Red Rag

Nominations are now open for the 2004 Australian Blog Awards. (Cheers, James — if I could remember where you’re from I’d have nominated you…)

Miranda Devine returns to a familiar theme — computer games are carrying Australian society to hell in a handbasket. Her latest gripe is about the new Simpsons game, Hit and Run:

Characters from the cartoon series run amok through Springfield in the family sedan, running over pedestrians, crashing into cars, evading police and causing as much property damage as possible. When Homer gets out of the car, he kicks people in the head as he walks down the street. … The game is modelled on Grand Theft Auto, whose makers are being sued by the family of a man killed by two teenagers shooting randomly at cars on a US freeway. They told police they were bored, and decided to copy scenes from their favourite video game.

I’ve already discussed the lawsuit against Rockstar et al. It is unlikely to succeed, because the courts believe something Miranda doesn’t — people know that computer games and real life are not the same thing. And if people can distinguish between life and the realistic GTA3, they can certainly distinguish between life and the cartoon-style Simpsons game.

She also makes the claim that “There are no guns in Hit & Run, but it celebrates gratuitous violence in a way the cartoon doesn’t.” This is an absolutely ridiculous claim to make. How about when Sideshow Luke Perry was fired from a cannon through a pane of glass, a wall, etc? Or when Homer shot Flanders during a Halloween special? Most graphic of all, Bart and Lisa regularly laugh along as Itchy and Scratchy inflict various ultraviolent tortures on one another.

In fact, every negative thing Devine mentions about the game has a direct parallel in the cartoon series, which leads one Christian reviewer to conclude that “If you allow your child to watch the Simpson’s TV show then you will probably not have any problem with this game.” They also wrote that “Even though this game is a Grand Theft Auto clone you are not required to kill anyone. Everything is done in a silly cartoon type of way. For example when you run over a person with your car, they just fall over, yell at you and then get back up.”

Christ Centred Game Reviews (”So many games out there are inappropriate for children and Christians”) had this to say about Hit and Run’s appropriateness:

Unlike the last Simpsons’ game, there is no sexual innuendo or double entrende. There is some bad language, and the Lord’s Name is taken in vain once in a while, but other than that, there is nothing bad. Violence is basically unheard of, because of the game’s combat system, which is very primitive, but still quite functional. It’s kind of refreshing to see a game with no blood and/or gore. Maybe games can stay like this. It works because it’s still fun. Really fun.

In fact, after quite a bit of googling, it seems that the only people who think this game is inappropriate for children are Miranda and her four-year-old acquaintance — who loved it anyway!

There’s an interesting retrospective on 2003 over at Tim Blair’s. Start here and click your way through to December.

The Dead Kennedys said it best: Nazi punks - FUCK OFF!

The Khalal case strikes me as odd. Surely the correct procedure is to extradite people before they are convicted?

My youngest brother has just been informed of his Year 12 results — a Tertiary Entrance Rank of 99.6. Congrats, Brian.

In a comment to my previous entry about Tim Blair’s hypersensitive reaction to a sheriff’s badge, he made the following accusation against me:

Actually, you know what is anti-Semitic, or at least insulting? Spelling “Semitic” — a proper noun — with a lower-case “s”.

Rob gets “Nazi” right, though.

This just proves Tim’s a moron. If you don’t believe me, have a look at who else spells it “antisemitism” rather than “anti-Semitism”:

• The Middle East Media Research Institute
  [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

• The Simon Wiesenthal Center
  [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

• The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council
  [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

• The Institute for Jewish Policy Research
  [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

• The American Jewish Committee
  [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

• The Forward
  [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

If Tim wants to call them “anti-Semitic, or at least insulting”, that’s his prerogative.

Tim Blair’s quite partial to a good conspiracy theory:

By the way, what was Margo’s artist Martin Davies getting at with this image from October, depicting John Howard with a big yellow star on the left side of his chest?

Margo pretended to instantly recognise the theological issues raised by George W. Bush’s use of the word “crusade” in 2001 (”I’d just lifted my head out of my hands after hearing the leader of the free world announce he was leading his allies into ‘a crusade’ - the Christian term for a holy war”) so it’s remarkable that someone so sensitive and aware would allow this image to be published. Surely Margo knows …

A decree, issued on September 1, 1941, issued badges to Jews within Germany as well as occupied and incorporated Poland. This badge was the yellow Star of David with the word “Jude” (”Jew”) and worn on the left side of one’s chest.

OMGOMGOMG!!!! He’s right! This is obviously an antisemitic picture!

Thank heavens Tim warned me — look at some of the other examples I’ve turned up:

That’s right folks — the Nazis are on the move, and they’re taking over toy manufacturers.

Lego appears to have been particularly hard hit. They appear to be using the Duplo range to target youngsters whose minds are easily moulded:

By the time the kids are old enough, they have a wide range of Jewish toys to play with. Here we see the victims of a Mengelesque program of dismemberment:

The Nazis were firm believers in the power of the media to control the masses, and it is not surprising that they would use children’s programs to convey their hateful message. It is well known that Walt Disney was a Nazi sympathiser, and his company has kept up that tradition in its extremely popular Toy Story series:

You might think that these are harmless toys, but the effects of such pervasive propaganda on impressionable young minds is devastating. Here is undeniable proof that this antisemitism is carried into adulthood:

A Jewish stripper is being forced to identify herself with a yellow star! This is surely not the work of children: the Nazi campaign is working.

On the other hand, the Web Diary picture might just be a reference to the “Deputy Sheriff” tag that’s been regularly applied to John Howard… Nah, who am I kidding. The evidence is clear — we must act now to save our children from the new Nazi threat.

N.B. The emphasised text in the quotation was added at Tim Blair’s request.

For some strange reason, American officials have decided to implement technology that would eliminate all physical evidence of a person’s vote. It doesn’t take a genius to see the problems this might cause, and slowly but surely those problems are emerging.

Exhibit A:

Digital voting giant Diebold Election Systems took a staggering blow Wednesday as California officials reported that Diebold ran uncertified — and in some cases untested — software in all 17 counties where it counted votes in the state’s last two elections.

What began as a scandal in Alameda County swept statewide as every county served by Diebold realized its software was not state certified, and three counties, including Los Angeles, found that some of their software never had been tested by a federally designated lab.

Marin and San Joaquin counties both used non-state-certified software. Marin also was using a different version of vote counting software than Diebold officials reported to the state, and San Joaquin was using different touchscreen software than the company reported.

In other words, an election was conducted despite the State not knowing how the software operated. This could have resulted in countless problems. For instance, a system crash may have prevented people from voting, or subsequently destroyed all record of people’s votes.

Don’t dismiss that possibility too quickly:

Auditors couldn’t examine eight machines in various counties because they failed to boot up when turned on. Another 12 machines were in the Diebold plant in McKinney, Texas, being repaired.

As if that wasn’t enough, California has run into problems trying to bring its systems up to scratch: it doesn’t even know which versions of the software have been certified, and it looks like they’re about to implement a version that hasn’t:

To bring all 17 counties into line with current software versions, the state plans to update all GEMS to version 1.18.18. Panel chairman Kyle said this probably could be accomplished in a week. Four counties already have it installed on servers.

However, there is conflicting information about whether 1.18.18 has been certified by federal authorities. Tony Miller, head of special projects in the voting division, said he believed the system was qualified in July, but had conflicting reports about whether or not it had been certified by the National Association of State Election Directors. The state has not been able to uncover any documents that indicate this was done.

Shawn Southworth, who qualifies voting software for independent testing authority Ciber, told Wired News last week at a conference in Maryland that the software has not yet been certified federally.

This is quite disturbing. The State has certification requirements, but can’t tell which versions of the software it is using — or even which versions it is supposed to use.

Exhibit B (via The Mad Prophet):

Voter advocate Bev Harris alleged Tuesday that managers of a subsidiary of Diebold, one of the country’s largest voting equipment vendors, included a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records.

The programmer, Jeffrey Dean, wrote and maintained proprietary code used to count hundreds of thousands of votes as senior vice president of Global Election Systems, or GES. Diebold purchased GES in January 2002.

According to a public court document released before GES hired him, Dean served time in a Washington state correctional facility for stealing money and tampering with computer files in a scheme that “involved a high degree of sophistication and planning.”

So — much of the software used by Diebold (the company that installed unverified software on Californian voting machines) was written by a man with a conviction for falsifying computer records. Without a receipt or other independently verifiable record, there is no saying what might happen to people’s votes between touching the screen and being counted by the computer.

What does the industry think about these concerns?

The industry insists that its systems are secure and trustworthy, with or without paper. Harris Miller, who leads a new trade association for the industry, said that the group had no position in favor or against paper trails, but dismissed the issue as a “theological debate within the academic community.” Miller called some opponents of electronic voting “black helicopter theorists” and Luddites who “want to go back to the bad old days” of stuffed ballot boxes and chad wars.

A theological debate? The bad old days of actually being able to verify election results?

Frankly the US authorities should take a leaf out of Australia’s book. We have been using a very sophisticated piece of election technology for many, many years: the humble pencil. It is easy to use. It rarely malfunctions, and when it does it’s simple to fix and cheap to replace. It might take time to count the ballots, but at least people can be sure their vote has not been lost or tampered with.

To those readers who are older or have better memories than I: When was the last time Australia had a major electoral controversy that centred on the method of recording the votes?

A Victorian community group, VIVAIDS, is a peer-based organisation whose goal is to provide “information and education about illicit drug use so that people who take drugs do so with minimum harm to themselves.” As we know, “harm minimisation” is interpreted by the Tories as “encouraging drug use”.

Right on cue, Robert Doyle, with the enthusiastic support of the Herald Sun has slammed the group for — you guessed it — “encourag[ing] efficient drug use.” If by “efficient” he means “with a minimum number of casualties”, then he’s probably correct.

It’s difficult to assess some of the criticisms raised in the article, as I don’t have access to the group’s magazine, but others relating to its website* are simply ridiculous.

The claim: “A section on the law includes advice on avoiding police questions.”

The reality:

The police are entitled to ask for your name and address ..if they reasonably believe you have or are about to commit a crime… when they reasonably believe you have knowledge of a crime.Even if you do not believe this to be the case, it is probably preferable in most instances to avoid conflict and comply. The best response to any other queries is a calm ‘no comment’ until you have gained legal advice. Similarly you are entitled to request the officers name, rank, place of duty and the nature of the offence they suspect you have committed.

That seems like a relatively straightforward statement of people’s basic rights. A good one, too — measured and helpful.

The claim: “The VIVAIDS website has extensive advice on using drugs and guides to each drug, including advice on ‘how to have a good time’ on some drugs.”

The reality: The website certainly has advice on using drugs — safely. Here are some extracts:

• “Unfortunately people have died when they have had to much and told their friends that they feel like a lie down. These friends have thought they’re OK. and not checked on them, only to find later that the person had actually slipped into a coma and by the time this is noticed - it is to late!”

• “Ketamine is known as Special K … It provides a full on trip effect that people most often describe as ‘interesting’ rather than pleasant. Other side effects are an inability to move, insensitivity to pain and in large doses it can bring about a temporary coma. If you take Ketamine don’t be alone, make sure you have a friend to check on you who is not out of it.”

• “You should feel the effects 20 - 40 minutes after taking it. The first rush can bring nausea and vomiting, this usually passes fairly quickly. If it doesn’t pass and the person is not improving, seek medical help immediately. … It is possible to overdose especially if you have built up a tolerance through excessive use, or if you have mixed other drugs with your E. There have been some reports of liver damage in regular E users ( in some cases fatal ) and there is some concern that E may irreversibly damage nerve receptors in the brain, but so far this has only been proven in animals.”

• “Your heart beat will go up and your eyes will get that red glazed look. Pot impairs your balance, coordination, short term memory, concentration and logic, so it’s pretty dangerous to drive if you’re stoned, especially if you’ve been drinking as well. … Large doses will make all the above mentioned effects more powerful. You may also feel more mellow and lethargic with not much energy or motivation. When having a smoking session with friends you may find that the more the hooch goes around, the less people chat. This can sometimes be caused by ‘tunnel awareness’ ( when you concentrate on one thing and ignore all others). In some people this feeling can make them very paranoid, apprehensive or panicked. Someone depressed or with a bad family history of mental illness is more likely to have a bad reaction.”

• “Regular speed uses don’t feel the urge to eat or sleep and if they’re not careful, they can end up feeling exhausted, irritable and ill. If you let yourself become run down you’re more susceptible to a wide range of infections and general bad health. … Amphetamine Psychosis (similar to Cocaine Psychosis), can occur after extended use and in some people, Speed can trigger underlying psychiatric problems, even after only using once.”

The entire claim seems to be based on this one sentence: “The key to having a good time on acid is to be able to relax and enjoy the effects without having to deal with anything traumatic.” Fortunately, VIVAID describes the potentially traumatic events. Taken in context, the sentence is hardly offensive:

The most important safety measure you can adopt while tripping is to stick with good friends who you trust and make sure you don’t wander off into any potentially dangerous situations such as busy roads, bushland or crowded public places.

The key to having a good time on acid is to be able to relax and enjoy the effects without having to deal with anything traumatic. Don’t trip if you are anxious, tired or feeling down, it will probably make you feel worse rather than shift your mood. You’re also more likely to have a bad trip and you can end up losing emotional control, feeling disorientated, depressed, dizzy and/or panicked.

If someone does lose it, the best thing you can do is to take their mind off whatever is frightening them, state that the panic is caused by the drug, and that it will soon wear off - although with acid it all seems that much longer.

They make it quite clear that LSD is potentially very dangerous. To take that one sentence from this one page and infer that the organisation recommends drug use is simply farcical. Their advice about drugs certainly mentions the positive aspects (pleasant feelings, etc) but there is a strong emphasis on the serious risks involved in drug use. The Herald Sun has engaged in a deliberate misrepresentation.

The claim: The website “links to pro-drug organisations, sex sites and pornographic video outlets.”

The reality: Big whoop. Of their extensive list of links, only a handful fit those categories — and frankly, if you don’t see how (for example) a sex shop might be of interest to a community with a high rate of HIV infections, then you’re an imbecile.

This story is, quite simply, a beat-up. It is reminiscent of the debate over a Western Australian peer-based prostitute’s organisation’s booklet. It advised women to keep their clients happy in order to avoid being bashed, and gave them tips on how to do so. As a result, the group was defunded (although their vocal opposition to the government’s draconian Prostitution Control Bill probably had something to do with it). I wonder how many more prostitutes have been bashed since then.

And I wonder how many more overdoses there would be if VIVAID was hamstrung?

* The website appears to have been replaced with a generic statement of the group’s mission, presumably to avoid a flood of indignant right-wing visitors. However Google’s cache allows us to uncover much of its recent content. Back to text.

Bargarz has asked for assistance with trackback, but his site is powered by Blogger, which doesn’t support the technology. Not to worry — there’s now a trackback system available that piggy-backs on your Blogger (or Bloxsom, or whatever) blog. And it’s free.

Work has commenced on a new design for this blog. I hope to finish it over the break.

The Thanksgiving turkey wasn’t plastic, but it was decorative. No wonder Bush used it, and not the actual meal, for his photo opportunity — the real food was probably dirty:

NBC News has obtained Pentagon inspection reports of unsanitary conditions at mess halls run by Halliburton in Iraq: “Blood all over the floors of refrigerators, dirty pans, dirty grills, dirty salad bars, rotting meat and vegetables.” An October report complains that Halliburton had promised to fix the problem but didn’t.

To be honest, I don’t really give a shit about the turkey photos. I’m more disturbed by Bush’s refusal to meet a genuinely representative sample of the troops. Apparently, he had to hand-pick the soldiers in the mess hall for “security reasons”. What — is morale so bad that the troops might attack the President?

In the Middle East, a plan is hatched to attack a funeral. Operatives should commit suicide if necessary. However, the plan is cancelled when an accident during preparations kills five, wounds six. Hamas? Al Aqsa? No — the Israeli army.

My brother Richard just lent me a CD of Xavier Rudd who is like John Butler only much, much better. Excellent didjeridoo.