Cameron's Brain

It's time for a new Australian political party

Comments made at the launch today of Mark Latham's biography confirms that Australians made the right decision last October. Latham, the guy who lead the Labor Party into the last federal election, the guy who tried to convince Australians that they were the right party to lead the country, today came out and said:

He called the current leader Mr Beazley as a "stand-for-nothing" leader. He also blasts three of Labor's state premiers - Bob Carr, Peter Beattie and Geoff Gallop - as "A-grade arseholes".

Less than a year after asking the electorate to vote the party and himself into government, he now says Labor is "beyond repair, beyond reform".

"It is not an organisation I can be optimistic about," he says.

Mr Latham says the party has become a "very conservative institution, run by conservative machine men (from all factions) so it is well suited to a conservative, stand-for-nothing type of leader".

Peter Beattie, the Queensland Premier, introduced Latham last year with these words:

John Howard asks us to trust him.

Trust?

Look up the words "John Howard non core promises" on Google -- and you get 33,400 entries.

John Howard's policies have widened the gap between rich and poor.

We need a leader who will unite us as a Nation so that we all prosper....

...instead of a leader dividing us for his own profit through wedge politics.

In Mark Latham, Labor is offering a fresh face, with new ideas and a commitment to a future for everyone in this country.

Unite the country? What about uniting the ALP?

Michelle Grattan tries to sweep it all under the carpet by saying Latham is "selfish". That may be true, but the ALP thought he was the best guy they had to lead the party to the election. What does that say about them as a party? This bloke is the best they had to offer? And they tried to pitch him to Australians as the right guy to be our PM??

So... where does that leave us. The ALP are stuffed. The Coalition lied to us, invaded Iraq for no good reason other than "George wants us to", but at least they haven't screwed up the economy. The Democrats are pretty much finished. We've got a bunch of fundamentalist homophobic Christians winning seats. Our political options are a mess.

I think it's time we set up a new party. A party for the 21st century. The pro-technology, pro-transparency, pro-euthanasia, pro-republic party. A party that isn't in the pockets of corporate interests, the unions, or right-wing Christians. A party for the 18 - 40 demographic.

The Blogger Party.

The UN's reputation sinks even lower

The destruction of highly sensitive documents by Kofi Annan's chief aide is a massive obstruction of justice that demands major congressional investigation. It gives the impression of a huge cover-up at the very heart of the United Nations, and casts a dark cloud over the credibility of the UN secretary-general. It projects an image of impunity, arrogance and unaccountability on the part of the leadership of the United Nations.

Read more here.

Aussie politician quotes Nick Cave

My new mate Phil McCredden pointed me to Senator Andrew Bartlett's blog. For those non-Aussie readers, Bartlett is the leader of one of our (increasingly) minor political parties, The Australian Democrats. I never thought I'd even consider voting for a Democrat, although I quite liked Natasha, but the fact that Andrew can riff on Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen in his posts all the time at least puts us on the same musical map! You gotta love a polly with great taste in music!

I knew the ALP were struggling but this is ridiculous!

Phillip Adams writes of Paul Keating:

... who has recently begun to emerge from exile like Napoleon from St Helena.

Napoleon died on the island of St Helena.

<via Rob Irwin, via Tim Blair, via  Hal G.P. Colebatch>

Bush sings U2

If you haven't already heard it (I first caught it on Engadget's podcast #16), here is George Bush singing U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday, a classic mash-up.

If Bush Was Running Against Jesus

If Jesus was running against Bush, is this the kind of ad Karl Rove would come up with? Jesus - Soft On Crime.

Four More Years!

[source: Politick]

Watch Fahrenheit 911 on the Web for Free

If you, like me, have not yet had a chance to see Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 911", well now's your chance. You can watch it online here. I can't vote in this election, but many of you can. Maybe this film will change the way you vote and maybe it won't. But I guess it's a good idea to be as educated as you can be about one perspective of how the American political system currently works before you vote.

[Source: bloggg]

How to win an election

Just read this great anecdote from Charles Wright about one old trick the St Kilda Libs pulled out to get a few extra votes on election day. You gotta hand it to 'em. Sneaky and a classic. How dumb are the voters in the St Kilda zone who fell for this? And, Charles, I wouldn't have picked YOU as a Green! Although you have been playing around with SUSE, so... :-)

(via Anthony Malloy)