If yesterday was a day we learned why the Coalition was full of shit, then today was a day to understand why we can't trust the Greens in the least bit. After all that good will was marshaled by the independents to put through the Oakeshott bill through the Lower House yesterday, giving some hope that something could be done. Yet today we find that political cynicism triumphs such good intentions and we are left with a defeated bill, with more boats on the way and presumably more drownings to come. Well done Greens, you have managed to support the Coalition with your balance of power. What's really curious is this bit:
Senator Hanson-Young called on the government to have urgent talks with Indonesia and to give funds directly to the UNHCR, Indonesia and Malaysia to make people safer ''in their ports''.
The senator choked up when she recalled the plight of refugee "Hussein" and his long and dangerous journey to reach Australia.
"These are the lives of the people we are playing with," she said.
"This bill does nothing to protect Hussein".
Excuse me Ms. Hanson-Young but it does protect Mr. Hussein if it deters him from getting on that boat. That choice and the attendant risks of getting on to a leaky boat rests entirely with Mr. Hussein. The government's argument is that if getting on the boat is futile because you end up back in Malaysia, then it serves to protect Mr. Hussein from himself and from making a particularly stupid and desperate mistake - and after all is said and done, this is what is being discussed. So if you can't understand that, then I can't seriously support a party that places you in a position where you grandstand and then scuttle this deal.
As Senator Xenophon so eloquently put it, the stench of compromise is not going to be as bad as the stench of death. The Greens chose death on their High Road. I don't know how they can live with themselves, but surely hypocrisy is now a national game that everybody's going to play.
But please, spare us your undignified crocodile tears. If you won't take a hit to save lives, then you're not in a position to lecture us from your stupid High Road you imagine you are on; You may as well fuck off into the night of history, you stupid, stupid cow.
One Win For Kim Dotcom
Here's an interesting moment happening over the ditch.
A New Zealand High Court judge has ruled that police search warrants used to seize property from Megaupload's founder Kim Dotcom were illegal.
Justice Helen Winkelmann found that the warrants used did not properly describe the offences to which they were related.
Kim Dotcom was arrested in January when the FBI shut down his fire-sharing website aming claims it had cost copyright holders more than $US500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content.
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The FBI agents had been accused of underhanded behaviour by Dotcom's lawyers in the High Court after they secretly copied data from his computers and took it overseas.
Justice Winkelmann has also ruled it was unlawful for copies of Dotcom's computer data to be taken offshore.
She ordered that no more items taken in the raids could be removed from New Zealand, and instructed the attorney-general to return clones of the hard drives held by New Zealand police.
Wow. Take that, FBI! So it seems one cannot simply say, 'copyright infringement' and then confiscate computers, at least in New Zealand. Very interesting development.
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