PAYING FOR STUFF

Governments love announcing they're going to spend money. It's just raising taxes they don't like.

At some point, however, the mis-match between revenue and expenditure becomes just too great.

This column suggests that point was reached long ago . . .

QUESTION THE DOGMA

This excellent piece by another blogger;

http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/myths-of-ancient-china.html

makes the simple point that it's vital to question every bit of received dogma.

SEX AND THE BRAIN

A brilliant post by Emma Jane talking about Jane Eyre. The best line is three-quarters of the way down.

She says what makes the novel work is not the sex (which isn't there) but rather that it "it is full of explicit encounters involving the sexiest organ in the human body – the brain."

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-latest-bit-of-mummy-porn-is-a-total-turn-off/

NEWS AND FEATURES

Of course the big gaffe that everyone is focussing on is the current one . . . that supposedly 47 percent of US citizens don't pay taxes and only budge on the ones that do.

But there was an earlier gaffe, that US columnist Gail Collins nails here.

JOINTERY

My bad. I'm afraid I thought I'd posted this week but hadn't. 

This column was prompted by the Williams Foundation Seminar at the Australian War Memorial last Thursday. I'm sorry I wasn't able to credit the Foundation in the piece that appeared in the Canberra Times. 

The column itself had to be filed effectively five days before it was published because of new requirements to ensure it gets on the Fairfax website. This is extremely unfortunate and explains why it did not even mention the biggest story in Defence this week  - the shifting of the Secretary, Duncan Lewis, to become Ambassador to Brussels . . . 

STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE

How do you work out what's happening and what is going to happen next?

These are some random ideas and jottings:

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED

It's quite possible that last week's Special Forces raid in Uruzgan was all appropriate and above board.

On the other hand, perhaps not.

The point is we don't know, as this column seeks to make clear . . .

PS ON THE DAY THIS COLUMN WAS PUBLISHED STEPHEN SMITH ANNOUNCED AN INQUIRY WOULD BE CONDUCTED INTO THE KILLINGS OF THE TWO AFGHANS.

MATHS AND ENGLISH

Julia Gillard's announced a new schools "revolution".

She values education and particularly the skills she identified as vital, such as Maths and English.

So let's use those skills to ask if there are any journalistic questions we'd like to have answered . . .

THE MILITARY AND THE SOCIETY THEY SERVE

Since this column was written more issues have arisen about the way the military and society interrelate in Australia, nevertheless, this is a beginning . . .

FRIENDLY FIRE

War is terrible.

The senseless waste of a death at the hands of someone who was supposedly an ally reeks of something worse; an incompetence that should never have been allowed to occur.

Saying nothing will allow the tragedy to continue, which is why I was spurred to write this column for the Canberra Times . . .

EVERYTHING STOPS

Three diggers were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday when an ANA soldier opened fire on them.

One was from Canberra, although the names have not yet been released.

It is a terrible event. We can best remember the sacrifice of the soldiers by carrying on with our duties, as this post on The Strategist sought to make clear . . .