The Worm turns to ... Swann!
Sucked shit Smirky Pete.
PS 151 posts for October. Most. Monthly posts. Ever.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween Everybody!
We don't celebrate it in Oz unfortunately. I wish we did. Occasionally someone tries the trick'n'treat on. Two Halloweens ago some kid turned up at the door wearing his school skivvy pulled up over his mouth and said he was a bandit. TheWife told him to fuck off. I once went to a Halloween party at the Bevester's house. My costume?
Business shirt and tie, nice pants, shoes. And ... sideburns made out of lipstick. I went as a graduate recruit because said male recruits tended towards having sculpted sideburns. I had to explain my costume to virtually everyone. And those that I didn't tell likely assumed I was lipstick man or something.
What a lame, lame costume.
PS 150 posts! Most posts in a month. Ever.
PPS TheWife's encounter from last year was pretty funny.
Will Downer and Howard to call on Abbott to stand down?
As you may recall Downer chucked a mental fit about the Labor candidate for Hinkler calling elderly people warmongers (which was esp wrong since they have a son in the UK armed forces in Afghanistan - though whether Mr Parr knew that when he labelled them thusly is unknown).
Downer demanded Rudd expel him from the party etc. Howard naturally jumped up and down with a me too.
Yesterday Tony Abbott said the following of a terminally ill man protesting a drug not being included on the PBS lists.
"Let's be up front about this, I know Bernie is very sick, but just because a person is sick doesn't necessarily mean that he is pure of heart in all things," Mr Abbott told the Nine Network.
What a shit smear. Abbott naturally apologized and claimed he and Bernie were tight as.
So tell me. What's worse. The warmonger remark? Or the claiming the dead man walking was being all nastily partisan etc?
Downer demanded Rudd expel him from the party etc. Howard naturally jumped up and down with a me too.
Yesterday Tony Abbott said the following of a terminally ill man protesting a drug not being included on the PBS lists.
"Let's be up front about this, I know Bernie is very sick, but just because a person is sick doesn't necessarily mean that he is pure of heart in all things," Mr Abbott told the Nine Network.
What a shit smear. Abbott naturally apologized and claimed he and Bernie were tight as.
So tell me. What's worse. The warmonger remark? Or the claiming the dead man walking was being all nastily partisan etc?
How to have a shit morning
(I have the ragtime song from when Homer went to New York in the 80's in my head as I write this).
1) Bang your head sharply on the window edge as you get out of the car.
2) Slam your jumper in the car door then have your partner drive off taking you with the car as you frantically beat the window to get her to stop.
3) Walk past the clearly amused rent-a-cop who saw the incident
4) Have a fly land in your ear as you walk to work, causing you to shriek girlishly and bat at your ear with a magazine.
5) Discover your pass fucking expired and spend 40 fucking minutes waiting for a new one.
That was a suckful morning. And the funny thing was the moment 1) occurred I said 'I am going to have a shit morning'.
UPDATE: That same music, as linked to by Mort in comments, would also work well for Tony Abbott's hell day.
1) Bang your head sharply on the window edge as you get out of the car.
2) Slam your jumper in the car door then have your partner drive off taking you with the car as you frantically beat the window to get her to stop.
3) Walk past the clearly amused rent-a-cop who saw the incident
4) Have a fly land in your ear as you walk to work, causing you to shriek girlishly and bat at your ear with a magazine.
5) Discover your pass fucking expired and spend 40 fucking minutes waiting for a new one.
That was a suckful morning. And the funny thing was the moment 1) occurred I said 'I am going to have a shit morning'.
UPDATE: That same music, as linked to by Mort in comments, would also work well for Tony Abbott's hell day.
Nice one Chris
The other night we got Pizza Hut. Yes I know pathetic. As an obese IBS man with a fatty liver, really, should not be eating food from there.
Anyway beside the point. Chris was our point man. He arrived, spent three minutes sorting out the change, and delivered what we wanted. All good.
Except his parking technique.
Which was to leave his keys in the ignition with the engine running.
Not sure how exactly his insurance company would view such a thing, especially given the heightened threat of theft given overt drug house across from ours.
Certainly not good for the planet. Though of course, neither are ribs and chicken wings.
Anyway beside the point. Chris was our point man. He arrived, spent three minutes sorting out the change, and delivered what we wanted. All good.
Except his parking technique.
Which was to leave his keys in the ignition with the engine running.
Not sure how exactly his insurance company would view such a thing, especially given the heightened threat of theft given overt drug house across from ours.
Certainly not good for the planet. Though of course, neither are ribs and chicken wings.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Area man drops $50 on Maxine
A friend of mine has an online betting account and kindly put my $50 on the nose for Maxine to win Bennelong.
It's 3 to 1 at the moment. Crossing fingers...
It's 3 to 1 at the moment. Crossing fingers...
Andrew Robb sticks to the plan
Last night Robb was on Lateline to spruik the Lib's tafe upgrade plan. He managed to have a bit of a pull about unions. Here's the transcript.
ANDREW ROBB: Well, no one wants any upward movement in interest rates, and we've had some, but we've had 1.25 per cent in total over the last three years. And interest rate rises, they do remind people, the interest rate debate, I think, of the significance of running a difficult economy, running such a huge economy, they do remind people, I think, that put in the hands of inexperienced ... an inexperienced team, put in the hands of a team that's dominated by union influence ... when did you last hear a union official talk about growing the economy? Now, that is the sort of issue that confronts...
TONY JONES: Well, it's a fairly easy one to argue really, because two union officials were responsible for some of the biggest reforms to the economy, that's Hawke and Keating. Acknowledged by your own side as being two of most significant reforms to the economy, which helped it to grow, so I guess that's the last time I heard it stated and even by them.
ANDREW ROBB: Yeah well, that was in a government with a Cabinet with balance. The point is you have 70 per cent of a Cabinet with one background, one perspective coming from 70 per cent of the people who make up that management team. All of whom have had no experience in creating wealth, in growing an economy, in making things grow and develop. Now, this is a very narrow perspective. It's a very dangerous one and it does mean that there's great uncertainty and inexperience if you hand over a trillion-dollar economy to that sort of group of people, and that's ... they're the sorts of issues which are, I think, really important. They take time. We need six weeks. People are starting to focus. And in the end, they will face a real choice
You see it's all about the proportion people. You can have four former unionists in cabinet - such as the current one - but, well to have 21 that's just murder. Of grannies or something.
ANDREW ROBB: Well, no one wants any upward movement in interest rates, and we've had some, but we've had 1.25 per cent in total over the last three years. And interest rate rises, they do remind people, the interest rate debate, I think, of the significance of running a difficult economy, running such a huge economy, they do remind people, I think, that put in the hands of inexperienced ... an inexperienced team, put in the hands of a team that's dominated by union influence ... when did you last hear a union official talk about growing the economy? Now, that is the sort of issue that confronts...
TONY JONES: Well, it's a fairly easy one to argue really, because two union officials were responsible for some of the biggest reforms to the economy, that's Hawke and Keating. Acknowledged by your own side as being two of most significant reforms to the economy, which helped it to grow, so I guess that's the last time I heard it stated and even by them.
ANDREW ROBB: Yeah well, that was in a government with a Cabinet with balance. The point is you have 70 per cent of a Cabinet with one background, one perspective coming from 70 per cent of the people who make up that management team. All of whom have had no experience in creating wealth, in growing an economy, in making things grow and develop. Now, this is a very narrow perspective. It's a very dangerous one and it does mean that there's great uncertainty and inexperience if you hand over a trillion-dollar economy to that sort of group of people, and that's ... they're the sorts of issues which are, I think, really important. They take time. We need six weeks. People are starting to focus. And in the end, they will face a real choice
You see it's all about the proportion people. You can have four former unionists in cabinet - such as the current one - but, well to have 21 that's just murder. Of grannies or something.
Howard now referring to himself in the third person
He's on Lateline saying "John Howard did this and John Howard did that etc"
WTF?
Howard's now claiming we shouldn't nitpick about the past
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It's pretty hilarious. Of course the past is no longer his friend. And, cross fingers, neither is the future.
UPDATE: The bits of the interview where he went the Caesar path to rhetorical success
JOHN HOWARD: Tony, I have a completely open mind about various energy sources but I do know that - and this is not just my view, it's the view of Australia's chief scientist. As of now, with all the available science, the only feasible ways of generating base load power are either fossil fuels or variations thereof, or nuclear power. Now that's not John Howard's view. That's the view of Australia's chief scientist and I'm always being told, and I respect this advice, that we should listen to the scientists.
JOHN HOWARD: I think you're struggling a bit with that question. 'Me too' in the Australian political context at the moment is about the attitude of Kevin Rudd towards John Howard and the attitude of John Howard towards Kevin Rudd. I think it's a pretty long bow to bring George Bush into the Australian domestic political debate.
JOHN HOWARD: John Howard, when he became Prime Minister of Australia in 1996, brought in national gun control laws. George Bush would never do that. John Howard's led a Government that signed the International Criminal Court charter, George Bush would never do that. I can list many things where our positions are quite different. John Howard happens to think the social security safety net in the United States is far too weak.
John Howard happens to have told George Bush that he should have a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in America similar to the scheme that we have in Australia. I think he would like to 'me too' on that, but for a combination of reasons he hasn't been able to do so. You can always find similarities in approaches around the world. There are a lot of similarities in the language as well as the policies used by Mr Rudd and Mr Beazley before him with those of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
I mean in a sense they model themselves. They even brought Nicholas Stern out to Australia to sing the song on climate change. I mean come on, Tony, that's a pretty thin argument.
Oh and my absolute favourite part...
JOHN HOWARD: I think what people are waiting for is a proper engagement between Mr Rudd and me on the important issue and we begin to have that engagement when we address the future and don't nit pick about the past.
Really? Is that really the case? So ... no more mention of the 17% interest rates then.
Oh riddle me this. Howard has bleated until he's blue in the face that he backed every single one of the ALP economic reforms from the last ALP government. Except some of those reforms ended up influencing the 17% rate - you know the recession we had to have etc. So does that mean Howard is equally responsible? He seems to think he was for the reform part...
WTF?
Howard's now claiming we shouldn't nitpick about the past
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It's pretty hilarious. Of course the past is no longer his friend. And, cross fingers, neither is the future.
UPDATE: The bits of the interview where he went the Caesar path to rhetorical success
JOHN HOWARD: Tony, I have a completely open mind about various energy sources but I do know that - and this is not just my view, it's the view of Australia's chief scientist. As of now, with all the available science, the only feasible ways of generating base load power are either fossil fuels or variations thereof, or nuclear power. Now that's not John Howard's view. That's the view of Australia's chief scientist and I'm always being told, and I respect this advice, that we should listen to the scientists.
JOHN HOWARD: I think you're struggling a bit with that question. 'Me too' in the Australian political context at the moment is about the attitude of Kevin Rudd towards John Howard and the attitude of John Howard towards Kevin Rudd. I think it's a pretty long bow to bring George Bush into the Australian domestic political debate.
JOHN HOWARD: John Howard, when he became Prime Minister of Australia in 1996, brought in national gun control laws. George Bush would never do that. John Howard's led a Government that signed the International Criminal Court charter, George Bush would never do that. I can list many things where our positions are quite different. John Howard happens to think the social security safety net in the United States is far too weak.
John Howard happens to have told George Bush that he should have a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in America similar to the scheme that we have in Australia. I think he would like to 'me too' on that, but for a combination of reasons he hasn't been able to do so. You can always find similarities in approaches around the world. There are a lot of similarities in the language as well as the policies used by Mr Rudd and Mr Beazley before him with those of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
I mean in a sense they model themselves. They even brought Nicholas Stern out to Australia to sing the song on climate change. I mean come on, Tony, that's a pretty thin argument.
Oh and my absolute favourite part...
JOHN HOWARD: I think what people are waiting for is a proper engagement between Mr Rudd and me on the important issue and we begin to have that engagement when we address the future and don't nit pick about the past.
Really? Is that really the case? So ... no more mention of the 17% interest rates then.
Oh riddle me this. Howard has bleated until he's blue in the face that he backed every single one of the ALP economic reforms from the last ALP government. Except some of those reforms ended up influencing the 17% rate - you know the recession we had to have etc. So does that mean Howard is equally responsible? He seems to think he was for the reform part...
Bally bully needs a damn good rodgering ... I mean hiding
One of that beastly toad Rudd's toadies has bally insulted our brave men and women fighting abroad by calling the elderly parents of a man serving in the British armed forces war mongers.Can. You. Believe. It?
How dare the candidate for Hinkler call two oldies who approached him in the supermarket mall Warmongers. Obviously the candidate must have known they had a son serving overseas! Why wouldn't he? It was probably tattooed on their faces - their brave lad in uniform or something.
I don't need to know the context of what happened. All I need to do is call for this worm to be thrown out of the bally ALP for daring to express an opinion that a pair of old people he was talking too were overtly pro war. How completely utterly unAustralian of him to say that to people who had a son fighting in a completely different country's armed forces.
This sort of abuse of brave families, whose (sons and daughters) are fighting the Taliban and are fighting terrorism, it's a window into what Labor is really like.
War is terrwiffic. I should know. As Minister I helped give Saddam Hussein 300 million dollars to fight one.
Worm info sought
Costello and Swanny went head to head at the press club today, with Hartcher of SMH giving a narrow win to Swanny because he performed well enough that he presented a credible face - see here.
Apparently nine wormed up the debate. I was curious to see what the worm would do. The result of the worm was to be announced on Nine news, and ACA. But I can't find it on their site. Am I missing something? Did anyone see? References?
MIA WORM!
UPDATE: Here's the SMH story where they claimed the worm's views would be revealed
Apparently nine wormed up the debate. I was curious to see what the worm would do. The result of the worm was to be announced on Nine news, and ACA. But I can't find it on their site. Am I missing something? Did anyone see? References?
MIA WORM!
UPDATE: Here's the SMH story where they claimed the worm's views would be revealed
Who ever said Nine favoured the ALP
Check out today's offerings from the national nine news site here.
Uniformly pro Liberal and anti Labor.
Slide 1; Potential jobs lost under ALP plan.
Slide 2;
Vic police breached database (ALP governed state)
Former Hawke minister denies fraud (former ALP minister)
Power bills up under ALP plan (look! Those commies are costing your money as they try and lower our greenhouse emissions)
Poll turnaround cheers Howard (positive imagery of elderly confused man with some good news)
Howard safe ... (clear outright favourite ergo he's won and the world is a better place - look a kitten - let's hug it)
NSW casino (ooooh ALP government created a monopoly. Bad ALP! Bad!)
Uniformly pro Liberal and anti Labor.
Slide 1; Potential jobs lost under ALP plan.
Slide 2; Vic police breached database (ALP governed state)
Former Hawke minister denies fraud (former ALP minister)
Power bills up under ALP plan (look! Those commies are costing your money as they try and lower our greenhouse emissions)
Poll turnaround cheers Howard (positive imagery of elderly confused man with some good news)
Howard safe ... (clear outright favourite ergo he's won and the world is a better place - look a kitten - let's hug it)
NSW casino (ooooh ALP government created a monopoly. Bad ALP! Bad!)
Legohead footloose and fancy free
It's amazing how pollies will answer a question as if something completely different was asked. For example Kevin Andrews at a recent local forum in his seat.
A friend kindly provided me a transcript of Andrew's remarks and the MP3 of his response. You can find a link to the MP3 of Andrews' answer here.
The question asked was as follows;
WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: A US academic did say that public ignorance is a national resource that 's carefully husbanded by politicians. The thing that concerns me most about the Iraq war is the way that information is manipulated, ah it seems to me that Iraq is a very complex situation and its way beyond anything that people in our culture can understand in terms of it's traditions, its religion, its tribal make up and its whole way of doing business and thinking about the world and what we're getting is a simplified, falsified sort of version of things so I'd like the panel to comment on information management in relation of the Iraq war and especially recently on LATELINE an academic guest there said that he thought was really going on in Iraq was that Iran was slowly taking over. So, in view of the fact that Iran is the next big battle on the American agenda, can we have some comment on information management.
Other candidates responded. This was Andrews' response;
KEVIN ANDREWS: Just three comments. Firstly, it's wrong to suggest that I'm saying things haven't improved in Iraq; I'm saying quite the opposite. Things have improved in Iraq. You just have to look at schools and hospitals and a whole range of services in that country that are operating today in a way they weren't operating in the past. That country has improved and that's why I'm saying we should stay there. Secondly, in relation to any conflict this conflict has been covered by the media more than any other conflict in history. There are journalists in Iraq every day. There are reporters in Iraq. There is more about this warfare on our daily television news sets and in the media than any other war before. So the media are there and they're freely there in that country and they can report what's going on. That's the reality. I mean we've got more media, more instantaneous media in the world today, including in situations of conflict, than we've had in any other conflict, in any other war in the past. That's the reality in relation to it. Finally can I say that somebody mentioned, one of the panellists mentioned Nazi Germany. Can I quote from Arthur Cosler (phonetic) who was writing about the burning of Berlin's Reichstag in 1933, the event which gave rise to Nazi Germany, and he said this and I quote: "We said that if you don't quench those flames at once they will spread all over the world." And I think the same can be seen, can be said about extreme Islam today.
(Crowd heckles)
Somebody said that's racist. I said extreme Islam, I did not say Islam in general… (inaudible) I'll finish on this note, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to pretend that there is not an ideological battle in the world… (crowd heckles). Have the decency and courtesy to listen to the answer. If you want to pretend that there is not an ideological conflict between those who believe broadly in Western democracy and those who believe that there ought to be a state of affairs which is ruled by an extremist ideology I think you've got your head in the sand.
MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen… (crowd heckles). Just one moment. I think that the appropriate answer might be to your question, madam, is if this reply that Mr Andrews has given is reported accurately in the press, that will be your answer to your question.
Oh dear. No wonder Haneef got his visa pinched. He could have been one of those dastardly extreme muzzies what threaten our freedoms!
Take that you dumb squirrel
I am shit with almost all things of a dexterous nature - including Ikea provided allen keys. And I barely know enough about computers to turn one on. But tonight I was able to repair a computer for a friend. And by repair simply swap a dodgy looking cable for a schmicky one. Still, felt good for it and pat on back for HM.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Dog whistling and you
Sounds a bit like the Toad Sexing bibliography from the Big Red Book.
Anyway, this article is excellent. It's on the phenomenon that is Dog Whistling.
See here.
Here's the intro
Did he really mean that? Probably, but you won't catch him admitting it. Australian politicians have invented a new way to twist words and win votes, Geoff Strong reports.
THE term "mainstream values" might seem innocuous when uttered by John Howard in his quest for votes this election. Likewise when Kevin Rudd describes his opponent as a "clever politician". How many in the target audience realise prime minister and opposition leader are talking in carefully crafted code?
There is nothing new in politicians saying one thing and meaning another. Many people probably feel it's part of the job description. However, the science of spin and obfuscation is becoming more sophisticated with each campaign.
The technique entitled dog-whistling, which originated in Australia, could be our contribution to 21st-century politics, having already been exported to Britain and the US.
What I absolutely love is the fact that the article refers to the paper 'Under the Radar' and said paper is written by Josh Fear...
Anyway, this article is excellent. It's on the phenomenon that is Dog Whistling.
See here.
Here's the intro
Did he really mean that? Probably, but you won't catch him admitting it. Australian politicians have invented a new way to twist words and win votes, Geoff Strong reports.
THE term "mainstream values" might seem innocuous when uttered by John Howard in his quest for votes this election. Likewise when Kevin Rudd describes his opponent as a "clever politician". How many in the target audience realise prime minister and opposition leader are talking in carefully crafted code?
There is nothing new in politicians saying one thing and meaning another. Many people probably feel it's part of the job description. However, the science of spin and obfuscation is becoming more sophisticated with each campaign.
The technique entitled dog-whistling, which originated in Australia, could be our contribution to 21st-century politics, having already been exported to Britain and the US.
What I absolutely love is the fact that the article refers to the paper 'Under the Radar' and said paper is written by Josh Fear...
From today's Crikey - Mungo on Turnbull and his Kyoto views
Mungo: The Libs are all about the individual, ask Malcolm
Mungo MacCallum writes:
As we all know, the Liberal Party is all about the individual. The idea is to maximise personal freedom at all times. Labor may mumble about the need for collectives, for trades unions and other namby-pamby institutions which inevitably lead to dependence and misery. Your true Liberal knows that these are no more than crutches for the feeble, that people are perfectly capable of standing up for themselves and it’s best for them to do so.
That’s what WorkChoices was all about: real workers can negotiate face to face with their bosses, decide for themselves what pay and conditions they will accept and then demand them, individual to individual.
That’s why we give huge tax cuts, rather than spend money on things like health and education. It’s a matter of free choice: if people choose to spend their money on health and education, that’s up to them. You want to invest your tax cut in building a new teaching hospital, we’re not stopping you. Indeed, we urge you to embrace a life of rugged independence. Now get out there and look after yourselves, and enjoy your day.
It’s all nonsense, of course: but it’s what the Libs claim to believe. So why are they so annoyed with Malcolm Turnbull when he simply follows the logic and tries to take care of number one?
Turnbull, it seems, has dared to put himself in front of the Liberal collective. The Environment Minister has been pursuing a policy which goes against the consensus of cabinet, as determined by the Dear Leader, the Primus inter Minimos, John Howard. Turnbull has been urging the government to ratify the Kyoto protocol, which has been anathema to our Man of Steel ever since George Bush told him it should be.
There is, Turnbull insists, no good reason to hold back. Unlike many other countries, Australia will actually come close to reaching its very generous Kyoto target, and negotiations about a post-Kyoto protocol are about to begin. Only by ratifying the old agreement can Australia become a full participant in negotiating the new one. Moreover, Australia’s ratification, however belated, would put pressure on the United States to do the same.
It would also remove a major stumbling block to getting the developing countries, particularly India and China, involved in setting new targets for emission control; China has specifically referred to Australia’s recalcitrance as a reason for refusing to sign up to any binding treaty. The argument is that developed countries like Australia are the ones responsible for the emissions already out there; it’s a bit rich of them to ask developing countries to agree to controls on their own future development without at least a token acknowledgement of their own past guilt in the area.
But forget, if you like all, this airy fairy stuff about being a responsible international citizen; after all, it’s hardly part of the great Liberal tradition. Concentrate on a more urgent matter: there are votes in it.
Turnbull has told various colleagues that he reckons ratifying Kyoto could be worth as much as 3% nationally, which is probably wrong; certainly it doesn’t allow for cynical punters dismissing a deathbed repentance as nothing more than yet another act of monumental cynicism. However, it surely wouldn’t do any harm.
But Howard won’t budge – or, as Turnbull rather more graphically puts it, the little c-nt is too f-cking stubborn. (And how good it is to hear that old nickname for our beloved Prime Minister back in use! What a reminder of his glorious younger days, when everything was so much simpler!)
And how very unsurprising that the story came out – or that Glenn Milne, the poison dwarf, celebrated it with a front page screamer in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph headlined: "TURNBULL BETRAYS CABINET".
According Milne, members of the party believe that Turnbull himself leaked the story in order to save his own seat. The conspiracy theory runs that Turnbull has already made up his mind that the election is lost and Howard is finished. But if he can just hang on in Wentworth he could be starter for the leadership against Peter Costello – who is, of course, Milne’s own candidate for the job.
So Turnbull is not a team player; he is putting his own interests ahead of the party. How very Liberal of him. And what a surprise: having paid a fortune to organise the mother of all branch stacks to gain preselection and another motza to win the election and having devoted every waking moment since to scrabbling as far up the greasy totem pole as possible, Turnbull is determined to hold onto the bloody thing; who would have thought it.
Certainly not the pusillanimous Costello or his acolyte. But perhaps Turnbull’s most recent target might recognise the symptoms. For more than a decade Howard insisted that he would only be leader for as long as the party wanted him and it was in the party’s best interests that he did so. Then last month when the party, through its senior parliamentary representatives, announced to him that the time had come, he told them all to get stuffed and said he would fight to the death to stay on, and bugger the party.
It is Howard, of course, who has been Turnbull’s mentor and benefactor – until now. If the phrase "Liberal principles" is not an oxymoron, the master and his apprentice are applying them like never before.
And talking of wonderful phrases, Employment Relations Minister Joe Hockey got off a zinger last week:
"Our scare campaign is based on fact," he solemnly explained to a boggling interviewer.
Just think about that for a minute; the more you repeat it, the crazier it sounds.
What will they be like after another three weeks?
Pharmacist uncomfortable in sunken loungeroom
Queanbeyan, NSW: Ted Grogan of Eden Pharmacies was noticeably uncomfortable in friend's sunken loungeroom according to fellow guests.
'Check out Ted,' said local car salesman Arthur Crenskey. 'Is that a sheen of sweat on his brow?'
Fellow party goer Angela Smitt, home-maker agreed the retail chemist was both sweaty and nervous.
'It's like he just can't get comfortable,' she said. 'Or he's up to something.'
Ted spent the entire night edging towards the steps back up to the house proper but was repeatedly propelled by the arm of hostess Kathy Burbek and introduced to numerous other people who, unfortunately, were in the epicentre of the lower level sitting room affair.
'Got to get higher, got to get higher,' Ted was heard to mumble as he broke free from the newly introduced to guests after the minimum accepted time for social interaction, leading those in ear shot to conclude that Ted was sampling his own wares.
'I bet he sells it to Bikies,' said Angela, still annoyed at her purchase of a cream from Ted's store that failed to deal with the cold sore as promised.
Ted then disappeared from the gathering and when Ms Burbek went to replenish chips from her pantry, he was found sitting hunched on a step stool.
'Check out Ted,' said local car salesman Arthur Crenskey. 'Is that a sheen of sweat on his brow?'
Fellow party goer Angela Smitt, home-maker agreed the retail chemist was both sweaty and nervous.
'It's like he just can't get comfortable,' she said. 'Or he's up to something.'
Ted spent the entire night edging towards the steps back up to the house proper but was repeatedly propelled by the arm of hostess Kathy Burbek and introduced to numerous other people who, unfortunately, were in the epicentre of the lower level sitting room affair.
'Got to get higher, got to get higher,' Ted was heard to mumble as he broke free from the newly introduced to guests after the minimum accepted time for social interaction, leading those in ear shot to conclude that Ted was sampling his own wares.
'I bet he sells it to Bikies,' said Angela, still annoyed at her purchase of a cream from Ted's store that failed to deal with the cold sore as promised.
Ted then disappeared from the gathering and when Ms Burbek went to replenish chips from her pantry, he was found sitting hunched on a step stool.
Sneak weasel at his finest
Kerry: Will you admit that your broke your promise regarding 30 year lows
Howard: People will make a judgment on what I said against what has occurred. Do they really believe the ALP re its track record/industrial rates will be able to keep the interest rates low.
Kerry: You keep bringing up the history.
Howard: (insert blather ... nearly got the year wrong ... something about interest rates are lower than the keating / hawke years ... still not answering the question)
Kerry: You left labor with double digits inflation/interest rates/unemployment.
Howard: Um ... my last government has rates that were less than the last ALP government. Um ... wasn't me - was the drought and subprime rates in the US - not me it was the other three (cough 30 year lows cough).
Wow - that was great. It was like the debate where he didn't answer hard questions put to him. But, all credit due to him. He didn't spasm this time and he probably found the right door out of the studio...
Howard: People will make a judgment on what I said against what has occurred. Do they really believe the ALP re its track record/industrial rates will be able to keep the interest rates low.
Kerry: You keep bringing up the history.
Howard: (insert blather ... nearly got the year wrong ... something about interest rates are lower than the keating / hawke years ... still not answering the question)
Kerry: You left labor with double digits inflation/interest rates/unemployment.
Howard: Um ... my last government has rates that were less than the last ALP government. Um ... wasn't me - was the drought and subprime rates in the US - not me it was the other three (cough 30 year lows cough).
Wow - that was great. It was like the debate where he didn't answer hard questions put to him. But, all credit due to him. He didn't spasm this time and he probably found the right door out of the studio...
Sunday, October 28, 2007
A creepy similarity
TheWife came home with some nappies, a brand I had not seen before.
The art reminded me of something.
First the nappy bag...
And now the thing it reminded me of.
Let's hope der boy does not grow up with any odd ideas!
UPDATE: The Nappies are apparently German...
The art reminded me of something.
First the nappy bag...
And now the thing it reminded me of.
Let's hope der boy does not grow up with any odd ideas!
UPDATE: The Nappies are apparently German...
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Area foot inbound to Hockey's mouth
Oh dear for Joe Hockey. Today he was interviewed confirming what the vast bulk of Australia already knew, that the Libs were running a fear campaign.See the SMH report here.
Launching a new round of Liberal advertising attacking Labor's union links, Mr Hockey told reporters: "Our fear campaign is based on fact.''
Two things I love about what he said. One - the obvious inclusion of the word "fear". The second slightly more subtle "based". Not factual in the sense that A=A. But based on fact in the Hollywood sense of the word - you know based on a true story which allows the makers to distort the truth almost to beyond recognition.
If I was the ALP I would run this soundbite if available again and again to remind those people slightly outside the vast bulk of Australia that it is indeed a fear campaign.
Speaking of remind, it reminds me of Bush when he was trying to privatise social security when he said "See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
Indeed. My favourite word there being propaganda.
Which is of course exactly what the Liberal's campaign is all about.
UPDATE: I just noticed this additional gem from that report.
"But less than an hour later, Mr Hockey was much more forthcoming, saying that if Labor was to be representative of the community only 20 per cent of frontbenchers should be trade union members."
I see. So given Oz's population is approx 50% women that means the Liberal cabinet will be 50% women. Toughee given only four women are in cabinet at the moment.
The number of Lawyers in Oz? Well according to this snapshot there's around 94,000 people employed in the legal system in Oz. And there's about I think 16 lawyers in the Coalition ministry. So 94,000 divided by 21,000,000 (which we know from the truly fucking awesome citizenship test is the approx pop of Oz) means 0.4% of the population are involved in the legal profession - which extrapolated against a cabinet of 30 results in this 16 being alas reduced to 0.13%. Which, as luck would have it would probably be the mass of a single human head - let's be fair and let them decide who it's going to be.
Gays! The figure of the % of people being mostly gay is I believe 3% to 10% depending on how gay someone is regarded as being before classified mostly, so let's settle on 6.5%. No declared gays in the Coalition ranks which means just under two of them are going to have to come on out of the closet to meet Joe's community representation rules. Ooooooo I hope it's Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton. And after they cop to their gayness they tongue off for the cameras.
And so on and so on.
I feel for Joe Hockey. I do. To trot out the moronic line that you cannot have more than 20% of cabinet ministers having served as union officials is actually workplace discrimination. If these people were facing a job interview and they were told 'sorry, we've reached our max of ex union people' guess what, they'd be on to the workplace ombudsman. Which as irony would have it is controlled by Hockey's office.
Oh if you check out the Lib's site they're still going with the 70% crap - with a photo line up of the evil ALP people. It's fantastic. They should have scribed 666 on their foreheads, and stitches and glasses and beards and shit as well though to really drive the message home. If only they'd been full body shots, then they could have drawn in the pubes like with the underwear section of a Fossey's catalogue.
The most excellent thing is with the photo lineup, when an ALP face is lit up as being a unionist (ex), it's in the colour Red!
You know, because they're communists!
Holy crap the Libs are a pack of fuckwits. I hope if falling out wrath occurs some of it goes Crosby Textor's way.
Peter Hartcher on the Howard years
In today's smh
These are the five elements Howard is accused of that Hartcher thinks Howard has copped an unfair serve on. Here's my take.
1. John Howard has made Australia more selfish.
Hartcher says stats on volunteering and giving are up ergo we're not more selfish. I disagree on this one. While it's good that good people are doing more it does not mean there are people not acting selfishly. For example cockheads buying 4WD they don't need (in greater numbers), racist attacks on the rise and so forth indicate a more fearful country being selfish, McMansions. Ditto support for anti terror legislation and demonising of elements of the community. Cronulla riots? Heeeelllloooooo.
2. John Howard can't work with Asia.
Fair point. Of course the Asian meltdown and bailing countries out helped. Timor happened largely because of Howard but well at least they are free. Of course we tried to fuck them in the arse over oil and gas...
3. Howard has ruined Australia's immigration program.
Hartcher claims it's higher than the last ALP program ergo good. I disagree. Skilled migration is up. Family migration is down, refugee intake is down as a proportion. While skilled migration is good for the economy the accusation 'dem takin' our jobs' as irony would have it is prob more accurate for Howard. Of course 'dem takin' jobs' because in many cases there's not the skilled labor available in house - look at medical professionals for one - it but business is abusing the living fuck out of the 457 scheme and in doing so screws incoming workers out of decent wages and potentially drives over-all wages in some industries to the bottom as a result - making it less likely Australians will take up roles in those industries. To quote Kurt Vonnegut and so it goes.
4. The economy is strong mainly because of the mining boom.
Hartcher claims this is not the case and the real boom is ahead. However there's no denying govie revenue is up because of corporate tax receipts and the resource sector has had the biggest leap as I understand it. Except of course Howard claims he's the reason why the economy is doing well. He's not. ALP reforms laid the bedrock for solid non inflationary growth and the global climate worked in his favour. However it should be agreed the GST on balance was a good thing since apparently it helped us shrug off the tech bubble. Wait a minute, I got that from Gerard Henderson! So take that with a grain of fucking salt.
5. By signing the 2004 free trade agreement with the Bush Administration, Howard sold out the national interest and serious economic damage would follow.
Hartcher said our deficit is larger but no real damage. It does however mean we have to accept bids from US firms and forces us public servants to tender out any fucking job work 80k+.
The bad stuff where Howard can take a pantsing according to Hartcher?
1. Howard took Australia to war in Iraq on a false premise
2. Howard and the Howard Government told lies
3. The Howard Government increased the regulatory burden on business.
4. The Howard Government has treated some immigrants and refugees punitively and manipulatively
5. The Howard Government wasted a decade denying that man-made global warming was real and that it had any role in helping find a solution.
Yep, I'd agree on those. I think most of us would. I'd add a 6th.
6. The Howard Government did not foreshadow vast far reaching changes to the industrial landscape that would place the burden on semi-skilled workers stripping away conditions and placing power firmly in the hands of the employers.
These are the five elements Howard is accused of that Hartcher thinks Howard has copped an unfair serve on. Here's my take.
1. John Howard has made Australia more selfish.
Hartcher says stats on volunteering and giving are up ergo we're not more selfish. I disagree on this one. While it's good that good people are doing more it does not mean there are people not acting selfishly. For example cockheads buying 4WD they don't need (in greater numbers), racist attacks on the rise and so forth indicate a more fearful country being selfish, McMansions. Ditto support for anti terror legislation and demonising of elements of the community. Cronulla riots? Heeeelllloooooo.
2. John Howard can't work with Asia.
Fair point. Of course the Asian meltdown and bailing countries out helped. Timor happened largely because of Howard but well at least they are free. Of course we tried to fuck them in the arse over oil and gas...
3. Howard has ruined Australia's immigration program.
Hartcher claims it's higher than the last ALP program ergo good. I disagree. Skilled migration is up. Family migration is down, refugee intake is down as a proportion. While skilled migration is good for the economy the accusation 'dem takin' our jobs' as irony would have it is prob more accurate for Howard. Of course 'dem takin' jobs' because in many cases there's not the skilled labor available in house - look at medical professionals for one - it but business is abusing the living fuck out of the 457 scheme and in doing so screws incoming workers out of decent wages and potentially drives over-all wages in some industries to the bottom as a result - making it less likely Australians will take up roles in those industries. To quote Kurt Vonnegut and so it goes.
4. The economy is strong mainly because of the mining boom.
Hartcher claims this is not the case and the real boom is ahead. However there's no denying govie revenue is up because of corporate tax receipts and the resource sector has had the biggest leap as I understand it. Except of course Howard claims he's the reason why the economy is doing well. He's not. ALP reforms laid the bedrock for solid non inflationary growth and the global climate worked in his favour. However it should be agreed the GST on balance was a good thing since apparently it helped us shrug off the tech bubble. Wait a minute, I got that from Gerard Henderson! So take that with a grain of fucking salt.
5. By signing the 2004 free trade agreement with the Bush Administration, Howard sold out the national interest and serious economic damage would follow.
Hartcher said our deficit is larger but no real damage. It does however mean we have to accept bids from US firms and forces us public servants to tender out any fucking job work 80k+.
The bad stuff where Howard can take a pantsing according to Hartcher?
1. Howard took Australia to war in Iraq on a false premise
2. Howard and the Howard Government told lies
3. The Howard Government increased the regulatory burden on business.
4. The Howard Government has treated some immigrants and refugees punitively and manipulatively
5. The Howard Government wasted a decade denying that man-made global warming was real and that it had any role in helping find a solution.
Yep, I'd agree on those. I think most of us would. I'd add a 6th.
6. The Howard Government did not foreshadow vast far reaching changes to the industrial landscape that would place the burden on semi-skilled workers stripping away conditions and placing power firmly in the hands of the employers.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Can you believe this shit
The world alas is filled with morons - on the internet doubly so. Because people can be rude and offensive and mean spirited when it's electronic. Hell I know, I've done it myself. And I have the benefit of semi-anonymity.
Well check this shit out.
It's a Huffington Post on the recent "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week".
Yes, that's right "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week". Fortunately it didn't conflict with world "Black people want our white women week" or "Fat people are a cancer on society day". Or, and phew, "Slant eyes can't see out of their slanty eyes because they are so slanty minute of silence".
Sure Islam is a belief structure. So you could argue it's not racist to mock it or pretend somehow that it is a dire threat to the west (ignore the fact Islamic themed terror is a response to western geopolitical interference in the region that is primarily nationalistic in origin). Despite the fact many of its adherents are distinctly non Caucasian in hue. But it is tremendously bigoted to paint all members of a faith with a fundamentalist whack job brush.
It's like looking at a Christian and thinking they want to burn lesbians. Some of the more wacky xtians are fundys that want that. The vast vast vast bulk of xtians do not. But to claim because Y wants to then ergo all of X does too is moronic.
Here's how to succeed at stopping terror. You have excellence in law enforcement and intelligence dedicated to stopping plots but treating all those swept up in it fairly with fair access to fair legal representation. You engage with the communities plotters come from so they volunteer information on the fanatics amongst them. You look long and hard at the way your nation state interacts with relevant nation states to determine whether your interaction fuels the recruitment of would be killers.
You do not label all that follow a broad religion a threat, and focus on small elements of their cultural behaviours as somehow a mockery of your values. You know why? Makes engaging with the community that much harder.
Anyway to the idiots who came up with this congratulations. Way to prolong your "war on terror". But then you need it don't you. Because the Russians got beat and who the fuck are you going to engender fear of now...
Well check this shit out.
It's a Huffington Post on the recent "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week".
Yes, that's right "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week". Fortunately it didn't conflict with world "Black people want our white women week" or "Fat people are a cancer on society day". Or, and phew, "Slant eyes can't see out of their slanty eyes because they are so slanty minute of silence".
Sure Islam is a belief structure. So you could argue it's not racist to mock it or pretend somehow that it is a dire threat to the west (ignore the fact Islamic themed terror is a response to western geopolitical interference in the region that is primarily nationalistic in origin). Despite the fact many of its adherents are distinctly non Caucasian in hue. But it is tremendously bigoted to paint all members of a faith with a fundamentalist whack job brush.
It's like looking at a Christian and thinking they want to burn lesbians. Some of the more wacky xtians are fundys that want that. The vast vast vast bulk of xtians do not. But to claim because Y wants to then ergo all of X does too is moronic.
Here's how to succeed at stopping terror. You have excellence in law enforcement and intelligence dedicated to stopping plots but treating all those swept up in it fairly with fair access to fair legal representation. You engage with the communities plotters come from so they volunteer information on the fanatics amongst them. You look long and hard at the way your nation state interacts with relevant nation states to determine whether your interaction fuels the recruitment of would be killers.
You do not label all that follow a broad religion a threat, and focus on small elements of their cultural behaviours as somehow a mockery of your values. You know why? Makes engaging with the community that much harder.
Anyway to the idiots who came up with this congratulations. Way to prolong your "war on terror". But then you need it don't you. Because the Russians got beat and who the fuck are you going to engender fear of now...
Cake Beard
No, it's not a dessert obsessed pirate.
Allow me to background you.
Today someone in the office had a birthday - in another clump of desks near my section. There was cake. We got invited to come help sing. Now etiquette is that those that sing get cake. Or so I believe. So naturally I wanted to have cake, esp since I'd had no breakfast.
But the co-workers from my corral didn't want cake. I sit outside the immediate circle of workstation users that sit with birthday man. Now, I could easily have still had cake, even though fellow immediate workers did not want cake - even though the people to cake ratio was nearly too high. However there is a complicating factor.
I am fat.
When you are fat people automatically assume you want free food. They bring it past your workstation etc. when there's post meeting fud to have. They also assume therefore you are a greedy guts who'd eat wet sand if chocolate had been sprinkled on it.
Now being the only representative from my section of three at said cake munching, and being fat, would mark me in the greedy guts camp. If however one of my workstation buddies came with me then I would not be a greedy guts. I would simply be a fellow cake eater.
So I convinced one of the lads who sits in my corral to come with me. As a cake beard. Even though he did not want cake.
Well. What was the cake like? It was good. Then we spent 15 mins slagging off buckwheat and it turns out she's a moldy old bigot around everyone else and they too had endured her ground hogging racism* as I did when I sat near her. Apparently she had pneumonia six years ago and got a disabled parking permit close to the building.
And she never gave it back.
Fuck I hate her. And it seems I'm not the only one.
*She's not anti ground hog. I mean she would listen in to people's conversations then rise up until her head crested the wall of the partition that in theory walled off from us to bleat her incessant white noise that as luck would have it was laced with a fair amount of racist talk.
Allow me to background you.
Today someone in the office had a birthday - in another clump of desks near my section. There was cake. We got invited to come help sing. Now etiquette is that those that sing get cake. Or so I believe. So naturally I wanted to have cake, esp since I'd had no breakfast.
But the co-workers from my corral didn't want cake. I sit outside the immediate circle of workstation users that sit with birthday man. Now, I could easily have still had cake, even though fellow immediate workers did not want cake - even though the people to cake ratio was nearly too high. However there is a complicating factor.
I am fat.
When you are fat people automatically assume you want free food. They bring it past your workstation etc. when there's post meeting fud to have. They also assume therefore you are a greedy guts who'd eat wet sand if chocolate had been sprinkled on it.
Now being the only representative from my section of three at said cake munching, and being fat, would mark me in the greedy guts camp. If however one of my workstation buddies came with me then I would not be a greedy guts. I would simply be a fellow cake eater.
So I convinced one of the lads who sits in my corral to come with me. As a cake beard. Even though he did not want cake.
Well. What was the cake like? It was good. Then we spent 15 mins slagging off buckwheat and it turns out she's a moldy old bigot around everyone else and they too had endured her ground hogging racism* as I did when I sat near her. Apparently she had pneumonia six years ago and got a disabled parking permit close to the building.
And she never gave it back.
Fuck I hate her. And it seems I'm not the only one.
*She's not anti ground hog. I mean she would listen in to people's conversations then rise up until her head crested the wall of the partition that in theory walled off from us to bleat her incessant white noise that as luck would have it was laced with a fair amount of racist talk.
Oh the irony
Unfortunately US politics, being non compulsory voting, is beholden in a large part to community groups that will be relied on to get the vote out for you. Eg Fundies on the right.
One such group are Cuban Americans who loathe the Castro regime. Even though the Cold War is over and reapproachment has been made with other socialist regimes, US politicians dare not say 'enough is enough, let's end sanctions and do what we did with every other communist regime and dazzle them with cash and trade opportunities.'
To do so is to kiss Florida good bye for your party.
Bush naturally beats the anti Castro drum for all its worth - as seen here.
A transcript of his speech can be found at the Whitehouse site here
Here's an excerpt.
These are just a few of the examples of the terror and trauma that is Cuba today. The socialist paradise is a tropical gulag. The quest for justice that once inspired the Cuban people has now become a grab for power. And as with all totalitarian systems, Cuba's regime no doubt has other horrors still unknown to the rest of the world. Once revealed, they will shock the conscience of humanity. And they will shame the regime's defenders and all those democracies that have been silent. (Applause.) One former Cuban political prisoner, Armando Valladares, puts it this way: It will be a time when "mankind will feel the revulsion it felt when the crimes of Stalin were brought to light." And that time is coming.
I don't dismiss that the Castro government has its issues. While its brand of communism has delivered real gains for its people as a whole it is undemocratic, punishes dissidents, and indoctrinates its populace. Of course the fact it did so because of US pressure upon it in addition to embracing the ideology is neither here nor there.
But for Bush in his typical moronic fashion to refer to Cuba as a tropical gulag considering that he has 500 odd people picked up from across the planet and held in isolation in a piece of Cuba stolen from the Cubans, with said prisoners without access to legal norms and protections, and placed in a process where the executive charges them, prosecutes them, defends them, and sentences them all without being able to access all the evidence bought against them, challenge it in some cases, and where evidence garnered through forcible interrogation is permitted, then yes to use the term "tropical gulag" is somewhat ironic.
He reminds me of Harry Crumb.
"Sometimes I don't even have to think before I speak".
One such group are Cuban Americans who loathe the Castro regime. Even though the Cold War is over and reapproachment has been made with other socialist regimes, US politicians dare not say 'enough is enough, let's end sanctions and do what we did with every other communist regime and dazzle them with cash and trade opportunities.'
To do so is to kiss Florida good bye for your party.
Bush naturally beats the anti Castro drum for all its worth - as seen here.
A transcript of his speech can be found at the Whitehouse site here
Here's an excerpt.
These are just a few of the examples of the terror and trauma that is Cuba today. The socialist paradise is a tropical gulag. The quest for justice that once inspired the Cuban people has now become a grab for power. And as with all totalitarian systems, Cuba's regime no doubt has other horrors still unknown to the rest of the world. Once revealed, they will shock the conscience of humanity. And they will shame the regime's defenders and all those democracies that have been silent. (Applause.) One former Cuban political prisoner, Armando Valladares, puts it this way: It will be a time when "mankind will feel the revulsion it felt when the crimes of Stalin were brought to light." And that time is coming.
I don't dismiss that the Castro government has its issues. While its brand of communism has delivered real gains for its people as a whole it is undemocratic, punishes dissidents, and indoctrinates its populace. Of course the fact it did so because of US pressure upon it in addition to embracing the ideology is neither here nor there.
But for Bush in his typical moronic fashion to refer to Cuba as a tropical gulag considering that he has 500 odd people picked up from across the planet and held in isolation in a piece of Cuba stolen from the Cubans, with said prisoners without access to legal norms and protections, and placed in a process where the executive charges them, prosecutes them, defends them, and sentences them all without being able to access all the evidence bought against them, challenge it in some cases, and where evidence garnered through forcible interrogation is permitted, then yes to use the term "tropical gulag" is somewhat ironic.
He reminds me of Harry Crumb.
"Sometimes I don't even have to think before I speak".
Yet another reason why Tony Abbott is an appalling health minister
Condoms save lives. Whether through preventing disease or indeed preventing unwanted babies. Condoms are not exactly fun things to wear, and putting one on in the dark can be an unpleasant wilt inducing exercise, but by and large they are one of the most effective STD preventing/preggers preventing tools in the armoury of the sexually active.
Teenagers are sexually active. There's this new service where the kids can text a number and they get sent two frangers in the mail. Of course it doesn't help when you don't have them on you and your opposing number is giving you the 'fuck it, let's just do it' wave in, but still to those embarrassed or self conscious about the franger buy then it's a good way to assist. Apparently it also comes with some handy weblinks on sexual health.
It seems like a good idea.
I was listening to Hack today and they played an excerpt from Tony Abbott back in Feb. It wasn't about the free text frangers but it was about condom availability. Abbott was against it because apparently it promoted a 'condom culture'.
Huh?
Yes, a condom culture. Where condoms where seen as the only possible response to teenage humping.
I do find it somewhat ironic that a man destined for the priesthood who had unprotected sex and for years claimed he had given up a bastard son for adoption (until it proved said Girlf boiked a flatmate instead) is moaning about kids getting access to the very fucking protection he should have employed.
Kids with access to contraceptives are more likely to use them in the heat of the moment and, get this, less likely to have unwanted pregnancies. Again for a man that moans frequently about the number of abortions in this country you'd think as a fucking health minister he'd do his bit to promote safe sex. Hopefully not by having sex.
Abbott seems to think that a Condom Culture promotes kids to have sex. Sure, it may. But if it's well protected non disease baby making denying sex then surely that's a good price to pay if said disease/pregnancy drops yes?
Am I the only one who can see this? I feel like I am taking crazy pills.
I find it especially ironic that a man whose religious views compel him to take sides in debates against the promotion of public health, and who has secret meetings with celibate men who wear expensive hand made dresses, is the Minister for Health.
But don't fear campers. After-all Abbott has largely given up on his Ministerial role since he is too busy fighting the election. Of course he declared he would focus on the election well before it was actually called and while refusing to talk to his state counterparts launched bids for federal take overs of hospitals deemed for closure due to resource issues, but that's another story.
Tony Abbott. You are a disgrace as a health minister. If anything you have made public health worse for your presence.
Teenagers are sexually active. There's this new service where the kids can text a number and they get sent two frangers in the mail. Of course it doesn't help when you don't have them on you and your opposing number is giving you the 'fuck it, let's just do it' wave in, but still to those embarrassed or self conscious about the franger buy then it's a good way to assist. Apparently it also comes with some handy weblinks on sexual health.
It seems like a good idea.
I was listening to Hack today and they played an excerpt from Tony Abbott back in Feb. It wasn't about the free text frangers but it was about condom availability. Abbott was against it because apparently it promoted a 'condom culture'.
Huh?
Yes, a condom culture. Where condoms where seen as the only possible response to teenage humping.
I do find it somewhat ironic that a man destined for the priesthood who had unprotected sex and for years claimed he had given up a bastard son for adoption (until it proved said Girlf boiked a flatmate instead) is moaning about kids getting access to the very fucking protection he should have employed.
Kids with access to contraceptives are more likely to use them in the heat of the moment and, get this, less likely to have unwanted pregnancies. Again for a man that moans frequently about the number of abortions in this country you'd think as a fucking health minister he'd do his bit to promote safe sex. Hopefully not by having sex.
Abbott seems to think that a Condom Culture promotes kids to have sex. Sure, it may. But if it's well protected non disease baby making denying sex then surely that's a good price to pay if said disease/pregnancy drops yes?
Am I the only one who can see this? I feel like I am taking crazy pills.
I find it especially ironic that a man whose religious views compel him to take sides in debates against the promotion of public health, and who has secret meetings with celibate men who wear expensive hand made dresses, is the Minister for Health.
But don't fear campers. After-all Abbott has largely given up on his Ministerial role since he is too busy fighting the election. Of course he declared he would focus on the election well before it was actually called and while refusing to talk to his state counterparts launched bids for federal take overs of hospitals deemed for closure due to resource issues, but that's another story.
Tony Abbott. You are a disgrace as a health minister. If anything you have made public health worse for your presence.
Lefty cabal put to shame
Here in the Commonwealth PS you have to be apolitical. It's hard at times, especially when you hate the current Federal government so, so, so very much. In my area most people are largely indifferent, or lean slightly the way of the McMansion/SUV types. Unfortunately myself, the guy who sits next to me, and the dude across the partition are fairly dyed in the wool lefties. So this election it's hard to not make fun of said government in power and talk up our man in Amsterdam Mr K Rudd. Generally we chat, then realise what we said, look around guiltily and slink off.
In many ways I am glad my ex boss has left. Because she was a stickler for the apolitical talk and rulers would have been employed or at the very least stern talking toos.
Anyhoo today I walked upstairs to grab a bunch of merchandise. Upon the wall of a workstation partition was a massive five foot high John Howard poster.
Made our lefty club look like a lame arsed effort I can tell you. I do wonder why no one has come along to this person and said 'um ... you really need to take that down.'
In many ways I am glad my ex boss has left. Because she was a stickler for the apolitical talk and rulers would have been employed or at the very least stern talking toos.
Anyhoo today I walked upstairs to grab a bunch of merchandise. Upon the wall of a workstation partition was a massive five foot high John Howard poster.
Made our lefty club look like a lame arsed effort I can tell you. I do wonder why no one has come along to this person and said 'um ... you really need to take that down.'
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Interest rate rises
A friend of mine at work has honours in economics. He's also a dab hand at turning the obscurity of economics into things that make sense.
Basically curbing inflation works like this it seems.
The reserve puts up its rate. Even though banks only borrow from the reserve when their holdings cannot meet the amount they are lending out, which isn't often, this then allows the bank to put up their rate.
This incoming money is pure profit to the bank. After all the administration of the rate rise amounts to some autoletters being sent out to those who owe money explaining now they owe more. Pretty much that's it.
30% of this money, since it's all profit, will go to the government in corporate taxes. The rest gets invested or returned to the shareholder in dividends.
Because punters have had the expenses contracted, by being forced to give the bank money for not doing anything, they have less money to piss up against the wall (consumption). With less money to spend on things they buy less. Therefore inflation does not rise as much.
Nup. I still don't get it. Anyone know of 'Economics made simple' for klutzes like me?
Basically curbing inflation works like this it seems.
The reserve puts up its rate. Even though banks only borrow from the reserve when their holdings cannot meet the amount they are lending out, which isn't often, this then allows the bank to put up their rate.
This incoming money is pure profit to the bank. After all the administration of the rate rise amounts to some autoletters being sent out to those who owe money explaining now they owe more. Pretty much that's it.
30% of this money, since it's all profit, will go to the government in corporate taxes. The rest gets invested or returned to the shareholder in dividends.
Because punters have had the expenses contracted, by being forced to give the bank money for not doing anything, they have less money to piss up against the wall (consumption). With less money to spend on things they buy less. Therefore inflation does not rise as much.
Nup. I still don't get it. Anyone know of 'Economics made simple' for klutzes like me?
Guess what I had for lunch ...
... a fly.
Yep, that's right. A fly. I was walking along and because it had rained all the flies were out. I was in the middle of talking about the effect of compound interest on buying star ships and a !@#$%^& fly flew down my throat. I gagged and dry retched but it did not come out.
I bought a Pad Thai at lunch but the fly memory was so strong I ditched it after one mouthful.
I am still grossed out.
Only buying of delish delivered Chinese food washed the memory away. That and about six cans of Diet Coke and warm shower water.
UPDATE: I forgot. I told a number of people what happened and I shit you not every single person said 'oh well, at least it's protein'. It's an odd response - almost like they're trying to talk it up. Protein schmotein - I'm pretty sure Atkins people aren't sucking blowies off the window pane.
Yep, that's right. A fly. I was walking along and because it had rained all the flies were out. I was in the middle of talking about the effect of compound interest on buying star ships and a !@#$%^& fly flew down my throat. I gagged and dry retched but it did not come out.
I bought a Pad Thai at lunch but the fly memory was so strong I ditched it after one mouthful.
I am still grossed out.
Only buying of delish delivered Chinese food washed the memory away. That and about six cans of Diet Coke and warm shower water.
UPDATE: I forgot. I told a number of people what happened and I shit you not every single person said 'oh well, at least it's protein'. It's an odd response - almost like they're trying to talk it up. Protein schmotein - I'm pretty sure Atkins people aren't sucking blowies off the window pane.
Area joke backfires
Me (upon seeing pamphlet and holding it up): "Hey you could ask him what happened to his hair."Rozie the pharmacy assistant: "Um .. I wouldn't know anything about that."
Pwned.
Kudos Lateline
Well it was probably a sop in my direction but they acknowledged my feedback re RightyFest07 that took place the other night on Lateline, stating it would be allegedly passed on. Which is kewl. So ... kudos. Still wish there was more balance though.
Paul Keating I miss you so
Paul Keating was my hero. Actually still is. The man is a legend. Sure his ego's the size of the Opera House but he can sail my way any day in a non sexy sense.
Today he was spruiking for Greg Combet when in typical PK style he did over the current government for their hysterical 'the unions are coming' wankfest that is their Crosby Textor Memo revisited.
See here.
He said that in May 1995, as the then ALP Government and the unions embarked on the Accord Mark 8, a meeting with union leaders Bill Kelty, Martin Ferguson and Jennie George locked in an inflation rate of between 2 and 3 per cent.
" You know how we have a Reserve Bank inflation target of between 2 and 3 per cent?" Mr Keating said.
"It's because unions where the progenitors of low inflation. They were the inventors of that 2 to 3 per cent target."
Launching the campaign of former ACTU secretary Greg Combet in the Hunter Valley seat of Charleton, Mr Keating produced two sets of handwritten cabinet notes covering his Government's final round of wage negotiations with unions.
According to his notes, on May 30 1995 it was former ACTU secretary Mr Kelty who suggested an upper limit on inflation of 3 per cent, which was embraced by then Reserve Bank chief Bernie Fraser.
The union leaders had told Mr Keating that low-income Australians were more vulnerable to the impact of high inflation so the unions wanted to keep a lid on price rises.
Mr Keating said as a consequence of these agreements, the Howard Government had been lazy in its economic management.
"The Treasurer has spent the past 10 years in a hammock. This is the laziest, most indolent, most unimaginative treasurer in postwar history."
No quite pre-Copernican obscurantist but still funny nonetheless. Actually check out the 730 report for the actual footage which does this far more justice. You can find a link to the speech here.
Pure. West.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Helen Coonan is a mol
Speaking of mols, she was just on lateline dot pointing various Liberal Crosby Textor bullshit about the ALP.
Can you guess?
Yep
70% union bosses
all states wall to wall labor
can't stand up to the unions
view things through the prism of the unions
did I mention unions?
Helen Coonan by the way famously wrote angry letters to insurance companies using her own ministerial letterhead. Did she have to resign. Er no.
Because you see if you fuck up on the Liberal front bench unless you met with Graham Burke you can stay in your job as long as you want.
Evil partisan witch.
Can you guess?
Yep
70% union bosses
all states wall to wall labor
can't stand up to the unions
view things through the prism of the unions
did I mention unions?
Helen Coonan by the way famously wrote angry letters to insurance companies using her own ministerial letterhead. Did she have to resign. Er no.
Because you see if you fuck up on the Liberal front bench unless you met with Graham Burke you can stay in your job as long as you want.
Evil partisan witch.
Haneef Update
Remember when Kevin Andrews said he cancelled Haneef's visa on 'character grounds' because of advice he'd received?
Check out this article in today's smh.
THE Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, says he warned prosecutors there was insufficient evidence against the Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef and that he was surprised when charges were laid.
In an interview with The Bulletin, to be published today, Mr Keelty said he warned the Director of Public Prosecutions that the evidence against the doctor was thin.
"I was as surprised as anybody when the DPP advised that Haneef could be charged … I didn't think the evidence was strong enough." Dr Haneef spent four weeks in jail after being charged with recklessly providing support to a terrorist organisation, by giving a SIM card to a cousin, Sabeel Ahmed, in England last year.
So if Mick Keelty had warned the DPP of his concerns, and the DPP prosecuted anyway, and Andrews then used his ministerial power - which despite what legohead says rarely if ever has been used before the outcome of a criminal case has been known - to cancel Haneef's Visa so he'd stay under lock and key, who then was feeding Andrews this information? If it was the AFP then we can be reasonably certain they would have presented the same qualified opinion yes?
Is it therefore more likely that Andrews relied more on a knee-jerk gut instinct that to use his position to crush an immigrant doctor who happened to be both brown and a Muslim was a politically advantageous thing to do? Oh and it was advantageous with something like 80% of callers to morning TV infotainment shows agreeing that Haneef should not get his visa back.
Andrews is a fucking disgrace. Not only as a Minister of the crown, but as a human being. How this man can consider himself a Christian is beyond me.
Check out this article in today's smh.
THE Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, says he warned prosecutors there was insufficient evidence against the Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef and that he was surprised when charges were laid.
In an interview with The Bulletin, to be published today, Mr Keelty said he warned the Director of Public Prosecutions that the evidence against the doctor was thin.
"I was as surprised as anybody when the DPP advised that Haneef could be charged … I didn't think the evidence was strong enough." Dr Haneef spent four weeks in jail after being charged with recklessly providing support to a terrorist organisation, by giving a SIM card to a cousin, Sabeel Ahmed, in England last year.
So if Mick Keelty had warned the DPP of his concerns, and the DPP prosecuted anyway, and Andrews then used his ministerial power - which despite what legohead says rarely if ever has been used before the outcome of a criminal case has been known - to cancel Haneef's Visa so he'd stay under lock and key, who then was feeding Andrews this information? If it was the AFP then we can be reasonably certain they would have presented the same qualified opinion yes?
Is it therefore more likely that Andrews relied more on a knee-jerk gut instinct that to use his position to crush an immigrant doctor who happened to be both brown and a Muslim was a politically advantageous thing to do? Oh and it was advantageous with something like 80% of callers to morning TV infotainment shows agreeing that Haneef should not get his visa back.
Andrews is a fucking disgrace. Not only as a Minister of the crown, but as a human being. How this man can consider himself a Christian is beyond me.
Office Space Printer Smash
It's been taken off youtube but this link has it.
I'm sure we've all felt this way about a printer in our workplace...
I'm sure we've all felt this way about a printer in our workplace...
Sigh...
I like Ross Gittens of Fairfax. He's a decent writer, ideology free, who manages to craft tales of economics into something I can understand.
Today's column is here.
It, like usual, makes a lot of sense. Which is worrying. Too whit that because Rudd is committed to following chunks of the Howard platform in order not to spook the SUV driving McMansion swingites out in votey land, that even if Howard loses in many ways he's won. WorkChoices hangs around until 2010, private health fund members keep their subsidies, and 31 billion gets returned at an average of $7 a week for a typical voter instead of being ploughed into severely denuded public infrastructure.
Rudd is accused with some justice as attempting to be Howard-lite. Sure - there are major differences still and in the westminster system Rudd can always get rolled if he strays too far from the Labor party policy platform, but it does shit me quite a bit that Labor has to talk down its differences and talk up its similarities.
Many of us are hoping this is a semantic political act. That once in government, while Labor won't break promises its made to garner McMansion land, it will gradually stamp its own fairer more equitable identity on government policy once those promises are met. But part of me does worry this won't be the case.
Jim Cairns, then deputy leader of the ALP, once said in the 70's it would be better if the ALP lost than compromise on principles. Of course that is ideology over realism. It's all very good have a pure ideology but without a chance in government what's the point?
But at the end of the day the ALP does have principles, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone on the Liberal side that can say the same about them. Which principles are stuck to, well I guess we will find out.
However for all those sneering carping critics out there remember this. Howard is the one who dressed himself as a wolf in sheep's clothing. The never ever GST came in, as did WorkChoices. More troops were sent to Iraq when he indicated they'd be reduced. Core promises and Non core. This is a man who clothed his ideology successfully then when in government set about implementing it, using our money to change our minds.
So yes Rudd may be Howard lite as far as much of the current platform. But that's far better than the full strength A-hole that's currently in power.
Today's column is here.
It, like usual, makes a lot of sense. Which is worrying. Too whit that because Rudd is committed to following chunks of the Howard platform in order not to spook the SUV driving McMansion swingites out in votey land, that even if Howard loses in many ways he's won. WorkChoices hangs around until 2010, private health fund members keep their subsidies, and 31 billion gets returned at an average of $7 a week for a typical voter instead of being ploughed into severely denuded public infrastructure.
Rudd is accused with some justice as attempting to be Howard-lite. Sure - there are major differences still and in the westminster system Rudd can always get rolled if he strays too far from the Labor party policy platform, but it does shit me quite a bit that Labor has to talk down its differences and talk up its similarities.
Many of us are hoping this is a semantic political act. That once in government, while Labor won't break promises its made to garner McMansion land, it will gradually stamp its own fairer more equitable identity on government policy once those promises are met. But part of me does worry this won't be the case.
Jim Cairns, then deputy leader of the ALP, once said in the 70's it would be better if the ALP lost than compromise on principles. Of course that is ideology over realism. It's all very good have a pure ideology but without a chance in government what's the point?
But at the end of the day the ALP does have principles, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone on the Liberal side that can say the same about them. Which principles are stuck to, well I guess we will find out.
However for all those sneering carping critics out there remember this. Howard is the one who dressed himself as a wolf in sheep's clothing. The never ever GST came in, as did WorkChoices. More troops were sent to Iraq when he indicated they'd be reduced. Core promises and Non core. This is a man who clothed his ideology successfully then when in government set about implementing it, using our money to change our minds.
So yes Rudd may be Howard lite as far as much of the current platform. But that's far better than the full strength A-hole that's currently in power.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The Secularist's Corner in the Wash Post
See here.
A taste follows.
I tried to resist. Really, I did. Citing the statements of candidates at the Values Voter Summit as examples of faithiness is rather like hunting and shooting quail with clipped wings. But it was too temping, this weekend gathering in Washington where all of the Republican candidates tripped over one another in an effort to pander to the Christian Right. Is there anything candidates won’t say in an effort to win the hearts and minds of irrational religious fanatics?
A taste follows.
I tried to resist. Really, I did. Citing the statements of candidates at the Values Voter Summit as examples of faithiness is rather like hunting and shooting quail with clipped wings. But it was too temping, this weekend gathering in Washington where all of the Republican candidates tripped over one another in an effort to pander to the Christian Right. Is there anything candidates won’t say in an effort to win the hearts and minds of irrational religious fanatics?
Monday, October 22, 2007
She tricked me!
Thewife hates me picking the bottom of my foot. Fair point. Often I miss the bin with the skin and they curl into unpleasant to step on shards.
Anyhoo tonight she was demanding promises I would not skin drop in the new house. I agreed I would try. 'No!' She cried. 'You WILL! Or I will leave you!' (and other assorted dramatic rhetoric).
'Please,' she wheedled. 'Please!'
'Okay,' I said. 'I promise not to leave skin lying around in the new house.'
Five seconds she replayed it. She'd caught my skin free promise on her fucking mobile phone and declared she will use it as a surprisingly creepy ring tone.
Then she added that not only do I have ugly feet but really, really ugly feet.
In her defence she is correct. I have broad paddle feet that are completely fallen with kinked toes and deep sunken big toe nails.
They are most ugly.
I've ... got something in my eye (sniff).
PS I have a shit phone that does fuck all. Hers is awesome. Why is it the girls get all the kewl gadgets in the house. Boys toys my sunken toenails.
Anyhoo tonight she was demanding promises I would not skin drop in the new house. I agreed I would try. 'No!' She cried. 'You WILL! Or I will leave you!' (and other assorted dramatic rhetoric).
'Please,' she wheedled. 'Please!'
'Okay,' I said. 'I promise not to leave skin lying around in the new house.'
Five seconds she replayed it. She'd caught my skin free promise on her fucking mobile phone and declared she will use it as a surprisingly creepy ring tone.
Then she added that not only do I have ugly feet but really, really ugly feet.
In her defence she is correct. I have broad paddle feet that are completely fallen with kinked toes and deep sunken big toe nails.
They are most ugly.
I've ... got something in my eye (sniff).
PS I have a shit phone that does fuck all. Hers is awesome. Why is it the girls get all the kewl gadgets in the house. Boys toys my sunken toenails.
What the? Lateline!
Tony Jones is interviewing Andrew Bolt, Gerard Henderson, and George Megalogenis on Lateline.
Huh?
Why the fuck is he interviewing two hard righties and one soft righty? Where's the fucking balance on that? Is the ABC bending over in an attempt to seem neutral by having more righties on that lefties?
Unbelievable.
Naturally Hendo is now wanking on big time.
Now Bolt is attacking Hendo for not making a call on the election.
Bolt is claiming the worm is biased (seems to have been a common clarion call - I noticed an oddly coiffed Abbott likewise complained) because Rudd opened his mouth and off it went. It's delish - Hendo is complaining about Ray Martin. Oh dear, look what happens when righties fall out. Hendo just claimed the Age is hostile to the government. Doesn't he work for them? Howard has a hostile media. Really. Considering two hard righty fuckholes are on Lateline whining about it. Interesting view to have.
Henderson claimed Howard normally rocks (er ... lost every single debate so far). Henderson mentioned that too.
Bolt thinks the worm was all about Channel 9. Oh - Ray Martin did an ALP fundraiser according to Bolty. Interesting. Oh the 2004 worm audience had a member with a red mohawk - where do they find these people?! He claims a phone poll gave the debate to Howard.
Hendo - Ray Martin got the name of the MD for the ABC wrong and if he was being wormed down would the worm have gone!
George - worm prob focussed on how Ruddy looked confident and calm. Fair point I guess.
Tony - Rudd more civil?
Bolt - um ... yes I guess. Howard prob grumpy trying to get at Rudd. Rudd didn't address the substance! Relied on slogans! And bumper stickers! (Ahh righties, funny how they all work off the same fucking dot points. I'm waiting for 70% unions to get a mention).
Me (yelling at the TV) - there was much substance to what Rudd said. He dot pointed his fucking policies you split legged twat.
Hendo - begrudgingly admitted Rudd good on detail. Galaxy poll not far off a coalition win. So ... behind but not that far. Bear in mind Beazo lost on 51% (true, which is why the ALP needs 54% to get the 16 seats).
Tony - George, tell us about this black hole thing? (Costello found something he thinks is important)
George - It's an obtuse point. Its dated in 2013 (2nd term). Costello is conceding the same point on his side. 15% threshold the kicker in order to encourage part timers. Its a complicated debate. Basically the $600 is in two terms and a result of bracket creep not actual additional tax.
Good on you George for being honest about it.
UPDATE: Here's the transcript.
Huh?
Why the fuck is he interviewing two hard righties and one soft righty? Where's the fucking balance on that? Is the ABC bending over in an attempt to seem neutral by having more righties on that lefties?
Unbelievable.
Naturally Hendo is now wanking on big time.
Now Bolt is attacking Hendo for not making a call on the election.
Bolt is claiming the worm is biased (seems to have been a common clarion call - I noticed an oddly coiffed Abbott likewise complained) because Rudd opened his mouth and off it went. It's delish - Hendo is complaining about Ray Martin. Oh dear, look what happens when righties fall out. Hendo just claimed the Age is hostile to the government. Doesn't he work for them? Howard has a hostile media. Really. Considering two hard righty fuckholes are on Lateline whining about it. Interesting view to have.
Henderson claimed Howard normally rocks (er ... lost every single debate so far). Henderson mentioned that too.
Bolt thinks the worm was all about Channel 9. Oh - Ray Martin did an ALP fundraiser according to Bolty. Interesting. Oh the 2004 worm audience had a member with a red mohawk - where do they find these people?! He claims a phone poll gave the debate to Howard.
Hendo - Ray Martin got the name of the MD for the ABC wrong and if he was being wormed down would the worm have gone!
George - worm prob focussed on how Ruddy looked confident and calm. Fair point I guess.
Tony - Rudd more civil?
Bolt - um ... yes I guess. Howard prob grumpy trying to get at Rudd. Rudd didn't address the substance! Relied on slogans! And bumper stickers! (Ahh righties, funny how they all work off the same fucking dot points. I'm waiting for 70% unions to get a mention).
Me (yelling at the TV) - there was much substance to what Rudd said. He dot pointed his fucking policies you split legged twat.
Hendo - begrudgingly admitted Rudd good on detail. Galaxy poll not far off a coalition win. So ... behind but not that far. Bear in mind Beazo lost on 51% (true, which is why the ALP needs 54% to get the 16 seats).
Tony - George, tell us about this black hole thing? (Costello found something he thinks is important)
George - It's an obtuse point. Its dated in 2013 (2nd term). Costello is conceding the same point on his side. 15% threshold the kicker in order to encourage part timers. Its a complicated debate. Basically the $600 is in two terms and a result of bracket creep not actual additional tax.
Good on you George for being honest about it.
UPDATE: Here's the transcript.
Las Vegas the incubator of the e-police state
Check out this Wash Post article here.
A taste as follows;
LAS VEGAS -- This city, famous for being America's playground, has also become its security lab. Like nowhere else in the United States, Las Vegas has embraced the twin trends of data mining and high-tech surveillance, with arguably more cameras per square foot than any airport or sports arena in the country. Even the city's cabs and monorail have cameras. As the U.S. government ramps up its efforts to forestall terrorist attacks, some privacy advocates view the city as a harbinger of things to come.
In secret rooms in casinos across Las Vegas, surveillance specialists are busy analyzing information about players and employees. Relying on thousands of cameras in nearly every cranny of the casinos, they evaluate suspicious behavior. They ping names against databases that share information with other casinos, sometimes using facial-recognition software to validate a match. And in the marketing suites, casino staffers track players' every wager, every win or loss, the better to target high-rollers for special treatment and low- and middle-rollers for promotions.
A taste as follows;
LAS VEGAS -- This city, famous for being America's playground, has also become its security lab. Like nowhere else in the United States, Las Vegas has embraced the twin trends of data mining and high-tech surveillance, with arguably more cameras per square foot than any airport or sports arena in the country. Even the city's cabs and monorail have cameras. As the U.S. government ramps up its efforts to forestall terrorist attacks, some privacy advocates view the city as a harbinger of things to come.
In secret rooms in casinos across Las Vegas, surveillance specialists are busy analyzing information about players and employees. Relying on thousands of cameras in nearly every cranny of the casinos, they evaluate suspicious behavior. They ping names against databases that share information with other casinos, sometimes using facial-recognition software to validate a match. And in the marketing suites, casino staffers track players' every wager, every win or loss, the better to target high-rollers for special treatment and low- and middle-rollers for promotions.
Area baby deals with cradle cap issues head first
Cradle cap is not fun, but mostly non painful. It can itch a bit though it seems.
So how does the Noo deal with it? He sticks his head under my jaw and twists it side to side along my neck and chin underhang, scraping dried skin off on my five day growth.
Frankly I'm impressed.
I too am naturally itchy. Which is why I have a spaghetti strainer in the study and in the bedroom. Why? Ideal back scratchers. Just don't confuse them with the kitchen one...
So how does the Noo deal with it? He sticks his head under my jaw and twists it side to side along my neck and chin underhang, scraping dried skin off on my five day growth.
Frankly I'm impressed.
I too am naturally itchy. Which is why I have a spaghetti strainer in the study and in the bedroom. Why? Ideal back scratchers. Just don't confuse them with the kitchen one...
The Poll Updated
This is the SMH poll, that finalized at 20k+ votes.
Aw look, Howard got an extra percent. Good on him
Aw look, Howard got an extra percent. Good on him
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Question. What were 20% of Australians who voted at SMH on tonight and can I have some?
This reminds me of the US presidential debates with John Kerry Vs George Bush where most pundits gave Bush points for simply being able to talk mostly in English instead of his tortured Bush newspeak. Kerry kicked the shit out of Bush each time. And afterwards Karl Rove, his oddly distorted head glistening with the sweat of someone who has to tell big falsehoods, would boldly trawl the journos outback at declare without any hint of irony that George had nailed it.
The distortion of reality was so great it was hard not to ignore.
Kerry lost the election.
I remember too watching the 2000 debates with Gore Vs Bush. Bush again won points for not being as shit as people thought he would be. True story. I kid you not. Gore lost points for sighing at one point because Bush was lying in a mangled hard to understand kind of way.
Gore lost the election.
I remember watching Beazley and Latham and now Rudd just then likewise kick the shit out of Howard at various debates.
They all lost too.
There's no moral to this tale except this. Those that are engaged with politics have no bearing on the election outcome. At the end of the day it's someone whose utterly tuned out and is probably relying on 2-3 ads they may have seen on tellie that are the deciders on who will win.
Last election the Libs were 83% negative and outspent Labor.
They won that election.
I am reserving my yippees.
The Worm Turned on Howard
According to Jim Middleton Nine managed to pirate the ABC feed on the election and still have the worm.
I didn't see it but according to Middleton Dear Leader in the Red most of the time, Ruddy in the Blue.
I say this as a staunch Labor member. But Rudd really kicked Howard right across the room. Howard looked old, faded, and class obsessed - wanking on about lefties in unions and the schools and offered virtually nothing by way of actual positive policies for the future.
Go Kev Go.
And Kev only went Rhetorical once by my count.
PS The Channel 9 overview with fucking Ray Martin is clearly pro Howard. Nob.
UPDATE The SMH called it for Rudd also.
But let's not cream our jeans just yet. Howard has lost *every single election debate he's ever been in* but won the last four elections. There's a reason why there was but one and called early.
UPDATE 2: Other blog coverage
The Editor liveblogging over at Grods. (link nicked from MB).
Gam did great stuff too. Sarah has summed the debate up nicely. (link nicked from MB).
MB's outrage prevented her from a full point for point blogging but summed up here
UPDATE 3: Earlier I said "Nine managed to pirate the ABC feed on the election and still have the worm". It was meant to be "have" (and thus change). But I do like the phrase "hard the worm". It needs to be on a shirt.
I didn't see it but according to Middleton Dear Leader in the Red most of the time, Ruddy in the Blue.
I say this as a staunch Labor member. But Rudd really kicked Howard right across the room. Howard looked old, faded, and class obsessed - wanking on about lefties in unions and the schools and offered virtually nothing by way of actual positive policies for the future.
Go Kev Go.
And Kev only went Rhetorical once by my count.
PS The Channel 9 overview with fucking Ray Martin is clearly pro Howard. Nob.
UPDATE The SMH called it for Rudd also.
But let's not cream our jeans just yet. Howard has lost *every single election debate he's ever been in* but won the last four elections. There's a reason why there was but one and called early.
UPDATE 2: Other blog coverage
The Editor liveblogging over at Grods. (link nicked from MB).
Gam did great stuff too. Sarah has summed the debate up nicely. (link nicked from MB).
MB's outrage prevented her from a full point for point blogging but summed up here
UPDATE 3: Earlier I said "Nine managed to pirate the ABC feed on the election and still have the worm". It was meant to be "have" (and thus change). But I do like the phrase "hard the worm". It needs to be on a shirt.
Leader's Debate
NOTE: Mikey hates Howard and likes Rudd. Mikey is an ALP member.
Ruddy went first. Calm, considered. No rhetorical statements. Laid out policies. Howard didn't say welcome to Mr Rudd. H on the future. He's fundamentally optimistic view apparently - and Ruddy is a nasty pessimist. H thinks the prosperity of the nation is due to 10-20 years of a new society? What the fuck? Apparently entrepreneurs are the reason why we are going great guns. Small business he said. Really, why then is the massive amount of govie money based on corporate receipts you deceptive rat. Oh ... he's now saying we don't have non a fair go. 2nd highest minimum wage eh? I'd have to look into that.
33 year low in unemployment eh? Across the board eh? He just ran out of time and is still bleating on. "Don't be frightened of growth". I swear he just looked down at his pants then. Maybe his funsize marsbar is on the rise or something.
Howard claims it's only better to have new leadership if its better and fresh, realised what he said, then went er back to um better. Howard is now lying about unions again. Hilarious. Unions are old and dated. Piss off now he's saying unions would have a monopoly - that's lies.
Ruddy is playing the realism card. He's pointing out the global stats are akin to Oz's. Rudd's mentioned the investment angle. As in Howard did fuck all with the extra money. Implication being Howard pissed it up against the wall.
Presenter - 'why chuck Howard when you agree with so much with him?'. Rudd hit back with longterm prosperity. Quoting reserve banks saying mining boom will end. Rudd promoting education/skills/broadband as a means to redress it when the crash comes. Mentions climate change and water issues.
Howard - er being an economic conservative more than a slogan. Now he's bringing up Rudd's voting record. 'He voted against tax breaks! He voted against the GST! All the reforms!'
Oh this is good, Howard's claiming because Keating/Hawke had economic reforms he agreed with then therefore he's better than Rudd. Nice one. Howard is crapping on about the tax policy where there was a potential worse off issue in the ALP package. 'It's understanding tax and economics! It's practicing what you preach !' etc. How many things did Howard offer just then as benefits for Australians ... er nothing.
Oh Costello will succeed Howard 'well into the next term'. Ouch for Costello. Howard is bleating on about his team and how it was Peter and him on the economy. Downer was great as foreign affairs minister (news to me). Howard is now being forthright about his future apparently. Let's ignore the many many times when he was not. 'I will hand over to you after a term and a half' etc.
Ruddy is mentioning the reserve as backing the bipartisan claims. Then slamming Howard over his treasurer record. Noice. About fucking time someone brought that up.
Presenter - Unions bad? to Rudd. 'Is that not out of whack?' Rudd is going at Howard on 70% for Cabinet for being party hacks and Lawyers. Excellent. 70% of his cabinet wanted Howard to go. Awesome. Rudd is mentioning his team's varied backgrounds. And yes, has trade unionists in his background. Nice - mentioned the Unions getting justice for workers.
Take that prick!
Howard - Apparently having 70% lawyers is awesome and having unionists is pathetic. Yeah... that's right ... all pathetic. He's still going on about the 70% unions - and that State and Territory is all ALP. There's a reason for that fucktard - cause your state parties suck my anus in ability and quality candidates.
Howard - I know families are facing financial pressures! I know! Back to his tax reform for his plan (Rudd adopted 9/10 of that plan). They decided the best thing was general taxation relief. Despite the fact its potentially inflationary which means the banks get it not them. Hooray for the tax plan! No - we refuse to tinker with the system to make things more attractive than others (cough Private Health Rebate cough).
Rudd - Why do the rich get an immediate tax break when there are pressures on systems we can address now. Go Ruddy. Mentions his education plan which was kewl. Going against child care costs. Nice mention. So far calm and unflustered. He's doing well.
Presenter - Your plan not inflationary?
Rudd - No. I'm investing in progression elements so more skills/education adds capacity to the economy. Skill shortages translate into inflation pressures. Howard irresponsible on interest rates for saying 'record lows'. Rudd saying he's not going to make said promise because he's not a cockhead. Aim for downward pressure.
Howard - If Rudd believes making Reserve bank manage monetary policy why does the ALP stand against budget surpluses. Er they don't. They voted against shitty aspects of your budgets you misleading arsehole. Er Housing 17% interest rate! Let's not forget that! Forgetting of course A) it was temporary and B) used to fix the economy which he took advantage for claiming it was all him. Why do people fall for this shit? Again 'always lower under a Liberal government'. How the fuck can he guarantee that. He's claiming he's accountable now! Remember the 17%!
Idiot.
Kelly - why are you cutting tax when it will increase upward pressure on interest rate. Slammo ! That's gotta hurt given Kelly is government gazette man.
Howard - er inflation is the interest rate kicker. So er no. Because the economy has grown we can provide tax relief and they are not inflationary. Because ... of workchoices? Huh? He's not making much sense. See the transcript. Oh here we are 'if you don't have unions high wages are not inflationary.' ????
Kelly - tax cuts will increase demand on the economy, so will you reconsider if they are?
Howard - no. They will dampen wage demands apparently. Huh?
Rudd - Nice 22% gets another mention (Howard as Treasurer). Rudd claims Labor made mistakes, as 'you did as treasurer'. Rudd mentions Costello said Howard's treasurer record was shit. Rudd mentioned the infrastructure / skill changes needs. Reinforces the ALP skills/infrastructure plan. It's awesome.
Kelly - good point from Kelly. You're (Rudd) doing the same as him (Howard). Education is a 2nd priority.
Rudd - Nup, education rawks. Bullet pointing all his plans.
Note to Howard - all you've done is the negative crap. Rudd is kicking your arse around the block by getting to mention his plans.
Rudd - Howard is killing education. We will fix it.
Oh no Ruddy is going rhetorical on Howard! No ruddy, noooooo! But did mention his policy.
Howard - I will whine about minor details on the edge of the report that Rudd used the report.
Rudd - you suck
Howard - you do. You're dishonest.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Big Laurie- will you owe unions for their support given their workchoice opposing legislation?
Ruddy - no, but I balanced our approach by listening to everyone. See the reaction ? Unions didn't like it. Business didn't like it. Therefore balance good. Rudd is slamming Howard over unions. 'Mr Howard has mentioned it 67,000 times'. Ruddy slammed Howard on the economy and mentioned how ALP REFORMS BOUGHT ABOUT THE CHANGES TO THE ECONOMY! Hooray! Finally he mentioned it.
Howard - yeah they did bring in reforms ... but I supported it! He never supported what I tried to do. Also - unions dominate his front bench. Again. Again. Is that 67,001 mentions? Bringing up the Gavin O'Connor. Oh Howard thinks there should be a 'reasonable percentage' of union officials as ministry - but not this much! Tee hee, what a loon.
Go Big Laurie - mentioning all the evil workchoices crap the Libs had planned that they wanted to implement.
Howard - no concerns. No intention for further IR reform. He believes he got it right (cough fairness test cough). We got rid of unfair dismissal! Sky will fall in according to the unions. 450k! more employees! Fewer strikes! Ergo all WorkChoices apparently. General evidence indicates its been successful - which is why we decided not to release the figures. We're the only ones who worry about unemployment! They don't. They no longer talk about it because union control is more important than jobs. 'We're the party of full employment; they just want to restore union domination!'.
Big Laurie - Why didn't you mention it before the last election?
Howard - er they will have to make a judgment that I always believed in it (piss off). I don't think we have to go any further. Back to the 2nd highest minimum wage of a western country crap. Because you see most workers are on the minimum wage. Not. But on AWAs more likely to be closer to the minimum wage.
Ruddy - Can't trust Howard on IR, WorkChoices. Given what he did before.
Hartcher - Greenhouse question to Rudd.
Rudd - Howard refused to ratify Kyoto. Won't set a carbon target. We all take our responsibility. 60% reduction by 2050 against 2000 levels. 60% is the target number set by science. We place planet in danger by not going for it.
Kelly - Where's the target for 2020? Rudd - when report comes in June we will set it then. Remember we didn't have government support for our reports. We had to commission in.
Howard - We all accept mankind has made a contribution to global warming (nice to see it). We respond but carefully. Shh, in case we wake people. Quietly now! We're developing a trading system that will kick in of 2011. We will set a target mid next year. And our target will be economically sensible and only that will determine the target (but let's ignore the science). Apparently they're going to fund battlers for the rising costs of energy which is cleaner. Please, his concern for the less well off is so so transparent. We do have plan! We will sign a new agreement which includes everyone! Something about cricket.
Hartcher - Turnbull said we should have binding targets. Bush doesn't.
Howard - Turnbull is right! And I will put that view to the US president. Oh dear the Sydney declaration apparently got China and the US to talk about climate change. My close relationship was the lubricant on that meeting. Yes, you heard it first, Howard declared himself to be Climate Change KY. India and China have to be in! Oh - we will meet the targets.
Rudd - China is critical. China doesn't accept targets because we and the US didn't. Rudd mentions preserving the planet. Mentions the clean coal thing. Mentions the innovation fund. Mentions various other funding. Mentions good research but no targets on renewable energy investments. Howard didn't act for 11 years, oh and where are the nuclear reactors? Good point. Where are the nuclear reactors?
Presenter to Howard - Can you change Bush's mind.
Howard - Yes. Yes I can. We have the best chance because you see I can shout up my thoughts right to his large colon given my conjunction with his puckered anus that I am yelling through. Again the Sydney declaration. His Climate Change KY is grouse. I hope someone takes this up.
Presenter - Iraq - increase or decrease terrorism?
Howard - Always a risk - there was Bali pre-Iraq. My foreign policy will not be dictated by terrorists apparently. Which ones? The US or the apparent Islamic dudes? Howard mentioning the Pakistan bombings. Apparently terrorists hate freedom and that's why they attacked. They don't care about race or colour or nationality. Er crap. They do. That's why they conduct terrorism you fuck knuckle.
Presenter - AQ franchised in Iraq most invasion. So AQ increased yes?
Howard - AQ is in retreat in Iraq! And Terrorist hate our way of life! Still not answering the question.
Rudd - Why didn't he answer the question? Because the Brits said it 'would compound terror not decrease it'. Iraq is the greatest error since Vietnam. Nice one Rudd. Iraq is increasing damage to us not reducing it. Balance is important, and you have to deal with the reasons for recruitment such as economic opportunities.
Presenter to Rudd - You withdrawing from Iraq completely?
Rudd - No. Combat troops will be out mid year. The rest will be dealt with in conjunction with the US. No I am not withdrawing the SecDet.
Howard - I agree with SecDet. But what I find strange is that Ruddy has two bob each way. ie leaving ships and air force in Iraq. Ruddy wants to convey impression against Iraq but not really. Fair point I suppose. Howard talking about the training of the Iraqi militias I mean army. 'We're making progress! Humanitarian work!'
Chris 'Former Liberal person' Uhlmann (who said the ABC can't be ideological): You opposed this stuff and now you adopt it! Eg Medicare, Iraq etc. Death Penalty etc
Rudd - pressures on families meant judgment was to revist. Death Penalty stuff - we will do it globally but not act diplomatically for non Australians. Prob true. Nice one Ruddy take that Liberal stooge.
Presenter - Why won't you say sorry?
Howard - Wasn't my fault. The idea of asking a present generation to say sorry for a previous generation is offensive. No, it's not. Because we're the legacy of that generation and we have a responsibility to say 'that was fucked, I'm sorry, let's fix it.' Sigh, going on about his "team" again. The NT was a watershed! 20 years of failure overthrown (11 years by him, including various active things he did against Aboriginal Australians like ramping up against native title).
Presenter to Rudd - You backed it? Agree?
Rudd - We backed it because it was needed. It requires radical thinking. Rudd on Sorry. It's about respect. Creating a bridge. To bridge the gap. The fact an Aboriginal kid is 3-4 times more likely to die is fucked.
Questions eh? Rudd - Redundancy not covered under AWAs? Howard - didn't answer the question. Went on about redundancy scheme he created.
Howard - Why didn't you talk about Climate Change with Bush? Rudd - how do you know? I didn't talk about it. Also, didn't answer the question. Rudd - Bush shut down his mind on the climate change on the issue. I had 40 minutes. You have many more opportunities. Your question was a wank.
Rudd - Why should we believe you on a range of issues when you lie your arse off. Howard - er I will talk about it with yanks it.
(I paused to create Howard KY tube)
Howard - Why can't you give guarantees? I can. Rudd - I won't, but I will create programs that will do the best they can.
Closing time now.
Ruddy - I'm from QLD country. And I am an optimist. But you need to craft a plan for the future. You need to build prosperity beyond the mining boom. You need an education revolution. You need high speed broadband. Nats suck at it. Nice one Ruddy - Howard spent the whole time attacking me and offered no plans for the future.
Howard - I am a supreme optimist. I believe in the people! It's in the hands and resources of the people! Everything they (ALP) said is slogans. So it's all about the economy. Just the economy. Nothing else. Strong economy is important. All important. Education requires basic standards apparently. Despite the fact we're one of the leaders in the western world. Oh and more technical schools (no programs mentioned). We need to restore a narrative of Australian history. Why are we so ashamed of the Australian story (WTF? Teachers - is that true are you not talking about the good things we did? Is it all about genocide?) Restore a proper (RIGHT WING) balance to the country for history.
That's his plan. A new history syllabus.
Jeez I wished people watched this and took notes. Howard - Lefties dominate the schools and unions and the ALP. Rudd - here's what we're going to do.
Rudd kicked his fucking arse.
Ruddy went first. Calm, considered. No rhetorical statements. Laid out policies. Howard didn't say welcome to Mr Rudd. H on the future. He's fundamentally optimistic view apparently - and Ruddy is a nasty pessimist. H thinks the prosperity of the nation is due to 10-20 years of a new society? What the fuck? Apparently entrepreneurs are the reason why we are going great guns. Small business he said. Really, why then is the massive amount of govie money based on corporate receipts you deceptive rat. Oh ... he's now saying we don't have non a fair go. 2nd highest minimum wage eh? I'd have to look into that.
33 year low in unemployment eh? Across the board eh? He just ran out of time and is still bleating on. "Don't be frightened of growth". I swear he just looked down at his pants then. Maybe his funsize marsbar is on the rise or something.
Howard claims it's only better to have new leadership if its better and fresh, realised what he said, then went er back to um better. Howard is now lying about unions again. Hilarious. Unions are old and dated. Piss off now he's saying unions would have a monopoly - that's lies.
Ruddy is playing the realism card. He's pointing out the global stats are akin to Oz's. Rudd's mentioned the investment angle. As in Howard did fuck all with the extra money. Implication being Howard pissed it up against the wall.
Presenter - 'why chuck Howard when you agree with so much with him?'. Rudd hit back with longterm prosperity. Quoting reserve banks saying mining boom will end. Rudd promoting education/skills/broadband as a means to redress it when the crash comes. Mentions climate change and water issues.
Howard - er being an economic conservative more than a slogan. Now he's bringing up Rudd's voting record. 'He voted against tax breaks! He voted against the GST! All the reforms!'
Oh this is good, Howard's claiming because Keating/Hawke had economic reforms he agreed with then therefore he's better than Rudd. Nice one. Howard is crapping on about the tax policy where there was a potential worse off issue in the ALP package. 'It's understanding tax and economics! It's practicing what you preach !' etc. How many things did Howard offer just then as benefits for Australians ... er nothing.
Oh Costello will succeed Howard 'well into the next term'. Ouch for Costello. Howard is bleating on about his team and how it was Peter and him on the economy. Downer was great as foreign affairs minister (news to me). Howard is now being forthright about his future apparently. Let's ignore the many many times when he was not. 'I will hand over to you after a term and a half' etc.
Ruddy is mentioning the reserve as backing the bipartisan claims. Then slamming Howard over his treasurer record. Noice. About fucking time someone brought that up.
Presenter - Unions bad? to Rudd. 'Is that not out of whack?' Rudd is going at Howard on 70% for Cabinet for being party hacks and Lawyers. Excellent. 70% of his cabinet wanted Howard to go. Awesome. Rudd is mentioning his team's varied backgrounds. And yes, has trade unionists in his background. Nice - mentioned the Unions getting justice for workers.
Take that prick!
Howard - Apparently having 70% lawyers is awesome and having unionists is pathetic. Yeah... that's right ... all pathetic. He's still going on about the 70% unions - and that State and Territory is all ALP. There's a reason for that fucktard - cause your state parties suck my anus in ability and quality candidates.
Howard - I know families are facing financial pressures! I know! Back to his tax reform for his plan (Rudd adopted 9/10 of that plan). They decided the best thing was general taxation relief. Despite the fact its potentially inflationary which means the banks get it not them. Hooray for the tax plan! No - we refuse to tinker with the system to make things more attractive than others (cough Private Health Rebate cough).
Rudd - Why do the rich get an immediate tax break when there are pressures on systems we can address now. Go Ruddy. Mentions his education plan which was kewl. Going against child care costs. Nice mention. So far calm and unflustered. He's doing well.
Presenter - Your plan not inflationary?
Rudd - No. I'm investing in progression elements so more skills/education adds capacity to the economy. Skill shortages translate into inflation pressures. Howard irresponsible on interest rates for saying 'record lows'. Rudd saying he's not going to make said promise because he's not a cockhead. Aim for downward pressure.
Howard - If Rudd believes making Reserve bank manage monetary policy why does the ALP stand against budget surpluses. Er they don't. They voted against shitty aspects of your budgets you misleading arsehole. Er Housing 17% interest rate! Let's not forget that! Forgetting of course A) it was temporary and B) used to fix the economy which he took advantage for claiming it was all him. Why do people fall for this shit? Again 'always lower under a Liberal government'. How the fuck can he guarantee that. He's claiming he's accountable now! Remember the 17%!
Idiot.
Kelly - why are you cutting tax when it will increase upward pressure on interest rate. Slammo ! That's gotta hurt given Kelly is government gazette man.
Howard - er inflation is the interest rate kicker. So er no. Because the economy has grown we can provide tax relief and they are not inflationary. Because ... of workchoices? Huh? He's not making much sense. See the transcript. Oh here we are 'if you don't have unions high wages are not inflationary.' ????
Kelly - tax cuts will increase demand on the economy, so will you reconsider if they are?
Howard - no. They will dampen wage demands apparently. Huh?
Rudd - Nice 22% gets another mention (Howard as Treasurer). Rudd claims Labor made mistakes, as 'you did as treasurer'. Rudd mentions Costello said Howard's treasurer record was shit. Rudd mentioned the infrastructure / skill changes needs. Reinforces the ALP skills/infrastructure plan. It's awesome.
Kelly - good point from Kelly. You're (Rudd) doing the same as him (Howard). Education is a 2nd priority.
Rudd - Nup, education rawks. Bullet pointing all his plans.
Note to Howard - all you've done is the negative crap. Rudd is kicking your arse around the block by getting to mention his plans.
Rudd - Howard is killing education. We will fix it.
Oh no Ruddy is going rhetorical on Howard! No ruddy, noooooo! But did mention his policy.
Howard - I will whine about minor details on the edge of the report that Rudd used the report.
Rudd - you suck
Howard - you do. You're dishonest.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Big Laurie- will you owe unions for their support given their workchoice opposing legislation?
Ruddy - no, but I balanced our approach by listening to everyone. See the reaction ? Unions didn't like it. Business didn't like it. Therefore balance good. Rudd is slamming Howard over unions. 'Mr Howard has mentioned it 67,000 times'. Ruddy slammed Howard on the economy and mentioned how ALP REFORMS BOUGHT ABOUT THE CHANGES TO THE ECONOMY! Hooray! Finally he mentioned it.
Howard - yeah they did bring in reforms ... but I supported it! He never supported what I tried to do. Also - unions dominate his front bench. Again. Again. Is that 67,001 mentions? Bringing up the Gavin O'Connor. Oh Howard thinks there should be a 'reasonable percentage' of union officials as ministry - but not this much! Tee hee, what a loon.
Go Big Laurie - mentioning all the evil workchoices crap the Libs had planned that they wanted to implement.
Howard - no concerns. No intention for further IR reform. He believes he got it right (cough fairness test cough). We got rid of unfair dismissal! Sky will fall in according to the unions. 450k! more employees! Fewer strikes! Ergo all WorkChoices apparently. General evidence indicates its been successful - which is why we decided not to release the figures. We're the only ones who worry about unemployment! They don't. They no longer talk about it because union control is more important than jobs. 'We're the party of full employment; they just want to restore union domination!'.
Big Laurie - Why didn't you mention it before the last election?
Howard - er they will have to make a judgment that I always believed in it (piss off). I don't think we have to go any further. Back to the 2nd highest minimum wage of a western country crap. Because you see most workers are on the minimum wage. Not. But on AWAs more likely to be closer to the minimum wage.
Ruddy - Can't trust Howard on IR, WorkChoices. Given what he did before.
Hartcher - Greenhouse question to Rudd.
Rudd - Howard refused to ratify Kyoto. Won't set a carbon target. We all take our responsibility. 60% reduction by 2050 against 2000 levels. 60% is the target number set by science. We place planet in danger by not going for it.
Kelly - Where's the target for 2020? Rudd - when report comes in June we will set it then. Remember we didn't have government support for our reports. We had to commission in.
Howard - We all accept mankind has made a contribution to global warming (nice to see it). We respond but carefully. Shh, in case we wake people. Quietly now! We're developing a trading system that will kick in of 2011. We will set a target mid next year. And our target will be economically sensible and only that will determine the target (but let's ignore the science). Apparently they're going to fund battlers for the rising costs of energy which is cleaner. Please, his concern for the less well off is so so transparent. We do have plan! We will sign a new agreement which includes everyone! Something about cricket.
Hartcher - Turnbull said we should have binding targets. Bush doesn't.Howard - Turnbull is right! And I will put that view to the US president. Oh dear the Sydney declaration apparently got China and the US to talk about climate change. My close relationship was the lubricant on that meeting. Yes, you heard it first, Howard declared himself to be Climate Change KY. India and China have to be in! Oh - we will meet the targets.
Rudd - China is critical. China doesn't accept targets because we and the US didn't. Rudd mentions preserving the planet. Mentions the clean coal thing. Mentions the innovation fund. Mentions various other funding. Mentions good research but no targets on renewable energy investments. Howard didn't act for 11 years, oh and where are the nuclear reactors? Good point. Where are the nuclear reactors?
Presenter to Howard - Can you change Bush's mind.
Howard - Yes. Yes I can. We have the best chance because you see I can shout up my thoughts right to his large colon given my conjunction with his puckered anus that I am yelling through. Again the Sydney declaration. His Climate Change KY is grouse. I hope someone takes this up.
Presenter - Iraq - increase or decrease terrorism?
Howard - Always a risk - there was Bali pre-Iraq. My foreign policy will not be dictated by terrorists apparently. Which ones? The US or the apparent Islamic dudes? Howard mentioning the Pakistan bombings. Apparently terrorists hate freedom and that's why they attacked. They don't care about race or colour or nationality. Er crap. They do. That's why they conduct terrorism you fuck knuckle.
Presenter - AQ franchised in Iraq most invasion. So AQ increased yes?
Howard - AQ is in retreat in Iraq! And Terrorist hate our way of life! Still not answering the question.
Rudd - Why didn't he answer the question? Because the Brits said it 'would compound terror not decrease it'. Iraq is the greatest error since Vietnam. Nice one Rudd. Iraq is increasing damage to us not reducing it. Balance is important, and you have to deal with the reasons for recruitment such as economic opportunities.
Presenter to Rudd - You withdrawing from Iraq completely?
Rudd - No. Combat troops will be out mid year. The rest will be dealt with in conjunction with the US. No I am not withdrawing the SecDet.
Howard - I agree with SecDet. But what I find strange is that Ruddy has two bob each way. ie leaving ships and air force in Iraq. Ruddy wants to convey impression against Iraq but not really. Fair point I suppose. Howard talking about the training of the Iraqi militias I mean army. 'We're making progress! Humanitarian work!'
Chris 'Former Liberal person' Uhlmann (who said the ABC can't be ideological): You opposed this stuff and now you adopt it! Eg Medicare, Iraq etc. Death Penalty etc
Rudd - pressures on families meant judgment was to revist. Death Penalty stuff - we will do it globally but not act diplomatically for non Australians. Prob true. Nice one Ruddy take that Liberal stooge.
Presenter - Why won't you say sorry?
Howard - Wasn't my fault. The idea of asking a present generation to say sorry for a previous generation is offensive. No, it's not. Because we're the legacy of that generation and we have a responsibility to say 'that was fucked, I'm sorry, let's fix it.' Sigh, going on about his "team" again. The NT was a watershed! 20 years of failure overthrown (11 years by him, including various active things he did against Aboriginal Australians like ramping up against native title).
Presenter to Rudd - You backed it? Agree?
Rudd - We backed it because it was needed. It requires radical thinking. Rudd on Sorry. It's about respect. Creating a bridge. To bridge the gap. The fact an Aboriginal kid is 3-4 times more likely to die is fucked.
Questions eh? Rudd - Redundancy not covered under AWAs? Howard - didn't answer the question. Went on about redundancy scheme he created.
Howard - Why didn't you talk about Climate Change with Bush? Rudd - how do you know? I didn't talk about it. Also, didn't answer the question. Rudd - Bush shut down his mind on the climate change on the issue. I had 40 minutes. You have many more opportunities. Your question was a wank.
Rudd - Why should we believe you on a range of issues when you lie your arse off. Howard - er I will talk about it with yanks it.
(I paused to create Howard KY tube)
Howard - Why can't you give guarantees? I can. Rudd - I won't, but I will create programs that will do the best they can.
Closing time now.
Ruddy - I'm from QLD country. And I am an optimist. But you need to craft a plan for the future. You need to build prosperity beyond the mining boom. You need an education revolution. You need high speed broadband. Nats suck at it. Nice one Ruddy - Howard spent the whole time attacking me and offered no plans for the future.
Howard - I am a supreme optimist. I believe in the people! It's in the hands and resources of the people! Everything they (ALP) said is slogans. So it's all about the economy. Just the economy. Nothing else. Strong economy is important. All important. Education requires basic standards apparently. Despite the fact we're one of the leaders in the western world. Oh and more technical schools (no programs mentioned). We need to restore a narrative of Australian history. Why are we so ashamed of the Australian story (WTF? Teachers - is that true are you not talking about the good things we did? Is it all about genocide?) Restore a proper (RIGHT WING) balance to the country for history.
That's his plan. A new history syllabus.
Jeez I wished people watched this and took notes. Howard - Lefties dominate the schools and unions and the ALP. Rudd - here's what we're going to do.
Rudd kicked his fucking arse.
Morris Davis Resigns
Remember Morris Davis? He was the prosecutor in the Hicks "trial". You know the guys who gave faint hints that opposing council Major Mori should be charged for defending his client to the hilt.
So, resigned eh? Well, what over? Here's the wash post article in full - taken from here
Ex-Prosecutor Alleges Pentagon Plays Politics
Pressure for 'Sexy' Guantanamo Hearings
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 20, 2007; Page A03
Politically motivated officials at the Pentagon have pushed for convictions of high-profile detainees ahead of the 2008 elections, the former lead prosecutor for terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay said last night, adding that the pressure played a part in his decision to resign earlier this month.
Senior defense officials discussed in a September 2006 meeting the "strategic political value" of putting some prominent detainees on trial, said Air Force Col. Morris Davis. He said that he felt pressure to pursue cases that were deemed "sexy" over those that prosecutors believed were the most solid or were ready to go.
Davis said his resignation was also prompted by newly appointed senior officials seeking to use classified evidence in what would be closed sessions of court, and by almost all elements of the military commissions process being put under the Defense Department general counsel's command, something he believes could present serious conflicts of interest.
"There was a big concern that the election of 2008 is coming up," Davis said. "People wanted to get the cases going. There was a rush to get high-interest cases into court at the expense of openness."
Davis said he thought the military commissions could go forward as a legitimate way to try alleged terrorists in U.S. custody, but he said he had serious concerns about how the new officials were approaching the commissions. He said he felt a sense of expediency over thoroughness was taking hold and that efforts to use classified evidence -- a controversial idea that has drawn congressional concern -- could taint the trials in the eyes of international observers.
Davis abruptly resigned after complaining that his authority in prosecutions was being usurped. He argued that Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, a new legal adviser to the convening authority for military commissions, should remain a neutral and independent party and should leave prosecuting cases to prosecutors.
In his complaint, Davis alleged that Hartmann inappropriately requested detailed information on pending cases, defined the sequence in which cases would be brought forward and expressed an intent to personally conduct pretrial negotiations with defendants' attorneys.
A Pentagon review found that Hartmann did not attempt to coerce Davis's team but advised that he should "diligently avoid aligning himself with the prosecutorial function so that he can objectively and independently provide cogent legal advice" to the convening authority -- the official in charge of supervising the commissions.
J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said yesterday that Hartmann was not available for comment. Gordon said the military commissions will provide detainees with fair trials.
"We are working closely with our interagency counterparts to ensure that prosecutions by military commission result in fair and open trials while at the same time protecting sensitive information that, if revealed, could be damaging to U.S. and allied forces still conducting combat operations against al-Qaeda and their supporters," Gordon said.
Hartmann arrived as legal adviser to the convening authority last summer, and suddenly, Davis said during a lengthy interview, his office was inundated with what he called "nano-management," including requests to oversee cases that had previously been left solely to prosecutors.
Part of the new focus, Davis said, was to speed up cases that would show the public the system was working. Davis said he wanted to focus on cases that had declassified evidence, so the public could see the entire trial through news coverage. That would defuse possible allegations that the trials were stacked against defendants.
But Hartmann said he was satisfied with putting on cases that included closed sessions, because the law allows it.
"He said, the way we were going to validate the system was by getting convictions and good sentences," Davis said. "I felt I was being pressured to do something less than full, fair and open."
Interesting isn't it? Davis thundered and hawed about the fairness of the system he supported. Resigns then happens to mention ... not that fair really. I feel sorry for US military people that they have to get out in order to speak out. But it's interesting that when they're in they will 120% back policy they know is wrong simply because the chain of command demands they do. Witness Sanchez's coming clean in recent weeks. When he was in, man he just talked about the successes left right and centre. When he was out ... blasts the administration for dragging them into to Vietraq.
Anyway, should be noted that Davis resigned due to changes in what was happening and he did defend the system as it applied to him when he was in. But he can't be holier than thou on this issue given the shitty stuff he tried on opposing council, let alone being the poster boy for an inherently unfair system that had the briefest veneer of fairness applied to it - a banana thong of justice.
So, resigned eh? Well, what over? Here's the wash post article in full - taken from here
Ex-Prosecutor Alleges Pentagon Plays Politics
Pressure for 'Sexy' Guantanamo Hearings
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 20, 2007; Page A03
Politically motivated officials at the Pentagon have pushed for convictions of high-profile detainees ahead of the 2008 elections, the former lead prosecutor for terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay said last night, adding that the pressure played a part in his decision to resign earlier this month.
Senior defense officials discussed in a September 2006 meeting the "strategic political value" of putting some prominent detainees on trial, said Air Force Col. Morris Davis. He said that he felt pressure to pursue cases that were deemed "sexy" over those that prosecutors believed were the most solid or were ready to go.
Davis said his resignation was also prompted by newly appointed senior officials seeking to use classified evidence in what would be closed sessions of court, and by almost all elements of the military commissions process being put under the Defense Department general counsel's command, something he believes could present serious conflicts of interest.
"There was a big concern that the election of 2008 is coming up," Davis said. "People wanted to get the cases going. There was a rush to get high-interest cases into court at the expense of openness."
Davis said he thought the military commissions could go forward as a legitimate way to try alleged terrorists in U.S. custody, but he said he had serious concerns about how the new officials were approaching the commissions. He said he felt a sense of expediency over thoroughness was taking hold and that efforts to use classified evidence -- a controversial idea that has drawn congressional concern -- could taint the trials in the eyes of international observers.
Davis abruptly resigned after complaining that his authority in prosecutions was being usurped. He argued that Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, a new legal adviser to the convening authority for military commissions, should remain a neutral and independent party and should leave prosecuting cases to prosecutors.
In his complaint, Davis alleged that Hartmann inappropriately requested detailed information on pending cases, defined the sequence in which cases would be brought forward and expressed an intent to personally conduct pretrial negotiations with defendants' attorneys.
A Pentagon review found that Hartmann did not attempt to coerce Davis's team but advised that he should "diligently avoid aligning himself with the prosecutorial function so that he can objectively and independently provide cogent legal advice" to the convening authority -- the official in charge of supervising the commissions.
J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said yesterday that Hartmann was not available for comment. Gordon said the military commissions will provide detainees with fair trials.
"We are working closely with our interagency counterparts to ensure that prosecutions by military commission result in fair and open trials while at the same time protecting sensitive information that, if revealed, could be damaging to U.S. and allied forces still conducting combat operations against al-Qaeda and their supporters," Gordon said.
Hartmann arrived as legal adviser to the convening authority last summer, and suddenly, Davis said during a lengthy interview, his office was inundated with what he called "nano-management," including requests to oversee cases that had previously been left solely to prosecutors.
Part of the new focus, Davis said, was to speed up cases that would show the public the system was working. Davis said he wanted to focus on cases that had declassified evidence, so the public could see the entire trial through news coverage. That would defuse possible allegations that the trials were stacked against defendants.
But Hartmann said he was satisfied with putting on cases that included closed sessions, because the law allows it.
"He said, the way we were going to validate the system was by getting convictions and good sentences," Davis said. "I felt I was being pressured to do something less than full, fair and open."
Interesting isn't it? Davis thundered and hawed about the fairness of the system he supported. Resigns then happens to mention ... not that fair really. I feel sorry for US military people that they have to get out in order to speak out. But it's interesting that when they're in they will 120% back policy they know is wrong simply because the chain of command demands they do. Witness Sanchez's coming clean in recent weeks. When he was in, man he just talked about the successes left right and centre. When he was out ... blasts the administration for dragging them into to Vietraq.
Anyway, should be noted that Davis resigned due to changes in what was happening and he did defend the system as it applied to him when he was in. But he can't be holier than thou on this issue given the shitty stuff he tried on opposing council, let alone being the poster boy for an inherently unfair system that had the briefest veneer of fairness applied to it - a banana thong of justice.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
When someone else has to say it
Prime Minister Howard, despite offering meaningless platitudes as a preamble in the constitution (claiming he's the only one who can do it), and instead of sending in social workers, house builders, and educators into Aboriginal Australia sent the police and others, still won't express sorry on behalf of the nation as to how Aboriginal Australians have been fucked ever since white settlement.
Oh wrapping himself in the flag and waxing lyrical about Aussie pride at Gallipoli - sure no worries - even though it happened before he was born. But a sorry for the biggest fuckup we've done in our nation's history - well no.
Remember the 2000 Olympics. How fucking awesome was it when the Oil's took the stage wearing these little numbers?
Fuck you Howard you mealy mouthed race card playing bigoted prick.
Oh - I think this is the Sydney concert here.
Oh wrapping himself in the flag and waxing lyrical about Aussie pride at Gallipoli - sure no worries - even though it happened before he was born. But a sorry for the biggest fuckup we've done in our nation's history - well no.
Remember the 2000 Olympics. How fucking awesome was it when the Oil's took the stage wearing these little numbers?
Fuck you Howard you mealy mouthed race card playing bigoted prick.Oh - I think this is the Sydney concert here.
Oils are Oils
Midnight Oil rawks. And while many grumble about Peter Garrett's seeming back down on "core principles" you have to remember that politics is about compromise and at the end of the day you can get more done pissing out of the tent than pissing in. Besides who would you prefer as environment minister? Turnbull?
Anyhoo, MB's link to the "Forgotten Years" Howard clip reminded me how awesome both the Oils music was/is, and the strength of the message wrapped in it.
This is my favourite one.
Anyhoo, MB's link to the "Forgotten Years" Howard clip reminded me how awesome both the Oils music was/is, and the strength of the message wrapped in it.
This is my favourite one.
Spears' Vagina to gain Separate Visitation
Britney Spears, celebrity unfit mother, has, like Paris Hilton, had her vagina act independently, the pink bits taking advantage of a partied out Britters, seizing temporary control of the parent body, and taking itself to court to seek separate child visitation rights to the host.
'GLOO-OOOO-OOOOO-OOOOOO,' flapped the well tended sex organ when asked to state its reasons before County Judge Dick Edwards. 'GLOOOO-OOOOO-OOOOOOO.'
Unable to understand Britter's vagina, the genitalia's lawyer read from a prepared statement which indicated the vagina's distress at its continued over exposure and the fact that Britney had proved again and again that she was not fit to mother her two children.
'I nurtured the children for nine months then lovingly passed them through me,' said the lawyer, reading from the letter. 'But through the actions of Britney I no longer can see my sons. Therefore I would like separate but equal visitation.'
The judge granted the request, ordering Britney to attend a family clinic and rest herself in examination stirrups whilst wearing blinders and ear muffs to enable the vagina to converse privately with the children, as well as interact with them.
'Oh there's lots of stuff an energetic vagina can do with the kids,' said its lawyer. 'Blow bubbles, play table tennis - you name it. As long as it doesn't have its period. In which case it's stuffed.'
'GLOO-OOOO-OOOOO-OOOOOO,' flapped the well tended sex organ when asked to state its reasons before County Judge Dick Edwards. 'GLOOOO-OOOOO-OOOOOOO.'
Unable to understand Britter's vagina, the genitalia's lawyer read from a prepared statement which indicated the vagina's distress at its continued over exposure and the fact that Britney had proved again and again that she was not fit to mother her two children.
'I nurtured the children for nine months then lovingly passed them through me,' said the lawyer, reading from the letter. 'But through the actions of Britney I no longer can see my sons. Therefore I would like separate but equal visitation.'
The judge granted the request, ordering Britney to attend a family clinic and rest herself in examination stirrups whilst wearing blinders and ear muffs to enable the vagina to converse privately with the children, as well as interact with them.
'Oh there's lots of stuff an energetic vagina can do with the kids,' said its lawyer. 'Blow bubbles, play table tennis - you name it. As long as it doesn't have its period. In which case it's stuffed.'
Damn theWife
Watching Ghost Rider trailer.
TW: Hey that's the girl from Fat Pizza
Me: No it's not.
TW: Yeah, she was on Thank God You're Here
Me: Yeah, but it's not her.
TW: Go look it up.
Stupid always right about people in movies theWife.
TW: Hey that's the girl from Fat Pizza
Me: No it's not.
TW: Yeah, she was on Thank God You're Here
Me: Yeah, but it's not her.
TW: Go look it up.
Stupid always right about people in movies theWife.
Dumbeldore News
He's gay apparently.
Or rather was given his death. I can understand why that side of his character wasn't expanded upon since everyone would assume he was grooming Harry in those private sessions.
Yes I know puerile to think it. But people would have. If Harry had been a girl and having private sessions with a head teacher would people assume grooming too?
Oh finished Deathly Hallows.
SPOILER
(Sure you've finished reading?)
Not sure about the ending. A bit Disney. And the wands twin cores thing was just confusing - as indeed as the children being named after other characters. Well, still, a good series and well down to JKR.
Or rather was given his death. I can understand why that side of his character wasn't expanded upon since everyone would assume he was grooming Harry in those private sessions.
Yes I know puerile to think it. But people would have. If Harry had been a girl and having private sessions with a head teacher would people assume grooming too?
Oh finished Deathly Hallows.
SPOILER
(Sure you've finished reading?)
Not sure about the ending. A bit Disney. And the wands twin cores thing was just confusing - as indeed as the children being named after other characters. Well, still, a good series and well down to JKR.
Friday, October 19, 2007
The Tonester rawks it old school
Tony "I won't negotiate with the states on any policy outcomes until after the election but I will try and take over hospitals that every sensible health organisation in the country declared was a bonehead move" Abbott has announced today that unions shouldn't have any specialist influence in the workplace.
"I don't see that unions are more important than the RSL or the Country Women's Association or the local football club for that matter."
Oh how I remember the bitter wars at the turn of the 20th century over the 8 hour day fought by the CWA, up to their knees in mud as they charged the pickets. And how about in 1998 when all those footy club people were illegally sacked with government fucking support until a court had to reinstate them. Oh - and lets not forget the RSL's sterling work at enterprise bargaining in the early 90's which put the Oz economy on such a strong footing it enabled a pack of moronic fuckwits to take credit for it in the manner a glazier would take credit for by fitting in a window and suggesting therefore the entire house that had been constructed was likewise their doing.
Left: The CWA prepares itself for another charge.
Yes Tony. Those damn unions. If only they could stick to having fetes where members bring a fucking plate.
Please people. Please. Tonester and his crew took away rights from Australians to effectively organise. They made it so those entering the workplace have greatly reduced protection and effectively lost income. They have helped create an economy where to buy the average home a family needs a combined income of over $100,000 in order to afford repayments (and proudly took credit for the doubling of house values in the past 10 years like the gibbering distended rectal tissue they are).
Do you know why Union membership dropped? Because they were too successful. Their efforts were largely unseen by members at the negotiation level and non members got the same benefit. Unless people believed in standing together, or felt in need of assistance, they didn't join a union. That's why I joined - I was scared of impending work crap and wanted cheap legal assist. I remained because I realized that being a union member was a symbol of what I stood for.
Unions exist because unions need to exist. The most successful western countries in the world are heavily unionised. Unions protect people and protect workers. And the system was working very well right up until ... you guessed it. WorkChoices.
So if you want a harmonious workplace where the balance between workers and bosses is fair then consider your choice very, very carefully. And remember how few choices you were left with and will be left with as a result of this current government.
Oh and remember this. If WorkChoice was so fab, why didn't the government announce its intentions before the 2004 election? Gee, I wonder why that could be. Probably why a large chunk of the two BILLION dollars spent on govie ads in the past decade went to changing our minds.
"I don't see that unions are more important than the RSL or the Country Women's Association or the local football club for that matter."
Oh how I remember the bitter wars at the turn of the 20th century over the 8 hour day fought by the CWA, up to their knees in mud as they charged the pickets. And how about in 1998 when all those footy club people were illegally sacked with government fucking support until a court had to reinstate them. Oh - and lets not forget the RSL's sterling work at enterprise bargaining in the early 90's which put the Oz economy on such a strong footing it enabled a pack of moronic fuckwits to take credit for it in the manner a glazier would take credit for by fitting in a window and suggesting therefore the entire house that had been constructed was likewise their doing.
Left: The CWA prepares itself for another charge.Yes Tony. Those damn unions. If only they could stick to having fetes where members bring a fucking plate.
Please people. Please. Tonester and his crew took away rights from Australians to effectively organise. They made it so those entering the workplace have greatly reduced protection and effectively lost income. They have helped create an economy where to buy the average home a family needs a combined income of over $100,000 in order to afford repayments (and proudly took credit for the doubling of house values in the past 10 years like the gibbering distended rectal tissue they are).
Do you know why Union membership dropped? Because they were too successful. Their efforts were largely unseen by members at the negotiation level and non members got the same benefit. Unless people believed in standing together, or felt in need of assistance, they didn't join a union. That's why I joined - I was scared of impending work crap and wanted cheap legal assist. I remained because I realized that being a union member was a symbol of what I stood for.
Unions exist because unions need to exist. The most successful western countries in the world are heavily unionised. Unions protect people and protect workers. And the system was working very well right up until ... you guessed it. WorkChoices.
So if you want a harmonious workplace where the balance between workers and bosses is fair then consider your choice very, very carefully. And remember how few choices you were left with and will be left with as a result of this current government.
Oh and remember this. If WorkChoice was so fab, why didn't the government announce its intentions before the 2004 election? Gee, I wonder why that could be. Probably why a large chunk of the two BILLION dollars spent on govie ads in the past decade went to changing our minds.
Ah History
Howard et al (with the loving assist of Geoffrey "Blackarm band" Blainey and Australia's favourite former Chief of Staff to John Howard "Dr" Gerard Henderson) has been wanking most furiously of late about the evil leftists polluting our schools. Hence the forcing kids to study history and their dodgy list of 70 milestones and 100 odd people (apparently the Eureka Stockade didn't get a mention - that right? Yes it seems so).
Anyway, History is great fun. I love it. Which is why I spent so much time studying it, ancient, medieval (to better background D&D games), and modern. It's probably why I hate Howard so much because of all that 'those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it' stuff except we're in the same boat with him.
Anyhoo, one of the other things apparently missing was Howard's all time favourite man ever, Menzies (well known appreciator of fine German dictators right up until the actual fucking war starting which Downer never mentions in his plummy whining about Curtin), trying to ban an entire political party. To whit the communist party. Of course Pig Iron bob, so called because of all the scrap metal he sold to the Imperial Japanese up to 12 months before it returned in our direction in a slightly more lethal form, did so in order to win elections and probably the whole campaign was really around encouraging the forgotten people to freak the fuck out and come his way.
Here's a good take on it from here (it's a lefty site so be warned).
Reprinted in full. History is fun! Actually come to think of it that "doomed to repeat it" might not actually be all doomy. I mean if it worked once before right ... ?
Anyway, History is great fun. I love it. Which is why I spent so much time studying it, ancient, medieval (to better background D&D games), and modern. It's probably why I hate Howard so much because of all that 'those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it' stuff except we're in the same boat with him.
Anyhoo, one of the other things apparently missing was Howard's all time favourite man ever, Menzies (well known appreciator of fine German dictators right up until the actual fucking war starting which Downer never mentions in his plummy whining about Curtin), trying to ban an entire political party. To whit the communist party. Of course Pig Iron bob, so called because of all the scrap metal he sold to the Imperial Japanese up to 12 months before it returned in our direction in a slightly more lethal form, did so in order to win elections and probably the whole campaign was really around encouraging the forgotten people to freak the fuck out and come his way.
Here's a good take on it from here (it's a lefty site so be warned).
Reprinted in full. History is fun! Actually come to think of it that "doomed to repeat it" might not actually be all doomy. I mean if it worked once before right ... ?
Author: Jim Henderson
Publisher/Date: The Guardian, No. 831, 18th September, 1996. pp 6-7
Title: Democracy win a world first victory
Original location: http://www.agitprop.org.au/lefthistory/199609_henderson_menzies_referendum.htm
Digital transcription by agitprop_mainman_2003
Many dates are celebrated in Australia but what is without doubt the most important — September 22, 1951 — is never celebrated. And yet, on that day, the people of Australia made a decision that must go down in history as unprecedented world wide. On that day a referendum was held to decide whether the Communist Party should be completely banned and anyone advocating communist theories declared a criminal and gaoled.
Never before or since has such a referendum been held in a capitalist country.
The people of Australia were asked to vote on the following question: “Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled Constitution Alteration (Powers to deal with communists and communism) 1951?”
It was a time of world-wide slandering of and attacks on the communist movement. In Western Europe, where post-war communist prestige was very high, terrorism, scaremongering and vote-buying under the Marshall Plan were being used to undermine and “roll back” the communists.
Rabid anti-communism knew no bounds. Hanz Holz, in The Downfall and Future of Socialism (page 25), records that “Father Grandlach, counsellor to Pope Paul XII, proclaimed from the pulpit in the ’fifties that it would be better for humanity to die in an atomic war than for their souls to be consigned to the godlessness of communism.”
In the USA, the government was waging — with considerable if temporary success — a vicious, unprecedented campaign of intimidation against communists, militants and progressives to smash not only the American Communist Party but the militant union and civil rights movements.
In Asia, the imperialist powers, Britain, France, the USA — and Australia — were fighting brutal wars against the communists in Malaya, Korea, Borneo, Indo China and the Philippines.
Anxious to exploit its nuclear advantage, imperialism was preparing for a new world war — against the USSR and the recently victorious Chinese communists.
Statements by Charles E Wilson, appointed by US President Truman in November 1950 as Director of Mobilisation, showed that imperialism had set itself a three-year timetable to the start of that new world war.
Early in 1951, a conference of British Commonwealth Prime Ministers was told to begin similar programs of mobilisation and war preparation. Australia’s new Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, returned from the conference and told a meeting of State Premiers that “Australia must be ready for war within three years — and not one day more”. He announced a £500 million re-armament program.
Menzies was extremely reactionary. Before the War he had displayed strong empathy with the policies of Hitler. After returning from a visit to Germany in 1938, the year of Munich, Menzies stated that he thought it was “a great thing” for Germany to have arms. He was notorious for supporting the pre-war sale of pig iron to Japan to aid its war industries.
His overriding concern for the class interests of big business had been made clear as early as May 3, 1931, in the midst of the Depression, when he said from the pulpit of the Wesley Church, Londsdale, Melbourne: “Rather than Australia should fail to pay her honest debts to her bondholders I would prefer to see every man, woman and child in Australia die of starvation in the next six months”. 1
Even before Menzies’ election victory, the post-war Australian Labor government had itself actively attacked the communists. (It must be remembered that the Australian Communist Party, by the end of WW2, was an influential organisation with over 20,000 members.)
Labor Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, used the 1949 miners’ strike to provoke a “showdown”. Labor (as well as the Liberals) characterised the miners’ strike as a “red plot”.
No matter that the strike decision had been carried by a miners’ vote of 7,995 to 822, Chifley said: “The reds have to be taught a lesson.”
Supported by Menzies, the Labor government introduced a Coal Emergency Bill which provided for the jailing of union officials who gave any financial assistance to the strike.
Union officials were gaoled for up to 12 months for refusing to disclose where they had lodged their union funds for security reasons, as the Coal Emergency Bill gave the government authority to demand this money. Huge fines were imposed on unions but they stood firm.
The right wing launched an all out attack on the communists in the unions, opposing anything that was in the least progressive.
These attacks were led by a shadowy Catholic organisation which called itself “the Movement”, backed up by the thugs of the equally shadowy “Catholic Action” organisation. The Catholic church, it must be said, played a major part in influencing Catholic workers against the communists.
“The Movement” became well entrenched in the labour movement, working through the so-called Industrial Groups, which it set up in both the ALP and the unions.
The ALP leadership and right-wing union leaders did a great deal to support the reactionary Groupers in carrying out their anti-communist and anti-working class activities, swinging many non-Catholic workers against the communists.
The Groupers attacked and smashed union meetings as well as communist public meetings and were at one with the policies of Menzies and the right-wing leaders of the Labor Party.
There was a growing concern in the unions and the Labor Party at a fascist trend within their ranks.
In the elections of 1949, the Liberals under Menzies were elected with majorities in both Houses.
Menzies had made no secret of his intentions regarding the Communist Party, nor was it forgotten that the previous period of “illegality” for the Party (1940-1942) had also been initiated by Menzies.
So with his election the Party immediately put in place the preparations it had made for underground organisation. They worked well.
It had been decided that all members of the Central Committee Executive, except the General Secretary JB Miles, would go underground, with secret homes. JB would keep the open organisation functioning, while remaining in contact with the other Executive members.
Both openly and secretly the Party continued to function.
On April 27, 1950, the government brought on the Communist Party Dissolution Bill.
Considering the image Menzies cultivated in later years of the stalwart upholder of British parliamentary traditions, the Communist Party Dissolution Bill was brazenly anti-democratic: “The Communist Party shall be outlawed and its property seized without trial and without proof that it has committed any offence.”
Menzies boasted in parliament: “Under this measure the [Communist] Party is being disposed of with no right of appeal and no humbug.” But it was immediately evident that the Bill’s definition of communist was so deliberately broad that democrats of every progressive kind would fall within its ambit.
Not only would the Communist Party be declared unlawful under the Bill, but so would any organisation affiliated to it, any organisation with a majority of Communist Party members on its committee of management, and any organisation which at any time after May 1948, “had supported or advocated the objectives or policies or principles or teachings or practices of Communism”.
The government was given the power to declare anyone a communist without the necessity of proof. Once “declared”, a person was barred from ever holding any position in a trade union.
They were similarly barred from ever working for the Federal public service in any capacity. (This last provision was also introduced in West Germany under Adenhauer and is still in force there.) It was a state-run blacklist.
A person could be “declared” if they carried on “in the direct or indirect interests of an unlawful association [i.e. the Communist Party], any activity which the unlawful association was engaged in or could have engaged in.”
A jail term of up to five years was provided for such offences.
Opponents of the Bill pointed out that teaching the Marxist theory of value contravened it, that advocating equal pay contravened it, that collecting signatures against the Atom bomb contravened it.
Labor leader Chifley said the Bill “opened the door for liars, perjurors and pimps”.
The Labor Party, however, did not object to the Bill’s aims, but only to the broadness of its provisions. In Parliament, Senator McKenna for the Labor Party said: “The net cast by this definition [of ‘Communist'] is exceedingly wide.”
To which the Attorney-General, Senator Spicer, replied: “The Government has to have a definition that is wide enough to catch the people whom it is after.”
This cynical answer apparently satisfied the Labor Party, for they moved no amendment to the definition.
The Labor Party did move an amendment giving organisations other than the Communist Party the right of appeal and to trial by jury. Another Labor Party amendment would have required that, before communists and militants were removed from union positions or Commonwealth government employ, the government “prove” its charges against them.
In essence, the Labor Party’s amendments sought to give this basically fascist piece of legislation an aura of democracy. The Parliamentary Labor Party accepted the main outlines of the Bill, quarrelling only with those aspects that threatened to hinder the ALP’s own activities.
None of the Labor Party amendments was acceptable to the government, however. Menzies’ refusal to accept any of the Labor Party amendments was a clear signal that his target was not only the Communist Party. All who advocated peace, democracy or social progress were in his sights.
Church leaders of various denominations condemned the Bill but the Catholic extremists were delighted and stepped up their vicious anti-communist activities.
The capitalist press was wholeheartedly in support and the savagery of their attacks coupled with those of the Liberals and the Groupers was almost beyond belief.
Some rank and file Labor Party members were beginning to take a stand against the Bill and were coming over to work with those campaigning against it.
However, after much discussion, including consultation with both Chifley and H V Evatt, the Labor Party’s Federal Advisory Committee came out in support of the Bill.
The Communist Party began a most vigorous campaign and were joined by the increasingly active Australian Peace Council where religious leaders played a prominent part.
The Communists held meetings all over Australia and distributed thousands of posters and well over a million leaflets.
However with the support of the Labor Party the Bill became law on October 20, 1950.
The Communist Party and major unions appealed to the High Court against the legality of the Bill.
A dramatic turn took place when Evatt, who had previously supported the Bill, now agreed to represent the Waterside Workers’ Federation in the High Court.
Evatt’s action caused consternation in right-wing Labor circles and pleasant surprise in all progressive circles.
The High Court on March 9, 1951, decided by a majority of six to one that the Communist Party Dissolution Bill was unconstitutional.
The Menzies government immediately decided on a double dissolution of Parliament and at the subsequent election won majorities in both Houses.
They then decided to hold a referendum of the people on September 22 that year to seek the power to change the Constitution in order to destroy the Communist Party and all who in any way fought for genuine democracy.
If approved, the Referendum would give the Menzies government far greater powers than the Communist Party Dissolution Act the High Court had struck down.
In the event of any other legislation, such as the draconian Defence Preparations Act, being challenged and invalidated by the High Court, the government could simply invoke the “necessary or expedient” clause of the Referendum proposal to push through similar legislation, by-passing the High Court and effectively nullifying the Constitution. Menzies was still pursuing a policy of war preparations. “In every speech he made Menzies confirmed this view. He constantly declared that the suppression of the Communist Party and the placing of the trade unions in a straight jacket was essential in the interests of ‘defence’...” 2
Evatt, now the leader of the ALP, played a most important part in the campaign to defeat the referendum, together with other Labor leaders Arthur Calwell and Eddie Ward. Evatt especially was responsible in large measure for winning Labor Party members and voters to oppose Menzies by voting “No”.
In Federal Parliament Evatt attacked Menzies and the Referendum Bill: “Mr Menzies had said quite openly that his purpose was to ‘destroy Labor’s political power’. Under the Bill he might have trade unions or Labor Parties declared illegal organisations on the grounds that they had socialist objectives.
“Passing of the Referendum would give any government dragnet powers to create its own system of special tribunals or to have none. It could be authorised to order every Communist or Socialist found within Australia to be put to death without trial.”
Not all Labor Party leaders supported the “No” campaign, however. A group of ALP MPs led by Keon and Mullens advocated a “Yes” vote.
A real unity of action developed among all who supported a “No” vote.
The Communist Party played a magnificent role in the campaign. Never before or since has such a campaign been seen in Australia. Millions of leaflets were distributed and posters adorned the walls in practically every city and town.
Countless public meetings were held, many being fiercely attacked, but the Communists stood up firmly against this opposition.
“The Communist Party played a decisive part in the Referendum. In the greatest mobilisation of forces and the biggest and best campaign ever waged, the Communist Party drew thousands of working people who stood for freedom into action and stimulated the Labor Party rank and file and the trade unions to mass activity.” (R Dixon, op cit)
The “Yes” campaign was based squarely on hate and distortion. Countless radio ads were run, each beginning with a stern male voice proclaiming: “I hate commos!”
In Parliament, the Attorney-General, Senator Spicer, when moving the second reading of the Referendum Bill, had invoked the “Soviet threat” while pushing every democratic button he could squeeze in to the one speech: “The Communist Party is not a political party in the sense in which that term is normally understood in a democratic community.
“For it, majority rule is irrelevant. It does not expect to become a large political organisation with hundreds of thousands of members supporting its policy throughout the land.
“Its true object is to obtain power by undermining and destroying our Constitution and our democratic institutions, and to do so in the interests of a foreign power engaged in vast imperialistic expansion.”
It was noted before long that the supporters of the “No” campaign were growing, cutting down the lead of 80 percent that the “Yes” vote had at the beginning of the campaign. Menzies changed his tactics in the later stages of the campaign, proclaiming that the powers he sought were aimed only at the Communists and would not affect the liberties of other sections of the people.
At last came the momentous day, September 22, 1951.
The referendum, to be carried, had to have a majority for “Yes” among voters Australia-wide and also had to have at least four out of six states voting in favour.
The result was a majority for “No” nation-wide of 52, 082 and three states out of the six also gave a majority for “No”. The states were NSW Victoria and South Australia.
Democracy had won a great victory! Some of the participants, however, reverted to looking after their own interests almost immediately. Evatt, McKenna and some other Labor Party leaders, as well as certain religious leaders, advised the government to use the Crimes Act (with its significantly narrower focus) against the Communist Party.
Nevertheless, R Dixon in assessing the Referendum outcome in the Communist Review, 3 could truthfully say: “Of the many Referendums that have been held since Federation in 1900, including the conscription referendums of 1916-17, the Referendum just concluded, with its threat of fascism and war, was the most important.”
What is the lesson to be learned from this wonderful victory? The lesson is indeed a most important one.
The forces for progress — and that includes in the first place the working class — must be united.
In this campaign the unity of the Communists and the ALP members who took a very progressive role was the determining factor in the successful outcome.
“We saw the beginnings of a united front between members of the Labor Party and members of the Communist Party. This was basic to the victory”, wrote Dixon. 4
“It was this unity and the fact that the trade union movement swung solidly for a ‘No’ vote that were the determining factors in securing a majority vote for ‘No’.
“The three most industrialised States, i.e. where the largest groups of workers are — New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia — all registered solid majorities for ‘No’ and decided the fate of the Referendum.”
It showed too, that when the working class is united it attracts other sections of the population who are not firmly attached to reaction. “Thousands of farmers and middle class people who, five months before at the General Election voted for Liberal or Country Party candidates, joined the workers in voting ‘No’”, observed Dixon.
Today, the Liberal Party, the party of Menzies, is pursuing the same reactionary policies as it did at the height of Menzies’ attacks on the working people.
This is clearly shown in the attacks on wages, health, education, jobs, the ABC, and the slavish binding of Australia to the war schemes of the US imperialists.
Only a united working class, led by a Communist Party with the broad support of other progressive social forces, can defeat these attacks on the living standards of the Australian people just as they did on that memorable occasion in 1951.
Notes
1. quoted in My Years In the Communist Party by R Gibson, page 9.
2. R. Dixon, Communist Review, November 1951.
4. Dixon, op cit.Lost
Today I got lost twice. Once was on the way to Technos (took the wrong turn off from the shops). The other was in a car park.
Yep, a car park. The exits were not clearly marked. And I ended up down one end where construction was still taking place. One barrier had been removed but when I went down the ramp some construction dude in a car who had blocked off the road waved me back up. I fully spent 10 minutes driving around trying to find another exit, gave up, parked, and walked down to the workers to ask where the fuck I could get out. They gave be vague directions and eventually I saw a smallish sign that was basically the equiv of a polite cough and managed to get out.
This level of assistance signage wise reminded me of hitch-hikers.
Yep, a car park. The exits were not clearly marked. And I ended up down one end where construction was still taking place. One barrier had been removed but when I went down the ramp some construction dude in a car who had blocked off the road waved me back up. I fully spent 10 minutes driving around trying to find another exit, gave up, parked, and walked down to the workers to ask where the fuck I could get out. They gave be vague directions and eventually I saw a smallish sign that was basically the equiv of a polite cough and managed to get out.
This level of assistance signage wise reminded me of hitch-hikers.
Car park bastards. I starting screaming at one point.It hadn't properly registered with Arthur that the council wanted to knock down his house and build an bypass instead. Mr Prosser said: "You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time you know."
"Appropriate time?" hooted Arthur. "Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked him if he'd come to clean the windows and he said no he'd come to demolish the house. He didn't tell me straight away of course. Oh no. First he wiped a couple of windows and charged me a fiver. Then he told me."
"But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months."
"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anybody or anything."
"But the plans were on display ..."
"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the display department."
"With a torch."
"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"
"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard."
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Don't matter
I hate feeling insignificant and small. I hate thinking I am a bigger part of something than I am. I loathe the reality that it's clearly not the case when you put yourself out there and said reality lands with a large thump. And I wish that blue pill thing from Matrix was real. How awesome would it be to have someone offer you a pill that would allow you to forget something completely?
Sure the key life lessons are usually painful and you'd probably make exactly the same mistake again and again. But at least the pain would go away. And when you fuck up again, another pill makes it all vanish once more.
Oh speaking of pills last night I saw Howard wanking on about party drugs and recreational drugs were all bad and really they should be prefaced with the word evil or something. I find it ironic that someone who was a near alcoholic in the 80's, whose drug of choice leads people to say things they shouldn't and get into fights, and after tobacco causes the most deaths in this country out of drugs, is lecturing others on their chosen drug like eccies which makes you dance lots and hug people. But then he is a complete fuckwit so what do I care.
Anyway, I feel like a turd in a pair of swimming goggles. Blue pill anyone?
Sure the key life lessons are usually painful and you'd probably make exactly the same mistake again and again. But at least the pain would go away. And when you fuck up again, another pill makes it all vanish once more.
Oh speaking of pills last night I saw Howard wanking on about party drugs and recreational drugs were all bad and really they should be prefaced with the word evil or something. I find it ironic that someone who was a near alcoholic in the 80's, whose drug of choice leads people to say things they shouldn't and get into fights, and after tobacco causes the most deaths in this country out of drugs, is lecturing others on their chosen drug like eccies which makes you dance lots and hug people. But then he is a complete fuckwit so what do I care.
Anyway, I feel like a turd in a pair of swimming goggles. Blue pill anyone?
Ah Mr Howard, a man of many faces
And not in the good "Ahhhhhh GENE!" from Arrested Development kind of way.
The Chaser lads song'o'humorous about Ozzers over praising people in death who in life were terribly human (like the rest of us) irked our delish front runners. Ruddy was a bit cross but Uncle Mainstream values clearly stuck up for said Mainstream values judging from the SMH article.
Indeed. The fuckers.
Anyway, it got me to remembering other risque entertainers on the Oz spectrum, specifically convicted criminal Alan Jones and his Cronulla spiels. Thanks to Grods we can enjoy them once more.
Yep. Man of many faces.
It should be noted Ruddy disappointed many of us when he refused to rule out appearing on Jones' show.
The Chaser lads song'o'humorous about Ozzers over praising people in death who in life were terribly human (like the rest of us) irked our delish front runners. Ruddy was a bit cross but Uncle Mainstream values clearly stuck up for said Mainstream values judging from the SMH article.
Mr Howard said the song was "distasteful stuff", and that such remarks about people like Steve Irwin and Sir Donald Bradman were "despicable".
"Why don't they stick to decent dirt-free humour?" Mr Howard said.
See here.Indeed. The fuckers.
Anyway, it got me to remembering other risque entertainers on the Oz spectrum, specifically convicted criminal Alan Jones and his Cronulla spiels. Thanks to Grods we can enjoy them once more.
Caller: Alan, um, just saw some snippets from the news, Channel 9, of the horrendous bashing…
Alan Jones: …appalling
Caller: …or if you like, gang attack on the beach in Cronulla yesterday. I mean what type of grubs do we have in this … (indistinct)
Alan Jones: What kind of grubs? Well, I’ll tell you what kind of grubs this lot were. This lot were Middle-Eastern grubs.
Caller: There we go.
Alan Jones: And, you’re not allowed to say it, but I’m saying it…_____
Caller: If the police can’t do the job, the next tier is us.
Alan Jones: Yeah, good on you, J…
Caller: Now, my grandfather was an old digger and he used to say to me when we were growing up, ‘Listen, shoot one, the rest will run’.
Alan Jones: [laughing]
Caller: Right?
Alan Jones: …yes [laughing]_____
Alan Jones: ‘J’ has a good answer, he says police and the council are impotent here all rhetoric and no action. My suggestion is to invite the biker gangs to be present at Cronulla Railway station when these Lebanese thugs arrive, the biker gangs have been much maligned but they do a lot of good things – it would be worth the price of admission to watch these cowards scurry back onto the train for the return trip to their lairs…and wouldn’t it be brilliant if the whole event was captured on TV cameras and featured on the evening news so that we, their parents, family and friends can see who these bastards are…Australians old and new should not have to put up with this scum. Peters of Kensington…
_____
Alan Jones: Yeah, let’s not get too carried away ‘B’, we don’t have Anglo-Saxon kids out there raping women in Western Sydney. So let’s not get carried away with all this mealy-mouthed talk about there being two sides. I can tell you, because my correspondence here from mums and dads I am inundated, and I don’t hear people complaining about Catholics and Protestants and Anglicans, I’m sorry, but there’s this religious element in all of this and we’ve got to make sure that we welcome people into our community but we welcome them in on certain terms and certain standards and those standards are not being met. So let’s not have this mealy mouth talk about oh well, everyone’s to blame. All across Sydney there is a universal concern that there are gangs, the gangs are of one ethnic composition…
(source — PDF)
And as Grods neatly pointed out this was the PM's reaction.
Yep. Man of many faces.
It should be noted Ruddy disappointed many of us when he refused to rule out appearing on Jones' show.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Draft Tony Martin to JJJ
Come on Tone. You used to be on the ABC all those years ago. And you rock. JJJ I demand you make room for Tony Martin.Tony Martin to JJJ!
BTW if you have not seen Bad Eggs or read lolly scramble do so now. You will not be disappointed.
Ah Liberals - your strict adherence to your Crosby Textor memo is most excellent
Ah the Liberals. They've been banging on about the political arm of the Labour movement, the Labor party, being full of ex unionists. Why? Because unionists are evil apparently. Joining an organisation that is designed to assist workers collectively bargain for rights and salary is akin to raping a horse or something.
See here
Look ... evil personified.
Alas Ruddy has committed himself to a positive campaign whilst running attack ads that are essentially him tut-tutting at the Liberal negative attack ads. Which without a hint of irony Howard declares are merely facts. It goes like this. 'You used to be a union official. Therefore you are now anti-business. QED'.
Yes, I know Howard uses facts along truthiness lines than actual reality, but well is old now so leave him be.
Anyway ALP, if you get sick of the crap, feel free to use this mock up.
See here
Look ... evil personified.
Alas Ruddy has committed himself to a positive campaign whilst running attack ads that are essentially him tut-tutting at the Liberal negative attack ads. Which without a hint of irony Howard declares are merely facts. It goes like this. 'You used to be a union official. Therefore you are now anti-business. QED'.
Yes, I know Howard uses facts along truthiness lines than actual reality, but well is old now so leave him be.
Anyway ALP, if you get sick of the crap, feel free to use this mock up.
Wha' Happened?*
Check out the latest webby goodness from Liberal land. "Go for Growth", because as the SMH noted 'what, otherwise it'd be going for recession?'. Featuring the best pals John and Peter gazing, dare I say lovingly like a modern day Sandra Dee and whoever the fuck John Travolta played when he wasn't all scientologied.
"Er ah er ah Summer er Loving er Peter, happened so er fast."
"Er yes um er John, I had me a blast"
But ... just a few months ago there was that awesome banner they had that demanded mainstream values. You know the one where Dear Leader was on the shoreline wearing a Drizzabone presumably watching the horizon for invading nignogs.
Don't tell me they had to give the dog whistle the heave ho? Bet that was legohead's fault. Poor old Crosby Textor. I bet Crosby was especially sad he couldn't recycle this number from the last Tory election he was paid a million dollars to lose.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking fuckwads?
*Wha' happened courtesy of A Mighty Wind
"Er ah er ah Summer er Loving er Peter, happened so er fast."
"Er yes um er John, I had me a blast"
But ... just a few months ago there was that awesome banner they had that demanded mainstream values. You know the one where Dear Leader was on the shoreline wearing a Drizzabone presumably watching the horizon for invading nignogs.
Don't tell me they had to give the dog whistle the heave ho? Bet that was legohead's fault. Poor old Crosby Textor. I bet Crosby was especially sad he couldn't recycle this number from the last Tory election he was paid a million dollars to lose.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking fuckwads?
*Wha' happened courtesy of A Mighty Wind
Fucking Channel 10
Channel 10 are the worst abusers of the 'regulate yourself' advertising system. They consistently cut or shave seconds off the ends of scenes presumably to fit in another turgid neighbours/idol promo, and now they're running fucking ads along the bottom of the screen as fucking pop ups like on a computer that take up 1/3 the screen.
Grrr
I am three chapters from the end of Deathly Hallows and I left the fucker at work.
Shame about (insert various minor characters that have bought it so far). I really liked her/him/them.
Shame about (insert various minor characters that have bought it so far). I really liked her/him/them.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Guilty music pleasures
They're not going to win any awards for writing, but fuck me I love the Vengaboys.
Venga Boys goodness at You Tube
Come on. Everyone's got schlock music they secretly like. Don't be shy!
Apparently the cowboy ended up as a flight attendant on Dutch airlines. Go figure.
Venga Boys goodness at You Tube
Come on. Everyone's got schlock music they secretly like. Don't be shy!
Apparently the cowboy ended up as a flight attendant on Dutch airlines. Go figure.
Come on legohead
Apparently the man who saved Douglas Woods has failed to get a visa to Oz despite several attempts, and despite the fact that by saving an Australian citizen he marked himself and his family for death by various fundy whackjobs.
See here.
According to the ABC story "For his efforts, Colonel Mohammad Rauf Hik al-Samarie has had a $2 million price put on his head, and has survived 11 car bombs, and 65 ambushes."
Oh dear. If only he had some skills we could use in our booming economy? I mean we take 13k refugees a year but something like 120k skilled migrants a year. Surely his learning to operate heavy machinery is not too much to ask for his next visa application?
The yanks and the Brits, and us, are all going to face big issues when we pull out. How exactly are we going to provide for the Iraqis that worked for the alliance at the risk to themselves and their families. It be nice to think they'd be welcome to come to our countries given their service and the uncertainty of their fate.
But given recent govie policy I seriously doubt it.
See here.
According to the ABC story "For his efforts, Colonel Mohammad Rauf Hik al-Samarie has had a $2 million price put on his head, and has survived 11 car bombs, and 65 ambushes."
Oh dear. If only he had some skills we could use in our booming economy? I mean we take 13k refugees a year but something like 120k skilled migrants a year. Surely his learning to operate heavy machinery is not too much to ask for his next visa application?
The yanks and the Brits, and us, are all going to face big issues when we pull out. How exactly are we going to provide for the Iraqis that worked for the alliance at the risk to themselves and their families. It be nice to think they'd be welcome to come to our countries given their service and the uncertainty of their fate.
But given recent govie policy I seriously doubt it.
Hendo's weekly stroke
He's having a go at the birds now - see here.
Hendo's latest elderly wheeze is to complain about how lefties welcome religos when they talk about social welfare issues but don't when religos talk about fertility and genetics issues. According to Hendo if you like what they say about X, then you simply must like what they have to say about Y.
WTF? Is this man on crazy pills? Seriously. That's his column?
Holy crap he's losing it. Maybe it's the potential loss of relevance that he's facing?
BTW I think people are especially annoyed at George Pell when he opens his festering gob because apart from the occasional well received "it would be nice if people had time off work to go to church" the rest of the crap he spews out is anti feminist dribble about 'no pill for you and stop having abortions.'
Hey when Pell gets measured for his dress, do they ask if he hangs to the left or right?
Hendo's latest elderly wheeze is to complain about how lefties welcome religos when they talk about social welfare issues but don't when religos talk about fertility and genetics issues. According to Hendo if you like what they say about X, then you simply must like what they have to say about Y.
WTF? Is this man on crazy pills? Seriously. That's his column?
Holy crap he's losing it. Maybe it's the potential loss of relevance that he's facing?
BTW I think people are especially annoyed at George Pell when he opens his festering gob because apart from the occasional well received "it would be nice if people had time off work to go to church" the rest of the crap he spews out is anti feminist dribble about 'no pill for you and stop having abortions.'
Hey when Pell gets measured for his dress, do they ask if he hangs to the left or right?
Kewl...
Today was a first for me. I got a post feed cuddle and he smiled and laughed at me with barely any prompting. It was way kewl.
From today's Crikey - when ex dipos get mad at seeing years of work undone
3. Woolcott: 'Appeals to latent racism ... a cancer'
Barry Everingham writes:
Richard Woolcott will tonight launch an attack on the Howard government when his latest book is launched in Melbourne by former premier Steve Bracks. He says the decision to join the invasion of Iraq was the worst foreign policy decision made by any Australian government since the end of World War II.
"We are only really pillion riders (but) the tragic outcomes including numerous civilian casualties and the destruction of Iraq's infrastructure has greatly increased terrorist activities."
"And the growth of Iranian influence and the international erosion of the prestige of the American Presidency are no laughing matters", he said.
Woolcott, a former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ambassador to the UN and Australia's last representative on the Security Council, has advised all prime ministers since Robert Menzies.
Bracks will launch his latest book Undiplomatic Activities, a collection of witty reminiscences outlining some of the absurdities in the world of diplomacy. But the last chapter is reserved for his criticism of the Howard government and he doesn't pull any punches. He says truth and honesty in government have been eroded by a growing army of spin doctors whose task it is to justify political decisions, however misguided they might be.
"Attempts to exploit latent racism and religious intolerance in sections of the community in order to gain domestic support remain a persistent cancer afflicting our political culture", he said.
He says he had hoped that the four fundamental issues that had faced Australia for decades would be resolved or clearly on the road to resolution by the end of the twentieth century.
"Sadly they were not", he said.
He points out the four issues, or objectives as being:
- The achievement of genuine reconciliation between immigrant Australians and indigenous people they dispossessed.
- The successful consolidation of a fair, tolerant, multi-ethnic Australian democracy.
- The creation of a proud, distinctly Australian republic that had severed anachronistic ties with the English monarchy.
- The full emergence of an Australia comfortably and constructively engaged with - and accepted as a partner by - the countries of our region.
Woolcott said the perception was quite widespread in our neighbourhood that the Australian government was, despite rhetoric to the contrary, more comfortable with the Anglosphere than with a more comprehensive engagement with Asia. Describing himself as an "optimist" Woolcott says he believes that Australia will achieve the goals relatively early in this century.
"But we need to keep them in focus - it is for a new generation of forward-looking men and women to carry the torch in the true Australian national interest," Woolcott said.
One of the more humouress anecdotes in the book concerns a onetime Australian high commissioner to South Africa at a formal reception for the prince of the Netherlands. Our diplomat, a crusty and wounded survivor of wartime combat, found himself displaced in the queue to shake the royal hand by his Swedish colleague who was wearing full regalia.
Disturbed by the ordinariness of his grey flannel suit and fuelled by a few pre-reception drinks, he lunged at the Swede's dangling scabbard demanding:
"What did you get this sword for, defending your bloody neutrality?"
Confession
Last election I got so sad at the result I got maggotted by about 730pm. I can vaguely remember being dropped off home by friends. Apparently at one point I started gesticulating Il Duce style from our split level balcony and theWife was allegedly forced to slap me. I ended up in the spare bed and can remember noisily vomiting into the bin. I can also remember walking outside, a bag of hot sick in my hand, then staggering to the wheelie bin to get rid of it. While I was starkers.
And I can remember how the security lights came on and lit me up like a pallid man whale.
Ah memories.
This election due to various factors I cannot drink. So you better win Ruddy!
And I can remember how the security lights came on and lit me up like a pallid man whale.
Ah memories.
This election due to various factors I cannot drink. So you better win Ruddy!
Oh Cossie
It's said Cossie modeled his parliamentary style on Keating. Makes sense. They were both at the same 'how to' labor run political camp in the 70's together.
Alas Costello is no Keating. And when here's fired up with bluster pills he tends to sound a tad silly. Which is a shame because he's one of the Coalition people I actually don't mind - the other being Turnbull. Both alas are forced to do silly things because of the big boss.
Take the tax cuts. Costello has had months of assistance from public servants and used the figures just released to drive the economic modelling for his tax cuts. Fair enough, he is the treasurer. Costello also likes to present himself as a calm hand on the tiller.
But with a handful of bluster pills he went a bit stupid today. Calling out Labor to release its plan now, now, now. See here.
Federal Labor must release its tax policy today, Treasurer Peter Costello says.
Prime Minister John Howard and Mr Costello yesterday kicked off the election campaign by unveiling a $34 billion tax cut proposal.
Under the plan, average income earners would get a $20 a week cut from next July, rising to $35 by July 2010.
The top tax rate would also be cut from 45 cents to 40 within five years if the Government is re-elected.
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has maintained Labor's tax policy will be released later in the election campaign.
But Mr Costello challenged Labor to release its response today.
"I want to hear Labor say something about tax," Mr Costello told ABC Radio.
"The biggest, boldest tax plan that we've seen in a long time is presented yesterday, it deals with participation, competitiveness, building capacity in the Australian economy, and what does Kevin Rudd say? Nothing.
"He better have an answer today."
Of course it plays well in the media for now. And it would have been awesome in the house, esp with a bunch of patrician "haw haws" from the fucktards the chortle behind him. But really, hardly sensible. Because the ALP are really going to be able to process reams of fucking data within 24 hours are they given Costello changes the figures that will be used once more.
We shouldn't be surprised. When the government got the senate it prided itself of giving fuck all time to review legislation. It took away the ability of the senate committees to fine tune and offer amendments. It's all been 'my way or the highway' etc.
So, sounds good for now. But to bleat about 'come on ALP' makes him look like a twat.
Which is good for me, since I hate his government. But bad for Costello given he has revaginaized his political style.
PS Oh Swannie. Yes it's hilarious that Howard made a goose of himself on interest rates when Cossie pulled it so very very hard about Rudd getting a tax rate wrong, but come on, let it slide. You look churlish to take advantage of it.
Alas Costello is no Keating. And when here's fired up with bluster pills he tends to sound a tad silly. Which is a shame because he's one of the Coalition people I actually don't mind - the other being Turnbull. Both alas are forced to do silly things because of the big boss.
Take the tax cuts. Costello has had months of assistance from public servants and used the figures just released to drive the economic modelling for his tax cuts. Fair enough, he is the treasurer. Costello also likes to present himself as a calm hand on the tiller.
But with a handful of bluster pills he went a bit stupid today. Calling out Labor to release its plan now, now, now. See here.
Federal Labor must release its tax policy today, Treasurer Peter Costello says.
Prime Minister John Howard and Mr Costello yesterday kicked off the election campaign by unveiling a $34 billion tax cut proposal.
Under the plan, average income earners would get a $20 a week cut from next July, rising to $35 by July 2010.
The top tax rate would also be cut from 45 cents to 40 within five years if the Government is re-elected.
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has maintained Labor's tax policy will be released later in the election campaign.
But Mr Costello challenged Labor to release its response today.
"I want to hear Labor say something about tax," Mr Costello told ABC Radio.
"The biggest, boldest tax plan that we've seen in a long time is presented yesterday, it deals with participation, competitiveness, building capacity in the Australian economy, and what does Kevin Rudd say? Nothing.
"He better have an answer today."
Of course it plays well in the media for now. And it would have been awesome in the house, esp with a bunch of patrician "haw haws" from the fucktards the chortle behind him. But really, hardly sensible. Because the ALP are really going to be able to process reams of fucking data within 24 hours are they given Costello changes the figures that will be used once more.
We shouldn't be surprised. When the government got the senate it prided itself of giving fuck all time to review legislation. It took away the ability of the senate committees to fine tune and offer amendments. It's all been 'my way or the highway' etc.
So, sounds good for now. But to bleat about 'come on ALP' makes him look like a twat.
Which is good for me, since I hate his government. But bad for Costello given he has revaginaized his political style.
PS Oh Swannie. Yes it's hilarious that Howard made a goose of himself on interest rates when Cossie pulled it so very very hard about Rudd getting a tax rate wrong, but come on, let it slide. You look churlish to take advantage of it.
Ali Vs Islam
No, not the ex heavyweight champ, but Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Eboo Patel writes in the Washington Post how Ali misrepresents Islam as nothing but an oppressive regime by focusing on specific niche areas. It's a good piece - see here
Monday, October 15, 2007
♫ ♪ ♫ There's no business like poo business like poo business I know ♫ ♪ ♫
You know what chaps my lips. Going to the toilet. As an IBS of the built up, store, then push out in a birth like manner kind, push-push-push-I-can-see-the-bear is not fun for me. Sure, it’s not fun for most people unless you’re an extreme niche user of Internet p0rn, but it’s especially no fun for IBS constipation people.
What I particularly hate are the ones so big that you have to have a couple of cracks at it to get it out your crack. Actually suck it back in, steel yourself, then push again.
I mean ow.
But a special mention has to go out to the fucking leave behind. That last little bit you just can’t quite shift. And you give serious consideration to getting a wad’o’tissue and trying to shift it manually. Or, in extreme cases, go the hook out.
I have never gone the hook out. But have heard of it being done.
Enough said.
What I particularly hate are the ones so big that you have to have a couple of cracks at it to get it out your crack. Actually suck it back in, steel yourself, then push again.
I mean ow.
But a special mention has to go out to the fucking leave behind. That last little bit you just can’t quite shift. And you give serious consideration to getting a wad’o’tissue and trying to shift it manually. Or, in extreme cases, go the hook out.
I have never gone the hook out. But have heard of it being done.
Enough said.
Classic joke telling goes horribly wrong
In retrospect I shouldn't have picked a dog lover.
Me: Hey, my dog has no nose.
Co-worker: What? Really? How did that happen?
Me (trying to recover): Er ... um ... car accident.
Co-worker: And he's okay?
Me: (looks around, nervous): Yeah ... yeah he can breathe okay but ... guess how he smells.
Co-worker (concerned): How?
Me: Awful!
Co-worker: Oh ...
Me: Hey, my dog has no nose.
Co-worker: What? Really? How did that happen?
Me (trying to recover): Er ... um ... car accident.
Co-worker: And he's okay?
Me: (looks around, nervous): Yeah ... yeah he can breathe okay but ... guess how he smells.
Co-worker (concerned): How?
Me: Awful!
Co-worker: Oh ...
Cross fingers...
I am not a manual man. My knowledge of tools is slightly less than the first primitive tool users (Fu ...lint?). Consequently I avoid doing manual like stuff. TheWife is v good at it which is why when 'some assembly required' occurs she does it. The worst one she ever put together was a $40 kettle BBQ from The Reject Shop but in her defence half the instructions were missing and the rest was in Mandarin. Where was Ruddy then?!
Anyway, my old hard disk which I kept in a bay has been fucking itself in the past couple of weeks. Made the PC reboot or freeze. Yesterday it could not longer be accessed yet the PC was trying to access it because it made grunty groany ticking noises then rebooted me again.
So, despite my inability to wield tools, I cracked the box and unplugged the two wire/cable thingies that led to that disk.
I rebooted. So far so good. And, the computer is a lot more quiet. By jove I think ... wait ... best not risk it. We will see.
PS Thanks for the advice lads.
Anyway, my old hard disk which I kept in a bay has been fucking itself in the past couple of weeks. Made the PC reboot or freeze. Yesterday it could not longer be accessed yet the PC was trying to access it because it made grunty groany ticking noises then rebooted me again.
So, despite my inability to wield tools, I cracked the box and unplugged the two wire/cable thingies that led to that disk.
I rebooted. So far so good. And, the computer is a lot more quiet. By jove I think ... wait ... best not risk it. We will see.
PS Thanks for the advice lads.
Animal Meme
What the fuck is a meme anyway? Meme courtesy of Magic Bellybutton.
Okay then.
An interesting animal I had
Um ... dunno. My brother kept blue tongues. Does reflected pet glory count?
An interesting animal I ate
Croc I think. No, wait, roadkill. Kangaroo road kill. Of course I was told after I ate it.
An interesting thing I did with or to an animal
I used to stick pins coated with plant extract into snails and watch their guts bubble and froth from the wounds. How am I not a serial killer?
An interesting animal at the museum
That I saw? Um. A Whale Skull.
An interesting animal in its natural habitat
I gotta go with Meerkat too. They're kewl. Only it was at Western Plains Zoo. Does that count?
Tags out to Uncle Bruce, Madd McColl, Grodscorp, and Mr Lefty.
Okay then.
An interesting animal I had
Um ... dunno. My brother kept blue tongues. Does reflected pet glory count?
An interesting animal I ate
Croc I think. No, wait, roadkill. Kangaroo road kill. Of course I was told after I ate it.
An interesting thing I did with or to an animal
I used to stick pins coated with plant extract into snails and watch their guts bubble and froth from the wounds. How am I not a serial killer?
An interesting animal at the museum
That I saw? Um. A Whale Skull.
An interesting animal in its natural habitat
I gotta go with Meerkat too. They're kewl. Only it was at Western Plains Zoo. Does that count?
Tags out to Uncle Bruce, Madd McColl, Grodscorp, and Mr Lefty.
Example of Akerman's fan base
Poor old Paul. Must be tough living in one of the safest Labor seats in the country. If he hates it so much he should move to Eden Monaro and help out his old mate Gary Nairn.
PS Given the rarity of such a name, and the fact he's an ACT resident, it's reasonable to assume Paul was the author of the following submission to parliament - see here.
I particularly enjoy this searing analysis of causation of crime.
Having fun with Hansard
Check out this link.
Since it's Hansard it's not libel to reprint it. So here it is in full.
Date 02 October, 1997
Database House Hansard
Speaker Thomson, Kelvin, MP (Wills, ALP, Opposition)
Page 9127
Proof No
Source House
Type Speech
Context Adjournment
Main Committee No
Mr KELVIN THOMSON (Wills)(5.48 p.m.) —In August, the Sydney Daily Telegraph was all pumped up by its victory in scaring off the federal government and the nation's health ministers from the ACT's proposed heroin trial. The editorial of 20 August said:
Two weeks ago, the Telegraph described health Ministers who supported the proposed heroin trial as "drug pedlars" in the hope such language would prompt the government to action. Yesterday's Cabinet decision vindicates that uncompromising stand.
They finished the editorial on a stirring note:
Let governments heed that message. The . . . fight for a drug-free society is the only approach the community—and The Daily Telegraph—will accept.
The paper's successful crusade against the heroin trial was spearheaded by its columnist Piers Akerman, who boldly fired off paragraphs such as the following:
. . . it is this crazy notion that drugs are not dangerous, though the manner in which they are used may be, that has dominated the drug debate in this country for the past decade.
Also:
The use of illicit drugs is a crime, just as the peddling of illicit drugs is a crime.
The problem with all this stirring stuff is that New South Wales upper house MP Richard Jones has made very serious allegations concerning Mr Akerman's own use of drugs. Just two weeks ago, Mr Jones told the New South Wales parliament:
The joke is that Piers Akerman, when he lived in Albion Street in the 1970s, used LSD and marijuana regularly. He also used cocaine regularly when he was in the United States of America, in Los Angeles and Washington. I have spoken to someone who shared a number of cocaine lines with Piers Akerman.
Following that, the editor of the Daily Telegraph , Mr Col Allan, attacked Mr Jones and said:
It is outrageous that this bloke would launch a baseless personal attack on Piers simply because he disagrees with Mr Akerman's position on a social issue.
Mr Akerman also attacked Mr Jones, but he gave a very qualified denial indeed. He said he was not a drug `addict'. He also said he had never seen drugs such as LSD used at the Albion Street flat when he stayed there. Neither of these is inconsistent with Mr Akerman having been a cocaine user.
I never pretend to be a member of the moral majority and I do not claim to have the answers to this nation's drug problems, but I do hate hypocrisy, so let me tell the House that I too have been aware for some years of reliable reports that Piers Akerman was a cocaine user—and much more recently than the 1970s. The copy kids who worked at News Ltd in Sydney in the mid-1980s could hear him in the toilet at 9 p.m. snorting cocaine while he was working on the Australian and he used to reminisce at the local pub about his drug-hazed days in the US in the 1970s.
This is the man who is telling us how we should conduct the fight against drugs. I say to Mr Allan: there are a lot of people out there who know the truth about Piers Akerman. It is not good enough for you to parade your newspaper as an anti-drugs campaigner until you clean up your own house. For as long as you have Mr Akerman writing for you and, in particular, pontificating on the issue of illegal drug use, your claim to be the standard-bearer of the anti-drugs campaign will ring absolutely hollow.
I note that the Daily Telegraph was back at it as recently as Monday, 22 September when it said:
There is no quick fix to the drug problem. But it also cannot be fixed by soft-hearted, weak-kneed approaches.
The drug trade, and the addiction it causes among too many of NSW's young people, must be combated with tough, determined actions.
For people already addicted to such dangerous drugs as heroin, there should be access to detoxification clinics to clean out their system.
The courts should also take note that the community wants tough penalties imposed.
That is all very well. But the Daily Telegraph must get its own house in order.
Since it's Hansard it's not libel to reprint it. So here it is in full.
Date 02 October, 1997
Database House Hansard
Speaker Thomson, Kelvin, MP (Wills, ALP, Opposition)
Page 9127
Proof No
Source House
Type Speech
Context Adjournment
Main Committee No
Mr KELVIN THOMSON (Wills)(5.48 p.m.) —In August, the Sydney Daily Telegraph was all pumped up by its victory in scaring off the federal government and the nation's health ministers from the ACT's proposed heroin trial. The editorial of 20 August said:
Two weeks ago, the Telegraph described health Ministers who supported the proposed heroin trial as "drug pedlars" in the hope such language would prompt the government to action. Yesterday's Cabinet decision vindicates that uncompromising stand.
They finished the editorial on a stirring note:
Let governments heed that message. The . . . fight for a drug-free society is the only approach the community—and The Daily Telegraph—will accept.
The paper's successful crusade against the heroin trial was spearheaded by its columnist Piers Akerman, who boldly fired off paragraphs such as the following:
. . . it is this crazy notion that drugs are not dangerous, though the manner in which they are used may be, that has dominated the drug debate in this country for the past decade.
Also:
The use of illicit drugs is a crime, just as the peddling of illicit drugs is a crime.
The problem with all this stirring stuff is that New South Wales upper house MP Richard Jones has made very serious allegations concerning Mr Akerman's own use of drugs. Just two weeks ago, Mr Jones told the New South Wales parliament:
The joke is that Piers Akerman, when he lived in Albion Street in the 1970s, used LSD and marijuana regularly. He also used cocaine regularly when he was in the United States of America, in Los Angeles and Washington. I have spoken to someone who shared a number of cocaine lines with Piers Akerman.
Following that, the editor of the Daily Telegraph , Mr Col Allan, attacked Mr Jones and said:
It is outrageous that this bloke would launch a baseless personal attack on Piers simply because he disagrees with Mr Akerman's position on a social issue.
Mr Akerman also attacked Mr Jones, but he gave a very qualified denial indeed. He said he was not a drug `addict'. He also said he had never seen drugs such as LSD used at the Albion Street flat when he stayed there. Neither of these is inconsistent with Mr Akerman having been a cocaine user.
I never pretend to be a member of the moral majority and I do not claim to have the answers to this nation's drug problems, but I do hate hypocrisy, so let me tell the House that I too have been aware for some years of reliable reports that Piers Akerman was a cocaine user—and much more recently than the 1970s. The copy kids who worked at News Ltd in Sydney in the mid-1980s could hear him in the toilet at 9 p.m. snorting cocaine while he was working on the Australian and he used to reminisce at the local pub about his drug-hazed days in the US in the 1970s.
This is the man who is telling us how we should conduct the fight against drugs. I say to Mr Allan: there are a lot of people out there who know the truth about Piers Akerman. It is not good enough for you to parade your newspaper as an anti-drugs campaigner until you clean up your own house. For as long as you have Mr Akerman writing for you and, in particular, pontificating on the issue of illegal drug use, your claim to be the standard-bearer of the anti-drugs campaign will ring absolutely hollow.
I note that the Daily Telegraph was back at it as recently as Monday, 22 September when it said:
There is no quick fix to the drug problem. But it also cannot be fixed by soft-hearted, weak-kneed approaches.
The drug trade, and the addiction it causes among too many of NSW's young people, must be combated with tough, determined actions.
For people already addicted to such dangerous drugs as heroin, there should be access to detoxification clinics to clean out their system.
The courts should also take note that the community wants tough penalties imposed.
That is all very well. But the Daily Telegraph must get its own house in order.
Piers Akerman - a new take on Dreamtime?
Piers Akerman awoke one morning with an unquenchable thirst, and began to drink until all the Liberal Dirt and press releases were greedily consumed. Journalists and pundits everywhere began to die due to lack of grubby tactics and partisan filth to spread around. Other journalists conspired against Piers Akerman, and they devised a plan for him to release all of the dirt he had consumed. Operation Laughter was successfully coordinated by a wise old press gallery member. He pointed out how Piers Akerman was the greatest journalist in the world and that he was as balanced as he was wise. Even Piers Akerman could not believe this monumental falsehood and he laughed. As Piers Akerman laughed, the Liberal dirt rushed out of him to replenish the many mediums just in time for the Federal Election.Thanks Piers.
PS Check out Pier's brave sally forth against the evil Rudd. Akerman should get a fucking trophy or something for telling the stories no one else dares. I wonder if Ruddy regrets that lunch he had at Akerman's place that time?
Screen grab from above site taken on 15/10/2007
A fine riposte
As noted, ever since Crosby and Textor said "attack the fact unions are involved in the Labor party" the Libs have been singing at every ... single ... opportunity. Look at Howard. He should have it tattooed on his fucking expansive forehead to save himself some breath.
Anyway, he was at it again today.
Hooray. Evil unions - hissss (cue Hollywood silent era villain of top hat mustache clad man tying vulnerable swing voter to railroad track).
But what of the Howard front bench? Well according to Sharon Burrows of the ACTU "16 of the Government's 30 ministers were lawyers, including the Treasurer, Peter Costello, and the Education Minister, Julie Bishop, who represented employers against workers, while others, such as the Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, were officials of employer groups."
Yes that's right. They represented the bosses fucking workers over. Sure there was some give and take but at the end of the day some of those Libs in their previous experience were were on the opposite ideological divide to unions.
Presumably representing business in an effort to pay their workers the smallest amount possible is a saintly fine thing to do, and standing up for workers is evil and dastardly.
Am I the only one that finds this line of attack warped?
Anyway, he was at it again today.Hooray. Evil unions - hissss (cue Hollywood silent era villain of top hat mustache clad man tying vulnerable swing voter to railroad track).
But what of the Howard front bench? Well according to Sharon Burrows of the ACTU "16 of the Government's 30 ministers were lawyers, including the Treasurer, Peter Costello, and the Education Minister, Julie Bishop, who represented employers against workers, while others, such as the Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, were officials of employer groups."
Yes that's right. They represented the bosses fucking workers over. Sure there was some give and take but at the end of the day some of those Libs in their previous experience were were on the opposite ideological divide to unions.
Presumably representing business in an effort to pay their workers the smallest amount possible is a saintly fine thing to do, and standing up for workers is evil and dastardly.
Am I the only one that finds this line of attack warped?
The circle of life...
So it's in. The big Liberal plan is tax cuts. Tax cuts for all. 34 billion over three years, apparently meaning $50 a week in the average pocket. Money which they allege will not add to inflation. WTF? Really? So the Reserve bank is lifting rates to curb a heated economy because we're near to capacity in terms of skilled workers and instead of fixing it so there is more capacity in the economy they're going to give people their money back which presumably they won't stick straight back into increasing the price of houses because they can afford to up the ante in buying a house. Um inflation increase.
Does this remind anyone of anything?
Ah, that's it. Back when Howard was the Boy Treasurer instead of the decrepit Mr Burns esq figure clinging to his throne with skeletal fingers, he offered in the 77 election ... a fistful of dollars in tax cuts. Tax cuts which never actually happened.
It's great getting bribed with our own fucking money and instead of it being used to nation build it's crammed back in our wallets only to be taken away again when interest rates are raised to curb the inflation effect of the fucking tax cut. Remember the last tax cut? Remember how long that lasted in the pocket? About the first of five interest rate rises since 2004.
So that's the Liberal plan. Sleight of Hand. Pretending to give money back all the while knowing that in the manner they have chosen to return it, the money will return to government via company tax on happy banks and the money the bank pays the reserve. Again the circle of life.
Please boot these people to the curb.
PS Doesn't 34 billion over three years sound grand? Far better than 11.333 repeater billion per year.
PPS It should be pointed out that Peter Hendy, current Liberal party attack ad funding head of the Chamber of Commerce and former Liberal Staffer to Peter "Children Overboard / Phone Card" Reith, gives it the thumbs up according to the above ABC article.
"The fact is that the Australian economy can always easily afford income tax cuts," he said.
Howard is now on the 730 report whining about how we're not becoming dependent on the resource boom. We are. And history shows when the resource runs out or the market for it dies away you're fucked.
Does this remind anyone of anything?Ah, that's it. Back when Howard was the Boy Treasurer instead of the decrepit Mr Burns esq figure clinging to his throne with skeletal fingers, he offered in the 77 election ... a fistful of dollars in tax cuts. Tax cuts which never actually happened.
It's great getting bribed with our own fucking money and instead of it being used to nation build it's crammed back in our wallets only to be taken away again when interest rates are raised to curb the inflation effect of the fucking tax cut. Remember the last tax cut? Remember how long that lasted in the pocket? About the first of five interest rate rises since 2004.
So that's the Liberal plan. Sleight of Hand. Pretending to give money back all the while knowing that in the manner they have chosen to return it, the money will return to government via company tax on happy banks and the money the bank pays the reserve. Again the circle of life.
Please boot these people to the curb.
PS Doesn't 34 billion over three years sound grand? Far better than 11.333 repeater billion per year.
PPS It should be pointed out that Peter Hendy, current Liberal party attack ad funding head of the Chamber of Commerce and former Liberal Staffer to Peter "Children Overboard / Phone Card" Reith, gives it the thumbs up according to the above ABC article.
"The fact is that the Australian economy can always easily afford income tax cuts," he said.
Howard is now on the 730 report whining about how we're not becoming dependent on the resource boom. We are. And history shows when the resource runs out or the market for it dies away you're fucked.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
A list of the things that have broken in the past month
I have Popcorn in my head as I write this.
Panasonic DVD player in lounge room - died three times, repaired each time, fortunately still under warranty (theWife and I bought a five year extended warranty on it which was lucky given all the crap we've had with it).
Sony DVD player in bedroom - did not buy extended warranty because we assumed a Sony player would be working three years later. We were wrong.
Stereo system from Harvey Norman - under warranty (just). CDs won't play from track one. You have to select track two, get it playing, then skip backward.
And finally to cap it all off the fucking back up hard drive in the PC. It made a delightful thunk thunk thunk noise, then PWWWOOOOORRRRrrrrpppp... p and the computer shat itself. Now, when you click on it, it wants to be formatted. Any ideas on how to fix that fucker? What was lost? Archived Outlook files. Grrrrrr.
I fucking hate it when electronic crap craps out. Whatever happened to things lasting?
And expect more of you Sony. Frankly you're barely hovering above Dick Smith and Optusnet.
Panasonic DVD player in lounge room - died three times, repaired each time, fortunately still under warranty (theWife and I bought a five year extended warranty on it which was lucky given all the crap we've had with it).
Sony DVD player in bedroom - did not buy extended warranty because we assumed a Sony player would be working three years later. We were wrong.
Stereo system from Harvey Norman - under warranty (just). CDs won't play from track one. You have to select track two, get it playing, then skip backward.
And finally to cap it all off the fucking back up hard drive in the PC. It made a delightful thunk thunk thunk noise, then PWWWOOOOORRRRrrrrpppp... p and the computer shat itself. Now, when you click on it, it wants to be formatted. Any ideas on how to fix that fucker? What was lost? Archived Outlook files. Grrrrrr.
I fucking hate it when electronic crap craps out. Whatever happened to things lasting?
And expect more of you Sony. Frankly you're barely hovering above Dick Smith and Optusnet.
What a catch...
John Howard in his YouTube appearance for "the kids" catches an apple
John Howard attempts to bowl and catch a ball.
John Howard attempts to bowl and catch a ball.
Noise - a short review by HM
Grabbed this from the local oddly still named Video 2000. Noise by Mathew Savillle. Trippy non formulaic film heavy on the use of visual imagery and audio. I really liked it though I confess it was a little hard to follow. I'd say that's because it was non formulaic and I am so used to a diet of McHollywood that when a film comes along that doesn't have the bog standard mintie twists then I get confused.
Anyway, great film. Totally worth watching.
Anyway, great film. Totally worth watching.
Not long now!
24 November. Then hopefully it will all be over.
Most hilarious press conference (on now on ABC TV). "Er ... 70% former union officials ... um ... economy ... er the Liberal party suck so much in the states that we can't win office so .. er ... all ALP ... did I mention 70% former trade union officials?"
Now he's blasting Rudd for not coping to owning up to mistakes! Hilarious again!
Now he's going on about only he can bring conservatives and progressives together. "If you run for 51% on this you will fail". Interesting words from a man who bought us WorkChoices.
Yep, the ALP will cause unemployment to rise with their bringing in measures to stop some bosses fucking on employees. Boo ALP, boo.
He had the gall to say that he's admitted to mistakes made and that he's accountable. Bull shit.
Bleating on about the economy. The economy he inherited and did basically fuck all with except take the credit for it. "It's so important to run this". And while running it divide the people with class/race etc for your political benefit you Cronulla riot engendering prick knuckle.
70% unionists is back! Thank you Crosby Textor.
How did they manage to craft being an ex union official as a bad thing. It's like saying Salvos are bad or Mother Teresa. Okay, unions have their issues but at the end of the day unions are a collective of workers bargaining for pay and conditions of service as a group. You know, united together for a common purpose. How the fuck is that a bad thing? On his fucking side they're mostly failed suburban lawyers who convinced a bunch of dying grey hairs in their dessicated branches to give them a cushy ride on the public purse.
I know who I'd go for.
Most hilarious press conference (on now on ABC TV). "Er ... 70% former union officials ... um ... economy ... er the Liberal party suck so much in the states that we can't win office so .. er ... all ALP ... did I mention 70% former trade union officials?"
Now he's blasting Rudd for not coping to owning up to mistakes! Hilarious again!
Now he's going on about only he can bring conservatives and progressives together. "If you run for 51% on this you will fail". Interesting words from a man who bought us WorkChoices.
Yep, the ALP will cause unemployment to rise with their bringing in measures to stop some bosses fucking on employees. Boo ALP, boo.
He had the gall to say that he's admitted to mistakes made and that he's accountable. Bull shit.
Bleating on about the economy. The economy he inherited and did basically fuck all with except take the credit for it. "It's so important to run this". And while running it divide the people with class/race etc for your political benefit you Cronulla riot engendering prick knuckle.
70% unionists is back! Thank you Crosby Textor.
How did they manage to craft being an ex union official as a bad thing. It's like saying Salvos are bad or Mother Teresa. Okay, unions have their issues but at the end of the day unions are a collective of workers bargaining for pay and conditions of service as a group. You know, united together for a common purpose. How the fuck is that a bad thing? On his fucking side they're mostly failed suburban lawyers who convinced a bunch of dying grey hairs in their dessicated branches to give them a cushy ride on the public purse.
I know who I'd go for.
Area prisoner avoids shower rape by OH&S approved lifting techniques
Goulburn Jail, NSW; Prisoner Mark Ferditchards, 19, said today that since being inside he has managed to avoid being anally intruded whilst showering thanks to proper means of bending.
'So often when showering people drop the soap then unconciously bend over to pick it up. And it's then lunging out from within the steam comes some erection ready con ready to take full advantage of your soapy rear,' said a surprisingly well spoken Ferditchards. 'However it's never happened to me.'
The reason why according to Ferditchards is the fact he bends with his knees.
'So, so often people bend over to lift an object and suffer both back and arse trauma as a result. If you squat then power up using your legs the worst that will happen is the incoming missive will graze off your shoulder and hopefully your would be assailant will slip and fall backward. You can then use that opportunity to stamp on his balls.'
Mr Ferditchards also said if often wondered why if shower rape was so prevalent in prisons why they had not sought to curtail it by giving people access to their own stall.
'So often when showering people drop the soap then unconciously bend over to pick it up. And it's then lunging out from within the steam comes some erection ready con ready to take full advantage of your soapy rear,' said a surprisingly well spoken Ferditchards. 'However it's never happened to me.'
The reason why according to Ferditchards is the fact he bends with his knees.
'So, so often people bend over to lift an object and suffer both back and arse trauma as a result. If you squat then power up using your legs the worst that will happen is the incoming missive will graze off your shoulder and hopefully your would be assailant will slip and fall backward. You can then use that opportunity to stamp on his balls.'
Mr Ferditchards also said if often wondered why if shower rape was so prevalent in prisons why they had not sought to curtail it by giving people access to their own stall.
SMH profile on Kevin Andrews reveals interesting facts...
You can find the profile here.
For me, this was the stand out information.
Andrews, 51, presents as fresh-faced, almost youthful - helped by the thatch of glossy dyed black hair, which he confesses is thanks to the "appropriate attention" of his hairdresser.
Indeed...
For me, this was the stand out information.
Andrews, 51, presents as fresh-faced, almost youthful - helped by the thatch of glossy dyed black hair, which he confesses is thanks to the "appropriate attention" of his hairdresser.
Indeed...
Saturday, October 13, 2007
One in the eye for the wingnuts
Nobel prize goes to Al Gore and the IPCC.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I suspect righties are still pulling themselves with the news that a UK judge found nine of the thousands of facts Gore presented in the doco on Climate Change were not proven or potentially misleading.
You see because those nine were found to be suspect ergo everything he ever said ever is a filthy lie. And also he's fat and uses both planes and electricity.
Poor righties. It must be so hard being on the wrong side of both reason and logic.
Nobel prize winners get what a million? So does that mean Gore gets 500k and the 2000 scientists get $250 each?
Oh, don't get me wrong. I suspect righties are still pulling themselves with the news that a UK judge found nine of the thousands of facts Gore presented in the doco on Climate Change were not proven or potentially misleading.
You see because those nine were found to be suspect ergo everything he ever said ever is a filthy lie. And also he's fat and uses both planes and electricity.
Poor righties. It must be so hard being on the wrong side of both reason and logic.
Nobel prize winners get what a million? So does that mean Gore gets 500k and the 2000 scientists get $250 each?
It begins...
We have just over a month until we move so the packing of the house has begun.
Gotta say.
It sucks. In our current rental property we were lucky enough to have a double garage which naturally we filled with crap we should have dumped years ago.
TheWife bless her has already sectioned it off into get rid of and take.
I'm in charge of the study which is wall to wall bookshelves. It's annoying.
I also have to get rid of a decade of taped TV. I was obsessed for many years with taping things and keeping it. Not realising the DVD revolution was here. Now, if I like a series enough, fuck it I will just get it on DVD. Minus ads, without ghosting, no need for rewinding and all that shit.
Except the trouble is our wedding video is somewhere in the collection so I will have to delve deep to find it. Sigh.
I hate moving house.
Gotta say.
It sucks. In our current rental property we were lucky enough to have a double garage which naturally we filled with crap we should have dumped years ago.
TheWife bless her has already sectioned it off into get rid of and take.
I'm in charge of the study which is wall to wall bookshelves. It's annoying.
I also have to get rid of a decade of taped TV. I was obsessed for many years with taping things and keeping it. Not realising the DVD revolution was here. Now, if I like a series enough, fuck it I will just get it on DVD. Minus ads, without ghosting, no need for rewinding and all that shit.
Except the trouble is our wedding video is somewhere in the collection so I will have to delve deep to find it. Sigh.
I hate moving house.
Punch that out your bum George Pell
From here
Little has changed, particularly in much of the developing world. Women die of avoidable complications such as high blood pressure or hemorrhage in childbirth - and often the baby dies, too, or does not survive the next few years without a mother. Tens of thousands die painfully in backstreet abortions in countries where contraception is not readily available and abortion is heavily restricted or banned.
Pell's moronic views on contraception can be found here. A snippet as follows
In a compilation of 10 short essays to be published this week, Cardinal Pell also warns that the pill has created a "contraceptive" mentality with "evil consequences" for the world, including a plummeting fertility rate in which many children will one day know no siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins.
Little has changed, particularly in much of the developing world. Women die of avoidable complications such as high blood pressure or hemorrhage in childbirth - and often the baby dies, too, or does not survive the next few years without a mother. Tens of thousands die painfully in backstreet abortions in countries where contraception is not readily available and abortion is heavily restricted or banned.
Pell's moronic views on contraception can be found here. A snippet as follows
In a compilation of 10 short essays to be published this week, Cardinal Pell also warns that the pill has created a "contraceptive" mentality with "evil consequences" for the world, including a plummeting fertility rate in which many children will one day know no siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins.
He says a new approach is needed to combat unacceptably high levels of abortion, including the possibility of television advertisements to encourage women to proceed with a pregnancy by framing it as a means of regaining control of their lives, rather than it ruining them.
How the fuck can this sexless dress wearer be against the pill on one hand and outraged at the number of abortions on the other hand?
Probably because he's a fatuous git.
The birth of a new word
Courtesy of Cassmalo who is on her honeymoon.
Eargasim. The feeling you have when the pool water finally runs out of your ear.
Eargasim. The feeling you have when the pool water finally runs out of your ear.
Friday, October 12, 2007
PZ Myers' mutating genre meme
Here are the instructions:
The Pharyngula mutating genre meme
There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:
You can leave them exactly as is.
You can delete any one question.
You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is…" to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is…", or "The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is…", or "The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is…".
You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…".
You must have at least one question in your set, or you've gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you're not viable.
Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions.
Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.
======
Okay if I read this right my parent is AV.
Right. Er.. okay then. The questions inherited from AV were1. The best time travel novel in Magical Realism is…
2. The best romantic movie in historical fiction is…
3. The best sexy song in industrial rock is…
So I get to conduct two operations eh? Crap this is hard.
1. Not having any idea what Magical Realism is then the best time travel novel in Science Fiction is The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World. If only because the Rat creates a paradox. [action taken was to modify genre]
2. The best romantic movie in historical fiction is ... Forest Gump [no actions taken]
3. The best sexy song in 80's German pop is ... 99 Luft Balloons . Ha! Try morphing that! [action taken was to modify genre?]
Right tags eh?
Sarah
Gam
MB
The Bevester
Grods.
Have at you!
I love TV
As a kid I didn't have many friends. I was weird and I was fat. Plus when I got the chance to make friends the weird put them off. Fair point. At uni - less weird but the couch girls wouldn't have sex with me because I was fat. Fair point again. I am a twofer.
Anyway, as a weird fat kid I spent a lot of time watching TV by myself. And fuck me I loved TV. I loved Lost in Space. I loved those weird Tony Curtis movies where he thought he was Ali Baba. I loved those old middle ages movies. I loved old war movies. I loved westerns. I loved sitting by myself immersing myself in the tv fiction I was watching. Then, on a really sunny day, I liked getting a couch cushion and sneaking up on a fat blowie, then smacking the cushion on them.
I also held cremations for Christmas Beetles.
One stand out show for me on the weekends on 9&8 (the station of choice/only commercial station for N NSW) was Land of the Giants.
The theme song was fucking awesome. And to this day I can sing it. I loved the spaceship. I loved the matchstick razor blade axes. I loved the fact there was a black American as a lead actor and it his presence was not mentioned as being unmarked from the norm.
Land of The Giants. When I was less fat/more weird, you kept me sane. I thank you.
As ever YouTube has come to the party. Here's the intro.
Correction. I confused it with the third Lost in Space theme (see below scroll along about 2/3) - which I often sing to myself. Still, remembered the credits and watched the show obsessively.
Anyway, as a weird fat kid I spent a lot of time watching TV by myself. And fuck me I loved TV. I loved Lost in Space. I loved those weird Tony Curtis movies where he thought he was Ali Baba. I loved those old middle ages movies. I loved old war movies. I loved westerns. I loved sitting by myself immersing myself in the tv fiction I was watching. Then, on a really sunny day, I liked getting a couch cushion and sneaking up on a fat blowie, then smacking the cushion on them.
I also held cremations for Christmas Beetles.
One stand out show for me on the weekends on 9&8 (the station of choice/only commercial station for N NSW) was Land of the Giants.
The theme song was fucking awesome. And to this day I can sing it. I loved the spaceship. I loved the matchstick razor blade axes. I loved the fact there was a black American as a lead actor and it his presence was not mentioned as being unmarked from the norm.
Land of The Giants. When I was less fat/more weird, you kept me sane. I thank you.
As ever YouTube has come to the party. Here's the intro.
Correction. I confused it with the third Lost in Space theme (see below scroll along about 2/3) - which I often sing to myself. Still, remembered the credits and watched the show obsessively.
Sigh...
Miranda Devine, would be Oz answer to Anne Coulter, is at it again with her own brand of righty logic. You can find her missive here. So bugger it here's her article with some minor, small points raised by moi.
Whose human rights come first?
Date: October 11 2007
Kevin Rudd's repudiation of the campaign by his foreign affairs spokesman to rid South-East Asia of capital punishment rings about as hollow as the campaign itself. The Opposition Leader has "counselled" Robert McClelland over his speech to a human rights group on Monday night, but McClelland was just expressing Labor Party policy, and that policy still stands.
For Rudd, McClelland's crime was his timing - in that he candidly trumpeted Labor policy before the election, not after.
It was policy established at the National Convention. It's on the ALP website. It has been since the convention. Try using a computer?
Of course, the real problem with the timing of McClelland's speech to the Wentworth Human Rights Forum at the Hotel Bondi was that it came four days before tomorrow's anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings that claimed the lives of 88 Australians, many from the beach suburb of Coogee, just up the road from the forum. And it came as an Indonesia court considers the death penalty handed down to three of the Bali bombers.
It's also coinciding with the World Abolish the Death Penalty day. Try using a computer?
McClelland told the forum that a Labor government would form a coalition with other like-minded countries in the region to campaign against the death penalty in countries such as Indonesia, China, India, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. "Labor believes that supporting executions - even by a nation state - gives justification to all kinds of fanatical lunatics to take the lives of others in pursuit of their own warped ideologies."
McClelland was the star turn at the shindig hosted by the jejune leftists of the online magazine New Matilda, alongside Labor's candidate for Wentworth, George Newhouse, a human rights lawyer who is taking on the Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in the well-heeled eastern suburbs seat. His gaffe must have delighted Turnbull, although the electorate is so stuffed with armchair compassion freaks, who rail by remote control against Tasmanian pulp mills and other dimly understood causes, perhaps not.
Jejune lefties eh? So what's it called when a bunch of your precious moronic knuckle dragging righty quadrant reading climate change denying incompetent "War on Terror" fighting cockknuckles are gathered together?
But when it comes to human rights, whose rights take precedence? Those of the 202 victims or those of the bombers?
This makes no sense whatsoever. Their human rights to ... still be alive even though they are dead? Have another crack at it.
There are plenty of terrible things we don't like that happen elsewhere in the world. Why stop at capital punishment? What about the amputation of the hands and feet of thieves in Saudi Arabia? What about abortion? China's one-child policy is barbaric, with plenty of stories of women dragged off the street and forced to have late-term abortions, or female babies discarded after birth.
Amnesty for one decries use of barbaric punishment as do most sensible people. What's the fucking point of this crap. The one child policy was a somewhat brutal response to over population that China was about to experience. Sure it's often carried out in an unpleasant horrible manner. But well considering you barrack for a religion that moronically decries contraception I find your stance somewhat ironic since if it was free and easily obtained the need for Abortion would largely vanish.
More to the point, why not address the situation in our own backyard, with an estimated 100,000 abortions being performed in Australia each year. Yet when the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, raised the high number as a problem and adopted mild reforms, such as pregnancy counselling, he was berated as a religious zealot and "misogynist prick" and regarded as having blown his career.
It's about 91,000. And they are not human beings. They are fetuses that may grow to be human beings. Unfortunately some women are not ready to be mothers and they terminate. Guess what? Most of them go on to have children anyway and in the same numbers they would have done had they had normal babies to term. Try looking at the issue via a computer? Oh - and the "counselling" ... was religious groups attempting to guilt women out of making a considered choice based on their physical and mental well being as opposed to your holier than thou bullshit spread by men in dresses who can't have sex. Well, technically, since some of them end up fucking altar boys against their will. Still, at least an altar boy can't get preggers eh Miranda?
Human rights campaigners could save a lot more human souls by campaigning against late-term abortions than fretting about death rows in South-East Asia.
Umm ... do you even know how many late term abortions there are? Hardly any in Oz for a start. Most are done in the first trimester and indeed clinics will most likely refuse a woman access to services beyond that point.
Amnesty International has been at the forefront of the campaign to save the Bali bombers from the firing squad, while at the same time it has changed its previous neutral stance on abortion to one of campaigning for its worldwide decriminalisation. And it had the gall this week to send British backpackers onto the streets of the city touting for donations. Hypocrisy and expediency smell the same on human rights posturers as on venal politicians.
Yes. Boo Amnesty for campaigning for women to have full access to medical services and so they don't have to in some countries visit a backyard abortion clinic, die on the table, and be dumped in the scrub which was the Oz experience until police stopped prosecuting doctors that performed services. Oh, most of those laws are still technically on the books thanks to zealots like you.
The same goes for the thoughtless activists who campaigned against the Nike factory in Cambodia that was paying "slave wages" to its workers. The wages were more than double the national average - money that was a godsend to people for whom there are few alternatives other than prostitution, begging or starvation. Well, congratulations, Nike and Gap pulled out of Cambodia in 2000. But who cares, the human rights caravan moved on to attack another easy target from its rich pool of multinational corporations and democratic governments.
Oh so companies don't exploit third world workers is that what you're saying? That any company in the third world is a saintly employer that provides full care and decent wages for their workers is that right? Like say those in American protectorates who astonishingly force women employees to ... have abortions! Isn't the free market great!?
The politics of feelgood principle is something the Lex Lasrys and Julian Burnsides of the world are entitled to indulge in but that good governments are obliged to be wary of.
Yes be wary of standing up for fundamental notions of human rights. Let's not let it get in the way of flying someone to Egypt to have electrodes strapped to their groin or a glow stick impregnated in their arsehole.
Since Australia does not have the death penalty it is logical and correct to push for clemency for Australian citizens who are on death row in countries such as Indonesia, as is the case for the convicted heroin smugglers, the "Bali nine".
But for Australia to run around South-East Asia meddling in the internal legal affairs of other democratic states would be to squander what little political capital and hard-earned influence we have in the region. We do not have the military might to police the world according to our morality. And when America tries, it gets kicked in the shins, by the people in McClelland's Bondi audience especially.
Oh piss off we meddle all the time. We send cops to help their cops catch crims and terrorists - that's how the Bali 9 got done. We have fucking international forums where we discuss stuff of mutual concern. So can't waste any tears on a bunch of people about to be judiciously murdered eh? And odd viewpoint from a hard nosed Catholic to have.
In any case, public opinion is no more conclusively against capital punishment than it it is for abortion. People make nuanced distinctions in both cases, and are more inclined to favour the death penalty in extreme situations - such as child murder or the Bali bombings, just as they are less likely to support abortion for social or financial reasons.
Oh please. You allow Capital Punishment for *some* crimes then it becomes applied unfairly and for crimes that would not deserve it. Oh - not to mention the classic conundrum of what happens when someone was actually fucking innocent and was proven to be much later.
When there are plenty of other human rights issues about which reasonable people can disagree, what makes capital punishment such a pressing concern at this time that McClelland and Amnesty feel the need to support the Bali bombers and stomp all over the sensitivities of the victims?
Because they're about to be killed and because it weakens the case for clemency for other Australians? And no offense to the Bali Bomber victims, as fucked as what happened to them, why should we pussy foot around with our declaration that capital punishment is wrong? Why do you want us to lower ourselves to the bomber's level. They're the fuckwits that think killing people is justified. You want us to do the same eh?
To even raise the topic this week conjures the distasteful prospect of two sets of victims duelling for the moral high ground - the families of Scott Rush and the rest of the Bali nine versus the families of the 88 Australians murdered in Kuta five years ago.
Again Devine. It's World Abolish the Death Penalty day. Use a computer?
At least the episode gave us a rare insight into what life would be like under a Rudd government, as the Labor leader dropped his vigilance just a tad. It must be exhausting trying to disguise the true nature of your would-be regime.
Ooooo Regime! Nice colouration. Least we get an idea of your future attacks on a Rudd government where you write suck up pieces for the benefit of your righty mates.
Whose human rights come first?
Date: October 11 2007
Kevin Rudd's repudiation of the campaign by his foreign affairs spokesman to rid South-East Asia of capital punishment rings about as hollow as the campaign itself. The Opposition Leader has "counselled" Robert McClelland over his speech to a human rights group on Monday night, but McClelland was just expressing Labor Party policy, and that policy still stands.
For Rudd, McClelland's crime was his timing - in that he candidly trumpeted Labor policy before the election, not after.
It was policy established at the National Convention. It's on the ALP website. It has been since the convention. Try using a computer?
Of course, the real problem with the timing of McClelland's speech to the Wentworth Human Rights Forum at the Hotel Bondi was that it came four days before tomorrow's anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings that claimed the lives of 88 Australians, many from the beach suburb of Coogee, just up the road from the forum. And it came as an Indonesia court considers the death penalty handed down to three of the Bali bombers.
It's also coinciding with the World Abolish the Death Penalty day. Try using a computer?
McClelland told the forum that a Labor government would form a coalition with other like-minded countries in the region to campaign against the death penalty in countries such as Indonesia, China, India, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. "Labor believes that supporting executions - even by a nation state - gives justification to all kinds of fanatical lunatics to take the lives of others in pursuit of their own warped ideologies."
McClelland was the star turn at the shindig hosted by the jejune leftists of the online magazine New Matilda, alongside Labor's candidate for Wentworth, George Newhouse, a human rights lawyer who is taking on the Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in the well-heeled eastern suburbs seat. His gaffe must have delighted Turnbull, although the electorate is so stuffed with armchair compassion freaks, who rail by remote control against Tasmanian pulp mills and other dimly understood causes, perhaps not.
Jejune lefties eh? So what's it called when a bunch of your precious moronic knuckle dragging righty quadrant reading climate change denying incompetent "War on Terror" fighting cockknuckles are gathered together?
But when it comes to human rights, whose rights take precedence? Those of the 202 victims or those of the bombers?
This makes no sense whatsoever. Their human rights to ... still be alive even though they are dead? Have another crack at it.
There are plenty of terrible things we don't like that happen elsewhere in the world. Why stop at capital punishment? What about the amputation of the hands and feet of thieves in Saudi Arabia? What about abortion? China's one-child policy is barbaric, with plenty of stories of women dragged off the street and forced to have late-term abortions, or female babies discarded after birth.
Amnesty for one decries use of barbaric punishment as do most sensible people. What's the fucking point of this crap. The one child policy was a somewhat brutal response to over population that China was about to experience. Sure it's often carried out in an unpleasant horrible manner. But well considering you barrack for a religion that moronically decries contraception I find your stance somewhat ironic since if it was free and easily obtained the need for Abortion would largely vanish.
More to the point, why not address the situation in our own backyard, with an estimated 100,000 abortions being performed in Australia each year. Yet when the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, raised the high number as a problem and adopted mild reforms, such as pregnancy counselling, he was berated as a religious zealot and "misogynist prick" and regarded as having blown his career.
It's about 91,000. And they are not human beings. They are fetuses that may grow to be human beings. Unfortunately some women are not ready to be mothers and they terminate. Guess what? Most of them go on to have children anyway and in the same numbers they would have done had they had normal babies to term. Try looking at the issue via a computer? Oh - and the "counselling" ... was religious groups attempting to guilt women out of making a considered choice based on their physical and mental well being as opposed to your holier than thou bullshit spread by men in dresses who can't have sex. Well, technically, since some of them end up fucking altar boys against their will. Still, at least an altar boy can't get preggers eh Miranda?
Human rights campaigners could save a lot more human souls by campaigning against late-term abortions than fretting about death rows in South-East Asia.
Umm ... do you even know how many late term abortions there are? Hardly any in Oz for a start. Most are done in the first trimester and indeed clinics will most likely refuse a woman access to services beyond that point.
Amnesty International has been at the forefront of the campaign to save the Bali bombers from the firing squad, while at the same time it has changed its previous neutral stance on abortion to one of campaigning for its worldwide decriminalisation. And it had the gall this week to send British backpackers onto the streets of the city touting for donations. Hypocrisy and expediency smell the same on human rights posturers as on venal politicians.
Yes. Boo Amnesty for campaigning for women to have full access to medical services and so they don't have to in some countries visit a backyard abortion clinic, die on the table, and be dumped in the scrub which was the Oz experience until police stopped prosecuting doctors that performed services. Oh, most of those laws are still technically on the books thanks to zealots like you.
The same goes for the thoughtless activists who campaigned against the Nike factory in Cambodia that was paying "slave wages" to its workers. The wages were more than double the national average - money that was a godsend to people for whom there are few alternatives other than prostitution, begging or starvation. Well, congratulations, Nike and Gap pulled out of Cambodia in 2000. But who cares, the human rights caravan moved on to attack another easy target from its rich pool of multinational corporations and democratic governments.
Oh so companies don't exploit third world workers is that what you're saying? That any company in the third world is a saintly employer that provides full care and decent wages for their workers is that right? Like say those in American protectorates who astonishingly force women employees to ... have abortions! Isn't the free market great!?
The politics of feelgood principle is something the Lex Lasrys and Julian Burnsides of the world are entitled to indulge in but that good governments are obliged to be wary of.
Yes be wary of standing up for fundamental notions of human rights. Let's not let it get in the way of flying someone to Egypt to have electrodes strapped to their groin or a glow stick impregnated in their arsehole.
Since Australia does not have the death penalty it is logical and correct to push for clemency for Australian citizens who are on death row in countries such as Indonesia, as is the case for the convicted heroin smugglers, the "Bali nine".
But for Australia to run around South-East Asia meddling in the internal legal affairs of other democratic states would be to squander what little political capital and hard-earned influence we have in the region. We do not have the military might to police the world according to our morality. And when America tries, it gets kicked in the shins, by the people in McClelland's Bondi audience especially.
Oh piss off we meddle all the time. We send cops to help their cops catch crims and terrorists - that's how the Bali 9 got done. We have fucking international forums where we discuss stuff of mutual concern. So can't waste any tears on a bunch of people about to be judiciously murdered eh? And odd viewpoint from a hard nosed Catholic to have.
In any case, public opinion is no more conclusively against capital punishment than it it is for abortion. People make nuanced distinctions in both cases, and are more inclined to favour the death penalty in extreme situations - such as child murder or the Bali bombings, just as they are less likely to support abortion for social or financial reasons.
Oh please. You allow Capital Punishment for *some* crimes then it becomes applied unfairly and for crimes that would not deserve it. Oh - not to mention the classic conundrum of what happens when someone was actually fucking innocent and was proven to be much later.
When there are plenty of other human rights issues about which reasonable people can disagree, what makes capital punishment such a pressing concern at this time that McClelland and Amnesty feel the need to support the Bali bombers and stomp all over the sensitivities of the victims?
Because they're about to be killed and because it weakens the case for clemency for other Australians? And no offense to the Bali Bomber victims, as fucked as what happened to them, why should we pussy foot around with our declaration that capital punishment is wrong? Why do you want us to lower ourselves to the bomber's level. They're the fuckwits that think killing people is justified. You want us to do the same eh?
To even raise the topic this week conjures the distasteful prospect of two sets of victims duelling for the moral high ground - the families of Scott Rush and the rest of the Bali nine versus the families of the 88 Australians murdered in Kuta five years ago.
Again Devine. It's World Abolish the Death Penalty day. Use a computer?
At least the episode gave us a rare insight into what life would be like under a Rudd government, as the Labor leader dropped his vigilance just a tad. It must be exhausting trying to disguise the true nature of your would-be regime.
Ooooo Regime! Nice colouration. Least we get an idea of your future attacks on a Rudd government where you write suck up pieces for the benefit of your righty mates.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The curse of the Harry High strikes again
As regular fat people might attest if you are overweight and you Harry High you risk dakking yourself.
Tonight as I cuddled the Noo sure enough said pants passed the Harry High to Larry Low event horizon and down they went. But alas I was not in a position to pull them up for a good five minutes.
I hate to think what people might have seen through the window...
PS Speaking of Pell...
Tonight as I cuddled the Noo sure enough said pants passed the Harry High to Larry Low event horizon and down they went. But alas I was not in a position to pull them up for a good five minutes.
I hate to think what people might have seen through the window...
PS Speaking of Pell...
Great speeches from TV History
Steve in "Coupling"
Look, I like naked women! I'm a bloke, we're supposed to like naked women, we're born like that! We like naked women as soon as we're pulled out of one; halfway down the birth canal we're already enjoying the view! Look, it is the four pillars of the male heterosexual psyche. We like: Naked Women, Stockings, Lesbians, and Sean Connery best as James Bond, because that's what being a boy is. And if you don't like, darling, join a film collective. Look, I want to spend the rest of my life with the woman at the end of that table there, but that does not stop me wanting to see several thousand more naked bottoms before I die, because that's what being a bloke is. When man invented fire, he didn't say "Hey, let's cook!" He said "Great! Now we can see naked bottoms in the dark!" As soon as Caxton had invented the printing press, we using it to make pictures of, hey! Naked bottoms! We have turned the internet into an enormous international database of naked bottoms. So you see, the story of male achievement through the ages, feeble though it may have been, has been a story of our struggle to get a better look at your bottoms. Thank you, girls, I'm not sure how insulted you really ought to be.
Look, I like naked women! I'm a bloke, we're supposed to like naked women, we're born like that! We like naked women as soon as we're pulled out of one; halfway down the birth canal we're already enjoying the view! Look, it is the four pillars of the male heterosexual psyche. We like: Naked Women, Stockings, Lesbians, and Sean Connery best as James Bond, because that's what being a boy is. And if you don't like, darling, join a film collective. Look, I want to spend the rest of my life with the woman at the end of that table there, but that does not stop me wanting to see several thousand more naked bottoms before I die, because that's what being a bloke is. When man invented fire, he didn't say "Hey, let's cook!" He said "Great! Now we can see naked bottoms in the dark!" As soon as Caxton had invented the printing press, we using it to make pictures of, hey! Naked bottoms! We have turned the internet into an enormous international database of naked bottoms. So you see, the story of male achievement through the ages, feeble though it may have been, has been a story of our struggle to get a better look at your bottoms. Thank you, girls, I'm not sure how insulted you really ought to be.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
It's funny because it was outside the local primary school
The local primary school has one of those large signs with the removable individual letters. The sign is normally home to self praise like 'we're the best - wooooo!' and such.
Currently it's "Celebrate World Teacher's Day"
Classic.
Yes, I know, pedantic - esp since I make my fair share of mistakes. But well, they're teachers...
Currently it's "Celebrate World Teacher's Day"
Classic.
Yes, I know, pedantic - esp since I make my fair share of mistakes. But well, they're teachers...
Email jokes
I normally delete them but theWife got this one from a friend and got me to read it. And yea, it did make me laugh. Kudos author.
Area man gets comeuppanced
I've been looking at selection criterias for a job panel thing I am on. Some of them were shockers. In fact I was heartily enjoying a recollection of a particularly splendidly bad response whilst at the urinal when I pissed all over my fucking drawstring cause it was swinging back and forth like a fucking pendulum.
So who am I to judge others? I can't even handle basic urination.
So who am I to judge others? I can't even handle basic urination.
Pathetic
I tried to give something up last week. Swore I wouldn't seek it out again. But I faltered once more.
I hate obsessing over stuff. Besides everyone knows the quickest way to resolve temptation is to give into it. Then live a hedonistic lifestyle letting the years be foisted instead on a magic painting, realize how horrid you've become, then slash your old man portrait and the years roll over you in seconds leaving a puddle of dust on the floor or some-such.
I am so weak.
I hate obsessing over stuff. Besides everyone knows the quickest way to resolve temptation is to give into it. Then live a hedonistic lifestyle letting the years be foisted instead on a magic painting, realize how horrid you've become, then slash your old man portrait and the years roll over you in seconds leaving a puddle of dust on the floor or some-such.
I am so weak.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Hendo's one hand ain't clapping...
Gerard Henderson, who still manages to discuss Howard (former boss) and the ABC (where he works) without disclosing it, wanked on today about dissent in Australia. Hendo's odd claim is found here.
This is his rationale. Because people complain about the government therefore debate is not stifled.
Yep, that's it. Because there are still avenues of action and complaint about government excess and reduction in accountability and a lessening of the ability of the media and others to oversight the activities of government, therefore the government has not stifled debate. Only, reasons Hendo it seems, if the media was trumpeting government goodness and only if there were no avenues to complain about the government could the government be considered a stifler.
The act therefore of stifling debate is not proven. QED.
Ah Hendo, only you could intimate that 'because Australia is not a totalitarian fascist dictatorship therefore the government does not employ elements of a totalitarian fascist dictatorship'. Such as ... secret detention Hendo?
Fucking hell he's a prize twat.
This is his rationale. Because people complain about the government therefore debate is not stifled.
Yep, that's it. Because there are still avenues of action and complaint about government excess and reduction in accountability and a lessening of the ability of the media and others to oversight the activities of government, therefore the government has not stifled debate. Only, reasons Hendo it seems, if the media was trumpeting government goodness and only if there were no avenues to complain about the government could the government be considered a stifler.
The act therefore of stifling debate is not proven. QED.
Ah Hendo, only you could intimate that 'because Australia is not a totalitarian fascist dictatorship therefore the government does not employ elements of a totalitarian fascist dictatorship'. Such as ... secret detention Hendo?
Fucking hell he's a prize twat.
Death rears its ugly head and people act ugly as a result
Robert McClelland, shadow foreign affairs minister, came out in the last couple of days to reiterate the ALP is against the death penalty in all its forms. Including when applied to the Bali bombers. As well it should be. Killing people is simply sado-masochistic revenge seeking that offers the promise of "closure" (and I find it pathetic that cockheads bandy this psycho-babble term about in relation to the death penalty), but really all it does is let the cycle of violence continue. And throw into that mix numbnuts who think they are being martyred and potentially increase the pool of recruits you have to ask yourself have people taken their insanity pill lately.
Ruddy stamped on McClelland for it, well sort of. He said it was a tad tactless given it's the five year anniversary of the Bali Bombing and that the old good terrorist is a dead one - having died of old age in prison. Indeed, a summary of all of this, including the reaction of a victim who survived it can be found here.
I am saddened for all the families that lost
Ruddy stamped on McClelland for it, well sort of. He said it was a tad tactless given it's the five year anniversary of the Bali Bombing and that the old good terrorist is a dead one - having died of old age in prison. Indeed, a summary of all of this, including the reaction of a victim who survived it can be found here.
I am saddened for all the families that lost