The Ancient Marinara

The Ancient Marinara

 

He’s a Legend, and our friend

 

We wish he wouldn’t describe himself as “ancient”. That tends to put us at the edge of a category we fiercely resist.

Richard Neville, one of the founders of homepagedaily.com, was the infamous, notorious publisher and editor of Oz Magazine.and author of Hippie Hippie ShakePlay Power, amongst many others. Unrehabilitated 60s icon, iconoclast and futurist. And our friend, or at least our supporter and adviser, in the earlier and more threatened days of the Ministry of Mateship and Fair Dinkum Values, aka ‘ValuesAustralia’.

Here he is with chilling news on the grim future for the globally-heated rich:

The Old Tart Vanishes

The Old Tart Vanishes

 

Levers and pulleys of a flimsy fantasy machine

 

It’s all about perception, as they say, and in politics perception is truth.
But, as MacDonalds say, for a limited time only.

We were struck over the last few days by the sudden disappearance of what most were convinced was a terrifying, gargantuan, impenetrable, impervious monstrosity.

The heavier than lead, harder than granite monument of Speer-like dimensions to power, greed and fear, that was the Howard government has evaporated without leaving any trace but the faint and fading echoes of a few squeaking, frightened rodents as they scuttle away from the light of responsibility.

And now we are left, as if suddenly woken from a spell, blinking in the sunlight of possibilities we had forgotten how to dream of.

It began with the Apology, the Sorry that could “never” be said, when Brendan Nelson began the capitulation with his appalling speech which was, nevertheless, a capitulation. In fact he capitulated both to his party and to Kevin Rudd, and that was his problem.

Of all the living ex-Prime Ministers, only Howard was absent from Parliament House. And when we then saw him on his morning walk all we saw was a little, pathetic, weak and broken old man.

In the last week at least two of the once great and powerful who so arrogantly and righteously controlled our lives intimated that they would be leaving the ignominy of the backbenches.

On Monday night on 4 Corners we saw the remnants of the old liberal leadership ram the daggers into the back their ex-leader, who was already politically dead.

We were allowed to see the levers and pulleys of the flimsy fantasy machine they had used to hoodwink us all. And we could see clearly what weak fools they are, what fools they had been, how they had fooled us, and how they had been so comprehensively and easily intimidated and fooled by Howard.

And now on Tuesday:  WorkChoices – Howard’s ‘great legacy to the nation’, the legislation which, if it were rolled back by Labor, we were assured, would undo twelve years of ground-breaking and masterful industrial relations reforms leading to disaster, calamity and the end of the world – has been, as they report, unanimously, swiftly, quietly and ruthlessly killed off. It is as if it had never been. It has evaporated into nothingness along with every other thing the Howard government claimed it stood for.

And now, of course, there is nothing they do stand for. There is nothing left for them to stand for.

The complete repudiation of the Howard experiment by not only the people of Australia and the Labor Party but also unanimously by Howard’s own party is probably the most justified and satisfyingly comprehensive retribution in Australian political history against an unbelievably awful and corrosive man and his equally horrible fags¹. Howard’s legacy is nothing but a bitter, fading after-taste.

But for those straw-chewers from Deliverance country who revelled in hatred towards their fellow humans, in racism, in their piggy-squeals for the death penalty, because Howard gave them permission, what is left for them, now they no longer have permission? Onto whom can they now encrust themselves? Wilson Tuckey?

For an excellent analysis of the collision between narcissism and entitlement and the “death, decay and a not insubstantial stench” that the 4 Corners story stirred up, read Possum‘s insights here.

¹ which we mean, of course, in the Tom Brown’s School Days sense.

We Are Humbled…

We Are Humbled…

…and yet proud…

 to have some of our work considered worthy of inclusion amongst the writings of the doyens of the ozblogosphere in the Top 40 collection at OnlineOpinion.

The piece the judges have chosen is “The Nation That Hangs Together”.

We have been surprised by some of the comments by the usual suspects – the skinheads and the National Front seem to be alive and well and trolling around the intertubes encouraging the killing of people who are not themselves for a range of behaviours of which they happen personally to disapprove.

We would like to point out, however, that despite certain claims by these friends we are neither a Catholic pushing an anti-Protestant agenda, nor a Protestant pushing an anti-Catholic agenda.

We would also like to point out that the Enlightenment is now more than two hundred years old, if the news hasn’t yet filtered through to the particular rocks under which these people live.

Ramen.

Lex Australia

Lex Australia

 

Came across an old post at Gavin Putland’s Leges Dubiae blog which coincides with what we tried to say way back when Haneef was the name on everyone’s lips.

Given the change of government and all, it seems timely to question this preposterous example of the legislative legacy of the Howard years.

It wasn’t so much about the guilt or innocence of Haneef, or the appalling mismanagement of the case by the Federal Police under the even more appallingly incompetent and bloody Mick Keelty. It was that the law under which Haneef was arrested and charged was stupid, or, as Putland puts it, “dubious”. Haneef is not a citizen of Australia and the act for which he was charged (giving his Sim Card to someone “with reckless disregard” for whether that person was a terrorist) was carried out in another country.

The whole idea is ludicrous. Putland says:

” Although the Statute of Westminster gave the Australian Parliament the power to make laws with “extra-territorial operation”, it has always been understood that such operation would affect only Australian citizens. By charging Haneef, Australia is now asserting the power to make laws binding on non-Australians outside Australia.”

As Alex Downer would have said, “That’s pwepostewous!” (God, don’t we miss him already?)

The problem even goes further.

This is what Haneef was charged with:

” intentionally providing resources to a terrorist organisation consisting of persons including Sabeel Ahmed and Kafeel Ahmed, his cousins, being reckless as to whether the organisation was a terrorist organisation”

This pre-empts British law, since the British have never charged either Ahmed brother with being a member of a “terrorist organisation”, and such an assertion, had it even been made, has never been tested in a court whether British or Australian. (Indeed, it was not even legally established or legally asserted at the time that the incident was a “terrorist act”.) Nevertheless, the Australian Federal Police, by making the charge under the extra-territorial powers of the you beaut Ruddock/Keelty legislation, arrogated the pre-eminence of Australian law over British law. That is just plain dumb.

The Lex Romana was intended (we appear to recall from long ago) to simplify and organise all the laws for all people under Rome’s sway. It is said to be Rome’s most important, lasting and unique gift to the world.

But now if Australia can make laws for the whole of the rest of the world – not just , Australians, Australia and its territories – and if every other nation, therefore, can also, with equal justification, make laws for everyone in the world, then we have a little more confusion than was intended by the codification of Roman law.

Saudi Arabia, for example, could take Australia’s example and under its extraterritorial powers impose Sharia law on non-Saudis living in Australia (i.e. most of us). It could then apply for extradition to Saudi Arabia of anyone it had reason to believe had committed adultery, say, so that they could be stoned to death – or perhaps just the women, in Sharia’s very civilised and enlightened way.

Yes, it sounds like a joke but it’s not. The law is a joke. But this joke of a law was seriously applied to Mohamed Haneef and threatened to send him to prison in Australia for fifteen very serious years.

And you know, the terrible irony is that the law was written (so hastily and so abominably poorly) with only one purpose in mind – the re-election of the Howard government…….

Oops!

The law is even worse and more stupid than this and you can read more of what we said in July. And here is a distillation of the relevant sections of the law under which Haneef was charged.

In a nutshell, the law means that:

if anyone, whether Australian or not, anywhere in the world, sells, shares, or gives any thing or any service, to anyone anywhere in the world, and they do not take reasonable and verifiable steps to assure themselves that the person to whom they provide the thing or service is not [or could not at some indeterminate time in the future be deemed to be] a terrorist or part of a terrorist organisation and they do not take reasonable steps to assure themselves that the person (or organisation) could not use it or plan to use it in any way as part of a terrorist act then they may be found guilty of the same crime that Haneef was charged with and spend fifteen years in prison.

So of course it’s ridiculous. But it’s no joke.

And it is still Australian law.

Mouldy Media Pop-Tart

Mouldy Media Pop-Tart

 

 

Just a question:

Why do we have to keep putting up with fatuous, mouldy, media pop-tart, Gerard Henderson, spouting all over the place?

This pompous irrelevance who ludicrously has laid claim to being in the political centre, whose prognostications and insights have proved so utterly wrong for so long – why do they keep trundling him out? Is it just because his is the number they have on speed-dial? There he was again tonight on Lateline.

Why?

If the ABC wants really accurate, insightful, expert commentary why don’t they talk to Possum, Mumble, the Pollbludger, Simon Jackman and Bryan at OzPolitics?

These guys along with the ABC’s own Antony Green were the most interesting, most expert and most accurate commentators on the campaign and the polling.

So when can we hope to see the end of the influence of the appalling Albrechtsen and the other Howard political appointees on the ABC Board? When will they put Henderson out to the right-wing pasture where he belongs?

Just asking…

Hi …

Hi …

Hi!

 

 

Hi Hi!

 

 (gulp)

Hi hi ho!

(gulp)

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

The national result, the result in Bennelong and the role the Greens played in getting Labor over the line are a clear enough repudiation of Howard’s political ideology.

Thanks to Possum, to the Pollbludger, to Ozpolitics, to Mumble and to Simon Jackman.

But especially thanks to Possum (whose site now sports the baseball bat) for helping to keep us sane through the scary last days.

So we’d just like to say to our old mate and penpal, Bob Correll:

We’re sorry, Bob that you’ll have to deal with the fact that it was largely your own hard work, in DEWR and as Deputy Secretary in DIC, that was responsible for so much of the swing against the government.

I’m sure you’ll be more than aware of just what effective and efficient services are provided to people in search of employment – as we expect you shortly to be – by CentreLink and the Job Network Members you helped to set up. (Perhaps you could show your mate Mick Keelty how to get there.)

So vale, Bob, old mate.