Enough with the boat people

Okay, I think it's time this human tragedy of boat people coming to Australia came to a stop. They are mostly obviously economic opportunists taking advantage of Australia's refugee laws. As a result it's allowed people-smuggling to flourish and lead to a number of boats sinking and many lives lost. Australia ends up looking like the bad guy by keeping these people in detention, often offshore, with protests and so on by these desperate people who've spent so much on the trip here.

Australia must end the incentives to these people coming here. Australia must opt out of the Refugee Convention it previously signed and make new laws on refugees. Only people who apply legally should be allowed refugee status, anyone who arrives by boat must be automatically refused. Only this way will these people stop risking their lives and that of their families to try and get access to a developed country and its welfare system.

Australia is the good country that it is today due to our system, our culture of fairness and looking after people when they are down. If we allow too many people from intolerant cultures to come here that will change the country. It will make Australia become the very thing they are escaping from, an unfair and corrupt country where there is no equality of opportunity or welfare system.

Migrants who come here should indeed be screened regarding culture. For example, devout muslims cannot tolerate or accept western liberalism. So why do they come here? We are too weak to say no for fear of being labelled racist. But the fact is these people are incompatible with Australian culture. Our being tolerant only works if we are allowing people in who are also tolerant. If we do not require people who come here to be tolerant also, it pretty much defeats the point.

Frankly those who wish to come here should be allowed here on the basis that they are suitable for Australia and can fit into our culture. We do not want to change it into a traditional society where men are above women, where corruption is the norm, where showing skin is frowned upon and where people's lives are controlled by religious fundamentalism. Those who come from particularly alien cultures should only be allowed here if they are marrying into and integrating with our society. Otherwise Australia will no longer be what is, and will lose the very thing that makes it such a great country.

Doctor Who Seeds of Death DVD review

Doctor Who and the Seeds of Death is one of the few remaining complete Second Doctor stories. But more than the value to be derived from that, the story is excellent in its own right. It does what Doctor Who does best. Lots of running around corridors, humour, mixed with menace and genuinely unsettling aliens.

Here is where I feel the story rises above many others, including contemporary ones. The villains are not stupid. Unlike most aliens planning to take over the world, the Ice Warriors do not gloatingly explain their plans freely to the humans, allowing said plans to be foiled. The Ice Lord usually refusing to give reasons for his orders to his captives unless given no choice.

The second is the villains are genuinely menacing. Not only in appearance, slimy reptillian crocodile skinned beasts, but in their actions. The Ice Warriors are killers. They kill without compunction, and they do so often. Every character who originated on the moonbase winds up dead. The Ice Warriors are not to be reasoned with, when they've made up their minds to kill, then you are dead. The only ones who escape when shot at are the Doctor and his companions.

Third, the supporting characters are fleshed out. A great example is Phipps, who helps Zoe crawling through corridors and rescuing the Doctor. He has a moment of panic where he breaks down over the deaths of his colleagues and being chased by monsters. This is a truly human moment and is often ignored in other stories. It helps make his character more three-dimensional.

A criticism levelled at many classics Doctor Who stories, including this one is that it's ridiculous for aliens threatening to invade the world when there are only three of them. Obviously due to budget constraints. However for this story it does not detract, and indeed acts as a strength. They are after all a scout party for the main invasion fleet. And given their small numbers, the absolute havoc they wreak serves to heighten their threat. If so few Ice Warriors can do this, imagine what an army of them could do! The camera work and use of props is skillful in giving the image of there being more Ice Warriors too.

The use of a torch like device for the Ice Warriors guns works well. Far better than the Dalek guns with little extensions coming out to indicate firing, this one seems more like a beam weapon. The distorting effect on hit targets along with the unusual sound effect add to the interest and realism of the shots. It accurately conveys the impression that targets are internally distorted.

The Ice Warriors hissing voices are a nice touch and add to the atmosphere of alien menace. So many aliens in Doctor Who are simply humanoid and speak in normal English. It's nice for the writers to give them this alien effect, with the logical explanation that it is due to the difference of atmosphere they are accustomed to.

Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury shine as always in this story. Their rapport is palpable and adds to the story's believability.

The story itself is interesting, showing an Earth entirely dependant on T-Mat, where the space program has become an unfashionable relic of the past. The alien threat and how close they come to accomplishing their goal make the story much more unsettling than many others. The six-part format works well as it serves to build up tension. It allows the alien menace to build up too, as it's not solved so quickly as in the usual four-parters.

In conclusion, great story. It's a pity there aren't more survivors from Pat Troughton's era.

Social Democrats offer a message of hope - Conservatives offer fear

The US Democrat convention is underway in Boston and it has been a breath of fresh air for the political campaign. That is after the typical campaign of utter negativity and constant muck-racking by the Republicans which is of course the speciality of the right. The right can never offer hope or goodwill, only fear, slander and outright negativity. The right have nothing else to go on. They do not attempt to inspire the human heart, they try to scare people into voting for them. The war on terrorism has taken this to new levels, with US President George W Bush attempting to distract the country from his woeful leadership by being in a constant state of war. This could be straight out of George Orwell's science fiction classic novel 1984. An endless war against an unknown enemy, a compliant media with mainly pro-government propaganda, accusations of treachary for anyone who questions the war or our leaders' motivations, an increasing loss of civil rights giving power over to the state and leaders regularly lying to the people. It does sound like a science-fiction story, but this situation is all too real for the year 2004.

And here at last with the Democrats convention we have a message of hope, inspiration and a positive agenda. Speeches have been made which cut through the fog of fear and negative hate. Vice Presidential candidate Senator John Edwards' message was that the people are tired of the endless negativity of the Republicans, and that 'it doesn't have to be that way'. Presidential candidate John Kerry's message was that George W Bush has botched the war on terror and the economy, but that 'hope is on the way'.

Here is a man who has vision, who can offer America and the world hope, and most importantly has the intellect and experience to run the country and the war on terror. A man who will not thumb his nose at international law and world opinion, and who will restore America's reputation as a force for good.

November can't come soon enough.

Conservative Apologists

In the US and Australia a new phenomenon is emerging which I could only call the rise of 'conservative apologists'. These people, supposedly from a side of politics that is deeply suspicious of government and its powers, now are its unquestioning servants. A strengthening of the powers of the secret police and spy agencies is welcomed, to hell with civil liberties. The Government lied and mislead us about the reasons for the war in Iraq, but that's no cause for concern. For them, any criticism of the Howard or Bush administrations is worthy of contempt and should be howled down. Any questioning of the war on terrorism is tantamount to treason. It is effectively a conservative led attempt to marginalise concerned ordinary citizens in a show of contempt for our democracy.
 
This is most apparent in the wild hysteria provoked by Michael Moore's anti-Bush film Farenheit 911 and conservative attempts to censor it. These partisan idelogues apparently believe that the re-election of their preferred government is so important they are above all scrutiny and should not be criticised. But worst of all, they fail themselves to question their governments and leaders as a result of their partisan zeal. This unthinking support for their side of politics puts ideology above democracy, which is a value we all should share. The fact is, conservatives and social democrats alike should be greatly concerned about the direction of the Bush and Howard governments. Both are trashing international law, showing scant regard for human rights, launching pre-emptive wars with questionable motives and ignoring international opinion. This has the potential to undermine world stability. Look at pre-emptive strikes for example. If China is to follow the example set by the US, it could quite justifiably attack Taiwan. The concerted conservative campaign to trash the United Nations is likewise counterproductive and dangerous to world stability. Without a formal forum to communicate and resolve differences, we put at risk all of the progress in international relations we have worked so hard to build up since the 1939-45 War. That progress is built on the blood of millions of civilians and soldiers lost in that war, and any move away from the UN and international law would betray their legacy. It is time conservatives put the interests of humanity over their own selfish partisan ideology.

The War on Terrorism - the unwinnable war against a Noun

The War on Terrorism is a stupid term because terrorism is a method of warfare. US President George W Bush may have trouble understanding this, but you cannot fight a war against a noun. During the 1939-45 war Hitler called Dutch partisans terrorists. One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. So let us be clear. Terrorism is at some times in our history is seen as not only a legitimate response but as justiable. This war, despite the bluster of the Bush administration, is not a war on terrorism. It is a war against militant Islam.
 
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has recently said that the war on terrorism has no link to poverty, claiming instead it is a clash of values. Conservatives like Mr Downer are simply putting their own political spin on the war. These are the same people who cannot see the link between Aboriginal's dispossession and the social problems they face today. The people who cannot understand why refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan refused asylum would riot. And finally the people who think that participating in the invasion of Iraq would not increase the terrorist risk to Australia, that in fact it would somehow decrease it. These are people without empathy, only an arrogant belief in their own superiority and that of their values. It is easy to see how Mr Downer cannot and will not see a link between terrorism and poverty. He couldn't see the wood for the trees he is so ideologically blind. 
 
Terrorism may have wealthy financiers, particularly in Saudi Arabia, but its support base is drawn entirely from uneducated, poor and aggrieved peoples of the Middle East. To dismiss the Israel and Palestine conflict and obvious American bias is at best naive and at worst plain dishonest. Likewise Western interference in Middle Eastern countries, with demands that they conform to our way of life, our form of democracy and our capitalist system, is causing great resentment and tension. The double standards of the US, advocating laissez-faire capitalism for Third World countries whilst refusing to expose its own economy to the pressures of full competition is an obvious source of resentment. Launching a war on Iraq supposedly because of its weapons and human rights abuses, while ignoring human rights abuses in other undemocratic countries is frankly suspicious. The actions of the US in the past supporting regimes like that of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban in Afghanistan do not lend credability to its supposedly high moral aims. Until these and other issues are addressed extremist terrorist groups will continue to have a ready support base for recruits. The only way to address terrorism effectively is therefore to undermine this popular support base by helping redress the problems facing the Muslim world, particularly those caused or exacerbated by the West. It may well be that it is impossible to negotiate with some terrorist extremists. But without the ready and willing support base who finance them and give them popular support, such extremists would be isolated and vastly less effective. It stands to reason. Take away the cause of the terrorists - that is, the legitimate causes - and they will lose popular support. Why would a Palestinian who has lost his home because of Israeli policy not want to become a suicide bomber? What else does he or she have to live for? Stop giving the terrorists reason to hate us, and we might have a chance of ending the violence. But simply mouthing rhetoric about terrorists being threatened by our freedom and advocating military solutions to this complex problem is a recipe for endless war and disaster for the human race.
 

Chickens coming home to roost for Blair

It looks like the chickens are coming home to roost for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. After having the conservatives thoroughly beaten for a decade, he has seemingly decided to become a conservative himself, and is paying the price now. In particular, his idioc support for the US rush to war with Iraq has rightly undermined his standing with the British people. Labour lost the previously safe seat of Leicester South in a by-election to the centre left Liberal Democrat Party, with the conservatives coming a distant third! Meanwhile Labour narrowly won the by-election for Birmingham against the Liberal Democrats by 500 votes, suffering a 26 per cent swing against them.  It shows that people are looking for a real alternative to the tired out of date conservative ideology of the Tories and attempts by Labour to copy them. Just as Spain's ruling conservative party was ousted for its support for Iraq, so too the British Labour Party will follow unless it dumps Tony Blair and its support for the morally bankrupt Iraq war.

Civility and Manners in Australian Society

Prime Minister John Howard wants a return to civlity and manners in Australian society, apparently.

This is just a smokescreen as he ignores the underlying causes of the behaviour, or fails to understand them.

In the world of the free market economy espoused by the Liberal Party citizens are mere consumers, overconsumption and excess is encouraged, individualism is valued over community, citizens become consumers and power and greed are promoted. And John Howard wonders why society has become more coarse and selfish??

Human beings all have higher aspirations than the petty materialistic, greedy and selfish aspirations we are encouraged to have by advertising and political leaders. The out of control laissez-faire capitalism in our society is in fact dimming the human spirit and limiting our potential.