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Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

theage.com.au

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Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#81

Post by chris_wot »

jacques_chester wrote: post #47
chris_wot wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've not bothered reading the SMH (and by extension, The Age) online for a long time. The online version is weak, lazy journalism, incredibly (to my mind) even worse than The Daily Telegraph . Check out www.smh.com.au now... More than a third of the articles are about celebrities, or are vapid commentary on meaningless issues. There's a bit of content, but nothing really groundbreaking. And today is a day when there…

I've said in other places that there are two Sydney Morning Heralds . One is an old fashioned high-church leftie yawnfest staffed mostly by people who dine out on stories about being stoned in the 60s. The other is a tabloid bilge pump. The bilge pays for the yawnfest and everybody tries to pretend that the pulpit isn't being subsidised by the people it rails against.

Worst of both worlds. To my mind, it seems to me that they have rudderless leadership, and lazy journalism. I severely doubt they know anything about the South West of Sydney, for instance. That would require leaving the North Shore occasionally :-)

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#82

Post by jacques_chester »

vidarh wrote: post #75
jacques_chester wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would materially affect any Australian government how, exactly? A particularly spicy Monbiot column? Gosh!

Who is talking about the Australian government? Nobody cares about the Australian government. It's the UK government that would be the target. We can argue whether or not they would care any more, but given the amount of time senior UK politicians have already spent talking about what is ostensibly "just" a normal extradition case, and spent trying to undo the diplomatic uproar caused by ever-so-slightly hinting they…

Sorry, I misread you.

I don't think the UK government would be fussed either. If nothing else, they are legally required to arrest Assange if he leaves the Ecuadorean embassy, regardless of what title he has.

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#83

Post by chris_wot »

jacques_chester wrote: post #61
vacri wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, the greens are a gimmick party. Even the democrats were a gimmick party - their slogan was for a long time not even about their own party ('keep the bastards honest'). I'd much rather the Sex Party get the last senate seat than the DLP (who nabbed it in Vic last time around). Pretty much any party that hasn't had a serious go in power is a gimmick party, simply due to lack of experience.

You're just redefining "gimmick" to suit your argument. I don't consider minor and microparties to be gimmicks because they don't get many votes. I consider them gimmicks if they use a gimmicky tactic to garner votes. I consider the Sex Party to be a gimmick. Because teehee, Sex Party , get it? We are talking about the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia , not the sort of suburban football club or undergradua…

Easy! I think they've got a gimmick going also, and frankly some of their policies make me shudder, but they are actually quite serious politically.

Just one opinion of millions :-) I wouldn't vote for the, though.

The Greens, btw, aren't gimmicky in any way, IMO.

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#84

Post by chris_wot »

vidarh wrote: post #73
Kiro wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing mysterious going on here. It's not uncommon for another prosecutor to reopen a case if there are reasonable grounds for it. You can't seriously argue that someone who is accused of rape should just be set free like that. Guilty or not he should stand trial.

> It's not uncommon for another prosecutor to reopen a case if there are reasonable grounds for it Of course, nobody has actually given any reasons for it. And I've not seen any indication that this isn't in fact uncommon in Sweden. There are however many other factors that makes it curious. Such as their dogged insistence they couldn't possibly question him in London, despite the fact they have questioned other susp…

Don't forget the lack of transparency in these sort of trials in Sweden.

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#85

Post by dpearson »

chris_wot wrote: post #29
contingencies wrote: post #25

Summary: Weak my mom says I'm cool hit-piece by AAP, Australian Associated Press. AAP is 90% owned by News Ltd and Fairfax, the two major publishers in the country, who promote it as a national organization but have a massive commercial interest in the media status quo. The media status quo is threatened by Assange, who has been extremely vocal about the failures of journalism and would presumably seek to re-regulate…

I've not bothered reading the SMH (and by extension, The Age) online for a long time. The online version is weak, lazy journalism, incredibly (to my mind) even worse than The Daily Telegraph . Check out www.smh.com.au now... More than a third of the articles are about celebrities, or are vapid commentary on meaningless issues. There's a bit of content, but nothing really groundbreaking. And today is a day when there…

> Old media is indeed dying.

I can't speak for Autralian media, but "old" media like the New York Times and the Washington Post in the US seem to still do well for themselves. Many big investigative pieces still come from newspapers, as most online-only outlets don't yet have the resources for that work. Newspapers are certainly less responsive (and the smaller papers are declining in quality, unfortunately), but for high-quality journalism the old guard has yet to be beat.

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#86

Post by chris_wot »

rmccue wrote: post #80
mr_eel wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the humour, but he's running for Senate, not Parliament :)

Parliament includes both Houses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Australia (Sorry to be pedantic. ;) )

The House of Representatives is what I think is being thought of :-)

Sorry to pile on, but as an aside, in the Senate it's all red, and in the House of Representatives it's Royal Red. In Australia, exit signs are green - everywhere except in the senate, which apparently amended legislation to my the sign red.

Given their preference for red, however, one wonders why there are so many of The Greens in the Senate.

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#87

Post by chris_wot »

mr_eel wrote: post #51
digitalengineer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extradite, waterboard, soletary confinement, sleep deprivation... The only positive thing is it would set a nice precedent for corrupt Parliament members.

Sorry… it's HN, it brings out the finest pedantry in me.

Don't apologise, there's always someone ready to correct you when the mood strikes!

Speaking of taking undue care, I always ensure I double check the word "pedantry" when typing it into a text box via an iPad, lest the "n" turn into an "s".

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#88

Post by jacques_chester »

chris_wot wrote: post #76
adaml_623 wrote: post #14

Nice idea. Become a Senator and try for diplomatic immunity. Walk out of the Ecuadorian Embassy and wave goodbye to the police who have been waiting for him for the last umpteen months. The legal wrangling could become quite complicated if he succeeded. If the voters in Oz realise how annoyed the UK government would be if he did this then that would help his odds even more. For US residents I'll point out that Senate…

For US residents I'll point out that Senate spots in Australia are won using a state based proportional system with multiple Senators for each of our 6 states and 2 territories. This means that independent and minority groups can often get 1 or 2 Senators into the upper house. You've got that around the wrong way. The Senate is not proportionally worked out when determining Senator numbers. That's the House of Repres…

I think he was talking about the voting system, rather than the number of Senators from each state.

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#89

Post by chris_wot »

jacques_chester wrote: post #88
chris_wot wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For US residents I'll point out that Senate spots in Australia are won using a state based proportional system with multiple Senators for each of our 6 states and 2 territories. This means that independent and minority groups can often get 1 or 2 Senators into the upper house. You've got that around the wrong way. The Senate is not proportionally worked out when determining Senator numbers. That's the House of Repres…

I think he was talking about the voting system, rather than the number of Senators from each state.

Ah. Well, in that case, carry on.

Re: Julian Assange to run for Australian Senate

#90

Post by jacques_chester »

vidarh wrote: post #73
Kiro wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing mysterious going on here. It's not uncommon for another prosecutor to reopen a case if there are reasonable grounds for it. You can't seriously argue that someone who is accused of rape should just be set free like that. Guilty or not he should stand trial.

> It's not uncommon for another prosecutor to reopen a case if there are reasonable grounds for it Of course, nobody has actually given any reasons for it. And I've not seen any indication that this isn't in fact uncommon in Sweden. There are however many other factors that makes it curious. Such as their dogged insistence they couldn't possibly question him in London, despite the fact they have questioned other susp…

> Such as their dogged insistence they couldn't possibly question him in London, despite the fact they have questioned other suspects abroad, and recently, in far more serious crimes (suspected murderers, for example) prior to extradition.

Assange is not wanted for questioning.

He is under warrant of arrest.

These are not the same thing. At all.

He hasn't been charged because he cannot in Swedish law be charged without first being arrested.

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