Hasten a Chinese Prime Minister of Australia?

November 06, 2008
the Australian

Obama has won America's trust. Now to the hard part ...

On the ground, however, the race issue was conspicuously absent from the 2008 campaign. There are still bigots in the US, as in Australia, but institutionalised bigotry ended long ago. Those outside the US who seek moral superiority by perpetuating the myth of a race-divided America should take stock. Hasten the day when Germany elects a Turkish chancellor, France an Algerian head of state or Cuba a black president. In the meantime, we rejoice with America.

... He is intelligent, driven and, importantly, cool in a crisis. By common consent, he is the best presidential orator since Franklin Roosevelt, at least in delivery, if not content.

... Yet he remains an enigma. We do not yet know how how he intends to govern ...

With Senator Obama, who has the most liberal voting record of any president-elect, US politics enters new territory. In many respects he is closer to a European-style social democrat than an American liberal. Should his more radical instincts prevail we are in for an interesting ride, with liberals dominating in Congress and a partisan press as his cheer squad. The "card check" proposal that would end secret union ballots, the revival of the Fairness Doctrine that would hand-tie conservative talk radio, liberal appointees to the Supreme Court and trade restrictions would set a radical new path. Should he choose a more centrist style of government, however, he has considerable authority for good and to correct the many mistakes of presidents George W.Bush and Bill Clinton.

So, if we are consistent, Germany should have no concern to elect an equally enigmatic Turkish chancellor, France a mysterious Algerian, and if they both turn out to be closet Islamists, hey whatever man, just "hasten the day". And Australia should likewise hasten the election of a Chinese Prime Minister who campaigns on vague policy and has associations we'd rather not talk about. So long as we do a moral stock-take to prove there are no race divisions, any non-white leader will do. Who cares who runs the country, so long as we prove "this house is clean". At best it's "moral superiority" at any cost. At worst, it's a desire to see whites disempowered everywhere, for reasons we are left to ponder. Either way, it's reckless disregard for the preservation of any distinct qualities of these nations, and reckless disregard for national security and sovereignty - all in the name of proving "ain't no racists here". Moral nation destroyers. Moral social capital thieves. Moral anarchists. Moral prostrationists. Moral dhimmis (for Islamists). Moral supremacists (over you). Moral martyrs. Suicide moralists. All hail the nirvana of non-discrimination. Peace be upon it.

PS - and if the stock-take election should prove that blacks are racist? Well that's OK, moral superiority is only applied to whites.

Detroit Prosecutor: Videogames Are 'Big Indicator Of Crime'

Dec 04, 2007

Detroit's plan to cut crime? Crack down on violent videogames.

Games are a "big indicator of crime," says Kym Worthy, prosecuting attorney for Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit -- which a recent Congressional Quarterly study called America's "most dangerous city."

"No one can convince me that there isn't a link between some of the gory, gritty, horrendous crime that we've been seeing in the past few years, particularly in the 18-25 year old group, [and] these games," ...

This week, Worthy released a list of ten games she thinks parents should avoid buying for their children this holiday season. It includes games such as Grand Theft Auto and Scarface.

Worthy says that she has seen "copycat crimes" in Detroit that "mimic" videogames.

"I'm telling you, things are getting much more gory, much more horrific...I'm not saying it's the only link, I'm not saying that it's a direct link, but it's there," she says.

Worthy puts out her list every year to help warn parents about the type of games their children might be playing. All of the games on the list are M-rated, and therefore not actually intended for children, but Worthy brushes such arguments aside.

"That means nothing to me really, because we have kids playing these games who are under the age of being mature," she says.

Worthy writes off any arguments that violent games are a way to act out aggression in a safe environment. These, she says, are "silly" arguments made to justify a "billion-dollar industry based on the most violent of scenarios."

"Why can't they just go play football?" she asks. "I dont understand why anyone would want to be a part of glorifying violence."

The use of the word "game" to describe something like Manhunt, she says, is "very disturbing."

"A game to me is Candyland, Monopoly, the games we used to play as a child. Scrabble. These are games."

To compile the list, Worthy had Detroit-based "community research group" Hood Research poll members of the Detroit community about the violent games they played and wanted.

Other games on Worthy's list include 50 Cent Bulletproof, God of War, and 300...

... Worthy did say that Grand Theft Auto belongs at the top of the list because of its glorification of "carjacking" and other violent crimes.

Worthy says she finds the ability to kill a prostitute after engaging her services in GTA particularly abhorrent. "It rewards you, give you points for mistreating the woman after you've had your way with her," she says.

Talkin sense.

Atlanta: teen blames GTA for firebombings

08/07/08

Milton police on Thursday arrested three teenagers on 57 felony counts connected to the firebombing of three cars with Molotov cocktails devices one boy said he learned to make by playing the Grand Theft Auto computer game.

...Seven Molotov cocktails were made. Two Mercedes and one Honda Accord were burned, three devices missed their target and one was found unused.

Grand Theft Auto is a computer game series that has been blamed for inciting juvenile crime sprees in the United States and globally, including murder and carjacking, police said.

"This case is another strong example of the serious ramifications that can come from letting impressionable teens play violent video games like this one," Lagerbloom said. "We urge parents to pay particular attention to their children's extracurricular activities and to intervene before it's too late."

EA developing 'Godfather II' game

10/08/2008

John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts recently revealed to its investors that The Gofather II, the sequel to the company's The Godfather will be released in February, we will have to wait and see if Australia is included in this.

Featuring the same open-world action as the first game did, The Godfather 2 will include three distinct locations for missions: New York, Miami and Havana. In addition to "more visceral hand-to-hand brutality", the game will also feature "The Don's View", an RTS-type aspect of the game that Riccitiello revealed a few months ago. Using this view, you can build, defend and expand crime rings while keeping tabs on what rival families are up to.

Hunter Smith, Executive Producer said "In the 1960's, a mafia Don was only as strong as his family. We found the hierarchical culture of organized crime intriguing. Running an organized crime family in a world defined by family loyalty is something that we felt could introduce a new strategic element to the genre. That is what the Don's View is all about -- laying out a strategy to pick off the competition one by one. The Don's View is so unique, it could fundamentally change the rules of open-world games by blending action and strategy to create something entirely new."

Most of the film's stars except, notably, Al Pacino, are providing likeness rights to EA. In addition, Robert Duvall, whose Tom Hagen plays a prominent role in the game as an adviser to the character, is recording original voiceovers. Director Francis Ford Coppola, who publicly criticized the first game, is again not involved.

Listen to the language with which this murderous brutality is justified - it's like a Sunday afternoon ABC TV book show. Ban it, and all violent games like it.