Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Oh, and you do realise I was extracting the urine? Vibrant, world-class, 100% Pure tourist leaflet blahdy-blah. Just tell me ciragrettes are cheap and the water won't kill me, and I'm an easy sell.
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This sort of suggests that there are some nations that haven't met world-class standards, and will therefore be banished from the world. (Awesome!)
Well. Robyn, if you're a flaming pooftah with a low opinion of the government (and express that disdain in both traditional and new media) New Zealand and Australia are pretty top drawer places to be. Zimbabwe, Iran, Fiji or China not quite so much.
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Craig, you've got me down as if I'm some raving, feral protester or something; I'm not.
Grant - fair enough. If you want to be a 'raving, feral protestor', you really suck at it. :) My point is that it may well be an 'image problem' for Howard (or Iemma, for that matter) but I think that's ultimately the weakest argument against the NSW Supreme Court decision.
As for your second point, as I stated in my original post, the protesters' spokesman said on RNZ yesterday that they were going to protest even if the decision went against them.
Meh... I don't know about you, but I'm all for the right to protest, as long as they don't interfere with the equal right of everyone else to go about their lawful and legitimate business without undue interference. I'm also one of those cranks who believes in obeying the law, even those I don't personally agree with.
If the Stop Bush Coalition want to force some kind of confrontation with the Police for God only knows what reason, then they wear the consequences. If they negotiate some alterative route, and they hose down the 'fuck up the fascists' element, I'm cool with that too.
There's a lot at stake for either side right now in Sydney, and you can bet no opportunity will be lost.
QFT, Joe. Though I must admit that Alan Ramsey's Dixie Chicks shtick is getting a little tired - you know, bitching about how his dissent is being crushed (yet again) in the pages of a major metropolitan daily newspaper. Poor darling...
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Deborah:
Fair enough, and there's no city on earth that's going to be appealing to everyone.
I love Sydney, but will cheerfully admit my view might be rather more jaundiced if I was getting serviced by a mortgage that resembled my telephone number and commuting via one of the city's more *cough* Dickensian stations. (Seriously, I had a panic attack on one of the lower platforms of Town Hall station. Someone just has to get their shit together and seriously deal with the fact a "75-year-old station built to a 1916 design and based on a 1890s concept" (as the SMH puts it) is going to require some serious investment before there's a disaster.) Like any big city, I'm sure you can rattle off infrastructure and planning issues until the sun goes cold.
But if I was looking for a venue to host a major international meeting - and incidentally show off Australia to the world as a vibrant and energetic world-class nation - I've got to admit Canberra would be well down the list.
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As the original blog entry notes, it's Howard who knowingly landed them with the mess by opting to hold the circus in Sydney, rather than purpose-built Canberra.
Sorry, Joe, not seeing how that makes it a good idea for the Prime Minister to be trying to bring political pressure on either the NSW judiciary or police because their decision might well be politically embarrasing. Don't you find that even slightly problematic?
And have you ever been to Canberra? If it's 'purpose-built' for anything, it's as a case study in how urban planning theory forgets the human beings who have to function in synthetic capitals. Your mileage may vary, but I couldn't get out of the damn place fast enough.
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The decision does Howard no favours either, reiterating his creepy, Bush's-puppet image.
Well, tough titty. I don't believe that's the function of the state or federal judiciary. Might also be a rather good idea if the Prime Minister also kept an appropriate distance from the operational functions of the NSW judiciary and police, don't you think?
Somehow, I don't think the folks who think Howard suffers separation anxiety when Bush's fist isn't up his arse were going to change their mind, no matter which way the decision went.
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The language of the police case, weirdly hysterical as it was, presumably persuaded the judge that he didn't want to have his name on any calamity, no matter how unlikely.
OK, but if the unlikely happened - and I've never been on a protest where there weren't some over excitable nitwits who really needed to OD on chill pills - who would be blamed then? Somehow, I don't think the protest organisers would be waving their hands in the air if anyone ended up getting hurt.
Sure, I'm not very impressed with the NSW Police's case, but I don't think some of the more vocal protest groups have done themselves any favours either.
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It's more that the evidence he presented to back up a claim that he was at risk of persecution was fabricated. There are 300,000 Christians in Iran, and they have dedicated Parliamentary representation. Apostasy prosecutions are rare, and usually political.
Fair point, and I'd point out that (to paraphrase Gilbert & Sullivan) the lot of women in Iran - and much of the rest of the world - often is not a happy one. At least, not if you're unfortunate enough to attract the attention of the wrong morals cop, or poor, or happen to be surrounded by a culture where you're little better than a beast of burden/sex toy. I don't think any PA reader would say that doesn't suck and blow; whether (as Russell says) that would be grounds to waive the tribunal process and grant asylum is a wee bit more complex. (And believe you me, feeling sympathy for David Cunliffe is neither familiar nor comfortable.)
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Robyn, aw, anyone told you you're lovely. :)
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Don't even get me started on countries who deport gays to Iran.
Fortunately, from the RSAA's database, we don't seem to do that.
Quite right, I/S - we just make sure make sure their queer-killers have plenty of butter to put on their toast and nice wooly socks. And apparently free speech at home can go fuck itself too.
While I take your point, it seems (like so much else) there's a direct inverse relationship between how much noise New Zealand is willing to make about human rights abuses, and the perpetrator's position of the trade league table.
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