Bah humbug

Given that I'm staunchly in favour of vigorous gun control and a human rights advocate, the following statement may shock a few people.
IMHO, people who go nuts with Christmas lights on the exterior of their houses should be shot on site. These fucked up environmental vandals have nothing better to do other than trying to outdo their bogan neighbours vis-a-vis Christmas lights.
Ex-judicial killings are too good for them.
And as for the street in Melbourne with every house lit up, don't you know that a peak power station kicks on at Christmas just for you show off wankers?
If someone can persuade the next heavily-armed deranged US school kid to fly to Australia and pop off these cheerful mother fuckers, (rather than murdering his school mates) then everyone will be a winner.

Update: See I was right.

Dirty Campaign Money????

The Australian Electoral Commission has just released a list of campaign donors to the five candidates endorsed by political parties in the Gippsland by-election and the "disclosures" are frightening.

Howard's campaign finance laws are so easily circumnavigated, no candidate had to make a return. Candidates can receive up to $10,500 from a single source and not declare it. A family of 5 can give $52,495 without it ever becoming public knowledge. A company or union can donate an unlimited amount of money though shelf-companies, subsidiaries, directors and employees, and you'd be none the wiser.

How much money did the coal sector "donate" and did this effect Rudd's stance on climate change? You're not going to find out.

Is there any ALP member who wants to try and justify the sale of our democracy to the highest bidder?

And it gets worse. Financial disclosure thresholds are indexed so every year they get higher. Loose laws in regards to campaing contributions will always benifit the incumbent government over the opposition, and with the ALP holding government virtually across the country, their is virtually no chance of any meaningful reform.

And don't expect the commercial media to go into bat for our democracy. All that sweet sweet campaign cash has to be spent somewhere, and Rupert, Kerry and Fairfax get more than their fair share of the dirty money.

Cunts the lot of them.

A serious post for a change.

Since the tragic shooting death of 15 year old Tyler Cassidy, many newspapers are highlighting his membership of the racist white youth gang* called the Southern Cross Soldiers.

While it is very difficult to speculate on the role the SCS played in this tragedy, the Mark Dunn story in the Herald Sun does raise some serious issues. The most fascinating quote comes from one of Cassidy's former friends.

“He was always angry and after trying to help him out for longer than anyone else I know more than anyone I know he was beyond help.

“His poor mother would always try to help him and do her best as a parent and he would only ever respond with anger and hatred towards her.

“Since he joined the SCS and started hanging out some mates he called “skinhead mates” he started drinking excessively and getting much more violent.

Cassidy's actions, in combination with this quote, paints a picture of an angry disturbed adolescent struggling to carve out an adult identity.

Whether he joined SCS because of this struggle, or whether his struggle was exacerbated by his membership is an important question. The answer is probably somewhere in between.

Those who recruit for radical causes, such as violent jihad or far right wing groups, display frighteningly similar methods.

Recruiters
1. Target teenagers.
2. Instil a sense of not belonging.
3. Develop an enemy that threatens an entire culture.
4. Extrapolate perceived local problems (discrimination, street violence, unemployment) into a wider conspiracy, such as immigrants taking over western nations, or the west's war against Islam.

In the case of far right groups, recruiters will typically be older teens or young "adults". It is not unusual for recruiters to target a victim of violence dished out by a non-Anglo. Recruiters offer "reasons" for the violence, protection, a sense of belonging, and friendship to like-minded individuals.

In the case of the SCS "gang", members have three common interests; alcohol, violence, and racism.

Membership of far right gangs has a natural flux for most teenagers, and there are two paths to take. Many new recruits will eventually find something worthwhile that gives troubled teens a sense of belonging. Jobs, sporting clubs, tafe and girlfriends (most members are male) are typical membership breakers. The gaining of gameful employment and/or a steady girlfriend are typical phases in a teens life that allows them to progress into adulthood.

Far right wing "gang" members who don't make the transition end up becoming recruiters, or "elder statesmen" of the groups. They become natural leaders, but the only problem is, they are only qualified to lead a lynch mob. It's these 20-25 year olds that end up living a life of crime, anger, and bitterness. They are a danger to themselves and others.

Tyler Cassidy's exit from the "gang" is unusual, and society needs to look at this event in greater depth rather than trying to explain it as "a police overreaction" or "a troubled teen gone bad". May Tyler RIP.

*the use of the word "gang" is for want of a better in this case. Far right wing groups rarely meet and therefore the use of this term is problematic.

Wah was right

Back in June, Wah voted Liberal.

And didn't his readers give him shit.

Bron said "Bad. You need a good whipping for voting Liberal."

THR said "Sorry, but voting tory is never activism. Not for any reason. I can’t understand what you think it would achieve."

Rx said "OK, Wah … so you’ve dipped your little toe into the Dark Side. You can come back now, as long as you PROMISE never to do it again!"

Sorry but as things stand at the moment, I'm going to join Wah and vote Liberal at the next state election.

Why?

Brumby is basically a fucked up economic rationalist who has about as much social and environmental cred as John Howard.

In the same week that Victoria's Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Doctor Ian McPhail said our environmental performance was woeful, Brumby went highway mad, celebrating an "upgrade" of the Western Ring Road, and the "widening" of the West Gate Bridge.

And to make things worse this short-sighted economic-technocrat-dominated government celebrates population growth in Victoria.

Victoria was one of the strongest performers in population growth, with only resource rich Queensland achieving a greater increase in the number of people.

Sorry to inform all readers, but Labor in Victoria has completely lost the plot. Their water policy is a joke, and their desire for Melbourne to be bigger than Sydney will make the city totally dysfunctional.

Sure the Liberals are a lazy squabbling rabble who are too fucked up to do the hard yards and put forward detailed policy, but a few years on the opposition benches for Labor is precisely what this state needs.

OMG this is not happening.

It's an invasion aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Were's me gun? Send out the navy, spend billions turning these people away...

Nah on second thoughts, let's shelter the refugees and put the knuckle-dragging racists from the Southern Cross Soldiers on the boats bound for places unknown.