Thursday, November 29, 2007

Once more....Aussie Politics

To those who don't care about Australian politics i urge you to skip this post because that's what it's about :)

Brendan Nelson has just been announced as the leader of the Liberal party (now in opposition after losing to Kevin Rudd's Labor government on Saturday) in favour of Malcolm Turnbull.
Brendan Nelson is the member for my electorate of Bradfield and i've met him on several occassions and each time i've been less than impressed.
I voted for him in the 2007 Federal election because the labor candidate, Victoria Brookman, was a 22 year old who was much, much further to the left than i am comfortable seeing in Parliament.
Whilst Nelson has won each of the Federal Elections since 1996 and has held several positions within the Howard government I believe that he was the wrong choice as leader of the party right after the disasterous election defeat of John Howard.
Nelson is an arch-conservative who held education back 30 years in his criticisms of the new NSW HSC English syllabus which has now been adopted to several countries.
I only hope that this is a meticulously planned tactic to win in 3 years. After 18 months when everyone is disheartened by Nelson then they'll bring in Malcolm Turnbull and he'll reinvigorate the party to victory.

Sounds familiar...

Sunday, November 25, 2007

A new government

Australia has a new government.
Whilst i expected this it's still quite a surreal feeling that after 11 years of conservative rule we've thrown out the old guard and brought in 'new leadership'. Kevin Rudd, our new PM, has been leader of his party for the last 50 weeks and based his campaign on a re-energized party who was ready to take the reins from a stale, old PM who was past his use by date.
It was an amazing campaign to watch unfold and the government did their best to try and strike them down. For weeks it showed Labor ahead of the government but in the final weeks it seemed that the government was closing in. If you had asked me what the results would be on Friday night i would have avoided the question. As a member of the Labor party i'm happy to see a new government and as a lover of democracy i'm also happy to see that Labor has not full control of both the Lower House and the Senate, which is an oversight body for the States. We can't have a democracy when a single party has control of the states, lower and upper houses.
It seems that Peter Costello, former Treasurer and deputy leader of the Liberal party, will not be seeking the party leadership. He wants to continue his time as a normal MP.
Looks like it's between Malcolm Turnbull, Brendan Nelson and Alexander Downer.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Election

John Howard has just conceded defeat to Kevin Rudd,
The Centre-Left Opposition has now taken control of the House of Representatives.
This is going to be a very interesting three years.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Apologies

Many apologies for the lack of posts over the last week or so but i'm in the middle of my exam period at uni so i'm trying to cram six months worth of education into six days. Not an easy task i'm afraid. Blogging will continue on the 26th of November after the election :)

Friday, November 9, 2007

University...stuck in the past

I'm in the middle of my exam period.
For anyone that has been hit with a succession of exams knows that you lose any social life and/or self control.
You're stressed about everything and you tend to take it out on the nearest person (i'm sure it has led to many break-ups).
It all comes down to a 2 hour exam which generally means at least 50% of your grade is based on 2 weeks of stress and trying to cram as much of your course into your brain and eloquently reiterate on paper.
It is, without a doubt, the worst aspect of university life there is.
It's also extraordinarily archaic.
The point of exams is to ascertain to the professor exactly how much you've absorbed during the six month course.
I'm taking a class (War and Peace in World History) which has given me 3 essays.
The first was a 1500 word essay on indigenous conflict.
The second was a 2500 word essay on suffrage and world war 1
and the third is my exam.
I received it yesterday and i have until the 23rd till i have to hand it in.
It's a 3000 word essay on a topic based around everything we have learnt during the course.
We're advised to write it under exam conditions (on a computer) but this can't be enforced.
We can write it over a period of days or in a 3 hour stretch.
This is the smart way to handle university courses.
However there is still a chance that all of this could be written by a family member in lieu of the student.
This is why we have tutorials.
Tutorials are ways for a professor to ascertain that his students are working correctly, doing the readings and writing proficient essays. Over the course of the semester it's easy for any professor to recognize whether or not one of his students is allowing someone else to write the essays.
If only all classes were like this.
No Stress
No Cramming
No Lashing out at the people near you
An easier, smarter university experience.

Now if you'll excuse me, i have exams to study for.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

The political theorists would be proud....or ashamed

It seems over the last several years we've been entering a society that was envisioned by by both major social contract theorists, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.
Hobbes fled persecution from the English Civil War and was in exile in France where he began to work on his most famous work, The Leviathan. In it he talks about mankind, the state of nature and society. He says that in the state of nature (the time before the state) there were no rules and people could essentially do what they like. He advocated for a strong leader, known as the sovereign, who would have ultimate power over citizens provided he protected them. He had the ability to kill, to take away property and the like.

John Locke on the other hand also fled persecution in England. He did so because of his role in attempting to overthrow a tyrannical dictator. Locke agreed with Hobbes that the state of nature was an awful place however he placed a much greater emphasis on civil liberties. He called his ruler, the magistrate, believing that whoever ruled society did so at the request of the people and should the majority of citizens be unhappy with the magistrate they are allowed to violently rise up against him and depose him from office.

I mention these two theorists because i've seen something over the last few years that only the extreme left are commenting on.
The US PATRIOT act, the strengthening of ASIO laws, warrant-less wiretapping and the CIA's extra-ordinary rendition (i.e. torture) are degrading our civil liberties.
Whilst terrorism is a vile and disgusting ideology that only seeks to murder innocent human beings under the cause of either national liberation (PLO/HAMAS/Islamic Jihad), religious convictions (Al Qaedia) or political ideology (Action Directe, Baader Meinhof) it has almost a 100% failure rate.
The State of Israel still exists, the Americans are still attempting to quell the violence in Iraq and communism failed despite the terrorist attacks that have occurred.
Yet to torture and to restrict civil liberties is not the answer to fighting terror.
Mass bombing campaigns create animosity and anger. Torture breeds humiliation against occupation and the restriction of civil liberties create paranoia amongst the civilian population.
We may fight with a hand tied behind our back but at least our hands will be clean when we clasp them in victory.

Friday, November 2, 2007

A blow to the Founding Fathers

I'm a firm believer in Democracy.
Despite Winston Churchill's criticism that democracy is the worst system of government (except for all the others) it is the only system of government that allows a relatively free and transparent election (with the exception of the Bush administration in 2000). But it seems, once again, that Democracy has been shunted.
Stephen Colbert has lost his bid for President of the United States. This is despite the fact that he was actually polling higher than several Democratic candidates
It's a wonder that he was dismissed. The South Carolina Democrats claim that it was simply a ruse to further Colbert's comedic career. That may be so but he would have brought attention to issues concerning the democrats.
Comedians often have a way of bringing serious issues to the forefront of the media by mocking them in such a way.
Prominent Examples include:



and



The first video mocks George Bush's style of speech and his ability to form a coherent sentence. As the President is the diplomat for the United States he must have some basic skills in elocution; something George Bush sadly lacks. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney and other candidates are all able to hold their ground in debates.

The second video mocks the history of American foreign policy. This issue, especially since the Iraq fiasco, has become prominent in the election. However, not enough time is spent on the policy of 'buying yourself out of trouble', something that the American's are doing more and more with their reliance on foreign aid.

So why can't Stephen Colbert run for President. His candidacy may be a joke but he'll speak more sense than alot of the other front runners.