Red Rag

It was Red Nose Day yesterday. I should have linked to this earlier. I would have done a poster but didn’t have time. Sorry, Tama; maybe next year.

Anybody who thinks the ALP is anti-American should have heard Lindsay Tanner’s stirring rendition of The Star-spangled Banner at 3 o’clock on Friday morning…

A short while ago, Gareth mentioned that Brian Rogers had resigned as editor of the West Australian. At the time, not much was known about his reasons.

The Media liftout of today’s Australian fleshes the story out a bit. Unfortunately, the story is not on their website, so if you want to read the whole thing you’ll have to cough up for a hard copy. Here’s an extract:
Read the rest of this entry…

In Australia, we study why people watch porn. In Japan, they study how to be in porn.

Holy shit, Neil Andrew cracked a smile!

rion.nu is an excellent NY-based phlog. My favourites are these: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Erin is hot. Well done, Slatts.

GG’s pay rise:”Man of the people? Just one? You could fit about a dozen ‘people’ on average into that salary, nearly two into the increase alone.”

Tony Abbott’s latest attack on Nick Bolkus is a little bit silly:

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott said Senator Bolkus may have evaded laws which require the mandatory recording of cash transactions over $10,000. …

“The amount of the cash cheque namely for $9,[8]80 may have been designed precisely to circumvent these legislative requirements,” he said.

In other words, the fact that Nick Bolkus didn’t break the law is prima facie evidence that he intended to break the law. What a nonsense.

If Bolkus had accepted multiple donations, each less than $10 000 but totalling more than $10 000, then Abbott’s assertion would have a compelling basis. But that is not the case, and Abbott is clearly trying to rake muck that isn’t there.

Very sad: “Garry McDonald has dramatically pulled out of a Sydney Theatre Company production because he fears he is relapsing into a deep depression similar to what his character faces in the play.”

The University of Sydney will increase fees by the full 30% allowed by Nelson’s proposed reforms. Expect others to do likewise.

Daryl Williams admits the ASIO bill could destroy fewer civil rights without becoming unworkable.

You know what they say: If you play with fire, you’re bound to get burned. Labor senator Nick Bolkus has some questions to answer about donations made to his campaign by Dante Tan, the “Christopher Skase of the Phillipines”.

Bolkus is accused of accepting a donation of $9880 without declaring it to the Electoral Commission. This is a serious claim, and needs to be investigated thoroughly (it’s hard to believe the guy spent that much on raffle tickets).

Still, the accusations against Philip Ruddock (and Ross Cameron) are far more serious. Whatever Bolkus might have done wrong, he did not accept money in exchange for a visa. And new allegations against the Liberals suggest that they accepted undeclared donations from Tan, too.

This whole debacle demonstrates that campaign finance reform is urgently needed. Australians need to know that any donations made to their political representatives are open, transparent and with no strings attached.

So, what else will we have to put up with Jeffrey moralising about? Compulsory marriage counselling, compulsory religious education, the primacy of the traditional family unit, why heroin addicts should be left to die, why abortion should be banned, less rights…

Meanwhile, in Britain, another Jeffrey is about to be appointed — Canon Jeffrey John. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s aide said, “We are not in the business of discriminating on grounds of sexual orientation”; Australia’s own Archbishop Jensen, on the other hand, has proven himself a bigot.