests was extraordinary. They stick to the line that privatisation means operations are run more effectively and at no extra cost to consumers.

Oh, really? Victorians who use gas, power and public transport will disagree vehemently. NSW people who use roads will also be less than pleased with that construct. To take one companyo often used as a bright and shining example, QANTAS, all they've done is fire people and cost-cut to the point of ludicrousness. Fly them to LA and you'll see what I mean. You get a kids ice cream instead of a full-size one and planes that are feeling and sounding very old indeed.

Putting the Snowy in the hands of private interests was always going to be a hideous idea. The scheme makes money for all of the governments and should remain there. Likewise Telstra, Medibank and countless other businesses the government wants to unload should stay in our hands.

It's not about having nothing left to sell, it's about the preservation of services at reasonable prices. And the high likelihood of power prices being pushed north and farmers being pissed on was too great a risk for everyone. For once, we will benefit from Howard's game-playing but no-one will remind him of his words when he next refuses to back down on something he should.