Longing for the day ...: Politics Archives

Donnie's Black Dog - the full story

I was mowing my parents' lawn last week ... in the Queensland heat and humidity ... when a flash of inspiration popped into my head. Now, my head usually reverts to playing music when the rest of me is doing... More

Posted by Huge at 4:07 PM | Comments (0)

At last! Marriage equality ...

Congratualations to the Australan Parliament for finally doing what we all knew the a majority of the Australian people have wanted for some time - allowing Same Sex Marriage. This is wonderful development that will improve the mental health of... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:42 AM | Comments (0)

War and peace ... and other stuff

Just posted this as a comment on Dave Rowlands' Facebook post. Thought it was meme-worthy so I'll create a meme for it soon and see what happens: "The sooner we stop thinking that killing our opponents ends the argument, the... More

Posted by Huge at 1:17 PM | Comments (0)

Budget Crisis

As readers of this blog will know, I have some fairly clear and strong political leanings. I've never been a member of any party but I know what I think is a good way to run the country: full equality... More

Posted by Huge at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

Federal government: don't be stupid enough to try to censor the Internet ...

... please ... ??? http://www.internetblackout.com.au/ Join the protest!!... More

Posted by Hughie at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)

Accurate sarcasm ...

Just read this little snippet from Techdirt, which notes that since the German School shooting a lot of people, including a Police Chief, have called for a ban on violent video games - citing a link between them and school... More

Posted by Hughie at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)

Support critical reflection!!!

My [MusicThoughts] buddy TJR made a really great song about American Idol. He made a video for it using clips from the show and posted it to YouTube. The Video was a huge hit, getting 20,000 views in a week.... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:35 AM | Comments (0)

Congratulations, President Obama - now the world is watching

It's great to see a Black Man in the White House. Long overdue and hopefully will set the tone for a fresh perspective on life all over the world. Congratulations to Barack Obama and his team - it's an extraordinary... More

Posted by Hughie at 8:27 AM | Comments (0)

Vale, Matt Price.

It's a sad time for Australian politics and journalism. One of the most entertaining, fair-minded and insightful political commentators died of brain tumours on the weekend. Matt price was the beacon of reason in a sea of right-wing nonsense in... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:14 AM | Comments (0)

Awesome election rap battle

A friend of mine posted this to Facebook, and I thought it was so brilliant I'd have to share it. Have to find out more about these guys: The Axis of Awesome.But first, here's their election rap:... More

Posted by Hughie at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)

Peter Costello

Brilliant quote I heard that was attributed to Paul Keating, who's notorious for his creative insults: "The thing about poor old Costello is he is all tip and no iceberg." I heard it had been used at the ALP National... More

Posted by Hughie at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)

Onya Ricky!

There's not enough politics in music these days, so it's great to see that Ricky Martin got into trouble for making a political statement about George W Bush while performing in Puerto Rico. Even better, he had the balls to... More

Posted by Hughie at 6:31 PM | Comments (0)

Congratulations, Your Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II has been in that position for 55 years today. I reckon 55 years in any position is a noteworthy acheivement and she should be given full credit for eaching the milestone. She has aquitted herself with integrity... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:58 AM | Comments (1)

Don't often agree with the Pope but ...

I read this morning that on his visit to Turkey he called on all religious leaders to "utterly refuse to support any form of violence in the name of faith". That's a great leap forward and long overdue - especially... More

Posted by Hughie at 8:44 AM | Comments (0)

As long as WWII? That's too long

I read yesterday and this morning that today marks the day that the US has spent as long in the War in Iraq as it did in World War II. That's a tragedy for all concerned. Of course, Michael Moore... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:55 AM | Comments (0)

Enough said ...

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/73821-print.shtml Saddam must face justice, not a judicial farce that subjects him to the very punishment for which he was reviled. In supporting this sentence we reveal ourselves to be no morally better than the accused.... More

Posted by Hughie at 3:27 PM | Comments (0)

Couldn't have said it better ...

Well said, Antony Lowenstein. The problems of he violence in and around Israel are complex and intractable but one glaringly obvious fact is that violent responses from either side have only the effect of prolonging the agony for all concerned.... More

Posted by Hughie at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)

Doubly predictable

[sigh] Madonna was always going to do something to grab promotional headlines by annoying the Church in her new show and the Church was always going to help her by biting at her barbs ... Why is this news?? Why... More

Posted by Hughie at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)

Propaganda, media and John Howard

Lyn Allison, I couldn't have said it better myself. Very astute observations about the use of mediated propaganda to disguise reality ...... More

Posted by Hughie at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

The Cost of putting a price on education

Andrew West, I couldn't have said it better myself. The degredation of education as a means to open minds is as short-sighted and narrow-mainded as the degredation of scientific research that is not imediately prodcutive. They are both completely destructive... More

Posted by Hughie at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)

This space left blank ...

for Nguyen Truong Van and his family.... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:00 AM | Comments (0)

Explaining suicide terrorism

Keith Suter says it far better than I ever could here: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3707. It works nicely with an article in the Australian Financial Review, in which Scott Burchill examines the way proponents of the "War on Terrorism" use a false 'us... More

Posted by Hughie at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)

They just don't get it ...

I don't often agree with The Australian's Foreign Editor, Greg Sheridan, but on July 9, just after the London bombings, he said this: There is a persistent desire to pretend that the war on terror is an American exaggeration, or... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:17 AM | Comments (0)

Well, that makes sense, I guess ...

It's absolutely despicable - and clearly indicative of the mindset in this country - that the Live 8 concert won't be shown live. Instead, Channel Nine will show Wimbeldon - featuring no Aussies, BTW - with a potted Live 8... More

Posted by Hughie at 6:14 PM | Comments (0)

An update ...

Well, the ABC, at least, has run with the Downing Street memo story. There's still no update from the SMH or News.com.au, though. Not that I'm holding my breath for News Limited to give the story any air ... But... More

Posted by Hughie at 2:07 PM | Comments (0)

Well, that's no surprise.

Just found this article, which concerns the revelation that the UK government knew the Yanks were not ready to invade Iraq but decided they had to justify the invasion anyway. It's one of a long series of articles about the... More

Posted by Hughie at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)

Shame, Australia, Shame

There is no excuse for the attack on the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra. None! We have no right to retaliate against any perceived injustice in the legal systems of another country. Especially not based on the impossibly limited information about... More

Posted by Hughie at 3:38 PM | Comments (1)

Agreeing with your opponents

I don't agree with John Howard on a lot of his policies but I wholeheartedly applaud his intervention to "encourage" Telstra to re-instate its funding of the Lifeline telephone service. This service has made a huge difference to thousands of... More

Posted by Hughie at 8:38 AM | Comments (1)

The thin end of the spin

So, a policeman walks around the corner of a street in his neighbourhood and sees two armed guys standing on either side of another guy who has a sack over his head. Standing in front of the guy with the... More

Posted by Hughie at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

History repeating??

Someone pointed this out to me the other day aand I just had to note it here for future reference: The election in Iraq is a significant and important step along the road to a more peaceful world, but it's... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:43 AM | Comments (1)

Making something out of tragedy

I hope Adam Gilchrist is right. If there's one good thing that has come out of the Asian Tsunami, it's the opportunity for the West, particularly the "Coalition of the Willing" to put some effort into making a third-world nation... More

Posted by Huge at 2:05 PM | Comments (0)

Three more years of ...

OK, I'm officially pissed off. I made no secret of my desire for an end to John Howard's tyranny of the pathetic, and now I just hope I'm wrong. It's odd, because I, personally, might be better off with JH... More

Posted by Hughie at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)

Springsteen voting for change

Just read about the long-awaited Vote 4 Change concerts. As a long-time Springsteen fan, I've gotta confess It's no surprise to see the man stand up against what he percieves as the destuction of the America he loves. I'm no... More

Posted by Huge at 1:32 PM | Comments (0)

Extremists?

ROTFL!!!! I just saw a TV ad for the Family First Party. For this mob to call the Greens "extremist" is the pot calling the kettle black. These guys are driven by the ideology of a fundamentalist Christian church (I... More

Posted by Hughie at 9:48 PM | Comments (0)

Federal Election comments

OK, I'll probably only say one thing about this election: I hope John Howard loses. The vindictive part of me wants him to lose badly and be personally humiliated by the defeat, preferrably going down in history as the worst... More

Posted by Hughie at 1:52 PM | Comments (0)

Interesting public releases

OK, I have heard about the ALP's "Truth Overboard" thing - it's not hard to find. Interesting catalogue of statements - I was wondering when the ALP would do this. What's even more interesting, though, is the unavailability of the... More

Posted by Hughie at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

Wanting the best for Iraq

One day the holier-than-thou leaders of ths debacle will be forced to admit that Western standards of decency and the rules of wear don't apply to a people who think they're fighting (rightly or wrongly) for their very existence. It you're struggling on that basis (or, at least, you think you are) you're going to do whatever it takes. Dying defending your home and family is better than staving to death or being brutalised along with them. More

Posted by Huge at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

The politics of right

The short summary of my position is this: I think helping the US administration to invade Iraq was a bad idea but now that we're in there we should stay until Iraq looks like it might genuinely become and remain a stable democracy. More

Posted by Huge at 9:10 PM | Comments (0)

Category: Politics

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