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A step in the right direction but not far enough
NSW Attorney General, John Hatzistergos, has introduced a bill that will scrap the artistic purpose defence that is being exploited by photographers and painters when they produce images that include naked children. The new law will require that the person creating the image seek a review by the Australian Classification Commission to have their work given a rating before it can be put on display.
This is a step in the right direction. It will stop people like Bill Henson taking photos of children and calling it art for the purpose of displaying his almost naked and pre-pubescent subjects for all the grubby perverts in society to drool over.
However I believe the law should force the practice of producing images of naked children to be outlawed altogether. This will get rid of the grey areas that are currently subject to dispute and will allow children to live their lives without money-grabbing artists salivating over their next project.
More on this matter here.
The above links contains samples of where naked and semi-naked children have been exploited for commercial gain by artists, including some of the more famous ones. There's nothing artistic about them - they are shit.
Written at 06:22 on 10 March 2010 by Lord Watchdog.
Posted in the Society section. Comments: 0 · Chat Live ·
Is this the future of Australia?
Yesterday a teenager listening to foul music outside a supermarket in Warnambool, Victoria was arrested and brought before a magistrate for offensive behaviour.
Have a look at a picture of the idiot here. If this is what our future prime ministers are going to look like then God help us.
This brat should get rid of the hardware from his face, get a haircut and find a new attitude.
Written at 07:18 on 6 March 2010 by Lord Watchdog.
Posted in the Society section. Comments: 5 · Chat Live ·
Curveball Kevin
In what probably amounts to the world's greatest curveball, Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has managed to divert attention away from the recent scandals surrounding the Commonwealth Home Insulation Scheme - where most home owners could get insulation installed in their roofspaces for free. Mr Rudd has managed to divert attention from these scandals, which I will speak about shortly, by reintroducing his proposal for a Commonwealth takeover of funding for state-owned public hospitals.
Mr Rudd is claming that there will be improved economies of scale and substantial savings by having the Commonwealth fund the Nation's 1,000 public hospitals directly instead of via state health commissions. Mr Rudd seems to believe that ripping $50bn per annum out of GST revenue and giving it to the hospitals will in some way solve the woes affecting hospitals.
There's a lot of hurdles for Mr Rudd to jump over first though. Firstly, the GST is a state tax. By law, all revenue from the GST, which is levied by the Commonwealth on behalf of the states must be paid to the states in full. The only way this can be changed is by a unanimous vote from all eight state and territory governments.
The proposed change in the way funding is received by public hospitals will not solve the nation-wide shortage of doctors or nurses. The problem here is not necessarily one we can blame governments for - it is more to do with the attitude of those qualified as doctors and nurses - they want more money and because they aren't getting it they are leaving the industry, many preferring to stay home instead of doing the work they were trained for. One thing should be remembered here and that is this: there are dozens of occupations where wages are much lower than that for doctors and nurses. They should get off their arses and do an honest days' work and be happy that they even have a job, particularly as these occupations provide secure employment.
There is a rumour circulating that Mr Rudd will use the predicted difference between actual funding levels and what the funding levels should be to raise the GST. This is the next hurdle - the GST cannot be raised above 12.5% without the unanimous approval of the state and territory governments, none of which are likely to agree to any extent.
Mr Rudd is threatening to put the question of funding responsibility to a referendum if the states to not fall into line with his plans. The electorate is unlikely to vote in favour of Mr Rudd however, particularly due to the recent failed home insulation programme and other broken promises, like border protection.
On the subject of border protection, it has been reported that the 18th boat carrying queue-jumpers is lying off the coast of Christmas Island after being intercepted by the Royal Australian Navy. A tent city is being set up on the island to accomodate the increasing number of illegal arrivals, which were previously prevented from coming by John Howard's excellent Pacific Solution.
Below I list a number of policies brought in by Labor since 2007 and the end result:-
1. Ratify the Kyoto Protocol: Symbolic waste of time that achieved nothing.
2. Apologise to the alleged Stolen Generation of Aborigines: Symbolic waste of time that achieved nothing.
3. Abolish the Pacific Solution: A situation where NO boats were arriving to flotillas of them arriving almost weekly. Since the 1st January, 2010 eighteen boats have illegally sailed into Australian waters for the purpose of dumping queue jumpers on our shores.
4. FuelWatch website: A dismal failure that was wound up only a month after its introduction.
5. GroceryWatch website: A dismal failure that was also wound up quickly after introduction.
6. 2020 Summit: One of Kevin Rudd's many gabfests populated by a bunch of idiots who had a proposed republic higher on the agenda than improving government services and keeping the nation out of debt.
7. Education revolution: Comprising mainly of unsuitable buildings and a student network of laptops that are under-powered and over-filtered.
8. Economic stimulus: Two huge cash handouts to most of the Australian population, including many who are dead or living overseas. The money was spent on propping up the Chinese economy than that of Australia. These handouts saw the Nation steam from a $23bn surplus to a projected $20bn budget deficit. The national public debt was projected at the last budget to reach $315bn over the forward estimates.
9. Commonwealth takeover of school curriculum: Doomed to fail, given the massive injection of politically correct propaganda relating to Aborigines.
10. Commonwealth takeover of funding control for public hospitals: Doomed to fail - 6 of one becomes half a dozen of the other. No plan to resolve staffing shortages or to improve the standard of patient care.
All this along with Labor's agenda on republicanism and Mr Rudd's excessive overseas travel since he has been the prime minister is more than enough incentive for voters to oversee a return to a conservative government at the next election. Tony Abbott should be our next prime minister and I am hoping that this is the case. We need a prime minister that puts Australia's future ahead of irrelevant issues like a republic and we need a government that is prepared to show some balls when it comes to issues like economic progress.
Mr Rudd and his government have failed in all these areas and it is time for them to go. In saying that I congratulate Mr Rudd on his curveball - a fantastic effort has been made to distract people from the recent disgraceful end to the Commonwealth Home Insulation Scheme. The allegations of industrial manslaughter and more recent allegations of people defrauding the Commonwealth by submitting false claim forms and not completing work will all hopefully come out in the wash very soon.
Written at 11:46 on 4 March 2010 by Lord Watchdog.
Posted in the Politics section. Comments: 1 · Chat Live ·
Another call for a Bill of Rights
A human rights activist, Philip Lynch, has called for all Australians to unite in support for a human rights act. Read his story here.
I am against a bill of rights because in every country a bill of rights has been adopted in the government has ended up with a reduced ability to govern effectively. More and more proposed laws end up before the courts as soon as they are granted assent by their heads of state than in the periods preceeding the introduction of a bill of rights.
One question I will ask of all Australians: What rights do you believe you are being denied because Australia does not have a bill of rights? At present you can do what ever you want as long as it is legal. A bill of rights isn't going to change that to the extent that supporters of a bill of rights seem to believe. In fact most supporters of a bill of rights believe that they can use it as a tool to remove the rights of other people because they believe they've just been given the right to do so.
Written at 10:24 on 1 March 2010 by Lord Watchdog.
Posted in the Society section. Comments: 1 · Chat Live ·
Labor's honeymoon could be over
Opinion polls put the Commonwealth Government neck and neck with the Opposition for the first time since Labor took office in 2007 and in an election year that is not good for Labor and their leader, Kevin Rudd, who remains embroiled in the scandal surrounding the home insulation scheme that involves shoddy workmanship, incomplete work, dozens of reported house fires and the electrocution of four inexperienced insulation installers.
As a sidenote, the fact must be remembered that even if insulation is installed, if home owners continue to run their air conditioners on the lowest temperature setting whilst leaving windows, blinds and doors open then the nett saving on electricity costs will be a big fat zero. Not one cent will be saved at all. Savings would only apply if the air conditioner was set to 21.5°, windows, window coverings and doors were kept closed and the insulation was installed correctly. At least one whirlybird would also be of benefit to allow dangerously hot air to leave the roofspace in the summer months.
The problem is that noen of our politicians have ever swung a hammer in the building trades, particularly those on Labor's front bench - they are all teachers, nurses and union hacks. What would they know about construction?
Because of this Labor has failed to ensure the safety of those who have been sucked in to the home insulation scheme. With more than 200,000 homes subject to new installations of either ceiling batts or foil that is a lot of homes that require inspection and possible corrective work.
The entire scheme has been a complete waste of money and now that it has been cut short, due entirely to the scandals surrounding it, a lot of people are now going to be out of work, not to mention the problem that wholesalers have with the millions of dollars worth of stock they have that now sits idle.
This is another stuff-up on the part of Labor. There are also four counts of industrial manslaughter that have not been dealt with. Who is going to shoulder the responsibility for that? That's at least four people that will never vote for Labor again and not by their own choice.
Written at 07:31 on 28 February 2010 by Lord Watchdog.
Posted in the Politics section. Comments: 1 · Chat Live ·
