Cautionary tale on blocking in the Senate

Gerard Henderson writes in the SMH.

Not sure I agree with everything he says. I dont think that the Senate should just let crap legislation pass. At the very least the Senate should have legislation reviewed and flaws exposed so even it if does pass we can say "i told you so" later when it all goes tits up.

I also think that Labor are the real blockers in the Senate, having opposed everything the Libs had a mandate for in the Howard years. I half agree with his point that this made Labor look mean spirited and kept them out of office. He says the same will happen to the Libs.

I can understand why the Libs want to pay Labor back of all those years of obstruction, and why there are ignoring talk of a "mandate" (If ever there was a mandate for a tax the GST had one. Labor still opposed it) But it's a question of how this obstruction is perceived by the electorate.

I do think that opposing the alcopop tax makes us look like we dont care about teen binge drinking. Just because Nelson is a Doctor does not mean he is immune to this charge. Sure, it's a revenue grab, but I really couldn't give a shit if ute man is complaining about paying more for pre-mixed bundy and coke. The obvious retort to that is - drink beer you big pussy.

I think we should oppose an ETS unless it's on our terms because that is a BIG DEAL.

But when opposing makes us look petty, I dont think we should do it.

Holy Cow! Rudd does something good for a change

How do you know it's good? Because it's conservative.

TAFE and other vocational training colleges are now going to compete with each other for students under a voucher system.

How about that? He Rudd just talk about being a conservative, he is actually going to apply market principles and make people compete. Makes you think it must have been someone else's idea. Since it came out of the COAG's productivity working group chaired by Education Minister Julia Gillard and Treasury secretary Ken Henry i'd say so. Still, I dont care who came up with it as long as the government is moving in a conservative direction.

It's only the commonwealth part of the funding - most education funding we know is handed over in huge sums to the states as part of GST revenue which Labor state governments then squander - but it's a start.

Let's see some of the Liberal state councils adopt a similar voucher system for state schools and we just might shake the educational sector from it's commified complacency and start giving kids a better education - in the 3 R's and in their values.

I support competition between schools for funds, and between teachers because I think that healthy competitive atmos will flow down to the kids and re-enforce the link between effort reward.

Britian in deal not to fight Sadr in Iraq

Brilliant attack on the British war effort in Basra from Ace. Basically the Brits made a deal not to engage local cleric-warlord Sadr and the Mahdi army. Even though they occupied Basra, they left the fighting to the Yanks.

So I'm guessing the British didn't really stab us in the back; rather, they stabbed us in the front. After politely explaining they were going to do so, and they were quite sorry about it, but they really had no choice.

Poetry.

I'm into Metal, and as a teenager liked Rap

Misogynistic unprotected sex, anyone?

The Age is running an article about how the type of music teenagers listen to can give insight into their mental disorders:

WHAT STUDIES SAY ABOUT YOUR SOUNDS:

POP: Conformists, overly responsible, role-conscious, struggling with sexuality or peer acceptance.

HEAVY METAL: Higher levels of suicidal ideation, depression, drug use, self-harm, shoplifting, vandalism, unprotected sex.

DANCE: Higher levels of drug use regardless of socio-economic background.

JAZZ/RHYTHM & BLUES: Introverted misfits, loners.

RAP: Higher levels of theft, violence, anger, street gang membership, drug use and misogyny.

COUNTRY: Prone to paranoid delusions that your dog is dead, you wife's will leave you and you'll lose your house and farm despite the fact you possess none of the above.

CLASSICAL: See Jazz/Blues and Pop: A loner with sexual acceptance issues. An introverted misfit with inserted fist.

Actually I made up the last two. No teenagers would ever listen to country or classical.

That all seems pretty accurate to me. Notice how there is no genre that is OK. No matter what music they listen to teenagers are fucked up!!

More right-wing politics from Hollywood

Told you it would snowball after Batman.

Ace of Spades HQ has an interesting snippet about how all the people involved in the project have been hiding their conservatism for years.

Bush as Batman

Saw The Dark Knight this afternoon. I loved it and fully agree with Andew Bolt that Batman character represents Bush, and Howard and Blair.

Bolt rightly points out that some people could and do interpret the movie the other way, but that's because the director allowed them to through deliberate ambiguity, and wanted them to. It got the movie past the script censors and probably kept the cast on board. I don't think Ledger understood he was lending weight to a conservative cause as he played the part of the anarachic joker. If he had he would have been much less convincing. BTW he does deserve a posthumous Oscar for TDK and I can almost forgive him for being such a druggie twat having seen his performance.

Where was I? yeah, TDK plays the audience (,cast and crew) with the same subtlety as Team America did (I bet that Matt Stone still thinks Trey Parker votes democrat). The ambiguity is ingeniously achieved by putting both messages out there and merely shifting the emphasis, or tempting the audience, in spite of themselves, to empathize more with one side - through a protagonist's struggle, or with "America! Fuck Yeah!". In both movies people who are looking for a message will find what they want to hear, but people who aren't get the director's intended messages. Whether that's "Bush is Batman" or Alex Balwin is a F.A.G.

The big difference between the two movies is that TDK is not comedy and so gets us to empathize heaps more with the hero and the serious choices he has to make. In 2005 when Team America came out, the pro-Bush line had to be a joke. Not anymore.

I consider The Dark Knight to be one of the great movies and a cultural watershed not just because it supports Bush, but because it's hugely popular.

I hate to say it but Ledger could have done conservatives a huge favour by dying. He made drugs look stoopid and a conservative movie popular with the lefty cinema goers. Cheers, mate. You're an Aussie Legend.

But Heath can't take all the credit. The Director's simple anti-terror messages is what people are tapping into. Hollywood has struggled to get bums on seats for as long as it's line or terror was represented by Lions for Lambs and other lefty Clooney/Cruise uberflops. Nothing succeeds like success. Expect more anti-terror films outta Hollywood.

Bolt's breakdown of how the movie seduced the viewer to the harsh realities of the war on terror is great. Read it here. But I disagree with his analysis on one point. The people of Gotham end up hating batman for saving them and thereby showing them up to be pussies, and Bolt asserts (probably with some license) that the people turned on Bush for the same reason. I personally think that the people of Gotham are meant to represent the media. The broader public (outside Western Europe) empathizes with Bush and not with terrorists, as demonstrated by the popularity of the movie.

There is also one episode which I thought was beautiful that Bolt did not comment on.
(SPOILER WARNING: Do not read further if you have not seen the film. Hurry up and see it and come back).

The Joker sets up a variation of what i think is the prisoners dilemma. Two groups of people, one law-abiding citizens, one crims, are stranded on two ferries that are wired with explosives. Each has the detonator for the other boat. Each boat has to decide whether to blow up the other boat or risk being blown up themselves. The joker says he will let the group who presses the detonator live, but if neither side presses the detonator they will all die. The law-abiders have a vote and democracy grinds it slow wheels. They vote against it, but as with opinion polling, they didn't really mean it. One law-abiding guy steps forth saying he'll take the rap for being the decisive one and takes the detonator. No one opposes him.

What we all expected was that the law-abiding guy would stoop to killing to save his skin, and that of course the Joker had rigged the detonators to blow up their own boats. Our man would blow himself up and scream, "if only i had renounced violence!" through incinerated vocal chords.

This would be the typical Hollywood message. The director wanted us all to expect it.

And it didn't happen.

The guy almost presses the detonator but can't. He realises that he would be playing the joker's game. If he killed the people the others boat, what reason did he have to believe the joker would keep his promise not to kill them too? (As it happens in the film the Joker makes two other such promises to spare people lives beforehand, and ends up killing everyone anyway. i'll leave them for the reader to spot). In the end it dawns on the everyman that the terrorist cant be bargained with. He relinquishes the detonator.

But The violins playing the tension in the moment of decision do not die away rapidly. They hang in the air as the man, long-faced, takes his seat again. There is no relief, no release. The tension never goes away. The director is telling us that there is no choice you can make that will let you avoid culpability and live. The responsibility to walk the line between freedom and fighting terror is one we all have to bear forever. Not just batman and Bush but the voters aswell. We little-guys are the ultimate masters of our own fate (in a democracy, that is).

When the Joker sees that neither the crims nor the law-abiders blow up the other boat, he goes even more crazy. It's the first time that the slide toward anarchy he inspired stops, or even slows down. And Batman had nothing to do with it. OK Batman thwarts The Joker's attempt to then blow up both boats and so does his fair share of day-saving, but the decision the little-guy faced and made did more to disappoint and deter the Joker than anything Batman does, or could do.

Democracy has never been more thrilling to watch. Back in the real world I'm on the edge of my seat.

Libs still iffy about Costello

Whilst news media is trumpeting "99%" support for Costello amongst Lib MPs in some of its pieces, in others like this one in the OZ it gives us more info, less spin.

The MPs said they were open to backing Mr Costello provided his forthcoming political memoirs did not attack the record of former prime minister John Howard.

"If he dumps on Howard in the book everything changes," a senior Liberal said. "The partyroom won't accept it. But if he steers away from that he now has overwhelming support."

Same old story. The Libs don't trust Costello. And rightly so I'd say.

What are the odds of Costello dumping on Howard in the book I wonder? Let's just say I wouldn't be betting against it. The publishers will be insisting on it because that's what everyone wants to read about. Nobody wants to read "It was 11 great years. We ruled. The End"

He might try to not dump, but he wont be able to help himself. He'll come out with something that to him seems level-headed but will basically say that Howard should have stepped aside and the party-room should have backed him for the leadership, and if they have it would have prevented a Rudd victory.

As if he is not going to say this.

As if that isn't dumping on Howard, not to mention the Liberal party.

He has already told reporters that he is annoyed that people are supporting him now but didn't then. This is a total giveaway as to his attitude. He is vain and things he deserves to be handed power on a plate.

Power cannot be given. It must be taken.

Nelson must not step aside for Costello. Everyone knows Costello hasn't got the nads to challenge him. He's all talk and no trousers.

Dr Nelson vowed yesterday that he was determined to lead his party to the 2010 federal election

Well there you have it. Nelson won't step aside. I guess this is a non-starter then, and a non-story. Just like every other time the media have got behind Costello in the past.

Who says the Yanks don't get irony

Australia hits world blog headines again, for all the right reasons

NT man busted for reckless hi-speed wanking

via Ace of Spades HQ.