Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

The political landscape [in America] was fascinating last fall, intriguing on the Democratic Party side, on the Republican/GOP (Grand Old Party) side a congregation of rococo grotesques usually not seen outside a Sinclair Lewis novel or a Nick Cave murder ballad.

Wars make a lot of money and threats of war make more as stable economies can continue in a pyramid scheme to beef up these carrion feeders using taxes. In the USA, the actual government is tightly interwoven with this industry due to the national security impetus and the drive for privatisation as a model. Trouble is the same industry then sells to US future threats and hence the whole thing is nationally stupid but financially gold making.....

For much of my life I've been unable to understand why certain drugs were banned, why prostitution was banned, why certain forms of gambling were banned, why abortion was illegal, or why certain material was censored. The history of the consequences of banning these kinds of activity is well-known. First, they fail.

This month's update from Democratic Audit Australia has some interesting material on political donations, electoral changes, and the lobbyists' register.

These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? (Lee Iacocca)

The case against members of ABC TV's The Chaser's War on Everything has been dropped. Here's why.

Norman Mailer once wrote: “My long experience with human nature … suggests that it is possible that fascism, not democracy, is the natural state.” Mailer was a novelist, and his business was being provocative. I found his article … to be food for considerable worthwhile thought. After the thinking, I decided he was wrong.

It seems our ex Prime Miniature is now a cult hero amongst born again Aryans. Readers of Webdiary may be interested to see some of the interchange. ADDED: It should be noted that there is no evidence that ex-Prime Minister Howard actually said any of these things attributed to him, and some are clearly extracted from other sources.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at Swinburne on how our democracy is working.

As computers become more powerful and more and more information is gathered about individuals it will be very easy to track people simply by their buying habits. We will not need to know their names, just a profile will be enough to identify them. Human being are extremely predictable.

Demonstrations are a legitimate form of public dissatisfaction by those who feel their impotence to influence government action or non action – in the present instance e.g. a boycott of the torch relay in view of the situation in Tibet.

This is the first Democratic Audit Update from the Audit’s new home at the Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology.

It is to be expected that a new government coming into office will take time to settle in, read the files and gradually get used to the idea of being in power. In doing that the Rudd Government is no different to the Howard government, which took the best part of 18 months to settle into the harness. However the Howard government was not bequeathed the administrative mess of a politicised public service and the moral and ethical conundrum that now constitutes Rudd's inheritance.

We need strong government – based on the strength of the people. Democracy basically means strong people, because only a strong people can be self-governing – facing up to the costs that the demands of the present and the future will entail.

In 2005 the Australian government dramatically expanded the security powers of many state agencies as part of the “war on terror”. The new sedition laws, control orders, and secret pre-emptive detention all seem major threats to civil liberties, dissent, and (dare I say it?) democracy in this country.

Over the past two and a half years, researchers at the Fund for Independence in Journalism have sought to document every public statement made by eight top Bush administration officials from September 11, 2001, to September 11, 2003, regarding (1) Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and (2) Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Although both had been frequently cited as rationales for the U.S. war in Iraq, by 2005 it was known that these assertions had not, in fact, been true.(Center for Public Integrity)

The genius of Athenian democracy lay in the fact that the people were able to join in all the discussions and decisions. However, the size of populations in modern societies has caused a reliance on government by representatives - and our political system is now contaminated by political parties. We must recreate the dream of democracy — the rule of a participating, responsible people.

In Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Chalmers Johnson compares  the US’s present military behaviour with that of the Roman Empire, and warns that financial bankruptcy could herald the breakdown of constitutional government in America.

She risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in Pakistan and she has been assassinated by cowards afraid of democracy. (Gordon Brown)

"A few weeks ago my wife, frustrated at the amount of time I spend onWebdiary, said ‘They’re really your community, aren’t they?’  I hadn’treally thought about it in those terms before, but it’s true. Webdiarists are part of my community – my virtual community, anyway(although cyberspace and meatspace have become increasingly blurred asI meet various diarists face-to-face or over the phone)." David Curry

"As for Rudd I hope he is no dud, indeed! The only highlight of his speech was the mention of Bernie Banton and indirectly through him the role of the unions and the importance of a fair go as a key value for Australians. Unfortunately no mention of the YR@W campaign, or the importance of Greens preferences." Carlos

One of the many things that distressed me about the Howard government was its politicising of the Commonwealth public service, and its subversion of the spoils of office to its own party-political ends. So when Mr Rudd said "I'm very much wedded to the restoration of Westminster and that means the restoration of a continuing independent public service" I was pleased - but how serious was he?

"This is not a Tasmania I any longer recognise, this is Bjelke Petersens Queensland, and it is time we took our Tasmania back—back from the lies, from the intimidation, from the threats, from the character assassinations and blacklisting. Because its our Tasmania, not one company’s fiefdom. We have suffered for too many years them turning Tasmanian against Tasmanian, seeking to make us forget that what joins us is always greater than what divides us, that forest worker and conservationist, union man and greenie woman, southerner and northerner, Liberal and Labor and Green all share a great love for our island and for our people." Richard Flanagan, author

When I heard that Alexander Downer hadn't made a connection between the founder of an organisation and that organisation's most famous victim (the first Australian casualty in the Invasion of Iraq) I thought his memory had gone wonky again, like it had in the AWB hearings.  Then I checked his website and began to wonder.

We take this opportunity to urge all political parties to commit to the establishment of an independent and comprehensive review of the operation of ministerial accountability so as to modernise and strengthen it. This is a matter that transcends party politics. It goes to the very heart of the way we are governed.

Sydney: According to the media 28,000.  A surprisingly good turn out because it seemed to be poorly publicised this year.  I heard about it through Facebook.

"Why do some posters and print and distribute them with our own money? Because I am angry." Jonathan Nolan on citizen campaigning in Wentworth

"What sort of morals does a government have, who are willing to invade a nation and kill countless people in order to control its resources? More importantly, are you willing to vote for them, even if you think their policies benefit you more than those of some other parties?" Yasir Assam

Below the surface of political debate and commentary, and the commentary on the commentary, there are the actual techniques and systems of Australian government administration.  Those interested in the systemic and cultural changes that lie behind recent Australian public policy practice could do worse than check out a resource from a possibly surprising source - the OECD

Kingston has an excellent nose for a story and a profound sense of the historical context and importance of each. Future historians of this period may disagree with her, but they won’t be able to ignore her. As William Randolph Hearst said of the craft of journalism, it is by definition about exposing what someone somewhere doesn’t want to see in print, and “the rest is advertising”.