The Australian Bill of Rights
Right now, it’s a chimera, although depending on your political persuasion, maybe a basilisk. In any event, although there have been proposals and proposals for proposals and proposals for discussion of proposals and . . . stop that, it could go on all night. Just mention Bill of Rights, and there are plenty who’ll get up on their high horse to tell you why there shouldn’t be one. Janet Albrechtsen, for example, head stooge for the Murdoch press here on all matters small-l liberal, says a bill of rights means the terrorists win because activist judges will let them. It’s the “activist judges” she’s really concerned about, as you can see from the devolution of her argument into whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned in America. She talks about how Tony Blair has been thwarted in combating terrorism in Britain by such judges, and how precedents put “traditional judges” in a quandary over their rulings. Both arguments are hogwash. Judges aren’t making policy decisions, they’re ruling on the law. Britain, American, and Australia all have a long-standing tradition of common law – where rulings by judges affect the application or applicability of laws. A bill of rights doesn’t change that, it’s just more law. Britain, for example, has no free speech, no separation of church and state, and very little else of civil rights actually encoded within the body of legislation, and neither does Australia. The U.S. relies a great deal on its Bill of Rights, and that was its purpose, as with the rest of the Constitution. There’s an argument to be made over whether or not a bill of rights is needed and arguments aplenty to be had over what it should contain. But the legal tradition is already established to support all forms of legislation.

Having grown up with such rights, perhaps I’ve always taken them for granted, even now, living without them. I ought perhaps to be more cautious in the things I say publicly, but a lifetime of protection ingrains a sense of entitlement. Personally, I’d like to see a bill of rights in Australia, and Britain, for that matter. I’d like to see Australia become a republic, whatever form it might take, and to protect specifics of the kinds of things that make up the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, a felicitous phrase to broaden all humankind’s ability to achieve peace and harmony. It runs against the pragmatic grain of many politicians and much of the public here, but that doesn’t diminish the concept’s worth. Because I’m a small-l liberal, I don’t have any qualms about following a live-and-let-live philosophy, one that doesn’t require the legislation of morality, and that allows differences to enhance society at large instead of being subsumed in favor of one particular mind set.

I don’t see any hope of progress in human rights as civil rights under the present governments of the U.S., Britain, or Australia, although thankfully the U.S. Constitution is still – for now – the law of the land, and I don’t see a lot of hope coming from much of the opposition, but I’ll stay in the struggle, for what it’s worth.

Excelsior
I’ve been meaning to mention Get Up, a newly launched political action website on the model of Move On. I’ve only just signed on for updates, so I don’t know a lot about them, but they were evidently fired up by the Coalition’s Senate majority, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In Australian party politics, it’s too easy under these conditions for the majority to override without or with only a minium of debate any objections, an especially worrying situation under the present regime, intent on they are on a return to the 19th century (or earlier), so I welcome any effort to ensure the government is aware that they are under direct scrutiny. It hasn’t mattered much to this crowd, but it can’t hurt to keep up the pressure. Although there’ve been accusations of this group being (merely) a Labor Party “front,” those are simply irrelevant if not asinine. Onward & upward!

Microbial
We had the nephews over this weekend, twin eleven-year-olds, very sportif, so we took them bowling. I love bowling, although it isn’t the sport I remember from my misspent youth, where you sat between frames drinking and smoking. Bowling alleys otherwise are the same, and the same world over, I’d say, redolent of wax and shoes. As fun as that was, it was over pretty quickly, so even though we’d already watched the night before our now-traditional video (A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was fun enough, if Jim Carrey’s ad libs weren’t a bit too already-dated), we went to see War of the Worlds. This has been touted as Spielberg’s anti-Schindler, an allegorical war movie for our war-on-terror times, similar to the original intent of the Wells story in putting man’s inhumanity to man in a larger perspective, but while the movie is certainly more true to the original than the 1953 version, and more bleak (as noted by many critics, a church is destroyed early in the attack, while in the Cold War-era adaptation it’s a place of ultimate refuge), you’re hard pressed to come out of the theatre with any message, having been subjected to a tour-de-force of tension in what is, largely, just a chase movie. Tom Cruise may yet grow up to be a good actor – he’s given a bit more to do here than his usual insouciant hero role, but also a bit less. The finale is pure schmaltz and entirely inexplicable: how Boston comes off better in this than New York is beyond understanding, unless it has something to do with the Kennedys or the Kerrys. It was a fun movie, even for its dark tone, and well done, too, worth the price of admission. I can’t help think, however, there might have been something else a bit more challenging and therefore a bit more enjoyable. Maybe something with subtitles next.

Willing
If Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi wins his early election, it will be touted as a triumph for the “coalition of the willing” co-conspiritors, but there is plenty more at issue here than that, especially since Japan is already planning their withdrawal, especially the life savings of many of his citizens, which, like Bush with Social Security in the U.S., Koizumi is intent on putting into the stock market. I expect him to get through, but while there may be some basis for calling this a vote-of-confidence on government-sponsored pension reform, this isn’t a referendum on Iraq.

Baby & Bath
Anyone expecting John Howard’s industrial relations version of Sherman’s March to include the recently awarded parental leave provision are Pollyannas with the brains of Polly-parrots. Such leave flies in the face of everything Howard is attempting to do with his IR changes as well as defying his long-standing and well-evidenced antipathy to women in the workforce. Mommies stay home and take care of babies, and Daddies go to work every day to make money in John Howard’s world. He will punish any who defy that convention, and has been carefully structuring the pensions schemes to ensure such stability, even well before the coalition started in with the “one for mom, one for dad, and one for Australia” population proposal. Inflation may not be a worry right now, but that doesn’t mean a sea change coming, one that may mean longer hours and harder efforts to make ends meet.

Right Rights
The “global struggle against violent extremism” is being used to erode civil liberties we’ve taken for granted for all of our lifetimes or fought to preserve against other external threats for the last hundred years and more. As the threats from the terrorists continue and as they act out their murderous agenda, confusion and fear mount, even among those best suited to deal with the problem, and we make it easier for liberty and democracy to be curtailed. That there are those among us who continue to make their hatred for us clear only exacerbates an already difficult situation, but an eye-for-an-eye mentality only leads worse to worst. In this climate of fear, it’s all too easy for a radical conservatism to take up other, unrelated causes, and to push through transformative legislation to alter the very character of our nations, and do so unopposed. Our opposition politicians, on whom we might otherwise rely to offer checks and balances against extremism – the non-violent kind – have largely become bystanders, enthralled as they are to popular opinion and re-election. It’s important to choose your battles, of course, but more and more often, every battle looks more and more important.

Design
Creationism, the belief now being touted as “intelligent design” doesn’t belong in science class, where evolution is taught. And despite the Command-and-Creep’s suggestion that it should be taught “so people can understand what the debate is about,” even Kansas shouldn’t be fooled into putting it on the curriculum, unless they’re going to start teaching religion, in which case they can have an entire semester devoted to the various creation myths from around the world. If it’s understanding the debate that’s at issue, teach a philosophy course, or put it on the debating society’s topics list. Pro: the emperor of Japan is descended from the Sun. Con: It was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Blues
Continuing my efforts to wean myself from retailers and other corporations whose political donations favor the GOP, I've begun an experiment related to signing up as a Barnes & Noble affiliate. Rather than parasitically maintaining a wish list on Amazon, I'm going to use B&N links in the sidebar. Although they don't have the recommendations facility of Amazon, that's not a feature I put much trust in anyway, so although this is more public, it's not dissimilar from the "what I'm reading" "what I'm listening to" sidebar items seen on other blogs, and if anyone actually buys one of these things (for themselves, of course; I'm not fishing for gifts), I stand to benefit as an affiliate as well as using this as a memory aid. If the pages load too slowly, I may reconsider, but once started on the advertising path, it's precipitous incline.

Regime Change
Fahd’s been sick for a long time, and Abdullah’s been pretty much acting king for that period. Now the House of Saud has a new king officially, but the challenges he faces are the same as he’s been dealing with – or ignoring – all along. There are two expectations now: reform and violence. Reform won’t come soon, and the violence is more likely to be repression of dissidents than it is in a realignment of the ruling family’s power structure, but I fully expect to see some changes take place and some acts of terrorism followed by harsh police actions. As usual with the Arab Middle East, I also anticipate being confounded in my expectations. And meanwhile, if nothing else, the continued dominance of the Saudi royal family is good news for the regime-changers in D.C.

It's Your Supreme Court
The Democrats are collecting questions for Judge Roberts in his confirmation hearings, and, yes, I'm looking at you, Counsellor. (Via Metafilter.)

Cats of the World Wide Web
No, Sarah Boxer, the reason cats feature so heavily on the internet has nothing to do with their self-referential intensely navel-gazing lifestyles, and it's certainly not their ability to ignore their owners' internet time. It's because they'll get up between you and the keyboard until you feed them. They don't like flash photography much, so that's as good a way as any to deter them or otherwise make use of their intrusion. With dogs, when they interrupt, it means you have to take them for a walk.

Searching for Geppetto
The design that's been approved for the new PATH hub at the former WTC site look pretty cool, but then again, I think I'd feel like I was being swallowed by a giant, skeletal whale.

The Day Before
I finished Umberto Eco's latest, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, on the train in this morning. I've been a fan since discovering The Name of the Rose, even through The Island of the Day Before, and in another way especially his essays, so when I saw the reviews of this one, I did my usual: I didn't read any more of them than enough to know that this was an "illustrated novel", experimental in applying images as part of the text. Although I did also get the impression that it wasn't particularly a success, I was very pleased just the same to get it for my birthday (thank you, M.), and by-and-large I can say I enjoyed reading it. It isn't, however, a success.

Queen Loana starts out well, as the story of a man who has lost his memory following an unspecified illness, except for everything he's ever read. This leads him, and the novel, into a search for his past through the textual evidence he's left behind growing up, at which point the novel spirals into a maniacal list-making exercise in nostalgia, unrelieved for the next two thirds of the book, at which point, having suffered a relapse, we spend the remainder reliving his childhood from the point we departed consciousness through to late adolescence, a significant portion of which was recently published as a short story in the New Yorker, where it was a lot better for the redactions.

The writing is still good, for all that, and there are moments throughout that lead to - unfortunately unfulfilled - expectations almost sufficiently thrilling in themselves, leaving me disappointed that nothing promised was ever really met. Even for fans I'd say, go ahead, buy it, if you must, but wait for the paperback. Meanwhile, I'll be more cautious next time I'm buying Eco's fiction.

A Dingo Has Cut the Wire
So Telstra admits it can’t sustain equality of service in rural areas to that of the cities. Where’s a Wichita lineman when you need one? No, seriously, what’s the problem here? Maintenance? Installation? Mobile coverage? I suppose maintenance and installation really go hand-in-hand, although the former would be the greater burden, I expect, than the latter, since the population growth seems centered on the cities. Nevertheless, even inclusive of providing enough signal relay towers the issue presents itself more as budgeting than as actual costs, not budgeting enough in order to pad other areas, like profits. This often happens in large corporations, regardless of government regulation, although that can add a layer of bureaucratic costs eating into the operation. And with thieves like Steve Vizard in the upper echelons, acting as if there just isn’t enough money that isn’t theirs, it seems as likely an explanation as any other. I don’t object in principle to the full privatization of Telstra, but without substantial competition, they need a closer eye on them than they’ve even been getting. Maybe the new guy can manage things better.

Quitting Time
I'm surprised, and I'll bet I'm not alone, to hear that, effective next Wednesday Bob Carr will no longer be Premier. It's two years before the next election, or thereabouts, so it's a bit more sudden than his stated reason of wanting more leisure time would account for, but after 10 years, he probably is pretty jack of it. Even though I find myself disenchanted with him these last couple of years, what with the rail debacle, the desalination plans, and the attempted coup in the merged City/South Sydney councils, he's had a good run, and I hope he'll enjoy retirement. I wouldn't dismiss the idea of him going up for a Federal seat, but I wouldn't be surprised if he really does go home and stay there.

You’re Fired
Shame to use that title, but it’s too appropriate to the growing trend towards the abolishment of unfair dismissal protections. Peter Costello, the man most likely to succeed Howard someday, at least for now, supports eliminating this protection for all, not just Howard’s timid exemption for companies of 100 or fewer employees. While “compassionate conservatism” was never a catch-phrase here, Howard and his ilk are members of that same neoconservative revolution that would eliminate welfare and social justice programs in favor of a return to the debtors prisons and work houses of the Dickensian era. Already it’s been shown that Australia has the worst record in the industrialized world at supporting women’s right to work outside the home, and Howard’s rhetoric and the actions of his government on child care and unemployment benefits for single mothers demonstrates their conviction that women working is immoral and the root cause of the breakdown of society. This latest development in industrial relations isn’t being contemplated by the present government, but make no mistake, it will come back on the agenda. The time to support workers’ rights is now.

Party Planning
Democrats Abroad Australia has a new website, courtesy of our former vice-chairman, Scott Forbes, who has moved back to the U.S. It’s pretty much “proof of concept” at the moment, but will provide a resource for the state chapters to organize their meetings, as well as for the national group to get the word out on events and issues important to the membership and anyone else interested in American Democratic politics. There may be a bug or two to work out, but this site will eventually fully replace the use of Meetup.org, the Yahoo.com group, and other, disparate internet efforts, giving us a robust organizing tool.

Pixies
I remember when I first heard Surfer Rosa, visiting my brother in San Francisco. Like many of the groups for whom I developed an enthusiasm, they didn’t last long, although unlike others they didn’t proceed through a series of personnel changes prior to disbanding. But after a whirlwind tour, complete with “authorized bootlegs” of each show, they’re officially back together and releasing a new record. I’ll buy it, too, but not without some trepidation. It’s nearly 15 years on from when they last put out a record, and that one wasn’t so well-received by the critics. I might be better off with Frank Black’s Honeycomb instead, or waiting for the longed-for Australian tour. (Thanks, Beth, for the heads-up on this.)

Suddenly Thirsty
It's a big ad, all right, and now I want a beer. (Thanks to The Swanker for the link.)

Why Not Iraq?
Michael Costello gets it wrong, point by point. He claims the Iraq war only marginally increases Britain and Australia’s profile with the terrorists because the U.S. was under attack since 1983 and Australians were killed in Bali in 2002, prior to the Iraq invasion. These are valid points, if not precisely within the scope of the overall situation, but he then goes on to claim that the argument is that Iraq is “the cause of the terrorist threat.” No, that’s not what anyone’s saying. We’re saying going into Iraq has increased the scope of the problem. Where we were engaged in the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, we’re now engaged in an effort that has increased the recruiting power of that bloody organization. We’re not ignoring the messages from the terrorists, their claims of struggle against “crusaders,” we’re taking them very seriously, especially since we’re hearing more of this kind of rhetoric since going into Iraq. And nobody says we’d be “safe” if we’d stayed out, just that the situation might now be different, that we might be seeing few terrorist attacks instead of more and in places they weren’t previously happening, like London. This isn’t the Cold War, and Cold War comparisons don’t hold up, including deliberately misconstruing the argument over U.S. involvement with Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion there twenty years ago. It was the U.S. pull-out that allowed the Taliban to seize control and to make Afghanistan a haven for bin Laden’s training camps and planning operations, not support for the mujahideen, even though Osama was among them then. And there’s no head-in-the-sand argument here that ignoring the terrorists will make them go away, just an honest acknowledgement that the Iraq war is indeed “fostering a new generation of terrorists,” so the logical implication is just more dishonesty on Costello’s part. The only honest part of his editorial is the last paragraph, but making the rest of the argument against Iraq into nonsense is just “utter foolishness.” But what else can we expect from the Murdoch press?