Culture still reject science on a grand scale...

viva la revolution

 

I was very pleased to receive a personal invitation from the Premiere of Queensland Anna Bligh to participate in Community Cabinet Meeting and formal deputations with Minsters on the Gold Coast on Sunday, 28th of February 2011. Accordingly, I submitted Deputation Request Form requesting formal deputation with the Queensland Attorney-General.

From the BBC

Full report here 

Repressive regimes are taking full advantage of the net's ability to censor and stifle reform and debate, reveals a report.

Written by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) pressure group the report highlights the ways governments threaten the freedom of the press.

The report has a section dedicated to the internet and the growing roster of nations censoring online life.

This censorship is practised on every continent on Earth, said the report.

Factionalism is one of those things which is a real balancing act within political parties. Even when someone joins a party, however broad or narrow the principles and ideology, there will always be shades within the ranks. This is to be expected, but what happens when these shades begin to cement themselves, and turn the party from an outwardly facing force, to an introverted party in turmoil. A series of parties within a party, with all section struggling for power.

There was a good, but brief interview with former ALP President Barry Jones on SBS news tonight which really summed up what I am getting at. When asked about factions being groups of like minded people who support each other:

Friends,

You know well that there is a widespread disillusion with democracy as a successful fixall for theproblems of society, business, the environment, and the growing tensions in the world.

Take parliament. Respect is at a low ebb. Party politics has only willing supporters amongst those who benefit by party government policies, which overlook many of the harder problems. And if we have a change of government the other half of the politically influential are neither happy or able to help with the significant problems which are now causing widespread angst. We have only a least-worst choice when it comes to elections, with the parties concentrating their PR on a  few policies which might appeal to,  and differentiate  their appeal between the various selfish interests in the community. Social unity is at a discount.

Hello,

I was a regular on this site for a time and was strongly of the belief that the espoused ideals and use of this site was fantastic. Indeed an opportunity to create a community of people with one goal in mind. That being to create ways to take our government back.

I am still a member but don't contribute here now for one main reason.

That is that it seems to have become simply a place for anti war posters to use for their own views. I don't disagree with most of those views but strongly feel it has been way overdone and has totally missed the point of the sites aims, democracy. The Iraq war is but one small piece of the horror that is our government, albeit a big piece for the Iraqi's.

I might be wrong and indeed since 1996 I have been bowled over by the stupidity of the Australian public, however it appears that the absence of a strong opposition is leading the Libs/Nats to do most of the opposition's leg work for them. A case in point is the call by Sophie Panopolous to have the muslim women's scarf known as the hjab banned in schools. Having seen "A Current Affair", I saw Bronwyn Bishop giving her support to Panopolous on the grounds of a clash of cultures must lead to the dominant culture prevailing (when did we last hear that! seig heil!)

I have also heard that Malcolm Turnbull is calling for a cut in the tax rate for high income earners - witht he rate comming down toe 30%. There was no mention of the tax rates for low to middle income earners.

Framing Howard's Industrial Relations Changes:
Australians want certainty in the work place.

 

 It is interesting to see how the Howard government is well aware of framing and how far behind our side in federal politics really is.

An example of this can be seen in Howard's gutting of our Industrial relations tribunal and replacing it with what they have called (not be accident) the "Australian Fair Pay Commission". The language is not neutral, it is framed, and loaded. It also doesnt help when the media and the opposition start using that language.

Peter Beattie on the other hand is a smart man who knows how to frame. In an appearance on lateline a few weeks back, he talked about Howard's changes using the following frame:

"these changes will bring uncertainty to the workplace. Australians want certainty in their work place".

"Abolishing protection from unfair dismissal, will create uncertainty in the workplace"

The term 'change' and 'uncertainty' are not put in the same sentence by accident.  People naturally fear change, and so combining it with the term 'uncertainty' reinforces that. He repeated these terms several times.  Unfortunately the federal party has been all over the place - not using a frame, and simply relying on one off attacks. The attacks should remain, but they should be talked about in terms of a larger frame - change and uncertainty.

Another frame the federal opposition would benefit from would involve reminding people what the Howard government has become - arrogant and out of touch.

Now that the federal government has the Senate, they have signalled their intentions to force through their extremist positions, regardless of what people want. Whether the issue be abolishing protection from unfair dismissal or Telstra privatision (which polls shows most people do not want), and many, many others, the federal opposition has the opportunity to frame these extreme changes as "arrogant and out of touch". The fact that they will eb acting in an arrogant way will reinforce the message in peoples minds.

Arrogance is something that Australians hate seeing. You can see it in Jeff Kennett being kicked out, you can see it Howard and Beattie being ultra-careful not to appear triumphant or overly triumphant. Premier Beattie almost looked dissapointed when he won his third landslide victory!

For more info on how our side can frame and get back in the game, visit www.rockridgeinstitute.org

It is becoming increasingly difficult in Australia to avoid being arrested by Immigration officials. The latest documented case, the arrest of two children at school followed by four months of incarceration without just cause, is yet another example of a Kafkaesque bureaucracy gone mad. The Immigration Minister's justification that the children should have been locked up in order to keep the family together, is the subversion of logic and good taste. Is this the civilisation and way of life our government wants to protect from the terrorists?

It's sad to see not only the ABC, but even the Unions falling for the Howard government's most recent  frame -

 The 'Australian Fair Pay Commission'. The term is obviously loaded - there is nothing fair about a government appointed body of right wingers which sidelines an independent judiciary.

I hope that  this post will also be used by others who can also post frames that they find used in the media.

 Feel free to add your own.

Hi everyone, being new to the the website and the forum I thought I would begin a discussion on the issue of the Gunns 20. They are a group of activists and organisations being sued by the Gunns corporation in the Victorian supreme court. People listed include four employees of the Wilderness society, The Wilderness Society itself, Doctors for Old growth Forrests and Senator Bob Brown.

There are a few websites on the topic which I will include as things progress. I would like to hear from anyone who knows more about this issue and potentially anyone who has a different view.

Margo, the hub of the matter is that we ARE all Sovereign, always have been always will be from the day we are born. By studying Common Law and the UCC ( Universal Commercial Code ) you will find that we have been slaves to governments from the day they substitued our true name Joe Free Man with our Trade name JOE FREE MAN. Joe Free Man is a flesh and blood human being, while J F MAN, Joe F Man, JOE F MAN, Joe Free MAN and all derivations of the same are trade names and are the only entities the government can do business with. And through dishonest means the governments have tricked us into entering into contracts with these government standover men under threat of fines, jail and many times death. The book/manual that blows it wide open is called "Cracking the Code: Third Edition". It goes through all the steps required to reclaim your name and then protect yourself from those thieves.

Hi everyone,

I think it'd be great if we shared links we've found on framing, so we can all come up to speed with each others information.

Currently Bush is attempting to Privatise Social Security accounts. Frank Luntz, who is the man in charge of framing for the conservatives wrote them a note telling them to not call them 'private accounts' but rather 'personal accounts' because research shows people are afraid of privatisation. "Banish the word privatisation from your lexicon". When the Democrats found this out, they started using the word and dumped 'personal accounts' from their lexicons - now the Dems are winning on the issue.

I wrote an article last night for http://melbourne.indymedia.org/ I thought i'd repost here:

It's time we the Left take a good look at the language we use when trying to communicate
by lewisa Monday March 21, 2005 at 12:57 AM

The Left in America are rediscovering the language they previously used that has now been captured by the Right to distract people from voting for their own economic interests. Its time we in Australia relearnt the art of FRAMING THE DEBATE.

For the past forty years or so the Left in America have been losing ground to Republican Right in their core constituency: the average American.