As you may have guessed, during my attempted Year Off Politics, I've been trying to sort of quarantine Srs Bizness over here in kateorman, along with my obsessive tallying of my reading, while preserving dreamer_easy for more relaxed everyday chit-chat. I am trying to avoid Issues and things, really I am, but I started reading the newspaper again during the recent ( Read more... )

Posted another suck-it-and-see, this time in response to the Climate Sceptics Party brochure that came through the letterbox today. Most of their claims are just irrelevant ("Humans are 18% carbon... carbon dioxide is NOT a poisonous gas.") but there was one I'd never heard before: "Many other factors, such as solar activity, El Nino and lunar orbital cycles, ( Read more... )

Via hnpcc: the very useful Below the Line shows you the preference flow for each party.

Still on Australian politics: Wendy Francis' statements about same-sex parenting are incorrect.

New South Wales: Gay adoption ban to stay"The State Government has decided not to allow same-sex couples to adopt, ignoring a parliamentary inquiry that said changing the law would 'ensure the best interests of children'. The Government said yesterday there was insufficient community support to justify new legislation on the topic."
If you support ( Read more... )

I've given in and am reading the newspaper again. Oy.

UN says Aboriginal health conditions worse than Third World: "Basic needs, such as adequate housing, safe drinking water and sanitation and access to education are not being met." How can any Australian in the 21st Century be living in conditions like that?! In fairness, the government has ( Read more... )

I'm dubious about opinion pieces which paint an entire part of the political spectrum with one brush, which The Republican Party Is Turning Into A Cult, over at the Huffington Post, arguably does. But it's worth skipping over those exasperated opening paragraphs to the meat of the matter:"The US is the only major industrialized country that does ( Read more... )

Amnesty accuses Israel over Gaza. Hamas, too. The Amnesty report is available online: Operation "Cast Lead": 22 days of death and destruction

Israel draws up strategy for PR offensive: "It is not enough for Israel to say that it wants peace. You must also say that you are not a thief. We did not steal another people's land. That is the core of ( Read more... )

Leaked documents confirm resident's fear of foul pulp mill: "The chemicals in pulp mill odours are some of the most objectionable smelling compounds known to science. The worst is methyl mercaptan, which smells like stale sewage. When we got out of the minibus in the car park [at a Swedish "world's best practice" pulp mill, Resource, Planning and ( Read more... )

The Coalition, knowing a nice little vote-earner when they see one, want to reinstate Temporary Protection Visas. These are illegal for more than one reason: they're intended to deter refugees from seeking safety (which they don't), and they discriminate against refugees. In this instance, I don't mean "technically asylum seekers but almost ( Read more... )

Help the RSPCA ban the use of sow stalls and farrowing crates in the pork industry by signing an online petition.

Belated news: that provision to expand Medicare coverage for contraceptives in the US got passed.

Netanyahu's 'secret plans' for expansion. Peachy.

US offered Guantánamo prisoner deal in return for silence about torture