Thursday 3 April 2008
Young Liberals: deluded, dangerous and at university
The black posters started cropping up on university campuses early this month. A gagged, wide-eyed youth stares out from the top corner. "Record biased lecturers," the posters scream. "Scan biased textbooks. Report incidents of bias. Education. Not Indoctrination."---
"Lecturers and tutors are brazenly forcing students to agree with their political or ideological views and we want to catch them doing it," Noel McCoy, president of the Young Liberals, told reporters at the recent launch of the campaign.
Collating evidence of bias is the first step before asking the university senate to conduct an inquiry, McCoy says.
Ah, conservative uni students. Those poor (only a figure of speech because those coming from true comparative poverty rarely progress to higher education) deluded souls who always kick and buck when their own inherited world views are even mildly challenged.
This quadrangle tantrum would be barely tolerable if most were attending lectures in the pursuit of knowledge and informed debate, but all they are chasing is that piece of paper which allows them entry into a lucrative profession.
Modern professions of course demand a demonstrable degree of conformity of thought or practice to gain entry to what is sometimes almost a closed shop, so before Noel McCoy begins to make some tutor's life miserable he might like to consider the possibility that he is/was at university to be 'trained'.
Mr. McCoy would be the first to cry foul if he found the university hadn't provided him with this guild handshake.
Any knowledge or exploration of ideas that may come a student's way in pursuit of a degree are icing on the cake and deeper exploration of any subject must ultimately be on his/her own initiative.
Oh so earnest Young Liberals, here's the reality - you are not brighter than the average bear, you possess no unique pearls of wisdom, neither are you in some way special. You just happen to be there.
So try to at least leave your alma mater as you found it - still attempting to hold its head above the black pall created by Joe McCarthy's putative heirs and John Howard's tertiary education funding parsimony.
North Coast Area Health Service 'surge beds' issue still not resolved
Surge beds are by definition additional inpatient beds which become available during epidemics, natural disasters and bioterrorism events.
Though in the case of NSW Health and NCAHS it appears that the label 'surge beds' is being used to withdraw existing hospital beds from daily use and reduce staffing levels.
After the fact consultations with the 14 hospitals involved do not appear to have engendered confidence within medical circles.
Which leaves many North Coast residents concerned about the present focus of regional health planning, if word games and bean counting are considered more important than people.
After twelve long years Brendan Nelson discovers Australia
Wednesday 2 April 2008
Ted Calma soldiers on for human rights and equal opportunity
- sections 34(9), 35(11), 37(5), 47(7), 48(5) and 49(4) of the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth) relating to determinations about Indigenous land;
- section 78 and sections 97 and 106 of the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth) in relation to decisions by the Minister to suspend all the members of a community government council, and decisions of the Secretary of the Department of FACSIA in relation to community store licences respectively; and
- new section144(ka) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (enacted by the Social Security and other legislation amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Act 2007 (Cth) ) in relation to the right to seek a review by the Social Security Review Tribunal of decisions that relate to income management.
- section 132(2), Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth);
- section 4(2), Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Act 2007 (Cth); and
- section 4(3),(5) and section 6(3), Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Act 2007 (Cth).
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett does something right for native plants and animals, but will he stand up to Japanese pressure over whaling?
A new twist in the history of war - or is that the history war?
Tuesday 1 April 2008
ASIC 2008 "Pie In The Sky" awards for best scams
Instep Super was advertising on television, radio and online offering returns on investment of superannuation funds between eight and 20 per cent.
The advertisements also claimed Instep Super was 'the best performing superannuation fund in Australia'.
This device supposedly recycled 'ambient electromagnetic radiation back into usable household energy' promising to cut ordinary Australians' power bills by 37 per cent.
Win $100 prize money for an entry that wins an award.
Yorkshire in for a nasty surprise if it expects Howard to be 'facinating speaker'
Guy Rundle on US08: Rudd meets Bush, Howard forgotten
US correspondent Guy Rundle writes:
Well there are two things we can thank John Howard for (three if you count destroying the Liberal party's membership base) - the E-3 visa which gives Australians special treatment in getting a US work permit, and the fact that Americans have a vague awareness of our leaders, thanks to the fact that ours was hitherto permanently attached to the back of theirs.
The attention remains, but for an entirely different reason. Kevvie's tour through these parts and his joint press conference with Dubya got heavy rotation on the 24 hour networks, not only because it was a break from rehashing Bama's pastor problems, but also because it was a delicious moment to watch Bush squirm, a past-time which about 70% of Americans would now seem to enjoy.
In the good old days, Dubya could lean on Howard, not merely figuratively, vaguely patronise him and make the alliance look like it was more than the US and a bunch of bribed East European nations. Blair would always upstage Dubya and takeover when he was patently lost and though the Rodent was more articulate than Bush – the podium is more articulate than Bush – he was also more boring, so it wasn't a complete humiliation.
But this weekend, as the much-vaunted surge fell apart into a firefight that couldn't be assimilated to the idea of heading off Al-Qaeda, Dubya had to stand beside that coprophagic grin as the press lined up to jam Bush sideways with Australia's withdrawal from the fight.
Why is the number 17 such a political turn-off?
Byron Bay Writers Festival 25-27 July 2008: short story competition now open
The competition is open to local unpublished writers with the subject matter relating to the Northern Rivers.
The entries will be judged by local writers selected by The Echo and Byron Bay Writers Festival. All entries need to be received by June 10, 2008.
Full details can be found by contacting the Northern Rivers Writers’ centre on (02) 6685.5115.
Stories should be emailed to editor@echonews.com with subject short story or typed and dropped into The Echo office at 218 Molesworth St, Lismore or sent to PO Box 37 Lismore 2480 by 10 June 2008.
Make sure you include a completed application form and read the details carefully. Copies of the application form will be able to be downloaded from The Echo website from next week www.echonews.com.