Labour Leadership

Right here in Oz, it seems like the Opposition is about to choose its old leader who failed to win a bunch of elections to lead the party again, over a female candidate who's never been leader before. Silly and stupid. Choosing the old guy will make them look tired, obsolete, and beaten, but chosing the female candidate will give them some more female votes.

Thoughts on the Cold War and the Soviet Union

(note: don't even think about putting your trust in the below text. The research in it comes from Wikipedia, hardly the most in-depth study of the Soviet Union. and it's all my opinion.)


Many conservatives believe that Reagan defeated the Soviet Union single-handedly: without Reagan, we'd still be 15 minutes from Mad Max. Other conservatives, and most liberals, believe that communism destroyed itself. Both of these views have some grounding in fact: communism, as practiced by the Soviet Union, was an inefficient and corrupt economic system. The only way the Soviet Union was able to compete with the US was putting proportionally much more of its economy into the military. And Reagan's arms buildup forced the poorer Soviet Union to try and match the United States, probably slightly accerating its fall(and nearly throwing the United States into a depression, but that's for another time).

I have some thoughts on the subject, and how the Soviet Union could have survived to the present day. Collectivized farming, as a system, was useless... up to 40% of the wheat crop rotted before distribution, forcing the USSR to import grain from the Midwest. If they'd successfully reformed the system, like China after Mao, the Soviet Union would have been a net exporter of grain.

Another thing: Soviet science was extremely goal-oriented. That gave them a huge boost in the space race(just look now... Soyuz capsules are still going up while the Shuttle fleet is grounded, and this is from a bankrupt authoritarian ruin of country), when they could assign scientists to discover how to send a shuttle into space. But most of the scientists didn't have a chance to direct their own research, no "blue sky" research if you like, as in the free world. If the Soviets could liberalize their research system, they might have gained an edge on the Yankees.

The last thing: Soviet citizens ("proleteriat") weren't proud to be Soviet citizens, like Americans... or Nazis. Most were deeply cynical about the whole thing... the stereotype of the dour Russian. What if a charismatic yet intelligent leader had been able to rise to power after Stalin? Someone who could make the Soviets proud to be part of the USSR, not cynical and pessimisstic.

TV should have been more than, as the old Soviet joke goes three channels with the same speech by a grey-haired Politburo member and a fourth with a man telling them to switch back to the othrer channel. They should take a leaf out of FOX's books... a 24-hr news channel showing how good the Soviet Union is. Better TV: "Cosma Trek: Captain Kirov and the crew of the Collective travel and bring the revolution in the name of the Socialist Union of Planets!" Make a Soviet James Bond! A "cool Russia" phenomenon, like the "cool Japan" phenomenon in our world, could have made Communism a lot more attractive to the free world's youth.

And one more thing... if the Soviets could have exploited the racial tensions in America, and the Americans hadn't defused them, the US could have had a pretty terrible time during the Cold War.

None of these changes would have made the Soviet Union any less totalarian or communist. But I believe that they would have made the Soviet Union more able to survive.

The English language is changing

I'd just like to say that recently(in the past few years), I've noticed a lot of people (including myself) using the word "fun" to connotate the exact opposite. It's started off sarcastically, but now I can't remember a time that I've actually used the term "fun" to mean its dictionary definition. I mainly use it to say "That ought to be fun.", often without a sarcastic tone of voice.

Just an interesting comment. Anyone else notice such changes in the language?

Random Rant: One Nation Controlled By The Media?

The worst threat to American democracy that I have seen is the American media. The American media are and have been unreasonable compliant, deferential, and nice to the Bush administration. They refuse to ask the hard questions, put pressure on the adminstration or dig up the dirt. When Barbara Walters interviewed Bush recently, she asked him about his terrier, not about the war in Iraq(which according Gallup, 59% of Americans believe is being handled badly, and 52% believe was a mistake).

Look at the war the media pressured Clinton over a sex scandal! Look at the pressure they put on Kerry? Why haven't they done a similar thing over, say, the Iraq War, Abu Gharib, Guantanamo Bay? Why have they treated Bush so deferentially? He ain't king, you know?

A free, functional press is essential to a successful democracy. Without asking the hard questions, the press can't inform the public correctly, and the public won't be able to make the right decisions. So why is the American media, and increasingly, the Australian media, so complacent?

Habib Released

The United States has recently announced its release of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamoud Habib, because they cannot create a case against him. Yet he has been imprisoned for the past 3 years, probably tortured, and now will be watched and held under virtual house arrest for the rest of his life? If he's innocent, they can't do that! If they released him, they are admitting he's innocent, aren't they? Innocent until proven guilty, right? Well, then why the hell did they detain him? According to The Age newspaper, he was captured by Pakistan... which, in case nobody noticed, is a military dictatorship. He was apparently looking to move his family back to Pakistan.

They consider him an "enemy combatant". How the heck did they decide that when he was captured in Pakistan? There's no war in Pakistan. probably looking suspiciously at all the "For Sale" signs, I suppose.

And I'm not only complaining that the US Government is capturing and detaining innocent people, then depriving them of their basic human rights. The Australian government did nothing at all to help Habib... they didn't complain, they didn't investigate allegations of torture, they didn't do anything. Makes me feel real safe to be carrying an Australian passport, you know?

The United States has recently announced its release of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamoud Habib, because they cannot create a case against him. Yet he has been imprisoned for the past 3 years, probably tortured, and now will be watched and held under virtual house arrest for the rest of his life? If he's innocent, they can't do that! If they released him, they are admitting he's innocent, aren't they? Innocent until proven guilty, right? Well, then why the hell did they detain him? According to The Age newspaper, he was captured by Pakistan... which, in case nobody noticed, is a military dictatorship. He was apparently looking to move his family back to Pakistan.

They consider him an "enemy combatant". How the heck did they decide that when he was captured in Pakistan? There's no war in Pakistan. probably looking suspiciously at all the "For Sale" signs, I suppose.

And I'm not only complaining that the US Government is capturing and detaining innocent people, then depriving them of their basic human rights. The Australian government did nothing at all to help Habib... they didn't complain, they didn't investigate allegations of torture, they didn't do anything. Makes me feel real safe to be carrying an Australian passport, you know?

The GAY HORDE

Is This Right?

According to Joe Steadman:

Amen for the electoral college and the founding fathers! It keeps the radical left from destroying our country. Simply put, California and the other big cities have to listen to the rest of America.

He's right. It does keep California from ruling the country.

For every electoral vote in California, there are over 615,848 people

For every electoral vote in Wyoming, there are 164,594 people.

This means that a vote in Wyoming is worth 3.74 times a vote in California.

Just like our forefathers used to chant, "3.74 people! One vote!"

The New York Times > Washington > Social Security Enlisted to Push Its Own Revision

The New York Times > Washington > Social Security Enlisted to Push Its Own Revision

Should this be happening?

Runaway Jury and Jury Consultants

I recently watched the movie "Runaway Jury". An excellent movie that you should go and see. For those who haven't, the movie is about "jury consultants", people who are employed to choose sympathetic jurors and convince jurors to vote the way of their employer. In the movie, a gun company is sued by a woman whose husband was killed by one of their weapons. The gun industry employs a ruthless "jury consultant" to swing the case their way, but two people decide to try and take control of the jury for themselve and make the other pay.

This movie probably cuts extremely close to reality. I'm sure such "consultants" exist, but I don't think that there are many who are going to work for free. Money is power, and these consultants ensure that money remain supreme above the will of the people.

It's probably the same thing in legislatures. Powerful lobbyists with the money behind them act to ensure the legislators swing their way. Why else would Congress fail to pass a seemingly "no-duh" act that would give the FDA the right to order a recall of spoiled meat? Why else would Congress let the Assault Weapons Ban lapse?

If you need a firearm, I'm not sure why you'd need one that can fire 100 rounds a minute. Deers in M1A4s, perhaps? There's only two reasons you'd want one: you're a criminal, or you have a fetish for firearms. Either way, it's not something you need. Join the military if you want an assault rifle.

It's embarrasing that I know more about American politics and government than Australian.

A history of the United States, Pt. 1

Some crazy stuff I wrote:


TEAM_BRIT has entered server AMERICA
IROQOUIS(indians): brits, team?
PILGRIM(brit): sif!
PILGRIM(brit) used SMALLPOX on IROQOUIS(indian)
PILGRIM(brit) used SMALLPOX on CHEROKEE(indian)
PILGRIM(brit) used SMALLPOX on HURON(indian)
PILGRIM(brit) used SMALLPOX on POTOMAC(indian)
SAWNEE(indians): OMG!!! hacker!!!!
SAWNEE(indians) speared ROANOKE(brit)
PILGRIM(brit): f***in injuns
JAMESTOWN(brit) shot SAWNEE(indians) with the MUSKET
JAMESTOWN(brit) shot CREEK(indians) with the MUSKET
JAMESTOWN(brit) shot HAWHAW(indians) with the MUSKET
TEAM_INDIANS has been eliminated
PILGRIM(brit): we r t3 own3rz!
JAMESTOWN(brit): y
j3ff3rs0n(brit): hey, new team?
wash1ngt0n(brit): k
TEAM_AMERICA has been formed by wash1ngt0n
k1ng_george3(brit): OMG!!! switcherz!!!! you die now!!!!
j3ff3rs0n joined TEAM_AMERICA
b3n3d1ct joined TEAM_AMERICA
frankl1n joined TEAM_AMERICA
ham1lt0n joined TEAM_AMERICA
g4t3s joined TEAM_AMERICA
wash1ngt0n(america) shot l0rd_h0we(brit) with the CANNON
c0rnw4ll1s(brit): OMG! aimbot!
wash1ngt0n(america): no way!!!!
g4t3s(america) shot gentleman_johnny(brit) with the MUSKET
b3n3d1ct(america): OMG!!! killthief!!!
b3n3d1ct joined TEAM_BRIT
b3n3d1ct(brit) burnt RICHMOND(america) with FIRE
TEAM_FRANCE has entered server AMERICA
lafayette(france): america, team?
franklin(america): k!
ham1lt0n(america): OMG!!! teamkiller!!!
tarleton(brit) was shot by wash1ngt0n(america) with the MUSKET
comte_rochambeu(france) defeated r0dney(brit) with the NAVY
wash1ngt0n(america) shot c0rnw4ll1s(brit) with the MUSKET
wash1ngt0n(america): tanx
l0rd_n0rth(brit): this sucks. we quit.
TEAM_BRIT has left server AMERICA
wash1ngt0n(america): BRIT=0wn3d
lafayette(france): cyal8r!
TEAM_FRANCE has left server AMERICA
j3ff3rs0n(america): lets choose teamleader
wash1ngt0n has been chosen as TEAM_AMERICA_LEADER
wash1ngt0n(america leader): dude, we don't get enough cash to afford t3 awesomes. we need a constitution
ham1lton(america): k
TEAM_AMERICA has been constituted. TEAM_AMERICA is ranked #1 in server AMERICA and #25 in world EARTH
wash1ngt0n(america leader): i g2g.
wash1ngt0n(america leader) has left world EARTH
j3ff3rs0n has been chosen as TEAM_AMERICA_LEADER
j3ff3rs0n(america leader): this servers too quiet. lets go to mediterranean.
TEAM_AMERICA has joined server MEDITERRANEAN
tripoli(pirates) has shot merchant1(america) with the CANNON
tripoli(pirates): gotcha... gimme cash
j3ff3rs0n(america leader): SIF!!!
uss_constitution has joined TEAM_AMERICA
uss_constitution(america) sunk tripoli(pirates) with the CANNON
uss_constitution(america) sunk tunisia(pirates) with the CANNON
uss_constitution(america) sunk algeria(pirates) with the CANNON
j3ff3rs0n(america leader): 0wn3d!!!!
TEAM_PIRATES gave TEAM_AMERICA 3000 credits
j3ff3rs0n(america leader): lets go home
TEAM_AMERICA has joined server AMERICA

Random Rant: Lifetime Detention?

I just read in the paper that the US plans to "permenantly detain" those Guantanamo detainees whom they haven't got enough evidence to send before a military tribunal. WHAT THE HELL???? Does anyone notice that this is a complete travesty of the justice system? Not only are they assuming "Guilty until proven innocent", they don't even have a chance to prove their innocence? Why? Does giving them a chance to prove their innocence aid terrorism in any way? How is this meant to protect America?

It is insanity. It is unjust. It is stupidity.

Listen Up, Democrats

Read this.

America's liberal leaders need a serious change of policy. And this could be just the ticket.

Canada should be happy we let it exist

Hilarious. What do the consies have against Canada:

They have socialized health care, legalized gay marriage and decriminalized pot possession and their country hasn't fallen into anarchy, violating a bunch of conservative beliefs.