The Australian View Of America

Australia has been accused of being the 51st state of America. It seems that we are destined to follow America in most things, Australia's strict gun laws being a notable exception, but what do Australians really think of America and Americans? Conveniently for those of you pondering this question the University of Sydney has some answers.

The bitter pill first perhaps... here are some of the things we most dislike

- 85% of Australias think that gun control is the US is a joke and needs reform
- approx 2/3s think the US is crap at "social equality", "economic equality" and "race relations"
- more than half veiw the role of "religion in American society" as a negative.

Now, now, put away that indignation. There are also things we like about America, such as
- Science and technology
- art and literature
- personal freedom
- economic opportunity
- political freedom
- standard of living

We also like the influence of America on our television, sport, clothes and music but when it comes to junk food you can forget it. We are so over the "golden arches" and its equivalents.

We also think that America has, over recent years, diminished in its capacity to deal 'wisely with their own social and economic problems', with Japan and the UK being much better thought of in this respect.

Professor Alan Dupont, who authored the report says

What is striking is the loss of trust in US values and political institutions although this is balanced by a high level of respect for the excellence of US science and technology and a belief that the US remains a country of economic opportunity. Unfortunately, we understand less about American culture and society than we should because of stereotyping and a fall in the proportion of Australians travelling to the US to study or teach.

Read more here.

Gender Balance By Political Party

Below is a breakdown of the gender balance at the last Federal Election by political party.

Here are some interesting points to note:

What Women Want is not a male politian although I am reliably informed by Mrs Green Man that some of them are, well whilst not really cute, at least not brown paper bag material. They must have their eyes tilted at some senior bureaucrats instead.

Every part was able to identify the gender of all of their candidates which one would have to say is a positive first step.

None of The CLP (country looney party) - sorry Country Liberial Party, Fishing Party or Non-Custodial Parents Party could not muster up a female interested in standing.

The word "equality" in the Socialist Equality Party clearly does not refer to equality of the sexes. Either that or they also couldn't find a woman who cared so little about her reputation that she was prepared to be associated with them.

The Shooters Party (our watered down equivalent of the NRA) couldn't find anyone of either sex who wanted to stand. Well that is a positive step since the last election.

Post Election Report On Dumbness

The Green Man once again presents his post election analysis of dumbness in the Australian electorate. As all Australians would know, but possibly others may not, voting is compulsory in Australia. Whilst this is a concept that many may find strange The Green Man thinks it is a good idea.

One consequence however is that even the dumbest in the electorate are required to turn up at a polling station and mark their ballot paper. Fortunately this group manage to eliminate any affect they may have on the outcome by their incapacity to number six boxes in order of their preferance without stuffing it up.

Here are the top ten for the 2007 Federal Election

hmmm now let me see where are those seats?

Watson - NSW Sydney Southern Suburbs
Blaxland - NSW Sydney South-West Suburbs
Chifley - NSW Sydney Outer Western Suburbs
Prospect - NSW Sydney Outer Western Suburbs
Fowler - NSW Sydney South-West Suburbs
Bennelong - NSW Sydney North Shore (this is doosy, the PM's seat)
Reid - NSW Sydney Western Suburbs
Paramatta - NSW Sydney Western Suburbs
Werriwa - NSW Sydney Outer South-West Suburbs
Banks - NSW Sydney South-West Suburbs

Sydneysiders may like to dump on us Melbournites but hey we can count to 6.

Dont Mention The War (err Polar Bears)

Scientific American reports that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has issued an edict that scientist are prohibited from making any public comment about the plight that Polar Bears find themselves in.

It seems that if you want to get public funding from the Bush Administration to attend a conference you must agree that polar bears, the melting polar ice cap and global warming will not be discussed.

H. Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, defended the policy laid out in the memos, saying it was meant to keep scientists from straying from a set agenda at meetings in countries like Russia, Norway and Canada and you can understand why. Obviously none of those three countries will notice the collapse of the polar ice shelf if noone mentions it.

To take one example, on a discussion on "human and polar bear interface." it was forbidden to discuss the receding Arctic sea ice where polar bears live because it had no relevance to the topic. According to Hall, it was a bear management issue and as such discussion of climate change was inappropriate. Yeah right!

The time, it seems, has come for the Bush Administration to place its collective head even deeper in the sand. The Howard Administration don't need to do the same. They have their heads stuck clearly where the sun doesn't shine, vis-a-vis the Bush Administration.

Read more here.

Gun Deaths

hmmm. some years ago I posted an entry on gun deaths in the USA which continues to attrack numerous comments both in support and criticising the post. A common theme amongst the critics is that if you ban guns only the criminals will have them. A fundamental flaw in this argument is that criminals are somehow separate population from the rest of the community. The reality, of course, is that some people who weren't criminals become criminals and some criminals become normal law abiding citizens.

Never-the-less The Green Man thinks that reducing the number of guns in the community can't be a bad thing. In support of this argument research shows that the tough gun laws that were introduced in Australia after the Port Arthur massacre has worked. The number of mass shootings in the 18 years prior to Port Arthur was 13, after the gun buy back zero. The number of gun related murders and suicides has halved, accordingly the general murder rate and suicide rate have declined.

The reality is that if there are less guns there is less death. America may value its right to bear arms but it pays a high price in citizen death.

President Bush On Iraq

It is official America is not loosing the war in Iraq the trouble is they are not winning it either.

Courtesy of youtube

Doomsday Clock Clicks

Did you think that the end of the cold war meant that a nuclear disaster was a thing that only ageing hippies locked in the past need be concerned about?

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists don't think it is, although, in fairness, they may have quite a few ageing hippies in their ranks. Anyway they have advanced their doomsday clock to 5 minutes to midnight. This is an advance of 2 minutes and it is the closest it has been to midnight (symbolising nuclear catastrophy) since the cold war. They site the following reasons for the advance.

• Nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea

• Unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere

• The continuing 'launch-ready' status of 2000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the US and Russia

• Escalating terrorism

• New pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks.

Click here if you would like to review the movement of the clock.

Resist

The internet is still a wild and untamed medium. On the internet all kinds of content flourishes and only the worst extremes are checked. It is a two edged sword however and floating on the flood of purile and culturally worthless content are islands of thoughtful expression of free speach.

Mass media is more pervasive and more intrusive into our lives than at any time in human history and the opportunity for nation-wide promolgation of thoughts and opinions approved of by the current administration has never been greater.

If we take the "War On Terror", which The Green Man has pointed out before is a semantically nonsensical phrase, it seems that to question its motives or actions taken in its name is to be un-Insert your countries name here

In that case resist.com.au falls definitely into that category. Artistic, at times confronting and definitely questioning the extent to which the emperor is clothed it is one of the islands of intelligent free thought floating in the river of banality.

To quote Arundhati Roy in one of the clips

It is dangerous to cede to the Indian government, or the American goverment, or anyone for that matter the right to define what India or America are, or ought to be. ... To call someone anti-Indian or anti-American is not just racist but a failure of the imagination, an inability to see the world in any way other than that the establishment has set out for you.

Resis.com.au cannot be accused of a failure of the imagination and is well worth a visit.

Its My Party

Factoid of the week

In 2004 Australians spent $5.3 billion on food that was wasted.

$2.9 billion on fresh food
$630 million on take away we threw away
$876 million on left overs
$596 million on unfinished drinks
$241 million on frozen foods

This is more than 13 times what we donated to overseas aid agencies.

ID

It seems that much as The Green Man is trying to ignore, and accordingly not comment on, Intelligent Design (ID). It will just not go away as an issue. As previously stated The Green Man has no problem with ID as religious doctrine, you are free to believe what you wish. You can believe a giant benevolent turkey rules over us all and determines our fate if you wish but don't try and argue that it should be taught in a science class. Similarly, ID, whilst perfectly satisfactory as belief system, is just not science.

Science aspires to detached objectiveness that is not tainted by religion. It may not completely succeed but it has done reasonably well and because of this we benefit from technology, engineering and medicine. It is the scientific basis of medicine that makes it so successful and of all ministers of the federal government Dr Brendan Nelson should be one of the most intimately acquainted with this fact. Accordingly it is with utter disbelief that I read in OnLineOpinion the following

While commentators noted that Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) had met with Brendan Nelson and other politicians, and that following those meetings and his support, it would begin distributing thousands of ID DVDs into schools, little information was given about CCC

Not heard of the CCC before? Neither had The Green Man but they are no tinpot organisation. They are an arm of the extreme fundamentalist right in the US and according to money magazine "the largest evangelical organisation in the USA"; "the richest fundamentalist enterprise in the world".

This is an organisation that actively promotes "family values". Family values such as "vision of family which sees men in control and women submissive".
That removes freedoms such as the banning of abortions and of homosexuality. Who have a vision for the US and Australia which is, in essence, a new Dark Ages. This is the organisation that Brendon Nelson, a man of science, is getting into bed with.

Informal Voting By Electorate

a Medew R, 2005. ‘Analysis of Electoral Divisions Classification’, Australian Electoral Commission. 2001 ABS Census data used.
b These divisions had a high level of informality despite public awareness campaigns and new initiatives aimed at educating electors about how to cast a formal vote.

Source

Informal Voting In Australia

Presumeably most of the readership will have appreciated the flippancy of the previous post however there is some interesting social trends to be found in the patterns of informal voting in Australia. For those of you who are the poorer for not being Australian, Australia has mandatory voting at state and federal level, that is every Australian citizen of voting age, with some minor exceptions, is required by law to vote at the election. Practically, this means you must show up at the polling point, have your name ticked off, get a piece of paper which you can do a number of things with.

1. Decide who you want to vote for and, hopefully, fill it out correctly.
2. Decide who you want to vote for and stuff up the form
3. Decide not to vote and leave the form blank or fill it out with rubbish.

It is relatively easy to distinguish between the latter two.

Stuff ups are classified as follows

"Number 1 only", "Non-Sequential" - Incorrect numbering on the ballot paper
"Ticks & Crosses" - Incorrect approach to completing the ballot paper
"Voter Identified" - Including identifying material on ballot paper

Protests are as follows
"Blank"
"Marks and scribbles"
"Slogans obsuring numbers"

A comparison between the last election in 2004 and previous elections shows increasing percentage of informal votes. So are we as a population, in fact, getting dumber or, at least, more careless?

The significant shift in informal ballot papers is in the "Marks and Scribbles" category, which could be presumed to be random defacing of the ballot paper which rose nationally from 6.93% of the informal votes to 14.27%. The main contributors to this trend were ACT, Tas and Vic.

Additionally, whilst "Slogans Obscuring The Numbering" represents only a small percentage of the overall informal votes the percentage trebled from 0.26% to 0.83%. Once again the huge movers in this category were ACT and Tas. We could speculate that the Tasmanian phenonemon arose the forest policy curfuffle that resulted from Latham's 11th hour announcement of an $800 million plan to protect 240,000 hectares of old-growth Tasmanian forest, which workers there saw as a jobs sellout. Followed by Howards counter offer of $250 million spent to protect 190,000 hectares of old-growth Tasmanian.

The ACT is more mysterious. I know you lot don't comment on The Green Man much but I would welcome speculation on what had made the people of the ACT so angry that the number of informal ballots arising from slogans on the paper jumped ten fold, from .05% to .58%.

Source

The Dumb State

The Green Man got flamed last time he posted on this topic and, not being one to learn from previous experience, decided to reventure down this path. So which is the really dumb state in Australia, well either dumb or apathic anyway, it is, of course, New South Wales, as all Victorians knew already. (And based on the last post of this nature, some certainly have no sense of humour either.)

Please refer to the table of informal voting at the last federal election below. You will notice a standout candidate in the informal voting stakes. The New South Welshmen just can't or won't fill out a ballot form properly.

Source

Student Involvement in Protest

How politcially active are students of today if they are rated against their parents. The Australian Electoral Commission have recently published a study on student political activism within Australia. Below you can see the relative attitudes of students in 1987, 1992 and 2004 to various forms of protest.

It seems to portray a general perception that appealing to mainstream politics is a waste of time these days. In times past many more students believed that an effective form of protest was to write to the Prime Minister, their local politician or to the newspaper. Now students see little value in this form of protest. Perhaps it reflects a general perception that politicians these days are just not interested in listening to the ordinary person, and in particular, the young ordinary person. Politicians are seen as patronising and insincere, are cardinal sin when it comes to young people.

A consequence, sadly, is that a number see the alternative as violence. Whilst those who consider the use of violence, such as "Damaging things as a form of protest" and "Fighting with police", is still small it has significantly increased.

Consistent with gender stereo types young males are far more oriented to physcial action such as occupying buildings and young females to more abstract forms of protest such as writing letters.

So what issues would motivate students to protest. Possibly the war in Iraq, which the government wanted and most Australians didn't, has had an impact but "peace/anti-war movement" is the clear winner.

Generally it is the issues associated with more liberal attitudes that grab the attention and the enthusiasm of students, which makes you wonder what happens to them when they get older. How do we go, as a teenager, from a position of compassion for assylum seekers, belief in human rights and a rejection of war to a situation where the majority of Australians reelect a government that repudiates these very values?

It seems that our society manages to turn compassionate liberal young people into closeminded adults consumed by fear and selfishness that willingly swallow the messages of terror and greed dished out by the federal government; that are prepared to overlook the fact that we violate the UN conventions on the treatment of refugees and, in doing so, give traction to the very islamist activists of whom they are so scared.

A couple of days ago I was witness to a conversation on a bus where two late teenage girls, who were clearly the best of friends, were chattering away about things in general. It became clear as the conversation progressed that one was an Jew and the other a Muslim. This is the Australia that so many of us want. The best weapon against islamist terrorism is an Australia society where young Muslims, when they are approached by Islamist radicals, say "Get stuffed! Those people are my friends"

There are sad, isolated Muslims who are succeptible to this form of propoganda, just as there sad, isolated Christians, Jews and Hindus. We should be increasing social services to these people not placing them in a situation where they feel they have a righteous vindication for their misguided actions.

Source

Don't Buy Petrol From Mobil

Remember you are not supposed to be buying petrol from Mobil this week.

Do Not Purchase Petrol From Mobil

This is an official message from the www.NoPetrolDay.com protest group.

September 22, 2005 was a success with the oil companies running scared after a
strong campaign culminating in a widely supported day of action. In a remarkable turn around week by the oil companies, they have not increased their fuel prices after the lows of Tuesday September 20. Why have the prices stayed low? Not because of high crude oil prices! Not because supplies are threatened by Hurricane Rita! Only because we participated in a widespread consumer lead protest did prices stay low.

The oil companies admit to making large profits out of the current petrol prices
and have seen a threefold (300%) increase in refining margins over the last few
months. They also refused to attend the NRMA’s petrol price summit so we need to keep protesting.

With over 90% of those surveyed at www.NoPetrolDay.com supporting further
specific action we are now targeting all Mobil fuel outlets from October 1 till
October 7 inclusive. With just one day’s over capacity from their refineries a
worry to them we will see a significant impact from a whole week of no sales.

Please purchase your fuel from any other supplier and NOT from the Mobil Oil
company during the first week of October 2005. Mobil produce most of the petrol
they sell throughout Australia from crude oil they produce from Bass Strait.
This is a very cheap raw material (less than $3.00 a barrel !!!) so the high
prices they charge motorists is a simple rip-off. Boycott all 1200 Australian
Mobil and Quix petrol outlets for a whole week and their Altona Refinery will
choke on the over capacity production.

Since most of us fill our cars once, or at most twice a week, make your purchase a “No Petrol Day” for Mobil and Quix convenience store outlets from October 1 to 7, 2005.

Forward this message to everyone you know.

Let it be heard that the citizens of Australia say Enough is Enough!

Reposted from comments section see more info at NoPetrolDay

Meet Scott Parkin

Meet Scott Parkin, he is American who was visiting Australia. He is now back in the USA after being expelled from Australia for breaching our national security by briefing locals in the use of street theatre for the purposes of non-violent protest.

It is fair to say that, over time, I have been critical of the abandonment of civil liberties that Americans have embraced through the manipulation of their fear of terrorism by the US authorities. Now it seems that Australia, my homeland which I had mistakenly thought was above such purile manipulation, has embraced the same tactics of fear and bigotry.

Truely terrorism has won in Australia in a bloodless coup. No Australian blood has been spilt but we are abandoning our fundamental principals of justice and vilifying people who, under our justice system, are innocent civilians of an ally and expelling them because they have the potential to cause embarrassment to our government.

We did not have a McCarthy. Australia's pragmatic approach to politics in the past has seen us ridicule polititians who tried to pull the pathetic partisan politics of fear. No more it seems. These days even citizens of our most cherished ally are suitable for vilification if it takes attention away from the fundamental flaws in the sale of Telstra.

Here is the good oil. There is no terrorist threat to Australia any greater than there has been for the last 20 years. We managed in the past to prevent these attacks without utilising their threat to mask other politically inconvenient facts of the time. How sad it is that we have such a small minded Prime Minister that he is reduced to this. He is truely a political prositute willing manipulate the fundamental values that Australians hold dear to pursue his political objectives. Even sadder is that so many Australians are prepared to accept it.

Australian Petrol Prices

Here is something for you to ponder.

Courtesy of Australian Institute of Petroleum

Notice that the wholesale price of unleaded petrol has been heading south since the start of September during which time the retail price has risen from $1.19 to $1.40.

hmmm a bit of profiteering perhaps.

Helpless

The US Military version of providing assistance to the poor and vulnerable in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It defies belief.

via Radar Online

Sept 22nd Is Buy No Petrol Day

It has been calculated that if everyone in Australia did not purchase a drop of petrol for one day and all at the same time, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles.

At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss over 4.6 billion dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies.

Therefore Thursday September 22nd has been formally declared "Buy No Petrol" day and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of petrol that day. The only way this can be done is if you forward this e-mail to as many people as you can and as quickly as you can to get the word out.

Waiting on the government to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the arab nations promised two weeks ago?

Remember one thing, not only is the price of petrol going up but at the same time airlines are forced to raise their prices, trucking companies are forced to raise their prices which effects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building supplies medical supplies etc. Who pays in the end? We do!

We can make a difference. If they don't get the message after one day, we will do it again and again.

So do your part and spread the word. Send an email linking to this page http://thegreenman.net.au/mt/archives/001163.html everyone you know. Mark your calendars and make September 22nd a day that people say "enough is enough"

IMPORTANT UPDATE

It appears that the above is an urban myth. Sadly withholding purchases will do nothing to the profitability of the petrol companies. See here. It seems a better approach, which I came across earlier, is to simply encourage the boycott of Mobil. If enough people refused to buy petrol from this one supplier then they would be forced to drop their price and the others would follow. Every time they put their petrol up simply start boycotting Mobil again.

New Orleans

A mother sits in desparation amongst the trash nursing her exhausted child.

Looks like another trajedy in Africa does it not?

It is hard to reconcile this image and the one below, both of which are from New Orleans, with the image of itself that America broadcasts to the world. An image of affluence, competence, preparedness. Yet inspite of the supposedly detailed rehearsals for just this form of disaster the response of American authorities has been ham-fisted and that is being kind.

Compounding the trajedy is the rise of mob rule in the devestated areas of the south. The thin veneer of civilisation has been lifted by the flooding exposing a sub strata of violence, racism, terror and lawlessness.

For the first time I am gaining an understanding of the passionate embrace with which the right to bear firearms is held in America. With civil society proving to be such a thin and fragile veneer, it may be that responsible households need firearms to protect themselves, not from external threats but from their fellow Americans.

Do you notice anything about the photo above? All of the troops are white and all of the civilians are black. It says something in itself really. Clearly the ones abandoned by the government were the poor and the majority of the poor in the south are black.

One might speculate on the rapid decline into lawlessness and violence. In Australia a study found that that those who felt they did not get value for money on their tertiary education were more inclined to cheat on their tax to avoid paying their HECS debt. The rational being that if you feel cheated you feel morally vindicated to cheat in return.

Do these individuals who have formed into violent gangs and are looting, raping and murdering feel somehow that the total failure of their society to provide for their wellbeing, both before Hurricane Katrina and particularly in its aftermath has given them the justification to abandon civil behaviour for mob rule. Perhaps they feel that it is some payback for the way they and their ancestors have been stolen from, raped and murdered with impunity in the past.

I am not condoning their behaviour in any way but in order to prevent something we have to understand it. Sending in the troops to restore law and order is undoubtely necessary but there are wider lessons to learn from this disaster than effective evacuation strategies. America promotes internally, and to the rest of the world, that it is the greatest country on earth in which to live. It's Achillies Heel is it's relucance to examine its major failings in social justice and welfare for fear of damaging this image. The consequence is the fragility of its civil society, the need for personal protection (ie firearms) and the consequential reduced quality of life for all Americans.

Sign of The Times In Which We Live

Forgotten Heros

Here is a photo of Paul Smith. He is dead now, he died saving many of his fellow soldiers in Iraq. If he had performed the heroic acts that lead to his death in World War II he would have been hailed a hero by the US Government. The propaganda machine would have been getting significant mileage out of his deeds and his image would have been splashed across the media. Shorts that used to precede the movie in the theatres would have chronicled his deeds. His loved ones could have gained some small consolation from the recognition of his heroics by his country.

Paul Smith, however, died in Iraq. A war whose profile his government is trying to minimise. For Paul and his family there is no official public recognition of his heroic death. There is no pagentry to accompany the return of his body. There is no consolation to be derrived by his loved ones from the honour that his government is paying him. He is just a statistic, like a death from a car accident.

It seems that, in pursuit of the US governments objectives, Paul has not only sacrificed his life but also his entitlement to the recognition by his country of the sacrifice that he has made.

Leunig on England

From The Age 5th May 2005

Polish Pay Homage To The Pope

City of Students in Krakow, Poland

(via Art Daily)

Limited News At NFF

Control Of Australian Parliament

Source dataAustralian Electoral Commission

Voting By Young Australians

In Australia it is compulsory to vote at state and federal elections, well more precisely it is compulsory to turn up, have your name crossed off and receive the voting papers. Never-the-less most people, having got that far, do end up voting.

As a person approaches the age of 18 they must enroll to vote and the Australian Electoral Commission has a longitudinal study underway to look at why Australia’s young people do or do not enrol and vote, their attitudes to the enrolment and voting process, and what motivates them to participate. It is being conducted on behalf of the AEC by the University of Sydney, and the Australian National University.

Although the study has a long way to go there are some preliminary findings that are of interest.

the link between turning 18 years of age and being able to vote is not exciting

It is interesting cultural phenonemon that everything must be perceived to be exciting these days but, given that, it is hard to imagine how you could make this exciting. It think we need to give up on this one.

young people’s intention to vote at 18 years of age is 83% for males, and 90% for females

Even though more girls intend to vote than boys the actual take up rates are almost identical. Sort of points to more forward thinking on behalf of girls at that age than actual intent.

82% believe it is important to vote

A positive sign in itself.

You can read the full report here.

A Shower Strategy On Gay Rights

The New York Times reports

Groups Debate Shower Strategy on Gay Rights

Ah, it actually read

Groups Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights

I know it is Friday afternoon but I thought a shower strategy sounded much more interesting.

Your Taxes At Work

My my you are generous and so am I for that matter. Resulting from the 2004 Federal Election we generously reimbursed the candidates/parties for their expenses in running their campaigns to the tune of $41m. Here is the breakdown of how our money was spent.

Candidates and Senate groups are eligible for election funding if they receive at least 4 per cent of the formal first preference votes in the election they contested. Election funding is paid to the party where the candidate or Senate group is endorsed by a registered political party and to the appointed ‘agent’ for other candidates and Senate groups.

The rate of election funding for the 2004 federal election was $1.94 cents per formal first preference vote received.

Melbourne Cup Day

Yesterday was Melbourne Cup Day. The Melbourne Cup represents approximately 3 minutes when virtually everyone in Australia, and a lot of people elsewhere as well, stop everything to watch 24 horses gallop 3200 metres in a big circle.

It is a public holiday in Melbourne and, like most other people, I had my annual flutter on the gg's, proudly picking the winner and ending up $31 better off for the effort. Having settled on the substantial investment of $5 each way (for the uneducated that is $5 to win and $5 to place) it was off to the pub to place the bet. Being unfamiliar with the betting form I filled in the amount I wanted to bet where I was supposed to put the horse number. Since I wasn't particularly attached to any particular horse I decided that, rather than fill out another form, I would go with number 5 and it won.

Her name is Makybe Diva and here is a picture of her winning.

You can read more about her victory in The Age.

Alzheimers Claims A Great Mind

Here is a photo of Professor Carl Wood with his ex-wife Judy. Many of you may not know his name but he was one of the world pioneers of modern fertility treatment and, in particular, IVF. He was one of the great medical minds of our time.

Today Alzheimer's has ravaged his mind. He has moved back in with his ex-wife who cares for him and he lives a simple but happy life.

We, as a community, were fortunate to benefit from his mind when it was active, and I continue to marvel at how fragile and mysterious intellect is.

Apparently his Alzheimer's has stabilised and he is no longer deteriorating mentally. He has earned the right to a happy later life, it is to be hoped that he gets it.

Spring Racing Carnival

Spring is in the air in Melbourne and every true Melbournian is putting the election behind them and turning their attention to the Spring Racing Carnival. For the uneducated amongst the readership, this is a collection of world class horse races culminating in the Melbourne Cup, the premier horse race in Australia.

The Green Man is normally completely disinterested in horse racing but, like most Melbournians, invests a few dollars on the cup. Selection of the horse is usually by such tried and true techniques as liking the sound of the name or the colours that the jockey is wearing. Usually, it is as good a method as actually looking at how good the horse is. Most are pretty good or they wouldn't make it into the race.

The race is always run on the first Tuesday in November, which is a public holiday in Melbourne specifically for this purpose. Those of the readership which their own private aircraft still have tons of time to organise to be here.

Visit www.melbournecup.com to find updates on the race, history and other things relating to this Melbourne preoccupation.

Indifferent Australia

Ever wondered where the really dumb people live. Err perhaps that is a little unkind, they may not be really dumb, just really indifferent. Well it is in the electorate of Reid. Reid is in the Western suburbs of Sydney. The main suburbs include Auburn, Berala, Granville , Greystanes, Guildford, Guildford West, Holroyd, Homebush Bay, Lidcombe, Merrylands, Merrylands West, Newington, Old Guildford, Regents Park, Sefton, Silverwater, South Wentworthville, Woodpark and Yennora.

Reid has the ignominity of having the highest informal vote in the country with a staggering 11.26% of votes cast in this electorate being duds. Reid is represented by Laurie Ferguson, which an unkind person might reflect upon vis-a-vis not exactly setting the world on fire in the intelligence stakes himself however The Green Man won't go there.

If Reid are to retain the title they cannot afford to rest on their laurals however. They almost lost to Greenaway which made an extraordinary effort, dumbing down from 6.79% informal at the last election to 11.04% at this election. Greenaway is also to the west of Sydney based around Blacktown, I think we are picking up a pattern here. In fact of 20 electorates topping the informal vote could 16 are NSW electorates, 3 are from Queensland and 1 from SA.

At the other end of the scale, of the 20 electorates with the lowest informal vote count, 15 are Victorian, 2 from NSW, 2 from TAS and 1 from ACT. The average informal vote in these electorates is 3.36%.

You can check out your electorate here.

The Also Rans

Well the election is over, the public has spoken and we can settle down/resign ourselves to another 3-4 years of Liberal Party rule.

The federal election is an opportunity for Australians to have a voice and there are some interesting things that were said. We all know about the Liberal/Labor bit. They were the booming voices that dominated the campaign but there were also tiny little squeaky mouse-like voices that contributed small sounds amidst the cacophany. The Green Man chooses to look at the "also rans".

Bottom of the barrel is "Nuclear Disarmament Party of Australia". Out of 13,021,230 voters only 1,617 were inspired by their message. Single issue parties usually end up looking like fringe loonies and it seems that this is the fate of the NDP. (I was going to link to their website but it looks like they don't have one.) Sadly there is not much hope for the "Hope Party" either which came in second last and could only scrape together 2,145 votes.

To attract a broader range of votes you need a broader support base and embracing this little gem of wisdom was the "Lower Excise Fuel and Beer Party". They received a whopping 14,420 votes and am I displaying a sexist bias by speculating that they were probably predominately male voters.

In some instances being specific is better than being general. "Outdoor Recreation Party" (10,456) trailed well behind the "The Fishing Party" at 39,417 votes. We know, of course, that fishing is the most popular sport in Australia so it is hardly surprising that 39,417 people thought it was worth giving them the big thumbs up. Using fishing as our benchmark we may like to speculate on the relative popularity of smoking Marijuana with the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) party remarkably close to The Fishing Party, attracting 32,930 votes. The Green Man observes that its postal address is PO 177, NIMBIN NSW 2480, where else? Sadly, being a Victorian, The Green Man was not presented with the opportunity to vote for Guy FreeMarijuana, who lead their ticket in Queensland.

Of course these are parties are all largely harmless, their share of the vote is not sufficient to gain any seats in the senate. The ones we really have to worry about are the extremists who look normal enough for a significant percentage of the populus to vote for them. The scariest seems to be Family First and even scarier still they may have balance of power in the senate. If you want to know more about them The Green Man suggests Crikey.com . The Green Man is extremely uncomfortable with a party that appears to be a front for a fundamentalist Christian Church having control of the senate.

Fear and The Federal Election

Robb Willer, assistant director of the Sociology and Small Groups Laboratory at Cornell University, has been spending a bit of time looking at the relationship between GWBs approval rating and terrorist warnings issued by the US Government. Guess what? When there is a terrorist alert GWB's approval starts to head skyward. Not only did a terrorist alert improve his approval in national security but people also thought he was handling the economy better.

There is an demonstration of social identity theory. The way it works is that when there is an external threat communities tend to "close ranks". Part of that process is a heightened positive bias towards members of the group and, in particular, the group leadership.

Robb says

This research suggests that individuals may respond to reminders of their mortality, like terror warnings, by supporting their current leaders,

It sets The Green Man a wondering

- The Australian Federal Government Election is next Saturday

- The incumbant Howard Government has just launched a raft of new anti-terror advertisements in the Australian media,

I imagine it was just a co-incidence. Surely they would not have been trying to manipulate the level of fear in the Australian community just to get re-elected. Surely a Prime Minister would not be as pathetically desparate as to resort to those sorts of tactics.

Read more on this research here.

Interest Rates

Is it just me or is this Australian election campaign even more petty and pathetic than usual, characterised as it is equally by massive and seeminly irresponsible attempts to buy votes with big giveaways and by scare mongering. One advert that I find particularly irritating is the Liberal ad saying how interest rates are bound to rise under Labor.

In 1983 the Australian Labor Party floated the Australian dollar on the world market, a step which would have sat more comfortably with Liberal party doctrine and is now generally accepted as a wise move by both sides of politics. Since that time the interest rates have been far more governed by the global economic climate than by which particular flavour of government we had.

By way of demonstration I include, courtesy of the Reserve Bank of Australia, a list of 10 year bond interest rates for Australia and a number of comparative currencies.

As you will no doubt observe, predictably, our economy tracks the other major world economies regardless of who is in power and the small amount by which our government can influence it both parties are throwing to the wind with their reckless spending.

Fair Trial Unwarranted

The Law Council of Australia has just released the report by independant Queens Counsel Lex Lasry on the trial of David Hicks. He says it would be virtually impossible for Adelaide-born Hicks to receive a fair trial under the current flawed arrangements. The Attorney-General Philip Ruddock commenting on the case said

I don't think we have seen in the way in which this matter has been argued, any reason why Australia should be arguing for Mr Hicks to have a fair trial. After all it would jepardise John Howards position as principle suck to George W Bush if we were to insist upon justice.

Good call, why should we worry about justice for one or two Australians when we risk upsetting the person who gave little john his "man-of-steel" moniker? Good on you Mr Ruddock, you stopped those inconvenient refugees from coming to Australia and now you have stopped two Australians receiving a fair trial. How much less could we ask of any Australian Minister, not much I suspect.

Big Brother Big Bucks

If you think that The Green Man is prone to talking rubbish at times then you are quite correct however The Green Man is a complete amateur when it comes to the completely inane. In this department The Green Man tips his leafy lid to Big Brother. BB has taken the inane and purile and made it an art form.

It is a huge success and that completely mystifies The Green Man. In Australia it is hosted by a middle aged woman called Gretel Killeen who seems to have had a maturity by-pass.

Whilst it is clearly fodder for late adolescent masses there are a number of middle aged men who are remarkably interested in the show as well. They comprise the board of Endemol, the production company that owns and licences Big Brother world wide. They have just given themselves a 9 million pound payrise. (that's A$20.7M or US$14.6M)

Hmmmm perhaps the inane, purile and banal is not bad after all. hum err yeah right, cool, how about a snog then?

Read more in The Guardian

Official Olympic Medal Tally

Important, forget about that Olympic rubbish. Click here and read something that will interest/challenge you.

Those who have been reading the blog recently will have formed, via this entry, a general impression of how excited The Green Man is about the Olympics.

With due deference to Darren at the Living Room who has posted an Olympic Medal Count box on his blog, The Green Man has included one himself, see below. It also appears in the side bar and The Green Man suspects that it is unlikely to change during the period of the Olympics.

SMS Its A Girl Thing

The Age reports that deaths of women in car acidents are up 47% compared with the same period last year. That is quite a jump when you consider that the road toll in Victoria is relatively stable, up 4% overall.

Police analysts suspect that the culprit may be mobile phone SMS messaging whilst driving. Talking on the phone is one thing, and also banned unless you have hands free, but sending and reading of SMS messages is a whole new level of irresponsibility. This it appears is primarily the practice of female drivers.

Because deaths on Victorian roads are relatively low this huge jump may be the result of random variation. Even so, messaging whilst driving is never a good idea.

Olympics, Who Cares - Not The Greeks

The Green Man has diverse interests, when you are an ancient celtic iconic figure that sort of comes naturally. However, there is one thing that The Green Man is decidely not interested in and that is sport in general and the Olympics in the specific.

In this it seems that The Green Man, who has no Greek blood what-so-ever, is being decidely Greek. The Greeks are very enthusiastic about hosting the Olympics but not about going to them. They are not buying tickets in their droves and many athletes could end up performing to their parents, who are the only ones who have bought tickets to the event.

And who could blame the Greeks. It appears to The Green Man that, at an administrative level, the Olympics are dripping with nepotism and an athletic level they are dripping with the lastest in performance enhancing drugs that we have not found a method of detecting yet. It seems to be essentially just one massive marketing campaign for the hosting city and for athletes trying to sign multi-million dollar sponsorship deals.

There are some sports that contain an element of spectacle of course, things that mimic tribal battles like basketball, soccer and hockey but the marathon really! Is that paint dry yet? (A reference to it being less exciting than watching paint dry for those not accustomed to the Australian vernacular)

To compound the problem it seems that the current cuffufle in the middle east has resulted in xenophobia being one of the more popular amateur sports in America these days and they are staying away from Greece, and presumably the rest of the world, en masse. Even with the Olympics, American travel to Greece is down by 25% compared to recent years. There are 30% less Americans going to Athens than went to Sydney for the Olympic games there.

Americans may not like to admit it but GWB is losing the war on terror because more Americans are terrified now than ever before. This is the point of this style of military action and how it got its name.

In Australia the dreaded time is fast approaching where the Olympics, herpes like, will be causing its quatra-annual outbreak of faux nationalism across news broadcasts and TV programming generally. Looks like "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy will be shortly getting a couple of more airings in The Green Man's household.

War Deaths In Iraq Equal Political Death In US

As The Green Man has observed before, the achillies heel of the US military is the reluctance of the American public to accept deaths of US soldiers as a natural consequence of prosecuting a war. On this very issue it seems like the chickens are coming home to roost for GWB. Richard Eichenberg at Tufts University and Richard Stoll at Rice University report that George's chances of reelection are closely tied to casualty rates in Iraq. The death of 30 US soldiers in Iraq is accompanied by drop in 1% in Georges approval rating. On May 1, 2003, the approval of his handling of Iraq exceeded 70 percent, he has lost 30% of that so far and it is still falling as the death toll rises.

Richard Stoll, who is associate professor of political science at Tufts summarises his analysis thus

But many other events – both triumphs and setbacks – had virtually no statistical impact. Even the capture of Saddam Hussein, which generated substantial media coverage and did cause a visible upward movement in the Iraq approval series, did not have an impact that was statistically significant

In non-war times the US public generally rate a president on the performance of the economy. During war times, like now, they largely ignore this performance measure, which is unfortunate for Bush because right at the moment the US economy is in quite good shape.

Richard Eichenberg summarises the situation as follows:

The most surprising finding from our study is that the performance of the economy has had such little effect on evaluations of the president. This is a war presidency, plain and simple, and President Bush will stand or fall on the results of events in Iraq. If American soldiers continue to die, his re-election is in serious doubt.

Read more here.

GWB and The Green Man

If you take a glance towards the top of The Green Man you will see some ads. These were placed there with the intention of the making The Green Man rich however he has been forced to make a significant adjustment in his expectations as to the money that is likely to flow from them. Revenue covers the hosting fees for The Green Man which is something.

You may not be aware of how these ads work, Google scans the content of the page and allegedly places ads that are consistent with the content of the site. This is a good concept except that the lexical analysis undertaken by the software is not sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate satire and as such The Green Man occassionally gets ads for stuff that is quite inappropriate.

There are also some ads that defy any attempt to explain how they appear. The case that has The Green Man completely bemused was the presence of advertising for Bush 2004 election campaign which appeared yesterday. (Which will probably now reappear because of that last sentence). The Green Man had been staying away from the topic of the US Presidential Election for a very important reason; namely that, not being an American citizen, it is completely irrelevant.

In spite of this, long term readers of The Green Man may have detected a slight anti-Bush sentiment in earlier posts, posts like "GWB From The Dead", "War on Your Mind", "George The Great", ah I am sick of posting them in, looking back George The Lesser has occupied quite a deal of The Green Man's attention and blog space over the last year. So it was with some consternation that The Green Man witnessed this add magically appear on the site and the first instinct was to ban it. Some further thought on the matter lead The Green Man to the view that there was some malicious pleasure to be gained from receiving a modest revenue stream from the GWB re-election fund. So if you see his advert appear at the top then please feel free to click on it in the knowledge that you are contributing to the hosting of The Green Man (just don't vote for him)

Africans Get A Nude Shock

When refugees/illegal imigrants (please choose term that suits your political leaning on the subject) arrive in the west they are faced with many challenges, not the least of which is the different social mores of their new home. A group of 42 Africans washed up on the shores of Canos de Meca beach in Spain were forced to confront this reality somewhat sooner than most. The beach, you see, was a nudist beach.

The Green Man suspects that they were happy to be alive after a chilly, wind-swept crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar and so they should be. An estimated 4,000 Africans have died attempting the crossing in the last 5 years. Never-the-less one can just imagine the bemusement of these newest arrivals in sunny Spain as they were carried on stretchers to ambulances for treatment for dehydration, hypothermia and malnutrition by cheery Spaniards dressed only in an excellent sun tan.

It Appears GWB Is Above The Law

The BBC reports

A Pentagon report last year argued that President George W Bush was not bound by laws banning the use of torture, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The document also argued that torturers acting under presidential orders could not be prosecuted, the paper said.

The report was written by military and civilian lawyers for US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The report was commissioned in response to frustrations that Guantanamo prisoners were not spilling the beans in the cooperative way that the US had hoped.

Of course George and Donald had no idea that torture was taking place. The Green Man is sure that the report that Donald requested was completely hypothetical. Yeah right.

The draft argued that because nothing was more important than "obtaining intelligence vital to the protection of untold thousands of American citizens" normal strictures on torture might not apply

Seems to The Green Man that the new "dark ages" are dawning, it is the Spanish Inquisition all over again.

The Dream Wedding

The Green Man is married to a lovely woman, namely Mrs Green Man. This was achieved with a minimum of fuss, a quick trip to the Registery Office, down to the pub for a few celebratory drinks and then off to the Queenscliff Hotel for a luxury weekend honeymoon. (These being the days before drink driving laws)

I can safely say that you won't find The Queenscliff Hotel in any of the budget backpacker guides. It is a elegant hotel in the Victorian mode (that is era not state) and the food was equal to Melbourne's best restaurants, in main because it was being run by one of Melbourne's best restaurants, Miettas. This is the sort of place that is stayed at by Parliamentarians in their diligent endeavours to get rid of our tax dollars on our behalf. It was not cheap but it was not in a bulls roar of $37,000 (£15,000) which is what the average Briton pays for their wedding these days.

What are you people thinking? I can think of so many things I would rather spend $37,000 on. Take your pick; a worthy charity, a new car, deposit on a house all seem a better use of the cash than 4 hours of indulgence for a group of relatives, many of whom you probably don't know or don't like.

Not only that, The Guardian reports that increasing numbers of couples are borrowing to pay for the wedding. What a great foundation for a life long partnership, a life long debt. In a testament to the general stupidity and short sightedness of the British public, and there is no reason to assume we are any better, 61% said they would not let money get in the way of their dream wedding. Forget your little prince and princess fantasies and focus on what is really important, growing together, in both senses of the phrase.

Here is a cliche that was bandied around some time ago but that still resonates with The Green Man

"Live simply that others may simply live."

Presidential Late Night TV

The Green Man is not a great watcher of late night talk shows which he largely regards as fatuous and a vehicle for starlets in skimpy clothing to promote their latest film, not that that is necessarily a bad thing, except, of course, where they are bordering on anorexia which so many seem to be these days.

The shows we see in Australia are almost exclusively taken from the USA and sadly we are approaching a US election. This means that we are to be subject to excruciatingly pathetic spectacle of George W Bush attempting to be "chatty" with David Letterman and/or Jay Leno. No matter what your view of GWBs efforts in running the economic and military powerhouse that is the USA, no-one can accuse him of being a raconteur.

Inexplicably, these attempts at spontaneous social interaction are viewed with great approval by the American citizenary. During his previous presidential campaign he appeared on David Letterman's show. In the next week his popularity slumped with non-viewers from 58.5% to 55.5%. Amongst Letterman viewers, on the other hand, his approval rose 3% in that week. The Green Man can only attribute it to the skimpy skirt and low cut top he was wearing at the time. The University of Washington that carried out this research failed to factor this into their analysis. A gaping hole in their research in The Green Mans opinion.

Read their research here.

Journalist Independance

There is considerable variation in expectations of journalists and it is fair to say that we hold journalist working for certain sources to a higher standard than others. Putting aside these differences it is interesting to see the differences between the publics perception of journalists and their perception of themselves.

It seems that journalists hold themselves to a higher account than the general public do. If we take for example the level of critical assessment of the Bush administration's performance; the general public in America seem fairly equally divided between those who believe that the press has been "too critical", "just right" or "not critical enough".

Only 8% of US national journalists however, believe that they have been too critical of GWB. In fact the majority (55%) believe they have been letting GWB get away with blue murder, or should that be Iraqi murder. To quote a journalist surveyed.

"We don't ask 'why' - or 'why not' - nearly as much as we should, particularly when covering our government,"

Read more in The Guardian

The Begining Of The End? Perhaps

What a prescient work George Orwell’s 1984 was. The only thing he seems to have been wrong about is the date. Day by day we move closer to it being a reality.

Here are two accounts by a photoblogger. As you will see, he is a photographer of great skill but he lives in a country where human rights are being diminished daily. Where police monitor your every move and are liable to pounce for the simple act of taking photos in the street. His country has been systematically removing individual freedoms for some time now and the two accounts below involve interactions with police, both plain-clothed and uniformed, when engaging in his artistic endeavours in a most innocent and apolitical manner.

Dangerous Streets
Data Protection Act

I am not sure whether I am more concerned that he was potentially in violation of the law for such harmless activity or that surveillence is so complete that he was detected and confronted so rapidly.

Did I mention that the country in which this artists risks imprisonment for his artistic persuits is England?

Throughout history cultures and societies have waxed and waned and it would be niaive of us to assume that ours is any more robust and immune than previous societies. What we may be witnessing is the initial stages of the decline of the "western liberal democracy" as the powerhouse of world culture. Martin Jacques is a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics' Asian research centre has an interesting take on this very contention in The Age.

Via J-Walk

Democracy, Some Implications

The nature of democracies are that the people are in power because at least some of the citizens of the country have voted for them and the more the better. This is generally regarded as a positive approach to establishing a government. Unlike what some would have us believe, it is not however, universally positive and the current sanctions that the US have established against Syria are an excellent case in point.

In case you are unaware the sanctions just introduced are, essentially,

1. A ban on direct flights between Syria and USA
2. A ban on exports from USA to Syria, except for food and medicine

Here are the practical implications of these bans

1. There are currently no direct flights between Syria and USA and none were planned ie No Effect
2. Syria only imports a small amount of goods from USA and could easily obtain them via Lebanon if they wanted them

Here are the political implications of these bans

Locally

1. GWB gets to continue his "Getting tough on terrorists" propaganda
2. Panders to the right wing and the Jewish lobby without actually sacrificing anything significant

Internationally

1. Syria cracks the shits with USA because they feel they have been insulted and the chances of positive engagement with them to fight terrorism diminishes
2. Israel jumps on the USA bandwagon further inflaming the situation in the middle east.

Here we see a classic sacrifice of some more stability in the Middle East solely to shore up the re-election chances of Mr Bush. After all, at the moment the only people he cares about are those that might potentially vote for him.

Child Overboard Revisited

The Age reports

Last May the Red Cross first sent a memo to the Coalition detailing more than 200 allegations. Throughout the year, concerns were regularly brought to the attention of the Coalition.

That is one year ago folks.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Government was aware of the February allegations only "at a bureaucratic level".

Remind me where I have heard that excuse again. Oh that's right, children overboard.

Are these the same bureuocrats who didn't tell John Howard the the pictures he was using to assist him in gaining re-election were based on a lie. They are not very good are they? No, perhaps they are very, very good which is why they are still there.

The Penalty For Torture

The New York Time reports that Specialist Jeremy Sivits, a member of the 372nd Military Police Company, a reserve unit, faces three charges in the court-martial, including the maltreatment of detainees at the prison, conspiracy to maltreat detainees and negligently failing to protect detainees from abuse and cruelty. If convicted he could face up to one year in prison.

Did I read that correctly? One whole year! Boy they are really tough on torturers in the USA aren't they?

Of course that is the worst case scenario, he will probably get a fine and a reduction in rank.

How Much Did Howard Know Of Iraq Abuses

We now know that the International Committee of Red Cross had been alerting the US administration to the abuses that were being perpetrated in their name since at least November last year. The Guardian reports that ICRC had also been notifying the British Government, given that they were a participant. Which raises the question of whether they had also been notifying the Australian government, given that we are also a participant, al beit a minor one.

Given that the ICRC have identified the abuse as a systemic problem, that is, organised and sanctioned by the military and not a series of isolated incidences there are some serious questions that the government need to answer.

Was the government advised by ICRC, or by our allies, of this situation as it developed and, if so, what did they do about it? We can only speculate but I am thinking that it was not much.

If they were not advised then that also says something about our standing in the coalition of the willing does it not.

Either way the ground has fundamentally shifted. Until recently the question we had to decide was

"Should we leave our troops in Iraq to clean up the mess we helped make?"

Now the question is

"Should we leave our troops in Iraq and continue to be a part of a coalition that is perpetrating human rights abuses in an occupied country?"

US Abuses Against Iraqi Prisoners

Can we put aside the revulsion for a moment and look at how we got ourselves into a situation where our soldiers, who are supposed to be “the good guys”, are doing things that we are more comfortable with attributing to Saddam Hussein’s troops.

We like to maintain this rosy view of what soldiering is all about but it is underpinned by two hard facts. The soldiers in the making must be

1. Brutalised to the extent that they can kill and maim without undue compunction. Think about it. We are placing these people in extremely traumatic situations and expecting them to not only cope but also be psychologically healthy afterwards. That is no mean feat and it is not something that comes without a cost. The cost is their empathy with those human beings with which they had shared the planet before they dispatched them.

2. Completely rule based and conditioned to follow orders without question. The progress of a military campaign would be impossible if your basic infantryman felt that, during a battle, he could engage in discussions on the wisdom of a particular approach with his superior officer.

We now place these individuals in a situation where the “enemy”, who they have no empathy with, is not following the rules of war as they know them by not wearing uniforms, engaging in subversive resistance and generally creating mayhem and we act surprised when their prisoners are maltreated.

If the said prisoners are kept in circumstances where their treatment is shielded from scrutiny, such as in Iraq, where the International Red Cross has been denied access since at least June 2003, it would be surprising if cases of maltreatment were not occurring. This is precisely why any country that cloaks its prisoner of war camps in secrecy is doing a massive disservice to justice, to the wellbeing of the prisoners and to the psychological wellbeing of their troops.

We are supposed to be in Iraq to do good, it would be helpful if the powers that be structured things in a way that facilitated that.

Your Financial Details Are On A Trip To India

Let's think now. Why would a company put its call centre in India instead of its home country, Australia, UK, USA etc?

Could it be because it is cheaper?

Probably!

And why I wonder is it so much cheaper? Could it be that they pay their employees a pittance?

Yes it is and it has been coming back to bite some companies. BBC reports that certain individuals of ill repute are offering a year in wages to call centre staff in return for access to UK credit card details, which is probably not all that much. The looser privacy laws in India make it a breeze for this sort of activity to flourish.

It has been predicted that 200,000 jobs will be exported by 2008 for the UK alone to India, the consequence being that every UK every banking and personal finance customer in the UK will have their personal finances available for scrutiny in the third world. They must be happy about that.

Accountants Ernst & Young say

"given the volume of offshoring that is going on and the risks attached, there will be a major regulatory failing within five years".

In Australia, the USA, Canada etc, presumeably, it is a similar situation.

Gender Complexities on International Womens Day

These goddamn foreign names. It is enough to drive you batty. How are you supposed to know who is a boy and who is a girl if they won't stick to nice gender specific names as Betty and John.

It is no wonder that the illustrious leader of the free world once again found himself with his foot planted firmly in his mouth. Ananova reports the President of America as saying

"She's a local government official who was imprisoned in 2002 for advocating free speech and democracy."

He was referring to the Libyan Fathi Jahmi in an International Womens Day speech. Unfortunately Fathi Jahmi is a 62 is a male civil engineer. Never mind, under all that funny Arab clothing who could tell anyway.

Downing Street Says

The Green Man has important blog news for those of you that feel that you do not have enough excitement in your day. He is proud to annouce the existence of Downing Street Says. This exciting new blog gives you access to the press briefings from No 10. (That's the home of the British Prime Minister for the republican readership).

If you are not satisfied with government representatives speaking on radio and television at length and never actually saying anything then here is a chance for you to read the latest politispeak and spin doctoring in its boring original form. Marvel at how much the Prime Ministers press secretary can write on such hot topics as Local Government Finance Reform, renaming of Crown Prosecution Service as well, of course, on Iraq and Northern Ireland and never actually says anything.

I notice that it is powered by Moveable Type, the same blog software that The Green Man uses. ooooo, somehow I feel sort of sullied. I think I go wash my hands.

Guantanamo Detainees Charged

The first two of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have been charged. They are Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al-Bahlul of Yemen and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi of Sudan.

Mr Bahlul has been accused of saying bad things about America and producing videos glorifying the killing of Americans. That should make a few people in Hollywood nervous. There have been a lot of videos glorifying the killing of Americans coming out of there over the last few years. Mr Stallone having been involved in a number of them.

Mr Qosi has been accused of being an accountant. It is alleged he travelled with Bin Laden, serving as a driver and treasurer for the organisation. The Green Man suspects it was the beige turban that gave him away.

Boy the US military are certainly picking the fruit from the low branches first aren't they? One would have thought that there was some of those detainees who had done things like torture and kill people. Wouldn't you think they would be good ones to try for war crimes.

Asteroid Near Miss

That's not poor television reception you are looking at. It is a small piece of the cosmos and the bit circled in red is asteriod 2004 AS1.

On January 13th asteriod 2004 AS1 looked like it was going to collide with the northern hemisphere of the earth within 36 hours. 2004 AS1 is a pretty pissy little asteroid really when you stack it up against the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs but it would still have made the 9/11 attack on the twin towers look like an amateur effort.

The astronomers came within a hairs breath of doing what they have been dying to do ever since they had a social night out at the movies and saw Deep Impact, ring the President.

It raises the question of "What is the point?" Let's put aside the fact that when the twin towers event happened GWBs assessment of the situation was such that he didn't find it necessary to interupt a meeting at a primary school where he was listening th children read aloud. What was he actually going to do?

Adjourn to some bunker to save himself, well probably, wouldn't you in the same circumstance.

Make an announcement to the world! Since no accurate location for the impact was possible, that would be guaranteed to acheive nothing except panic and looting in the more densely populated cities.

The Green Man wonders whether, in circumstances such as this, it is better for the astronomers to just shut up and let nature take its course, which it will do anyway.

You can read about the hand wringing that went on about whether to ring the President at BBC News.

Robert Mugabe Has Chest Pains

BBC Reports that, a day after he celebrated is 80th birthday, the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, was incapacitated with chest pains.

If The Green Man was not such a nice person he would be tempted to say that it is a shame it was not the result of a spear sticking out of his chest.

War On Your Mind

On Sunday George W Bush gave an interview to "Meet The Press" on NBC in America. Early in the interview he said

I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind."

And people wonder why America is viewed by large sections of the globe as currently the greatest threat to world peace.

Posting Hiatus

Those of you who are regular readers of The Green Man will have noticed the scarcity of posts over the last couple of days. The Green Man has swapped paid employment and his new employer has the internet blocked.

Yes, shock horror!! What is The Green Man to do. He is trying prostrating himself all the way to the IT department at the moment. Surely they are kind hearted souls.

Struggle For Whitehouse Takes A New Meaning

George W Bush and John Kerry look like they will be up for a bit of sparring soon. So it is with a degree of amusement and fascination that The Green Man reports that it may not have been the first time.

Both men are Yale graduates and both belonged to the university's most elitist secret society, Skull and Bones Club. John Kerry was in the class of '66, and George Bush in the class of '68, ie their memberships of the club overlapped. This really becomes intriguing when you learn that one of the practices of the club was nude wrestling. (Yep you read it correctly and this is not some bit of Green Man satire either. It is in The New York Times) Sadly a spokesman for John Kerry, David Wade, reports

there are no pictures of them dancing together naked.

The Green Man is starting to see the struggle for the White House from a whole new, and somewhat bizarre, perspective. Who cares about Janet Jackson flopping a tit out, a nude wrestling match between John Kerry and George Bush, now that would have been some Superbowl half time show.

National Pysche

It is, I think, an indisputable fact that Americans are, as Americans, the most self-conscious people in the world, and the most addicted to the belief that the other nations are in a conspiracy to under-value them.

The observation of a modern day pundit perhaps? Nope, it is a quote from Henry James in 1895. He was an American but end up living and writing in the UK.

It is hard to shake elements of a national psyche and you can still see evidence of this belief in American psyche today, particularly in American foreign policy.

Through the millenia countries that are powerful enough have been invading other countries without worrying about their standing in the world arena. These countries believe themselves to be great and righteous without reference outside their borders. As we now know, George Bush wanted to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein long before September 11, 2001. America has the might it could have just done it without the need to leaverage off 9/11, cook up cock and bull stories about WMD or engage in all that argy bargy with the UN. America's objectives may have been entirely honourable but it was its desire to have itself seen as righteous by the rest of the world that forced it into all this game playing.

Dirty Bombs

The Washington Post reports that, in the lead up to New Years celebrations, there have been nuclear scientists roaming the streets of major American cities sans white coat and carrying sophisticated radiation detection equipment hidden in briefcases and golf bags. They were searching for evidence of the presence of dirty bombs. These are not ordinary bombs that have got a bit muddy, like the one to the right, but conventional explosives designed to spread radioactive material rapidly across a wide area, say several city blocks.

These are "weapons of terror" in the true sense of the word because, in all likelyhood, they would be relatively harmless, biologically speaking. The CDC (Centre for Disease Control) states

at the levels created by most probable sources, not enough radiation would be present in a dirty bomb to cause severe illness from exposure to radiation.

The purpose of the bomb is not to kill, or even cause illness, although I dare say the terrorists would not be disappointed if these were spin offs. The purpose of the bomb is to cause terror in the population. To undermine confidence in the ability of the state to protect it's population. This was the real acheivement of the September 11 attacks, the killing of the 3,000 people was incidental. The terrorists shook the confidence of the US population. Most American citizens up until then would have viewed America as fairly invulnerable, not too many now hold that view.

At the moment, it seems, the terrorists are acheiving their objective. The American authorities are scared, with good reason, as is a significant percentage of the population. The free and open society that America once was is being eroded. On the day that Saddam Hussein's capture was announced new draconian legislation was passed by US parliament that fundamentally undermines American's rights and gives the FBI new and sweeping powers with few checks and balances.

The real battle in the "war on terror" is to allay the fear and vulnerability that al quaeda has succeeded in implanting in the American psyche and return America to the free and open society that it used to be.

Cuba

Fidel Castro celebrates the 45th anniversary of the coup that ousted the Batista Regime and installed him as "el comandante en jefe", a term by which he is still known with affection within Cuba and a term to which I was to become familiar during my stay in Cuba. Sporting a Castro-esque beard during my stay, it was not uncommon, of an evening, to have Cuban men informing me in drunken spanish that I looked exactly like "el comandante en jefe". It means commander-in-chief for you spanish illiterates.

The revolution had such huge potential, the Batista regime was corrupt and exploitation of the working classes was appalling. Little, however, of that potential has been realised. As Lord Acton so sagely observed

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

and so it was with the Castro regime. Free and fair elections, which was a major plank in the revolutionaries platform began to loose significance once the regime held power. Elections were something that held appeal when they were trying to attain power. When they had it, elections were seen as a destabilising threat and in the 45 years there has not been one election. People who were regarded as "enemies of the state" were arrested and held without trial, presumably many were ultimately executed because they eventually disappeared.

The socialist ideal has, like Havana's buildings, been slowly decaying in the hot tropical sun for the last 45 years. A country that could be a tropical paradise with a vibrant economy sinks each year further into squalor and apathy. The Cuban public believe Castro's assertion that the US embargo of Cubas is responsible for Cuba's ills. It is a fallacy however, as dominant as the US is, it is still only 22% of the global economy. That leaves 78% of the worlds economy for Cuba to trade with, more than enough for a small tropical country to prosper on.

Castro has succeeded in making most people equal in exactly the wrong way. Instead of raising the standard of living for the poor he has reduced the standard of living of the middle classes. Old men befriend tourists to cadge food to supplement the US$4 a month they receive in pension, teenage girls prostitute themselves to get money or to get out. It is a depressing place to visit unless you take a packaged trip to one of the big resorts where you are shielded from the reality of Cuba in 2004.

Law and Order in the USA

Remember the good old days. Things were a lot safer then weren't they? It seems like law and order are under threat with violent crime on the increase or that is what the media would have us believe. But is it that bad?

Well no actually, violent crime is lowest its been for 30 years. Here is a graph put together by the US Department of Justice on serious crime in the USA.

Not only the rate of crime is dropping but the rate of successful prosecution is increasing. The US is experiencing much less crime and successfully solving more of those that do occur.

Perhaps it is time to recognise that the media has a vested interest in scaring people; it keeps us watching afterall.

For more detailed info on statistics click here.

A Soldier For Life

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave!

Recognise those lyrics, you are getting old. They are from that old fogey band The Eagles. A band that The Green Man thought was really cool when he was young and silly. (As compared to now, when he is old and silly)

The lyrics are from a song called "Hotel California" and it used to be a favourite of Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Eagle of the US Air Force (somewhat unsurprisingly for someone with his particular surname). His attitude to the song changed after he discovered that the US Military had embraced the concepts embodied in the song with enthusiasm. Ron was expecting to retire from the Air Force in February 2003 after putting in 20 years service for his country. It wasn't such an unreasonable expectation since that was what his contract said but the Air Force had other ideas. The expiration date of his military service is now listed on his paycheque as sometime after 2030 in other words, "Who knows?"

He is one of 40,000 armed servicemen that The Pentagon has decided can't leave even though they have fulfilled their contracts and many are at retirement age. The more aggressive foreign policy of the US of late has seen the requirements for experienced soldiers balloon and the "stop loss" orders are being seen as a knee jerk reaction by the Pentagon to ensure that it has a constant supply of experienced soldiers for overseas postings.

Ron Eagle's problem is that he is an expert in enemy targeting. It seems that, if you want to be able to leave the US army whilst still on the outside of a wooden box, it pays not to get too good at something important.

Your can find a less frivolous analysis at The Wahington Post.

Definition of Spam

What is the definition of "spam"? Apparently it is

Any piece of unsolicited email except ones that you have sent.

At least that appears to the be the definition of the US congress. The New York Times reports that congressmen, after unanimously approving a law desinged to reduce junk email activity, have been sending out hundres of thousands of emails to unsuspecting constituents.

The purpose of the emails is to get people to subscribe to email distribution lists, which are exempt from a ban on tax payer funded mass distribution of election material for 90 days prior to an election.

The emails are spam in the purest sense because the addresses are sourced from email address lists purchased from commercial operations concerned with building such lists. At least 40 congressmen have purchased said lists. Looks like more "ends justifies the means" politics to The Green Man.

Saddam Santa

Here is Captain Warner of the 1-22 Battalion of the US Fourth Infantry Division pointing to a photo of Saddam Hussien that has been doctored to look like santa. The caption, in case your screen resolution is poor, is "First Battalion, 22nd Infantry wishes you a very Merry Christmas!"

It is clearly in contravention of the Geneva Convention to which the USA conforms when it suits it but hey its just a bit of Christmas fun. The sort of thing The Green Man himself may have mischeiviously concocted.

There is a message here for those of you that think this is just some harmless good fun but got indignant at the post that showed photos that compared GWB to a chimp. These leaders aren't the devil incarnate or the sword in gods right hand, substitute Saddam and George in the appropriate spot depending which side you are on. It's about remembering that they are ordinary human beings just like you and me and not above having the mickey taken out them from time to time.

Ernie Stikes Fear In USA

It is a big responsibility running a security alert level indicator on your site. It appears that since the security alert level went from to (see right hand panel) waves of panic have been sweeping the USA. Christmas shopping is disrupted as people stay home in fear of an iminent attack

One store that is doing excellent business however is Safer America. Formed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it is experiencing unprecedented demand for its products.

For $265 you can equip yourself with

1 Gas Mask: MSA Advantage 1000 + Filter
1 NBC Protective Suit: Tyvek F
1 Package of Iosat Potassium Iodide Pills
1 Pair of Nitrile Gloves + Booties
1 Flash Light 2D
Duct Tape

I don't understand the Duct Tape still I suppose you can never have too much.

If you work in a high rise building none of this stuff is going to be much use without a way of getting down so you might like to go with the "High Rise Kit" that adds an escape parachute to the above essentials, that will set you back $1,085.00. The Green Man has never been skydiving but he suspects that there is a little more to it than strapping on a chute and jumping out of a window. Still if it doesn't work you won't be in any position to be seeking a refund will you?

Of course this is all about "feeling safe" not "being safe" so it really doesn't matter all that much whether they work or not. However, the thing that has got The Green Man really intrigued is the rush on inflatable rafts. When it comes to safety in New York a rubber raft is not the first thing that springs to The Green Man's mind but then he has never lived there.

Secular Schools The Natural Conclusion

The French President Jacques Chirac is banning overt religous symbolism in French schools. This translates into a ban on Muslims wearing head scarfes, as well as wearing christian crosses and jewish skullcaps. Sounds pretty reasonable to The Green Man, afterall identifying symbols like that can be pretty divisive. Just like the divisions that arise in youths wearing branded clothes. Perhaps that should be banned too.

Then there is the divisive nature of school uniforms, they can cause all sorts of rivalries between students of different schools. They should be banned too.

There is a clear and natural conclusion to this problem: nudity. If the school children leave their clothes at the gate then there can be no symbols to cause divisions in the school community. All the French children frolicing naked together in peace and happiness, what an insightful man Mr Chirac is. There is the problem of winter of course, Paris can get very nippy in the winter. Still I am sure Mr Chirac will think of something.

Read about Mr Chiracs initiative in The New York Times.

Can Australia Count On USA

When GWB called for an "coalition of the willing" to invade Iraq, in Australia, we all knew we would be part of it and not because it was a just and honourable endeavour. We knew because, when George Bush sneezes John Howard runs for a hankerchief. John will claim he was simply honouring the ANZUS alliance that has been in place for many years now and probably he was but what value is that alliance? Does it actually mean anything? If it came to the crunch and Australia was invaded by Indonesia, who aferall are the most likely protagonists if only because of their proximity, would the USA come to our aid?

Ashley Leeds, associate professor of political science at Rice University, thinks that probably they will. In a study of alliances entered into between 1816 and 1944 whe found that 75% of the time that they were honoured. The circumstances in which they are broken are typically when there is a massive change of power within a country, such as an overthrow of a regime. Additionally, non-democratic countries major powers that suffer lower costs from reneging are more likely to break alliances.

In conclusion she says

Leaders should assume that under most conditions, allies will fulfill their promises. This means that engaging a state in war when allies have promised to intervene is a proposition that entails a significant risk of war expansion. It also means that the deterrent and compellent properties of alliances should be taken quite seriously

Read more here.

Cow Patriotism

Here in Australia we prefer our patriotism a bit on the under done side, a bit like our steaks, well rare actually. All that rushing round waving flags, singing the national anthem and stuff, we find that all a bit embarrassing really. It is a standing joke in Australia that noone knows the words to the national anthem, not past the first couple of sentences anyway.

It is not like that America, patriotism is big there, and it is even bigger than normal at the moment. Since America invaded Iraq, with us hanging on to their coat tails, any questioning of the justification for the invasion has been howled down as unpatriotic, even though it has changed along the way.

Anyway, enough ranting, here is a patriotic cow. It is part of an exhibition of cows that was held in Chigago in 1999, you can see more of the entrants here.

I chose the patriotic cow because American cows have good reason to feel patriotic, not that they will of course, that emotion is far too complicated for your average simple minded cow. America's Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday a $33 million plan for a pair of academic centers to combat possible terrorist attacks on cows.

John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, isn't impressed by this current flurry of panic about agro-attacks, saying

Why are we getting around to that one, but we're dragging our heels on protecting passenger planes from shoulder-fired missiles?" he asked. "We're spending a couple of hundred million dollars over the next couple of years thinking about it. And that's a proven threat.

The Green Man would have thought it was obvious. If you can't protect your cows what is the world coming. These cows are dying to feed the soldiers in Iraq, they must be protected from being killed at all costs.

Read more in Wired News.

Demise of Saddam

It was jubilation amongst most of the Iraqi population today with the capture of Saddam Hussein.

It was becoming clear that a guerilla campaign may well have been what Saddam had been intending all along and that it would continue indefinitely whilst Saddam was on the loose. His capture means that Iraq is one step closer to the conclusion of this current hostility.

Saddam Hussein, as a right wing dictator, was not particularly good at the job American installed him to do all those years ago. Not only did he fail to conquer Iran but he couldn't even get rid of the Iraqi communist party who you see celebrating here. I believe they are currently living under the illusion that they may gain some sort of power in the new Iraqi government, which they stand a snow flakes chance in a Baghdad summer of doing whilst the USA continues to meddle Iraqi politics.

Freedom In Australia NOT

The Age reports that ASIO (Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation) has been picking up and interrogating associates of terrorist suspect Willie Brigitte. Under their new powers they can do this even if they suspect the people of no criminal offence.

Let's suppose, through misfortune, you happened to have been living next to him. You could be taken into custody and interrogated for up to a week. No only that, you are prevented by law from challenging what they did to you during that time or even telling anyone what they did to you. Doesn't this sound a lot like the very stuff that the government was accusing Saddam Hussien of, after they couldn't find any weapons of mass destruction that is?

What's more Phillip Rudduck, the Attorney General, is quoted as saying

"His intention was to harm Australia's interests and possibly Australians,"

What happened to the presumption of innocence? How could Phillip Ruddock possibly know what Willie Brigitte intentions were when they have not been tested in a court of law.

On 11 September 2003, in an interview with David Speers of Sky News, John Howard said.

Terrorists hate our freedom. They hate the openness of Australian and American and world societies that act as liberal democracy,

The way our government is moving, they won't have much to hate in Australia much longer.

Senator Biffo Bartlet Lets Fly

Australia took one more step down the seemingly inevitable path towards becoming a banana republic with the leader of the Australian Democratics, Andrew Bartlett, getting drunk and assaulting a Liberal Party senator in the senate chamber during a sitting.

Getting pissed and indulging in a bit of "biffo" is more common than it should be, and one of the less positive aspects of Australian culture, but we have not seen it on the floor of the senate before.

Still it is an ill wind that blows no good. The Green Man is quite fond of bananas.

Name That War

NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF of New York Times has been disconcerted by the lack of a good name for the current conflict in Iraq and, as you would, offered the lofty prize of a Iraqi 250-dinar note with Saddam's picture for the best name.

There are so many good entries

"The War That Cried Wolfowitz."
"Mother of Oil Wars."
"Mission Implausible: A Job Well Spun"
"The Empire Strikes Out,"

But the winners, each receiving one on the said notes, were:

"Dubya Dubya III" - Brad Corsello, New York
"Rolling Blunder" - Richard Sanders
"Desert Slog" - John Fell, California
"Blood, Baath and Beyond." - Willard Oriol, New York

but my favourite of the winners was

"Mess in Potamia" by Will Hutchinson of Vermont.

Read many more suggestions at New York Times.

George The Great

George W Bush has arrived triumphant in Baghdad, well he snuck in under the cover of darkness with the lights turned off on his aeroplane but he got there to share a bit of turkey with the boys. Which is somewhat synergistic really, since The Green Man suspects that Turkey is anticipating George will be sharing a bit of Iraq with it. But that is off the topic. As we all know, conquering Persia (that is modern day Iraq folks) entitles you to append "The Great" after your name.

Of course he is not the first conquerer of the known world have this privilege. In the spring of 331 BC Alexander The Great, fresh from a triumphant campaign in the Balkans turned his sights on Persia. Instead of flying in under the cover of darkness, world conquerers of Alexanders time lead from the front. Alexander, resplendant on the ancient equivalent of Airforce One, an elephant, headed for Baghdad. On the 20th of September 331BC his Macedonian army crossed the Tigris under the cover of a lunar eclipse to challenge the mighty Persian army that had been amassed to confront it. Whilst outnumbered, his Macedonian army was skilled in battle and overcame the Persians. Thus it was that Alexander arrived at the Baghdad International Airport for a chow down with his troops.

From Persia Alexander proceeded to work his way through the middle east, conquering Iran and eventually what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Green Man suspects that these countries must be on some secret "to-do" list that super powers are given when they attain their superpower status.

By this stage Alexander was in control of the entire known world. He was 32 and had the world at his feet, literally. Flavius Arrianus, a 2nd century roman historian, said

For I myself believe that there was at that time no race of mankind, no city, no single individual, to which the name of Alexander had not reached.

Alexander had attained god-like status but he was not a god, he was a man and inexplicably he fell ill and, over a two week period, died. Much discussion has been had on the cause of his death, poisoning, flu and typhoid fever have all been suggested. Now research suggests that the cause of his death may have been West Nile Fever, a viral infection that is common in the area. In another interesting intersection of histories, West Nile Fever, is currently on the ascendancy in the USA after being accidentally introduced there in 1999.

Read more about Alexander The Great here.
Read more on West Nile Fever and its alledged role in his death here.

Death Of A Soldier

Further to my post War Deaths The Great Taboo the Washington Post, in a display of an absense of patriotism, has posted on it's web site photos of the American soldiers killed in Iraq.

This is a photo of Allen Jaynes of Henderson, Texas, U.S., killed when a makeshift bomb detonated near his vehicle in Iraq. He was 21 when he was killed, the same age as my son. Probably, like my son, he was full of hopes and plans for his future. I dare say joining the army was a big adventure and he was full of excitement and enthusiasm when he headed off to Iraq. How sad that he has died, I feel for his father, I know how I would feel if it were my son.

Visit Faces Of The Fallen at The Washington Post.

(via J-Walk)

PayPal Virus

Did you get the message from Paypal about your account this morning? I did, and I did what you would expect, deleted it. Yep, it is a virus that has originated in France and is tricking people world wide into revealing themselves, or more precisely, their credit card details.

Mark Sunner, of MessageLabs, said:

In the case of Mimail.J, the virus is nothing more than a vehicle for the delivery of an email designed to defraud unsuspecting users.

"This suggests that the mindset of the virus author is changing, whereas once disruption was motivation enough, we are now seeing a new breed of cybercriminal intent on using viruses as a means of lining their own pockets.

Don't get fooled and give them your details. If you already have, I'd be onto your bank to "hot card" your credit card before the big bills start rolling in.

A Souvenir From London

Like any foriegn visitor to London, GWB wants souvenir to take home to remember London by but the question is "What?". As he is American you might think a topical baseball cap like the one right might be suitable. He is a powerful man so he could probably negotiate to get the girl as well as an added extra.

Unfortunately for the UK economy a cap and a girl is not nearly enough to satisfy George. He has a bigger souvenir in mind, UK jobs. The US administration is putting pressure on US-based multinationals to relocate operations from Britain to USA. In return they will receive compensation from American trade authorities if they have to cancel contracts in Britain to take the jobs home.

Digby Jones of Confederation of British Industry reports that

Three chief executives of American companies investing in Britain have told me to my face that they have been told to close down, bring their stuff home and make it in the US.

This is no "storm in a teacup". American companies employ over 1 million Britains and a major pull out could cause a massive slump in the economy. Unilever chairman Niall FitzGerald agrees

There is a mid-Atlantic trade storm whipping up. There will be retaliation and then retaliation to that retaliation, which could lead us to a 1930s decline.

One thing is for sure. With a presidential election in the USA next year, President Bush will be completely focused on domestic survival, bugger his trading partners.

Read more here.

Security, Is It About The Spin

George W Bush has touched down in London. The Age reports

Security in the British capital, Europe's biggest city with more than seven million inhabitants, was unprecedented for a state visit, with 14,000 officers -- practically half the Metropolitan Police -- on duty this week.

Several hundred gun-toting US Secret Service agents have also come over from Washington, and airliners flying into London's airports were being diverted away from the skies over the city centre.

This translates to one in every nine of the British constabulary protecting the great man. What was the real point here I wonder. Was the risk to GWB that great in London, The Green Man suspects not. The Green Man suspects the police, secret service agents and the air exclusion zone over London were a media exercise to send a message to British and American public on how dangerous things are at the moment to justify their massive expenditure on the war in Iraq.

In support of this hypothesis The Guardian reports that the support for the war in Iraq has surged with the arrival of GWB in London. A number of other factors undoubtedly contributed to this as well, in particular the recent suicide bombings in Turkey. Opposition to the war has fallen from 53% to 41%.

The view of America in the UK is generally rosy, 62% of British voters believe America is "generally speaking a force for good, not evil, in the world". I think we can safely say, however, that Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London is firmly located in the remaining 38%. The Independent reports him as saying GWB is the "greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen" and that the current administration in the USA is "the most corrupt and racist American administration in over 80 years".

Mr Livinston is hosting a reception at London City tomorrow to which you are invited provided you are not George W himself. Mr Livingston's logic being

I don't formally recognise George Bush because he was not officially elected. So we are organising an alternative reception for everybody who is not George Bush.