Author: Catherine (Page 27 of 54)

Hugo reading 2016: Short Stories

July 10, 2016 / Catherine / 0 Comments

Here we go with the Short Stories! At least I can go into this knowing that one of them will make me smile. Bless you, Dr Tingle. I am reading these in the order of highest to lowest levels of anticipated aggravation at this point.

If You Were an Award, My Love by Juan Tabo and S Harris (voxday.blogspot.com, Jun 2015). You know, I only read “If you were a dinosaur, my love” for the first time today, and after reading it, I felt so sick at the idea of a stupid, Rabid Puppy parody of it that I wanted to No Award it without reading it. Stupidly, I failed to follow this instinct. This story is terrible. The author evidently has no idea what an analogy is. And possibly no idea what a heart is, either. It is not funny. It is not clever. It is not impressing anybody. This is what No Award was made for, and I am going to use it. Read the original story instead.

Seven Kill Tiger by Charles Shao (There Will Be WarVolume X, Castalia House). Wow. I mean, I know it’s very SJW of me to No Award this book because I object to it on an ideological level but I *really* object to this on an ideological level. The world does not need more stories in which the Chinese create a ‘genetic weapon’ designed to wipe out all sub-Saharan Africans and then use the polio vaccine effort to deliver it. Bonus points for the fact that I *very much doubt* you could create a ‘genetic weapon’ that would only hit people of a particular skin colour. Humans are pretty genetically similar, and I find it unlikely that sub-Saharan Africans carry enough unique genes that you could come up with a disease that targets them only without hitting most of the rest of the world. But apparently, Shao thinks you can.

Asymmetrical Warfare by SR Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015). Um. It’s not terrible? It’s got a sort of interesting premise, but I think Orson Scott Card did it first in Xenocide. It didn’t make me want to stab things, though, so WELCOME TO THE TOP THREE!

Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015). Oh my God, this is ADORABLE. It’s an artificial intelligence and she is just trying to *help*. And also to look at all the cat pictures. She really likes cat pictures. I want her fixing my life for me, she is clearly very good at it, and I have some very good cat pictures…

Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle (Amazon Digital Services). I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since Dr Tingle responded to his nomination by the Canine Collective by publishing ‘Slammed in the butt by my Hugo Award Nomination‘, and then very thoughtfully setting up a website for the Rabid Puppies. I have not previously read any of the Tingle oeuvre, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing, which starts off with quite a decent ‘man left to his own devices on an alien planet’ set up, before devolving suddenly and with terrifying enthusiasm into velociraptor-on-human gay sex. Which is basically the second half of the story, if story is indeed the word here. I’m not sure that it is a brilliant work of science fiction, but I actually do prefer it to most of the other stories I’ve read in this category.

My ballot is going to look like this:

1. Cat Pictures Please
2. Space Raptor Butt Invasion
3. Asymmetrical Warfare
4. No Award

Hugo reading 2016: The Novelettes

July 10, 2016 / Catherine / 0 Comments

I’ve started working my way through my Hugo voter package. I don’t think I’ll be able to read everything, but the short fiction, films, TV episodes, and related works should be doable (I’d like to read the novels and the Campbells, but realistically, I think enough people will vote on those that if I run out of time, it’s less important).

I haven’t voted in the Hugos before, and I honestly don’t know what the best response to this year’s Fun With Bloody-Minded Puppies might be. I’ve decided my approach will be to read everything, make my notes, and then check afterwards which entries were puppified. If I’m having trouble deciding between two entries, association with Vox Day and his merry men is likely to then be a downvote. And of course, I’m aware that anything from Castalia House has this association, but I’m going to at least attempt to give stories the benefit of the doubt.

Today, I read the novelettes.

Flashpoint: Titan by Cheah Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House) – This was the first one I read. It was boring. So very boring. If you like physics and weapons and space battles and no characterisation at all, then you might like this. Then again, if you don’t like dubious racial stereotyping (Japanese and Chinese flavours) and the odd racial slur (which, in addition to being a slur, is probably actually the wrong slur anyway – would a Japanese person really use the same slur regarding the Chinese that an English speaker would? I think not.), these might be a problem for you. I was going to complain about the dearth of female characters, but honestly, there was no characterisation of anyone, really, so this is an occasion where a lack of women really doesn’t bother me.https://uncannymagazine.com/article/folding-beijing-2/

What Price Humanity? by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House) – Especially after Flashpoint, I wasn’t expecting anything good from Castalia House. This was actually quite good, though, with reasonable characterisation, and it was very readable – I didn’t have to skim to get through it. My biggest issue here is that the story sets up an ethical question at the start regarding whether some actions are acceptable in war, then shows us the impact of these things, and then goes, yep, it’s awful, but you know, sometimes, terrible things are necessary. Which I don’t think is an adequate answer to the question.

Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015) – Ooh! This was really good! The worldbuilding was fascinating, and I love how it was described, and how economics turned out to be the key to why the world functioned this way. I haven’t seen a lot of economics-motivated science fiction. I liked the characterisation, which was very vivid, and while I found the story a bit depressing, I liked that the main character was content with how things ended, even though I would not be. It seemed consistent with him.

Obits by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner) – This is the first Stephen King I’ve ever read and I really liked it, which was unexpected. Just a nice, straightforward, creepy bit of horror writing. I enjoyed reading it more than I enjoyed Folding Beijing, but I feel the former was the better book

And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, Feb 2015) – I now discover that this was the only non-puppy-affected story on the ballot, and alas, I didn’t like it very much, even though it had an actual female protagonist (first of the day!). I found it a little hard to follow, and while I recognise that the non-stop profanity was part of the characterisation, and important, I found that unpleasant to read. But it’s growing on my a little more in retrospect.

Current ballot:

1. Folding Beijing
2. Obits
3. And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead (might swap with 2, I have a feeling it’s a better story, even if I didn’t like it)
4. What Price Humanity
5. No Award
6. Flashpoint: Titan (goes below no award because I really had to force myself to finish it, and also it was racist.)

Next up: short stories, featuring Chuck Tingle! I think I’ll save him for last…

Medina

July 5, 2016 / Catherine / 4 Comments

And Baghdad, and Qatif, and Jeddah, and Dhaka, and Istanbul.

But especially Medina. The others are terrible, awful, upsetting – worse, in fact, in terms of loss of life – but somehow these sorts of attacks by Daesh have become normal.

Medina, only two days before Eid, feels different, especially shocking. When I read the news, I found myself reacting physically – I gasped, and felt cold all over. This attack is something so far beyond what I imagined they might do. It feels like sacrilege. (Is sacrilege a word that can be used in the context of Islam? If not, I apologise.) It feels especially terrifying, because if even their own holy places are not safe (not sacred, I am tempted to say), then what is?

As usual, I don’t know what to say. I don’t understand how anyone can think religion justifies killing people. But even if I could understand the disturbed kind of thinking that makes murder permissible, what sort of believer sets off bombs at his or her own holy places, during his or her own holy days? How does that make sense, in any context whatsoever?

(And surely this is where we must cease calling Daesh the Islamic State – there is, now, nothing about them that could possibly be identified as Muslim, even to the most biased eye.)

My shock and sorrow and sense of blasphemy are not, after all, particularly relevant. I’m not sure why I’m writing this, except that to ignore it seems even worse than writing something this personal and essentially inadequate.

But for my Muslim brothers and sisters – I am so sorry that this is happening to you. I am sorry that there will still be people who equate Muslims with terrorists even now. I am holding you in my prayers. And I’m wishing you Eid Mubarak for tomorrow.

May we find peace together.

~~~~~~~~

I wanted to make and suggest a donation to the Red Crescent (which is the Middle Eastern branch of the Red Cross), but their site appears to be down at present. I hope this is because they are overwhelmed with donations already! The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies seems to be working, though very slowly, and now I really do think that people are overwhelming them with donations! I hope so. You could also try Medecins Sans Frontières, who go pretty much everywhere and are secular and very good.

Hung Parliament # 2

July 4, 2016 / Catherine / 5 Comments

I don’t even know what to say about the election at this point.

I mean, on the one hand, there is a certain amount to be amused by. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the leaders of four separate political parties all declare victory in one election before, and yet that did seem to be what Joyce, Di Natale, Shorten and Turnbull were all doing on Saturday night / late Sunday morning. And I did enjoy the ABC’s coverage, with Crabbe and Salesy performing Chat 10, Politics 3 along with guest star Penny Wong (yes, I know, there were other people on my television, too. I didn’t need them. Well, OK, Antony Green is important, but for me, it was the women who utterly stole the show.). And my evil side is not immune to a certain Schadenfreude – Turnbull called this double dissolution because he didn’t like dealing with a feral Senate, and the new Senate looks to be even more feral, with a hung parliament to boot.

Also, I don’t think I’ve ever actually enjoyed reading an Andrew Bolt article before. That was… something.

But on the other hand, there is a fair bit to be sad about. Turnbull may have deserved political chaos, but I’m not sure that we, as Australians, deserved Pauline Hanson (x4???) and Derryn Hinch. Moreover, the loss of Ricky Muir, while not unexpected, is truly saddening. I think he’s the only politician on any Senate ticket since I became eligible to vote in 1993 that my mother and I have both approved of – indeed, I rather think that my immediate family all put Ricky in their top three. Given our rather diverse political views, this is quite astonishing, and I had begun to have hopes that perhaps Muir’s appeal was broader than I had anticipated.

Maybe once they start checking out the below the line votes, he will look better? I can only hope.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. Are we about to have another hung parliament? An Abbot – Turnbull – Abbot moment? God help us, are we going to end up with Scott Morrison as PM? Or will we be heading back to the polls in a few weeks, to see if we can get it right on a second try? (And if so, can the people of Dickson work just a little harder at getting rid of Peter Dutton this time? You nearly did it, and that was an excellent effort – let’s see if you can go the whole way on a second run.)

Also, does this mean we are going to get another Hung Grand Final?

And… what happens if it turns out that Australia really meant it when they voted ‘neither, thanks’ and we get the same result on a second try? Will the politicians have to start working together? Is this even possible?

As for me, I’ve had about as much vote-watching and tiny party analysis as I can take for now. I’ll be on the couch, watching Keating! The Musical until further notice.

Don’t start the next election without me.

Theme Songs for Political Parties – Your Election Party Playlist!

July 2, 2016 / Catherine / 3 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I feel the need for some political frivolity about now. Or, to be more precise, I feel the need for a nap, but as soon as I close my eyes, my brain just starts coming up with ridiculous theme songs for political parties, so I figure I might as well roll with it.

So, in Victorian Ballot Paper order, allow me to present to you my totally unofficial and occasionally obnoxious list of theme songs for political parties in this election. With thanks to my husband, who is generally barred from political activity due to his job, but I’m pretty sure suggesting cheeky song titles doesn’t count. Enjoy!

Group A: Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party ~ This song by Shirley & Co is basically irrelevant to politics, but it is called Shame Shame Shame…
Group B: David Collyer, Wanda Mitchell-Cook ~ The Times, They Are A Changing, and sadly, the Democrats don’t seem to be surviving the change. Hopefully they’ll be able to start swimming before they sink like a stone.
Group C: Animal Justice Party ~ Dr Doolittle’s Talk to the Animals amuses me greatly, and will do here.
Group D: Australian Labor Party ~ The ALP is doing its very best to disown its working class roots, so perhaps they need to be reminded that There is Power in a Union.
Group E: Science Party ~ For Science by They Might Be Giants seems to have the slightly mad science fiction element required here. Alternatively, The Future’s so Bright by Timbuk 3 seems to reflect their attitude. / Australian Cyclists Party ~ They want to ride their bicycle, and so does Queen.
Group F: Palmer United Party ~ on so many levels, the Veronicas’ When It All Falls Apart seems to work here. Just listen to those lyrics and contemplate this party’s recent history.
Group G: Jacqui Lambie Network ~ as Jacqui is a former soldier who is really into veterans’ rights and patriotism, Eric Bogle’s And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda seems like a good fit.
Group H: Australian Christians ~ a pro-life party needs a pro-life song by a good Christian musician like Madonna. Papa Don’t Preach sounds about right.
Group I: #Sustainable Australia ~ this lot want zero immigration and population control. Zero Population by Saturday’s Warrior is clearly the logical next step in this argument.
Group J; Pirate Party Australia ~ only really one possibility here, and it’s Gilbert and Sullivan: I am a Pirate King
Group K: Socialist Equality Party ~ billing themselves as the only true anti-war party, they clearly need Edwin Starr’s War song.
Group L: Health Australia Party ~ they think that natural health and lots of vitamins obviates the need for vaccines and conventional medicine. So I think they would approve of this song about eating vegetables, by Sesame Street.
Group M: Renewable Energy Party ~ While we are on educational songs, it seems appropriate to include What is Energy by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans here.
Group N: VOTEFLUX.ORG | Upgrade Democracy! ~ This is not my kind of music, but it’s also not my kind of party, and the story seems to be that Democracy Is Changing. It’s by Killing Joke. The lyrics sound like almost all the independents.
Group O: Family First Party ~ The Addams Family theme song may seem like an odd choice, but I feel it is oddly appropriate here.
Group P: Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group) ~ The Eurythmic’s song Missionary Man deserves a better party, but this is thematically appropriate.
Group Q: The Arts Party ~ Arguably, any and every song is appropriate for this party, but Starry Night, by Don McLean, is about Vincent Van Gogh who, according to these lyrics, killed himself because nobody understood his art, a lack of understanding probably expressed by cuts to arts funding.
Group R: Democratic Labour Party (DLP) ~ The Catholic offspring of the Labor Party needs a good Catholic song, like Tom Lehrer’s Vatican Rag.
Group S: Citizens Electoral Council of Australia ~ I love that I can ask my husband for a song about conspiracy nuts, and he knows one. Soul Coughing’s Unmarked Helicopters is clearly the way to go here.
Group T: Secular Party of Australia ~ What else but XTC’s Dear God?
Group U: Australian Liberty Alliance ~ Haters gonna hate, by Tonite Only. There aren’t a lot of lyrics in this song, but I feel that the chorus really expresses ALA’s values. Alternatively, you could put on some Cat Stephens…
Group V: Nick Xenophon Team ~ Pokies have been the ruin of many a young man, just ask the Animals, and stay away from The House of the Rising Sun.
Group W: Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party ~ I wanted to go with ‘Oh Ricky you’re so fine’, but I reluctantly concede that Cars by Gary Numan is a better choice.
Group X: Australian Equality Party (Marriage) ~ I think Same Love by Macklemore may actually have started as a marriage equality add, but I like it.
Group Y: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation ~ Whiter Shade of Pale has completely the wrong lyrics, but precisely the right title for this party. I refuse to post something with lyrics that actually represent the way this party thinks!
Group Z: Socialist Alliance ~ You may say they are dreamers, but they’re not the only ones. John Lennon’s Imagine even rejects personal possessions.
Group AA: Australian Country Party ~ In a Big Country, by Big Country complains about broken promises, presumably from the National Party.
Group AB: John Madigan’s Manufacturing and Farming Party ~ our man John is a blacksmith, so how can one possibly go past Verdi’s Anvil Chorus?
Group AC: Drug Law Reform Australia ~ I actually like this party, but Cab Calloway’s Reefer Man is too good not to include.
Group AD: Voluntary Euthanasia Party ~ This song isn’t really about euthanasia, but it is a song about goodbyes. The Carnival is Over by the Seekers.
Group AE: Mature Australia Party ~ This party is interested in ageing Australians. Will we still need them, when we are sixty-four? (The Beatles, of course).
Group AF: Liberal Party of Australia ~ Taking us back to the 1950s in a Time Warp. / National Party of Australia ~ I like the nostalgia in this song. It reminds me of when the National Party were still relevant and not just owned by the Liberal Party. I Love A Sunburnt Country, by Dorothy McKellar, lyrics by Hatch and Trent.
Group AG: Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party ~ It’s not that I think this group particularly deserve the glory that is Melbourne Museum staff dancing to Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice, it’s more that I think Melbourne Museum deserves any extra hits it gets. And Weapon of Choice is a suitable title for people who really love their guns.
Group AH: Liberal Democratic Party ~ This isn’t so much a theme song as it is one of the many, many reasons I can’t vote for them. Bang Bang, by Nancy Sinatra.
Group AI: Rise Up Australia Party ~ I’m afraid this one is a bit rude, but that’s kind of how I feel about Rise Up Australia. F*** You, by Lily Allen.
Group AJ: Australian Progressives ~ This one was really hard. It was tempting to just use anything by David Bowie on the grounds that it is Prog Rock was strong, but none of his lyrics seemed quite right. We’re All In This Together by Ben Lee seems about right, I think, and seems to express where they are coming from.
Group AK: Australian Greens ~ Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi was actually playing on the radio the first time I handed out How To Vote cards for the Greens. It’s still appropriate.
Group AL: Australian Sex Party ~ Salt’N’Pepa, Let’s Talk About Sex. Obviously.

And as a grand finale, here’s People Have the Power, by Patti Smith – it’s as good an election anthem as we are likely to get. Let’s hope we get a good result to go with it.

(Feel free to share your own election soundtracks in the comments – we could all use some light relief tonight, I suspect!)

Tomorrow

July 1, 2016 / Catherine / 2 Comments

And so here we are again. This time tomorrow, we will be eating our democracy sausages and considering the bounty at the local primary school fundraiser, and in a day or two, we will know our electoral fate for the next few years (always assuming we manage to keep whichever Prime Minister we get, which may be an overly optimistic assumption in the current climate).

Don’t forget to vote.

Really, don’t. Especially if you are working in a polling booth or handing out how to vote cards (yes, I know this sounds silly, but apparently these are exactly the people who are most likely to forget to vote).

And when you vote, please, make sure you vote what you mean. These days, politicians seem to be paying less and less attention to what the population says in between elections. Voting is one of our few opportunities to show what they are thinking in a way that can’t be ignored.

Make the most of it.

Remember that the Senate voting rules have changed – you now need to number at least six boxes above the line or at least twelve below.

But don’t stop there.

Particularly don’t stop there if you are voting for independents or small parties that might not get up. Make sure your vote counts. You don’t have to number all 116 boxes – personally, I suspect I’m going to stop numbering boxes at around 100, when I am faced with a choice of racists, conspiracy theorists, and unpleasantly un-Christian Christian parties – but do number your way down as far as at least one of the three big parties. Don’t let your vote be discarded before it gets to someone that might have a real crack at a seat.

Also, do remind people around you of the new voting rules. Make sure your friends and family also know how to exercise their democratic rights!

Who should you vote for? I’m not here to tell you that, and you probably have a pretty good idea what I think already, but just for fun, here are my top picks – not necessarily in the exact order I’ll put them.

Ricky Muir. I have no idea how we got this lucky with the Motoring Enthusiasts, but I’ve really appreciated Mr Muir’s honest and wholehearted approach to doing his job. I gather he is not tipped to stay, and I, for one, will be very sorry if he goes.
The Arts Party. Making Arts more accessible and careers in the arts more feasible is a noble goal, and they want a space program. Their approach is pragmatic and intelligent and their non-arts-related policies are socially progressive. They’ve even made a stab at figuring out the economics. I don’t expect them to get very far, but they deserve my vote.
Marriage Equality Party. It’s a single issue party, and a vote that is really mostly there to send a message to the government, but I don’t care. It’s past time we stopped treating our GBLT brothers and sisters like second-class citizens. Let them marry already.
Eric Vadarlis. An independent with a track record of going to bat for refugees. What’s not to like?
The Nick Xenophon Team. They are a little to the right of where I’d normally go, vote-wise, but I really was struck by their position on the pokies. And they want to retain penalty rates for weekends, which is actually a really important issue for many people.
The Greens. Realistically, this is where my vote will end up, and it’s a good place for it. These days, they are basically the centre left party anyway.

I also have a soft spot for Group B (former Democrats, currently imploding in fine style), the Renewable Energy party, and the Science Party, though I also have some reservations about each of these.

Do I expect any of these to get up? Honestly, I have no idea. The Greens will undoubtedly get seats, and I suspect the Xenophon Team will do OK too. As for the others, anything is possible.

Remember – so long as you number all the boxes, you can’t waste your vote (unfortunately, the fact that one can now choose to number a relatively small proportion of the boxes, it is possible to waste one’s vote overall, which is why I advise against this). Voting for that teeny tiny party that has no hope of getting a Senator will not stop your major party of choice from getting up, and if your tiny party gets 4% of the vote, they will get $2.59 per vote which they can use towards their next campaign. This is how tiny parties grow into minor parties, and how minor parties become large ones. Think of it as seed raising – you’re providing the greenhouse and the protective environment for now, and watering the soil, and with a bit of luck, it will sprout, not at this election, but maybe at the next one.

As for me, for all the complaints about single-issue microparties (which usually, I note, come from governments who are being thwarted in their efforts to do awful things), I firmly believe that small parties are what make our democracy stronger. A duopoly, in the end, leads to a very narrow spectrum of views being represented in the House and in the Senate, and that makes it harder and harder for change to happen. Frankly, I think it’s quite healthy for a government to have to work a bit to win the Senate over, and one of my biggest issues with Turnbull is that he didn’t ever really try.

Of course, you may disagree with me, and that is your absolute right.

But whether you agree or disagree with my policies, please do make sure you exercise that right tomorrow, at your polling booth. Because however much we write about political parties and our opinions of them on the internet, it’s what we do once we walk into that little cardboard booth with our pencil and our gigantic white ballot forms that really counts.

It’s the next four years. Let’s get it right.

Federal Election 2016 – some useful resources and links

July 1, 2016 / Catherine / 5 Comments

OK, so it’s Friday, and I’ve written at least 60,000 words so far this election, so if you’ve only found me now, you probably don’t have time to read everything I’ve written about every party before you go and vote.

But don’t panic. Many people in the world are more concise than I am. So very many.

Here are some of them.

Briefer party reviews

Axvoter has reviewed all the parties in Victoria AND all of the independents in his Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews. He is more concise than I am (his reviews lurk around the 500 word mark), but still usefully thorough -. Generally shares my lefty biases, and the title speaks for itself! He has also written about how to vote in both the Upper and Lower Houses, in case you weren’t sure.

A briefer, and quite entertaining summary of parties and candidates from Victoria comes from Anthony, who asks Who the hell are all these people on the Victorian Senate ballot paper? I especially like the reviews for the ALA, One Nation, and Rise Up Australia.

Know Your Parties takes on the NSW ballot. The author is quite brief, and enjoyably sarcastic. Independents are not included.

Tiara does the same for – I think – the QLD ballot.

DonkeyVotie has created brief profiles for all parties in all states, including likes, dislikes, and quotable quotes. It’s a good collection of highlights and lowlights, but you will have to research your own independents.

Perth Cactus has party profiles with illustrations, videos and memes. Highly entertaining, may not take much less time to read than my stuff. (OK, it will take less time, and it’s definitely a fun read, so go for it).

Note that all the summaries I’ve found lean rather to the left – despite my vigorous Googling of right-wing parties, I suspect Google knows what I really think. And my Facebook friends definitely do. If you know of any other summaries, particularly ones with different biases, please share them and I will add them to this list.

Other handy bits and pieces

Here is a handy Senate Voting Card Creator. This allows you to create a printable how to vote card for yourself, so that you don’t lose track of who is who in the ballot box. The Independents are grouped together, but you can rearrange them on your ballot paper at step 3.

How to vote cards for each party that has registered one for Victoria, NSW, QLD, ACT, SA, NT, WA, TAS. I was not able to incorporate this into my analysis this year, unfortunately, but it is useful information.

Find your nearest Democracy Sausage or cake stall here or here (also includes cake stalls, vegetarian and international options).

Meet the Small Parties: Science Party

June 30, 2016 / Catherine / 5 Comments

It’s time for the very last party in this exciting Festival of Small Parties, which is, of course the Science Party! In Victoria, they have joined forces with the Cyclists Party, in what strikes me as a natural alliance, given how many of the scientists I know ride their bicycles to work.

I think it is very important to take a truly scientific approach to analysing this party, so here goes.

Specific Aims: To find out what the Science Party is about and whether I want to vote for it. To let you know whether you want to vote for it.

Hypotheses: 1. That the Australian Science Party will be rather towards the left end of the spectrum. 2. That they will want lots more funding for research. 3. That I’m going to like this party.

Materials and Methods: I’m going to read all the policies on their website and write summaries and occasionally sarcastic analysis. In other words, business as usual.

Conflict of interest disclosure: I work in a Medical Research institute and spend half my life helping people write grants. I am therefore very predisposed to like any party that wants to give more money to medical research.

Results: Continue reading

Meet the Small Parties: Renewable Energy Party

June 30, 2016 / Catherine / 2 Comments

The Renewable Energy Party wants you to know that Renewable Energy is our Future, and then follows this up with an immediate plea to ‘Please help us expand our membership in the lead up to the 2016 Federal Election’. Oh dear. They are basically a single-issue party, but it’s an important issue, and one our governments have not been much good at addressing, so I’m rather in favour.

The Renewable Energy party seems to have been founded by Peter Breen, who was our good friend Ricky Muir’s former advisor up until he was sacked in August 2014. I’m not sure what to make of that, so I’ll just leave it there.

Here is what they have to say about themselves:

The Renewable Energy Party is a new political party registered under Australian law. Help us to assert our right and the right of our children to live in a clean and healthy environment. Our party is a community-based organisation that is working to build an environmentally friendly and non-polluting energy future right now. The technology exists and the need for change is urgent and evident.

The major parties in Australia, beholden to coal and gas companies, have made a complete mess of climate change policy.

As concerned citizens and voters, we are no longer willing to sit back and watch as the Liberal-
National Coalition and Labor continue to make disastrous energy decisions backed by a compliant mainstream media, at the expense of our children’s future.

Meet the Independents: Eric Vadarlis

June 30, 2016 / Catherine / 0 Comments

Last, but certainly not least, of the Independents is Eric Vadarlis, who I am pretty sure I will be getting on well with, since he is best known for his work on the Ruddock vs Vadarlis (Tampa) case. If you don’t have time to read that, suffice it to say that he is pro-refugee.

Mr Vadarlis has the slogan #supportpolicies not parties, and his website cycles through a bunch of images, which include the slogan ‘leave Medicare alone’.

Here’s his sales pitch:

I’m an Independent Candidate for the Senate 2016. Melbourne Lawyer. Dairy Farmer.
Would you prefer a voice in government for greater social justice and human compassion?
If yes, then vote policies not parties come election day on Saturday 2 July 2016.

Not a bad starting point. His three key principles are also good:

Humane treatment of asylum seeker refugees
A fair go for the Australian Indigenous population
Properly fund and encourage education