Australian current affairs television program Four Corners had a program called Greenhouse Mafia about the way the coal industry had total control of Australian government policy in relation to climate change. The executives in that industry and the politicians in … Continue reading
This post by Dr biobrain is a fantastic description of exactly why the right wing “libertarians” are not truly in favour of individual liberty. By the way don’t stop before you read the comments too. If you’ve been reading my … Continue reading
Bristling Badger has another really interesting post from his friend at the World Social Forum in Venezuela. in the last days of the forum i finally made it to the f.s.l. (“forum social libertario” – the alternative/libertarian social forum) the … Continue reading
This is the second part of a series of articles which will make up an examination of the morality of behaviour of groups, corporations and governments.Disclaimer This article buys into a lot of the same territory as the film “The … Continue reading
This is the first part of a series of articles which will make up an examination of the morality of behaviour of groups, corporations and governments. Morality of Groups 1: the psychology of tribes When acting in ways which relate … Continue reading
Search engines, including Google, AOL, MSN and Yahoo, keep records of each search performed and and can associate each one with an IP address and possibly also a cookie. It appears that the search engine companies can be compelled to … Continue reading
Here is an excerpt from the US Army’s Psychological Operations Field Manual No. 33-1 Appendix I: PSYOP Techniques; HQ, Department of the Army (31 August 1979): Plain Folks or Common Man: The “plain folks” or “common man” approach attempts to … Continue reading
John Howard refuses to say “sorry” to the stolen generation. The British Museum refuses to return the Elgin Marbles. The west may no longer talk of white man’s burden, but there is also little mention of the Opium Wars, or … Continue reading
The other day I heard a fellow called Thom Hartmann talking on the radio. It was one of those minor relevatory moments where you feel a little foolish for never quite thinking through a thing which is immediately obvious. Not … Continue reading
Some observations about the Cronulla “race riots” of the weekend, at the risk of going over the same old ground that the media has been rehashing daily: There’s an element of “mods and rockers” in all this, because most beach … Continue reading
Some photos from the recent TasCCL protest at Australia’s new anti terror laws. The speakers are Allison from Amnesty, Peg Putt, and Paul Storr. About 50 people turned up, which is pretty good considering it’s Tuesday morning with no time … Continue reading
Bristling Badger has a fantastic post about civil rights, power, and hero worship. Read and take to heart!
An interview on the radio this morning with an ex bomb disposal expert from Northern Ireland, talking about the effect of the draconian anti-terror laws in that country. He said the immediate effect was that the republican population were transformed … Continue reading
In regard of recent support of the idea of nuclear power being a great idea because it cuts greenhouse emissions, it isn’t. It isn’t because the down-side of the one in a million chance of an accident is a million … Continue reading
The same thing happened to me as Jared Diamond says happens to his students, in response to learning of the way deforestation destroyed the livelihood of the Easter Islanders – I began to wonder what situation prevented them from preserving … Continue reading
Duncan Kerr gave a quite impassioned talk to the Tasmanian Council for Civil Liberties, in which he argued that fair and reasonable checks were in fact being built in to the proposed anti-terrorism legislation. I’m not at all convinced of … Continue reading