Around the blogs

I have been too busy to actively blog the past few days but a few issues caught my attention.

1. Bill Hensen. I enjoyed this post by Liz Conor on the Hensen controversy (Is it Hensen or Henson – both spellings are widely used). Conor's post makes some comparisons with Nabokov’s Lolita – and tries to understand the ‘peculiar’ beauty of art involving young beautiful people while feeling caution and fear over their vulnerability. As a parent of two daughters (& one son) I can relate exactly to what she says. Of course Nakokov is discussing the views of a young woman from the perspective of a pedophile while Hansen is definitely not taking such a perspective.

There is no debate on this issue on the right side of politics . Hensen’s work is pornography pure and simple to these sober minded defenders of the faith. But there is plenty of misogynistic porn on the web – comparing its to Hensen’s work shows there is no overlap at all. The religious right have predictably voiced their support for the interpretative role of storm-troopers in our art galleries. Predictably Kevin Rudd has felt it necessary to inject his ‘absolutely revolting’ critique something which really appeals to these fanatics. Rudd should butt out of these moral debates or use more measured language.

2. FuelWatch. The FuelWatch scheme is likely to make very little difference to the cost of petrol for motorists. Apart from imposing hefty compliance costs on motorists it seems likely to encourage coordination among retailers and hence increased collusion – if anything this might push prices up a smidgeon. Rudd’s abuse of the public servants for leaking their opposition to the scheme is understandable – nobody likes being shown to appear an idiot – but his bully-like threat to increase their workloads seems to be the response of a peanut. More of this idiocy to come I am sure. Rudd choose what he thought were an indefensible group of ‘fat cats’ to use earlier Labor language but is revealed to be a total hypocrite in terms of his pre-election comments on the needs of ‘working families’ to enjoy their leisure.

3. Medicare Tax Levy Threshold. The move to raise the income tax threshold for avoiding the Medicare tax levy – from $100,000 to $150,000 for families – is the most foolish policy move of the Rudd Government so far. Forcing those who can afford it to pay the cost of their private health cover helps release resources for public health. This measure hurts those constituents Labor would claim to be supporting. Labor Health Minister Roxon should learn some basic economics. It makes perfect sense to encourage private participation in health insurance by providing tax relief given that Australia has a national health scheme that provides a measure of health cover at zero explicit cost.

4. Climate Change & the Right. I generally enjoy the wit of Tim Blair and the hard edge that Andrew Bolt applies to current events but I still wonder about the propensity – which they share with members of much of the conservative right - to continually (on a weekly basis) provide posts which deny or ridicule the theory of anthropogenic climate change. It is a interesting question. It is reflected in the fact that over at Troppo’s blogroll I am described as an economist with mostly conservative views who unusually takes a strong stand on climate change issues.

The science on climate change is overwhelmingly accepted. Why are the right so vehemently opposed to this science? One reason seems to be simple anti-intellectualism and to desire to appear to be against 'mainstream thinking'. Another reason is the implication that global action needs to be taken to deal with global warming – this hardly advances the cause of laissez faire.

But this latter reason is illogical. Belief in laissez faire needs to be based on the facts not on blind religious faith and public good/externality reasons for intervening in market economies have been accepted for over 200 years. The climate change issue is an extension of these arguments.

Moreover, accepting these arguments and moving to adopt carbon taxes or transferable carbon quotas does not make you ‘anti-market’ – accounting for climate change costs can be understood as attempting to get markets to work more effectively.

Lazy weekend

I’ve had a lazy few days – went bird watching at Yellingbo State Nature Reserve today with son and then ‘swimming’ in the backyard pool – ‘swimming’ means lying in the water!. Pottered around the garden Saturday and managed to stretch 40 minutes work into an afternoon, again with more ‘swimming’. Felt too lethargic to do much more than read newspapers. In the press I followed the IPCC Report and posted briefly on that.

Glanced at a few local blogs today but not a lot caught my attention. In a comment on this blog, observa points out that Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews will put a proposal to Federal Cabinet to cut Sudanese migration. Sensible.

Elsewhere foolish comments by visiting British psychologist Oliver James aroused the ire of Jason Soon at Catallaxy. Tim Blair took an earlier shot. In my view O. James and Germaine Greer should hook up and live their remaining dreary days at a windswept British coastal resort where they write 'psychobabbilistic' treatises on the poverty of Australian intellectual life.

I was annoyed about Cricket Australia banning the Mexican wave – its the hoons at the MCG who throw objects who cause problems not the wave which is innocent Aussi stupidity.

But the ‘one day’ series has hotted up - with New Zealand showing good form tonight – though Ponting and Hodge for Australia were superb and eventually clinched the match for Australia.

Even England, bloody England has finally (after 10 encounters) won a match against Australia. I’m off to the First Final this Friday and want to see a fight not a wimpy capitulation – the prospects look better for this than a week ago.

New Year’s Eve

It was rather depressing to read the summary of the main events of 2006 in The Age today. Quite a bit of the coverage related to show business, the antics of talentless actors and TV personalities as well as the usual tedious politics and sports hero-worship.

As much as I love Shane Warne I am tiring of his adulation and of hearing how great the Australian cricket team is. Australia won a good game where you hit a ball with a chunk of wood and its time to now just shut-up. Paris Hilton’s shopping sprees in Sydney and Melbourne have got detailed coverage in all the national media so maybe I am a bit sensitive to the ‘celebrities’ issue – she seems to me to the essence of the forgettable, dumb, chick.

As we all marked one more year in the step towards permanent oblivion - on boot hill - there was surely more to 2006 at the macro level than that. Wasn’t there?

For some, there were more serious things to contend with as 2006 closed:

I was touched by the words of despair and the look of utter despair on ex-NSW Premier John Fahey’s face as he attended his youngest daughter’s funeral – it is every parent’s nightmare and I empathized with him. My sympathies go out to him and his wife for what will be a difficult New Year. John has had a difficult time recently involving a struggle with cancer and this is a terrible blow.

John Fahey is a moral, decent man. At the other end of the spectrum – but equally tragic in its own right – the evil thug Saddam was hanged. Indeed, a reader sent in a video recording of his death (the video of the killing of Saddam) with the instruction ‘enjoy’. However I can’t enjoy this at all. We should all watch it however – it is wrong for this barbarous behavior to be hidden and sanitized as an ‘execution’. A New
Year’s bad.

On the brighter side, even though it looks like raining tonight, I have arranged a good perch for viewing the early and late fireworks displays in Melbourne with good wine – the Wendouree 1990 shiraz. (An outstanding, massive red that is just moving into late adolescence – it will be good drinking through to 2025 at least and, yes, I have more than enough tucked away to see me through). Two of my kids are out of own tonight with their friends so a diminished family will welcome in the New Year.

My New Year’s resolutions for 2007? To get fit by exercising and watching my solid and (more important) liquid diet. Modest objectives that as a matter of course I set every year and fail to keep. But I’ll try once again. I also want to get back into academic life after 3 years of being primarily an administrator.

Best wishes for a great New Year to my readers. Thanks for contributing to my blog in its inaugural year.

Summer sloth grabs me by the throat

William S. Burroughs, the author, once formulated a 'don't have to do exercise' aimed at breaking down old associations and habits of thought - he saw it as a 'path to liberation'. I am very much in favour of breaking out of disciplined work habits. On holidays it normally takes me a week or so to achieve this state of sloth but achieve it I have. Moreover, the transactions costs of writing posts at the local public library here in Ulladulla add to my incentives to be slothful.

This means posts on Kalimna will be irregular through to Xmas when I retreat to Sydney to join my family there. I wish all my readers and Kevin Rudd the compliments of the season.

Please use this post as a site for voicing any concerns you have about the world or to say hullo. What are going to be the big issues of 2007?