Freedom Of Suppress

Posted on Wednesday, 28th September 2011 by Ozboy

As of today in Australia, the right not to be offended trumps the right to free speech.

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Posted in Australia, Libertarianism, Rights | 49 Comments

Chutzpah In The House

Posted on Wednesday, 14th September 2011 by Ozboy

How can you not be cynical? As the Labor government this week introduces into the House of Representatives the bills legislating the Carbon Tax she swore before the election she’d never countenance, La Gillardine’s courtiers have clearly advised her that her subjects constituents have the collective memory of a goldfish.

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Posted in Australia | 43 Comments

A Day To Pause And Reflect

Posted on Sunday, 11th September 2011 by Ozboy

I still don’t know what made me do it. It was late on a cool Tuesday spring evening in Sydney; I had been working sixteen hours straight at my computer, and my head was filled with ten thousand lines of software code. Normally after a such long day, I am able to drop off straight to sleep. But that night, for some reason, I couldn’t. After about a quarter of a hour, I gave up and switched on the TV. I instantly recognized the image: the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Centre. Smoke was pouring out of both structures. Strange, I thought; a fire in both buildings? I hoped everyone had been evacuated, anyway.

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Posted in Libertarianism, Rights, United States of America | 14 Comments

Spending More Than We Earn

Posted on Sunday, 4th September 2011 by Ozboy

I’m sure you’re growing a little weary of the farce that Australian politics has become this last week. I’ll keep the previous thread going, with updates as they occur. If, as I suspect, moves begin in Cabinet against Gillard, I’ll start a new thread.

Work has made me a bit of a prisoner this last week, and will continue to do so for a while yet. So I thought I would kick off a new discussion topic, which was suggested to me by this article in the DT by Daniel Hannan. Government debt, always a problem in recent years but exacerbated since the 2008 GFC when governments across the West took over failed banks, investment houses and other industries, effectively nationalizing them. It had the effect—partially, at least—of one plank of the socialist manifesto: nationalization of the banking system. How long, though, can this be sustained in the face of a seemingly endless stream of profligate, Keynsian-style fiscal stimulus?

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Posted in Australia, China, Europe, UK, United States of America | 16 Comments

Parliament On A Knife Edge Part III – Julia’s Haute Couture

Posted on Saturday, 27th August 2011 by Ozboy

I said the other day that the Thomson scandal threatened to blow up into Australia’s Watergate. Boy, I wasn’t wrong! The muck is being piled higher and higher. Now it’s reached the person of Julia Gillard herself.

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Posted in Australia | 72 Comments

Parliament On A Knife Edge Part II: End This Nonsense Now

Posted on Friday, 19th August 2011 by Ozboy

Since I posted my previous thread on this subject four weeks ago, things have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. The rather tawdry scandal involving Craig Thomson, Labor MHR for the seat of Dobell in New South Wales, has plumbed new depths; amid Thomson’s tortured denials, including this memorable grilling on Sydney talkback radio, it has now emerged that, not only was Thomson’s Health Services Union credit card used to procure the services of prostitutes, his signature (verified by handwriting experts) and copies of his photo drivers license recorded on the back of payment vouchers and his business mobile phone records linked to the same, but now also hotel phone calls to several Melbourne escort agencies, placed from rooms booked by Thomson and paid for by the HSU on Thomson’s authorisation.

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Posted in Australia | 24 Comments

Playing The Race Card Part II: Anarchy In The UK

Posted on Monday, 15th August 2011 by Ozboy

What do you make of the riots happening in many British cities? I’ve read with some interest the discussion on GE’s blog, although I personally believe the emphasis on race is misplaced.

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Posted in UK | 23 Comments

Now Reap The Whirlwind

Posted on Friday, 5th August 2011 by Ozboy

The Dow Jones Industrial Average today closed down 512 points—the biggest one-day fall since the 2008 financial crisis—in the wake of the stitched-up deal hammered out in the U.S. Congress on raising the debt ceiling. Carnage is expected today on the Australian markets which open in three hours’ time; I’ll keep you posted.

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Posted in Australia, United States of America | 70 Comments

Same Old Same Old…

Posted on Tuesday, 2nd August 2011 by Ozboy

I’ve been scanning the news pages for anything that reads like common sense in this whole debt ceiling issue. With very little success. And with less than twelve hours to go before Brucker Bummer, the American Precedent, must sign off on any such legislation or render the world’s largest nation formally insolvent, all I seem to be able to read is droning “insider” punditry and the empty rhetoric of sectional interests.

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Posted in United States of America | 28 Comments

Is There Really Such A Thing As National Character?

Posted on Saturday, 30th July 2011 by Ozboy

I found myself asking this question after reading GE’s thought-provoking essay in Notting Hill Editions. In it, James contrasts what he sees as different national traits of America with those of his homeland. He arrives at the conclusion that the positives of America outweigh the many negatives he sees in Britain. Everyone go have a look, then come back here as I’ve got a poser for you…

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Posted in Australia, Europe, United States of America | 23 Comments