From Wikipedia is a definition of Retributive Justice …

Retributive justice is a theory of justice that considers that proportionate punishment is a morally acceptable response to crime, with an eye to the satisfaction and psychological benefits it can bestow to the aggrieved party, its intimates and society.

Further reading on the Wikipedia definition of retribution, the following statement appears …

In ethics and law “Let the punishment fit the crime” is the principle that the severity of penalty for a misdeed or wrongdoing should be reasonable and proportional to the severity of the infraction. The concept is common to most cultures throughout the world. Its presence in the ancient Jewish culture is shown by its inclusion in the law of Moses, specifically in Deuteronomy 19:17-21, which includes the punishments of “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” Many other documents reflect this value in the world’s cultures. However, the judgement of whether a punishment is appropriately severe can vary greatly between cultures and individuals.

The white paper goes on to argue Australia’s unique position in the global war on climate, citing a per capita impact of between 34–41% below 1990 levels, in effect demonstrating that Australia’s proposed commitment is ahead of the Europeans (per capita reduction is projected at 24-34%) and ahead of our cousins (projected 25% per capita sacrifice).

The report argues that Australia’s particular national circumstances (a strong population growth projection, heavy reliance on fossil fuels, etc.) make for greater structural adjustment when compared with many other developed nations.

However, what I don’t see in the report is a sufficient connection to the bigger issue:

Kirribilli Removals - 15 December 2008:

If permafrost melts across the vast areas of Russia and Canada, then we can kiss our arses goodbye

I came up through the sixties and seventies working for Collins Book Sellers who were battling the Henry Bolte/Aurthur Rylar government’s arcane censorship laws. Books like The Little Red School Book, Portnoy’s Complaint, The Outcasts of Foolgarah, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, were books that we were able to use to challenge the law; along with various editions of Playboy. Gough Whitlam came along and there was a new dawn with books. Most of the old rules were overturned and in Victoria there was very little trouble any more because Bolte was gone. Although in Queensland they still had Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Labor governments in Australia through the ages have been on the progressive side of censorship. The Howard Government was doing it’s best to bring in strong censorship laws. Once even getting a law that would have had anyone arrest and charged for loading any sort of porn onto the Internet inside or outside the country, that is, if you were uploading porn to the USA you would be charged. It was stopped on the way to getting governors’ approval. Whose definition of porn was it?

I was most relieved when Kevin Rudd was elected. No more trouble with censorship laws. The ALP had more sense. The ALP would have much smarter people working in that department. No more trouble. Imagine my horror when I received an email from my son about the Great Firewall of Australia. You cannot imagine the anger and swear words that came from my mouth. The thing that really disappoints me the most is the amount of talent in the ALP that has not stood up against this law. One person in particular who is my hero, Maxine McKew, for beating John Howard in Bennelong. I have my own personal desktop background of the Bennelong result, she has not been stood up on this issue. Maxine is not the highest person in the ALP but she comes from a very strong media background. I expected that she would have taken a stand on this issue. But Maxine is not alone. There are many others in the ALP who remain silent.

Why won’t the firewall work? First of all, you could never make it a word based program. There are two many words that cross over, for instance the first and most obvious word is sex. If you ban the word sex, you also ban communicating with Middlesex and Sussex, you could never mention the word sextant. You would stop any email with a job application asking the persons sex or any document asking for your sex. That would just about grind the Internet to a halt in Australia. What about Virgin? Well there goes Virgin Airlines, Virginia and West Virginia for a start, then the online bible. Most of the words to do with women’s sexual health would be out. To show how effective a word based censorship firewall is to try blocking the word Viagra in your email. Ads by using the word Viagra will still get through. It cannot be done, because I still get V!agra Vi*gra and Viagr* coming through.

Senator Conroy says he only wants to ban child porn sites. Well I can tell why it won’t stop the child porn sites. Even if he blocked every site it would still get into Australia very, very easily. How? Every laptop coming into the country. Every portable USB hard drive on a key ring. Has anyone mentioned to Senator Conroy that the new portable hard drives can hold over 1Terabyte of information? Then there is Peer to Peer networks. His system won’t be able to block those at all. The record companies have been unsuccessful in stopping them, how is he going to stop them? Anybody with a little bit of computer knowledge can do that. Just ask your kids to show you how. Ask them about Limewire. Peer to Peer networks are a giant whole in Senator Conroy’s firewall, so big you could drive a truck through it.

Senator Conroy’s intention is to block illegal websites. He has a budget allocated for that. It will be very difficult to do that for the present standard of the Internet without blocking a lot of innocent sites. But what Senator Conroy has not taken into account the huge explosion of the Internet in the USA that’s about to happen under Barrack Obama. Free up restrictions on the Internet, introducing broadband to large amounts of untouched area’s in the USA. Senator Conroy’s system will slow the Australian Internet down under today’s system. It will be worse when Obama’s Internet kicks in.

Let’s say Senator Conroy is 100% successful in the sites he blocks. All are correct none that shouldn’t be are blocked. The ALP is tossed out at the next election. The Liberals win in a landslide and Tony Abbott is the new Minister for communications. Not a nice thought is it? That would be senator Conroy’s fault.

Senator Conroy’s 40 million dollars would be much better spent and far more effective on extra police to crack down on child pornography. Oh I forgot, he can’t give that to another department can he?

Obama’s Internet Revolution Begins.

http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Obama-Brings-Cyber-Sensibility/story.xhtml?story_id=0320013Q3J4W&full_skip=1

Reality kicked in on the 10th February 2007 when Obama announced his national campaign at the place where just some 149 years earlier, Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech. A primary campaign sometimes referred to as the ‘Never Ending Story’ took us through to the 3rd. June when Obama was nominated as the presumptive candidate therein setting the stage for the national campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Today is Sunday the 2nd. November 2008, just a couple of days away from the most important political moment in my life. Within 72 hours we will be watching the numbers rolling in. But unlike every other election - the substance and the implications of this election are tectonic in nature.

Today we wait with bated breath.

Firstly to those unfamiliar with him, Richard Nixon can best be described as a political endgamer, a high-powered version of John Howard. He saw every issue in terms of how to exploit his opponents. He was dog-whistling and wedging long before the terms were invented. In the post-war period he entered Congress and quickly became a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The Republicans were especially keen on such groups and nonsense like Loyalty Oaths to undermine the dominance of the New Deal Democrats, who had become the natural party of government.

Although less sensationalist than Senator Joe McCarthy’s wild allegations about communists taking over the State Department, HUAC was arguably much more effective. Nixon, perhaps because he was a Californian, realized the immense publicity that HUAC could get by focusing on Hollywood: the stars, the writers, the directors. And that’s who they went after. HUAC got ready cooperation from the owners and tycoons of Hollywood. Many were Jewish, and having just witnessed the Holocaust were very anxious to prove their loyalty and patriotism.

Having Hollywood as the focus guaranteed almost daily publicity. There were just enough neo-leftists around Hollywood in the Depression-era 30s to have the Republicans sniffing for blood. Among other sins, many were in trouble for expressing sympathy or support for the Spanish Republicans during the civil war in Spain. The question, “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?” was especially loaded.

Although the Constitution in theory protected these people, non-cooperation led to charges of perjury and to the owners banning them from work. Many had to leave the industry or the country. Even those who cooperated lost friends and self-respect by public confessions. It was a win-win for Nixon, paving the way for his elevation to the Senate and then to the Vice-Presidency.

In the early 60s Nixon suffered setbacks. He lost the 1960 Presidency to JFK, and two years later failed to win the Governorship of California. But like Howard much later, he learned from mistakes and adjusted his game.

He saw a great opportunity in the 60s with the Civil Rights movement and LBJ’s Great Society. With LBJ firmly committed to it (something even FDR shied away from) the attack on institutionalised racism would almost certainly lead to a reaction against the Democrats, who until then ruled the South. In addition, the fundamentalist religions of the mid-West and the South felt threatened by the anti-censorship charge of the 60s and the general sexual, feminist and black power liberation movements.

Nixon could see a new Republican hegemony from the remaining racist elements of the South and the conservative religious movements. These had never quite got over their defeat in the Monkey Trials of 1925 which led to the overrule of state laws banning the teaching of evolution in science. In origins, they too were often Democrats. So it was a big alliance Nixon was planning. Little wonder he made Billy Graham his chaplain when he did make it to the White House. Nixon mistrusted the old Eastern Establishment, despite the Kissinger alliance, and for that reason forged new alliances in the West - what was to become known as the Sun Belt areas.

The Watergate scandal put a temporary stop to the Republican dominance but not to the alliance pattern Nixon forged, which was capitalised on by Reagan and the Bushes. The Democrats realized too late the bind they were in. Their only counter-attack was to promote popular Southerners as their nominees. So, loosely based on the Nixon strategy the Republicans have had the President for 28 of the last 40 years. I know that the last 8 is a lot more questionable after the fiddles in Florida in 2000 (abetted by the Supreme Court) and Ohio in 2004. But it was Democrat ineptness that led to the contests being close in the first place. Carter and Clinton were treated like usurpers and only Clinton, among all the Democrat nominees was prepared to call their bluff.

The alliance, diverse as it was, made it easier for the Republicans to define what they were against. So liberalism became a dirty word; scholarship and scientific enquiry was wasteful; any government spending, except on armaments or business was likewise wasteful; climate change warnings were alarmist and interfering in God’s prerogatives. One other Nixon legacy was to manipulate foreign affairs activities for domestic adversarial politics. He sent word to North Vietnam to delay acceptance of peace talks in order to stymie LBJ. Later, Reagan aides would do similar in talks over the Irianian Embassy hostage crisis, leading to Carter looking helpless.
One area where Nixon differed from his New Right successors was in economic and financial management. Nixon was relatively prudent. The others, especially Reagan and Bush II, have been utterly reckless - no doubt egged on by the Sun Belt equivalent of the White Shoe Brigade, and the Pentagon-related industries.

It should not be forgotten that the Reagan Administration’s first effort at deregulation led to paper money merchants getting hold of savings and credit union groups assets and siphoning them off. Had it not been for Depression-era federal government guarantees for small peoples savings in such institutions a lot of people would have lost their life savings and retirement funds. As it was, the government picked up the tab for these losses, at enormous taxpayer cost. Increasing military spending by large amounts while reducing the wealthy’s tax payments will never help balance budgets. No wonder Bush I, who had some semblence of responsibility, failed so badly. It was too big a lemon he was stuck with.

Newt Gingrich deserves the prize for brazen hypocrisy when he demanded that Clinton present a balanced budget or face impeachment. Clinton, of course, did just that and ran rings around them in economic management. I often think the bile directed at Clinton was because (like Keating in Australia) he did the things the Republicans only talked about.

So we come to the Bush II regime. It seems clear now that in terms of incompetence, arrogance, corruption and dishonesty this regime is setting alltime benchmarks. The Nixonian adversarialism has been passed on to Rove, and has become even more vicious.

With such a consistent record for anti-intellectualism, it is not so surprising that foreign policy, at least for a very long time, should pass to the neocons and other crazies. It is also hardly surprising that this lot should approve torture of suspects. There is not enough scope for reasoned argument, and anyway torture seemed to work in “24”.

9/11 also warrants mention. At the time of the attacks I think I counted up to 7 agencies that failed then. Given the distance of agencies from the Administration, Team Bush need not necessarily be blamed. But surely these failings should have been of greater interest than the audacity of the crime. But no, all effort is already turned to a revenge attack. Rove and co wanted to turn attention away from any question of neglect. In addition, others had seen an opportunity. Here was a bogey to replace Communism. Hence the War on Terror. The Anthrax Scare (which did start from a Langley Virginia batch) was used to whip up anti-Middle Eastern feelings. In the general welter of confusion, Saddam could be linked without many thinking it was odd. Other issues in that sorry saga are too lengthy to mention here. Unlawful detention, rendering, torture, war profiteering - the list goes on.

Kirri has given better accounts of the economic train wreck of the Bush II regime. I am more interested in the remnants of that Nixon alliance. On the New Money side, many like Enron have bitten the dust and their ringleaders face charges or convictions. The most galling thing is that so many of these executives still have exorbitant packages, unconscionably siphoning off shareholders, employees and retirees funds. It is a disgrace that politicians and media alike have ignored this pillaging for so long.

The Bible Belt has made little headway with Creative Design, although under Bush they have manged to slow down stem cell research and so on. The Republicans have not delivered them much and it is not so surprise that some are at last defecting. It is similar with the old White Privilege South. They’ll still be around, but their influence is waning - as is the Republicans.

That alliance is not what it was. Barack deserves most credit for overcoming those barriers. He has had wide appeal and he has used the new weapons of the net well. We should not forget Howard Dean, who first attempted to use the net and appeal to the disengaged in 2004. He didn’t overcome the Democratic machine then, but he paved the way to how entrenched interests could be overcome.

As to Hillary, it should be clear by now that the most successful method for overcoming both the alliance and the ‘play safe’ Democrat machine attitudes, was as Barack did: appeal to those unengaged or alienated from the process. He did this brilliantly.

Here’s one final thought. Dubya’s often given the impression that he was ‘called by God’ for a mission. Perhaps it is true. The Republicans look headed for annihilation. Given the Nixonian legacy, and the end (at least for now) of Fear and Loathing that is not a bad result. It is a pity it took the wrecking of the economy and Mesopatamia, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Hillary – the Great White hope. Before this election got interesting I hoped and assumed that Hillary would trounce the republicans and we would see a woman in the White House. As an avowed feminist this was pleasing indeed and seemed to make this election a trailblazer for that reason alone. Anything to see the end of George the Imbecile, and what better way to turn the tables on neo-conservatism than to see a democrat woman as POTUS.

She is charismatic, confident, assured and knowledgeable. It turns out she is also rabidly ambitious and prepared to play dirty to that end. I was amazed at some of the stunts she pulled , the fake accents, the lies about her foreign affairs experience and worse, her preparedness to smear Obama when the Primary race got tight. Hillary believed that she had an entitlement to be back in The White House and she dragged it out to the bitter end, which was damaging for the party, and ultimately herself.

Then there’s the Stepford wives. Cindy McCain who has behaved like a handbag: an attractive accessory (if you like plastic), with not much content. She has conducted herself like all good wives from the 50’s should – well groomed, and silently supporting her man. Who knows what she really thinks? She represents a thankfully bygone era where a woman’s only public role was to be seen to support her man. Even when he has publicly humiliated her and called her a “Stupid C-nt”. If she had divorced him and spoken out against abuse of women she would be deserving of admiration. Instead she relies on his success for her identity. Not the kind of role model I want for my daughters.

And the First Lady – Laura . I actually feel sorry for her – after all she sleeps with George every night, so she is punished enough and in an act of sisterly solidarity I shall harm her no more.

My favourite anti-hero of this election is of course Sarah Palin. Not much I can say that hasn’t been said, and nothing anyone can say that betters Tina Fey. She will become a symbol of all that is loathed about the American Character – an arrogant, brash, ignorant, fundamentalist who does not have the intelligence to know that she isn’t. But she is also frightening – a juxtaposed “I can do anything” feminist persona overlaying a basic narrowness that is determined to undo some of the rights that women have fought and even died for - most particularly the right to choose whether to proceed with an unplanned pregnancy. This in my view makes her one of the most dangerous female politicians in the public arena today. Whatever your personal view on abortion is, it is not her right to impose hers on all American women. It’s bad enough that she’s doing it to Bristol.

Then onto the stage strides Michelle Obama. A woman of intelligence and style. A woman who clearly supports her husband but has her own views on matters of public policy. A mother and partner who has a successful career. A woman who can talk and think for herself. And an African American who must know first hand what it means to live in a country which has not reached it’s potential, but may in fact be about to. This is a role model for my daughters, and for all of us who aspire to see women in public life reflect the best of us.

Frankly – I wish she was VP.

The possibilities for excitement on stage today all hinge on McCain. To what do you ‘throw the switch’ in these circumstances, in which you are 8-10 points down nationally with 3 weeks to go? Vaudeville won’t help. He’s already tried that with Sarah the ventriloquists’ dummy. Perhaps you say, “We’ve got nothing to lose, let’s go for the goolies.”  If Rove and his ilk are now running things, that is probably what McCain will attempt. Even winning the talking points in the debate is not sufficient for him.

Of course, this debate could be as dull as the “Town Hall” dirge-fest if Obama gets to run it his way. He ‘won’ the last debate by simply appearing cool. It didn’t matter a jot what he said, providing it wasn’t ‘courageous’ or even stimulating. It was all about Presidential poise. Due to that success and the Dems lead in the polls, Obama is highly unlikely to deviate from the minimalist approach now.

The danger for Obama is if McCain manages to wreck the debate with accusations, taunts and dirt, and succeeds in getting Obama down in the gutter with him. The aim would be to diminish the Presidential aura that Obama now has, and that McCain certainly does not. But this is also dangerous for McCain. If the tactic fails, and Obama stays above the fray, McCain will appear to be nothing other than the stumbling, flailing old dope he is.

McCain has already said he will be raising the Ayers ‘connection’ in the debate – ho hum - but that may only be an indicator of a full-on effort to unbalance Obama and prevent him from staying ‘in charge’ during the event.

Unless something radical is done now, the game will just slip away for McCain. The issue is whether he graciously accepts the impending crushing loss, or uses a last opportunity to tip over the card table which could, in the Rovians grotty little worldview, just possibly even things up again. One thing is certain: McCain shaking hands with a war veteran in the audience and saying ‘My friends’ 50 times won’t do the job.

My prediction is of a 70% chance of fireworks from McCain, and if so, a 95% chance of Barry holding the high ground.

The only things that Captain McCain and I have in common are that we both sailed through more water than the average shark, in the Grey Funnel Line, in roughly the same era except for the fact that he made more of a career out of it than me. We served in the same waters at the time of the Vietnam War. We both probably sailed past more lighthouses than the average Chucky Six Pack has seen shithouses and both probably saw more Action Stations than Barbie Six Pack has seen railway stations. He was a “Birdie” and I was an electrician. We were of course in different Navies, he in The USN and me in the RAN. Now days the life of a sailor is considered as the ships being made of steel, the men made of wood, and it is all Wine, Women and Song, but way back then the ships were made of wood, the men of steel, and it was Rum, Bum and Gramophone Records.

(disclaimer ; without the bum)

Macca had a lot to live up to as his Father and his Grandfather were Four Star Admirals. The only step above Admiral in the USN is Fleet Admiral (the big Boss). His boss of course is the C.I.C. (Commander in Chief).

Young Macca no doubt had burning ambitions to be the equal of or go one step better than his Pop or Pop Pop.

He joined the Naval Academy and in 1958 graduated as an Ensign at number 894 of 899 graduates. Not exactly top of the class! He subsequently went into training and became a Birdie. His ability to crash planes and play up left a lot to be desired and one wonders if the records of his Poppys had some influence on his not being severely disciplined which may have ultimately affected his chances of promotion. When one reads his records, he has had some bailouts over the years, but his most important bail out was on 26 October 1967 when he was shot down over North Vietnam and became a POW. He was released on March 14th 1973. He had the ranking of Lieutenant Commander at the time. There would have been little chance of him receiving any promotions as a POW and this would have severely stalled his desire to make Admiral. He was given different assignments in US Naval Bases and after having only reached the rank of Captain resigned from the Navy on April 1st 1981. (April fool)

At this point in his life he most probably would have been an honest and upstanding member of the community. He subsequently decided on a political career and was elected to the House in 1982 and the Senate in 1986.

Over the period of the next 26 years he developed an uncanny knack of becoming involved with lots of the more shady characters that have graced the US political stables and the only way he was going to surpass his Poppys’ Admiral Status was to become C.I.C. He ran against the Imbecile for POTUS in 2000 and failed after he was swift boated USS Enterprised by the Imbeciles Neo Cons.

The downward spiral of the now Ancient Mariner with a whole flock of Albatrosses hanging round his neck gathered pace even quicker over the next eight years. He now has the GOP nomination for POTUS election in a few days time and this ex Upstanding Naval Officer has morphed into the exact opposite of what he once was and no amount of lies, deception and self flagellation is going to get him over the line on Nov 4th (US time). His Political record of voting with the Imbecile, the Keating five and his record on Veterans Affairs votes leaves only one solution …

Having never made the rank of Admiral he would never stand triumphantly on a “Bridge” to anywhere whilst one of the stinking rotting albatrosses, hanging round his neck, is his running mate in charge of a partially built “bridge” to nowhere

He should be Courts Martialled, found guilty, keel hauled, demoted, shackled to an oar on a Galley, and sent in search of the “Santa Maria”. When he finds it he can duly tell Chris C the lie that he was a USN Rear Admiral and bend over for him.

From a jolly Jack Tar to Jack Tarred. What a miserable shell of a man!

A gentle reminder to Cindy McCain that if she wants to get involved in bashing BO then she also better be ready for return of serve. Even though she looks like a fresh faced lady she has not got exacty what you call clean skin!

Oct. 18, 1999 | PHOENIX — GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s wife Cindy took to the airwaves last week, recounting for Jane Pauley (on “Dateline”) and Diane Sawyer (on “Good Morning America”) the tale of her one-time addiction to Percocet and Vicodin, and the fact that she stole the drugs from her own non-profit medical relief organization.

Permission to step ashore please Sir?