Dingo bytes

Those who insist on the (bourgeois) contention that art cannot 
impact on politics have had their cosy notion proved false many 
times over. And most recently had it blown out of the water by 
Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. If any further proof 
were needed that the movie has got Bush and his warmongering 
cronies on the run, the banning of the film from military base 
cinemas by the Australian Defence Force puts that to rest. Of 
course the Howard Government has ordered the ban, but won't admit 
it. Said the Defence Department, "It is not appropriate for 
Defence to be seen to be supporting any film of an overly 
political nature".

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And the Federal Government was behind a censorship sting at the 
Australian Broadcasting Corporation last week when the 
Government's hand-picked representatives on the national 
broadcaster's board refused to make footage of prominent Liberal 
politicians available to a documentary maker without first 
obtaining the approval of the politicians. As a custodian of 
Australian culture and history the ABC's archives should be 
uncensored and readily available. It is yet another example of 
the way the Howard Government has tried to white-ant the ABC's 
independence. Said national support group, Friends of the ABC, 
"This action will only increase widespread public concern that 
the ABC board and management are operating with the interests of 
the Government foremost in mind".

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If you have wondered what kind of people inspire the formulation 
of ALP policies check out the speech their finance man Simon 
Crean made to the right-wing stink tank, the Sydney Institute. 
Prattling on about human capital Crean returned to the "reading 
to children" election ploy. Eyeing ankle biters as a source of 
profits, he quoted that international organisation so famous for 
its devotion to the well being of children: "The World Bank gives 
us five good reasons why we should invest in young children". 
These five pillars of wisdom include higher economic returns, 
reduced social costs and increased efficiency of investments.

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CAPITALIST HOG OF THE WEEK: is the drug company lobby. Two US 
trade negotiators who helped stitch up the US-Australia FTA have 
been rewarded with big-time positions in the drug industry. 
Following his part in the FTA, Ralph Ives was promoted to US 
assistant trade representative for pharmaceutical policy and this 
month became a vice-president at AdvaMed which produces half the 
world's medical technology products. Claude Burcky, an 
intellectual property trade negotiator on the FTA, is now a 
director of pharmaceutical corporation Abbott Laboratories. Who 
said our PBS isn't under threat?