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When I started this blog I was very definite that I wasn't going to blog about politics or religion. I'd seen too many flame wars, too many blogs overrun by indignant trolls. My blog, I decided, was going to be sweetness and light and avoid incendiary topics.
But then the
John Howard regime finally fell and I couldn't contain myself. And, you know, what? I've gotten not a single troll. The discussions generated by my political musings have been thought-provoking, fun, and, most unexpectedly, my traffic is up. Who'd've thunk it? I love youse all!
I now feel free to blog about whatever the hell I want to blog about. If any trolls show up I'll just nuke 'em.
That said, I'm ...
Posted by Justine at 11:28, November 30th, 2007 under Admin, Bloggery, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Not really.
For all the papers are touting the enormity vastness hugeness snufflufflagusness of Labor's win back home I think it's important to remember that the gap between Labor ((For those who are wondering, no, I'm not spelling it wrong. It really is the Labor-without-a-U party. It is confusing and annoying.)) and the Coalition is not that big: 41.59% of voters gave the Coalition their first preference and 43.9% gave it to Labor. Then there's the 7.57% who voted for the Greens and the 1.97% who gave Family First the nod. In fact the only places where there was a genuine landslide for Labor was at certain polling booths in the
Northern Territory. Indigenous voters gave Labour more than 90% ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, November 28th, 2007 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
In Australia voting is compulsory. Everyone is expected to do it. Basically that's because everything back home is geared towards making voting as easy as possible. Over here in the US of A it often seems to me like everything is organised to make voting as difficult as possible. What's up with that?
In Australia if you don't vote you pay a fine. Some people routinely pay the fine. Others who don't want to vote register their dissatisfaction by filling out their ballot wrong or donkey voting. Often by scrawling a message across the ballot. Usually their message is a bit on the rude side. That's fine. They've done their democratic duty. They showed up. The percentage of people ...
Posted by Justine at 0:06, November 27th, 2007 under New York City/USA, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
It wasn't until I'd lived outside Australia for awhile that I realised just how
anti-intellectual my homeland is. One of the worst things you can be back home is a "wanker" which more times than not is used to refer to someone who thinks too much. Oh, the horror!
At most of the schools I attended it was far better to be good at sports than at schoolwork and no one ever admitted to studying hard. "Oh this? I only started it ten minutes before it was due. Don't know what the teacher was thinking giving me such a good mark." Roll of eyes.
I'm still not sure what we were afraid of. Well, yes, the scorn of ...
Posted by Justine at 13:24, November 26th, 2007 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
There's a lot I don't like about the US political system, but there's one thing they have absoluately right: No head of state should be in power for more than eight years.
I think John Howard has demonstrated this truth as did Robert Menzies before him and Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair in the UK.
I agree with
George Washington that any one person staying in power for too long starts to stink of monarchy. ((I am with Winston Churchill who said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time". And monarchy is amongst the worst.)) It leads to corruption and to the one ...
Posted by Justine at 16:13, November 25th, 2007 under New York City/USA, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Oh, yes, it is. If only I was home to enjoy it.
Posted by Justine at 4:52, November 24th, 2007 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
