It’s not only fascinating docos about Dolly that display the government’s creeping balance-isation of everything on tv. After the turkey slap stoushes of 2006, Big Brother 2007 is trimming its sails to the prevailing electoral winds. (Let’s not forget that…
Larvatus Prodeo in exile
Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas
Blog Archives
BB balance
Tagged with: Asshattery, culture wars, John Howard, Peter Costello, politics&govt, sociology
Posted in culture, levity, media, politics
Posted in culture, levity, media, politics
The Lancing of Howard
A guest post by Bernice Balconey Lancet Editorial Volume 369, Number 9570, 21 April 2007 Australia: the politics of fear and neglect Australian clinical and public-health research is an emblem of excellence across the Asia-Pacific region. That enviable position is…
Tagged with: Coalition, culture wars, Federal election 2007, Indigenous policy & reconciliation, John Howard, politics&govt, sociology, Tony Abbott
Posted in Federal Elections, health, Howardia, indigenous, media, politics, science
Posted in Federal Elections, health, Howardia, indigenous, media, politics, science
(not) Everybody loves good neighbours…
I read yesterday that one quarter of Australians (or, to be more accurate, one quarter of those surveyed in the Human Beliefs and Values Survey) said they wouldn’t want gay neighbours, according to Love Thy Neighbour: How Much Bigotry is…
Tagged with: same-sex attraction, sociology
Posted in Australiana, culture, Lesbian and Gay, sexuality
Posted in Australiana, culture, Lesbian and Gay, sexuality
Mr Burke's Acclaimed Cherry
We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason; because we suspect that this stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of…
Tagged with: Asshattery, culture wars, politics&govt, sociology
Posted in levity, Philosophy, politics
Posted in levity, Philosophy, politics
The US Supreme Court's ruling on Gonzales v. Carhart
In light of certain special interest groups who expect our current federal government to follow the lead of the Bush administration, an important point needs to be made widely known: the new abortion decision from the US Supreme Court will…
Tagged with: culture wars, gender & equality, politics&govt, sociology
Posted in feminism, Law, Medicine, Parenting, politics
Posted in feminism, Law, Medicine, Parenting, politics
Dear NSW Liberals and your media mates: judge not lest ye be judged!
Let me begin this post with a sad, potentially very sad, story which turned out to have a happy ending.
Tagged with: culture wars, Disability, disadvantage, Federal election 2007, NSW Election 2007, politics&govt, sociology
Posted in Disability, Federal Elections, health, Howardia, media, politics, religion, State/Territory Elections
Posted in Disability, Federal Elections, health, Howardia, media, politics, religion, State/Territory Elections
Jonestown v. the Beltway
There’s a bit of a contrast in the reaction to radio shock jock Don Imus’ racist slurs in the US and the ACMA verdict on Alan Jones’ Cronulla broadcasts. Imus has been pulled from MSNBC, and advertisers have deserted him…
Tagged with: culture wars, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, politics&govt, racism, sociology
Posted in Ethics, media, politics, Race
Posted in Ethics, media, politics, Race
"Laughing at the disabled"
Update: I’ve written a post on the latest development in this affair, the suspension of Hookham and MacLennan for six months without pay, which I think is a completely over the top reaction, and says something very dodgy about QUT.…
Tagged with: culture wars, Disability, disadvantage, politics&govt, sociology
Posted in culture, Disability, education, Ethics, politics
Posted in culture, Disability, education, Ethics, politics
Vonnegut was from somewhere else: Tralfamadore, perhaps.
I liked this remark from Tim Sterne’s (non) obit post at Sarsaparilla so much I thought I’d lift it for this one. Hope you don’t mind, Tim! As already noted by commenters on Suz’ thread, Kurt Vonnegut has passed away.…
Tagged with: culture wars, politics&govt, sociology, war & conflict, Writings
Posted in Books, Writers & Writing, culture, Disasters, Iraq, life, politics, War
Posted in Books, Writers & Writing, culture, Disasters, Iraq, life, politics, War
Horrifying statistic of the day
Apparently only 17 nations in the world legally recognise marital rape as a crime (from a 1997 UNICEF survey but the situation hasn’t changed much). (via Feministing, describing how women in Saudi Arabia are fighting for legal recognition of marital…
Must try harder…
[Hat tip to Slim at The Dead Roo for the link.] We’ve previously had a couple of vigorous debates on the culture wars sport of teacher bashing, and in particular, the idea that performance pay for teachers would be a…
Tagged with: culture wars, Federal election 2007, Julie Bishop, politics&govt, sociology
Posted in education, Federal Elections, politics
Posted in education, Federal Elections, politics
Thunderbolts from the heavens?
Legislators in Mexico City are moving towards decriminalising abortion. Scott from Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the central point well: The key question of abortion policy is always not whether women will get abortions, but whether non-affluent women will have…
Tagged with: culture wars, gender & equality, politics&govt, same-sex attraction, sociology, war & conflict
Posted in Apocalypse, Developing world, feminism, Iraq, Law, Lesbian and Gay, Philosophy, politics, Poverty, religion, USA, War
Posted in Apocalypse, Developing world, feminism, Iraq, Law, Lesbian and Gay, Philosophy, politics, Poverty, religion, USA, War
Don't Mention the War!
A guest post by Audrey Apple From today’s The Advertiser: Holocaust glossed over “London: British schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a government-backed study has shown. The study found some teachers were reluctant…
All In The Timing
Dr John Billings, creator of the Billings Method of contraception, has died in Melbourne at the age of 89. The Billings Method involves calculating the times at which a woman is most likely to become pregnant (I won’t go into…
Demography? Destiny? Decline of TEH WEST?
Since people on the other thread wanted to get all Spenglerian on me, perhaps a demography thread is timely, particularly with the release of Peter Costello’s latest Inter-generational report. Fertility, obviously, being his signature issue. I can’t put my fundamental…
Tagged with: gender & equality, Peter Costello, politics&govt, sociology
Posted in Economics, feminism, immigration, politics, sociology
Posted in Economics, feminism, immigration, politics, sociology
