SMH: WA takes lead as heaviest taxer

Absolutely disgraceful. When I moved here nearly 10 years ago WA was one of the lowest taxing states in the nation, if not the lowest. Unfortunately the only way to avoid taxes here now is to not undertaken any transactions that involve paperwork: for memory our stamp duty bill on our last house buy was in excess of $20k, if we were to sell it would be double that, even more today. How is it but a state with record low unemployment (roughly 3% and getting lower) and a record level of investment and wealth growth could possibly be the highest taxer in the land? Imagine if we were the lowest today, growth would be higher again, unemployment would be pushing 0% (ok, that’s impossible because some people just refuse to work…but it would be lower) and people would be queuing at the border to come here.

Latest US sales figures via El Reg:

“According to market watcher NPD, some 335,000 Wiis were sold in the US in February. Microsoft sold 228,000 Xbox 360s and Sony 127,000 PS3s. Nintendo was just 20,000 units short of outselling both its rivals put together.”

Overall figures to date:

“Americans have bought around 5m 360s, to 1.86m Wiis and 1.1m PS3s.”

Note though that the XBox 360 has been out 1 year longer than the other two. Nintendo must be laughing all the way to bank!

Attended Capelfest yesterday, one of the biggest local annual fairs held in the South West of Western Australia.

The Liberal Candidate wasn’t in attendance. Pure stupidity, Forrest might have a 10% margin but she won’t have the advantage of incumbency and if the swing is on the seat could easily be tight…even lost.

The ALP candidate however was clever enough to have a stall, right near the main entrance as well, so exposure would have been huge, I’ve got no idea what the attendance figures would have been, but I’d guess maybe 20,000 people, certainly at least 10,000, there were people everywhere.

The stall was decked out nearly exclusively with anti Work Choices stuff, everything from portable 2.5m full colour banner displays, stickers, flyers etc… I didn’t take the camera and forgot to grab a photo on the mobile, I should have.

She who must be obeyed said to me that it wasn’t a professional layout in her opinion, but we’re both seasoned at this sort of stuff and in years gone by, from shopping centres to country shows we’ve got a ton of experience at these sorts of things, but we shouldn’t really be the bar to which all such displays should be measured + her analysis ignored an important point: the stall wasn’t there as an information booth, it was there so the ALP candidate could play meet and greet with as many people as possible. And indeed, in the couple of times I walked past it there was always a pile of people around the stall, a sure sign that not only was it working, but it was serving its purpose.

Given the quality of the anti-Work Choices material it’s as clear as day to me that the 2007 Federal Election is going to be about WorkChoices….and as long as the ALP can keep on message Kevin Rudd will be the next Prime Minister of Australia, after all, general support for WorkChoices is minimal in the electorate. If 2001 was the Tampa election, 2007 looks like being a referendum on WorkChoices, and it’s a vote the Government cant win.

Tsunami Warnings for the entirity of the East Coast.

Struth.

Probably will be nothing more than a slight tidal surge (20-30cm), but reports coming in are saying people in Cairns are heading to high ground.

More soon…possibly.

TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington today announced that April Fools Day was now moving to March 31.

Arrington said in the statement that thousands of years of tradition meant nothing to him, because TechCrunch has a larger combined viewing audience than all the traditionalists in the world combined.

“April 1 has never been a good date in my books to play jokes, and hence I’ve decreed that April Fools Day will now be known as March 31 fools day”.

Read more of the tradition breaking here.

ABC: Hicks apologises, thanks Aust for support

Lets pick out some good bits:

“Hicks returned to the Guantanamo Bay court room and admitted to a range of activities, including training at Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and meeting Osama bin Laden….In a statement read to the tribunal on his behalf, Hicks said he owed apologies to many people, including his family, Australia and the US. He has also thanked Australians for their compassion and forgiveness and has promised not to betray their support.”

So now he’s not only pleaded guilty, he’s asking his family of forgiveness for being a terrorist. Will the Hick’s apologists finally shut the you know what up now? probably not, it’s all a US conspiracy after all in their minds and there is no way they’ll let the fact get in the way of a good ol’ fashioned Government sledge.

Video over on Chris Pirillo’s blog. Sickening. Totally sickening.

I’m hesitant to start another flame war on guns, but I’ll repeat what I’ve said previously, and note that this is coming from someone who’s politics has always been slightly right of centre, and in a classical sense closest to libertarian: US gun policy is crazy. Guns are horrible things that have no real use other than to shot people, unless of course you live in the country/ bush then you may have a legit purpose to have one. The average Sam Yank in suburban LA or Houston shouldn’t have the right to have a gun in the 21st century, as as Bruce or Shelia Australian in Sydney or Melbourne don’t now. A US with less guns would be a much safer place.

Consumerist does the math on TXT messaging, and finds there is a 7314% markup in the US. Given Telstra/ Optus often charge 25c (AUD), sometimes more depending on the plan, the markup in Australia is even worse again. Of course a lot of it is due to the thieving all three major carriers partake in with network interchange fees. Why the ACCC hasn’t stepped in yet is beyond me, it’s a complete scam, in the same way bank interchange fees are for ATM’s, I pay $2.50 to use a non Police and Nurses ATM, and yet there is only one for the entire South West of Western Australia, and half the time the bloody thing is out of order….but get this, if I was over 55 I wouldn’t pay a cent with a over 55’s account. Lets hope the incoming Labor Government has strengthening the powers of the ACCC high up on their list of priorities.

Posted at 901am today on Bush quoting bloggers. Headline “President quotes bloggers in Iraq defense”, but is it right? In normal (ie not US) English the last word would be defence, and that’s how I originally wrote the post until the “I have to convert this to US English because of the site” part of my brain kicked in. Looking at it, it looks wrong to me, but I think its right in terms of US English, but maybe I’m wrong…anyhow, I’m sure you’ll get my drift on this 🙂

This post at Scripting.com

Notice the link in the 4th paragraph for Russo & Hale.

Not having a go at Dave on this, I’d be doing the same thing in his situation, but it’s interesting to see the godfather of blogging undertaking SEO on posts to hijack Google in terms of his enemies business name. Having said that, is it wise taking on lawyers of all people?