Left Wing rants, Andrew Wilkie for Bennelong, Down with Dubbya.
Today, I heard a story of hope that made me cry. One person, who is trying to make a difference in the world, by doing the sort of thing we read about in the newspaper, but rarely consider doing ourselves. I hope to be able to share this story at a later date, but in the meantime, read this. Link from Obsidian Wings, via Jonathan Shaw, via Mary-Helen.
(am I taking the attribution thing a bit too far there?)
This from the BBC website.
I heard the comment on the radio this evening on my way to picking Mark up from the train station. Apparently, our mighty leader doesn’t want HIV positive migrants. Funny thing is, the furore was cause by 70 HIV positive people moving to Victoria last year. 50 of them were diagnosed in Australia due to increasingly vigilant testing procedures, and the other 20 were born in Australia and diagnosed overseas.
Hardly an invasion.
And apparently, HIV infection is a reason why we deny asylum currently – as are disabilities. The most needy are turned away (UNHCR won’t even process the paperwork for Australia because they know a child with a limb that has been blown off by a land mine won’t get in), and yet the media stir up a frenzy to make the xenophobes spew more vileness.
On a lighter note, Sally rang this afternoon, and since misery loves company, I went round for a cuppa. Glad I did – left feeling much better, though still in danger of being very poor company. Thanks Sally.
…but doesn’t think gay couples should be allowed to marry, adopt, or have access to IVF.
And she sees no disconnect.
People shit me. Honestly.
PS. I still have the plague. Snot is never ending, the head throbs, the brain malfunctions, and now the throat is threatening to go on strike too. Wish me luck for the de-cluttering mission tomorrow.
PPS. Thanks everyone for the good anniversary vibes. I think I picked the best man ever, and I’m still thrilled that he picked me.
This kinda slipped under my radar in the last few weeks, but apparently the media was whipped up into a frenzy because some German animal rights activist wanted to put down a polar bear that was rejected by his mother.
Which isn’t exactly true. It would appear that the mans comments have been taken out of context, and he he was made to sound like a monster. Sound familiar?
This man had been to court to save the life of another bear cub, in another German zoo – but had lost the case, being told that it was against the animal protection laws to keep the animal alive. He merely pointed out this fact when interviewed by a journalist, and now has received death threats from all around the world. Made a great story though – many news outlets have increased circulation with this beat up.
Read the full story here.
And a very cute photo essay here.
Full transcript of the Mediawatch interview with Frank Albrecht here. Sounds like a reasonable man to me, but then, I am a crazed animal liberationist myself 😉 .
THe first day of the convention proper, not very many people today. I answered some questions about our products, and am starting to become a bit more confident. Someone had vandalised Neville – we found him this morning with his pants around his ankles, and a crack in his foot than runs right up the calf. Poor Neville. He never hurt anyone.
Did a single row on the Melon Shawl this afternoon while waiting for the guys to go out for dinner. That has to be at least 3 minutes of leisure time today !
We went to the Harbour for drinks and dinner, I had a very ordinary risotto (tasted like plastic) at a seafood restaurant. There wasn’t a single vegetarian main or entree on the menu – let alone vegan. I asked the waitress for a “special” meal, and I appreciated the effort they went to, but hell, how about some bloody flavour????
Came back to the hotel to find that the wireless network I was using yesterday has been secured, so I can’t check the election results. Mum and Mark have been great about keeping me up to date with text messages, but I feel a long way away. I haven’t seen a live animal in two days now. It’s freaky.
I can’t explain how desperate I am to see Jussi, and possibly even meet her new feline companions. Maybe tomorrow….
Well, hell there is a state election on. I will get over it, I promise.
Mark is running a booth at Denistone East Public School. During the last federal election, Our Mighty Leader saw fit to visit this booth during the day – it’s a fairly big one.
So big, that it would appear he is short a couple of booth workers.
So if you can spare a couple of hours (one hour even) to help out, give someone a lunch break, pass out bottled water, and maybe even hand out a how to vote or two, please email Mark (markATnettleDOTorg).
Resume normal transmissions.
A lot of media has focussed in the last few weeks on the Greens drug policy. If you read the mainstream media, you’d probably be thinking that the Greens are a bunch of pot smoking hippies that want to feed your kids heroin. I won’t stoop to refuting that rubbish – the facts are there to be seen – all Green policies are on the website for all to see. Read them and make up your own mind (like I did a few years ago after inspecting the Green animal welfare policy). I will say that I don’t smoke pot, and that I am keeping all the (prescribed) opiates for myself.
And if you can’t be bothered reading all that – read this message from Lee, sent to me by email because I am on the Greens media alert mailing list. I like to stay informed.
BTW – recently a lot of people have asked me (well, more than three) if I know who the Green candidate is in their electorate. Usually, the answer is no, but if you check out this list, you can look up your local Green candidate in your area. I will have met some of them and though it’s likely that I will have had a favourable impression, I will gladly share it with you if you are interested.
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HEALTH PROFESSIONALS BACK GREENS DRUGS POLICY
Please consider forwarding this message to your email address list and help correct the misleading information about the Greens drugs policy.
Dear Friend
We write to you to set the record straight about the Greens NSW policy on drugs and harm minimisation and correct the usual pre-election media inaccuracies.
The Greens do not encourage drug use. In particular, our policy aims to eradicate the use of methamphetamines including ‘ice’. We support tough penalties for importers, manufacturers and suppliers. See http://www.nsw.greens.org.au/policies/drugs-and-harm-minimisation.
Prohibition has failed to protect the lives of young people and it has failed to make society safer. The major parties’ policies based on criminal penalties for users have not prevented the growth in ‘ice’ use, dependency and addiction. There are now more than 37,000 regular methamphetamine users and 28,000 dependent users in NSW and the number is growing rapidly.
The Greens want to eradicate ‘ice’. We believe the best way to do this is with significant increases in education to strengthen the resistance of young people to the drug, and new treatment and rehabilitation programs.
Heavy criminal sanctions on users have failed to control the epidemic. And they keep ‘ice’ addicts away from counselling services and treatment programs.
The choice is this: do we want to gaol addicts or do we want to cure them.
The Greens believe that police resources are better focused on the importers, manufacturers and suppliers of ice. We want to destroy the supply chain.
The Greens policy breaks with the bipartisan ‘law and order ‘ approach but it enjoys broad support from public health professionals, with specialist experience with drugs. See below.
The full story on the Greens drugs and harm minimisation policy is available here:
http://www.nsw.greens.org.au/campaigns/the-facts-on-the-greens-drugs-policy
Please pass this email on to interested friends, colleagues and family.
Regards
Lee Rhiannon
Greens MP
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Health professionals on the Greens drugs policy
Dr Alex Wodak, Director of Drug and Alcohol Services at St Vincent’s Hospital, on ABC 702
VIRGINIA TRIOLI (ABC 702 presenter): Do you think the Greens are on the right track here with their [drug] policy?
DR WODAK: Yes, I do. Yes I do…the plain fact is that, whether we like it or not, the war on drugs has failed, and failed miserably.……..[ABC 702 Mornings 15 March 2007]
Dr Fares Samara, MD, FAChAM (Fellow of the Australasian Chapter of Addictions Medicine): “As a specialist in this field, I wholeheartedly support the Green Party’s policy on drugs and congratulate them for their courage and honesty…And also urge the other parties to have the same courage and adopt harm minimisation policies without hesitation.”
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Other professionals who back a health approach to drug taking
Professor Gordian Fulde from St Vincent’s Hospital supports the Greens policy: “I’d worry if there was anything done by law that would deter people coming to an emergency department in trouble because they thought they might get arrested or put in jail,” he said. [Seven News: http://au.news.yahoo.com/070314/23/12qry.html%5D
Don Stewart, Retired Judge and Royal Commissioner says about ice: “We’ve got to think more instead of the criminalisation of it, and the criminal approach and trying to stamp it out by penalty and criminal law action, we’ve got to think seriously about a medical approach, more seriously about how we can change things for the better.” [ABC Radio National Law Report 13 March 2007]
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Media comment on The Greens’ policy
Peter FitzSimons, Sun Herald: “Saying our drug laws are in urgent need of reform doesn’t make the Greens soft on drugs. It simply means they recognise the truth: the system we have is a hopeless joke and only remains in place because we haven’t had politicians of sufficient courage to do anything to change it.” [The Sun-Herald, p2, 18 March 2007]
In Melbourne, but I am pretty sure this applies in other sates too…
From the Anonymous Lefty.
“If you are a religious conservative who wants Australia run according to the dictates of the leaders of the Assemblies of God (because you reckon Jesus cared more about the things he didn’t actually ever talk about – gays, abortion etc – than the things he did repeatedly – helping the poor etc), please vote for Fundamentalists First. (“Bring Australia into the 14th Century!”, as they say.)”
I think he is a tiny bit mean to the poor Democrats, the Dem candidate for Ryde got into the papers after he was accosted at a train station by one of the Rev. Fred’s mob, brandishing a leaflet proposing to keep Muslims out of Australia. Our Dem was on his way to a Harmony rally, and didn’t take it well. Made the local papers :).
And he neglects to mention the Shooters/Outdoor Recreation Party, too – vote for them if you want to turn our national parks into dirtbike trails, shoot anything that moves in the state forests, and eat all the sensitive fish species from our oceans and rivers.
We all know that I love a bit of stoush. But this is just silly.
More here, here, here and here.
Now, if you have a mind to look into this a little further, read here, and you’ll see that local decisions are made locally, and that they are made by the people in the local group. Not by the candidate, and not from “head office”. The Greens don’t have a head office that makes policy decisions from on high. Believe it or not.
And here’s the thing about party politics – the guy who does the right thing for the party isn’t always popular locally, and the guy who does the right thing locally isn’t popular with the party (and doesn’t get preselection). That is, in “traditional” parties – the Greens work a little differently.
Let’s look at a little issue in the Ryde electorate (where I will vote in the state election).
The Lane Cove Tunnel.
I am against it for two reasons. Because a) I believe the money would be better invested in public transport instead of profiteering “public/private partnerships”, and b) because the emissions from the tunnel should be filtered.
I went so far as to speak at a Ryde Council meeting in favour of independent air quality testing both before and after the tunnel opened. I pointed out that taking air quality studies provided by the developers at face value was akin to taking advice on lung disease from tobacco companies. Apparently this had never occurred to the three Labour councillors. Michael Butterworth, Gabrielle O’Donnell (the less said about her the better), and Nicole Campbell (who works as an environmental scientist, natch), all argued passionately against air quality testing. Why? I can’t say, but I can’t help thinking that it may have something to do with the fact that it was a Labour government that signed off on the tunnel, and it was a Labour government that made the tunnel happen – and decided that we didn’t need filtration to protect us from the evil cancer causing fine particles.
Now, I could be wrong. These people could be kind to animals, old people, and the underprivileged. But I haven’t seen it. So the thought of preferencing Labour in the state election was pretty far from my mind. And I suspect the decision was similar in all the seats that were being complained about.
Here’s a little tip for anyone who wants Green preferences. Think globally, act locally.
When you believe in something passionately, it’s easy to get caught up in the principle of the thing, and forget the big picture. Conversely, it’s also easy to focus on the result and forget about the principles that get trampled in getting to the end.
Sometimes, the end justifies the means, and sometimes the means is the end. When you are arguing a position of principle in politics, the waters get even muddier.
Say I believe that global warming could be stopped in its tracks if we all wore pink underwear on thursdays. Say I also believe that wearing underwear with tassels helps me reduce my own “personal” greenhouse emissions.
What if the boss of underpants says, “I can help you with the pink underwear, but the tassels have got to go.”? In the big picture, the tassels aren’t important in the slightest, but if I cave on the tassels, then I place myself on the big slippery slope of being vulnerable to the boss of underpants forevermore. I open myself up to scrutiny that I am willing to do a deal with the boss, and I compromise my principles about tassels.
What I want, is pink underpants with tassels. What I can get without help, is khaki coloured y-fronts (which really don’t do anyone any favours). With help, I can get 90% of what I want, and I end up feeling like Lady Macbeth.
Disco Knitter 