Completely Unnecessary

Sorry for the conspicuous silence. Four days of no blogging left some of you poking a toe at the corpse. Presumably no one’s ever heard me go so long without talking. (Not heard?)

Anyhow, there are a couple things on the back burner, but a cold, papers and someone’s clever idea of a bottle of champagne at 4am kind of trashed the weekend.

I’m in the midst of reading Frank Rich’s column:

Then again, in his frantic efforts to explain why he sided with Mr. Bush to oppose an expanded G.I. bill that the Senate passed by 75 to 22, Mr. McCain has attacked Mr. Obama for not enlisting in the military.

Besides making Mr. McCain look ever angrier next to his serene opponent, this eruption raises the question of why he chose double-standard partisanship over principle by not applying this criterion to the blunderers who took us into Iraq.

And I wonder if Obama can win the general by appearing ’serene’.

I have a cartoon above my desk of Kevin Rudd and John Howard in a boxing ring. Rudd’s snuggling a puppy, while Howard raises a fist in the air and screams in frustration, ‘HIT ME!’

He never did, and he won by letting Howard hang himself on his own record (and interest rates).

Part of Clinton’s problem in this campaign has been that Obama won’t come out and hit her. The Clintons know how to deal with direct attacks; as has been made clear throughout the campaign, they don’t know what to do when their opponent sort of pretends that they don’t exist.

Perhaps after eight years of a bellicose cowboy, the American people (or at least more than half) might be drawn in by a thoughtful professor who might actually run the country. And not attack everyone that looks at us askance.

This is not to say that Obama’s a puppy snuggler. He’s a Machine candidate, and he’s got Axelrod. There are stories being flogged and dirt being dug, but the Obama campaign’s best move in the campaign has been to have their candidate appear above the fray. They let him sit up top the mountain whilst Clinton and McCain take potshots at him. Most of their missiles have thus far fallen back on their heads.

If someone can get Trinity United to stop taping sermons until after November, Obama’s place on that mountain might be pretty safe.

We might need some good t-shirts, too. Nothing really rhymes with ‘Barack’.

Obama: Great in ‘08?

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The Age really stuffed up the other day. See, a new GG’s been appointed in Australia - Queen’s rep, we’re not a republic, it’s a thing - and, get this, she’s a lady.

Yet the Age’s initial article really only managed to gender-tag her in two sentences:

Prominent lawyer, academic and women’s activist Quentin Bryce will replace Major General Michael Jeffery as the Queen’s representative in September.
…
Ms Bryce and her husband, Adjunct Professor Michael Bryce AM AE, have two daughters, three sons and five grandchildren.

The first one isn’t that bad, and they saved the child-tagging for the last sentence. They do manage to give her husband’s honours (AM AE) without noting hers (AC, which is higher), but, overall, a poor showing.

Let’s see if the Herald Sun can do better. (The HS actually ran two articles, both of which are timestamped at 12am, so we’ll look at both):

Article One: First Lady takes G-G reins

KEVIN Rudd has broken with 107 years of tradition by announcing the appointment of Australia’s first female Governor-General.
…
Ms Bryce, 65, is a married mother of five with five grandchildren.

She is a former federal sex discrimination commissioner, law lecturer and a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Ms Bryce’s husband, Adjunct Prof Michael Bryce, is an architect and design expert.

I was unaware that we were referring to a historical pattern of sex discrimination as tradition, so good to know.

The HS also did a much better job of getting the crucial info that she has grown children (and therefore won’t be abandoning them to do this ‘job’ thing) higher up in the story. Description of husband’s profession, check.

That’s pretty good. What else does the HS have to offer?

Woman of substance (and I swear to god this is the lede and opening sentence):

QUENTIN Bryce is a trailblazer in a twinset. Australia’s first female Governor-General has a long record of public service and personal achievement.

Feminist, lawyer, community activist and grandmother, the Governor of Queensland is also a monarchist who believes Australia is well served by its system of government.
…
Ms Bryce was recently recognised by Harper’s Bazaar as one of Australia’s best-dressed women.

She is married to architect and designer Michael Bryce, and the couple have three sons, two daughters and five grandchildren.

Bam! That is some awesome gender-checking. That’s going to be hard to top. But I bet the 2003 Age and HS can do it! I’m sure they described then-appointee GG Michael Jeffery’s appearance, marital status, number of children, position on feminism (or other -isms), and the profession of his wife.

What? They didn’t mention any of those things [the HS article is only available on LexisNexis, so you're going to have to trust me; they mention his wife in an attached Biography]. That’s odd. I wonder why that kind of information wasn’t relevant to his appointment?

You’ll be glad to know, though, that the Canberra Times [also LN] carried an article about Marlena Jeffery the day after the announcement. She had done her husband’s dry cleaning in anticipation, has a ‘terrific smile’ and was looking forward to decorating the family house.

[Note: All articles have reduced Bryce's title - she is currently the Governor of Queensland - from 'Her Excellency' or 'Governor' to 'Ms'. This however, is a consistent Australian convention for both sexes (e.g., Mr Rudd), so I'm not counting it.]

If you feel like reading more, the Daily Telegraph (Sydney’s Murdoch sister to the HS) had comments about Bryce’s breeding and praise from fashionistas.

Links:
Australia to get first female GG [the Age]
First Lady take GG reins [Herald Sun]
Woman of Substance [Herald Sun]
PM names Michael Jeffrey as next GG [the Age]
Why Quentin Bryce is not just your Everage Governor-General [Daily Telegraph]

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Said Mr Abbott today regarding Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard:

I would … suggest that she stop shrieking at us,” Mr Abbott said.

Abbott has every right to be sexist today; Work Choices was given the boot and this blow has obviously upset his delicate nature . (He spent last night talking over people on Insight, but I guess he didn’t get it all out.)

Where else have I heard language like that? Who can guess?

Hillary, her shrill voice much improved and lowered through brutal overstrain, has certainly gained confidence and performance skill on the campaign trail, but I still don’t trust her.

That’s Camilla Paglia on Clinton last week. To be fair, she doesn’t say Clinton shrieks - she leaves that for the National Organization of Women (page 2).

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I’m addicted to the news. I know this. But I really wish I wasn’t. I had this nice little post I was going to write just before bed. Short and sweet. It was entitled, “Off the Market” and all it said was, “Go see Lars and the Real Girl.”

Unfortunately, I chose to read the Age. Now it’s 1:53 in the morning and I have to write a post that’s going to get me all agitated right before bed.

The child described in my previous post was also group raped at seven. Really, the whole situation is just appalling and you can read about it here because I just can’t detail it all.

No one denies there’s a problem with child abuse in some Aboriginal communities. The Little Children Are Sacred report clearly identified this, but there’s a myriad of politics caught up in it, as well.

And part of what is upsetting is the tone taken in the unsigned AAP piece to which I’ve linked above:

The child - who cannot be named - was gang-raped at the age of seven in Aurukun on Cape York in 2002, and was later put into foster care with a non-indigenous family in Cairns.

However, child safety officers in April 2006 returned her to Aurukun, where she was raped again at the age of 10.
…
The girl is now in the care of the Child Safety Department away from Aurukun.

The juxtaposition of the girl’s safety with the non-indigenous (presumably white) family before being thrown back to the dogs, so to speak, is just not the proper way to address a story with this much emotional and political content. The subtext of this article just screams ‘Intervention in Queensland.’

Most disturbingly, it seems to suggest that separating Aboriginal children from their families and communities is the only way to ’save’ them. I don’t think ‘been there, done that‘ is a strong enough sentiment.

This is a highly emotional issue - and rightly so. Such a situation requires incredibly careful, nuanced reporting. This is a hard news piece; it’s not really the place for detailed analysis. And this is a breaking story. But missing here is any voice from the community, any sense that these are acts committed by and inflicted on real people. They just seem to be things spoken about.

I don’t think I can say that’s equally disturbing, but it’s definitely part of the problem. And, more importantly, part of the reason why the problem exists in the first place.

These early pieces are going to set the tone for what looks to be a national debate about expansion of the Intervention. I just hope a traumatized young girl isn’t going to become the latest cudgel with which to beat indigenous Australians.

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No long waiting periods after an election in Australia - the Rudd Government was officially sworn in today. Labor voters have waited 11 and a half years for power, and boy do they have it now.

First up - ratifying Kyoto, which is highly symbolic for both climate change and, I would argue, a more general breaking of ties (or sycophantic lockstep) with the Bush government.

Also - seven women in the Cabinet, which is just awesome! Women are shockingly unrepresented in Australian politics - even given the pretty abysmal standards set in countries like the US. (I’m talking here about percentage of women involved in politics versus their 50+% of the population, so don’t go waving Pelosi or Clinton at me.) It’s great to see Rudd moving to elevate female ministers; hopefully, it will encourage more women to run for office and see more successful female candidates in the future.

People are clearly looking for change in Oz, and here’s hoping they get it. I’m a little uncomfortable with both the Federal and all the state governments now in Labor hands. I think governments work better when there is a division of power. I’d hate to see Rudd go ramming legislation down people’s throats, similar to what the Bush Admin and all Republican-controlled Congress did.

Rudd has promised to govern for ‘all Australians’ - including indigenous peoples. Let’s hope he holds to it. Someone mentioned to me the other day (or I might of read it in the paper), who better to ‘keep the bastards honest’ than the investigative journalist that now holds Mr Howard’s seat? Onwards and upwards.

It still doesn’t seem real somehow. I keep expecting Howard to be like, ‘Just kidding! I threw some kids overboard, and all immigrants go home now. And take the Aboriginals with you; we’ve opened mines on all sacred sites.’

PM Rudd Rolls Up Sleeves [Age]

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