links for 2009-01-12

Greg’s Daily News Commentary

• Bush defends legacy in final media conference
  George W Bush on Monday passionately denied his turbulent presidency had damaged America’s moral standing in the world
  … well he would say that, wouldn’t he!

• Key to financial success? Sex hormones and a long finger
  … and all the time we believed that the bull had balls 😉

• The growth of online commerceh in the UK
  According to latest |figures from IMRG,| e-retail spending in the UK now amounts to £46.6bn (17.5 per cent of total retail shopping)COMMENT:
  With the nearest shopping available some 50 Km from our rural village, one would expect online shopping could be a major contributor to reducing our carbon footprint. Yet, very few people I know get involved in e-Commerce. The real problem in remote areas is the lack of adequate internet connectivity – no broadband and excessive connection fees. So, we are condemned to “each person making an average of 219 shopping trips by car a year, travelling 1,220km each and emitting 136 grams of carbon per passenger kilometre” according to this article.
• White House Rejected All Advice That Torture Was Illegal
  President Bush and his aides repeatedly ignored warnings that their torture plans were illegal from high State Department officials as well as the nation’s top uniformed legal officers, the Judge Advocates General of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, a new published report states.COMMENT: This is a must read as it shows how easily those in authority can degrade the perceived ethics of a nation. It is important that these people be ‘outed’ and that the facts be recorded so that our children may develop a higher ethic towards human rights than we have shown then with the ‘war on terror’. Our democratic system falls short when our leaders can indulge in such lawlessness and get away with it until there is a change in government. Do not be surprised when attempts to indict those responsible gradually peter out as the system protects its own.
• Sex workers want award conditions
  SEX workers are among the first to make a submission to the Federal Government’s Senate inquiry into its Fair Work industrial relations Bill.
  Comment … and I hope the inquiry takes into account the financial and sexual exploitation of the customers

• Elite students exploit uni entry scheme
  STUDENTS from exclusive private schools appear to be exploiting a special consideration scheme to gain bonus points for university entry, claiming health disadvantages at much higher rates than their public school counterparts.

  Comment: It’s not what you know – it’s who you know. This sort of preferential treatment must be stamped out as it leads to a lifetime of ‘exploitation of the system’ at the expense of others. We all know the ‘users’ in our community. Maybe this is where it all starts.