Monday, January 02, 2006
PAYMENT DUE
Margo Kingston, back in August:
I bet a colleague $100 bucks today that Howard would retire by December 31. He talks the talk alright, but the talk is a lie.
Funny how things turn out, isn’t it? Howard is still in power, but Margo has retired. She talked the talk alright, but the talk was a lie!
Sunday, January 01, 2006
WAR ON PLANTS
Another reason to admire George W. Bush:
On most of the 365 days he has enjoyed at his secluded ranch here, President Bush’s idea of paradise is to hop in his white Ford pickup truck in jeans and work boots, drive to a stand of cedars, and whack the trees to the ground.
And then he burns them. In other environmental developments:
Global ocean levels are rising twice as fast today as they were 150 years ago, and human-induced warming appears to be the culprit, say scientists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and collaborating institutions.
“Twice as fast”, in this case, means two millimetres per year rather than one millimetre. At that rate it’ll take 3000 years before the US faces those threatened 20-foot ocean rises.
JEWS OWN ALL THE GOLD, SILVER, AND ... WATER
Hugo Chavez fans Antony Loewenstein and Andrew West might take pause on reading a translation of the Venezuelan President’s Christmas speech:
The descendants of those who crucified Christ ... have taken ownership of the riches of the world, a minority has taken ownership of the gold of the world, the silver, the minerals, water, the good lands, petrol, well, the riches, and they have concentrated the riches in a small number of hands.
Chavez’s speech in the original Spanish is included at the above link. I’m assuming the translation is accurate.
(Via Ross F.)
UPDATE. More on Hugo from Alex Beech.
UPDATE II. Bob Pence in comments:
I think he’s talking about more than just Jews here. He continues:
“A minority was appropriated the wealth of the world, a minority was appropriated gold of the planet, the silver, minerals, waters, good earth, petroleum, the wealth, then, and have concentrated the wealth in few hands: less than the ten percent of the population of the world she is owner of more than half of the wealth worldwide…” [emphasis mine]
Chavez is focused on natural resource wealth in the passage, not nationality. He goes on to praise Bolivia’s election on an Indian, not focusing on her foolish socialist policies.
Apparently he is indeed Jew-baiting, but only as a larger criticism of white folks / Europeans / the rich or some such, i.e. the top 10%. A nice benefit of being a socialist: No matter how much you debase the national or global economy, there is always a top decile to blame. A nice benefit of being an anti-Semite: You can always say that all of the Jews are among it.
So he’s no Ahmadinejad, just a routine moonbat, but look forward to urinating on his grave nonetheless.
PROHIBITION ON THE MARCH
The war on pork now extends to a war on booze:
Masked gunmen stormed into a club for United Nations workers in Gaza City on Sunday and blew up the drinking hall ...
Gunmen burst into the U.N. club, one of the few places that alcohol is served in conservative Muslim Gaza. It had been closed for the day. The attackers tied up the security guard and struck him with gun butts.
“The club has been there for 50 years,” said one U.N. security worker. “This is the first time anything like this has happened.”
Interesting that the bar was attacked on a day when it was closed. An earlier attack by Middle Eastern anti-alcohol activists—in Bahrain—took place when the selected venue was open, resulting in a deserved implement insertion:
One diner managed to wrest a knife away from the Islamists and stabbed one with it, causing him severe injuries, a witness said.
And people say drinking is harmful. Trying to stop it is evidently worse.
PACKER ATTACKERS
Lots of squealing from the left—here’s a typical bunch—about Kerry Packer minimising his taxes. You’d think they’d be happy about this; after all, the less tax Packer paid, the less money was available to fund HoWARd’s imperial racism in Iraq (as it happens, a wholefoods company in Bega decided a few years ago to withhold 10% of its taxes in protest against the war; that particular tax-minimising “plan” was applauded by the taximus-maximus left).
But they’re wrong about Packer. In fact, he paid far too much. If anything, Packer was overly generous—every year he and his companies paid millions more than they needed to. Over his career, Packer possibly paid billions more than was strictly required.
In wages.
This is a concept the left struggles with; they’d prefer a businessman hand over his money to a government—any government, even a government they oppose—than directly to people (many thousands of people, in Packer’s case) attempting to earn a living. And then there’s Packer’s estimated $150 million given to charities; the left would presumably be happier if all of that had instead been delivered to the government, so that ... well, so that whatever. It’s not important.
Except the left wouldn’t be happier. They’d still despise Packer because he was rich. They’re simple like that; simple and hateful. They think that someone being wealthy means someone else is denied that wealth (oddly, in cases where this actually occurs—such as ABC newsreaders and radio presenters becoming rich via the taxes of those earning less than them—the left is silent).
Did I mention “hateful”? Take a look at this, from Anonymous Lefty (and be sure to read his commenters). AL happens to be a Melbourne lawyer; it may not have occurred to him that he’s wealthier than most people on earth. For that matter, he’s wealthier than most people in history. When our anonymous lawyer pal dies, let’s hope some poor bastard from sub-Saharan Africa points out his frivolous spending habits (playing with sparklers! drinking with retards!) and concludes that here was an Australian who truly “tried to invest in industries that made the world a better place.”
Bold words, those. From a lawyer.
UPDATE. Anonymous Lefty reveals his impoverished circumstances:
Tim, who of course has never tried starting out as a barrister (it involves saving up, quitting your job as a solicitor, undertaking an expensive course for three months - without pay - having to spend thousands setting up your business (buying wig and robes etc), and then, as you gradually build up that business, often waiting months before solicitors actually pay you. Yes, new barristers are truly rolling in it ...
It involves saving up! And buying a wig! Life’s tough.
UPDATE II. Peter Saunders on wages vs. taxes:
In 2001-02, for example, an average couple raising two school-age children received $508 worth of weekly government health and education services and income support payments. But they paid for $394 of this in their taxes. Their net tax-welfare gain was only $114; the rest was churned.
It is obviously inefficient for one government bureaucracy to take money from us while others hand it back. All of this churning also leads to higher taxes than are necessary, and this damages work incentives and reduces living standards.
(Via the Briefing Room)
UPDATE III. Some background on Packer, from the man himself. And this is interesting:
Anyone awaiting a heart or lung transplant in Sydney has relied on Mr Packer and St Vincent’s Hospital to get the organ that they need.
For almost 22 years one of Mr Packer’s private jets has been on permanent standby for flights to retrieve organs when they become available anywhere in Australia or New Zealand.
GAIA IS ANGRY
This inverse-law thing inverts both ways. While global warming activists provoke local colding, mockery of that effect apparently generates massive heat:
The city’s hottest New Year’s Day on record sparked bushfires, caused power blackouts and shut down train lines.
Sydney reached a top of 44.2 degrees [111.5 Fahrenheit] at 4.30pm, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The maximum state temperature recorded was 47 degress [116.6 F.] at Ivanhoe at 3pm, while the minimum was 25 degrees [77 F.] at Thredbo at 6am.
We need a few global warming protests to cancel this out.
ATTENTION, INSURGENTS
You don’t ever want to be in Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland’s sights. Even if you’re three-quarters of a mile away.
NEW YEAR’S BRIEFLETS
* Sydney was peaceful last night. This is because we were cloaked under a crackdown.
* Not so peaceful in uncloaked regions: “In France, youths burned hundreds of cars in a traditional year-end form of vandalism.”
* Two rugby league stars are accused of lobster tampering.
* That is, they are accused of literally tampering with lobsters.
* “The Gold Star Moron, Cindy Sheehan, ends the year as she began—braying like a lunatic.”
* Enjoy the second part of Mark Steyn’s year in review.
* A late entry in the Bush Nic Fest: Chimpy McPretzlechoker.
* “As the head of the Downtown Health Plaza in Winston-Salem, Michael Clements is no stranger to controversy.” Same deal with U.S. District Judge James Robertson, People’s Progressive Party president Datuk M. Kayveas, Korean author Hwang Sok-young, and Walmart.
FLEE THE FATHERLAND
More than 150,000 Germans packed their bags and left in 2004—the greatest exodus in any single year since the late 1940s.
And where are these unhappy slap-dancers going? Well, among other places, to Australia:
New Immigration Department figures show 123,424 people decided to call Australia home last financial year, the highest number since the 145,316 recorded in 1988-89.
Welcome, Germans! And welcome also to 5000 refugees, 33,000 from Asia, 24,000 from Africa and the Middle East, 2000 from North America, 17,000 from New Zealand ...
(Those figures will come as a surprise to The Guardian, which believes John Howard was “re-elected last year on a hardline anti-immigration platform.”)
ENDORSED BY PETA
Puzzled by the ad at left? Me too! More information here. This is the second PETA ad at this site; I figure the more money they give me, the less they’ll have to buy clothes.