Socrates

As anybody who has suffered through first year philosophy knows Socrates was the inventor of philosophy. This excellent reading by William Zappa enlivens the text. As usual with the ABC it has inadequate supporting material. The two key questions, IMHO , are
What was Socrates role in the development of propositional logic and
did Socrates exist ?
In addition Socrates role as a gadfly ( this seems to be a poor translation from the Greek in this text) to the rich and powerful in society seems to be an essential function in a democracy. For not bad introduction to Plato written in passable English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato

Monarchy

Now that it appears that the Liberal party has something approaching sane leadership ( Malcom Turnbull) it is time for the Republican issue to make a return. In this light the program Monarchy on ABC TV is so far an exercise in monarchical propaganda ; the problem is not so much the quality of the program ( it is very high) it's the way the discussion is framed : the focus should be on the development of democracy. Unfortunately there is no Webchat feedback as there is on the Channel 4 website. There is one positive from this framing : as the conclusion of the program is absurd ; the triumph of a ridiculous institution, the causal inevitability of monarchy outlined in the show must be false. By similar argument the arrival of more and more democratic forms of government is accidental.

Couldn't say it better : La rongeur est mort

Richierich on the Phillip Adam's blog ( the numbered points are mine)
"the Liberals must repudiate Howard and his 11 1/2 year debacle as PM of Australia, if they ever want to be taken seriously as a political force ever again. The Australian people have spoken and they have emphatically rejected this despicable political opportunist and his team of hacks. No one should feel sorry for anyone of them in the slightest.
1.They ruthlessly manipulated situations to suit they’re (sic) needs,
2. maligned opposing viewpoints and speakers,
3. stifled debate,
4. lied consistently and without remorse,
5. subverted the political process and
6. knee-capped the public service.
In terms of contribution to this society, the opposing ledger is blank. Confine them to the dustbin of history as they so rightfully deserve. Let us now move forward. Justice does come to those who can wait."
Each of these numbered threads deserves a chapter in Howard's political history not to mention a chapter on his racism and his burning of the Liberal party. The Nicholson cartoon says it all " So long suckers".

The Australian now censoring its blog

To compound the Australian's woefully biased election coverage it is now excluding certain posters.
Two posts of mine failed to get into its blogs yesterday : one to Phillip Adams and one to Caroline Overington. The one on Overington's referred to her attempt to influence the result in Wentworth ( the baton has now been handed over to Salusinzsky ) . Overington's understanding of polls is extremely weak and the line that the election is close is nonsense, though this line is parrotted by more than one journalist. Why the Adams post was not included is behind me ; basically I agreed with Adams with two additions : Howard's use of lies as a modus operandi and the exclusive role of self interest in Howard's politics.

4 Corners on Australia’s air force procurement

This post seems to have been eaten by the Spaminator at Lavvie Prodders
( Wordpress's text box also does funny things to html).
The problem of Russian weapons systems of being incompatible is being solved. The Sukhoi Su-30
"Su-30MKA Highly specialised version for Algeria is similar to the MKI, but will principally be equipped with French and Russian avionics. It will feature head-up and multifunction displays from the Thales Group and Sagem of France." Other defence forces are also changing the Su-30's avionics.
The Russians also wouldn't be the only possible source of spare parts for the Su-30.
There are a number of issues that the excellent Four Corners brought up and for some of the terms in that program see Fighter Aircraft
1. These fighters have to be considered as an overall part of our defence forces and not just as toys for the boys.( The JSF F-35 Lightning II is likely to be the last " meat in the seat" as far as the U.S. is concerned).
The key example : if in the scenario of the attack on the military communications headquarters on the outskirts of Jakarta we had used the Super Hornets against the Indonesians Su-30s then all of the Super Hornets would have been destroyed. This may be an acceptable cost for the goal achieved if we have sufficient other defence assets. However we have to go through most probable scenario analyses and I find a direct attack on the Indonesians improbable. We might plan however for an outlying territorial dispute with the Indonesians.
2. The decision to buy the JSF appears to have been made very carelessly.
3. The JSF is also a comparatively slow aircraft against the Su-30. The scenario of an interaction between the JSF and Su-30s wasn't explored on the Four Corners program.
4, The decision to buy the interim Super Hornet was hopelessly flawed.

Puck you Mr Howard

It has now become the "fashion" for some passer by to utter some profanity in Mr Howard's direction. This tendency should be discouraged as it does not reflect well upon the office of Prime Minister. If some yoof should utter some rude word directed at the P.M. and post his/her feeble attempt at protest on yoof toobs , then this should not be rewarded by payment of monies into his/ her account. This would be wrong.

Kevin Andrews Racist ?

Kevin Andrews is at the heart of the government's woes. He was responsible for WorkChoices and now problems with the Immigration department. His handling of the supposed Sudanese problem ( see ABC's Media Watch 8/10/07) has been incompetent at best. It is also clear that his brand of Christianity is a peculiar one.
In this interview Andrews says"Rudd has tried to superficially bridge this class cap by wearing his Christian soul on his sleeve. Rudd's repudiation of economic fundamentalism and heightened sense of compassion in public affairs is therefore phoney and misleading". Attempted translation of this gobbledegook :
If you don't believe in economic fundamentalism ( whatever that is) your Christianity is false.
Another logic field day. Anyway Pauline Hanson is behind the good minister and that's all that counts.

The Beazer's Defence Farces

Lavvie Prodders has this reference to the rambling last spray to parliament by the Beazer. The Beazer had this intriguing offering "The radar of our Hornet could not identify most of the aircraft in this region as hostile—in other words, our front-line fighter could not shoot down people who would be the enemies in this region." By radar I think Beazer means the IFF ( the identify friend or foe system) which is not part of the radar system but a separate transponder. This system which is still far from perfect is probably only of use ( and then limited) in war conditions when the air space isn't as crowded. Its liberal use in peacetime is likely to get civilian aircraft shot down. ( see the Iran Air Flight 655 shoot down tho its abilities will have improved significantly since) This opens up a number of questions about this and other defence purchases ( which Wikipedia can't answer of course)
1. Was U.S. military IFF in development during the time of purchase of the Hornet?
2. What exactly was the reason for the U.S.'s failure to update the Hornet's IFF ?
The U.S. military if it is thinking clearly( contradiction?) would see that allies have compatible if detuned IFFs and perhaps that was what the delay was about : a standards committee setting that detuning.

League of Gentlemen

Seems I am no longer allowed to post on John Quiggin's blog. This is a pity since this is the best blog site in Australia. What started it all was this egregious post from one Mugwump ( and a previous post of mine refers to a the same thread , different poster Bingo Bango Boingo or Mug Jnr)
Here it is the offending paragraph in all it's gory glory.
"Government responsibility for provision of services is more devolved here, so while you do typically have 3 levels of tax-raising governments (just like Australia by the way - you seem to have forgotten about local councils), the lowest level (usually the county) provides far more of the services at the local level, such as schooling, water. For example, my county takes in $1 billion in annual revenues and spend $500 million of it on the local schools. That makes the schools and other local services more responsive to local interest and less prone to capture by special interests (such as teacher unions pushing boneheaded lefty curricula).
Most counties in the US are very pro-development. They understand where the money comes from - the wealth creators - so there is a lot of effort put into attracting wealth creators."
If you are going to be tendentious at least post references to the level of Wikipedia. However I think the intention of this missive is propagandist.
Mug then goes on to say how good the American health system is . Pity he couldn't just refer to Wikipedia or even just see "Sicko" both of which aren't so sanguine about it. Personal anecdote doesn't cut it on teh Intertoobs.

Childrens do Learn

Take note Blair Prez Bush thinks there's hope for you yet.

Clichepedia or is that Clichetedia

"Looking forward into the future" and this marvellous effort at JohnQuiggin.com which perhaps be referred to as gobledegookomania
Bingo Bango Boingo Says:
September 25th, 2007 at 4:27 pm

It’s one thing to detract from liberty by appropriating funds from the citizenry and spending it on ‘free’ (!) government-chosen goods and services (and he cases where this is justified are few and far between, and certainly do not extend to things easily provided by the citizenry themselves (eg. health and education)). It is quite another to engage in broad-based wealth redistribution. That is much easier to justify, since it is a slighter impingment on freedom and retains the benefits of free(r) markets (innovation, responsiveness, etc. as mugwump has aluded to). In reality, the ones who do best from the freeing up of relevant product and service markets are the previously marginalised whose opportunities are held by back by inefficient and/or low-quality government services (this is particularly the case with education).

This is a field day for lovers of fine illogic.

Is Mandela the New Plastic Turkey

Will Blair will now spend his time trailing through the entrails of the Internet looking for plastic Mandela's.
As if Blair doesn't believe that if you think it feels good then it is true.

Grace Pettigrew gets Plastic Turkeyed

Over at the right royal dumbness an inadvertent bystander cops the full blast of dumbness.

More Blair propaganda about Don Bradman

The editor of Moron News has the attention span of a gnat and doesn't tolerate opposing positions. From Wikipedia "In the final Test at The Oval, Bradman walked out to bat in Australia’s first innings, and received a standing ovation from the crowd and three cheers from the opposition. His Test batting average stood at 101.39. Facing the wrist-spin of Eric Hollies, Bradman pushed forward to the second ball that he faced, was deceived by a wrong 'un, and bowled between bat and pad for no score."
All this would be of little significance except for Joe Hockey's unfortunate metaphor.

Ageing , Balding Dipsomaniac laughs at Age Dwarf

Blair

The Atheist Manifesto

Two cheers for Richard Dawkins. His polemic is an important next step in the political movements started in the 60's and what were termed the politics of liberation. The politics of weaning humankind from ancient texts claiming to explain the Universe is the most important fight of all. Dawkins does however over simplify somewhat. The centrality of argument and reason in that fight can't be disputed. For further criticism of Dawkins see http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/07-07-04.html#feature

InterToobs

There are not many simple graphics demonstrating how the InterToobs actually work but here's one from Andrea GiaCobbe.

The Oxymoron of Secret Intelligence

The failure of intelligence agencies has been a failure of their ability to objectively test information they have gained. This is one of the central problems of a democracy : to what extent do we rely on these secret agencies for our security. This problem has many aspects : some are statistical ( whether evidence is validated and whether models you are using are logical and statistically optimal) and logistical ( the release of surveillance methods and knowledge to your enemy) and democratic. ( You are infringing the rights of citizens and their right to a fair trial).

Monkeys taken to Iraq for Training

In remarkable news on Media Watch those ever reliable sources of information Andrew Bolt, Miranda Devine and Dennis Shanahan were taken to Iraq for meetings with General Petraeus. Do these sleazy media whores know no boundary? Apparently the devine Ms Devine is now a fully credentialled war reporter and knows all about Iraq after her meeting with the good general.

TURKEY FRENZY!

What is Blair's obsession with plastic turkeys ? The bloke is beyond parody ; his level of stupidity requires constant practice obviously.