dibo's blog
In Rainbows - being downloaded tonight
Not since I was a pimply long-haired teenager have I been so excited at the prospect of getting a new album. I was 16 then, and the subject of my greatly, amazingly misplaced anticipation was Live’s album Lakini’s Juice.
Haneef charges dropped
Mohamed Haneef has had charges dropped against him.
What are the odds he stays in detention, or is simply deported on short notice. The question is where will he be deported to?
Whose arse is gonna get kicked over the notes in the diary, and all the other cock-ups in this case?
More to come.
Vote green if you like, but only Labor can fix the problem
I thought I’d open a new thread to outline my views on Kim’s post at LP that got me so hot under the collar.
Voting green bothers me less (far less) than the defeatism of ‘The Rudd Labor Party deserves to lose this election’ and the following line ‘If it hadn’t been for WorkChoices, buddy, you couldn’t even count on a preference from me now.’
And the thing i find most stupid of all is the quote she’s got such a huge problem with:
“Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says a Labor Government would create a bi-partisan ‘war cabinet’ to deal with the national emergency in indigenous communities.”
Er… so what’s the problem? I think that’s a fantastic idea. I mean really, the thing with this issue is that it’s too big to let political point-scoring determine your actions. The last thing that anybody needs is one party using indigenous people as a wedge…
Oh, wait, we’ve got that already.
But Rudd’s plan is different. Running a war cabinet, bringing the opposition to the table and simply saying ‘we’re going to fix this together, damn the credit and the critics, let’s work something out’ also leaves open the opportunity to go out and listen to ideas coming from the grassroots, and you can take them on board and implement them without fear of the ‘other side’ kicking you for it. It means they’re actually free to act. To do something!
And with a Labor Government, the whole idea wouldn’t be tied up in silly ‘we’ll take your land so you look after your kids’ games either.
It was a Labor Government that created the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody. It was the Labor party that first took seriously the issue of reconciliation and moved the wheels of government to address it. It was a Labor politician who poured sand into Charles Lingiari’s hand and it was the Labor Party who passed the original Native Title Act.
Labor actually did these things. They didn’t ask from the sidelines and complain when rebuffed, they did them. You can only ever do these things from government. That’s why it’s important to make sure Labor gets elected this year.
The Oz: drawing conclusions without reading the data
The rubbish that comes out of The Australian’s editorials day after day should cease to amaze, but doesn’t. After all, the various attack dogs or attack dogs in training. But there are times like this morning where I can’t help but feel disbelief.
The editorial is arguing that this week’s Newspoll shows that Labor should be remaking its IR policy in ‘moderate, modern and reformist’ terms. Subtext: Stick it to the unions or else. This is the clear message that a drop in Labor’s primary vote is sending to the Opposition Leader. Apparently…
What more could the ALP want?
“If they’re shooting at you, you must be doing something right”
…Or so it would seem anyway for Labor at the moment. As any two-bit analyst would tell you, the last two weeks have been tough for Labor. And as they were all saying until the trio of the Morgan, Galaxy and Newspoll results came through – it must really be the end of the honeymoon this time.
Well bugger me, Quadrant is bad for you
As reported in Crikey today, Google seems to think that the website for Quadrant the right wing magazine edited by former pinko now pain in the arse Padraic P. McGuinness is dangerous to your computer!
I wonder if Google can offer advisories for similar sites that are bad for the mind? Sites like… oh, I dunno… news.com.au? I feel dumber every time I visit that. Anyways… over and out.
Bookies odds: Labor noses in front
Check it out: Labor now favourites to win with online bookies Sportsbet.
The bookies’ odds are either the true indicator of what’s likely to happen or a way for bookies to wangle wads of dosh from politically minded know-it-alls who don’t know it at all. It certainly goes into our bizarre little category of speculative fact.
Whatever they are, Sportbet now has Labor favourites to win at $1.80 as against the Coalition at $1.95. This implies that the probability of a Labor win is now 52%, and 48% for the Coalition.
Kevin Rudd wins
Kevin Rudd wins.
Rudd: 49
Beazley: 39
UPDATE: Gillard wins deputy’s position unopposed.
Chris Evans and Stephen Conroy remain as Senate Leader and Deputy Leader, having renominated and been elected unopposed.