Category: General Musings

I’ve just noticed how biased Wikipedia is. I seldom use it a reference but decided to look at it after Tim Lambert mentioned the site in a post. I did a search on John Howard and noticed this Further Reading list. David Barnett and Pru Goward, John Howard, Prime Minister, Viking, 1997 Tony Kevin A Certain Maritime Incident the sinking of SIEV X, Scribe Publications, 2004. ISBN 1920769218. Margo Kingston Not Happy, John! defending Australia’s democracy, Penguin, June 2004. ISBN 0143002589. Marion Maddox God Under Howard: The rise of the religious right in Australian politics, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, February 2005. ISBN 1741145686. David Marr & Marian Wilkinson Dark Victory. ISBN 0143002589 Andrew Wilkie, Axis of deceit, Schwarz Publishing, Melbourne, 2004. In series Black Inc. Agenda. ISBN 09750769-2-2 (“the story of the intelligence officer who risked all to tell the truth about WMD and Iraq”: cover) Wow! In the Dicussion section it all becomes clear. Contributor Adam Car writes;

I am referring to the Further reading section – all of which are identified as “criticisms of Howard.” It has never occurred to anyone to have a “Praise of Howard” section. This is of course because almost all Wikpedians (including me) are anti-Howard.

Comments like that are fine for a writer, commentator or journalist where the readers know the authors political bent but the pedia suggests accurate information given without bias and its clearly not the case.

From the Australian WHEN it ends up on the dinner plate, cow becomes beef, sheep becomes lamb, so why not invent a more palatable name for turning the national symbol into tucker? News.com carried the article as well and called for suggestions from it’s readers. (Hop) Scotch Fillet, Hoppy Chops, Jumpy Rump, Porter Pouch Steak and Hoppy hamburgers are a few suggestions however the freakish had to join in. Angela says How about murdered national icon? and Mike: As a veggie for twenty years, I prefer the label “alive and free”. What is alive and free to Mike could well be alive, free and in plague proportions to the man on the land. In good years we have plagues of roos all watered and fed by the additional dams and grazing we have put in since settelement. There are countless more roos in the country than there were in the 1700s and it’s not as if they are an endangered species. Let the country make some money from them – God knows thay have cost us dearly too date. More suggestions here. Maybe you can think of some better ones.

So your ISP promises 256 kbs and you still think things are going slowly. Click here and test your connection. I did and got 109, 130 and 135kbs. Might have a chat with Optus when I can set aside 30 mins to go through the ‘your call is important to us’ rubbish.

A MOTORCYCLIST allegedly on the run from police came unstuck after he hit a cane toad and lost control of his bike, north of Brisbane.

On Friday I represented Legacy at Tradelink, a commercial enterprise mainly involved with plumbing. They have a couple of hundred stores around Australia all administered from their Brisbane HQ. Once a month the staff have a theme day, dress up and generally have a good time while collecting for a nominated charity. This intiative comes from the top but is clearly supported from the ground floor. Friday being Armistice day the theme was the service and sacrifice of servicemen over our history. I was there all booted and spured with polished medals and regimental tie and was escorted around by two delightful ladies dressed as nurses, complete with make-up scars. One section had turned their office space into 4077 MASH with people dressed as BJ, Honeycut, Radar, ‘Hot Lips’ Hooligan and yes, there was a Cpl Klinger. He did it so well and had the panache to carry it off. One young man had his grandfathers medals, with history and a young woman had a huge library of 1942 newspapers and Time magazines recovered from under the linoleum when she recarpeted. Entire sections were given over to military themes with militaria, badges, flags, posters, news clippings, model soldiers and equipment. What impressed me was the respectful way I was treated. Not me personally, of course, but what I represented. Everyone I met knew what Legacy does and they gave generously – almost $500, a sum that will be matched one-for-one by the GM. They spoke respectfully of service and sacrifice and nearly all had a story to tell of their family member who had died or served. It bouyed me and reaffirmed my faith in the Australian people. No politics, just thanks and I thank them in return. Not for the money, although it is appreciated, but for their smiles, handshakes, appreciative comments about Legacy and service and just for taking us seriously. Armistice Day is always sad for me – I’ve buried too many friends for it not to be so, but this one was all the better for my having visited Tradelink.

Brought myself a Toshiba laptop and set it up on my home network. Set up the old desktop to transfer all the data over….went to press start and the HD decided to take a break. Result. Three days to get back on line and I still have to recover the old data. There goes my Saturday. Bloody computers! Tonight some Brisbane bloggers are meeting at the Brekkie Creek to celebrate the demise of Whitlam’s circus. Come along if you’re up to it but I would hope the BLF pick another pub for the night. About sixish.

From the London Times. The article doesn’t have a link to the website.

AN Al-Qaeda website containing detailed instructions in Arabic on how to make nuclear, “dirty� and biological bombs has attracted more than 57,000 hits and hundreds of readers’ inquiries. Terrorism experts are warning that the site could be boosting the organisation’s appeal to would-be assassins in Britain and abroad.

Doesn’t mean they can make them yet but it’s a worry.

Terrorism experts Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon have reached a stark conclusion about the war on terrorism: the United States is losing. Considering both of them were involved in the Clinton administration they would say that wouldn’t they? Terrorist experts from the Clinton Administration…yeah…right! As I recall all Clinton every did to counter the regular murder of US citizens and soldiers was to dispatch a cruise missile into an empty tent yet The Age happily accepts these guys as experts.

For Benjamin and Simon, the war on terrorism has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and failed to counter a deadly global movement responsible for attacks in London, Madrid, Bali, Indonesia, and Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Ah, the days of instant gratification. It simply isn’t going to happen that quickly. First establish a democracy in the Middle East then watch the citizens of surrounding Sheikdoms question then demand some of this democracy stuff, then encourage development including education that will one day slow down the supply of recruits to terrorism. It’s on for years guys. We are not fighting an Army all lined up ready to be defeated. They are everywhere and still able to fill the gaps in their ranks through the sheer ignorance of their recruiting base. Think beyond tomorrow and you might get the picture.

From The Age The White House has disputed accusations that Italian intelligence in a 2002 meeting passed off fake documents, showing Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, that formed part of US President George W Bush’s case for war against Saddam Hussein.

US officials who attended a September 9, 2002, meeting with Italy’s spy chief do not recall the issue coming up, said a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. The meeting is central to the accusations. “No one who was present at the meeting remembers yellow cake (uranium) being discussed nor any documents being passed,” spokesman Frederick Jones said.

If ‘no one remembers’ what about referring to the minutes kept by the Secretary or don’t we do that anymore. Surely the US can declassify parts of the minutes just to stem the carping and even if they can’t do that, they could say “We have referred to the minutes and that didn’t happen so shut up!”

I always said we weren’t serious about the war on drugs until we brought in the military….. you know…’napalm the poppy fields’ type of war. Well, here’s a start

BRITISH Royal Marine snipers firing from a helicopter blasted out a speedboat’s engines in the Caribbean and seized £200 million ($474 million) worth of cocaine, a newspaper reported today. The armour-piercing shots crippled all four outboard motors and allowed a Navy team from the frigate, HMS Cumberland, to arrest a gang of drug traffickers as they raced across the ocean in a speedboat, The Sun reported.

With a bit of luck this could save some kids life.