The species intelligence test

I propose a test for whether a species deserves civil rights:

Have members of the species found farts or fart jokes amusing, or have been observed playing fart/poop practical jokes on their fellows for no other good reason than amusement?

KRudd implies Australians are stupid

KRudd’s latest verbal attack on climate change denialists/skeptics as sabotagers of the world, is not only hollow, but betrays his opinion that Australians, whatever their political leanings, are too stupid to recognize a blatant non-sequitur.

Cheers for ECHR: Crucifix in school offends human rights

Congratulations to the EU Court of Human Rights judgement that crucifixes in schools offend human rights – and it was unanimous.  Big thanks to the Finnish parent in Italy that brought the action and a big yah-boo-sucks to the Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, who said the crucifix was a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture, and was a symbol of unity and welcoming for all of humanity, not one of exclusion.

The Court disagreed and found – unanimously – a violation of the freedom of religion (Art. 9 ECHR) jointly with the right to education (Art. 2 of Protocol 1). The Court, amongst others, took into account the nature of the religious symbol concerned (amongst the plurality of meanings, the Court held that the religious connotation of the crucifix was dominant) and its impact on young children.

Showing what we stand for: Oi, oi, oi!

Guess what Australians really care about, deeply enough to:

1. Discover a government inquiry;
2. discover not a high-profile Senate inquiry, but one tucked away inside a department; and
3. make a submission…

Carbon emissions?  The economic stimulus?  Water?  No, no and no.

The winner is … televised sport, with 323 submissions (dbcde.gov.au).  While many inquiries by the Senate are lucky to get a couple of dozen submissions, it’s worth having a look at some fairly newsworthy inquiries:

Agency	Topic	Initiated	Closed	Days	Subs	Subs per Day
Senate	Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme – Mark 1	2009-03-11	2009-04-08	28	142	5.0
Senate	Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme – Mark 2	2009-05-14	2009-06-04	21	49	2.3
Senate	Economic Stimulus Measures	2009-09-08	2009-09-18	9	18	2.0
Senate	Gene Patents	2008-11-19	2009-03-19	120	72	0.6
Victorian Parliament	Melbourne’s Future Water Supply	2007-09-19	2008-08-29	345	110	0.3
DBCDE.gov.au	Sport on Television Review	2009-08-20	2009-10-16	57	323	5.7

While we could look at other inquiries across parliaments and agencies, while we could correlate the data with space and bandwidth in the news sections of the mainstream media, letters to editors, guess at those submissions by ordinary Australians by discounting submissions by organizations and the usual academic suspects, factor in the difference in profile of inquiries homed on the main parliamentary website versus those on agencies, the take-home message, that Australians are swayed by "bread and circuses", could play on politicians’ minds, and affect the policy agenda for years to come.

Stalin’s children – Western “democracies”

I propose what seems to be a general rule of politics these days:

The probability of policies being set in harmony with the opinion of experts is inversely correlated to the unanimity of expert opinion and the importance of that policy.

Climate change is but one example where unanimity of relevant experts is near total, yet scientists are ignored at best, and often punished

Economic policy is an example where there is no unanimity, so the politicians choose the expert opinion that suits them or political sponsors.

Nature ("Sacked science adviser speaks out" doi:10.1038/news.2009.1053 2009-11-02) has a depressing interview with a recently sacked advisor on non-therapeutic drug use, who made the following comment.

It just seems to me a nail in the coffin of evidence-based government.

– David Nutt
University of Bristol

Bravo billie

A post about a single comment on LP, unfortunately by someone who didn’t leave a hotlink to their own blog:

I think Malcolm would make a better Labor Prime Minister than Rudd.

Billie at LP 2009-11-02

Whether Billie was talking of Turnbull or Fraser, it’s hard to disagree, and I wished I’d point it so succinctly when doing a "compare and contrast" on climate change rhetoric and policies before and after the election, giving the honors to Turnbull.

See also this.

Missing in action

While blogotariat was having problems with my news feed, many would have missed a post becoming more relevant by the day: "What if the ACCC covered political scams?"

Think about it.

A Judas, not a Bonhoeffer, in the Lodge

Cutting the rebate for cataracts almost in half, the KRudd government has shown its teeth, dishonesty, and unfitness to govern, falsely advertising itself as a party of the Centre Left while using neo-liberal arguments.

"The Federal Government had tried to cut the rebate by even more, saying this would force overcharging doctors to reduce their prices."

Really?  Then why fund the private health insurers?

The only rule of KRudd’s regime is that the fat cats get the cream, while yes-men all will let this pass to get rewards from licking arse.

Honest ALP members must be feeling like they went out for a party, got a bit drunk, came home with what seemed like an attractive woman, and then got bent over and the deceit of the Howard-in-Drag rammed home in the most painful way possible.

Spammers: Dumb, and handled with kid gloves

There are two points I’d like to make about spammers:

• The hypocrisy of business and governments that are not proactive about spamming, yet spend considerable resources trying to stop the much-less-damaging copyright infringments; and
   
• Just how stupid are these spammers anyway, if they are working hard at setting up false identities in one of the least likely social networks to fall victim to them, such as Nature Network, which is perhaps the social network with the highest average IQ and education?

However, one of the things a few of the fake identities on Nature Network were advertising could be considered well-targetted compared to the others.

LobbyClue at GovHack

Lobbyclue at Govhack is a nifty bit of hacking of government data (of the good hacking variety) that will only be up for a short time.

Follow the money between agency, individuals and companies, then click on the item of interest and get their relationships.

Enjoy it while you can get it folks.

I’d love to have this tool applying across the whole of governments in Oz.

Wild buddies playing games

I’m wondering how many readers have animal buddies that aren’t pets, but wild, yet seem to enjoy the company of you or your family.

I think such relationships, all parties on equal footing, are much better for all concerned than that between a human and a pet… although it wouldn’t surprise me if sometimes the animal thinks it is the human that has been tamed.

I’ve written before about the local magpie patriarch ("Trav") at my daughter’s place (here, here, here and here), and the wild-animal/child relationship continues to deepen.

6.0 + 0.1 = 7 according to Microsoft

Microsoft doesn’t add up… 6.0 + 0.1 = 7.

It’s not surprising that as a self-proclaimed unix bigot, I won’t be rushing to install Windows 7.

That’s because I think Vista isn’t that bad, and the greater convenience touted on security matters ("fewer annoying popups") in "Seven" is oxymoronic.  My Microsoft partition will stay Vista.

Happy accidents – for some!

Are the Libs in Canberra really hopeless?  By accident or design, their Big Carbon backers must be really pleased with how things are going.

Malcolm Turnbull, one of the more environmentally aware Libs, is someone who the ALP might have considered amenable to negotiations about carbon emissions, and therefore, would have softened their approach in the hope of easier passage, even softer than ALP fundraising imperatives demanded.

So… soft legislative proposals, Liberal stonewalling.  Action delayed.

As Copenhagen approaches, pressure mounts, and there was more and more talk of a double dissolution triggered by climate legislation.  All of a sudden, the Liberals say "we are open to negotiations".

Gubernator Gaffe – Or Goody?

A veto note from the Gubernator, 
replete with a profanity 
not immediately obvious,  
intentional or highly coincidental? 
Enjoy the links below.

Would the Libs attack the ALP on this?

There are claims that the refugee processing centres in Indonesia, or at least some of them, have horrible conditions and brutal guards reminiscent of the film "Midnight Express".  If so, it may not be long before a legitimate refugee in such a place would either sicken and die, or suffer terrible injuries.

That would put egg on the faces of KRudd and company.

But if the Libs got reliable information about something like that happening at a centre that received any funding at all from Canberra, would they pass it on to the press?