marx and marzipan

Not totally unexpected news in the paper this morning:

But last year Mr Howard said ID cards were back on the agenda because the world was now a very different place.

Concern about individual rights had to be balanced against protecting people from terrorism, he said.

“You have to put that against the right all of us have to expect of our Government that it takes all reasonable measures to protect us against the behaviour of terrorists,” Mr Howard said.

“I think when people talk about civil liberties they sometimes forget that action taken to protect the citizen against physical attack is a blow in favour and not a blow against civil liberties.”

How awkward are those two sentences? While the first is just a horrible construction, it’s the second that makes me really angry. And the problem is that it will just wash over 99% of Australians becuase they don’t actually know what civil liberties are. You see, civil liberties are fundamental rights of the individual, such as privacy, and freedom of speech and religion, protected by law against government interference. So, to attempt to portray the introduction of an identity card as “a blow in favour” of civil liberties really is double speak at its best.

But look, while interest rates remain steady, who gives a damn?

On a lighter note, if you want to see what would happen to people like Howard and his cohorts in a better world, check out V for Vendetta: “A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having”. Quite so…

I’ve been to quite a few big outdoor musical events in the last couple of years, but none of them even came close to The Great Escape on Saturday. Newington Armory was a great venue (if a little cool in the evening, but there’s nothing like freezing your ass off to give you a good excuse to spend $70 on a bit of merchandising), and it was just crowded enough to have a critical mass of people, but not so crowded that you had to cue for 5 hours at every turn.

Highlights included….

No bacon served here

Absence of cops and sniffer dogs and the heavy hand of the state. As a result people drank less booze but smoked more dope and probably took more pills than they would at other events where invasive searches have become the standard. Did the world end? Not as far as I can tell. Did the whole event have a calm atmosphere completely unmarred by the pissed violent idiots you get at The Big Day Out these days? Well, yes. Were there lots of guys hugging each other saying “I’m not gay mate, but I love you!” after the Black Keys? Um, yes….

A Ride on the Sizzler

I baulked initially at the $5 price tag, but here’s a hint for those looking for value for money: be sure to ask The Carney Guy who is operating the ride before you get on, in a voice filled with trepidation, “How long does it go for?”, and you’ll get a good 10 minutes of being a human Spirograph.

The Bird

I can’t speak highly enough about these guys. If you haven’t seen The Bird, do not miss your next opportunity to catch drum and bass meets dub played on real live instruments.

The Black Keys

Did anything bad ever come out of Akron Ohio? I don’t think so. Strip the pretension away from The White Stripes and you’ll find The Black Keys. Down home and dirty, lo-fi and completely uncooked. These guys are great.

Sweet random guy who took our photo

Having taken my camera and stepped back so far that he was more or less standing in Parramatta Mall:

“Should I zoom in?”

Maxine: “Well, you could come a bit closer, that would have the same effect.”

Bernard Fanning

I didn’t actually see this because it happened on Sunday, and don’t get me wrong, I can’t bear Bernard Fanning and I think “that song” is limp limp limp, BUT….dedicating it to the poor bastards across the road in Silverwater is an OK gesture. Now, if he can just pour some of the cold hard readies he’s made from peddling his soft music to the Austalian public into funding methadone programs in prisons then the world might be a genuinely better place.

And while we’re on matters prison related, is it just me, or does the statistic from the story above of 97 out of 100 opiate addicted prisoners being reincarcerated within a year of their release tell us we’re doing something wrong?

This expression was one of my parents’ favourite admonitions of my teenage years. Not that it ever had any positive effect then or now, as evidenced by the fact I have spent the whole weekend hanging out and having a good time, and posting flickr photos of course, rather than dealing with my looming and immutable deadlines.

But, why should I get mine right when the US government can do such a poor job of it? Go here and input the amount of money you paid in tax last year to see how the government is going to spent it, with predictable results….

Someone more cleverer than me should do one of these for Australia: surely all you need to find out is the perecentage of the budget spent in the various areas, add in a bit of Javascript or somesuch and you’d be done. In fact, I would love someone to create one especially for mobile devices so that I could —– — – — — of the next person who wants to have a whinge to me about how they’re tired of paying all their taxes to dole bludgers and layabouts.

And yes, you are more than welcome to play hangman to work out the missing letters in that statement…..

Down at Jed’s just then, over my coffee, I was browsing the pages of the Wentworth Courier, hardly a last redoubt of bleeding heart liberalism in the Eastern Suburbs. Nestled amongst the adverts for Ferraris, million dollar shoe box apartments in Ben Buckler and hideous plastic surgey disasters of the social pages, was an article that caught my eye: “Injecting Centre Praise”. The article spoke of the ever-controversial injecting centre up at the Cross, pointing out things like:

• an 84% drop in ambulance callouts to heroin overdoses in the area
• a decrease in major robbery incidents of 40%
• a decrease in major stealing incidents of 30%
• anecdotal evidence of the effective disappearance of deaths from overdoses occuring on the street

in the 5 or so years since the centre opened. All well and good. But here’s the thing. The article also referred to statements from the NSW leader of the opposition (and my local member), the original 3rd man, Peter Debnam, along the lines that the opposition has vowed to close the centre should they come to power.

Am I being too harsh then by saying that the Liberal Party of NSW is promising the good bergers of the Cross

• a massive increase in wasted resources through ambulance callouts
• a large increase in major robbery incidents
• a large increase in major stealing incidents
• and far greater likelihood that you will walk out one morning and find some poor soul dead on your doorstep

?

Who votes for someone like that? Who Marge, Whom?

In other news, there’s supposed to be 7m swells all along the coast today, so I’m off to check out the awesome power of nature, and that.