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Open Thread

Politicisation of Asylum Seekers

The way this issue of AS has been politicised is abhorrent .

Asylum seekers eventually become immigrants once processed-it is just the arrival and treatment while waiting for acceptance that is the cause for concern.

Just a few thoughts that are coloured by the fact that I, like many others, was born in a country that was occupied during WW2 and my father(in the resistance) was desperate to take us as far from Europe as possible.. With 4 children he only just scraped in by lying about his occupation as there was no demand for his skills. Once in NZ , the reality overwhelmed him at times but he could never return -lack of money, pride, children settled . While safe with a house and income , there was nevertheless huge grief at loss of family, language, culture, etc. hidden under pride and bravado. So even at the best of times, migration has a real downside.

At the time, Australian immigrants were sent direct into migrant camps whereas NZ allowed farmers to sponsor families directly, so there seems to be a history here of ‘grouping’, which, while supportive in many ways ,can also backfire when there are ill-feelings . By living separately in the community, we adopted the new country and language as our own much faster than my relatives who came here to Oz.

Have watched immigrants overseas in particular where they face discrimination and many spend much time looking over their shoulders, struggling with language often for a pittance not to mention the problems their children often face especially if their appearance is different. And resentment if they do too well. For every success there are many failures.

Criminals do slip through normal immigration channels anyway (Cosa Nostra, Chinese Triads, etc.) and the ‘political terrorist’ branding often depends on hue of government in power at the time (Habib now visiting Egypt is case in point) So I can’t understand why it takes so long to process residency applications other than it being used as a deterrent . ( Applies to UK, EU,etc. applicants as well .)

Unfortunately for Australia, too many want to come HERE- not anywhere else- and not just for refuge. Often those who really need to escape, can’t. Those on boats have paid agents often the last of their money ,as Jewish people did in the ’40s, and are not aware of the standard of boats they will be travelling on. I think children are often sent ahead as footholds, the same way the Chinese sent their kids here as students and then were able to immigrate under the family reunion scheme. I can’t blame people for wanting to improve their lives.

Immigration from Europe stopped once safety was re-established, living conditions improved and those who were unhappy in their new country spread the word of disappointment back home.

Now all these years later, while I can understand my father’s desperation and fear, I often wonder if he would have done it again, given a second chance. And he didn’t even risk life and limb on a leaky boat.

It would be interesting to know if any follow up has been done of those refugees who arrived in leaky boats and were eventually settled during the Howard years? Those women and children who were stuck behind razor wire, how are they now?

Legacy of a sad difficult problem, dangerously inflamed by one J.W. Howard.

1,520 replies on “Politicisation of Asylum Seekers”

Chris B – Individual states in the US do have very different tax systems. State and local taxes vary widely. The states use the different tax systems to entice corporate headquarters into their state. That is why you find some really big companies based in what we in Australia might think as locations that are out of the way. Many high earning individuals choose to live out of NY State and commute long distances because of high individual taxes in NY compared to neighbouring states. I don’t think the US is a good example to support your argument.

I think your dream of the same tax system world wide is unrealistic and unworkable. But I think there should be some degree of harmonisation where it makes sense – my tariff example is one.

Can you blame Ireland for resurrecting its economy for introducing tax incentives for corporates there (although I know its in trouble at the moment)?

I think countries should be able to respond individually to their economic demands. Its not just about tax rates – it’s about things like medicare, pensions, natural resources etc etc. These things just aren’t uniform from country to country.

1301 Katielou Got it wrong on the USA.
It has a federal tax system. Where the EU doesn’t.

“Can you blame Ireland for resurrecting its economy for introducing tax incentives for corporates there (although I know its in trouble at the moment)?” Irelands tax system fell over and is no longer quoted by conservatives.

“I think your dream of the same tax system world wide is unrealistic and unworkable.”

Very workable if the corporations, billionaires millionaires are taxed. The Internet makes it even more realistic.

One step further on. Stopping the arms industry. As difficult as it is. Would be a massive break through.

1292 Katielou “But if countries have different assets to take advantage of, different levels of welfare, different needs, won’t they need differing levels of tax?”

All those in the EU are becoming exactly the same except tax.

One of Hungary’s major parties, Jobbik, is a nightmare out of the 1930s: it’s anti-Roma (Gypsy), it’s anti-Semitic, and it even had a paramilitary arm. But the immediate threat comes from Fidesz, the governing center-right party.

Fidesz won an overwhelming Parliamentary majority last year, at least partly for economic reasons; Hungary isn’t on the euro, but it suffered severely because of large-scale borrowing in foreign currencies and also, to be frank, thanks to mismanagement and corruption on the part of the then-governing left-liberal parties. Now Fidesz, which rammed through a new Constitution last spring on a party-line vote, seems bent on establishing a permanent hold on power.

The details are complex. Kim Lane Scheppele, who is the director of
It’s time to start calling the current situation what it is: a depression.
*****************************************************

Princeton’s Law and Public Affairs program — and has been following the Hungarian situation closely — tells me that Fidesz is relying on overlapping measures to suppress opposition. A proposed election law creates gerrymandered districts designed to make it almost impossible for other parties to form a government; judicial independence has been compromised, and the courts packed with party loyalists; state-run media have been converted into party organs, and there’s a crackdown on independent media; and a proposed constitutional addendum would effectively criminalize the leading leftist party.

More here…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/opinion/krugman-depression-and-democracy.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Arhhh! Stuffed the layout seriously. That’s what happens when you’re crook!

This should be at the top!

It’s time to start calling the current situation what it is: a depression.

At The lunch break at Leveson, Mr Thurlbeck is being ceremoniously brought undone and i hope he is feeling very ridiculed. Scum.

The fire services. Everyone in the country areas on satelite NBN will know where the bushfires are at exactly the right time. Watch the fires in real time. No panic and know exactly where to go and when. No more Marysville! (Touch wood).

1311

Great power point video Chris.

But how amazing is it that the LNP and Murdock have Australians so dumbed down they vote against their own interests.

After viewing that why would a farmer vote LNP who are threatening to shut it down. The LNP should not get one vote in the bush with the benefits of the NBN.

Britain ‘risks pygmy status’ over EU stand.
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BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron last night was expected to defend his decision to veto a new European Union treaty, after the move triggered fury among his Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

In a speech to Parliament, amid the most serious crisis yet faced by the coalition, Mr Cameron was due to tell MPs that Britain had to wield its veto at Friday’s EU summit in Brussels in order to protect its crucial financial services sector.

The speech came after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned that Britain faced being reduced to the status of a ”pygmy” nation after the veto.

LMAO!

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/britain-risks-pygmy-status-over-eu-stand-20111212-1orcb.html#ixzz1gNBndJHi

Good piece in the New Statesman by Owen Jones here.

The EU treaty is a disaster for the left
Stop your crowing about Cameron leaving Britain marginalised, lefties. The proposed EU treaty is perhaps the biggest catastrophe to befall the European left since the Second World War.

Sounds like semi-deranged hyperbole? Consider this: as Paul Mason has written, “by enshrining in national and international law the need for balanced budgets and near-zero structural deficits, the eurozone has outlawed expansionary fiscal policy”.

Read that last bit carefully. Left-wing governments of all hues will, in effect, be banned by this treaty. If the French or the German left returns to power in the near future (and both are in a good position to do so), it will be illegal for them to respond to the global economic catastrophe with anything but austerity. An economic stimulus is forbidden – because the treaty has buried Keynesianism…..more

Technical “dead-end”: Conroy smashes Turnbull’s NBN policy.
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Although Turnbull has not formally published the Coalition’s rival telecommunications policy, over the past six months he has outlined the approach he said a Coalition Government would take to the issue. Currently, that approach appears to focus on a number of core concepts such as incentivising the industry to deploy fibre to the node infrastructure, separating Telstra into wholesale and retail arms, utilising wireless services in rural areas and re-using the existing HFC cable networks.

However, in a landmark speech given to the National Press Club this afternoon and broadcast nationally by the ABC, Conroy attacked each of the technologies which Turnbull has promulgated, highlighting instead the strengths of Labor’s fibre to the home-based policy.

With respect to the fibre to the node technology which would see fibre laid to streetside cabinets, and then extended to premises through the copper network, Conroy said Turnbull appeared to be misleading Australians about the capacities of fibre to the node.

Turnbull has argued FTTN could deliver speeds of between 60Mbps and 80Mbps. However, Conroy stated that such speeds would be dependent upon the type of copper cable installed. And in this area — in terms of both the cable’s diameter and the length of the lines, speeds would be severely restricted in Australia, the Minister argued.

In particular, the speeds envisaged by Turnbull would require bonded copper pairs to be used — which were not present in the current copper network owned by Telstra, Conroy said. “We simply do not have the copper available for speed or performance of what Turnbull is claiming,” he said.

In addition, Conroy said, much of the equipment needed to build a FTTN network would be rendered obsolete in future as bandwidth needs forced the government of the day to examine the case to further roll out fibre to the premise. This was the advice which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had repeatedly provided to the Government, he said.

Turnbull has previously held up New Zealand’s NBN model as being one that Australia could draw inspiration from. However, Conroy pointed out that the New Zealand Government had largely shifted its policy from a FTTN to a FTTH model, before the planned FTTN infrastructure was completed. “New Zealand’s Conservative Government understands the important of super-fast broadband infrastructure,” said Conroy, noting that Turnbull was right to look to New Zealand — but implying he had missed the Kiwi broadband message.

HFC and wireless
Conroy also attacked the Coalition’s focus on wireless and HFC cable technologies as low-cost alternatives to Labor’s big-spending NBN package.

Often when Turnbull, Liberal Leader Tony Abbott or Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey spoke about the benefits of wireless technology, Conroy said, they were actually talking about Wi-Fi connections rather than the mobile broadband which is provided through 3G/4G networks owned by the major telcos. And because Wi-Fi required a fixed-line connection to support its bandwidth requirements, Conroy argued, Wi-Fi was actually a fixed-line broadband connection.

More here!!!!
http://delimiter.com.au/2011/12/13/technical-dead-end-conroy-smashes-turnbulls-nbn-policy/

Goodness me! Young Neville Thurlbech HAS been a busy boy.
I suspect he’s in so much hot water, that yesterday’s appearance at The Leveson inquiry will only be the first of many days in “the dock”.

NoW hacking suspect worked for the police as an ‘informer’
A key phone-hacking suspect worked for senior detectives while he was chief crime reporter of the News of the World, the Standard reveals today.

The activities of Neville Thurlbeck, which date back to 1995, trigger new fears of collusion between the Met and the press. …more

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23971221-hacking-suspect-worked-as-police-informer.do

Meanwhile, as I await my nightly fix of Leveson….I’m deeply frustrated to find it doesn’t start till 10.30 pm AEST tonight.
Bloody British don’t give a fig, for the suffering of us poor bloody colonials….. having to endure all these late nights. 👿 🙂

Just the date I like to hear. 1995. Dianna died 1997.
——————————————————————
The activities of Neville Thurlbeck, which date back to 1995, trigger new fears of collusion between the Met and the press.
******************************************

Nail Murdoch with that one and its all over bar the shouting. Hang ’em from the yard arm!

Dowler Family Insist Police Told Them NotW Journalists Deleted Milly’s Voicemails.
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The family of Milly Dowler have insisted the police told them News of the World journalists deleted voicemails on their murdered daughters’ phone.

On Monday the Metropolitan Police said Milly’s voice messages may have been “automatically removed” by her phone after they were listened to by reporters at the tabloid and were not disposed of on purpose.

In a statement issued on Tuesday through their lawyer Mark Lewis, the family said: “The Dowlers stand by the statement which was made on their behalf at the end of last week. They have a clear recollection that the police told them that the News of the World had listened to their missing daughter’s voicemail and deleted some of the messages.

“They have asked all of the press to leave them alone and, while they remain willing to help Lord Leveson, they do not propose to make any further statement.”

A lawyer representing Scotland Yard told the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics on Monday that there was no evidence that journalists deleted the murdered schoolgirl’s phone messages, apparently contradicting what they had told the Dowler family at the time.

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/13/dowler-family-insist-police-told-them-notw-journalists-deleted-millys-voicemails_n_1145450.html?ref=uk

Oh dear so Jimmy the Jaw only reads half an email. How Sad and what a bundle of joy may now come his way. Facts now show he is a bare faced liar. He told the parliamentry enquiry that Colin Myler or Tom Crone had not informed him that hacking was rife.
Now turns out Myler sent him an email in 2008 but he “did not review the full email”

Hopefully Jimmy and porrige will become well acquainted.

News Corp. Deputy Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch received an e-mail in 2008 that described the “nightmare scenario” that phone hacking went beyond a single reporter at the News of the World tabloid.

The e-mail from former editor Colin Myler contained previous exchanges between two lawyers that referred to transcripts of hacked voice mails passed around the newsroom, according to documents released today by the U.K. Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

Murdoch told lawmakers last month that Myler failed to tell him in 2008 that phone hacking at the newspaper was widespread. Revelations that the News of the World hacked into phones of celebrities, politicians and murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler led to the closing of the 168-year-old tabloid and forced New York-based News Corp. (NWSA) to drop a 7.8 billion-pound ($12.1 billion) bid to buy all of pay-TV company British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. (BSY)

“Unfortunately it is as bad as we feared,” Myler told Murdoch in the 2008 e-mail.

Murdoch said in a separate letter to U.K. lawmakers that he didn’t review the full e-mail.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-13/news-corp-james-murdoch-received-e-mail-on-nightmare-hacking-scenario.html

If you were a member of the culture committee woud you give Jimmy the Jaw the benefit of the doubt.
i mean to say that surely the Chief executive (or whatever he is) would not receive emails from the trash in his companies. Surely he would only receive and send emails between a few of senior management and legal depts etc.
Surely they would not waste his time with trivia so one would expect that an email sent to him from underneath would contain something serious in the day to day running of the companies or a request for directions to take over something for those reasons.

But Jimmy only reads half the email.

Well, it shows that Mr Murdoch was given the ability in June 2008 to get a grip on the phone-hacking scandal, via this email stream.

Had he read the email stream, Mr Murdoch would surely have gleaned that the News of the World faced the serious allegation that it had misled MPs about the full extent of phone hacking at the News of the World.

However he says he didn’t read the email stream.

The defence of his probity – his claim that he knew nothing of the extent of phone hacking till about a year ago – rests on his admitting that he made a management mistake by ignoring evidence of a serious problem that was put under his nose.

It is for MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to decide whether that management error is forgiveable and understandable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16169037

NBC/WSJ: Gingrich At 40% With GOP, But Would Be Crushed By Obama
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In the most pronounced contrast between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s position within the Republican primary contest and his standing in a matchup against President Obama, Gingrich has taken a commanding lead in a new national poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. Newt gets 40 percent of the GOP vote nationally, the highest total for any candidate in the past few months. He’s currently 17 points above his main competitor, Mitt Romney.

But the data also shows that Gingrich is a much weaker candidate against President Obama nationally. While Romney is only bested by the President by two points within the poll, Gingrich is crushed 51 – 40, showing the expansive disconnect between the GOP voters’ desire to have a non-Romney candidate and the chances that candidate has in the general election.

Never trust a man named Newt.

More here…

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/nbcwsj-gingrich-hits-40-percent-among-gop-down-against-obama-by-11.php?ref=fpb

Chris B – the US has Federal, State and City taxes. State taxes vary enormously, and are used as incentives to entice corporate headquarters. Difference in taxes across states in the US is a huge driver of economic activity amongst corporates and individuals.

It’s just too superficial and simplistic to say “all of Europe is the same” and can therefore have the same taxes.

Ireland’s tax system didn’t collapse – it’s troubles are due to the credit bubble and the collapse of the financial system – the same picture we see in so many countries around the world.

But some tax harmonisation is a worthy goal.

Murdoch: Never Read Hacking Email
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In parliamentary hearings on Tuesday, James Murdoch insisted that a crucial email sent to him regarding the pervasiveness of phone hacking at News of the World went unread. But his testimony may not be so credible, as evidence shows Murdoch actually replied to the email—in which an editor confided that phone hacking at the paper had escalated beyond one reporter—within three minutes of receiving it.

More here…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/12/13/james-murdoch-i-never-read-hacking-email.html

It’s just too superficial and simplistic to say “all of Europe is the same”
Sorry. Europe has harmonised all its laws.

Thinking cap has broken. Due to being very run down from on going (5 weeks illness) cleared of anything major. Just have to wait it out. But still want to be involved. Damn!

Michael Tomasky: Could Obama Be Headed for a Landslide?
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Obama’s approval rating is soft, but new polls of South Carolina and Florida show him ahead of Gingrich and Romney. Michael Tomasky asks: could the GOP be headed for disaster?
—————————————————————————-
How can Barack Obama, as this new NBC/Marist poll has it, be beating Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in South Carolina, of all places? The leads are narrow—it’s just 45-42 over Romney and 46-42 over Gingrich. But still, this is South Carolina, the home state of a senator (Lindsey Graham) who, just this past Sunday on Meet the Press, was talking nullification of federal laws in the shameful style that is his state’s benighted tradition. Is it conceivable that 10 months and three weeks from now, Obama could actually win the state? If it happens, we will know that the Republicans are headed off the cliff. And that is precisely where we should all hope they go.

More here…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/13/michael-tomasky-could-obama-be-headed-for-a-landslide.html

yay for FirstDog!

Chris – hope you feel better soon …

and paddy – that news from Russia is truly alarming. We are in deep shit, and still no action and even refusal to believe it is a problem.
if I wasn’t an atheist I’d be praying hard.
as it is – will just have to make do with a big glass of sauv blanc.

Bugger you and your wussy sauv blanc Jen. 👿
This needs a monstrous Shiraz to tear the skin off your tongue. 😆

GOOGLE GIVES BACK
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At Google, philanthropy is a core value. This year we gave more than $100 million to various organizations around the world — including $40 million in grants that celebrate the giving season by supporting four causes that we consider particularly important: science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education; girls’ education; empowerment through technology; and fighting human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

We invite you to celebrate the giving season along with us by learning about these organizations, the great work they’re doing, and how you can support them.

More here…

http://www.google.com/landing/givesback/2011/

Chris – hope you feel better soon …

Thanks Jen. Specially after what you went through. I’m just a little bit exhausted.

Can it get any sweeter. I think so and i hope so.

Now, finally, a set of emails has surfaced that appear to suggest James was, in fact, thoroughly in the loop during the Gordon Taylor cover-up. He was copied in to emails recording Taylor’s allegation that criminality was “rife” at the NoW, describing the hacked transcripts (referred to in the emails slightly differently as the “Ross Hindley email”), and warning of a “nightmare scenario” if others sued. James’s response this time was distinctly limp. He wrote to the committee claiming that, although he admitted receiving the correspondence, he had never properly read it. The idea that he would authorise payments from his company of three-quarters of a million pounds without bothering to read the files is one many will find startling.

Quite apart from the moral and legal failures, James’ poor decision-making will plainly end up now costing News Corporation’s shareholders much more – many tens of millions. The company’s immediate financial liability remains literally incalculable, for the lawsuits and the lawyers’ fees continue to mount. The longer-term reputational damage to his company is gigantic and, worse still, looks like being unbearably prolonged, as potential prosecutions follow judicial inquiries follow celebrity litigation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/14/james-murdoch-phone-hacking-cover-up

PPP: Obama Tops GOP In Virginia.
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The long journey from Republican stronghold to swing state ended for Virginia in 2008, when it went for President Obama by over six points. But in 2009, with the President’s approval rating down and the economy stuck in first gear, the state elected a Republican Governor in Bob McDonnell.

Yet a new poll from Public Policy Polling (D) shows that the Presidential race is entirely a different matter: it’s being determined by a choice between President Obama — who VA voters are split on — and two major GOP candidates that voters in state currently find unappealing.

Obama bests former MA Gov. Mitt Romney 48 percent to 42, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 50 to 43. But the President does so with an approval rating below fifty percent in the state (48 – 47), mainly because Romney and Gingrich fare far worse in the eyes of Virginia voters. Only 31 percent see Gingrich favorably against 55 percent, and it’s nearly as bad for Romney at 33 – 52.

“It continues to look like Virginia may be Obama’s firewall state,” said Dean Debnam,
President of Public Policy Polling in a release. “He’s holding up well there and it’s going to be tough for the Republicans to get to 270 electoral votes without it in their column.”

This far out in 2008 we hadn’t heard of Obama.

More here…

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/ppp-obama-tops-gop-in-virginia.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

Obama marks end of Iraq war at Fort Bragg.
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US President Barack Obama has marked the end of the Iraq war by applauding the “extraordinary achievement” of US troops in a conflict he firmly opposed.

In a speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, he paid tribute to the soldiers who served and died in the war, and their families.

The last US soldiers are expected to withdraw from Iraq within days.

Republicans have criticised the pullout citing concerns over Iraq’s stability, but most Americans support the move.

In Wednesday’s speech, President Obama – who owes his presidency in part to his opposition to the Iraq war – hailed the bravery of US troops during the nearly nine-year conflict.

“Tomorrow the colours of the United States Forces Iraq, the colours you fought under, will be formally cased in a ceremony in Baghdad,” said Mr Obama, who was on his first visit to Fort Bragg. “Then they’ll begin their journey across an ocean back home.

“As your commander in chief and on behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words – welcome home, welcome home, welcome home,” he told thousands of cheering troops in an airplane hangar.

Mr Obama announced in October that all US troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011, a date previously agreed by former President George W Bush in 2008.

More here…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16186136

December 14, 2011

Another Poll Shows Gingrich Ahead Nationally
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Newt Gingrich with a 10-point lead over Mitt Romney nationally in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination, 28% to 18%.

The rest of the field: Ron Paul and Rick Perry at 12%, Michele Bachmann at 10%, Jon Huntsman at 5% and Rick Santorum at 4%.

http://politicalwire.com

Holder’s Voting Rights Speech Part III: Automatic Voter Registration.
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Easily the boldest — and one of the most needed — idea in Attorney General Holder’s voting rights speech last night is a proposal to modernize our voter registration system to make it easier for every American to participate in democracy:

Today, the single biggest barrier to voting in this country is our antiquated registration system. According to the Census Bureau, of the 75 million adult citizens who failed to vote in the last presidential election, 60 million of them were not registered and, therefore, not eligible to cast a ballot.

All eligible citizens can and should be automatically registered to vote. The ability to vote is a right — it is not a privilege. Under our current system, many voters must follow cumbersome and needlessly complex voter registration rules. And every election season, state and local officials have to manually process a crush of new applications – most of them handwritten – leaving the system riddled with errors, and, too often, creating chaos at the polls.

Fortunately, modern technology provides a straightforward fix for these problems – if we have the political will to bring our election systems into the 21st century. It should be the government’s responsibility to automatically register citizens to vote, by compiling – from databases that already exist – a list of all eligible residents in each jurisdiction. Of course, these lists would be used solely to administer elections – and would protect essential privacy rights.

Wow I’d given up on this.

More here..
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/12/14/389310/holders-voting-rights-speech-part-iii-automatic-voter-registration/

The GOP’s basic problem? Although Virginians do narrowly approve of President Obama’s job performance (by a 48-47 margin), they really don’t like the Republicans:

Net Favorable Rating
Romney: -19
Gingrich: -24
Bachmann: -25
Paul: -36
Perry: -41

If he weren’t running against Republicans, President Obama would probably be in worse shape in Virginia given the state of the economy. Then again, if it weren’t for Republicans, the state of the economy wouldn’t be so bad.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/14/1045321/-VA-Pres:-President-Obama-leads%C2%A0all%C2%A0challengers?via=blog_1

Holder Backs Voting Rights, Universal Registration, Threatens Action Against Voter Suppression.
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Eric Holder gave an address at the LBJ Library in Austin yesterday billed as the opening salvo in a Justice Department counter-attack against disenfranchising voter laws, particularly in states which just turned over to conservative legislatures and governors. We saw legal action taken yesterday by the ACLU against Wisconsin’s voter ID law, so this speech definitely is part of a pattern rather than the lead action. But the speech, given at the library of the President who signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, was nonetheless significant.

Holder’s speech offered something of a warning to states considering new laws on voter suppression, that the Justice Department stands ready and eager to enforce the Voting Rights Act.

Awesome news!

Read it here.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/12/14/holder-backs-voting-rights-universal-registration-threatens-action-against-voter-suppression/

wish Ecky was here to see Obi finally end the US involvement in Iraq.
What a disaster that war was.
😡

Juggling doubles the area of grey matter (thinking area). Improves the reaction time enormously. Juggling backwards is much harder. 😆

Mordors and his myrmidons just don’t seem to get it. If you want living proof that they just make shit up go no further than the opening shot yesterday by Mr Leveson at the inquiry.
He had some discussions about how the media were conducting bullshit potshots at each other regarding the deletion of milly Dowlers emails after it was raised by Mr Sheridan at the beginning of Wednesdays hearings.

It speaks volumes as to how far they think they are above everything and the same can be applied here for these sewer dwellers who insist on calling themselves journalists.
They should be called “peddlers of mendacity”

LORD JUSTICE LEVESON: Before we start, can I make one
statement and make a request. It is a mistake to think
that I do not read the newspapers, and I am concerned
that what is said at the Inquiry is accurately reported.
I’m conscious that there was a report that I decided
that we should resolve the Milly Dowler issue before
Christmas. That’s not actually what I said. What
I said was:
“I want to know next week, before we break for
Christmas, precisely what is proposed should come before
the Inquiry, and that requires a consideration on the
part of the Metropolitan Police. It also requires
consideration by the Guardian. I am very happy to
consider also reflections that you want to make and
those, if any, that Mr Rhodri Davies wants to make as
well.”
I was, of course, addressing Mr Sherborne.
I’m not being over overly critical, but it is
important that expectations are not generated which then
aren’t met. I don’t want an inquiry, I’m not concerned
as to how the error has crept in, and I’m not being, as
I say, overly critical, but I would be very grateful if
those who are reporting the work of the Inquiry do so
accurately. The transcripts are there for people to
see, and it shouldn’t be overly difficult.
So that’s a mild warning shot.

http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Transcript-of-Morning-Hearing-15-December-20111.pdf

Damn it paddy –
Hitchens was so frustrating in his defence of Bush –
nevertheless it was born out of his opposition to tyrrany.
Frustrating , but principled in a Want To Slap Him kind of way…
not unlike our own Ecky at times. And perhaps all of us at at times 🙂
I hope he had a peaceful death

paddy-
having been looking at Vanity Fair’s offeringson Hitchens I am reminded that is one mag worth reading – I am not a magazine follower apart from the odd browse in a waitng room, but am thinking perhaps I should broaden my browsing habits.
Hitchen’s own article on his illness with reference to Neitzcke is wonderful.

1379 paddy-
great artice. And reinforces that at a local level the Greens economic policies are neither naive nor utopian. They are exactly in line with Stiglitz’s recmmnedations – invesment in new technology and infrasructure (sustainable energy for a start) and investment in education and research as high priorities.
Hope Wayne Swan subscribes to VF 😉
Bloody sure the shadow minister for Science and Innovation doesn’t 🙄

Excellent piece in The Daily Beast on the hacking scandal.

British Newspapers Circle the Wagons
Editors and executives from Britain’s national newspapers began a summit meeting yesterday to review the mess that the voicemail-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s News International has landed them in. All the outward evidence suggests it was an exceptionally grim occasion. ….

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/16/british-newspapers-circle-the-wagons.html

…recommendations – 🙄
perhaps a little personal investment is a typing course may be a good idea 🙂

Mega George’s final paras on gay marriage in today’s Oz.
😆 Ouch!

………………………………………………………………………….Gay marriage might be a second-order issue, but the inability of Labor and the Liberals to deal with it without trying to rig the outcome says more about their narrow focus than it does about the diversity of the community.

If it isn’t such a big deal, why would Gillard and Abbott – the two least inspiring politicians of their bland generation – see it as a test of their authority? The simple answer is they have no idea, really, where the middle is on most issues.

So they defer to what they think is the electorate’s worst instinct and say no.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/gillard-and-abbotts-bipartisanship-on-gay-nuptials-is-based-on-a-fallacy/story-e6frgd0x-1226224350614

1386
Ooh that’s a gem Jen.
Loved this line.

The man who carefully laid out the case for arresting Henry Kissinger for war crimes was now palling around with Paul fucking Wolfowitz.

And another of Mordors finest employees looks at a fate with porrige. Wonder when they are going to bail up and resist his desires for them all to be good little myrmidons.

when are they going to wake up to the fact they will go to an enquiry and try to protect them but he will just throw them under the bus as an expendable item.

London police arrested a 37-year-old woman today as part of their investigation of bribes being paid to officers to get scoops for News Corp. (NWSA)’s now-defunct News of the World tabloid.

The unidentified woman was arrested at a home in Surrey, England, and taken to a station in London, the Metropolitan Police said today in a statement. It’s the seventh arrest in the probe, which is running parallel to investigations of phone hacking and computer hacking at the tabloid.

The arrested woman is Lucy Panton, a former crime editor for the News of the World, according to News Corp.’s Sky News cable channel. Another News Corp. employee, 48-year-old Sun newspaper reporter Jamie Pyatt, was arrested last month as part of the probe, called Operation Elveden.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-15/u-k-police-arrest-woman-in-bribery-probe-tied-to-phone-hacking-scandal.html

That arrest will set the alarm bells ringing for Mordor. If she is convicted it will well and truly set the US FCPA in motion against Mordors US owned companies for bribery of overseas officials.

Hurry up as that would give the Govt enquiry all the evidence it needed to say that Mordor is not a fit and proper person to own media in OZ.

New treaty in force when 9 countries have ratified.
****************************************

BRUSSELS – The first draft of a new treaty meant to tighten economic governance in eurozone countries was circulated Friday (16 December) with the aim to have the text finalised by January and coming into force once nine countries have ratified it.

The ratification threshold would allow the treaty to go into place even if some euro states – such as Ireland which may have to hold a referendum – are having problems getting domestic approval.

A euro country that rejected the treaty after it had already come into place will not be bound by it.

“If you go into the political aspect, I don’t think it will be a very comfortable situation,” said one EU official dealing with the issue.
Non-euro countries, who agree to sign up to the treaty, will be bound by the agreement as soon as they take on the single currency, but can put in place some of the details immediately.

Containing just 14 articles, the text obliges those that have ratified it to introduce into their constitutions a balanced-budget rule. The treaty also says that those countries that are in excessive deficit will have to submit “economic partnership plans” to the commission and council.

Sanctions will also be more automatic for fiscal miscreants while the text says that major economic policy reforms should be coordinated at the euro level.

More here…
http://euobserver.com/19/114668

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