An unprecedented triple whammy of opinion polls is disastrous enough for the Coalition to lend force to Dennis Shanahan‘s assertion that “Malcolm Turnbull’s political career has been smashed in just one week”. In turn:
• Arriving a day earlier than usual, Newspoll shows that the Coalition recovery detected a fortnight ago has come to a sudden end, with Labor’s lead back out from 53-47 to 56-44. The parties have also exchanged three points on the primary vote, Labor up to 44 per cent and the Coalition down to 37 per cent. However, the real shock is that Turnbull’s personal ratings have suffered what Shanahan calls “the single biggest fall in the survey’s 25-year history”: his approval rating has plunged from 44 per cent to 25 per cent, while his disapproval is up from 37 per cent to 58 per cent. Fifty-two per cent do not believe that John Grant received preferential treatment from the Prime Minister against only 24 per cent who do. Kevin Rudd’s lead as preferred prime minister is up from 57-25 to 65-18.
• ACNielsen, which is hopefully back to monthly polling as we enter the second half of the term, has Labor’s two-party lead up from 53-47 to 58-42. Labor’s primary vote is up two points to 46 per cent while the Coalition’s is down six to 37 per cent. Fifty-three per cent say the OzCar affair has left them with a less favourable impression of Malcolm Turnbull, whose approval is down 11 points to 32 per cent with his disapproval has shot up 13 points to 60 per cent. Turnbull comes third as preferred Liberal leader with 18 per cent, behind Peter Costello on 37 per cent and Joe Hockey on 21 per cent. Rudd’s lead as preferred prime minister is up from 64-28 to 66-25, and his approval rating is up three points to 67 per cent.
• Galaxy has Labor’s primary vote up a point to 44 per cent and the Coalition’s down two to 30 per cent. Sixty-one per cent believe Kevin Rudd has been open and honest about the OzCar affair, while 51 per cent “believed Mr Turnbull had been dishonest or somewhat deceitful”.
Once again, Victoria dominates the latest round of electoral news:
• The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has tabled two major reports which I haven’t got round to sinking my teeth into: the regular conduct of the federal election report, and that into the Commwealth Electoral (Above-the-Line Voting) Amendment Bill 2008.
• Rick Wallace of The Australian reports that complicated quarreling in the Victorian ALP has thrown up “rogue challengers” against at least ten state MPs. Keilor MP George Seitz, who faces enforced retirement in the wake of the Victorian Ombudsman’s report into Brimbank City Council, is said to be largely reponsible: Andrew Landeryou at VexNews identifies his state nominees as Tomislav Tomic (against Bundoora MP Colin Brooks), Seeralan Arumugam Gunaratnam (Carrum MP Jenny Lindell), Raymond Congreve (Lara MP John Eren), Rosa Mitrevski (Mill Park MP Lily D’Ambrosio), Philip Cassar (Mordialloc MP Janice Munt), Teodoro Tuason (Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan), Teresa Kiselis and Mate Barun (both taking on Northcote MP Fiona Richardson), Josefina Agustin (Prahran MP Tony Lupton), and Blagoja Bozinovski (Thomastown MP Peter Batchelor). For good measure, Seitz candidate Manfred Kriechbaum is taking on federal MP Maria Vamvakinou in Calwell. Other challengers are explained by Wallace in terms the “stability pact” forged between the Left and the Right forces associated with Bill Shorten and Steven Conroy, and counter-moves by rival Right unions seeking to forge ties with some of the more militant unions of the Left. This presumably accounts for Australian Manufacturing Workers Union candidate Andrew Richards joining the aforementioned Kriechbaum in a three-horse race against Vamvakinou in Calwell, Lisa Zanatta of the Construction Mining Forestry and Energy Union challenging Lynne Kosky in Altona, and Kathleen Matthews-Ward of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association joining the Seitz challengers to Fiona Richardson in Northcote. The option of referring preselections to the party’s national executive remains available to John Brumby, who must be sorely tempted.
• Other challenges appear more obscure. A third Labor Unity candidate, Rick Garotti, is listed as a nominee against incumbent Craig Langdon in Ivanoe, in addition to the previously discussed Anthony Carbines. In Preston, Labor Unity MP Robin Scott is being challenged by Moreland councillor Anthony Helou (once of the Socialist Left, but more recently of Labor Unity) and Tamer Kairouz, said by Landeryou to be backed by upper house MP Nazih Elasmar, a principal of a Right sub-faction also linked with Theo Theophanous (not sure if any relation to Kororoit MP Marlene Kairouz). Two Socialist Left members are under challenge from factional colleagues, which Andrew Landeryou suggests can be put down to dealings between the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and unions on the Right: Yuroke MP Liz Beattie faces a challenge from Colleen Gibbs, an official with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, while Darebin councillor Timothy Laurence has nominated against Steve Herbert in Eltham. Andrew Lappos, who in the past has been associated with the Left, is listed as a challenger to the Right’s Telmo Languiller in Derrimut, but it was reported last week that Languiller’s preselection had been secured by the national executive.
• The preselection contest for Brunswick has taken on new significance with the news that Phil Cleary will contest the seat as an independent. Cleary defeated the Labor candidate in the federal seat of Wills in the 1992 by-election that followed Bob Hawke’s retirement and was narrowly re-elected in 1993, before losing to Labor’s Kelvin Thomson in 1996. He has more recently worked for the Electrical Trades Union, which under the leadership of Dean Mighell has disaffiliated with the ALP and given support to the Greens. Three candidates are listed for Labor preselection, each a colleague of outgoing member Carlo Carli in the Socialist Left: Jane Garrett, Slater and Gordon lawyer and former adviser to Steve Bracks; Enver Erdogan, 23-year-old Moreland councillor and staffer to House of Represenatatives Speaker Harry Jenkins, said to be aligned with the Kim Carr sub-faction; and Alice Pryor, also a Moreland councillor, aligned with the rival Left sub-faction associated with federal Bruce MP Alan Griffin. Former party state secretary Eric Locke has proved a non-starter; Andrew Landeryou reports he has withdrawn in favour of Garrett, who would appear to be the front-runner. According to David Rood of The Age, Garrett also has the backing of John Brumby.
• Andrew Landeryou further reports that National Union of Workers state secretary Antony Thow has been “elected unopposed” for the third position on Labor’s Victorian Senate ticket. If that means what it appears to, it’s a significant story the mainstream media appears to have ignored, as Labor would seem very likely on current form to repeat its 2007 election feat of winning a third seat.
• The Moonee Valley Community News reports it is “not expected” that Victorian Planning Minister Justin Madden will be opposed in the Labor preselection for Essendon, to which the party has assigned him so sitting member South Eastern Metropolitan MLC Bob Smith can be given a safer seat in Western Metropolitan. Mark Kennedy, a former mayor of Moonee Valley, was earlier reported to have ambitions to replace the retiring Judy Maddigan.
• Federal Liberal MP Chris Pearce has announced he will not seek re-election in his Melbourne seat of Aston. Pearce gave his party a morale-boosting by-election win in the seat in July 2001, limiting the Labor swing to 3.7 per cent – which has since stood as exhibit A in the case that the Howard government’s re-election the following November could not entirely be put down to the subsequent Tampa episode and September 11. He was closely associated throughout his time in politics with Peter Costello, and the fact and timing of his departure have inevitably been linked to Costello’s shock announcement early last week. No discussion yet that I’m aware of as to who might replace him. Dennis Shanahan of The Australian reports that “another swathe of resignations” from federal Liberals is expected when New South Wales and Queensland redistributions are finalised early next year, although no names are named.
• The ABC reports that three Western Australian state Labor MPs, headed by the factionally unaligned Alannah MacTiernan, have moved at state conference for preselection reforms allowing “compulsory secret ballots for preselections, with delegates completing their own papers”.
You cant really trust those facebook type, not to mention the twit twit twitter type.
[Multicultural radio presenter linked to anti-immigration Facebook groups – A presenter for a NSW community radio station that specialises in multicultural programming has been reprimanded after she was revealed to be an administrator of several racist, anti-immigration groups on Facebook.
Terrie-Anne Verney, a presenter and sales representative for Griffith FM radio station 2MIA, was the administrator of the group “F— Off, We’re Full” and had also joined several Facebook groups including “Stop the Islamisation of Australia while we still can”, “Australian Conservative United Party”, the “Australian Protectionist Party” and “Australians against Multiculturalism”.]
http://tinyurl.com/lw3dub
Frank,
That’s what took my breath away about Hartigan’s criticism and comments in his speech regaling blogs. He was giving a substantial part of News Ltd’s on-line bloggers and readership/commenter’s a right royal serve. Counter productive?
[What about Dill???
Does it work like pot???]
Does pot go well with salmon?
[most barks here are worst than their bites.]
Damn you Gus, name names
[Damn you Gus, name names]
I can’t, I just had some Dill
🙁
[most barks here are worst than their bites]
There are no bites. We are talking to (mostly) anonymous strangers on the Internet. If I think someone’s attacks on me are getting too silly, I just ignore them.
Did someone mention bark and bite,check out the bark and bite from about 02.29.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2009/07/pm-kicks-off-commonsense-cabinet.html?program=612_morning#
Horrible news about Jim Stynes – Glen and Psephos will no doubt be doubly sad to hear about their legend’s health.
People have been conned by the cannabis causes psychosis crud. There is no evidence that this is the case. In fact there is mounting evidence that it is a fallacy.
There is also mounting evidence that cannabis may be a better treatment for psychosis than the anti-psychotic drugs currently prescribed.
Shows I called you a dill because you misrepresented the report I quoted – nothing personal. 🙂
ShowsOn
[Who cares. It is total consumption that needs to be lowered, else it will just add an even greater burden to tax payers forking out money for hospital bills.]
I agree that total consumption is the issue – of course it is – infact maybe the blogger who wrote that was having a wind-up?
The way to lower consumption is through legalization though. This may seem counter-intuitive in the two dimensional world of talk back radio but I think the ‘facts speak for themselves’ (what’s that in Latin? I forget). *Legalization is not endorsement!* Just like how the government keeps tobacco legal but does not endorse its consumption – in fact it frequently has anti-tobacco campaigns. The aim is for harm minimization – I cannot stress this enough.
[Wow, so consuming cannabis can cause schizophrenia, that is far worse than what I thought. I certainly don’t think it should be legalised after reading this.]
For a response to this comment see my post at 1497 and what I just wrote above.
Can someone please e-mail and let me know when something of substance other than the benefits or otherwise of “cannabis consumption” is being discussed so that I might be tempted to venture back to continue to read the contributions here?
[The segue from indigene rights to substance abuse to legalisation issues has been great.]
Yeah, pop out to do the shopping and come back to a completely different topic.
I did want to say a couple of things on the previous topic, and will anyway.
It was my experience that Aboriginal people and communities often do know what the solutions are, but lack the resources to implement them.
One happy ending story: One of the major problems with alcohol consumption on Alice Springs town camps used to be the incidence of cut feet from broken flagons. Members of the Tangentyere Liquor Committee lobbied the wine makers to stop selling wine in flagons. This push coincided with the invention of the wine cask, and the lobbying effort was significant in getting wine makers to make the switch from flagons to casks. It may not seem like much, but it saved a lot of little feet.
The outcry that occurred following the death of several people in the Todd River after being given fortified wine laced with strychnine (mid ’70s, forget exact date) was instrumental in getting the NT Government to ban the sale of fortified wine in flagons. Small steps!
One less happy ending. 25 years ago I sat in a meeting where alcohol issues were being discussed, and funding proposals prepared. During the meeting we heard a delegation of women from Hermannsburg begging for help to deal with petrol sniffing. They knew what they wanted to do for their children, but lacked the resources to do it. 25 years ago! Think of that when you watch Warwick Thornton’s Sampson and Delilah.
In the meantime, for those who might be interested in something of substance, IMO, only, heve a squiz at this earlier post.
[This post by Ad astra on June 13th is interesting in light of recent events and the hit-back by Rudd and Gillard at the News Ltd media in recent days.
It will be interesting how this all plays out as it appears that News Ltd is not going to take it lying down and have now taken the gloves off and declared war on the Rudd Government. Previously it only engaged in guerrilla tactics and regular skirmishes!
Prime Minister. Listen carefully. The media is powerful, very powerful. Our journalists write newspaper columns that lots of people read; they create news bulletins and current affairs programmes that many people hear and see; they conduct talkback to which countless people listen. We have enormous influence. We can make and break governments and bring down prime ministers. You should not get us offside. We call the shots, not you. You’re beginning to make us annoyed. Watch it, we can get you, and probably will.
So here’s some advice. If you take it, we might let you run a bit longer, but if you don’t, remember you were warned.
http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/%5D
[Just like how the government keeps tobacco legal but does not endorse its consumption – in fact it frequently has anti-tobacco campaigns. The aim is for harm minimization – I cannot stress this enough.]
Tobacco is a historical anachronism. The fact it was legal long before it was known to have major damaging health impacts is what makes it legal, but it is heavily regulated today. No government should legalise a product that is known to have damaging health effects. They don’t do it for foods, why should cannabis be different?
We know that the taxation revenue raised from tobacco covers just 10% of its costs to the economy. I don’t see how cannabis would be any different if it was legalised. It would just be another product that would have massive costs that wouldn’t be paid for through taxes.
It’s official. Hillary puts her foot down, she is sick and tired of carrying Obama on FA. It’s time Obama gets out of his nappy and stands on his own two feet. 😛
[WASHINGTON – US SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton has cancelled plans to visit Moscow with President Barack Obama and will send someone in her place, a State Department official said on Wednesday.
‘Secretary Clinton is not going to go to Moscow. She is going to designate a State Department official to go on the’ trip, the official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.]
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_398008.html
[One less happy ending. 25 years ago I sat in a meeting where alcohol issues were being discussed, and funding proposals prepared. During the meeting we heard a delegation of women from Hermannsburg begging for help to deal with petrol sniffing. ]
the introduction of “opel” decanted petrol and the regulation of methylated spirits faced a lot of pressure from ‘vested’ interests.
If only psephos and his ilk would recognise that most of the problems are bought IN to the indigene community, they do not stem from WITHIN the indigene community.
[People have been conned by the cannabis causes psychosis crud.]
What? You posted on the previous page that in some people it causes schizophrenia!
[There is no evidence that this is the case.]
You may want to read your post on the previous page.
[There is also mounting evidence that cannabis may be a better treatment for psychosis than the anti-psychotic drugs currently prescribed.]
Evidence?
[Shows I called you a dill because you misrepresented the report I quoted – nothing personal.]
How can a personal attack not be personal?
Ruawake and ShowsOn
I think the link between cannabis and psychosis is one of those areas where expert opinion is genuinely divided (unlike on say GW, evolution, etc. where the division is faked by interest groups) although I could be wrong. This is besides the point though. We already know cannabis should be discouraged for many other reasons – the best way to do this is through the legalization of purcheses from government owned monopolies. Over a few posts I’ve gone into quite a lot of detail over my plan for government stores and I’d like to know peoples opinion? Cheers.
In my view Rudd has done two things in the last couple of day to stick it to the political media.
1) Told them what he thinks.
2) Appeared on rove to remind the political hacks that they no longer control media access.
Do those interested in politics do anything other than read the Australian for a laugh? My feeling is people interested in politics are now reading a range of blogs to get differing points of view. If the Australian wants a future they really do have to start offering something other than a crude attempt at shaping the agenda.
[We already know cannabis should be discouraged for many other reasons – the best way to do this is through the legalization of purcheses from government owned monopolies.]
I don’t think this is a solution, because it will just create competition between the government and the black-market. If the black market price is cheaper than the government price, then people will buy from there, which means the government won’t get taxes. If the Government lowers its price, then that would make it more attractive compared to other drugs such as tobacco and alcohol.
[If only psephos and his ilk would recognise that most of the problems are bought IN to the indigene community, they do not stem from WITHIN the indigene community.]
Gus, you cannot be serious.
Are you blind to the great benefits that the White, Christian civilisation has brought to the first and only Australians?
The cannabinoid system is one of the least known – yet nearly every form of life on our planet uses it.
It is almost impossible to research – because of dumb regulations and lack of funding.
This is wrong in my opinion.
Shows just because you chose to misinterpret what I said does not make you less dilly. 😉
[ was the administrator of the group “F— Off, We’re Full” ]
I thought that group was for pissheads
[Are you blind to the great benefits that the White, Christian civilisation has brought to the first and only Australians?]
The internet ???
[Shows just because you chose to misinterpret what I said does not make you less dilly.]
You wrote that an abnormality in some people increases the chance that they will suffer schizophrenia when taking cannabis.
Now you are just hiding behind personal attacks instead of debating the issue.
fredn,
I would be interested in your views on my post @ 1261. It was in moderation for hours and when I tried to re-post it it too got stuck.
In my opinion, this issue needs a thorough work-over similar to the one that ute-gate got here a few days ago!
[The internet ???]
No, i was thinking of Annabelle Crabb:
[Plus Missing Malcolm… http://bit.ly/UjXkA%5D
[Rogue thoughts on sexy ads: http://bit.ly/3fOQTJ%5D
Talking about self promotion or the desperate journo?
For the record here is the Productivity Commission Report about indigenous disadvantage.
http://www.pc.gov.au/gsp/reports/indigenous/keyindicators2009
Finns @1472, look at your post again, and have a think. Please. Read the wikipedia entry again, and have a think. And no, I wasn’t referring to Down syndrome. Just think, then do some research, and then think again.
Cannabis does not cause schizophrenia. It does, however, have a statistically significant effect on people who are genetically predisposed towards mental illness.
I.e. if you have a nutter in the family, which most of us do, be wary of smoking doobies in your teens.
[Finns @1472, look at your post again, and have a think.]
I agree, Mongolia is landlocked, noway they ever had dolphins.
marktwain, too much thinking just strain the brain.
[Finns @1472, look at your post again, and have a think. Please. Read the wikipedia entry again, and have a think. And no, I wasn’t referring to Down syndrome. Just think, then do some research, and then think again.]
Have to support MT here. This term should not be used in either context. Fins, would you use “Negroid”. No, of course you wouldn’t. So don’t use Mongoloid either.
Unless, of course, you are writing a thesis on the history of racism.
[Cannabis does not cause schizophrenia. It does, however, have a statistically significant effect on people who are genetically predisposed towards mental illness.]
ruwake wrote on the previous page that cannabis can cause schizophrenia in people suspceptible to schizophrenia, because of an abnormality in their brains.
I don’t know what you mean that it can have an “effect”, but can’t cause schizophrenia.
[•An important announcement from the Prime Minister @KevinRuddPM – its TWITTER TIME!!! 3 hrs ago]
Rove made him promise to write that on Sunday …. Kev kept his promise.
Hmmm, let me consult the comrades of the People Daily:
[ Scientists identify DNA in ancient human brain – ( 2003-05-17 14:15 ) (8)
Chinese scientists announced earlier this week they had successfully extracted DNA from the brain of an ancient female corpse dating back more than 2,000 years.
Scientists with Jilin University in northeast China have finished five months of research and claimed it as a first for Chinese scientists to extract DNA from the brain of an ancient human.
The female corpse was excavated from the Laoshan Han Tomb of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) on Beijing’s western outskirts in August 2000.
During the excavation of the tomb, scientists happened to save one piece of “dried mud” the size of a fist, which dropped from the skull of the female tomb occupant.
Using three-dimensional technology, physical anthropology and DNA technology, paleontologists with the frontier archeology center of Jilin University and Beijing Research Institute of Cultural Heritage worked together to discover clues to the blood relationship of aristocracy of the Han Dynasty.
“DNA study shows the empress of the feudal prince of the Western Han Dynasty, who was about 30 years old, belonged to the Mongoloid race in east Asia. The result accords with conclusions made with 3D technology and physical anthropology,” said Zhu Hong, director of the frontier archeology study center with Jilin University.]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-05/17/content_165287.htm
[‘Dog-Deer’ lan seen as common Chinese ancestor – Mu Qian
2005-02-21 06:39 – He also insists that the name Han, the majority of Chinese people, is just a variation of “kan.”
Almost all Chinese history books start with the legendary Yellow Emperor, who lived around 5,000 years ago in the Yellow River basin area. However, very little is about the time before the Yellow Emperor, except that there were many clans living at the Yellow River basin area before the Yellow Emperor came into power.
Through his linguistic study and reference to archaeology, ethnology, history, physical anthropology, semiology, folklore and primitive religion, Mang Muren outlined a supposed history of the Mongoloid in ancient times:
After the “dog raisers” and “deer raisers” formed the “Dog-Deer” clan about 15,000 years ago, they kept splitting and moving. About 8,000 years ago, they had spread all over Siberia, the Mongolia Highland and most areas in China. ]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/21/content_417812.htm
I am not too sure if find sensitivity from the comrades there.
Dope can’t cause schizophrenia – the underlying genetic mutations already exist. Schizophrenia is a family thing, although it does pop up spontaneously and no one knows why. It is thought that if you have certain genetic mutations, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, that have been linked to psychosis in several genome-wide association studies, then you are statistically more likely to actually develop the illness if you’ve smoked dope in your teens. There are plenty of papers on this topic and I’ll try to find a couple that are open-access.
The point is that it is hit and miss – some people with mental illness in the family can smoke to their heart’s content and not have a problem. Others can’t. The main point is that the symptoms of schizophrenia mainly arise in the mid to late teens, which is when kids are most likely to start toking. Research also shows that most human brains aren’t fully formed until the mid-20s. It is best not to stuff around with any drug, especially easily accessible drugs like pot and booze, when your brain hasn’t stopped growing. I won’t even get into tobacco – that stuff is the work of Satan.
As someone who toked long and hard as a teenager, mainly due to the fact that it was cheap and cheerful in the sub-tropics, but also someone with relatives with severe mental illnesses, I thank my lucky stars.
Then again, I’m a total p#sspot and I smoke a pack a day, so who am I to argue?
Do you think this photo of Tony Abbott shows his good side?
Geez a thread on 3 massive polls, and by Thursday night it’s all about dope….
Yes, Finns, palaeontologists can say it – you can’t.
Finns
FYI
[(anthropology) A member of the racial classification of humanity composed of peoples native to North Asia, East Asia, Pacific Oceania, the Americas and Greenland, as well as their diaspora in other parts of the world. ]
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mongoloid
[There are three reasons why the term Mongoloid should
be avoided. Firstly, modern racial classifications originated
from the 18th century taxonomists who categorised Homo
sapiens into a hierarchy, using superficial characteristics
such as perceived skin colour.6 According to Von Linne’s
classification, people who are assigned the label of Homo
asiaticus—a synonym for Mongoloid—are “haughty” and
“covetous”; the same classification describes Homo afer
(blacks) as being “indolent” and “governed by caprice”.6
Secondly, the categorisation of people into races has no
scientific basis. Race is increasingly regarded as a social
construct—only a small number of genotypic variations
determine racial traits.7 Thirdly, there is no clear definition
as to what constitutes a Mongoloid person. This grouping
is an oversimplification and masks the heterogeneity of
people with different languages, cultures, religions, dietary
customs, and perceptions on health and disease.6-8 Regarding
race as a mutually exclusive and clinically distinct subgroup
results in misleading inferences or outcomes that are difficult
to interpret. If race is used, it should be clearly defined]
http://www.hkmj.org/article_pdfs/hkm0308p312.pdf
yes, marktwain – palaeontologists can say it – you can’t.
Gus, 😎 😎 😎
So you’re a palaeontologist, Finns? Why didn’t you say so?
scorpio
My post at 1519 pretty much sums up my view. The political press has lost control with Rudd appeared on Rove to underline the fact. Those interested in politics read the Australian for laughs not for information.
The Australian has run a pretty relentless campaign against the Rudd government, what more can they do? In the top left hand corner of the paper you have: “Stimulus watch how your billions are being spent” day after day. The very unflattering photos of Rudd and Gillard are enough to let you know it’s for the Liberal faithful, that it is not their to inform. So why bother.
Unlike Utegate which was a storm in a teacup I think this is a long term game and it’s the future that will be interesting. If the political class are no longer scared of Murdock the concessions that created his fortune will dissipate. James Packer seems to be getting out of media, perhaps it’s a wise choice.
Of course you can use ‘Mongoloid’, ‘Negroid’ or ‘Europid’ as descriptors of race. You can also say, Asian, Euro, Anglo, African, Indian, Inuit, Caucasian, Aborigine, Saxon, black, white, ‘persons of middle-eastern appearance’, ‘persons of anglo-saxon appearance’, ‘persons with straight brown hair’, etc. These terms are not pejorative in themselves. If we can’t describe difference then we are condemned to a half-world of nods and whispers, and what for? Different races and groups of sub-races are a glorious fact of the human species. A bit weird to pretend otherwise.
I cetainly don’t mind being called a ‘farang’ in Thailand and I’m sure black Africans don’t mind being called ‘farang dam’ (black farang).
Ummm,Finns
For the sake of accuracy the HK medical journal concludes:
[Is there a precedent for abandoning an outdated medical
term that carries negative historical connotations? Yes, there
is. For example, there is a growing consensus that the
eponym Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome should be replaced.
We now realise that the German pathologist who first
described this syndrome, Julius Hallervorden, was closely
connected to and benefited from the murder of disabled
individuals designated as inferior by the Nazi regime.9
Although the word Mongoloid does exist as an Index
Medicus term, given the racist baggage and imprecise
meaning of the term, the Hong Kong Medical Journal should
consider discouraging its use and using the term Chinese
whenever relevant.]
[James Packer seems to be getting out of media, perhaps it’s a wise choice.]
into gambling, bad choice:
[Paul Barry – November 02, 2008 12:00am – JAMES Packer is depressed. He’s put on weight and is smoking again. He’s obsessed with the money he’s losing. Or that’s the buzz. It seems he is obsessed with the amount of money he has lost. And why wouldn’t he be? In the past 12 months he has lost his top spot as Australia’s richest man and has waved goodbye to well over half his $6.2 billion fortune.]
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24585873-5007191,00.html
[Although the word Mongoloid does exist as an Index Medicus term]
Gus, That’s it. Remember i told you i used to search Index Medicus, Medline, Chemical Abstracts. Yep, too much of them.
As to the drugs – marijuana is over-rated, but no more harmful than alcohol; they both have a similar sliding scale of use and effect in my unpublished opinion. I don’t like it because it used to just make me go to sleep, especially after 10 schooners, so I found it anti-social. LSD and mushrooms were the best from my memory … or what’s left of it 🙂
Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid are palaeontological terms that have very precise meanings. Contemporary humans cannot be described by these terms. If you wish to speak of people – as Finns did – who are from the eastern part of Asia and are known to have common polymorphisms which mean they cannot metabolise alcohol, then call them Chinese, Japanese or Korean. Even easier – eastern Asians.
NZ Maori also have these common polymorphisms. Can’t see him calling Maori “Mongoloid”.