By Sean Maguire

For most young Westerners, traveling is seen as an inalienable right and a rite of passage when becoming an adult. With the story that Chinese dissident writer Liao Yiwu has been refused permission to attend an Australian literary festival - perhaps this right needs rethinking.

We need to realise that while international borders might seem more fluid and more open in this era of globalization; for the world's most dangerous thinkers their country can act as an enormous prison stopping them from leaving to learn from foreigners and spreading messages their government doesn't like.

It's time we realise that traveling is still a luxury enjoyed by a privileged few that has to be used to learn and change situations where it is still restricted.

What do you think about the story of Liao Yiwu? Has it made you rethink your ideas on travel and the responsibilities that this comes with? Tell us and remember....Disqus!

Since the days of Alexander the Great, binge drinking has been a very popular past time - leading to him apparently killing a friend and burning down Persepolis while drunk.

Those are some Great shoes to fill.

Yet, governments, schools and the media have repeatedly tried to teach us of binge drinking's dangers. 

Dartmouth University has taken the lead, instigating a new nationwide policy to curb heavy drinking by their students.

Pour me another glass.

Binge drinking is defined as "the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men — or four or more drinks in a row by women — at least once in the previous 2 weeks. Heavy binge drinking includes three or more such episodes in 2 weeks."

Seems I don't know anyone who isn't a heavy binge drinker.

Do you think this definition should be changed or should we change people's attitudes? Or should you follow HPD's no fools guide to drinking a lot but not dying?  . . read more

Rally Week The world is currently enjoying Rally Week – a completely uncoordinated set of rallies all happening around the same time and a great reflection on each state.

“The Rally to Restore Sanity” is Jon Stewart’s answer to the burgeoning idiocracy that is American media and its opinions. It’s the loudest call to make America sound normal again.

Contrastingly the rally in Gaza for Islamic Jihad is the loudest call made by Palestinian extremists to shoot themselves in the foot. Honestly, who’s going to support Palestine if you associate it with Jihad?

And finally, the icing on the cake - the march on the Vatican by victims of abuse from Catholic Priests. They’re coming from all around Europe and want the UN to make “systematic sexual abuse” a crime against humanity. What’s sad is that they have enough people for a march.

I wonder which one is going to end the biggest?   . . read more

Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Leonardo Dicaprio have a lot more in common than you would think. All three have invaded my hopes, dreams and aspirations, then carefully and systematically destroyed them.

Dream number 1. No more references to tomato sauce by politicians ever again. Failed. 

Aspiration number 2. Environmentally conscious and proactive politicians that utilise creative solutions to harrowing problems. Destroyed

Hope number 3. A government that reflects the voice of the people, constructively exhibiting how the democratic process can work. Slowly spiralling into the pile of discarded desires. 

As is evident by this charade of an election, neither party shall accurately carry the voice of the Australian people. What we need to do now is look forward forgetting the joke of a government that shall exist for the next four years or so.

We must look towards the young and aspiring politicians of Australia. What Australian politics needs now is depth, character and intelligence, so I ask of our schools, universities and workplaces, will the real Australian government please stand up?   . . read more

If the shock of Egypt’s unexpected uprising and success has a debt to anything, it is journalism. The lack of raw power only hides the strong impact that this trade has. Journalists themselves look timid, out of place, running around perhaps accompanied by a cameraman, harmless mischief-makers. But Egypt showed how everyone’s a journalist, how journalism embodies the voices of the people and gives them an outlet that reverberates throughout the globe- by Sumer Dayal (UNSW, Sydney)  . . read more

Today I found out that an artist extradonaire and musical genius of the 60s, Captain Beefheart died recently, so I'd thought I'd share an experience of his art.

When I was 16 I went into a record shop in Sydney that could easily have been the set of High Fidelity (and it already had some untrained actors ready as the clerks for the film). Walking around the aisles was a bit intimidating, I got the feeling that the guys working there -who were all middle-aged, drinking beers and talking about music- were judging what I knew about music.

Looking for nothing in particular I picked up Trout Mask Replica, which had the brilliant cover of a man in a suit with a fish suit holding his hand up. Captain Beefheart I read, not knowing the name but I was definitely intrigued by him.

One of the clerk guys saw what I was looking at and said something I always think about when listening to his music.

"Trout Mask Replica? Still scares the shit out of me"

It was incredible to wintess a seen-all-that music fan profess a fear of an artist, so pretty quickly I was at home listening to the album. The clerk wasn't far wrong- there were sounds there I'd never heard and the song Dachau Blues continues to freak me out with the raspy and child molester voice that sings "Dachau blues, Dachau Blues" in increasing intensity and volume.

This guy really was a true original and should be sorely missed. 

Note: the title I just realised is a bit deceptive, I didn't mean it in the, sucked in Captain Beefheart you're dead, more the: you always seemed out of this world and I suppose now you are where you always should have been. . . read more

...Kevin Rudd, the guest of honour at the launch of ABC 3 was the victim of a security scare from an unnamed contracted cleaner.

The story gets stranger as the AFP, the cleaning company and the ABC itself all refused to comment on what had happened.

It might not be a fair comparison but this 'incident' did make me think of the media world's reaction to Tareq and Michaele Sahali's White House invasion last week.

The couple got scorned and ridiculed from all corners and the Secret Service was forced to make an embarrasing apology for this uncharacteristic slip up.

Here though, Rudd's 'dance with death' has only been run on the 7pm ABC news (it didn't even make it to ABC online) and it looks like that will be it from here on in.

There hasn't been any mention of what risk Rudd had been placed in or what will be done differently to avoid similar breaches.

Why the difference if both breaches were equally harmless?

In my mind it shows that the media knows that Rudd's security isn't exactly going set the water-cooler ablaze, and that Rudd himself probably realises that to talk about it or investigate it further would look weak to a country that still prides itself on its stiff upper lip.

Kind of comforting that in Australia, the politicians ain't too precious.

  . . read more

On Australia's public broadcaster the ABC, Australia's former Prime-Minster John Howard had a shoe thrown at him "for Iraqi dead". The most disappointing aspect of the protest was that the thrower was miles off and that we didn't get to see some Bush-esque dodging and weaving from some ferocious footwear. 

The other disappointing aspect was that while Howard will be forever remembered as the PM that committed Australia to two unwinnable wars, his vicious vision continues to live on in a pathetic party we once had faith in.

Reminds me of when Margaret Thatcher was asked what her greatest achievement was in government and she answered "Tony Blair". It was her ability to completely change government so that her successors would have to follow her that she prized most highly.

So for Gillard whose pledged to keep our troops in Afghanistan, take a look at Howard- those are some big shoes to fill but you seem to be measuring up nicely. 

Wonder when you'll be weaving some rubber-soled missiles.  . . read more

 Two men stuck in a squalid swamp
Arguing, which way to jump
Their legs like lead, their feet too deep
Escape is simple but needs belief
Which way to go? Which way to go?
They just don't know
It's easier to stand and sink than think . . read more