Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, is no Hillary Clinton. John McCain's newly announced running mate, is apparently both inexperienced and quite conservative compared with McCain himself. Given the age factor in this election, Sarah may well be just a heartbeat away from being the most powerful person in the world in a short time.
There are already questions about her environmental credentials. According to North Coast Voices:
Greenpeace is less than impressed by Republican presidential candidate John McCain choosing the very conservative Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, as his vice-presidential running mate. McCain's VP is an anthropomorphic climate change sceptic?
Wikipedia has an updated entry. Interesting times we live in.
The Australian Indigenous Doctors Association has called for a "healing approach" to replace what it sees as the deeply flawed Northern Territory Intervention.
The Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA) says the federal intervention has had a negative effect on the health and emotional wellbeing of people in the targeted communities. Shame, humilation, anger the legacy of intervention: doctors (ABC News 29 August 2008)
AIDA describes itself as "a not-for-profit, non-government organisation dedicated to the pursuit of leadership, partnership & scholarship in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, education and workforce. There are currently an estimated 125 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors and 125 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical students in Australia."
Their Submission to the Northern Territory Emergency Response Review Board can be downloaded from their website. It is well worth reading. Online comments on the ABC article show that the dismal ignorance on these issues continues unabated, with blame the victim alive and well.
Wonder if George W. Bush will be able to give John McCain as rousing an endorsement as the Clintons gave Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Mind you McCain won't want to be too close to George W.
As Hillary suggested it would be seen as Republican twins in the Twin cities next at Minneapolis-Saint Paul. His convention clouds seem a lot darker at present.
This animation is an expansion of the image in my last post.
You have to wonder whether Denver or Minneapolis-Saint Paul will have the greater convention cloud hanging over it. Is George W. Bush or the Clintons the greater anchor to be dragging into November? The next couple of months will be stormy for both of them, with or without the mixed metaphors.
Paul Keating famously called the Senate “unrepresentative swill”.
If that’s the case, why is it so important?
Don Chipp’s Democrats were supposed “to keep the bastards honest”. Of course he meant the major parties. But for most of the last 50 years we could well ask who was keeping the minor parties and independents honest? Particularly when they held the balance of power. Nor can the Coalition Senators be forgotten as they can make or break government legislation as well.
We had a brief moment during the past 3 years when the Howard government had a majority in the Senate. Work Choices was its most glaring result. For most of my voting career of 40 years, minor parties have held the balance of power or the Coalition have had the numbers.
The coalition aside, The Greens, Family First’s Steve Fielding and independent Nick Xenophon will decide what part of the government’s legislative and fiscal programs get the nod. Why do they need to be watched?
I’ll be watching the Greens to see how they deal with climate change.
Family First’s and Xenophon’s moral agendas are an obvious focus but more importantly we need to scrutinise how Fielding votes on other issues and why. Senator Brian Harradine extracted a ban on the abortion pill RU486 by supporting other Coalition legislation.
When he negotiates about issues such as Fuel Watch, South Australia’s Lower Lakes and an Emissions Trading Scheme, we can expect Nick to push his private member’s bill banning ATMs at poker machine venues.
Fielding's family values, which many regard as Christian values, will also be on the table. Usually these equate to matters related to sexuality and censorship. And we are not talking about freedoms or choice.
The issue of horse trading and narrow agendas is not the only reason why we should be watching the Senate very closely. A short list would include:
• Its power to block Supply • Its narrow mandate • Its role as a States house: States Rights and interests • Public accountability and scrutiny through Question Time and the Committee system • The politics of climate change
When we passed through South Australia's Lower Lakes and the Coorong last week, water levels were still well below average. Ironically water was lying everywhere else as saturation point seems to have been reached following high rainfall lately.
Whilst earlier photos of Lake Albert at Meningie show an even more bleak situation, these images capture a lot of the current story.
Richard Jenkins is Walter Vale, a Connecticut Economics professor struggling, through music, to find some meaning in his life without his wife. "Tarek is teaching me the drum. I sound a lot better when he is playing with me."
Haaz Sleiman is Tarek, a gentle but passionate professional drummer from Syria who faces deportation from the U.S. as an illegal alien. "I just want to live my life and play my music. What's so wrong about that."
Danai Gurira plays Zainab, Tarek's Senegalese partner. She works as a jewellery-maker living each day in fear of deportation. "Sometimes Tarek would point at the Statue and jump up and down like we are arriving in New York for the first time."
Hiam Abbass, is Mouna, Tarek's mother, trying to protect her son from the fate which killed her husband.
Tom McCarthy's direction is both understated and in-your-face. It is hard not to be touched by each of the main characters and their troubled lives. They are finely drawn without resorting to stereotypes.
On the other hand he is not afraid to make his political points without subtlety. The clichéd symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, both in its real form and as a mural in the detention centre, is only trumped by seemingly innocent references to the Twin Towers and Ellis Island.
You don't have to be deeply interested in issues related to refugees, asylum seekers or 21st Century xenophobia to enjoy this film. In fact it might help. It was the personal rather than the political level that made The Visitor the best U.S. movie I've seen for ages.
If you didn't see Bill McHarg on Australian Story, don't miss the repeat on Saturday 23 August at 12.30 pm.
It's Not Easy Being Green is a reminder of what we fought for during the election last year and what we need to fight for in coming years. Bill is an Aussie hero.
You can't get away from the ubiquitous Nick Xenophon now that he shares the balance of power in the Senate. This is especially true in South Australia where we are at present, but he also popped up on Channel Nine's new Sunday morning program and ABC Radio National's Life Matters this morning. He is the new Barnaby Joyce or Pauline Hanson. His opinion is sought about every topic, sometimes even the issue he was elected on, poker machines.
His interview with Laurie Oakes yesterday was intsructive. He promised that he would not indulge in horse-trading or bartering his vote. He'll be the first! He will determine things on the merits of the the facts. He claimed his approach is evidence-based. He looks at the facts. He will " look at every piece of legislation on its merits". Nick's going to be a busy boy!
I'm more worried about a values-based approach such as we have seen from the likes of Brian Harradine and Steve Fielding. The government gets fuel watch or its equivalent and we get restrcitive laws on sexuality, scientific research and censorship.
It is easy to play the populist on water for the Lower lakes and fuel prices. Interesting that he supported a fuel watch scheme in the SA parliament but admits to doing his homework afterwards and is now opposed. He told Oakes, "I live and learn". In the major parties it's called shooting from the hip followed by a flip-flop.
It's not as easy to find out where independents stand on other more controversial topics. I tried to find out more on his website and Facebook but didn't find much that was new or enlightening.
If the Senate is meant to keep the bastards honest, let's hope the media will apply that to all of our elected, not just the government.
Do you sometimes wonder whether he's listening to himself. Can't help but agree with John McCain's view of international relations. His comment on the Georgia/Russia conflict:
