Apparently, Iraq may have to leave OPEC to increase oil production sufficiently to cover reconstruction costs. So why so brilliant?
1. Where will most of the reconstruction funds go to? The USA.
2. Who loves their cheap or free oil? The USA
3. Who has a great interest in seeing OPEC weakened? The USA..
Like this wasn't part of their grand plan the whole time... It just suits the US all too well... You don't consider the plundering of Iraq, for your own interests, a crime? This is precisely why the United Nations has a vital role in such situations...
Link: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/12/rauch.htm
I'm conflicted. Sure, the tongue is firmly planted in the cheek with this article ( the author does remark that he weighs a mere 135 pound) BUT..
On the one hand a tax targetting obese people, effectively taxing them "by the pound", has its merits. Why shouldn't we implement a disincentive for people to continue abusing their bodies especially when the entire community has the pay the cost. We do it with smoking.
On the other hand, there are many many reasons for why people are overweight or at least not within the "normal" healthy weight range. It may be because they're body-builders or even more disadvantageously, because they have a genetic predisposition ( leptin deficiency ). If there are issues with food these may be associated with an underlying depression or anxiety. It could be said that obesity in a certain range of people is sign of some psychopathology. Whatever it is, to suggest that obesity is something that can just be taxed out of existence underestimates the complexity of the disorder and indicates a failure to take into account the underlying conditions that result in obesity.
So yeah, a good idea for those who aren't affected...
This year's Andrew Olle media lecture was delivered by Lachlan Murdoch. He tried so hard to cater his speech to an Australian audience but between the accent and the uncomfortable use of aussie slang just didn't carry it off. It was merely another platform for the News Corp thrust into the popularist media.
One defence Murdoch, senior, junior or otherwise uses in expanding the popularist media, is that if you don't present issues in an accessible way, accessible to everyone, then you are elitist and narrow-minded. This therefore must require a "dumbing down" of issues to make them accessible. Surely this understates the complexity of world affairs and actually diminishes or trivialises their importance. Life just isn't that simple. Ofcourse in Murdoch's defence, they do produce worthy publications e.g. The Australian.
Anyway, the selection of Lachlan Murdoch as this year's speaker actually diminished the memory of Andrew Olle. There was nothing novel or respect-worthy contained in Murdoch junior's speech. It was merely a justification for current practice and their continuing practice, a softener for arguing that the tabloid media has intrinsic news and analytical value.
And no matter how he justifies the benefits of a commercial media, it is right and necessary to question what dictates news policy, the almighty dollar or altruistic principle (provided that the principle is not the dollar). It is entirely reasonable to suspect the motives of any organisation whose main motive is to generate profit, especially when their objective is purported to be one of serving the public at large.
I'm a bit ill at the moment - fever, generalised myalgia, dry cough, headche diarrhoea. So just for fun I did a google search on these terms.
So what was the result? Congratulations, you have ebola! Must be the first case in Australia, I'm kidding ofcourse.
To call Austalia from the United States:
011-CountryCode-AreaCode-PhoneNumber
Australian Country Code: 61
Area Code: Depends upon the State
To call mobiles no area code is required, just chop the front "0" off the number and use the rest as the phone number.
A useful website:
Global Sources Travel Guide - Telephone info