Last November, Seattle Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Schene (31) narrowly escaped with his life after a crazed teenage carjacker named Malika Calhoun (15) tried to kill him by kicking her shoe in his direction. In self-defence, Schene was forced to kick and punch the teenage girl, slam her head against a wall and then her body to the floor, punch her in the head, and pull her hair. Naturally, Deputy Schene has pleaded not guilty to assault charges (brought against him by a vindictive legal system); Calhoun, on the other hand, will presumably avoid being charged with assault with a deadly shoe.
Against mainstream accounts, Peter Gowan argues that the origins of the global financial crisis lie in the dynamics of the New Wall Street System that has emerged since the 1980s. Contours of the Atlantic model, and implications—geopolitical, ideological, economic—of its blow-out.
The long credit crunch that began in the Atlantic world in August 2007 is strange in its extraordinary scope and intensity. Mainstream discourse, referring to a ‘sub-prime’ crisis, implies that the credit crunch has been caused, rather than triggered, by a bubble in the real economy. This is at best naïve: after all, the bursting of an equally large bubble in the Spanish housing market led to no such blow-out in the domestic banking system. The notion that falling house prices could shut down half of all lending in the us economy within a matter of months—and not just mortgages, but car loans, credit-card receivables, commercial paper, commercial property and corporate debt—makes no sense. In quantitative terms this amounted to a credit shrinkage of about $24 trillion dollars, nearly double usgdp. Erstwhile lenders were soon running not just from sub-prime securities but from the supposedly safest debt of all, the ‘super senior’ category, whose price by the end of 2007 was a tenth of what it had been just a year before…
As stock markets plunge and governments scramble to bail out the finance sector, Robert Wade argues that we are exiting the neoliberal paradigm that has held sway since the 1980s. Causes and repercussions of the crisis, and errors of the model that brought it to fruition.
And…
Capitalism and Its Discontents, a 5 part series, delves into the roots of the crisis gripping the economies of the Global North and South — and the political upheaval it has spawned, from Iceland to Brazil.
Doug Henwood talks about the US economic stimulus package. Ian Bone talks about how the crisis is affecting the UK, where wildcat strikes have erupted in recent weeks. And political economist David McNally talks about the roots of the slump.
[For grumpy cat] A Dirty Steenky Commie named Alain
Decoding Sarkozy
Christopher Bickerton Le Monde diplomatique
February 2009
Alain Badiou’s book on Sarkozy reveals the philosopher’s own advocacy of change based in reality, which is beginning to displace the old ‘new philosophy’ of Bernard-Henri Lévy et al
A philosophe engagé discusses the ‘wrong turn’ taken by so many erstwhile French Maoists, locating its sources within the landscape of 1970s militancy. The perils of politics as ambition, as fashion, as absolute—paving a mediatized path from 68 to Sarkozy.
Why does the spectre of May 68 still haunt French discourse? Alain Badiou on the country’s longue durée sequences of restoration and revolt, and the place of Sarkozy’s presidency within them. Lessons in political courage from Plato and Corneille, and a call to reassert the Manifesto’s founding wager.
Elected to the seat of Tablelands in February 2001, Rosa’s interests include racing, Pony Club, current affairs, politics and family.
Rod Evans, QLD State Secretary of ONP, issued a media release on February 21 in response to QLD Premier Anna Bligh’s announcement of the March 21 election. According to Rod, this announcement was “incredibly irresponsible”, coming as it did in the middle of floods and rains. Rod also ‘aplauds’ rural lobby group AgForce: “To lock up huge areas of regrowth and prevent clearing of this rubbish will see Queensland in a similar dangerous fire scenario to that which Victoria has recently suffered” (see AgForce media release of February 18, ‘AgForce challenges attitude on trees’ [PDF]). Rod also quotes scientician Andrew Bolt with approval:
Just hours after the first bodies were being recovered, Greens leader Bob Brown was already on television, lecturing us on our sins against the planet.
Rather than confess that green activists had been desperately wrong to oppose fuel reduction burns, Senator Brown was eager to boast that this catastrophe had instead proved them right. About global warming, you know…
So.
In order to avert catastrophe in QLD, vote ONP.
Australia First
There is a growing resistance to the politics of New World Order liberal-globalist-capitalism throughout Australia and in the rest of the world. In Toowoomba North, this takes the form of Perry Jewell, the founder of the Confederate Action Party (a precursor to ONP). Perry has received the fulsome endorsement of the fascist Australia First Party: “Mr. Jewell is not a big-party-stooge independent, but a man of independent mind and policy, who pledges to stand for his electors if elected to parliament.”
Disappointingly, neither Jim Perren (AF QLD) nor his comrade John Drew (AF Brisbane) are throwing their Akubra hats into the ring this year. Instead — and rather curiously given that Der Fuehrer Dr James Saleam derides them as watermelons — John Drew is urging a vote for the Greens: “Voters in the March 21 Queensland election are advised to vote mainly for the Greens due to their more radical environmental policies which are desperately needed.”
Sam Watson, Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of South Brisbane and leading Indigenous activist, is a long-time supporter of St Mary’s. “The land on which St Mary’s stands is sacred Aboriginal land, an ancient site of the Kuril Dreaming, which is the small water rat”, he told Green Left Weekly.
Campaigning against One Nation, and now running an antique and coffee shop in rural Kilcoy, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, Crook would display signs on his window like “One Nation members and other racists not welcome here”.
“This activity was not really welcomed in Kilcoy”, he said, “and one night someone backed a truck into the shop.”
Both Sam and Mike are standing in very safe Labor seats.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has just finished a repeat screening of The Russian Revolution in Colour. I missed the first part (February 23) but caught most of the second. It concerns the crushing of the Kronstadt uprising in March, 1921, the last gasp of the revolution in Russia, and the inauguration of the Bolshevik (later Communist) state.
Given the highly critical nature of the documentary, it unsurprisingly met with a damning response from today’s Bolsheviks. Nadim al-Mahjoub of the International Marxist Tendency protests at ‘Old Garbage Repeated in Colour!’ (April 7, 2005). A bizarro at spiked opines “The trend for documentary to offer colour rather than hard analysis is confirmed more literally in another Channel 5 programme: The Russian Revolution in Colour (Tuesdays at 8pm). Politically, the programme offers a standard historical account, lamenting the failure of the liberal democracy that allegedly could have come about in various ways depending on which historian you ask. There is no serious attempt to engage with the theoretical insights of the revolutionaries themselves. But the real disappointment is the colour.”
Locally, several years ago (March 2006) two members of Socialist Alternative (Daniel Lopez and Corey Oakley) breathlessly revealed ‘New facts [which] explode an anarchist myth’; a recapitulation of views expressed in December 2003, and a mainstay of apologists for Bolshevik counter-revolutionary activity since about… well, 1921.
Trotsky sends in the Red Army to put down the Kronstadt sailors who have challenged the Bolshevik “elite” who have seized power and usurped the goals of the 1917 Revolution.
Bloggy wars are nice, and bloggy wars can stop you, from saying all the things in life you’d like to. Accusing Tim Blair of using a sockpuppet is one of them; calling Andrew Bolt a racist and/or a liar is another.
Launched on February 17, Poison Pen is the transmogrification of The Blair/Bolt Watch Project (April 9, 2008–February 18, 2009), which in turn emerged from BoltWatch (February 17, 2005–April 6, 2008). At each step, the targets of the bloggers responsible has been extended, from Bolt, to Bolt & Blair, to Bolt & Blair & (Other) Bad “Journalists”.
The first thing here is to apologise, sincerely, to Andrew Bolt. The second, to acknowledge the traps for the unwary in tapping too innocently into Web2 interconnectivity.
In recent days, comment strings on the new Crikey blog Pure Poison have been a little too lurid in their attacks on the controversial Herald Sun columnist. There are some things you can’t say in polite journalism. “Racist” is one of them. “Liar” is another. We regret that these things were said about Andrew. We don’t believe he is either, and in no way condone web pages under the Crikey imprint furthering that impression. Which is where the problem lies, of course: the speed of internet publishing running blind into a thinly resourced but well-attended — and well intentioned — web publication. Comments can get under your guard. Things better left unsaid can be given sudden public prominence. Only if you happen to be looking of course (and that probably only runs into the hundreds) but that’s not the point…
In a post last night titled “Sockpuppet Worn” it was suggested that enthusiastic Pure Poison critic “WB”, a character who although we haven’t seen him or her before appears intimately familiar with old allegations about our pasts, had been making comments from Tim Blair’s private IP address. The post, now removed from the Crikey site, included speculation on the identity of WB, concluding that it was Blair. Tim denies this flatly, and notes that people in the same house would share an IP. Commenters to the original deleted post had also made that point.
We don’t know any more than that WB comments from the same private IP. Our criticisms are reserved for whoever “WB” turns out to be.
We unreservedly withdraw any allegation that Tim has been using the “WB” identity, that he had personally used this identity to artificially boost his “hits”, and apologise for any offence caused by the above.
three
Some semi-literate bloke called Robert Mullins pretty much hits the nail on the head with the following: “people don’t read Andrew Bolt for his searing intellectual insight. They read him to be entertained, to have prejudices confirmed…” or to be oUtRaGeD aT tHe StOopId.
Re. “Everything in moderation … even for Andrew Bolt” (yesterday, item 22). I am a regular reader of Andrew Bolt’s blog. I know. I can’t help myself. The man is a genius. He preaches the hot fire of God’s will. He brooks no compromise. He is petty and small-minded, dishonest and evasive. In other words, he has beaten a path through the scrub of the world that only genius can afford to beat. He lacks the intellectual acumen and moral judgment of Robert Manne, or the semi-literate curiosity of Janet Albrechtson, but he has something else: gusto, moxy, vigour, call it what you will. His is a sublime divining of the world; I can’t turn away.
Which is why Crikey’s new blog, Pure Poison, matters, and also why it won’t make an ounce of difference. I frequently find Bolt’s painful, logical contortions frustrating. And I frequently wish his employers would point them out to him. To provide one example, Mr Bolt has suddenly discovered he has a grave concern about fiscal responsibility. Where was this concern during the Bush years, when a pursuit of war in the Middle East and effortless tax cuts pushed the economy into unnecessary deficit? But oh well. Who cares. Bolt is a partisan, we knew that already didn’t we? Likewise his campaign against an outrageous majority of scientific opinion on the issue of climate change is cringingly embarrassing, but it is also engaging. Why not take on the science? An intellectually honest person would have changed their mind by now. But Bolt is not intellectually honest. For him to change his mind at this late stage would look like cowardice and confusion, not honesty.
So I am broadly supportive of the motives of Pure Poison, which has set up a team of bloggers with the challenge of bravely debunking sophistry and false argument put forward by Andrew Bolt and his ilk in the punditry. If it is done properly, Pure Poison will make an important contribution to Australian intellectual life, at least as far as its readership extends. It can remind us of the permanent value of the intellect: its ability to stand above partisanship and ill-tempered rancour. But don’t expect it to reduce Bolt’s readership.
The problem for outfits like Pure Poison, which set themselves up to debunk intellectual dishonesty, is that people don’t read Andrew Bolt for his searing intellectual insight. They read him to be entertained, to have prejudices confirmed, or (in my case) to be enraged, challenged, excited. News commentators have always been thus. Intellectual honesty is important. But it is not the only value we should cherish. Partisanship and loyalty are also important, in their own ways. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing older friends of my parents, content in their embrace of the wisdom of the soft-left, dining out on the platitudes of Phillip Adams, or praising the bracing courage of David Marr.
Make no mistake. Writing like Mr Bolt’s does damage to intellect. But unlike, say, Keith Windschuttle, he makes no claim to outstanding intellect. [Or: Bolt makes no claim, and has no grounds on which to do so, whereas Keef has no grounds on which to do so, and does.] He is a commentator, and a happy and (occasionally) valuable [and well-paid] one at that. He has never advocated harm to another, even if occasionally he has sat idly by while others were harmed (the harmful and unlimited detention of innocent refugee children never did bother him much). But who amongst us is not guilty of something similar?
We make a grave mistake if we turn to the Andrew Bolts or Phillip Adams of the world for permanent political wisdom. We should look to them for entertainment, intrigue, and occasional agreement. Nothing more. Which brings me to me point: The Poison Pen could do something important. If it is, as it claims to be, dedicated to sorting the intellectually honest from the dishonest, it can do something far more important than provide an outlet for readers who don’t care for Andrew Bolt. Intellect and reason are permanent, autonomous. They do not depend on an audience for their value. Without his audience, and the effort he makes for them, Andrew Bolt’s thoughts would amount to nothing. By all means challenge him. Point it out how often he gets it wrong, and why he often does so. But just don’t expect me to stop reading him. I wouldn’t have him in my Platonic Republic. But the earth as it currently turns wouldn’t make sense to me if it didn’t have him in it.
The boy with the thorn in his side
Behind the hatred there lies
A murderous desire for love
How can they look into my eyes
And still they don’t believe me?
How can they hear me say those words
Still they don’t believe me?
And if they don’t believe me now
Will they ever believe me?
And if they don’t believe me now
Will they ever, they ever, believe me?
Oh…
Which is why I feel a sense of profound relief followings news that the political gauntlet has been well and truly thrown down in the upcoming Queensland state election, with Warwick Capper challenging Abraham LincolnPauline Hanson, not only for the hearts and minds of the citizens of Beaudesert, but in a cook-off.
Pauline is obviously running scared at Warwick’s candidacy, and, despite years of experience, has refused his offer of a culinary challenge on polling day (March 21). Nevertheless, it appears certain that Pauline will go ahead with her lucrative candidacy, which apparently includes yet another interview with a women’s magazine; if correct, there may be a conflict of interest at ACP, as Capper’s challenge is being sponsored by Zoo magazine — SEX! SPORT! PHENOMENOLOGY! — which has agreed to provide a bevy of placard-carrying bikini girls when Warwick hears the umpire’s whistle. For the voters of Beaudesert then, the possibility of being swamped by Asians will be displaced by the possibility of being swamped by Asian chicks in bikinis.
The other, rather boring declared candidates are Andy Grodecki (Greens), Brett McCreadie (Australian Labor Party) and Aidan McLindon (Liberal National Party). Aidan is widely-tipped to win, with the LNP enjoying a 5.9% margin (“The Liberal National Party should increase its majority” reckons Antony).
Queensland’s mundane election campaign goes from a slow waltz to a quickstep on Monday morning when Pauline Hanson takes the floor.
And just to jazz things up, the man with the tightest pair of shorts Aussie Rules has ever seen could try to boot a goal as well.
The smart state’s most famous redhead will formally announce she’s standing as an independent in the Gold Coast hinterland seat of Beaudesert.
And While Ms Hanson confirmed that fact several days ago, her news – or some would say publicity – conference is still certain to draw a large media contingent.
Her campaign is being managed by publicity guru Max Markson who is marketed on the Markson Sparks web site as “Mr Fame … (who) can give anyone fame – and fortune”.
And to add a little more jazz to the mix, former AFL star Warwick Capper looks set to run onto the field as well.
He’ll swap his BMW for a Hummer if he wins the election according to the Seven network.
Asked what he knows about the Beaudesert area he said: “I went there once – a fair few Aborigines and very multicultural out there”.
“But nice place. I used to have a bit of land out there at Canungra.”
According to his website the 45-year-old is available for hens and bucks nights for $1,500…
WARWICK Capper has challenged Pauline Hanson to an election cook-off in the March 21 Queensland poll.
The former Aussie Rules star said he lodged his nomination on Monday morning to contest the Gold Coast hinterland seat of Beaudesert, and will kick off his campaign tomorrow with a bevy of placard-carrying bikini girls from a national men’s magazine.
“Yeah – Zoo Magazine’s sponsoring me and they’re paying for it and providing the bikini girls with placards,” he said.
“Politics is like a popularity contest sometimes isn’t it – but I’m pretty popular too and I think I’d fit in OK there.”
Pauline Hanson also formally announced today she’ll be contesting Beaudesert.
“We could have a bit of a cook-off between me and Pauline,” Mr Capper said.
“She’s got the fish shop and I’m about to open a coffee shop called Warwick Cappuccino soon in Surfers, and if I win in Beaudesert I might open one out there too and give out free cappuccinos and a muffin.
“I wouldn’t live out there ‘cos there’s too many flies but I’ll go out there a couple of times a week and campaign and do what I could,” he said.
The man famous for wearing the shortest shorts in Aussie Rules football says he also wants to clean up the Beaudesert area by imposing a curfew.
“I want to keep people off the streets – there’s too many fights and drugs out there,” he said.
“I want to get everybody off the streets by 11 o’clock at night because there’s too many fights between the multicultural people and the whites out there.
“There’s too much violence between the different races and the different coloured skins and what have you, so I want to try to clean that up and bring everyone together.
“And I want to make more water available to the farmers out there who are going broke.
“Somehow I want to see more money going back into the farmers’ pockets because they’re not getting enough rebates and they’re going broke and committing suicide out there because they can’t afford the water.
“Politics is a bit of a joke and I’m the king of the jokers but I think we do have to get a bit serious sometimes,” he said.
Larrikin former Australian rules footballer Warwick Capper would crack down on late-night drinking if he were elected to State Parliament in Queensland. The former Brisbane Bears and Sydney Swans full forward will decide later today whether to turn the contest for Beaudesert into a complete circus by running there against fellow independent Pauline Hanson on March 21…
Pauline Hanson has compared herself with former US president Abraham Lincoln at the official launch of her election campaign in the state seat of Beaudesert today. The outspoken former One Nation leader hit back at suggestions she was a “professional candidate” who was simply running for office to gain an electoral funding windfall…
After five losses on the trot, former Ipswich fish-and-chip shop owner Pauline Hanson admits the battle to revive her political career has left her a bit weary. It seems she’s not the only one, judging by the meagre turnout of 30 people at her latest campaign launch…
…Capper, who for years aggravated football purists with his party lifestyle and long blond hair, said he would launch his campaign flanked by a bevy of placard-carrying bikini girls with backing from a national men’s magazine. “Politics is like a popularity contest sometimes isn’t it? But I’m pretty popular too, and I think I’d fit in OK there,” he said. Hanson, 54, won fame in 1996, entering national parliament as an independent calling for cuts to Aboriginal welfare and immigration. Then she had said Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians.” She turned One Nation into a force that drew a million votes at its 1998 peak, but she subsequently lost her seat and was later convicted of electoral fraud and briefly went to jail…
“Adrian Radford” (above, looking cool ‘n’ deadly) is apparently a partner in the awesomely-titled BLACKchrysalis operations unit. The BLACKchrysalis operations unit flogs DVDs, in which Adrian, “a former SIS (MI6), British Military Intelligence and UK police instructor” brings his personal instruction and techniques “into the comfort of your own office and home at a fraction of the cost of residential training courses”.
From 2004 to 2007, Adrian “supplied his police handlers with detailed information on hardcore extremists”. Like his more amateurish New Zealand counterpart Rob Gilchrist, Adrian had heap ’em big sympathy for the righteous: ‘”I have 100% sympathy with people genuinely concerned at the plight of animals,” said Radford, who worked at the ALF under the name of Ian Farmer.’
An undercover agent tells how he infiltrated the heart of the Animal Liberation Front to sabotage attacks and glean intelligence on its leaders…
Whether or not Adrian dons a beagle outfit in his DVD series remains to be seen.
In the US, numerous members of the ALF and the ELF have been arrested over the last few years, and many have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms as a result of their actions (both real and alleged). One of the ALF’s principal targets has been Huntingdon Life Sciences, which does Bad Things to other animal species in the name of science. The SHAC7 are one of the victims of the government backlash against the campaign to shutdown HLS:
The SHAC7 are 6 activists and a corporation, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA Inc., that have been found guilty of multiple federal felonies for their alleged role in simply campaigning to close down the notorious animal testing lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences. Five of the individuals are currently in federal prison (the sixth, Darius Fullmer, has been released, after completing his one year sentence). They are not accused of actually smashing windows, liberating animals or even attending demonstrations, rather reporting on and encouraging others to engage in legal demonstrations and supporting the ideology of direct action…
Oddly, according to Jack Grimston, the ALF’s ‘action anthem’ is ‘Sandstorm’, “a techno trance hit by the Finnish producer Darude”.
On December 6, 2008, the eighth so-called “Salem March” took place in the Stockholm suburb of the same name. The Salem March is a meeting of the (northern) European right to commemorate Daniel Wretström, a 17-year-old youth with connections to the extreme right. Wretström was fatally injured during a fight with a group of young migrants at a Salem bus stop. The Salem March has developed into the biggest annual meeting of the extreme right in Scandinavia…
On a completely awesome but totally unrelated note, on March 21 Warwick Capper will be going head-to-head with the Wicked Witch from Ipswich Pauline Hanson in the ding-dong battle for the Queensland state seat of Beaudesert.
I dunno, but I really like this photo. It was taken on February 14, 2009, the night of the Dateless Disco (a benefit for Barricade @ infoshop). It shows the ‘International Workers’ Club’ (name subject to change), which is where Barricade is located (as well as various other @ projects)…
Barricade opened its doors on September 13, 2008, and celebrated its fourteenth birthday on February 4, 2009.
There have been a number of events held at the space since then including meetings, film nights, workshops and gigs. Among the bands who’ve performed are Athol, Extortion (WA), Foreign Magicians, Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour, Lanesplitter, Lebenden Toten (USA), Nuclear Sex Addict, Out of Control, Sons of the Ionian Sea, Straightjacket Nation, Super Fun Happy Slide, The Diamond Sea, Useless Children, War All the Time (Leeds, UK), Walrora (NSW), White Male Dumbinance (NSW) and others I forget.
The space is available for use by sympathetic parties. For more details, email: events[at]anarchy[dot]org[dot]au.
From their debut album X-Aspirations, 1979. Produced by Lobby Lloyde. Re-released on Amphetamine Reptile, ‘Aspirations Noise Archives Volume 1’ (AmRep 013, 1993).
To be confused with the Yanqui band of the same name.
Changeling is good — but Angelie Jolie is too skinny. Anyway, Margaretreckons “the cops, they’re too black-and-white for me”. But not for me — LA police are portrayed as being corrupt and murderous, and state authorities in general as being contemptuous of women, which is not inaccurate. (See also“Not Without My Daughter!”.) ****
Gran Torino is a Great Big Fat Turkey of a film. “Gran Torino may prove to be one be one of Eastwood’s best” saysDavid. I says: it’s fantastically shallow and cliche-ridden. (1/2 * for Clint’s Nick Nolte impression.)
Milk is good; so is the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (better even). Twinkies are the best friends Dan ever had… ***1/2
So is The Wrestler. Especially Marisa Tomei OMG. ****
Valkyrie is… average. Tom Cruise’s von Stauffenberg is a hero, but IRL he was less than kosher. The convoluted plots to kill Hitler hatched by his fellow Nazis reminded me of Batman. **1/2
Two Greek anarchists are making molotov cocktails. One says to the other: "So who will we throw these at then?" The other replies: "What are you, some kind of fucking intellectual?"
