Peter Scchwartz has published an article called "The Racism of Diversity", in which he attacks multiculturalism and its rhetoric. I think his article makes some valid points about rhetoric but some of what he says is rubbish. His racist article can be found at: http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7915&news_iv_ctrl=1021 My response that I sent to him can be found right here, exclusively on JoeUser. Well, not exclusively, obviously because I sent it to him and it's also to ...
This letter was my most published letter. The Aus, Age and SMH all went for it. A few weeks ago Channel Nine's Sunday programme did a "profile on Opposition Leader Mark Latham. It was much hyped beforehand. Supposedly we were going to hear all sorts of things about Latham's past. I watched it and wrote this immediately afterwards.. I tuned in with anticipation for the slaying of Latham on Sunday but I was sorely disappointed. I awaited figures showing Latham's alleged financial mismana...
The ABC's long-running children's TV programme, Playschool a few weeks ago repeated an episode in which a young child (as opposed to an old child) talked about her "two mums". Playschool regularly features sections in which children talk about important events in their life. This was about a child going to a merry go round and playing. She happened to mention that she was taken along by her "two mums", who were indeed lesbos from lesbos. Well, no they were from Australia, but they was dykes...
Who'd have thunked it? Andrew Bolt and I agree on something! The debate over whether to have homework or not has resurfaced. Many are arguing homework should be abolished, and they're not all students or even necessarily parties who stand to gain from this. I remember being set so much homework in Year 6 that I was up past my parents' bedtime. It was the year I learned the least. Not only that, but it robbed me of a year of my childhood and contributed to it being the unhappiest year of my...
Recently a popular childrens' author, Morris Gleitzman published a book in which he tells the story of a refugee child who arrives in Australia only to be sent to jail for not going through the proper channels of visa application. This has caused a lot of discussion of the place of politics in our education system because many teachers have decided to read this fascinating book to their students. As a future primary school teacher this subject fascinates me. Personally I think it is impos...
Who really cares what the Senate Inquiry says about whether John Howard lied about children overboard? My concern then, as it is now, was how keen he was to use these innocent people for his own political gain. Before you could say "asylum-seeker", he was playing on our fears, stating that it was unquestionable fact. That certainly was not true. It is his arrogant lack of scruples that bothers me.
John Howard says he doesn’t know what Mark Latham stands for. We might have expected our Prime Minister to be a bit better politically informed, particularly if he is so intent on plagiarising Latham’s policies on politicians’ super, pneumococcal vaccinations, and the Free Trade Agreement. The rest of the time Howard has been highly critical of Latham. How can he criticise Latham so often if he doesn’t know what Latham stands for? I presume Howard just doesn't know what he's talking about whe...
Amanda Vanstone appeared on ABC TV earlier this year and I must say that in many parts of her performance I was impressed and I came to understand and appreciate better her stance on several issues. She also managed to summarise the conservative party’s economic policy.... “Well, I realised fairly early on that I was more to the Liberal camp … because I liked some of the things the Labor Party wanted to do, but they were always getting stuck into business, saying, "That's just for profit. ...
He's done it! John Howard has said the words that we and the Aborignal people have been waiting years to hear: "I'm very sorry..." - Prime Minister John Howard John Howard has taken the first step towards Reconciliation by finally saying Sorry. The next step is to say it to the Aborigines who were forcibly taken from their mothers and fathers by our Government, instead of just saying it to Opposition Leader Mark Latham. How is it that Howard can't find it in himself to say sorry for att...
Last week the Australian Labor Party agreed to vote in favour of a free trade agreement between Australia and the US that was the work of John Howard and George Bush. The Labor Party are the only party in Australian politics who officially admit to having members within their ranks who are Left wing, Right wing and Centre and who don’t always agree. The Labor Party’s Left Wing faction said they did not support the FTA, but that they would vote in favour of it in order to tow the party line. I...
47 former Australian Defence personnel, including former Navy and Army chiefs have written a letter calling for more truth in Government from both sides of politics. They accuse the current Parliament of having misled the Australian people on their reasons for going to war with Iraq and various other things. It caused a ruccus in Parliament yesterday, with the Government refusing to answer the questions raised by the letter. My response: From John Howard’s side-stepping around the issue of...
There was a radio piece this morning about the satire industry in the US. According to the piece, up until recently the creative industries have all been dominated by left-leaning artists. Now there is a backlash and there are Republican satirists. As in satirists who are Republican-backers. That’s great I reckon because there should be wide political debate and I think one of the best, most inclusive ways to participate in debate is to engage in comedy. But in all the clips they played, ...
In Canberra, the capital of Australia, there has been much controversy over the culling of their kangaroo population. I'll be posting a fair bit about this over the next few days as animal culling has been a passion I have pursued for some years now. Supposedly the animals are causing soil erosion and thus are dirtying the human water supply. I sent this letter to the Canberra Times It is the height of hypocrisy for members of the human race to kill other animals on the basis they are poll...
Refugees 86. Accepts fewer refugees than the UN has asked (and they ask very little) 87. The extremely expensive and innefective Pacific“Solution†88. Worms were recently found in the food served at Baxter detention centre. 89. Locking up children in hell houses. Many refugee kids have suffered major psychological problems as a result. Australians are well off. We are the first world. When people come to us for help, we treat them no better than the regimes they narrowly escape....