by cameron | Jul 1, 2008 | US politics
I’ve expressed my doubts about the Cult of Obama here a few times. I spotted this video in a Twitter comment today who said it was “racist”. What?? I don’t see how it can be called racist. I think it points out the obvious – that in order to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for President, you have to be a “player”, that is, you have to be part of the system, accepted and acceptable to the corporations that run the United States. And if you are part of the system, you have already sold out to the rich, white guys that run things. He is pwned.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jovq9j8cJSc&hl=en]
by cameron | Jul 1, 2008 | Uncategorized
I’m very excited about this – my kids are starting their first business – KIDS CANDLE COMPANY. Follow their progress on their new blog.
by cameron | Jun 30, 2008 | Gloria Jeans, Hillsong, Melbourne, Mercy Ministries, Podcast
My guests tonight are a couple from Melbourne who we’ll call “Bazza” and “Shazza”. For the last five years they were franchisees with Gloria Jean’s Coffee. They’ve come on to discuss their experience.
As regular readers will know, I’ve been taking an interest in Gloria Jean’s over the last few years (read earlier posts here), especially in the relationship between Gloria Jean’s Coffee, Hillsong Church and Mercy Ministries.
As you might be aware, there have been allegations over the last six months that Mercy Ministries has been treating it’s clients (mostly “troubled” young women) with techniques including exorcisms and prayer readings.
Even Gloria Jean’s Global Marketing Manager has commented on the blog in an attempt to provide their side of the story.
So I was pleased when Bazza and Shazza agreed to come on to share an insider’s story.
The G’Day World theme music:
Conquest
“Secrets of Life” (mp3)
from “End of Days”
(Dark Star Records)
More On This Album
If you’re wondering what the opening quotes are from on today’s show, it’s the opening lines from Rimbaud’s “A Season In Hell”.
by cameron | Jun 30, 2008 | Australian politics, Podcast
Tonight’s guests – Katherine Szuminska & Matthew Landauer – are the founders of OpenAustralia.org, a recently-launched site which makes politics more transparent.
Based on the British site TheyWorkForYou, OpenAustralia.org scrapes Hansard and makes it much more accessible. You can find out who your local MP is and then subscribe to email alerts whenever they say something in Parliament. And that’s just the beginning. Kat & Matt have a number of exciting features they intend to bring to the site in the next year or two.
This is their first interview.
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The G’Day World theme music:
Conquest
“Secrets of Life” (mp3)
from “End of Days”
(Dark Star Records)
More On This Album
Other music in today’s episode:
Curro , Curro
“El Bueno, El Feo Y El Malo” (mp3)
from “Silba A Ennio Morricone”
(DiscMedi)
More On This Album
Michael Brook
“Earth Alone” (mp3)
from “An Inconvenient Truth – Soundtrack”
(bigHelium/Canadian Rational)
More On This Album
by cameron | Jun 29, 2008 | Melbourne, Uncategorized
An interesting story… apparently “great apes” – that is, all non-human members of the biological family Hominidae which includes chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans – are soon to get full human rights in Spain.
They won’t be able to be kept captive, used in experiments for in television commercials. This outcome is the work of The Great Ape Project, which was co-founded by Peter Singer, a Melbourne-born philosopher who is currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University.
But why stop at hominids?
I’m sure Singer would like to see all animals share the same rights as humans but hominids is the low-hanging fruit. They share so much DNA with us that it’s easy to make the case that they should enjoy the same rights.
Personally I’d like to see similar laws in Australia and I’d also like to see them extended to all mammals.
Imagine a world where it was against the law to put a cow or a sheep or a kangaroo behind a fence or in a cage, let alone kill them for food.
We’d be forced to re-think our entire relationship with other species. We’d be forced to re-think our entire way of life.
Back to Spain… amazing to think that the country that only abolished the Inquisition less than 200 years ago has now legalized gay marriage and is about to give full human rights to apes and chimps. Any Spanish folks out there? I’d love to know what you think about how Spain is leading the world on these issues.
