Western Civilisation at its finest . . .

AUSTRALIAN television tonight broadcast previously unpublished graphic images of the alleged physical abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. SBS television's Dateline program tonight screened video and still images of the wounds allegedly inflicted on the Iraqis by their American captors.

They included photographs of blood-soaked Iraqi prisoners who had been tortured or shot dead, footage of a prisoner repeatedly slamming his head into a metal door, and a film of naked male prisoners being forced to masturbate in front of the camera.

The Bush administration is reportedly attempting to prevent release of the images in the US, arguing that their publication could provoke antagonism towards the US.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been granted access to the images under Freedom of Information, but the US government is appealing the decision.

George Negus, host of tonight's Dateline program, told SBS viewers it was important to televise the images to make the public aware of what taken place at Abu Ghraib prison.

"Despite the currently overheated international climate, we're showing them because they show the extent of the horror that occurred at Abu Ghraib," Negus said.

The program reported that some prisoners at Abu Ghraib were killed when US soldiers ran out of rubber bullets trying to quell a riot at the jail and resorted to using live rounds.

ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh told Dateline the images were evidence of "systemic and widespread abuse" of prisoners by US soldiers. (news.com.au)

DOCTOR (Translation): You were at Abu Ghraib, right? Did anything specific happen to you there?

HAJ ALI (Translation): Anyone who had an injury or handicap, it was used in interrogations to pressure them. He told me to put my hand on the floor and he stood on it and twisted his boot. I fainted.

DOCTOR (Translation): So you put your hand down and they crushed it? (SBS Dateline, November 9, 2005)

ABU MAAN (Translation): If they came and found me asleep they'd piss in a bottle and either pour it on me or tie me up and make me drink it. What has information got to do with making you drink urine? (SBS Dateline, November 9, 2005)

HAJ ALI (Translation): We've seen none of the Titan Corp or CACI interrogators who'd rape a man in front of his wife, and a woman in front of her husband and a girl in front of her family. We haven't seen any of them being charged. This company hides behind its billions. A month after Abu Ghraib, its contract was renewed. (SBS Dateline, November 9, 2005)

Images courtesy of Daily Kos.
UPDATE (17/2/06):

Salon has obtained files and other electronic documents from an internal Army investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal. The material, which includes more than 1,000 photographs, videos and supporting documents from the Army's probe, may represent all of the photographic and video evidence that pertains to that investigation.

The files, from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID), include hundreds of images that have never been publicly released. Along with the unpublished material, the material obtained by Salon also appears to include all of the famous photographs published after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in April 2004, as well as the photographs and videos published Wednesday by the Australian television news show "Dateline."

The source who gave the CID material to Salon is someone who spent time at Abu Ghraib as a uniformed member of the military and is familiar with the CID investigation. . . .

Read more!

Could this be the ugliest word in the English language?

"When you can align your IT with business goals you can be assured of the commitment of the entire company, including senior management. They understand the criticality of a Quality Assurance department in development, and that having all software developed thoroughly tested, improves application quality and ultimately customer satisfaction and controls costs."

That's not a Bushism (nor indeed a Vale-ism). That's David Jones stuffed-shirt Gareth Maiden, waxing lyrical about the virtues of software developed by Mercury, on the latter's website. And it's a pity Mr Maiden failed to understand the "criticality" of being able to string a sentence together without making his audience wince.

Criticality. (Shudder.) Only a corporate lackey could dream up a word like that. Try reading aloud the passage above, doing your best impersonation of David Brent, and you'll see what I mean. H. W. Fowler (of Fowler's Modern English Usage fame) would have called it a "nonce-word:"

A 'nonce-word' (and the use might be extended to 'nonce-phrase' and 'nonce-sense'—the latter not necessarily, though it may be sometimes, equivalent to nonsense) is one that is constructed to serve a need of the moment. The writer is not seriously putting forward his word as one that is for the future to have an independent existence; he merely has a fancy to it for this once. The motive may be laziness, avoidance of the obvious, love of precision, or desire for a brevity or pregnancy that the language as at present constituted does not seem to him to admit of. The first two are bad motives, the third a good, and the last a mixed one. But in all cases it may be said that a writer should not indulge in these unless he is quite sure he is a good writer.

Now, neither Mr Maiden, nor the individual responsible for the Mercury "Customer Success Story" in which his utterance appears, are good writers--and, of course, they don't have to be. (They're salesmen, for fuck's sake!) Nevertheless, like yourself I'm racking my brain, trying to imagine the scenario that could have given birth to a nonce-word like criticality. Maybe the bran muffin and mugaccino Mr Maiden had for breakfast that morning reached a critical point in his digestive tract (the "event horizon," if you will) at that stage of the interview. Maybe the Mercury guy was typing at gunpoint, with a voluptuous blonde performing fellatio on him beneath the desk. (Ever seen Swordfish?) Maybe it was the fruit of a desperate attempt to get a Triple Word Score in Scrabble.

Criticulous.

(N.B. In fact, criticality is a real word: it comes to us from the discourses of physics and nuclear technology (in the latter case it is synonymous with "critical mass"). It even has it's own Wiki entry. Within these contexts, it's a "working word." Outside these contexts, it's a travesty.) Read more!

Another own goal by the Coalition of the Willing

We know that Coalition troops in Iraq have been liberating the living shit out of the natives for nigh on three years now, but the latest is just plain embarrassing:

The Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation into a video which allegedly shows British soldiers brutally beating a group of young Iraqis.

The film, which was reported in a Sunday newspaper, shows the troops repeatedly kicking, punching and striking civilians with batons.

The newspaper said the footage was filmed during street riots in Basra in 2004 by a corporal who can be heard laughing and encouraging his colleagues in a running commentary.

(Winston Churchill was at one time in favour of using poison gas against the "uncivilised tribes" of the Middle East, so I suppose this is something of a step up.) But seriously, if you want an insight as to why the "Arab Street" is in such an uproar over the Danish cartoons (as well as an ironic take on the "Clash of Civilisations" thesis, to boot), look no further.

The British Ministry of Defence is investigating the incident. I suggest that in the course of the investigation the Ministry takes a good hard look at the kind of military culture that allows something like this to transpire in the first place.

Anyway, you can see the neocon porn for yourself on the News of the World website. As the saying goes: here's a gun, there's your foot.

Read more!

Letter to the Editor from "Gerard" of Sydney . . .

Gerard Henderson on Radio National this morning (Re: the RU486 debate):

Well, you take Senator Kerry Nettle, for example, who went around the Parliament with a t-shirt on Wednesday saying: "Mr Abbott: Get Your Rosaries (as in the Catholic prayer) Off My Ovaries." Now, would Senator Nettle do that with a reference to the Koran, on issues where she is in disagreement with the teachings of Islam on homosexuality, for example? Of course she wouldn't! I mean, Catholics are for Senator Nettle a soft target--she wouldn't take on Muslims like that.

Ummm . . . last time I checked, the Health Minister isn't a Muslim (he is, however, a hardline Catholic who wears his religious opinions on his sleeve--then plaintively whines "Help! Help! I'm being persecuted!" when he is called out for it), nor do Islamic teachings on homosexuality have any influence whatsoever on government policy in Australia. (And the Senate was debating RU486 on Wednesday, not homosexuality.)

Arseclown. Read more!

Dispatches From The War On Free Speech

In Tasmania:

A SEXUALLY explicit artwork depicting a gay Jesus has been slammed as shameful, foul, sacriligious and grossly offensive by a Tasmanian Liberal MP.

Member for Denison Michael Hodgman said the highly-offensive work, by prominent Tasmanian artist Shaun McGowan, should be immediately removed from display at the Red Wall Gallery at North Hobart's Republic Bar.

He believed a significant proportion of the community would be shocked and offended by the work, Imitation of Christ, which shows an image of Jesus Christ surrounded by gay men performing sexual acts.

"Most members of the Tasmanian community are prepared to accept a degree of comment, but this particular abomination falls well outside proper bounds and is grossly offensive," Mr Hodgman said.

"Events of recent days around the world show that whilst we should respect the freedom of expression, we must also recognise that certain religious and cultural elements have particular personal and religious importance to members of our society."

Meanwhile, at the Cole Inquiry:

A COMEDY team's stunt outside the AWB inquiry has fallen flat, with the commission to refer it to police.

A crew from ABC satire The Chaser confronted AWB executive Charles Stott outside the building where the inquiry is being conducted in Sydney, presenting him with a cheque made out to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and asking him to sign it.

"My client was completely shaken," said Mr Stott's lawyer Paul Lacava, SC.

Mr Cole said he would arrange for solicitors to provides statements and refer the matter to police. "I will have steps taken … to retain that film" for investigative purposes, he said.

And in Belgium:

A town in Belgium has banned an artwork of Saddam Hussein for fear that it will put off tourists and offend Muslims.

The piece, called Saddam Hussein Shark, shows the handcuffed ex-Iraqi ruler suspended in liquid and wearing nothing more than underpants.

The mayor of Middelkerke, Michel Landuyt, said the work could "shock people", including Muslims.

He said he decided to ban Czech artist David Cerny's sculpture before the row over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Saddam piece, which echoes British artist Damien Hirst's famous shark suspended in formaldehyde, was first shown in Prague last September.

Read more!

Chocolate Silk Cheesecake

Over at Anonymous Lefty's blog:

MIKE JERICHO: You know, when you and I finally meet, I think you'll be altogether less talkative. By the way, I note you took down the fake picture of the male model you represented as yourself on your pink site.

Good idea, because I figure he had to have looked like even more of a faggot than you do.

DAVID HEIDELBERG: Was that a threat Mike?

MIKE JERICHO: Let's call it a prediction.

I think what we all need instead is a nice hot cup of tea and a slice of my "Chocolate Silk Cheesecake." It isn't really mine--I borrowed it from this site and made a few alterations (upping the fat content and substituting milk chocolate for dark chocolate, and Woolies Home Brand cocoa for "Dutch Process"--whatever that might be):

2/3 cup reduced-calorie chocolate wafer crumbs (about 20 cookies)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon stick margarine, melted
1 tablespoon water
Cooking spray
3 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 (250g) blocks fat-free cream cheese
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup hot fudge topping
1 cup low-fat sour cream

Preheat oven to 200C.

Process first 4 ingredients. Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at
200C for 8 minutes. Cool crust on a wire rack. Increase oven temperature to 250C.

Combine chocolate and milk in a bowl; microwave at high 45 seconds or until chocolate melts, stirring after 30 seconds. Cool.

Combine 1 1/4 cups sugar, cheeses, vanilla, and salt in a food processor, and process just until smooth. Add egg whites, and process until blended. Add chocolate mixture, cocoa, fudge topping, and sour cream, and process until blended.


Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 250C for 7 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 120C, and bake
25 minutes or until almost set. Cheesecake is done when the center barely moves when the pan is touched. Remove cheesecake from oven; run a knife around outside edge, and cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Feel the love! Read more!

On the other hand, we all have our sacred cows . . .

. . . which probably explains the mystifying events that transpired in an art gallery in Footscray two weeks ago:

About a fortnight ago, a senior constable from Footscray police embarked on an intricate rescue mission, climbing through the window of a cafe and into the Trocadero Art Space next door to remove a burnt and damaged Australian flag displayed on a billboard outside the gallery. The work, titled Proudly Un-Australian, was by artist Azlan McLennan. He has yet to be charged. He has not been told what offence, if any, he committed, and his flag has not been returned.

Elements of the Right in Australia--who, I'm certain, would be firmly on the side of free speech in the Damish newspaper case--have again called for a legal ban on flag-burning. (Surprise, surprise.)

HEATHER EWART: Azlan McLennan still hasn't been told what he'll be charged with. But for Federal Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop, his case is a very timely one. She's planning to introduce a private members' bill into the Parliament this session to ban Australian flag-burning and can sympathise with the Footscray police action.

BRONWYN BISHOP: I'd say a lot of Australians, including me, would be pleased that the police took some action. But the problem is at the present time it's not an offence, it's not a crime.

So . . . when the object of criticism or mockery is Muslim, it's free speech. When the object of criticism or mockery is Australian (in particular, something dear to the hearts of conservatives), it's a criminal offence (or should be). Got it. Read more!

My 2 cents worth on the Mohammed cartoons . . .

Did the newspapers have the right to publish the cartoons?
-- Absolutely

Was it silly of them to do so?
-- Silly at best. At worst, malicious.

Does that mean that this is justified?
-- Of course not. (Duh)

Some maintain that we should bear in mind the context in which the cartoons were originally published. What do you say to that?
--That this whole exercise is simply an innocent exploration of the limits of the freedom of the press I seriously doubt. The intent was to provoke outrage among Muslims--and in particular, to provoke extremist reactions of the kind we're seeing in Syria and Lebanon--just so the anti-Muslim/anti-immigration Right can say: "See? Told you." (I can't prove this, of course.) And it has paid off brilliantly: a neocon Danish newspaper publishes images that are bound to (indeed, are designed to) offend Muslims, and ordinary Muslims everywhere are asked to apologise for the consequences. (Sheesh! They're not even allowed to be offended!)

Anything else to add?
Yeah. Fundies--of whatever religious stripe--go to hell! (Ed Brayton has a great post about the doctrine of religious exceptionalism as regards free speech.) Read more!

Why I don't watch TV (much)

1. The Time Machine. (The 2002 version.) In the future, the human race is divided into subterranean Orcs and over-acting Elf-Hobbits. The hero, Guy Pearce, demonstrates effectively why the differing trajectories of his and Russell Crowe's Hollywood careers post-L.A. Confidential are thoroughly deserved. (That's not to say I haven't enjoyed some of Pearce's other films--e.g. Memento--but I don't think he's a good actor. Apparently he redeems himself in The Proposition, which I have yet to see.) As for Jeremy Irons' bad guy: "slimy albino" is an unusual look for a supervillain (but hey!--it worked for Satan in The Passion of the Christ).

Woeful.

2. An ABC doco on C. S. Lewis. I must admit that the Narnia tales sit unread on my bookshelf, and I don't know a lot about C. S. Lewis other than that he is generally considered the Yoda of Christian apologists. Here he is presented as an atheist who converts to Christianity--a cautionary tale familiar to us atheists ("If little Johnny/Lee Strobel/Anthony Flew can believe in God, why can't you?)--though his own account of the conversion reveals him never to have been an atheist in the first place (despite his assertions to the contrary). The actor playing Lewis declares "I gave in, and admitted that God was God ... perhaps that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England"--and I turn a deeper shade of unimpressed. Read more!

Positively earth-shattering . . .

"Almost half of young people fail first driving test." (ABC News Online)

The Western Australia Government is concerned over the number of teenagers who are failing their practical driving tests.

New figures show 46 per cent of people who sat their practical assessment in the last financial year failed at their first attempt.

Similar failure rates were recorded for people sitting their second and third tests.

The most common mistakes were failing to give way, rolling through stop signs and speeding through school zones and on suburban roads.

The Government has urged young drivers to take a more responsible approach to obtaining their licence.

Ever heard of nerves?

Read more!

What's happening to the Labor Party?

Alan Carpenter will be WA's new Premier, and it is to be hoped that his tenure will not be marked by the rank idiocy of his NSW counterpart Morris Iemma:

SCHOOLS across the state will be forced to play the Australian anthem before class under a radical NSW Government plan to create respect in the community.

Teachers at primary schools will be required to introduce "Australian values" studies from the beginning of this school year while the Three Rs will be expanded to five to include the topics of Respect and Responsibility.

The move marks the first stage of plans to foster respect of authority which will be rolled out over the next few months.

The changes cover all the major portfolios, including police, transport and housing.

It will include a law enforcement package with new laws to make it easier for police to crack down on anti-social behaviour including riots.

Fines and penalties for a range of offences such as damaging public property, including transport and housing, will also be reviewed.

Unveiling the details exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the recent Cronulla riots demonstrated the need to build respect for authority within the community. "I believe what happened at Cronulla, Maroubra and Brighton-Le-Sands had its roots in a fundamental lack of respect for authority developed at an early age," he said.

This comes in the wake of Young Labor's call for compulsory national service. And hopefully, when the next Federal election comes around, wiser heads prevail in Federal Labour. Because it will never be able to out-Coalition the Coalition, and it will never unseat any Coalition governments by trying.

(Hat-tip to commenter Steve Edwards at Larvatus Prodeo. As he points out: what, exactly, are "Australian values?" And who gets to decide? And what gives them the authority to decide?) Read more!

Closer to God

From the theological news site Ekklesia:

Goth priest stirs up staid Cambridge
With fresh and experimental forms of church life top of the agenda for many of the traditional denominations facing declining attendances, the idea of a ‘Goth vicar’ is perhaps less of a shock to some Christians than to religious observers – which may be why the Rev Marcus Ramshaw is having to get used to a minor frenzy of media attention.

Mr Ramshaw, a priest in the Church of England who serves his title at St Edward King and Martyr Church in Cambridge, has devised a worship service especially for members of the local ‘goth’ community and others on the local dance and club scene.

[. . .]

[T]he enterprising clergyman, whose inclinations span both Anglicanism and gothdom, has devised a liturgy which incorporates the music of bands like the Sisters of Mercy and Joy Division, as well as candles and other goth-friendly symbolism.

Hmm . . .

(And yes: the opportunity to title it "Closer to God" is the only reason I posted this story.)

Read more!

History ad populum: the Right whines about postmodernism . . . again (yawn)

So beset is the right-wing echo-chamber that is the Opinion section of The Australian with arrogance and hubris--its commentators no longer appear to deem it necessary to encumber their bloviations with details, examples, or even an argument. Take, for instance, "Can't we just teach serious history in the classroom?" by high school history teacher Gregory Haines, in which he talks about the "decline" of academic history: a decline that he attributes to . . . drum roll, please . . . "The rise of postmodernism and theory in arts faculties." But it is very difficult to tell precisely what kind of history Haines believes the academies should be teaching--or would be teaching were it not for the pernicious influences of postmodernism and theory. And given that his piece closes by drawing an analogy with current controversies in science education--"It is little realised how closely the relationship between history and the cocktail of postmodernism, theory and political correctness resembles the relationship between science and creationism or intelligent design"--one can reasonably infer that Haines believes that an unbiased, apolitical, scientific and objective approach to the teaching of history is possible.

Sadly, no explanation of what such an approach would look like is forthcoming.

Instead, Haines regales us with horror-stories of how students

seem fed up with many of the courses on offer, especially history from below, politically correct history and the current fad of historiography.

Aside from the fact that you will struggle to find a course in any educational institution that calls itself "Politically Correct History," notice that Haines doesn't really tell us what's wrong with history from below or historiography--all he gives us is pejorative and the idea that these things are unpopular, which is, for the Right, critique enough.

He continues:

Students, it appears from a number of surveys, prefer history courses of substance dealing with the grand themes, courses which are educational as well as informative and which open them to diverse cultures and times.

According to surveys? Again, his assertion is long on jingoism and short on detail, but it does reveal one thing: Haines thinks what he calls "politically correct history" should be supplanted by . . . politically correct history! History ad populum rather than history from below. Poll-driven history, the content of which is determined by what people--particularly, the majority of people (as "a number of surveys" would indicate)--want to hear.

Haines' remark is interesting, given his allusion to the ID debate. If he thinks what gets taught in history courses should be dictated by surveys, does he believe the same should apply to other subjects--such as science or mathematics? Are his own history lessons conducted in this fashion?

I think not. I think Haines has a fairly precise notion of what he thinks should be taught in a history course, and I suspect it would not differ greatly from the politically-correct version of history that prevailed in Australian high school curricula until a few decades ago (i.e. the version of history that tells us that Australian history more or less began in 1788). But why not tell his readers about (even if he is preaching to the choir--his piece originally appeared in Quadrant)? It seems all you need to do to get a right-wing op-ed piece published these days is to string together the requisite red-scare words--"postmodernist," "left-wing", "Marxist," "academic"--and let the sheeple fill in the blanks.
Read more!

Gallop quits

WA Premier Geoff Gallop has resigned from politics suddenly and unexpectedly, citing depression. Often derided as "Good News Gallop" by WA's right-wing press (there being no centre or left-wing press), he had some half-decent policies--particularly concerning industrial relations, public transport and housing, and the environment--and it is to be hoped that he makes a swift recovery.

Former ABC 7.30 Report presenter Alan Carpenter and former Opposition Leader Jim McGinty have been cited as frontrunners for the post. Read more!

This man is an IDiot . . . so we can't show you his face on television

As Panda's Thumb reports, the US state of Ohio will soon very likely play host to its own "Dover Trial":

Late this afternoon (Jan 10) the Ohio State Board of Education, by a 8-9 vote, defeated a motion to delete the offending “Critical Analysis” lesson plan from the model curriculum. Two members were absent.

A little background: on December 10th, 2002 the Ohio BOE voted 18-0 in favour of adopting a new definition of "science":

First, a new "definition" of science was added: "Recognize that science is a systematic method of continuing investigation, based on observation, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, and theory building, which leads to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena." This replaces the following statement in Scientific Ways of Knowing, Grade 10, Indicator 3: "Recognize that scientific knowledge is limited to natural explanations for natural phenomena based on evidence from our senses or technological extensions."

Hmm . . . sound familiar? There's more:

Second, a new statement was added as Life Sciences, Grade 10, Indicator 23: "Describe how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory. (The intent of this indicator does not mandate the teaching or testing of intelligent design.)" This same statement was also added to Benchmark H in Life Sciences, Grade 10, with the substitution of the word "benchmark" for "indicator."

The main issue, however, doesn't concern the benchmarks--however much they open the door, as in Kansas, for the Wicked Witch of the East to be cited as a "more adequate explanation of natural phenomena." The chief cause of concern for science educators has been the mooted adoption of lesson plans which, while they purport to offer a "critical analysis of evolutionary theory" (why only evolutionary theory?), emerge directly out of the ID/creationist playbook. Ohio Citizens for Science give a more comprehensive account of the problem here.

The sheer arrogance of the ID/creationist crowd never ceases to amaze (or give pause for concern, given Brendan Nelson's vision of what an Australian science education should look like). Take, for example, the fellow in the picture below (from the Columbus Dispatch's coverage of the Ohio BOE meeting, mentioned at the head of this post, which narrowly defeated a proposition to expunge the creationist lesson plans).

(In case the original article is archived and the image disappears, here's the text that accompanies it: "Richard E. Baker, a member of the State Board of Education, displays his apparent lack of interest in arguments for changing the state’s science standards being put forth by fellow board member Martha W. Wise. Baker, who later voted to maintain the current standards, did not speak during yesterday’s afternoon session, choosing instead to read the newspaper throughout.")

The picture speaks for itself, but more telling is the "challenge" laid down by board member and lawyer Michael Cochran:

I’m bothered deeply by all this legal advice from nonlawyers: "The Dover case means this; the Dover case means that." If they think we are wrong — take us to court.

I really hope, if and when a Dover-style challenge is mounted against the Ohio BOE, that these fools get to eat their words (as the Dover board members did). Richard Dawkins spoke truly when he labelled such folk "Know-nothings." Unfortunately, these generally turn out to be heads-I-win-tails-you-lose situations for the ID/creationist crowd: if not victory, then martyrdom.

UPDATE: I was wrong. The latest "Dover-style" encounter between ID and the Estabishment Clause is actually happening right now in California. Read more!

On My Selection

At around the age of 17, I migrated from the wasteland of commercial radio to the ABC's self-styled "youth network" Triple J--a journey which I have since discovered is common among late adolescents, though many of them subsequently move back. In those days, Triple J had only recently become a national network (having begun life as a Sydney station), and "alternative music" was (in Australia at least) only beginning to establish itself as a distinct genre on the shelves of chain music retailers--even if it rarely (and then belatedly) got a look-in on commercial radio playlists, a trend which largely continues today.

Let's put it this way: J Babies--a staple of the pub cover band in Perth for years now--could not have existed (as a lucrative venture) prior to 1993/94. Prior to then, "Australian music" meant Johnny Diesel, Jimmy Barnes and Johnny Farnham (Diesel and Wendy Matthews dominated the ARIAs in '93), as opposed to, say, You Am I (who picked up the inaugural "Best Alternative Release" gong in 1994), Regurgitator, Spiderbait, or even "King of Pop" Dave Graney. Triple J's role in dramatically boosting the profile of alternative music in the local music scene--at least until 1997, when bubblegum pop, locally in the guise of Savage Garden, internationally in the form of the Spice Girls, made a big comeback--has been far from insignificant. Neither has been the yearly release of its "Hottest 100" compilations, the first of which--which also happened to be one of the first CDs I ever purchased--was released in 1994.

For reasons best articulated by John Doyle in his 2005 "Andrew Olle Lecture," I have not since returned to commercial radio (the argument that the line between JJJ and commercial radio has faded somewhat of late notwithstanding):

I’ve always loved radio. Mornings was Gary O’Callaghan and Sammy Sparrow until pop meant the 2SM Good Guys introduced the songs that would become the diary of adolescence. Many years later, what’s changed? Talkback. That’s all. Commercial radio now: AM. Bandwagon talkback, water cooler drivel as talkback thought starters, competitions, finance and weather, quizzes, traffic, more talkback, then an inflammatory lunatic with talkback. FM. Whacky clubs or Crews, old music or a balance of old music with unthreatening new, competitions, requests, racy talkback with swearing and repetition. All programs are substantially written by the daily newspapers. Breakfast and Mornings used to have a deal – Breakfast got the stories on the odd pages and Mornings got the ones on the even pages. The quirky stories are good for the Crews – often they are survey - based stories. Four out of every ten Swedes prefer briefs to boxers. ‘Come on guys, what do you prefer? Give us a call.’ ‘G’day Brian, love your show. I wear briefs, mate.’ The Crew might ask blokes who freebag to phone in. One of the Crew will have an insight. ‘I always freebag in my trackies’. ‘You’re wearing your trackies now’. ‘Bloody hell!’ – much hilarity and that becomes a promo sound bite for the next month.

Nevertheless, I have always been something of an indifferent participant in the Hottest 100 poll. This year, for a change, I've made the effort. Here are the songs I voted for, in no particular order of preference:

Dears: "Lost In The Plot"
Franz Ferdinand: "Do You Want To?"
Gorillaz: "Feel Good Inc."
Jose Gonzales: "Heartbeat"
Kanye West: "Gold Digger"
Ladytron: "Destroy Everything You Touch"
Maximo Park: "The Coast Is Always Changing"
Pendulum: "Fasten Your Seatbelts"
The Strokes: "Juice Box"
Sufjan Stevens: "Chicago"

Unlike in previous years when Adult Oriented Rock reigned supreme (cough*Powderfinger*cough*Alex Lloyd*cough), the winner for 2005 is much harder to pick. My money's on Gorillaz or Kanye West. Please don't let it be Missy Higgins. Read more!

Anna's Pasta Sauce

I'm half-Italian (on my mother's side), which means that from a very early age I became aware of a curious phenomenon: the stark difference between Italian cuisine, and Australian interpretations of the same. For instance, "Spaghetti Bolognese" . . . well, strictly-speaking it doesn't exist in Italy--the Italians eat their ragù "with ribbon pasta, such as tagliatelle or pappardelle, or a heavier tube shape such as bucatini"; while "Spag Bol"--variations on a basic theme of mince, bottled tomato pasta sauce, water and perhaps (if one is feeling adventurous) chopped carrot and celery, is painfully Anglo-Australian, and about as bland a dish as you're ever likely to encounter.

Why is this so? Though pasta has been available in some form in Australia since at least the mid-19th century, Italian pasta didn't really make its presence felt until the post-WWII influx of migrants from Southern Europe introduced Mediterranean cuisine to the Australian palate (which has taken some adjusting). Since this coincided with the arrival of American fast-food and supermarket chains, not to mention a booming post-war economy, the traditional "slow foods" of Europe had to be translated into what was becoming in Australia a "fast food" culture. (And in those days, "fast food" also meant the need to have something hot waiting on the stove for when hubby arrived home from work.) That the White Australia Policy wasn't effectively abolished until the 1970s is also significant: the Australian "fast food" culture that was emerging in the post-war period was still highly Anglocentric and xenophobic. Hence it has been difficult, until quite recently, to sample decent Italian food in Australian suburbia outside of a few isolated pockets--my grandparents' kitchen being one of them.

And from that kitchen I now present to you "Anna's Pasta Sauce" (named after my aunty, who passed it on to me). It isn't a ragù--I'll have to get back to you on that one--but it is authentic. The secret, you see, is in a little parcel of herbs and vegetables that you prepare ahead, freeze, and use as required.

"Parcel" mixture (makes 2)
1/2 carrot
1 whole bunch parsley (Italian)
5 or 6 basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
1/2 celery stick

Place into food processor and process until ground. Freeze unused portion for next time

Meatballs
olive oil
500g beef mince
parsley (lots)
garlic
basil
egg
Parmesan or Romano cheese
breadcrumbs
a couple of slices of bread, crusts removed, soaked in milk for 1/2 an hour

Roll into balls

The sauce
one "parcel"
chilli
extra virgin olive oil
fried onion
350g pork ribs, cooked (or, if you prefer, 350g spicy Italian sausages, cooked)
1 bottle passata
1 can tomatoes (diced/crushed)
1/2 passata bottle water
1 glass red wine
1 tsp sugar
meatballs

Bring to boil, then low-medium for at least one hour, or until meatballs are cooked.


You'll think you've died and gone to heaven. Read more!

Elvis started the culture wars

Here's a letter to the editor that will be of some interest to my Elvis-obsessed aunts:

The real reason Elvis Presley was thrust onto the world stage has been foretold in the Bible as the son of perdition. Almost everybody young and impressionable was eventually mesmerized by his stunning good looks, his smoldering sexuality, hinting alluringly at the forbidden, his feel-good music with its driving repetitive beat, accompanied by an almost irresistibly thrilling quality of voice combined with his freewheeling performing style. What more could you reasonably expect from such a fine young American? Most of us surrendered our reservations, telling ourselves that he could not be anything but a little fun for our restless youth who were becoming ferocious defenders of Elvis and we simply had no proof to the contrary. Not any the public was aware of anyway. He galvanized unwittingly the already simmering social/cultural unrest into an outright rebellion against the accepted social norms which until then were rooted in Judeo-Christian values. No one noticed the change we underwent in our thinking and embarked on a "me, me, me" binge which has permeated every facet of our society to this very day. He was so incredibly appealing on so many levels, it was impossible to denounce him effectively. This is how the sense-numbing party began and roared on for some 50 years, providing the climate for unprecedented changes in mainstream thinking, which up until then was determined by the Judeo-Christian value system of our forefathers. The promise of joy unspeakable in the holy word of the living God of Abraham and Jacob is just around the bend for every true believer who is born again through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Via Pandagon Read more!

Which media outlets would Jesus bomb?

It appears that in 2004 "President Bush expressed interest in bombing the headquarters of the Arabic television network al-Jazeera during a White House conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair."

Here's a sample of some of the right-wing reaction from the blogosphere:

There are far too many journalists, and most of them are worse than useless parasites. This world would be a better place without Al-Jazeera, BBC, Guardian and their ilk. ("grandma lausch," Crooked Timber)

My contribution to this war is to help counteract propaganda that attempts to weaken and undermine our efforts. Since this war will largely be decided on the basis of public morale, this is an important contribution.

This is also why the media are significant in the conflict. My stance is that if some media are more useful to the enemy than they are to us, they may be regarded as enemy combatants. Note that I am not singling out al-Jazeera as the worst offender here. ("Evil Pundit," Larvatus Prodeo--he thinks the ABC and SBS are worse)

Eww, while he's at it how bout, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC... ("Lancer_N3502A," Free Republic)

Nice. I guess it's time for Phillip Adams to "duck and cover" . . .

Read more!

Intelligent Design 101

The University of Kansas will be offering a course in Intelligent Design, but not in the way you might have expected.

The name of a new Kansas University religious studies course has infuriated conservatives in the state for referring to Intelligent Design as a myth.

The class, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationisms and other Religious Mythologies," incensed some conservatives to the point of suggesting the school should see a cut in funding, the Lawrence Journal-World reported Wednesday.

The course will explore intelligent design, the idea that life is too complex to have evolved without a "designer," presumably a god or other supernatural being.

The conservative response? "Maybe we [should] settle for some cuts in spending."

Via Panda's Thumb.

Read more!

Sign the petition

Here. Read more!

Intelligent Medicine

I guess it was bound to happen eventually . . .

From Agape Press:

Surgeon's Book Exposes Flesh, Helps Believers Cut Out Deep-Rooted Sin

A Pennsylvania surgeon says the Apostle Paul was exactly right when he called humans' sinful nature "the flesh," because many sins actually do have physiological connections. Dr. Clark Gerhart, M.D., author of Say Goodbye to Stubborn Sin (Siloam Press, 2005), says he hopes the book will show Christians how thoroughly fleshly they are by helping them understand where their sins originate.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that rash, Mr. John Q. Fundamentalist Christian. It's just a product of your sinful nature."

Via Pandagon. Read more!

Saw it on Saturday night. Two words: genius. Read more!

Somewhere in Kansas . . .

Via Pharyngula. Read more!

Animal House

I suppose Rush Limbaugh would call this kind of thing "hazing" . . .

From ABC News:

Iraqi officials are investigating more claims of prisoner abuse, after 200 prisoners were found locked in an Interior Ministry bunker in Baghdad.

US soldiers found the mostly Sunni Muslim detainees in an Iraqi Interior Ministry building in Baghdad suffering from brutal beatings and other forms of torture.

. . .

Suspicion has fallen on a major Shiite muslim militia allied to one of the most influential Shiite groups in the Government.

The abuse will damage efforts to ease the Sunni Muslim based insurgency ahead of national elections due next month.

More at the Times.

Read more!

Set your irony meter to "stun"

Janet Albrechtsen (yawn) predictably (yawn) sings from the Federal Government's hymn sheet on yesterday's IR rallies.

She derides Labor--apparently only a handful of Labor Party members and "militant unionists" turned up, with the remainder of the Australian population to a man wholeheartedly supporting the IR reforms that will lead us all into a glorious capitalist utopia--as being "wedded to groupthink and group action," in an article echoing the views of the Workplace Relations Minister, her editor, the ACCI, the AIG, etc . . . Read more!

Postmodernism and ID

On his Sydney Morning Herald-hosted blog "The Contrarian," Andrew West draws a tendentious (though not unfamiliar) comparison between Intelligent Design and postmodernism:

The main thrust of the attack on intelligent design appears to be that it denies "rational science" -- that it sets up an alternative explanation for the origin of humanity and the world; that it offers an alternative version of natural history.

But doesn't this approach capture the whole postmodernist project? If postmodernism is supposed to encourage students to question the established record of human history, why should we accept the assumed "facts" about nature?

West is responding to the news that 3000 schools across Australia have been issued with free copies of the antievolution DVD Unlocking the Mystery of Life by the Campus Crusade for Christ. West claims to detect the faintest whiff of hypocrisy in the debate over Intelligent Design, insofar as

It deliberately contests conventional wisdom -- in this case Darwin's theory of evolution -- and isn't that what the post-modernists, who have been circling our education system for a generation, want?

As many a respondent to his post points out, West's attempt at a "gotcha!" argument falls wide of the mark. On the one hand, as the Sokal affair demonstrates, the mainstream science community has never had a great fondness for postmodernism. West either seems to have forgotten that scientists have been leading the charge against intelligent design, or he has simply decided to lump scientists into his rogue's gallery of postmodernist bogeymen who threaten our children. On the other hand--and science commentators can sometimes be just as guilty of this--the postmodernism West denigrates is a crude caricature: postmodernism as "extreme relativism." (Perhaps out of economic necessity, given that the label "postmodernism" covers a wide and diverse range of ideas and arguments. Who is he attacking? Lyotard? Rorty? Baudrillard? Deleuze and Guattari? Does he know?). Postmodernism is supposed to give oxygen to ID, so the strawman goes, because in the eyes of the postmodernists everything is "just a theory," and all theories are up for grabs--a position that would surely undermine the legitimacy of ID as much as it does anything else. Conventional wisdom and its underpinnings deserve to be subjected to the harshest scrutiny, of course, and those nasty postmodernists are doing nothing wrong, IMHO, if that is all they can be accused of. But this is not "extreme relativism." And it is not meant to be a replacement for the scientific method (which, in its own way, subjects received wisdom--as far as the physical/natural universe is concerned--to severe scrutiny).

. . .

On the news that intelligent design is currently being taught in at least 100 Australian schools, the Greens are calling for federal funding to be denied to schools that dress up pseudoscience as science in their science classrooms. Brendan Nelson should take such action out of consistency--given that he has made flag-waving faux-patriotism a condition of federal funding--but none of us should hold our breath.

Read more!

Devolution in Kansas: the Triumph of an IDeology

I take it that Kansas isn't exactly known as the "Athens of the Midwest":

Kansas education board downplays evolution
State school board OKs standards casting doubt on Darwin

TOPEKA, Kan. - Risking the kind of nationwide ridicule it faced six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public-school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.

The 6-4 vote was a victory for “intelligent design” advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.

Critics of the new language charged that it was an attempt to inject God and creationism into public schools, in violation of the constitutional ban on state establishment of religion.

All six of those who voted for the new standards were Republicans. Two Republicans and two Democrats voted no.

“This is a sad day. We’re becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that,” said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat.

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, said the decision would encourage school districts in Kansas and elsewhere to make similar moves, distracting and confusing teachers and students.

“It will be marketed by the religious right ... as a huge victory for their side,” she said. “We can expect more efforts to get creationism in.”

All six who voted in favour were Republicans? Heavens, no!

Just to get things nice and sparkling clear, in most of the rest of the world science is defined (in a nutshell) thus: the search for natural explanations for natural phenomena (the supernatural being outside its purview). Not so, any longer, in Kansas, where a new definition of science has been formulated by the Board of Education in red ink, declaring that

Science is a systematic method of continuing investigation that uses observations, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, logical argument and theory building, to lead to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena (emphasis added).

What, pray tell, might constitute a "more adequate" explanation of natural phenomena? For Scientific American's John Rennie:

Any sort of explanation, apparently. Pixies, ghosts, telekinesis, auras, ancient astronauts, excesses of choleric humor, they all seem to be fair game in the interest of "academic freedom." Oh, and God, of course.

You can keep up with all the fun and games at Panda's Thumb.

And before we cry "Only in America," let's not forget that this kind of bullshit has been mandated by no less august a personage than our Federal Education Minister.

Update: Via Panda's Thumb:

You can now bid for your very own handmade Flying Spaghetti Monster plush doll on eBay! Read more!

Remind me again why the USA is the most powerful country on Earth?

For Harper's editor Lewis Lapham, it's because "ignorance is viewed as a natural resource, far more valuable to the prosperity of America than oil or timber."

As broadcast recently on Radio National, Lapham gave a speech to the Sydney Writers Festival in May this year, opening with a series of excerpts from the History papers of American high school and university students:

This is a history of civilisation as told in a collection of college and high level high school students:

Civilisation woozed out of the Nile about 300,000 years ago. Flooding was erotic.

David was a fictional character in the Bible who pleased the people with his many erections and saved them from a tax by the Philippines.

Religion was polyphonic. Featured were gods such as Herod, Mars and Juice.

The Greeks invented three kinds of columns: Corinthian, Doric and Ironic. They also had myths. A myth is a female moth.

Plato invented reality. Pythagasaurus fathered the triangle. Archimedes made the first steamboat and power drill.

Rome was founded sometime by Uncle Remus and Wolf.

Neoplatonists celebrated the joys of self-abuse.

A German soldier put Rome in a sack. During the Dark Ages it was mostly dark.

Machiavelli who was often unemployed wrote The Prince to get a job with Richard Nixon.

Ivan the Terrible started life as a child, a fact that troubled his later personality.

The government of England was a limited mockery. When Queen Elizabeth exposed herself before her troops, they all shouted, Hurrah! Then her Navy went out and defeated the Spanish Armadillo.

When the Davey Jones index crashed in 1929, many people were left to political incineration.

The USSR and the USA became global in power, but Europe remained incontinent.

We in all humidity are the people of current times. This concept grinds our critical seething minds to a halt. Read more!

"There is no condom that can protect a child's heart."

. . . and weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. Tee-hee: Xtians are funny!

(Via Pandagon.)

P.S. What the fuck is "mental virginity?" Does anyone know? Read more!

Red Kezza 1, PM 0

Thanks to Michael on MrLefty's blog, who observes: "I have a suspicion the PM wont show up on there for a while now." I would concur--but for the fact that, despite repeated drubbings at the hands of O'Brien, Howard keeps coming back anyway. (It's because the Battlers have other things to watch at 7.30pm on a weeknight, I guess.)

KERRY O'BRIEN: Mr Howard, what I'm trying to do is to present a complete picture, not a partial picture. Let me quote from one of your own examples of how this system will work for someone seeking a new job. This is from your own package. His name is Billy. The individual contract he's offered "explicitly removes award conditions for public holidays, rest breaks, bonuses, annual leave loadings, allowances, penalty rates and shift overtime loadings". That's giving up a lot, Mr Howard, but somehow or other they don't lose out, now how is that? Because there's no guarantee for what they'll get in return for what they give up.

JOHN HOWARD: Well, why don't you go on and read the rest of the example?

KERRY O'BRIEN: I have it here.

JOHN HOWARD: Yes, well why don't you tell the viewers that that person has been out of work and he's made a judgment after having somebody bargain on his behalf that he will accept that in preference to the...

KERRY O'BRIEN: But there's no guarantee that he'll have somebody working on his behalf. And even if he does have an agent working on his behalf...

JOHN HOWARD: I remember that example very well, because I asked that it be inserted in the document so that we would be completely transparent about that kind of situation, and you should've told the viewers...

KERRY O'BRIEN: Let me finish it.

JOHN HOWARD: You should have told them that the person was out of work.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Billy has a bargaining agent assisting him in considering the AWA.

JOHN HOWARD: Why didn't you tell people that he was out of work?

KERRY O'BRIEN: Because there are many, many people who will be in exactly the same position as Billy who are transferring from one job to another. Do you acknowledge that?

JOHN HOWARD: It would've been a good idea if you had quoted the full example.

Full transcript here.

I predict that the Government is going to have a harder time selling this package than they expect. The ad campaign is unimpressive and short on detail: "things have been good, but, erm, we need to make certain changes to ensure they get even better," and so on. Not to mention the obligatory neoliberal bullshit: "for many years, employers and employees have got together to negotiate," or something like that (if by "negotiate" you mean being bent over a desk with an apple stuffed in your mouth and your trousers around your ankles). Read more!

Like a Voy-jin

MADONNA OFFENDS MEMBERS OF SECOND ABRAHAMIC RELIGION: "Two down, one to go," says songstress.

Why does this remind me of Tim Whatley converting to Judaism just for the jokes? Read more!

Centrelink snaps on a latex glove, clenches a torch between its teeth and subjects you to THE FAMILY ACTUAL MEANS TEST

On Terry Lane's weekly show on Radio National, we meet the father of a university student who has had the temerity to apply for Youth Allowance to support her studies. For her troubles, since she will be living at home with her parents, said parents have been lumbered with this byzantine document to fill out. And the kind of information the Government expects you to yield is staggering.

For example, Question 12:

What was the total spending incurred by all family members on all types of transport, including public transport?

Do you keep every bus and train ticket you've purchased over the past year scrupulously catalogued and filed away? Well, ya should!

It gets better. Take a look at Question 13:

What was the total general living expenses for all family members living at home or living/boarding away?

"General living expenses" include things like food, gifts, video rental and movie tickets, newspapers and magazines and--get this--pet care. Who keeps a record of all this stuff?

Lane's interviewee is understandably pissed off, and has challenged Family Services Minister Joe Hockey to complete the form. As if. Read more!

Keystone Kops

From the AAP: Gun stolen at security guard conference


Read more!

Tom Tomorrow on Katrina

I haven't paid a visit to Tom Tomorrow in a while, so this may be a little dated. Read more!

Have you no DECENCY?

A taste of things to come once Dr. Brendan Nelson cures the nation's education systems of the "cancer" of OBE?












Here's a sample:

Tommy and Lou were brothers who lived in a small house, on a small street, in a small neighborhood, in a small city, in the great USA.

And, like most good boys, they ate most of their vegetables, did their chores, tried not to fight over their toys, and said their prayers at bedtime--sometimes a little fast if they were extra tired.

"Rod? Tod? This is God . . ." Seriously, though, whatever happened to Peter and Jane, Dick and Dora or Nip and Fluff?

Via ausculture Read more!

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Read more!

From the front lines of the Evolution Wars, the incomparable Mike Argento

About the time that Richard Thompson, head law guy at the Thomas More center and chief defender of the Dover Area School Board, started his third year of cross-examination of philosopher Barbara Forrest, it was easy to imagine that at that moment, everyone in the courtroom, including Forrest, who doesn’t believe in God, was violating the separation of church and court by appealing to God for it to please, Lord, just stop.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if there was a point to the ceaseless stream of questions from Thompson designed to elicit Lord knows what. He’d ask her the same question 18 different times, expecting, I guess, a different answer at some point. And he never got it.

Thompson, who said he’s a former prosecutor, should have known better. Forrest, a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University and expert on the history of the intelligent design creationist movement, was a lot smarter than, say, some poor, dumb criminal defendant.

Here is a summation of Forrest’s testimony: She examined the history of the intelligent design movement and concluded that it’s simply another name for creationism. And what led her to that conclusion? The movement leader’s own words. They started out with a religious proposition and sought to clothe it in science. The result was similar to putting a suit on your dog. (Not that I’d know what that looks like.)

That, and when some of its founders wrote “Of Pandas and People,” they took an earlier text and merely replaced the word “creationism” with the phrase “intelligent design.”

Thompson attacked her. He leapt to action, using every weapon at his disposal, and asked her about some guy losing his car keys.

Seriously.

At one point in his cross-examination — did I mention it went on for 4½ years? — he asked Forrest whether she had ever heard about a case in which the editor of a scientific journal who published an article by a proponent of intelligent design creationism was retaliated against for doing so.

And what form did that retaliation take?

“Loss of car keys,” among other things, Thompson said.

This is from the York Daily Record's coverage of the Dover trial. All I have to say is: why doesn't the Wanneroo Times have writers of this calibre?

Read more!

Bush on Yom Kippur

Thanks to TTF member Barliman Butterbur for passing this on:

High Holy Days Confessional by George W. Bush


"For the sin I have committed before you by promising to be a compassionate
conservative, but showing no compassion.

For the sin I have committed before you by waging an unjust war in Iraq in
the false name of fighting terrorism.

For the sin I have committed before you by waging a political campaign built
on fear, not hope.

For the sin I have committed before you by cynically exploiting the horrors
of 9/11 for political gain.

For the sin I have committed before you by ignoring the plight of the
poorest and weakest among our citizens.

For the sin I have committed before you by the unnecessary deaths of 1,000
young Americans, the injuries to thousands more,and the deaths and injuries
to untold numbers of Iraqis.

For the sin I have committed before you by lying about my record of service
in the National Guard.

For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement.

For the sin I have committed before you by dividing rather than uniting our
people.

For the sin I have committed before you by ignoring the loss of over one
million jobs in the U.S.

For the sin I have committed before you by doing nothing to provide health
insurance to millions of Americans, and to stem rapidly rising prescription
medicine and other health care costs.

For the sin I have committed before you by systematically weakening
environmental and pollution regulations, thereby endangering public health
and destroying precious wilderness resources.

For the sin I have committed before you by promising to leave no child
behind, and then failing to adequately fund educational programs.

For the sin I have committed before you by allowing the assault weapons ban
to die, allowing these grotesque weapons to return to our streets.

For the sin I have committed before you by bearing false witness about the
reasons for going to war in Iraq.

For the sin I have committed before you by perpetuating the falsehood that
increasing homeland security requires a weakening of civil rights.

For the sin I have committed before you by imposing a veil of secrecy on
government decision making processes.

For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement.

For the sin I have committed before you by allowing the ends to justify any
means.

For the sin I have committed before you by lowering taxes for only the very
wealthiest Americans, enriching the few at the expense of the many.

For the sin I have committed before you by running a cynical and destructive
presidential campaign, designed to destroy rather than just defeat myopponent.

For the sin I have committed before you by fighting a war in Iraq to divert
attention from failures in the just war on terrorists, and from failing to
act against the looming nuclear threat from Iran and North Korea.

For the sin I have committed before you by failing to make any progress in
achieving a just peace between Israel and the Arabs.

For the sin I have committed before you by turning a massive government
surplus into a massive deficit in less than four years, thereby burdening
future generations with untold debt.

For the sin I have committed before you by unnecessarily damaging relations
with American friends and allies throughout the world.

For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement.

For the sin I have committed before you by promoting a personal ideology
rather than the interests of the people.

For the sin I have committed before you by arrogance and swagger, speaking
with a forked tongue, and for the haughty exercise of power.

For the sin I have committed before you by appointing arch-conservative
judges to the federal judiciary.

For the sin I have committed before you by irresponsibly damaging the
reputation of the United States throughout the world.

For the sin I have committed before you by enriching my friends in the
conduct of government and military affairs.

For the sin I have committed before you by encouraging xenophobia on the
part of the American people.

For the sin I have committed before you by attempting to impose my extreme
religious and moralistic values on the entire nation, and weakening the
separation between church and state.

For the sin I have committed before you by characterizing all who oppose me
as evil, and all who agree with me as good.

And for the sin I have committed before you by failing to acknowledge my
responsibility for all these sins, for attempting to blame others for them,
and for all the injury and damage they have caused to individuals, the
Nation, and the future.

For these sins, oh forgiving God, forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement.

AMEN

MAY 5765 BE A YEAR OF PEACE, HAPPINESS, GOOD HEALTH AND A NEW
PRESIDENT."

Source.

I'd add something along the lines of "For the sin I have committed before you by waging an unjust war on science for the purpose of shoring up support among the theocon and neocon wings of my political base." Read more!

Oh, Susanna: Won't You Cry For Me?

Roy Moore, the Alabama judge who became a wingnut cause celebre when he was removed from office in 2003 for defying a US District Court order to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from his state's Supreme Court building, is running for governor in said state.

The born-agains have South Carolina: where can the intelligent, educated folks of Alabama flee to now? Read more!

Filed under: "Yes, you read that correctly"

Via Cooped Up Read more!

Kudos to Panda's Thumb from Scientific American

Evolution website Panda's Thumb has made Scientific American's top 25 web sites. Congratulations!! Read more!

The War On Parody

After The Office (the UK version) picked up a surprise two Golden Globes, a January 2004 BBC article posed the question: "Do the Americans get irony?"

In Baylor, Tennessee, apparently they don't . . . Read more!

Marriage advice from the Howard Sun

Bettina Arndt, in the Melbourne Herald Sun, on How To Save Your Marriage by Keeping the "Trouble and Strife" Firmly Secured to the Kitchen Sink . . . Read more!

Spain Legalises Same-sex Marriage

In your face, wingnuts!!! Let the slippery-slope arguments begin . . . Read more!

The Belief-o-Matic

What's your religious profile? Beliefnet's "Belief-o-Matic" will tell you. Here's mine:

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (99%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (98%)
4. Liberal Quakers (93%)
5. Nontheist (74%)
6. Neo-Pagan (67%)
7. Theravada Buddhism (60%)
8. Bah�'� Faith (56%)
9. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (56%)
10. New Age (52%)
11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (52%)
12. Taoism (51%)
13. Reform Judaism (50%)
14. Orthodox Quaker (41%)
15. Mahayana Buddhism (40%)
16. Jehovah's Witness (39%)
17. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (39%)
18. New Thought (39%)
19. Sikhism (33%)
20. Scientology (32%)
21. Jainism (22%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist (22%)
23. Hinduism (16%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (13%)
25. Islam (13%)
26. Orthodox Judaism (13%)
27. Roman Catholic (13%)

I only have one major gripe with this survey: it's biased! It doesn't recognise Jedi. Read more!

Channel G?

Sydney western suburbs Federal MP Jackie Kelly, who hails from the wingut wing of the Liberal Party, has perhaps unsurprisingly suggested the establishment of a TV network screening only G-rated programs, in reaction to the preponderance of tits and bums on Big Brother Uncut.

The idea has already been knocked on the head by the existing commercial networks, but I think it should be given a chance: how satisfying would it be to see the ABC, SBS and maybe even Channel 31 routinely out-rate a commercial station? Read more!

John Howard's Born Again Ideology

Have you ever wondered why those megachurch services a la Hillsong resemble motivational/get-rich-quick seminars? According to "panic theorist" Arthur Kroker, it's because the contemporary political scene is dominated by what he calls "Born Again Ideology." And although Kroker limits his analysis to an American context, it isn't drawing that long a bow to suggest that the picture he paints of Born Again America will be replicated right here in Australia on July 1st--given that the Coalition government is now under the firm control of Born Again Conservatives who are signed-up members of the American empire.

Marion Maddox has already covered this territory in her book God Under Howard. And let's face it: it makes little difference at the end of the day whether one is a Born Again Christian, a Born Again (neo-)Conservative, or a Born Again Hayekian liberal (and the Coalition parties have a healthy mix of all three--this is what is meant by the term "broad church"). The same mindset underpins all three positions: the world is divided into the "saved"--the aspirationals, the well-off, social conservatives, religious conservatives, economic neoliberals--and the "unsaved"--the unemployed, the poor, Muslims, asylum seekers, gays and lesbians, single mothers, academics, atheists, Aborigines, "bleeding hearts," and of course, Big Brother housemates (on that subject: the sort of folk who have been whinging about "Uncut" are the same sort who complain about "political incorrectness," and I daresay very few of them would appreciate the irony) .

And whence salvation? Salvation through IR "reform." Salvation through mandatory detention. Salvation through well-publicised by invariably fruitless ASIO raids. Salvation through school flagpoles. Salvation through privatisation. Salvation through the acquisition of property (which for most aspirationals means the acquisition of a mortgage). Salvation via stock market and property speculation. Salvation via a home theatre system and a fucking farting monkey on your LG mobile phone & c. & c.
Read more!

Not Another Anti-Pill Bill

The New Republic reports on how the GOP in Wisconsin is fighting back against reprobate college students who dare to hate America's freedom by exercising their own sexual freedom . . .

PILLS BURY: More on emergency contraception: Late Thursday the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Assembly voted to ban distribution of Plan B (the morning after pill) from University of Wisconsin student health clinics.

This vote follows complaints by a conservative state legislator that by promoting the use of emergency contraception through advertisements, the campus clinics were encouraging promiscuity among college students. "I am outraged that our public institutions are giving young college women the tools for having promiscuous sexual relations, whether on campus or thousands of miles away on spring break," State Representative Dan LeMahieu had said back in March.

According to the Associated Press, the final vote for the bill was 49 in favor and 41 opposed, with only four Republicans joining the 37 Democrats who voted against it. The state's Democratic governor, Jim Doyle, has vowed to veto the bill.

(Crossposted at PE) Read more!

"The Education of Shelby Knox"

Alternet reports on the "successes" of abstinence education . . .

(Cross-posted at PE) Read more!

Cletus Goes South II

I never thought that the "Christian Exodus" movement would catch on among Catholics, until I caught wind of a plan by Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, to build the world's first Catholic gated community outside the Vatican:

At Ave Maria, the university he’s building in southwest Florida, things will be different. In a few years, the median SAT score will be higher than that at any other Catholic institution; even better, the dorms will be single-sex, a quarter of the classes will be taught by "wholly orthodox" priests, and students will be urged to become priests and nuns.

Bold talk — but the most dramatic part of Monaghan’s speech is yet to come. Ave Maria won’t be just a university, he continues. It will also be a new town, built from scratch, in which the wickedness of the world will be kept at bay. "We’ve already had about 3500 people inquire on our Web site about buying a home there — you know, they’re all Catholic," Monaghan says excitedly. "We’re going to control all the commercial real estate, so there’s not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We’re controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives." A private chapel will be located within walking distance of each home. At the stunning church in the center of town, Mass will be said hourly, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. on. "So," Monaghan concludes, with just a hint of understatement, "it’ll be a unique town."

Read the full story here.
(Cross-posted at Project Evil) Read more!

The Right-Wing Christian Dictionary

To be filed under "Funny because it's true . . ." Read more!

The Baez Crackpot Index

Via Panda's Thumb, a "simple method for rating potentially revolutionary contributions to physics." Read more!

Cletus goes south

Guess who's coming to dinner in South Carolina . . . Read more!

Why single mothers and abusive fathers cause Nazism

One of the latest bloviations on On-line Opinion is Ben-Peter Terpstra's review of a 1999 book which looks at the "psychological source" of atheism. Terpstra opens with the standard litany of slings and arrows that persecuted Christians and Jews have had to endure at the hands of "militant atheists," who themselves continue to escape scrutiny (gee--that's never been said before, has it?).

Anyway, what is the psychological source of atheism, you ask? Well, you see, it's like this: atheists have "dead" or "defective" fathers. Not all of them, of course--there are exceptions--but exceptions prove the rule. Atheists have dead and/or defective fathers, and that's why they "hate God." Here's my first question. How can you hate something if you don't believe in its existence?

Terpstra then trundles out Pascal's wager: monotheists have nothing to lose by being wrong about God's existence; atheists have everything to lose. Again, it's not the first time that atheists have been beaten over the head with that argument, but it has a major flaw: it forgets that there are many theisms--not just one. Ergo, since for many religions it takes more than a simple profession of faith in God to escape eternal damnation, theists risk no less than atheists in pursuing the belief systems they pursue. I don't know which faith Terpstra adheres to. He'd better pray it isn't the wrong one.

But wait: there's more. Atheists don't just hate God. They hate America, too. (I'm not even going to bother shooting that one down--I think you get the idea.)

And no exercise in atheist-bashing would be complete without the genetic fallacy. Hitler was an atheist. Stalin was an atheist. Both "were severely beaten by their fathers." THEREFORE "atheism in both its forms of fascism and communism, has been responsible for killing far more humans than all the religious wars of the first nineteen centuries."

"Alas, an intellectual arrogance surrounds militant atheists," Terpstra concludes, without a hint of irony.

Read more!

The new eugenics

Everybody said that the Religious Right would demand payback from the Bush Administration for delivering "four more years," and it would seem that the burly pastor with the knuckleduster and the star picket has come a-knocking at the door of the Oval Office at last.

It's not enough that monkey science is being replaced by creationism/Intelligent Design/creationism/Intelligent Design/creationism in US public schools. Now the FDA is set to ban gay men from donating sperm, on the grounds that gay men are more likely to carry HIV. Welcome to faith-based artificial insemination!

Read all about it here and here. Read more!