The New South Wales economy is in drastic need of reform. Its manufacturing base is collapsing. A long run of drought and climate chaos has left much of the state’s rural industry in a parlous state. It cannot call on a wealth of mineral resources to fill the Treasury’s coffers, while revenue-sharing arrangements negotiated back when the GST was introduced still favour the less populous states. The transport system, utilities sector and a host of big-dollar infrastructure projects are in need of urgent funding and attention. But the government that must attend to them is a government of the living dead. The Labor Party is shambling towards the polls early next year and the wrath of the electorate will be terrible to behold.
John Birmingham, “Failed State”, The Monthly (December 2009)
So when Brian Williams is asking me about what’s a personal thing that you’ve done [that’s green], and I say, you know, “Well, I planted a bunch of trees.” And he says, “I’m talking about personal.” What I’m thinking in my head is, “Well, the truth is, Brian, we can’t solve global warming because I fucking changed light bulbs in my house. It’s because of something collective”.
Barack Obama (via dancroak) (via evangotlib)
reblogged from evangotlib
Let us in future be a bit more skeptical about the need to recreate the protest wheel. In almost all countries run by authoritarian regimes there is an untapped mass of activists, dissidents and anti-government intellectuals who have barely heard of Facebook. Reaching out to these offline but effective networks will yield more value than trying to badger bloggers to take up political activities. Western embassies working on the ground often excel at identifying and empowering such networks, and new media literacy should become part of diplomatic training. After all, these old-school types are the people who brought democracy to Central and Eastern Europe. And it will probably be them who win freedom for China and Iran too.
From Evgeny Morozov’s article “Dictators.com” in the Perspective section of today’s AFR. I don’t really agree with his conclusions but it is an extremely good read and an excellent reminder that we must not idealise social media as the answer to all of the world’s problems.
For the extreme left it [climate change] provides the opportunity to do what they’ve always wanted to do, sort of de-industrialise the Western world. The collapse of communism was a disaster for the left, and they embraced environmentalism as their new religion.
Liberals Senate leader Nick Minchin on ABC’s Four Corners. What a nutcase. This is the same guy who didn’t believe that cigarettes are addictive or that passive smoking is harmful.
To those who would blame Obama and rich countries in general, know this: it was China’s representative who insisted that industrialised country targets, previously agreed as an 80% cut by 2050, be taken out of the deal. “Why can’t we even mention our own targets?” demanded a furious Angela Merkel. Australia’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil’s representative too pointed out the illogicality of China’s position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut? The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point. Now we know why – because China bet, correctly, that Obama would get the blame for the Copenhagen accord’s lack of ambition.
…
All this raises the question: what is China’s game? Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, “not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?” The analyst, who has attended climate conferences for more than 15 years, concludes that China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now “in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years’ time”. Mark Lynas in The Guardian: “How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room”
…
All this raises the question: what is China’s game? Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, “not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?” The analyst, who has attended climate conferences for more than 15 years, concludes that China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now “in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years’ time”. Mark Lynas in The Guardian: “How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room”
Most of all, get your friends, acquaintances, family members, work colleagues, passing strangers, all writing. The bureaucratic capacity to handle ministerial correspondence is a lot like the net filters trialled earlier this year. At low levels of traffic they work OK, but once the traffic picks up, things start to choke up. That’s when Stephen Conroy and his office might start to notice that things are slowing down.
Bernard Keane’s guide to writing to Ministers – Crikey
An excellent guide to writing to your Ministers, MPs and Senators.
(via buyhercandy)
reblogged from buyhercandy
Not to nit pick, but Barney Frank is a DEMOCRAT. It’s a pretty important distinction, particularly when you’re talking about a bill to regulate financial markets. Some idiot at The Age must have misunderstood what “Rep.” means when they were posting the original Washington Post article to www.theage.com.au.
Don’t these people watch The West Wing?
It’s great to see that Samantha Power is advising Obama. She is absolutely brilliant.
(from the Official White House Flickr)
I would have thought the bravery, the courage, the ability to think through a terrible, terrible difficulty to a better way of existing would be something that would be wonderful for a population to have. I don’t have that sort of courage. Do you?
Gordon Thomson commenting on the Australian public’s attitude towards refugees who come to Australia by boat. Quoted in David Marr’s must-read article on the topic in the September issue of The Monthly.
Bizarrely improbable attempt at reaching out to the common man.
William Safire’s Finest Speech
This is the speech Safire drafted for Nixon to read in case the Apollo 11 Astronauts became stranded on the moon! It is a wonderful piece of alternate universe American history, in which President Nixon had to explain to a nation that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were going to die on the moon. (via William Safire’s Finest Speech - William Safire - Gawker)
reblogged from shorterexcerpts
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