Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

As in previous years, Cirque du Soleil have donated thousands of seats for Dralion to Oxfam. If you were thinking of going, please consider going on those nights when your money goes to Oxfam: Sydney: 18, 19, 25, 26 September 2008: Canberra:  6, 7, 13, 14 November 2008.

For much of my life I've been unable to understand why certain drugs were banned, why prostitution was banned, why certain forms of gambling were banned, why abortion was illegal, or why certain material was censored. The history of the consequences of banning these kinds of activity is well-known. First, they fail.

The piece has got me thinking about what happens now to those who found their political voices while chanting in protest once their calls have been heeded  Do they consider the job done and go home to put the telly on, or do they take the skills that they've acquired and try to use them in ways that they think might "make a difference" ?

The hale and hearty John Bannon said on ABC Radio yesterday morning that he and others participating in the project were assisting pro bono, pun not intended.  There are no sheep stations involved in the outcome, figuratively or literally, but merely a whim of curiosity.

… well, there we were a couple of weeks ago, David Roffey, Richard Tonkin and I, enjoying a glass or three of a cheeky little shiraz in the virtual bar, and having one of our occasional chats about whither Webdiary.

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.

Rich-poor, Left-Right, black-white. You can profile a politician by ideology, colour, class, caste, religion, party or geography. But I’ve long preferred another form of profiling, one that transcends all of the above. It derives from a simple but dazzling insight of the British contrarian Tony Benn. (Phillip Adams)

The controlled environment of this program is much easier to cope with than, for example, the incredibly difficult Speakers Corner or the Domain here in Sydney, but it may be that Rudd would cope even in that forum.  

"... and a delay in mining operations that resulted in reduced freight" wasn't sent to the SEC, but was added in a later Halliburton media release. What mining operations might that be? Uranium, do you think?

The real threats to international peace and security are no longer confined to violations of state sovereignty for which the UN collective security system was created. Rather, genocide, massive violations of human rights, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) represent immediate international security threats that are beyond the scope of any one state to solve.

This budget lacked vision and did nothing to protect us from climate change or the rising cost of energy. It could have been a Howard/Costello budget. It is a shame on the Labor party and I am sure thousands of Labor supporters will, like me, be very disappointed.

An email update from a worker in the country. The title above was his subject line from the email - you can make up your own mind whether he's right .

"The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of our time. It is more than a clash of arms. It is a clash of visions, a great ideological struggle. On the one side are those who defend the ideals of justice and dignity with the power of reason and truth. On the other side are those who pursue a narrow vision of cruelty and control by committing murder, inciting fear, and spreading lies." -US President George W Bush

The threat of terrorism is now part of the landscape of daily lives all over the world, yet we have hardly begun to think properly about it. In his new book Terror and Consent  and in this lecture Professor Bobbitt argues that we are fighting these wars with weapons and concepts which though useful to us in previous conflicts have now been superseded.

This month's update from Democratic Audit Australia has some interesting material on political donations, electoral changes, and the lobbyists' register.

A collection of comments, quotes and opinions on the budget.

The one constant about democracy is that the job description for the national government never changes. Government is meant to provide security and public infrastructure, to correct for market failure, and to avoid telling people how to live their lives. (George Megalogenis)

These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? (Lee Iacocca)

The ostensible argument for power privatisation is that NSW needs the money for schools, hospitals and other expenditure. The reality is that sale of capital is touted as the way to finance ongoing expenditure, analogous to the classic case of the farmer who sells off a bit of the farm each year to keep the family clothed and food on the table.

April site statistics and financials