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Are the Greens extreme?
Some personal context: at the time of writing, I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of a political party, nor have I campaigned for one (unless you include my writings on this blog, and if you do that you’d be equating mere opinion with political campaigning). I think and write independently of…
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To be a male feminist
I haven’t ranted in a rather long time, so here goes. A (male) friend of mine voiced an opinion recently that, surely, everyone ought to be a feminist. At least, I shall rephrase slightly in deference to those with the greatest experience on the subject, everyone ought to aspire to feminism. It is a perspective, after all, not…
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Denial in carbon politics
This is a follow-up to my previous post on Greg Hunt’s paradoxical lack of enthusiasm for discussing climate change policy. He’s very quiet on the Coalition’s “Direct Action” policy, and very loud on the Coalition’s promise to remove Labor’s carbon tax. (Highly suspicious, given that one is theoretically necessitated by the other.) But will the…
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If not the carbon tax, then what?
Greg Hunt, the Opposition’s spokesperson on Climate Action, is trying very hard to convince anyone who will listen that the Coalition can and will repeal Labor’s carbon tax if it wins government. He responds to a well-considered piece by David Forman on the political difficulties of doing so. I want to make two points about…
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Compulsory voting
I have a few things to say about compulsory voting, since scrapping it has been put on the table by Queensland state government. (Oh Queensland, what would we do without you?) I happen to be a fan of compulsory voting, not because it’s the status quo, nor simply because it’s “our duty” (although that is a…
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Gun Freedom Flowchart
One of the major rationales for gun ownership in the US — I’m led to believe, against all reason and common sense — is that the government needs to be kept in check by a bunch of armed militias. Militias, you understand, are the epitome of democratic process. Here are my own thoughts on this…
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Palestinian statehood
Some people have lost sight of the notion of a win-win situation in the Middle East. We do have a lofty overarching notion that there are peace negotiations to get back to when everyone is sufficiently chummy again, but, at some level, we don’t truly believe this. The political paradigm there sees everything as (a) bad for Israel,…
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Edumageddon
So I read that Ernst & Young has released a report on the future of universities, saying bluntly that “Over the next 10-15 years, the current public university model in Australia will prove unviable in all but a few cases”. With all due respect, bollocks. E&Y’s document (embedded at the bottom of the ABC article)…
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Multi-party politics
I’m reminded by the ACT election how much more interesting politics can be when there are more than two choices. If I lived in the US, I think I would despair at the monotony of the eternal struggle between the Democrats and Republicans. However, Australia still hasn’t truly come to terms with multi-party politics. We…
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Carbon tax lies
The word “lie” attracts a disproportionately emotive response compared to other forms of deception. Nevertheless, I will briefly point out that Tony Abbott has told a very succinct lie in the following statement, quoted by the ABC, in relation to electricity transmission costs: The whole purpose of the carbon tax is to raise the price…
The sporadic blog of David J A Cooper. I write sci-fi, teach software engineering, and occasionally say related (or not related) things.
Check out Nova Sapiens: The Believers.