Mumma Trees and Sister Che did a huge show(especially the first hour) - check out the archived vershun... on RTR and now every week on Goolari Radio in Broome.
Peter Tosh's birthday,
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Guys who like staring at chicks who take photos...
So this is the first post for a while - I've been flat out like the proverbial lizard drinking. I'm still flat out with uni stuff, but I can see that you've all been rifling through the archives here as busily as you can go and you must be getting pretty tired of those old posts - so here's something new. The topic is a complex one and still developing(as Ludlam's tweets this arvo would suggest) so I will try to put a few smaller posts on it as new things become available. It seems like there are not really enough people talking about these very vital issues that will intrinsically affect the nature of our society in decades to come and our freedom to quietly enjoy our daily lives without State intrusion.
Perhaps, it doesn't fit neatly into the 24-7 news cycle... hmmn.
Between suburban complacence and blind trust, and what seems to be some sleight of hand by the soft on Australians' rights Gillard government, as well as a general, emerging anti-democratic legislative push(from states and Cth) that erodes the separation of powers, it would seem that the more people can write about these issues for debate and discussion - even if it is in the Blogosphere, the better.
NSW is an unusual and unpredictable place.
There is a noticeable, oppressive air, partly from the police ethos and government social control, which does not appear to have changed in nature since invasion with routine violations of civil liberties blatant and out in the open, and in some aspects, even legislated for.
This is a good budget-conscious idea from the left...
This marketing ploy is just creepy and weird...
Bad press for NSW Police Force didn't start with this assault on a Getty Photographer, who at the time, was filming a screaming, frightened teenage girl being man-handled by a wild, unruly mob of out of control NSW Police(they must have heard about APEC on Facebook)
##Update - background to the hearings via the ASIO Annual Report for this year - or maybe last years...
Perhaps, it doesn't fit neatly into the 24-7 news cycle... hmmn.
Between suburban complacence and blind trust, and what seems to be some sleight of hand by the soft on Australians' rights Gillard government, as well as a general, emerging anti-democratic legislative push(from states and Cth) that erodes the separation of powers, it would seem that the more people can write about these issues for debate and discussion - even if it is in the Blogosphere, the better.
*Warning – the 3rd paragraph contains links
to upsetting footage of police brutality, and the distressing footage of the
death of Brazilian student, Mr Curti, in Sydney
NSW is an unusual and unpredictable place.
Despite the astronomical values placed on properties
in and around Sydney, you can feel the years of hardship and suffering,
tangible, on the Easterly. Multiculturalism planned into segregation in the
suburbs, at times, spills over into internal community conflicts and rivalry.
There is a noticeable, oppressive air, partly from the police ethos and government social control, which does not appear to have changed in nature since invasion with routine violations of civil liberties blatant and out in the open, and in some aspects, even legislated for.
* It's an ironic
turn of events that such
Orwellian CCTV
systems as they have in and around Sydney's metro area, that invariably are used to vilify minorities
through racial profiling and disproportionate
enforcement responses,
are now
also exposing human rights abuses by police .
The broad roll-out of
CCTV, misguidedly, is
marketed as having a Panoptican
effect - modifying behaviour or exerting social control
over the masses, who theoretically should perceive they're being watched.
Joliet, a panoptican-style prison courtesy of NotFlashyJustBright.com |
Companies peddling the technology to councils and
the Ministry of Home Affairs (which has control over the federal crime
prevention budget) tout it as a deterrent, though monitoring it is outsourced,
all without the checks and balances that Australians expect are being applied
to all functions of police and other security agencies. Accountability is a
basic public assumption that allows Jo(e) Average to get on with the
mundaneness of his/her tax-paying life, unhindered by big issues. The complete absence – or
perhaps ignore, of the need for stringent government regulation over all private
security groups working in Australia, is concerning.
The
breadth of the functions performed these days by private security firms and the
full ramifications of how the ethical choices of these groups impact on the
justice process, are strangely under-examined in Australia’s mainstream
media and this contrasts the effects of their work which are very visible.
This is a good budget-conscious idea from the left...
This marketing ploy is just creepy and weird...
It
is a sad indictment that such important stories are passed over or worse, spun
and manipulated, by the mainstream media for a government that plays favourites
with journos, and outlaws informed, educated comments by public servants, except
that made through their PR filter.
Bad press for NSW Police Force didn't start with this assault on a Getty Photographer, who at the time, was filming a screaming, frightened teenage girl being man-handled by a wild, unruly mob of out of control NSW Police(they must have heard about APEC on Facebook)
Why didn’t the government openly discuss the potential for the misuse
of these intrusive surveillance and intelligence technologies for hunting human
rights activists and whistleblowers,
who should be protected by the government because they improve the quality of our democracy
?
Creepy Cube (Spin)Doctor from Dr Who - thanks Perspehone Magazine |
Scott Ludlam tweeted yesterday that the
long-awaited hearing that would have yielded answers about the government’s
adoption of over-the-top surveillance and alliances with unsavoury private
contractors, was closed due to yet more secret ASIO business. It seems that working for the public should entail being answerable to the public - at least to some degree.
Why isn’t
the government allocating that budget to Australia’s police and security
services instead of playing Russian roulette with global security companies
with subsidiary companies (operating under different names) on Australian soil?
Most justice personnel will tell you that policing is most effective and accountable when officers live in the communities they serve, long-term, at a suburban level. That can’t happen with the Commonwealth's fondness for global technology companies and when it is outsourcing these very powerful and privileged roles to dubious third-world unknowns, and under-cutting the wages that would normally be paid to our own public sector staff (who, just by the way, have way too few accountability measures already without giving the sneaking around to people who don't have any rules to stick to or to break).
Most justice personnel will tell you that policing is most effective and accountable when officers live in the communities they serve, long-term, at a suburban level. That can’t happen with the Commonwealth's fondness for global technology companies and when it is outsourcing these very powerful and privileged roles to dubious third-world unknowns, and under-cutting the wages that would normally be paid to our own public sector staff (who, just by the way, have way too few accountability measures already without giving the sneaking around to people who don't have any rules to stick to or to break).
##Update - background to the hearings via the ASIO Annual Report for this year - or maybe last years...
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