Backlash Come Saturday and all the glitz and glamour of election promising will be over. See our online coverage and candidate profiles at www.echo. net.au/election-2015. And remember, as that splendid journalist H L Mencken wrote in the Baltimore Sun in 1936, ‘… every election is a sort of advanced auction sale of stolen goods.’ Stolen from you and promoted as gifts from whichever political party wants your vote. Q Q Q Q
The crusty blokes in the sports media would have you believe that rugby league and cricket are the nation’s passions, but it would seem this is not so among the kids. According to recent Roy Morgan research, the top three sporting activities for kids aged 6 to 13 are swimming, soccer (the only code really entitled to the name
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‘football’) and cycling. Cricket comes in at 7 and rugby league at 13, while basketball ranks 5 and netball 8. Don’t expect TV stations to adjust their emphasis accordingly.
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‘Mass surveillance on a scale never before seen in Australia’ is how Crikey politics editor Bernard Keane describes the new data-retention laws stitched up between the government and Labor behind closed doors. You can read his article on Echonetdaily at http://bit.ly/crikdata. Naturally we’re worried about
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Byron Bay Hapkido is running an 8 week course for beginners on
‘Hapkido is an effective self-defence that can be learnt by anyone no matter their size, age or fitness level,’ says Eli Dutton of Byron Bay AHA Hapkido School.
For people who can’t handle the pain: fake tongue studs. NSW Fair Trading is warning against them because the studs could be inhaled and lodge in the lungs or airways, or be swallowed and potentially perforate organs. More information on the banned items is at www.productsafety.gov.au.
the ability of journalists to protect their sources but it is also another step towards our nation becoming an oppressive society. According to Keane, under the new laws ‘journalists would remain ignorant of when their data were being targeted. In fact, anyone who reveals the existence of a journalist information warrant, or even a request for such a warrant, or whether such a request has been granted, can be jailed for two years. A journalist who learnt that their data had been targeted would thus be gagged from revealing it.’ And in the case of an ‘emergency’, the head of ASIO can sidestep the warrant process altogether. Have our overlords been reading up too keenly on the history of the Stasi, the former East German spy network?
progress in happiness, knowledge and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise. If you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.’ Anything changed? Find out more of the history behind the manifesto at www. wagingpeace.org/rememberyour-humanity.
The signs are up in Melbourne for Mandy Nolan’s gig at the Newport Bowlo as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival, April 16–18. She’ll be reuniting for the gig with her Queen Bs comedy partner from the 1990s, Stella Kinsella, also a former Echo entertainment writer. The image and title on the sign are from Ms Nolan’s new book: http://finch.com.au/ books/home-truths.
The busy folk at the NSW Police Media Unit provide us with a steady stream of press releases (available here: www. police.nsw.gov.au/news). Our favourite header this week is ‘Man charged after loaded firearm located in his pants.’ Apparently it’s a new fashion in South Grafton; nothing like a sawn-off shottie to make a bloke look wellendowed. Q Q Q Q
July 9, 2015, marks the 60th anniversary of the RussellEinstein Manifesto. Philosopher/mathematician Bertrand Russell and all-round genius Albert Einstein were worried about nuclear obliteration, and the human condition in general, so they declared: ‘There lies before us, if we choose, continual
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Byron Shire Echo archives: www.echo.net.au/byron-echo