Blog Storm

Mr Islam said the decision to deny him entry on grounds of national security was “very serious and wholly unfounded” and he wants an explanation.

His Washington-bound flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday and he was told to leave the country by the FBI.

He said a legal process had been put in place to find out what had happened.

In a statement Mr Islam said: “Never would I believe that such a thing could happen in the ‘land of the free’ - unfortunately, it did.

Dude, you got what you deserved. I mean, Yusuf Islam? That stupid beard? What the fuck were you thinking? And Tea For The Tillerman totally sucked balls.

1. How did you start blogging? Why do you keep at it?
Oh, I have to write or I go insane. Seriously, I have these long, complex, stream-of-consciousness dreams which cause me to wake up exhausted unless I tap them beforehand. If it’s not this drivel, it’s some verbalised, semi-cogent, ejaculatory tirade at a politician whose face just flashed across the tv news, a dark and disturbing work of fiction in a tattered scrapbook buried in my drawer. At least this way I don’t feel like the serial killer in Se7en.

SMH’s Margo Kingston publishes an interesting letter from a journalistic colleague staying in the US which sheds light on the experiences of an Australian observing the 2004 Presidential elections first-hand. It’s good to see that, contrary to the nagging of my own self-deprecative skepticism, it appears that a hemispheric buffer zone hasn’t affected my own objectivity to any noticeable degree.

Dear Margo,
I have found myself in what feels the bizarre position of travelling in the US at this time. It is bizarre in that I am witnessing the US election campaign and talking to Americans, at the same time as the nuances of what is going in Australian election are lost to me. Of course there is virtually no reference to Australia in the US media.

There is for all practical purposes no real difference in the stated objectives of Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry. It’s tweedle dee or tweedle dumb. Why waste your vote on one or the other when the effective end result would be the same?
Yeah, but why Mel Gibson?

If you’re pleased with the way things are and want 4 more years of the same then, by all means, vote for Mr. Bush. If in some way or another you think that Mr. Kerry will improve the situation then be sure to vote for him. But if you believe that our country should embark on a different, more positive course then consider making the effort to write in Mel Gibson for President on Nov. 2.
Yeah, but why Mel Gibson?

Someone finally asks everyone’s favourite red-body-paint-and-horn-wearing graphic design entrepreneur and general man-about-town Normal Bob Smith a most burning question.

I just wanted to ask if you are a religous man, like catholics or christians.

Perhaps I’m being optimistic, but you think they would’ve figured it out by now…

from Sydney Morning Herald

A 10-year federal ban on assault weapons expires today in the United States, allowing Americans to buy AK-47s and Uzis at their local gun stores.

“George Bush gave police officers his word that he would keep the ban,” Kerry said, “but when it came time to extend it, Bush’s powerful friends in the gun lobby asked him to look the other way. He just couldn’t resist, and he said ‘Sure’. He chose to make the job of terrorists easier and make the job of America’s police officers harder.”

The law prohibited the manufacture and distribution of 19 kinds of semiautomatic firearms that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition while allowing such guns already in circulation to remain there.

Reality check: Idol beats leaders’ debates

Australian Idol beat the debate between Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Mark Latham in the battle for TV ratings last night.

Ratings figures released today show Network Ten’s Australian Idol won the 7.30pm timeslot nationally with 1.98 million viewers, with the debate coming in second with 1.47 million viewers.

Don’t expect me to take the moral highground; I was watching my Sopranos DVDs. Howard: “Vote for me and we’ll keep fighting the War on Terror!” Latham: “Vote for me and I’ll lower your taxes!” Spare me.

“If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a money lender; charge him no interest.” -Exodus 22:25

Unless of course the rate is a CRAZY 5-year fixed 4.32% per annum! How exactly does one refinance the house the Christian Way? I suppose the Polonius method of mortgage lending is far more unequivocally self-defeating. And less attractive as a cheap, knee-jerk brand name.

Meanwhile, James Carroll of the Boston Globe writes a rather succinct article summing up the whole Iraq adventure. Just in case the aftermath of the flag-waving, god-thanking, nationalistic orgy of the Republican National Convention has caused a few of you to, you know, lose touch with sobering reality.

Apart from their shared adventure in Iraq, George Bush and Tony Blair don’t have much in common. When the two leaders emerged into the bright lights of a press conference after spending two days together in the log cabins of Camp David in 2001, a reporter wanted to know whether they had discovered any shared interests. The leaders - the conservative, tax-cutting, bring-’em-on President and the Third Way, tax-raising, internationalist Prime Minister - struggled. Bush offered this breakthrough in personal diplomacy: “Well, we both use Colgate toothpaste.”

from the Melbourne Herald Sun

The Greens manifesto backs official supply of the dangerous drug ecstasy as well as state-sanctioned heroin and marijuana sales at what it calls appropriate venues.

The ecstasy policy suggests distributing the drug to users while providing official information detailing the dangers of the drug.

About 15 people have died from ecstasy use since it hit Australia in the 1990s. The drug can cause severe psychological side-effects in some people.

Green critic Mike Nahan, of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Right-wing think tank, said the party was the most radical Australia had seen.

“The Greens are loopier than any party I’ve seen, and will be much worse than the Australian Democrats ever were,” he said.