A Clutch of Quotes

Pic courtesy UK Daily Telegraph

 Back in 1984, when he signed the UN Convention against torture, US President Ronald Reagan said this -

The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention . It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.

Yesterday, a number of Republicans, including  Marco Rubio, a likely 2016 presidential contender, issued the following statement after the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA against terror suspects -

I cannot think of a greater disservice to our men and women serving in the military and in our intelligence field than to hand terror groups like ISIL another recruiting tool and excuse to target them,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said in statement issued Tuesday. “Due to the political calculations of some, the American people and our allies across the globe are less safe today than they were before.

The juxtaposition makes it starkly clear how the extremists on the Right have hijacked the Republicans in the USA. To be completely fair, this issue has divided the Republican Party, with John McCain, who has been on the receiving end of torture, making his views plain -

I commend Chairman Feinstein and her staff for their diligence in seeking a truthful accounting of policies I hope we will never resort to again. I thank them for persevering against persistent opposition from many members of the intelligence community, from officials in two administrations, and from some of our colleagues.
The truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. It sometimes causes us difficulties at home and abroad. It is sometimes used by our enemies in attempts to hurt us. But the American people are entitled to it, nonetheless.
They must know when the values that define our nation are intentionally disregarded by our security policies, even those policies that are conducted in secret. They must be able to make informed judgments about whether those policies and the personnel who supported them were justified in compromising our values; whether they served a greater good; or whether, as I believe, they stained our national honor, did much harm and little practical good.

McCain, of course, is a patriot, not a partisan. His statement refers to "the values that define our nation". Those who support the use of torture as a means to provide security forget that the abandonment of these core values leaves nothing worthwhile to defend. It brings the perpetrators to exactly the same level of depravity as those they claim they are fighting.

No civilized nation, no matter how threatened, can use torture as a means to ensure security. It was not necessary in two world wars. It is not necessary now.

History is a harsh and fearless judge. That's why the atrocities committed by the Japanese (for example) are burned into our national consciousness.

The march towards extremism exhibited across the Pacific has its echoes here, where crass ideology has begun to highjack Coalition policies.

We need to keep an eye on the Yanks and learn from their mistakes. 

We also need to call to account those politicians here who exhibited craven cowardice around the treatment of at least one Australian citizen.

Porkies

Peppa Pig has survived - picture chosen because of the porkies.......

I've had it up to here with the Right Wing blogosphere and the News Limited media repeating the canard that the ABC is biased to the Left.

It comes from the  principle (developed and refined by Joseph Goebbels) that if a lie is repeated often enough, it becomes the truth.

Below is a list of current or former ABC staff who have been or still are on the payroll of the Coalition. Some (Scott Emerson, Gary Hardgrave and Prue Goward) have held political office for Coalition parties.

Sarah Henderson
Dai Le
Gary Hardgrave
Peter Collins
Pru Goward
Rob Messenger
Grant Woodhams
Eoin Cameron
Cameron Thompson
Scott Emerson
Ian Cover
Peter McArthur
Bruce Webster
Peter Kennedy
Michael Duffy
Chris Wordsworth
Cathy Job
Vicki Thompson
Chris Nicholls
Jim Bonner
Ken Crooke
Mark Tobin
Josephine Cafagna
Allen Callaghan

I could outline their Coalition employment in detail, but if you're reading this, you're obviously on line, so Google is your friend.

If the ABC is such a biased outfit, I wonder how these people maintained successful careers in the organization? As that well-known Right Winger once said - "Please explain". She was being interviewed on the ABC at the time...............

I love it when I can use my ICD*.

*Inbuilt Crap Detector

Refugee Weirdness

Father Mick Lowcock (L) and Steve Sutton with the Wilson petition (Pic courtesy Catholic Leader).

There are some very strange goings on up North (Townsville) at the moment.

In my copy of the Catholic Leader this morning is a story about an Afghan refugee from St Francis Xavier Parish, Railway Estate(Townsville). It was posted under a pic of Father Mick Lowcock - a fearless advocate for those doing it tough. Mick was our parish priest, first in Townsville and later in Mt Isa.

This Hazara refugee had been living in Townsville for a while, long enough to have set up a succesful business, become a Catholic under RCIA*, and changed his name to Patrick Wilson.

By the sound of it, he's been a model immigrant, not to be stereotyped as a welfare bludger, or someone who refuses to assimilate, and he seems to have adopted the values of his new country. In other words, exactly the kind of immigrant that we need.

There is, of course, one problem - he's on a bridging visa.

He was arrested in September, and is now locked up in Wickham Point detention in Darwin.

Why? It's hard to say, unless it's about Hermann Morrison being macho - something he does with monotonous regularity.

If this bloke is sent back to Afghanistan he's dead. He's both an apostate and a Hazara. Both are capital offences as far as the Taliban is concerned.

Morrison uses stopping drownings at sea as the rationale for his bullying of refugees.

Paraphrasing John Howard, he's really saying "When it comes to refugees, we'll decide who dies and the manner of their death".

No more drownings at sea, but no refuge in Australia, just the certainty of death at the hands of extremists in their home countries.

ABC North Queensland has also run the story.

You know it makes sense.................

Here's the link to the petition. 

*Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults.

We're Better Than This

I'm not much into causes, but we are indeed, better than this.

Lesson Learned

It's funny how apparently disconnected events can conspire to shape our futures.

Back in 2004, I had just retired from the principalship and was looking forward to what I anticipated would be an interesting and satisfying time free of responsibility and stress. Out of the blue came a phone call from a bureaucrat in the organization who was struggling to meet the needs of a family in a small regional township.

Their youngest child had a severe disability, and they wanted him to attend his local school, rather than the Special Education facility some 60kms away. The mother was insisting, as was her right under the legislation, that her son should attend his local school.

The school had no staff with any experience in special needs, nor was it physically equipped to support access for a student with his complex combination of impairments. I was asked to set up a program which would make the enrolment work. It required staff recruitment and training, considerations of access, organization of the minimal available resources, and working with the school community.

I took it on without a second thought, believing that once the process was set up, I could gracefully withdraw from the fray. By the end of term one, all of this was in place and working. An enthusiastic beginning teacher and a "can-do" teacher's aide had already developed into a strong and viable team. Essentially, the rest of the class and the whole school community were recruited into the support team.

Looking back on it, they actually recruited themselves, driven by the bush sense of a fair go, and simple generosity. They taught me a great deal. But the withdrawing from the fray bit never happened. As the year went on, I picked up more and more students in similar situations. After two years, I had a case load of forty. Ten years the track, I'm still in the game, only more so, still enjoying the work, and well and truly embarked on a second career supporting bush kids with disabilities. The fact that it is part time gives me space to do a bunch of other things, including maintaining this humble blog.

After the passage of ten years (where did it go?) an invitation to attend this lad's year 12 graduation turned up, and I drove the 150kms last Friday to get there. I was very glad I did. I listened to the speeches and found myself agreeing with the sentiment expressed that his contribution to the lives of those who both supported him and were his school peers was more than significant.

He and his family had taught us a great deal about determination, devotion, and endurance. It simply emphasizes the fact that we are a social species, and we improve and grow as a community if we cooperate rather than compete.

This little school, and a succession of staff and students have shown how it is done, over the years. And eighteen years ago, this lad made a very wise choice of mother.

Pollies' Promises

This is worth recalling in the light of recent events.

Just saying..............

Stating the Obvious

 The Rightwing blogosphere is hyperventilating about Obama's remarks on the reef at the G20. Apparently the Queensland government is "incensed".

The only thing the Queensland government is incensed about is that they couldn’t control what the visiting leaders said.
 
Everything Obama said about the reef is true. Noddy and the collection of white shoe spivs that constitute his administration are worried that the mining and real estate interests that are the real government in Queensland will come off second best, if the mad rush to exploit coal and gas is more carefully regulated. Instead of listening to paid shills in the US media (like Andrew Bolt here), Obama actually reads and understands the science.

He also understands the difference between warming and the rate of warming. Bolt spouts the “no warming since 1998” nonsense because he believes his readers can’t tell the difference between a trend and a rate. Obviously, some of them can’t – particularly those who think the earth is flat. A quick perusal of the science shows that warming has continued unabated since 1968. The only thing that’s changed is the rate. The car is still heading for the cliff, only now it’s traveling at 40km per hour instead of 60.

The agreement between China and USA is a watershed. Obama doesn’t need congress to implement his side of the bargain, and the Chinese have no choice, given the toxic atmosphere which most urban Chinese experience.

Only 1 percent of the China’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by international standards. Air pollution is particularly bad in the rust belt areas of northeastern China. A study done by the World Health Organization estimated that the amount of airborne suspended particulates in northern China are almost 20 times what WHO considers a safe level.

A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center before the 2008 Olympics found that 74 percent of the Chinese interviewed said they were concerned about air pollution. It’s got much worse since and kills over half a million Chinese annually. The irony in this is that the pollution is a daily fact of life for the most populous nation on earth – it’s visible – and despite the restraints of command economy, the Chinese people will not, in the long run, continue to tolerate it. The leadership is well aware that China has no choice.

China has the world highest number of deaths attributed to air pollution. The World Health Organization estimated in 2007 that 656,000 Chinese died prematurely each year from ailments caused by indoor and outdoor air.

So it’s going to happen.

The two most powerful and polluting nations on earth are taking action. The rest of the world, including Australia, has no choice. The Coalition's only remaining argument against an ETS has vanished into thin (hopefully unpolluted) air. Reference to the Green Climate Fund, of which Abbott has been highly critical, was inserted into the final G20 communiqué after pressure from Japan,  the USA, South Korea and the European Union.

If Abbott and co had any sense they’d be planning for an economy when the rest of the world won’t want our coal any more, or at least nowhere as much of it as they do know. It looks as if, behind the bluster, they've woken up to that reality. The FTA with China, whilst of doubtful value to everyday Australians, especially those who can't find work, significantly broadens the base of what we can profitability sell to China.

The pragmatists in the Coalition have sniffed the global breeze, and come to the only rational conclusion. Their spin merchants will never let that get in the way of a discredited three word slogan, of course.