my latest column at goldcoast.com.au … boats policy is pure racism

here is my latest blog post over at goldcoast.com.au:

SO another boatload of asylum seekers showed up in Australian waters yesterday.

Thirty-two more refugees from some of the world’s more despicable regimes spent their life savings paying a despicable arse of a people-smuggler so they could get on a leaky boat headed for a country they believe to be founded on freedom and opportunity.

And what is our supposedly left-wing, small ‘l’ liberal government going to do with them?

Well, according to news.com.au, ‘the group will be taken to Christmas Island pending removal to another country after Labor last week announced its plans to send asylum seekers to Malaysia and restart processing in Papua New Guinea’.

Because apparently, here in the ‘Lucky Country’ we don’t have enough room. Or enough resources. Or enough backbone. Or enough compassion. Or something.

It’s all bull-puckey.

What’s happening here is nothing to do with space, or money or resources.

It’s to do with racism and fear.

Can you seriously tell me that if for some reason a boatload of English people felt the need to flee their country in a rust-bucket, that we’d be putting them in a dingy detention centre at the crappy end of Port Moresby?

I don’t believe that for a second.

What’s wrong with us all? Seriously?

This country is populated, almost entirely, by immigrants or descendants of immigrants.

Unless you are Aboriginal, you are an immigrant or of immigrant stock.

I am. Came here from England when I was six. Became a citizen at 20. Wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, despite one or two incentives to go elsewhere.

But I really fear for this country’s psyche right now, not to mention our Karma points, which frankly, must be getting a little scarce.

Face up to it, at least. Face the fact that we don’t want the little brown and yellow people coming here. Have the guts at least to say that, instead of couching it in bureaucratese and weazel words.

I’ve never been more disgusted in a Labor government.

If Julia Gillard slides any further to the centre, she’ll be overtaking Malcolm Turnbull on his way left.

It makes me sick.

let ‘em rip, people.

been thinking over this whole osama bin laden thing

… and i’ll be honest with you … it makes me uncomfortable.

yay, he’s dead. he killed a lot of people. a lot of innocent people. i understand how his death gives closure to a lot of hurt people. end of an era, etc etc. i have no argument with the fact that the world is a better place without him. i have no doubt he deserved to die for his crimes.

however.

a small, elite team of professional killers entered another sovereign nation’s space, without their knowledge or permission. that team enters a building, finds the man they’re looking for, who is, by their admission, unarmed. they kill him on the spot, no doubt none too prettily. they then take his body to another sovereign nation, where presumably they take materiel for dna testing. then they dump his body in the ocean.

no trial, no ‘loose ends’ if that’s what you want to call it. an execution, leaving no trace.

here’s what Noam Chomsky had to say about this week:

We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin Laden’s, and he is not a “suspect” but uncontroversially the “decider” who gave the orders …

… There’s more to say about [Cuban airline bomber Orlando] Bosch, who just died peacefully in Florida, including reference to the “Bush doctrine” that societies that harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves and should be treated accordingly.

… Same with the name, Operation Geronimo. The imperial mentality is so profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance against genocidal invaders. It’s like naming our murder weapons after victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”

it makes me uncomfortable that liberal commentators like Rachel Maddow, for example, not only can’t seem to see that the jingoistic celebrations on the streets of young Americans chanting ‘USA USA USA’ and ‘Obama got Osama’ and holding posters of the Statue of Liberty holding aloft bin Laden’s severed head have their exact parallels in the celebrations on the streets of the Middle East on September 12, 2001. Not only can Maddow — just to choose the one liberal i’ve followed all week — not see that parallel (or at least chooses not to draw it) but she took part in the celebrations herself.

there has been no critical commentary on the execution of bin Laden from Maddow at all, and that disappoints me, because, sadly, it deserves some objective analysis from someone other than the Glen Becks of the world, god help us.

the USA is about ‘justice for all’, right? i don’t have an argument with bringing bin Laden to justice — and if that means execution at the end of the judicial process, then yippee.

but shot down by, presumably, multiple assailants, in his own bedroom in front of his wife, and for all we know, his kids?

strikes me that the USA just sank to Al Qaeda’s standards. and it’s double standards, no question.

no doubt this will bring the hate to this blog, but i’m going to say it out loud …. I EXPECTED MORE FROM THE COUNTRY THAT CLAIMS TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL AND THE MOST ENLIGHTENED IN THE WORLD.

bin Laden didn’t deserve to be treated like a human being — god knows he didn’t treat his enemies with anything other than evil contempt. but how much more enlightened would the USA look today if they had treated him with the respect he DIDN’T deserve?

come on, bring it on.

sarah palin’s part in gabrielle giffords’ shooting

Wikileaks footage

more about "air attack on civilians and children", posted with vodpod

y’know, it’s not even the fact that civilians, photographers and kids were shot at and killed … mistakes happen, and i suppose long lens cameras can look like ak-47s and RPGs if that’s what you want to see.

no, that’s not what bothers me most.

what bothers, and sickens and angers me most, is the attitude. the ‘fucking pricks’ … the ‘c’mon let us shoot’ … the utter silence when it becomes obvious that there are no weapons, just a bunch of civilians and kids and cameras … the amusement when someone drives a tank over a body … the urging of the wounded, crawling guy to ‘just pick up a weapon’ … it’s the ‘their fault for bringing their kids to a battle’. it’s the killing people for retrieving their wounded.

the US military is a barbaric, arrogant, murdering machine, looking for any excuse to kill the little sandniggers, apparently.

seriously, Americans, do you wonder why half the world hates your over-priviliged, over-armed guts?

*disgusted*

condi rice: “no dear, you’re wrong, we did not torture anyone”

well, sure, because waterboarding isn’t torture, is it? it doesn’t really hurt anyone. impeach this idiot along with jay bibee, dick cheney and rummy.

utterly delusional. found at george stephanopoulos’ bottom line blog.

apparent attack on dutch royal family

this broke on twitter not too long ago. from breaking tweets:

an apparent attack on the Dutch royal family at a parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, has failed, but not before a car drove through a crowd, injuring at least a dozen. The vehicle was headed in the direction of Queen Beatrix before it crashed; the royal family watched in awe.

Radio Netherlands reported earlier Thursday that joyous festivities were set for Apeldoorn to celebrate Queen’s Day. The remainder of the celebration has been canceled, according to NOS.nl.

Local tweets in Dutch were all over this event, utilizing Twitter to share information in the breaking news situation.

here’s the youtube video:

on the slow-mo you can see the car was already damaged from plowing through the crowd.