all politics is local

A few pieces about the state election as it applies to my electorate (Prahran).

First up, The Age has what I can only describe as a completely useless piece on the makeup of the Prahran electorate. There's no actual useful content in here, just a pile of stereotypes and trite observations. No author's name is attached to the piece - probably out of shame.

Secondly, this piece from the Oz from a few months ago about clem newton-brown.

A VICTORIAN Liberal candidate has been caught distancing himself from his party in an apparent bid to boost his chances in the November election.
Clem Newton-Brown, a friend of state Liberal leader Ted Baillieu, hopes to secure the trendy inner-city seat of Prahran using only "discreet Liberal branding".
In a letter to potential campaign donors, seen by The Australian, Mr Newton-Brown promises to run a "campaign quite unlike the typical Liberal campaign" that "pushes the boundaries of usual campaign techniques".
"For example, I have been putting out flyers on very local issues with only discrete Liberal branding," he said.

...

Mr Newton-Brown declined to explain why he had played down his Liberal affiliations yesterday, but in his letter he talks about trying to secure the youth and green votes.
"The blog site is designed to attract the younger, swinging voter who is not interested in party politics but may vote for a candidate who has engaged them in an unusual way," he writes.
The electorate - which includes Prahran, South Yarra, and parts of St Kilda and Toorak - was previously a Liberal seat, but fell to Labor in 2002 and is now held by about 4.5 per cent.
Liberal state director Julian Sheezel declined to comment on Mr Newton-Brown's campaign approach, but other Liberals condemned the former Melbourne City councillor's tactics.
"People who try to run with no party association always fail unless they are a really big name," one senior Liberal said. "And he isn't a big name. No one would know who Clem Newton-Brown is."

Aside from the obvious typo - guys, it's not Clem Newton-Brown, it's clem newton-brown - a good piece. We've already looked at the youtube video. How about that blog? I'll come back to that, later today. Stay tuned.

patronising, the liberal way

Remember this morning's post? clemnewtonbrown was going to attempt to engage wif da kids by using things like a blog. Ooo. Let's have a look, shall we? According to the slightly dodgy paper mail (more later on this) I received, it's at http://clemnb.typepad.com/. There was even a special little full-colour leaflet promoting this site.

First thoughts - ugh. That's only ugly-arse site. Hire someone who understands CSS, for the love of god!

There's no datestamps on any posts. I wonder why - ah. If you dig in a bit you can get the permalinks for the posts. You're looking at no more than a couple of posts a month. So much for the welcome message of "what will follow is a diary of an election campaign from the perspective of a candidate trying to win a seat in the Victorian State Parliament."

Secondly, let's look at the content. As far as I can see, nearly all of the posts are just dumps of various local issues clem has been harping on about. Once again, I note that things like Prahran Pool and parking meters are council issues. It's nice that you care about this, but it's not relevant to the election!

Basically, the content is the same collection of crap you'd see if you read his campaign literature. That's pretty much it. So much for all that. I hope he got a cheap printing rate for the publishing of the leaflets promoting it.

And is it just me, or is the idea of someone who's so mad keen on cycling (including suggesting putting bike lanes on Chapel St, for fuck's sake!) running for the Liberal Party slightly odd? This is the pro-speeding Liberal Party. How exactly is encouraging people to drive faster a good thing for cyclists?

There's a piece in there complaining about the state of local schools in the Prahran area. He touts what the Liberal party will do for schools. I hate to burst your bubble, but a lot of us can remember what the Liberals did to the schools last time they held government here. To put it simply - they fucked them. Underfunded them, closed many, and generally made a hash of it. But I'm sure that under a Baillieu government, they'd be better this time. I mean, it's not like Ted's going to listen to his mentor Jeffrey Gibb Kennett, is it?

I should close off by noting that based on what clem cares about (his bio lists a bunch of volunteer work) he's probably not a bad human being. But he made the choice to stand as a Liberal. Those scumbags totally fucked the state over last time the were in power, and they haven't shown any indications that they've learned otherwise. Last I looked, the state party was still firmly on the side of global warming denial. And their policies seem rather slanted towards the cheap populist stunts that appeal to the letters page of the Herald-Sun. In addition, I'm finding his rather tragic attempts to appear hip and online somewhere between hilarious and irritatingly patronising. There's politicians who blog, and who make a half-decent effort at it. clemnewtonbrown isn't one of them.

no sex for you!

From USA Today:

The [US] federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.

Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.

The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.

"They've stepped over the line of common sense," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports sex education. "To be preaching abstinence when 90% of people are having sex is in essence to lose touch with reality. It's an ideological campaign. It has nothing to do with public health."

Abstinence education programs, which have focused on preteens and teens, teach that abstaining from sex is the only effective or acceptable method to prevent pregnancy or disease. They give no instruction on birth control or safe sex.

The National Center for Health Statistics says well over 90% of adults ages 20-29 have had sexual intercourse.

But Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the revision is aimed at 19- to 29-year-olds because more unmarried women in that age group are having children.