Election

Fantastic. More Tory campaign posters at mydavidcameron.com ...

Now, is it too late to get my postal vote sorted?

Barack Hussein Obama, 44th President of the United States

President-elect of the USA: a skinny black man with brains. (See Jonathan Raban's article for the details.) I guess if you are going to break down barriers you might as well tear them all down at once.

There haven't been many occasions in my lifetime that you could say well done the American electorate, but credit where it's due – thank you.

Over the next few months I presume the Republicans will be looking for new leadership and direction, so my modest contribution is some advice for Sarah Palin – before running for elected office again here are some books that might prove useful:

And, before you all write in, I know the Tim Flannery one is the children's version. Other suggestions gratefully received.

Song for Sunday

Looks like it was filmed on CCTV ...

I still feel a bit nervous about the result on Tuesday, and am pretty sure it will be way tighter than the polls are saying, but a bit of Bruce always makes me feel optimistic.

Which is more harmful?

Listening to 2GB or posing for a Bill Henson photograph? I know which I would be more worried about my children doing.

Interesting article in yesterday's Age about the seizure of the Bill's photographs from the Roslyn Oxley 9 gallery. Is it just me or is anyone else disturbed that the police raid was prompted not by complaints from members of the public, but by an email from a producer trying to stir up controversy and consequently boost ratings for a commercial radio station?

Of course this is the radio station that already has previous, including promoting race-hatred, contempt of court and defamation ...

Meanwhile, the police have passed a brief to the DPP to decide whether to press charges and, of course, what charges to lay. Rudd reiterates his moronic comments and the Arts minister is struck dumb. The only politician who has had anything sensible to say is Malcolm Turnbull. I almost feel pity for Peter Garrett and wonder how long it will be before the suppression of all his true feelings becomes too much for him and what will happen when he reaches this point.

MONDAY UPDATE
And now Germaine Greer joins the party.

Bill Henson

I am sadly disappointed Mr Rudd. I had thought that you were a thoughtful and intelligent man who could think and write about subtle and complex issues, such as the role of faith in politics. However, your ill-informed and hysterical comments about the NSW police raid on the Bill Henson exhibition last week sound more like the knee-jerk rantings of shock-jocks and tabloid journalists. I had hoped for better from you.

Perhaps something more like the letter penned by your guests from last month's 2020 summit. Thank you Alison Croggon and all the other signatories for providing some welcome context and sanity into the debate.

It is my opinion that none of Bill Henson's photos could be construed as pornographic and worth remembering that all his models (and their parents) have given their full consent to the taking of the pictures and their display in exhibitions.

However, I am biased. I think that Bill Henson is a great artist and someone that Australia should support and treasure, not vilify and misrepresent. And in fact, the mainstream media's coverage and response is far more likely to have had a damaging impact on those involved than anything that happened in Bill's studio.

The wrong man

I have been trying to work out what is wrong about Gordon Brown for a while. In theory he should have been the perfect antidote to the Blair premiership, but something has gone devastatingly wrong with his ascension to the Prime Minister's job.

k-punk clarifies it all for me.

"Tell us about your mother, Gordon" ...