Midweek Open Forum: March 7, 2012 at Catallaxy Files

Midweek Open Forum: March 7, 2012

1,341 comments

Written by Sinclair Davidson

March 6th, 2012 at 11:00 pm

Posted in Uncategorized

1,341 Responses to 'Midweek Open Forum: March 7, 2012'

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But it’s not midnight yet!

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:02 pm
You’re not very good with change, are you Wreck?

Gab

6 Mar 12 at 11:03 pm
It’s not even 11 o’clock.

C.L.

6 Mar 12 at 11:04 pm
I declare this blog the territory of the grand inquisitor Finklestine.

Your status is under threat due to your continue violations of the Brown/Conroy Luvvie Meeja Act of 2013.

Remember, we’re watching you all, and we are warning you don’t want to become part of the hate meeja, do you…

Token

6 Mar 12 at 11:05 pm
I further expanded the innersole story at the previous thread….

steve from brisbane

6 Mar 12 at 11:06 pm
Any danger of banning discussion of contraception? It’s turned catallaxy into a toilet.

Infidel Tiger

6 Mar 12 at 11:08 pm
@steve-the-cowardly-Liar®.

I read that …very interesting

JamesK

6 Mar 12 at 11:09 pm
I feel like we’re going to get in trouble for being in the thread too early.

m0nty

6 Mar 12 at 11:10 pm
And finally: the innersoles come in the shoe box, but are not pre-inserted in the shoe. Those people who don’t like them don’t have to use them. But we know that most will.

steve from brisbane

6 Mar 12 at 11:12 pm
It’s turned catallaxy into ~~a toilet.~~ Facebook

Gab

6 Mar 12 at 11:13 pm
Far out Steve. You are more boring than Bernie Fraser on Mogadon.

Infidel Tiger

6 Mar 12 at 11:13 pm
The Koch Brothers are in the process of destroying the Cato Institute, so libertarian luvvies have just lucked out.

Max Scream

6 Mar 12 at 11:14 pm
Steve

let me repeat my question from the defunct open thread:

WHY THE FUCK ARE SHOE COMPANIES FORCED TO DELIVER INNERSOLES TO GOLDMAN SACHS

Les Majesty

6 Mar 12 at 11:15 pm
Remember, we’re watching you all, and we are warning you don’t want to become part of the hate meeja, do you…

Become??

twostix

6 Mar 12 at 11:15 pm
What’s all this about inner soles?

Papachango

6 Mar 12 at 11:16 pm
Shorter SfB: My tribe has the upper hand, and you will all fucking well do as you’re told, untermensch!

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:17 pm
Oh god, don’t ask.

Les Majesty

6 Mar 12 at 11:18 pm
Brisbane, Brisbane uber alles!

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:18 pm
wreckage sure gets uptight about shoe accessories…

steve from brisbane

6 Mar 12 at 11:20 pm
libertarian luvvies have just lucked out.

“luvvies?”

Don’t try and steal our word loser.

twostix

6 Mar 12 at 11:20 pm
It’s like this, papachango. SfB wants everyone to have, and buy, innersoles. I fucking well don’t want his fucking innersoles. He’s cramming innersoles down my throat. That’s considered aggravated assault in 17 jurisdictions, and sexual assault in 12, but he doesn’t care.

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:20 pm
What’s all this about inner soles?

Free cheese! SfB never met a #freecheese he didn’t declare “Mmm… tasty!”

sdog

6 Mar 12 at 11:20 pm
I don’t want any fucking cheese!

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:21 pm
I haven’t even started on shoehorns yet…

steve from brisbane

6 Mar 12 at 11:22 pm
Steve from Brisbane – you are literally the dumbest person I have ever met.

.

6 Mar 12 at 11:23 pm
If pork was declared to prevent cancer, SfB would insist that there was no ethical, moral or legal issue with forcing Muslims and Jews to eat big, steaming ham-steaks for their own good.

He’s like a cross between dear old Nanny McState and that mad bitch from Misery.

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:25 pm
So your the inevitable lies you plan to tell about shoehorns are mindless and inane as well?

JamesK

6 Mar 12 at 11:25 pm
Words don’t belong to anyone, libertarian luvvies, they are the ultimate expression of libertarianism.

Max Scream

6 Mar 12 at 11:26 pm
No, he’s just saying that if shoehorns represent a net savings to health insurers, then ramming them up people’s rectum isn’t really sexual assault.

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:27 pm
Free speculums for all..there’s a thought.

steve from brisbane

6 Mar 12 at 11:28 pm
Words don’t belong to anyone, libertarian luvvies, they are the ultimate expression of libertarianism.

Geese don’t belong to anyone, grazing bovines, they are the dead flying quadrangle of yoghurt.

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:28 pm
Watched The Cup. Great movie. Very moving.

Also watched the DVD feature. Fantastic attention to detail. 50 horses were purchased for the film. Make-up ladies even worked to ensure all Cup runners had the the right spots and socks.

Casting mistakes. There were two.

Is there some law that Bill Hunter must appear in Australian movies. My God, he’s a bore. Totally wrong as Bart Cummings.

And Shaun Micallef as Lee Freedman. This was just hopeless. He came across as Lee Freeman under the mind control of a creepy stalker.

Four stars.

C.L.

6 Mar 12 at 11:30 pm
Gotta go, there’s some guy at the door delivering innersoles and shoehorns, and I think he’s leering at me.

wreckage

6 Mar 12 at 11:30 pm
Words don’t belong to anyone, libertarian luvvies, they are the ultimate expression of libertarianism.

“Libertarian luvvie” doesn’t even make sense but do continue if you think strapping on to the billion year old rights description of the left makes you seem clever.

twostix

6 Mar 12 at 11:31 pm
OMG, Barry is actually doing something…useful…

THE Sydney CBD’s controversial network of bike paths has hit a major road block – Premier Barry O’Farrell.

Declaring war on Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Mr O’Farrell will today announce new laws that will take away Ms Moore’s transport and traffic planning powers.

Under the changes, a joint state government-City of Sydney committee will manage the city’s transport issues.

Token

6 Mar 12 at 11:39 pm
Geese don’t belong to anyone, grazing bovines, they are the dead flying quadrangle of yoghurt.

Word.

sdog

6 Mar 12 at 11:40 pm
DRUDGE breaking…

WikiLeaks: Leaked: Bin Laden not buried at sea, body moved on CIA plane to US.

So Bird was right.

C.L.

6 Mar 12 at 11:41 pm
Apologies if this is a repeat, but in the interests of getting this blog raided by the thought police, just thought I would bring to attention this piece on The Fink

Lazlo

6 Mar 12 at 11:42 pm
The Australian has joined Henderson’s campaign against the ARC and submitted freedom of information requests about Manne’s grants, and Manne has in turn pointed to the nastiness of this campaign by the Libertarian luv-police state.

Max Scream

6 Mar 12 at 11:43 pm
Obama mega-donor calls women ‘boobs,’ ‘bimbos,’ ‘tw*t,’ ‘c*nt’.

Former White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, the man who runs Obama’s super PAC, did not reply when asked if he will be returning Maher’s $1 million donation.

C.L.

6 Mar 12 at 11:44 pm
Excellent. Thanks to Wikileaks there’ll be more murders. As if the backlash from accidental burning a couple of korans wasn’t enough to fuel their unreasonable and irrational hatred. Now this. Assange now has more blood on his hands.

Gab

6 Mar 12 at 11:45 pm
Well done Bazza! At last someone is taking on the car hating watermelons from City Hall.

Lazlo

6 Mar 12 at 11:46 pm
Sandra Fluke, Gender Reassignment, and Health Insurance

“The argument made in this article edited by Sandra Fluke and Karen Hu is quite clear. “Gender reassignment” is a medically necessary set of procedures that must be covered under employee provided health insurance policies. If it is not covered by those policies that is tantamount to discrimination and legal action should be taken against the employer.

So, as you can see, Sandra Fluke is not what she is being sold as. Instead she is a liberal activist pushing some rather radical ideas.”

JamesK

6 Mar 12 at 11:46 pm
Bad news for Goose, even Grattan is laying in the boot about his stuff ups:

In taking aim at high-profile mining giants, Swan has also managed to stir up a hornets’ nest that might have been better left alone.

The debate is back to the fraught issue of how Swan handled the announcement of the initial super profits mining tax, when the government responded to the Henry report in May 2010. In the wake of his Monthly essay Swan has found himself cross questioned about this. He insists he didn’t mislead the industry, but both the miners and former PM Kevin Rudd claim that the proposal was supposed to be in a much more generalised form than it appeared, allowing for more consultation.

Token

6 Mar 12 at 11:48 pm
Lazlo, thanks for the link.

Wow.

C.L.

6 Mar 12 at 11:49 pm
Wikileaks has been subject to vicious corporate censorship that no libertarian luvvy should support.

Max Scream

6 Mar 12 at 11:50 pm
…just thought I would bring to attention this piece on The Fink

Very interesting Laszlo, it looks like we’re in safe hands.

Token

6 Mar 12 at 11:53 pm
Wikileaks has been subject to vicious corporate censorship

WTF? Corporate censorship? Utter bollocks. Is there actually a mind behind this statement?

Lazlo

6 Mar 12 at 11:53 pm
Kathy Shaidle: “I’m just discovering Australia’s Joanne Nova now, via Mark Steyn” http://t.co/uMziD5Ja

sdog

6 Mar 12 at 11:53 pm
REPORT: Sandra Fluke argued for employers to cover sex changes.

LOL.

‘Free penises!’

‘Free penises for all!’

‘I’m going broke buying strap-ons!’

Nancy Pelosi phoned:

It’s time for free penises. This is a fundamental human right foreseen by the Founding Fathers. St Augustine also believed in free penises, as he made clear in De Civitate Mentula (City of Cocks).

C.L.

6 Mar 12 at 11:57 pm
Gingrich Schools Stephanopoulos: ‘I’ll Be Glad to Swap History Credentials With You’

Token

7 Mar 12 at 12:02 am
James Taranto, WSJ:

There seems to be wide agreement that the Sandra Fluke kerfuffle handed the left a major political victory. We respectfully dissent….

“While [an undergraduate] at Cornell, Fluke’s organized activities centered on the far-left feminist and gender equity movements. Fluke participated in rallies supporting abortion, protests against war in Iraq and efforts to recruit other womens’ [sic] rights activists to campus.” She even got a bachelor’s degree in something called “Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies…

In other words, the less you know about the ObamaCare mandate, the more likely you are to support it. Being informed of two salient facts–that it includes the morning-after pill and that it is imposed on religious institutions–is enough to sway just under 1 in 5 voters from support to opposition.

Catholics who attend church every week made up 12% of the electorate in 2008, according to exit polls. Those are the voters who are likely to be the best informed on this issue, and probably for whom it is most likely to change their vote”

Weekly Standard’s John McCormack:

“But Fluke’s testimony was very misleading. Birth control pills can be purchased for as low as $9 per month at a pharmacy near Georgetown’s campus. According to an employee at the pharmacy in Washington, D.C.’s Target store, the pharmacy sells birth control pills–the generic versions of Ortho Tri-Cyclen and Ortho-Cyclen–for $9 per month. “That’s the price without insurance,” the Target employee said. Nine dollars is less than the price of two beers at a Georgetown bar.

It strains credulity to believe that a single Georgetown student can’t afford $9 per month for birth control. But this is the justification the mandate’s supporters give for forcing religious institutions to purchase insurance that violates their religious and moral convictions.”

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 12:02 am
She’s a lying slapper and Obama zombie.

It’s that simple.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 12:05 am
As opposed to a mad lying monk and the Bushy bitch?

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 12:07 am
“Gender reassignment” is a medically necessary set of procedures that must be covered under employee provided health insurance policies.

And people complain that the price of health insurance is going up?

You used to be able to buy a bare-bones policy that basically just covered catastrophic MEDICAL events.

The Obamacare mandates are killing that option dead.

So much for “choice.”

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
Thanks for the link, Lazlo.

This is a man who tried to hear his own case which was before the court. It does not get much worse than that.

Justice Finkelstein was eventually forced to stop hearing the case because not only did he have a financial interest in the case but he was in fact one of the parties to the class action against a company called Centro Properties via his own private super fund.

The Fink retired as a Federal Court of Australia judge on June 30, 2011 and has recently been appointed to head up an inquiry into the Australian Media focusing on codes of conduct for both print and online.

A crook and a shyster hand picked by the known liar Gillard to head up an inquiry targeting Murdoch press because it reports the unflattering truth about the incompetent and dishonest government and health union.

That about sum up the leeches now jackbooting on our democracy? Clear enough yet for those dumbass voters who still “think” that Gillard et al deserve to be running this country?

Absolutely shameful. They should be tarred and feathered and run out of the country in shame.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
As opposed to a mad lying monk and the Bushy bitch?

It would be prudent for the left to never mention “lying” or people being “liars” in relation to Australian politics ever again.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 12:16 am
Breaking news from Simon at ACM! The constitution protects the Cat and the Billabong.

The ex labor lawyer and the Canberra Tech guy, along with Brown and the lying slapper, will just have to fuck off.

Lazlo

7 Mar 12 at 12:17 am
Should Obama Return bill Maher’s $1M campaign donation?

Limabugh has admitted and apologised his mistake.

Kirsten Powers in the Daily Beast:

Rush Limbaugh Isn’t the Only Media Misogynist:

MSNB’s Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut.”

Keith Olbermann who works for Al Gore at Current TV, has said that conservative commentator S.E. Cupp should have been aborted by her parentsand he described Michelle Malkin a “mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick.”

Bill Maher has never acknowledged he crossed the line by calling Sarah Palin a c—t and a “dumb twat”.

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 12:17 am
The Austuermer is a newspaper antithetical to every democratic principle.

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 12:17 am
Thanks for that link, Lazlo – what an interesting read.

Should we start a book on how long it’ll be before the kangaroocourtofaustralia.com blog gets shut down by the State?

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 12:19 am
Greece may need more help: Austrian chancellor

Greece’s second bailout may prove insufficient and a topping up of the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund cannot be ruled out, the Austrian Chancellor was quoted as saying in a newspaper on Sunday.

“I would not trust anyone who says that (the help) for Greece is enough,” Werner Faymann said in an interview with Austrian paper Oesterreich. “For Greece it depends on whether they can stick to these measures over several elections.”

He also did not rule out extending the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), saying it “may be necessary.”

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
One question that must be asked immediately is why the submission is omitted from the list on the Inquiry web site.

we know the answer to that, Lazlo. Same reason as all the submissions to the Climate Caper Council questioning climate alarmism were never taken as submissions.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
I actually wish more dress shoes were designed to take innersoles, since I got plantar fasciitis I have to wear orthoses all the time now. None of the stylish dress shoes are compatible with the damn things!

Jeremiah

7 Mar 12 at 12:21 am
Should we start a book on how long it’ll be before the kangaroocourtofaustralia.com blog gets shut down by the State?

Darn! Should not have published link to ACM. Otherwise could have taken you for $mega on ‘never’.

Lazlo

7 Mar 12 at 12:23 am
Lazlo if you don’t pass those two articles onto Bolt, then I will.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:26 am
#

Breaking news from Simon at ACM! The constitution protects the Cat and the Billabong.

The ex labor lawyer and the Canberra Tech guy, along with Brown and the lying slapper, will just have to fuck off.

Dont’ get too excited:

“Doubtful that it extends to the regulation of the creators of content such as individual bloggers” – this means that if Finkelstein’s regime were to be enacted, it would have to place the burden on ISPs to censor content from blogs which fell foul of the regulatory framework, since there would be no power to act against the blogs themselves (unless they were corporations, and let’s face it, few are).

Hello NBN.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 12:27 am
Arizona Sherrif’s investigation finds Obama birth certificate a fraud manufactured on a computer, and selective service record a bad forgery. Says there is probable cause for fraud and forgery charges. The video evidence is damning

Biggest scandal since Watergate?

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 12:27 am
Zero tolerance for misogyny: in breaking news, Obama is setting an example…

Bill Clinton to Join Obama at Campaign Fundraisers.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 12:28 am
“Constitution? I spit on your steenkin’ Constitution.”

Hey. If Barry can do it, why not the Finkster?

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 12:28 am
American Spedtator:
Volt Sleeps With the Fishes

It might as well have been a Trabant.

GM has just announced it will be idling the plant (and the 1,300 workers at that plant) where the “game changing” Chevy Volt electric car is — uh, was — built. GM says it’s only temporary — until they figure out how to “align production with demand.”

It could be a long wait for those workers.

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 12:29 am
I seriously doubt or High Court will uphold our right to freedom of expression.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 12:31 am
Hello NBN.

Sure, and that will get them back into internet filtering territory. Except this time it won’t be kiddie porn. We’ll see how the brave defenders of freedom like wikileaks and anonymous go with that.

Lazlo

7 Mar 12 at 12:33 am
Ed Driscoll, PJ Media:

Flukeaquiddick Update

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 12:34 am
I seriously doubt or High Court will uphold our right to freedom of expression.

I was considering this morning that the high court is so pathetic that it may as well not even exist.

In circumstances like this the yanks are pretty confident that their supreme court will more or less protect them from the worst excesses of the government, even if it does make up “rights” every now and then. Ours seems to go out of its way to advance the governments cause and then some.

High Court judges should be appointed by the state governments.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 12:36 am
Go for it Gab..

Lazlo

7 Mar 12 at 12:36 am
Done, Lazlo. Have attributed to you, although I doubt very much that Bolt will be able to publish it. His lawyers may get a tad worried about it all.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
Sometime ago I read the high court judgement on the ex Townville copper who won the freedom of speech case in the high court. I can’t see how this report fits into that decision. However the right to freedom of speech ismimplied, not explicit. My concern is that with a left leaning high court, what the court has given, the court can take away.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 12:44 am
If this is true, and I can’t seem to find anything that confirms it is true, then its all over not just for Greece but for a lot of Europe.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 12:47 am
Bolt:

Gina drops in on her newspapers. Can I be far behind?

I think I should announce I have an appointment at The Age tomorrow. Can’t say too much.

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 12:48 am
we know the answer to that, Lazlo. Same reason as all the submissions to the Climate Caper Council questioning climate alarmism were never taken as submissions.

Yes Gab, here’s the evidence. Just to remind everyone of the bunch of lying megalomaniacs currently in charge.

Lazlo

7 Mar 12 at 12:49 am
Heh. A delightfully irreverent post by Bolt, who also adds

I think I should announce I have an appointment at The Age tomorrow. Can’t say too much.

Gina pops into Failfacts Media offices.
Pink slips, table for about six.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/gina_drops_in_on_her_newspapers_can_i_be_far_behind/

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:50 am
John C

I’m not sure I’d agree with the last comment. Combine the implied right to free speech and the limits imposed on the Commonwealth in terms of regulating bloggers, those totalitarian turds may find it next to impossible to restrict people, as I think the High Court won’t go for it.

There’s also another point to consider. This attempt at silencing the media hasn’t hit home to the average voter yet. Assume they try and go through this and it goes to the High Court that the government will be trying to limit free speech by defending against a challenge. The average voter will begin to wake up to what they are really trying to do. This won’t sit well politically one bit.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 12:50 am
Snap, James.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:51 am
Is he just stirring Gab?

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 12:53 am
JC, I hope you are right. But I think the HC will only defer if there is a really strong campaign against it. That will require a liberal party led fight. This is where I get nervous.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 12:55 am
We’ll have to wait and see, James

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:55 am
It’s one thing for Bolt to become an editor, an entirely different thing to hire more conservative scribblers, who exist in very small numbers. I am available! Lol. Ther should be a set of the cat round up inmate Bolt led Age. He is probably teasing.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:00 am
If this is true I’m getting the mobile suicide hotline unit out of the garage and parking it in front of the Spencer Street Soviet tomorrow. I could be very busy.

This is the time we need to pull together as I may need some help.

Gab.. you’ll be manning the phones

James, if someone needs reviving you’ll have to get the peddles out. And no you won’t be allowed to bring any medication with you that chemically induces comas.

I will be conducting counseling sessions in the padded cell attached to the unit.

All systems go for this one.

Get some rest as we could be really busy please.

Hang on there’s a call already

… ring ring, ring ring…

Hello JC’s AGE suicide hotline for Age leftie idiots, can i help you?

” Hi JC, Michelle here, I think I’m having a heart attack”

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:02 am
Campbell Newman in trouble in Ashgrove. According to a courier mail web poll the lies about his business dealings are hurting him most. Mind you Campbell and the Libs won’t fight back by branding the ALP the corrupt liars that they are.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:04 am
Mother Theresa would be proud of you, JC.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:05 am
Wikileaks: Bin Laden not buried at sea, body moved on CIA plane to US

The body of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was not buried at sea, according to leaked emails of intelligence firm Stratfor, as revealed by WikiLeaks.

Stratfor’s vice-president for intelligence, Fred Burton, believes the body was “bound for Dover, [Delaware] on [a] CIA plane” and then “onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda [Maryland],” an email says.

The official version is that the body of Al-Qaeda’s top man, who was killed by a US raid in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, was buried at an undisclosed location at sea in a proper Muslim ceremony.

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 1:06 am
I don’t think he’d stir like that James. It’s highly unprofessional and he’s also Dutch don’t forget. If people think the Swiss have no sense of humor, they ought to try the Dutch.

He wouldn’t try this shit on.

He’s also said in the past that he’s been approached a few times and wouldn’t go there unless they made wholesale changes.

My guess is that it’s over for the leftwing trollopes and he’s going in as editor. They also realize that there will be furious opposition and are prepared to see all the fuckers leave.

This is their last chance at survival.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:07 am
Make sure you webcam your charitable work JC. Could be good to watch for posterity.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:07 am
Sorry JC, will have to pass. Still cleaning up the exploded brain cells on the glass at Pyrmont. I think some of them are David Marr. Not sure, because he represents such a small sample.

Lazlo

7 Mar 12 at 1:09 am
Gab.. you’ll be manning the phones

Womanning the phones, please.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:09 am
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha

If this is true as I think it is, it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

The fear and loathing ought to be caught on camera as this is a seminal moment.

If those idiots are going to leave as a result, there will always be Crikey where they pay writers 100 bucks a piece.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:09 am
It will be fun if Bolt goes to the Age as Ed. Then there will be some blowback against the ALP freedom of speech laws.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:09 am
Here is a picture of a baby sloth wearing pajamas.

Just because.

You’re welcome.

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 1:14 am
JC you ignorant slut. You broke the page.

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 1:15 am
It will be fun if Bolt goes to the Age as Ed. Then there will be some blowback against the ALP freedom of speech laws.

this is what I always thought what heaven and hell is like. It could actually be the same place. Heaven is Bolt as editor of the Age and hell is all those deadend lefties working for him and no place to go.

Weren’t we joking about this shit last week where we painted a picture of David Marr getting coffee for Bolt.

” Hey David, run down the street and get me a short macchiato. And hurry up as I’m due in a meeting in 10 mins”.

I’m laughing so much my sides are splitting.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:15 am
Dog.. take it easy. It’s a special evening.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:18 am
Michelle Grattan , phil Coorey, Hartcher, Gittins, Lenore Taylor, The bimbo airhead economics writer all gorn.

is it too much to hope for?

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 1:19 am
Why are you calling Saint JC a slut, Spot?

If the answer has anything at all to do with Steve, then don’t bother replying. Ta

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:19 am
Bolt editor, Bunyip & Imre senior writers. Heaven.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:22 am
The New American

Leaked E-mails Suggest bin Laden Not Buried at Sea

According to the official version of events promulgated by the Obama administration, after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden, his body was flown to Afghanistan for identification and then buried in the Arabian Sea about 12 hours after his death, supposedly in keeping with Islamic ritual. However, internal e-mails from intelligence service Stratfor, obtained by the hacker group Anonymous and posted to the Internet by WikiLeaks, cast doubt on that story.

Austin, Texas-based Stratfor is a very well-connected organization described by WikiLeaks as “a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.” The company’s vice president for intelligence, Fred Burton, a highly experienced counterterrorism expert with many contacts in the U.S. government, was the originator of most of the e-mails concerning the disposition of bin Laden’s body in the hours after his death.

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 1:23 am
My gott, The Age turned over by a catallaxative!

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 1:23 am
Michelle Grattan , phil Coorey, Hartcher, Gittins, Lenore Taylor, The bimbo airhead economics writer all gorn.

is it too much to hope for?

hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha

Crikey’s changed their price for pieces. It’s now 38 bucks.

Can you imagine.

Gittins is a goner … he’d be the first to go.

Taylor.. gone

Betty Farrelly gonsky.

That idiot doing economics.. gone.

Michell G.. out the door.

This is like Thursday night footy line up.

Here’s my outside guess as to who may take the forward line.

I reckon Bunyip is also going there two in a short while.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:24 am
Should rename your moniker Max Whimper.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:25 am
oops too…

Bolt editor, Bunyip & Imre senior writers. Heaven.

Don’t be shocked, Gab. If he’s editor it’s going to happen and he’ll have two years to turn it around too.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:26 am
This could send Hamster the terminator over the edge once he hears this.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:27 am
I know right-wingers have trouble understanding humour but surely some of you must find these ‘Fight The Tories’ posters made by a commenter on Frank’s blog pretty funny:

http://afrankview.net/2012/03/australias-beautiful-inspiring-set-of-numbers-bisons/comment-page-3/#comment-6286

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 1:28 am
Why do I care about “fight the Tories”? They’re were in England weren’t they? Who gives a toss?

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:31 am
I can’t wait for the announcement. You guys are getting me all worked up, I can’t sleep. I might need a Whisky sedative to celebrate!

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:31 am
LOLDouche, we have no trouble with humor. It’s you I’m worried about.

Are you going to start posting the Age circulation stats each Monday as well?

Must be hurting right? You loser.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:32 am
John C I would give 100G to the Age if I was allowed to attend the next 3 months editorial meetings. I’d write a cheque tomorrow and give it to them.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:34 am
Hilarious la Rouche, just hilarious. Now where will insider go to get it’s stable of lefty idiots for its Sunday panel if Bolt and Reinhart sack everyone at the Age and SMH?

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:37 am
Swan on ABC1′s Lateline on Monday:

THE fact is that millions and millions of dollars were spent in the last couple of years arguing for the self-interest of a very small number of people . . . And, of course, it’s their influence in the media as well . . . The skiting from John Singleton about how people in radio stations conduct overt and covert campaigns against the government.

Ray Hadley on 2GB yesterday:

THERE’S nothing covert about my campaign, Mr Swan. You’re a 24-carat, rolled-gold dill.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:38 am
Because I didn’t want Steve to be thinking he was special, Gabs.

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 1:38 am
Can I carry the cheque in for the first meeting. Would be a hoot.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:38 am
Spot, ya gotta stop reading junk mail. Steve will bore you into a come.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:40 am
coma

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:40 am
Like your Swanicker Gab

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:42 am
It would be a freaking scream to watch. I’m not sure how laughing hysterically and sniggering would be taken though. Oh and I’d also want to be in the meetings with the new editor.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:42 am
Nice. John. I like that.

—–

I reckon Bolt couldn’t keep a straight face. He’d be grinning from ear to ear.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:45 am
Hilarious la Rouche, just hilarious. Now where will insider go to get it’s stable of lefty idiots for its Sunday panel if Bolt and Reinhart sack everyone at the Age and SMH?

Huh? Bolt works for Ltd News doesn’t he?

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 1:45 am
In the immortal words of Commodus – let the games commence. More importantly is this the first institution taken back by the right?

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:45 am
A lot of Fairfaxians are going to be having a sleepless night tonight.

GIIIIINNNNNAAAAA!

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 1:45 am
Keep up La R….

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 1:47 am
A lot of Fairfaxians are going to be having a sleepless night tonight.

Not if they’re well tranquillized which I’m sure they are.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:47 am
It would be a freaking scream to watch.

Can we not send them a trojan that’ll turn their laptop/iPad webcams on remotely, and then broadcast it via LivLeak?

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 1:47 am
Lol Douche… you’re a fucking slow idiot. get to the back of the class.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:47 am
*LiveLeak*

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 1:48 am
Can we not send them a trojan that’ll turn their laptop/iPad webcams on remotely, and then broadcast it via LivLeak?

Oh yea, great idea. Why should I be the only one to enjoy the next 3 months.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:48 am
Bolt ed, Bunyip & Imre seniors….and CL takes over Bolt’s blog.

Nice.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:48 am
Few enough people read the AGE as it is, but to reduce its readership to the size of a toilet full of catallaxatives?

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 1:50 am
Shorter Max:

“Help me! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!”

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 1:51 am
Bolt ed, Bunyip & Imre seniors….and CL takes over Bolt’s blog.

Here’s the line up…

Bunyip in charge of the newsroom and Sunday Age

Imre… political reporting in charge of Canberra too.

CL editorial page.

All with the ability to hire and fire.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:51 am
Max

You still haven’t change your moniker. Max Whimper as I said before. If you don’t like that then use Max Yelp.

Befitting.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:51 am
Gab is an anagram of bag as in grab bag of nonsense, no doubt!

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 1:54 am
Sharp as sponge, max. Ooooh.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:55 am
I don’t know what rumours you lot are beating off to but as I understand it Reinhart only has a small share in Fairfax, yeah?

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 1:57 am
Max, seriously fuck off. You’re not mentally well enough to be posting at any blogs.

You’re not funny, you’re not pithy and you have nothing to add.

Are you posting from a mental ward or are you in mental hospital at home?

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:58 am
GM says it’s only temporary — until they figure out how to “align production with demand.”

Here’s how to align production with demand: employ two blokes to hand-build 3 a year.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 1:59 am
Imagine what’s in their CV. They will have to update them.

2009-2012 Political Editor The Age

Whilst employed in this senior role I was an integral part of a dynamic team that was professionally recognized as the benchmark for the industry. Our team helped turn a struggling business into a terminal one. As a result of this turn around the share price fell so far that Australia’s richest woman could take a significant stake in the failing business for a bargain price and institute real change to attract greater revenues. It is highly unlikely that any of this would have happened but for the performance of the team I led.
Over this period I was widely read and highly regarded for my ability to consistently forecast events. Usually the pundits would take my views and reverse them in order to accurately predict the future. During my tenure in this appointment I was able to perfect the art of blaming Tony Abbot for everything.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 2:00 am
I don’t know what rumours you lot are beating off to but as I understand it Reinhart only has a small share in Fairfax, yeah?

Small as in what, dagwood. A relatively small amount of money for her? yea.

A small number of shares? Dickhead, she’s the biggest shareholder and the board has welcomed her investment. You really are a fucking imbecile and no wonder Centrelink can’t find you a job.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:00 am
Yes, she has a small share holding but a large wallet ready to buy all the honest journalism that she can easily afford.

Apppointment at the Age – We’ll Gina already got him the gig at ten, so, who knows, wall to wall libertarian luvvies.

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 2:01 am
Alan Kohler:

It’s true that 10 per cent of the Ten Network got her on the board, and the sudden appearance of a Sunday morning TV show by her favourite columnist, Andrew Bolt, is often cited as evidence of her influence

So what will 13% buy her?

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 2:04 am
Max, Bolt has categorically denied Gina got him the gig at Ten. Apparently done before she turned up. Pity though, the torment of conspiracy would send you insane.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 2:05 am
What Maxwell is really saying is:

The envelope was left open and the dog ate the possum in the tree by using the tractor to plough the lawn with eggs. And when the fridge door was left open the meat left in the bottle spilled all over the bathroom floor leaving the shelter open for hire.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:05 am
Wow. You’ve gotta be quick around here.

Just noticed Bolt’s mischievous reference re Boltfax – I mean, Fairfax – and it’s already been dragged back to the Cat lair and toyed with like a ball of cotton.

If I have employing powers, I might put Bird on as climate change roundsman.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 2:05 am
This site gets so many hits, it needs ads… just sayin’!

Fleeced

7 Mar 12 at 2:06 am
Small as in what, dagwood. A relatively small amount of money for her? yea.

A small number of shares? Dickhead, she’s the biggest shareholder and the board has welcomed her investment. You really are a fucking imbecile and no wonder Centrelink can’t find you a job.

12.6% you moron.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:06 am
If I have employing powers, I might put Bird on as climate change roundsman.

And Peter Pattan in charge of the education supplement.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:08 am
Apppointment at the Age – We’ll Gina already got him the gig at ten, so, who knows, wall to wall libertarian luvvies.

Actually it was Murdoch, another one of his genius moves at Ten!

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:08 am
La Rouche, size is relative as in 12.6% is big if the next biggest shareholder is 5%, the company is bleeding red ink and you’ve promised to drop in a lazy $50 mil or something. Or put it another way you have a large brain, high IQ and massive intellect compared to a 3 year old. It’s all relative!

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 2:11 am
Am still enjoying the

What Maxwell is really saying

serial.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:11 am
Michael West may be right – we’ll see tomorrow perhaps:

Most of the talk around the Fairfax share raid has centred around a board seat. But Gina Rinehart’s more likely course of action would be to march into chairman Roger Corbett’s office with a deal to swap her Fairfax shares for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.

That’s right; a share cancellation for three newspapers and their digital operations. The price and the outcome of such a deal might come down to how Fairfax’s institutional shareholders view the value of the major mastheads in driving internet traffic to transactional businesses such as RSVP and Domain.

Any row over a board seat would merely be negotiating leverage for mining magnate Rinehart. Her prize is the two metro mastheads and the monopoly financial daily whose value, these days, is more strategic than financial.

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 2:11 am
LolDouche:

she’s the largest shareholder with deep pockets. They have a round of financing of around $500 million coming up with the banks and there’s also a bond issue of around $600 million that matures.

They are fucked.

The Board has to suck up to her. They have no choice.

Lastly since when is 13% of the stock issue a small amount, you fucking unemployed centrelink reject?

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:11 am
On an unrelated topic – I just re-watched eps IV and V of Star Wars…

Should I go straight to ep VI, or watch II and III first? There is a good argument for the latter. (Ep I is standalone and not required… and frankly, best avoided)

Fleeced

7 Mar 12 at 2:12 am
And that folks is why Gina’s the billionaire and Max Yelp is not.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:13 am
Fleeced you should go to bed

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 2:14 am
Fleeced, what’s the hit count. Where did you get it?

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:14 am
Was never into Star Wars, Fleeced. Sorry, can’t help.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:14 am
Nor I Gab. People don’t believe me when I tell them that I have never seen any of them.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 2:16 am
Remember Kerry’s stake in Fairfax:

Kerry Packer had a similar stake in Fairfax for much of the 1990s, but, apart from scaring the pants off several Fairfax journalists whom he was keen to sack, it never really changed how the paper was run, and he eventually sold out.

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 2:16 am
I’m not that radical, John. Saw the first two and gave up after that. But I did enjoy Star Trek movies & various series.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:18 am
La Rouche, size is relative as in 12.6% is big if the next biggest shareholder is 5%, the company is bleeding red ink and you’ve promised to drop in a lazy $50 mil or something. Or put it another way you have a large brain, high IQ and massive intellect compared to a 3 year old. It’s all relative!

Once again mate 12.6%.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:18 am
Difference between then and now is profit and less debt. They are significant drivers

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 2:18 am
On an unrelated topic – I just re-watched eps IV and V of Star Wars…

Should I go straight to ep VI, or watch II and III first? There is a good argument for the latter. (Ep I is standalone and not required… and frankly, best avoided)

If you like Star Wars you should check out that link from A Frank View I provided earlier.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:20 am
Maxweel..

Packer was never worth $20 billion you abject moron. Furthermore Bill Gates advised him to stay away from newspapers as the electronic side was going to kill their rivers of gold. Lastly it was never this cheap as a result of the leftwing takeoever making it essentially unreadable.

Ps. You’re stupider than loldouche.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:20 am
La Rouch,

Murdoch owns in the teens of News shares if my memory serves me correct.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 2:20 am
Once again mate 12.6%.

What a complete blockhead. It’s like reading a novel to a pet dog.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:22 am
New advertised price by Crikey to publish new articles has fallen again to $7 apiece.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:26 am
La Rouch,

Murdoch owns in the teens of News shares if my memory serves me correct.

I think the Murdoch’s own about 29% of News Corp in which Rupert is the CEO of his daddy’s company.

Bit of a difference to Gina buying into Fairfax.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:27 am
If she takes over Fairfax she can always give it away for free as no on will buy it.

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 2:28 am
Was never into Star Wars, Fleeced. Sorry, can’t help

Bloody women!

Fleeced

7 Mar 12 at 2:30 am
New advertised price by Crikey to publish new articles has fallen again to $7 apiece.

I’ve forgotten the exact figure Crikey pays but it’s decent but certainly not the kind of money The Monthly pays.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:33 am
Fuck you are a dickhead, Douchballs. You’re as thick as the thickest granite.

This is a starting point for her and she’s the biggest shareholder. Furthermore there is no confidence in the stock as it’s fallen below her average purchase price. Other stock holders are worried and there are no new players on the horizon.

In other words she’s the only player around in that stock and they have financing to get through which the banks the bond markets won’t roll. So she could end up getting the majority ownerhsip perhaps even as low as 40 cents a share if they have to do a crushing stock issue.

No wonder, you’re a miserable fuck. Rather than getting interested in something like bottle washing or toilet cleaning (matching your acumen), instead you attempt things that are impossible for you to even remotely understand.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:35 am
Fleeced, what’s the hit count. Where did you get it?

Don’t have it, JC – was basing it on this comment, from the DoomLord:

I expect the 5,000,000 page view (since the last reboot) to occur sometime tomorrow. Thank you all for visiting and making the Cat a lively place.

Fleeced

7 Mar 12 at 2:37 am
I’ve forgotten the exact figure Crikey pays but it’s decent but certainly not the kind of money The Monthly pays.

You understand some of these people at the Age are on 250,000 a year. There’s no way in hell they could ever achieve that sort of money. They’re never going close to ever achieving that sort of comp from anyone.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:37 am
Netanyahu again schools Obama. Lessons don’t come much simpler or more profound than this.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 2:38 am
You understand some of these people at the Age are on 250,000 a year. There’s no way in hell they could ever achieve that sort of money. They’re never going close to ever achieving that sort of comp from anyone.

Glenn Milne was on $250K a year at The Australian, a paper that loses money hand over fist.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:40 am
He had to do that last time he was in Washington. Bib must get fed up having to continually educate the former community organizer.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:42 am
Netanyahu is a pathological liar.

On that France and America agree.

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 2:42 am
Crikey pay 0-$200 per article (The Punch pays 0), The Monthly pays $1 a word to freelancers which is top shelf stuff.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/contentmakers/2010/02/08/what-are-freelancers-paid-the-complete-data-so-far/

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:43 am
I loved Star Trek and Voyager.

Star Wars, no.

I always liked Kathryn Janeway. I felt for her being alone on the lost voyage and thought it would be nice to take care of her after her long days at the bridge.

Slim pickings for her, it was.

Actress Kate Mulgrew is also nice – a devout Irish-Catholic and dedicated pro-lifer. Surprising they didn’t run her out of Los Angeles.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 2:44 am
Glenn Milne was on $250K a year at The Australian, a paper that loses money hand over fist.

Okay and the point is what eggsactly.

Focus please. We’re talking about The Age. If our hunch is right and Bolt is going over to the Spencer Street Soviet because the leftwing have essentially destroyed the masthead… and they have actually.. He will be doing several things. He will be changing content and changing content will mean that a large number of those leftwing, greens party voting carcasses will be summarily fired. If they are fired where are they going to earn that 250K they were comped at The Aged?

and most likely Milne will be hired by the Age to be the Canberra political reporter replacing Mich Grattan

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:45 am
Must be desperate to up their page view numbers if larry keeps posting Crickey links here.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:46 am
Drudge has taken down that Osama “leak” now.

Ann Althouse, in an update:

fleetusa said: “This is no longer on Drudge. Error? Internet Mischief?” I original got to the story I linked to through Drudge. It was the top story at Drudge an hour ago, with a photo of bin Laden. I wonder if someone in the administration asked/pressured Drudge to take it down. It is harmful to American interests. I wouldn’t have posted if it hadn’t been so conspicuously proclaimed on Drudge.

So what’s that all about then?

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 2:47 am
Kate was great in Voyager. But Jean-Luc was my favourite.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:48 am
Crikey pay 0-$200 per article (The Punch pays 0), The Monthly pays $1 a word to freelancers which is top shelf stuff.

Okay… so to earn 250K a year off Crikey Mich Grattan say will have to write 5 pieces a day every day, no holidays 250 days a year. Good luck

The Monthly is monthly so they are going to be earning less, even if their pieces were picked up.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:49 am
The Daily Mail is still carrying the story, Spot.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 2:53 am
I think Bolt’s Fairfax visit is about a new radio gig, isn’t it? He flagged a new broadcasting position last week.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 2:54 am
The Age could hand out free iron ore now to get people to buy its boltshit.

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 2:56 am
Okay and the point is what eggsactly.

Focus please. We’re talking about The Age. If our hunch is right and Bolt is going over to the Spencer Street Soviet because the leftwing have essentially destroyed the masthead… and they have actually.. He will be doing several things. He will be changing content and changing content will mean that a large number of those leftwing, greens party voting carcasses will be summarily fired. If they are fired where are they going to earn that 250K they were comped at The Aged?

and most likely Milne will be hired by the Age to be the Canberra political reporter replacing Mich Grattan

Bolt in a position to fire people at Fairfax, where the hell did you hear this shit?

The guy can barely write an article without a factual error in it, no one watches his TV show and the radio station he was regularly on just got axed and you think Fairfax would put this guy in charge or hiring & firing people? Please.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 2:56 am
In truth, the linked story from DRUDGE didn’t have much muscle. It was basically a private intell bloke saying (in an email), ‘oh sure, they threw him out of a chopper… Riiight.’

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 2:56 am
Bolt in a position to fire people at Fairfax, where the hell did you hear this shit?

I’ve already said, dickhead. He’s mentioned a few times he’d been approached and always turned them back.

If he’s going as he’s alluding to on his blog it would have to be on his own terms.

The guy can barely write an article without a factual error in it, no one watches his TV show and the radio station he was regularly on just got axed and you think Fairfax would put this guy in charge or hiring & firing people? Please.

Okay, wait until tomorrow and see what he has in store.

Check it out after the centrelink appointment, you’ve got. Have a valium near you.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 3:00 am
I’m just suss about that Osama story, is all. Not that it won’t still do some damage whether it’s true or not. When has that stopped Muslims from going all shouty-stabby-’splodey? A baseless rumor is as good as the real thing.

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 3:00 am
I think Bolt’s Fairfax visit is about a new radio gig, isn’t it? He flagged a new broadcasting position last week.

Could be. We don’t know yet.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 3:01 am
The UK’s Mirror and Telegraph were carrying the story…but I can’t link to them now. (Could just by at my end though).

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 3:02 am
I hope Bolt does get back on radio. You know it was only late last year I started to listen to him and Price. I only got interested becuase the Lefties on hear kept rubbishing his radio spot.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 3:06 am
I don’t think it’s radio as this is too specific.

I think I should announce I have an appointment at The Age tomorrow. Can’t say too much.

If it was Fairfax radio he wouldn’t mention the Aged. he would have said Fairfax.

Perhaps the radio thing was a smokescreen to stop any speculation if he was seen with Fairfax people in public.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 3:08 am
Could be. We don’t know yet.

Don’t let that stop you! lol

“So everyone who is Andy going to fire at Fairfax??”

JC you don’t even realise you’re worth the price of admission.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 3:10 am
I hope Bolt does get back on radio. You know it was only late last year I started to listen to him and Price. I only got interested becuase the Lefties on hear kept rubbishing his radio spot.

That sums up right-wingers right there, fueled by negativity.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 3:12 am
You forgot to blame Tony Abbott, Larry.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 3:14 am
Perhaps the radio thing was a smokescreen to stop any speculation if he was seen with Fairfax people in public.

Detective JC on the loose. Let me know if Bolta is spotted with PM Costello lol

UPDATE 2:

Actually, it’s right of both. Costello isn’t stirring any of this, but is ready to lead. He’ll be prime minister tomorrow.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2012/03/05/finished-bolt-should-resign/

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 3:15 am
You forgot to blame Tony Abbott, Larry.

Que?

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 3:17 am
Doucheballs.

You saunder in here knwoing nothing and you leave knowing nothing. No wonder centrelink can’t find you a job.

We don’t know yet, you fucking moron because, as we said at the beginning of the thread we’re speculating about what it is.

CL suggested it could be a radio gig, however on second thoughts after reading his comment again, it specifically mentions the Age, so if it was a radio gig it would be unlikely he would mention the Aged by name. He might, but it would be inaccurate.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 3:17 am
Do the PP Boyz understand that Bolt is not a public servant or government employee of any kind, Larry?

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 3:17 am
Do the PP Boyz understand that Bolt is not a public servant or government employee of any kind, Larry?

No. Snarly Sear and the rest of the ant colony there don’t understand the difference.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 3:19 am
Besides, what would they do with themselves if they did manage to attain their dream of silencing him? He’s been their raison d’etre for years now. Without Bolt, what becomes of those who have devoted most of their adult lives to obsessing over him?

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 3:20 am
Without Bolt, what becomes of those who have devoted most of their adult lives to obsessing over him?

Doucheballs too.

He used to post the Sunday morning ratings here each Monday afternoon. He lives for bolt.

He owns that entire ant colony.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 3:22 am
Bless.

They’ll give Clover ideas.

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 3:32 am
Besides, what would they do with themselves if they did manage to attain their dream of silencing him? He’s been their raison d’etre for years now. Without Bolt, what becomes of those who have devoted most of their adult lives to obsessing over him?

Now we’re getting somewhere.

I’ve never understood the borderline obsession some from the Left have with Bolt. Obviously I’ve talked about him a bit on here for a bit of cage-rattling but what is the fascination with him? He’s just another right-wing himbo who exists for no other reason than to try and stir up the Left.

He’s a professional troll, I’m sure he sits back and has a laugh at the idiotic stuff he says that makes the freaks on his blog cream themselves and ties certain sections of the Left in knots. It’s been noted before privately he doesn’t really have much in the way of convictions but saw an opportunity to corner the far-right Oz market ala Glenn Beck. He’s made plenty of money and crafted a big profile just from peddling his slime.

The Pure Poison guys old blog was The Blair/Bolt Watch Project, 90% focused on Bolt (I’ve never heard of Tim Blair either) which is why I never bothered with it. Pure Poison is much better because they open it up to focus on all the garbage in the newspapers rather than just Bolt.

LaRouchite

7 Mar 12 at 3:36 am
The entire premise of Voyager was retarded. Worrying about violating the prime directive in order to get home instantly when not doing so means that the borg will likely destroy the universe seems a little too precautionary if you ask me.

The Starfleet/Marquis dynamic saved the show.

Yobbo

7 Mar 12 at 3:40 am
I’ve never understood the borderline obsession some from the Left have with Bolt.

Dickhead. It’s 90% of what you talk about when you show up here in between your centrelink appointments.

Ask anyone here at random as what your biggest obsession is and see what they say. You really are an eggnog.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 3:43 am
No Kidding, just tell these scumbags to fuck right off.

A WORLD Heritage mission wants tough new environmental conditions placed on coal and gas port expansion applications, pending the outcome of a strategic review into the combined threat they pose to the Great Barrier Reef.

Developers could be forced to accept new “precautionary” environmental rules or withdraw their applications and resubmit them when the strategic review has been completed in 18 months.

The co-ordinator of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre’s marine program, Fanny Douvere, yesterday declared that the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world’s most important environmental assets, was “at a crossroads”.

She praised Australia’s past environmental management of the reef but said the alarm had been raised over expansion plans that could result in a fivefold increase in Queensland coal exports and shipping numbers within a decade.

Decisions made in the next three years could determine the health of the Great Barrier Reef for generations to come, Ms Douvere said.

Lying turds. the export poses absolutely no concern to that bunch of rocks and they suggest we ought to curtail our exports.

amazing.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/curb-coal-gas-to-save-great-barrier-reef-un/story-e6frg8y6-1226291267250

JC

7 Mar 12 at 4:11 am
WikiLeaks: Leaked: Bin Laden not buried at sea, body moved on CIA plane to US.

Obama probably wants him buried in Arlington.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 5:40 am
Arizona Sherrif’s investigation finds Obama birth certificate a fraud manufactured on a computer, and selective service record a bad forgery. Says there is probable cause for fraud and forgery charges. The video evidence is damning

Biggest scandal since Watergate?

I’d be very careful boarding that train if I were you. Sheriff Joe is not really a trustworthy figure. I’ve always thought the birther issue to be a rope-a-dope exercise initiated by Democrats, and I still do.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 5:53 am
Gab is an anagram of bag as in grab bag of nonsense, no doubt!

.
*crickets*
.
*even more crickets*
.
.
.
.
Are you related to Steve of Brisbane, Max?

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 6:09 am
Ah-hahahaha!

Gosh, who to believe. On the one side there’s Treasurer Fidel Swan. On the other, Kevin Rudd, the mining industry and now Premier Colin Barnett..

“Fidel Swan.”

Bolt’s like to lose his government licence to journalize over that one.

lol xD

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 7:05 am
OCO,
watch the vid. Sheriff conducted an official investigation in response to a complaint. Calls one of Obama’s docs a bad forgery and calls for criminal charges to be laid.

After watching the vid I have little doubt it is true because the investigators do a forensic job refuting the most commonly cited reasons why the anomalies exist in the doc. I think O has some splaining to do.

Will anyone make him answer these fairly strong complaints? Probably not.

John Comnenus

7 Mar 12 at 7:08 am
Mitt, setting his hair on fire.

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 7:18 am
I don’t think we should judge SfB for having given this book 5 stars on Amazon.

I’m actually sure there’s an innocent explanation.

Really. So leave him alone.

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 7:32 am
kiss of death

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 7:42 am
John: there is so, so, SO much effortlessly quantifiable stuff to belt Obama about the bonce over – why would you follow this sideshow? Again, it’s a rope-a-dope exercise. Let’s play the main game – getting the guy turfed later this year.

What the bloody hell is the point of getting the guy impeached a few months before there’s a good chance the electorate will toss him out on his ear anyway?

The Birther boat has well and truly sailed. Only a handful of cranks (of all political persuasions, I hasten to add) are on board. Don’t be one.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 7:46 am
trying to get the guy impeached, I should have said…

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 7:48 am
If the Birthers are right (and I doubt they are, and frankly I don’t care if they are) and Obama is forced from office as a result of their campaign, he will become America’s Whitlam.

Is that what you want?

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 7:50 am
@BenHowe’s hilarious Chevy Volt ad spoof: CLICK

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 7:51 am
(Sorry, that’s @Ben_Howe … missed the underscore)

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 7:52 am
CL: ” In truth, the linked story from DRUDGE didn’t have much muscle. It was basically a private intell bloke saying (in an email), ‘oh sure, they threw him out of a chopper… Riiight.’”

OK, so its yet another triviality. So I guess the lust for Assange’s blood can stop now, right?

Big Jim

7 Mar 12 at 8:36 am
Fleeced – IV, V, VI then III. Avoid all the rest.

Sinclair Davidson

7 Mar 12 at 8:37 am
Breaking news from Simon at ACM! The constitution protects the Cat and the Billabong.

Interesting, thanks for this article Laszlo! This raises an interesting view:

To the extent that online journalism is carried out by constitutional corporations, it will be open to federal regulation via the corporations power in the same way the print journalism is. However, the extent of federal power is less certain where the online content is published by an entity that is not a constitutional corporation. A large number of individuals and bodies fall into this category, including any news outlets that operate as sole traders or partnerships, individual bloggers, and individuals posting on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

So where an organisation is a corporation, it can be regulated under the corporations power, but apart from that, there is no power to regulate their activities.

Good luck getting the state governments to sign on this…maybe this will encourage the welfare recipients (i.e. the voters) in the malingerer states and territories to think about changing governments.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 8:40 am
Netanyahu is a pathological liar.

On that France and America agree.

Is anyone still listening to Crap Stream?

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 8:42 am
Hrm…reviewing the thread….Crap Stream has been trying to get a rise out of folks with some incendiary yet wildly inaccurate bollocks, but no one has taken the bait. Well played, folks.

Crap Stream, time to find new digs. No one cares about you here.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 8:44 am
Fleeced – IV, V, VI then III. Avoid all the rest.

II is good in places.

[spoiler alert] It is interesting how the stormtroopers are all Maoris. I imagine the Rugby Imperial Empire Cup would be a barnburner.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 8:44 am
“The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living”

Aussieute

7 Mar 12 at 8:53 am
check out Bob Brown giving Chris Uhlmann a lesson in …. (not sure what)
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3447217.htm

CHRIS UHLMANN: That’s right, Bob Brown, you won’t get any of those things without the mining tax, you won’t get any of those things without mining. Actually, if you shut down the industry you won’t get any tax at all and none of those things will be available to you.

BOB BROWN: If you add to the votes, we might get the Government, but we’re not any time soon going to be the authority… we’re not going to have the Treasury benches that’s going to allow that to happen. So in the meantime, these mining billionaires ought to be paying their fair taxes, and they’re not doing that. And remember this: the coal they’re digging out of the ground which threatens the future of this economy, it will knock six per cent to 20 per cent off our gross national product by the third or fourth quarter of this century if we don’t deal with climate change; that money ought to be coming from the coal barons in a fair amount, because the coal’s owned by the people of Australia. And I should add to that, despite the billions they’re getting, most of the money from this industry which threatens the manufacturing sector in Australia, Mr Palmer’s mine alone – according to his own consultants – will suck 2,000 to 3,000 jobs out of manufacturing and agriculture in this country. We need that money…

Maybe the word is obfuscation …

val majkus

7 Mar 12 at 8:55 am
What is missing in the mining tax debate is a good analogy relating to shoes.

steve from brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 8:59 am
We need that money…

Earth to bozo brown: F#ck off and die.

Rabz

7 Mar 12 at 9:07 am
Hey, this is the story I’ve been waiting for: Herman Cain comments on the Rush Limbaugh story:

“No, I don’t think [his comments] hurt the party because Rush Limbaugh is not running for anything, so I don’t think they hurt the party at all,” Cain told MSNBC at a campaign stop for Newt Gingrich in Oklahoma.

Regrettably, I have to be away from the computer for much of today. You will be spared my further “slut” commentary.

steve from brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 9:09 am
This is interesting. Terrible news for the left. The university as we know it is going the way of the print media.

Highlights: no more liberal arts degree mills teaching dumbed down leftism to people not really capable of reading the canon.
95% of tenured academics to be in need of real jobs.

Big Jim

7 Mar 12 at 9:24 am
OCO, just read the thread myself too. Agree, the self-declared screamer has reached a fever pitch high note. He/she is squeaking and can no longer be heard. But marks for trying. He/she has made some real efforts to be ‘relevant’, clearly without effect. Let’s say ‘he’ for points earned though (if Mary T she will be thrilled at the transgender legitimation). Credit where it’s due.

What I hope is that the Finkelstein and friends frenzy can be chopped; looks promising so far.

Val, so Brown Bob is black on coal, that whole interview made me and NZH feel very cross as we said last night. Let me think now – why does the ABC give him many long minutes to burble on about why people suffering the politics of envy should vote for him?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 9:24 am
Hope things work out well for you today at the public dental clinic, Stevie, and that you don’t get an incompetent student having their first go.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 9:30 am
Regrettably, I have to be away from the computer for much of today.

Nothing regrettable about it, squire.

Please feel free to lengthen the duration of your absence.

Rabz

7 Mar 12 at 9:34 am
Cathy Cleaver Ruse in the WSJ:

Limbaugh and Our Phony Contraception Debate
A student demands that a Catholic school give up its religion to pay for her birth-control pills.

“What about Rush Limbaugh? I won’t defend his use of epithets (for which he’s apologized), but I understand his larger point. At issue isn’t inhalers for asthmatics or insulin for diabetics. Contraception isn’t like other kinds of “health care.” Yes, birth-control pills can be prescribed to address medical problems, though that’s relatively rare and the Catholic Church has no quarrel with their use in this circumstance. And the university’s insurance covers prescriptions in these cases.

Still, Ms. Fluke is not mollified. Why? Because at the end of the day this is not about coverage of a medical condition.

Ms. Fluke’s crusade for reproductive justice is simply a demand that a Catholic institution pay for drugs that make it possible for her to have sex without getting pregnant. It’s nothing grander or nobler than that. Georgetown’s refusal to do so does not mean she has to have less sex, only that she has to take financial responsibility for it herself.

Should Ms. Fluke give up a cup or two of coffee at Starbucks each month to pay for her birth control, or should Georgetown give up its religion? Even a first-year law student should know where the Constitution comes down on that.”

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 9:45 am
So are the NBN and e-Health going to lower or raise health costs?

Computerised patient records are unlikely to cut healthcare costs and may actually encourage doctors to order expensive tests more often, a study published this week concludes…

But research published on Monday in the journal Health Affairs found that doctors using computers to track tests, such as X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging, ordered far more tests than doctors who relied on paper records.

The use of costly image-taking tests has increased sharply in recent years. Many experts contend that electronic health records will help reduce unnecessary and duplicative tests by giving doctors more comprehensive and up-to-date information when making diagnoses.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 9:51 am
So are the NBN and e-Health going to lower or raise health costs?

Token

7 Mar 12 at 9:54 am
“Most of the energy of political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government.”
― Milton Friedman

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 9:58 am
John Mauldin’s Rule of Thumb Concerning Unintended Consequences:

“For every government law hurriedly passed in response to a current or recent crisis, there will be two or more unintended consequences, which will have equal or greater negative effects then the problem it was designed to fix.

A corollary is that unelected institutions are at least as bad and possibly worse than elected governments.

A further corollary is that laws passed to appease a particular group, whether voters or a particular industry, will have at least three unintended consequences, most of which will eventually have the opposite effect than the intended outcomes and transfer costs to innocent bystanders.”

Aussieute

7 Mar 12 at 9:58 am
If Mr Bolt gave up his blog he has now, I doubt he’d have much of a career left, especially as an editor of some irrelevant newspaper no-one reads, I mean who would bother with him at the Aged, as JC so wittily calls it.

It’s his columns he writes now on all sorts of really interesting stuff that people like and not just the politics. It’s unique and vibrant, i reckon loads of journalists would love to be him. he’d be foolishto walk away from it, career-wise, imo.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 10:11 am
Nothing regrettable about it, squire.

Please feel free to lengthen the duration of your absence.

You can expect this will be untrue like everything SoB posts.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 10:15 am
Mark Steyn: The Church of Big Government

“The Obama administration’s “freedom to worship” leads to the same soulless destination: a church whose moral teachings must be first subordinated to the caprices of the hyper-regulatory Leviathan, and then, as on the Continent, rendered incompatible with public office, and finally, as in that Southampton homeless shelter, hounded even from private utterance. This is the world the “social justice” bishops have made”

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 10:19 am
Bill Kristol, the co-founder of the Emergency Committee for Israel, blasted the president:

“Barack Obama’s statements before AIPAC have a remarkably short shelf life. In 2008 he told AIPAC that Jerusalem must not be divided, and then retracted it the next day. Now, in 2012, he tells AIPAC that he’s got Israel’s back, and then retracts that two days later. For Obama, being pro-Israel seems to be a campaign strategy, not a foreign policy.”

JamesK

7 Mar 12 at 10:24 am
On an unrelated topic – I just re-watched eps IV and V of Star Wars…

Should I go straight to ep VI, or watch II and III first? There is a good argument for the latter. (Ep I is standalone and not required… and frankly, best avoided)

The original three movies are the best. It’s time for you to watch ‘Return of the Jedi.’

The order of viewing suggested by Wired magazine makes no sense at all.

daddy dave

7 Mar 12 at 11:01 am
Regrettably, I have to be away from the computer for much of today. You will be spared my further ~~“slut”~~ commentary.

Yes!

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 11:11 am
Anyone heard Alan Jones lately? He’s gone full on ecotard/thieving protectionist.

Sack the fool.

.

7 Mar 12 at 11:12 am
Netanyahu is a pathological liar.

I’m no Netanyahu fan but perhaps the fact that Iran have made their intentions as regards the destruction entirely clear, should make us understand why he might be just a little concerned at the moment.

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 11:22 am
Another Gillard Lie:

About 146,000 permanent settlers came to Australia in the past year, the most since 2010.

The so-called Big Australia target of 36 million by 2050, disowned by PM Julia Gillard before the last election, is on track with annual net migration of 180,000 and above.

Is there anything she won’t lie about?

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 11:23 am
It will be fun if Bolt goes to the Age as Ed. Then there will be some blowback against the ALP freedom of speech laws.

I think he’s poking fun at lefties by intimating it. Remember he was up in arms at suggestions that ipso facto Reinhart’s stake in Fairfax would lead to situations such as that.

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 11:27 am
Interesting immigration statistics for 2010-2011:

Top countries:
1: China – 29,547
2: UK – 23,931
3: India: 21768
4: Philippines: 10,825

What are we getting?

The skill stream accounted for 67.4 per cent of the total migration program. The top
occupations in the skill stream were accountants [14,623] and computing professionals [4,367].

Australia: building wealth on the back of the…accountant.

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 11:28 am
Did anyone see ‘Game of Thrones’ on showcase last night? Mesmerising stuff.

As with anything HBO touches, you can’t help but contrast how an Australian network would do it – with all of those line-repeaters that have graduated from Neighbours and H&A, and the appalling writing – and cringe to the very depths of your soul.

James in Melbourne

7 Mar 12 at 11:46 am
I don’t wish to be Pollyanna-ish about Chinese or Indian immigration levels until more evidence is in, so to speak; but the country-of-origin breakdown ought to be cause for some satisfaction. To round out the top ten we have in addition to the big four: South Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Ireland. I believe any other country (apart from Canada which is similar) would be envious of this mix. However, outside of the top ten we still have around 50,000 coming from failed states and other problem areas.

Big Jim

7 Mar 12 at 11:47 am
““Barack Obama’s statements before AIPAC have a remarkably short shelf life. In 2008 he told AIPAC that Jerusalem must not be divided, and then retracted it the next day. Now, in 2012, he tells AIPAC that he’s got Israel’s back, and then retracts that two days later. For Obama, being pro-Israel seems to be a campaign strategy, not a foreign policy.””

Maybe he foresaw Ron Paul’s numbers in the Super Tuesday polls.

Big Jim

7 Mar 12 at 11:53 am
Some horseshit spam from that crikey rag:

GET EXCITED FOR SUPER TUESDAY!

Ten states that could decide the Republican candidate for the 2012 US presidential elections. They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing, and we’ve thrown Guy Rundle into the thick of it. (Maybe we should have warned them.)

He’s crunching the numbers for Crikey today on whether Mitt Romney will seal the deal or whether Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich get to continue their entertaining run all the way to the GOP convention. Rundle’s report today, and his ongoing coverage from the campaign trail in his distinctive gnarly style, is only for Crikey subscribers.

And trust us, if you’re not reading Rundle, you really are missing out!

.

7 Mar 12 at 11:55 am
Did anyone see ‘Game of Thrones’ on showcase last night? Mesmerising stuff.

A great series – my favourite in a long time – and no, Aus productions wouldn’t come close.

Is Foxtel re-showing first season, or is this season 2 starting? (I’m guessing the former, since I don’t think season 2 starts in the US until April).

It’s a pity they only do 10 eps a season, but apparently it takes a long time to film (it does have something of a movie quality production for a tv show). I got impatient and bought all the books (except the last one – Kindle price is still too high, though I’m hoping this will change when paperback comes out)

Fleeced

7 Mar 12 at 11:56 am
OK, so its yet another triviality. So I guess the lust for Assange’s blood can stop now, right?

No, because stalker, rapist, Taliban supporter and Nazi sympathiser Assange is guilty of causing the deaths of many hundreds of people. He boasted about it.

I hope he gets a life sentence.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 11:58 am
No Kidding, just tell these scumbags…

I don’t know, but I’ve been told a couple of errors in detail back in 1981 saw the waters off Gladstone included as part of the reef.
Minor things really, from the paucity of hard coral to not noticing that Curtis Island isn’t.
(An island, that is.)

lotocoti

7 Mar 12 at 11:59 am
Assange is also a self-confessed cross-dresser. There’s something wrong with that.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 11:59 am
The skill stream accounted for 67.4 per cent of the total migration program. The top
occupations in the skill stream were accountants [14,623] and computing professionals [4,367].

What do you prefer, more lawyers or arts students?

All jokes aside TwoStix, one of the big improvements to business the past 10 years has beent he fact that businesses at all levels are now producting cashflows and analysing their profitability.

10 years ago when I started consulting, companies below a certain point most companies really struggled to know if they were making money.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 12:01 pm
Rundle’s report today, and his ongoing coverage from the campaign trail in his distinctive gnarly style, is only for Crikey subscribers.

Do people really pay for what he writes?

Token

7 Mar 12 at 12:03 pm
Thank goodness for the chosen one – Obama.

The neanderals in Benghazi were thankful to be given an figleaf of an excuse to do this:

Attacks on Benghazi war graves left most Australian tombstones desecrated

Token

7 Mar 12 at 12:08 pm
Nurses abandon their duties (as they have a tendency to do once the Liberals come to office) and harrass innocent 74 year-old, Labor leader endorses attacks on the elderly…

Premier’s cousin under fire over rude gesture.

Opposition leader Daniel Andrews called it disgusting.

“It reflects very poorly on that particular person,” he told ABC local radio.

“I wouldn’t seek to impugn the Premier for the behaviour of his cousin.

“A person flipping the bird like that, acting in that way, towards the people who care for the most vulnerable people in our community, is a pretty ordinary Victorian.”

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 12:08 pm
Attacks on Benghazi war graves left most Australian tombstones desecrated.

Another Rudd/Obama triumph.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 12:09 pm
Did anyone see ‘Game of Thrones’ on showcase last night? Mesmerising stuff.

Just watching series one from scratch and laughing my arse off at the scene at the end of the first episode. The production is amazing. Good to see a script where nothing is ‘solved’ in 35 min.

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 12:11 pm
Scumbag alert

A company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) is being called out for the lobbying dollars it spent in Washington while fighting to receive a more favorable tax treatment.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett–a-flip-flop-on-taxes–.html

JC

7 Mar 12 at 12:14 pm
Winter is coming…April 1st.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:17 pm
BJ

South Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Ireland.

SA is an interesting number 5. I’d wager these are mostly Jews/Bores/Poms. What % are ‘kaffirs’ and ‘coloureds’? OMG, what an evil society. No wonder its citizens want to bolt.

Peter Patton

7 Mar 12 at 12:27 pm
twostix

What are we getting?

Check out the enrolment stats at the selective high schhols, and you’ll see we are getting tiger moms!

Peter Patton

7 Mar 12 at 12:30 pm
Poor Mr Baillieu realising just how embarrassing family can be.
That silly old sausage, giving rude gestures making a fool of himself at his age.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 12:30 pm
Fidel Swan due to given press conference in a few minutes – ABC24.

Too much to hope for his resignation I guess.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:34 pm
Too much to hope for his resignation I guess.

Alas, yes… he’s just defending poor GDP figures

Fleeced

7 Mar 12 at 12:38 pm
he’s just defending poor GDP figures

Good Lord! Swan actually knows the numbers???!!

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:40 pm
Good Lord! Swan actually knows the numbers???!!

Apparently, he can read… who knew?

Fleeced

7 Mar 12 at 12:41 pm
He keeps jerking that puny little body around whenever he wants to make an exclamation point. God I despise the greasy little prick.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 12:42 pm
This is such a farce. Being able to regurgitate ABS data does not make you a Treasurer, or an economist’s left nut.

.

7 Mar 12 at 12:43 pm
Being able to regurgitate ABS data does not make you a Treasurer, or an economist’s left nut.

That’s all his doing. He thinks it makes him sound smart to rehash ABS numbers.

I had to laugh the other night when Emma Alberici was interviewing the jerky little rat. He was being pummeled by her so as a last resort he brought up Euromoney had recognized him as the World’s greatest Treasurer.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 12:48 pm
I think he was hoping for a favourable reaction from the stenographers when he quipped “Well I’ve been focussing on the budget too”. Slight pause waiting for guffaws. Instead, dead silence.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:49 pm
I’ve never understood the borderline obsession some from the Left have with Bolt.

The only way you’d ever get LaRouchite out of bed before 11am is either a) to post the Bolt Report’s ratings or b) for a Centrelink meeting.

Fisky

7 Mar 12 at 12:51 pm
If I were Swan, I’d be more wooried about the data coming out of China and how it will effect his mates in the mining sector and thus the Australian economy

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 12:52 pm
Fisky,

La Douche calls it “the link”

.

7 Mar 12 at 12:54 pm
He hasn’t yelled yet. No angry rant with raised voice and raised inflection at the end of his sentences.

Stenos must be asking Dixers.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 12:54 pm
Lol Fisk… What a cruel, cruel site this is. But always, always fair.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 12:55 pm
Check out the enrolment stats at the selective high schhols, and you’ll see we are getting tiger moms!

I’m happy with Chinese immigration as long as the people coming are doing so to escape the crushing totalitarian natures of their country and don’t come here and start voting for a lesser version of the same.

Better the industrious Chinese than more people from the slums of the third world ghetto now known as the UK.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 12:58 pm
This is such a farce. Being able to regurgitate ABS data does not make you a Treasurer, or an economist’s left nut.

Gees the little guy has grown in the role, back in 2008.

Back then the Treasury minders didn’t know that he would scribble with crayon over the first page, so he spent 5 minutes inflation rate and headline inflation rate.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 12:58 pm
La Douche calls it “the link”

In what other country would a government pay you (dole) to copy the Sunday morning TV ratings then past them onto a blog and consider it useful work? In fact Loldouche is exhibit A for government distortions in markets. He is the epitome of government distortions and moral hazard.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 12:59 pm
“I’m happy with Chinese immigration as long as the people coming are doing so to escape the crushing totalitarian natures of their country and don’t come here and start voting for a lesser version of the same.”

I’m a little sceptical about the whole Chinese immigration thing, twostix.
1. The involvement of many Chinese who were bussed in to help remove John Howard from his seat,
2. Rudd giving interviews to the Chinese propaganda minister while excluding our media.
Something smelly about the whole behind the scenes impingement of Maoist Ideology.

Winston SMITH

7 Mar 12 at 1:16 pm
Most of the Chinese who immigrate here do not come from China, and they are overwhelmingly conservative, as are Chinese anywhere in the world.

Yobbo

7 Mar 12 at 1:29 pm
Alan Jones has really become a populist socialist idiot. He sounded like Bob Brown this morning.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 1:31 pm
1. The involvement of many Chinese who were bussed in to help remove John Howard from his seat

That was a matter of an entire community being taken for a ride by some sleazy political boosters who spoke the language. $20 says they don’t swing the ALP’s way again for a generation.

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 1:32 pm
Bennelong was redrawn. Nobody was bussed in. The last thing Labor would do is bus in Asians to boost their prospects.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 1:34 pm
Will Gillard and Rudd apologise for backing the installation of Al Qaeda in Libya?

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 1:35 pm
Bennelong was redrawn. Nobody was bussed in. The last thing Labor would do is bus in Asians to boost their prospects.

Yes, Asian-Australian political views should not be confused with the welfarist mob from the ME. Chinese Asians have little love for either high taxes and high levels of welfare spending and socialism in general.

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 1:38 pm
Will Cameron and Sarkozy apologise for backing forces intent on destroying Australian war graves?

Max Scream

7 Mar 12 at 1:41 pm
Most of the Chinese who immigrate here do not come from China, and they are overwhelmingly conservative, as are Chinese anywhere in the world.

You don’t get more conservative and aspirational than the Chinese, who invest a phenominal amount in education.

I believe the coalition should play a bit of rope-a-dope with the Alliance to get them to come out strongly against private schooling.

They are not big fans or the unions and IR systems, and are not afraid to bend the rules if you know what I mean.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 1:43 pm
Will Gillard and Rudd apologise for backing the installation of Al Qaeda in Libya?

Who are they supporting in Syria again?

Token

7 Mar 12 at 1:44 pm
Pam Dickler in 1998, on Obama’s participation in the heavily stacked far left panel immediately following the play The Love Song of Saul Alinsky:

Obama was on the panel that talked about Alinsky the last Sunday of the play’s run at the Blue Rider Theatre in Pilsen. Neither Pam Dickler, who directed the Terrapin Theatre production, nor Gary Houston, who played Alinsky, can remember a word Obama said. But he impressed them. “You never would have known he was a politician,” says Dickler. “He never said anything at all about himself. He came alone, watched the play, and during the panel discussion was entirely on point and brilliant. That evening I called my father, who’s a political junkie, and told him to watch out for this man, he’s going places.” Houston was just as taken by Obama—though he remembers him arriving in a group.

Pam Dickler today:

“There is only one archive tape of the play and I have it,” Dickler informed our source. “It is not in Chicago.”

“No one is going to see the tape.”

She said she felt “very protective over it … due to all of the interest from conservatives recently.”

Yeah, the panel was stacked with commie activists and Obama, any wonder she doesn’t want the tape seen.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:45 pm
Maoist?

LOL. With the exception of there being more State owned industries, China is less regulated and taxed economically than Australia. The big problem in China is corruption and lack of civil liberties, not leftist economics. I bet $20 no one in China gives a shit about communism aside from the old timers. There was an international survey a few years back that found that Chinese in China were more pro-growth and cared less about equal distribution of wealth than most of the developed world.

The main reason Mao and the Commies took hold in China was because (i) they were less corrupt than the Nationalists (ii) they were seen as anti-imperialist heroes.

Bennelong swung Labor because Rudd could speak Mandarin and managed then to depict himself as a sound pair of hands, a fiscal conservative and all that bullshit. The ALP can’t dine out on John Howard’s brief gaffe all those years ago forever.

jtfsoon

7 Mar 12 at 1:45 pm
I’m happy with Chinese immigration as long as the people coming are doing so to escape the crushing totalitarian natures of their country and don’t come here and start voting for a lesser version of the same.

Yairs, what with the Chinese people continuing to elect the Communists the government every four years.

Peter Patton

7 Mar 12 at 1:50 pm
top occupations in the skill stream were accountants [14,623]

Says much about our tax system that we need to import about 5000 H&R Block offices a year.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 1:50 pm
Bunyip on the love media:

There was a race riot recently in Canberra, and the person who appears to have been at the centre of it, former prime ministerial glad-hander Tony Hodges, has gone missing. He could not be that difficult to find, yet no reporter has the made effort.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 1:51 pm
I just got my taxes done at lunch today. My tax agent is a Scotswoman

jtfsoon

7 Mar 12 at 1:52 pm
I believe the Maoists are all coming from the UK.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 1:52 pm
Immigration from Britain should be absolutely banned.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 1:54 pm
I have to speak up for my tax agent here. She is a fine and upstanding citizen performing a valuable service.

jtfsoon

7 Mar 12 at 1:56 pm
Pam Dickler today:

Tell me I’m not the only person who thinks that’s a most unfortunate name.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:57 pm
A Scottish accountant is a good move. Second only to a Jewish Scottish accountant.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 1:58 pm
Immigration from Britain should be absolutely banned.

I hope people don’t think anyone is kidding about that.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 1:58 pm
Yeah, Dickler, who said Obama was “brilliant” and now won’t release the tape showing that brilliance.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 1:59 pm
A Scottish accountant is a good move. Second only to a Jewish Scottish accountant.

Have you seen the episode of ‘Curb your enthusiasm’ where Larry is suspicious his lawyer is pretending to be Jewish? very funny.

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 2:03 pm
Anyone seen Hammy the terminator around today? I’m worried.

Hey Hammy, of you’re around please post a comment about how all non-lefties need to be sent to prison and I’ll know you haven’t stuck your stupid head in a microwave or turned on the engine in a closed garage for social justice reasons.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 2:05 pm
Anyone seen Hammy the terminator around today? I’m worried.

Haven’t sent your mobile assisted suicide unit around yet, JC?

Poor ol’ hammy.

Actually, I take that back.

What a stupid twat.

Rabz

7 Mar 12 at 2:08 pm
Says much about our tax system that we need to import about 5000 H&R Block offices a year.

Last time I went to H&R block it ended up costing me $5000.

Worst ever, perhaps we need to import more accountants to fix all the errors that lesser accountants are making.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 2:17 pm
Immigration from Britain should be absolutely banned.

I agree. When setting ethnic/national origins criteria for immigration policy, points should be allocated according the applicant country’s PISA scores and BMI.

Peter Patton

7 Mar 12 at 2:24 pm
Haven’t sent your mobile assisted suicide unit around yet, JC?

It’s parked outside the Aged. Today it’s being used to help the Age lefties in case bolt becomes editor.

Gab is there manning the phones hotline and James is ready with the paddles in case we have any heart seizures.

Jc

7 Mar 12 at 2:28 pm
BMI – body mass index? only slender people allowed? sounds reasonable to me

candy

7 Mar 12 at 2:28 pm
Great news, JC.

That’s what I call a ‘public service’!

Rabz

7 Mar 12 at 2:50 pm
358 page views short of 5000000

Sinclair Davidson

7 Mar 12 at 3:46 pm
358 page views short of 5000000

F5 …F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 …
F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 …
F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 …
F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 …
F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 … F5 …

sdog

7 Mar 12 at 3:51 pm
Lee Rhiannan at the Drum:

Pro-life campaigners should give up intimidation for Lent.

Over the past weeks, just a few blocks from my office in Sydney, there has been a group of protesters holding rosary beads stationed outside an abortion clinic…

Governments in parts of Canada and the US have sought to limit the presence of protesters through what have become known as ‘bubble zones’, although none have yet been created in Australia.

Bubble zone legislation would create a physical zone around a clinic that protesters may not enter or where there are conditions on speech or action. The purpose of these zones is to provide protection for patients and workers at abortion clinics, ensure safe access to health care and ensure privacy and dignity for those involved.

Alan Howe, August 2011:

When violent rioters attacked police, politicians and businessmen attending the World Economic Conference at Crown casino in 2000, Rhiannon, who was there, spoke out in support of them…

Even the union movement described some of the protesters as rogue.

Rhiannon reacted differently.

Two years later, just before a World Trade Organisation meeting in Sydney, she hosted a seminar – Civil Disobedience Today – and in a welcoming statement wrote “the time to meet to defend free speech is now when free speech is under intense attack“…

Rhiannon also supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) group that targets Jewish companies doing business with Israel. The idea is to economically cripple the only democracy in the Middle East and the one country in which the region’s Arabs are guaranteed safety…

Last month, as part of the campaign against Israel in those violent protests outside the Max Brenner chocolate shop in Melbourne, 19 demonstrators and three police were injured.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 4:22 pm
Comrade Rhiannon is intimidated by rosary beads?

What’s her reaction to garlic?

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 4:26 pm
What a truly disgusting hypocrite she is. Absolutely vile in the vilest sense.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 4:33 pm
Do you feel poorer than 3 – 4 years ago?

Thats is because Since Kevin 07 won the election GDP per capita has been Negative for 6 out of 15 quarters. And has only averaged 0.1 percent over those 15 quarters for a total per capita growth of 1.2 percent over the period

In the last 15 quarters of the Howard gov there was not one quarter of negative Per Capita GDP growth, Average Growth was 0.5 percent per quarter and over those 15 quarters for a total per capita growth of 7.3 percent over the period

There may not have been a “technical” recession but their sure has been a personal recession

Data Here

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/5206.0Dec 2011?OpenDocument

I have taken the Per Capita figures thoughout.

rodclarke

7 Mar 12 at 4:45 pm
What a truly disgusting hypocrite she is. Absolutely vile in the vilest sense.

What’s the bet she called Bush a ‘murderer’ ?

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 5:01 pm
Web wonders: spiders spin for their lives as floodwaters rise

Token

7 Mar 12 at 5:07 pm
Baygon now!

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 5:09 pm
What a truly disgusting hypocrite she is. Absolutely vile in the vilest sense.

It really is beyond belief isn’t it? Someone from The Greens whinging about people protesting is bad enough.

But Lee ~~Brown~~ Rhiannon?? Australia has endured nearly a goddamned century of the Brown families “protests” and agitation.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 5:15 pm
Anyone been over to the Hum Drum today?

Robert Manne had a tanty, pooed his pants and had to be taken home by his mummy before kindy even finished.

Abu Chowdah

7 Mar 12 at 5:19 pm
On a US trading blog. Dunno if the dude is serious, but funny all the same.

yes, there is a time and place for politics.

I visited a strip club where Ginger worked at and ordered a lap dance. After sitting on my lap, she began a slow seductive dance to which I responded by shoving $20 bills down her under garments. All of a sudden she stopped and began rambling about politics, telling me her opinions on gun control, abortion, medical marijuana, gay marriage, and foreign policy. Needless to say I was shocked and deeply disgusted! I expressed my dismay and informed her that I would notify her management of this offense immediately, for this was not what I had paid for. Seriously, a man does not go to a gentlemen’s club expecting intellectual conversation with a ‘stripper’ of all people. No, a man expects a hardy lap-dance, a few beers, and some time in the VIP booth…that’s it. Ginger begged me not to tell her manager as she would surely be fired for such unbecoming conduct of a stripper. I caved in and left the club without saying a word until now. I had considered tweeting, but felt it was more appropriate to survey the broader public. Has this happened to anyone else? Have you gone to a strip club expecting to blow a few hundred bucks for a raunchy good time, only to have some stripper give you an earful of ‘politics’? I am of the opinion that Ginger Lee ought to submit her resignation from the strip club immediately and enter therapy.

JC

7 Mar 12 at 5:20 pm
Anyone been over to the Hum Drum today?

The drum comments section always makes me feel sad for the country.

On the article by serial protester Lee Brown a comment that shows an amazing detachment from realiy:

If the anti-abortionists were standing outside of parliament you’d have a point. We hold politicians to different standards to the rest of the community, we expect them to whether protest. All your listed protests are aimed at political parties or groups, not individuals.

I’m not really sure how you can place intimidation into the ‘free speech’ catagory. This is the same sort of activity that people hate unions for… and unions haven’t done it since the 70s.

Apparently it’s only ok to protest if you’re protesting outside of parliament…or your protesting against any group that I don’t like.

And the unions haven’t protested in public since the ’70′s.

Absolutely delusional.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 5:30 pm
Summary of Les the racistkiddie’s last few posts:

FUCK… Oh God…fucking… fucking arms or legs… fucking asinine… FUCK… jacktastic… fucking I don’t know… fucking Goldman Sachs…

Classy, eh?

Either that, or he finally lost his virginity with a male employee of Goldman Sachs. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

If so, perhaps he miss-spelled Ass-of-mine in all the… aaah… excitement?

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 6:37 pm
There’s a lesson here.

On Saturday, Carbonite CEO David Friend released a statement on his company’s website declaring that Carbonite had decided to “withdraw” advertising from Rush Limbaugh’s radio show in the wake of his controversial remarks involving Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke because it will “ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse”:

Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.

However, it hasn’t done much to contribute to his company’s stock price. Since the market opened on Monday through its close today, Carbonite stock (NASDAQ:CARB) has plummeted nearly 12 percent, outpacing the drop of the NASDAQ index in that same time period by nine-and-a-half points. It was also one of the biggest decliners on the NASDAQ on Tuesday.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/06/investors-flee-carbonite-after-limbaugh-announcement/#ixzz1oPotAR8i

JC

7 Mar 12 at 6:55 pm
ABC newsreader just said with a straight face that all of the poor growth figures in last figures were due to uncertainties in Europe. No uncertainties in Federal Labor policies, then? No, none at all.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 7:16 pm
Premier now said, in hostile tone, to be ‘putting the brakes’ on Clover Moore’s plan to make Sydney car free. Implictly, we are invited by the ABC newsreader’s tone to think ‘how terrible’. Then Clover comes up saying unlike her (implied) Barry is not ‘consultative’. Just dreadful, isn’t it, we are left to conclude. Unless we are alert to tone and narrative.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 7:20 pm
ABC newsreader just said with a straight face that all of the poor growth figures in last figures were due to uncertainties in Europe. No uncertainties in Federal Labor policies, then? No, none at all.

You’d believe it too if you spent all your life in the sheltered workshop that is the ABC Learning Centres.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 7:37 pm
I am a weak and wan little teddy in bed today, hot water bottle on tummy and my co-dependent old cat sooking up to me. Doc says antibiotics and rest for a few days. HIA at a meeting but will be back later with food and concern. It’s kinda nice though alone here alone in the boudoir with TV, laptop, Stieg Larsson if I can be bothered and the deepening rainy gloom outside.

There they go again, summarising: ‘economic growth has been stunted by Europe’s debt crisis’. Well, yes, but no also?

Uh huh, defence forces in the firing line again on 7.20 (20 minutes of crap, 10 maybe useful). There is a disturbing picture of ‘abuse’ etc., and now talk of an apology ‘going back 60 years’. What madness is this? Forces to be ‘educated’ on ‘proper behaviour’. I am too ill to cope with this.

I WANT TO LEAVE THIS COUNTRY TILL IT GETS SANE AGAIN.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 7:38 pm
State of the service: The CPSU will tell the ACTU’s Howe Inquiry that public sector is becoming increasingly insecure. Assistant National Secretary Louise Persse will tell the inquiry that budget restrictions and poor planning are hitting public service job security and staff entitlements. About eight per cent of APS staff are ‘non-ongoing’ and another 10 per cent are on contracts, statistics which Ms Persse says contradicts the idea that service jobs are “jobs for life”.

Aww. the poor little blood-suckers. Welcome to reality of the real working world.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 7:39 pm
Piss off Lizzie. As JC would say you are a smug self-absorbed bore. Chop chop.

Kelly of Kenmore

7 Mar 12 at 7:42 pm
Hope you feel better soon Lizzie.

Tal

7 Mar 12 at 7:45 pm
Piss off Lizzie. As JC would say you are a smug self-absorbed bore.

Apart from being a potty-mouthed troll (would you kiss your mother with that sewer mouth of yours?). “Kelly” is holding a mirror to her face.

Now that’s a lot to contend with already, Lizzie.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 7:46 pm
I WANT TO LEAVE THIS COUNTRY TILL IT GETS SANE AGAIN.

So you know a sane country?

John H.

7 Mar 12 at 7:50 pm
Kelly!!! Bloody Hell you’re here for a couple of days and you start bossing folks around! What gives?

Tal

7 Mar 12 at 7:50 pm
What lovely compliments Kelly. Of course I am all of those things. I love my life (happy to share it), and sympathise with you about yours. Now, let’s think how I can help. I’ve heard that certain IQ exercises can pull people out of moronic status and into the next level of deficit. You could start there.

And then get some education even if you lack real talent to use it.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 8:12 pm
For what it’s worth I add my voice to the call to end British migration; all the UK guys I know are all hardcore ALP voters who despise the “torries” and have the ahistorical belief that the GFC and the ongoing problems in Europe are somehow caused by austerity (or spending within your means).

Cory Olsen

7 Mar 12 at 8:17 pm
Hope you come good soon, Lizzie.
I hear from old mate that rum is good for what ails you.

Piss off yourself, Kelly.

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 8:20 pm
Thank you Kelly for your trolling, it is always a treat to Lizzie get fired up.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 8:24 pm
Wretchard on smashing leftists:

He [some foul knob-jockey called maher] is also a symbol of the asymmetry of the political battlefield. Leftists can do things By Any Means Necessary. Conservatives must be held to a standard that Leftists espouse only for the express purpose of holding their opponents to it.

This is a good summation.

For the decent denizens of the Cat.

Do NOT be decent with leftists! They know not truth, honour, morality or shame. They wage total war as their default option. Squishing something like racistkiddie is not hard – leftists are fundamentally stupid in that they believe their own bullsh*t and presume their own moral superiority.

That’s a recipe for arrogance and they have absolutely nothing to be arrogant about.

And so they suffer from hubris.

If you want to engage with them, then become nemesis, Use their own tools against them without hesitation, always attack, and always use facts and an actual moral basis argument.

That’s precisely what Breitbart did. It shatters them. They are soft, stupid and arrogant without cause to be. Use that.

I was quite serious when I said that. Turn-about is fair play. So when going for a leftard, use their own tactics. Hold THEM to the standards they espouse for you, while using their own tactics against them.

They hate this and it confuses the crap out of them.

You get something wrong and they try and nail you for it? Ignore it, shift the ground, bait and switch, use all their own tactics and do so ruthlessly. Always be insulting and patronising but do not use crude language, bait them into that then post something like my 1837 above and mock them. You know they are exhausted, out of ideas and confused when they demand an apology from you. That’s when you fix bayonets and bayonet them – they are admitting to being wounded.

I’ve been doing this for several years now.

It works if and only if you want to cut out their hearts AND if you keep your moral framework intact and work from within it. They don’t have one, and that’s a lethal weakness for the swine.

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 8:24 pm
Piss off Lizzie. As JC would say you are a smug self-absorbed bore. Chop chop.

Conversation stopper from vanilla nondescript troll #9242324.

F- for not having even the most basic clue on how to troll.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 8:31 pm
Lizzie,

Why the fuck are you watching the ABC news? It’s always shite.

Rococo Liberal

7 Mar 12 at 8:31 pm
Piss off Lizzie. As JC would say you are a smug self-absorbed bore. Chop chop.

Oh dear. Who lit the fuse to jellybelly of Kenmore’s tampon?

Oh wait, it’s a lefty, and so such ‘bravery’ must involve recreational chemicals and bongwater.

jellybelly, your little squeal is akin to an offended dysentery amoeba abusing the human researcher who invented a corrective antibiotic.

She’s worth billions of you, diddums.

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 8:31 pm
What is it with lefties that gives them the god complex? Why is it there seems to be a lack of understanding that ultimately we all have shared values?

Why liberals can’t understand conservatives

“The biggest errors in the whole study came when liberals answered the Care and Fairness questions while pretending to be conservatives. When faced with questions such as ‘One of the worst things a person could do is hurt a defenceless animal’ or ‘Justice is the most important requirement for a society,’ liberals assumed that conservatives would disagree.”

In other words, they genuinely did not understand that conservatives do care about these things.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 8:31 pm
Mk50

Wellington, an arch-tory, got it right when he said: never apologise and never explain.

Right wingers who are held to incorrect, leftist standards of behaviour should just shrug it off and tell lefty journo’s that they are low turds who do not represent the mainstream.

Rococo Liberal

7 Mar 12 at 8:34 pm
Thanks wellwishers. Very up-cheering. Begging for sympathy? Moi? Never!!! Just sharing.

Only hard liquor left is that big bottle of tequila, so may take Catallaxy advice and try that in place of the rum.

If he’s late, I will be a joy to come home to.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 8:37 pm
God help the HIA !!!!

Tal

7 Mar 12 at 8:42 pm
I’d take one fraction of Lizzie and her writing over Kelly’s output any day. Get well Ms. Lizzie.

Nic

7 Mar 12 at 8:49 pm
What I meant about being bussed in, was that there was reported at the time, a LOT of Chinese students who came in from other cities who helped with “talking to Chinese residents about voting for Labour and Maxine.”
I can imagine the conversations coming from the students from China with parents rich enough to afford o/s tuition fees.
And I also note the story died very quickly from non exposure.

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 8:50 pm
Thanks for that link, Token! Good article.

Haidt suggests that human beings have six moral foundations, a desire for care over harm, fairness, liberty over oppression, loyalty, authority, and sanctity, and that these govern our politics and religions. Surveying tens of thousands of self-identified liberals and conservatives with a series of ethical questions, he concluded that those on the Left were only really motivated by the first three, but (social) conservatives care about all six, roughly equally.

he then goes on to say that libertarians also don’t much care about the last three. I am not so sure. I am both a conservative and an Imperialist, yet have very little issue with libertarians.

Perhaps this is because Libertarians do not tend to demonise, and are just more rational and less emotive/fabulist than leftists?

There seems to be a serious difference between Libertatrians and leftards,and seem to be many points of common ground/mutual respect between Libertarians and Conservatives.

Anyone of a Libertarian bent have any comments? I’d like to see what Libertarians think about those points.

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 8:53 pm
WS, John Alexander did that himself in Benelong the period leading up to 2010. Many Mandarin speakers were happy to volunteer to help the Liberals unseat McKew.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 8:55 pm
“liberty over oppression”

Marky, I’m not much of a glibertarian (I certainly was in my misspent yoof) but there is no way that ‘progressives’ can claim to truly believe in the ‘moral foundation’ above.

They are would be oppressors in tooth and claw and to claim otherwise is dishonesty, hypocrisy or both.

Rabz

7 Mar 12 at 9:00 pm
“When faced with questions such as ‘One of the worst things a person could do is hurt a defenceless animal’ or ‘Justice is the most important requirement for a society,’ liberals assumed that conservatives would disagree.”

I found a small lizard in a placcy bucket whilst going through the garage the other day. Poor bloody thing must have been in there in 45+ weather for about three days. It couldn’t get purchase on the sides of the smooth plastic. Even when I pushed the bucket on its side, the lizard couldn’t run away. So I picked it up and gave it a bit of water from the hose.
It must have been grateful because it gave me an affectionate nip between the fingers and now it’s infected.
So I’m really, really glad I tore each of its legs off and fed them to the ants before I bashed it’s head in with a hammer.
Just because I could….
Bwahahahaha…

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 9:00 pm
I visited a strip club where Ginger worked at and ordered a lap dance.

I’ve never understood lap dances – what’s the point?

Paying a broad hard currency to wiggle in your lap?

That’s just indescribably pathetic.

Hire a hooker already (if you must) and get a room.

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 9:06 pm
what’s a libertarian? anything to do with books?

candy

7 Mar 12 at 9:07 pm
what’s a libertarian?

Conservative with a coke habit.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 9:08 pm
A flashy piano player?

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 9:10 pm
Must have been a fair sized lizard Winston, i thought only blue tongues bit.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 9:12 pm
Test.

:rofl:

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 9:22 pm
No, it was only about 6 – 7 inches long, candy.

I was joking about the leg – pulling off, head – bashing in bit.

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 9:25 pm
Glad to hear it winston but i knew you just nice and didn’t believe that bit anyway, cheers, Mk50′s vertical heads are disconcerting aren’t they.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 9:27 pm
…all lizards bite, candy. Some just do it more effectively than others.
This is mum, she’s 1.2m long. The cat is Buddy. The biggest lizard when mum was a’courting is nearly two meters long.
I decided to play scrabble inside until he went away.

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 9:40 pm
Mk50, I was wondering if you would link to some of your professional writing?

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 9:44 pm
Wow Winston, there’s a lot of meat in that lizard’s tail – or water? Buddy is taking things carefully! Cute puss.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 9:50 pm
I’ve never understood lap dances – what’s the point?

Indeed.
But if lap dances are the most risque thing you can pay a woman to do without both of you getting arrested, then that’s what will become popular. As in, for example, most of the states of the US.

daddy dave

7 Mar 12 at 9:52 pm
Your tax dollars at work, NSW citizens. Don’t you all feel safer?

squawkbox

7 Mar 12 at 9:53 pm
Is it a stumpy, Winston?

candy

7 Mar 12 at 9:54 pm
Winston, not here, either to nome-de-plume or real name.

Too many hate-filled lefty prats.

I do not want to lose anonymity. That said, the Blairite get-togethers in Brisbane are a place to meet and we have no anonymity there. So happy to bring hardcopy.

I do not know where you live even generally (and don’t want to as if that’s your real name you could be located too so don’t mention it here). But if within cooee of Brisbane/passing thru Brisbane tell Kae and she can put out the word for a get-together.

Kae is completely trustworthy and acts as the ‘email centre’ when we have get-togethers.

Speaking of which…

HEY PICKLES!

When are you next in town, dude?

We are due another one!

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 9:59 pm
Breakfast creek this time…

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 10:02 pm
I’ve never understood lap dances – what’s the point?

With ya on this one all the way, matey. Why would you pay someone a fairly substantial amount of money to get you all riled up…and then…………..sheer, frustrated bathos.

I’ve been to a strip club once in my life, didn’t have a lap dance, waste of time and money. I did buy a beer, though. Which was a lot more satisfying than any lapdance I could have received.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 10:03 pm
Much safer, Squawk!

Thank God the police are detaining adults for not wearing helmets while cycling.

Isn’t this just the most embarrassing country these days?

C.L.

7 Mar 12 at 10:03 pm
I’m not sure how many libertarians or conservatives could (honestly) agree with “one of the worst things a person could do is to hurt a defenceless animal”, since agreeing with that statement would preclude hunting, not to mention eating meat in any form.

Yobbo

7 Mar 12 at 10:03 pm
Without an explanation of the terms it’s hard to say whether you can agree or not.

For example, what does “fairness” mean in the context of the study? As a libertarian I support “fairness” in that I expect to receive the same rights as everyone else. But when a leftwinger says “fairness” they mean they want to rob the rich to give to the poor.

Yobbo

7 Mar 12 at 10:05 pm
In fact, that’s pretty much spot on. Lap dance = sexual bathos.

Sucky.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 10:05 pm
Your tax dollars at work, NSW citizens. Don’t you all feel safer?

That is fantastic!

Obviously all the middle eastern gangs and child pawnographers have been locked up?

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 10:06 pm
Late this month. Week before election out west and week after in town.

Will let Kaye know.

Pickles

7 Mar 12 at 10:08 pm
The so-called Big Australia target of 36 million by 2050, disowned by PM Julia Gillard before the last election, is on track with annual net migration of 180,000 and above.

That implies an average growth rate of around 1.25%. What’s the big deal?

sdfc

7 Mar 12 at 10:09 pm
Lap dances are an artifact of prostitution laws. They’re much more prolific in the States where a lap dance is right up at the edge of legality. That’s as far as you can go, legally, so that’s why they exist.

They may well be bathos for you, OCO, but a frustrated, boozed up single bloke out on a Saturday night in suburban America might not see it that way.

daddy dave

7 Mar 12 at 10:10 pm
I must admit, in WA I see more and more unhelmeted cyclists. My elderly cyclist father pretends to have Alzheimers when the local fuzz stop him. If he’s feeling tired and puts on a really good act he gets a free trip home.

squawkbox

7 Mar 12 at 10:10 pm
Isn’t this just the most embarrassing country these days?

You get to vote every 3 years. What the fuck are you complaining about?

Dear Diggers,

You are doing a bang up job fighting Mr Hitler and the Japs. We are awfully proud of you.

Godspeed.

Your sincerely
Australia.

P.S In 2012 you won’t be able to smoke in pubs, ride a bike without a helmet….

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 10:11 pm
Here’s a great lecture by Tom Naughton on the origins of the lipid/heart disease hypothesis and the development of the “food pyramid”

The parallels with the global warming scam are striking.

Will Kane

7 Mar 12 at 10:18 pm
Here’s a great lecture by Tom Naughton on the origins of the lipid/heart disease hypothesis and the development of the “food pyramid”

The parallels with the global warming scam are striking.

Easily the two biggest scams of our lifetime, both aided and abetted by government.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 10:21 pm
he then goes on to say that libertarians also don’t much care about the last three. I am not so sure. I am both a conservative and an Imperialist, yet have very little issue with libertarians.

That’s because Libertarians actually, passionately believe in freedom, whereas a tragically large (or noisy) swathe of the Left got horribly contaminated by Stalinism and have never recovered.

It’s easy to get along with someone who has different standards but a live-and-let-live attitude, which is pretty much the definition of Libertarianism, whereas a lot of the Left these days are very control-oriented. For the sake of decency and goodness, of course.

They’re like a caricature of conservatism, only wailing “Won’t somebody think of the minorities???”, insisting on union, rather than Church, membership, longing for the collective crusade of AGW action rather than a Revival, utterly trenchant in their insistence on such rigid “standards” and “decency” in free speech that it is no longer free, strong paternalism of the wealthy to the poor at the expense of the dreadful middle class…..

Think about it. You get along with Libertarians because you’re a Liberal. You hate the Left because they’re Conservative.

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 10:21 pm
Here’s a great lecture by Tom Naughton on the origins of the lipid/heart disease hypothesis and the development of the “food pyramid”

Is that website kosher? My virus protection software stopped me noting that address is on the black list.

Token

7 Mar 12 at 10:23 pm
Candy, it’s actually muscle and bone – Sand Goannas use it as an offensive weapon. It can be swung at very high speeds and will deliver a very nasty laceration to bare skin – more a function of the speeds the tip gets to. A bit like a whip.

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 10:23 pm
The so-called Big Australia target of 36 million by 2050, disowned by PM Julia Gillard before the last election, is on track with annual net migration of 180,000 and above.

SDFC:

That implies an average growth rate of around 1.25%. What’s the big deal?

Nothing, except that she lied outright about her belief, her intent, and her policy-to-be.

1.25% might be a bit slow though; and any growth is violently incompatible with current zoning and environmental laws, not to mention the all-of-government aversion to transport and energy, let alone their respective infrastructure.

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 10:25 pm
Is that website kosher? My virus protection software stopped me noting that address is on the black list.

Should be fine unless the US dept of agriculture have blackballed them.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 10:30 pm
Thanks Mk50.
Yes I know kae – sent her some Desert Rose seeds and she’s hidden them quite effectively from herself. Refuses to say she’s lost ‘em.
But I will be trying to get down to Brisbane in the next month – it’s only 1200 K.
I’m in the Nursing Post at McKinlay, NW of Brisbane. The pub they shot the Crocodile Dundee picture in is 200 meters away from my door. (Walkabout Creek Hotel.)
Serves good beer. Drop in one day on your way to catch Barra in the Gulf.

Winston Smith

7 Mar 12 at 10:30 pm
I suspect the climate is doing its own thing, as it has for eons, regardless of what we puny humans believe it ought to do.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 10:32 pm
They may well be bathos for you, OCO, but a frustrated, boozed up single bloke out on a Saturday night in suburban America might not see it that way.

As far as I can see (and as logic would dictate), a lap dance would only make them even more frustrated.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 10:32 pm
‘Candy, it’s actually muscle and bone’

So it’s a weapon. Speaking of lizzards, I’ve seen pictures of lizards (desert) with really really long tails more than 2 -3 times their body – i guess to pick up stuff with their tails?
And also the thorny ones who look just like part of the landscape, and some really fat bellied ones. I guess you’ve actually seen them out there, iv’e just looked at pictures out of interest.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 10:33 pm
We really should stop talking about this, by the way. This is exactly the kind of topic Steve of Brisbane would use (with the utmost relish) to tie up a thread for a few hours.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 10:33 pm
The difference, OCO, is no one here is being sleazy about the topic. It’s a quick discussion.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 10:36 pm
too.

Gab

7 Mar 12 at 10:37 pm
Is that website kosher? My virus protection software stopped me noting that address is on the black list.

Yes it is.

I got there via the Cholesterol Sceptics site.

Will Kane

7 Mar 12 at 10:38 pm
Wreckage

I haven’t checked the figures but I would be surprised if average growth over the past 50 years hasn’t exceeded 1.25%.

My point is the 36 million, or there about, by 2050 is probably where we are headed anyway. I’m not sure where the controversy is.

sdfc

7 Mar 12 at 10:39 pm
Yeah, but Steve adds the sleaze. That’s what he does.

Oh come on

7 Mar 12 at 10:43 pm
Are not lost.

Just…. safe.

kae

7 Mar 12 at 10:45 pm
Thanks for that link WK. The Cholesterol issue has long bugged me. But there is now so much money involved the science is fucked. It kicked off the margarine industry and it turns out margarine, as replete as it was with trans fats, was far more dangerous than butter. Even the earlier studies of Acelby in the 50′s from which the “saturated fat is poison” mantra initiated turned out to be a classic case of cherry picking, yet for at least 4 decades so the story remained on the horrors of saturated fats. As to statin drug side effects, that’s probably going to the courts in the coming years … .

John H.

7 Mar 12 at 10:48 pm
Anyone else here hear Bligh on ABC Bris thismorning with Steve Austin?

She banged on about the future… rosy future with her and the ALP, when asked about their miserable, increased priced history, she countered with how she is the hero of Queensland.

She led the state successfully through the two biggest disasters Queensland has ever seen.

The GFC (bullcoughshit) and the floods and cyclone.

“It fell to me to steer Queensland through two of our most difficult and disastrous events – the Global Financial Crisis that hit our state very hard and the worst natural disasters that Australia has seen in our recorded history.

“Having seen Queensland through those two very extreme situations, my policies and our governments efforts have positioned us as a state right now on the door step of some of the biggest opportunities we’ve ever had.”

Austin asked her about her hubby getting the cushy $300kpa job with the government and his contract renewed for five years and she did a Tammy Wynette “Stand By Your Man”.

Listen to the interview, if you can stomach it, here:
http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/03/07/3447731.htm?site=brisbane

kae

7 Mar 12 at 10:52 pm
By the way Mr Smith, your email addy is dead.

kae

7 Mar 12 at 10:53 pm
and the worst natural disasters that Australia has seen in our recorded history.

Ever heard of Cyclone Tracy you stupid moll?

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 10:54 pm
If you’re going to eat your stuff with high cholesterol, take your Lipitor (or generic). It will help to ward off the blocked arteries but I have no idea how but it’s one of the most widely prescribed drugs for such apparently.
Or just be careful about what you eat! Much easier.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 10:55 pm
Not to mention the Black Saturday and Ash Wednesday bushfires.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 10:55 pm
If you’re going to eat your stuff with high cholesterol, take your Lipitor (or generic).

Terrible advice. Stick to writing sickly sweet inanities dear.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 10:56 pm
Enjoyed that full gamut of emotions in a split second MK50. Quite a buzz.

Speaking of emotions, Netanyahu on TV is getting quite impatient. Getting cranky with Obama. Can’t say I blame him.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 10:57 pm
‘Terrible advice. Stick to writing sickly sweet inanities dear.’

Thank you IT it’s nice you called me dear, makes me feel good.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 11:00 pm
You get something wrong and they try and nail you for it? Ignore it, shift the ground, bait and switch, use all their own tactics and do so ruthlessly.

49, you didn’t get “something” wrong – you got everything wrong.

But yes, you did pursue those tactics; the result being not some sort of Sun Tzu-like masterful outflanking, but rather a Scooby Doo-like dog’s breakfast.

The only point you seem unequivocal about is your insistence on your right to use the word “n*gger”", and to hell with the “bedwetters”. Everything else you blather on about is just drivel, and you can’t even seem to land on a position regarding the meaning of simple English words.

Still, I have had fun engaging you. I see you are now forming a tag team with highly paid stamp duty lawyer Retardo Liberal.

Between your Bond-like skullduggery and Retardo’s involvement on only the most complex and challenging stamp duty matters, it should be quite a team.

Perhaps the two of you could up with a stamp duty regime for the soon to be nascent independent Kurdish homeland.

Just a word of note – Retardo is a bit old fashioned, and he might find some of your chatter about “circle jerks” off-putting.

Les Majesty

7 Mar 12 at 11:00 pm
My point is the 36 million, or there about, by 2050 is probably where we are headed anyway. I’m not sure where the controversy is.

Only that she lied about it; although that was probably inevitable. Just as those already wealthy argue for a static economy (for fairness!) and the first to clear and develop a house-block in the bush fight to have entire regions to themselves (for the environment!) so, perhaps, the first to immigrate to this awesome if daunting continent are keen to see immigration stopped (for the carrying capacity!).

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:01 pm
Thank you IT it’s nice you called me dear, makes me feel good.

You’re very welcome sweetheart. Now how about baking us all an apple and rhubarb pie for supper?

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 11:04 pm
Tim Worstall:

More women than men work part time. Thus, not unnaturally, the portion of wages paid to men is higher than that paid to women.

Yes. Why is that so hard for so many to grasp?

daddy dave

7 Mar 12 at 11:04 pm
soon to be nascent independent Kurdish homeland.

You mean the all-but-independent Kurdish zone in Iraq? The one that was cordoned and defended using That Power Which Must Not Be Invoked?

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:04 pm
Or just be careful about what you eat! Much easier.

Actually sugar and high carb diets are the main cause of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

So stay off the candy!

Will Kane

7 Mar 12 at 11:07 pm
More women than men work part time. Thus, not unnaturally, the portion of wages paid to men is higher than that paid to women.

Yes. Why is that so hard for so many to grasp?

SEXIST! MISOGYNIST! YOU HATE WOMEN!

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:08 pm
‘You’re very welcome sweetheart. Now how about baking us all an apple and rhubarb pie for supper?’

Only good at lemon meringue as far as tarts go, IT, or a cheesecake. Not lots of skills there. Apple and rhubard American i think, but probably tasty, apple can be a bit dull on its own. I’ve never come across it actually.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 11:09 pm
wreckage

TPWMNBI…

WMD?

kae

7 Mar 12 at 11:09 pm
I do like a good cheesecake, Candy. Not keen on baked cheescake however.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 11:10 pm
My point is the 36 million, or there about, by 2050 is probably where we are headed anyway. I’m not sure where the controversy is.

The controversy was stated:

and any growth is violently incompatible with current zoning and environmental laws, not to mention the all-of-government aversion to transport and energy, let alone their respective infrastructure.

I went for a “quick drive” to the next town this evening, from my coastal town of 16,000 to the next town of 1000, half an hour and nothing but dense, mostly un-explored wood between.

Once upon a time this placed thrived on timber, fishing and mining. Each industry has been systemically driven out and shut down by the state govt.

You could easily put half a million people in here, instead the place depressingly limps along on retirees and holiday tourism and is deserted in the winter. At least the retirees don’t vote labor I suppose.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 11:10 pm
You mean the all-but-independent Kurdish zone in Iraq? The one that was cordoned and defended using That Power Which Must Not Be Invoked?

No, I don’t mean the Kurdish zone that ultimately resulted from the bold strokes of the 1st Armored and the Marine Expeditionary Force up the Euphrates to Baghdad.

I’m talking about the new Kurdish homeland that IQ49 thinks will magically appear if we lob a few cruise missiles into Tehran and let the B-2s weave their magic for a couple days.

But thanks for reminding me of the Kurdish zone in Northern Iraq.

Remember how in 2003 the Turks blocked the 4th ID from invading Iraq from Turkey?

What do you think the Turks will do when there is an official Kurdish state formed piecemeal from Iraq, Iran and god knows where else?

Do you think the USAF will still be flying out of Incirlik when that happens?

Les Majesty

7 Mar 12 at 11:13 pm
Yes IT, I agree, the baked cheesecake is just too heavy, i’ve never liked it either.
Actually I just like the simplest ones vanillary and creamy with a beautiful biscuity base and only a simple topping of berries but not much.
It’s the creamy lovely cheesecakery that is delicious.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 11:16 pm
I couldn’t agree more Candy. A good cheesecake must have a beautiful crust and be very smooth, yet not like mousse. The delis of New York produce the best cheesecake I’ve ever sampled.

It’s a pity these other philistines are discussing warfare whilst we are discussing culinary treats.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 11:20 pm
Once upon a time this placed thrived on timber, fishing and mining. Each industry has been systemically driven out and shut down by the state govt.

You could easily put half a million people in here, instead the place depressingly limps along on retirees and holiday tourism and is deserted in the winter. At least the retirees don’t vote labor I suppose.

Stop it. I’ll cry. No irony. The same shit is happening ’round here. there’s not one level of legislation they haven’t screwed up. A retiring farmer, for example, can’t sell his land to his neighbour and retain ownership of his house. Zoning laws. In rural areas all houses are legally farm houses and all farms must be over the minimum size, and that’s that. Poor bastard is legally required to move out or become a renter.

It’s like they can’t stand anything, anything at all, not being subject to their authority. Places they will never, ever see, people they’ve never met, doing things they don’t care about for reasons they don’t understand? Make up some rules for them! Who cares if they don’t make sense?

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:24 pm
Wreckage

Only that she lied about it; although that was probably inevitable

So Gillard said she was going to restrict population growth to below its historical average?

I must have missed that one

sdfc

7 Mar 12 at 11:24 pm
SDFC don’t be dense. She came out strongly against the “Big Australia” idea, the Big Australia being roughly the future along the current trajectory.

You’re really going to defend that?

Why? What possible motive could you have for defining that as honesty?

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:26 pm
Actually, wreckage, I was unintentionally dismissive of the contribution that the peshmerga made to the de facto establishment of an independent Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

In all seriousness, airpower obviously contributed enormously to what happened in northern Iraq post-1991.

But airpower and the no-fly zone alone would not have done it, if the Kurds had not been able to mobilise their own very skilful and committed guerrilla forces, and if the Iraqi ground troops had not been dissipated by war with Iran and then the UN forces in Kuwait.

Les Majesty

7 Mar 12 at 11:27 pm
In all seriousness, airpower obviously contributed enormously to what happened in northern Iraq post-1991.

That’s all I’m saying.

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:28 pm
So true, IT, so true.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 11:28 pm
Actually I just like the simplest ones vanillary and creamy with a beautiful biscuity base and only a simple topping of berries but not much.

Candy, you don’t dribble a bit of olive oil on your cheesecake by any chance do you?

Les Majesty

7 Mar 12 at 11:30 pm
That’s all I’m saying.

And that’s not something I’ve ever denied, contrary to 49′s flagrant mischaracterisations of my position.

49 is quite explicit, however, that airpower is all you need. Madness.

Les Majesty

7 Mar 12 at 11:31 pm
I went for a “quick drive” to the next town this evening, from my coastal town of 16,000 to the next town of 1000, half an hour and nothing but dense, mostly un-explored wood between.

Once upon a time this placed thrived on timber, fishing and mining. Each industry has been systemically driven out and shut down by the state govt.

This whole country has been locked up and fenced off by tree hugging ning nongs and NIMBY turds. They might as well turn the whole dump into a national park and charge us all camping fees.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 11:32 pm
Once upon a time this placed thrived on timber, fishing and mining. Each industry has been systemically driven out and shut down by the state govt.

Yes, but you must have noticed all those trees alongside the road. The trees are doing well out of this, IT, and that’s the point.

No shit, it is actually the point. Primary industry must be closed down so that trees can grow unfettered.

daddy dave

7 Mar 12 at 11:34 pm
Winston – you are bugger-all distance from Cloncurry. I have to get there and the Isa this winter for work purposes. Might look at driving the Gladstone-Isa-Townsville-Gladstone triangle, its a hell of lot cheaper than flying to the places I have to go to, if longer in time (but not that much, surprisingly). I have business along the edges of that triangle.

Beers! Pity there’ll be no time for hunting…

Pickles, sounds excellent!

Wreckage:

Think about it. You get along with Libertarians because you’re a Liberal. You hate the Left because they’re Conservative.

Hmm. Good point. Liberal in the classic sense and the left are ‘conservative’ in their definition: I’d call them atavistic, arrogant, fabulist, narcissistic, stupid, ill-educated, morally barbaric, mendacious and as vicious as backstreet curs.

Les, stop crying. You’re a leftard. You hardly even register and have no worth or value. At best you can be whipped until you rise to the height of being a tolerable subhuman trained not to make messes in the house. But thank you for going to such efforts on my behalf in proving my definition of the left above to be correct. Well done, useful idiot. You’ve been a real chump.

Mk50 of Brisbane

7 Mar 12 at 11:34 pm
Les, stop crying. You’re a leftard. You hardly even register and have no worth or value. At best you can be whipped until you rise to the height of being a tolerable subhuman trained not to make messes in the house. But thank you for going to such efforts on my behalf in proving my definition of the left above to be correct. Well done, useful idiot. You’ve been a real chump.

No problem 49. Thanks for playing. Better luck next time.

Les Majesty

7 Mar 12 at 11:38 pm
So Gillard said she was going to restrict population growth to below its historical average?

I must have missed that one

Then you’re either a liar or willfully ignorant.

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has declared she does not believe in a ”big Australia”, signalling a major shift in policy on the nation’s burgeoning population growth.

In her first significant policy break from the Rudd-era, Ms Gillard said the nation should not ”hurtle down the track towards a big population”.

”I don’t support the idea of a big Australia with arbitrary targets of, say, a 40 million-strong Australia or a 36 million-strong Australia. We need to stop, take a breath and develop policies for a sustainable Australia.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/gillard-rejects-big-australia-20100626-zb1g.html

Instead she’s continued on exactly as before. Another lie, lie foisted upon a trusting public pre-election in order to get elected.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 11:39 pm
The same shit is happening ’round here.

Same deal, different places. Twostix and Wreckage – which one of you is from Tasmania (I think Twostix)? Or is it both? Or neither?

I am a bit slow on picking up cues 2nite but don’t rile me up about it please. Think of Basil Fawlty’s warning to the Oreilly man when Sybil has a mood on and a her dander is up.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 11:39 pm
NSW myself, so it’s not nearly as bad as Tasmania. The Greens have a choke-hold on that place; wages are crap, jobs virtually non-existent.

Presumably that’s the point.

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:42 pm
‘Candy, you don’t dribble a bit of olive oil on your cheesecake by any chance do you?’

No, but i’ve seen recipes using it.

The base is important and I like Arnott’s Scotch finger biscuits as a base – there are other nice bikkies you can use like Nice or coffee flavoured and so on. It’s nicer than a traditional pie base.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 11:44 pm
My mother would use Granita biscuits. They were lovely dipped in a cup of tea. Do they still make them?

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 11:46 pm
They might as well turn the whole dump into a national park and charge us all camping fees.

There’s an area just north of here, nothing special an old tiny little settlement of about 100 people in a bay, but since it became surrounded by national park if you want to drive in to go to the beach there you gotta pay the feds.

Just a shitty tar road, tarred about 40 years ago, paid for by the rate payers of the area back then and now you gotta pay the feds for the “privilege” of driving along it and parking at the end of it.

And don’t get me started on the litany of gates that are going up on all the decades old tracks out to the ocean through there…

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 11:49 pm
I like Daddy Dave’s Damascus moment about the trees being the point. I get so irritated (good word tonight) about the loss of vista all over Australia. Friends from UK did the Great Ocean Road and complained they couldn’t see anything for the trees and it was dead boring. The Kununurra railway to Cairns has lost so much vista due to railside trees that it’s hardly worth doing any more. Every lookout on the east coast has been grown out, and if you’re lucky there is a ‘viewing platform’ which is usually also in the process of being grown out. I love the South Coast of NSW but the drive down is becoming less and less open dairy and farming country and the bloody trees are on the march down all the hills and into the valleys.

I hate these Druids.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Mar 12 at 11:50 pm
Granita biscuits are on the shelves IT if you like them I’m sure you’ve seen them. They are wheaty though and I prefer shortbread as a pastry base. The wheaty taste I’m not keen on at all.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 11:53 pm
No shit, it is actually the point. Primary industry must be closed down so that trees can grow unfettered.

And by god they’re growing. The national park forests around here are utterly impenetrable. I was commenting to my brother on it the other day as we drove, animals can’t get through the saplings, there’s probably five saplings per square metre. It’s been decades since a fire was allowed to burn through.

Whatever they’re creating it’s not natural.

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 11:54 pm
Whatever they’re creating it’s not natural.

If this were a horror movie they would of course be eaten by whatever they had created.

wreckage

7 Mar 12 at 11:56 pm
by the way, the pole dancer girls are usually drug addicts, otherwise why would they demean themselves. They don’t do it for pleasure, one man is just another to them. They are struggling to survive and that is what they do.

candy

7 Mar 12 at 11:56 pm
Same deal, different places. Twostix and Wreckage – which one of you is from Tasmania (I think Twostix)? Or is it both? Or neither?

SE NSW here Lizzie

twostix

7 Mar 12 at 11:57 pm
The delis of New York produce the best cheesecake I’ve ever sampled.

Katz. East Houston Street (corner of Ludlow St)

It’s a little touristy but they have the best. Guaranteed heart attack with the second bite too, which makes it all the better.

Pastrami sandwich, then cheese cake washed down with a coke.

Hot Sandwiches

Katz’s Pastrami 15.75
Smoked to juicy perfection and hand carved to your
specifications (ask for Mayo at your own peril)

New York Cheesecake 5.50
Creamy and sinful
with fruit toppings additional 0.55

I gotta get back there.

You just can’t eat these things of beauty here. And look at the prices!

JC

7 Mar 12 at 11:58 pm
Anyone see the Kony vid doing the rounds?

big dumb fu

7 Mar 12 at 11:58 pm
Whatever they’re creating it’s not natural.

It will be when the scorcher comes through.

But then quality journalists like Tony Jones and Wendy Bacon will say it is global warming. And Finky et al will hold you in contempt of court unless you submit.

Lazlo

7 Mar 12 at 11:58 pm
And by god they’re growing. The national park forests around here are utterly impenetrable.

This country needs a jolly good bushfire… to rip through the the evironment department of every state government.

Infidel Tiger

7 Mar 12 at 11:59 pm
Hey IT, I never knew this as I was just looking around. You can order a Carnegie Deli cheesecake and they send it by post. I wonder if they send overseas as I’m going to try. Looks freaking delicious.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:02 am
Katz. East Houston Street (corner of Ludlow St)

I liked Carnegies.

http://www.carnegiedeli.com/home.php

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:03 am
I’d kill for some of that cheesecake.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:03 am
JC, that’s a delicious menu to go to bed and think on before dreamtime ..

I will wake up in the morning a new woman! Always the optimist, Lizzie, as my mum would say.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

8 Mar 12 at 12:04 am
Wow! The send overseas too. I’m ordering the regular cheesecake and the chocolate one.

Wifey will be absolutely disgusted, but I’ll live with the whining.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:05 am
Anyone see the Kony vid doing the rounds?

I saw that #StopKony is trending on Twitter, but have no idea what it is. At least it knocked Justin Bieber out of the list.

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 12:05 am
I love the South Coast of NSW but the drive down is becoming less and less open dairy and farming country and the bloody trees are on the march down all the hills and into the valleys.

I hate these Druids.

I love the Australian bush, the problem is the bush around here is the most god awful ugly scrub that nobody goes near except us sinners on our dirtbike’s, 4wd’s, horses and the occasional hunters trying to keep the governments rampant feral animal problem in check.

There’s pockets of rain forest which are nice, but 99% of it is just awful.

A farm carved out of the scrub around here is a thing of beauty. A working coastal town surrounded by farms with some camp’o timbers dotted all over and some real timber up on the mountains, now we’re talking something worth looing at.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 12:06 am
Stop Kony is everwhere.

It’s nice that people care, but for mine it’s the new Free Tibet.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:07 am
Twostix

I say I must have missed Gillard saying she was going to restrict Australia’s population growth to below the historical average. But instead of saying look this is what she said and providing a link you immediately jump to calling me a liar.

Rather odd behaviour for an adult don’t you think?

Just for the slow and hysterical. A 36m population by 2050 should not be controversial to anyone with even the most rudimentary maths skills.

sdfc

8 Mar 12 at 12:08 am
Thanks IT

I never knew you could order that stuff overseas from Carnegie Deli. You made me hunt around.

Seriously, my mouth is literately watering right now thinking about it. I could eat three of those at one time. I’d feel a little sick but what the hell. It’s worth it.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:08 am
JC, the website says “Shipments confined to Continental USA ONLY)”

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:09 am
I love the Australian bush,

So do I. Especially when it has been clear felled and turned into something useful like a farm or a golf course.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
Lizzie..

There’s a knack to eating at a NYC deli where you simply don’t feel sick afterward from scoffing it all down as the pastrami sandwiches and the cheesecakes are huge serves and you really don’t want to leave any behind.

You need to drink lots of coke or Pepsi in order to wash down the greasy stuff. it won’t make you feel sick after, because the stuff is really rich.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
You need to drink lots of coke or Pepsi

Root beer or cream soda.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:12 am
JC: Those pic’s don’t look much to me. My cheesecake is much nicer.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 12:12 am
A 36m population by 2050 should not be controversial to anyone with even the most rudimentary maths skills.

Agree, and highly desirable. People and trade creates wealth.

Lazlo

8 Mar 12 at 12:12 am
JC, the website says “Shipments confined to Continental USA ONLY)”

Don’t think so. haven’t finished yet. Here, take a looksee. They have the list of the countries they deliver to.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:13 am
creates

Lazlo

8 Mar 12 at 12:13 am
JC: Those pic’s don’t look much to me. My cheesecake is much nicer.

Bullshit.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:14 am
are you sure, IT as I don;t want to waster time going through the crap and then find out they don’t deliver after filling all that crap in.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:15 am
and you guys are all American I think. You probably don’t even like ]really moist, really choclaty lammingtons.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 12:15 am
Candy

You have to be NY Jewish to make good cheesecake. The rest is crap. Don’t even try and pretend.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:19 am
Absolutely Lazlo a policy of restricting population growth below its long term average would be counterproductive.

sdfc

8 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
are you sure, IT as I don;t want to waster time going through the crap and then find out they don’t deliver after filling all that crap in.

Get your daughter to Fed-Ex you a couple.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
It’s a little touristy

A little?

Les Majesty

8 Mar 12 at 12:21 am
How come the Jews we got in Australia never started any decent delicatessens?

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:21 am
I say I must have missed Gillard saying she was going to restrict Australia’s population growth to below the historical average. But instead of saying look this is what she said and providing a link you immediately jump to calling me a liar.

I said a liar or willfully ignorant.

You still refuse to talk about wreckages point though. Being that 180,000 people a year is actually a hell of a lot if governments point blank refuse to make room for them or allow wealth to be created to employ them outside of Sydney.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 12:22 am
They did. We have some decent ones in Melbourne/ St.Kilda – Acland street. They have really good bagels too.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:22 am
It’s a little touristy

A little?

My kid lives close to Katz, so I tried to go there one lunch time and the line was a freaking mile long with Euroweenies. It was a disgusting sight to watch.

We used to order from Carnegie and New York Deli to the office and they’d deliver it, so we never set foot in the place.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:25 am
Get your daughter to Fed-Ex you a couple.

She’s pissed because there are packages arriving at her place all the time that she’s on-sending to either me or her ma.

Some of the US sites don’t send overseas, so we get around it that way. the arseholes want to differentiate in price I guess.

I can’t ask her to send freaking Cheesecake, as thinks the worst of me already. I’ll get Carnegie to and if they can’t they can’t.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:29 am
Just for the slow and hysterical. A 36m population by 2050 should not be controversial to anyone with even the most rudimentary maths skills.

Indeed.

I say I must have missed Gillard saying she was going to restrict Australia’s population growth to below the historical average. But instead of saying look this is what she said and providing a link you immediately jump to calling me a liar.

“Big Australia” was a big controversy at the time, and Gillard’s emphatic dismissal of it got a lot of air-time. From the POV of people who were paying attention to the politicking of the time, you really did sound like you were picking a fight after ignoring my polite correction.

A correction without a link is pretty typical for a non-controversy, which is what this is.

wreckage

8 Mar 12 at 12:29 am
+1 on Acland St.
Best cakes in Australia.

St Kilda also has the strangest people in Oz, but you can ignore them as long as you are locked inside before dark.

Pedro the Ignorant

8 Mar 12 at 12:31 am
So do I. Especially when it has been clear felled and turned into something useful like a farm or a golf course.

Or a nice suburb divided between 1/4, 1/2 and 1 acre blocks and a nice big commerical area to service it.

I feel sorry for any greens that read this blog. They’d go into conniptions within five minutes.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 12:31 am
St Kilda also has the strangest people in Oz,

Hey! Steady on.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 12:32 am
Being that 180,000 people a year is actually a hell of a lot if governments point blank refuse to make room for them or allow wealth to be created to employ them outside of Sydney.

Particularly, I am pro-growth as far as population goes, but believe it’s going to need some…. less spectacularly corrupt attitudes than that of the late, unlamented, “cock for approvals” NSW ALP.

wreckage

8 Mar 12 at 12:32 am
A disconnect between ends and means on population seems to be the issue here.

We should welcome (IMHO) robust population growth. But should the majority of that be via illegal immigration?

(I am relying on the Gilbert & Tobin submission here to give me confidence that I will not be arrested later tonight by the Thought Police for using such language)

Lazlo

8 Mar 12 at 12:34 am
You’re right IT, they don’t ship here. Lazy fuckers.

I’m really disappointed, as I had a pic of the thing I was ordering.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:34 am
There used to be a place years ago called Stars Deli on maybe Lex and 50th. Matzoh ball soup… oh yeah. You have that, then a reuben then your cheesecake and you’re set. Plus a chocolate shake on the side.

Les Majesty

8 Mar 12 at 12:36 am
You lot seem not to be familiar with Kings Cross / Darlinghurst

Lazlo

8 Mar 12 at 12:38 am
Actually the best thing about Katz is that it’s open late, if not 24 hours IIRC. So it’s a good place to hit after the bars on Ludlow and Orchard, and far fewer tourists then.

Les Majesty

8 Mar 12 at 12:39 am
Really? 50th and Lex. I can’t exactly recall that one.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
Let’s see, what have I missed? Lap dancing, a 2 hour cheesecake cyber-tea , and a jihad proclaimed against trees.

Right.

Steve from Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
We should welcome (IMHO) robust population growth. But should the majority of that be via illegal immigration?

I just want a state where the choice isn’t between a 5 million person urban wasteland or a 16,000 person dying coastal town.

A couple of dozen canberra sized towns, twenty or thirty Wagga sized towns and a bunch more small places dotted around NSW would be great.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 12:41 am
Yup. Felling is too good for them..

Lazlo

8 Mar 12 at 12:42 am
Actually the best thing about Katz is that it’s open late, if not 24 hours IIRC. So it’s a good place to hit after the bars on Ludlow and Orchard, and far fewer tourists then.

Les… I got to tell you, I don’t know what happened to me last time I went back in November.

I used to know the lower Eastside, Soho area, village etc. like the back of my hand. I could sort of picture the streets. But this time I simply had no idea where I was when we ventured out around there. It was like I was totally lost.

We lived on the upper Eastside, but I knew NYC like the back of my hand but going back this time and hanging around there I was lost down there.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:45 am
Labor now committed to wrecking the ADF.

(I know, it’s basically the SES anyway but still…).

The Australian reports breathlessly that up to a thousand cases of alleged abuse etc are now under investigation.

Since when, you ask.

Since 1951.

Fear not, though, because this will make our ~~fighting forces~~ sensitive sausages feared throughout ther world:

Commodore Kafer said last night the ADFA had already done much work to implement the new “Pathway to Change” strategy to improve Defence culture, which includes Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick’s review of the treatment of women at the academy. “I look forward to continuing this work with my team,” he said.

The Pathway strategy will include a crackdown on alcohol use by Defence personnel, social media training and sexual ethics classes for cadets.

This is what happens when you idiotically allow women into officer training colleges and the military.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 12:47 am
T

his is what happens when you idiotically allow women into officer training colleges and the military.

What a shocking surprise. They’ve basically turned the navy ships into floting love boats now, so why not wreck the rest of the military.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 12:49 am
Face the reasonable contention Steve that there now too many trees.

If it is possible (or indeed your religious belief) that there are not enough trees, then it must be logically possible (if you are rational) that you can have more than enough trees.

Lazlo

8 Mar 12 at 12:51 am
Women have been allowed into officer training colleges since 1951?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 12:52 am
We lived on the upper Eastside

Oh that’s too bad for you.

Did anyone in SoHo give you grief about the pressed Guccis? They are a bit UES, you know.

Les Majesty

8 Mar 12 at 12:53 am
Stephen Smith: young soldiers drink alcohol.

——————————–

Dennis Shanahan: Smith must resign.

THE findings of the inquiry into the sex scandal at the defence academy, even in their distilled version, lay the groundwork for credible demands that Stephen Smith resign as Defence Minister.

Smith has been shown to have acted in such a way as to betray faith with the defence force, and to have misled the public while attempting to exploit for political gain a case of alleged sexual abuse.

The outcome of the inquiry demonstrates that Smith acted erroneously and in haste, misled the public about what was happening last April after the allegations concerning seven male cadets at the Canberra military campus, continued to mislead the public yesterday and wrongly interfered in the military justice system.

Even in the face of the findings of Rod Kirkham QC, which exonerated Australian Defence Force Academy chief Bruce Kafer, Smith could not bring himself to admit he erred, or offer an apology to a senior military officer whose career has been publicly blighted and put on hold for almost a year.

From the moment Smith decided to go public in response to reports of the sex case, his actions were guided by political gain and media manipulation.

Another Rudd/Gillard disaster.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 12:54 am
Really? 50th and Lex.

I’m talking early 80s. I was younger then.

Les Majesty

8 Mar 12 at 12:54 am
CL I’m sure Smith would say that this is all ‘completely untrue’

Lazlo

8 Mar 12 at 12:57 am
Oh that’s too bad for you.

Actually I wanted to live downtown, but the schools were all uptown so that’s where we lived.
Funny Wifey prefers dowtown now, while I now like uptown. She always has to be contrary.

Did anyone in SoHo give you grief about the pressed Guccis? They are a bit UES, you know.

I don’t wear pressed Guccis. Stop being an idiot. IT started that crap.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:00 am
Dennis Shanahan: Smith must resign.

If they aren’t burning down houses, ruining entire industries like the livestock trade, or marauding around and destroying the economy with more taxes, they now are wrecking military officer’s lives.

Election NOW!

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:03 am
TSA FAIL. Again.

“The system worked.”

If by “system,” you mean “security theatre.”

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 1:09 am
I don’t wear pressed Guccis.

Right. So you don’t deny wearing pressed Versaces.

Les Majesty

8 Mar 12 at 1:10 am
Defence is the epitome of huge wasteful expenditure by career military bureaucrats and Liberal-tarians defend this deparment!

The guy published his copulatory activiites, the girl complained to the media and Kafer decided to continue on with another disciplinary matter like the complete buffoon he is.

We are now at the point of having spent tens of millions of dollars because the military aren’t in control of their troops.

We have nearly 800 complaints and will waste hundreds of millions because of defense bureaucratic incompetence.

And Liberal-tarians think Smith should resign!

Max Scream

8 Mar 12 at 1:34 am
You sound a bit excited there, max. You okay?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:37 am
Arthur Sinodinos:

WAYNE Swan is well-balanced; he has a chip on both shoulders.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 1:37 am
No respect for Wayne…

Today’s Cut ‘n Paste:

Swan on ABC1′s Lateline on Monday:

THE fact is that millions and millions of dollars were spent in the last couple of years arguing for the self-interest of a very small number of people . . . And, of course, it’s their influence in the media as well . . . The skiting from John Singleton about how people in radio stations conduct overt and covert campaigns against the government.

Ray Hadley on 2GB yesterday:

THERE’S nothing covert about my campaign, Mr Swan. You’re a 24-carat, rolled-gold dill.

Swan’s doctor is Dr Vinnie Boombatz. Maybe he could prescibe something for him.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 1:39 am
What Maxwell Smart is really saying:

When I was last on the bike the gun holster hit my eye which caused the general to go deaf and as a result no one could see in the fog even with the flog lights.

The guy of course published his bio that went on about the ship sinking in the shallow lake and as a result the telephone rang without leaving a message.

No was home the day the train hit the wall and when the passengers left the airport everyone had to walk to the shipyard while it was raining and sunny.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:39 am
This bit…C&P:

CAMPAIGNING papers! The Finkelstein report into media regulation quotes from a study:

IN December 2011, the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism published a report on media coverage of climate change policy in Australia. One of the conclusions reached in the report was this: “The two biggest News Ltd tabloids — the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph — have been so biased in their coverage that it is fair to say they ‘campaigned’ against the policy rather than covered it.” It went further: “Evidence in this report suggests that many Australians did not receive fair, accurate and impartial reporting in the public interest in relation to the carbon policy in 2011. This suggests that rather than an open and competitive market that can be trusted to deliver quality media, we may have a case of market failure.”

Who wrote the report? From Finkelstein’s footnotes:

WENDY Bacon, A Sceptical Climate, Media Coverage of climate change in Australia (2011).

Wendy Bacon, the would-be lawyer? The NSW Law Reports summarise the case of Bacon (1981):

FACTS:Wendy Bacon is a fervent activist. As part of her campaign against the establishment, she protests, is frequently arrested, and is willing to disobey the law if her ideas about social justice demand it. She admits that legal ideals are subordinate to her personal view. On one occasion, she protested the censorship of a magazine by walking into the court wearing nothing but a profane costume. On another occasion, she is alleged to have obtained bailment for a friend from an unscrupulous source, which was subsequently forfeited due to non-attendance. To further her activities, Bacon applies to be admitted to practice. Issue: Is Wendy Bacon a fit and proper person to be admitted to practice? Decision: Not admitted.

Finkelstein and Bacon: a threat to our democracy.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:42 am
Look who writes a piece in The Drum suggesting Repugnant Rhiannon’s character has been assassinated.

Well none other than Wendy Bacon.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/167382.html

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:53 am
Thanks for the translation of Max S, JC. I must confess most of the time I can’t work out what he’s thinking, although I’m sure it’s terribly important.

I hope you will continue to translate his thoughts for his enthusiastic Catallaxian audience.

squawkbox

8 Mar 12 at 1:53 am
Squawk..
No problem, happy to. I just run though google translate and then copy and paste in here.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:55 am
The name Wendy Bacon brings that delicious pig meat into disrepute.

Pedro the Ignorant

8 Mar 12 at 2:05 am
More from America is fucked …

You Have to Hear This Mich. $1M Lottery Winner Defend Why She’s Still on Food Stamps

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/hidden-cameras-show-mich-million-dollar-lottery-winner-still-using-food-stamps/

JC

8 Mar 12 at 2:19 am
The Democrats’ continuing war on science:

President Obama boasted at a United Auto Workers conference last week that General Motors was back in business, producing cutting-edge vehicles like the plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt. He even promised to buy one when his time in office ends “five years from now.”

Whoops! Just three days later, GM announced that it would suspend Volt production for five weeks this spring, idling 1,300 workers at a Hamtramck, Mich., factory.

He really is an idiot.

WaPo: Electric cars and liberals’ refusal to accept science.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:57 am
I dig NY cheesecake (and not sure why people are dissing baked cheesecake, which is food of the gods). However, it seems they don’t deliver very widely.

Well, I see your cheesecake, and I raise you a Sachertorte. They deliver globally, too.

The biggest cake costs 41 euros, and you’ll pay about the same again to get it posted to OZ.

Get that down ya, Jase.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 2:59 am
Does anybody really like Pavlova?

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 3:14 am
Dessert is for the little leagues. I always suspect men who rave about desserts to be borderline gay.

Give me BBQ ribs, medium rare steak, prawns and bacon. But not Wendy Bacon.

Abu Chowdah

8 Mar 12 at 3:25 am
Actually, I agree with that. I’ll almost always opt for a second helping of mains in lieu of dessert.

That being said, there are some awesome desserts out there. But i don’t have an especially sweet tooth, no.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 3:57 am
JC: If you do get back to Katz’s deli (“send a salami to your boy in the army”) walk a block or two and eat dinner at Bernstein’s kosher chinese restaurant on Essex Street.

The food’s not much, but it’s worth being there after sundown on a Saturday, when hungry Hebrew hordes arrive for the moo shoo flanken.

Areff

8 Mar 12 at 8:16 am
Sure you dont want some ‘bacon’?
http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/SPO10_0002_Layer-2-130×130.png

David Elson

8 Mar 12 at 8:37 am
Sure you dont want some ‘bacon’?
http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/SPO10_0002_Layer-2-130×130.png

David Elson

8 Mar 12 at 8:37 am
From today’s Oz:

IF company tax receipts perform as poorly in the June half year as they did in the December half, the government will face a deficit this year approaching $50 billion.

It would be beyond the reach of the creative accounting evident in last November’s budget update to turn this into a 2012-13 surplus.

Well, knock me down with a feather! Who’da thunk it?

The world’s greatest mogadon munching muppet strikes again!

Rabz

8 Mar 12 at 8:39 am
Spot
Pavlova is great, not the bought rubbish with marshmallow sides, but the one cooked at home. Like nanna used to make*. It must have fresh cream, strawberries, kiwi fruit and passionfruit – but mixed berries are fine. You have to have tart fruit to balance the sugar.
I love a good pav. But the bought ones made in high sided pans are awful, sugary yuck.

*I can make a pav like that.

kae

8 Mar 12 at 8:49 am
Spot

What Kae said, sans the berries.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 8:52 am
Troll fail. Classic self-beclownment by Maxie the Squealboy:

… Kafer decided to continue on with another disciplinary matter like the complete buffoon he is.

Factually incorrect, insinuation fail and Squealer? I know Bruce Kafer – not well, but I know him. After an investigation with terms of reference carefully written to screw him over, they found he did everything to the letter and spirit of the law and all regulations.

And you are stupid enough to call him a buffoon!

Epic fail.

And speaking of epic failures, I see that Les the racistkiddie has accepted his place in life down scuttling amongst the dross in our society. Can’t run a logical argument, knows nothing, and finally accepts that lefties are the lowest of the low.

Good monkey. Have a peanut.

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 9:05 am
Ladies – sorry. Pavlova just isn’t very nice. The people I find who really rave about them are the people making them, so I suspect there is more joy in the skill of making a ‘good’ pav than there is in the eating.

Sinclair Davidson

8 Mar 12 at 9:09 am
FFS, Aussies like Vegemite.

Enuff said.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 9:13 am
^^^ what Sinc said ^^^

~ducks~

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 9:21 am
Hey! No dissing the pav.

I agree that the mass produced ones are awful. But the home-made ones (and my wife makes ‘em wonderfully) are sublime. The right amount of cream, and a fruit topping misted over with a very good brandy indeed (or you can add it to the fruit earlier). I don’t even like cream except on my wife’s pavs.

The pav is the whole assemblage, by itself it’s really just a species of meringue.

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 9:22 am
Rush returns to a theme:

“Limbaugh spent the entire first hour of his program today discussing “The American Way of Eating,” a new book by journalist Tracie McMillan, who logged almost a year working low-paying jobs at Wal-Mart, Applebee’s and other places to learn about the food industry. Despite the backlash he’s faced for branding law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute,” Limbaugh didn’t shy away from the matter of McMillan’s sex. On the contrary, he referred to her as an “authorette” and attempted to tie her to a broader trend of “all these young single white women” who are threatening Americans’ freedoms.”

“Who me? A “Food justice slut”? Well, I never!” McMillan tweeted after hearing about the show, which included Limbaugh asking “What is it with all of these young single white women, overeducated — doesn’t mean intelligent.”

No, he doesn’t hurt the Republicans at all…

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 9:26 am
I don’t like meringue either, FWIW. Too foofy.

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 9:27 am
Whenever I see SfB’s comments these days, rather than digest them my mind just fills in that Teacher’s voice from Peanuts.

“Mmmwwwaaa mmwwaa mmwwaa mmwwaa mmwwaa mmmmwwwwaaa. Mmmwwwaaa mmwwaa mmwwaa, mmwwaa mmwwaa mmmmwwwwaaa.”

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 9:30 am
Max Scream wants a carbon dictatorship where the cops have no guns. Idiot.

In other news, Promite tastes better than Vegemite.

That is all.

.

8 Mar 12 at 9:34 am
I don’t make pavs, Sinclair. Just eat ‘em

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 9:39 am
And furthermore, I’ve never met a dessert I didn’t like.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 9:40 am
Poley bears to die from harmless trace gas and hail of hot lead, but mostly hail of hot lead

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 9:52 am
The GOP establishment hate Limbaugh almost as much as the MSM whose bias Limbaugh daily takes the piss out of.

Obummer belts Limbaugh by name yesterday from the Presidential bully pulpit in his first press conference in months on GOP Super Tuesday, so liar-stevefb® quotes leftist MSM today.

LOL

When isn’t this petulant jerk of a President ever not happy to denigrate the office for cheap political gain?

Limbaugh transcript:

“Ms. McMillan, like a lot of us, has grown to take an interest in fresh, well-prepared food. She’s written for Saveur magazine, a pretty fancy journal, and she knows her way around a kitchen. But her central concern, in her journalism and in this provocative book, is food and class. She stares at America’s bounty, noting that so few seem able to share in it fully, and she asks: ‘What would it take for us all to eat well?’” And I take you back to the pull-quote: “Food is one of the only base human needs where the American government lets the private market dictate its delivery to our communities.”

So capitalism and the private sector are discriminating against the average, ordinary American by not delivering him quality food. The junk food is going to the poor and the miserable, and the fancy and the snobs are getting the good stuff, and that’s because the government is not regulating the delivery. Now, you put this together with Moochelle (My Belle) Obama what she’s trying to do. You put this together with a story we had out of North Carolina with a federal food agent telling a four-year-old that what was in her boxed lunch from home didn’t meet standards. What’s the message there? “Your mommy doesn’t really know what’s best for you. We here at the school do.”

I don’t want you to doubt me on this. There’s not a war on women. There’s a war on freedom.”

Well worth a RTWT.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 9:52 am
What’s with the Climate of Vegemite Hate™?

Rabz

8 Mar 12 at 9:54 am
The junk food is going to the poor and the miserable, and the fancy and the snobs are getting the good stuff, and that’s because the government is not regulating the delivery.

Then how do we explain Moochelle’s force-feeding of Soylent Pink (aka Pink Slime) to hapless schoolchildren?

“Soylent Pink.” Government Buying 7 Million Pounds Of Ammonia-Treated Meat Offcuts for Kids’ School Lunches http://t.co/dFzxp0Rn

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 9:59 am
Yes I agree sort of with Mr Screams above and i wonder what else goes in the ADF like sexual/abuse that they have covered up over the years and still try to cover up and ridiculous to suggest Mr Smith resign for trying to put a broom through, though any minister would have hard time dealing with the Military they never like any Minister do they.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 10:41 am
The Child Bride is a dreadful cook. Continually burns water.
But she makes the greatest Pav.
I married her on (mostly) the basis of that skill alone.
Yes to fruit, but not too much or too runny.
Baked cheesecake? Oy vey!
Remember when you could make the base from Arnotts ginger snaps? Well, they’ve changed the recipe and now they’re ginger sogs, but cook ‘em as a base for ten minutes on high, and it drives off the excess water.

Actually, she’s not bad, for a Kiwi.

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 10:57 am
but I don’t think women in combat is a good idea because of safety issues as men will automatically try to protect females out of chivalry, but that could compromise everthing however if that’s the career a girl wants pehaps its fairer to let them do it.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 10:57 am
you have to be kidding me.

Keynes’ biographer wants a State Investment Bank in Britain. The GFC was essentially caused by ‘state investment banks’

http://www.skidelskyr.com/images/uploads/Blueprint_for_a_British_Investment_Bank_ebook.pdf

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 11:00 am
As long at the make the grade and we don’t have any Christine Nixon style lowering of the bar, or Joan Kirner style quotas, then by all means let women into combat roles.

Any notion of chivalry and protecting females needs to go out the window however.

papachango

8 Mar 12 at 11:02 am
Candy, the Army has been philosophically gutted by a decade of politically correct decision making and direction.
An army is supposed to be ready to fight, and the rules are about allowing to do so at the highest efficiency possible. The current rules are about political control of the nations armed forces, and forcing it into being an instrument of social policy.
We need to gut the upper ranks, just like Stalin did in 1938.
The problem is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 11:03 am
but I don’t think women in combat is a good idea because of safety issues as men will automatically try to protect females out of chivalry, but that could compromise everthing however if that’s the career a girl wants pehaps its fairer to let them do it.

Candy, get serious. The only way for that to work is to make sure the men don’t feel at all chivalrous towards the females. That could only happen if the women they allow in the military are basically boofheaded bull dykes who would frighten not only our own side, but the enemy as well.

Jc

8 Mar 12 at 11:08 am
I’m, not sure I’d be holding Stalin up as an example to follow Winston – just sayin’

But I agree that, along with letting women in, the decision making has to be about readiness to fight, not political correctness.

papachango

8 Mar 12 at 11:10 am
Rape-plagued Occupy movement holding rally in support of rape victims in Michigan

But it is not a secret that there have been sexual assaults at Occupy camps, which Occupy Saginaw doesn’t get around to mentioning in their announcement or on their web site.

Last year ABC News wrote of sexual assaults at the Occupy tent city in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park and one in Dallas. Breitbart.com’s Big Journalism reported last fall on a whole bunch of sexual assaults, including a gang rape in Scotland, as well as reports that Occupy camps in three cities were advising their rape victims not to contact the police.

Female occupiers at Zuccotti Park were compelled to set up a women’s-only safe tent in November.

That’s why the late Andrew Breitbart told Occupy protesters at CPAC last month, “Stop raping people.”

LOL

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:14 am
…but I don’t think women in combat is a good idea because of safety issues as men will automatically try to protect females out of chivalry…

Any enermy that wants to demoralise the army and to score a propaganda victory will target women on the front lines.

Remember the shambles that occured around Jessica Lynch?

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:14 am
Tragic news.
Nobody did it better.

lotocoti

8 Mar 12 at 11:16 am
Female occupiers at Zuccotti Park were compelled to set up a women’s-only safe tent in November.

That’s why the late Andrew Breitbart told Occupy protesters at CPAC last month, “Stop raping people.”

LOL

Assaults on women and rapes at Tea Party events: NONE, ZIP, ZILCH.

OWS Rapes: 10+

OWS rap sheet to date

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:19 am
That could only happen if the women they allow in the military are basically boofheaded bull dykes who would frighten not only our own side, but the enemy as well.

If you allow women but refuse to be PC about it and put in quotas or lower the bar, that’s what you’ll probably end up with JC.

It might just work – they’d probably make good soldiers.

papachango

8 Mar 12 at 11:20 am
Neat:

[re SimCity]: The game franchise will be re-released next year as a multi-player online computer game with a global warming theme.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 11:28 am
We need to gut the upper ranks, just like Stalin did in 1938.

Where do you propose we take them to be shot, Winston?

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 11:33 am
Good lord
Only steve could get excited about incorporating global warming into a video game.

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 11:34 am
Limbaugh spent the entire first hour of his program today discussing “The American Way of Eating,” a new book by journalist Tracie McMillan

Well, let’s be honest. If there’s anything Rush is an expert on, it’s chowing down – big time.

That and scoring pills to get you fucked up.

Les Majesty

8 Mar 12 at 11:36 am
feminayzee dinosaur still hasn’t got the message that she and her stupid discriminatory agenda are utterly irrelevant…

Rabz

8 Mar 12 at 11:37 am
Yes, Lotocotio – that was horrific news. Ave atque vale.

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 11:38 am
I hope to be able to expel denialists into the desert to start their own city built from cactus and tumble-weeds.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 11:39 am
I presume that as the mayor in Sim City you’ll be able to use global warming as an excuse to raise taxes on your citizens to cover the costs of your brothel-hopping?

Feral Abacus

8 Mar 12 at 11:42 am
I hope to be able to expel denialists into the desert to start their own city built from cactus and tumble-weeds.

As any conservative catholic would…

Rabz

8 Mar 12 at 11:45 am
Amusing take on the change in advertisers on Limbaugh’s show:

But AshleyMadison, the Web site for people seeking extramarital affairs, and SeekingArrangement.com, which is, as Politico reported, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest sugar daddy and sugar baby dating website” — they’re now both firmly on board. Some rats run onto sinking ships.

Who listens to Rush? we ask. People who would like extramarital sex right now, please, or are eager to exchange money for sex, advertisers answer.

No, not hurting Republican’s image at all. (So Herman Cain told me.)

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 11:46 am
I’ll try again: a comment went astray.

Amusing take on Limbaugh change in advertisers:

But AshleyMadison, the Web site for people seeking extramarital affairs, and SeekingArrangement.com, which is, as Politico reported, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest sugar daddy and sugar baby dating website” — they’re now both firmly on board. Some rats run onto sinking ships.

Who listens to Rush? we ask. People who would like extramarital sex right now, please, or are eager to exchange money for sex, advertisers answer.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 11:49 am
A comment got eaten. Not sure why.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 11:49 am
Good lord
Only steve could get excited about incorporating global warming into a video game.

Yes you hep cats, it’s “neato!”

.

8 Mar 12 at 11:49 am
I hope to be able to expel denialists into the desert to start their own city built from cactus and tumble-weeds.

Make sure you build dams for all that rain that’s never going to fill them up.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 11:50 am
you have to be kidding me.

Keynes’ biographer wants a State Investment Bank in Britain. The GFC was essentially caused by ‘state investment banks’

Homer Paxton approves.

Surely you see how dopey sovereign wealth funds are now, peoples?

.

8 Mar 12 at 11:52 am
A comment got eaten. Not sure why.

1. You’ve reached your comment quota for the year

2. You’ve given the spam filter indigestion.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:53 am
Video games and anthropogenic global warming is a marriage made in heaven.

Both as real as each other.

James in Melbourne

8 Mar 12 at 11:53 am
Gab: to show my solidarity with International Women’s Day, I will say that I am quite prepared to push you out of a Hercules over a warzone (with rifle and parachute, of course) in the interests of equality.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 12:00 pm
I’ll leave candy behind to bake dessert, though. Needed for morale.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 12:01 pm
I suppose that makes a change from you threatening to slap me.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 12:02 pm
As we are for you, Steve.

Househusbands need to earn some respect.

.

8 Mar 12 at 12:03 pm
Rape-plagued Occupy movement holding rally in support of rape victims in Michigan.

I wonder if Obama will attend.

He loves an iconic rapist.

Caption: ‘Anyway, so there I was on the shore, pissed and dumbstruck with sheer luck. And she’s tapping away on the roof of the Oldsmobile expecting me to swim back and rescue her…”

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 12:03 pm
Maybe it was the link eating my comments, so I’ll just try this (re the recent change in LImbaugh’s advertisers):

But AshleyMadison, the Web site for people seeking extramarital affairs, and SeekingArrangement.com, which is, as Politico reported, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest sugar daddy and sugar baby dating website” — they’re now both firmly on board. Some rats run onto sinking ships.

Who listens to Rush? we ask. People who would like extramarital sex right now, please, or are eager to exchange money for sex, advertisers answer.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 12:05 pm
FAIR Work Australia has told Victorian police it will not assist their investigation of Labor MP Craig Thomson, in line with its earlier refusal to speak to NSW police probing the same allegations that the former union leader rorted more than $100,000 of members’ funds…

How can they avoid assisting a ciminal investigation?

Last night, Ms O’Neill … said in a statement: “As recorded in Hansard, I explained that any statutory officer exercising powers and functions under legislation can exercise those powers only for the purposes prescribed by the legislation. It followed that it would be inappropriate to voluntarily disclose information obtained through the exercise of a statutory power or function in aid of some other unrelated exercise such as a NSW Police investigation. The same principle applies in relation to an investigation by Victoria Police.”

What a wonderful sentiment. This will hurt us all.

I imagine agents of the commonwealth who have used their commission to commit criminal acts and especially corruption will be keen to use this precedent in the coming years.

Token

8 Mar 12 at 12:09 pm
Video: Female Democrats refuse to speak out against Bill Maher’s misogyny.

Amazing video. Amazing hypocrisy.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 12:12 pm
This is just going to see them fall a lot harder. Good.

What she is saying is unconstitutional bullshit.

s 118 would trump s 109 of the Cth Constitution in this instance, simply by applying the mischief rule.

.

8 Mar 12 at 12:15 pm
Amazing handwave.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 12:16 pm
More on that disgusting video at Big Journalism:

Schakowsky Refuses To Condemn Misogynistic Language From Top Obama Donor.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 12:27 pm
Washington’s black-tie dinner circuit has, in recent years, become quite stale, especially in the comedy division.

In the wake of Stephen Colbert’s controversial 2006 routine at the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, the trend has been to hire safer, more predictable entertainment”

So for the 68th White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner the Radio and TV Correspondents Association Jay McMichael’s of CNN, who chairs the RTCA’s executive committee has announced Louis CK

Yesterday in his daughters’ name Obummer shamelessly decried Limbaugh at the first Presidential Press Conference in many months which happened to fall on SuperTuesday.

The Dems say there is a GOP “war on women”and Obama didn’t deny it when asked but advanced the idea without actually repeating that phrase.

Here’s there comedic hero who wasn’t named and decried by Obama.
Obama was asked anout Bill Maher, he ignored the question.

The Left are utterly shameless demagogues.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 12:33 pm
It followed that it would be inappropriate to voluntarily disclose information

So make it involuntary.. surely they can be dragged into court to disclose their information?

duncan

8 Mar 12 at 12:35 pm
Let’s see, what have I missed? Lap dancing, a 2 hour cheesecake cyber-tea , and a jihad proclaimed against trees.

Steve, we can now return to your normal broadcast of condoms, buttplugs, airline crashes, CL love, gloabal warming bedwetting and manscaping.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 12:48 pm
Lies driven by spite and envy.

he Treasurer’s questioning of charities’ tax deductibility status must be matched by questions to business organisations, Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown said today.

“The Treasurer’s questioning of certain groups’ tax deductibility status shows a bias towards mining and business interests,” Senator Brown said.

“I will be asking the Treasurer to ensure that any mining company contributions to business organisations are questioned before any assault on environment groups,” Senator Brown said.

“It is the mining industry’s wealth and political clout that needs challenging – after all it is the back down to them over the original Treasury backed mining tax that has cost taxpayers $100 billion over the next decade. That’s money that could have been spent on schools, Denticare and High Speed Rail.”

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:08 pm
This is freaking awesome. I hope he becomes a billionaire.

Dollar shave club.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 1:11 pm
Treasurer Wayne Swan questions Greenpeace tax-free status

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/treasurer-wayne-swan-questions-greenpeace-tax-free-status/story-fn3dxity-1226292364086

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:12 pm
Someone notices that health food nazi Jamie Oliver is getting a smidgen chubby. He doesn’t respond well.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 1:12 pm
Great ad.

For a dollar a month, Steve can maintain his Brazilian.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 1:17 pm
Someone notices that health food nazi Jamie Oliver is getting a smidgen chubby.

He’s a carbohydrate laden lard ball. He should be made to swim home.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 1:17 pm
“That’s money that could have been spent on schools, Denticare and High Speed Rail.”

Ahahahahahaha.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 1:19 pm
Meanwhile, Bob’s media inquiry has cost (so far) $2 million.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:21 pm
Amazing handwave.

Yes it’s a “handwave” to point out rank and disgusting hypocrisy on the lefts “outrage” over slurs against women.

Like when Cloris Leachman call Sarah Palin a slut

Like when David Letterman called Sarah Palin a slut.

Like when Ed Shultz called Laurua Ingraham a slut

Or like when Mark Latham called Janet Albrechtsen a skanky-ho who would “die in a ditch” in parliament

Yes, I do agree with the overall premise of the lefts outrage over this Limbaugh fiasco – the right should be more like the left.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 1:28 pm
Amazing video. Amazing hypocrisy.

Asked to defend Maher’s misogyny, Jan Schakowsky, preferred to respond with:

Present

dover_beach

8 Mar 12 at 1:31 pm
http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2012/03/07/breitbart-com-rolling-out-video-of-obama-at-harvard-tonight/

The video, which Kaczynski says was “licensed from a Boston television station,” shows a young Barack Obama leading a protest at Harvard Law School on behalf of Prof. Derrick Bell, a radical academic tied to Jeremiah Wright–about whom we will be releasing significant information in the coming hours.

However, the video has been selectively edited–either by the Boston television station or by Buzzfeed itself. Over the course of the day, Breitbart.com will be releasing additional footage that has been hidden by Obama’s allies in the mainstream media and academia.
Advertisement

Breitbart.com Editor-in-Chief Joel Pollak and Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro will appear on The Sean Hannity Show to discuss the tape. The full tape will be released tonight on Fox News’ Hannity.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/07/buzzefeed-selectively-edits-obama-tape

Below is footage of Barack Obama praising and hugging Professor Derrick Bell. It was spliced and diced by the media to avoid showing just how close Obama was to Bell. More than that, a close associate of the Obama campaign, Harvard Law School’s Professor Charles Ogletree, admitted on our exclusive tape, “We hid this throughout the 2008 campaign. I don’t care if they find it now.”

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:41 pm
For IT, who seems to have requested some salacious material from me:

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/artikel.php?ID=231176

The quality of the journalism is what attracted me.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 1:42 pm
Has the spam filter know when I am trying to link to a story from Ghana about an interviewer grabbing a celebrity penis?

It’s spooky.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 1:44 pm
How does the spam filter know…

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 1:44 pm
Step

Even the filter doesn’t like you.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:46 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell

Bell is also the author of a number of books and short stories, including “Ethical Ambition” and “The Space Traders,” a fictional story in which white Americans sell black Americans to space aliens in order to pay off the national debt

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 1:46 pm
Well, we found it. And it is damaging, because Barack Obama was as close or closer to Derrick Bell than he ever was to Jeremiah Wright. Obama didn’t merely sit in the pews – or not — for Derrick Bell. He didn’t just hang out with Derrick Bell for prayers. He said:

“Open up your hearts and your minds to the words of Professor Derrick Bell.”

If we did, here’s what we’d be opening our hearts and minds to. This is a close associate of Jeremiah Wright, a man who was quoted by Jeremiah Wright regularly. This is a man who posited that the civil rights movement was too moderate because it accepted the status quo, and believed that the entire legal and constitutional system had to be transformed in radical fashion. This is a man so extreme that, as we’ve reported, he wrote a story in 1993 in which he posited that white Americans would sell black Americans into slavery to aliens to relieve the national debt, and that Jews would go along with it.

There’s far more coming on Derrick Bell. This is just the beginning. And this video is a smoking gun showing that Barack Obama not only associated with radicals, he was their advocate.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:48 pm
Do you dream about doing that to Tony Abbott, steve?

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 1:50 pm
Gab

Is that the tape, Breitbart is talking about?

If it is it will be a huge yawn to Americans, I reckon.

It’s nothing new to us that he’s a socialist weirdo either.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:50 pm
It hardly seems worth assassinating him over …

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 1:51 pm
It seems it is the tape, JC.

I don’t know, maybe you’re right, but I reserve judgement until I’ve seen the tape.

What is of more interest is the tape was withheld during the 2008 election. If it is a yawn then why keep it hidden?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:53 pm
Bell is also the author of a number of books and short stories, including “Ethical Ambition” and “The Space Traders,” a fictional story in which white Americans sell black Americans to space aliens in order to pay off the national debt

WTF?

Seriously though, do you really think those who drank the Obama branded space Kool-Aid are going to care?

Token

8 Mar 12 at 1:53 pm
That tape is BORING.

Obama is far too dumb to be a revolutionary leader.

To damage Obama they’ll need a tape of him giving Saul ALinsky a reach around at Bill Ayers house while snorting coke off Malcolm X’s bunghole.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 1:55 pm
oops… was talking about… not is.. for obvious reasons.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:56 pm
I doubt that will do it either, IT.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 1:56 pm
CL will be disappointed it doesn’t show Obama snorting lines with a couple of gay dudes.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 1:56 pm
“Environmental groups supporting the anti-coal push should be reported to the Tax Office if they abuse their status as charities, federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says.” from AFR

There does seem to be a pattern here where the government wants to silence any critics even want to silence those on the left now. There is nothing new about the activities of these Green groups only that it is at odds with government now.

kelly liddle

8 Mar 12 at 1:58 pm
To damage Obama they’ll need a tape of him giving Saul ALinsky a reach around at Bill Ayers house….

‘sactly. .. or Odumbo filling in one Sunday for “Rev” Wright and going ape-shit over whites/Jews. That’s what we need.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:58 pm
Ha. IT will freak out that his thought was too close to mine.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 1:58 pm
The Left always do the “yawn” jive whenever they are caught in extremist pose. But you have to push the on it and keep this stuff in the public domain. It won’t capture the public’s attention much, but it will contribute to a sense of unease. “Oh, so he was a great friend and donor to a hate America pastor, a terrorist launched his state senate campaign, and here he is hugging another Communist. That’s a bit weird.”

Making people feel the creepiness and discomfort about social democrats is an important step.

Fisky

8 Mar 12 at 1:59 pm
CL will be disappointed it doesn’t show Obama snorting lines with a couple of gay dudes.

Well we know it happened of course, but we need tapes to prove it.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 1:59 pm
“Oh, so he was a great friend and donor to a hate America pastor, a terrorist launched his state senate campaign, and here he is hugging another Communist. That’s a bit weird.”

Making people feel the creepiness and discomfort about social democrats is an important step.

I kept telling people the only person articulate enough to be able to put it all together and club him like a baby seal was Gingrich.

Newt’s shots at him I’m sure was making the white house uncomfortable at times.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 2:02 pm
Denormalising social democrats and making them appear unusual, not-everyday-people, indecent and even a threat to children is a cumulative process. There are no silver bullets.

Fisky

8 Mar 12 at 2:03 pm
Nothing is stopping Gingrich from focusing his fire on Obama now. He should devote himself 24/7 to reminding people that Obama is an extremist, not a centrist.

Fisky

8 Mar 12 at 2:04 pm
JournoLister Ben Smith on Obama tape:

Yawn. Nothing to see here.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 2:05 pm
This is right up liar-stevefb®’ alley….

‘Brosiery’ and ‘mantyhose’ take off as men seek the warmth, comfort… and ‘fashion statement’ of patterned tights

The underwear staple for women is making its way into wardrobes of the opposite sex – and the look is gaining popularity.

If any were in doubt as to the strength of the trend, it even has its own name: Mantyhose.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 2:07 pm
JournoLister Ben Smith on Obama tape:

Yawn. Nothing to see here.

Not even true after leftist Ben edited the video.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 2:08 pm
or Odumbo … going ape-shit over whites/Jooooos.

‘Collective’ America – Yawn…

Anyhoo, gotta rush, I’m off to sell phat eatcock and rissy berhendt to some space aliens for several billion dollars*.

* Which may or may not end up with woine goose…

Rabz

8 Mar 12 at 2:08 pm
Mitt Romney: It’s not like the president can “precisely set the price at the pump”

“Yesterday, Mitt Romney said he’s “not going to say outrageous things about the president.” Trouble with that statement is that “outrageous” is a pretty subjective adjective. Outrageous to whom? Apparently, Romney meant to say he’s not going to say anything about the president that would outrage the left — because he doesn’t seem to be afraid to say something about the president that would outrage the right. In fact, he did just that earlier today, when he essentially said the president shouldn’t be held responsible for the high price of gas.

“I think people recognize that the president can’t precisely set the price at the pump,” Romney said in an interview on CNBC.”

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 2:10 pm
Obama the front boy for racist radical – yawn.

Perry holds public prayer meeting – Obama’s love meeja goes into frenzy; others take the case to SC.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 2:11 pm
man, what is the problem with some of the commenters over at Troppo…. not the site owners.. the commenters.

They spend their time whining about the Cat like a bunch of teenage girls whose feelings are hurt.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 2:15 pm
Yesterday, Mitt Romney said he’s “not going to say outrageous things about the president.”

Yea, good one Mitt. Run attack ads destroying your GOP colleagues, but you’re going to be nice to Odumbo, because he deserves more respect. Fucking idiot.

If this fucker turns into another McCain the top of the GOP needs to be executed and replaced.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 2:18 pm
Yea, good one Mitt. Run attack ads destroying your GOP colleagues, but you’re going to be nice to Odumbo, because he deserves more respect. Fucking idiot.

I think he’s referring to not saying things like he’s a Kenyan born Marxist, stuff like that. Stuff that sank Trump’s campaign.

Alex Pundit

8 Mar 12 at 2:26 pm
Yes, that’s a big black mark against Romney. He must go after Obama on everything, making connections between his policies and the weirdo stuff he was involved in for most his adult life. For instance, “people may think it extreme to smuggle weapons to the Mexican mafia, but the same President gave tens of thousands of dollars to a hate America preacher.” Or, “we all know that Obama is hostile to Israel, but the question is why. Here’s a video of his state senate campaign being launched by a convicted terrorist.”

Fisky

8 Mar 12 at 2:27 pm
Alex

There are outrageous things to say about this president.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 2:28 pm
If it is it will be a huge yawn to Americans, I reckon.

Agreed.

Just because there’s a tape in an archive somewhere, doesn’t mean it’s a ‘revelation’ to dust it off.

Honestly, who the hell is Derrick Bell?

Am I supposed to be Outrageously Outraged?

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:30 pm
That tape is BORING.

I think the point of releasing the tape is the man saying to a chuckling audience “Of course we hid this during the campaign”.

“Oh hohohoh we hid Obama’s real past and created a fake new one for the stupid proles instead, chuckle hahahaha lol.”

Breitbart was on a “the media and academia willfully hid Obama’s past” jihad, this is just another concrete example.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 2:30 pm
I think he’s referring to not saying things like he’s a Kenyan born Marxist, stuff like that. Stuff that sank Trump’s campaign.

He shouldn’t call him a Marxist or anything. Labels like that are a big target. Just focus on stuff he’s actually done, and run with it constantly. Never lose an opportunity to remind people about his weird associations, and make sure to remorselessly draw parallels with the present administration.

From giving money to an extremist pastor to letting the Black Panthers intimidate voters is a pretty easy sell.

Fisky

8 Mar 12 at 2:31 pm
There are outrageous things to say about this president.

There are, granted, but if you’re going to bring up anything like a non-existent birth certificate then you can kiss your presidential aspirations goodbye. Just ask Trump or Rick Perry.

Alex Pundit

8 Mar 12 at 2:33 pm
Who is Kony?

Here’s something on which left and right can have – should have – bipartisan agreement. Kony is one of history’s monsters and his “Lords Resistance Army” is an abomination. This is an effort to make him as notorious as other Great Evil Men.

One filmmaker has succeeded in bringing awareness and attention to the horror of Northern Uganda. Maybe it won’t make any difference to what’s happening but it surely is a start.

daddy dave

8 Mar 12 at 2:33 pm
‘Brosiery’ and ‘mantyhose’ take off as men seek the warmth, comfort… and ‘fashion statement’ of patterned tights

It starts with aftershave and wedding rings and this is where it all leads…

Mantyhose

I’m saying Obama wears mantyhose. Without support, how else could his balls have survived this?

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:35 pm
Brosiery’ and ‘mantyhose’ take off as men seek the warmth, comfort… and ‘fashion statement’ of patterned tights

I just read about a 29 year old woman who invested $5000 to make underwear that hides the “visible panty line” or VPL as the sheilas call it. She is now a billionaire thanks to her investion of Spanx.

All you need in life is one good idea and the balls/ovaries to folow it.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 2:36 pm
The first thing I saw was Hasselback. She’s smokin’

.

8 Mar 12 at 2:36 pm
Here’s something on which left and right can have – should have – bipartisan agreement. Kony is one of history’s monsters and his “Lords Resistance Army” is an abomination. This is an effort to make him as notorious as other Great Evil Men.

Okay. Do we all agree that we need to send in the troops or this a Free Tibet bumper sticker campaign? We all know what will work and what will make others just feel good.

p.s Let’s lob a cruise missile on Mugabe while we think about it.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 2:39 pm
I like the VPL.

On the right bottom, it’s very alluring.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:39 pm
Stop objectifying women on International Women’s Day.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 2:40 pm
I like the VPL.

On the right bottom, it’s very alluring.

Not when it looks like they hogtied a bean bag.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 2:41 pm
Women are objects as well as people too, Steve.

.

8 Mar 12 at 2:42 pm
Stop objectifying women on International Women’s Day.

Fair point.

Here’s a sisters-doing-it-for-themselves tribute to the world’s greatest news reader.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:43 pm
I agree that Kony and his LRA bandits deserve the gallows, but I still can’t help but shake my head at the lefty hipster types who usually decry American involvement in other countrys’ affairs but now whine that the US needs to do more militarily in Uganda.

Fuck, if only someone had made a viral Youtube video about Saddam Hussein a decade ago there might have been greater support for his removal. He had the death toll and arsenel of a million Joe Konys after all.

I’m a cynical bastard.

Feral Abacus

8 Mar 12 at 2:43 pm
I’ll add that to your RSVP dating profile, dot.

steve from brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 2:43 pm
That tape is BORING.

Sure. That’s why it was deliberately not released back in 2008. Now imagine if that tape was showing one of today’s Presidential candidates. The media would be over it like maggots on rotting meat and the candidate would be savaged.

I believe the tape we’ve seen has been heavily edited and there are other tapes which the love meeja didn’t bother to uncover. Yet a huge campaign was driven by the love media – enlisting the help of citizens – to obtain Palin’s emails.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 2:44 pm
Come on. Where’s Hayley Mc Queen or Melissa Theroux?

.

8 Mar 12 at 2:44 pm
We’ll I’ll note that Steve from Brisbane thinks women are only an abstract ideal he can’t touch.

.

8 Mar 12 at 2:45 pm
KONY ABBOTT!

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:46 pm
I agree that Kony and his LRA bandits deserve the gallows, but I still can’t help but shake my head at the lefty hipster types who usually decry American involvement in other countrys’ affairs but now whine that the US needs to do more militarily in Uganda.

Tell them there is oil in Uganda and Kony supports solar. In fact, rumour has it he is a major shareholder of Solyndra.

.

8 Mar 12 at 2:46 pm
Well said, Feral.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 2:48 pm
International Women’s Day.

Is there an International Mens Day?

If not, why not?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 2:49 pm
Sure. That’s why it was deliberately not released back in 2008. Now imagine if that tape was showing one of today’s Presidential candidates.

This is the same lunancy everyone used back in 2007 to try and defeat Rudd – Strip club revelations! And it’s the same lunacy everyone hs been hoping to use on Obama. Magic bullets don’t kill leftists. Hell, Marion Barry was re-elected for God’s sake. Democrats can do whatever they like and it will be blown over.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 2:52 pm
I agree that Kony and his LRA bandits deserve the gallows, but I still can’t help but shake my head at the lefty hipster types who usually decry American involvement in other countrys’ affairs but now whine that the US needs to do more militarily in Uganda.

Fuck, if only someone had made a viral Youtube video about Saddam Hussein a decade ago there might have been greater support for his removal. He had the death toll and arsenel of a million Joe Konys after all.

I’m a cynical bastard.

You know, those same thoughts were going through my mind. I couldn’t believe the vicious duplicity of what was going on especially by the Congressional Demolitionists and Odumbo himself.

Kony doesn’t need to be arrested. He and his Henchmen need to be executed for what they have done.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 2:54 pm
Feral, nasty dictators are only disturbing to lefties when there’s a Democrat in the White House.

When a Republican is in the White House, mass murderers are either a) kinda cool; or b) best dealt with via ‘sanctions and incentives.’

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:54 pm
Do we all agree that we need to send in the troops or this a Free Tibet bumper sticker campaign?

That’s a very good question, IT. It’s worth asking what these people actually want to do about it. After all, the “Lords Resistance Army” has the word ‘army’ in it for a reason. (hint: it might be because they’re an army). They’re not going to just pack up and go home after a good talking-to.

daddy dave

8 Mar 12 at 2:56 pm
Magic bullets don’t kill leftists.

If it is sex type allegations it doesn’t kill anyone unless they campaign on family values or it is criminal acts. I quite like the idea of some scandal coming out about Tony Abbott intoxicated in a strip club carrying on about the lefties. It would destroy the “far right extremist” label against him especially regarding religion.

kelly liddle

8 Mar 12 at 2:58 pm
He gets no respect, not even from The Age’s Tim Colebach.

!

The headline unemployment rate climbed back to 5.2 per cent.

This shows the naivety of comments last month by Treasurer Wayne Swan and the Reserve Bank seeing the January figures as a sign of improvement, rather than the statistical static you get when you try to use figures for the wrong purpose.

The Bureau keeps warning us that its monthly job movement figures are too imprecise to rely on, and urges us to use its smoothed trend data instead.

Pity the Treasurer and the Reserve don’t listen.

And the trend figures this month tell us pretty much what they told us last month: there’s virtually no job growth going on out there.

Every month, the potential labour force of people aged 15 and over grows by 18,500, but on average, only 1000 new jobs are created.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 2:58 pm
@Daddy Dave, why not? Isn’t that the strategy used by Obama on Iran’s nuclear program?

Cory Olsen

8 Mar 12 at 3:01 pm
If it is sex type allegations it doesn’t kill anyone unless they campaign on family values…

Just ask Teddy Kennedy, John Edwards and Anthony Weiner.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 3:02 pm
If we send troops after the LRA, Our troops will be shooting at kids.

I think we can safely say that Kony will die of old age.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 3:03 pm
You know what, the Right should stay out of this one and play the same game the western Left play. They need to be taught a fucking lesson. People like Clooney, accusing Bush of being a warmonger etc, should have the fucking kitchen table thrown at him. So should all the Left.

The Right shouldn’t be playing to their game.

Furthermore who is on the other side of the battle field against Kony? Do we know? Are they playing the same game only in smaller size?

Stay out of it and fuck over the left is my call.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 3:05 pm
The campaign is called “Make Kony Famous”.

Ok, he’s famous now given twitter/Facebook/News.

Now what?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 3:06 pm
I agree that Kony and his LRA bandits deserve the gallows, but I still can’t help but shake my head at the lefty hipster types who usually decry American involvement in other countrys’ affairs but now whine that the US needs to do more militarily in Uganda.

The Lord’s Resistance Army is like so many forces fighting those African civil wars, pure evil.

Given that, we are watching the Rwanda cycle, the Lefties scream something should be done, then if anyone acts they’ll scream imperialism and demand impeachment.

The Lefts hot and cold flushes and mood swings are dangerous to get involved in.

Token

8 Mar 12 at 3:08 pm
The campaign is called “Make Kony Famous”.

Viral marketing for military response? They may just end up calling this episode in world history “The Twitter Wars”

Fleeced

8 Mar 12 at 3:09 pm
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a ~~whimper~~ twitter

Fleeced

8 Mar 12 at 3:12 pm
It’s a ridiculous hipster thing to do, Fleeced. How many freaking Ugandans have ISP service?

Kony lives in the fucking jungle, so it doesn’t matter a cracker if every single person in the world knew what he looks like. It’s actually quite moronic.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 3:12 pm
let’s not presume too much. the Somalians under utter anarchy had high mobile ownership rates. Some of these Ugandans might be getting better Net access than what the NBN is supposed to be giving us

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 3:16 pm
waiting for Homer to jump in to tell me to ‘rad’ something by CoNROy

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 3:19 pm
It is a pity the Finko & Rickety Review has finished its business, as co-author Matthew Ricketson would almost certainly have wished to include a few words about Riminton’s inaccuracies in the finished document.

Ricketson, you see, has served five times as a Walkleys judge. Perhaps, when Riminton returns his Walkley, he should mail it straight to Ricketson, who knows exactly what to do when professional standards are not observed.

http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/its-in-mail.html

Ivan Denisovich

8 Mar 12 at 3:20 pm
Swan gets no respect from Tim Colebatch because he started listening to Liberal-tarians.

The economy is still in a hole and Swan wants to choke off government spending.

Max Scream

8 Mar 12 at 3:23 pm
The economy is still in a hole and Swan wants to choke off government spending.

Swan’s cutting spending? Hahahahahahaha

Fleeced

8 Mar 12 at 3:26 pm
Wiki:

In keeping with the basic beliefs of Christianity, they are known for the extreme atrocities they commit against civilians, including killings, mutilations, rape, and in some accounts even cannibalism.[6].

WTF? That reads as the basic Christian beliefs include murder rape and cannibalism.

It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986.[7] In 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture.[8]

Well, maybe the film and Make Kony Famous campaign will achieve more.

On November 12, 2006, Kony met Jan Egeland, the United Nations Undersecretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief. Kony told Reuters: “We don’t have any children. We only have combatants.”[16]

Obama’s onto it.

In October 2011, Obama authorized the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. troops to central Africa.[22] Their goal is to help regional forces remove Kony and senior LRA leaders from the battlefield. “Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense,” Obama said in a letter to Congress.[citation needed]

Next stage:

Flock and The Toronto Star stated that Invisible Children hoped to raise Kony’s notoriety enough to provoke a massive overnight poster campaign on April 20.[25][26]

Still, people will feel good that they’re doing something.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 3:27 pm
Shut it, Crap Stream. No one even reads your shit.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 3:28 pm
SoB said:

Let’s see, what have I missed? Lap dancing, a 2 hour cheesecake cyber-tea , and a jihad proclaimed against trees.

And each and every one of those topics is infinitely more interesting than anything SoB has posted here. Ever.

Please, Steve, miss some more conversations. You’ll be amazed to know we get along just great without you.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 3:32 pm
It’s a ridiculous hipster thing to do, Fleeced.

So it’s just a hipster trend? Like eating Ethiopian was a few years back? Hipsters are never afraid to try popular new things.

Fleeced

8 Mar 12 at 3:34 pm
Just a snapshot…

The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell has had a lawyer demand the ABC pull a column by Rober Manne, who has himself complained to the media inquiry, which wants oppressive new controls on newspapers after urging from Greens leader Bob Brown, who has complained about cartoonist Paul Zanetti to the Press Council, which has told journalists not to call asylum seekers “illegal immigrants” after reprimanding Greg Sheridan, after earlier considering a complaint by Australians for Palestine, which is backing a complaint against Andrew Bolt, who had articles pulled from the Internet by order of the Federal Court, under the kind of vilification laws that had two pastors dragged into court over sermons monitored by people sent by the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission, which helped an offended pagan force a settlement from a Christian mayor of the city of Casey, north of the city of Manningham, where Chinese developers have taken defamation action against councillor Stephen Mayne, who was earlier sued by broadcaster Steve Price, who was last month found to have defamed Mamdouh Habib, who earlier won another defamation action against News Ltd and had his welcome-home ceremony addressed by Keysar Trad, who lost his own defamation case against News Ltd, one of whose most senior editors is Chris Mitchell, who….

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/enough_guarantee_free_speech_and_stop_this_circus/

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 3:38 pm
Bit “hyper-bowlic”, but it is astounding all the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU&feature=player_embedded#!

JC

8 Mar 12 at 3:48 pm
Stephen Mayne has been running a campaign against an old folks’ home?

To think that he used to take on BHP and RIO as a shareholder ~~activist~~ nuisance

How the ‘mighty’ have fallen …

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 3:55 pm
lol… yea he’s now suing nursing homes and agitating for the right to free speech. What a sad, sad case of a human being dropping to those depths.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:00 pm
This belongs in every martial arts handbook – the Praying Maynetis defence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Glenn_Milne_Walkleys.jpg

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 4:01 pm
opps….. against the right of free speech…

In actual point of fact he never really achieved anything at the board meetings because most of the time he really didn’t understand the accounts and seemed to only be there to create a nuisance of himself. His shareholder thingi were mostly grandstanding teenage girl bullshit and best described at attention whoring.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:03 pm
High school teacher placed on leave after students discover her pron past

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/teacher-stars-in-porn-768912

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 4:05 pm
Shit, didn’t Bird at least partly predict this?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_SOLAR_STORM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-07-21-21-58

Earth’s magnetic field is about to be shaken like a snow globe by the largest solar storm in five years.

After hurtling through space for a day and a half, a massive cloud of charged particles is due to arrive early Thursday and could disrupt utility grids, airline flights, satellite networks and GPS services, especially in northern areas

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 4:07 pm
No, not exactly. Bird is predicting cosmic rays hitting us and causing earth quakes and shit like that.

Solar rays are a different kettle of olive oil.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:11 pm
Gab

Bolta’s post reminds me of that old Blur song:

GIRLS WHO ARE BOYS
WHO LIKE BOYS TO BE GIRLS
WHO DO BOYS LIKE THEY’RE GIRLS
WHO DO GIRLS LIKE THEY’RE BOYS
ALWAYS SHOULD BE SOMEONE YOU REALLY LOVE

Rococo Liberal

8 Mar 12 at 4:11 pm
High school teacher placed on leave after students discover her pron past

No, pizza porn? And the kids dobbed her in? Anyone give it some thought as to how these kids knew who she was?

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:13 pm
Sorry, CL’s going to get all tough and bluesy now because I referred to a pop song written after 1973

Rococo Liberal

8 Mar 12 at 4:13 pm
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute this morning publish the complete gorilla genome, the fourth great ape genome to be delivered after those of humans, chimpanzees and orang-utans….

“We found that gorillas share many parallel genetic changes with humans, including the evolution of our hearing,” said senior author Dr Chris Tyler-Smith. This finding damages the theory that the fast evolution of human hearing genes is linked to the evolution of language. Gorillas experienced a similar fast evolution of hearing, but did not develop language like our own.

The genome analysis shows the human/chimp lineage parted from that of the gorilla about 10 million years ago, and that humans and chimps branched off in separate directions six million years ago.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 4:16 pm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-08/lnp-porn-guy-stays/3877336

Queensland’s Liberal National Party (LNP) says it will not be sacking one of its candidates despite his involvement in a pornographic website.

Mortgage broker Mark Boothman remains the registered administrator of the site, which he says was hacked and had adult content uploaded to it …

Two other LNP candidates for the Gold Coast’s Broadwater electorate have already been stood aside: one for drink driving and the other for going to a swingers party.

jtfsoon

8 Mar 12 at 4:16 pm
Papa, “Any notion of chivalry and protecting females needs to go out the window however.”
Men can’t do that, papa. Especially the men we want in the armed forces.

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 4:20 pm
Even a broken clock’s right twice a day.

Credit where it’s due…

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 4:20 pm
“International Women’s Day.
Is there an International Mens Day?
If not, why not?”

Every day is international men’s day isn’t it for some of them. lucky buggers.I wouldn’t mind re-incarnating as a man and try out all that freedom, and now they want to wear our pantyhose too.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 4:22 pm
The one that got sacked for going to a swinger’s party shouldn’t have been sacked – if it was a gay bathhouse instead, he’d probably have been OK.

Fleeced

8 Mar 12 at 4:22 pm
Tim Blair:

The good news for those who enjoy bat: the flavour lingers for a long time. A very long time.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 4:22 pm
Men can’t do that, papa. Especially the men we want in the armed forces.

Ya reckon? Stick, Fraulein Von Roxon, Tanya Sip&soda, Lee Rhiannon or Tubby Milne in that frame and tell me who’s going to act chivalrous?

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:23 pm
Every day is international men’s day isn’t it for some of them. lucky buggers

Urinating is great fun, Candy.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 4:24 pm
What’s Blair doing to himself? Try new things and all that – but draw the line occasionally!

Fleeced

8 Mar 12 at 4:24 pm
International Women’s Day.
Is there an International Mens Day?
If not, why not?”

Because men don’t need that sort of shot to their self esteem, Candy. We generally don’t need or want to call attention to ourselves with such shallow exhibtionism.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:25 pm
Having said that, the advice her “Africa expert” gave was equally inane – call the Australian foreign minister, campaign to get us a seat on the UN Security Council so we can “make a difference”.

Great, yeah, let’s vote to send some UN peacekeepers in so they can “help” Uganda’s children in their own special UN peacekeeping way, just like they’ve done in all the other African shitholes where they’ve gone in to “keep the peace”.

Much of the continent’s fucked. Don’t sell them weapons. Let them duke it out their own way. Intervention just creates its own set of problems.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 4:26 pm
‘Urinating is great fun, Candy’
well i guess there’s one thing gals don’t need to worry about and that’s a great big enlarged prostate pressing on the bladder,

yes, there’s an upside.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 4:28 pm
….just like they’ve done in all the other African shitholes where they’ve gone in to “keep the peace”.

Usually raping the women themselves. It’s a race as to how gets what, the UN peacekeepers or the indig they’re they’re after.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:29 pm
What the prostate giveth the prostate taketh away sadly Candy.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 4:30 pm
yes, there’s an upside.

You mean upright?

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:30 pm
‘What the prostate giveth the prostate taketh away sadly Candy.’

You can always get chips take off it jamesK

candy

8 Mar 12 at 4:32 pm
JC? You’re not wearing your glasses are you?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 4:32 pm
What the prostate giveth the prostate taketh away sadly Candy.

No kidding, 4 dudes I know have enlarged prostates and one has the beginnings of cancer. I learnt all this over the last 4 weeks. Different people, who don’t know each other. It sounded like a pandemic.

So I did the right thing and went for a PSA. It was compared to the last one and of course I came out of the test as a perfect human specimen.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:33 pm
JC? You’re not wearing your glasses are you?

Umm why?

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:35 pm
‘I came out of the test as a perfect human specimen.’

Wow, those tests can do a lot for a man.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 4:36 pm
Misappropriated quote. It’s minor though and I’m just stirring

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 4:36 pm
Wow, those tests can do a lot for a man.

Yep. Unless of course there’s a witchdoctor you know that can will away those evil spirits.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:38 pm
JC,

Best thing for you is an MRI. Best way to tell short of cutting you open and doing a biopsy. Fingers better than a PSA, but both inferior to MRI or biopsy. Women get breast screens for free of course because it’s “more important”.

.

8 Mar 12 at 4:39 pm
Usually raping the women themselves

Women? Nah, they tend to like ‘em younger, so I hear.

Fucking UN. It’s a pity it’s HQed in New York, otherwise I’d merrily nuke the building with all the UN parasites inside.

I hope one day the US and Japan just say “hey guess what, we’re not paying you shit from here on in. Oh, seems you’ll have to trim your budget by 80%”.

What then? Evict the UN from their NY building and lease it to the Koch brothers. Or maybe by the time Gina Rinehart’s made her first 100 billion, she can rent a few floors and move the Fairfax offices there.

What a glorious thought. The Fairfax/Koch brothers bit makes absolutely no sense, but fuck off, it’s my fantasy.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 4:39 pm
what evil spirits JC?

candy

8 Mar 12 at 4:40 pm
Best thing for you is an MRI.

Really? It’s better than the old finger trick and a series of PSA’s?

Dot, I don’t think they will do an MRI unless the markers are suggestive.

Best way to tell short of cutting you open and doing a biopsy.

Pass on that one thanks. I’d rather get it.

Women get breast screens for free of course because it’s “more important”.

Of course.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:43 pm
campaign to get us a seat on the UN Security Council so we can “make a difference”.

Please remind me why the nuff-nuffs believe we should spend over $100m to sit at the kiddie table at the security council?

The other members of the council are as impotent as the state police forces are when investigating union brothel crawlers.

Token

8 Mar 12 at 4:49 pm
What then? Evict the UN from their NY building and lease it to the Koch brothers.

They wouldn’t be interested. Neither would big Gina.

Trump would. He’d toss it down and build luxury apartments. It’s actually in a decent spot, OCO. Ist Ave as a neigborhood around there I reckon is a bit bit of a shit hole. However the building is facing the East River and you would have a straight looksee from that spot to where the East River meets the bay, or whatever it’s called… right to Downtown. It would make for an interesting development.

It would also relieve pressure on the city when those arseholes are in session with the traffic problems etc.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 4:49 pm
Like I said, my fantasy.y I just said Rinehart (to piss off the Australian left) and the Koch brothers (to piss off the American left).

Trump is a great idea, though. More realistic, if not as effective at making leftist heads explode.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 4:52 pm
More realistic, if not as effective at making leftist heads explode.

But he does. They hate him because he made Odumbo show his birth certificate. Trump was like a human version of the Honey badger. He didn’t give a shit at all the crap the leftwing was throwing at him in those interviews about his demands to see the real birth certificate. Trump was doing it to fuck with Odumbo’s head and see how long it took to break him. Not long.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 5:04 pm
“We need to gut the upper ranks, just like Stalin did in 1938.”

“Where do you propose we take them to be shot, Winston?”

We won’t need to shoot them SoB, you dill.
We’ll just put them in a closed room with the Lying Slapper reading out your posts on an endless tape.
The ones who survive are the ones who are stone deaf.

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 5:13 pm
Iran ‘trying to remove evidence that it tested detonators for nuclear weapons’

“Satellite photographs show the appearance of earth-moving vehicles and haulage lorries at Parchin, a military base where the IAEA said in its last report that Iranian scientists had experimented with a device that could only be used in the detonation system of a nuclear bomb.

When IAEA inspectors visited Iran last month, they were refused permission to visit Parchin. Since then, Tehran has partially backed down and conceded that the agency’s experts can enter the location “once”.

The satellite photographs appear to show a recent effort to sanitise the site beforehand, one IAEA official told the Associated Press news agency.

Last November, the IAEA said that experiments with the detonation system of nuclear weapons had been conducted inside a large metal container at Parchin.”

When and in what manner does Israel strike?

It can’t risk waiting until after Nov ‘cos if Obummer is re-elected they are toast.

It must be this summer unless by then an Obummer defeat seem inevitable.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 5:15 pm
“I hope to be able to expel denialists into the desert to start their own city built from cactus and tumble-weeds.”

You can bet we’ll have’ in 50 years, a vibrant, free society.
If however, you do the same with gerbil warmenists, you’ll have a beautiful collection of bleached bones from the softcocks who died before their iPods went flat.

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 5:19 pm
Here’s something on which left and right can have – should have – bipartisan agreement. Kony is one of history’s monsters and his “Lords Resistance Army” is an abomination. This is an effort to make him as notorious as other Great Evil Men.

One filmmaker has succeeded in bringing awareness and attention to the horror of Northern Uganda. Maybe it won’t make any difference to what’s happening but it surely is a start.

DD, gab nailed it, but perhaps did not recognise that she did.

Is the LRA an abomination? of course. Does its leadership deserve a long death over a short flame? Of course.

But there’s a subtext in the left-wing campaign. It’s to paint the LRA as “Christian fundamentalists”. That gives the left their ‘moral equivalence’ with muslim terrorists.

The LRA are a Christian as Ayatollah Khameini or Jim Jones. They are in fact pagan crazies who have got a demented patchwork quilt of ‘beliefs’ nicked from a wide variety of pagan, and also marxist, islamic and christian belief systems.

you watch the LRA slowly be redefined by these left-wing slimeballs as a ‘purely Christian fundamentalist group’.

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 5:23 pm
“The LRA are a Christian as Ayatollah Khameini or Jim Jones. ”

Good point. You should tell Rush ‘Sleazebag’ Limbaugh.

Jarrah

8 Mar 12 at 5:25 pm
They don’t like – possibly hate – Trump. The Koch brothers are twin satans. If Steve gets his silly Sim City: Climate Change edition, I want the Kochs in the UN building!

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 5:32 pm
The ones who survive are the ones who are stone deaf.

Naah, Winston. The deaf ones will have been pegged to death by the lying slapper the moment she realised they could not hear her creeping up from behind in Larry Pickering mode.

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 5:34 pm
High school teacher placed on leave after students discover her pron past.

I love the way the students did the right thing:

A California middle school teacher has been placed on leave after administrators learned from students that the educator appears in porn videos available online.

Stacie Halas, a 31-year-old science teacher at Richard B. Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard, was removed from the classroom Monday, three days after pupils reported spotting her in a series of X-rated clips.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 5:55 pm
Feral.

“but I still can’t help but shake my head at the lefty hipster types who usually decry American involvement in other countrys’ affairs but now whine that the US needs to do more militarily in Uganda.”

The Leftist block say nothing, or even demand something is done when something like this happens. Then they dig out the flairs and peace signs and show how much they hate the West, and how eeeviil it is.
See how that works now?

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 5:56 pm
Hey Winston, how’s the digit today?

candy

8 Mar 12 at 5:58 pm
JC, we could point out that Kony has an opposition. And that they are free to join up, if they so desire.
But there is no way the US should be sending other peoples sons and daughters to die when the left won’t.

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 6:08 pm
Kafer did make an error of judgement, according to leaked details of the secret report.

Max Scream

8 Mar 12 at 6:14 pm
Sure, Maxie the Squealboy, sure.

Convenient leaks from a report the minister won’t release which might seem to bolster his position.

Does your wide-eyed credulous gullibility know any bounds?

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 6:21 pm
Got something about knowing what are in secret government documents, MK 50, some kind of statist, command economy type?

Max Scream

8 Mar 12 at 6:23 pm
JC, I accept the defeat of my argument.

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 6:23 pm
Oh yea… maxwell smart again.

His comments need interpreting, Winston.

Here:

The 50 cents coin took a long ride down the sidewalk as it walked causally past the bush that had been running home after work in the singlet and ipod to its ear.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 6:31 pm
Kony lives in the fucking jungle, so it doesn’t matter a cracker if every single person in the world knew what he looks like. It’s actually quite moronic

On reflection, this is right.
The Kony campaign does seem to be just another “Free Tibet” bumper sticker campaign. Tory Shepherd nails it at the punch: “I call bullshit.”

But just to dispel some myths, Kony isn’t just “one of many” African warlords. Unless you can think of another person who has built another army of pedophile sadists in a jungle somewhere.

JC, we could point out that Kony has an opposition. And that they are free to join up, if they so desire.

The Ugandan government is the “opposition” to Kony but they have so far failed to stop him.

daddy dave

8 Mar 12 at 6:32 pm
Of course no, Squealer.

I just happen to know Kafer (not particularly well) and a number of the ADFA staff.

I also know Defence very well indeed, and know how cynical to be when unsubstantiated rumours purporting to be leaks from a withheld report appear, when those rumours happen to support a bad Minister. The same Minister who refuses to release the report.

Whereas you, Squealer, are both a gullible fool, and have no command of basic English grammar.

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 6:34 pm
“but I still can’t help but shake my head at the lefty hipster types who usually decry American involvement in other countrys’ affairs but now whine that the US needs to do more militarily in Uganda.”

So true. It’s interesting even this week to see Bob Carr in a past opinion piece snorting with derision that “Bush will send us to war with Iran”. What’s the bet old Bob no longer expresses such views about an American President, well, until a white Republican is in charge?

Nic

8 Mar 12 at 6:35 pm
It’s not too bad thanks candy, but the doc won’t let me drink with the antibiotics, and as you may have noticed, I’m getting a bit cranky after four days of abstinence…

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 6:39 pm
“Kafer did make an error of judgement, according to leaked details of the secret report.”

…and you know this?
What kind of a secret report goes via your desk, Squealer? The ones on 10×11 perforated soft ply paper?
Tell me, do you shred them with your teeth, or is there a secret disposal system you flush them down?

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 6:49 pm
Oh sod this.
I’m going for a beer…

Winston SMITH

8 Mar 12 at 6:51 pm
Minor Squawk is like liar-stevefb® really.

Well…perhaps just marginally more unfamiliar with reality than steve.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 6:54 pm
Larry Pickering’s answer to Bob Brown on the Fink Report.

Will Kane

8 Mar 12 at 7:04 pm
China announces it has nearly 200 years worth of shale gas reserves.

Will Kane

8 Mar 12 at 7:10 pm
‘It’s not too bad thanks candy, but the doc won’t let me drink with the antibiotics, and as you may have noticed, I’m getting a bit cranky after four days of abstinence…’

Winston, sounds like a nasty little infection you’ve had. Annoying too if it’s a finger you use for tools and general stuff.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 7:29 pm
I can’t see why Mr Smith shouldn’t try to wipe out abuse/bullying in the services after all 700 odd incidents of abuse were quoted in the report and how could the Skype thing be an isolated incident.

He seems to be working from good intentions and what he sees as right, even though he’s an ALP minister he’s not all bad i don’t think, seems to have some courage too which is good, they lacking integrity as a party.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 7:36 pm
Twostix

You still refuse to talk about wreckages point though. Being that 180,000 people a year is actually a hell of a lot if governments point blank refuse to make room for them or allow wealth to be created to employ them outside of Sydney.

Wreckage isn’t making a point. Only the usual whinge about the evil government. There is nothing stopping immigrants from moving to regional areas.
A surprising amount of people manage to start businesses in this country given we appear to be on the edge of being a communist hellhole.

I’m not defending Gillard she seems to be as mathematically challenged as you are. My point was very clear in that the 36m figure by 2050 is no big deal.

That you managed to stain your undies when confronted with that very simple point suggests you are a bit fragile.

sdfc

8 Mar 12 at 8:33 pm
Let’s all not speak to Crap Stream. He is an incredibly shitty, low-grade troll who is best ignored.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 8:39 pm
OK Candy lets look a some ballpark figures.

700 reports of alleged ‘sexist issues’ abuse since 1951.

lets round that up to 1000.

1000 incidents reported over 61 years = 16.3 incidents a year.

Lets round that up to 20.

Average size of the ADF over that time is not easy to determine, so lets use today’s tiny ADF (Navy alone is half the size it was in 1980, Army less than a third).

Today it’s 81000.

20 such incidents a year in an organisation that size is an incident rate of 0.00025. That’s 25/10,000th

Go compare that to the private sector. It’s miniscule by comparison.

Can anyone tell me why this data has been released right now, to standing ovations from the left-wing media (elements of the Australian Bolshevik Collective, Socialist-Bolsheviks Service, the Spencer Street Soviet and the Socialist-Marxist Herald have been wetting themselves with joy).

Got anything to do with the woes Minister Smith is in over the Skype affair, y’think?

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 8:55 pm
OCO.

Crap Stream. Apropos. I like it.

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 8:57 pm
There is nothing stopping immigrants from moving to regional areas.
A surprising amount of people manage to start businesses in this country given we appear to be on the edge of being a communist hellhole.

I’m not defending Gillard she seems to be as mathematically challenged as you are. My point was very clear in that the 36m figure by 2050 is no big deal.

That you managed to stain your undies when confronted with that very simple point suggests you are a bit fragile.

You demonstrate your stupidity daily.

If you were able to read at all (something you have demonstrated twice now you can not do), you would have noticed me decrying the lack of people here, wishing for more people, towns and cities and lamenting the current state of undeveloped land.

Your utterly pig ignorant stupidty in claiming that people can just come out to regional australia, whose industries have been choked by bitter labor governments and vindictive green bureaucracies and start a business is so embarrasing as to be not worth a response to.

There’s nothing to do here you dick, land is crippling expensive out here due to the punitive land regulations, making land releases nearly impossible for councils and then it’s illegal to do anything coming close to creating the primary wealth needed to attract people here anyway.

Truly.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 9:14 pm
‘Got anything to do with the woes Minister Smith is in over the Skype affair, y’think?’
Mk50,
700 is only what’s reported so the numbers are completely unreliable in a statistical sense then. Generally it’s accepted there’s/has been a culture of bullying and some abuse in the Forces. Andrew Wilkie for one has been guilty of same.

I just personally see Mr Smith as trying to do something about it. I note some soldiers post anti Muslin staff on Net? all very minor but that’s not fair on all the other serving members. Put it all together and Mr Smith is trying to clean up stuff. I think Australians understand that and are quite okay with it. He’s acting from good motives, imo.
I don’t understand the Bolshevik stuff and i don’t think it be relevant to today’s society?

candy

8 Mar 12 at 9:19 pm
I just personally see Mr Smith as trying to do something about it. I note some soldiers post anti Muslin staff on Net? all very minor but that’s not fair on all the other serving members. Put it all together and Mr Smith is trying to clean up stuff. I think Australians understand that and are quite okay with it. He’s acting from good motives, imo.

It’s been a couple of months since your last concern troll ay old fella?

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 9:31 pm
Gab – check your mail.

Sinclair Davidson

8 Mar 12 at 9:37 pm
Twostix your comments like that and from others from here frighten people off the Catallaxy files. They know they are not welcome and the verbalising is yucky, and the intellectual snobbery is just ridiculous.

This is all okay if Professor Davidson prefers a closed in forum of a handful of Libertarians and Steve, but if he prefers a more vibrant interesting interactive forum along the lines of A. Bolt this verbalising won’t do it for him. So much potential but going nowhere due to poor behaviour basically.

Apologies to Professor Davidson if i’m reading it wrongly i don’t know how he feels about it of course.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 9:43 pm
This is all okay if Professor Davidson prefers a closed in forum of a handful of Libertarians ~~and Steve~~

Please please please make it so

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 10:01 pm
FFS, Candy, grow up.

Does bullying occur? Sure. At what I observe to be lower rates than outside Defence. Defence has longstanding and robust systems to counter bullying.

But bullying’s definition keeps expanding. Now it encroaches into training techniques.

I ran a classic once during one of the early efforts Defence was making (20 odd years ago). it was all done in civvies and 90% of the attendees were civvies. As part of that, I pulled an RSM and eight other ADF from the attendees, and had him treat them verbally as new recruits are treated. Lots of loud yelling, verbal descriptions of them as useless maggots etc.

Then I asked the audience if what they had seen was ‘bullying’. Nearly all said yes.

We then ran several other role-plays. One had a truly brutal example of workplace bullying. Not one of them picked it as such. Not one. Yet, later 75% of the audience said they had experienced it personally!

The audience were shocked that the first role play was not bullying in any way shape or form, but basic training of proven efficiency (been in use since Sargon’s day) from a culture they simply did not understand and had no experience of.

They were appalled that they had entirely missed bullying which had actually happened to most of them. And to not one military person there.

What’s being done now is social engineering by people who have no idea of what they are doing, no idea of what their definitions are, no idea of what the problems are, no idea of how different workplace cultures must be.

Seen a high tension electrical workplace? Like on the pylons in the bush in bad weather working cable? AN office worker will see ‘bullying’ everywhere. A person with a high tension ticket will see lifesaving safety training embedded in the daily routine for EVERY worker on site irrespective of experience.

And let me bloody well assure you that in a war one hell of a lot of servicemen will die because of their training being softened by this sort of undergraduate social engineering bullsh*t.

A proper military training system, one which produced trained soldiers, sailors and airmen able to withstand the shock of combat should be so tough that loss rates (that trainees killed in initial training) should be 0.5 – 1.0%. We know that, the Romans knew that.

We do not do that as retards-in-power who know nothing think it’s icky. We no longer inure recruits to extreme physical stress, pain, hunger and extreme fear.

So we accept much higher losses in the initial stages of war, when we can least afford them, and when it might lose us the war.

Dangerous. Very dangerous.

Mk50 of Brisbane

8 Mar 12 at 10:07 pm
Actually, I kinda like one or two of our pet trolls. The sometimes-onside, sometimes-offside types like Jarrah, Les, Adrien (although he seems to be toeing the party line more these days – more power to him!) and the more astute leftists (perhaps that should be singular – FDB) add a bit of colour. In addition, Libertarians disagree with each other about all kinds of shit all the bloody time, so that’s all well and good, too.

The jury’s out on Candy as far as I’m concerned.

Catallaxy’s a great blog, full of vibrant debate. If it were a “closed community” exclusively made up of small government types, it still would be.

Oh come on

8 Mar 12 at 10:07 pm
Apologies to Professor Davidson if i’m reading it wrongly i don’t know how he feels about it of course.

This may help you, pet:

Catallaxy Files

Rules

1. Robust debate is tolerated here. We will strive to maintain the most laissez faire comments policy on the web but this is subject to the following caveats:
* Comments which may jeopardise the legal interests of the blog or its editor in chief by being defamatory or in breach of other laws will be promptly deleted.
* We reserve the right to delete comments when they no longer contain any reference to arguments and ideas discussed in the originating blogpost and run the risk of diverting a thread completely away from discussion of ideas and arguments in the originating blogpost. We will use this tool reluctantly and rely on moral suasion as a first resort but if this is ignored, the culling knife will come out.
2. No argument or point of view, no matter how controversial, will be censored subject to the conditions listed above.
3. Naturally, the views of Catallaxy’s many commenters are not to be identified or equated with the views of the certified contributors to Catallaxy.

Hugs and kisses.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 10:12 pm
“The sometimes-onside, sometimes-offside types like Jarrah”

I defy categorisation.

Jarrah

8 Mar 12 at 10:13 pm
Woohoo.

Great victory for Australia in the OD Final

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 10:20 pm
Twostix

And the brown stain on your undies gets ever bigger. Don’t blame the government because people would rather live in cities or on the coast. You know, areas with consistent rain and job opportunities.

A quick check of the ABS, which seems beyond your limited capabilities, reveals there are numerous regional areas experiencing population growth at or above the NSW average.

I know your lack of success must be a burden for you but if you could just stop spitting your dummy and blaming everyone else for your problems you just might be able to make a go of it.

sdfc

8 Mar 12 at 10:22 pm
but if he prefers a more vibrant interesting interactive forum along the lines of A. Bolt this verbalising won’t do it for him.

LOL

Candy passive aggressive attack, go!

Candy, old fella, you try really hard to pass yourself off as a wee cutsie, ditsy little girlie, either stick to the girly field mouse thing and roll with the punches that come from people not believing such stupidity or drop it and speak normally and enter the fray honestly.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 10:24 pm
Thomas Sowell Hammers ‘Despicable’ Derrick Bell; Compares To Hitler.

Video, 1990
and transcript.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 10:33 pm
And the brown stain on your undies gets ever bigger. Don’t blame the government because people would rather live in cities or on the coast. You know, areas with consistent rain and job opportunities.

I live on the coast, I swear can you even read??

The rest of your comment is just utterly bizarre. I work for a multinational, I’m based at home, I can live anywhere in the world that I choose where I have access to the Internet and an airport.

You fail again to even attempt to comprehend what I say in your desperate need to protect your pro government line at all costs.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 10:41 pm
Oh dear. Twostix’s is Lizzie’s better half, right. Whiny and self-reverential.
Why, they are a match made in heaven!

No arguments worth noting though down here on Earth.

Kelly of Kenmore

8 Mar 12 at 10:47 pm
7:30 Report tonight – Liberals in disarray.

Bloody hell.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 10:50 pm
“Annoying too if it’s a finger you use for stools and general stuff.”

It’s OK Candy, I have a working anal sphincter, and the will to use it.
Which is more than I can say for some…

Winston Smith

8 Mar 12 at 10:51 pm
‘FFS, Candy, grow up.’

thank you Mk50 i’m reading through your response and i need a little time to think about it all as there’s a lot of information in there and it takes me time to work through stuff.
cheers, Candy.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 11:01 pm
A real dog’s breakfast, IT. Still, they’ve got 18 months to sort it. We live in hope.

Good to see Roskam knocking a few heads together. Sensible man.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:06 pm
Please please please make it so

If Steve was blocked it would be interesting to see who posts more often to make up for it…

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:09 pm
‘It’s OK Candy, I have a working anal sphincter, and the will to use it.’

Winston you devil u tricked me there ! i went back to see if i made typo!

candy

8 Mar 12 at 11:10 pm
Roskam will be knocking more heads in the AFR tomorrow.

Sinclair Davidson

8 Mar 12 at 11:11 pm
7:30 Report tonight – Liberals in disarray.

They know the parliament is most likely going to last its term so finally there is a bit of health competition going on.

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:12 pm
Hope his article will be available at IPA site at a later date, Sinclair.
I refuse to subscribe to the ARF.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:16 pm
7:30 Report tonight – Liberals in disarray.

Bloody hell.

Didn’t take long.

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:17 pm
It’ll be up tomorrow sometime. Will let you know.

Sinclair Davidson

8 Mar 12 at 11:18 pm
My comment was meant to be sarcastic.

However, I’m glad they are having policy debates and the Drys are getting narky with that commie wingnut Abbott.

Anything short of firing 100,000 public servants upon victory will be pathetic.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 11:20 pm
Thank you. So? How do you fare at tonight’s battle, Sinclair? Victor with spoils?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:21 pm
Gab

The show was book notes on PBS shown every Sunday night on Channel 13. The host retired and I think it’s no longer. It had a viewership of around 250,000 and i was one of them. It was basically a show where the host interviewed authors of non-fiction books – mainly about history or contempory events for about an hour I think.

I believed it was the best show on tv and still do.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 11:23 pm
#

Oh dear. Twostix’s is Lizzie’s better half, right. Whiny and self-reverential.
Why, they are a match made in heaven!

No arguments worth noting though down here on Earth.

Uhuh, correcting bizarre delusions projected about oneself is being “self reverential”.

I am pleased that you follow me around though, how wonderful that I’ve made such an impression on you!

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 11:24 pm
IT, there have been quite a few reports in the past few days making a lot out of nothing.

Strangely it has been at the same time they have been trying to look the other way while Goose & Smith make d*cks of themselves.

With the agreement in the Stenographers Guild that this good government which has lost its way just needs some clean air, it is about 2 weeks since they tried to beat up a robust chat in the parliament cafe about policy into a move by Turnbull.

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:24 pm
I wish I knew what you’re talking about, JC?
Remind me, which show?

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:25 pm
Thomas Sowell Hammers ‘Despicable’ Derrick Bell; Compares To Hitler.

Video, 1990
and transcript.

It’s a video of that show.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 11:26 pm
What is Roskam on about anyway, knocking heads? Interesting timing, this plays right into the press gallery’s desire to move past the failed Ruddstoration putsch and get stuck into something else. You can expect the likes of Rod Cameron to stick the knife in, and Ho Chi Minchin has old scores to settle, but a rep of the IPA destabilising the Liberal leadership is an unwanted distraction for your lot, I would have thought.

But hey, carry on.

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:26 pm
Rod Cameron: on 7.30 “The Liberals are in a mess”

Tonight and every other night that that creep is wheeled out for a \n A?BC interview.

Tony Abbott must be scared shitless.

What the f-c was Roskam allowing himself be interviewed and edited by their ABC.

He said nothing of consequence and given that why on earth did he agree to an interview?

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:27 pm
7:30 Report tonight – Liberals in disarray.

Libs are in perfect form and ministers loyal to Mr Abbott and he to them. Everyone knows that and that’s one of the reasons they poll so well. Loyaly to mates which ALP don’t have, it’s a big factor, trust me.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 11:28 pm
However, I’m glad they are having policy debates and the Drys are getting narky with that commie wingnut Abbott.

Do you think the libs would have gotten more or less votes last election without the paid parental scheme?

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 11:28 pm
As so desu ne, JC san. Thanks.

I did not know that. (clearly).

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:28 pm
but a rep of the IPA destabilising the Liberal leadership is an unwanted distraction for your lot, I would have thought.

The IPA are not friends of the LNP. Well at least i hope not.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 11:30 pm
Candy, loyalty is the least of the reputed virtues. Dogs are loyal.

Kelly of Kenmore

8 Mar 12 at 11:31 pm
press gallery’s desire to move past the failed Ruddstoration putsch and get stuck into something else.

Yes. And? what’s your point?

Roskam was just calling it as it is. Not many do that these days.

but a rep of the IPA destabilising the Liberal leadership is an unwanted distraction for your lot, I would have thought.

You don’t think. That’s your problem.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:31 pm
Do you think the libs would have gotten more or less votes last election without the paid parental scheme?

Exactly the same. I wanted that scheme up and running because it would be a goldmine for me and my ~~broodmare~~ wife. However, It wouldn’t alter our vote.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 11:32 pm
A quick check of the ABS, which seems beyond your limited capabilities, reveals there are numerous regional areas experiencing population growth at or above the NSW average.

You are such a raging dickhead sdfc.

Ever heard of the MDB Plan or fisheries regulation? You muppet.

.

8 Mar 12 at 11:33 pm
Dogs are loyal

Kelly says it like it doesn’t mean much.

Kelly doesn’t mean much.

A soldier on the other hand..

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:34 pm
It doesn’t just cool the planet… is there anything this carbon tax can’t do?

Carbon tax may help protect wildlife

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:35 pm
Do you think the libs would have gotten more or less votes last election without the paid parental scheme?

I’ll tell you what though, if that scheme does get up and running I’ll be buying a minibus and filling it with my cubs.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 11:35 pm
The IPA are not friends of the LNP. Well at least i hope not.

Congratulations, you’ve just defined the press gallery’s next obsession. They’re just as likely to spend the next six months baying for Abbott’s blood like they did to Gillard, especially if the polls continue to creep towards Labor as they are. Why Roskam would add fuel to that boiler I do not know.

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:36 pm
FFS
Labor party stenographer, Heather Ewrt wife of
Labor Party stenographer Barrie Cassidy is running a 7.30 segment interviewing Labor pollster Rod Cameron telling her tells her Abbott and the Libs are in a mess.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 11:37 pm
They seem to be mouthing a lot of expected carbin tax revenue to do this and that, and yet I clearly remember Gillard saying that the ….oh shit, I forgot for a moment.
Gillard lies.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:37 pm
Roskam was just calling it as it is. Not many do that these days.

Yes, it’s called politics. There are reasons why you don’t gob off like Roskam just did. This will be all over the papers tomorrow.

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:37 pm
“Candy, loyalty is the least of the reputed virtues. Dogs are loyal”

Kelly: Loyalty is one of the best virtues absolutely ever and the foundation of families and life you old silly billy

and dogs are beautiful just because of their loyalty,and everyone loves poochies.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 11:38 pm
A soldier on the other hand…

Soldiers often kill hated officers in battle. For excellent and admirable reasons.

Go read “Catch 22″ by Joseph Heller.

Kelly of Kenmore

8 Mar 12 at 11:38 pm
Well said Candy.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:38 pm
This will be all over the papers tomorrow.

So? Abbott et al can deal with it. That’s what they’re paid to do.

I want to know why you’re in such a panic.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:39 pm
Go fuck urself Kelly you inane leftist.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:40 pm
This will be all over the papers tomorrow.

What will be all over the papers tomorrow?

The 7.30 non-story?

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:41 pm
Loyalty has nothing to do with familial ties, Candy. And dogs are loyal except when they kill, which they often do their owners or their owners friends or family.

Kelly of Kenmore

8 Mar 12 at 11:41 pm
I want to know why you’re in such a panic.

LOL, after this blog went into week-long meltdown over a leadership challenge that ended up 71-31.

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:42 pm
It was basically a show where the host interviewed authors of non-fiction books – mainly about history or contempory events for about an hour I think.

If you haven’t seen it the Hoover Institution runs a similar thing called Uncommon Knowledge, it’s really quite good:

http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uncommon-knowledge/by-date

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 11:43 pm
And dogs are loyal except when they kill, which they often do their owners or their owners friends or family

Define “often.”

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 11:44 pm
What will be all over the papers tomorrow?

Roskam will be knocking more heads in the AFR tomorrow.

I’m tipping the AFR won’t be the only one to pile on.

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:45 pm
Loyalty has nothing to do with familial ties, Candy. And dogs are loyal except when they kill, which they often do their owners or their owners friends or family

Seriously Kelly.

You are quite mad.

Please fuck off.

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:45 pm
If you haven’t seen it the Hoover Institution runs a similar thing called Uncommon Knowledge, it’s really quite good

Second that. Their Sowell series was excellent.

If you’re on Twitter, follow @uncknowledge.

sdog

8 Mar 12 at 11:47 pm
Newt Gingrich says all the right things in the last interview on Uncommon Knowledge.

Too bad.

twostix

8 Mar 12 at 11:47 pm
Catch 22 is fiction space cadet Kelly.

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:48 pm
Stop pannicking, monty. It’s Friday, 24 hour news cycle. Hope you’re not waiting for Abbott to call a censure motion tomorrow, like you did last week.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:48 pm
Congratulations, you’ve just defined the press gallery’s next obsession.

You moron, Monster. Every single one of you rusted on losers has been coming on here telling us the next poll is going to show Labor and the lying Slapper well ahead. Househusband Steve trying that shit about 5 months ago and stopped as it was becoming too embarrassing.

Now you’ve taken the batten that was dropped in the garbage. You idiot. they haven’t won one single poll since the the election.

And there’s death the thousands cuts coming from the Carbonic tax, 4 times over the world price that economic illiterates like think will not have any economic impact. That nuclear bomb still hasn’t hit yet.

It’s like you people don’t believe businesses that can will not attempt to arbitrage the gaping difference in the cost of energy by simply turning off the light here and moving their manufacturing operations overseas.

They’re just as likely to spend the next six months baying for Abbott’s blood like they did to Gillard, especially if the polls continue to creep towards Labor as they are.

Keep dreaming monster and don’t worry about a thing. Just get yourself into a chemically induced coma and we’ll see you in 2013.. just after the election.

Why Roskam would add fuel to that boiler I do not know.

Roskam is not adding any fuel to the fire. He’s being like everyone here… not that you notice, because you’re too stupid and tribal… critical of Liberal party economic policies such as the leave thingi etc.

There wouldn’t be any daylight between how we think here about some of their policies and John Roskam.

You really are stupid, you know.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 11:49 pm
Position opens up for Stephen Conroy:

Censor wanted for Pakistan’s internet.

C.L.

8 Mar 12 at 11:51 pm
Can you call a suspension of standing orders on your own party?

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:51 pm
Kelly… Serious question. Have you been psychologically evaluated? Be honest now.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 11:52 pm
JC

Thanks for the earlier info.

Found the site

http://www.booknotes.org/

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:52 pm
“loyal” dogs often kill their owners’ stock – en masse. See e.g. “Far from the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy.

Kelly of Kenmore

8 Mar 12 at 11:53 pm
‘Loyalty has nothing to do with familial ties, Candy etc’

You sound nice to me Kelly. I’ve read your comments of last week or so. Think you would be loyal to your mum and dad.

candy

8 Mar 12 at 11:53 pm
Position opens up for Stephen Conroy:

Censor wanted for Pakistan’s internet.

He’d be rejected as an extremist. And for hygiene reasons.

Infidel Tiger

8 Mar 12 at 11:54 pm
M0nty got real excited by the prospect of the Libs being in turmoil, he scurried out of his rat hole quick smart.

It’s worth noting in case we need he for something…

Token

8 Mar 12 at 11:56 pm
Position opens up for Stephen Conroy:

Censor wanted for Pakistan’s internet.

He’d be a natural at it. If the pay is good, he could make the move. He’d just have to change his first name to a Muslim one…

I’m picking Aamir Conroy

Perhaps Abdul Aziz Conroy.

Here’s a good one.. It means spinner in Arabic.

Ghazalan Conroy.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 11:57 pm
Would my apt desription of Kelly as mad in the hope that he/she’d piss off ironically call into question my diagnosis of insanity if he (or she) really had pissed off?

We’ll never know.

Does Kelly have the right to do anything we can’t stop her (or him) from doing?

JamesK

8 Mar 12 at 11:57 pm
There wouldn’t be any daylight between how we think here about some of their policies and John Roskam.

Isn’t there a strong DLP flavour to a lot of views here? Some of the Cat OP authors have spoken at DLP conferences, I believe. It would be interesting if there was an internal Liberal Party battle as to which way the majority of commenters on this blog would lean.

Anyway, if the normal activities of the IPA and/or this blog include destabilising the Liberal Party leadership at a sensitive time, I’m not going to stop you lot.

m0nty

8 Mar 12 at 11:57 pm
M0nty got real excited by the prospect of the Libs being in turmoil, he scurried out of his rat hole quick smart.

It was like he suddenly got an adrenalin shot straight into that puny heart of his. He jumped a few feet off the ground, which for someone 40 kilos overweight is a humungous effort.

JC

8 Mar 12 at 11:59 pm
After all the time you spend here, monty, Im surprised at just how clueless you are about libertarians.

Gab

8 Mar 12 at 11:59 pm
Token, Joseph Heller in 1942, at age 19, joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Two years later he was sent to the Italian Front, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier.

Catch 22 was based on this experience.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:00 am
So Catch-22 wasn’t a novel according to the insane Kelly.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:02 am
He’d be a natural at it.

Maybe the could name a provincial town after him say: Conroyobad where international terrorists could go to seek sanctuary?

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:03 am
After all the time you spend here, monty, Im surprised at just how clueless you are about libertarians.

That’s the thing though Gab, not everyone here is a libertarian. Some are primarily conservatives.

Hey, I know! Abbott should start campaigning against contraception, and talk more about Satan. Works for Santorum!

m0nty

9 Mar 12 at 12:03 am
Isn’t there a strong DLP flavour to a lot of views here?

Can you name one? One single one would do and I’ll ignore you for an entire week. Scouts honor.

Some of the Cat OP authors have spoken at DLP conferences, I believe.

Have they? Is there such a thing? Sinc is debating a commie next week about Occupy Wall Street and Rape a Woman. does that make him a commie, you moron.

It would be interesting if there was an internal Liberal Party battle as to which way the majority of commenters on this blog would lean.

Are you a full blown moron or do you put the moronic appearance whenever you show up here.

We’ve been critical of the Liberal party policies plenty of times, you fool.

I was critical of Warren Truss only this week for proposing a stupid policy.

Anyway, if the normal activities of the IPA and/or this blog include destabilising the Liberal Party leadership at a sensitive time, I’m not going to stop you lot.

Lol Destabilizing? Monster, I think unlike the Alliance they’re big boys and gals who are able to take criticism from the right. After all they aren’t trying to regulate debate.

Go get some exercise.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:05 am
That’s the thing though Gab, not everyone here is a libertarian. Some are primarily conservatives.

Who out of the regulars and not the newbies aren’t majorly libertarian, Horace? Name them. Name names.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:06 am
LDP I mean of course, not DLP. And it was Sinclair himself who spoke at their last conference, as well as Chris Berg. So they must really hate the IPA? o_0

m0nty

9 Mar 12 at 12:07 am
I can barely see any Libertarians around here.

It’s all basically anti-labour, pro-Liberal stuff.

At most, its right wing ginger group politics.

It is however doctrinally inchoate due to the overwhelming need to support one side of politics.

Max Scream

9 Mar 12 at 12:08 am
monty….*sigh*…you are quite delusional in thinking the IPA is a Liberal Party partner.

I know nothing will convice you otherwise because it wouldn’t fit in with your banal worldview. I just thought you had the brains and reasoning to see otherwise. I won’t make that mistake again.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:09 am
We’ve been critical of the Liberal party policies plenty of times, you fool.

Half this blog has been supporting Romney in the interests of re-election. I could see half of them supporting Abbott in the interests of re-election.

As far as identifying conservatives on this blog, I am not going to waste my time to go back through them myself, but look back through the regular Cat threads on contraception and abortion, and I think you’ll find a fair few of you lot who disagree with the libertarian position.

m0nty

9 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
LDP I mean of course, not DLP. And it was Sinclair himself who spoke at their last conference, as well as Chris Berg. So they must really hate the IPA?

Huh! Why would they hate da IPA? It’s not politically affiliated you fool.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
I hope Labor and their love media do launch a crusade bearing “Liberals destabilised”. People will point and laugh at them as they do now with thier hackneyed “Abbott’s fault” and “Abbott’s negativity” campaigns.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:13 am
I think you’ll find a fair few of you lot who disagree with the libertarian position

.

So what’s the libertarian position on abortion M0nty?

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:13 am
“Who out of the regulars and not the newbies aren’t majorly libertarian, Horace? Name them.”

You, Fisky, Mk50, Infidel Tiger, JamesK, Gab, Token, CL, twostix, daddy dave, Rococo Liberal, and dover_beach. I’ve probably missed some.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:14 am
monty….*sigh*…you are quite delusional in thinking the IPA is a Liberal Party partner.

You’re asserting that the IPA doesn’t do work for the Liberal Party? How naive are you?

m0nty

9 Mar 12 at 12:14 am
I haven’t seen any libertarians here. Name one.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:14 am
Half this blog has been supporting Romney in the interests of re-election. I could see half of them supporting Abbott in the interests of re-election.

As far as identifying conservatives on this blog, I am not going to waste my time to go back through them myself, but look back through the regular Cat threads on contraception and abortion, and I think you’ll find a fair few of you lot who disagree with the libertarian position.

As Gillard would say “stop writing crap”, monty.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:15 am
I haven’t seen any libertarians here. Name one.

Seriously Kelly.

Rack off.

We all think ur a waste of space and as boring as batshit.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:16 am
You’re asserting that the IPA doesn’t do work for the Liberal Party? How naive are you?

Do they? Where’s your evidence to back up that oversized mouth of yours?

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:16 am
I haven’t seen any libertarians here. Name one.

Feel free to self medicate whackjob. We don’t believe in regulating medicines.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 12:16 am
Huh! Why would they hate da IPA? It’s not politically affiliated you fool.

Right, so you lot at this blog agree with most of Roskam’s views, but the IPA isn’t politically affiliated? You must have two cakes.

m0nty

9 Mar 12 at 12:16 am
monty….*sigh*…you are quite delusional in thinking the IPA is a Liberal Party partner.

GetUP is a Labor organ.

M0nty is just projecting, assuming things are the same over here.

twostix

9 Mar 12 at 12:17 am
but look back through the regular Cat threads on contraception and abortion, and I think you’ll find a fair few of you lot who disagree with the libertarian position.

Is their a handbook we can reference to make sure we have our positions right?

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 12:18 am
You, Fisky, Mk50, Infidel Tiger, JamesK, Gab, Token, CL, twostix, daddy dave, Rococo Liberal, and dover_beach. I’ve probably missed some.

And why aren’t we “libertarian”?

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 12:18 am
Evidence, monty, evidence.

Otherwise your just foghorn leghorn.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:18 am
Jarrah, I think we’ve identified a vacuum. There is a need for a libertarian blog.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:18 am
Soldiers often kill hated officers in battle. For excellent and admirable reasons.

Go read “Catch 22″ by Joseph Heller.

Perhaps you should read non-fiction

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 12:19 am
“And why aren’t we “libertarian”?”

Because you’re right-wing.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
Monty – no-one in the electorate gives a toss about IPA or someone called Roskam.
Unemployment is creeping up and it’s worse than we know.
A sense of distrust in the government.

Roskam – what the heck is a Roskam to people?like it means zilch to people.

candy

9 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
So what’s the libertarian position on abortion M0nty?

Pro-choice, if they are being honest about it.

m0nty

9 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
“There is a need for a libertarian blog.”

Try Thoughts on Freedom.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:20 am
Jarrah, delusional along with you mate, monty.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:21 am
You’re asserting that the IPA doesn’t do work for the Liberal Party? How naive are you?

Lol do you actually mean works for, like is employed or owned by?

That’s a pretty weird thing to say.

twostix

9 Mar 12 at 12:21 am
“Pro-choice, if they are being honest about it.”

False. There is no doctrinaire libertarian position on abortion. It all depends on what people consider to be the division between person and non-person. Some libertarians think that exists at conception, others do not.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:22 am
Libertarians are cool and witty too eh Jarrah. I love a savvy libertarian.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:22 am
What’s the libertarian position on abortion M0nty?

Is it the same as you leftists?

The little person is free to die and the mother is free to have his (or her) liberty and life killed?

Or the little person is free to live and the mother isn’t free to have him (or Her) killed?

Which is from the leftist perspective of what the supposed libertarian view is?

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:23 am
Roskam – what the heck is a Roskam to people?like it means zilch to people.

True, candy. But dissent between frontbenchers like the ongoing tension between Hockey and Robb, and the spat reported recently in the party room between McFarlane and Mirabella are more important. Roskam is adding to that disunity.

m0nty

9 Mar 12 at 12:23 am
“Jarrah, delusional along with you mate, monty.”

Sorry, I forgot to include you in the list. Unless you want to prove your libertarian-ness?

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:23 am
Libertarians are cool and witty too eh Jarrah. I love a savvy libertarian.

Seriously Kelly.

You’re a sick person.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:24 am
Jarrah, I think we’ve identified a vacuum. There is a need for a libertarian blog.

Right. So, if there are conservatives in the comments section, it’s not a Libertarian blog. Well, that’s the closest you’ve gotten to identifying what you actually mean by “Libertarian”.

You, Fisky, Mk50, Infidel Tiger, JamesK, Gab, Token, CL, twostix, daddy dave, Rococo Liberal, and dover_beach. I’ve probably missed some.

And why aren’t we “libertarian”?

Well, some of you are against abortion, and therefore must be misogynist conservatives, since there is no such thing as a pro-life Libertarian, which would require one to believe the nonsense that humans should have rights, rather than properly-defined persons having rights.

Also, some of the aforementioned are not high. If you’re for the decriminalisation of drugs, but not actually baked, you’re not a Libertarian.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 12:24 am
you’d be more suited to Facebook, Jarrah.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:25 am
Thanks for the link Jarrah. But no women or non whites post there right – I mean that aren’t sock puppets or airheads?

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:25 am
Because you’re right-wing.

Whatever that means.

Pro-choice, if they are being honest about it.

Doesn’t makes sense, if you’re being honest about it.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 12:26 am
Pro-choice isn’t very pro-choice for the baby if you want to be honest about it m0nty.

But apart from ur breathtaking ignorance of libertarianism you leftists aren’t really strong on the honesty thing either.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:27 am
Kelly, you can tell skin colour by how people write?

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:27 am
Whereas you’re more suited to MySpace, Gab

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:28 am
Sinc.

Separate thread please for Jarrah, M0nty and Kelly to confuse themselves in a circle.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:28 am
Australia’s leading libertarian and centre-right blog

Hey! This libertarian and centre right blog has people in it that are centre right! I feel betrayed.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 12:29 am
Half this blog has been supporting Romney in the interests of re-election.
I could see half of them supporting Abbott in the interests of re-election.

Are you Max Scream? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

The jockeying around.. supporting this GOP candidate or that one by various people here, at least the older players… is about one thing and one thing only. Getting rid of Odumbo and the Lying Slapper. The fact that it has to be the Liberal Party or the GOP is necessary evil.

If there was a chance for that Gary Johnson would win I would be supporting him in flash. But he’s not and it would be a wasted vote.

As for Australia and the liberal party. The Liberals at the very least know when they have sinned.

As far as identifying conservatives on this blog, I am not going to waste my time to go back through them myself, but look back through the regular Cat threads on contraception and abortion, and I think you’ll find a fair few of you lot who disagree with the libertarian position.

1. Contraception.

No one as far as I recall is against contraception, you nimbus. In fact the position taken is against the State, in this case Odumbo, forcing a private organization to include contraception in its medical insurance policy. No libertarian worth his weight could support such state interference.

2. Abortion

Abortion is a complex issue for libertarians. There are some that believe that because libertarianism is a belief system placing human life as the most important thing on earth, it must be protected at all costs and therefore abortion is murder. That’s a respectable position to have.

There are those that believe that abortion is a shocking thing to do but making it illegal will cause even worse problems as it would invariably end up underground posing all sorts of risks.

Infact I would argue the left’s position is the least libertarian position especially those like Odumbo that support late term abortion which is essentially infanticide. But then the left never really cared much about humanity.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:30 am
So no actual intelligent women eh, Jarrah?

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:30 am
Jarrah appears not to have heard of the Political Compass. Jarrah, it is possible to be both right wing and libertarian. Just as it is possible to be both left wing and authoritarian. The Political Compass is divided into four quadrants, not two halves.

Mother Hubbard's Dog

9 Mar 12 at 12:30 am
“Whatever that means.”

Yeah, we should totally get into another discussion about definitions, d_b. That would be original and worthwhile.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:31 am
Kelly, you can tell skin colour by how people write?

Point is Jarrah, that they’re not PROPER non-whites if they post here. Racial identity is ultimately political identity, and those who abandon their true political allies betray and abandon their kin.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 12:31 am
But no women or non whites post there right – I mean that aren’t sock puppets or airheads?

I’m part aboriginal, Kelly, you template for insanity.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:31 am
Don’t know what “Myspace” is, Jarrah. So your insult is lost.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:32 am
‘True, candy. But dissent between frontbenchers like the ongoing tension between Hockey and Robb” etc.

No, Monty, that’s meaningless to people. In the paper today was a lovely picture of Mr Abbott holding a small child – he was talking about bringing so many refugee women in per year – and knowing exactly how to hold a little one. that’s what people see, Monty, not your Roskams.

candy

9 Mar 12 at 12:33 am
Oh dear. Twostix’s is Lizzie’s better half, right. Whiny and self-reverential.
Why, they are a match made in heaven!

No arguments worth noting though down here on Earth.

Just dropped in for a contemplative late night look before bed and here is Kelly, Candy’s Agony Aunt from the Pet Shop, not really on earth as she claims, but actually in it up to her ears: digging an even deeper hole for herself. Looking for buried treasure Kel Kitten, an argument somewhere somewhere that you might stand a chance of understanding? You know what they say about when you’re in a hole, Kelly Kitty who fancies herself as a Cat, just stop digging, do your pooh and piddle and then try to get out. But that’s the Catch 22 for you, isn’t it? If you want to get out, your very wanting is the thing that will hold you up. The Cat has complicated albeit unwritten rules about fools who’ve dug themselves in deep. No alternative but to pick up your shovel again, Kel, and dig underground back to your Kennel.

ps. Matchmakers are by tradition ugly old guys, or crones. Not a great career move, KK.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

9 Mar 12 at 12:33 am
Still no women here, with the exception of Candy, tal and Lizzie. Hmm.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:34 am
Feeling better today, Lizzie? Hope the R&R has been pleasant and HIA attentive.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:35 am
“Jarrah, it is possible to be both right wing and libertarian.”

Well, it’s possible to be a right-libertarian, but right-wingers like the afore-mentioned list are characterised by the preponderance of explicitly right-wing views they hold. Some have libertarian-ish views on some issues (like me), but overall don’t reside in that quadrant.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:36 am
I haven’t seen any libertarians here. Name one.

Okay Kelly. Define what you think a libertarianism is.
Go! Lets see what you come up with.

——–

By the way, Jazz is a leftwinger posing as a libertarian, or he’s just very, very confused. University has ruined him

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:36 am
So how do you know it’s an insult, Gab?

*buffs fingernails*

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:37 am
Lizzie drank too much of the old crone’s juice eh. Apart from tldr.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:37 am
Still no women here, with the exception of Candy, tal and Lizzie. Hmm.

So what?

Kelly, you really need to go. Get ready for bed.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:38 am
Because, ~~Sherlock~~ Jarrah, you aimed it at me.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:38 am
Jarrah, have you actually been to the Political Compass website and completed the questionnaire? Love to know what your score was.

http://politicalcompass.org/

Mother Hubbard's Dog

9 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
More accurately, Gab, it followed an insult of yours.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
The toy boy is beckoning, JC. I must away. But all will be revealed tomorrow re Kelly of Kenmore’s definition of libertarianism.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
‘’m part aboriginal, Kelly, you template for insanity.’

JC? which part – the cute part?

candy

9 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
MHD, I was there when the political compass was devised. Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:41 am
I guess I lost my libertarian credentials when I proposed a blanket ban on British immigration.

I’m more of a classical liberal but without the education to know what that means.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 12:41 am
You’re not very good at it, are you, Jarrah?

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:41 am
You beat him up a lot, Kelly?

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:42 am
I’m part aboriginal, Kelly, you template for insanity.’

JC? which part – the cute part?

Every part of me is cute. My ancestors are from the Olympic Dam tribe.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:43 am
MHD, I was there when the political compass was devised. Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

You’ve regressed. Go back again.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:44 am
Well, it’s possible to be a right-libertarian, but right-wingers like the afore-mentioned list are characterised by the preponderance of explicitly right-wing views they hold. Some have libertarian-ish views on some issues (like me), but overall don’t reside in that quadrant.

All politics are a spectrum disorder.

CL for example would be preponderantly right-wing but holds a number of explicitly Libertarian positions that are a mile from the traditional right-wing.

Moreover as a general rule, with some exceptions, the people who define their own position as in opposition to the overall tone of the blog and comments are overwhelmingly more authoritarian than the regulars. Jarrah would be one of only 3 or 4 commenters that are both Libertarian and left-wing.

Kelly’s pro-censorship, pro-government stance is either staunchly authoritarian or reflexively contrarian.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 12:45 am
I would be a genius if I could teach my grandmother to suck eggs, Jarrah. She died 10 years ago at 97. The other one died in about 1968. Probably before you were born.

Mother Hubbard's Dog

9 Mar 12 at 12:45 am
My ancestors are from the Olympic Dam tribe.

Never mind JC, I won’t hold that against you.

candy

9 Mar 12 at 12:46 am
Point is Jarrah, that they’re not PROPER non-whites if they post here.

Just as gays are not PROPER gays if they support small government and personal liberty over the one-trick-pony that is the Leftist “gay rights” agenda.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 12:47 am
NRO: Iran Endgame By Conrad Black
The regime must be stopped from achieving nuclear military capability.

“The current theocratic regime riveted on Iran is proclaiming the peaceful nature of its program, while winking at the Muslim world to the east and west of it that it will arm militant Islam, and while loudly promising, with virtually every hazzan from every minaret, that it will exterminate Israel.”

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:47 am
Has Kelly left to get pre-oiled?

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:48 am
MHD, you’re in luck. I was curious to see what my latest score would be. As always, some questions don’t seem to be anything about political stances, instead being factual scenarios. Still, this is what I get:

Economic Left/Right: 3.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.59

Which makes me a right-libertarian, but not excessively so.

Since you profess to care, when I did JamesK’s suggested quiz, albeit flawed and US-centric, it said I’m basically a moderate Republican.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 12:50 am
Economic Left/Right: 3.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.59

What we get is that you lie even to yourself Jarrah.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 12:52 am
Personally I’d call myself conservative but with less bullshit. Funnily enough I keep finding myself feeling distinctly liberal compared to SfB’s determination to re-entwine Church and State, kelly’s support of government control of the newspapers, and mOnty’s delight at the establishment of a new telecomms monopoly with price controls and anti-competition laws.

I disagree with Jarrah most of the time but I wouldn’t call him authoritarian. Les Majesty identifies as far-left, which to my mind entails authoritarianism, but it’s hard to say issue-by-issue. TDB… wait? TDB? Gravatar is a guy with a beard? Too many TLA’s, again, disagree most times, but he’s liberal.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 12:55 am
You did 6 pages in 6 minutes, Jarrah? Wow you’re fast.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 12:56 am
What’s your score, Gab?

“TDB… wait? TDB? Gravatar is a guy with a beard?”

FDB. Stoner, drummer, Melbournite. I would classify him as ‘thoughtful leftist’, in the same way that dover_beach is a ‘thoughtful rightist’.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 1:02 am
I did the test..I scored 10 economic -2.59 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian

I think some of the questions are stupid though. Take abortion for instance. I think it’s horrific but I wouldn’t make it illegal. And there’s other shit in there too.

I basically scored where Ron Paul sits. But I really just don’t like him. I’ve got much more of an attitude towards the military than he has, as I’d likely crush those fuckers in Iran, so I possibly must have scored a different mix than he would.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:03 am
2.12, -2.92.

More right than last time.

What always disturbs me about that site is how authoritarian nearly all politicians are. Not surprising, but still a worry.

Mother Hubbard's Dog

9 Mar 12 at 1:03 am
Economic Left/Right: 2.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.67

Bang on where I expected, frankly.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 1:03 am
Just finished it now. Slower than you, Jarrah.

2.88
-2.51

What does this mean?? Did I pass?

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:05 am
“What does this mean??”

It means that, unsurprisingly, I’m more libertarian than you are

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 1:07 am
Of course, a bunch of the questions are guff.

“X is always true”??

Come on. X is never always true, even when X is highly likely to be true in most cases.

In this respect, I probably come out less economically “right” than I am.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 1:07 am
Has Kelly left to get pre-oiled?

I don’t think she’s Phil the trannie though. Phil would have gone AWL crazy by now. Phil’s minute small brain has a timer that sets off and sends him fucking crazy after a while of copping shit here. The longest he’s manged to hang around here is about 24 hours before the camouflage comes off and turns into a psychotic beast.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:07 am
It means that, unsurprisingly, I’m more libertarian than you are

No. you’re lying.

You’re too left to be Libertarian.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:08 am
Fellas please… how the hell did you all score so low on the economic side. Those questions were pretty clear.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:09 am
“You’re too left to be Libertarian.”

No, you (along with many others) just confuse libertarian-ish positions as left-wing. Because you’re right-wing(ish).

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 1:11 am
Some of the phrasing needs work, for example, the use of the word “predatory” should mean either anti-competitive pricing OR the question was mis-phrased.

But does it?

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 1:12 am
Gab

You’ll be please to know that I’m back in Western Refining as of two days ago. I just couldn’t help myself and this logarithm I buy turned serious buy side two days ago when the bottom dropped out. I even bought more than I had.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:13 am
how the hell did you all score so low on the economic side.

Not all of us are crony-capitalist banksters

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:14 am
No, you (along with many others) just confuse libertarian-ish positions as left-wing. Because you’re right-wing(ish).

Oh like what Jazz? Your position on the carbonic tax.. 4 times the world average and a redistribution racket to funnel money to the Alliance constituencies and the Brown bank sending $10 billion to their mates?

You mean that kind of libertarian.

Post the question here along with your ticks as I want to see it.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:16 am
Kelly’s off to her ‘toy boy’. Now just don’t do all your money, Sweetie. See, I do care. Older ladies like you can be rather subject to influence in their financial affairs.

Does Kel of the Kennel think my Tequila is ‘crone juice’. I just don’t get that reference? Bewildering. I will consult HIA about it in the morning: it is always fun when he goes Ape.

I’m back on the red tonight, standard drink female appropriate dose only. How good is that!

Gab, I am slowing getting better thanx as the miracle of modern pharmaceuticals conquers all before it.

The Cat – a sharing, caring kind of place. I know the old Kel will put that in her dossier she’s preparing for tomorrow.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

9 Mar 12 at 1:17 am
I want to back test the science Jazz as i don’t think it’s settled.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:17 am
The bottom dropped out? Sorry, I thought the price was on steady upward trend since late Jan.

Anyway, you’ll be happier now you’ve reunited with that stock.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:18 am
Wreckage is right, many of those questions/statements are crap:

Schools should not make classroom attendance compulsory.
Good parents sometimes have to spank their children.
It’s natural for children to keep some secrets from their parents.
The death penalty should be an option for the most serious crimes.
It is a waste of time to try to rehabilitate some criminals.
Astrology accurately explains many things.

What have they got to do with political leanings?

PS If you mark ‘strongly disagree’ to everything, you get 0.00, -4.36.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 1:18 am
Economic Left/Right: 4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.54

It’s a woefully crap test.

Jarrah may not have lied after all.

He probably did but he may not have.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 1:23 am
No, you (along with many others) just confuse libertarian-ish positions as left-wing. Because you’re right-wing(ish).

I question the weighting of the questions, and indeed some of them assign public political meaning to private affairs.

Also, it’s pretty funny I score only slightly economically right, since I’m right of everyone I personally know. Again, the policies I’d back are probably further econo-right than I’d give “Always it is thus! ALWAYS!” answers to, and several of the questions I would have had to “game” to answer so as to land in my actual degree of econo-rightness; the answer would be “I disagree, but this is irrelevant”.

Similarly on ethical questions I got more than one red flag. “I strongly agree but the State should keeps its nose out” isn’t an option, for example.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 1:23 am
The bottom dropped out? Sorry, I thought the price was on steady upward trend since late Jan.

Anyway, you’ll be happier now you’ve reunited with that stock.

No it looked like the bottom was going to drop out , but stocks are going up a wall of worry. I felt I’d lost my children without that stock.

two days after I sold, two brokers upgraded that entire sector to strong buy with a hefty increase in the target price. Thank god we had that down turn two days ago I it gave me the chance to get back in basically where I sold before.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:25 am
“Jarrah may not have lied after all.”

Hold on to this window of sanity. It won’t last, but try to enjoy the lucidity.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 1:26 am
There’s only one decent test I’ve ever seen. Jason Soon put it up a long time ago, but I forget where it came from.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:26 am
I didn’t say it was likely.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 1:28 am
I do remember saying I didn’t think the stock price was going to fall before you sold, JC. I’m such a novice, but agree some stocks are like your loved ones.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:29 am
Jason Soon put it up a long time ago, but I forget where it came from.

The LDP site?

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:30 am
Another fun activity on that site is to match the quotes to the person who made them http://politicalcompass.org/iconochasms

Harder than it looks!

Mother Hubbard's Dog

9 Mar 12 at 1:32 am
This test is the best ‘Get your PQ‘ Political Quotient

But its based on understanding American Politics.

Jarrah did it on my recommendation and after he told me his results I kbnew hewe was self-decieving.

If you’re honest it is very accurate

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 1:32 am
jaz put up your answers as I really want to vet it with you one by one. Leave a space for back and forth between each question for comments.

This is where the circle doesn’t square with you. You say it suggests your mildly Republican. However in every single position you’ve taken, every single one since you’ve attended university, you’ve regressed back to the left. In fact I’d say any GOP position would repulse you.

This is why James is right in suggesting you’re possibly lying to yourself and therefore indirectly to the rest of us.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:32 am
Jarrah, I’m going to retest but this time as I would have answered 12 months ago to see if this blog has had an effect.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:33 am
Schools should not make classroom attendance compulsory.

The utilitarian asks why you would go to school if not for classes. The very Libertarian and also the very religiously Conservative both wonder why school attendance of any kind is compulsory.

Good parents sometimes have to spank their children.

Outside abuse this is no concern of the State, but I bet it doesn’t rate an “agree” as “Libertarian”.

It’s natural for children to keep some secrets from their parents.

I’m morally conservative, so presumably “Authoritarian” in my own home. What kind of brain dead loon would think their children should submit to a total absence of privacy, OR that children must feel matey-and-equal enough to share all?

The death penalty should be an option for the most serious crimes.

Gnuhh? Also: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?

It is a waste of time to try to rehabilitate some criminals.

Objectively, I absolutely agree. As a matter of policy I absolutely disagree. Do I agree because I’m a conservative who believes in class, or a Marxist who believes in class, or a realist who knows some total effing animals, or a Calvinist? Do I disagree because I’m a lefty, or… again, a Calvinist?

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 1:34 am
Jim Demint is the closest pollie score to me on the PQ.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 1:38 am
-4.12
0.56

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:43 am
Good headline in The Oirish Times and not a bad reprt for the ‘aul left wing rag:

Romney winning in maths but failing in chemistry

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 1:50 am
What is really interesting in JamesK’s poll is how few times there are where 100% of either the Democrats or Republicans vote as a bloc.

In Australia, such “disloyalty to one’s party” is known (and looked down upon) as “crossing the floor” and is a #BFD when it happens.

In America, where representatives and senators know that they owe their jobs not to faceless party hacks in a smoke-filled room but to the citizens in their electorate, #notsomuch.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 2:11 am
Catch -22 is a shitty book. Almost as unfunny as a Confederacy of Dunces.

Both are books that humourless lefties like Bob Brown might enjoy. Because everyone agrees with everyone else who agrees with everyone else that they are funny and no one has an original fucking opinion.

Now… Who is this vile Kelly of Kenmore and why does she insist on posting here every time she gets sand in her vagina?

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 2:20 am
Obama video does tell us something, I guess.

With Barack Obama, it’s always about the hate.

True.

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 2:27 am
No, Rick Santorum doesn’t have a woman problem.

A case study in love media mendacity and myth creation.

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 2:31 am
About hate…about the media protecting him because he’s Democrat, because he’s black (well almost). There’s been a story or two about the “radical” activist Obama – association with Ayres, Rev. Wright (oh he only sat in the pew!), Rashid Khalidi, Bell. But this is the first time we’ve seen how closely he was associated with the radical professor. All these associations have been down played or outright ignored in some quarters. Hushed up or dismissed by the love media. Why? Why didn’t the media vet Obama as they have done with Rep. candidates?

A clearer picture is emerging.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 3:04 am
2.75
-0.92

Guess that means I’m either a centrist or confused.

Lloyd

9 Mar 12 at 3:19 am
INSIGHT – CHINA/AUSTRALIA – Gillard hacking - CN65

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 5:05 am
Bruce Springsteen makes you racist.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 5:20 am
If Clinton was the first black President, Obama is the first white black president.

That man is chronically unhip. See him trying to belt out Sweet Home Chicago recently? Fark, I could have done that with an imperial ton more charisma than what O managed!

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 6:04 am
The jig is up: Riverdance is raaaaacist.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 6:32 am
steve from brisbane
8 Mar 12 at 9:26 am

Rush returns to a theme:

“Despite the backlash he’s faced for branding law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute,” Limbaugh didn’t shy away from the matter of McMillan’s sex. On the contrary, he referred to her as an “authorette” [...]

No, he doesn’t hurt the Republicans at all…

Civility!

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 6:39 am
I thought it was always obvious that Bruce Springsteen was favored by whitebread tightasses who didn’t actually like music.

And that article confirms my view that only whiter than white people could ever think jack white was bluesy.

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 6:53 am
Gab, no doubt the press will be all over that!

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 6:57 am
Thanks to O’s contraception “compromise,” the cost of birth control is headed up up up.

“Drive up demand for pills, and make that demand have no cost sensitivity, what do you think happens to the price of those pills? Avik Roy explains:

Under the new mandate, this price incentive disappears. Insurers will be required to pay for any and all oral contraceptives, without charging a co-pay, co-insurance, or a deductible. This “first dollar coverage” of oral contraception kills the incentive to shop based on price.

If history is any guide, this significant change will drive up the price of oral contraception. Today, Tri-Sprintec costs $9 a month. In 2020, don’t be surprised if it costs $30. Drug companies will be able to market “branded” contraceptives at premium prices, knowing that women are free to choose the most expensive, designer product because it will cost them the same as the cheapest generic. Prepare yourself for multi-million-dollar Super Bowl ad campaigns from competing manufacturers.

Read the whole thing.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 6:59 am
1.00
-2.77

Where I thought I’d be.

kae

9 Mar 12 at 8:33 am
Er, does that mean I’m unbalanced??

kae

9 Mar 12 at 8:34 am
Clarence Clemons gave Springsteen cred.

If he wasn’t dead already he should die of shame.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 8:52 am
If someone tells me I’m not a libertarian, they better be John Humphreys or they can fuck off.

He is a member of the LNP now, FYI!

What Max is saying is that there are only 26 libertarians in Australia…

.

9 Mar 12 at 9:12 am
sdog: the article is far from convincing.

Birth control pills come in a wide range of combinations of hormones. Some combinations “agree with” some women more than others.

I have noticed in the right wing commentary on this that this simple point has been ignored when talking about how cheap the cheapest brands are – women don’t just choose a pill based on price. Moreover, if a woman has found a brand that she likes, I would have thought it unlikely that many are going to start swapping to a different brand just because she doesn’t have to pay for it now.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:37 am
“Catch -22 is a shitty book. Almost as unfunny as a Confederacy of Dunces.”

Quite right, Abu.
It’s a coffee table book for Leftists.
Turgidly unreadable, the episode from MASH where the supply sergeant delivers sunscreen to the unit in the dead of a Korean winter was funnier.

Winston SMITH

9 Mar 12 at 9:50 am
Yeah, we should totally get into another discussion about definitions, d_b. That would be original and worthwhile.

Well, it might not be original but it would be worthwhile given its ambiguity. Do you mean by it: fascist, or only authoritarian, or something else entirely?

Well, it’s possible to be a right-libertarian, but right-wingers like the afore-mentioned list are characterised by the preponderance of explicitly right-wing views they hold. Some have libertarian-ish views on some issues (like me), but overall don’t reside in that quadrant.

Jarrah, this is vague and absurd. So its possible to be right-libertarian but its not possible to be a libertarian “characterised by the preponderance of explicitly right-wing views they hold”? Isn’t that the very definition of a right-libertarian? That they in fact hold a preponderance of “right-wing” views (as opposed to ‘left-wing’ views) though within a libertarian framework? Otherwise, what the hell does the qualifier, right-libertarian actually achieve?

BTW, given that you do believe that there are right-libertarians, it follows that you cannot mean fascist- or authoritarian- libertarian, so what do you mean by right- and right-wing?

This isn’t your finest hour, Jarrah.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 9:52 am
Graham Richardson complaining about how difficult it is to build dams!

It is virtually impossible to build a dam in Australia. Whatever valley you choose to build it in will have farming families who have lived there for generations.

They will form action groups that always prove pretty formidable. It is hard not to be moved by the sight of grown men weeping at the prospect of their lives and that of their families being wiped out by a dam that could always be built somewhere else. What’s more, there will always be a frog, a native fish, a species of rat or a long-lost tree that can be found only at one spot, smack dab in the middle of where the dam is supposed to go.

Wasn’t he the person that let the green genie out of the bottle by courting the green vote for the ALP in the Franklin Dam affair? Bugger me …

Matt

9 Mar 12 at 9:52 am
This government has been very cavalier about security issues in China
including bringing their laptops to China and even leaving them in their
hotels despite their security briefings. Source believes that these
computers have been hacked before.

Seems consistent, at least:

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/gillard_left_our_security_to_her_ex_bodyguard/

Ivan Denisovich

9 Mar 12 at 9:56 am
“Catch -22 is a shitty book. Almost as unfunny as a Confederacy of Dunces.”

When I was at school I was taught it was a great satire, seems Kelly believes it is a true story.

Wow, them lefties and their revision of history.

Token

9 Mar 12 at 9:56 am
It’s a coffee table book for Leftists.
Turgidly unreadable, the episode from MASH where the supply sergeant delivers sunscreen to the unit in the dead of a Korean winter was funnier.

Strange thing is, I have come to believe that book details the logical effects of big government and the bureaucratic monster getting out of control.

Further, I also think back on it when I hear people bang on that WWII lifted the US out of the great depression.

The story tells of so many economic inefficiencies that result from the great state planned military enterprise. How can anyone believe such conditions lead to an increase in wealth?

It may be a lefty bible, but only because they are conveniently ignoring the real story…

Token

9 Mar 12 at 10:07 am
A case study in love media mendacity and myth creation.

In instances such as this, I’d like the said journalists to be dragged to the town square, placed in stocks, and shown the utter contempt they’ve themselves shown their readers by publishing and regurgitating the some mendacious lies and myths except with whatever is found in bins around the square.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 10:18 am
women don’t just choose a pill based on price

So women choose the brand of contraceptive pill like a brand of sanitary towl according to liar-stevefb® who is naturally never unabashed with his fuckwittery.

The two most commonly used contracetive pill variants were priced local to the university both at $9.

A legaly prescription from a registered medical practotioner would still be required to purchase them.

Why don’t you stfu liar-stevefb®, you proud ignoramus?

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 10:25 am
d-b: CL’s article was all about how Republican women who voted in the primaries don’t have much problem with Santorum.

Hardly representative of how female Independents would take to him.

Furthermore, even the exit polling from Super Tuesday can be spun many ways. For example:

In Ohio, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won unmarried women over Santorum by a huge 17-point margin. Among working women, Romney beat Santorum by 8 points.

That’s all the more striking when you consider that Romney beat Santorum among women overall in the state by only 3 points.

The silver lining for Santorum: He’s beating Romney by 4 points among married women, who comprised 33 percent of the Ohio GOP electorate.

Unmarried women, by contrast, represented only a small slice of the pie – 12 percent in Ohio. But they’re likely to be a greater presence at the polls in the general election – and that could be bad news for Santorum.

Quite frankly, you show absolutely no common sense at all if you think Santorum would not go over like a brick baloon with single women in a general election.

And by the way, what you want to do to journalists sounds a bit totalitarian to me.

JamesK: that’s quite the personality you’ve got going there.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 10:40 am
Activists attack government over NT Intervention.

“Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has accused the

( now this is the part where you have to vote as to WHICH incumbents Mal is belting – if you start with “How..” not so much )

government of ”old fashioned white paternalism at its very worst”, insisting that consultations with indigenous communities on the future of the Northern Territory intervention were fraudulent.

Seriously – if Julia can’t even hold Big Mal and some of BoltA’s Mordy-Litigous mates, other than her mujm and dad and the hairdresser, who is her support base ?

Myrrdin Seren

9 Mar 12 at 10:40 am
Another story on how inefficiencies that primarily rest at the political and administrative level cause great waste and hardship for the troops at the pointy end.

Army brat, former cavalry officer and pop singer James Blunt relates the story of his third failed attempt to get to Afghanistan using the official transport services – all of which should apparently be in an aviation museum, not on active duty.

Read it and weep – this is particularly poignant:

“On the first occasion, we flew from London to Dubai, then sat on a runway for three days while they tried unsuccessfully to fix our broken aircraft……The Special Forces soldiers who were waiting with me actually went online to buy civilian flights to Afghanistan with their own money.”

And given recent revelations about a host of problems in defence procurement and materiel – I think we can safely assume the Minister will be whistling in the dark while the same trajectory lands here.

Myrrdin Seren

9 Mar 12 at 10:51 am
LOL

Face facts liar-stevefb® nothing you wrote in your latest lying diatribe is truthful except insofar as it offers no rebuttal.

No, Rick Santorum doesn’t have a woman problem

Timothy P. Carney Senior Political Columnist, Washingtom Examiner

“It’s true that Santorum lost Michigan women by more points than he lost Michigan men, but that’s not because Santorum is doing worse among women, but that Romney is doing worse among men — Romney got 43% of women and 39% of men. Santorum got 38% of both.

And just for the record, here are the relevant lines of the other writers who used bad math or reasoning to claim Santorum is struggling amongst women:

Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan: “Santorum lost Michigan because he lost women — by six points. He lost every category of women: single, married, old, young, working, stay-at-home. He lost women still having sex and grandmothers who used to have sex while committing the “grievous moral wrong,” as Santorum puts it, of using birth control.”

CBS News: “In Michigan, Santorum lost among women voters by five points, which helped give Mitt Romney his slim victory there.”

U.S. News & World Report’s Rebekah Metzler: “A Michigan exit poll showed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney garnered support from 43 percent of women voters compared to 38 percent for Santorum.”

The Daily Beast’s Patricia Murphy: Female voters in Michigan spoke out Tuesday night, but they weren’t singing Rick Santorum’s tune. The former Pennsylvania senator lost the Michigan primary to Mitt Romney by 3 points due in large part to his weakness among Michigan women. Although Santorum lost among Michigan men by just 1 point, he lost the women’s vote by a full 6-point margin, leaving him well behind Romney and unable to close the gap with male voters in any way.

Howard Fineman, on Twitter: “Santorum lost because he lost among women. Which is why his speech tonight began with paean to his college-educated working mom.”

The Washington Post’s Jen Rubin pulled a similar trick on Ohio: “In Ohio, Santorum lost the women’s vote by three points, much more than the margin of difference between him and Romney.” It seems more relevant that Santorum got 37% of women and 37% of men, while Romney just did 4 points better among women than among men.”

RTWT for the complete takedown of that MSM/Democrat Medfia Complex meme – a meme very familiar to us over here.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 10:56 am
‘who is her support base ?’

There’s some young minister she’s promoted – ?Bradbury – who wants to get a tattoo on himself saying “Julia”, he seems to fancy her.

candy

9 Mar 12 at 11:21 am
LOL.

Steve hand-waving like the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic.

But but… the facts and figues lie – Santorum MUST be hated by women (says Steve, who once said he wanted to assault Gab).

And they also hate YONI ABBOTT!!!

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 11:25 am
“Do you mean by it: fascist, or only authoritarian, or something else entirely?”

I mean it in its general, generic form. Not as a derogatory term, and definitely not fascist or authoritarian. I guess the shortest definition I would give is – socially and economically conservative. Obviously that is a partial definition of an inherently disputed concept.

“Isn’t that the very definition of a right-libertarian?”

No. All these categories are fuzzy, of course, but there is a transition from right-libertarian to simply right-wing.

Being a libertarian means a holding the belief that individual liberty is fundamental to social organisation. Putting left- or right- in front of it refines that very broad category, and IMO it speaks to different understandings of ‘liberty’. In contrast, right-wingers and left-wingers do not see individual liberty as the primary political virtue. It may be important to them in certain contexts, but it’s not their starting point.

“This isn’t your finest hour”

Considering you are muddled about basic concepts (eg thinking ‘right-wing’ had to mean fascist/authoritarian first and foremost), I think that applies to you more than me.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 11:27 am
Public not interested in “carbon” scare…

Labor’s planned advertising blitz to sell the benefits of a carbon tax has hit a snag – the word “carbon” is a turn-off for the public.

The Age has learnt the Gillard government has begun market-testing slogans for ads to coincide with the mid-year introduction of the carbon tax.

The SMH story is illustrated with a picture of a harmless steam-puffing chimney.

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 11:30 am
Yep. Libertarians are not left or right wing.

Left and right either smear or applaud them as either as to squish the Nolan chart and carve up the political market into a duopoly.

We’re not gonna take it.

.

9 Mar 12 at 11:30 am
No hand-waving at all CL. I am pointing out that relying on Republican primary voters is hardly indicative of how Santorum is perceived by women voters at the election.

Furthermore, there is evidence that even single Republican women don’t care for him either.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 11:32 am
Jazz

We had a discussion some time ago when you were attempting to peddle the idea that there is such a thing as left libertarian. It was obviously an attempt to give you cover.

The conclusion of course was that there could be no such thing and the idea of a left libertarian is truly laughable.

Stop muddying up everything.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:37 am
Why are people bothering about Santorum debate anyway? Real Clear Politics puts Romney 10.7% ahead of Santorum nationally.

Here’s what will happen – Santorum will drop out and CL, d-b and JamesK will be free to keep on believing their fantasy that Rick would have won over women nationally.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 11:58 am
Struth. Pat Robertson calls for marijuana to be legalised:

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/03/08/pat-robertson-pot-should-totally-be-legal/

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 12:08 pm
He also believes this:

“God didn’t send the tornadoes,” the famed TV evangelist said on the flagship show of the Christian Broadcast Network. “God set up a world in which certain currents interfere and interact with other currents. If enough people were praying, He would intervene. You could pray. Jesus stilled the storm. You could still storms.”

R

ead more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pat-robertson-blames-tornado-victims-carnage-marijuana-possession-a-crime-article-1.1034447#ixzz1oZtnagkh

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 12:16 pm
I don’t know why insurance companies haven’t factored “prayerfulness” into the premiums they charge.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 12:18 pm
Bolt on why Jessica Irvine earns the big bucks writing about economics.

Jess says:

Here’s something to keep in mind the next time you hear a mining magnate or chief executive complaining about an outrageous assault on their industry. Those minerals they’re mining – all that gold, iron ore, coal and uranium – it’s yours. You own it.

Bolt’s response… Go get a shovel and dig it up, Jess.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 12:19 pm
Anyone who is religious believes in the possibility of divine intervention Steve. It is simply part of the deal in believing in a divine entity.

On this basis, Steve is anti drug decriminalisation and pro violence and pro violent crime.

.

9 Mar 12 at 12:19 pm
I don’t think Pat’s overly familiar with the Book of Job, either.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 12:20 pm
Here’s something to keep in mind the next time you hear a mining magnate or chief executive complaining about an outrageous assault on their industry. Those minerals they’re mining – all that gold, iron ore, coal and uranium – it’s yours. You own it.

Bolt’s response… Go get a shovel and dig it up, Jess.

What a stupid, illiterate bitch.

.

9 Mar 12 at 12:20 pm
Steve you moron you have entirely missed the point of Job.

Do you think that “God sent the tornadoes” to “test” the general public?

But Robertson is wrong and so is his position of drug reform.

You’re a monstrous fuckwit.

.

9 Mar 12 at 12:21 pm
Anyone who is religious believes in the possibility of divine intervention Steve.

No one takes that to mean that natural disasters are a result of failure to pray. Except Pat and his ilk.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 12:22 pm
I’m not about to debate theological interpretations of Job with you dot.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 12:25 pm
Steve, you epically dense blockhead.

The reason I linked to Pat Robertson supporting the legalisation of marijuana is because if even people like him have seen the light, then just how crazy is the war on drugs?

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 12:28 pm
No one takes that to mean that natural disasters are a result of failure to pray.

He didn’t say that.

I’m not about to debate theological interpretations of Job with you dot.

You just did. We won.

.

9 Mar 12 at 12:32 pm
I’m adding your expertise in biblical interpretation and theology to your RSVP profile, dot.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 12:35 pm
Um yes dickhead I don’t need one. Maybe you need a closeted one your wife doesn’t see.

Likes: Penises, Tonee YABBOT!, abortion, semen.

.

9 Mar 12 at 12:37 pm
PS Steve,

We won.

.

9 Mar 12 at 12:37 pm
Greenies attack blacks, recommend ‘traditional’ hunters use refrigerators and gently euthanase turtles.

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 12:45 pm
Vested interests…

Unions to hit members with Hate Abbott Levy.

THE peak union body will consider a multi-million dollar campaign funded by a levy on its 1.8 million members to fight Tony Abbott at the next election.

The proposal has the backing of the Shop, Distributed and Allied Workers union, the largest union in the country, which is urging the ACTU to start fundraising now ahead of the next election.

SDA national secretary Joe de Bruyn told The Australian Online his union strongly backed a levy and promised unions would fight to keep Labor’s industrial changes.

“The SDA has made it clear we support a levy. The ACTU hasn’t made a decision yet,” he said.

“No precise figure has been decided yet, but the union movement needs to be well resourced to play a part in next election campaign to stop the Coalition coming back to office and returning to work choices.

Unions mull levy on members to campaign against the Coalition at the next election.

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 12:48 pm
‘God told me…’

Obama Invokes Jesus Christ On ObamaCare.

Obama added that he often falls to his knees in prayer, and that his religious faith helps determine how he leads the country.

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 12:55 pm
This is too amusing not to note too:

Rick Santorum, a conservative Catholic who is outspoken about faith-based issues, lost Catholic voters by a wide margin in Ohio on Tuesday, potentially a key factor that allowed Mitt Romney to squeak out the narrowest of victories overall in the state.

According to CNN’s exit polls, Romney took 43% of Ohio Catholics on Super Tuesday, compared to 31% for Rick Santorum, and Romney beat Santorum overall by 38% to 37%.

I read elsewhere that he did well with Evangelicals. Of course, for them, the “we can’t vote for a Mormon” is a large part of the appeal too.

Anyway, Santorum: too Catholic even for Catholics. But he’d do well with women at a general election. Hahahahaha.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 1:01 pm
Obama added that he often falls to his knees in prayer

5 times a day.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 1:18 pm
Shorter Steve:

“I’m an effeminate, socially conservative anti Catholic kook who doesn’t like the demon drink. But I like penises!”

PS Steve,

We won.

.

9 Mar 12 at 1:21 pm
I mean it in its general, generic form…I guess the shortest definition I would give is – socially and economically conservative. Obviously that is a partial definition of an inherently disputed concept.

Well, this is something, but whether it is an improvement is less certain. According to this ‘shortest definition’, ‘left wing’ is socially and economically liberal, while ‘right wing’ is socially and economically conservative which hardly seems an improvement.

Being a libertarian means a holding the belief that individual liberty is fundamental to social organisation. Putting left- or right- in front of it refines that very broad category, and IMO it speaks to different understandings of ‘liberty’. In contrast, right-wingers and left-wingers do not see individual liberty as the primary political virtue. It may be important to them in certain contexts, but it’s not their starting point.

The above is confused. You speak about liberty as if it can be the foundation of social organisation (it would make more sense in this context if by liberty you meant agency but I’m not certain you do); but maybe by fundamental you don’t mean foundational so much as “primary” as you go on to say but what appeared firstly as a ‘good’ or a ‘value’ appears now as a ‘virtue’, and its hard to understand how liberty can be a virtue, although one can say that it is necessary for virtue to appear. But let’s leave that aside, you go on to say that “[Liberty] may be important to them in certain contexts, but it’s not their starting point” which is a hopeless muddle. Surely you should have said, for this comparison to makes sense, either:
[Liberty] may be important to them in certain contexts, but it’s not ~~their starting point~~ [in all contexts], or, [Liberty] may be ~~important to them~~ [their starting point] in certain contexts, but it’s not their starting point [in all contexts]“. But I’m not sure any of this helps the distinction you’re attempting to draw.

All these categories are fuzzy, of course, but there is a transition from right-libertarian to simply right-wing.

This also doesn’t help given the structure of the Political Compass you alluded to above. I can move to the right of the compass without ever transitioning from libertarian to non-libertarian (according to you, this includes “right-wing”) because they are found on separate axes. The only way I can transition from libertarian to non-libertarian, according to this compass, is by becoming authoritarian, not by becoming more right-wing.

Considering you are muddled about basic concepts (eg thinking ‘right-wing’ had to mean fascist/authoritarian first and foremost), I think that applies to you more than me.

Where do I say it “had to” mean either of those things? I simply asked you what you meant by it and gave some examples of the meanings attributed to it by other people. It’s best to fling dust in another’s eyes when you’re facing downwind, not upwind, Jarrah.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 1:21 pm
Droll, IT. Stupid, but droll.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 1:21 pm
Whose this “we” dot keeps talking about today? Libertarians claiming a victory because fruitloop Pat Robertson agrees with them on one issue?

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 1:23 pm
Steve;

please fuck off. Go away. Go do the chores.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 1:25 pm
Daniel Henninger WSJ: Santorum and Freedom

“In August, no one thought this guy would be toe-to-toe with the Romney machine in March. What happened?

I went to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Monday to find out. Out of 1,189,530 votes cast the next day in bellwether Ohio, Mr. Santorum lost to Mitt Romney by only 10,288, at last count. He’s doing something right, and what one learned in Cuyahoga Falls, an Akron suburb, is that it doesn’t have much to do with the famous Santorum controversies over social issues. It’s about ObamaCare. And it’s about the idea of freedom…….

His 35-minute speech in Cuyahoga Falls touched an array of subjects that drew applause. But at the halfway point, when he tore into ObamaCare, his mostly working-class audience exploded into applause and cries of “Rick! Rick! Rick!”

Mr. Santorum didn’t get this response by discussing health-insurance exchanges and guaranteed issue. He told these people that ObamaCare “is usurping your rights. It is creating a culture of dependency. Every single American will be dependent on government, thanks to ObamaCare. There is no more important issue in this race. It magnifies all that is wrong with what this president is trying to do.” His call for repeal produced the explosion…..

He followed with an tight description of how he understands the terms of the election: “This race is coming down to the economy, the deficit and control of your life, which is ObamaCare.” (There was no mention of contraception, gays or the role of women.) …….

Does it make upper-middle class, suburban independents uncomfortable to see that Mr. Santorum’s working-class audiences push back by yelling “freedom”? Perhaps, but maybe it’s also true that upscale voters have their own way of describing the Obama-era unease. Their less rustic version is finding its way into votes for Mitt Romney. Alas, Mr. Romney is the only GOP candidate who won’t or can’t deploy on his own behalf that one powerful, damning word Barack Obama doesn’t want to hear: mandate.

Rick Santorum should stay in the race, repeating from now till summer the perverse link between the ObamaCare mandate and the American idea of freedom. It looks like the best argument the GOP nominee will have for a win in November.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 1:34 pm
GOVERNMENTS are squandering billions of dollars on “uneconomic” wind farms, according to a landmark study that undermines the case for Labor’s huge renewable energy subsidies…

In a finding with direct relevance to Australia, the study by University of Edinburgh economics professor Gordon Hughes warns that using wind turbines to cut emissions costs 10 times the price of a gas-fired power station.

“Wind power is an extraordinarily expensive and inefficient way of reducing CO2 emissions when compared with the option of investing in efficient and flexible gas combined-cycle plans,” he concludes…

Wind farms: monumental failure. Each turbine stands as a monument to the Gillard Brown stupidity.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 1:34 pm
Of course, for them, the “we can’t vote for a Mormon” is a large part of the appeal too.

Oh yes, that old chestnut. Great gumshoe work, Steve. Years ago, they said that a Catholic could never get elected President. Then a Catholic was elected, and they stopped saying that. Then it was that a black could never get elected. Then it happened. Now they don’t say that. Conventional wisdom was that Senators make terrible Presidential candidates. The last Presidential election was between two Senators. Now it’s “they won’t vote for a Mormon”.

Yeah, well tell that to Obama and JFK’s grave, Steve, you bloody genius.

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 1:46 pm
” I can move to the right of the compass without ever transitioning from libertarian to non-libertarian (according to you, this includes “right-wing”) because they are found on separate axes.”

According to this formulation of yours, which appears to confuse the axes for boundaries rather than midpoints, no-one can be anything but libertarian or authoritarian, merely left- or right-wing versions of either.

You seem to have missed the point of the political compass, which tries to illustrate what proportions of each direction influence a person’s views. Think of it as adding vectors together. Despite this mix, if we want to choose simple labels for our views, the proximity to an axis endpoint tells us what that should be. If you imagine another set of lines rotated 45 degrees relative to the axes, that would be a reasonable dividing line between what should be considered the noun and what should be the modifier. For example, a libertarian who leans right is different to a right-winger who’s mildly libertarian, despite both lying below the libertarian-authoritarian divide.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 1:51 pm
Washingtron Post:

“President Barack Obama’s victory in Oklahoma’s Democratic primary was far less emphatic than typical for an incumbent president, and his poor showing in more than a dozen of the state’s counties threatened to cost him a unanimous re-nomination.

With all the state’s 1,961 precincts reporting unofficial results from Tuesday’s vote, Obama had 57 percent of the ballot. An anti-abortion activist, Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, had 18 percent and under party rules could lay claim to at least one delegate.

“This shows real dissatisfaction,” said Ben Odom, a political strategist and a former vice chairman of the state Democratic Party. “You had a pro-life activist and three people who didn’t mount a campaign get 44 percent of the vote. … An incumbent president ought to be polling at least 80 percent, particularly against this kind of opposition.””

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 1:54 pm
Actually, I should correct myself – the axes are both boundaries and midpoints, depending on which direction you are going.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 1:57 pm
I heard a report on Obama at a North Carolina truck company on the radio yesterday. He was being warmly welcomed.

Newt Gingrich was also heard saying (my paraphrase) Israel can bomb Iran any time they like, and if he were Pres, he wouldn’t even expect them to tell him they were about to do it.

Nothing like being prepared.

I am not sure that the American public is quite ready for Middle East turmoil, and the gung-ho-ness of the Republican candidates on this may not be helping them as much as they think…

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 2:08 pm
Gallup states unemployment is back up to 9%

Alex Pundit

9 Mar 12 at 2:10 pm
OCO thinks no one has been talking about evangelicals and their leeriness towards Mormon candidates?

I’m not saying they’ll refuse to vote for Romney come the election, but everyone expects quite a few will be holding their nose while they do it.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 2:10 pm
Lawyers now calling for national apology to “victims of abuse in the Defence Force.”

Seriously, when will this nonsense end?

Fleeced

9 Mar 12 at 2:17 pm
Bloody hell: James Delingpole gets the Rush Limbaugh story more correct than most of Catallaxy:

In Conservative-land, Rush’s response was funny and apt and hilariously but justifiably over-the-top. But for anyone who is not a conservative – which is at least half America, not to mention most of the rest of the world, it was pure poison.

It gave, not least, the impression that conservatives are so stuck up that they even think kids messing around with sex before marriage are at best sluts, at worst prostitutes. Now I know this isn’t exactly what Rush meant, but it’s how it sounded to liberal ears and how it’s being spun in the broader media.

Trust me, it doesn’t make conservatives look good. It makes us look like unelectable freaks.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 2:18 pm
Lawyers now calling for national apology to “victims of abuse in the Defence Force.”

The victim mentality is a natural fit with the Left.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 2:20 pm
The victim mentality is a natural fit with the Left

National apologies for anything and everything – it’s pathetic.

Fleeced

9 Mar 12 at 2:22 pm
Defence Force victims of abuse? You mean we have to apologise to the Hun and the Japs?

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 2:32 pm
No one takes that to mean that natural disasters are a result of failure to pray. Except Pat and his ilke.

Pat Robertson and Julia Gillard.

Gillard believes the plaintive gesture of a carbon dioxide tax will stop disasters. She explicitly said so.

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 2:42 pm
Haaretz:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested the United States approve the sale of advanced refueling aircraft as well as GBU-28 bunker-piercing bombs to Israel during a recent meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The American official said that U.S. President Barack Obama instructed Panetta to work directly with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the matter, indicating that the U.S. administration was inclined to look favorably upon the request as soon as possible.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 2:44 pm
Bill O’Reilly calls it on self-confessed tart, Sandra Fluke:

“There’s no doubt in my mind and my investigator’s mind that this woman from the very beginning was what they call “run” by very powerful people. It’s not an accident that Elijah Cummings, Nancy Pelosi, and all these people got her and put her in a position to get her national exposure… I’m going to say, and I can’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt but I think I will be able to, that this was run out the White House. The White House ran this.”

C.L.

9 Mar 12 at 2:46 pm
He’s not the only one CL

James Taranto:

“There seems to be wide agreement that the Sandra Fluke kerfuffle handed the left a major political victory. We respectfully dissent……

The kerfuffle was no fluke but a left-liberal set piece….

Then they sandbagged the Republicans. They asked, too late, for Fluke to be subbed in for Lynn, then told Lynn not to bother showing up. When the hearing took place, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (this columnist’s congressman, but don’t blame us) demanded: “Where are the women?” Although it was the Dems who chose Lynn over Fluke and the second panel of witnesses included two female members, liberal media dutifully propagated the “Republican sexism” charge. A week later, House Democrats held a mock hearing where Fluke testified.

Like Cindy Sheehan, Fluke was a left-wing activist cast in the role of everywoman (or as much of an “everywoman” as a student at an elite law school can be)….

But whereas distractions are evanescent, the religious-liberty issue hasn’t gone away. In fact, on Thursday the Democrat-controlled Senate passed up an opportunity to blunt the issue, rejecting by a 51-48 procedural vote, with only four senators crossing party lines, an amendment that would have allowed conscience exemptions to the ObamaCare contraception mandate. At least four vulnerable Democratic senators seeking re-election–Bill Nelson of Florida, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio–are now on record against religious liberty.

Being informed of two salient facts–that it includes the morning-after pill and that it is imposed on religious institutions–is enough to sway just under 1 in 5 voters from support to opposition.

Catholics who attend church every week made up 12% of the electorate in 2008, according to exit polls. Those are the voters who are likely to be the best informed on this issue, and probably for whom it is most likely to change their vote. Peggy Noonan noted last month that in 2008 Barack Obama won the votes of 49% of churchgoing Catholics. Obama thus risks alienating a segment of the electorate he can neither take for granted nor afford to write off. You can see why the left would find it more pleasant to talk about Sandra Fluke’s hurt feelings.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 3:06 pm
From Tony Abbotts speech today

Other questions that the commission of audit might ponder could include: whether the federal health department really needs all 6000 of its current staff when the Commonwealth doesn’t actually run a single hospital or nursing home, dispense a single prescription or provide a single medical service; whether the federal education department really needs all 5000 of its current staff when the Commonwealth doesn’t run a single school; and whether we really need 7000 officials in the Defence Materiel Organisation, when the United Kingdom, with armed forces at least four times our size, gets by with 4000 in the equivalent body?

Now question to anyone working in these organisations what do you actually do? Even the Defence Material Organisation which I think would buy far less than Woolies what are most of you doing. Just asking on off chance you are not busy.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 3:11 pm
Well I suppose the White House being involved would just prove she was a slut!

You’re doing a very dimwitted handwave of epic proportions.

So friggin’ what that she has a background in activism on reproductive issues?

Are we supposed to be shocked that people with activist backgrounds get called up to do their bit before house committees?

The person who make this into a gigantic story was Limbaugh. It continued to be a gigantic story when right wing dimwits sought to defend him and insist that she is a slut: even when she said nothing about her sex life.

(For the comprehension challenged: saying “we” expect insurance to cover contraception does not mean “I am currently using contraception to bonk 50 times a week.”)

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 3:27 pm
Labor’s planned advertising blitz to sell the benefits of a carbon tax has hit a snag – the word “carbon” is a turn-off for the public.

Wait it for to be re-branded as a “Social Inclusion Contribution”.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 3:27 pm
PP
I thought tax was the scary word.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 3:31 pm
An important blog posting by Andrew McCarthy at NRO Corner on Breitbart’s videeo of a radical leftist Obummer:

“..a third category, especially important because it is the one into which Obama falls: Alinsky radicals. In Bill Ayers’s terrorist incarnation, he was, I guess, what David refers to as a “pure activist.” But Alinsky looked down on him and the other Weathermen, just as much as he looked down on progressive “moderates.” On goals, Alinsky and Ayers, were on the same page, but Alinsky dismissed him as a clown because Ayers’s methods were counterproductive.

In Alinsky’s view, the only radicalism that had a chance to succeed was the one that could bore inside bourgeois institutions, co-opt the language, and move the mainstream in the radical direction — but only as fast as political conditions would allow. Remaining radical but being coldly pragmatic kept the Alinskyite both effective and viable, allowing him to keep coming back for more. Ayers eventually learned this lesson — the lesson that you can do more for the cause by running the classroom than by blowing up the classroom or occupying the campus. As Ayers himself says, he’s just as radical today as he ever was — he is no moderate progressive. But now he’s actually accomplishing things, affecting thousands of minds. To borrow the words of Van Jones, another radical Leftist turned Alinskyite, he decided “to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends.”

RTWT

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 3:36 pm
The person who make this into a gigantic story was Limbaugh. It continued to be a gigantic story when right wing dimwits sought to defend him and insist that she is a slut: even when she said nothing about her sex life.

Was it better or worse than when David Letterman called Sarah Palin a slut or when David Shultz called Laura Ingram a slut or when when Mark Latham in parliament called Janet Albrechtsen a “skanky-ho” who would “die in a ditch”.

Can you please assign the levels of outrage that we’re supposed to feel about each of these instances compared to the Limbaugh instance? Because clearly it’s not all the same.

twostix

9 Mar 12 at 3:39 pm
The person who make this into a gigantic story was Limbaugh

No it was a big story before Limbaugh as one read of James Taranto’s piece that I’ve now posted twice on this thread shows.

You are contemptibly dishonest individual steve

The people responsibe for making this a story is Obummer first and foremost thru and supported by the Dems and the Democrat Media Complex aka the MSM.

They are all divisive activists and vile scum

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 3:43 pm
According to this formulation of yours, which appears to confuse the axes for boundaries rather than midpoints, no-one can be anything but libertarian or authoritarian, merely left- or right-wing versions of either.

Actually, I should correct myself – the axes are both boundaries and midpoints, depending on which direction you are going.

Jarrah, what am I supposed to make of your initial statement and the correction? I never said anything about them being either boundaries or midpoints. I said that one cannot in any move from less to more ‘right-wing’ (or vice versa) transition from libertarian to non-libertarian because that involves a move entirely separate at least in so far as that compass is concerned. In other words, at least according to that compass, the libertarian-authoritarian and left-right axes are independent.

If you imagine another set of lines rotated 45 degrees relative to the axes, that would be a reasonable dividing line between what should be considered the noun and what should be the modifier. For example, a libertarian who leans right is different to a right-winger who’s mildly libertarian, despite both lying below the libertarian-authoritarian divide.

Actually, this makes more sense, except that the noun and qualifier would be right-libertarian or libertarian-right in the SE quadrant. Also, I’m not sure about the use of the words ‘lean’ and ‘mild’. With the latter, particularly, because the further we move SEwards the more substantive will the libertarianism (as well as, of course, their ‘rightness’) of the said person. Its merely also moving eastward for independent reason/s. Even given your suggestion, even though a right-movement may effect a transition from right-libertarian to libertarian-right I would have began and ended my journey with precisely the same amount of libertarian-ness. This suggests to me you’ve put forward a distinction without a difference. Useful, to the extent that it may distinguish right-libertarians from libertarian-right but not to the extent of suggesting the latter are not libertarian.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 3:51 pm
twostix: Letterman apologised, and it was a one off stupid joke.

Mark Latham deservedly lost credibility and esteem over his stupid skanky ho insult.

Don’t know about the Ingram case.

On the other hand, Limbaugh went on and on about it for 3 days, and the nature of his criticism implied that any woman who agreed with Fluke and took up free contraception from the Obama mandate would also be the equivalent of a slut or prostitute. He also fundamentally got the issue wrong – reinforcing a meme that refuses to die that it is the government that will be funding free contraception.

There is simply no comparison between the scale of offence that Limbaugh created and the one off bad taste and crude insults of the others.

But don’t take my word – take your fellow climate change denying journo Delingpole for it.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 3:57 pm
Jarrah and DB

What is a Libertarian? give me a simple explanation

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 3:57 pm
There is simply no comparison between the scale of offence that Limbaugh created and the one off bad taste and crude insults of the others.

That is patently bollox liar-stevefb®

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 4:01 pm
“What is a Libertarian? give me a simple explanation”

Everyone has a different opinion. I believe a libertarian is someone who thinks that individual liberty is the most important principle in social organisation.

Another way of putting it – we give up unrestricted freedoms when we live in a society, but we should give up as few as possible, and some are inalienable.

Or perhaps – the only acceptable way of dealing with other people is through voluntary actions, sometimes known as the “non-aggression principle”, derived from free will and self-ownership.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 4:12 pm
“Jarrah, what am I supposed to make of your initial statement and the correction?”

That as you move towards any particular axis endpoint, you become ‘more’ libertarian or whatever, in an adjectival sense, but at some point you are far enough away from the others that you become a libertarian.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 4:16 pm
It’s nice to see a chaste man like Steve go into bat for sluts using a climate denier as his reference.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 4:17 pm
Jarrah I think your explanation is something along the lines of what I think. Where I think there is a problem is when some principle is seen as an absolute rule not a guiding principle. For example no socialism is bad and there is no example anywhere in the world of successful country not having socialism. The problem with Australia’s socialism for example is that it is excessive in some areas.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 4:26 pm
“Where I think there is a problem is when some principle is seen as an absolute rule not a guiding principle.”

To clarify, I’m not a libertarian. Mostly because of that very reason.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 4:37 pm
That as you move towards any particular axis endpoint, you become ‘more’ libertarian or whatever, in an adjectival sense, but at some point you are far enough away from the others that you become a libertarian.

But this means that someone who is substantively “more libertarian”, say, someone that is significantly libertarian and right, is less of a ‘libertarian’ than a libertarian who is on slightly libertarian but neither left or right, which makes little sense, because the former is objectively both more ‘libertarian’ as well as being more of a libertarian than the latter.

By way of clarification, last night you meant to say that “You, Fisky, Mk50, Infidel Tiger, JamesK, Gab, Token, CL, twostix, daddy dave, Rococo Liberal, and dover_beach. I’ve probably missed some” aren’t right-libertarians, but libertarian-right. Maybe so, but given that the question initially asked was who on this blog “aren’t majorly libertarian” the answer you’ve developed doesn’t seem fit for purpose.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 4:42 pm
If the Bell Tape is “Nothing” Why is the Media Pushing Back So Hard?
BeBreitbart

It’s a rhetorical question, right?

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 4:43 pm
I don’t classify myself as anything either but small effective government is what I would like which when compared to other countries we do well in some areas and poorly in others.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 4:44 pm
Jarrah – your definition of libertarian is really a definition of liberty.

Max Scream

9 Mar 12 at 4:44 pm
What’s your definition Max in simple terms.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 4:46 pm
given that the question initially asked was who on this blog “aren’t majorly libertarian”

I think my answer was dead on. “Majorly libertarian” implies people quite close to that axis endpoint. I would contend, based on their contributions on this blog, that all those people are significantly closer to the Right endpoint, and therefore are more properly called ‘right-wing’.

It is possible for someone to occupy the extreme south-east corner with a score of 10, -10. My classification scheme breaks down at that point, but that happens to all theories at singularities.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 4:55 pm
“Jarrah – your definition of libertarian is really a definition of liberty.”

Really? How so?

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 4:55 pm
… someone who is substantively “more libertarian”, say, someone that is significantly libertarian and right, is less of a ‘libertarian’ than a libertarian who is on slightly libertarian but neither left or right …

Quantum libertarians?

badm0f0

9 Mar 12 at 4:56 pm
Can’t we just all agree that libertarians are useless, and move on?

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 4:57 pm
Wish you would f&%$ing well move on.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 4:59 pm
“is less of a ‘libertarian’ than a libertarian who is on slightly libertarian but neither left or right”

No, I said ‘axis endpoint‘. Besides, someone who is only slighly lower than the horizontal axis and on or close to the vertical axis is a centrist.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 5:00 pm
I meant to say his definition of libertarian was the same as that of liberalism, although there is some ambiguity toward the end.

Liberals take for granted the existence of a state with coercive powers and say it must be as limited as possible and that the liberty of the individual is liberty from state control.

The trouble for liberals is that what the limits are have historically varied so much that it makes a nonsense of the whole idea as a prescriptive ideal. Its at most a regulative idea.

Libertarianism seems to entail taking away the coercive powers of the state by making them continually dependent on consent and re-voluntarising the state and social bonds.

I’m trying to sharpen the distinction with these definitions, and these are also the philosophical expression of the distinction.

Libertarianism would be a revolutionary break with the current way of doing things. Liberalism is the norm increasingly shared on a non-partisan basis.

The re-privatisation of the university sector, for example, has been pushed mainly by the Labor Party. The more radical libertarian proposals have failed.

Max Scream

9 Mar 12 at 5:00 pm
Jellybelly from Kenmore:

Soldiers often kill hated officers in battle. For excellent and admirable reasons. Go read “Catch 22″ by Joseph Heller

In Order of your incredible ignorance. Bollocks – that’s plain wrong, historically. You applaud murder – guess you are a leftist, eh? Dude. Catch-22 is a work of fiction, you clown. You think is an historical account?

Heller used his experience and added things to it to make it funny. This is a genre called ‘comedy’. I suppose that being a pinch-lipped hatchet faced communist wowser you don’t even recognise the concept.

… But no women or non whites post there right – I mean that aren’t sock puppets or airheads?

Yep. Scratch a leftard and a racist bleeds. If you post here, you must be white. Thanks for revealing this about yourself Jellybelly. I had suspected it (I suspect it of every leftist and am rarely disappointed, unfortunately) but now you’ve proved it. Jarrah fairly left, but is one I think does not have a racist bone in his body. You, Les, thr, oh yeah. You all let the mask slip at some point.

JC’s part aboriginal, I’m married to a part-Polynesian and my friends are all over the place, Jason Soon’s got Chinese ancestry: there are others too you fat little racist sh*t.

Hey, JC. You have the perfect beer-producing opportunity here, flogging certificates of aboriginality to cat denizens for tipple. Where’s the entrepreneurial spirit? (spirit being used literally here)

Mk50 of Brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 5:03 pm
“Where I think there is a problem is when some principle is seen as an absolute rule not a guiding principle.”

But there are some principles which remain primary in ethical or philosophically consistent response to events, aren’t there?

And also don’t you think most people most of the time accept and act on the need for ideological compromise, which they know will have unwanted but unavoidable practical consequences?

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 5:05 pm
How do you guys think Joseph Kony will go on the Wing this weekend for Parra against the Warriors

rodclarke

9 Mar 12 at 5:09 pm
But there are some principles which remain primary in ethical or philosophically consistent response to events, aren’t there?

In the end so far as I can tell unless your are an anarchist the State is the primary concern so in a time of war all other ideals will go by the way it is just a question of how much freedoms will dissapear and how quickly. It is even in our constitution that during a time of war you can remove all freedoms from the people.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 5:13 pm
It is possible for someone to occupy the extreme south-east corner with a score of 10, -10. My classification scheme breaks down at that point, but that happens to all theories at singularities.

Jarrah, you’re all over the place on this. If A scores, 1, -3 and B scores, 6, -5, the latter is still objectively more libertarian and more of a libertarian than A.

My classification scheme breaks down at that point, but that happens to all theories at singularities.

It breaks down at many other points as well. Anyone that scores Y, whatever X is, is as much a libertarian whatever X happens to be, because X is entirely independent of Y, and the only relevant measure of Y is Y, not X.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 5:20 pm
Did anyone see Combet sprung today when he did not know what the average family’s electricity bill was? (Not that I would know either; then again I am not dedicating my working week to making said bill larger.*) I thought he was going to hit someone. He is dead-set not sane – he makes Kevni’s barely-suppressed anger management issues and sundry psychoses look positively serene. Jeezus Steve you have some lovely people on your side. Not.

Sorry – I mean saving the planet.

James in Melbourne

9 Mar 12 at 5:21 pm
The problem today as I see it is that governments are being driven by the logic of capital to offload what they previously did (were obliged or forced) to build the society we benefit from today.

This is being accomplished not very successfully or popularly by using the argument that this process will result in greater efficiencies, increasing wealth for all and the provision of basic protection for the worst layer of “losers”.

But the private sector can’t provide, isn’t interested in providing what the polis and nation need. So therefore the populace continues to look with growing anxiety towards the state, government, law, etc to protect them and provide for their needs.

Individual liberty of course is impossible in such a trap.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 5:21 pm
No, I said ‘axis endpoint‘. Besides, someone who is only slighly lower than the horizontal axis and on or close to the vertical axis is a centrist.

Not given this, “If you imagine another set of lines rotated 45 degrees relative to the axes, that would be a reasonable dividing line between what should be considered the noun and what should be the modifier.”

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 5:25 pm
I hope you are not using political compass. It is bollocks.

.

9 Mar 12 at 5:31 pm
Yes, you’re absolutely right about that, dot.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 5:34 pm
Kelly not sure exactly what you mean but as we are rich democracy the government is vote buying and this is very difficult to stop. Politicians also enhance minorities (like in the post about not being able to build dams) rights at the expense of the majority if it is seen as a risk to political power. For the maintenance of power politicians will do things even they think are stupid to win votes. Like the bi-partisan approach to solar panels which nobody believes is a cost effect way to achieve anything.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 5:34 pm
Taking the Mickey of BrisVegas.

Your schtick is old hat. Its disingenuous essence is arguably its most repulsive aspect. Aside from its deep cultural especially psychological ignorance.

Please do not address me again.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 5:35 pm
“Kelly” you will be addressed whenever we please whether you like it or not.

You’re an idiot and a bigot. You’re done. Next.

.

9 Mar 12 at 5:39 pm
Oh dear, another case of sand in your vagina, Kelly?

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 5:46 pm
Where’s LaDouchite when you need some relief, right Kels?

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 5:47 pm
Like the bi-partisan approach to solar panels which nobody believes is a cost effect way to achieve anything.

Kelly, lots of people don’t care about “cost effectiveness”. It’s not a guiding principle in many matters or considerations, including time and monetary. Mortgages, children, leisure activities. Cost effectiveness here is an impossible measure.

Category error territory even.

Understanding this truth is the beginning of political wisdom.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 5:47 pm
I see Paul Keating has thrown his hat in the ring to be PM again.

This should work out well.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 5:50 pm
It’s not a guiding principle in many matters or considerations

Then voters are stupid as it is their taxes paying for it or potentially reducing welfare if they are on welfare in the future.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 5:52 pm
Understanding this truth is the beginning of political wisdom.

You are a creepy weirdo with genitalia issues. You are also word for word the most boring troll we’ve encountered.

Truthy enough?

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 5:53 pm
Bullshit, people get pissed of to the max if their leisure spending isn’t cost effective.

.

9 Mar 12 at 5:56 pm
Please do not address me again.

And who exactly said you’re directing traffic, here Kenmore Kelly?

Look, you may talk your toy boy like that but around here you don’t get that privilege, so STFU you loon.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 5:56 pm
Understanding this truth is the beginning of political wisdom.

Self-awareness helps as well Kelly.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 5:57 pm
Stop picking on a fellow kelly

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 5:58 pm
“because X is entirely independent of Y”

This is probably where you’re going wrong.

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 5:59 pm
But the private sector can’t provide, isn’t interested in providing what the polis and nation need.

People almost universally believe that to be so, but the numbers suggest the opposite; the private sector provides better service much cheaper far, far more often than it fails to do so. Intuition can be great, but it can also be consistently dead wrong.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 6:00 pm
Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the creepy weirdo troll with genitalia issues?

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 6:00 pm
Yes why do people like picking on Brisbane people? We are actually quite intelligent around this part of the country.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 6:02 pm
“because X is entirely independent of Y”

This is probably where you’re going wrong.

Some researchers end up concluding that the “Political compass” is worthless, partly because of this. Essentially, they claim that the compass is all very well, but broadly speaking people are mostly either Left or Right, arbitrary though these may seem.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 6:03 pm
Showing some awareness, Steve. Well done!

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 6:04 pm
kelly, even been to Pinkenba?

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 6:07 pm
People almost universally believe that to be so, but the numbers suggest the opposite; the private sector provides better service much cheaper far, far more often than it fails to do so

If it is a public service this should be qualified with having a competant government. Also needs the qualification of having sufficient anti monopoly laws.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 6:08 pm
This is probably where you’re going wrong.

Not at all. Moreover, there is good reason to think that left and right,the economic, dimension, should itself also be designated, authoritarian and libertarian, given it serves the same purpose it achieves so far as the social dimension is concerned; that is, it serves to highlight that a movement to the right, economically, marks a movement in favour of economic liberty.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 6:10 pm
Steve if you are talking to me I have been everywhere while driving a cab.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 6:10 pm
Yes why do people like picking on Brisbane people? We are actually quite intelligent around this part of the country.

Rudd and Swan.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 6:10 pm
IT
Point taken

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 6:12 pm
If it is a public service this should be qualified with having a competant government. Also needs the qualification of having sufficient anti monopoly laws.

Absolutely. Good laws + free markets = win.

Note that “monopolies” are usually worse, and less firmly put-down, when they are government-owned.

wreckage

9 Mar 12 at 6:13 pm
I hope you are not using political compass. It is bollocks.

I reckon. It puts me identical with Ghandi! YUK! I am completely opposed to living in rags!

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 6:25 pm
Some researchers end up concluding that the “Political compass” is worthless,

Anyone with half a brain would conclude this. When Jarrah mentions “social organisation” he’s on to something but he confuses himself by talking about liberty being “fundamental” to this social organisation, and/ or that liberty is the starting point of something that sounds like a decision-procedure. Rather, he should focus on what sort of “social organisation” is libertarian and what sort isn’t, and it’s not as if there aren’t people like Smith (spontaneous vs planned), Hayek (nomological and teleological), Nozick (non-patterned vs patterned) and Oakeshott (civil vs enterprise association), who have yet to describe the one and the other and in significant detail.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 6:29 pm
It is a truth universally acknowledged that ~~Understanding this truth~~ possessing a large arsenal of nukes is the beginning of political wisdom

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 6:30 pm
Bolta needs to stop just phoning it in when it comes to his blog.

He’s put up a video (on this Kony post) purporting to be a “rare unseen introduction” to George Orwell’s 1984, showing the “Two Minute Hate,” but he’s obviously not watched it because it’s a doctored “9-11 Truthers for Ron Paul” clip.

*cringe*

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 6:32 pm
Can’t we just all agree that libertarians are useless, and move on?

Yes, we’re all useless, Steve. So why are you still here? As you said, move on! This is your big chance to fuck off for good.

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 6:36 pm
He wishes he could quit us, Dot.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 6:42 pm
Sorry, I meant OCO.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 6:43 pm
Can’t we just all agree that libertarians are useless, and move on?

I can see why people would say that. I did, until I took a Micro course, where the socialist lectuer devoted the extra honours seminar to ‘distributive justice’. Alongside the isoquants and baby calculus, we read Marx, Berlin (+ve/-ve liberty), Rawls (the veil of ignorance), and then the – what was for me – the show stopper; Nozick (‘night watchman state). That kind of thinking had never entered my head, and was very confronting, and even though it was a bit silly, it is the most powerful political/sociological heuristic I took away from undergrad. Actually, equal tie with surplus value/reserve army of labour.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 6:44 pm
Libertarianism seems to entail taking away the coercive powers of the state by making them continually dependent on consent and re-voluntarising the state and social bonds.

No, that’s anarchists. Or perhaps Paulites. Or both.
Either way it’s not a realistic view and certainly doesn’t characterise my understanding of ‘libertarianism.’

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 6:48 pm
dd, it’s also an unjustifiable emphasis on libertarianism as a ‘negative’ idea – ‘abscence of’ the state – whereas, at least from my observations, libertarianism is more a ‘positive’ idea, emphasising the quintessentially social act of bargaining/negotiating, which underlies consensual contractual civic relations.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 6:53 pm
DD
What is your view of what Libertarian is?

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 6:54 pm
If that’s not the distinction then there’s no difference between liberals and libertarians that I can see.

Max Scream

9 Mar 12 at 6:54 pm
the private sector provides better service much cheaper far, far more often than it fails to do so.

Yeah, like the treatment and care of cancer patients, road accident victims, parents whose child has suicided, etc.

I thought you were better than this, wreck.

But looks like you’re just another believer.

Kelly of Kenmore

9 Mar 12 at 6:57 pm
Max you are thinking only in the economic sense a libertarian I think is less socially conservative.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 6:58 pm
I think PP is closer to the defintion of libertariansim than dd.

Max Scream

9 Mar 12 at 6:58 pm
Quite right, Abu.
It’s a coffee table book for Leftists.
Turgidly unreadable

Don’t embarrass yourself.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 7:05 pm
From Insty, this really is delicious:

The rift between Sleep Train Mattress Centers and Rush Limbaugh apparently became permanent today after Limbaugh reportedly turned aside the Sacramento retailer’s attempt at a truce.

Limbaugh rebuffed Sleep Train’s request that the controversial radio host resume his duties as a paid spokesman for the company.

(…)

“Unfortunately, your public comments were not well received by our audience, and did not accurately portray either Rush Limbaugh’s character or the intent of his remarks. Thus, we regret to inform you that Rush will be unable to endorse Sleep Train in the Future.”

Hahahahaaha who made who, motherfucker??? SoB, call your office!

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 7:05 pm
think PP is closer to the defintion of libertariansim than dd.

You too, blockhead.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 7:06 pm
Twostix

I live on the coast, I swear can you even read??

Then you must be aware of the solid population growth in coastal areas. In other words your bullshit that the government is somehow preventing immigrants from moving to regional areas is just that, bullshit.

Or are you proposing that they are forced to move to regional areas?

It’s funny how this discussion came as a result of your meltdown over my comment that a $36m population 2050 is no big deal.

sdfc

9 Mar 12 at 7:10 pm
The only person I have seen post at the Cat who I would consider to actually take libertarianism to its proper conclusions is Benjamin Marks.

He is ideologically consistent – far more so than Ron Paul for example – but that leads him to batshit conclusions.

For example, I think Marks’ arguments (from Spooner) about the inability of the Constitution to create binding obligations on persons who were not extant when the Constitution was adopted are difficult to refute from any position that is philosophically consistent with libertarianism.

So Marks is a libertarian – he openly acknowledges and accepts the necessary conclusions of in compromised libertarianism – unlike the faux “libertarians” at the Cat who compromise.

But “libertarians” dogmatically accept that the constitution is a source of binding obligations on the government and thus, ultimately, individuals (insofar as the government (or at least the federal government) with its powers to tax and punish is a creation of the constitution).

That can only be because the “libertarian” has accepted that society cannot function if each individual has the option to opt out of the fundamental social contract.

In this respect “libertarians” – including the overwhelming majority of those who post here – agree with the basic premise of traditional conservatism and social democracy that the state ultimately has primacy over the individual in a battle of fundamental rights, for a citizen cannot opt out of government altogether.

So really when you are talking about who is most “libertarian” at the Cat, you are all compromisers. It’s just a question of degree, and who compromises the most.

You believe in the state that can tax and lock people up and start wars and demand submission from an individual simply because that individual has been born.

Just like Swedish social democrats, except the Swedes are honest about the compromises that they make with the state.

Les Majesty

9 Mar 12 at 7:13 pm
Catch-22 is overrated, Daddy Dave. It’s become one of the approved classics. It might have hit the tone in the Vietnam era but reading it outside of that context – and not giving a shit about that movement – makes me immune to whatever nostalgia props it up as being in any way funny.

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 7:13 pm
OCO obviously thinks the commercial power of misogynist pig who has set back the chances of the Republican win he wants to see is worth celebrating.

What a doofus.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 7:14 pm
The night watchman state is a compromise, only differing from Obamacare as to degree.

Les Majesty

9 Mar 12 at 7:14 pm
So really when you are talking about who is most “libertarian” at the Cat, you are all compromisers. It’s just a question of degree, and who compromises the most.

I’m not a libertarian?

Eat a dick mate.

.

9 Mar 12 at 7:15 pm
Also, Peter Carey. What were we thinking in the 70s? His books are an ordeal.

Everyone agrees with everyone else who agrees with everyone else that they are graaaaaaaate.

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 7:16 pm
From a practical, actual historical, perspective, ‘libertarianism’ has a lot more than heuristic resonance in the US, compared to Australia. The context of its founding, its federal structure was always more brittle than ours, due to slavery, and very real threats from Injuns, Mexicans, Spaniards, Poms, Frogs, etc; they even sacrificed 1 million of their own in the civil war – a bit more dramatic than our ‘Premier’s Conference’.

The US federal government turned into a global octopus after WWII, something we’ve never had to think about. Folks who live in a constitutional federal democracy are damned right to get all hissy when they see the octopus wrapping itself around that Constitution.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 7:17 pm
Nope, sorry Dot. You are a compromiser, and not a compromiser on details but a compromiser on fundamental principles.

Give me an argument as to why I should recognise any lawful authority – but make it an argument that could not equally be used as a philosophical defence of Obamacare.

Les Majesty

9 Mar 12 at 7:18 pm
Not a bad comment from Les.

And I have to say: I couldn’t finish Catch 22 either, and found it very unappealing. I think Abu is right: it’s a book that belonged to a certain decade, and has limited appeal beyond it.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 7:19 pm
Not a bad comment from Les.

Fuck off, Steve. That doesn’t help.

Les Majesty

9 Mar 12 at 7:21 pm
The night watchman state is a compromise, only differing from Obamacare as to degree.

No you’re lying.

What an outrageous, oleaginous and brazen lie.

I’m shocked and chagrined you’d try this “we’re all hope and changers we can believe in now” schtick of devious c**tery underhandedness.

The trolls will now be gill netted and clubbed without a shred of mercy without a care for the fact they may be a baby fur seal or dolphin of the web.

.

9 Mar 12 at 7:21 pm
The state should minimise coercion. That is the argument. You can accept or reject it. There is no compromise.

Tillman.

You are trolling Dotty Maru IV. One of the web’s finest whalers and gill netting vessels.

There will be no lying on this blog…

.

9 Mar 12 at 7:23 pm
OMG. It’s Moby Bird!

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 7:25 pm
OCO obviously thinks the commercial power of misogynist pig who has set back the chances of the Republican win he wants to see is worth celebrating.

Bill Maher, Steve. “Twat”, “C***”. One million dollars to Obama.

People know about this stuff, too, you cretin.

I mean doofus.

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 7:25 pm
OCO obviously thinks the commercial power of misogynist pig who has set back the chances of the Republican win he wants to see is worth celebrating.

Bill Maher, Steve. “Twat”, “C-unt”. One million dollars to Obama.

People know about this stuff, too, you cretin.

I mean doofus.

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 7:26 pm
What does baby seal or dolphin taste like?

I could only ever find one dolphin recipe, medieval it was!

.

9 Mar 12 at 7:28 pm
Well maybe I wasn’t subtle enough to pick up the ‘compromise’ of the night-watchman state. It struck me as slick and pristine as an heuristic could be. If it was a but mere shadow, a ‘compromise’, god knows what the ‘ideal’ form was. And don’t say the Hobbesian ‘state of nature’, coz even silly young’un ‘head in the spotlight’ me could see that rational contracting was an escape from the ‘state of nature’

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 7:28 pm
Anyway, Steve, people in glass houses…I am open to correction, but as far as I’m aware he hasn’t discussed assaulting a woman, unlike you.

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 7:29 pm
Take it up with Delingpole and George Will, OCO. They agree with me.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 7:30 pm
What does baby seal or dolphin taste like?

I don’t know. I only fuck ‘em, never eat them. How barbaric!

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 7:31 pm
Damn, I lose this game.

.

9 Mar 12 at 7:32 pm
OCO, you are going on what Gab and CL are saying about an exchange from long ago. They are not reliable sources.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 7:32 pm
Give me an argument as to why I should recognise any lawful authority

In order to govern, but not manage, among other things, the “quintessentially social act of bargaining/negotiating, which underlies consensual contractual civic relations” PP mentioned.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 7:34 pm
even silly young’un ‘head in the spotlight’ me could see that rational contracting was an escape from the ‘state of nature’

Where is the rational contracting involved in the US Constitution? There is no “contracting”, rational or otherwise. It is imposed on you at birth.

That is Spooner’s point. I think it is irrefutable, if you truly accept the principles of libertarianism.

Les Majesty

9 Mar 12 at 7:34 pm
The state should minimise coercion. That is the argument. You can accept or reject it. There is no compromise.

Well, I completely agree that the state should minimise coercion.

Presumably, the words you forget to add were “in enacting laws for the common good”.

I think that Obamacare is consistent with that principle. It’s the minimum that needs to be done for the common good.

So you and I are agreement, and we both disagree with Spooner. You and I only disagree as to where precisely to draw the line, but that’s a mere trifle in the context of our basic agreement on the philosophical issue.

Les Majesty

9 Mar 12 at 7:37 pm
Not only does Steve lie like gillard, he’s threated me with a “slap in the face” AND he’s also called me a slut. Haven’t you, Steve.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 7:38 pm
Hotair:
Carbonite stock plummets after decision to abandon Limbaugh Update: Limbaugh clears up misinformation about his “lost” sponsors

Limbaugh on-air 2 days ago:

“And judging from the reaction of my own brother, who sends me a note last night, “You really lost 28 sponsors?” No, we have not lost 28 sponsors. “Well, how can they say it?” Because they lie and because they don’t understand how it works, and that’s what I want to try and explain. In fact, folks, we have three brand-new sponsors that will be starting in the next two weeks. Now, obviously, I’m not gonna tell you who they are today, but we’ve got three brand-new, full-fledged sponsors starting in the next two weeks.

Two of the sponsors who have canceled have asked to return. We are being very careful about that. Not gonna give you any names here. One of them is practically begging to come back. Everything is fine on the business side. Everything’s cool. There is not a thing to worry about. What you’re seeing on television about this program and sponsors and advertisers is just incorrect….

Now, let me put this in further perspective for you, this number of 28 or 32, and then we’re gonna move on to other things. Sponsors of our program are both nationwide companies, like Two If By Tea (my tea company), and local companies, like “Mike’s Auto Body Repair” or a local bank. If we added up all of our affiliates (let’s choose the number 600) and we assumed that each of those affiliates had 30 such sponsors in the course of our three-hour program, there might be — all across this country — as many as 18,000 different sponsors of this program. Let me put it another way: There might be 18,000 different people buying advertising within this program alone.

That is a conservative number: 600 stations, 18 commercial minutes an hour. We take whatever we take to sell ourselves and the local station keeps the rest. They have local advertisers. You add up all those over the course of 600 stations, over three hours a day, five days a week, and we’re talking 18,000 different sponsors, okay? ABC News, who understands how this works and are purposely misrepresenting it, is out there ballyhooing that we have lost 28 sponsors. Twenty-eight sponsors out of 18,000! That’s like losing a couple of french fries in the container when it’s delivered to you at the drive-thru. You don’t even notice it. If we lose 28 of those sponsors, the majority of them being in one city or another out of 18 thousand, it’s a sad occurrence……

Now, you might say, “Well, whatever it is, these people are putting out statements.” Yes, they’re putting out statements because they’re hoping to make political gains — and it’s gonna backfire. You can look at the stock price of some of these companies. I’m not gonna say any more, but it’s going to backfire.”

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 7:40 pm
In order to govern, but not manage, among other things, the “quintessentially social act of bargaining/negotiating, which underlies consensual contractual civic relations” PP mentioned.

There is nothing consensual about government. You can’t opt out.

I am all in favour of “quintessentially social act of bargaining/negotiating, which underlies consensual contractual civic relations”.

I think if you go through that process PP describes you get Obamacare.

So again we don’t have a philosophical disagreement.

Les Majesty

9 Mar 12 at 7:41 pm
The state should minimise coercion.

Dot do you mean coercion or force?

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 7:41 pm
The most enduring image from Anarchy, State, and Utopia for me was the story of a state that begins as autocracy and ends in democracy but never changes in character because from beginning to end the activity of governing remains a managerial engagement. Unfortunately, the lesson most take from this is “a pox on all their houses” rather than wondering what sort of engagement must governing be if it is not to be inimical to freedom.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 7:43 pm
Presumably, the words you forget to add were “in enacting laws for the common good”.

No. My ideal doesn’t include this – but I am still a utilitarian.

But I can compromise to that level.

I dream of a day the Government respects my civil liberties and engages in utilitarian policies.

I also reckon my ideal is also very close to my compromise because I think the Government is largely useless.

I also think natural rights ARE utilitarian.

It’s axiomatic Les, take it or leave it.

.

9 Mar 12 at 7:43 pm
Take it up with Delingpole and George Will, OCO. They agree with me

I have had a chat with Dellers and George and they, like me and pretty well everyone, have nothing but contempt for you steve.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 7:44 pm
Dot do you mean coercion or force?

Coercion. Why would I want to stop someone’s so far legitimate use of force in self defence etc?

.

9 Mar 12 at 7:44 pm
I haven’t read Nozzick since those days, but my intuition tells me that the night watchman state was an expression of the horror of man’s indignity under the illiberal octopus of the US Constitution.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 7:45 pm
Good grief, JamesK, in both personality and boring blogging tactics, you’ve thrown up a real challenge to CL for the most twisted and accomplished (respectively) at Catallaxy.

Can’t you just say “Hey, what about that Carbonite story steve, loser?” and then link to it? I think I had already read everything you cut and pasted here today.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 7:47 pm
Gab: context is everything, except to you and CL, where it is nothing. I don’t remember any slut talk in reference to you, as it happens.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 7:49 pm
Dot
For example a government run ad campaign to stop eating crap and exercise this is coercive but not forceful. What is wrong with this?

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 7:49 pm
Then let me refresh your memory, Steve – you who has been raving on about Limbaugh, you hypcorite:

Steve from brisbane

4 Mar 11 at 11:52 pm

Gab, I see you are still defending CL. If nothing else, you are consistent.

Die, Gab, you lying slut! *

* I would normally say, sorry for sounding harsh. But I understand here it means something like “shove off, you disreputable debater; I disagree with your propositions.”.

And the exchange continued on the Open Forum for Feb 26th, 2011.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 7:54 pm
Sprung Steve

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 7:56 pm
Catch-22 is overrated, Daddy Dave. It’s become one of the approved classics.

Yep, and I’m as skeptical as anyone of ‘canons’ and designated classics. But Catch 22 deserves it.

It’s not a protest era book; published in 1961 it predates the Vietnam war proper and certainly the ‘protest era’. At the time, it was a fresh and original way of writing about war. Until then, war fiction had been earnest and full of larger-than-life heroes.

Humour dates easily and maybe that’s happened with Catch 22. Our society doesn’t seem to enjoy the anti-authority jester as much as people in other times or places.

But at any rate, Catch 22 was irreverent and light-hearted, even about horrific events. And the take-home message is, the don’t trust the authorities. They don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 7:58 pm
but I am still a utilitarian.

I’m not. Utilitarianism is incoherent.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 7:59 pm
For example a government run ad campaign to stop eating crap and exercise this is coercive but not forceful. What is wrong with this?

Government advertising creeps me out more than any taxation stupidness. They should fuck right off out of lives.

I’ll eat, drink and smoke whatever I want and no man from the government bureau is going to tell me any different.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 8:00 pm
There is nothing consensual about government.

Disputes emerge in respect of aforementioned transactions, how are these two be resolved? By the judiciary. In respect of what rules will these disputes be settled, in respect of known laws, as determined by a legislature and/ or a court. Every part of this legislative and judicial process is consensual.

You can’t opt out.

I can’t rationally “opt out” in respect of mathematical truths, like, 2+2=4 either, so what? Is mathematics coercive? If a judicial institution is a necessary part of this mode of organisation, given the fact of disagreement, and it is, then a judicial institution is rationally a part of any system that involves the “quintessentially social act of bargaining/negotiating, which underlies consensual contractual civic relations.” Thus to engage in such transactions is to consent to their judicial resolution where disagreement ensues.

I think if you go through that process PP describes you get Obamacare.

No, at best, you get Medicaid.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 8:00 pm
IT
Then it follows that you will accept paying more in tax for healthcare. I am not sure that is true but that is the theory.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 8:03 pm
I think if you go through that process PP describes you get Obamacare.

No, you wouldn’t, because one of the deal breakers for me with libertarianism is that like Communism, it doesn’t scale well. Communism makes sense in small groups in sub-industrial societies; like pre-British Aborigines. Similarly, libertarianism trundles along in Connecticut, maybe even New England, maybe California. But among 300 million people living in a part industrial, mostly service sub-continent of 300 million people? ROFLMAO.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 8:06 pm
There is nothing consensual about government.

Tell that to the folks in Attica during the 6/5th centuries BC.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 8:08 pm
Then it follows that you will accept paying more in tax for healthcare. I am not sure that is true but that is the theory.

I’d pay a great deal for government to leave us alone. However, I’m paying a great deal more because they wont.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 8:11 pm
Face facts steve is a low life scum-bucket.

He lies nersaly all the time.

In the instances when he isn’t frankly lying he’s being dishonest.

He gets on a leftist blog finds out what leftists are jacking off to by way of anti-conservative news jumps on here and hyperlinks.

That apparently is his life.

The house must be very disappointing for the breadwinner to return to.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 8:11 pm
Die, Gab, you lying slut! *

Steve, you are obviously drunk! Sadly, in the morning, you will still be ugly.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 8:18 pm
“The only person I have seen post at the Cat who I would consider to actually take libertarianism to its proper conclusions is Benjamin Marks.”

Benji posted here? When did I miss that?

“Utilitarianism is incoherent.”

How so, daddy dave?

Jarrah

9 Mar 12 at 8:19 pm
Interesting is their reaction when a leftist permits the mask to slip and reveals the sewer within their heads!

Not all leftists are all of the following; racist (old-fashioned/soft racism of low expectations/racism of callousness), anti-semitic, poseur-level assumed moral superiority, hypocrite, amoral, totalitarian.

But the one that hits them hardest is when they reveal these things unintentionally. This triggers a very specific set of responses.

They will always try and dismiss it out of hand. Always.

They instantly scramble for faux moral superiority, decry whoever has caught their slip in haughty tones, adopt a quasi-academic/post modern word structure intended to cover their tracks, claim they who have caught the slip are ignorant, rustic or not nearly as sophisticated as they are, and question their sanity/psychology.

They routinely demand that you stop saying such things about them, and /or apologise.

Such precious little princesses they be.

Yeah, I’ve clashing with these vermin for years.

So how did Jellybelly, our fat little racist troll of kenmore, score on the ‘leftard being sprung’ scale?

Your schtick is old hat.

Dismissal out of hand – check.

Its disingenuous essence is

Stating that what has been said is not straightforward or candid. (Saying ‘you have revealed yourself to be a racist’ is not straightforward?)

arguably its most repulsive aspect.

The sentence shows the racist scrambling for cover – complex structure, haughty and post-modern tone. Check

Aside from its deep cultural especially psychological ignorance.

Claims that the interlocutor is ignorant, less sophisticated. Appeal to psychology. Check.

Please do not address me again.

Demand not to have their error mentioned again. Check

Our dear little fat racist troll Jellybelly of kenmore has ticked all the usual boxes in her effort to cover up her slip. She’ll now be very careful not to make a third slip.

The bog-standard second slip was in slavishly following the normal leftard pattern of response. They all do this.

Her next response is, of course, obvious.

Just recall the slip, and understand when you read this leftard’s posts that what you are dealing with behind the smooth mask Jellybelly puts up is a slimy little racist slug.

If this thing keeps posting here, try to engage it on Palestinians. That’s the sure-fire way to get these things to make a second slip, the one that reveals their anti-semitism where it exists.

Mk50 of Brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 8:25 pm
Mk 50 re the bullying in the Military issue you may remember from yesterday I read your comment and I can’t comment at all in respect of “toughening up” in the Military, just my point is that the Skype affair and anti-muslim stuff on Net is not bullying but some kind of dysfunction that’s like a cancer and no-one wants it in the Military and Mr Smith is doing the right thing trying to stamp it out, is how i see it. Just because a person wears a uniform does not mean that they are beyond reproach does it.

Sorry to bother you with that and i do appreciate your response from yesterday, cheers and wishing you a nice weekend, Candy.

candy

9 Mar 12 at 8:43 pm
just my point is that the Skype affair and anti-muslim stuff on Net is not bullying but some kind of dysfunction that’s like a cancer

Really? You think our soldiers should model themselves on Luvvie Banish, Clive Hamilton, and Robert Manne?

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 8:46 pm
‘Really? You think our soldiers should model themselves on Luvvie Banish, Clive Hamilton, and Robert Manne?’

Hi peter, i take no interest in those people whoever they are. I just have my own opinions.

candy

9 Mar 12 at 8:55 pm
Daddy Dave, see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_Švejk

Hellers book may predate the Vietnam war era but it has become associated with it.

As with much humour that is adored by the intelligentsia, the problem with Hellers book (for me) is not the sentiment but the execution. Obvious absurdist juxtapositions and wry weirdness may amuse critics, but it doesn’t really make them laugh. Just like people who say Ulysses is hilarious, it’s all about listing your accomplishments by seeking to prove to others that you get the jokes. Stamp collecting as elitism.

Puckoon is funny. The Bandy papers are funny. Heller and O’Toole are a party trick for the cognoscenti who need to be seen to be enjoying only the approved ironically low forms of literary art, as opposed to what the unwashed might enjoy.

Again, I don’t criticise the sentiment or concept.

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 9:02 pm
Thomas Pynchon is shit, too.

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 9:02 pm
Oh, that slut insult.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:05 pm
Context, Gab, context.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:06 pm
Joseph Heller wrote other books – Something Happened – i think his second novel, is about a neurotic overprotective parent and tragic ending. The main character has the neurosis type thing of Yossarian but it’s completely different type of novel.It’s not funny, it’s about the neurotic american type of character.

candy

9 Mar 12 at 9:09 pm
Henderson”s Media Watch Dog:
Conclusion – Ray Finkelstein as an ABC-Admiring Kind of Leftie

“The evidence suggests that Mr Finkelstein himself if a left-of-centre type. The Finkelstein Report is replete with positive references to the ABC which he sees as without bias and deserving of more taxpayer funds.

Ray Finkelstein did not seem to notice that his own Media Inquiry did not engage any conservative adviser. Likewise he does not seem to notice that the ABC has not one conservative presenter on any of its significant programs despite the fact that it has a host of leftists in such positions.

The Media Inquiry has produced a report advocating that the media in Australia be regulated by a government-funded body. Little wonder that, at this stage, only Greens leader Senator Bob Brown has embraced the findings of the Finkelstein Report.”

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 9:09 pm
Take it up with Delingpole and George Will, OCO. They agree with me.

How the hell do you think that is any kind of response to

Bill Maher, Steve. “Twat”, “C-unt”. One million dollars to Obama.

People know about this stuff, too, you cretin.

I mean doofus.

My point was one of equivalence that neutralises any electoral damage that you claim has taken place.

You respond with a lame, phoney appeal to authorities that you clearly don’t respect and, furthermore, disproves nothing I wrote earlier.

Bugger off Steve, you dishonest turd.

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 9:09 pm
I thought I got a very authentic feel for what WW2 was like for the average British soldier by reading all of Spike Milligan’s war books.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:10 pm
Steve

You just don’t get it, do you? How dare you call Gab a LIAR!

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 9:10 pm
Misogynistic hypocritical pig Steve of Brisbane said:

4 Mar 11 at 11:52 pm

Gab, I see you are still defending CL. If nothing else, you are consistent.

Die, Gab, you lying slut! *

* I would normally say, sorry for sounding harsh. But I understand here it means something like “shove off, you disreputable debater; I disagree with your propositions.”.

As I said before; bugger off Steve, you dishonest turd.

Oh come on

9 Mar 12 at 9:11 pm
just my point is that the Skype affair

There is no defence for the cadet who organised that. He and those who watched should be dismissed the service.
So should ‘Kate’. She was breaking a number of regulations and hardly displaying the qualities to be expected in an officer.

and anti-muslim stuff on Net is not bullying but some kind of dysfunction

It is not bullying, and neither is it dysfunction. It’s behaviour to be expected of soldiers, and perfectly in accordance with THEIR culture. Yet, this culture is not respected for what it is, a system which allows men to cope with intolerable situations.

None of this is new, either. Go read ‘barrack Room Ballads’.

We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;
While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind”,
But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind,
There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind.

You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool–you bet that Tommy sees!

that’s like a cancer and no-one wants it in the Military and Mr Smith is doing the right thing trying to stamp it out, is how i see it.

It may be a cancer in your workplace culture. But it not in your workplace culture. It’s in the INFANTRYs workplace culture, which involves killing people, being killed by people, and breaking stuff.

Consider that Smith the Minister of Defence, does not understand that he is not in the caucus room any more. he does not understand (or want to understand) the workplace cultures of the military.

he’s a fool, in other words. Contrast with Beazely.

Just because a person wears a uniform does not mean that they are beyond reproach does it.

No it doesn’t unless that reproach is based on a complete failure to understand the culture involved.

And that is most certainly the case here.

Mk50 of Brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:13 pm
Les Majesty

On Obamacare, I think it’s horrific, but probably the best they can do given path dependence. I would make every country copy Australia’s Medicare, and come election time, I would subject the entire globe to the Australian Electoral Commission. Nobody EVER questions the validity of our electoral process.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 9:17 pm
Puckoon is funny.

Well said!

Puckoon is the funniest book ever written IMHO. To read it is risking injury it’s so funny.

Mk50 of Brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:17 pm
“Utilitarianism is incoherent.”

How so, daddy dave?

I think Derek Parfit was the beginning of the end for utilitarianism. But more than that, utilitarianism is a case study in taking sensible heuristics to absurd conclusions.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 9:17 pm
I thought I got a very authentic feel for what WW2 was like for the average British soldier by reading all of Spike Milligan’s war books.

DOT<

you may be interested in this . – I Flew for the Fuhrer – great war time diary of a German fighter ace (67) kills that outlines the nature of the air battle over Europe and some interesting insights into the war in general. Written through the war so much more direct and not so subject to revisionism. Very good read.

John H.

9 Mar 12 at 9:19 pm
Mk50, if you want to risk dying of laughter, read Tom Baker’s autobiography. Particularly the digression on farting.

Abu Chowdah

9 Mar 12 at 9:23 pm
I think I have heard of that one John, so I should look out for it.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:26 pm
Particularly the digression on farting.

How does it compare to Blazing Saddles?

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 9:29 pm
Before anyone else notices:

A new study has found that many people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are worrying about the effects of climate change and global warming.

So that’s why I Google “Tony Abbott’s speedos” 50 times a day. (A joke, dear readers.)

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 9:38 pm
Obvious absurdist juxtapositions and wry weirdness may amuse critics, but it doesn’t really make them laugh.

When the prostitutes admired Yossarian for his even-all-over tan, I thought that was funny.

When some bloke jumped too high to wave at his mate’s low-flying plane and got decapitated, well that wasn’t quite as funny, but it was very surprising and unexpected.

But some parts of the book are no longer funny because they’ve become cliches, like the title itself, or the character Major Major, or the many instances of Catch-22.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 9:39 pm
So that’s why I Google “Tony Abbott’s speedos” 50 times a day. (A joke, dear readers.)

That’s right. You don’t need to google it because your collection of Abbott photos is already taking up too much memory on your hard drive.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 9:40 pm
I would make every country copy Australia’s Medicare

Obvious PP doesn’t work in it and knows nobody without a political agenda who does.

Our Medicare will rot our citizens’ dignity in the same way as the NHS rotted post war Britain.

And it is completely unnecessary to be a customer, so to speak, for that to be effective.

The NHS took 30 years befire it started to become obvious what a dreadful health system it was simply in that role.

Ours may take a tad longer.

That’s all.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 9:42 pm
James

I have lived and worked in the UK, US, and Australia. Australia’s Medicare differes substantially from the UK NHS – which I loathed – in that Medicare is an insurance scheme, not a primary care provider.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 9:50 pm
Well, I completely agree that the state should minimise coercion.

Presumably, the words you forget to add were “in enacting laws for the common good”.

What an absolute piece of crap your codicil is, Les, one which deserves to be called again as such (as a few others have too).

Once you introduce the notion of the ‘common good’ you get the Pinkie Finkie review and journalism professors from jumped-up teachers’ colleges getting bossy to the unwashed hordes, who are explained away as simple souls lacking in philosophy. After all, it’s just a little bit of necessary coercion for the common good. Heard that before.

I used once to engage in deep philosophical discussion about the effect of Hegelian idealism and dialectic differentially on Marx and Weber, and the heuristics or not of the Weberian ‘ideal type’. Wrote papers on it. Struggled for a while with Surplus Value in arcane Marxist journals, where failed mathematicians were trying to put things into equations (severely logically-challenged sludge). Even ranged into phenomenalism and tinkered with theories of mind and hermeneutics.

That’s me done in a uni group house then. Now I am just a bit Candide about it all. It’s self-evident, and applies to all, as the philosophical gentlemen of The Enlightenment summarised: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Inalienable rights. That very libertarian notion of freedom and freely-made contracts. Governments that serve happiness, for God’s sake, not direct it out of existence. Exit Pinkie Finkie to the drum roll of the First Amendment.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

9 Mar 12 at 9:53 pm
I would make every country copy Australia’s Medicare

So long as every country can copy our mineral wealth per capita.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 9:55 pm
Like I said it will take longer.

There are lotsa differences.

The rivate system here is integrated and is pricipally funded by the government and not the insurance companies.

In some ways it’s creepier than the NHS.

A huge industry of bureaucrats exist at state, federal, hospital and health service area.

So in some respects its worse than the NHS.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 9:55 pm
Lizzie

Love it, love it, love it! I hear you girlfriend!

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 9:57 pm
My conclusion after all that learnin’ was: if Marx was so smart, how come he was so poor?

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 9:59 pm
Lizzie talks dirty rather well

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 9:59 pm
From DD’s link:

In other words, according to the theory, it is a moral good to breed more people on the world for as long as total happiness rises.

No, but it would also be a moral good to breed more people on the world for as long as the probability of individual happiness rising was above 50%.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:00 pm
Yes, excellent couple of paragraphs, LIzzie B.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:02 pm
It’s funny how this discussion came as a result of your meltdown over my comment that a $36m population 2050 is no big deal.

I never said it was a “big deal” you deranged illiterate retard, a “big australia” doesn’t bother me. That’s about the third time I’ve said that, and here we are again.

That you continue to deny the massive barriers that local councils face from state and fed governments to opening up land for development or people out here face in order to exploit the resources on their own private property says more about your own stupidity than anything.

You and Kelly are currently tied as the two most boring people on the internet.

twostix

9 Mar 12 at 10:04 pm
Just a delight to read, Lizzie.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 10:06 pm
John

I would make every country copy Australia’s Medicare

So long as every country can copy our mineral wealth per capita.

Extremely important. But then again, our Medicare works within a rationing system, so why couldn’t dumps less prosperous than us work within their own resources?

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 10:07 pm
Well they can, so long as they expect lower standards.

I suspect the whole point of drawing attention to Australian Medicare was that the standards are currently high.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:09 pm
New Campbell Newman campaign slogan:

Labor only talks about pornography, we can do it!

Max Scream

9 Mar 12 at 10:11 pm
And we don’t even need a union funded credit card!!

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:13 pm
Once you introduce the notion of the ‘common good’ you get the Pinkie Finkie review and journalism professors from jumped-up teachers’ colleges

Actually, I have no problem with the idea of a ‘common good’ so long as it is recognized as being actually different to ‘private good’, not merely the aggregate of all private good which is what “Pinkie Finkie review and journalism professors” think it actually is, which is something Hegel never did.

dover_beach

9 Mar 12 at 10:16 pm
John

Compare standards in Australia in 1975, compared to today.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 10:17 pm
John Mc, the point is that, for utilitarians, a world with a billion miserable people is better than a world with one content person. Because as miserable as they are, they each at least have a tiny bit of happiness, and you can add it all up to a big amount.

It’s an absurd conclusion which shows that the premise (utilitarianism) is false.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 10:17 pm
Medicare is not standards of care, or even technology. It is about risk.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 10:18 pm
Standards are better today because we are wealthier today. Sorry, I don’t see your point.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:20 pm
DD, I understand that point. If you read my post you can see I was saying it is individual happiness that matters.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:21 pm
It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society. The common good of the whole human family calls for an organization of society on the international level.

Catholic Catechism.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 10:23 pm
My point is that a large part of the world, which was very recently, very poor, is now richer than Australia was in 1975. In 2012, it is not correct that Medicare could only work in a society as rich as Australia is in 2012.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 10:24 pm
China’s high-speed building boom

A 30-story hotel in Changsha went up in two weeks. Some question the safety in that, but the builder defends its methods.

Reporting from Changsha, China — “In early December, Liu Zhangning was tending her cabbage patch when she saw a tall yellow construction crane in the distance. At night, the work lights made it seem like day.

Fifteen days later, a 30-story hotel towered over her village on the outskirts of the city like a glass and steel obelisk.

“I couldn’t really believe it,” Liu said. “They built that thing in under a month.”

A time-lapse video of the project in Changsha, which shows the prefabricated building being assembled on site, has racked up more than 5 million views on YouTube and left Western architects speechless.

“I’ve never seen a project go up this fast,” said Ryan Smith, an expert on prefabricated architecture at the University of Utah.

In other countries, the most advanced prefab construction methods can reduce building times by a third to half, Smith said. The builders of the Changsha hotel did better, knocking one-half to two-thirds off the normal schedule.

“It’s unfathomable,” Smith said.

The warp-speed construction is a startling illustration of the building boom in China, where an exodus from the countryside to the cities has swelled the urban population by almost 400 million since 1990.”

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 10:24 pm
I would make every country copy Australia’s Medicare

So long as every country can copy our mineral wealth per capita.

John Mc
Why our health system is one of the cheapest of a wealthy country. US it costs about double that is total cost for healthcare.

kelly liddle

9 Mar 12 at 10:24 pm
Lizzie talks dirty rather well

Half a bottle of tolerable red after a brief abstinence and I’m yours, guys. Obviously have just spent too much time reminiscing and thinking aloud in bed.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

9 Mar 12 at 10:24 pm
BTW, I don’t believe the failure of the “in aggregate argument” in any way defeats utilitarianism.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:25 pm
John, I’m not sure if that makes you a utilitarian or not.

But as for future generations, Parfit destroys all that as well. Because, put it this way. Let’s say that we worry about the quality of life for future generations so we make a massive change (e.g., carbon tax). Well, any major social change will have ripple effects, so that future mums don’t meet future dads after all, but different future dads and breed with different people.

The end result: the “future generation” we were trying to save will never exist. By changing the future, we wiped them out and replaced them with a different future generation, who will of course enjoy the ‘better’ world that we planned for the original guys.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 10:27 pm
A 30-story hotel in Changsha went up in two weeks. Some question the safety in that, but the builder defends its methods.

I’d never sleep in it. But by Jove it does show us white western devils up for the mooching OH&S pussies we have become.

Empire State built in 18 months in 1930. WTC rebuild: 10 years and counting…

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 10:27 pm
I don’t believe the failure of the “in aggregate argument” in any way defeats utilitarianism.

You might not believe it, but it does. Utilitarianism is toast.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 10:28 pm
Why our health system is one of the cheapest of a wealthy country. US it costs about double that is total cost for healthcare.

In the US the medical professions are the highest paid in the country, probably the word. Out of the highest earning professions I think you’d find the medical professions take up nearly all of the top 20. With the higher end of American salaries, that’s a lot of money. There’s one reason (not saying it’s the only one).

Personally, I think encouraging medical professions is a good thing and a sign of society that’s got it’s priorities correct. A society that thinks doctors should do it for free or for even a mid-tier salary is probably a bit off kilter.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:30 pm
But by Jove it does show us white western devils up for the mooching OH&S pussies we have become.

Big government leftism and its bureacracies are killing the West.

The other thing to note is the growth of the urban pop by almost 400 million in 22 year

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 10:32 pm
You might not believe it, but it does. Utilitarianism is toast.

Says who, you? DD, when you can dazzle me with a clear concise argument that can’t’ be ignored I’ll pay attention.

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:32 pm
It’s an absurd conclusion which shows that the premise (utilitarianism) is false.

AKA the Law of (rapidly) diminishing returns…

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 10:36 pm
Says who, you? DD, when you can dazzle me with a clear concise argument that can’t’ be ignored I’ll pay attention.

I already provided links to clear descriptions of how utilitarianism fails. I also gave the name of the philosopher who’s done the most work on this so if you disagree or want to know more it should be easy to follow up.

That’s why, when you respond to that by merely asserting that “you don’t think” those arguments work, I came back with, well they do. I already backed my position up, so I don’t have to do so a second time.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 10:37 pm
The other thing to note is the growth of the urban pop by almost 400 million in 22 year

This is good. Better to stick glass panels on some foreign leftist brat’s iPhone for $1 a day than plough a paddock with a chopstick.

Whatever happens with China, it’s going to be a lot better off than it was before.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 10:37 pm
DD – check your mail

Sinclair Davidson

9 Mar 12 at 10:38 pm
In 2012, it is not correct that Medicare could only work in a society as rich as Australia is in 2012

Try making medicare work on a population greater than 20 million.

It is failing and will continue to fail.

The reason America spends so much on healthcare is her wealth ‘cos that’s where your priorities go when you live comfortably.

All new technology, innovations and medicines come predominantly from the US for a reason.

There is stil a large element of the Russian pop who speak lovingly of Stalin.

Most Britains speak warmly of the NHS which is an aappalling health service.

You’d be political roadkill for expressing views like mine.

Club Sensible and thuggish well paid bureaucrats have continued to make it work is all

Medicare actually stinks.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 10:42 pm
FMD. When did Malcolm Turnbull catch Progeria!?

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 10:42 pm
The only person I have seen post at the Cat who I would consider to actually take libertarianism to its proper conclusions is Benjamin Marks.

Not all people are 100% all the way libertarian, Leslie and if you compromise a little it doesn’t exactly turn you into a raving right wing authoritarian Tory type.

Milton Friedman was a father of the modern libertarian movement and he thought there needed to be around 10% of GDP going to fund the government. That’s fine with me.

For example, I think Marks’ arguments (from Spooner) about the inability of the Constitution to create binding obligations on persons who were not extant when the Constitution was adopted are difficult to refute from any position that is philosophically consistent with libertarianism.

That of course is nonsense. However he is right in way if everyone abides by similar principles. In that situation you really don’t need a constitution as an unwritten one would suffice.

However, people are still alive when a another person is born so his position is basically unworkable, as he’s saying the constitution would apply to the adult, but not the new born.

In any event the constitution can of course be amended or even scrapped. All you need is a plebiscite. If that’s what you consider his most important contribution then you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.

So Marks is a libertarian – he openly acknowledges and accepts the necessary conclusions of in compromised libertarianism – unlike the faux “libertarians” at the Cat who compromise.

So you don’t believe there are degrees of an ideology. So every leftist is a Leninist?

But “libertarians” dogmatically accept that the constitution is a source of binding obligations on the government and thus, ultimately, individuals (insofar as the government (or at least the federal government) with its powers to tax and punish is a creation of the constitution).

Yes it is binding. However it can also be amended but until then it can’t be avoided. You’re really creating a furphy .

That can only be because the “libertarian” has accepted that society cannot function if each individual has the option to opt out of the fundamental social contract.

You really can opt out if you wish. You can live on a farm and not see anyone else if you so choose. There are plenty of ways to opt out.

In this respect “libertarians” – including the overwhelming majority of those who post here – agree with the basic premise of traditional conservatism and social democracy that the state ultimately has primacy over the individual in a battle of fundamental rights, for a citizen cannot opt out of government altogether.

You forgot to mention degrees. You’re basically suggesting that vanilla ice-cream is the same as chocolate ice-cream. You are choosing not to distinguish. Let me tell you that if say Dot or myself were elected PM with a majority in both houses the place would be much, much closer to libertarian ideals than say if you ran it, or even Abbott. You’re creating a false premise here.

So really when you are talking about who is most “libertarian” at the Cat, you are all compromisers. It’s just a question of degree, and who compromises the most.

Yes, but so what? It doesn’t mean you or I would be remotely close in terms of our ideal system of governance.

You believe in the state that can tax and lock people up and start wars and demand submission from an individual simply because that individual has been born.

Actually there would be no income tax in my world nor Dots, so the level of coercion would go down several notches for a start.

Just like Swedish social democrats, except the Swedes are honest about the compromises that they make with the state.

Swedes or even Australians for that matter, are honest about what exactly?

The swedes may say they want a social democracy, but I certainly don’t. I think it sucks big time. I’m surprised you’s spent so much time here and have understood so little.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 10:43 pm
Utilitarianism is lot of geeks talking about things they can’t understand, like the concept of happiness.

DD is right Mr Parfitt has skewered utilitarianism for good.

Rococo Liberal

9 Mar 12 at 10:44 pm
Re: China – a landmark event.

A mate of mine who’s a statistician visited China a few years ago (2005) on a work related trip and had this to say about how the place functions:

Many hands make light work.

An ol’ cliche to be sure, but ultimately, that’s how they build 30 story hotels in two weeks.

The world’s most massive labour force.

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 10:46 pm
Many hands make light work.

That’s how all of Asia functions. I’ve had 7 or 8 street kids hold an umbrella for me in Jakarta. 3 or 4 people to move one suitcase. 6 people waiting one table.

It’s a very nice change after the abysmal service of this dump.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 10:49 pm
More fun facts about iChina:

In 2005, there were 32 million more men than women under 20 in China.*

Oz’s current population:

22,853,563

*British Medical Journal, BMJ 2009; 338:b1211

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 10:53 pm
In 2005, there were 32 million more men than women under 20 in China.*

Pornography and blow up dolls could make a man rich.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 10:55 pm
Pornography and blow up dolls could make a man rich.

Or Rupert turn pumping Wendy into his full-time job. Hiiiiiii-Yaaaaaaa!

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 10:57 pm
I”m pretty certain they are. (Although we know they’re also making some men dead!)

John Mc

9 Mar 12 at 10:57 pm
You have freedom of speech in our society. You also have property rights, which includes intellectual property and reputation. Courts, adjudicated by 12 men and women true, can decide on the tension between these two.

The government has no ‘right’ to get involved. This is totalitarianism. They should be told to fuck off.

Lazlo

9 Mar 12 at 10:59 pm
That reminds me – what’s Rupert tweeted lately?:

Great few hours in Berlin. Papers much to teach us. Just showed what popular papers can do for public, getting rid of corrupted president.

Not all that comforting to read Rupert being enthusiastic about how papers can remove politicians..

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 11:03 pm
Peter – no.

Sinclair Davidson

9 Mar 12 at 11:05 pm
You also have property rights, which includes intellectual property and reputation.

No, Laz, we don’t.

The few shreds that are ‘left’ (PTP) are rapidly being dissolved.

Enough with the glib assertions.

Our ‘society’ is being ‘appropriated’ and destroyed before our very eyes.

What, Laz, are you going to do about it?

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 11:06 pm
Not all that comforting to read Rupert being enthusiastic about how papers can remove politicians..

You should be delighted Steve. Fairfax may use its massive influence to get rid of Kony Abbott.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 11:10 pm
Mine was a statement of ideals Rabz.

What should I do about it?

Lazlo

9 Mar 12 at 11:12 pm
This is totalitarianism.

Yes, yes, it is.

They are tempting fate.

I am so hoping they go the full “power seizure for our own good” thang, so I get to march down the road lynch them with extreme prejudice.

Could be the most interesting and worthwhile activity I’ve ever engaged in throughout the course of my entire pointless, privileged life.

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 11:13 pm
Apologies Laz, hopefully my statement above clarifies…

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 11:14 pm
Just go and stick your nose up your arse Steve, you are a true lightweight, and you may find something fresh.

Sinclair, can we have a new thread? This one is getting unloadable.

Lazlo

9 Mar 12 at 11:18 pm
I would make every country copy Australia’s Medicare

The parts of America’s healthcare system already taken over by the State – Indian Health, Medicare & Medicaid, VA Health Care – are pretty much fucked.

I think you can forgive the average American citizen for not wanting the State to take over the rest of the healthcare system.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:18 pm
Medicare is brilliant as long as you have private health insurance.

It keeps the riff raff in their hospitals and we of a better class in ours.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 11:20 pm
HAHAHAHA!

Steve reads Murdoch’s Tweets.

Rupert so owns the Left.

Gab

9 Mar 12 at 11:24 pm
And pays 60-70% of your bill from a sojuourn in “ours”.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 11:26 pm
I’m surprised, aren’t you? LOl

Shocker: “Game Change” creators gave $200,000 to Democrats, $0 to Republicans

In case the official statement of SarahPAC didn’t make it clear enough that the creators of HBO’s “Game Change” had little desire to hear or tell the Republican side of the story of the 2008 election, the news now is that the film’s top stars and executives have collectively donated more than $200,000 to Democrats and Democratic causes, but have given Republicans and Republican-leaning causes $0. The Hollywood Reporter notes the contributions of several leading minds behind the movie:

Ed Harris, who plays Sen. John McCain, has given $9500 to Democratic candidates, and since 1998, the actor has also donated $11,975 to liberal special-interest groups like MoveOn.org, Emily¹s List and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. His donations to Republicans and conservative causes: Zero.
Woody Harrelson, who stars as Steve Schmidt, chief strategist for McCain-Palin, has given $4,300 to Democratic candidates, and donated $3,500 to liberal causes like GreenVote and the Hollywood Women¹s Political Committee. Republican anc conservative donations: Zero …
Producer Tom Hanks has given away over a hundred grand to the Democratic party, and since 1994, Hanks has also donated $36,500 to liberal causes like Midwest Values Pac, founded by Democratic Sen. Al Franken. Republican and conservative donations: Zero.
Julianne Moore, who stars as Palin, donated $2,250 to the Democrats, and $7,500 to special-interest groups like the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic White House Victory Fund. To Republicans and conservative causes: Zero.

The film’s co-executive producers have also made significant contributions. This comes as no surprise; it would be far more newsworthy if a Hollywood cast and crew gave primarily to Republicans. Still, it underscores a need for conservatives to play a larger part in the crafting of the cultural narrative. If we object to Hollywood’s dramatic rendering of the McCain/Palin campaign, we should kick ourselves that we didn’t think to render it dramatically first.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:27 pm
Medicare is brilliant as long as you have private health insurance.

Indeed – my best mate related to me last week how tolerable his recent hernia operation was due to his having comprehensive private health cover and all the benefits that duly accrue.

Gives one peace ‘o’ mind, it does.

Being able to afford it helps.

Anyhoo, sucked in, lefty vegetables – enjoy the commonality*!

*And the superbugs, amputated feet when expecting to receive an appendectomy, etc…

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 11:29 pm
Australian pollies do the Time Warp in Parliament; Florida pollies quote Jay-Z.

“I got 99 problems…” Love the F-State.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:31 pm
Lazlo – another 30 mins and a new thread will open up

Sinclair Davidson

9 Mar 12 at 11:31 pm
Just to back up sdog.

Daniel Henninger went to the hearland to witness a Santorum stump speech to a working class audience:

“Rick Santorum has linked these concerns about the status of personal freedom directly to ObamaCare and beyond that to the broader policy legacy of Obama administration.

His 35-minute speech in Cuyahoga Falls touched an array of subjects that drew applause. But at the halfway point, when he tore into ObamaCare, his mostly working-class audience exploded into applause and cries of “Rick! Rick! Rick!”

Mr. Santorum didn’t get this response by discussing health-insurance exchanges and guaranteed issue. He told these people that ObamaCare “is usurping your rights. It is creating a culture of dependency. Every single American will be dependent on government, thanks to ObamaCare. There is no more important issue in this race. It magnifies all that is wrong with what this president is trying to do.” His call for repeal produced the explosion.

He followed with an tight description of how he understands the terms of the election: “This race is coming down to the economy, the deficit and control of your life, which is ObamaCare.” (There was no mention of contraception, gays or the role of women.)”

[On that last bit steve will be forlorn.”

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 11:32 pm
They do send public patients to private hospitals in Perth when there are “overflow” situations or to trim waiting lists. I expect they do the same in Melbourne, Sydney, etc as well.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:34 pm
Crestfallen as well as forlorn. He wouldn’t have been able sleep if Santorum had discussed penises.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:35 pm
Oh – Malcolm Turnbull on Lateline getting stuck into John Roskam. (Already been on down south.)

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 11:35 pm
Oh – Malcolm Turnbull on Lateline getting stuck into John Roskam. (Already been on down south.)

We’re all shocked.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:36 pm
They do send public patients to private hospitals in Perth when there are “overflow” situations or to trim waiting lists. I expect they do the same in Melbourne, Sydney, etc as well.

Generally only ICU ventilated patients sdog.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 11:37 pm
Could be the most interesting and worthwhile activity I’ve ever engaged in throughout the course of my entire pointless, privileged life.

I think you underestimate yourself Rabz, but I suggest you could redeem by supporting a Mission Staement like this:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Lazlo

9 Mar 12 at 11:38 pm
They do send public patients to private hospitals in Perth when there are “overflow” situations or to trim waiting lists

I imagine the private hospital can invoice the taxpayer for a fortune in that situation.

Conversely, public hospitals love private patients. Unfortunately there are still many situations one must slum it with the great unwashed.

Infidel Tiger

9 Mar 12 at 11:38 pm
I found our discussions on the Carbons tax and your support of the subsidy whores on that thread yesterday really illuminating Stepford.

You have absolutely no fucking idea. None.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:38 pm
He followed with an tight description of how he understands the terms of the election: “This race is coming down to the economy, the deficit and control of your life, which is ObamaCare.” (There was no mention of contraception, gays or the role of women.)”

I would have cheered him as well, JamesK.

I’d like to trust Romney when he promises that he’ll repeal Obamacare, but I don’t see how he’s going to manage that. He doesn’t viscerally hate the notion of State-controlled healthcare the way most Americans do. Santorum does. He gets it.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:39 pm
Generally only ICU ventilated patients sdog.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/public-patients-to-be-operated-on-at-private-hospitals/story-e6frg13u-1225837224047

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:40 pm
In fact, Stepford, i can understand why you want to steer conversations towards discussions about penises. It excites you and you have nothing to say on other substantive topics because you understand very little. zilch.

What a fraud you are.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:40 pm
Oh – ~~squire turnbull~~ obese, grange swilling socialist hypocrite on Lateline getting stuck into John Roskam.

Enjoy stevie.

The Roskam won’t be troubled.

Neither will we.

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 11:41 pm
Malcolm noting the ABC is more important than ever due to newspapers dying out.

That’ll go over well here.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 11:41 pm
Thanks Sinkers. You are a real soldier and demand our respect. There are many people who are very thankful..

Lazlo

9 Mar 12 at 11:42 pm
I think Romney would have no choice. I also think he really doesn’t like it as it hits the deficit very hard. I believe Romney when he says he would repeal it.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:43 pm
I haven’t seen Malcolm Turnbull for a while, but after seeing him on Lateline tonight, he has clearly died during that time. He will never be PM.

Peter Patton

9 Mar 12 at 11:44 pm
Malcolm noting the ABC is more important than ever due to newspapers dying out

What a dumb thing to say.
They’re dying out because people have too many choices for where to get their news and opinion. Not too few.

daddy dave

9 Mar 12 at 11:44 pm
A GROUP of urologists were paid to operate on public patients in a private hospital they own because the NSW Government needed to cut elective surgery waiting lists to qualify for up to $300 million in Commonwealth incentive payments.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:45 pm
Malcolm noting the ABC is more important than ever due to newspapers dying out.

That’ll go over well here.

It wont; go down well but it isn’t surprising Steford as more and more it seems he’s really in the wrong potilical party and should leave.

I say this as one of his longest holdouts thinking there was a spot for him in the libs, but there isn’t. He possibly is aware of that too.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:45 pm
They do send public patients to private hospitals in Perth when there are “overflow” situations or to trim waiting lists. I expect they do the same in Melbourne, Sydney, etc as well.

But that is very occasional.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 11:47 pm
He will never be a Liberal PM, maybe an ALP PM

Sinclair Davidson

9 Mar 12 at 11:48 pm
Has Steve stopped fantasizing about Jamie Oliver performing unnatural acts on pigs over on that other thread? I’m afraid to check.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:48 pm
They’re dying out because people have too many choices for where to get their news and opinion. Not too few.

News and opinion is not dying. It’s traditional revenue sources for newspapers which are.

Of course Stepford is bright enough to figure that out for himself.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:48 pm
It’s one of the funniest fantasies here that the ABC will be crushed under the heal of a future Coalition government.

steve from brisbane

9 Mar 12 at 11:49 pm
To tell you the truth, JC, I’d prefer him as Treaurer than Fat Joe.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 11:50 pm
Not crushed.

Sold.

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 11:51 pm
Malcolm noting the ABC is more important than ever due to newspapers dying out

wiggy o’brien’s been pensioned off, right?

So who’s squire turnbull smarming now?

P.S. My TV has been programmed not to receive the ALPBC.

Rabz

9 Mar 12 at 11:52 pm
Not even “crushed” or “sold.” Just defunded.

Let them work out what they’re going to do to stay afloat then; if they’re really as popular as they like to claim, they should have no problem re-funding themselves with voluntary investment & donations.

sdog

9 Mar 12 at 11:53 pm
Malcolm noting the ABC is more important than ever due to newspapers dying out.

That’ll go over well here.

Just shows how 20th Century Malcolm is. He couldn’t make a buck in today’s media industry.

He needs to be put out to pasture with Lucy and the dogs.

If he can say anything relevant to today’s media, then let’s here him. But he seems to be on the same level as Conroy.

Lazlo

9 Mar 12 at 11:56 pm
It’s one of the funniest fantasies here that the ABC will be crushed under the heal of a future Coalition government.

It would be silly to be so brazen. It will a death of a thousand cuts, you moron.

The thing that is going to happen are several things according to a few sources.

They will combine SBS (Syrian Broadcasting Services) and the ABC. They will split the radio from the TV with having another chairman and board.

The laws and regulations will be reworked with due recognition given to the fact that the ABC doesn’t deal with complaints of partisanship well. So an outside body made up of eminent persons will be formed to look into bias, deal with complaints and have the ability to hire and fire. In other words it’s balls will be cut off to the point where it may as well have Landline in place of the leftie programing.

Even the background of their guests will be checked for bias.

It’s over Stepford. Don’t even dwell in the past.

JC

9 Mar 12 at 11:56 pm
Pay Roger Ailes $25 million for 3 years and a chunk of the shares to tidy the ABC up and then sell it on the sharemarket.

Must be worth $5 billion?

Anyone?

JamesK

9 Mar 12 at 11:58 pm
To tell you the truth, JC, I’d prefer him as Treaurer than Fat Joe.

I used to think that, but he’s a loose cannon and can’t be trusted I think. He’s too problematic.

I used to think that he would be a great treasurer if the party big wigs spoke to him and told him that was his the furthermost he could go. But I don’t even think that anymore. I’ve changed my mind about him. He can;t work in a team and would fuck things up.

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:00 am
Maybe Gina could be convinced to buy the ABC.

Gab

10 Mar 12 at 12:01 am
Channel 2 – Your GBC

It has a nice ring to it Gab

JamesK

10 Mar 12 at 12:03 am
Dream on, JC.

As I have observed before, the situation with bias at the ABC is that it is much, much more balanced than it used to be, especially on TV and online.

People here like to pretend it isn’t: but then again, it seems many hardly watch it on principle anyway.

steve from brisbane

10 Mar 12 at 12:04 am
Speaking of Gina, it seems by next week we’ll find out how tight she’s been with the kids.

steve from brisbane

10 Mar 12 at 12:06 am
But that is very occasional.

That’s good to hear then. People who don’t see their health as being enough of a priority to invest in private health insurance should have to live with the consequences of that decision, IMHO.

sdog

10 Mar 12 at 12:08 am
I’m not dreaming, Dickhead. A few buddies close to the Coalition has suggested this is what’s will happen in the first term.

And they don’t give a shit what you or other leftwing idiots think. The Brown ‘quiry has opened the door here, which is why Jonathan Holmes is so against what happened. He smells a rat.

The ABC as you know it will not exist in 3 years time, Stepford

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:08 am
Malcolm Turnbull’s contribution to public life:

Set back the Republic half a century.

Banned light bulbs.

Made Tony Abbott PM.

Infidel Tiger

10 Mar 12 at 12:08 am
by next week we’ll find out how tight she’s been with the kids.

And why do you imagine that’s any of your business, SfB?

sdog

10 Mar 12 at 12:09 am
To tell you the truth, JC, I’d prefer him as Treaurer than Fat Joe.

Joes missed his calling as a friendly suburban butcher, but he is far better than Turnbull. Much sharper and on the whole not an arsehole either.

Infidel Tiger

10 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
Banned light bulbs.

Introduced solar hot water scam.

Gab

10 Mar 12 at 12:11 am
This is Interesting. There’s been a technical glitch in the Greece rescheduling (and poking with the red hot poker) of the private Greek bond holders and ISDA may call an default event sometime today in Europe.

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:13 am
And Joe is useless in finance. He doesn’t understand it.

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:14 am
So an outside body made up of eminent persons will be formed to look into bias

What a laugh – JC is up in arms about how Finkelstein’s recommendations, but is happy with the idea of “eminent person” star chamber to vet even the guests to appear on the ABC.

steve from brisbane

10 Mar 12 at 12:18 am
liar-stevefb® a few minutes ago:

As I have observed before, the situation with bias at the ABC is that it is much, much more balanced than it used to be, especially on TV and online.

Gerard Henderson a few hours ago::

“As a retired Federal Court judge, Ray Finkelstein should be familiar with the principles governing a reasonable apprehension of bias.

There is nothing wrong with left-wing academics advising the Media Inquiry. It’s just that Ray Finkelstein did not engage any conservatives or right-of-centre academics to balance the input of Dr Tiffen, Dr Muller and the left-of-centre Professor Ricketson.

Conclusion – Ray Finkelstein as an ABC-Admiring Kind of Leftie

The evidence suggests that Mr Finkelstein himself if a left-of-centre type. The Finkelstein Report is replete with positive references to the ABC which he sees as without bias and deserving of more taxpayer funds.

Ray Finkelstein did not seem to notice that his own Media Inquiry did not engage any conservative adviser. Likewise he does not seem to notice that the ABC has not one conservative presenter on any of its significant programs despite the fact that it has a host of leftists in such positions.”

Who ya gonna call?

JamesK

10 Mar 12 at 12:19 am
JamesK do you watch the ABC?

steve from brisbane

10 Mar 12 at 12:23 am
Ahahahaahahaa!

Breitbart lives – go Joel! CNN has egg on its face.

Among the many CNN gaffs, the money shot is at the 6:30 mark, when comedian and radio host Jay Thomas asks Pollak, “What are you frightened of? Are you frightened that black people are gonna do something to you?”

Joel Pollak and wife

sdog

10 Mar 12 at 12:23 am
Who are these mysterious abc leftists?

Max Scream

10 Mar 12 at 12:23 am
Eviction noticed served. Move on.

Infidel Tiger

10 Mar 12 at 12:25 am
lol.. Yea IT.

Maxwell, you dickhead, the debate is over on that one and the science is well and truly settled.

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:26 am
That’s just priceless, Spot.

and from the comments:

Joel showed a lot of restraint not mentioning his wife. He just let them step in it and get it all over their shoes.

Gab

10 Mar 12 at 12:30 am
W

hat a laugh – JC is up in arms about how Finkelstein’s recommendations, but is happy with the idea of “eminent person” star chamber to vet even the guests to appear on the ABC.

Fuck, you’re a moron, Stepford. The ABC is taxpayer owned. It therefore requires not just supervision, but strict supervision that it’s adhering to balance and non-partisanship.

It’s nothing like a private broadcaster and most certainly a newspaper.

Go away, Stepford. You’re too stupid to be here.

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:31 am
He just let them step in it and get it all over their shoes.

Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.

sdog

10 Mar 12 at 12:33 am
Can’t even name one leftist on the ABC, predictable.

And Finklestein is part of the leftist conspiracy as well.

Max Scream

10 Mar 12 at 12:36 am
LOL !! and Soledad used a Wiki quote when Joel challenged her on Critical Race Theory. She’s like America’s very own Steve from Brisbane.

Gab

10 Mar 12 at 12:38 am
Can’t even name one leftist on the ABC, predictable.

And Finklestein is part of the leftist conspiracy as well.

One? I could n;t name a single leftwinger. The entire place is an institutionalized government funded haven for letfwingery. But as I said dickhead, the debate is over and the science is settled.

It’s over. If you disagree with the changes, you’re quite free to take it to the 2016 elections and fight it the same way as the carbonic tax.

It’s over you incoherent fuckhead and there’s not a thing you’ll be able to do to change it.

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:40 am
Gawd, JC’s being a wit tonight. If you know what I mean…

steve from brisbane

10 Mar 12 at 12:42 am
Is this story supposed to be significant for some reason, sdog?

steve from brisbane

10 Mar 12 at 12:43 am
And Joe is useless in finance. He doesn’t understand it.

He hasn’t impressed. Poor effort during the last election campaign I thought. I’m guessing he’d be much better suited in something like the foreign affairs portfolio.

Ivan Denisovich

10 Mar 12 at 12:45 am
They’re dying out because people have too many choices for where to get their news and opinion. Not too few.

Which tends to dilute the power of any one voice to dominate so what is the point of some media overlords? These days the authority sources are shifting. For eg. many people rely on Dr. X, I’ll rely on pubmed database thanks. If I want to brush up something quickly, Wiki does a good job most of the time, if I want some more detailed information from a more trustworthy source, I’ll put a .edu limit on my searches.

It’s not so much voices now it is instruments of technology and methinks that is a wonderful thing. Well not quite there yet but I think there is a trend emerging … I hope … .

John H.

10 Mar 12 at 12:47 am
Gawd, JC’s being a wit tonight. If you know what I mean…

Landline in place of Q&A? Lol.

Even though you’re a conservative, Stepford, you have to move with the times. It’s just about over for the ABC as you know it.

JC

10 Mar 12 at 12:48 am
That guy Pollack is a star!

Soledad is a joke and nicely demonstrated by Pollack

JamesK

10 Mar 12 at 1:04 am

Catallaxy Files

Midweek Open Forum: March 7, 2012

1,341 Responses to 'Midweek Open Forum: March 7, 2012'

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