My mate Bernard Kealey has scored the Sydney Morning Herald‘s lead letter today for this scathing criticism of the NSW health system. Fight the good fight, brother!
Weekly Poll: Who cares about Australian of the Year?
A country music singer that many (most?) Australians have never heard of is Australian of the Year. Does anyone care?
Chairman Rudd reckons:
Lee Kernaghan’s music resonates with every Australian by connecting us all to the spirit of the bush, but more importantly he gives hope and pride to those on the land when they need inspiration most.
He has rolled up his sleeves to make a real difference for those in need in rural Australia.
Pull the other one, Kevin.
OK, Kernaghan has certainly worked hard to lift morale in the drought-stricken bush. But when 98% of us live in urban areas, and 30-odd percent were born elsewhere, can we really say that nasal, droney bush ballads represent our world?
In fact, does a concept like “Australian of the Year” even matter in 21st Century Australia?
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Afghanistan: death for downloading and discussing
Over at TechCrunch, Australian journalist Duncan Riley tells the story of a 23-year-old Afghani who’s been sentenced to death in a secret trial for discussing a document he found on the Internet.
Sayad Parwez Kambaksh’s crime was printing a document… that allegedly “violated the tenets of Islam.” Kambaksh then allegedly took the printout to Balkh University, where he discussed the contents with his teacher and classmates, resulting in a complaint to the US-backed Government.
Duncan asks:
What exactly are Americans and coalition forces (including British and Australian troops) fighting for in Afghanistan again? Feel free to remind me in the comments.
And the comments have gone beserk, even for TechCrunch. I’ll share some of it with you ‘cos someone who read my own comment emailed me privately to call me a genius and say that following the link to my website, i.e. here, was the best decision he ever made! Poor chap.
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Whaling discussion continues
My piece about Japanese whaling chief Hideki Moronuki is generating some interesting discussion. I’ve just posted a long comment. Worth a read, even if it’s not about Heath Ledger. Oh, and you can always subscribe to the comments feed to ensure you don’t miss any of the action.
Facebook’s neocon financier
Speaking about politics and business, Laurel Papworth has posted a fascinating piece on The Philosophy behind the Men behind Facebook. Venture capitalist and “futurist philosopher” (whatever that is) Peter Thiel is an anti-multicultural neocon who sounds like a complete arsehole.
Is it really so wrong to mix business and politics (and religion)?
So last week Apple announced new products. Yawn. The Cult of Apple worshipped their God, and millions of words were written praising His Wisdom. However the most interesting comment I’ve read so far was about the political content of Steve Jobs’ presentation.
Alastair Rankine writes that the Macworld Keynote has moved from slick-but-reality-distorted marketing into the realms of straight-out entertainment, and then criticises Randy Newman’s performance. Not because it was crap (which, being Randy Newman, is inevitable), but because it was political.
Criticism of the Bush administration is something I obviously have a lot of time for. But is it suitable for a consumer product launch? …
Mix politics with business and you take a risk with a relatively small upside but a big downside. If your politics match mine, we are no more likely to do business together than before we knew each other’s positions. But if our politics disagree, this difference becomes a barrier that we each have to overcome in order to do business together.
I’m not arguing for censorship or anything. I’m just saying that the separation of politics and business is crucial for the success of both.
I disagree.
Business is about making money, yes, but sometimes I think it’s wrong to “leave politics at the door”. In fact, is it even possible?
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