April 2012
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March 2012
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If you’re a corporation or lobbyist, what’s the best way to “buy” a member of Congress? Secretly promise them a million dollars or more in pay if they come to work for you after they leave office.
And since those deals are done in secret, legislators are largely free to pass laws, special tax cuts, or earmarks that benefit their future employer with little or no accountability to the public.
February 2012
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Catholic Church run hospitals in the US →
Catholic hospitals have become the largest nonprofit health care provider in the US, with over 600 hospitals. This year, one in six patients will be cared for in a Catholic hospital.
In these hospitals the Catholic Church asserts their moral teachings on the doctors and patients, dictating what procedures and treatments can and cannot be administered. This includes denying abortion even when...
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In light of this week’s AEC political donation disclosure reports, the Labor government is looking to reform disclosure regulations.
Only donations to political parties of over $11,500 must be disclosed, a figure the Howard government had installed as the reporting threshold. Under the Rudd government Labor had tried to change it back down to $1000 but had been thwarted by the Coalition. It...
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Money in Australian Politics →
Australian Electoral Commission has released the financial disclosure returns for the past financial year showing donations to political parties and expenditure on political advertising.
Big tobacco and mining companies are unsurprisingly the biggest contributors spending millions of dollars on advertising to fight against legislation proposed by the Labor Government, as well as donations to the...
January 2012
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“The pundits have asked, ‘Is this all some joke?’ We’ve all heard it, haven’t we?...”
– Stephen Colbert (via brooklynwithoutlimits)
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Super PACs →
Legal expert Jeffrey Toobin has written this short informative article about super PACs that gives a good rundown on how they came into existence.
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A tale of abortion pre-Roe v Wade →
This article is from 2004 but it is still has deep resonance, particularly in light of anti-abortion legislation that has been pushed by conservatives in the United States in the past year.
Doctors treating the desperately sick women who landed in hospitals with raging peritonitis, hemorrhages, perforated uteruses, and septic shock often had to futilely watch them die, because the women had...
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WatchStephen Colbert discusses Super PACs with NBC Rock Center’s Ted Koppel.
Even if Super PACs do not disclose information to the Federal Electoral Commission they are supposed to, the FEC can’t do anything about it, and other fun facts.
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“I feel like talking always brings us closer to understanding, rather than...”
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Melissa Harris-Perry, professor of political science at Tulane University on talking about racism
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Indian man wears a self-made uterus in his quest... →
Right now, 88% of women in India resort to using dirty rags, newspapers, dried leaves, and even ashes during their periods, because they just can’t afford sanitary napkins, according to “Sanitation protection: Every Women’s Health Right,” a study by AC Nielsen. Typically, girls who attain puberty in rural areas either miss school for a couple of days a month or simply drop out...
December 2011
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What I Lost in Libya →
They blindfolded us and stuffed us into a small sedan, three tall people with their hands bound behind them. This is what they mean by a “stress position,” I remember thinking. I don’t know how long that ride lasted—two hours, three?—but it seemed longer. The car’s sound system played a somber remix of Qaddafi’s famous “zenga zenga” speech—in which he pledged to purge Libya “alley by alley”—set...
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Crikey - Australian Exceptionalism →
According to figures compiled by OECD and Credit Suisse Australia boasts:
One of the fastest growing economies in the world
Highest minimum wages in the world
Rapid household income growth with Australia’s poor having faster income growth than the rich in other countries
6th lowest taxes in the OECD and the 3rd lowest debt
Yet, instead of celebrating our economic success we continue to...
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“In serious times that demand the smartest, these clowns offer blather that is an...”
– A translation of Germany’s Der Spiegel on the Republican presidential primary contenders.
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November 2011
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Is U.S. taxpayer money being given to a for-profit... →
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“I haven’t even got a fucking secretary, I’ve got one hand and, you...”
– Lawyer Mark Lewis who represents News International phone hacking victims. Lewis also suffers from multiple sclerosis and was warned by his doctor, not to do anything stressful, like say take on the Murdoch empire.
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“By using military courts to try thousands of civilians, cracking down on...”
– Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Acting Director. Amnesty released a report yesterday titled “Broken Promises: Egypt’s Military Rulers Erode Human Rights,” which provided a scathing indictment of the actions of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces under Field...
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Famine receding in drought-stricken Somalia →
The United Nations says the situation in Somalia is improving with famine no longer existing in three of the worst-affected areas.
At one point, some 750,000 Somalis had faced imminent starvation but the number has now fallen to 250,000, the UN says.
“That doesn’t mean that the crisis is over because they are still in the critical phase and still have high rates of malnutrition and...
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“They suffer. Amputations, fractures, gunshot and fragmentation wounds, hearing...”
– Prime Minister Julia Gillard in her parliamentary speech recognising the 212 Australian soldiers who have been wounded in the Afghanistan war.
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“Is it reasonable to deny rights to some Australians only on the basis they are...”
– ALP Federal Minister Penny Wong who believes a conscience vote on same sex marriage is not the way Labor should be dealing with the issue.
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In a joint press conference with Prime Minister Gillard and President Obama it has been officially announced the expanded collaboration between Australian and United States military will include:
200-250 marines for 6 months at a time in the Northern Territory - a full marine ground task force
Greater access by US military air force to Australian air force bases
PM Gillard described the...
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Canberra Times are providing live updates of... →
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“Australian elections tend to be close, and don’t always go the way of the...”
– From The Guardian article Best Frenemies: Politicians and the Press which looks at the influence Murdoch newspapers have had on politicians.
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“The only way you smash stereotypes is to promote diversity, and that...”
– Benjamin Law ‘Now There’s a Good Gay’
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This week in Canberra
Carbon tax legislation passed the Senate
Media inquiry got underway
Community sector workers, who are mostly women, are promised a pay rise that will bring them in line with average wages
Senate passes legislation requiring plain packaging for cigarettes
Contracts between Immigration Department and immigration detention centre management company Serco reveal unauthorised media access viewed...
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“The youth activists who launched the revolution on March 15 and are now leading...”
– A closer look at the Syrian opposition to the Assad regime which has several organised groups but with no co-ordination between them and differing views on what actions they want the international community to take.
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October 2011
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Three Australian soldiers killed and seven wounded...
Afghan interpreter also killed in the incident in Shah Wali Kot in northern Kandahar near Uruzgan province. Attacker was dressed in Afghan National Army uniform and was also shot dead. Shooting occurred during routine morning parade.
For updates: ABC Afghanistan correspondent Sally Sara.