Too Busy With Exams?

Steve Edwards points out that a real, living revolution against an oppressive regime is going on as we speak. Predictably, those willing to protest against the dictatorships of Bush and Howard aren’t at all interested in Iran:

There has been nothing whatsoever from the usual suspects who simply aren’t interested in the freedom of long-suffering Iranian youth who seek a more tolerant outward looking democratic system. But where are the lefties? Certainly, as Sullivan points out, they are pretty quiet about it on Indymedia.

A visit to the Perth indymedia collective has nothing whatsoever about the student uprising. The only nod in the direction of Iran is to criticise the government for sending back failed asylum seekers to possible repercussions back home.

The reasons why are obvious. AmeriKKKa supports the Iranian students. Supporting them would be a tacit approval of the evil Bush regime. Fuck Em!

New Blog

The life and times of Teenage Communist, AgentFareEvader.

P-Platers Vindicated

Last night’s national driving test reaffirmed a few of my observations about the unfair sanctions imposed on P-Plate drivers by most Australian states.

While the test only measured road laws knowledge, it is, nonetheless an illustration of why age-based discrimination in Driving laws is not only immoral, but also practically useless.

The panel of driving instructors answered 76 per cent of questions correctly to be the highest-placed group for the night.

They were followed by the truck drivers (67 per cent), taxi drivers (65 per cent), P-platers (62 per cent) and women (61 per cent).

Far from the latent killers in need of restrictions and curfews that the government believes young people to be, P-Platers ranked behind only Professional Drivers in their knowledge of the rules of the road. The lowest ranked were “Over-65s”, who suffer no such restrictions on their freedom.

If we are going to apply blanket regulations to a group of drivers, let’s make sure we don’t forget the real dangers on our roads: Women, Celebrities, Over-65s, and Tim Blair’s readership.

Full results are available here. Take the test yourself here.

Go Harvey Go Harvey! Go Harvey Nooorman!

Thanks to the Gallop government’s continuing mission to prevent the feeble-minded West Australian public from the evil forces of capitalism, Sunday trading was again knocked on the head last week. This time, however, the retailers aren’t going to take it lying down.

WA has a strange trading laws. Businesses located in the CBD and Fremantle are permitted to trade on Sunday afternoons on the grounds of “promoting the cities of Perth and Fremantle as centres of tourism” or some such. Suburban businesses are not afforded the same rights.

Harvey Norman has announced that it is going to begin trading on Sundays regardless of what the Gallop government says. If challenged, they will fight the government in court, using the CBD trading laws as a platform. Many believe that this will result in Sunday trading in the city once again being banned, which will put Gallop in a fairly uncomfortable position, to say the least.

The most disgraceful thing about this campaign is that the so-called “independent small businesses” that are opposed to deregulation, are anything but. A coalition of grocery chains, which ARE permitted to open on Sundays because of their fresh food departments, is the major force behind the opposition to deregulation. The WA Liberals are also supporting this group.

Don’t underestimate the capability of narrow-interest groups to triumph in WA. We still don’t have daylight saving due to the “coalition of citizens against faded curtains”. I’m going to make it a point to buy something from Harvey Norman this Sunday. I need a new mouse anyway.

Arnie Ain’t Acting

A lot of Oz bloggers seem to be of the opinion that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s interest in running for governor of California is either a joke or cheap publicity stunt to promote “Terminator 3″.

Without harping on the obvious truth that Terminator 3 probably already has a fairly reasonable promotional budget, Arnie isn’t joking. He’s been in politics for a while now. He campaigned successfully last year for his “proposition 49” reform, concerning after-school activities for Californian school children. He ultimately declined to run in the 2002 elections, citing work and family commitments.

Arnie had reportedly already begun planning his campaign for the 2006 elections before incumbent Governor Gray Davis started to feel the heat of a recall.

The problem with Arnold’s 2006 plan is that he’d likely be competing with Condoleeza Rice for nomination if he waits until then. It’s pretty much now or never for Arnie.

After all, it is California we are talking about here. Apart from Reagan, Clint Eastwood and the late Sonny Bono have gone into politics in the state of California previously. They are quite willing to take actors seriously as politicians, if the actors themselves are serious about the job.

Arnie’s a good friend of Milton Friedman, he’s married to a Kennedy, and, it’s safe to say, pretty popular among voters and party members alike. I don’t see why you wouldn’t take him seriously.

Update: Something Awful says: Why stop at Governor?