Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

The Australian figurehead of the Catholic Church, while demanding and enforcing what he considers to be appropriate behaviour from the secular community, has allowed one of his ministers to behave appallingly without taking action that those outside his church would be expected to take. 

Perhaps, without being conscious of it, we recognise in Humpty Dumpty the destiny fate has in store for us, we Kings of the Castle, parasites and destroyers of all we survey. And know in our hearts that we deserve that destiny. But seldom does our hubris fail to come to the rescue and banish such disquieting thoughts as those from our minds.

""Sort of. He's the Rimpoche" Jigme then explained that asking a Rimpoche for beer was like asking a Catholic Archbishop for a condom."- Lord Stompy

Climate change presents a new kind of challenge. It is uncertain in its form and extent, rather than drawn in clear lines. It is insidious, rather than directly confrontational. It is long term, rather than immediate in both its impacts and its remedies. Remedies will require global co-operation of unprecedented complexity and dimension. We have much to contribute and much to lose as we face the diabolical policy challenge of climate change. (Professor Ross Garnaut)

Wholesale constitutional reform in Australia is long overdue. The starting point should be true independence. It is past time for an Australian Republic. ... Surely we are sufficiently grown up to be masters of our own affairs. (Joel Fitzgibbon)

Most modern people have a sense that not much washing was done until the 20th century, and the question I was asked most often while writing this book always came with a look of barely contained disgust: “But didn't they smell?” (Katherine Ashenburg)

The role of governments in the regulation of all manner of safety standards has generally been accepted for many years. The purpose of any government regulation (and aviation regulation is no exception) is to guard against actions which are potentially detrimental to society.

“An authorised person may direct a person within a World Youth Day declared area to cease engaging in conduct that … causes annoyance or inconvenience [my emphasis] to participants in a World Youth Day event...”

But let’s be charitable – if nothing else can unite the divided citizens of Cyprus, maybe five minutes with Alex will do the trick. (Bernard Keane)

June and Financial Year stats

Perhaps the principal conclusion to be drawn from today's policy challenges is that it would have been better to avoid the build-up of credit excesses in the first place. (Bank of International Settlements)

All this will seem small beer in the face of the real “Holocaust” that is already unfolding and the ability of our civilisation to cope with it is dependent on a spirit of cooperation that transcends racialism and nationalism. I know where I’d put my money but wouldn’t be able to spend my winnings.

New South Wales Legislative Council has released its report on Electoral and Political Party Funding in NSW. Among other things, the committee recommends a $1,000 cap on private donations and a ban on corporate donations. "Political donations and election spending would be disclosed in a timely, transparent and accessible manner," says the report.

This of course blows a hole in another ancient Bush fallacy, the one in which former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "the oil wells belong to the Iraqi people" and former secretary of State Colin Powell seconded him by saying Iraqi oil "will be held in trust for the Iraqi people."

"My people are at breaking point. World leaders' bold rhetoric must be backed with military force" - Morgan Tsvangirai in the Guardian

You can do two things with land in the grain belt. You can work it and try and make it work for you or, rather, your bank balance. Or you can give it a break, let the place go back to grass, put livestock on it, and forget about the bank balance. Few families have the luxury of that choice.

This week we will sadly see the last of the Australian Democrat senators leave parliament. It will be the end of an era and the end of a dream. Who knows how long it will take for the opportunity of true democracy to return to Australia? Who will keep the bastards honest now?

The principle effectively ... was that, in order to protect a person’s privacy if that person gave personal data to the collector, the collector could not use that data for any other purpose than what the person had given it for, except by specific authority of law or by the approval of the data subject. ... Then along came Google and Yahoo! (The Hon. Justice Michael Kirby)

Whilst there is now plenty of discussion about the responses that governments should be making to address the predicted consequences of climate change, the focus seems to have been largely on the economic, trade and security issues. The social and human rights implications rarely rate a mention. (The Hon. John von Doussa)

In little more than a month we’ll know whether the next name on the list and the next legend of the Tour is a gifted young athlete from Australia’s Top End. And the many Australians who will follow the race here in France and on SBS this year will be shouting: Allez Cadel!

The document ..., entitled 'Northern Territory Emergency Response Situation Report as at 1500 hrs Wed 14th May 08', paints a picture of an incomplete roll out of the Northern Territory Intervention, an emergency response that Mal Brough recently admitted to ABC Darwin radio was put together in 48 hours. (Sophie Black, Crikey)

Politically, all democracies are bedevilled by the structures of political power which defeat democracy’s moral influence, killing its empathetic equality of power and political opportunity for all citizens.

Back in February, I wrote that "oil prices will continue to rise until they have suppressed demand back to match supply", and forecast a headline barrel price of $120 in June and $145 at year end. Now it's June and $139.69, what's next?

The political landscape [in America] was fascinating last fall, intriguing on the Democratic Party side, on the Republican/GOP (Grand Old Party) side a congregation of rococo grotesques usually not seen outside a Sinclair Lewis novel or a Nick Cave murder ballad.

The Stockholm Network’s Carbon Scenarios describe 3 plausible futures resulting from 3 different approaches to climate policy at the international level. Worryingly, none of the scenarios provides a policy which achieves climate ‘success’ as defined by the UK, EU and UN (a greater than 90% chance of no more than 2°C warming above preindustrial levels).

The thin, fragile, wavery line that distinguishes democracy from something akin to Pol Pot or Pinochet is, at the eleventh hour, reaffirmed by the court.   There are certain positions that are just not negotiable. 

Wars make a lot of money and threats of war make more as stable economies can continue in a pyramid scheme to beef up these carrion feeders using taxes. In the USA, the actual government is tightly interwoven with this industry due to the national security impetus and the drive for privatisation as a model. Trouble is the same industry then sells to US future threats and hence the whole thing is nationally stupid but financially gold making.....

In this sort of fevered environment, where "morals" are defined in terms of sexual behaviour, the Mirandas become rails runners for opinion dominance. And faux outrage over dubious artworks is just another obvious mode for distraction from real world issues.