Open Forum: March 16, 2013 at Catallaxy Files

Open Forum: March 16, 2013

881 comments

Written by Sinclair Davidson

March 16th, 2013 at 12:01 am

Posted in Open Forum

881 Responses to 'Open Forum: March 16, 2013'

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blah!

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 12:01 am
Music in moderation, it seems…

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 12:02 am
2 weeks

dismissive

16 Mar 13 at 12:12 am
The first few comments in any open forum always look like a first draft of Waiting for Godot…

Squawkbox

16 Mar 13 at 12:21 am
Tim Blair: SPANKING REQUIRED

“It’s a pity Peter Roebuck isn’t around any more,” emails a mate. “He’d know how to deal with cricketers who don’t do their homework.”

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 12:23 am
I’m fiff and it’s me birfday too (well down south it is already).

Mick Gold Coast QLD

16 Mar 13 at 12:24 am
OK, having looked at the last OT, now I see why the weird avian is famous. He may not be one of a kind but there can’t be many quite like him.

Thank God.

Cato the Elder

16 Mar 13 at 12:25 am
Happy Birthday, old man and many happy returns of the day. May you live to a ripe old…oh wait. xx

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 12:26 am
I could be black

I could be white

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 12:31 am
‘appy boithday, you ol’ westie buggah, Mickey!

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 12:34 am
Why thank you Miss Gabrielle! (you’ve even beaten my family to it!)

Mick Gold Coast QLD

16 Mar 13 at 12:34 am
Onya Rabz, ta.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

16 Mar 13 at 12:35 am
XIII th

Cold-Hands

16 Mar 13 at 12:41 am
I think there’s a real chance Gillard will be ousted next week.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 12:52 am
One can hope. But there are so many rumours swirling around Canberra that it is impossible for an outsider to know what to believe. I suspect the last Newspoll has saved her for the nonce.

Cold-Hands

16 Mar 13 at 1:13 am
Paul Kelly’s column today – in round-about terms – dismisses her as one of the biggest political idiots in Australian history.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 1:26 am
Passionate union leader:

“I’ve seen you know workmates killed on the job…”

There really is no end to the horrific events experienced in this way by Labor figures.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 1:54 am
Shorter Kelly: Gillard is determined to leave Australia and its economy permanently encased in shit as a memorial to her government.

There will be so much to undo when this feral government is kicked out, but I fear the LNP won’t have the guts to do it *and* the Senate will be hostile. So the ‘biggest political idiots’ will win the war. We really need to get these cretins out now.

CC

16 Mar 13 at 2:13 am
There really is no end to the horrific events experienced in this way by Labor figures.

The tears of a clown from Australia’s biggest crybaby. Should we be surprised that hyper-sensitive Stephanie demands no hurty feelings for her or her playmates? Cry me a river, Stephanie.

Ivan Denisovich

16 Mar 13 at 2:28 am
Rudd or Gillard, I don’t care whom – but one of them has to face the electoral music or the vengeance exacted via the polling booths will be more horrific than anyone could imagine.

If either of them stands up and owns the failure, they have a chance of rescuing something in the way of a reputation and maybe the Senate. If they put a fall guy (or girl) in* – and especially if they scurry off into retirement* – I suspect the electorate will say “Well fuck you, you fucking cowards – here’s another one for you on the way out” and give Abbott both houses by a mile.

* = As Bob Brown has already done with Christine Milne. Saw the writing on the wall and decided to leave at the high-water mark.

perturbed

16 Mar 13 at 2:39 am
At New Matilda they are still lionising that demented old
fraud and hater of all things decent in the world and plumb ugly urger for all things vile, Noam Chomsky.

This used to funny. But the world has changed and it’s now beyond a joke. It’s bloody offensive. So I had this crazy urge to tell ‘em so.

Shheesh. Like a bunch of babies sucking on the one big lolly.

geoffff

16 Mar 13 at 5:44 am
Then it got all kind of weird. In a post-Chomsky parody from hell the “Australians for Palestine” group illustrated a story about how certain European countries had directed that produce from across the green line be labelled “Product of Israeli Settlements” rather than “Produce of Israel” with a crate of oranges bearing Holocaust era yellow stars.

Can you believe it?

Can there be any doubt about these people?

geoffff

16 Mar 13 at 6:04 am
Many happy returns of the day, Mick GC, QLD. Long may you run.

Ellen of Tasmania

16 Mar 13 at 6:29 am
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm– but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”

— T. S. ELiot

Ellen of Tasmania

16 Mar 13 at 6:39 am
The name Noam Chomsky always produces a mental image of a rather unappetising Soviet Union-period chocolate bar.

Popular Front

16 Mar 13 at 6:39 am
Fascinating to follow the development of the madman’s infestation on the old OT from 9.22pm last night. He arrived inside his trojan horse whistling about Hollywood movies. LOL. Still astonished they tipped so many fruitcakes out of psychiatric facilities in the 1990s on the urging of the left.

Tom

16 Mar 13 at 6:55 am
Bill Shorten’s love children on the docks go full racist retard:

THE Maritime Union of Australia has launched a new assault on foreign workers, demanding up to 56 days’ extra pay if Australian crew come into contact with them.

The demand – in a draft enterprise bargaining document prepared by the MUA for negotiations in the oil and gas industry and obtained by The Weekend Australian – calls for 28 days’ pay and an additional 28 days’ leave if a vessel operator or owner “engages foreign labour in the demobilisation or mobilisation of a vessel that has been working on the Australian coast”.

The union’s draft EBA demand also includes $495 a day in allowances for workers on the Inpex-dominated Ichthys LNG Project being constructed in the Browse Basin, the nation’s second-largest LNG project.

This includes a special $250-a-day payment linked specifically to the Inpex project.

It also calls for “hard-lying” allowances of $60 a day if there is no satellite reception and/or internet reception in cabins, $60 a day if there are no TVs, DVDs or radios, and $40 a day if there is a non-compliant galley.

The EBA demands four-star hotel accommodation for workers, and private health insurance.

The MUA demand opens a new front in the union fight against foreign workers. This has sparked an attack on temporary foreign worker visa rorts by Julia Gillard and promises that Australian jobs will be put first.

Tom

16 Mar 13 at 7:07 am
Having read Kelly’s article you have to wonder which and how many
of the well known journos will remain unembarrassedly supporting the government over the next six months.
It will be revealing.

Blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 7:38 am
Shane Wand is on track to smash last year’s record $43.7 billion budget deficit:

THE federal budget sank $4.6 billion further into deficit in the first four weeks of the year, without any sign of the revival in revenue that had prompted forecasts of a surplus.

Treasury figures released yesterday showed the deficit had reached $26.8bn for the first seven months of the financial year, far from the $1.2bn surplus forecast in the mid-year review by the end of June. Wayne Swan conceded in December that the promised surplus would not be achieved in the face of weak revenue.

A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Penny Wong said yesterday that revenue was continuing to fall, with total receipts now more than $6bn below the level forecast in the mid-year budget update. “Tax receipts are well below forecast, mainly due to the substantial hit to company profits as a result of the high Australian dollar, falling commodity prices and continued global economic uncertainty,” the spokeswoman said.

In the first seven months of the year the government’s revenues have risen 7.7 per cent above the same period of 2011-12, while spending is up by 3.6 per cent.

Annualised, the deficit is now running at $45.9 billion. It’s an election year, folks. I still think we can smash $60 bill!

Tom

16 Mar 13 at 7:49 am
Blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 7:38 am

Yes the batch of “well known journos” will continue to support Gillard’s government and put their hand out every fortnight to get their pay!!

Just the usual spin will do them

Mike of Marion

16 Mar 13 at 8:13 am
Holy crap, the Avian’s still at it over on the Tuesday thread!

Sinc!

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 8:27 am
THE Maritime Union of Australia has launched a new assault on foreign workers, demanding up to 56 days’ extra pay if Australian crew come into contact with them.

The demand – in a draft enterprise bargaining document prepared by the MUA for negotiations in the oil and gas industry and obtained by The Weekend Australian – calls for 28 days’ pay and an additional 28 days’ leave if a vessel operator or owner “engages foreign labour in the demobilisation or mobilisation of a vessel that has been working on the Australian coast”.

Wow. Just amazing. What a farce, gillard. Her immigration department is processing the applications and has done so since the debacle that is Rudd/gillard governments. And now gillard is blaming who? Employers and foreign workers? Can people not see the hypocrisy?

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 8:53 am
Biden, Pelosi to Represent America at Pope’s Inaugural Mass

The White House announced that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi will be representing America at the pope’s inaugural mass. Both Biden and Pelosi are Catholics and pro-abortion.

They will be joined by New Mexico governor Susana Martinez and Georgetown University president John J. DeGioia.

I hope this pope specifically targets the loathsome Pelosi in the next few months and blocks her from receiving the sacrament of communion.

It would be a powerful mopve

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 8:58 am
Rabz, Geofff: I don’t think I have ever seen anything else on this site as bad as Bird on the Tuesday thread.

And the real trouble with it is that he’s not insane, he’s just very far left. He believes that rancid garbage, just like Joe Vialls did.

The inside of Bird’s head is a deep, dark lake of raw sewage.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 9:29 am
Mike Carlton has a brilliant, satirical article in this mornings SMH.

hammygar

16 Mar 13 at 9:29 am
Holy crap, the Avian’s still at it over on the Tuesday thread!

Sinc!

He’s flying around unobstructed shitting on everything and everyone.

Birds mental state is seriously concerning at the moment and I don’t mean lightly. He really needs help.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 9:30 am
Kero

Why do you think anyone would be interested in what Butch Carlton has to say?

He’s an abusive dickhead who thinks that he’s being funny.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 9:33 am
Mike Carlton has a brilliant

The drunken bigoted twit that is
Carlton and the word ‘brilliant’ never belong in the same sentence except when written by another twit.

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 9:35 am
Australian journalism celebrated its best and brightest last night at the Quill Awards, where Best Columnist/Blogger went to ….. Barrie Cassidy, in part for this suck-suck effort.

But that wasn’t the highlight of the night, which came when actress Rachel Griffith quipped:

“Gina, please take Andrew Bolt to lunch and eat him” (via a Stephen Mayne tweet).

Is it any wonder Conroy reckons he can get away with controlling the press when journalism’s practitioners reward a Labor hack while joining in the mockery of a prodigiously productive columnist who has already had his freedom to write curtailed by the courts?

Is it any surprise many of those present, who would immediately take umbrage at any reference to Gillard’s appearance, laughed themselves sillier at a “fat” joke about Gina Rinehart — the person who has put $80+ million into Fairfax and is probably the last hope of seeing their newspaper survive?

areff

16 Mar 13 at 9:39 am
He’s an abusive dickhead who thinks that he’s being funny.

He really does have a brilliant turn of phrase, a master of the legitimate use of satire in the English language. The hysteria of the Murdoch press in the so-called “attack on free speech” is amazing. It needs to be called for what it is.

hammygar

16 Mar 13 at 9:42 am
Yea Kero

Butch thinks Gina Rhinehart is the real threat to free speech. Not c..t Conroy.

Butch is brilliant… LOL.

Kero

There’s a fine line between satire and abuse. Grandpa butch has never been able to pull that one off, which is why he’s spent his entire adult life shuffling around getting a handout from the ABC until they pulled the plug and Fairfax which is going broke because it hires rotten people.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 9:48 am
Passionate union leader:
“I’ve seen you know workmates killed on the job…”
There really is no end to the horrific events experienced in this way by Labor figures.

And making up the trifecta with Davey Oliver and the Conroy of No Competence is ………. Paul Howes.
Paul had his own brush with death.

Leigh Lowe

16 Mar 13 at 9:49 am
I reckon the icing on the cake is when Gina gets control of Fairfax and then closes it down immediately. No ifs, no buts, just shut it down immediately.

Oh the misery!!!!!

Mike of Marion

16 Mar 13 at 9:52 am
The long long nightmare in headlines:

15/05/2011 – Gillard is dead, politically dead – Peter Costello
06/06/2011 – Gillard gone by December – Andrew Bolt
01/09/2011 – Labor stalwart says Gillard ‘finished’ – Jeremy Thompson
06/09/2011 – JULIA, resign. Let Rudd resume rightful role – PHILLIP ADAMS
17/07/2011 – Gillard down for count – Phillip Coorey

20/02/2012 – Gillard delusional and in retreat – Dennnis Shanahan
21/02/2012 – Too late for Gillard to save herself – BY: NIKI SAVVA
23/02/2012 – Assassins reap what they sowed – Simon Benson
21/04/2012 – Gillard will be GORN by end of May, Hewson & Richo jointly on #Slynews
30/04/2012 – Credibility gone, PM should fall on her sword , Michelle Grattan
02/05/2012 – Julia’s going: it’s a matter of time – Dennis Shanahan
18/05/2012 – Despite the poll and budget uptick, Gillard and Labor are doomed – Richo
19/05/2012 – String of disasters mean the party’s over for Labor – Piers Akerman
26/05/2012 – A leadership change to Kevin Rudd is the last real option – PvO
28/05/2012 – Lame duck Labor likely to waddle on to term – Gerard Henderson
25/07/2012 – Labor’s choice is Rudd or oblivion – PAUL KELLY
12/06/2012 – Determined Gillard may be, but her leadership is looking terminal – Shanahan
14/08/2012 – Pride comes before a fall for Gillard Government – Derryn Hinch
23/08/2012 – Gillard in big trouble no matter what happens – Leo Shanahan
12/09/2012 – Just like Howard, Abbott has the numbers that really count – JANET ALBRECHTSEN
13/10/2012 – Misogyny tactic will backfire – PAUL KELLY
13/10/2012 – Gillard’s hypocrisy stripped bare – CHRIS KENNY
05/11/2012 – Hanging by a thread by Peter Hartcher
24/11/2012 – Knives are out for Gillard – Peter Hartcher
29/11/2012 – Ducking and diving, but PM’s goose is cooked – Piers Akerman

05/01/2013 – Rudd’s support for a challenge edging closer – Mark Kenny
15/02/2013 – An adrenaline charged Rudd increases pressure on Gillard – Michelle Grattan
18/02/2013 – Poor poll for Labor plays to Rudd’s ambition – Michelle Grattan
19/02/2013 – Beware knives of March – Mark Kenny
19/02/2013 – Gillard’s departure is a matter of timing – Peter Reith
19/02/2013 – Final nail in PM’s coffin – David Day
19/02/2013 – Something has to give – sooner or later – Lenore Taylor
19/02/2013 – Desperate caucus eyes leadership switch – BEN PACKHAM
19/02/2013 – PM Julia Gillard ‘gone’ if she struggles in next week’s Newspoll – Tory Shepherd
19/02/2013 – Labor’s critical question: time for a new leader? – The Age Editorial
19/02/2013 – Julia Gillard’s support base is softly slipping away – Simon Benson
19/02/2013 – Kevin Rudd’s odds on leading ALP in September election shorten to $2 – news.com.au
19/02/2013 – Labor in despair over dire poll – Phil Coorey
19/02/2013 – Dead woman walking – SMH
19/02/2013 – Final nail in PM’s coffin – David Day
19/02/2013 – Rudd’s just in storage, waiting for sun to shine – Tony Wright
20/02/2013 – Dear Julia, it’s time for a dignified exit speech – Alan Stokes
22/02/2013 – PM should go for party’s sake – GRAHAM RICHARDSON
23/02/2013 – Gillard may not recover this time – Katharine Murphy
23/02/2013 – Drumroll, then exit on a final cymbal crash – Tony Wright
23/02/2013 – Julia Gillard risks her legacy by not ceding to Kevin Rudd – PETER VAN ONSELEN
23/02/2013 – Labor feels guilty over Rudd: Turnbull – Malcolm Turnbull
23/02/2013 – Teams lining up early for a Coalition victory – Lenora Taylor
02/03/2013 – Hating Kevin, loving the saviour – Peter Hartcher
10/03/2013 – Deadline looms for Prime Minister Julia Gillard – Sam Maiden
11/03/2013 – Julia Gillard must resign as leader or Labor is doomed at the election – news.com.au
11/03/2013 – Clear message from the west is that Rudd is the only hope – Peter Hartcher
12/03/2013 – PM’s backers must move for the greater good, says Rudd camp – Mark Kenny, The Age
12/03/2013 – Fran Kelly & Peter Collins #newspoll will give PM Gillard one more week to survive
13/03/2013 – Demoralised Labor hangs on every poll – Peter Hartcher
15/03/2013 – Media bill threatens leadership – Mark Kenny SMH

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 9:52 am
Areff

Ol’leatherface scores and award?You’ve got to be kidding me?

It’s pretty amazing how no one there spoke about the c..t conroy’s attack on speech. This is another example why we need the Rick doctrine.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 10:01 am
Fucking iPad..
Fisk not Rick.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 10:01 am
Mike

She won’t close it.

A pair of patient hands would see around 1.20 per share in value compared to where the stock is trading now through an asset disposal program without the bankers knocking at the door every week.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 10:04 am
Hmm. I’d be confused too if I was running Red Bull, who appear to be under attack from left-wing blackmailers.

I mean, now the blackmailers are threatening to put Red Bull drinks containing faeces into the supply chain.

How does improving the taste of Red Bull let you blackmail the company?

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 10:04 am
“And the real trouble with it is that he’s not insane, he’s just very far left.”

Give it a break, Mk50. No-one in their right mind would call Graeme ‘left’. And your drive to assign all the world’s negative categories to one political view is starting to look monomaniacal.

He’s just a loon. Not in the jocular blog-insult sense – he’s really, truly bonkers.

Jarrah

16 Mar 13 at 10:06 am
Turn off auto correct JC.

blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 10:11 am
Being ardently anti-jew could easily be identified as left, and not that extreme either.

blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 10:14 am
Happy Birthday Mk50 of beautiful Brisbane.

Hope you get lots love and laughter.

Helen Armstrong

16 Mar 13 at 10:18 am
Um. Thanks Helen.

It’s quite a while away, but I appreciate the sentiment.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 10:20 am
Blogstrop, Jarrah, please don’t migrate that garbage to this thread.

Tom

16 Mar 13 at 10:21 am
Can anyone answer my question of is there any way to contact Facebook to resurrect a page that a ALP wank has reported as ‘someone has impersonated you so we have shut your page down’

Captain uses it for staying in photo contact with rapidly growing grandkids and for playing with other helicopter people and for the occasional jibe at ALP.

We have submitted id pic 4 times, becasue we are outside of the mobile phone footprint so cant get sms. Is there a number we can ring or any other means of contact? They still have it shut down.

Helen Armstrong

16 Mar 13 at 10:22 am
Being ardently anti-jew could easily be identified as left, and not that extreme either.

True but Jarrah’s right.

Graeme is just a simple space-cadet.

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 10:22 am
LOL, keep the wishes any Mk and DOUBLE them for MICK!

Helen Armstrong

16 Mar 13 at 10:23 am
Happy birthday Mick Gold Coast QLD.

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 10:23 am
Jarrah, he’s a racist, a bigot and anti-semitic at the cellular level. These are all perfectly normal chracteristics of the far left.

Of course, he may also be a loon, but that’s probably a separate matter. In fact, in nearly all International Socialist and National Socialist regimes, being insane in that sopecific way is a really good career move.

Please examine the actions and policies of the National Socialist government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and tell me I am wrong.

I’ll wait.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 10:25 am
Yes, have a great day, young Michael of Coolangatta-Surfers.

Tom

16 Mar 13 at 10:41 am
I concur with the observation that the Avian is as mad as a March Hare.

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 10:43 am
That was unpleasant, and actually made me feel dirty – I just had my very first close look at Bird’s blog.

I am no psychiatrist yet I can see no evidence of ‘insanity’ there, he is organised and expressing views rationally and in a structured manner. He is coherent and he is adhering to a structured (if unspeakably foul) ideology. He is certainly a fringe conspiracy theorist of note – I am serious when comparing him to Joe Vialls – yet that’s not evidence of clinical insanity, is it?

Take away some of the anti-semitism jag he’s currently on and there’s little in his archives that would not fit seamlessly into LP, Troppo, Leftwrites, The Drum or Crikey, is there?

Anyway, to more pleasant subjects, which cannot be hard.

I mean, root canal therapy or intimate details of haemmorhoid surgery are both more pleasant subjects for discussion than Bird.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 10:46 am
We’ll just have to agree to disagree on this important topic, Mk.

Anyway, it’s almost Saturday morning retail therapy time.

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 10:50 am
Ok I present “how to expose Conroy as the biggest dickhead in politics”..

Tony stands up when the vote os about to be taken and presents his list of ‘commisars” for the new media regulation body.

Headed by Wilson Tuckey.

that should see a sudden rethink on the back benches i suspect.
Any other board members you can think of?

thefrollickingmole

16 Mar 13 at 10:57 am
Rabz, Geofff: I don’t think I have ever seen anything else on this site as bad as Bird on the Tuesday thread.

And the real trouble with it is that he’s not insane, he’s just very far left. He believes that rancid garbage, just like Joe Vialls did.

The inside of Bird’s head is a deep, dark lake of raw sewage.

Geeez. I just had a look at that thread. You really get them in here don’t you? Who is this guy?

Notice how he pulled in another antisemite from out of the ether. It’s a contagion and it’s airborne.

geoffff

16 Mar 13 at 10:58 am
geoffff

16 Mar 13 at 10:58 am

He doesn’t realise it that he would have been one of the first to see inside “Hitler’s Holiday Camps”

Mike of Marion

16 Mar 13 at 11:03 am
THE Maritime Union of Australia has launched a new assault on foreign workers, demanding up to 56 days’ extra pay if Australian crew come into contact with them.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone given that seamen and dockers supported Adolf Hitler during the war and deliberately sabotaged the war effort with a view to getting Australian Diggers killed.

And isn’t it interesting that Bill Shorten – the man who fellated the MUA two weeks ago – was caught on CCTV abusing an Asian immigrant shopkeeper last year.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 11:07 am
The White House announced that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi will be representing America at the pope’s inaugural mass. Both Biden and Pelosi are Catholics and pro-abortion.

No. They are not “Catholics and pro-abortion.”

By definition, anyone pro-abortion is not a Catholic.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 11:11 am
Sorry guys – I’ve had a busy morning and only been able to get around to clearing away the debris now. The latest infestation is over, but I’m sure he’ll be back.

I’m with Jarrah here – Bird isn’t an anti-semite or a lefty (at least not when he is on his medication) but he is seriously mentally ill. It does seem to be getting worse.

Sinclair Davidson

16 Mar 13 at 11:15 am
“Jarrah, he’s a racist, a bigot and anti-semitic at the cellular level. These are all perfectly normal chracteristics of the far left.”

Also of the far right. And the not-so-far right. And the not-so-far left. And centrists. And anarchists. And libertarians.

Those characteristics have nothing to do with political ideology.

Perhaps it is your too-recent exposure to Birdbrain. Anyone who remembers his tirades against “tax-eaters”, his call for “mass sackings” of public servants and to “dissolve government departments by the bushel”, his visceral hate of “commies” and “socialist filth” and “leftist liars”, knows that Graeme can’t be called left with a straight face.

Jarrah

16 Mar 13 at 11:20 am
Dopey kikes channel Hitler, want anyone who ‘offends’ them arrested and jailed for up to three years. Sinister ‘Community Relations Commission’ of NSW agrees, also wants to arrest and jail blog commenters and Twitter users.

The man behind all this is ‘Liberal’ Premier – and massive dickhead – Barry O’Farrell.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 11:20 am
It does seem to be getting worse.

This could certainly be alleged!

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 11:20 am
‘Liberal’ Premier – and massive dickhead – Barry O’Farrell.

He needs to go the same way as that imbecile in Victoria.

Enough.

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 11:23 am
Abbott knifes John Howard in the back at the Sydney Institute:

The Opposition Leader said he was aware the Coalition’s track record on Indigenous affairs would cause for suspicion for some, and distanced himself from John Howard, who he served as health minister in the last Coalition government.

“I think it was a pity that as a government we got hung up on that word, ‘sorry’,” he told the audience.

“John (Howard) was of a generation… where perhaps Indigenous people were not valued as in different circumstances and different times.”

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 11:25 am
You certainly do not have to be “far left” to be an antisemite. The Jews and Israel are central to current “progressive left” thinking. A tiny country on a spit of land and an extraordinarily tiny minority; and belligerent indifference to or outright hostility to rights to self determination and peaceful coexistence preferably free of vilification is the minimum admission qualification to the modern progressive left.

Any other heresy will be forgiven. Even climate change scepticism will be indulged paternally as just needing more education to overcome the malign influence of News Limited or whoever. But sympathy for Israel? Let alone any suggestion that the “Palestinian” case is an overflowing crock?

They would be blackballed from the club and banished forever before you could say “carbon footprint”.

However I sense that egg beaten brains on the the other thread is not a man of the left. He’s some other form of beached toxic jellyfish. It comes in different styles and colours.

geoffff

16 Mar 13 at 11:28 am
Jarrah:

Perhaps it is your too-recent exposure to Birdbrain. Anyone who remembers his tirades against “tax-eaters”, his call for “mass sackings” of public servants and to “dissolve government departments by the bushel”, his visceral hate of “commies” and “socialist filth” and “leftist liars”, knows that Graeme can’t be called left with a straight face.

Fair comment, and good point.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 11:32 am
lol wasn’t Steve trumpeting Marcott et al 2013 just a little while back?

steve, perhaps you should wait a few days before having to eat crow.

Marcott has admitted to Steve @ climate audit that his post 1920 data trend is “not robust” and refuses to further explain how he got .7 degree of warning post 1920.

What a joke.

Now steve is on the scent he is pulling apart his paper piece by piece, and it is devastating

Add Marcott to Mann, Jones and others whose backside and ego will remain battered and bruised.

The extra dollop of goodness here is Marcott uses the same charts from his phd thesis paper which funnily enough don’t show this uptick.

It takes a climate scientist to do that.

pete m

16 Mar 13 at 11:54 am
I thought Bird just had an overactive imagination, and a tendency to obsession. I hope he really isn’t mentally ill.

Fisky

16 Mar 13 at 12:03 pm
Helen,
try this

Zatara

16 Mar 13 at 12:08 pm
It’s a salient lesson that a diet of alkalized water and raw milk can put a pep in your step, but is probably not going to cure all that ails you.

Infidel Tiger

16 Mar 13 at 12:10 pm
Pete m

It looks like a large swag of that branch of science is completely corrupt. Just out and out fucking corrupt.

Unfuckingbelieve.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 12:17 pm
Back up.

THE Maritime Union of Australia has launched a new assault on foreign workers, demanding up to 56 days’ extra pay if Australian crew come into contact with them.

Hope you’re proud of yourself, Gillard, you malodorous rodent.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 12:18 pm
Mike dalton is dreadful. Look at last weeks column.

Paul C

16 Mar 13 at 12:21 pm
Rotting carcass beyond preservation…

No, not the ALP:

Venezuela rules out embalming Chavez.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 12:21 pm
Sorry “Carlton”

Paul C

16 Mar 13 at 12:21 pm
As there is another Paul c this one now becomes Paul CO. So, when do Ides of March officially close? Middle of month? March has 31 days therefore halfway was noon today. Anyone betting J goes today?

Paul CO

16 Mar 13 at 12:27 pm
First-time TV film-maker stuns Hollywood with massive, nationwide ratings smash, “The Bible.” This bloke could have been handy at the GOP convention last year.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 12:35 pm
There has been a lot more of a tendency in recent years for the left leaning media to be anti-Israel, and somewhat strangely, to want to defend, or at least soft-pedal, Islam.
Given the propensity of the left to also espouse atheism and gay marriage, this appears to be a long suicide note.

blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 12:38 pm
Sorry, CL, that it not possible. As we all knowm Hollywood is a relentlessly capitalistic money-making machine. If there was any market, any at all, for product based on Biblical memes they’d be pumping ‘em out. Why, such a market sector would be bigger than Ben Hur!

hey, stop laughing, CL….

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 12:43 pm
Mk50

Here you go.

and Mick Gold Coast QLD

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Septimus

16 Mar 13 at 12:44 pm
Where was the ALP camp follower Paul Kelly when Rudd was on deck and Gillard was putting in place the most damaging and silly policies of his watch – Fair Work, dismantling the Pacific solution and the education revolution?

Rafe

16 Mar 13 at 12:47 pm
Todays technical issue

Found that my normal provider TPG is unable achieve name resolution on any of the ozblogistan sites. I can get to http://ozblogistan.com.au/ but all the associated links fail dns resolution.

I have repointed myself to the Optus DNS farm and things are working fine.

The question is why. I have no problems on TPG with other sites. Is this a TPG specific internal failure or the start of a larger cascade?

I suspect anyone reading this is having no issues

dismissive

16 Mar 13 at 12:56 pm
Where was the ALP camp follower Paul Kelly when Rudd was on deck and Gillard was putting in place the most damaging and silly policies of his watch – Fair Work, dismantling the Pacific solution and the education revolution?

Because he hadn’t been watching the plimsoll line of the jolly boat RMS Gillard.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 1:16 pm
I think she’s been working on the Plimsoll Line, but it won’t help.

blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 1:20 pm
Shane Wand is on track to smash last year’s record $43.7 billion budget deficit:
THE federal budget sank $4.6 billion further into deficit in the first four weeks of the year, without any sign of the revival in revenue that had prompted forecasts of a surplus.
Treasury figures released yesterday showed the deficit had reached $26.8bn for the first seven months of the financial year, far from the $1.2bn surplus forecast in the mid-year review by the end of June. Wayne Swan conceded in December that the promised surplus would not be achieved in the face of weak revenue.
…….
Annualised, the deficit is now running at $45.9 billion. It’s an election year, folks. I still think we can smash $60 bill!

Tom, I think you wi find March quarter is a bit of a trough in tax receipts. The budget position will one back a little next quarter. Mind you. The losers may try to make a virtue of that.

entropy

16 Mar 13 at 1:25 pm
Paul Kelly was hot for the emissions trading scheme, the politics were “compelling”, or some such tosh.

Lost his credibility at that point.

Eddystone

16 Mar 13 at 1:25 pm
Thank you Zatara, have done.

Good one Septimus!

Helen Armstrong

16 Mar 13 at 1:31 pm
The White House announced that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi will be representing America at the pope’s inaugural mass.
If the Vatican refuses Communion to (in the view of Benedict XVI) two self-excommunicants, it will send a powerful message to legislators.

Cold-Hands

16 Mar 13 at 1:31 pm
Tropical Cyclone Tim is forecast to move slowly southwestward during the next 24 to 48 hours and weaken below tropical cyclone strength. In the longer term, the remnant low is forecast to move west-northwest towards the tropical Queensland coast next week. This should bring a general increase in showers and rain areas about the Central Coast, Herbert and Burdekin and North Tropical Coast districts from late Monday onwards.

Tim to cause floods in Qld. What girlfriend say?

stackja

16 Mar 13 at 1:34 pm
Frasier’s Failure: Kelsey Grammer blew Six Figures investing in Windmills.

Has anybody turned a profit investing in Green technology?

Cold-Hands

16 Mar 13 at 1:35 pm
Marcott has admitted to Steve @ climate audit that his post 1920 data trend is “not robust” and refuses to further explain how he got .7 degree of warning post 1920 …

(pete m).
As I read it, it’s far worse than that: … according to Marcott, NHX temperatures increased by 1.9 deg C between 1920 and 1940, a surprising result even for the most zealous activists ... (Steve McIntyre).

manalive

16 Mar 13 at 1:40 pm
I think she’s been working on the Plimsoll Line, but it won’t help

Yeah, like repositioning it on the side of the hull, like upwards ROFL

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 1:53 pm
Found that my normal provider TPG is unable achieve name resolution on any of the ozblogistan sites. I can get to http://ozblogistan.com.au/ but all the associated links fail dns resolution.

I have had the same problem on Bigpond for the last 3 days. I have to visit a previously visited page first.

Steve of Ferny Hills

16 Mar 13 at 2:04 pm
All of these problems have started since LP has re-opened. All of the empirical evidence suggests that ozblogistan can’t cope with this overload of leftardism.
Close it down now please so that normal service can resume.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

16 Mar 13 at 2:13 pm
I was inspecting the plimsol line of the RMS Gillard just they other day. Unfortunately the inspection was cut short when my scuba gear failed.

John Comnenus

16 Mar 13 at 2:22 pm
IF* anyone cares the Bloggies voting closes tomorrow.But they can git focked because;

Best Sports Weblog has been replaced by Best Education Weblog

(* big if, gedit?)

jumpnmcar

16 Mar 13 at 2:44 pm
the RMS Gillard

I think it’s very unlikely a tramp steamer would carry the RMS appellation.

lotocoti

16 Mar 13 at 2:47 pm
Found a picture of the SS Gillard for you.

You’ll notice that she’s swarming with rickety boats full of illegal immigrant to the very last.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 2:49 pm
Oh, here’s a shot of the SS Woiyne Swon, in its usual fine fettle.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 2:51 pm
Good Lord!

A chap has been taking pictures of ALP back-benchers!

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 2:55 pm
ABC 24 giving an unchallenged run to ALARMIST’s Hamilton et al right now

Mike of Marion

16 Mar 13 at 2:55 pm
think it’s very unlikely a tramp steamer would carry the RMS appellation.

Austraya Post will use anything to get the mail through !

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 2:57 pm
I like windmills in Kyoto.
Symbolistic or what?

jumpnmcar

16 Mar 13 at 2:57 pm
“Has anybody turned a profit investing in Green technology”?

Only the hydroponic kind……

cynical1

16 Mar 13 at 3:26 pm
NEWS! NEWS! The GG has been given TWO Hon Doctorates…Not sure exactly what for, BUT this could be her last chance to get some stuff out of Gillard’s foul trough.
Could it mean that Gillard ( or someone more important perhaps) is clearing the deck for some really good news?

Dexter Rous

16 Mar 13 at 3:35 pm
Just off the thread a.bit,read the other day 56 or 58is a pass in marxist j”journalism school”!Visions of lefty perfesser about to have major surgery “now sir you are in good hands,the surgeon scored 58 and his assistant 57 in their final exams!

Borisgodunov

16 Mar 13 at 4:01 pm
Traipsing through the Fin Times this arvo. This came up.

Fme this is a big number.

Chinese doctors have performed more than 330m abortions since the government implemented a controversial family planning policy 40 years ago, according to official data from the health ministry.

As China’s working-age population begins to decline, economists have warned that the family planning rules will pose an increasing drag on economic growth. China’s dependency ratio – which compares the potential workforce with the number of children and retirees – rose last year for the first time in 40 years.

“This makes China’s population look more like a developed country than a developing one, which is a key disadvantage in labour-intensive industries,” said Ken Peng, an economist with BNP Paribas who analysed the health ministry data.

The birth restrictions have also led to a severe gender imbalance because of a traditional preference for male children and the selective abortion of female foetuses. There are now 34m more men than women in China.

You don’t wannabe a Stepford omega male over there either.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 4:29 pm
Anyone else find refreshing the site takes a very long time?

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 4:39 pm
They really are different in Texas.

Bush 41 gets a flash mob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hbtHK7Ub2Cw#!

JC

16 Mar 13 at 4:41 pm
Yes, me too, Gab.

dover_beach

16 Mar 13 at 4:42 pm
I couldnt access the Cat either. All fixed with a simple CTRL F5, if on IE. In English that is a cache refresh.

dianeh

16 Mar 13 at 4:47 pm
Yep, Gab. Glad you mentioned it, thought it was just me. Really slow on posting too.

dianeh

16 Mar 13 at 4:50 pm
Kenyancare looks like it will implode as a result of good old fashioned American ingenuity.

Could Obamacare self-destruct? We’ve previously written about the possibility that companies would respond to the Affordable Care Act by self-insuring, using a form of coverage called stop-loss insurance to take direct responsibility for their employees’ health care costs. This scheme lets companies escape the new taxes that Obamacare imposes, as well as giving them more flexibility in the benefits they offer to their employees.

Well, it appears that these troubling possibilities are in fact coming to pass, according to Kaiser Health News:

At BSI Strategic Consulting, a Fresno, Calif., firm that helps small companies self-insure, “our business has more than doubled in the last six months,” says CEO Lawrence Thompson. “There’s a lot more interest in self-funding than I’ve seen in the last 32 years.”

At insurance giant Cigna, self-coverage for small employers grew by a fifth last year, says Julie McCarter, vice president of product development for Cigna Select, which sells medical stop-loss coverage and claims processing.

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/03/15/dont-like-obamacare-exempt-yourself/

JC

16 Mar 13 at 4:51 pm
At insurance giant Cigna, self-coverage for small employers grew by a fifth last year, says Julie McCarter, vice president of product development for Cigna Select, which sells medical stop-loss coverage and claims processing.

The company I worked for in the states self-insured and used Cigna to manage the logistics of the plan. It’s not hard to see why this might increase though.

tbh

16 Mar 13 at 4:59 pm
Many of you wished me a Happy Birthday – Gabrielle, The Rabz, Ellen of Tasmania, Helen Armstrong, JamesK, Septimus (who sang, and who is quite large!) – and I am surprised and delighted. Thank you.

Another step closer to the exit door one might say, at 63, but I have the spare time now to renovate and re-instal it a little further away.

Someone further up there suggested Mike Carlton was “brilliant today” – no he wasn’t, not today or ever. He was amusing for a bit 30 years ago and then became as snarlingly surly and bitter as Alan Ramsey.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

16 Mar 13 at 5:02 pm
Yea TBH

The firms I worked for mostly did so too, however they were large enough and had a spread of risk. This seems to be going on in smaller firms. The next impact would be that the more risky types will get saddled in Kenyancare overloading the system even more.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:05 pm
The latest Mark Steyn – his pessimism is heavy these days: The Axis of Torpor
Against waging war as an NGO.

As one war “shuts down,” are any others likely to open up? This week Obama told Israel’s Channel 2 TV that “we think it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon.” So Tehran, fresh from playing the bad guys in Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning blockbuster, is going nuclear? Hey, relax, says the president: “I continue to keep all options on the table.” And, every time he says that, you get the vague feeling he continues to keep the table somewhere in the basement. The best option would be if the Israelis just got on with it, absolving everyone else from a tough decision and simultaneously affording them the deliciously irresistible frisson of denouncing the Zionists for their grossly disproportionate response.

More likely, Iran will be permitted to go nuclear — followed shortly thereafter by Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and anyone else who dislikes being conscripted under the Shia Persian nuclear umbrella. North Korea and Pakistan both anticipate a lively export market.

Pakistan has a nominal per capita GDP of about $1,200, with North Korea’s barely detectable. By comparison Sweden’s is about $58,000 and the Netherlands’ about $50,000. But North Korea is a nuclear power and the Netherlands isn’t, and has no plans to become one, and any party so minded to propose otherwise would soon find itself out of power. The assumption that developed nations will get richer under Washington’s defense welfare has been the central tenet of the American era. So now the wealthiest countries in history cannot defend their own borders, while economic basket cases of one degree of derangement or another are nuclear powers.

Perhaps this improbable division will hold. Perhaps the Axis of Crazy will be content just to jostle among itself leaving the Axis of Torpor to fret about lowering the retirement age to 48 and mandatory transgendered bathrooms and other pressing public-policy priorities. But, even under such an inherently unstable truce, the American position and the wider global economy would deteriorate.

As the CPAC crowd suggested, there are takers on the right for the Rand Paul position. There are many on the left for Obama’s drone-alone definition of great power. But there are ever fewer takers for a money-no-object global hegemon that spends 46 percent of the world’s military budget and can’t impress its will on a bunch of inbred goatherds. A broker America needs to learn to do more with less, and to rediscover the cold calculation of national interest rather than waging war as the world’s largest NGO. In dismissing Paul as a “wacko bird,” John McCain and Lindsey Graham assume that the too-big-to-fail status quo is forever. It’s not; it’s already over.

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 5:11 pm
Someone further up there suggested Mike Carlton was “brilliant today”

Nobody of any consequence, Mick. A wrongologist.
Best wishes for the birthday, the renovation and the exit hallway extension. I know exactly the feeling!

blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 5:11 pm
Could we please stop with “exit” mentions? It upsets me so.

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 5:14 pm
James

I really don’t know how you’d keep the nuclear genie in the bottle. I think it’s impossible to.

If one is really worried just don’t live in a large prominent city, or one that is far enough to ignore.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:15 pm
Hey Gab

Western Refining is now 35 bucks and change.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:16 pm
Really? I thought you dumped that stock like a worn out sock? You are rather fickle with your stock, JC. You ought to watch that.

As usual, I hope you made a killing.

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 5:18 pm
If one is really worried just don’t live in a large prominent city, or one that is far enough to ignore.

I’m growing the wild beard and heading for the red centre, JC

I really don’t know how you’d keep the nuclear genie in the bottle. I think it’s impossible to.

Or stop Iran.

It’s an idea.

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 5:20 pm
You stop Iran, but you also then stop Egypt? Saudi?

It can’t be done.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:22 pm
Doubled your money in 12 months. Not bad, JC.

FFS, it takes forevah to comment.

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 5:23 pm
You stop Iran, but you also then stop Egypt? Saudi?

Egypt or the Saudis are developing nuclear weapons now?

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 5:25 pm
Many of you wished me a Happy Birthday

You deserve all the best wishes and some, Squire.

Your missives have brightened many a dull day.

Long may you continue to do so.

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 5:25 pm
Yea Gab..

I did dump it at 22 and change. That freaking stock was so volatile I couldn’t handle it.

Maybe I should have kept a smaller position and road it.

Not to worry though I’ve ridden the Japanese run and the US big bank move higher.

My trading account is awssh with money at the moment. Awash with money. And the good thing is that I’m preoccupied on running a small business as a result of a family crisis which stops me from fiddling around and losing a lot of the mullah in the latter part of the year.

I’m even turning that business around. I raised prices 15 to 20% and the clients haven’t battered an eyelid.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:27 pm
You can’t stop all thee fuckers from doing so, james.

In any event a multi-MAD policy sure looks interesting over the next 30 odd years.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:30 pm
Yea Happy birthday, Mick..

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:31 pm
Hope your parents are in good health, JC. No surprises you turning the biz around, you clever. “Awash with money”, may you experience a deluge of dollars, a flood of financial success!

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 5:33 pm
Parents are fine, Gab. My mother’s sister is seriously ill so she and her hubby were forced to leave the business.

It’s really interesting how small business operates.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:36 pm
sure looks interesting over the next 30 odd years.

Not if your an Israeli (or a Saudi for that matter).

In fact the future looks like a black-hole in the short to medium term.

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 5:37 pm
Didn’t the Saudis bankroll Pakistan’s nuclear programme? I suspect they’d have made sure they’re able to tap the Pakistanis on the shoulder if they need a few spare warheads before they handed over the dough.

Oh come on

16 Mar 13 at 5:38 pm
I raised prices 15 to 20% and the clients haven’t battered an eyelid.

I recall saying something similar to my Marketing Director once. “You should have gone higher” he roared. lol Lesson learned. (But that was a global-corp not an SME)

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 5:41 pm
Glacial.

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 5:44 pm
UN makes breakthrough on women’s rights $

Do you think it will make any difference? I read it and thought naah. They’ll sign it and just keep on going as before.

Helen Armstrong

16 Mar 13 at 5:46 pm
Dude,

I couldn’t go any higher or I’d run the risk of pissing off to many customers. Raising prices is like what that frog said about taxes and the goose.

“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”

Or

The art of raising prices consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing by the customer.

You gotta be careful with this shit Rabz.

and then there’s costs… I managed to lower costs by moving suppliers around. There, I don’t mind loud hissing.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 5:50 pm
Iran, Libya, Sudan and other Muslim nations agreed to language stating violence against women could not be justified by “any custom, tradition or religious consideration”.

Western nations, particularly from Scandinavia, toned down demands for references to gay rights and sexual health rights to secure the accord after two weeks of tense negotiations between the 193 UN member states.

Yes, I agree Helen. About as effective as a proclaimed “Sorry” day. I was once told by a Leb that Arabic language is naturally derogatory to women. Has always been thus apparently. But Abu may disagree.

Gab

16 Mar 13 at 5:52 pm
You stop Iran, but you also then stop Egypt? Saudi?

It can’t be done.
If you stop Iran’s program with extreme prejudice, you make the others think again about starting theirs. Unfortunately the Magic Kenyan doesn’t have the bottle to do what needs to be done re. Iran so the chance to teach the lesson will be lost.

Cold-Hands

16 Mar 13 at 5:57 pm
Dopey kikes channel Hitler, want anyone who ‘offends’ them arrested and jailed for up to three years. Sinister ‘Community Relations Commission’ of NSW agrees, also wants to arrest and jail blog commenters and Twitter users.

CL, you should know by now to be wary of any news article by Fauxfacts. Michael Smith has drilled down further into the story and there are 29 submissions (not just the two suggested by the SMH) and the submission by the Jewish Board of Deputies proposes suggested penalties less than those cited by the SMH article (although, to be fair the submission (also endorsed by the Arab Council of Australia), did suggest up to 2 years imprisonment as maximum penalty for aggravated cases). The SMH article omitted any reference to Islamic Groups also making submissions. Smith quotes from the Forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations submission and makes the point that it is not just the Jews demanding special treatment. While O’Farrell’s “initiative” is a waste of time and money, the SMH’s coverage of the story is seriously unbalanced.

Cold-Hands

16 Mar 13 at 6:22 pm
Potemkin’s Village

Liberty is more important… here

Grigory Potemkin

16 Mar 13 at 6:45 pm
You gotta be careful with this shit Rabz.

JC, it seems you can see the comment you’re replying to, but I can’t.

The site’s been fucking glacial all afternoon.

Well done, geniuses.

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 7:02 pm
David Gutierrez, “Wind farms are net carbon dioxide emitters”:

Large British wind farms will actually release as much carbon dioxide as fossil-fuel power plants, according to a study conducted by researchers from Aberdeen University and published in the journal Nature.
The source of the emissions is not the windmills themselves, but the land on which they are being constructed.
“Much of the cheap land being targeted by developers desperate to cash in on wind farm subsidies is peat land in remote wild land areas of the UK,” said Helen McDade of the John Muir Trust. […]
The peat contained in these areas hold at least 3.2 billion tons of carbon, making it one of the most important carbon sinks on the planet.
“The world’s peat lands have four times the amount of carbon than all the world’s rainforests,” said peat scientist Richard Lindsay of the University of East London, who was not involved in the study. […]
Peat retains its carbon only when kept in its natural damp, boggy condition. But the development that goes along with big energy projects, from roads and rails to the windmills themselves, damages the peat and disrupts the flow of water, causing massive carbon dioxide release. […]
The study is considered a major setback to the British wind industry, as it was conducted by the very same researchers who developed the method—now the industry standard—for calculating how long it will take a wind farm to produce carbon savings if constructed on peat soils.
When the researchers designed the “carbon payback time” equation in 2008, they estimated that a wind farm on peat soil would take 23 years to produce carbon savings, even though the average life of a wind farm is only 25 years.
But the new report is even more severe, concluding that such wind farms will never produce carbon savings at all. [emphasis added]

Everything associated with the pseudo-scientific scam of CAGW always ends up as crap.

Deadman

16 Mar 13 at 7:40 pm
Oh Okay Rabz… No probs.

I thought you were commenting to me. Lol.

JC

16 Mar 13 at 7:49 pm
wars have been started over less JC

CL – a little something for you a slimmer Nigella!

me likes

pete m

16 Mar 13 at 8:49 pm
the SMH’s coverage of the story is seriously unbalanced.

I’m doing some research on WWII and part of the chore is to work out the political colour of the author – if he/she is a lefty of any degree, the report is automatically suspect and not to be taken at face value.

The real problem is that these lefties don’t realise they are fabricating their histories, they think it’s true and get very upset when that narrative is questioned.

So what about the SMH narrative as Michael Smith, as a former policeman, starts to analyse forensically by digging into the original facts?

So did the SMH journalist do it deliberately, or not? This is crucial, because if the latter we have a really serious problem, since they have also reported catastrophic climate change beliefs in a similar fashion. The fact they are ignorant of their bias, and I believe this to be the case from experience, means we need to take a slightly different tack in dealing with them.

I suspect the problem lies in the left’s predilection for authority – remember Keating’s last election? The ALP slogan was “Leadership Matters” – the Fuehrer Principle. And this subservience to authority has an old and long tradition.

And while I’m at it, we get the Fin, Australian and West Australian each day in the office, and I really don’t like the new Fin format – cheap and nasty and what do they add this last Friday, an expensive, insert colour lifestyle magazine for the well heeled. These lefties at Fairfax really have no idea what the demographics of their readership is – no wonder they are going down the gurgler.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 8:59 pm
The site’s been fucking glacial all afternoon.

Well done, geniuses.

Start your own blog then whinger.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 9:01 pm
Rudds St Patrick day dinner speech.

Can’t find George Brandis reply, funny that.

jumpnmcar

16 Mar 13 at 9:14 pm
The one-nuke-or-more-per-belligerent-ME-capital has been on the table (at least unofficially) since the 11th of September, 2001.
It just needs a president who’s not a lefty girly to make the threat stick.

blogstrop

16 Mar 13 at 9:17 pm
????

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 9:18 pm
“I think it was a pity that as a government we got hung up on that word, ‘sorry’,” he told the audience.

“John (Howard) was of a generation… where perhaps Indigenous people were not valued as in different circumstances and different times.

Gee Tony, I guess you apologise for mistakes made by your parents to the victim’s ancestors…Mexican logic.

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 9:24 pm
It just needs a president who’s not a lefty girly to make the threat stick.

So not anytime soon, then?

I’m sure ahmageddinabad will be happy to wait until that unlikely day.

The Israelis certainly won’t.

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 9:34 pm
Wow. Just look at Nigella’s figure. Yum.

Don’t get too skinny, though, Nigella.

Enough already.

C.L.

16 Mar 13 at 9:40 pm
India shaming Australia with a unbeaten opening stand of 275.
Dhawan on debut 181no.
It’s a Masacreeee….

jumpnmcar

16 Mar 13 at 9:41 pm
Good win to the Perth Demons today. SDFC’s mob got up too.

We now exit the bourgeois provincial news for (hopefully) more pics of the yummy Nigella.

Pedro the Ignorant

16 Mar 13 at 9:44 pm
Andrew,

Remember Abbott is a politician and has to attract those of his political opponents to his side of the fence – and that is done by using their language.

Ever watched the movie Red October – the sub hunt with Sean Connery as the hero? Remember the role of the politician and his explanations for his approach and actions?

If you are in Tony Abbott’s position, how would you convince Gillard’s supporters to change their vote?

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 9:46 pm
CL – a little something for you a slimmer Nigella!

She looks outstanding even at 53! Amazing figure and those big brown eyes. BTW, how silly of me not be in NY when she’s visiting.

dover_beach

16 Mar 13 at 9:47 pm
How jealous is CL, m0nty get’s a photo with Nigella ( on his way to golf judging from his attire )

jumpnmcar

16 Mar 13 at 9:48 pm
Well, I’m supping some Jameson, listening to The Eagles via the Accuphase SACD player and Stax SR009′s and WOO WES, reading CAT, and life is good.

Footy and Cricket? So solly, fail my KPI on that

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 9:49 pm
I think she’s been working on the Plimsoll Line, but it won’t help

Her plimsoll line has been moved up to the funnel, an old trick adopted to trick those checking Sir Samuel’s mark.

(I think he was knighted.)

kae

16 Mar 13 at 9:49 pm
If you are in Tony Abbott’s position, how would you convince Gillard’s supporters to change their vote?

Not by making a weak, hypocritical, dishonest comment like that. The sorry has alaredy been given so it is a non-issue now. The fact he made the comment is very moronic.

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 9:50 pm
m0nty get’s a photo with Nigella

from jump.

Good Lord, anyone who even owns a pair of orange Crocs shoes should be sent to the Gulag for life.

Pedro the Ignorant

16 Mar 13 at 9:56 pm
The Nigella photos reminds me of my teenage obsession with a US National Geographic advertising girl/lady – something to do with hair shampoo. I was besotted with the tweedy types they used – longish dresses, below the knees, ironed blouses, sigh. All properly Tweedy.

These days, yuk – nothing left to the imagination – what you see is what you get.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 9:56 pm
I really don’t like the new Fin format – cheap and nasty and what do they add this last Friday, an expensive, insert colour lifestyle magazine for the well heeled.
I wondered what Michael Smith was doing, advertising this colour mag until I read on. His wife (the Czech Princess) writes for (and edits?) it. At least he’s up front with his declaration of interest.

Cold-Hands

16 Mar 13 at 9:57 pm
Orange Croc shoes also mean serious foot odour, but in his case as he wears socks, delayed in effect.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 9:57 pm
Good win to the Perth Demons today. SDFC’s mob got up too.

Good on them Pedro. I know a guy who played for Perth in their premierships in the 70s. No names but he’s a got some funny stories.

Peel have stolen a couple of Swannies so fuck em.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 9:58 pm
C-H

Really? The Czech princess is involved?

Thanks for the heads up

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:00 pm
the Czech Princess

Who is this Czech Princess?!!?

Rabz

16 Mar 13 at 10:02 pm
Rabz, Michael Smith’s wife. Dúh

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:13 pm
whoops, partner, in these PC days.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:14 pm
Come on Louis are you a real West Aussie? Who do you support?

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:15 pm
sdfc

I don’t follow any sport. Period. And I was transported here (1788 style) in 1970 from NSW, liked the place and stayed. Don’t support rugby either, nor any sport for that matter. Does that mean I failed brainwashing 101?

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:20 pm
whoops, cultural sensitivity 101 maybe.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:21 pm
We love immigrants Louis. As long as you don’t support Claremont.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:22 pm
Only poofters support Claremont.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:23 pm
I know Jayson Crabbe personally and he’s definitely not

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:24 pm
Metaphorically. jaxon Crabb.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:26 pm
We was a west coast player. That’s even worse.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:26 pm
Yeah, just realised that’s how it’s spelt – forgot the x-factor;

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:27 pm
IS his name pronounced Jayson? Shit some parents give their kids stupid names.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:29 pm
You have a player called Jaxis Crab?

Either that’s unfortunate or I need new glasses.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 10:30 pm
You need new glasses.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:31 pm
Sdfc, or they spell them in stupid ways.

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 10:32 pm
It must be a burden for the child in latter years. No you spell it Jaxon not Jason.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:33 pm
As I listen to Peter Newman each morning driving to work, I am made aware of various goings on in football world and appreciate that information.

For what it’s worth, I once played in a rugby union game at school (Knox Grammar), survived to learn from my GP father that he was pissed off surgically reconstructing knees of footballers, and I ought not to travel down that track; I didn’t. But lots of my mates now have gammy knees from playing rugby. I have one as well but that’s from stuffing it unbogging a Unimog in 1995 in the Kimberley.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:33 pm
Jaxon Crabbe.

For de rekord

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:34 pm
You’ve also gotta laugh at some of these hyphenated surnames that people have these days.

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 10:36 pm
Mnemonic for Jackson

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:36 pm
I fucked up my knee playing footy as a teenager.

So much so that I had to be helped from the beach a couple of years ago because of it.

My kids were pretending they didn’t know me.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:37 pm
Genealogically it’s a useful habit, but otherwise it’s snobbism.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:37 pm
I was and still am terrible at most sports other than cricket. I have been lucky that I have never broken a bone and won’t have those problems in my later life.

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 10:38 pm
Genealogically it’s a useful habit, but otherwise it’s snobbism.

It’s interesting as all fuck. It amazes me how many surnames (and families) are in your tree.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:41 pm
All immigrants must barrack for West Perth, aka the Garlic Munchers.

It’s the law in WA.

Sensible shoes and matching colours are very prevalent at Claremont Oval.

Pedro the Ignorant

16 Mar 13 at 10:42 pm
My knee sometimes makes a “click-click” when I walk to and from the West Perth post office collecting the mail. (we can’t afford a receptionist – we greedy capitalists). Reminds me of that silly moment when I bogged the mog. Well, didn’t bog it as much as traversed a creek that I could not reverse back up from. Twisted the knee, experienced pain, finished the job, (getting the truck out) and then passed out under the shade of a tree, fully aware I would not pass away. Woke up 15 mins later, and trudged back to camp with tail in expected position. Would not happen these days, so younger people never get to learn from practical experience.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:45 pm
SDFC – My tree goes back to 1326 AD. Had no idea I had hyphenated ancestors.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:46 pm
Andrew, for what it’s worth, I have never, ever played cricket. But as I am Dutch, apparently we invented the game. That idea mystifies me.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:48 pm
You are Dutch! Nice to know that. Maybe if I teach you how to play Cricket, you can take me down to De Wallen? Only kidding!

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 10:51 pm
Heineken.

That’s Dutch?

Used to be quite fond of someone who loved that beer.

kae

16 Mar 13 at 10:54 pm
Andrew, the last time I was there was 1980 with cousin Tom. Around 2200 hrs we got the hell out of there when the pimps Ferrari’s and Maserati’s appeared.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 10:56 pm
A Dutch friend of mine said he would never ever go near that place.

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 10:58 pm
I got mine back to around 1500 (can’t remember the exact year). Most of my Mums ancestors were servants, fishermen and farmers it seems.

On my dad’s side, my great grandfather was a junior son of a junior son of a prominant Irish family, it was all down hill from there on that side.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 10:58 pm
Geert Wilders is also Dutch and I do not disagree with his opinions concerning other peoples. So little posted here on his recent visit.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 11:00 pm
Is Bolt Report on tomorrow?

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 11:02 pm
SDFC,

1500 you say? What, start of recording or first reporting. In my case the church records started from 1326 AD with nothing before. Then 5 families were noted with that name. Something terrible must have happened before that to disrupt the record keeping.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 11:04 pm
Andrew, No, cars in Melbourne or something

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 11:05 pm
Oh dear, bloody F1! When I was younger, I was obsessed with that sport but now find it boring.

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 11:06 pm
I piggy-backed off someone else, that’s where they stopped. I really need to get to England and Ireland if I’m going to get serious.

sdfc

16 Mar 13 at 11:06 pm
Louis – plague was probably your terrible event.

Mk50 of Brisbane

16 Mar 13 at 11:13 pm
BOF is a treat to Freedom as well as a threat to Freedom of Speech. The useless boldge couldn’t close an illegal brothel operating above his electoral office. The Council had to employ a private investigator to ‘gather evidence’.
What a farce.
What a farce of a Premier.
Where do the Libs get these facists.

WhaleHunt Fun

16 Mar 13 at 11:15 pm
Who is a good alternative within the Party?

Andrew

16 Mar 13 at 11:18 pm
Mnemonic for Jackson

Using “mnemonic”—which means “aiding memory” or “relating to memory”—to mean “a simplified spelling”?

Deadman

16 Mar 13 at 11:20 pm
Deadman, I sense your direction and stop there.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 11:25 pm
Andrew, the party has Abbott and Turnbull as Rhodes Scholars – so that might mean Gillard with different clothes, since I suspect all Rhodes Scholars are Fabians.

Except for those who reject that ideology and the visceral hatred for Abbott might lie in his rejection of Fabian mores, as the Fabians see it.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 11:29 pm
Sadly I know of no one within the party who supports hanging let alone immolation. So cannot name a single person as definitely a good alternative. Berejeklian might turn out not too bad but I have my doubts.

WhaleHunt Fun

16 Mar 13 at 11:36 pm
Mk50, yes, the plague was, but it affected Europe in a bulk sense. What reporting have we of the rest of the planet/world?

Zilch.

Mike Bailley of Queens Uni, Belfast noted in his work of the earlier period (Ad ) to 6th century England) that “something” happened at the time in Ireland that the coeval Europeans were ignorant of.

Imagine just over the horizon a people were extinguished from some external factor which your pundits were unaware of, apart from some signals from the sky, which they did not understand. That was Ireland, and what of what might have happened on the other side of the globe? Our EU records could not have chronicled those events, despite the fact those events happened.

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 11:44 pm
Using “mnemonic”—which means “aiding memory” or “relating to memory”—to mean “a simplified spelling”?

homophone

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 11:45 pm
homophone – word enunciated in one sense but different in meaning to another.

So when is a homophonist not a hypocrite?

Louis Hissink

16 Mar 13 at 11:50 pm
hypophone or homocrit.

JamesK

16 Mar 13 at 11:58 pm
phone or crit, doesn’t matter – one remains homi-idiot.

Louis Hissink

17 Mar 13 at 12:05 am
Is TLS prone to homo-bowl or hyper-crit?

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 12:15 am
You’ve got to give it to Cameron…

One helluva rebuttal:

Falklands belong to Britain, David Cameron tells Pope Francis.

DAVID Cameron has rebuffed the Pope over the Falklands Islands, rejecting his repeated claims as a cardinal that they belonged to Argentina.

Referring to the islanders’ overwhelming referendum vote last weekend to stay British, and to the signal that a new Pope had been elected, the Prime Minister said that the “white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear“.

———————————————–

Not a great start to the pontificate, IMO.

The pope’s casualness, liturgically, was disrespectful to his predecessor – who rescued the Tridentine Mass (one of the wonders of human culture) from an oblivion orchestrated by cowardly barbarians. And I don’t really buy all this nonsense about the ‘fresh change’ that is the new pope’s humility. It’s as though everyone has forgotten Pope Wojtyla – about whom stories of self-deprivation and charity are legion – and Benedict XVI himself, who gave up the office.

But the world wanted a pope in a minibus, apparently.

Yawn.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 12:47 am
The Fairfax zombies lived a version of history I missed:

Howard had been around too long, but his real problem was that he faced an electoral younger version of himself. With his lay-preacher looks and strangely reassuring ”Brainiac” style, Kevin Rudd was essentially an updated edition of the old and trusted.

He was John Howard with climate change and the internet thrown in and, as such, a safe bet for Australians who do not plump for change readily.

No mention of the fact that Rudd was a confidence trickster who wasn’t what he had been advertised as. But even zombieville can’t spin the Lying Slapper out of trouble:

With that issue (media regulation) spinning out of control, there is word of Labor MPs prevailing on Gillard directly rather than the Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, seeking to offer amendments to secure cross-bench support. However that has been denied and may well be mischief-making by Rudd forces.

The idea of negotiating however, makes eminent sense because defeat of the legislation could bring a faster end for Gillard than even quicksand can deliver.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 1:37 am
Interesting observations from a superior – anonymous – commentator:

A franciscan myself, I can tell you that many of us are not entirely at ease or even delighted that the new Pope took the name of our Seraphic Father as his own: for us “Francis” and “Jesus” are sacred names, which cannot be exploited for any pastoral reason. The Society of Jesus was heavily criticized for this by Dominicans and Franciscans and Augustinians way back in the 16th century…which is why no Franciscan pope called himself Francis, no Dominican pope Dominic….

A proclivity or psychological need to abase oneself before others, is not humility; and the miserabilism which is rightly criticized, is actually the byproduct of the errors of the French Revolution, wherein a false notion of liberty (I, man, must be able to decide what is true and good for me, and thus for you too) leads to a radical individualism, and thus a break with traditionalism (whether natural, as in human cultures, or supernatural as in the Church): consequently there arises a false humility which is praised and lauded for destroying and uprooting and denying anything traditional, any law or norm which reflects objective values, and even the logic inherent in rational discourse….

All of us can fall under the errors of our age, so lets not forget to pray for one and all, and especially the new Holy Father…

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 2:20 am
Dopey kikes channel Hitler, want anyone who ‘offends’ them arrested and jailed for up to three years. Sinister ‘Community Relations Commission’ of NSW agrees, also wants to arrest and jail blog commenters and Twitter users.

The man behind all this is ‘Liberal’ Premier – and massive dickhead – Barry O’Farrell.

C.L.
16 Mar 13 at 11:20 am

You won’t get any argument from me.

geoffff

17 Mar 13 at 2:42 am
I notice that Cold-Hands has pointed out that the Fairfax report on Jewish support for abolishing free speech was somewhat exaggerated in the Fairfax report.

Nonetheless, it never ceases to amaze me how Western Jews never seem to see a piece of left-wing extremism they don’t like. They vote for the likes of Obama in massively disproportional numbers. It seems that they maintain an old-world culture of aligning themselves to cosmopolitan liberalism over against Christian conservatism as some kind of throwback policy of protecting themselves from nativist jingoism. However, I suspect this has become less a protective instinct than a learned snobbery.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 2:55 am
I notice that Cold-Hands has pointed out that the Fairfax report on Jewish support for abolishing free speech was somewhat exaggerated ~~in the Fairfax report~~.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 3:12 am
I think the Jewish vote is drifting from the left to the centre-right in the US just as it has done in Australia, Canada and the UK.

Two things have retarded the drift

Obama — the sentimental appeal of a black president is just too powerful to resist

The nature of the US right — which has a wing and presses issues that are anathema for many Jews

However if you look around the blogs , including the ones I am associated with, the strongest critics of Obama foreign policy are guys who were out campaigning for him four years ago

Mike Lumish who runs Israel Thrives where I contribute voted Republican for first time in his life last November. He says he walked out of the polling station and on impulse shouted “Free at last. Thank G-d almighty I’m free at last”

geoffff

17 Mar 13 at 3:21 am
So when is a homophonist not a hypocrite?

What, weir to dam punners next?
A homophone is any word which has the same pronunciation as another word but with a different meaning. If I adore a door when it’s ajar, or if I ask an olympic fencer to sell a stolen fence near the fens or suggest he would lief wrap a steak with his handy foil whilst rapping with a stake, or think it appropriate to fry lamb’s fry or young fish on Fridays, will I be committing a punishable offence?
A friend said his granny had a mahogany chest. I said, “Wooden tit be hard?” Would that make me, or someone who attacks a tax, or another who metes out meet meat at a meet near the metropolitan mete or allots a lot o’ lots, or anyone named Hu who’s hypercritical, a hypocrite?

Deadman

17 Mar 13 at 7:00 am
Mike Lumish who runs Israel Thrives where I contribute voted Republican for first time in his life last November.

It would be nice to see more people voting conservative for the first time here in September. What would be even nicer is to see the media accept that subsequent to the election of a sensible government it will be necessary for them to rein in expenditure fairly vigorously.
What we can look forward to, if their behaviour in the NSW and QLD instances are typical (and I think they are), is daily bleats about public service sackings and cruel conservative evisceration of civilisation as we know it.

Blogstrop

17 Mar 13 at 7:06 am
remember when there was an adult in the house

A FEW years ago when John Howard was coming to his political end, the then-PM was the subject of some robust front pages chronicling his impending fall.

The newspaper I was editing at the time produced several, not out of any sense of hostility towards Mr Howard, who had been well-liked by our readers, and still was, even if they were about to vote against him.

Rather, there was a clear “It’s Time” sentiment coming from our readership. This sentiment was also fuelled by dissatisfaction with Mr Howard’s proposed leadership handover to Peter Costello, a belief that the Government had exceeded its mandate on WorkChoices and a conviction, faintly hilarious in hindsight, that Kevin Rudd was a well-adjusted bloke who would deliver stable government.

Our front pages included the declaratory “Sydney walks away from PM”, showing how the city which had long been Howard’s fortress now loomed as his Waterloo and that he could even lose his seat.

When interest rates jumped in the middle of the 2007 campaign, a deeply awkward moment for a man who long campaigned on keeping rates down, we snapped the PM outside Kirribilli and ran the photo under the headline

“This man could lose his house”. But Howard always managed to stay civil and calm however aggressive the news coverage got.

When he had been PM for only a short time and had moved to extinguish native title rights flowing from the Mabo judgment, The Age ran a cartoon of him as an early settler armed with a blunder-buss shooting Aborigines. Yet there was never even the faintest hint of retribution from Howard, even when the media overstepped the mark.

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 8:22 am
Christopher Booker, “You never took drugs, but you cannot keep your child”:

As [British] social workers continue to break all records in the number of children they remove from their parents […] two academics [produced] a report that purports to show that, bar one or two minor criticisms, the process of removing children for adoption by new parents is working well.
It turns out, however, that the 12 case studies on which their report is based were chosen either by solicitors for the local authorities or by court officials. Hardly surprising, in every one of these cases the children appear to have been removed for good reasons from dysfunctional parents who had neglected or abused them.
None of these stories bears any resemblance to those I have often reported here, such as one disturbing case to which I have referred several times, which has lately had another cruel and final twist. This involved the very intelligent and devoted mother who, a few months after her daughter was born, fell by accident backwards out of a first‑floor window, leaving her temporarily paralysed.
So quickly did the social workers move to take her baby into care that they had soon assembled a string of damning accusations against her: that she was a drug addict and alcoholic whose fall had been a suicide bid. All these claims were, I gather, shown by the evidence, including that of drug and alcohol tests, to be completely spurious. But, as so often happens, the social workers, instead of admitting their initial mistake, stuck to their guns, within weeks making the first moves needed to have her baby adopted. Despite recognition from contact supervisors and the baby’s official “guardian” over the next two years that mother and child continued to have a touchingly close emotional bond, the social workers eventually got their way, persuading a judge to have the little girl sent for adoption.
Briefed by the local authority, which does not deny it, the local paper published a lurid story on the case, branding the mother as an alcoholic druggie who had tried to kill herself. […]
This month, in a last desperate bid to get her daughter back, the mother appealed to another judge to stop the adoption order, relying on the rule that such an application can be granted if the mother can show that her “circumstances have changed”. When she yet again, I gather, produced medical evidence, going back several years, to show that she had never been a drug addict or an alcoholic, the new judge apparently accepted this as convincing. But, astonishingly, the judge went on to rule that, since the mother had never been either of these things, her circumstances could not be said to have “changed”. The adoption must therefore still go ahead.
Almost as chillingly, the mother was then allowed to see a small part of the report the social workers had prepared to be shown to her daughter’s new adoptive parents. This not only contains a string of simple factual errors; it still paints her in the most damning light as having, despite the judge’s finding, “a history of drug and alcohol misuse”, adding: “It is reported that she has attempted suicide on nine occasions.”
This may all help to convince the adoptive parents that they have rescued the new member of their family from a fate worse than death (the report is even anxious to record that the mother is “a smoker” and “wears high heels and make-up”).

Deadman

17 Mar 13 at 8:22 am
Good find, Val.

It is worth contrasting Howard’s sangfroid and maturity with the approach of many in the Gillard Government, principally Stephen Conroy, towards the media. It is an approach characterised by three things: payback, paranoia and spite. It is also marked by amnesia, as none were complaining about media aggression or satirical front pages when they were aimed at Howard.

John Howard won four terms by rolling with the punches and getting on with governing. Julia Gillard will most probably serve one full term. It is a pity that at the end of it she’s sided with a man in Conroy who believes negative media coverage is the result of media bias, rather than the crushingly obvious weight of public opinion, which says that two-thirds of Australians are not happy with the government and demand it be held up to the maximum level of scrutiny.

Gab

17 Mar 13 at 8:42 am
Fme CL has a massive negative reaction to Francisco for zero apparent actual evidence.

Why?

As a cardinal he didn’t support the tridentine mass.

He’s not going to undo his predecessor’s liturgical changes especially as they’ve been generally well received.

It’s early days and so far – yes very very early days – the signs are good.

The guy has a spine.

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 8:43 am
check out Kim Williams on freedom of speech
“How dare Senator Conroy say he believes passionately in freedom of the press.”

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 8:54 am
CL should be on the show Grumpy Old Men. He’ll find the cloud in any silver lining!

pete m

17 Mar 13 at 8:59 am
the most impresssive reply to Conroy’s media reforms is this one

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:01 am
Notice how the lefties are very quiet about Conroy attacking free press, bless their little black totalitarian hearts. Or as Williams described them “self-neutered eunuch-men”.

Gab

17 Mar 13 at 9:10 am
Gillard’s hero opposed muzzling of the press even in wartime

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:14 am
will the insiders mention the media muzzle debate?

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:16 am
will the insiders mention the media muzzle debate?

Val does stand-up comedy on Sundays.

Gab

17 Mar 13 at 9:17 am
The debasement of UK democracy enabled by a Pommy Finkelstein isn’t being driven by the Conservatives as much as by Labor and Pommywood:

The crusade to tame press freedom has brought together the worst of the new and old forms of political elitism, combining the traditional peers in the House of Lords with the new aristocracy of celebrity. In the name of ‘the people’ (you get the feeling they would like to say ‘the little people’), an unholy alliance of Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan, Lord Skidelsky and Lord Puttnam, backed by a select court of lawyers, hackademics and lobbyists, is keen to ride roughshod over democracy and liberty.

The willingness of Labour and Hacked Off to stoop so low has shocked some radicals sympathetic to their cause. Yet it is only really the logical outcome of the anti-democratic drift in UK politics over the past decade. With the decline of the trade unions, the rump of the Labour-supporting left has become increasingly detached from the public, instead looking for change from sympathetic establishment figures such as human-rights judges (at home and in Europe) and members of the House of Lords. How much easier it is to lobby these civilised ladies and gents than have to mix with the rough-house of the public forum!

RTWT

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 9:19 am
Is this the defining image of Gillard’s reign

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:24 am
Mr Kate Ellis won’t be getting much action if he keeps writing articles like that. How does the journalist code of ethics deal with that tricky situation?

H B Bear

17 Mar 13 at 9:28 am
Insiders this morning is like a Labor caucus meeting in a pub with an outsider (Piers Akerman) hanging shit on them.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 9:36 am
I’m glad I don’t get the ABC – who’s the interviewee?

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:40 am
Fresh from his victory in the ABC-Fairfax Quill awards, Ol’ leathery and the zombies are poohooing the idea that appointing a government regulator to oversee the media is an attack on the press. FMD.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 9:41 am
Tom that’s on the basis that the gubbermint knows best I assume?

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:46 am
Malcolm Farr, national political editor of news.com.au, is white-anting his own company, criticising the Daily Tele’s front page on Conroy. Why isn’t that an ISD offence?

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 9:47 am
Piers can’t believe he’s sitting with three other journalists.

I don’t know what he’s worried about because he isn’t.

He’s sitting with leftist activists and leftist government transcribers.

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 9:49 am
I lovesd the Tele’s front page and who could forget its apology

Apology:

YESTERDAY we ran a picture of Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy depicted as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

It has since been pointed out that this was a grossly unfair and insulting comparison to make. And so we would just like to say: We’re sorry, Joe.

Yes, it is true that Stalin was a despicable and evil tyrant who was responsible for the death of many millions.

However, at least he was upfront in his efforts to control the media instead of pretending he supported free speech and then suggesting that cheeky, satirical or provocative newspaper coverage might be against the law. We also note that, despite his well-documented crimes against humanity, Stalin at least managed to hold a government together for more than three years.

Nonetheless, we pay tribute to our new Commissar Conroy and stand ready to write and publish whatever he instructs us to.

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:50 am
I’m glad I don’t get the ABC – who’s the interviewee?

Conrade Conroy.

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 9:50 am
oh, do a Shorten ‘whatever he says I support’ or was it ‘I support whatever she says”

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 9:52 am
who’s the interviewee?

The ALP’s Sen. Conroy was interviewed by the ALP’s Barrie Cassidy.
Malcolm Farr, by the way, has been hysterically ranting about the attacks on Conroy’s despotic attempts to control the media as hysterical criticism. Comparing anyone other than murderous tyrants to murderous tyrants is grossly unfair, the grossly unfair, hylactic “journalist” yelps. Yep, only very similar things may be compared, according to Farr.

Deadman

17 Mar 13 at 9:53 am
Three cheers for Piers.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 9:56 am
journos ‘panting for their muzzle’
Bolt does have a way of expressing things

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 10:02 am
On Twitter this morning, lovers of media diversity are complaining about Piers Akerman’s presence on Insiders. It is not enough that the host and two out of three guests are the proctoleichous poodles of the Government, the bisseurs and pleureurs of our crybaby Minister of Truth demand unambiguous unanimity without a hint of disheartening dissent.

Deadman

17 Mar 13 at 10:26 am
Yes Akerman was only one who stridently defended the free speech on Insiders

Mike of Marion

17 Mar 13 at 10:27 am
Piers Morgan makes an impassioned rant on free speech on insiders.

ol’leatherface Barrie Cassidy, fatty farr and that land whale Karen Middleton laugh and giggle at him.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 10:33 am
Toby Young writing in January on efforts to constrict freedom of the press in Britain. Change the proper nouns and titles of the proposed statutory authorities and every single word applies to Conroy’s vision for Australia.

By the way, if you’re in Melbourne, assemble outside Conroy’s office at 1pm.

The address is 17 Mason Street, Newport. Go down Melbourne Road from the Westgate and turn right before the overpass.

areff

17 Mar 13 at 10:35 am
I actually half agree with Tony Windsor for once

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/julia-gillard-told-to-act-on-baby-bonus/story-fncynkc6-1226598990381

Andrew

17 Mar 13 at 10:36 am
Fatty O’Barrell is determined to consign the NSW economy to backwoods status by opposing a new airport, but he’s also ensuring that Albo’s coward’s option in the middle of upper south-west bumfuck will never fly:

The NSW government is putting federal Labor’s preferred site for a 2nd Sydney Airport at Wilton out of its misery by releasing plans for thousands of new homes all over it, as part of wide ranging release of metropolitan land for housing.

The Wilton option has been pursued by Labor with unexplained enthusiasm for a year, even since the independent state/federal study into a 2nd airport site for the Sydney basin found in favour of the site the Commonwealth has owned for 26 years at Badgerys Creek.

The impudence of the independent study report lead to it being rejected within minutes of its official release by the Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, citing the never explained in detail grounds that Badgerys Creek was contrary to policy.

RTWT

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 10:42 am
Perhaps this should be taken over to the religion thread, but CL did bring it up here.

It seems (from CL’s helpful link) that the litugurical fusspots (heavily conservative in all things Catholic) have already got the knives out for the new Pope for his initial refusal to appear grand enough in dress and liturgy for their liking.

This would appear to confirmed by Father Z’s blog where an online poll on how the new Pope is going shows 37% rate him as 6/10 or below. I doubt this site is trolled much by atheists or modernist Catholics – it’s too dull to have that much of a hate following, I expect.

So the fact that new Pope seems to have the “standard” conservative views on all the biggies – gays, euthanasia, contraception, women priests – is not enough for the liturgical fusspots.

The Church is in a very strange place at the moment. I’m starting to think a new schism in the future will be the only way it’s resolved.

steve from brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 10:46 am
Stepford,

no more fucking talk about religion you arsehole. If you want to talk about it get the fuck over to the special thread devoted to that sort of stuff.

Otherwise fuck off and post the comment at your blog.

You dick.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 10:49 am
Dogshit, until you disavow the fascist left’s determination to muzzle this blog and the rest of the media, fuck off.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 10:53 am
Louis:

Mk50, yes, the plague was, but it affected Europe in a bulk sense. What reporting have we of the rest of the planet/world?

Zilch.

Yes and no. Scholarship in this area has been progressing for some time, and some interesting links made between it and archaeology.

By their nature, plagues are very hard to spot archaeologically and we do have better chances where there is a written record of any type (even a fragmentary one). For example, we know next to nothing of ‘Seha River Land’, a political entity SE of the Hittite Empire and probably located around teh region of the Gulf of Alexandretta.

Yet, we know they had plagues, because the only thing we know of them is a list of their gods (IIRC the list is in Akkadian, and was found at Ugarit). The list includes a plague god.

That’s just an example of the utility of even fragmentary written records. We are really screwed where a complex society (perhaps even a civilisation) had no writing. Examples such as the Woodland Period and Mississippian Period Mound societies (Watson Brake etc) spring to mind.

The preson we all owe a great debt to in this field is, of course, Barbara Tuchman. She was the first to really get the concept that plague played a civilisational level role (ie changing the path/direction of civilisations) in her 1978 tour-de-force ‘A Distant Mirror: The calamitous 14th Century’. I highly recomend it.

Work subsequent to that (Czech and german, IIRC) notes that The Plague very probably aborted our first chop at an industrial revolution, when Plague essentially killed everyone in Bohemia in the 1300s.

Imagine being 500 years further along technologically… we’d be a starfaring species by now.

And of course the epidemiologists have done a tremendous amount of work since. For obvious reasons much of this is more recent – praise the Lord for that what with the bioweapons and ‘Black Swan Events’ issues. CDC is at the forefront there but of course much of their work has to be classified.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 10:56 am
Steve, you’re not a Catholic so please stop commenting on the Church to which some of us belong. Those who favour liturgical renewal are not ‘conservatives.’

They are almost all young people battling doddering old geezers (like you) from the 1960s. Wonderfully, Benedixt XVI gave them a victory that cannot be withdrawn.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 11:01 am
JC, why are you not upset that CL brought it up in this thread?

Tom, it has clearly escaped your fevered mind that the Labor proposals would not affect this site, at all.

steve from brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 11:03 am
Is this the defining image of Gillard’s reign.

Are you referring to the frightened-looking black man on the left who was just told about Gillard’s war on foreigners?

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 11:03 am
David Alexander, “Pentagon weapons-maker finds method for cheap, clean water”:

A defense contractor better known for building jet fighters and lethal missiles says it has found a way to slash the amount of energy needed to remove salt from seawater, potentially making it vastly cheaper to produce clean water at a time when scarcity has become a global security issue.
The process, officials and engineers at Lockheed Martin Corp say, would enable filter manufacturers to produce thin carbon membranes with regular holes about a nanometer in size that are large enough to allow water to pass through but small enough to block the molecules of salt in seawater. […]
Because the sheets of pure carbon known as graphene are so thin – just one atom in thickness – it takes much less energy to push the seawater through the filter with the force required to separate the salt from the water, they said.
The development could spare underdeveloped countries [or any other country, for that matter] from having to build exotic, expensive pumping stations needed in plants that use a desalination process called reverse osmosis.

Another great feat of human ingenuity which will not, I foretell, be enthusiastically covered by our ABC.

Deadman

17 Mar 13 at 11:05 am
Be very wary of accepting Pentagon suppliers’ “brochuremanship” at face value. Defence company breakthroughs have a habit of not working, costing billions and being unkillable in Congress…. F-111, Osprey, JSF…..

Mind you, terrific if true.

areff

17 Mar 13 at 11:13 am
Piers Morgan makes an impassioned rant on free speech on insiders.

And the other panelists weren’t the only ones in stitches.
He made a right fool of himself.
Loved Malcolm Farr’s reference to the Telebraph –

“Same as comparing Pol Pot and Kim Jong-un to the Liberal Party, because they don’t have a carbon tax….”

1735099

17 Mar 13 at 11:13 am
MK-50 – Interesting – reminded me of the Choson Annals of the Koreans starting from the Little Ice Age – a period of climate catastrophes associated with meteoritic activity in that part of the world at the time.

Also interesting is the sudden interest in explaining the motion of the earth in the heavens – during the medieval warm period everyone believed the earth to be the centre of things, then at the time of the LIA doubt emerged and people discovered the earth was orbiting the sun. I wonder if this actually happened? That the earth changed it’s orbit at the time, I mean.

I doubt humans were that stupid at the time – or even earlier judging by the buildings they bequeathed us. And if the accounts were written by lefties, then things become really problematical since how much of it is factual, and how much fabricated.

Louis Hissink

17 Mar 13 at 11:19 am
I think SfB outed himself as a sham Catholic last week when I called him on his archaic reference to meat on Fridays, which has not been in vogue since the 1970′s.
He then responded that he had “forgotten” that detail and noting that it only applies on Ash Wednesday … wrong again.
Question …. How does a devout follower of a religion “forget” something which has not been regulated or even encouraged for 40 years, and the change was widely discussed an debated within the church when it took place?
He merely adopts a persona to enter a debate with some form of unquestioned authority

Leigh Lowe

17 Mar 13 at 11:20 am
We await the Joe Hildebrand special:

Another brutal gang rape as Swiss tourist in Madhya Pradesh is ‘attacked in front of husband by eight men armed with sticks’.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 11:22 am
THE country’s most trusted TV faces have united to share their passion for news and current affairs – and concerns about the government’s controversial media reforms.

Putting their traditional network rivalries aside, 32 media heavyweight from the commercial and public broadcasters gathered at The Sunday Telegraph to discuss the changing landscape of news gathering and reporting and pose for a group portrait.

Speaking out against Communication Minister Stephen Conroy’s proposed reforms, they said safeguarding freedom of speech in Australia was paramount.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/the-men-of-tv-vent-free-speech-outrage/story-e6freuy9-1226598817631

Myrddin Seren

17 Mar 13 at 11:23 am
Deadman

That desal process is the holy grail in that sector. I recall years ago that MIT had developed a membrane for that sort of thing, so Lockheed’s could be a new development entirely or takes MIT’s another several steps forward.
Whatever it is, it seems like a beaut technology.

It would certainly put all the peak “waterers” in their place. Fucking morons.

As I keep saying… scarcity is just a function of technology, that’s all.

However, a desal plant could still be expensive if like in Victoria you end up having the Australian Liars Party build such a plant who then hire or make allowance for the contractor to hire their union buddies causing the project to skyrocket in price by a factor of 2 or 3. Those arseholes ought to be in jail for fraud for what they did with that plant… the scumbag bloodsuckers.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 11:23 am
You’re an ignorant clown, Dogshit QC. Benito Conroy’s fascist regulator would have the power – directly or indirectly through the Privacy Act – to crucify any media organisation. The only ones who can’t see that are shemale government gigolos like you, because, like the rest of the left, you have no principles and just want to see political enemies destroyed.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 11:26 am
Deadman @ 8:22 am

Thanks for the link to Christopher Booker.

He has been running an ( apparently ) lone crusade on the UK local authority child services grabbing kids in highly contentious circumstances.

Apart from bureaucratic over-reach ( got to hit those kiddy grabbing KPIs ) there was a suggestion at times that there may have been an ideological element – don’t be a member of UKIP and come to their attention, for example.

But the real ‘money quote’ not long ago was the news that there are big private adoption agencies in the UK. The No.2 agency was owned by a private equity crew whose exit plan was to IPO the child adoption agency on the back of hits huge profits !!

Talk about perverse incentives.

Myrddin Seren

17 Mar 13 at 11:28 am
Loved Malcolm Farr’s reference to the Telebraph –

“Same as comparing Pol Pot and Kim Jong-un to the Liberal Party, because they don’t have a carbon tax….”

Problem with Farr’s analogy is that Pol Pot and Kim Jong-Un are not purporting to apply a ‘public interest’ test and Conroy is

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 11:29 am
I think SfB outed himself as a sham Catholic last week when I called him on his archaic reference to meat on Fridays, which has not been in vogue since the 1970′s.

He then responded that he had “forgotten” that detail and noting that it only applies on Ash Wednesday … wrong again.

LOL.

He also said it wasn’t a ‘sacrifice’ because fish is dear!

But the custom has to do with eschewing (meat) flesh as a penitential symbol of reverence for Our Lord’s sacrificed flesh and a reminder about the weakness of our own. It has nothing to do with making do with second best. (Which Atlantic salmon obviously isn’t vis-a-vis pork chops).

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 11:29 am
You douchebag, Stepford.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 11:32 am
“Same as comparing Pol Pot and Kim Jong-un to the Liberal Party, because they don’t have a carbon tax….”

Err that doesn’t even make the slightest bit of sense. But what can we expect from the empty headed low-iq left these days?

It’s more like The Age comparing Abbott to nazis.

Or the SMH comparing Howard to Hitler.

And I can find hundreds of such comparisons from back when the left pretended to care about media freedom, etc.

But, yes I know, that was serious analysis. Howard cut arts funding, Abbott points out that Julia Gillard lies. Infinitely worse than a hated, paranoid, dying government merely ramming through law to appoint a government overseer for Newspaper content immediately before an election as retribution for critical coverage.

I can’t figure out if the left are being intentionally stupid in this matter, generally so braindead and idiotic as to really not see the problem, or whether the left are such slobbering, power worshipping totalitarians that you’ll really do actually get turned on at the idea of the Labor government having this power in the belief that it will only be used to punish your cartoon character villian News Ltd.

twostix

17 Mar 13 at 11:42 am
This dude will win the 2016 prez elections. That’s my bet.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 11:43 am
You douchebag, Stepford.

The trouble is he gets off on the attention.

Being a particularly craven narcissist, the grandiosity gap farce that is liar-steve® is willingly spotlighted for the attention he craves

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 11:46 am
The only ones who can’t see that are shemale government gigolos like you, because, like the rest of the left, you have no principles and just want to see political enemies destroyed.

They can see it Tom. Read the comments section of any leftist paper on the issue. They’re positively writhing in ecstasy over the idea of using the law to punish the evil Murdoch and silence the evil News Ltd.

In fact they seem to think it’s the “Punish evil Murdoch” law, as it is – it’s the biggest dog whistle since Gillard started ranting on about “foreigners”. Absolutely certain that the law will not be used against The Age, SMH, etc. Yet the SMH and it’s dogged uncovering of Craig Thompson and NSW Labor corruption at every level was the genesis for the discussions inside Labor of the need for media laws.

twostix

17 Mar 13 at 11:51 am
agree with 2stix
It’s not the lapdogs who will be muzzled so why should those journos see any probs with the proposed media laws

val majkus

17 Mar 13 at 12:12 pm
Rand Paul doesn’t have presidential hair, JC. Even apart from the hair, he has natural kinda dumb face, a bit in the same way Costello naturally looks smug.

Just my honest opinion….

steve from brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 12:15 pm
Comment in moderation?

steve from brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 12:17 pm
Again Hasluck wrote:

Two problems now engaged much of the time of the Government – coal and censorship. During 1943 the numbers of disputes on the coalfields rose, and the amount of coal won declined, until in October, the election now being out of the way, the Prime Minister announced bluntly to the nation that measures must be introduced to conserve coal because current stocks were inadequate to meet an emergency.

A scheme for the transfiguration of Information came in September when a curiously-composed body styled the Committee of National Morale presented an interim report to the Government.

One of Calwell’s earliest acts, performed within three weeks of being sworn in, was to recommend that “in the interests of efficiency and economy” the Department of Information and the Publicity Censorship should be under one control, that the Chief Publicity Censor, Mr Bonney, should be created Director of Information – the title was changed to Director-General a few weeks later – and that Bonney should arrange the amalgamation. Hawes became Chief Administrative Officer of the Department.
It would appear that this change had been in preparation before the election and was not originated by Calwell.

On 27th January Mighell complained direct to Curtin about matter in certain Sydney newspapers and it was agreed that “in view of the irresponsibility which the press of New South Wales is exhibiting” a censor should be placed in the office of each paper. Bonney said this could not be done but proposed that “the offending newspapers should be punished one by one”.

stackja

17 Mar 13 at 12:34 pm
Abbot will presumably have the same power when he is elected to regulate the media. This isn’t too long away at all. Strange this penny hasn’t dropped at all with our leftist cheer squad.

nic

17 Mar 13 at 12:41 pm
The only Demolionist I’d support, but not for her political views.

Hey, does anyone know if she’s made a sex tape yet?

JC

17 Mar 13 at 12:44 pm
Twostix:

I can’t figure out if the left are being intentionally stupid in this matter, generally so braindead and idiotic as to really not see the problem, or whether the left are such slobbering, power worshipping totalitarians that you’ll really do actually get turned on at the idea of the Labor government having this power in the belief that it will only be used to punish your cartoon character villian News Ltd.

All of the above.

They are also too effing stupid to understand that when the government changes over, they will not be in control of this.

If this got up next week, and were I Abbott, I’d do the following straight after winning the next election.

1. Sack the PIMA
2. Announce that Andrew Bolt is the new PIMA. (Cue leftard head explosions)
3. Simultaneously pass legislation to automatically withdraw Conroys legislation after ‘a 12 month trial’
4. Instruct the PIMA the ruthlessly apply Conroys legislation to all left wing media of all types with the express intent of driving home the lesson that ‘freedom of speech is too important to ever let retarded cretins like you to f*** around with, dropkicks: and to make sure you learn that, bend over, here it comes again!‘.

I’d also invite actual journalists (if any can be found) to discuss each and every persecution, fining etc of each and every left wing ~~journalist~~ cretin so that the fundamental totalitarianism of Conroy’s legislation was repeatedly made clear by brutal daily cluebattings.

And after 12 months, it would indeed be scrapped as proven to be injurious to fundamental freedoms of Australians.

12 months of watching the loud patter of exploding lefty heads, the pig-squeals as they repeatedly get reamed under legislation they had trouser-accidents over, and the wails as their private bank accounts bled out in fines.

You could not eat that much popcorn.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 12:47 pm
Judd is cute but she’s a barren wacko:

“It’s unconscionable to breed, with the number of children who are starving to death in impoverished countries.”

She has no children, needless to say.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 12:48 pm
Judd is cute but she’s a barren wacko:

Just leave it at cute, Cl. Why care about what she thinks.

The piece says the party is distancing itself from her. I wonder if she may be a complete lunatic running in a reddish state. naaaa of course not.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 12:51 pm
Comment in moderation?

Fucking A. Good.

Moderator, please don’t let it out.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 12:53 pm
Just leave it at cute, Cl. Why care about what she thinks.

Good point.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 12:55 pm
Comment in moderation?

There is a god and his name is Sinclair.

Gab

17 Mar 13 at 1:00 pm
Hey, does anyone know if she’s made a sex tape yet?

Yes but the two locations were Tennessee and Scotland not Kentucky

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 1:00 pm
Piers Morgan makes an impassioned rant on free speech on insiders.
Um..that’s a first…

1735099

17 Mar 13 at 1:04 pm
Comment in moderation?

Sorry Steve – can’t see it in the moderation queue or the spam filter.

Sinclair Davidson

17 Mar 13 at 1:08 pm
Sorry Steve – can’t see it in the moderation queue or the spam filter.

Is that an expression of regret or an apology Sinc?

Or maybe f-ck you’re lying your arse off again liar-steve®!

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 1:14 pm
Numbers notes a minor text error every one else automatially picked up from the context and cannot retain his trumphalism.

Congratulations, genius.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 1:27 pm
If this true, America is seriously fucked.

Apparently, President Obama wouldn’t – couldn’t – eat the delicious lunch U.S. Sen. Susan Collins served Thursday, not because she’s a Republican, but because he didn’t have a food “taster” with him.

Seriously.

The Daily Caller reported Collins hosted the lunch meeting between the president and Senate Republicans and served a variety of food from her home state of Maine.

However, Obama didn’t eat a single thing.

Speaking to reporters after the luncheon, Collins said Obama wanted to eat, but couldn’t because he had no taster with him:

He looked longingly at [the food]. He honestly did look longingly at it, but apparently he has to have essentially a taster, and I pointed out to him that we were all tasters for him, that if the food had been poisoned all of us would have keeled over so, but he did look longingly at it and he remarked that we have far better food than the Democrats do, and I said that was because I was hosting.

A taster, as in a “royal taster” – or in this case, what? A presidential taster? The first taster? Would such a person be employed by the Secret Service? We know the White House calligraphers make almost $100,000 a year. Can you imagine the salary of the “taster”?

The Daily Caller noted a 2009 article from Agence France-Presse that reported a “taster” accompanied Obama to dinner in a French restaurant and actually tasted Obama’s food.

“The US Secret Service has always refused to confirm that US presidents travel with a food ‘taster’, in line with their policy of discretion on all security related issues,” AFP reported.

It’s past time the entire political system was dismantled and start again.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 1:29 pm
Can you imagine the salary of the “taster”?

Good gig if you can get it. What about his beer and whisky taster, do you reckon that’s the same person or do they get a specialist?

jupes

17 Mar 13 at 1:33 pm
Piers Morgan makes an impassioned rant on free speech on insiders.
Um..that’s a first…

1735099
17 Mar 13 at 1:04

That was a JC post, numbers.

The typos are due to his f@#king iPad.

Eddystone

17 Mar 13 at 1:55 pm
Hey Mark, did I read you’ve got a new rifle?

Let’s have the details

Eddystone

17 Mar 13 at 1:56 pm
Shit… I called him Piers Morgan. How awful.

Shut up spuds, you idiot. Go waste your time somewhere else.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 2:01 pm
The man behind all this is ‘Liberal’ Premier – and massive dickhead – Barry O’Farrell.

You have to remember, CL, that the Libs were white anted beginning about twenty years ago.
They’re full of of Leftist big statists now.
We have a a choice between a Left Party, a Very Left Party, and the Party of Green Fundamentalism.
Bloody great.

Winston SMITH

17 Mar 13 at 2:03 pm
Sarah Palin at CPAC ridicules Michael Bloomberg with a sight gag, makes naughty joke about her rack… Very funny: Video.

[Not safe for Australian Roxonites afraid of sex and real women].

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 2:03 pm
“Numbers notes a minor text error every one else automatially picked up from the context and cannot retain his trumphalism.”

Do not underestimate numbers Mk50. What you noticed there was the chilling accuracy of a warrior’s eye.

You see, numbers has a very particular set of skills; skills he acquired over a few very short months, long, long, long ago. Skills that make him a nightmare for people like you.

All you need do is ask the modest little fellow and he’ll not stop talking about himself for three days.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

17 Mar 13 at 2:09 pm
Shit… I called him Piers Morgan. How awful.

I know.

dover_beach

17 Mar 13 at 2:10 pm
Sarah Palin at CPAC ridicules Michael Bloomberg with a sight gag, makes naughty joke about her rack… Very funny: Video.

The more I see of her the more I like her.

dover_beach

17 Mar 13 at 2:13 pm
Announce that Andrew Bolt is the new PIMA.

That won’t scare them. Bolt is actually a nice man who wants people to like him. Not nasty enough at all.

Let’s try Fred Nile.

dismissive

17 Mar 13 at 2:14 pm
Reithy for PIMA.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 2:17 pm
Despite overwhelming odds that city… high taxes and and arshole mayor and governor of the state, NYC is always remaking itself.

West Coast-best coast? Not so, says the thriving New York City start-up scene.

During the past decade, the Big Apple has emerged as a top tech center for new companies and a hotbed for both angel and venture capital funding.

In the last year, 127 start-ups were founded in the city, nearly equal to the combined 131 that launched in San Francisco and Palo Alto, Calif., according to data from SeedTable.com.

Eric Hippeau, a partner at Lerer Ventures, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” he sees a shift from Silicon Valley to New York.

“New York is booming-here to stay as a big tech center,” he said. “It’s very different than the Valley. I don’t think the people in New York are trying to replicate what’s going on in the Valley. New York is doing what New York is good at-commerce, media, publishing, enterprise, marketplaces.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nyc-tech-boom-not-just-190922283.html

JC

17 Mar 13 at 2:17 pm
Oh please.

Jenny Macklin has a big blub contemplating her own nobility:

http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2012/s3717345.htm

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 2:18 pm
@Mk50

Numbers notes a minor text error every one else automatially picked up from the context and cannot retain his trumphalism.

How long have you been on the waiting list for a sense of humour implant?

@ Mick the Prick from Little Baghdad on the Nerang
All you need do is ~~ask the modest little fellow~~ read something he posts and ~~he’ll~~ you’ll not stop talking about ~~himself~~ him for three days.
FIFU

1735099

17 Mar 13 at 2:21 pm
” That won’t scare them. Bolt is actually a nice man who wants people to like him. Not nasty enough at all.
Let’s try Fred Nile.”

No
Pick a burner.
Or pick me.

WhaleHunt Fun

17 Mar 13 at 2:28 pm
Meanwhile in the UK:

The future of the free press is now being settled by methods better suited to conflict resolution in the Balkans…

Sound familiar?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9934163/Free-speech-is-too-important-for-all-this-messy-politicking.html

Viva

17 Mar 13 at 2:30 pm
“Mick the Prick from Little Baghdad on the Nerang”

That sounds as an immature teenage boy hunched over his revenge list – like Comrade Kevni at Nambour High after they left him out of the playground cricket team – and the next bit doesn’t make any sense.

Nerang is near homogenous white Australia, not a middle eastern to be seen – a characteristic to your bigoted liking as I recall. What have you got against Baghdad? Or Nerang?

Do try harder to surge through that deep seated surliness and attempt to be amusing as you snarl at your betters.

What does FIFU mean?

Mick Gold Coast QLD

17 Mar 13 at 2:35 pm
What c..t Conroy aspires to.

As with anything involving the Hermit Kingdom, there is a great deal of craziness attached to this issue. Prepare to be smacked by gob as a consequence of reading the following:

As the article’s title indicates, at the most, a grand total of 1,000 people would be affected by a cyber blackout in North Korea. And perhaps the number of people in the country with “unrestricted access” numbers only “a few dozen families — most directly related to Kim Jong-un himself.”
North Korea’s mobile Internet service does not cover people who actually live in North Korea.
North Korea’s intranet prevents the country’s citizens from getting anything resembling an honest glimpse of the World Wide Web—and of the larger world, to boot. Additionally, if you are a journalist and there is but a small typo in your article, you can be sent to a “revolutionisation” camp. I’m pretty sure the experience is less lovely than it sounds, and the experience doesn’t sound all that lovely to begin with.

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Internet-Access-in-North-Korea

JC

17 Mar 13 at 2:40 pm
Oh please.

Jenny Macklin has a big blub contemplating her own nobility:

That collectivist really gives me the irrits. Jenny Macklin and all the back-patting creatures wanting a piggy-back on the disabled. There is a special place in hell for this slick passing itself off as a government.

And as for the Opposition waving through means no bastard has read the crap that’s being ~~pussed~~ passed into law, maybe I was right the first time.

This will create another trough at which god knows how many bastards will sup — they’re given almost unfettered power over the lives of people with disabilities to a CEO rivals the Pope I’d venture. A CEO omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, with a bureaucracy who, no doubt will all have to grow big black moustaches like this to get a guernsey.

Tintarella di Luna

17 Mar 13 at 2:58 pm
Maybe Macklin is crying because she knows KRuddy, The Goose and TLS have pissed $300bn up against the wall and that the NDIS will never be funded?

H B Bear

17 Mar 13 at 3:05 pm
Eddystone, having found a new gunsmith I had him give the old .303 a really close examination, and while still shootable (if I neck size ONLY – yep, she’s 6 thou out on headspace) she’s beyond economic repair as an accurate rifle in the 250-350m band. She’s 2.5-3.3 MOA on a good day, so effectively range is really 200 yards at best.

So I did the research and came up with Browning, Remington or Howa, all in .308. Looked at Sako – I am not rich.

Cleaver is selling the Howa .308 (Hogue stock with picaninny rail) for $595 (no, not kidding, look here and scroll down). Remington was $925, Browning $845, the latter pair with rings). There is no accuracy or other difference with these rifles in this range band, all are sub MOA out of the box but the Howa is the heavy barrel, which the Japanese National Police use as the basis for their sniper rifle, and it has a match-grade trigger with a really smooth 2lb 14oz pull. I actually found the Howa bolt action to be slightly superior, too (but that’s really a subjective matter). Front locking lugs and a very minimalist design. The machine-work is just beautiful.

I want to try the rifle on 4 shot internal before looking at going for the 10-shot mag conversion, but that’s really simple anyway.

So she’s all sorted (got the gunsmith to do the assemble so the rail’s properly bedded and scope rings are properly lapped, and I am carefully working it in. Just on factory load as yet, I’ll start my own loads in due course, but the Remington 150gr ballistic tip at 2800fps on Lapua brass is looking good.

Yeah, with the 4-12/40 ‘Leupold’ I think I can target foxes again, and the pigs ruining the property owner’s lucerne will be in trouble. We cannot get any closer than 250m due to the air flow over that particular terrain. I hate those pigs, they have exterminated the micro-fauna in the adjacent national park.

If you are after a new rifle, that Cleaver package on Howa w/Hogue stock is the best value in the country. It’s USA price plus a little for shipping.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 3:13 pm
Helen Armstrong,
It’s like all the hoopla and razzmatazz over the Violence Against Women Act in the States, with the blokes who voted against it denounced as pariahs and whatnot.
It’s like they’re saying that there are no laws stating that you can’t commit violence against women, hence this new groundbreaking law that will automatically help cease all acts of violence against women.
Laws are in place, in civilised countries, that, in the case of violence and assault and rape and murder, are there for everybody, where men just can’t bash and rape women and get away with it because they are allowed to do that.
In uncivilised countries, like the Middle East, and countries in Africa say, where the culture is all masculine and the women are just there to cook and clean and have sex with their mutilated labias, and heaven forbid they have pleasure, laws are needed to help these women.
Just why feminists would laud this new law, VAWA, is beyond me. It is nothing new, it does not create a new law now outlawing violence against women, it is just luvvies making another feelgood motion, which will change nothing, all the while it’s the seeming to do something and feeling all warm and fuzzy.
As for the article. It just goes to show how stupid and knowingly blind Spanky Ban-ki really is. The UN knows that those countries won’t honour it, it’s all about saying and doing something that makes those countries seem to come out of the 7th century, giving women an even footing in life, but the sane and moral among us know that it won’t happen.
But, but, the UN will cry, they said they were going to do it. Look, they signed the treatise.

Peter55

17 Mar 13 at 3:14 pm
NDIS
. No money. And the whiney parasites will all blame Abbott

WhaleHunt Fun

17 Mar 13 at 3:22 pm
(Hogue stock with picaninny rail)

They make rails in PNG now Mk50?

jupes

17 Mar 13 at 3:25 pm
Jacques,

Apologies for my crankiness yesterday evening, Squire.

Had a couple of comments eaten, one of which quite a bit of effort had gone into.

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 3:34 pm
Long way to 2016, but the remarkable occurance with the Rand Paul filibuster was that the whole political landscape shifted as it went on.

There was a separation that occurred along ideological lines that transcended political affiliations. Yes, the administration got owned, which made it a win for Republicans. But it was on a point that the Democrats, away from power, had made their own. So there was in a sense a win for what had been argued by the Democrats.

Watching the fall out over the following week or so, some things became clear. The neocons are gone, and will not be a force come 2016. See the way McCain and Graham got derided for their reaction.

Rand Paul has all the momentum, and Ted Cruz makes an incredible second. Rubio… wasn’t the one, and isn’t a second.

2016 , Paul vs Rubio for the nomination.

Driftforge

17 Mar 13 at 3:48 pm
Jupes: AKA MIL-STD-1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail. They sell them under the nomenclature ‘Picatinny’ rails because the US Picatinny Arsenal has the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center and they did the MIL-STD-1913 eval. Always been called ‘picaninny’ rails in the ADF as they are a carrier rail, and because ‘picatinny’ sounds silly.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 3:50 pm
The first sign that Pope Francis will be on the right side of the climate change issue? From his big audience the other day, explaining why he took the name Francis after St Francis of Assisi (not the other “Francis” saints):

For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation; these days we do not have a very good relationship with creation, do we?

Sounds promising…

steve from brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 3:53 pm
Hmm.

Most illegal immigrants flooding into Australia without papers are composed of Afghani Army personnel”, an employee connected to Christmas Island has claimed.

The processing centre at Christmas Island is being manipulated by corrupt Iranian and Afghani interpreters who advise the army deserters to say they are lowly farmers

.

Naah. COuld not be true. The ALPgreenfilth say that are all poor persecuted Hazara.

They’d not like about something like that, would they?

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 3:56 pm
Hee hee.

Shitfer still believes in glowball warming.

Make sure that you write a nice letter to the Easter Bunny, Shitfer, and he’ll bring you chocolate.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 3:59 pm
The neocons are gone, and will not be a force come 2016. See the way McCain and Graham got derided for their reaction.

I think this is being unfair to neocons since McCain and Graham never were neocons but establishment Republicans.

dover_beach

17 Mar 13 at 4:07 pm
Mark, you may have missed Dogshit praying to Gaia to destroy human civilisation in this very place last year:

…we are quite likely headed to a clear new all time global warming high within the next 12 months. (I could be wrong, but it will at least go close, barring volcanoes or meteor strike.) The reality of global warming, and the need to take it seriously, is going to be increasingly hard to deny, even for you lot. This means your hope of Abbott going all Boltian on you and rejecting any action at all will not be a credible option. You may as well give up that hope now.

…or maybe it will by 2015, or maybe it won’t…

steve from brisbane
16 Aug 12 at 7:16 pm

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 4:09 pm
Why, given our defence budget has been slashed well past the bone, am I hearing from my office window the sound of F-18s doing fly-pasts for the Grand Prix?

Can’t see as how they’d be being paid anything like cost (if anything at all!)… nor can I see much benefit for the RAAF in training terms or what have you.

mct

17 Mar 13 at 4:17 pm
because ‘picatinny’ sounds silly.

Not at all. We used to play “pick a tinny” all the time. You got to choose a green tinny (VB), red tinnie (Emu Export) or yellow tinny (light stuff). Then along came black ones and blue ones and white ones…

boy on a bike

17 Mar 13 at 4:22 pm
… nor can I see much benefit for the RAAF in training terms or what have you.

Well considering they never sent them to Afghanistan to support the troops on the ground, I suppose they have to do something. Otherwise what is point of having them?

jupes

17 Mar 13 at 4:28 pm
Flip forward to 5m30s to see the only real journalist in the room berate his colleagues for welcoming open-ended government control over their writing while a group of fat party hacks laugh and snigger at him.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 4:43 pm
I would greatly enjoy slapping that interrupting sniggering bitch Karen across the chops. That she thinks free press is not something to be protected from government interference is grounds for her to be dismissed from whatever little blog for which she currently acts as tea lady.

Gab

17 Mar 13 at 4:49 pm
@ mct “Say again, I can’t hear you”

Mrs SB (a multi lingual smart alec) tells me there a lot of Indos at the track this week.

When my youngster loooked skywards and asked “Papa woss da?” I replied “A cynical attempt to persuade our northern niehgbours that we still have an air superiority deterrent.”

Empire Strikes Back

17 Mar 13 at 4:51 pm
And Barry Cassidy deserves a good smack in the head with a rotting cod.

Gab

17 Mar 13 at 4:52 pm
Well, Tom, Shitfer’s takena short break.

I suspect he’s frantically scrawling messgaes to the Easter bunny.

I mean after the release of the Climategate emails, how can anyone with an intellect greater than that of a gecko still believe in that garbage?

We not only know how they made it all up, we know why they made it all up. And it was all for prestige and money.

Just like any other con-men.

What kind of idiot still believes the con after the con-men themselves have exposed it?

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 5:03 pm
Mark, under the current defence flying/ordnance budget restrictions, do you know how many of our 71 remaining FA18s are deployable simultaneously?

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 5:09 pm
Mark, that Howa sounds great. Good all round cartridge too. The pigs wont complain that they weren’t shot with a classic round.

Eddystone

17 Mar 13 at 5:21 pm
neocons but establishment Republicans.

At the moment, neocons are the establishment republicans. They deserve every bit of unfairness they get.

Driftforge

17 Mar 13 at 5:30 pm
But McCain was never a neocon. McCain and Graham deserve our contempt because they have been lukewarm politicians who have wanted to kiss the proverbial ass of the msm at every opportunity.

dover_beach

17 Mar 13 at 5:49 pm
For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation; these days we do not have a very good relationship with creation, do we?

Why am I not surprised that sfb would interpret this in the most secular manner?

dover_beach

17 Mar 13 at 5:50 pm
Flip forward to 5m30s to see the only real journalist in the room berate his colleagues for welcoming open-ended government control over their writing while a group of fat party hacks laugh and snigger at him.

Just watched it…

Thomas, I will never forgive you for subjecting me to that.

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 6:27 pm
Tom

I have not been watching this particular issue (too many other things going on). I’d suggest 24-30 of the old models and two-thirds of the new models on a short notice call. Plus AEW&C and tankers.

And so much depends on the threat, and on the ordnance requirements from our side. I have no idea of our AAM and ASM stocks and if I did I’d not discuss it, but it’s normally the case that those stocks play a big role in determining what deployable numbers are.

Fortunately, we have the C-17′s now to bring in additional stocks quickly (assuming the USAF and USN can spare them).

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 6:45 pm
Thanks, Mark. LOL, Rabz.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 6:54 pm
Eddystone

Yes and I really did not want to add another calibre. I even contacted Howa and asked about them developing a .303 line. Unfortunately they have no plans to (and I think they are missing out on a pretty serious market there).

I am concerned about the pigs complaining about not being shot with a true classic Australian .303 round. In fact I am so concerned that I am in early stages of research: the first option is to look at getting a Howa action and having a custom .303 barrel made for it. Or maybe modifying a Howa Heavy .233 barrelled action.

Each time I mention this my gunsmith’s eyes light up. He enjoys a challenge.

I am also waiting for a .303 Martini-Henry to turn up. That beastie I am going to have a custom scope mount made for. I’ll use the existing screw holes of course, and scope it. I have an old Parker-Hale scope in good condition.

I have also found out that IMA have some original British .303cal Martini-Henry rifle 1876/95 socket bayonets. So I’ll get one of those too.

The look on my cousin’s face when he sees me with a ‘new’ .303 pig gun in the form of a scoped Martini Henry with a socket bayonet on it will be just priceless.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 7:02 pm
I think there could be a successful Sunday Afternoon Ordinance and Munitions thread under Ongoing Debates.

hzhousewife

17 Mar 13 at 7:42 pm
I’ll just have to content myself with the Martini.

blogstrop

17 Mar 13 at 7:55 pm
The fuck? On the say-so of one of his readers, Bolt is excusing an outrageous double standard by one of the luvvies at the Quill journalism awards on Friday night:

Stephen Mayne tweeted actress Rachel Grittith verbatim:

“Gina, please take Andrew Bolt to lunch and eat him,” says Rachel Griffith. This is bigger than when she stripped at Crown opening.

The leftist fuckwittery forbids sexism, vulgarity, “unfairness” and fat jokes — except if it’s one of the left’s four Australian voodoo hate figures (Rinehart, Jones, Abbott and Bolt), when projectile vomiting of zombie hate is excused. Don’t think, feel. Don’t argue, shriek abuse. An epidemic of children’s tantrums, egged on by the national children’s government.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 8:00 pm
Appears Cyprus is in a spot of bother.

Louis Hissink

17 Mar 13 at 8:01 pm
Tom,

The Andrew was Andrew Jaspan,not Andrew Bolt.

Louis Hissink

17 Mar 13 at 8:03 pm
GOLD!!
Fran Barlow discovers the housing market.( THIS should be a tread of its own)

Hubby and I went out househunting on Saturday. The landlord put the rent up by 10% not because it was fair, but because she can, and we now expect that this will be the norm each year — it used to be 5%. That fixed our minds on bringing our 22-year stint as tenants to an end.

Needless to say, the decision to purchase is by no means an easy one. We are used to living where we are and find the neighbourhood congenial but there is simply no way we could afford to buy within about 4 km of where we are now, so some hard choices need to be made.

As we would be borrowing about 95% of the purchase price we need to find stamp duty (allow $20-27k) and Mortgage insurance (allow another $27k) out of cash. Ouch! That means that effectively, the most we can possibly pay for a property is about $665k — which means buying somewhere considerably farther from work than Epping. {sighs}.

We had identified a cute little place in Northmead — $560k — with “landscaped lawn” and “potential in-law accommodation”. The street wasn’t too busy and the neighborhood looked pleasant. The parts of the house in the photos at Domain looked promising. Sadly, when we got there, the “landscaped” was only landscaped if one counts tossing down some pebbles in one corner as landscaping. The “potential in-law accommodation” was really a DIY-built fibro shed the smell of which reminded me of a similar shed at the back of my home in West Ryde c. 1965. The guttering would have needed immediate replacement, the fences were in need of repair if our dogs were to be kept away from others and there was a tiny bathroom and laundry.

Off we went to a place in Tempe. This had the promise of a much shorter trip to work (for me) but one much longer for hubby. The place was a little above what we knew we could afford, but we fancied that if it was immaculate perhaps we could negotiate them down a bit. There was no parking off street and it was quite a narrow street in any event. One of us would have to give up a car — probably I would — but even then hubby might find himself parking two streets away and carrying all his marking to the car before driving 1 hour or more to work. Sacrifices would have to be made.

We fought our way through the traffic but missed the open house time after getting stuck in a series of bottlenecks between Drummoyne and Petersham and had to arrange an unscheduled look at 2.30. What to do?

We sauntered down to the Valve Hotel in search of a quiet cider and perhaps some food. Apparently though this place specialises in grunge and death metal bands. Heavily tattooed Willie Nelson look alikes, someone with a mohawk but otherwise looking like Bruce Willis, someone painted like the joker seemed to be doing their best to contribute to industrial deafness in anyone within 25 yards. There was a chap there — a regular apparently — with a very well-behaved chihuahua but otherwise it was all moans of pain. We grabbed a couple of tofu burgers and headed outside just barely out of range of aural injury. The music seemed angry — I hoped they were complaining about capitalism, but couldn’t really tell what the lead singer — who seemed to have the cadences of Darth Vader — was saying.

Needless to say, when we recomposed ourselves and headed back to the house inspection at 2.30, it likewise proved unsuitable. It had a poor excuse for a kitchen and this time the shed out the back did not quite meet the descriptor “studio”. Apparently, if you were to believe the agent, someone’s teenager lived there “for extra space” (and presumably asthma). Suddenly the need for grunge music became obvious. Perhaps if I lived there, I’d want to share my pain and stick pins through my nose. I always wonder why agents lie like that. For the life of me I can’t see that anyone benefits. The only result was that he, we and some other couple all wasted our time, and my opinion of him declined.

So we were off again, to Castle Hill. The place again seemed nice but apparently, it had already been sold. The street, unlike that in Tempe, was superbly leafy and the house did seem inviting. We received the news of the sale from some chap hovering in a commodore out the front, who couldn’t believe someone had paid $700k for a property on the market at $650k+. Look at all these trees! he wailed. They’re so ugly. They block the view. Australians apparently like trees around their houses!

I pointed out that I was one of those weird folk who likes trees around their houses, but he was not to be deterred. OK, I wouldn’t mind if they were trees like they have in America or Europe but these ones are really ugly and block the light.

I had to suppress a laugh. To begin with, the trees of which he was complaining were non-native — and contrary to his claim about European and American trees, were entirely visible. — seriously blocking the light.

Again, although it occurred to me that while “Darth Vader’s” lyrics eluded me, I could begin to understand his sentiment.

I shook my head and proffered: trees eh? What you gonna do? Can’t live with ‘em — can’t live without ‘em before driving off to allow him to contemplate the unfairness of it all.

jumpnmcar

17 Mar 13 at 8:07 pm
Meanwhile over at LP

As we would be borrowing about 95% of the purchase price we need to find stamp duty (allow $20-27k) and Mortgage insurance (allow another $27k) out of cash. Ouch! That means that effectively, the most we can possibly pay for a property is about $665k — which means buying somewhere considerably farther from work than Epping. {sighs}.

Fran Bailey decides the rent is too much after 22years of renting. By god I would hate to be married to that.

Tiny Dancer

17 Mar 13 at 8:08 pm
We grabbed a couple of tofu burgers and headed outside just barely out of range of aural injury. The music seemed angry — I hoped they were complaining about capitalism, but couldn’t really tell …

Comedy gold.

jupes

17 Mar 13 at 8:17 pm
Castle Hill – it’s where the action is Fran. Keep on the trail and you might get lucky.

blogstrop

17 Mar 13 at 8:18 pm
Fran’s in her 50′s. As a school teacher and I presume her hubby is working, why so long buying a house earlier instead of now.

Man, she sounds like she could talk underwater with peddles in her fat gob. She could drive any man to lunacy.

And while on that subject what kinda man allows his kids to be called Lenny… short for Lenin?

JC

17 Mar 13 at 8:24 pm
…and those evil landlords, putting up the rent just because they could. She should have asked an adult to organise her life.

Tiny Dancer

17 Mar 13 at 8:26 pm
Oh Lord that’s hilarious. Rolled gold comedy.

The adventures of Fran in the unfair world.

yet, the stupid sod supports all the policies which have driven Sydney house prices into the stratosphere!

So unfair when it happens to her.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 8:28 pm
JC – yes. She has boasted of it many times.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 8:29 pm
Tiny Dancer, that’s a snap.
And that means i win something chap.
How bout ” no debt ?
That’s what I bet
Gillard will never crack.

jumpnmcar

17 Mar 13 at 8:30 pm
We may end up living a bit less well than we have until now, but we should be OK.

Tiny Dancer

17 Mar 13 at 8:30 pm
Is fran batlow a real person – surely she’s a parody like the hammburglar?

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 8:33 pm
She’s real alright.

JC

17 Mar 13 at 8:35 pm
Louis, I’m fairly sure Stephen Mayne was in the room; I’m almost equally sure luvvie Rachel would not have done her joke unless it was about Bolt. There’s no transcript.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 8:35 pm
oh Thaaat Fran Barlow…….now it all figgers

Louis Hissink

17 Mar 13 at 8:37 pm
She’s real alright.

JC, you’ve got to be f*cking kidding?!?

No one could be that stupid and still be alive at 50+…

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 8:39 pm
Is fran batlow a real person – surely she’s a parody like the hammburglar?

Rabz, please, her children Max and Leni. ( named after Marx and Lenin ) may be listening.
Have you no empathy for her youngones?
You disappoint all of us Rabz, verily.

jumpnmcar

17 Mar 13 at 8:41 pm
Tom, fair enough – but I wonder if confirmatory anecdotes appear – if not maybe the Mayne version is inaccurate?

Louis Hissink

17 Mar 13 at 8:41 pm
What a shame she didn’t have another kid. He’d be named Stan after Stalin. Then she’d have the set.

Gab

17 Mar 13 at 8:43 pm
Have you no empathy for her youngones?

Won’t anyone think of the kiddies, I tells ya!

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 8:43 pm
Rabz – where is my toon?
Thaaaaaaat Fran Barlow – JC has fallen for a 30 year old picture of FB. Well I never did trust women who relied too much on their looks when young.

They are rarely capable of making sense later in life.
It kind of ruins them for life.

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 8:43 pm
Sorry, Aliice – on its way!

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 8:44 pm
We grabbed a couple of tofu burgers and headed outside just barely out of range of aural injury. The music seemed angry — I hoped they were complaining about capitalism, but couldn’t really tell …

Comedy gold.

More comedy gold on the same thread:

FDB is indignantly doing a letter drop of all his neighbours on the street to ask them not to use rat poison as his cat ‘Stevie Nicks’ died as a result.

Anyone wishing to go on a rant about how cats are evil killers who ought to be eradicated can take it to the overflow thread where I can ignore it. Or just cram it up their backside, as preference dictates.

I miss that twit.

FDB and liar-steve® should do a swap for entertainment’s sake.

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 8:45 pm
Unfortunately FB is real person but please I get nervous when people even mention Fran. It could invite a lecture response, the length of which you have never seen before (and you wont be able to make much sense of it either).

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 8:46 pm
Maybe that third kid would have been calld Engy afler Engels.

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 8:47 pm
JC has really gone gonzo over a 30 year old picture of FB (no make it 40 years old).
Poor JC has really lost it.

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 8:48 pm
There sure are a lot of people getting shot in Australia lately.

It’s puzzling.

John Howard said shootings and firearm murders would be impossible because criminals would keep their guns in safes. Mmm.

C.L.

17 Mar 13 at 8:51 pm
OMG Jumpncar

Obviously Fran just aint as smart as she thinks…she is just getting into the housing market now as a buyer and borrowing 95% at age over 50?

The banks must be rubbing

Well its a very fast way to welfare and the old age pension isnt it?

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 8:52 pm
Music seems to help the pain

Seems to cultivate the brain.

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 8:55 pm
FDB is indignantly doing a letter drop of all his neighbours on the street to ask them not to use rat poison as his cat ‘Stevie Nicks’ died as a result.

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Eleventy!!!

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 8:57 pm
Aliice,
She’s smart no doubt, just not used to the reality most of us live in.

jumpnmcar

17 Mar 13 at 8:58 pm
Jump – I promise you FB is not smart.

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 9:01 pm
Great Floyd Rabz.

Words at the end of the song strike a chord “Real eyes realize real lies.”
Maybe Abbott could use that as a campaign slogan.

Splatacrobat

17 Mar 13 at 9:01 pm
Nielsen Poll: L/NP 56 (0) ALP 44 (0)

Andrew

17 Mar 13 at 9:01 pm
Hint for Fran;

Take up a $500K+ mortgage in your 50′s – retire in penury with your clawlike hand stretching out to the Evil Abbott for alms.

How very Soviet Union.

Pedro the Ignorant

17 Mar 13 at 9:02 pm
TFGC…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FfCxLvV2nc

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 9:03 pm
Nielsen Poll: L/NP 56 (0) ALP 44 (0)

are you sure Andrew? I’ve had enough false alarms.

Tintarella di Luna

17 Mar 13 at 9:07 pm
False alarms??

https://twitter.com/GhostWhoVotes/status/313228218851274753

Andrew

17 Mar 13 at 9:09 pm
I wouldn’t be seen dead in a place that served tofu burgers.

blogstrop

17 Mar 13 at 9:10 pm
Ok Rabz – that was an unsual pink floyd. Must admit havent heard that one. Here is a one for you but you will have to overlook the hairdo (whoooaa).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8XQZYIiNgo

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 9:12 pm
Lefties on Twitter are seriously trying to spin that Nielsen poll as good news because “no change” and “no improvement for Abbott”.

No really…..

MDMConnell

17 Mar 13 at 9:12 pm
Ghost who votes has good information – but we need to see the primary vote.

Sinclair Davidson

17 Mar 13 at 9:13 pm
ooh oooh ahh now that’s a beautiful set of numbers

Tintarella di Luna

17 Mar 13 at 9:14 pm
I haven’t seen GhostWhovotes get it wrong.

I dunno how he gets it ahead of time for Newspoll and Nielsen.

If Labor is 31 this time round again then surely “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well. It were done quickly”

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 9:15 pm
What’s so hysterically funny about Fran’s whining is that they have no savings, either.

That’s obviously an evil capitalist thing, savings.

So now she has to go to da eeeevil banks for a 95% loan.

Because she feels entitled to a middle class capitalist lifestyle.

Surely a grim concrete-walled ~~dogbox~~ unit in a 1950s style vertical working class slum is what she should be aiming for?

And they have two cars?

Let’s face it, Fran. You are a lickspittle capitalist-roader running dog of the anti-proletarian class.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 9:19 pm
Thank you Andrew am a bit lazy on a Sunday night.

Tintarella di Luna

17 Mar 13 at 9:19 pm
Look around, around, around, around, around…

Look around, around, around…

Look around…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwVURcWaFRM

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 9:21 pm
What’s so hysterically funny about Fran’s whining is that they have no savings, either.

One has to wonder why?

Tintarella di Luna

17 Mar 13 at 9:22 pm
Fran is barking mad, but her posts are so lengthy who’s going to bother to find out if she is entertaining enough to mitigate the loopiness?

Aliice, did you actually read all 930 words of her house-hunting comment, or just the first sentence?

Steve at the Pub

17 Mar 13 at 9:22 pm
Surely a grim concrete-walled dogbox unit in a 1950s style vertical working class slum

Ask and ye shall recieve, franny.

The wondrous, bounteous state delivereth!

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 9:24 pm
Of course people read it all, Steve atp, it’s what Sydneysiders live for.

blogstrop

17 Mar 13 at 9:25 pm
“Can’t afford the rent where we are, so went house hunting, haven’t yet found anything affordable that we like“.

There! Fran’s house hunting comment is condensed for fellow catrelaxationists! (Alla same longa what that Reader’s Digest does).

19 words. Were I to put my back into it, I’d probably knock another 25% of them out.

Steve at the Pub

17 Mar 13 at 9:25 pm
You’ve a point there Blogstrop.

I’d add that everything is relative. Alongside much of the inane drivel on that site, Fran’s stuff is actually coherent and logical.

Besides, her grammar & punctuation are perfect, we could all do worse than to daily read two of three of Fran’s thousand word blog comments.

Steve at the Pub

17 Mar 13 at 9:30 pm
… we could all do worse than to daily read two of three of Fran’s thousand word blog comments.

Err, we could?

Rabz

17 Mar 13 at 9:34 pm
Ok Rabz enough with the hair…

This is oldie but a goodie… thats Leon Russell on the piano. Ill put a good one of his up as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-407iUd_pFY

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 9:34 pm
Omega, fifth stringer losers Paul Bongiournio and Malcom Farr are having a massive love in on Twitter. Farr’s making a series of weird, “jokes” about the media regulation and Paul’s telling him how awesome he is.

https://twitter.com/PaulBongiorno/status/313136599326154752
https://twitter.com/PaulBongiorno/status/313138255371595776

I’ve noticed a weird thing about all these unapologetic ALP spruikers – they all have convinced themselves that they’re moderate “centrists” – the everyman and everyone else is crazy.

They just happen to always think that the ALP are right 100% of the time.

twostix

17 Mar 13 at 9:35 pm
twostix

you are surely right about that – I know an ex-employee of Fairfax who insisted that the UK Guardian was a middle of the road publication. Huh?

It was then I realised we were dealing with seriously deluded people who actually believe their delusions as reality.

Thinking about it, there are a rather large number of people who believe you can get something for nothing.

Louis Hissink

17 Mar 13 at 9:41 pm
A little bit more of Leon for ya Rabz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4sMSSm0x2A

No we definitely could do a lot better than reading Frans 1000 word blogs…even 500 words would be an improvement LOL.

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 9:42 pm
Listen Rabz -

Just quietly. I dont want to dob SATP in, but he happens to have seen and become enamoured with the same 40 year old pic of Fran B that melted JCs critical faculties.

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 9:46 pm
“Centrist” Paul Bongiorno..

Pathetically sad USA “right to bear arms” Right wing bullshit

Newspoll has the Coalition finishing the year strongly. Clearly mud throwing works. It was relentless.

Gillard: This is smear pure and simple. It’s all the Liberals have got while the government gets on with the job. Fired up and effective.

Scott Morrison insists Labor govt still not cruel enough dealing with refugees. Bring on the TPVs

This man tells everyone that challenges him he’s a “moderate”, “non partisan”, “catholic” everyman.

Or in other words Paul Bongiorno is…Steve From Brisbane!

twostix

17 Mar 13 at 9:47 pm
Satp

Never can read more than the first two or three sentences of FB’s….after that Im lost.

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 9:49 pm
Yes, Rabz, surely there must be a similar Stalinist grotesquery in Sydney for our Frannie the Leninist?

Seriously, you could not make her self-humiliating drivel up if you tried.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 9:52 pm
Phil Hughes 50 runs from 50 balls.

Can he save Australia?

jupes

17 Mar 13 at 9:55 pm
Septimus – been listening to Avantasia while I read thru a volume of The History of the Ministry of Munitions today.

Have you listened to ‘The Wicked Symphony‘? Very good album.

Mk50 of Brisbane

17 Mar 13 at 9:56 pm
Actually, Arrice, out of all the stuff he did, I reckon Leon Russell made only one attempt to get off the tortured Carney sideshow merry-go-round. Nice to know he’s still his tortured self.

Tom

17 Mar 13 at 9:59 pm
Phil Hughes 50 runs from 50 balls.

Can he save Australia?

No, in the the last 10 innings hes got less runs than Starks lasts 10.

jumpnmcar

17 Mar 13 at 10:04 pm
Can he save Australia?

He’s still there at stumps.

Australia trail by 16 runs with seven wickets in hand and one day remaining.

jupes

17 Mar 13 at 10:10 pm
Tom – thats amazing I had forgotten that one – Masquerade…its great.
I recall having a schoolgirl crush on the tortured soul (but that definitely wasnt his best shot on the Carney cover).

Aliice

17 Mar 13 at 10:11 pm
This media regulation business – is it confirmed that it’s stuck in committee until July?

Or is that just more misdirection?

twostix

17 Mar 13 at 10:13 pm
Somehow a circle jerk with Farr Out and The Bonge just doesn’t have any appeal.

H B Bear

17 Mar 13 at 10:16 pm
Watching Kaz Maz on Insiders today I kept thinking about those chicken necks that you get inside a whole bird.

So I turned it off.

H B Bear

17 Mar 13 at 10:19 pm
The george benson version of This Masquerade

Tiny Dancer

17 Mar 13 at 10:21 pm
On SBS:

Mr Rudd notes that as well as marking the Irish day of celebration the weekend represents the Ides of March

The Age, The Daily Telegraph, et multa alia:

In a video of his address at a Queensland function posted on YouTube, Mr Rudd notes that as well as marking the Irish day of celebration the weekend represents the Ides of March, on which Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by political conspirators in 44 BC.

Despite some consensus of the media how can the weekend—namely the 16th and 17th of March—represent the Ides of March—namely the 15th of March—which was last Friday?
Mr Rudd, by the way, spoke on the Ides of March and referred to that anniversary of the assassination of the Divine Julius correctly.

Deadman

17 Mar 13 at 10:35 pm
Mr Rudd, by the way, spoke on the Ides of March and referred to that anniversary of the assassination of the Divine Julius correctly.

Kevni was never a bogan leftist nutjob in contrast with TLS.

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 10:38 pm
GhostWhoVotes ‏@GhostWhoVotes

#Nielsen Poll Primary Votes: ALP 31 (+1) L/NP 47 (0) #auspol
Collapse

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 11:09 pm
GhostWhoVotes ‏@GhostWhoVotes

#Nielsen Poll Preferred ALP Leader: Gillard 31 (-4) Rudd 62 (+1)

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 11:10 pm
GhostWhoVotes ‏@GhostWhoVotes

#Nielsen Poll Preferred PM: Gillard 43 (-2) Abbott 49 (0) #auspol

JamesK

17 Mar 13 at 11:11 pm
Pope Francis, getting good press for humbly eschewing coloured footwear, is not above continuing the use of the pluralis majestatis on Twitter in Latin (but only in Latin), I see:

Plurimas dilectissimi gratias imo ex corde vobis agentes enixe vos rogamus ut preces pro Nobis Miserenti Domino fundatis. Papa Franciscus

In all the modern languages Pope Francis asks that people pray for him—“à prier pour moi” and “a pregare per me”, for instance—; only in the Latin does he ask that people make prayers “pro Nobis Miserenti Domino”.

Deadman

17 Mar 13 at 11:15 pm
“Can’t afford the rent where we are, so went house hunting, haven’t yet found anything affordable that we like“.

Did they go house hunting in the contemporary south west Sydney sense of the word? If so was it single shots or full on automatic?

Rob

18 Mar 13 at 12:14 am
Kevin Rudd twice as popular as Gillard.

These metrics cannot be ignored any longer.

Gillard will be tapped on the shoulder.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 12:29 am
Ahahahahahahahahaha.

457 visas ‘are a form of slavery’, says Tony Sheldon.

I’ve emboldened the WT F-ing F? moment:

ALP national vice-president Tony Sheldon has accused some employers importing foreign workers on 457 visas of engaging in “human trafficking” and a “form of slavery”.

Addressing the ALP national organisers forum in Canberra yesterday, Mr Sheldon urged party activists to campaign “strong and hard” in support of the government’s proposed changes to 457 visas, insisting abuse of foreign employees was “harming the community“.

“457 visa holders have no right to criticise their employers when they are being ripped off or sweated, and no real right to join a union without the employer sacking them,” he said.

“And once sacked, they can be deported within 28 days unless they can find another job.

“That’s why it’s actually no exaggeration to say that for some workers, the 457 visa is a form of slavery.

Classic Gillard Labor: ‘Somebody’s abusing foreigners/killing asylum seekers/burning down houses/wrecking the budget – it has to stop!’

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 12:34 am
But gillard insisting children and female asylum seekers were to be sent to Malaysia to be sold into slavery – funded by the gillard government – was all hunky-dory, yeah?

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 12:37 am
ALP national vice-president Tony Sheldon has accused some employers importing foreign workers on 457 visas of engaging in “human trafficking” and a “form of slavery”.

Julia Gillard doubled the maximum term of a 457 Visa from three to six years and doubled the number of them.

Julia Gillard desired to send Aslyum Seekers to a country that routinely sells them into slavery.

Julia Gillard and the Labor Party: The Party of Old School Slavery.

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 12:45 am
Am I correct in understanding that 457 Visa holders are essentially mercenaries? That they take a 457 visa on the basis that they’ll come, do a job, then go home no strings attached?

So why would this: “And once sacked, they can be deported within 28 days unless they can find another job.”

Be a problem?

They’re not here to stay right? right? Mcternan?

Were H1B visas an issue in the Obama campaign book of tricks last election? What’s the root of this nutty strategy?

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 12:50 am
Whenever she’s in trouble, Gillard phones Fairfax for a special one-on-one…

The beneficiary on this occasion is brown-noser Michael Gordon:

Got to be a hard bastard.

Theme: ‘I am a victim.’

The Prime Minister is sitting in a hotel suite in Melbourne on the eve of what looms as another tumultuous week in Parliament – the last chance for her to be rolled before the May budget – and reflecting on something Tony Blair told her a couple of years ago: that politics was afflicted by a ”new brutality”.

Read the whole thing – as Gordon serves up marshmellows and Gillard answers with variations of ‘I make no apology for…’

She ends with:

… Tony Abbott …

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 12:57 am
UK Labor behind UK media crackdown push:

Secret dossier reveals how Hacked Off campaigners used ‘cynical ploy’ to exploit misery of murdered Milly Dowler’s family to force new press law

The document also reveals how Hacked Off ruthlessly capitalised on what it calls ‘the Dowler test’, a reference to murdered schoolgirl Millie Dowler, whose phone was hacked.

It says: ‘The expression “the Dowler test” has pushed its way into the popular lexicon, when in fact it doesn’t exist. Not yet that is. We need to define what the Dowler test is and make it binary.’

Launched by the Media Standards Trust, and with actor Hugh Grant as its highly effective frontman, it has demanded full transparency of connections between the press and politicians.
Outcry: The claim that News of the World journalists had deleted messages on Millie Dowler’s mobile phone, giving her family, pictured, false hope that she was alive, led to the closure of the paper

But it refuses to give details of its own funding or contacts with MPs.

The Mail on Sunday can also disclose that the Hacked Off strategy is receiving secret help from a Labour-leaning lobby company in which a former spin doctor to Peter Mandelson and John Prescott is involved.

Does this sound familiar?

The leaked memo says it has only ‘one aim – an independent statutory regulator with punitive powers’.

Labor act internationally.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294552/Exposed-Secret-dossier-reveals-cynical-ploy-Hacked-Off-campaigners-target-Tory-rebels-exploit-misery-murdered-Milly-Dowlers-family-force-new-press-law.html

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 1:17 am
A few weeks ago we were talking about how marxists were all gung-ho about getting kids out of the family home immediately.

The UK is there:

Peter Hitchens belts one for six:

Peter Hitchens: We fuss over mothers… then tell them to dump their children in baby farms and go back to work

New Labour was frank about it, with that terrifying commissar Patricia Hewitt describing the dwindling numbers of full-time mothers as a ‘problem’.

The Lib Dems’ chief feminist, Lynne Featherstone, says with her usual simple-minded bluntness that having a baby is a ‘bit of a setback’, adding that: ‘One of the main barriers to full equality in the UK is the fact women still have babies.’

The Coalition wants 40 per cent of two-year-olds in day care by next year. The shiny Modern Tory Liz Truss (I can’t call her a conservative) hires a costly nanny for her own children but wants the less wealthy to stuff their progeny into baby farms with industrial staff-to-toddler ratios.

And there as it is here, if you don’t you’re punished severely by the tax man.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2294640/Peter-Hitchens-We-fuss-mothers–tell-dump-children-baby-farms-work.html#ixzz2No6invdo

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 1:30 am
UK Labor behind UK media crackdown push

Stunning revelation and linkage to local events, Twostix. Thanks for the link.

Gab, please forward.

Hugh Grant is a complete douchebag. He has always blamed da media for covering his humiliation in LA … when he hired a black street whore to blow him in a car.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 2:11 am
Peter Hitchens’ article is required reading.

‘Childcare’ = wilful, systemic child abuse.

He would of course be prosecuted for it under Labor’s new media crackdown.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 2:33 am
These measures will of course be different in different countries.

Nevertheless in the most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c., &c.

It is interesting that if Marx was alive today he would think we are moving in the right direction. The above quote from the Manifesto of the Communist Party is what should be done to move in the direction of communism. The only things that are radical in todays terms are 1,3 and 8. Number 4 might seem radical on first glance but the ALP did run the idea of confiscating the Super from temporary workers. Number 9 might also seem radical but government and opposition policies still state this as an aim in some ways.

The section about Socialist and Communist literature has one called “2. CONSERVATIVE, OR BOURGEOIS, SOCIALISM” and this best describes the current policies of OECD countries in my opinion. “It is summed up in the phrase: the bourgeois is a bourgeois—for the benefit of the working class.” Would Marx have been happy that socialism appears to be prevailing even though it is not his preferred model?

kelly liddle

18 Mar 13 at 7:31 am
Yes, just stop women from having babies and the equality will be flowing like good wine.
The Roman’s, I remind you, were not overthrown by a superior civilisation, but were invaded by a more determined mob of rape & pillage practitioners when they became too complacent to maintain their empire.
The West has arrived at a similar stage, having been white-anted by political correctness and bled white by socialism and welfareism.
Our defence forces are being depleted while the welfare budget swells.
We are told by the media and their Green representatives that we are a menace to the planet, and must be curbed in every way. This includes speech, not just political, but those sceptical ones on the warming have to be silenced too, despite the growing body of evidence of da big scam.
Religious tolerance now means they’ll allow you to be christian as long as you aren’t too forward about it. Any prosetylising, evangelising, or wishing someone a happy and holy christmas is likely to offend, along with those storefront decorations and chrissy trees in the city.
Disdain for the islamic invader will not be countenanced, and is decried as islamophobia, or worse. Some of the invaders are rebadged by the Greens as the world’s most vulnerable people.
Balancing the budget is now seen as mission impossible by the left, and if attempted by any conservative governemment at state or federal level will be attacked by the approved media as destructive and heartless. Any public servant who is sacked as part of these corrections is deemed to be a front line service provider.
Having several hundred billions of national debt hanging over us is now seen by the complicit media as simply the cost of doing welfarist business. No biggy in GDP terms compared to other cot case economies.
We have a national broadcaster whose attitude to the nation is that it still has remnants of a former character which are deplorable but can probably be ignored and if necessary made fun of while the programming is increasingly taken over by book and lifestyle shows which laud the inner urban basket weaving demographic and rewrite history into multiple causes for atonement.
Things are not going too well here or in any of the anglo nations. Mark Steyn was right to entitle his book After America. There are too many opinion makers among us who seem dedicated to making it After The West.

Blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 7:51 am
Can’t wait for the this year’s season of the show where the ABC ships in middle class Indians to and searches to find a yob to gob off so they can declare all Australians are racist, while ignoring their own country’s ongoing shame on more serious matters:

Arrests made over horrific gang rape of Swiss tourist

Token

18 Mar 13 at 8:19 am
What’s wrong with shipping illegals off to Malaysia? They’re still alive. My plan of sink the boats and pour blood in the water to attract sharks wouldbe less popular with the lying chancers so they would be gappy with Malaysia.

WhaleHunt Fun

18 Mar 13 at 8:42 am
Don’t worry. I got da judge in my pocket.
Via Bolt.
Refugee tribunal stacked and told to stop rejecting so many appeals. 75% of appeals succeed. One member is an activist!

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 8:42 am
Peter Hartcher puts the boot in again (for Rudd):

Gillard an ineffectual campaigner

Julia Gillard has spent the past month campaigning energetically as she approaches the election. What difference has it made to Labor’s standing with the people? None, according to Monday’s Nielsen poll.

”Labor’s vote has stabilised at levels that would see the government defeated in 1975 landslide proportions,” the pollster, Nielsen’s John Stirton says.

It’s now 2½ years since Labor was in a winning position in the poll and there are 179 days left to election day. Can Gillard turn it around? The campaign effort of the last month suggests not…….

The poll tested the standing of four alternative leaders – Kevin Rudd and the three Gillard ministers most commonly touted as leadership material, Bill Shorten, Greg Combet and Bob Carr.

Asked whether they would prefer Gillard or Rudd, respondents chose Rudd by exactly two-to-one, 62 per cent to 31. His edge over Gillard on this measure has risen by 5 percentage points in the last month. Asked to choose between each of the other three and Gillard, respondents chose Gillard every time.

”The voters are saying, ‘if we can’t have Kevin Rudd, we’d rather have Julia Gillard over any of the alternatives’,” Stirton concludes. In short, there is no realistic option of a ”third candidate” to lead Labor.

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 8:50 am
I do hope Abbott knows that protests from the mendacants are actually a type of endorsement of his sensible policies:

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN Labor Premier Jay Weatherill has attacked Tony Abbott for supporting the West Australian government’s “morally and intellectually bankrupt” views on the distribution of the GST, saying the Opposition Leader has sacrificed the state to gain votes elsewhere.

Look at this pathetic attempt to make the state which gave up its free market principles relevant:

“Mr Abbott has done a real politik analysis about where the seats are. The message really was ‘keep your eye on the main game: we can win this without South Australia’,” he said.

LOL. Well done Jay. Underline the fact that SA has joined VIC & TAS in embracing 19th century Marxist ideology in favour of modern economic policies.

Token

18 Mar 13 at 8:56 am
Kevin Rudd twice as popular as Gillard Julia to lead Labor to polls
As in herpes is twice as popular as the clap.

Keith

18 Mar 13 at 9:00 am
Check this out if you like a good laugh, or a good right hook.

Popular Front

18 Mar 13 at 9:04 am
What’s wrong with shipping illegals off to Malaysia? They’re still alive. My plan of sink the boats and pour blood in the water to attract sharks wouldbe less popular with the lying chancers so they would be gappy with Malaysia.

I prefer my own idea of a Q ship, something anonymous looking but powerful and heavily armed (but concealed) to patrol of the North West dispensing a 20mm Rotary welcome to anything looking like a towelhead taxi.

Popular Front

18 Mar 13 at 9:09 am
In her last column for Pravda on The Yarra Katherine Murphy: The media must embrace reform to survive
Journalists need to renew the mission and win back trust.

So here we all are on the latest Canberra episode of Who Dares Wins – an increasingly brutal political reality show. There was added piquancy from an elephantine stakeholder – the media – which is both a player in and a chronicler of the transaction. Some outlets didn’t even bother to feign disinterest. The mask dropped entirely. One newspaper compared the Communications Minister to murderous dictators of history, including Joseph Stalin.

The justification? Our right in the media to be provocative – and never mind the audience, who might have wondered absently over their corn flakes who is this weird-looking bloke in the picture, and has the revolution come?

Speaking of the audience, let’s consider them as we consider the merits of policy change to media regulation.

I won’t defend for one moment the government’s sub-optimal internal process, the fact it took far too long to respond to reviews that actually require a considered, well-thought-out policy response. In terms of the fine print, the package reads like mild chaos and extreme compromise.

But the principles guiding the proposed changes? Let’s look through the static and consider them.

There are two: that concentration of media ownership in Australia will not get any worse than it is now. Not any better, mind you – just no worse. And that self-regulation – a principle that newspapers have rightly fought for and defended – should be made to actually work;

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 9:16 am
Paul Sheehan himself rehashes his famous 2004 column indictment of Comrade Conroy much referenced by CL :

Media call just a piddling distraction

What follows is a quote from a column I wrote about Stephen Conroy, which enraged him, as intended. It was written long before he was leader of the government in the Senate, and a cabinet minister, and directing tens of billions of dollars in federal spending.

The column was published in the Herald on December 6, 2004, more than eight years ago, but its core is as relevant today as it was at then. It began: ”You can learn a lot about people in toilets. I first encountered Senator Stephen Conroy in a toilet in the NSW Parliament. It was the morning of Tuesday, May 20, 1997..

LOL

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 9:38 am
a towelhead taxi

WTF is this shit?

Derp

18 Mar 13 at 9:46 am
Mark Webber displays the sort of form over the weekend that suggests he could have played Test cricket for Australia had he not chosen to drive a billboard for caffeinated beverages that look and taste like cat piss.

H B Bear

18 Mar 13 at 10:15 am
Why does Comrade Conroy feel need to muzzle the press when Peter Hartcher demonstrates that they can be trained to roll over and have their tummy tickled so easily?

H B Bear

18 Mar 13 at 10:22 am
South Australia = mainland Tasmania.

H B Bear

18 Mar 13 at 10:24 am
Have done so, CL. Thanks.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 10:32 am
After 5 years of making sure penalty rates are entrenched and thereby making it extremely difficult for the child-care centres to provide flexible times to parents, the government then intervenes to fix the problem it created with more rules:

MORE than 50 childcare facilities will extend their operations — some to 24 hours a day — in a series of government-funded trials to cater for shift workers and emergency services personnel.

…The hours to be trialled vary from centre to centre; however, generally they are looking at opening up to an hour earlier in the morning and up to two hours later at night. Family Day Care Australia — which represents house-based childcare facilities — said around-the-clock care would also be trialled by up to 72 operators under deals struck with the Police Federation of Australia and the Queensland Nurses Union.

Out-of-school care would also be extended in a separate trial.

Childcare Minister Kate Ellis said the trials, to cost $5 million in total, would run for 12 months from July, before being assessed on whether they should become government policy.

FFS, what will it take to get a government that will revoke these moronic rules created by the labour movement in the 1940′s?

Token

18 Mar 13 at 10:50 am
Well well well.

Greg Combet supported ALP criminal Ian “Stiffy” Macdonald’s dodgy coal mine deal.

Enjoy your ICAC appearance, dirtball.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 11:16 am
Journalists need to renew the mission and win back trust.

What is it with the left and self flagellation?

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 11:20 am
Lee Kuan Yew (1971): “My colleagues and I have the responsibility to neutralise their intentions. In such a situation, freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore, and to the primacy of purpose of an elected government.”

Julia Gillard (2013): “I never expected people in the media to applaud any reform agenda because their agenda is looking at it through their eyes and what meets their needs rather than doing what I’ve got to do – stand back and say what meets the national interest.’’

HT Blair

Tom

18 Mar 13 at 12:22 pm
Lifelong tax-eater Bob Katter to ALP: ‘Bring back Beattie to get rid of Newman.’

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 12:28 pm
“I never expected people in the media to applaud any reform agenda because their agenda is looking at it through their eyes and what meets their needs rather than doing what I’ve got to do – stand back and say what meets the national interest.

A paranoid, hated, thuggish, about to be annihilated government wants to “reform” the media in an election year.

This, according to the left, is an excellent turn of events.

We’ll not forget.

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 12:30 pm
rather than doing what I’ve got to do – stand back and say what meets the national interest.

Shorter gillard: I know what’s best for you and that’s neutering the media in an election year.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 12:33 pm
Gillard is saying that the national interest is that criticising the ALP should be illegal.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 12:33 pm
Grace Collier nails it:

I don’t think you can expect anything out of this government. They really are just increasingly political squatters really. Eventually they’ll be kicked out…

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 1:00 pm
The Lying Slapper has had to retreat to an alternate universe to retain a sense of purpose:

The confidence is evident when she is asked about the prospect of someone ”tapping her on the shoulder”, either this week or in the months ahead. ”It just won’t happen. [It's] much speculated upon and just won’t happen.

That’s beautiful in its ugliness: the pollsters are telling them, if they can’t have Rudd, they should stick with the Slapper. And the Slapper thinks they’re locked in.

I live in hope the party will actually consent to allowing us to execute her in September.

Tom

18 Mar 13 at 1:00 pm
Nice version of the masquerade by George Benson Tiny Dancer.
Ever get the feeling we are watching one play out in all this crap about 457s and 485 visas by Ms Gillards “oh shock – our government – is going to sort this human slavery” out

… so then she creates even more 485 visas.

Masquerade is an apt toon. The toon is infinitely more pleasant than the political masquerade we are trapped watching.

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 1:02 pm
Will we have marches in the streets from the sista-hood & endless bleating on ABC24 about how this attitude is unacceptable?

AN INDIAN minister caused outrage when he blamed a Swiss woman who was gang-raped and robbed in central India for failing to inform police of her travel plans.

Token

18 Mar 13 at 1:02 pm
Dunno if you guys have covered this at all, but how much is a green preference deal really worth?

In the division of Kimberly, the greens preferenced the libs there were 3421 votes to be distributed, and the Libs got 591 and ALP got 2649.

Helen Armstrong

18 Mar 13 at 1:04 pm
In the division of Kimberly, the greens preferenced the libs there were 3421 votes to be distributed, and the Libs got 591 and ALP got 2649.

It is a one-way transaction where the Libs provide assistance to the parties which will hurt their supporters the most.

The best course is to campaign for option preferences.

Token

18 Mar 13 at 1:05 pm
Left-wing moron Barry O’Farrell pretty cool with euthanasia.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 1:08 pm
The eco-debate was, in effect, hijacked by false data. The forecasts have also forced jobs abroad as manufacturers relocate to places with no emissions targets …

Academics are revising their views after acknowledging the miscalculation. Last night Myles Allen, Oxford University’s Professor of Geosystem Science, said that until recently he believed the world might be on course for a catastrophic temperature rise of more than five degrees this century.

But he now says: ‘The odds have come down,’ – adding that warming is likely to be significantly lower. Prof Allen says higher estimates are now ‘looking iffy’.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 1:08 pm
Soccer: the world’s most violent supporters.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 1:10 pm
Gillard dispatches racial hygience gestapo:

Fair Work inspectors powers to widen to oversee 457 visas.

FAIR Work inspectors would have greater powers to oversee the 457 visa program for skilled migrant workers, under changes announced by the federal government.

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has said legislation would be introduced to parliament as soon as possible to extend the powers of the office of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).

Mr Shorten said inspectors would ensure compliance with the 457 scheme.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 1:18 pm
Mr Shorten said inspectors would ensure compliance with the 457 scheme.

There is no way any working in a 7-11 will say anything that again to Bill now has “Red Underpants on the Head” level of unfettered powers.

Token

18 Mar 13 at 1:22 pm
So the government feels it is in a position to attack press freedoms.

I wonder how long it is until it decides it can toy with the AEC…

DriftForge

18 Mar 13 at 1:26 pm
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has said legislation would be introduced to parliament as soon as possible to extend the powers of the office of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).

Mr Shorten said inspectors would ensure compliance with the 457 scheme.

This is the same confected hysteria they applied to the Drugs in Sport stage managed drama. No evidence, just more hyperbowl.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 1:26 pm
I wonder how long it is until it decides it can toy with the AEC…

This has been worrying me for some time now. Don’t know how they could tamper with the AEC or election results but I wouldn’t put it past them or the unions to find a way.

Incidentally, if one marks off the ballot paper in ink, rather than pencil, can it still be scanned accurately?

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 1:29 pm
Omg misssed a toon of Rabz – Siouxzie Sioux
Dear Prudence. That will go in my faves… The visuals are great.

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 1:32 pm
Incidentally, if one marks off the ballot paper in ink, rather than pencil, can it still be scanned accurately?

Scanned?

Unless something changes this time around, it is still all eyeball work, so it doesn’t make much difference.

DriftForge

18 Mar 13 at 1:32 pm
Oh, okay. I thought all ballot papers were scanned, like multiple choice responses in uni exams.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 1:33 pm
This attitude in Labor is so entrenched isnt it – the mates culture. If they keep digging long enough at the ICAC they will eventually get to all of them.
Its pretty damn disgusting

“Combet writes a letter of support for McDonalds land deals”

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 1:39 pm
Oh, okay. I thought all ballot papers were scanned, like multiple choice responses in uni exams.

Not in Australia, at least not during the counting process.

The ballots are sorted on the night, at the booth, by first preference, with a 2PP count thrown in for good measure. Votes which are obviously informal are accumulated separately and retined for further assessment later in the process.

At most booths there are scrutineers from multiple parties observing the count but not permitted to interfere.

DriftForge

18 Mar 13 at 1:39 pm
NBN rollout continues to lag

Another Giilard success!

stackja

18 Mar 13 at 1:43 pm
This attitude in Labor is so entrenched isnt it – the mates culture. If they keep digging long enough at the ICAC they will eventually get to all of them.
Its pretty damn disgusting

The “Labor Movement” its current form is the closest thing we have to a national mafia Alice. Once you’re in it’s a different world with different rules, cultural mores and standards. Once you’re in, you’re in for life unless you cross them, and your whole family is in too.

You’ll become a millionaire without ever having done a days work in your life.

They’re not like us.

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 1:46 pm
Well well well.

Greg Combet supported ALP criminal Ian “Stiffy” Macdonald’s dodgy coal mine deal.

Enjoy your ICAC appearance, dirtball.

It’s not enough CL. Fitzgibbon should be putting in an appearance too.

Keith

18 Mar 13 at 1:52 pm
Oh, okay. I thought all ballot papers were scanned, like multiple choice responses in uni exams.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could post your vote at the local TAB while you’re already down there putting a bet on your favourite dish-licker.

The proceeeds just from the extra betting activity would easily pay for the cost of running the vote and we’d hear the result during the 6:00pm news.

The Electoral Commission could be run by one bloke in a spare office in their Melbourne HQ.

We could run it every 4 years coinciding with the Melbourne Cup.

Forester

18 Mar 13 at 1:58 pm
Joe Hockey has pulled away from Wayne Swan as the nation’s preferred treasurer after a rocky few months for the government in which its mining tax has underperformed and it dumped its promise to return the budget to surplus.

The latest Australian Financial Review/Nielsen poll shows that after a dead heat between the pair for the past year, Mr Hockey now leads Mr Swan as preferred treasurer by 48 per cent to 40 per cent. The result is almost entirely driven by voter loyalty.

In the case of Mr Swan, 78 per cent of Labor voters back him as treasurer compared with 13 per cent for Mr Hockey. Mr Hockey is backed by 80 per cent of Coalition voters and 13 per cent of Labor voters.

Mr Hockey has forged ahead, because, as the poll shows, there are vastly more people prepared to vote Coalition than Labor.

When the question was last asked in mid-December, just before the abandonment of the surplus promise, the pair were tied at 44 per cent apiece.

http://www.afr.com/p/national/voters_put_their_money_on_hockey_2L4aZAYOUXDZVQCVLLI07I

Anyone heard from Swan lately? He’s been vewy vewy qwiet.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 2:03 pm
It’s reports such as these that you will never read once Conroy’s media stranglehold come into force. You see, it’s just not in the “public’s interest”.

Initially, the investigation probed ”a number of reports of serious fraud by senior management in the tendering process”, according to internal affairs documents obtained under freedom of information.

Specifically, the complainant, who was a customs officer, claimed that the tender specifications had been drawn up to favour one particular company, believed to be the eventual tender winner, Austal. They also said this company had received ”assistance”, according to a statement from customs.

When the initial request for proposal was issued in mid-2009, some of the potential bidders were surprised by the specifications customs had incorporated. Sources have said they believed these were tailored for only one vessel design, the one promoted by Austal.

”It was pretty obvious to prospective bidders that the tender specifications were drawn in such a way that it would only suit a particular manufacturer,” one source said.

But these allegations were ultimately proven false by both Customs and an external expert brought in to oversee the matter. Mr Perry was exonerated by this first inquiry.
…
The prosecutor refused to proceed both because of the paucity of the evidence and because Customs had concluded that Mr Perry’s motivation was ”to enhance the competitiveness of the process for the benefit of the Commonwealth”.

But as a result of Fairfax Media’s inquiries, Mr Pezzullo, newly-installed as head of Customs, has reviewed the history of the affair.

In a statement, he said he was considering a formal review of its management.

”I am particularly concerned about the management of the handling [of] the criminal investigation in relation … to the alleged unauthorised disclosure of material,” he said.

”It is not clear to me, based on documents I have reviewed, that the internal professional standards function at the time … had the technical capacity or management capability to deal with allegations pertaining to complex procurement.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/350m-boat-deal-leak-revealed-20130317-2g8z6.html#ixzz2NrDxs5EE

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 2:14 pm
I detect a tinge of Adelaide creeping into the PM’s voice.

Dan

18 Mar 13 at 2:15 pm
I’ve thought about a couple of methods for improving the speed of the count while still preserving the current method and rigor; sorry, can’t see voting at the TAB working out.

The best I’ve come up with is to use those e-pens that record electronically what you write physically. You could have those docked at the end of the day and end up with a first pass count within seconds to minutes, even for Hare Clarke stuff.

Of course, the same paperwork still has to be resolved in the long run which preserves the rigor of the counting process.

DriftForge

18 Mar 13 at 2:20 pm
John Stirton in the AFR writes:

In 40 years of Nielsen polling no opposition party has ever been in front on a two-party-preferred basis for every single poll in a parliamentary term.

it’s behind paywall so I can’t see the rest of the story.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 2:26 pm
”It was pretty obvious to prospective bidders that the tender specifications were drawn in such a way that it would only suit a particular manufacturer,” one source said.

This is how you ensure you get the product that you want while fulfilling daft tender requirements; you tailor your spec to match an existing one. Given Austal’s significant techonological lead on other manufacturers in country, it wouldn’t be hard to do this.

Boats are complex beasties, and any effort to tender requires a fairly good understanding of the design outcome for it to be helpful.

Generally when this happens, the procurer is quietly upfront about it, as its not something that can be hidden from anyone in the business.

The big issues are when it is not clear that this is happening, as other builders commit significant tender costs without a fair shot at the tender.

DriftForge

18 Mar 13 at 2:31 pm
In this case, the Coastguard has obviously gone for consistency with the existing Freemantle class partol boats, made by the same manufacturer. The new boat is fairly evidently a derivative design, made a metre longer for bragging rights.

DriftForge

18 Mar 13 at 2:37 pm
A colleague of mine was arguing on the weekend that the NBN was a nation building activity that can’t be subjected to conventional cost benefit analysis. He likened the NBN to the Apollo Space program or the Snowy Mountains Scheme, and the benefits would flow across generations. Well far be it for me to crystal ball the unspecified future benefits, but I am certain that the costs will flow across generations! I think the problem is that most people do not understand how much money is $37.4B. After I went home I did some research and some arithmetic, just to try and give some context.
The entire US space program including both Gemini and Apollo programs cost about $US24B by the time it ended in 1973. The U.S. population in 1973 was 212 million, so the per capita cost of the space program was about $113.20. Adjusted for inflation in today’s dollars that would equal US$592 per person.
The Snowy River scheme was completed in 1974 and cost AUS$820M. The population at the time was 13.5 million, so the per capita cost of the Snowy River scheme was $60.74. Adjusted for inflation in today’s dollars that would equal AU$443 per person.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge cost $13.5M (6.25M pounds) and was completed in 1932. The population at the time was 6.6 million, so per capita cost of $2.04. Adjusted for inflation that would equal AUS $82.23 per person.
The Sydney Opera House cost AU$102M and was completed in 1973. The population at the time was $13.5M, so the per capita cost was $7.55. Adjusted for inflation in today’s dollars that would equal $63.56 per person.
Westmead Hospital is probably the largest hospital in Australia. It cost around $175M to build and was completed in 1978. Australian population was 14.2 million, per capita $12.32, inflation adjusted $56.77.
I could go on, but you get the point.
No-one knows how much the NBN will actually cost, but the current estimate from the government is AUS$37.4B. This is likely to be an underestimate, with the federal opposition claiming that $100B is possible. However for the sake of argument let’s take the government’s current estimate. At current Australian population of 22.6 million people this equates to $1654.87 per person.
So for the per capita cost of the NBN you would have built the Snowy Mountains Scheme, the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, eight Westmead Hospitals and flown to the moon and back!

DeanG

18 Mar 13 at 2:38 pm
It’s reports such as these that you will never read once Conroy’s media stranglehold come into force. You see, it’s just not in the “public’s interest”.

This.

But as a result of Fairfax Media’s inquiries, Mr Pezzullo, newly-installed as head of Customs, has reviewed the history of the affair.

I noted on another thread that it was Fairfax’s original brutal and dogged investigation of Craig Thompson (an investigation denounced by Thompson and the ALP as an invasion of privacy, defamation and smear) and the result of that (the first of Gillards woes) that was the true genesis for the ALP backroom men to start talking about “cracking down” on the media.

Fairfax also led the charge reporting NSW Labor’s corruption with its excellent uncovering of NSW Labors vast mafia like corruption.

Fairfax will not be immune, they’ll be first.

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 2:40 pm
Rand Paul doesn’t have presidential hair, JC.

And the current POTUS does? Idiot.

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 2:55 pm
Gillard sounded flustered during her defence of the media crackdown in QT today. Her point about Reporters Without Borders ranking Finland as No.1 for press freedom and Australia as 26th was utterly bizarre.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 3:13 pm
Punters turn against Labor.

Betfair: Coalition $1.20, Labor $5.60.

Sportsbet: Coalition $1.16, Labor $4.75.

TAB: Coalition $1.14, Labor $5.50.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 3:20 pm
Gillard sounded flustered during her defence of the media crackdown in QT today

She’s a duplicitous piece of filth who should be marched through the town square with a hood over her head while a baying crowd pelts her with buckets of off prawns.

Infidel Tiger

18 Mar 13 at 3:23 pm
Her point about Reporters Without Borders ranking Finland as No.1 for press freedom and Australia as 26th was utterly bizarre.

She didn’t even attempt to answer Abbott’s supplementary to his first question.

They don’t care about the optics in parliament any more – only the 15 sec grab in the evening news.

Well, it’s not as if the Canberra Press Stenographer’s Guild is going to report the complete surrender of Question Time too.

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 3:23 pm
Last NYC observation – because I am back now – but I saw on the news while there NJ Gov. Chris Christie fronting a very hostile crowd in Paterson, NJ (a city whose schools the state of NJ took over 20 years ago, and control of which it has not relinquished), at a ‘Town Hall’ meeting. That was the topic, and both the questions and the answers were extremely vigorous in tone. Several speakers looked like they wanted to punch Christie and the Gov – now obese rather than just fat – looked very keen to let them try.

The contrast with Jools, then on her progress through a Western Sydney Potemkin village of forensically pre-vetted True Believer locals, in an operation carefully crafted to ensure she got nowhere near a real person, could not have been greater. (And yes I know Christie disgraced himself when he gave Obama a tongue-bath for basically doing his job post-Sandy.)

James in Melbourne

18 Mar 13 at 3:47 pm
With Anna Burke as Speaker having a question answered during Question Time is an even more remote possibility that during the Musselman’s reign.

H B Bear

18 Mar 13 at 3:48 pm
So,has anyone asked Reporters without borders what they think? Wandering about their web page, I think they would not be helpful to the ALP on this matter. They were nasty about the internet filter (still have Aust marked as an incipient enemy of the internet) and also quite abrupt about the idea of licences and controls through the Press Council discussed in 2011.

The PM has brought them into the discussion …

dismissive

18 Mar 13 at 3:53 pm
It’s reports such as these that you will never read once Conroy’s media stranglehold come into force. You see, it’s just not in the “public’s interest”.

Oh come now, he’s been so forthcoming and transparent with the NBN, the internet filter, the … oh never mind.

Derp

18 Mar 13 at 4:08 pm
Bucket of prawns be damned.
Tar and feathers. Bloody boiling hot tar too.

WhaleHunt Fun

18 Mar 13 at 4:12 pm
The PM has brought them into the discussion …

Government by Google is likely to backfire

Dan

18 Mar 13 at 4:15 pm
Fifteen years after deciding to give away its online content, Fairfax follows up the launch of its non-tabloids by asking internet readers to pay for Greenspeak “journalism”:

Fairfax Media will charge international readers of its news websites $15 a month from next Tuesday in move to boost its shrinking advertising revenue.

The smh.com.au and theage.com.au websites will operate a so-called ‘‘metered’’ model, in which readers in North America, Europe and the Middle East will be able to access 10 free articles a month before they have to pay.

The company will announce its subscription model for readers in Australia and New Zealand and other Asia Pacific countries later this year. The number of free articles will be set higher for domestic markets, where use is heavier.

Fairfax Metro Media chief executive Jack Matthews said the company wanted to test its technology with the overseas market first before launching it in Australia and New Zealand.

Tom

18 Mar 13 at 4:32 pm
The smh.com.au and theage.com.au websites will operate a so-called ‘‘metered’’ model, in which readers in North America, Europe and the Middle East will be able to access 10 free articles a month before they have to pay.

Projected revenue gain: $2.39

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 4:37 pm
Projected revenue gain: $2.39

Has somebody informed FauxFacts the lefty fruitbats they have spent 15 years targeting at the expense of middle Australia can get all they offer for free at the ABC?

Token

18 Mar 13 at 4:45 pm
Lol
I really feel sorry for the poor sap overseas who’s credit was rifled for $2.39.

Poor bastard.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 4:57 pm
Dan

That is probably a fair comment but I am still interested. They are a fairly rabid bunch; very protective of the free press.

dismissive

18 Mar 13 at 4:58 pm
The ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political developments. This year’s index is a better reflection of the attitudes and intentions of governments towards media freedom in the medium or long term.

I dunno if these Reporters Without Frontiers took into consideration our future direction with the proposed Conroy Bill, on the surface it would appear so.

They have a methodology statement

The questions consider six general criteria. Using a system of weighting for each possible response, countries are given a score of between 0 and 100 for each of the six overall criteria. These scores are then used as indicators in calculating each country’s final score.
o Pluralism [indicator Plu]
 Mesure le degré de représentation des opinions dans l’espace médiatique
o Media independance [indicator Ind]
 Measures the degree to which the media are able to function independently of the
authorities
o Environment and self-censorship [indicator EnA]
 Analyses the environment in which journalists work
o Legislative framework [indicator CaL]
 Analyses the quality of the legislative framework and measures its effectiveness
o Transparency [indicator Tra]
 Measures the transparency of the institutions and procedures that affect the production
of news and information
o Infrastructure [indicateur Inf]
 Measures the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and
information

Also

The index reflects the situation during a specific period. This year’s index is based solely on events between the start of December 2011 and the end of November 2012. It does not look at human rights violations in general, just violations of freedom of information.

Dan

18 Mar 13 at 5:19 pm
In a country where the average wage (in the city) is $100 per month…

About 20 Cambodian translators and interpreters, who walked out on March 4, have agreed to return to work on Monday after they were promised they would receive their wages for December this week, tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said.

“The strike is over for now,” he told AFP.

But the staff warned that they would walk out again on April 1 if their contracts are not renewed by the end of March, he added.

About 270 Cambodian employees at the UN-backed court, including drivers, prosecutors and judges, have received no wages since November.

Neth Pheaktra said they would be paid using funds pledged by the European Union last year, whose transfer was delayed due to a “technical problem”.

The Cambodian side of the hybrid tribunal – whose top donors also include the European Union, Australia, France, Germany and Britain – urgently needs more than $US7 million ($A6.79 million) to cover costs for 2013.

The tribunal has been frequently short of funding since it was set up in 2006 to find justice for the deaths of up to two million people under the hardline communist regime.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 5:24 pm
find justice for the deaths of up to two million people under the hardline communist regime.

Hardline? That’s it?

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 5:36 pm
Tony in da House:

TONY Abbott has blasted Julia Gillard on the floor of parliament over proposed media reforms, accusing her of trying to shut down legitimate criticism of her government.

Breaking into question time, the Opposition Leader condemned the government’s attempts to introduce a new media regulator to oversee press standards.

“This is a government that can’t cop criticism and when it is criticised it reveals its authoritarian streak,” Mr Abbott told the House of Representatives.

He said Ms Gillard had attacked News Limited for reporting on the 1990s AWU slush fund scandal, and her Communications Minister had accused The Daily Telegraph of trying to bring down the government.

But the job of the media was to “speak truth to power”, not run advertising for the government of the day, Mr Abbott said.

He said Ms Gillard did not want to lift press standards, but wanted to “to drive our ranking down even further”.

Labor’s proposed public interest media advocate was “this government’s version of the ministry for truth”, Mr Abbott said.

He said the Peter Slipper, Craig Thomson, Eddie Obeid and AWU scandals would not have been reported if the press was muzzled by a hand-picked government official.

“They don’t want to protect the national interest, they want to damage the national interest,” the Opposition Leader said.

“They want to hide the truth to protect themselves.”

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 5:37 pm
Dan

I am not particularly interested in the index.

dismissive

18 Mar 13 at 5:42 pm
Well, it’s what she quoted. And the dumb broad has a history of quoting from indices that totally undermine her legislative interference. Think Gonski.

I’m not a member of Scribes Searching Frontiers, so I can’t answer your question. Will I email them? No, cantbefucked.

Dan

18 Mar 13 at 5:57 pm
Q&A tonight: 5 against 1.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 6:28 pm
Hrm, going to buy a high-end smartphone. Anyone have any tips? Please bear in mind the following:

1 Will not buy an iPhone. No no no no no no no.
2 Not really keen on Samsung. I don’t know, they seem kind of girly.
3 from what I’ve seen, Win 8 phones look girly, but I’m open-minded.

HTC One? Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx? I’m actually quite intrigued by the new Blackberry 10 – anyone have anything on it?

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 6:32 pm
don’t miss Kim Williams open letter

val majkus

18 Mar 13 at 6:39 pm
Q&A tonight: 5 against 1.

My money’s on the 1 to beclown the 5.

WTF is an anti-poverty campaigner?

jupes

18 Mar 13 at 6:45 pm
Someone who’s against poverty, der. I personally am in the pro-poverty camp. We love us some poverty, we do. Our major goals are to reinstall Mao Zedong as Chinese president and re-establish the USSR.

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 6:58 pm
This seems to be flying under the radar…

Further investigation brings up this.

And this.

I’m very surprised that this hasn’t been given wider coverage – perhaps some of Labor’s recent ‘announcements’ were designed to act as a smokescreen for Bills like this.

Would the AEC be able to give us an iron-clad guarantee that the people enrolled to vote are all eligible, or are we dealing with a SNAFU at the AEC designed to give Labor/Greens a leg-up at the next election?

A Lurker

18 Mar 13 at 6:59 pm
Hrm, going to buy a high-end smartphone. Anyone have any tips? Please bear in mind the following:

1 Will not buy an iPhone. No no no no no no no.
2 Not really keen on Samsung. I don’t know, they seem kind of girly.
3 from what I’ve seen, Win 8 phones look girly, but I’m open-minded.

OCO, don’t get a Windows 8 phone. Really, just don’t. Microsoft absolutely do not get mobility. The Blackberry, whilst a good handset, is on a dying platform. We’re moving away from them at work for a number of reasons. If you have personal dislike of Apple products then I would recommend the Samsung Galaxy or HTC phones running Android.

I’ve recently switched from a Blackberry Torch to an iPhone 5 and am very glad I did. The BB is a great device for messaging (it still leads the market), but for bugger all else. Our staff need more than just email now and the iOS/Android platforms are much better at it.

tbh

18 Mar 13 at 7:01 pm
don’t miss Kim Williams open letter

Smackdown duly laid. Conroy is so utterly out of his depth that it’s laughable.

tbh

18 Mar 13 at 7:04 pm
There’s a distinct lack of cretins vomiting forth verbal sewage on this thread.

No Shitfer, no monty…

Isn’t it nice?

Mk50 of Brisbane

18 Mar 13 at 7:13 pm
TBH: thanks for your insights. I don’t know, maybe I should think about the iPhone. My distaste for it isn’t rooted in anything particularly rational – I wouldn’t buy one for the same reason I wouldn’t buy a Toyota Prius. Perhaps I should reconsider.

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 7:26 pm
The instructions from the blog owner on trolls work well, Marko. Just don’t be so arrogant as to take your eye off the ball. Still six months to go before they stop laughing up their abuse of the constitutional loophole and go back to the oppositionist ghetto.

Tom

18 Mar 13 at 7:28 pm
There’s been another dodgy mining lease, said Juanita.
And Leigh. No names. no pack drill.

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 7:32 pm
To be frank the iPhone 5 is the best allround smartphone, but some people have got all ideological and bought the bullshit that android is open (they can’t explain how it is, though). But if I was to get an android, I would get the new HTC one. Nice.

Entropy

18 Mar 13 at 7:32 pm
Almost thought I heard a name mentioned there, in between bits about disgruntled farmers in the Hunter Valley.

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 7:39 pm
Oakshott pedalling hard in reverse on the 7.30 Report.

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 7:47 pm
Thanks Entropy. Important point.

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 7:49 pm
Oakshott seems to think Karen Middleton’s waffle about similarity with FIRB was a good argument!

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 7:51 pm
Burmese censorship eases as Australia’s is ramped up.

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 7:54 pm
Hrm, going to buy a high-end smartphone. Anyone have any tips?

Buy an iPhone.

1 Will not buy an iPhone. No no no no no no no.

Yes. But if it bothers you that much, go Samsung.

2 Not really keen on Samsung. I don’t know, they seem kind of girly.

Now you’re just being difficult. And girly? Seriously? How?

3 from what I’ve seen, Win 8 phones look girly,

I wonder what a psychologist might say about your fears of “girly” phones

Plenty of other reasons not to go Windows.

…but I’m open-minded.

Oh, I can tell

Fleeced

18 Mar 13 at 8:04 pm
LOL. Haven’t been around much this last week or at all on the weekend, so still reading through.

On QandA tonight, I reckon Barnaby will be good fun.

And a warning: not drunkblogging tonight. I’ll be soberblogging.

nilk

18 Mar 13 at 8:10 pm
And, CL, our new Pope at a youth mass a couple of years ago.

Not commenting.

*sniff*

nilk

18 Mar 13 at 8:11 pm
Incidentally, if one marks off the ballot paper in ink, rather than pencil, can it still be scanned accurately?

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 1:29 pm

Trust me, Gab, chaging ballot papers doesn’t happen. Noone has time and too many people are watching.

I’m pretty sure that ballot papers are scanned by human eyes only. A cow of a job, particularly the enormous ballot papers for the senate, and continuing counts are submitted so it’s all tracked within the polling place. I worked in polling places in the late 70s and early 80s and more recently in the oughts, state and federal (NSW in 70s-80s and Qld in the 2000s).

Scrutineers from candidates/parties keep an eye on the count and also with what goes on in the polling place before the count.

Pencils are probably used because they’re cheaper than pens and easily sharpened and chaces are that noone will steal a pencil!

kae

18 Mar 13 at 8:14 pm
And then I get to driftforge and, yeah, what he said!

kae

18 Mar 13 at 8:17 pm
not drunkblogging tonight. I’ll be soberblogging.

Have you got a joint?

Tom

18 Mar 13 at 8:18 pm
You need a doobie and a Valium to watch QandA

Dan

18 Mar 13 at 8:23 pm
No, It’s actually quite amusing watching Fatty Jones get up to his old tricks.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 8:24 pm
The rolls are scanned. This was started in about 1989. I was involved in the SA 1989 election and all the Commonwealth kit was brought in to do the scanning. (I think this was the second use of the system.) I assume it’s better now. But each electoral roll book was scanned and the system merged them to push out the didn’t vote/voted too often list.

Votes were counted using banknote counters after being separated by hand into each first pref pile with more scrutineering than you shake a stick at. As far as I can recall they were then bundled into 100s.

dismissive

18 Mar 13 at 8:25 pm
I made the mistake of watching the Samsung galaxy S4 launch last week on the intertubes. It was psychotic with a stack of appalling acting to an appalling script. Why they thought a series of little plays using advertising actors would work to sell a phone I do not understand. And did I mention the little kid doing a tap show?
They also launched a phone with an incredibly long list of half arsed ‘innovations’ that nobody will actually use, and will probably make OS upgrades a little problematic as it diverges from stock android. At this point the HTC is the android phone to get. Or an iPhone.

Entropy

18 Mar 13 at 8:28 pm
I’ve only heard good things about the Samsung. I got a 5 a few weeks ago and it caused all sorts of problems in terms of having to upgrade my computer to Snow leopard. I got one for wifey, which also instigated an upgrade to snow leopard. However now her Safari doesn’t work.

I think the 5 was a total mess and the stock market is severely punishing Apple for this.

I’m so pissed off with Apple over this that I’m actually thinking of trashing the 5 and going to a samsung.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 8:32 pm
Thanks for that, Kae.

————————

Last week our magnanimous and handsome Doomlord said he would let us have a thread for Q&A…hope he remembers.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 8:34 pm
Have you turned off auto correct on that iPad yet JC?

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 8:34 pm
No Strop. Pound for pound auto is better than no auto as I tend not to proof read my crap.

But thanks for reminding me I can. I may do that for a while.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 8:39 pm
I suspect 4 Coins In The Media Fountain is about to blame the big, bad, hairy-nosed bankers for the GFC instead of sheeting it home to the “anti-redlining” Alinskyists who used the Community Reinvestment Act to bludgeon banks into vast amounts of unwise lending.
I’ll find out tomorrow if that’s what they did. It is the ABC, after all.
For now, a book will be a much more productive way of spending an hour or more.

blogstrop

18 Mar 13 at 8:40 pm
kae

chaces are that noone will steal a pencil!

Obviously not a golfer ay ?
Most of my golf pencils are on loan from an old mate of mine.
No, not Steveo or Bretto, but Keno.

jumpnmcar

18 Mar 13 at 8:42 pm
And to top it off they change the connection plug too. I new one cost me 35 bucks as I need a spare. This was a small device which I fitted to the old connection.

This was Apple’s way of stealing a few more bucks from their loyal customers. In other words they got greedy and fucking arrogant. I will not buy another Apple product again as long as the current CEO is there and the head of design. Fuck them.

You don’t make money like this. You do it by giving your customers a decent product without the need to be arrogant and greedy about it. If Jobs was still alive this crap would never have happened.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 8:43 pm
Will not buy an iPhone

I thought you wanted a high end phone :p

More seriously, unlike a Prius, there aren’t a whole series of compromises in the iPhone in order to achieve one outcome of dubious value.

As to ethos, Apple at least is a constant. Google is becoming something very other than it used to be as time goes on. It’s the difference between being the customer and being the merchandise.

Driftforge

18 Mar 13 at 8:47 pm
As to ethos, Apple at least is a constant.

No longer. You buy and Iphone and itnpotentially cascades into a possible purchase of a computer sotfware upgrade and connections. There is nothing really sexy in terms of comparison to the 4s that should cause this. Apple was going of its way to screw the customer.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 8:52 pm
Just asked my youngest which new phone is the best.
He said he’s getting this one.

jumpnmcar

18 Mar 13 at 8:52 pm
The Dumb was half decent tonight. At one point they all agreed there was no point in a leadership change as Labor is doomed. They said that even policy distractions like the childcare trials for shift working police and nurses is rushed and $500 million they don’t have.

White flags all round.

Splatacrobat

18 Mar 13 at 8:52 pm
The Dumb was half decent tonight.

Judith must’ve been on.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 8:54 pm
Oakeshott will not vote for media ban…

Not concerned with freedom of speech, cites “actors.”

“I won’t be supporting any of the six bills and I’ve informed the Prime Minister of that today, both verbally and in writing,” he said.

“There’s enormous dissent not only from proprietors which is the least of the worry, but from key regulators and also from content providers.

“For the first time in a long time the majority of writers, producers, directors, actors are all saying there’s issues in there for them as well.”

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 8:58 pm
Cl

Which means that the Old Leezo will do so.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 9:01 pm
Oh dear, those nasty bankers got away wiv da eeevil despite that nice Dem Senator who was given Slow Joe’s old senate seat and who was beholden to no one in his search for truf or somesuch.

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 9:03 pm
I’m so pissed off with Apple over this that I’m actually thinking of trashing the 5 and going to a samsung.

The new connection for iphone 5 was appalling enough, but forcing MacOS users to upgrade their OS in order use the latest iTunes (required[1] for iphone 5) was astoundingly stupid – you don’t even have to upgrade windows.

For all complaints about windows, they always spent a lot more time on backward compatibility. They pretty much had to though, as they had to run on such diverse hardware – and it was always one advantage Apple had in being closed system. I still like iphone, but am in no hurry to upgrade to 5 – happy enough with my 4S.

[1] Actually, you don’t ever have to ever synch your phone with your computer if you don’t want to – I rarely do – and in this case, you wouldn’t need the latest iTunes.

Fleeced

18 Mar 13 at 9:03 pm
But thanks for reminding me I can. I may do that for a while.

Nah, as annoying as autocorrect is, I think it’s (marginally) a net positive. Could do with some tweaking though.

Fleeced

18 Mar 13 at 9:04 pm
JC

I run a Nokia 920 windows phone – interfaces with exchange server seamlessly and with office which is all I need. The rest of the fluff is crap and deleted. Of course I also use Windows 8 at home and 7 at work.

Louis Hissink

18 Mar 13 at 9:05 pm
The Q&A post opened five minutes ago and no “first”, “second” etc.

Sinclair Davidson

18 Mar 13 at 9:05 pm
Oakeshott will not vote for media ban…

Oh I’m pretty confident gillard can “negosheeate” for Oakeshott to come around.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 9:06 pm
The Q&A post opened five minutes ago and no “first”, “second” etc.

Would you please stop reading my mind!

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 9:07 pm
Samsung…I dunno, never really gelled with the brand.

Apple…ok they make good stuff but so many tossers have ‘em.

HTC One then?

I still would like to know more about the Blackberry 10. Actually I wouldn’t mind getting my paws on the upcoming one with the proper keyboard. I have heard the platform’s a bit short of apps but I don’t give a crap about apps.

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 9:10 pm
I saw the Nokia Lumia 920 ad…full of trendy young 20-somethings or people pretending to be such…one girl said “I want my phone to stand out in the crowd…I love the Nokia Lumia!”

They lost me then.

Oh come on

18 Mar 13 at 9:12 pm
Lucky me that I don’t watch TV, but I went for it because its got a big screen and easy to handle typing pad. The 820 was to small, and the apple or Samsung things had too much crap on them. And I don’t ITunes anymore either – the macmini got shunted into the useless bin a couple of months ago.

Louis Hissink

18 Mar 13 at 9:17 pm
Just been told on Twitter that Ross Gittins and Malcolm Fraser are great economic minds.

Andrew

18 Mar 13 at 9:32 pm
Can I have the Mac mini, Louis? I think it would make bees knees low power media server.
I actually like the new connector on the iPhone. Mrs entropy often goes to bed well before I do, and it is easy to insert the connector in the dark compared with the 30 pin old one which usually turned into an epic wiggle before I would work out it was upside down. And I bought extra cables from big W for $12.

Agree the forced upgrade for mac OSX was crap though.

Entropy

18 Mar 13 at 9:41 pm
Sinc – I really like the first, second and turd business etc.

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 9:51 pm
Tom – Ive warned you about some of your habits before. You will lose all expression in your face!!. If the joint doesnt do it, Q and A definitely will.

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 9:53 pm
Point well taken, Arrice. I haven’t had a joint for 30 years.

Tom

18 Mar 13 at 9:59 pm
Brilliant ending to third test.

Australia just won’t die.

jupes

18 Mar 13 at 10:04 pm
Me neither Tom. Last time I did I lost the entire contents of my handbag.

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 10:10 pm
Australia just won’t die.

Fuck.

jupes

18 Mar 13 at 10:10 pm
Apparently Doug Cameron [spit] defamed the Australian today saying they have phone-hacked here.
Hope New Ltd sues.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 10:19 pm
Last time I did I lost the entire contents of my handbag.

Code for technicolour yawn?

Tom

18 Mar 13 at 10:33 pm
Apparently Doug Cameron [spit] defamed the Australian today saying they have phone-hacked here.
Hope New Ltd sues.

Oh please, please, please let it happen. I would love nothing more than that prick to get smacked down in a court of law.

tbh

18 Mar 13 at 10:34 pm
Apparently he said it today at the media inquiry which was televised, however I don’t know where it can be seen.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 10:36 pm
If he said it outside of Parliament he could be in some trouble. Even getting the stupid commie wanker to issue a humiliating back down would be gold.

tbh

18 Mar 13 at 10:40 pm
No Tom

Not code for technicolour yawn. Would forget my own name under the influence…spent the night (in my own home) looking for my own missing belongings from my own handbag…basically wandering around like an idio nd couldnt sit still.

Avoided asking that couple to to dinner after that.

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 10:40 pm
Realised it wasnt for me decades ago, like you, Tom…
I must have mistaken you for someone else (maybe SFB?)

Aliice

18 Mar 13 at 10:42 pm
Fucking Alberscreechy segues from the lead story about the media laws straight to London and more phone hacking stories.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

18 Mar 13 at 10:46 pm
Where are you watching that, Huckleberry?

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 10:47 pm
Had a funny encounter today. I’m helping run a small family bus..This delivery dude showed up looking to drop something off.

He had an unusual accent so i asked him where he was from. He was from Iraq and had been here to 12 years.

Anyways the conversation got to the war as it invariably was going to.

He told me had was a conscript in the first Gulf wsr and proceeded to roll up his pant leg telling me he wanted to show me a scar.

The scar was as a result of shrapnel from a bomb that came down from the American stealth bomber. He made a noise to indicate that’s all they heard and never saw it. The bomb exploded 2k away from where he was.

His unit was taken prisoner and ended up in a US hospital and then made his way directly to Canada… later here.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 10:48 pm
lateline Gab. I had to turn it off

Huckleberry Chunkwot

18 Mar 13 at 10:48 pm
Aliice,

Tom asked Nilk if she had a joint because she was sober blogging.

eam

18 Mar 13 at 10:50 pm
sober blogging Q & A

eam

18 Mar 13 at 10:52 pm
Stop Press:

David Cameron has agreed to create a new press regulator under a Royal Charter and “a bit of statute”, Labour said today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9936856/Leveson-deal-reached-on-press-regulation-claims-Labour.html

Viva

18 Mar 13 at 11:02 pm
Entropy:

Can I have the Mac mini, Louis? I think it would make bees knees low power media server.

Well, Entropy, as far as I am concerned you can. The Mac ‘mini’ is pretty low powered, but it’s serve the living daylights out of those media spankers! There’d be bugger-all survivors at The Age newsroom if you hosed the swine down with one, that’s for sure.

Mk50 of Brisbane

18 Mar 13 at 11:02 pm
Apparently Doug Cameron [spit] defamed the Australian today saying they have phone-hacked here.
Hope New Ltd sues.

The only media organisation being investigated for NOTW style “hacking” in Australia is The Age for breaking into, browsing through “prominent” constituents records then attempting to copy (multiple times) the entire Victorian ALP’s private constituent database.

We never hear about this of course.

twostix

18 Mar 13 at 11:07 pm
JC – I have some doubt shrapnel can travel 2km. A bullet designed for speed has trouble getting there .

Shrapnel is not smooth etc.

The rest of his story sounds pretty common and is sad.

pete m

18 Mar 13 at 11:10 pm
bah forgot to close the link – sorry

pete m

18 Mar 13 at 11:11 pm
Pete

I had doubts too, but bombs delivered from the air explode above ground, or at least some do, so the bits could travel more distance, no?

I saw the scar. I don’t think he was bullshitting about being in the war etc. and he was the right age.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 11:13 pm
Hope New Ltd sues.

Unless they’ve changed the rules, a company can’t sue for defamation, only a live individual (so you can defame the dead with impunity, as well as News Ltd

Cato the Elder

18 Mar 13 at 11:16 pm
Late line reckons the Cypriot savings grab could be a template for the rest of the Eurozone. “Just Call Saul” Eslake reckons the least worst of all options. Long ques at ATMs.

Pickles

18 Mar 13 at 11:21 pm
Entropy

You want the mac-mini? It’s the current model, had its memory upgraded but I boobed the dual boot with VMware or something like that so it needs a fresh partitioning and the basic system wacked on, or the server version to make it into a media server. As it is, it is literally useless.

If you are serious I’ll cobble it together in a paddy bag etc., if you want.

Louis Hissink

18 Mar 13 at 11:22 pm
It is the worst of all options.

It’s not just a grab to anchor the banking system like if the banks were bankrupt and the depositors fell down to equity.’

This is a money grab, pure and simple. Its thieving.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 11:25 pm
Louis, just hold down Command-R during startup. From there you can click to reinstall a fresh copy of OS X from the built in restore partition, or you can restore the OS and all your applications and data from the Time Machine backup you no doubt have.

But hey, I will take it off you hands if you are throwing it away.

entropy

18 Mar 13 at 11:30 pm
or are you saying you erased the whole thing when you created two partitions (one for OSX and one for windows boot camp) on the drive?

entropy

18 Mar 13 at 11:32 pm
Plain thieving. But dressed up as a “savings levy”. In the national interest.

Pickles

18 Mar 13 at 11:34 pm
ant ending to third test.

Australia just won’t die.

God, I wish they would.

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 11:38 pm
Just been told on Twitter that Ross Gittins and Malcolm Fraser are great economic minds.

I hope Fraser sues for being linked with econo,mic stupidity in that manner.

Fraser is an ars-wipe but no one deserves to be linked with Gittins.

Obummer is more destructive but he studied law supposedly.

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 11:42 pm
I can’t believe this ‘new idea’: governments stealing directly from bank accounts.

Honestly, at what point do these people get legitimately lynched?

C.L.

18 Mar 13 at 11:43 pm
Pickles

see here for a good explanation.
as that blogger says:

Yea, like the Euroweenies have suddenly decided to introduce moral hazard into to the works after three years of trying desperately to avoid doing so. Lol..

JC

18 Mar 13 at 11:46 pm
I can’t believe this ‘new idea’: governments stealing directly from bank accounts

Apparently it was the Europeans and not the Cypriots who thought of it.

It will damage banking around the world whether it gets up or not.

I’d seriously think of ways to assassinate them if they were my representatives

You could easily imagine a penis like Shane Wand licking his lips

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 11:47 pm
I read that story on Cyprus and recoiled in horror. Imagine a government in a liberal democracy just reaching into your savings account and taking a portion of it. Unbelievable.

tbh

18 Mar 13 at 11:49 pm
Imagine a government in a liberal democracy just reaching into your savings account and taking a portion of it.

I would be totally unsurprised if the gillard government tried that on here. In fact if they get another term [shudder] I expect they will try it on.

Gab

18 Mar 13 at 11:52 pm
Cl

As the blogger at the link I posted says there’s no chance the Euroweenies will go ahead with it. It was , as he says, a german idea and it will get knuckled.

I have another theory on why it was suggested.

The Russian mob do all their banking in Cyprus. In referring to the Russian mob, you’re referring to the entire kit and caboodle.. The senior ranks of government, the oligarchs and the street crooks.. Basically they’re one group.

The Euroweenies were trying to get access to this money, which is essentially black money. Now I don’t know if this is true, but I reckon it is… Putin has a lot of money stashed in Cypriot banks. He supposed to be the richest man in Europe and possibly the world by far.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 11:52 pm
I don’t think it will get up either JC. The Russians are already offering “help” and the backlash would be monumental across Europe if the EU were to go ahead with it.

tbh

18 Mar 13 at 11:54 pm
James and CL

The attempt was to get to the average Cypriots money. For the most part the average Cypriot fucker doesn’t have 100K stashed in a bank.

The Euroweenies were trying to access black money thinking they would be able to get away with it. Trust me, it was the krauts who cooked this soup.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 11:54 pm
The Euroweenies were trying to get access to this money,

True but you don’t trash civil society to do it.

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 11:55 pm
Be interesting to see Farage’s take on the Cyprus raid..

Driftforge

18 Mar 13 at 11:56 pm
I don’t think it will get up either JC. The Russians are already offering “help” and the backlash would be monumental across Europe if the EU were to go ahead with it.

Yea. Putin has a load of cash there and no way is he going to let the Euroweenies take 10% of his stash. He’ll go fucking apeshit on them and turn off the gas entirely.

The other more serious thing that can happen is that if they went through it, it will cause a bank run all through Euroweenieland, as that blogger suggests.

So they end up with a bank run and Putin angry as hell. That’s not a good position to be in.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 11:57 pm
Even if this doesn’t get up the Putin and anyone who’s smart will take their money out.

How does that help Cyprus?

JamesK

18 Mar 13 at 11:57 pm
The Greens, as expected, show themselves up to be the anti-freedom fascists the are:

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/high-court-challenge-looks-to-protect-press-freedom-from-conroy-media-reforms/story-fncynjr2-1226600105478

Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam said it was still possible for the legislative package to pass with the two simple changes.
First, the Greens want tighter standards for accreditation as a press council.
Senator Ludlam said while the ideal number of press councils was one, he recognised that Seven West Media had already set up its own regulatory body separate from the Australian Press Council.
“I would reluctantly tolerate two as long as they were brought up to an appropriate standard for accreditation,” he said in Canberra.
“We certainly don’t want to see any further drift away from the APC.”
The Greens also think the public media test that would apply to mergers and acquisitions, to ensure diversity of ownership, is framed too broadly.
Senator Ludlam said he had spoken with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and the crossbenchers about the Greens’ proposals.
Greens leader Christine Milne said it was clear this would be the last chance for change because the coalition was “riding high in the polls and have no intention of moving on media reform”.

They realise that this is their last chance to muzzle the press.

tbh

18 Mar 13 at 11:58 pm
True but you don’t trash civil society to do it.

Of course not. Only thing is that Euroweenieland isn’t a civil society. It’s a rat infested leftwing hellhole.

But hey, at least they have free healthcare….. for now… LOl.

JC

18 Mar 13 at 11:59 pm
True but you don’t trash civil society to do it.

No you don’t. This is the kind egregious thing you’d expect the government of Argentina to do (they’ve got form in this area), but not bloody Cyprus.

tbh

19 Mar 13 at 12:00 am
I would be totally unsurprised if the gillard government tried that on here.

Of course.

Swan would call it “savings.”

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 12:00 am
Well really the grab of super contributions for higher income earners is the same thing.

tbh

19 Mar 13 at 12:03 am
I read that story on Cyprus and recoiled in horror. Imagine a government in a liberal democracy just reaching into your savings account and taking a portion of it. Unbelievable.

It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of taxing a persons wage was viewed with as much horror.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 12:04 am
Apparently the Russians are deploying a fleet into the Med on an ongoing basis…

Driftforge

19 Mar 13 at 12:07 am
Any Sci-fi fans on the Cat at all?

I’m finally taking the plunge after all these years and have bought Dune for the Kindle. Should make for an engrossing read on the plane up to Honkers.

tbh

19 Mar 13 at 12:11 am
This story is not unique, it’s just the first time the media has reported it.

blockquote>Adultery now reason for refuge

AN adulterous Iraqi taxi driver has been awarded an Australian refugee visa after he convinced the Refugee Review Tribunal he would be hunted down by an infuriated husband who caught him in an tryst with his wife.

The Shia refugee, who arrived by boat from Indonesia in December 2011, claimed the husband, an Iraqi soldier, chased him through city streets after uncovering the affair, repeatedly firing a handgun at him.

Although his asylum claim was initially rejected by the Immigration Department, the refugee was among more than 500 boatpeople to successfully appeal their case at the Refugee Review Tribunal since July.

And most of the stories are BS too.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/adultery-now-reason-for-refuge/story-fn9hm1gu-1226600181151

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:16 am
Mary Anastasia O’Grady, WSJ: Behind the Campaign to Smear the Pope
Argentines who want their country to be the next Venezuela see Francis as an obstacle.

Argentines celebrated last week when one of their own was chosen as the new pope. But they also suffered a loss of sorts. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a tireless advocate of the poor and outspoken critic of corruption, will no longer be on hand locally to push back against the malfeasance of the government of President Cristina Kirchner.

Argentines not aligned with the regime hope that the arrival of Francis on the world stage at least will draw attention to this issue. Heaven knows the situation is growing dire.

One might have expected a swell of pride from Argentine officialdom when the news broke that the nation has produced a man so highly esteemed around the world. Instead the Kirchner government’s pit bulls in journalism—men such as Horacio Verbitsky, a former member of the guerrilla group known as the Montoneros and now an editor at the pro-government newspaper Pagina 12—immediately began a campaign to smear the new pontiff’s character and reputation at home and in the international news media.

The calumny is not new. Former members of terrorist groups like Mr. Verbitsky, and their modern-day fellow travelers in the Argentine government, have used the same tactics for years to try to destroy their enemies—anyone who doesn’t endorse their brand of authoritarianism. In this case they allege that as the Jesuits’ provincial superior in Argentina in the late 1970s, then-Father Bergoglio had links to the military government.

This is propaganda. Mrs. Kirchner and her friends aren’t yet living in the equivalent of a totalitarian state where there is no free press to counter their lies. That day may come soon.

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 12:25 am
Peter Hartcher and Mark Kenny, “Ministers desert PM”:

Senior ministers in the Gillard government are reconsidering their support for the Prime Minister – a sign of collapsing confidence at a critical time.
Cabinet minister Mark Butler, a key figure in the Labor Left faction, has told colleagues that he is reconsidering his support for Julia Gillard.
And an important member of the Labor Right faction, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, has told colleagues that he lost confidence in Ms Gillard some time ago.
[…]
The loss of confidence in Ms Gillard by some Cabinet ministers comes as worried Labor MPs gather in Canberra on Tuesday for the final scheduled caucus meeting for nearly two months. Caucus meetings are the venue for leadership ballots.
Although Ms Gillard’s caucus support has not been canvassed seriously since the Rudd challenge, it is doubtful she now enjoys the confidence of the majority.

Deadman

19 Mar 13 at 12:27 am
George Will, Wa-Po: The shaky science behind same-sex marriage

When on March 26 the Supreme Court hears oral arguments about whether California’s ban on same-sex marriages violates the constitutional right to “equal protection of the laws,” these arguments will invoke the intersection of law and social science. The court should tread cautiously, if at all, on this dark and bloody ground.

The Obama administration says California’s law expresses “prejudice” that is “impermissible.” But same-sex marriage is a matter about which intelligent people reasonably disagree, partly because so little is known about its consequences.

When a federal judge asked the lawyer defending California’s ban what harm same-sex marriage would do to the state’s interests in “the procreation purpose” of heterosexual marriage, the lawyer said, “I don’t know.” This was mistakenly portrayed as a damaging admission. Both sides should acknowledge that, so far, no one can know.

A brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the California case by conservative professors Leon Kass and Harvey Mansfield and the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy warns that “the social and behavioral sciences have a long history of being shaped and driven by politics and ideology.” And research about, for example, the stability of same-sex marriages or child-rearing by same-sex couples is “radically inconclusive” because these are recent phenomena and they provide a small sample from which to conclude that these innovations will be benign.

Unlike the physical sciences, the social sciences can rarely settle questions using “controlled and replicable experiments.” Today “there neither are nor could possibly be any scientifically valid studies from which to predict the effects of a family structure that is so new and so rare.” Hence there can be no “scientific basis for constitutionalizing same-sex marriage.”

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 12:28 am
Fr Z has some interesting posts up:

1. No, St Francis wasn’t a “bunny-hugging bird kisser.” He was as tough as nails.

2. Heads up: Liberals will soon turn on Pope Francis.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 12:31 am
entropy – scenario 2 – I was implementing bootcamp (?) and it failed – I was a most unhappy chappy, but I haven’t reached the stage of literally chucking it into the bin yet. I’ll give it a reprieve. I do have a backup but it’s on a thunderbolt drive which nothing else can read so to get at it I have repair the OS on the mac-mini. I can’t even format the thing to vent my spleen as Intel haven’t ported thunderbolt to the Wintels.

The latest issues with ITunes and the OS etc mentioned re JC’s Iphone 5 business is making Appfell less likely as a home OS. The bosses’ iphone 5 karked it last week, and Appfel simply replaced it. Battery went dead instantly.

Easter should give me time to look at the mac-mini and I’ll work out whether it becomes a boat anchor or unemployed.

Louis Hissink

19 Mar 13 at 12:31 am
“Dune” is deservedly a classic of the genre. The sequels by Frank Herbert are not as good, but looked to be taking his ideas in interesting directions. However, the prequels knocked off by Herbert’s son & Kevin J Anderson are unworthy imitations.

Cold-Hands

19 Mar 13 at 12:33 am
TBH, Dune was a novel for the late sixties/seventies if you know what I mean. Interesting romanticising of arab culture too. The dino delaurentis movie was a little over the top in a weird way, but the scyfy channel miniseries was much better. Also the babe who played Irulan in the miniseries is a, well, babe, perhaps only surpassed by Muad’Dib’s daughter Ghani in the sequel miniseries Children of Dune.

But I am not real interested in science fiction.

entropy

19 Mar 13 at 12:34 am
WSJ: The New Unmarried Moms
We’ve reduced teen pregnancy, but now childbearing outside wedlock is exploding among 20-somethings

…..

Indeed, 20-somethings are driving America’s all-time high level of nonmarital childbearing, which is now at 41% of all births, according to vital-statistics data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sixty percent of those births are to women in their 20s, while teens account for only one-fifth of nonmarital births. Between 1990 and 2008, the teen pregnancy rate has dropped by 42%, while the rate of nonmarital childbearing among 20-something women has risen by 27%.

The shift of unmarried parenthood from teens to 20-somethings is in part an unexpected consequence of delaying marriage. Over four decades, the age for tying the knot has risen steadily to a new high of nearly 27 for women and 29 for men, according to Census figures.

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 12:35 am
try command-r and you might be able to simply do a restore from the inbuilt OS backup. I am surprised you would spend the cash on a thunderbolt drive for backup, although it would be damn quick.

entropy

19 Mar 13 at 12:37 am
Oh, and if you are near an applestore book a genius appointment and they will fix it for you for nothing if you are nice.

entropy

19 Mar 13 at 12:38 am
Sen. David Feeney (ALP, Vic.), on Q&A last night, said that all 110 members of the ALP’s parliamentary caucus were “put there … by millions of voters”. Really? Was Sen. Bob Carr elected?

Deadman

19 Mar 13 at 12:40 am
Indeed, 20-somethings are driving America’s all-time high level of nonmarital childbearing, which is now at 41% of all births, according to vital-statistics data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So the Pill is really working well, huh?

Nearly half of all babies born in the US are now bastards.

I’m sure this won’t have any implications at all for the growth of government, the welfare state, crime and taxation.

Nah.

That’s just the crazy talk of ‘social conservatives.’

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 12:40 am
No brains at all:

Tale of two Catholics. Tony Walker, The Australian Financial Review, March 16:

DESCRIPTION of himself as a “Catholic politician” would be something (Tony) Abbott would resist these days, for obvious reasons. Not only does it emphasise his social conservatism, a principal cause of his difficulties with women, it narrow-casts his attempts to broaden his appeal.

Tony Walker, AFR, March 16:

JESUIT-EDUCATED Bill Shorten … notes approvingly … the first Jesuit pontiff … This might be regarded as a good omen.

C&P

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:45 am
As the width of the sequels increased, the quality of each successive sequel of Dune deteriorated in a regular, arithmetic progression, I’d say.

Deadman

19 Mar 13 at 12:46 am
Thanks all. I decided to have a crack at Dune because it is regarded as one of the great sci-fi novels. Next after that will be some Heinlein I think. I’m also a huge fan of Neal Stephenson.

tbh

19 Mar 13 at 1:17 am
Dune is a very fine book.

Dune II was one of the great PC games ever released sparking the highly successful Real Time Strategy (RTS) game explosion of the 90s. The amazing success by Blizzard in co-opting, redefining and polishing this genre until it shone is an amazing story in gaming.

Thanks for both Frank!

dismissive

19 Mar 13 at 1:25 am
Fairfax late news: Ministers turn on PM.

Oh, how delicious: Bob Carr leading charge to dump Gillard.

Senior ministers in the Gillard government are reconsidering their support for the Prime Minister, a sign of collapsing confidence at a critical moment.

A cabinet minister and a key figure in the Labor Left faction, Mark Butler, has told colleagues he is reconsidering his support for Julia Gillard.

And an important member of the Labor Right faction, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, has told colleagues he lost confidence in Ms Gillard some time ago.

Both were considered firm supporters of Ms Gillard against the former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

Their changing positions are a sign of a loss of confidence in Ms Gillard within the government, and evidence of a gathering momentum to restore Mr Rudd to the leadership.

Both are understood to have developed grave doubts about the Prime Minister’s political judgment and her ability to campaign…

Senator Carr, the elder statesman of the NSW Right, was handpicked by Ms Gillard to take a seat in the Senate and replace Mr Rudd in the foreign affairs portfolio.

He becomes the most senior member of the NSW Right to switch support from Ms Gillard to Mr Rudd.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 1:54 am
Simon Benson, “Rudd MPs taunted to make their move”:

Julia Gillard’s key backers have privately challenged Kevin Rudd’s numbers men to “reveal names” after disputing their claims the former PM was close to having the numbers in caucus behind him.
Senior ministers last night were believed to have taunted Mr Rudd’s backers over suggestions at least 50 MPs had swung behind him – two short of what he would need to take back the leadership.
[…]
A divided caucus will gather again this morning for a scheduled meeting – the last before the May budget – after yet another round of bad polls pointing to a heavy defeat for Labor in six months time.
Ms Gillard’s backers suggested the PM’s remarks yesterday that she would “not flinch” should be taken as a direct challenge that she would not go, even if tapped by colleagues to stand down.
“I don’t believe he does (have the numbers),” said one of Ms Gillard’s backers.
[…]
Workplace Minister and Gillard powerbroker Bill Shorten said yesterday he was standing firm and claimed he thought Julia Gillard could beat Tony Abbott in September: “In the 2010 election, Julia Gillard did better than Tony Abbott, at the next elections Julia Gillard will do better than Tony Abbott.”

Tee hee.

Deadman

19 Mar 13 at 1:59 am
C.L. see slightly earlier.

Deadman

19 Mar 13 at 2:02 am
Filed 16 minutes ago:

Carr has now retracted:

Carr says he was sourced incorrectly.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Bob Carr says he has been sourced incorrectly in a newspaper article about Labor ministers losing faith in Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Fairfax Media reported on Tuesday that Senator Carr has told colleagues that he lost confidence in Ms Gillard some time ago…

But Senator Carr sent out a statement less than two hours after the article was published online, saying it was wrong.

“An article in today’s Age and Sydney Morning Herald makes comment on the ALP leadership,” Mr Carr said in a statement early on Tuesday morning.

“The views attributed to me in this article are incorrect and no comment was sought from my office.”

LOL. They’re all up late, wondering which way to thrust the knife.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 2:14 am
“The views attributed to me in this article are incorrect and no comment was sought from my office.”

Yeah, well I remember when both Bob Carr and Julia Gillard rejected claims that she’d appoint him senator.

Deadman

19 Mar 13 at 2:32 am
Just had to get out of bed – ABC Radio ‘Overnight” just had a half hour love-in with Author Jacqueline Kent re Julia Gillard.

Sickening crap

Is Jacqueline Kent an “Emily Lister”?

Mike of Marion

19 Mar 13 at 6:09 am
Last week, they had an equivalent session on Tony Abbott. The biographer they chose was Susan Mitchell and the segment was so unbalanced and bile filled that the (left-leaning) announcer closed the interview early.

Cold-Hands

19 Mar 13 at 6:31 am
Dune was more fantasy than sci-fi, with little sci but heaps of other-worldy characters and creatures. Yes, it was an amazing read back when it was fresh. The movie was rubbish, didn’t know there was a series.
Similarly, Heinlein’s Stranger In A Strange Land had little science but a lot of grokking in the marsh, you might say. Again, right for the free love generation.

Blogstrop

19 Mar 13 at 6:38 am
Oh noes! The end for the Mendacious Meretrix is near as the knives are being sharpened- Bob Carr has just said “The prime minister has my unqualified support”!

Cold-Hands

19 Mar 13 at 6:40 am
Favourite sci-fi movie:
Galaxy Quest. Attempt to link failed due to …. IPad’s essential uselessness for that purpose. See wikipedia’s summary.
Very funny, well made show that’s worth a repeat viewing every couple of years.

Blogstrop

19 Mar 13 at 6:48 am
Nice to see the beneficiary of Operation Freshair is rewarding Gillard for appointing him with her 2012 Captain’s Pick

Token

19 Mar 13 at 6:58 am
In the past week I’ve watched a couple hours of free to air TV. During that time I saw a government propaganda ad in each ad block for the NBN & the Car-bin Tax compensation.

Think about how many million Labor will squander before they issue writs.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 7:05 am
tbh, the diamond age by Neal Stephenson is awesome.

entropy

19 Mar 13 at 7:47 am
Favourite sci-fi movie:Galaxy Quest

Superb

Token

19 Mar 13 at 7:58 am
The people who pay organised criminals thousands of dollars to circumvent our immigration laws (i.e. the illegal boat arrivals) can now stay if they have committed acts of infidelity in their past.

AN adulterous Iraqi taxi driver has been awarded an Australian refugee visa after he convinced the Refugee Review Tribunal he would be hunted down by an infuriated husband who caught him in an tryst with his wife.

FFS.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 8:02 am
According to the wireless, today’s Daily Tele has a special Conroy compliant insert. An online version would be nice.

lotocoti

19 Mar 13 at 8:05 am
There’ll be a short delay before the crossbench pigs put Australia one out in the civilised world and have a government overlord muzzle the media. The only thing the Old Fascist Lezzo is worried about is the unseemly haste:

“I think a number on the cross-bench are starting to say if it’s take it or leave it we’ll leave it for the moment but let’s try and organise it a bit better in the future,” he said.

So it’s pure revenge for the bad headlines. It’s almost worth moving to Tamworth to make sure this unprincipled oaf gets his.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 8:09 am
Since the Liars Party decided to create a distraction from their dog whistling over 457 visas and revived the great Da Murdoch scare it would be timely to listen to Rupert Murdoch to understand what he is actually thinking.

An interview was recently released where Da Murdoch sat down with Peter Robinson and did an interview on Uncommon Knowledge.

This is very informative interview and in it he underlines his commitment to work to keep quality journalism survive.

An interesting nugget of info I found in the interview was how one of his companies is developing a multi-media mechanism to deliver high school education. He notes the technology is being tested across the US with around 15,000 students.

Think about the esculating costs of education and the power of the education unions in the US & AUS. It is not hard to see school boards following the example of telecommunication companies and manufacturers in prior decades and reducing costs and risks by going electronic.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 8:14 am
An interesting article on how Clarence Thomas shows understating and respecting the intent of the constitution has enhanced freedom in the US:

But that verbal jab was nothing compared to Thomas’ contribution to the 2010 decision in McDonald v. Chicago, where the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms constrains state and local governments via the 14th Amendment. In his concurrence, Thomas once again reached for the history books, this time tracing the 14th Amendment’s origins to the antislavery movement and the efforts of the Radical Republicans of the 39th Congress, who sought to force the former Confederate states to respect fundamental rights after the Civil War—including the right to keep and bear arms, a provision of particular importance to the recently freed slaves now facing the South’s incipient Jim Crow regime.

That focus on black history even earned Thomas a rare compliment from liberal Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy, who marveled, “His advocacy for black self-defense is straight from the heart of Malcolm X.” Milloy’s sentiment was accurate, although he should have reached further back for the comparison. Thomas’ advocacy for black self-defense came straight from the heart of Frederick Douglass, whose writings Thomas repeatedly cited in his McDonald opinion. “The liberties of the American people were dependent upon the ballot-box, the jury-box, and the cartridge-box,” Douglass once wrote. “Without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country.”

Many of his critics may be too ignorant to know it, but Thomas’ writings are steeped in African-American history and grapple repeatedly with the long shadow cast by slavery and Jim Crow. He may not be a modern liberal, but there is no question that Clarence Thomas is part of a civil rights tradition that started with Frederick Douglass.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 8:21 am
Gillard says she is willing to listen to any sensible suggestions.
Fuck off and leave us alone is about as sensible a suggestion I can articulate at this present time.

Splatacrobat

19 Mar 13 at 8:39 am
I can’t believe this ‘new idea’: governments stealing directly from bank accounts

Err, they were doing exactly that in this country up until Costello pressured various gubberments to drop the taxes following the introduction of the GST.

Those morons in victoria, of course, refused to abolish their bank account theft tax.

I just bet Lardarse is looking at that genius cyprus decision and thinking;

“Whad a top ideeya, eh Woine!”

Rabz

19 Mar 13 at 8:42 am
Fuck off and ~~leave us alone~~ die, is mine.

Rabz

19 Mar 13 at 8:43 am
ORIGINALLY from Vietnam, I arrived in Melbourne in 1985, via New Zealand. In 1993, we moved to Brisbane and have settled there.

Since last week, I have become increasingly concerned about Senator Conroy’s proposed media law reforms because they remind me of the press censorship in Vietnam, both old and new.

During the first Republic of (South) Vietnam of President Ngo Dinh Diem and the second Republic of President Nguyen van Thieu, before going to press, all newspaper copy had to be submitted to the censorship office of the Ministry of Information for “revision”. This body, very often a one-man band appointed by the government, was the ultimate voice to decide what was going in to print. Any “inappropriate” paragraph would have to be removed, resulting in a newspaper with blank white spots everywhere. More seriously, if a whole story was found “unconstructive”, the whole edition of the day would be banned. And if this sort of “infringement” continued, the licence would be withdrawn, meaning the newspaper and the editor were finished. It should also be mentioned the censored articles did not have to be political. “Violations of common decency”, “distortion of historical facts” were reasons to withdraw licences.

I learned of all this since my father was a journalist and he often expressed his frustration, sometimes anger, at his articles being “modified for the interests of the state”.

At least the South Vietnamese governments had the war as an excuse where propaganda warfare, of which the printed media played a very important role, had to be under control.

But after the war ended in 1975, the Communist regime has been applying an even tighter control of the media.

More than 100 dailies published all over the country can follow only one line of editorial, that of the government.

It is on public records that bloggers expressing unfavourable views of government policies and/or actions are convicted in kangaroo courts and sent to jail.

The same fate applies to writers, musicians, students and people from all walks of life.

Viet Tran OAM is a board director on 4EB, Brisbane and the former president, Vietnamese Community in Australia (Queensland chapter)

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/living-under-a-regime-of-government-censorship/story-e6frezz0-1226600073739

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:04 am
Seven’s Kerry Stokes challenges the government’s proposed media regulation, and receives an utterly puzzling response from Labor’s Doug Cameron:

In an often fiery testimony, Mr Stokes asked the senators what he had done to deserve such “draconian” measures.

“The simple question I ask is in our instance what have we done… to warrant such an intrusion into our company?” he said.

Labor Senator Doug Cameron replied: “Mr Stokes… I am sure you would understand the situation in the UK”.

The ALP should change its name to BLP. Someone buy these clowns a map.

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/policy_outsourced/

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:09 am
Greens filth, who are divorced from Labor, cosy up in the name of totalitarianism:

THE Australian Greens will support Labor’s media reforms if the government agrees to amendments that limit the number of press councils and tighten the public interest test for media mergers.

They want the other crossbenchers in the lower house to recognise this could be the last chance in a long time to make any changes to media laws and “not throw the baby out with the bathwater”.

Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam said it was still possible for the legislative package to pass with the two simple changes.

First, the Greens want tighter standards for accreditation as a press council.

Senator Ludlam said while the ideal number of press councils was one, he recognised that Seven West Media had already set up its own regulatory body separate from the Australian Press Council.

“I would reluctantly tolerate two as long as they were brought up to an appropriate standard for accreditation,” he said in Canberra.

“We certainly don’t want to see any further drift away from the APC.”

The Greens also think the public media test that would apply to mergers and acquisitions, to ensure diversity of ownership, is framed too broadly.

Senator Ludlam said he had spoken with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and the crossbenchers about the Greens’ proposals.

Greens leader Christine Milne said it was clear this would be the last chance for change because the coalition was “riding high in the polls and have no intention of moving on media reform”.

“The government must recognise that it’s a minority government. It needs to get the numbers in the parliament,” she said.

“We’re offering them a way forward.”

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/high-court-challenge-looks-to-protect-press-freedom-from-conroy-media-reforms/story-fncvk70o-1226600105478

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:12 am
FREEDOM: These seven MPs will decide your right to know

What a disgusting, infuriating, unrepresentative pack of utter fucking morons.

I mean seriously, have a look at them.

Rabz

19 Mar 13 at 9:16 am
From Gab’s link on censorship in Veetnaam:

More than 100 dailies published all over the country can follow only one line of editorial, that of the government.

It is on public records that bloggers expressing unfavourable views of government policies and/or actions are convicted in kangaroo courts and sent to jail.

The same fate applies to writers, musicians, students and people from all walks of life.

“Writers, musicians, students” — err, that’s YOU, lefty fruitbats. But, but it’d never happen like that here. Yeah, right. You want to suck up to fascists, you’ll eventually get what’s coming to you.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 9:23 am
Slow boiling frogs.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:33 am
What a disgusting, infuriating, unrepresentative pack of utter fucking morons.

I mean seriously, have a look at them.

* 2 are under investigation for fraud

* Of the 3 agrian socialist, the old lezzo should be under investigation for his Obeid-esque transactions with coal companies

* Adam Ant is an unrepentent Marxist, so must be peeing his pants in excitement of implementing controls

* Finally, let’s see how the “whistleblower” Wilkie who made his name using the freedom of the press to leak confidential documents and grandstanded on dubious facts.

I believe Wilkie could destroy himself by voting with the government on this.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 9:35 am
From yesterday’s Inquisition:

Labor Left figure Doug Cameron, his colleague John Murphy and Greens senator Scott Ludlam led the charge against [News Ltd] at two separate parliamentary hearings into media reforms.

Their questions focused on ownership and privacy, as well as revisiting the 2011 British phone hacking scandal and the so-called “hate media” complaints.

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham dubbed it a case of “vengeance and vendetta”, saying the government’s push to overhaul press rules was not about “serious public policymaking”.

“I think we have seen an obsession across both inquiries where John Murphy in the joint parliamentary inquiry asked about Murdoch family interests at every opportunity he was given,” Senator Birmingham said…

Senator Cameron, however, relished the chance to muscle up to News Limited chief executive Kim Williams. Taking a combative stance, Senator Cameron said: “I find it absolutely breathtaking to be lectured by the Murdoch press about the privacy laws, I really do. I think the hypocrisy is huge in coming here and lecturing the Senate about privacy laws after what the Murdoch press did in the UK.”

Later Mr Williams shot back, saying he didn’t travel to Canberra to have a “chemically difficult discussion” but to assist the committee to “actually look at the legislation”.

Senator Cameron replied: “Oh thanks, all the chemically difficult issues are done in your press.”

The Greens were also keen to vent their criticism of News Limited, with Senator Ludlam using the hearing to ask Mr Williams what the attitude of all News Limited papers was towards the Australian Greens.

“Is it the view of the whole News Limited stable that the Australian Greens should be destroyed at the ballot box, or is that just the view of The Australian?” he asked…

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes said it was “pretty obvious from the questions I got this morning, and subsequent questions, that they don’t like what News Corporation has being doing to them or saying about them”.”

What? Like reporting the facts? How dare they not twist and spin the actions of this disgusting government into unicorns and fairy tales – like what Fairfax does.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:36 am
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/critics-of-news-limited-turn-hearings-to-hate/story-fn59niix-1226600182223

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:37 am
What a disgusting, infuriating, unrepresentative pack of utter fucking morons.

Regardless of which way it goes, I think the Cat should publish the names of those who vote for it if it’s voted on.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 9:37 am
Conroy had wanted to go “the full Monty”, as one minister described it at the time, on the media reforms. He was eager to adopt the Finkelstein’s inquiry’s recommendation for a statutory-based, government-funded super-regulator, the so-called News Media Council.

He was strongly backed by Wayne Swan. But they couldn’t get it past Julia Gillard. Conroy has long wanted to present it to cabinet as an “under the line” item, avoiding the requirement for a submission to be developed and circulated for departmental comment and ministerial consultation. Gillard initially resisted. But after a number of meetings, she relented and agreed to railroad it through the cabinet.

The only adjectives I have at the moment to spit at these servants of the public (ha!) involve procreation, travel and a strategically placed mace.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/tripped-up-by-media-mania/story-fnbcok0h-1226600097770

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:42 am
John Murphy’s beef with News Limited continues unabated. The Labor backbencher grilled every witness to come before the joint select committee on broadcasting legislation yesterday on whether the proposed changes would enhance the power of the Murdoch empire. None of those he questioned seemed to have particularly strong views on the matter. Then again, no one is as concerned as Murphy about the alleged excesses of the Murdoch press.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 9:49 am
The most famous backbencher in the world is off traveling again, courtesy of the taxpayer:

Mr Rudd has scheduled trips to South Korea, China and the US as parliament prepares to break ahead of the May budget.

He is scheduled to speak next week at the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul which has a theme of “Asia’s Next Challenge: Good Growth and Smart Welfare”.

He will speak during a conference session called “Diplomatic Strategy for Peace and Prosperity in Northeast Asia” along with former US secretary of state Colin Powell and German business consultant Burkhard Schwenker.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/rudd-sets-off-again-to-opine-around-the-world/story-fn59nm2j-1226600142646

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 10:21 am
The real marriage equality debate is finally getting under way in the US – the elites v the others:

Over the weekend, thanks to CPAC, there was a lot of talk about gay marriage and “marriage inequality.” Well, I’ve been supporting gay marriage for a long time – much, much longer than Barack Obama. But if you’re talking about “marriage inequality,” there’s another kind of marriage inequality that isn’t getting nearly as much attention and that is doing more harm to more people than the gay-marriage thing.

That’s the inequality in marriage rates between the upper-middle-class, and the lower and lower-middle classes. While the upscale college-educated crowd continues to marry at very high rates, marriage rates are plummeting among those further down on the socioeconomic ladder. Unfortunately, the people who are foregoing marriage are probably the ones who need it most.

This past summer, Jason DeParle noted in The New York Times that we are now seeing “two classes divided by ‘I do.’” And while people are going on and on about Wall Street and income inequality, it turns out that marriage inequality is one of the biggest things making people less equal, accounting for as much as 40% of the difference in incomes: “It is the privileged Americans who are marrying, and marrying helps them stay privileged.”

This split is leading to entrenchment of poverty in the non-elites:

But if later marriage has been a boon for the college educated, the same cannot be said for Middle Americans—the more than 50% of young adults who have a high-school diploma and maybe some college, but not a bachelor’s degree.

In fact, a key part of the explanation for the struggles of today’s working and lower middle classes in the U.S. is delayed marriage. When the trend toward later marriage first took off in the 1970s, most of these young men and women delayed having children, much as they had in the past. But by 2000, there was a cultural shift. They still put off their weddings, but their childbearing—not so much. Fifty-eight percent of first births among this group are now to unmarried women.

Among college grads today, only 12% of first births are outside marriage. For high-school dropouts, who tend to be the poorest population, 83% of first births are outside marriage, the CDC data show.

From here refer to previous discussions which note the strong correlation between childhood poverty and single parent families. The trend is very concerning.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 10:34 am
Conroy had wanted to go “the full Monty”, as one minister described it at the time, on the media reforms. He was eager to adopt the Finkelstein’s inquiry’s recommendation for a statutory-based, government-funded super-regulator, the so-called News Media Council.

He was strongly backed by Wayne Swan. But they couldn’t get it past Julia Gillard. Conroy has long wanted to present it to cabinet as an “under the line” item, avoiding the requirement for a submission to be developed and circulated for departmental comment and ministerial consultation. Gillard initially resisted. But after a number of meetings, she relented and agreed to railroad it through the cabinet.

Oh that reasonable Conroy with his desire for “tiny” “reasonable” changes to media regulation.

And thanks to this debacle we’ve seen that if he had of got what he really wanted: a full press censorship framework, the left would fallen over themselves to fully support him.

The most dangerous time in the countrys history. A perfect storm.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 10:41 am
The most dangerous time in the countrys history. A perfect storm.

It is truly frightening to see Dougie Cameron playing the role of Mao’s tools of oppression as the Thousand Flowers period ended.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 10:57 am
Someone predicted it here a week or so back – the response Gillard would get next time she tried to muscle an editor:

Get stuffed

Ms Gillard sought to assuage concerns at Fairfax Media over the weekend by phoning chief executive Greg Hywood in a move seen by some as an attempt to split the industry ahead of yesterday’s hearings. Mr Hywood appeared to toughen his stance against the legislation, however, telling senators that the reform threatened publishers with a “nuclear option” by removing their long-standing right to privacy exemptions essential to journalism.

duncanm

19 Mar 13 at 10:58 am
…~~Thousand~~ Hundred Flowers period ended.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 11:00 am
Ms Gillard sought to assuage concerns at Fairfax Media over the weekend

And yet more evidence that this reprehensible attack on the free press is solely targeting News Ltd for their investigative reporting and becuase the News Ltd journos don’t copy and paste Labor’s faxed daily talking points (exception being Commie Mail)

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 11:02 am
Conroy had wanted to go “the full Monty”,…..

Standard lefty bait and switch – we’re going to oppress you, but we could have made it much worse.

Keith

19 Mar 13 at 11:03 am
Gerard Henderson compares Conroy’s actions with the efforts of a previous Labor PM to surpress free speech:

Labor’s attempt at controlling the newspapers failed in the mid-1940s because, even in wartime, a majority of Australians wanted their political news as unfiltered as possible. Conroy’s approach is not identical to Calwell’s. What the two Labor politicians have in common is belief in regulation and a dislike of sections of the print media.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 11:04 am
… Conroy’s proposals became nothing less than a challenge to free speech and an attack on the very basis of democracy.

In fact, a closer examination revealed that they were nothing of the kind: if anything, they were somewhat half-hearted and unlikely to have much effect, at least in their present form.

Listen, you loathsome, insufferable, unflushable ol’ hippie deadshit, what part of “the proposed legislation is an attack on freedom of the press” are you too fucking thick to understand?

Oh, that’s right, because you’re a fully paid up and fully taxpayer subsidised member of the ALPBC/lefty bleatocracy nomenklatura, these proposals won’t affect you.

Smug, evil shitheads.

FFS, this defence of the indefensible is pissing me off something severe.

Rabz

19 Mar 13 at 11:10 am
Today in Islam:

London-Based Cleric: Wahhabi Fatwa Allows Sodomy to Widen Anus for Jihad Purposes (Video).

“In order to train for this method of Jihad, you must consent to being sodomized for a period of time, so that your anus becomes wider, making room for the explosives.

“My question is whether I am permitted to allow one of the mujahideen access to my anus, if my intentions are honorable, and the purpose is to train for Jihad by widening my anus.”

The sheik praised Allah and said: “In principle, sodomy is forbidden. However, Jihad is more important. It is the pinnacle of Islam. If sodomy is the only way to reach this pinnacle of Islam, then there is no harm in it.”

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 11:22 am
And yet more evidence that this reprehensible attack on the free press is solely targeting News Ltd for their investigative reporting and becuase the News Ltd journos don’t copy and paste Labor’s faxed daily talking points (exception being Commie Mail)

Look. They’re literally screaming it from the rooftops: the ALP backbench is saying it, the band of criminals, slanderers. marxists and homophobes known as “the independents” are saying it and every leftist commenter on every blog in Australia is saying it. If we haven’t figured that out by now and made their desires and own words clear to the mainstream then that’s our problem.

News really needs to move the attack to that front. This isn’t about “regulation” this is about intimidation and the adherents of a failed and dying ideology desperate to gain some control of the newspaper content and media landscape that the great majority read and watch daily before they lose power.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 11:22 am
Front page of The West this morning has the fight with Conroy all over it, as does the Fin.

When you have the chief executives of all the major print media outlets united against a government, that government is in trouble.

tbh

19 Mar 13 at 11:23 am
Listen, you loathsome, insufferable, unflushable ol’ hippie deadshit, what part of “the proposed legislation is an attack on freedom of the press” are you too fucking thick to understand?

Government media is unaffected by the “regulations”.

So what would he care?

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 11:26 am
Bible producers dismiss Obama-Satan link

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey said on Monday the Moroccan actor who played Satan in the History channel series, Mehdi Ouzaani, has played Satanic characters in other Biblical programs long before Obama was elected president.

The connection got widespread attention after talk show host Glenn Beck last week tweeted: “Does Satan look EXACTLY like Obama? Yes!”

History said in a statement that the network has “the highest respect” for Obama, and that “it’s unfortunate that anyone made this false connection”.

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 11:26 am
Islam, what a fabulous religion that encourages not only jihad against anyone and everyone, even other muslim, but also encourages “widening of the anus”. Brilliant. But no, no it’s not a barbaric religion, why it’s similar to Judaism and Christianity.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 11:28 am
Birdie’s twin sister:

Margo Kingston, 2004:

The fundamentalist Zionist lobby controls politics and the media in the US and Australia.

Margo Kingston, 2013:

Back Conroy now!

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/stop_the_jews/

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 11:39 am
It’s all terribly sick-making. Why didn’t they just go for price controls on newspapers and be done with it.

On a happier note – we’re all doomed (again)
Francis is the last Pope, the world is coming to an end, and the comets will get us. Or something. And if those predictions don’t work out, they have others…

Keith

19 Mar 13 at 11:53 am
Margo Kingston, 2004:

The fundamentalist Zionist lobby controls politics and the media in the US and Australia.

Margo Kingston, 2013:

Back Conroy now!

It’s a bit of a slander to commies when we call these people commies. They’re not. They laugh in your face if you suggest nationalisation, but have much time for you if you suggest a government overseer in every big business. They cringe at the idea of the working class having any power and love the idea of the technocratic university educated white collar upper middle class having all the power.

Then there’s the jew conspiracies.

They’re fascists.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 12:04 pm
Is it weird that the Conroy Self Regulation bill does not define what a body corporate is?

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 12:07 pm
I posted this in response to the “useful idiot” M0nty on another thread, but it is worth repeating to underline how close the autocrats are to their plan to start the slow & steady march to control the media and stifle free speech:

What a scene. It is the early hours of Monday morning and at the Commons Ed Miliband has deigned to allow the Prime Minister’s Jeeves, Oliver Letwin, to set-up a “mini No 10″ operation in the leader of the opposition’s waiting room. Team Miliband pays for Letwin’s pizza when it arrives. Fuelled by Kit-Kats, in the next room the Labour leader’s staff are finalising terms with a former MP representing Hacked Off. Those representing Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, are confident of getting the deal that he and Leader of the Opposition have been pushing for against Clegg’s nominal boss, the Prime Minister.

This is not a spoof. This is how the future of a free press was stitched up by political leaders last night. It illustrates perfectly how far we have come – from the height of the hacking scandal and the atmosphere of panic in which Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry was (foolishly) established by the Prime Minister – that this now seems normal.

…In contrast, British newspapers sprung from the religious and political disputes of the 17th and 18th centuries. It began with pamphleteering, and grew into a noisy, disputatious, gossipy, highly-opinionated industry prepared to poke fun at the powerful. Governments of the day tended to hate newspapers, seeing them as a menace that they could not control. Various attempts were made to tax the industry out of existence. At points there were excesses and wrongdoing on the part of newspapers, as there have been recently on hacking (where the criminal law will take its course). But it was always widely understood that the work newspapers did holding the powerful to account was worth the downsides. Or rather, that was understood. Until now.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 12:20 pm
Government media is unaffected by the “regulations”.

So what would he care?

As M0nty advised, follow the money. The government media Behemoth is moving to nobble (i.e. crowd out) its competition.

Think what a marketing advantage the government media will have when it can claim it is the only free press – the only agency about to report “the whole truth”.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 12:25 pm
Crean and Fitzgibbon have both strongly attacked the Governments handling of media laws.

Andrew

19 Mar 13 at 12:30 pm
Andrew, the Oz is reporting that Fitzgibbon (who would still be if he was able to censor reports of his relationship with that Chinese national when defense minister) was a good policy badly sold”

RUDD supporter Joel Fitzgibbon has told the Labor caucus the Gillard government has failed to properly sell its media reform package, which now looks doomed in the parliament.

Amid swirling leadership speculation today, Mr Fitzgibbon – who supports media reform – said the problem with the package had not just been one of process “but a failure to build a case and to strike the right narrative”.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 12:37 pm
The only person foolish enough to believe you can get “the whole truth” from the ALPBC is its Managing Director Mark Scott.

This makes the Media Watch Dog’s job on Friday that much easier.

H B Bear

19 Mar 13 at 12:37 pm
Crean and Fitzgibbon have both strongly attacked the Governments handling of media laws.

So they attacked the mode of delivery and the time-frame but not the content, yeah? In other words, they have no problem with government telling the press what to write.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:38 pm
Finkelstein is heading the media inquiry now…bastard!

Andrew

19 Mar 13 at 12:47 pm
Finkelstien filth now talking. Says free press is important BUT…

Says there’s many avenues of redress conduct by naughty News Ltd, just that we need even more and government oversight is needed.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:48 pm
Says existing models, ACMA, APC etc is “inadequate” and we need a “proper code of conduct”. But gives no examples how these are inadequate. Publishing retractions not enough – jail time required.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:50 pm
Ricketson next. Another prof of journalism who prefers government oversight. News Ltd evil, Fairfax good.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:51 pm
So ACMA will be restricted to certifying electronic equipment only?

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 12:51 pm
Remembering the Hadassah Medical Convoy Massacre 65 years on.

Unlike all the “massacres” of Arabs by Jews this one really happened.

The Hadassah Convoy Massacre was not the worst of the atrocities, but the burning alive of doctors and nurses in a medical convoy, showed Israelis that peace was impossible. And so it has proven to be.

I bet you have never heard of it.

Understandable if you haven’t.

geoffff

19 Mar 13 at 12:52 pm
Cites Wikileaks but says they’re not evil, in fact the media outlets are evil ones for publishing wikileaks docs.

Seven West media group withdrew from APC thus they are evil too.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:53 pm
Doug Cameron, like monty, sniping on about how the legislation would never restrict the free press because government is good and News Ltd is evil.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 12:54 pm
A Countries media publishing Wikishit may actually increase their rating on Journo’s Scouring Frontiers.

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 12:56 pm
Doug Cameron now leading the witness, Finkelstien. “These lovely new laws are democratic, aren’t they?”

” Oh yes, Doughie, they are.”

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:00 pm
Conroy had wanted to go “the full Monty”

That is misspelled. It should read: “the full m0nty”. Obviously Conroy’s a fan.

m0nty

19 Mar 13 at 1:00 pm
Ricketson now saying there been no phone hacking in Australia but that’s no reason not to impose a government regulator telling the “free” press what to write. Relies on lots of anonymous as evidence the media should be regulated.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:02 pm
anonymous stories

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:02 pm
It seems that a government appointed PIMA, could decide that an organization like ACMA is not a sufficient News Media Self Regulation Authority. Effectively abolishing ACMA.

I guess it’s all about intention here. Convoy picks someone like Mr Anne Summers (a doctor no less) to regulate the media in her own image. Not long after that, it just becomes another ever expanding department catering for jobs for the boys.

ACMA becomes an organisation whose only purpose is the certify electronic communications devices under their One Tick scheme.

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 1:04 pm
Allegations by McKinnon that member of the press offered a bribe to McKinnon. Doug Cameron asks if this is true. Frankenstein mumbles on and says yeah, probably.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:06 pm
oops, Finkelstein.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:06 pm
Finkelstein says press wields enormous power. Not the government, the press, Thus the press must be regulated becuase they might actually do something wrong, write something the government doesn’t like.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:08 pm
Cameron is a troglodyte, wannabe thug. I’d really love to see someone deck the scottish bastard.

Rococo Liberal

19 Mar 13 at 1:10 pm
Finkelstein: we can’t have jounros operating without more regulations and rules because they may do something wrong in the future.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:11 pm
I disagree with Finkelstein on that principle. You don’t need to regulate everything just for the sake of regulation. There are many other laws that constrict the activities of professionals, not to mention the actions of the market to bring actors into line with community expectations in an area which is so sensitive to public opinion. The first principle should be that these other laws should be enough in concert with self-regulation, where possible. Only where there are significant deviations from societal norms should there be imposed proscriptive regulation.

m0nty

19 Mar 13 at 1:12 pm
Finkelstein says press wields enormous power. Not the government, the press, Thus the press must be regulated becuase they might actually do something wrong, write something the government doesn’t like.

OK – time the PIMA was rebirthed as the “Government Interest Media Plenipotentiary”, or GIMP.

How’s about it, conboy?

Rabz

19 Mar 13 at 1:12 pm
Fink: the APC and others are defective. Thus need for more regulations.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:12 pm
Fink: government intervention is needed because the world is a different place now because of online…online…online.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:15 pm
What part of finkelstein do you disagree with monst?

JC

19 Mar 13 at 1:15 pm
Finkelstein: we can’t have journos operating without more regulations and rules because they may do something wrong in the future.

Or worse – they might be out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct.

Rabz

19 Mar 13 at 1:16 pm
Oh jeez JC, not this again. We’ve been over this time and time over.

m0nty

19 Mar 13 at 1:17 pm
Instapundit suggests a critical reform in the light of the daily robbery of private property in Cyprus:

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING? Savings account seizure plan draws fury in Cyprus.

If I were a Republican in Congress, I’d introduce a bill — tomorrow! — banning, and, in fact, criminalizing, such seizures in the United States. That would be popular, and if the Democrats were dumb enough to oppose it, it would make people wonder what they were up to.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 1:17 pm
I disagree with Finkelstein on that principle. You don’t need to regulate everything just for the sake of regulation. There are many other laws that constrict the activities of professionals, not to mention the actions of the market to bring actors into line with community expectations in an area which is so sensitive to public opinion. The first principle should be that these other laws should be enough in concert with self-regulation, where possible. Only where there are significant deviations from societal norms should there be imposed proscriptive regulation.

How unexpected, m0nty supports government regulation of the press, like we all said for two years that he would.

What a pathetic shill.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 1:19 pm
Fink: common themes within eastern European countries. We are different, too lax in the laws, we must be like those overseas countries that restrict the press even further.

Q: These anonymous sources, did nay of them complain to the APV?

A: Some yes, some no.

Q: So there was no checking with the media outlets in question and you did no further checking yourself?

A: Yeah.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:20 pm
What part of finkelstein do you disagree with monst?

The bit that the ALP haven’t put forward as legislation.

He agrees with whatever the ALP puts forward. If they had of put forward a star chamber with burnings at the stake he would be supporting that.

If they had of rejected it outright he would be supporting that.

He’s a shill. He admittied to being a shill when he said he had no opinion on the matter until the ALP put out their opionion. Which they have and….surprise! M0nty fully supports the ALP’s position.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 1:22 pm
Well yes monst as you’re being dishonest as per stix

JC

19 Mar 13 at 1:23 pm
We need a new level of seriousness and solemnity about all this. I would propose that an incoming Abbott government look at bringing charges against Finkelstein and Conroy. Certainly there should be an inquiry into how this attempt to ban a free press came about. All responsible must be held to account.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 1:23 pm
Senator: Thanks to Finky and Ricketson because you are the only ones here without a commercial interest.

Yeah, but they have a government interest called snouts in trough. Vested interests.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:24 pm
Gab, which channel?

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 1:25 pm
There are many other laws that constrict the activities of professionals, not to mention the actions of the market to bring actors into line with community expectations in an area which is so sensitive to public opinion.

There once were norms that stopped Senators from grandstanding and getting into a religious fervour.

This stopped them from abusing the cowards castle and limited the amount of cowardly bullying people by law-makers.

Self regulation by Senators has proven to have failed in this hearing and similar events (like when the coward Cameron tried to bully Alan Joyce).

We need legislation to prevent wanna-be totalitarians on the left from abusing their position in the future.

Don’t you agree M0nty?

Token

19 Mar 13 at 1:27 pm
Scott Ludlam” Hey Finks, your second best option in your report, is that the way we should go?

Finky: Nah, that’s a do nothing approach. We can’t have that. We must DO something now!!11!!

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:27 pm
Tom, I’m watching on the govt channel but it could also be on Sky.

http://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Parliament

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:28 pm
Ludlum, so what exactly is the problem with a free press.

Fink: um…um..err.. I don’t accept News Ltd should be unregulated. The press set up the APC so that’s odd becuase it doesn’t work. So we need government oversight.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:31 pm
Doug Cameron: aww, geez, we’ve run out of time. I wanted to be fair to members of the Coaltion on the inquisition panel, but shucks, no more time. Sorry guys.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:32 pm
Brilliant CL.

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 1:32 pm
Hey kids, if you’re doing journalism at Canberra Uni, don’t ever consider you will ever get a job at any media organisation except activist government-friendly ones. The rest will laugh you out the door. Matthew Ricketson is not only barracking for a government censor, he has made tens/hundreds of thousands of bucks doing it. Every private sector news chief of staff, except the the Greenfilth at Pravda and ShakeMyHead, hate his guts.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 1:33 pm
McGinty (Lab) now giving “evidence”.
Not enough money was given to the Independent Media Council in WA.
Give us more money.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:36 pm
So, amongst the hysteria (Gab, you’re going to end up on medication if you don’t stop your feverish imagination about what the e-vil communist, savings account raiding, pencil vote altering Labor government is going to do) here, no one has commented on Media Watch last night, which noted the Australian Press Council suggested the PIMA/privacy act protection if part of effective self regulation model?

I presume News Ltd (and Fairfax) have representation on that Council. Why are they still part of that body if it put up such an appalling, Soviet style, dictator like suggestion?

What hysterical bullshit the press owners are currently getting away with in this debate.

steve from brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 1:39 pm
I would propose that an incoming Abbott government look at bringing charges against Finkelstein and Conroy. Certainly there should be an inquiry into how this attempt to ban a free press came about. All responsible must be held to account.

A royal commission into the unAustralian fascist political ideology that has taken hold in all taxpayer funded insitutions – especially academia.

Taxpayer funded institutions must adhere to “societal norms” and regulation must be implemented “to bring actors into line with community expectations in an area which is so sensitive to public opinion”.

Top quote supporter of regulation to “protect” society from wrong speech and bad thoughts.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 1:41 pm
A summation of Labor, Conroy in particular, tying themselves in knots over the ACMA Blacklist

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 1:42 pm
The real marriage equality debate is finally getting under way in the US – the elites v the others

Sad to say, but I found Glenn Reynolds article a throw-away piece that paid obeisance to the liberal clerisy (“Well, I’ve been supporting gay marriage for a long time – much, much longer than Barack Obama”) and a recapitulation of what has already been said and far better by people like Murray about the increasing divide in marriage rates between the low/ middle class and the upper-middle class and upper classes, but nothing about the rank hypocrisy of the latter who say that being married or cohabitating is more or less the same but who largely get married themselves. Worst of all, there is really no attempt to draw any of these related issues together in an integrated and intelligible manner.

dover_beach

19 Mar 13 at 1:42 pm
Doug Cameron: Do you agree these lovely new laws are undemocratic and will regulate the free press – now I’m not being political here, you understand. Just asking, the legislation will not destroy the democratic process in Australia, like how the evil News Ltd fellows have been telling us? Does this legislation interfere with any rights of a free press?

McGinty (ex-Lab pollie): Nah, mate, you’re fine. She’s apples.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:44 pm
Kate Ellis is buzzing in this press conference.

Harold

19 Mar 13 at 1:45 pm
So Dogshit shows up to add his support for a little bit of leftwing fascism, which will be a good thing provided the left controls the institution that will administer it.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 1:45 pm
Ludlam: If Faifax and News leave the APC as Seven West did, then how will the media be regulated? In this imaginary scenario, isn’t this justification enough for the government regulating the media?

McGinty: I agree with you, darls.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:46 pm
Why are they still part of that body if it put up such an appalling, Soviet style, dictator like suggestion?

Because you dishonest cock they were told if they weren’t part of it they would be regulated. Hey how did that go for them? Believing the left?

And if it’s so good why doesn’t the ABC belong to it? Why don’t these laws cover the ABC?

What hysterical bullshit the press owners are currently getting away with in this debate.

Yeah, it’s “hysterical” to take the entire left including the ALP at face value when you’ll giddly agree that this is an assault on News Ltd’s papers and they’re all going to get it because you’ll don’t like what they write about.

You fail. You’ve overreached and now you’ve failed forever. You’ll be gonged over the head with this for eternity. St Abbott can shutdown the ABC and we’ll all be laughing at you, what are you going to argue? “Free press”? LOL.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 1:50 pm
How unexpected, m0nty supports government regulation of the press, like we all said for two years that he would.

Sigh. 26, I was actually agreeing with Rafe, who restated in a recent OP the “Scottish/Austrian” theory that laws:

evolve as unintended consequences of the actions of countless people in the catallaxy, the extended order of people going about their daily business of work and play

What I was saying is to allow those evolved laws to take care of the market, rather than impose central regulation for the sake of it, unless there’s an instance of the law lagging too far behind.

But you’re too thick to see the difference, of course.

m0nty

19 Mar 13 at 1:51 pm
Shorten would have to be the best spin doctor going around in the Parliament. A+ for spin due to what comes out of his mouth and his faux concern for people, shown by his facial expressions.

Andrew

19 Mar 13 at 1:52 pm
Coalition are now willing to support two out of the six bills if concession are made.

Andrew

19 Mar 13 at 1:54 pm
Doug Cameron in his element as Chief Executioner.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 1:56 pm
What hysterical bullshit the press owners are currently getting away with in this debate.

As opposed to the reasoned, sober, incisive, perceptive, disinterested wisdom being dispensed by wee Dougie and wee Stevie.

James in Melbourne

19 Mar 13 at 1:56 pm
How about a “public interest test” for a firing squad?

m0nster and liar-steve™ wouldn’t have a leg to stand on

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 1:56 pm
Coalition are now willing to support two out of the six bills if concession are made.

Which two?

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 1:57 pm
Twostix, I have no more details than that. My source is Kieran Gilbert from Sky.

Andrew

19 Mar 13 at 1:58 pm
Twostix, the Conroy Bill only applies to companies who fall under the corporations act. I gather The ABC does not

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 1:59 pm
What I was saying is to allow those evolved laws to take care of the market, rather than impose central regulation for the sake of it, unless there’s an instance of the law lagging too far behind.

Spare me the mealy-mouthed bullshit. If you’re against Labor’s proposals then say so nice and clearly.

I bet you won’t.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 2:01 pm
Twostix, the Conroy Bill only applies to companies who fall under the corporations act. I gather The ABC does not

I agree it doesn’t apply to the ABC as it is “self-regulating”; but it can’t be corporations act if it will also affect bloggers can it?

dismissive

19 Mar 13 at 2:02 pm
What hysterical bullshit the press owners are currently getting away with in this debate.

LOL.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 2:02 pm
You’d have to have a heart of stone not to want to execute the leftist filth that are fucking our country.

Imagine seeing Dougie “Tha Wukkas” Cameron’s head on a pike and his gizzards slowly leeching into the Yarra after a particularly gruesome disembowelling ceremony. Tremendous fun for the family.

Infidel Tiger

19 Mar 13 at 2:05 pm
Only applies to small business, with that as defined by the relevant act. I can’t see how it could apply to bloggers.

But hey, I’m not even a bush lawyers unpaid coffee bitch.

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 2:06 pm
no one has commented on Media Watch last night, which noted the Australian Press Council suggested the PIMA/privacy act protection if part of effective self regulation model?

You’re a slimy lying piece of leftist scum.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 2:07 pm
Twostix, the Conroy Bill only applies to companies who fall under the corporations act. I gather The ABC does not

It wasn’t a technical question.

The ABC is absent from all of these discussions about media “regulation” yet it is among the worst abusers of its “power”.

And worst of all the ABC has it’s own in house “regulator”. How does that square up with the ABC’s pro-regulation commentary on this? Private media have to deal with a third party regulator – imagine if News Ltd said “Forget it we’ll just setup our own-in house regulator” then promptly sent 9/10 complaints to it to the bin.

The specially protected ABC have no room to speak on this issue at all.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 2:09 pm
BTW CL, thanks for keeping up the anal related topics in my absence. And for Dan for continuing the penis theme.

steve from brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 2:10 pm
Scratch that, I guess a person hosting a blog could be done for, but it is a hell of a bun fight. I mean, your dragging in every single proprietor of information in the known universe to be adjudicated by the high court because of some flimsy Public Interest

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 2:12 pm
On the plus side I imagine the IPA will be more wealthy and powerful than ever after all this.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 2:13 pm
Swan: “this government budgets responsibly”
Opposition : laughter

Keith

19 Mar 13 at 2:15 pm
Dougie “Tha Wukkas” Cameron’s head on a pike and his gizzards slowly leeching into the Yarra after a particularly gruesome disembowelling ceremony.

And afterwards we feast and discuss more important matters such as the Melbourne Cup and Black Caviar.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 2:16 pm
And if it’s so good why doesn’t the ABC belong to it? Why don’t these laws cover the ABC?

Seems a straight forward question.

Because it is a deliberate move by Conroy as he has written the bill. It’s transparent and repugnant. A witch hunt, pure and simple. He could’ve stacked ACMA to his favour. He didn’t. There is a broad pattern here, these silly fuckers think they are Machiavellian but coulldnt even rationalize tomorrow

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 2:18 pm
The ABC is absent from all of these discussions about media “regulation” yet it is among the worst abusers of its “power”.

ACMA has coersive powers over private media while the ABC is free to self-regulate and send almost all complaints to the bin.

ACMA, which is also infested with leftist activists, has used its power to ritually humiliate conservative commentators. It is just a get-Alan-Jones agency. It has hundreds of staff and costs hundreds of millions of dollars to operate. It didn’t exist a decade ago. Abolish it.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 2:20 pm
….as the bill is written….

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 2:20 pm
Can’t listen the News Ltd Inquisition anymore.

So far, the totalitarians have not come up with any evidence for the need to regulate the media by government authority. All they have shown as “evidence” is what could happen in the future.

I am against the death penalty being reintroduced in Australia but for the likes of Conroy, Cameron, Finkelstein and Ricketson I am willing to make an exception.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 2:21 pm
The Goose sounds very fragile in QT. Maybe Gerry Hand is correct and Gillard (and Swan) is likely to get knifed tomorrow.

Steve of Ferny Hills

19 Mar 13 at 2:28 pm
Shitfer’s first comment after a (too brief) absence:

CL … up the anal ….. the penis …

Classy!

Mk50 of Brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 2:33 pm
Scratch that, I guess a person hosting a blog could be done for, but it is a hell of a bun fight. I mean, your dragging in every single proprietor of information in the known universe to be adjudicated by the high court because of some flimsy Public Interest

The original Finklestein News Ltd witch hunt proposed that blogs that receive more than 15,000 “hits” a year (technically all blogs when you include spiders, spam bots, etc), or any publication that has a circulation greater than 3000 (books, mailing lists, newsletters, all) would be covered by the government content regulator.

The proposal specifically and clearly stated that the regulator would have court authority and that there would be no appeal whatsoever.

That is the regulator would get a complaint, rule on the complaint in “1-3 days” and if you didn’t comply you would be held in contempt of court until you complied with no chance of an appeal.

That was the gold standard. That is allegedly what Conroy wanted to put forward last week (which Wayne Swan fully “supported”) but was supposedly prevented from doing so by Gillard.

That is the real story here. The motive and driving force behind this is a pure malevolence toward free expression.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 2:38 pm
Flyer in my letterbox today from the Member for Hindmarsh here in SA.

Gutless, spineless wonder does identify the party he represents – ferken Labor but not the waste he has had a hand in in two schools – $4M

Spineless and Gutless Steve Georganas, MP

Mike of Marion

19 Mar 13 at 2:42 pm
Spineless and Gutless Steve Georganas, MP

He’s hardly ‘gutless’, the fat, stupid parasite.

Rabz

19 Mar 13 at 3:04 pm
In more good news from the West – Greens leader Giz Watson loses her seat in the Legislative Council.

Communist Watermelon Party is on the slide. So long Ol’ Crazy Eyes.

H B Bear

19 Mar 13 at 3:10 pm
Spare me the mealy-mouthed bullshit. If you’re against Labor’s proposals then say so nice and clearly.

I bet you won’t.

Translation: I just lost that argument, so I’ll try to change the subject. You’re easy to see through, 26.

m0nty

19 Mar 13 at 3:12 pm
And Shooters and Fishers got in. Dot will be happy.

DriftForge

19 Mar 13 at 3:14 pm
Answer the question m0nty. You have tried all forms of wankspeak to avoid answering the question, so have a go at either:
1/ Yes, I am against Labor’s proposal
or
2/ No, I am all for Labor’s proposal
Simple really.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

19 Mar 13 at 3:16 pm
The bogan left’s shrieking abuse megaphone loses a customer:

AUSTRALIA cricket team coach Mickey Arthur on Tuesday deleted his Twitter account after receiving persistent abusive tweets.

“Thanks twitter,has been fun but deleting my account now!Thanks to all the genuine supporters out there,” said Arthur on Twitter on Tuesday, a day after the Australian team lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy when beaten in the third Test at Mohali to go 0-3 down in the four-Test series.

A sample of the latest advice dished out to Arthur by one frequent tweeter @jimmyob13 gives an indication why he stopped using social media.

“Hey Mickey Mouse @MickeyArthur do you have enough quicks for 3rd test? Now it’s going to be a seamer so I suggest you play 4 spinners…,” the user posted on March 12.

The following day he wrote: “@MickeyArthur How’s the team spirit this morn? Did they all wear the correct uniform? Did Hughes and Warner scrub skippers whites for him?”

The South African’s decision to end his account was greeted with more scorn on Twitter.

One tweeter, @adam_pearce13 said “It’s about time you focus on the cricket anyway ”

Another, @willderen tweeted to Arthur “You’re an idiot.”, @MarkCooper said “you suck”, while @KevinWilde described Arthur’s move to delete his account as “weak”.

Tom

19 Mar 13 at 3:25 pm
Media ban a great idea that lost its way, says alleged adult (but actual gutless dickhead) Simon Crean.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 3:37 pm
I think we find ourselves in furious agreement Twostix. Throw in the Roxon Offended Bill and it’s a clusterfuck of revenge.

Turnbull said it best. If you don’t agree with the printed word, sue for libel. The ALP sticks it to Turbull, but at least he put it on the line and self funded his libel suits, he hasn’t gone full retard and abused his power as a legislator to silence his critics.

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 3:38 pm
Today in multiculturalism:

Mother witnessed son’s machete slaying, court told.

A jury has been told how a woman witnessed four men kill her son with machetes and meat cleavers in their Sydney home three years ago.

Mohammed Karimi, John Khoury and Mahdi Mir have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kesley Burgess, who was killed in his Lurnea home in 2010.

The men sat side by side in the NSW Supreme Court today as Ken McKay outlined the prosecution’s case.

He said Karimi and Khoury recruited men for the attack while Mir was allegedly one of four men who carried out the killing.

The jury was told they armed themselves with machetes and meat cleavers and demanded cash and drugs.

Tracey Burgess watched them attack her son with the weapons as he lay on the ground.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 3:41 pm
~~Media ban~~ The ALP was a great ~~idea~~ government that lost its way, says alleged adult (but actual gutless dickhead) Simon Crean.

Where did we hear this before?

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 3:42 pm
Spare me the mealy-mouthed bullshit. If you’re against Labor’s proposals then say so nice and clearly.

I bet you won’t

Annnnndddddd…

Translation: I just lost that argument, so I’ll try to change the subject. You’re easy to see through, 26.

Nom,nom,nom I can hear you chewing that mouth full of meal from here m0nty.

What argument you cockwit? You’ve been asked this question for years now. You’ve refused to answer based on wanting to “wait and see”. Well time’s up! Here we are.

Do you support or reject this proposed regulation?

Yes or no.

twostix

19 Mar 13 at 3:47 pm
NYT: Hillary Clinton ~~Endorses Same-Sex Marriage~~ follows the herd

Saying that “gay rights are human rights,’’ Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state and potential 2016 presidential candidate, has endorsed same-sex marriage.

“I believe America is at its best when we champion the freedom and dignity of every human being,’’ Mrs. Clinton said in a video posted Monday on the Internet by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group. Her announcement comes as the Supreme Court is about to hear two landmark gay rights cases that advocates hope will make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

Mrs. Clinton’s announcement represents a switch in position; as a presidential candidate in 2008, she explicitly opposed same-sex marriage, saying that she favored civil unions but that decisions about the legality of marriage should be left to the states. (Until last year, President Obama took that position as well; the president now favors a right to marriage for gay couples.)

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 3:48 pm
Dougie “Tha Wukkas” Cameron’s head on a pike and his gizzards slowly leeching into the Yarra after a particularly gruesome disembowelling ceremony.

Too gruesome. Just send him on a mission to Malaysia countries and before he gets there ensure his dog whistling about asians is picked up by their fair and balanced media.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 3:52 pm
“I believe America is at its best when we champion the freedom and dignity of every human being.’’

Great.

Freedom and dignity for child molesters, now!

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 3:54 pm
Which dopey lefty was it that clogged up a previous OT and got fooled by the ALP’s pathetic smearing of Costello?

We saw Labor misuse Queensland’s Crime and Misconduct Commission at the last state election by making groundless complaints, hoping the headlines of the accusation would be bigger than the headlines when the complaint was dismissed.

This month the same trick was tried this month by an anonymous denouncer against Peter Costello and Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.

Let’s see if Fairfax publishes the commission’s decision with the same prominence that it gave the accusation…

…So who was the anonymous denouncer, who could create damage to Costello’s business and reputation without any risk to himself of being identified and held accountable?

Costello’s company is rightly demanding answers:

ECG has never seen any complaint. It was never contacted by the CMC about a complaint. It has never been told what the complaint amounted to. All it knows is from allegations made in the Fairfax press on 7th March. The complainant has sought to remain anonymous despite leaking the matter to the papers, obviously, in an attempt to cause damage.

Under the CMC Act false and misleading referrals carry heavy penalties.

[H/t Bolta]

Token

19 Mar 13 at 4:00 pm
What I was saying is to allow those evolved laws to take care of the market, rather than impose central regulation for the sake of it, unless there’s an instance of the law lagging too far behind.

Look at this case where FauxFacts smeared Costello without checking with the ECG.

M0nty is this a case where the law lags behind the market?

The person who made this erroneous statement with the knowledge it woudl inflict commercial damage be able to be sued as well/hit with sanctions under the Act. Sounds like the law is lagging too far here too!

Token

19 Mar 13 at 4:09 pm
Interesting and informative article in Popular Mechanics:
Protecting the Submarine Cables That Wire Our World
Deep under the sea lie the telecommunications cables that keep the world interconnected and the global economy humming. Here’s how they’re built, and what happens when one breaks.

When you send an email, a small collection of bits containing your message travels from a local server to a high-speed fiber-optic cable. These fibers, strands of glass that carry a waveform of light, move data at speeds up to 100 Gbps. One undersea cable might have hundreds of wavelengths per strand and several fibers. A submarine cable is about 0.75 to 2.5 inches in diameter, or about the thickness of three ordinary garden hoses. The longest cable, called the Southern Cross, runs under the Pacific, stretching 18,500 miles.

Most cables take several weeks to install. Surveyors must work with local fisherman, carriers, survey teams, and a number of private companies to determine the best route along the ocean floor, avoiding deep caverns and potential hazards. It takes a day to lay 80 to 90 miles of cable. In shallower waters near the shore, where there’s more to go wrong, operators lay just 8 to 9 miles of cable a day.

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 4:09 pm
Obvious union interference. Bravo!

With professionals like Gillard in your court, you can’t go wrong

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 4:09 pm
At this rate of social change, by 2023 I expect CL and JamesK will be able to enjoy their “never too late to come out” gay marriage by a lesbian priest in the post Vatican III Catholic Church of their choosing.

A couple of beagles in bow ties will lead the walk down the aisle, and the wedding reception will have their new friends in the rainbow church talk about how James stopped being an angry man in denial about his Catholicism when he met CL in the surgery for his first prostate exam.

Thus ends my burst of creativity for today…

steve from brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 4:16 pm
Turnbull said it best. If you don’t agree with the printed word, sue for libel.

Ask Thommo how that worked out for him.

H B Bear

19 Mar 13 at 4:25 pm
Aaaw, isn’t Shitfer cute when he’s fantasising about marrying another man?

he could be more truthful in his sign-off, though.

It’s not like anyone does not know that this:

Thus ends my burst of creativity for today…

really means this:

‘I am too busy with a pint of vaesline and my favourite buttplug to comment for a while; my fantasy has made me all…. excited.’

Mk50 of Brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 4:27 pm
If it happens tonight, “Julia of a Thousand Days” would be a spiffy title for the eight part ABC maxi series.

lotocoti

19 Mar 13 at 4:29 pm
Does our progressive friend post elsewhere as Frogbeat?

lotocoti

19 Mar 13 at 4:35 pm
If it happens tonight, “Julia of a Thousand Days” would be a spiffy title for the eight part ABC maxi series.

I can see the ABC billing now – A triumphant story about the fight against mysogyny from Australia’s greatest PM.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 4:39 pm
I hear Gillard has again referred to Abbott as a misogynist in the Parliament. What an utter disgrace she is.

dover_beach

19 Mar 13 at 4:40 pm
As Keith (@2:15pm) posted:

Swan: “this government budgets responsibly”
Opposition : laughter

First thing someone should Swannie is how his “no ifs or buts”, “we are going to bring the budget into the black in 2013″ promise is looking… and if he will apologise to the country for lying about it over 250 times since 2010.

Brian of Moorabbin

19 Mar 13 at 4:42 pm
Looks like it is going to be a very cold winter in Europe with Natural Gas supplies being “unexpectedly” faulty:

EUROPE and Russia were in a stand-off last night after Moscow threatened to pull financial aid to Cyprus in retaliation for a raid on bank accounts.
President Putin attacked the proposed levy which will confiscate up to 10 per cent of savings as “unfair, unprofessional and dangerous” while his Finance Minister warned that Russia could terminate a $A3.1billion loan to Cyprus.

Moscow’s decision to threaten the deal took Berlin and Brussels by surprise, and added further uncertainty to attempts to raise the $A20 billion needed to rescue the country’s economy.

One suspects some of that money is Putin’s.

I’m guessing the EU is going to find out why you don’t get in debt by lending money from mobsters, then try to steal that money through statist means…

Token

19 Mar 13 at 4:45 pm
One suspects ~~some~~ truckloads of that money is Putin’s.

H B Bear

19 Mar 13 at 4:47 pm
Token, several billion, the rumour is. Most of the Russki mob have a big chunk in Cypriot banks.

Mk50 of Brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 4:48 pm
Surprise! onummer appoints yet another hard-core leftist to his cabinet – A true believer in the “disparate impact theory” a kissing cousin to “critical race theory.”

WSJ: The Problem with Perez

President Obama has nominated Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, to be the next secretary of labor. The White House cites as an attribute his work at Justice in settling several fair-lending cases involving banks. But Republicans ought to question Mr. Perez’s fondness for using statistical analysis to bring discrimination cases.

Mr. Perez is a disciple of “disparate impact theory,” which uses statistics (selectively) to “prove” discrimination. As the economist Walter Williams has noted, disparate-impact theorists worship at the altar of racial proportionality. If blacks are 13% of the population, they should be roughly 13% of police officers, dentists, UCLA’s freshman class and residents of upscale suburbs like Scarsdale, N.Y. If they aren’t, then racial discrimination is to blame and legal action against institutions, municipalities, businesses and landlords is warranted.

So when Mr. Perez noticed that some lenders had denied certain loans to blacks at higher rates than whites, he took action. Never mind all the studies that show whites denied certain kinds of loans at higher rates than Asians, or that show black-owned banks have also rejected black applicants at higher rates—which suggests that something other than racial discrimination might be at work. Mr. Perez made selective use of the data to fit his theory, then pressured the banks into settling rather than suffer years of bad publicity from unproven accusations of racism.

Mr. Perez and the Obama administration insist that disparate-impact analysis helps minorities. But forcing banks to lend money to people who can’t pay it back means more home foreclosures and ruined credit ratings. How does that help someone?

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 4:49 pm
Oligarchs on the warpath Mark 2: World Cup 2022 in Russia is going to be a riot:

A FOOTBALL fan who heckled a referee on Sunday did what millions do every weekend – with three exceptions.

One: Ramzan Kadyrov is the President of FC Terek Grozny, the club that was being held to a frustrating 0-0 home draw at the time.

Two: as head of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, he has been accused by human rights activists of the kidnap, torture and murder of opponents, a reputation that could reasonably be said to have put unfair pressure on the referee.

Three: he was shouting into the stadium announcer’s microphone at the time.

Last night he confirmed that he was the heckler. “Yes, it was I, Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic,” he said. “I had good reasons.” He added that the same referee had cost Terek points in two other recent matches and called for a “thorough investigation” into his actions.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 4:49 pm
Token, several billion, the rumour is. Most of the Russki mob have a big chunk in Cypriot banks.

Yes.

The decision of Germany to close down those nuclear power plants and place greater dependency on Russian Natural Gas for heating in winter is looking smarter by the day…

Token

19 Mar 13 at 4:51 pm
Swan: “this government budgets responsibly”
Opposition : laughter

Swan has single handedly turned Budget night into a stand-up routine. Has there ever been a Treasurer with less credibility than this clown?

It is only a union protection racket and the duplicity of those doomed independents that has kept this shambles afloat for three years. History will condemn them all for the damage they have wrought.

H B Bear

19 Mar 13 at 4:53 pm
David Brooks, one of two non-leftist columnists at the NYT: The Progressive Shift

There is a statue outside the Department of Labor of a powerful, rambunctious horse being reined in by an extremely muscular man. This used to be a metaphor for liberalism. The horse was capitalism. The man was government, which was needed sometimes to restrain capitalism’s excesses.

Today, liberalism seems to have changed. Today, many progressives seem to believe that government is the horse, the source of growth, job creation and prosperity. Capitalism is just a feeding trough that government can use to fuel its expansion.

For an example of this new worldview, look at the budget produced by the Congressional Progressive Caucus last week. These Democrats try to boost economic growth with a gigantic $2.1 trillion increase in government spending — including a $450 billion public works initiative, a similar-size infrastructure program and $179 billion so states, too, can hire more government workers.

Now, of course, liberals have always believed in Keynesian countercyclical deficit spending. But that was borrowing to brake against a downturn when certain conditions prevail: when the economy is shrinking; when debt levels are low; when there are plenty of shovel-ready projects waiting to be enacted; when there is a large and growing gap between the economy’s current output and what it is capable of producing.

Today, House progressives are calling for a huge increase in government taxing and spending when none of those conditions apply

These twits are Obummer’s base

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 4:53 pm
I hear Gillard has again referred to Abbott as a misogynist in the Parliament. What an utter disgrace she is.

Hideous old cow she is.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 4:58 pm
I now think Gillard’s hate constitutes an illness.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 5:07 pm
At this rate of social change, by 2023 I expect CL and JamesK will be able to enjoy their “never too late to come out” gay marriage by a lesbian priest in the post Vatican III Catholic Church of their choosing.

For latecomers, Steve is older than everybody here, once admitting that he watched the moon-landing on television.

(!).

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 5:15 pm
I hear Gillard has again referred to Abbott as a misogynist in the Parliament.

Apparently so.

During a torrid session of question time, during which numerous Coalition MPs were ejected, the opposition complained Ms Gillard was trying to reignite a gender-based attack and accused her of saying that “misogynist Tony is back”.

Mr Abbott had asked Ms Gillard whether she would regard a failure to pass media reform laws in the lower house this week as a lack of confidence in her government. Ms Gillard told Mr Abbott she would win the September 14 election

“Let me say very clearly to the Leader of the Opposition – it will be a contest, counter intuitive to those believing in gender stereotypes, but a contest between a strong, feisty woman and a policy-weak man and I’ll win it.”

Leader of opposition business Christopher Pyne complained that Ms Gillard went far beyond answering the question. “And then she, as an aside, said for some unknown reason, misogynist Tony is back,” he said.

“I would ask her to withdraw it because it is a slur on the Leader of the Opposition and a desperate comment from a desperate prime minister.”

Speaker Anna Burke ordered Mr Pyne to leave the chamber during the fiery moment. Ms Burke said she did not hear the interjection but asked Ms Gillard to withdraw it.

“If the Leader of the Opposition is upset in any way I will withdraw,” she said.

Ms Gillard was then forced to withdraw the comment unreservedly.

Pyne was apparently ejected because he called the slime minister ‘desperate’…

What an utter disgrace she is.

Disgrace doesn’t begin to cover what this ‘woman’ has done (and continues to do) to the office and title of Prime Minister of Australia…

And if you want more evidence of the opinion Gillard holds of the public who are more and more behind calls for her to either step down or to call an election, look here.

Brian of Moorabbin

19 Mar 13 at 5:15 pm
It didn’t before CL? I guess now it’s not the normal type of hate

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 5:17 pm
HB,
Swan is so abject in his clowning. The lies are becoming increasingly pathetic, clearly looking for sympathy. I hope the voters of Lilley deliver a mercy killing.
Great news about Giz.
Made my day.

Keith

19 Mar 13 at 5:18 pm
Jack the Insider’s column today required reading for Joe Hildebrand:

India’s dark secrets and hypocrisy exposed.

A quality clip across the ear for the backward toilet.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 5:18 pm
Speaker Burke is not only a few sangers short of a picnic, she is an utter disgrace in her official role. Watch her QT trick of allowing ministers to bucket the Opposition before ordering them to “return to the question” about 15 seconds before their time is up. Yet another affirmative action disaster.

C.L.

19 Mar 13 at 5:22 pm
Pyne was apparently ejected because he called the slime minister ‘desperate’…

Oh yeah becuase the Labor slimers never ever referred to Howard as ‘desperate’. Talk about double standards. Burke deserves to be thrown out on are arse.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 5:23 pm
Swan: “this government budgets responsibly”
Opposition : laughter

There was a better quote than that during question time.

Swan

If you listen to the other side of the house you know what you will get, you will get… you will get higher deficits and higher debt

kelly liddle

19 Mar 13 at 5:23 pm
Dear me. The Angry White Men brigade certainly get upset with the “misogynist” insult.

steve from brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 5:25 pm
Your really are quite the bitchy queen, SFB.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 5:26 pm
Watch her QT trick of allowing ministers to bucket the Opposition before ordering them to “return to the question” about 15 seconds before their time is up. Yet another affirmative action disaster.

I’m not even an irregular viewer of QT but I noticed what may indeed be another tactic: when the Opposition asks a question, the Government yell and scream which allows the Speaker to step in and possibly give the PM or Minister a little more time to collect their ‘thoughts’ before answering.

dover_beach

19 Mar 13 at 5:28 pm
The Angry White Men brigade certainly get upset with the “misogynist” insult.

Steve I hope she keeps it up as it makes her look stupid.

kelly liddle

19 Mar 13 at 5:28 pm
And you’re an honorary member of the AWM brigade, Gab.

steve from brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 5:29 pm
The Angry White Men

I’m white? You despicable racist.

dover_beach

19 Mar 13 at 5:30 pm
Dear me. The ~~Angry White Men~~ Panty Twisting ~~brigade~~ Weirdo certainly gets upset with ~~the~~ people who mock the sooking by the PM about “misogyn~~ist~~y” ~~insult~~.

Fixed for you.

Token

19 Mar 13 at 5:31 pm
“Dear me. The Angry White Men brigade certainly get upset with the “misogynist” insult.”

Not angry enough to throw petrol. That they don’t means (a) justice is not done and (b) they are not as angry as they ought to be.

WhaleHunt Fun

19 Mar 13 at 5:41 pm
Dear me. The Angry White Men brigade certainly get upset with the “misogynist” insult.

Fuck off you pussy-whipped waste of oxygen.

Brian of Moorabbin

19 Mar 13 at 5:49 pm
No, Whalehunt, please don’t consider self immolation as a form of protest.

Oh, you mean Righties should be burning buildings or people, or something, because the PM annoys them? Rightio. That’s more reasonable then.

steve from brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 5:53 pm
I think I hear the subtle tones of an AWM.

steve from brisbane

19 Mar 13 at 5:55 pm
The smell of flaming red hair will be a salve for any anger. The shrieking cries for aid drowned by the general laughter will cure the last of any angst. A serene calm will settle as the crowd turns with expectation and solvent towards The Goose.
Catharsis, thy name is petroleum.

WhaleHunt Fun

19 Mar 13 at 6:35 pm
If you can’t afford any fuel Steve, you can get a chaff bag from any recycling centre/ garbage dump in The Brisbane Valley upstream of the Somerset Dam.

WhaleHunt Fun

19 Mar 13 at 6:37 pm
The Lying Slapper having pushed up the price of fuel by applying the carbon tax to the domestic refineries, may make you think you cannot afford the fuel, but the refineries closing means that the imported fuel will be free of the tax and you will be able to take part as an honorary.

WhaleHunt Fun

19 Mar 13 at 6:42 pm
sfb should go over to LP. There he will find Frannie holding court, stating that a change of leadership in the Liar’s Party would be proof of misogyny. That would be ok by sfb, once he gets the talking points from Sussex Street.

Keith

19 Mar 13 at 6:50 pm
Perhaps our progressive friend could provide evidence supporting the accusation.

lotocoti

19 Mar 13 at 6:54 pm
misogynist Tony ? I thought the script was phony Tony – but is like, so years ago.

Keith

19 Mar 13 at 6:55 pm
My wife’s a misogynist – she hates the racist whore than I do.

Infidel Tiger

19 Mar 13 at 7:01 pm
Oh, catfight!

Reckon your Mrs will win IT?

Dan

19 Mar 13 at 7:13 pm
My Cheese would slap seven shades of shit out of that despicable succubus.

Infidel Tiger

19 Mar 13 at 7:34 pm
What an utter disgrace she is.

Hideous old cow she is.

In her own words … stinking … disgusting.

Septimus

19 Mar 13 at 7:50 pm
Richard Torbay has withdrawn from Nationals candidacy in New England.

Andrew

19 Mar 13 at 8:08 pm
Why was Torbay and Fred Niles frequent visitors to Obeid’s parliament office4?

JamesK

19 Mar 13 at 8:21 pm
“Why was Torbay and Fred Niles frequent visitors …”

I don’t know. Why???

Mick Gold Coast QLD

19 Mar 13 at 11:18 pm
Whoooo! Is anybody out there?

Three hours since the previous post – did everyone go to the pub simultaneously? Did that mad, illiterate, drunken sheila get so irritating tonight that everyone signed off in despair and went to bed?

Mick Gold Coast QLD

19 Mar 13 at 11:21 pm
Silly old man probably still giddy from his imbibing red cordial at his birthday party.

We’re all here, Mick.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 11:24 pm
Gees you’re clever Mick! New forum’s been running for five hours ya dill!

Mick Gold Coast QLD

19 Mar 13 at 11:25 pm
Have mercy Gabrielle – I’m older this week than last!

Mick Gold Coast QLD

19 Mar 13 at 11:26 pm
Gotsta keep you on your toes, Mick. Keeps you young.

Gab

19 Mar 13 at 11:28 pm
Interesting bit of background on Torbay and Obeid.

m0nty

19 Mar 13 at 11:29 pm
No one here m0nty

WhaleHunt Fun

20 Mar 13 at 12:21 am
@ C.L.

“Today in multiculturalism:

Mother witnessed son’s machete slaying, court told.

A jury has been told how a woman witnessed four men kill her son with machetes and meat cleavers in their Sydney home three years ago.

Mohammed Karimi, John Khoury and Mahdi Mir have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kesley Burgess, who was killed in his Lurnea home in 2010. [snip]

The jury was told they armed themselves with machetes and meat cleavers and demanded cash and drugs.

Tracey Burgess watched them attack her son with the weapons as he lay on the ground.”

C.L., you seem to have missed the part of the story about how it was a dispute about territory between rival drug dealers. Or the bit where dear old Mum ran into the kitchen and found some cannabis to give them in the hope that they would leave her darling, Aussie son alone.

Are you suggesting that we should give preferential treatment to, and weep extra tears for, dinkum Aussie drug dealers? So, if the razor gangs of an earlier era had been involved, there wouldn’t be any problem, right?

The trouble with this kind of jihad is that it ends up in promoting exactly what it claims to oppose. Rival crims have always bumped each other off, frequently in very unpleasant ways. Defending one against the other on the grounds of ethnicity or religion is not only unproductive, it obscures the fact that crims are crims, irrespective of their background.

johanna

20 Mar 13 at 5:43 am
I’m white. I’m a man. And I’m sure has hell frigging angry. With that baggage why I earth would I hate women? Haven’t I got enough problems as it is?

geoffff

20 Mar 13 at 9:27 am
I’m white. I’m a man. And I’m sure has hell frigging angry. With that baggage why I earth would I hate women? Haven’t I got enough problems as it is?

Well remember, if you commit a rape, do so with a black man or lefty darling like Assange and you’ll get cover by the lefty media.

Token

20 Mar 13 at 9:36 am
C.L., you seem to have missed the part of the story about how it was a dispute about territory between rival drug dealers. Or the bit where dear old Mum ran into the kitchen and found some cannabis to give them in the hope that they would leave her darling, Aussie son alone.

Are you suggesting that we should give preferential treatment to, and weep extra tears for, dinkum Aussie drug dealers? So, if the razor gangs of an earlier era had been involved, there wouldn’t be any problem, right?

With respect johanna that comment is just sad. The razor gangs of an earlier era are not involved and even if they were there is no record that they ever did anything as depraved as chop a rival to pieces in front of his mother.

The bit about the desperate mother at her wits end doing whatever came into her mind and was at hand to stop the attack that she must have known she couldn’t?

Criminals they may have been, although that is not evidence the mother was, but we are dealing with a level of criminal depravity that is new to these shores and we must be careful to give it its own category.

geoffff

20 Mar 13 at 9:38 am
oops. the block quotes in that comment are reversed making johanna’s words look like mine, and mine johanna’s

That sort of thing has been happening a lot lately. I pissed off cifWatch because of it. One of my favourite blogs. Maybe I should get it checked out.

geoffff

20 Mar 13 at 9:42 am
Probably the same reason why I’m commenting on an old open forum thread when a perfectly good brand new one has been started.

geoffff

20 Mar 13 at 9:44 am

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