So Kevin Rudd has a blog. So what? He puts up a post about climate change and it draws hundreds and hundreds of comments. And then…Well, nothing really. Australia doesn’t actually need more online opportunities to sound off. With ABC Unleashed, News Ltd’s Punch, Crikey, of course, New Matilda, Online Opinion (no journalism please) etc, and the hundreds of actual standalone, ordinary citizen bloggers, there is now any amount of opportunities for people to vent and oh so occasionally offer an insight, a fresh perspective or even a useable policy idea Rudd’s blog: popular but pointless; Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is now omnipresent on the internet - he's started his own blog.
This comes on top of his popular Twitter account, Facebook and MySpace pages, and a myriad of YouTube appearances. Rudd everywhere on the internet
Media Dragon PM begins blogging
In a move that may suggest greater use of Web 2.0 tools by the Federal Government, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has begun blogging. NINE months after taking the Twitterverse by storm, the Prime Minister has turned his hand to blogging.
The blog according to the PM's site, is an opportunity for the community to provide comments and engage with each other in relation to the policy initiatives under discussion. Those wishing to join the blog must fill out a subscription form, provide a valid email address and submit to the blog's conditions. The PM is also on Twitter. But Kevin Rudd's cautious approach to accepting comments from readers has led to a cool response from some of Australia's leading bloggers. "I decided to kick off my blogging career with a focus on climate change," Mr Rudd wrote yesterday in his first post, which by 5pm had attracted more than 50 comments.
• Blog standard approach brings PM to the people; [Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is now omnipresent on the internet Review of Blog; Rudd Sound Bites Sydney Morning Herald]
• · In today’s Age former head Hunter & Collector, Mark Seymour, has written a scathing indictment of the commercially driven lobby to remove Australian literary copyright, a lobby being fronted by ex-NSW Premier Bob Carr. The stupid country; Bring Aussie publishers to book
• · Not all of what a community service is or provides can be captured in dollar terms on a balance sheet... Despite promising to introduce a register of lobbyists in the 2006 election campaign, the Victorian government has still not set one up almost three years later Who's who of Labor in the lobby business; REMIER Anna Bligh is seeking legal advice on whether she can ban lobbyists in Queensland being paid "success fees", or at the very least make them public Ex-Labor lobbyists may be forced to reveal success fees ; Bligh tackles lobbyist 'success fees' Amid much speculation as to what the future holds for the long-term state leader, just days after his retirement Carr set up RJ Carr Pty Ltd, a proprietary company whose ownership is limited by shares. The ex-Premier is listed as sole director and shareholder. The business is registered to a Burwood Rd, Burwood address, with Carr citing a Maroubra address against his name. Bob the bizoid RJ Carr Pty Ltd
• · · SOME wordsmith at Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission dubbed its report into the murky Capri affair: "Dangerous Liaisons". For Premier Anna Bligh, it might equally be called rotten timing. Barely a week after the jailing of former state government minister Gordon Nuttall - a man who spent five years around the same Cabinet table as Ms Bligh before she ascended to the top job - Queenslanders have received another rude reminder that the bad old days did not necessarily end with the Fitzgerald inquiry and the blowtorch it put to the Moonlight State A case of rotten timing for Queensland premier Anna Bligh ; ALMOST half of the 25 police officers implicated by the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission in rackets involving a double murderer are still serving in the force Google
• · · · Like the Media Dragon, TaxProf Blog Passes 7,500,000 Visitor Milestone, after just five years in operation ; Ultimately, the law of frivolity is a double-edged sword. At its best, it preserves the integrity of the courts and the legal system. Through normative shaming, it enforces a code of behavior for attorneys. It ensures that only legal arguments may be put before courts. Thus, it strengthens the development of a healthy legal subculture. On the other hand, frivolity at its worst threatens pro se litigants by excluding them from that subculture and fails to accomplish its own goals. Frivolity encourages courts and attorneys to view themselves as an intellectual and perhaps moral elite. Moreover, it encourages hostility to pro se arguments, particularly those cloaked in rhetoric that violates lawyerly norms. This may lead to legitimate arguments' erroneous rejection. Barbarians at the Gate?: The Law of Frivolity as Illuminated by Pro Se Tax Protest Cases
• · · · · Most Indonesians are tolerant pluralists, genuinely friendly, proud of their country, and keen to meet and help visitors Jakarta bombings: bad things and evil people; Attorney-General Robert McClelland is confident that if we get the lingo right 'community harmony' will be strengthened and extremists 'disempowered' Junk the jihad, it's jargon we need
