Friday, September 28, 2007
COLUMN DECLINES TO WALK
A smorgasbord of environmental hypocrites - including petrolhead climate change campaigner Dr Karl, of whom Joe Hildebrand writes: “There comes a time in every man’s life when he must choose between saving the world and keeping his V8 Monaro. For Dr Karl Kruszelnicki the grandkids will have to wait.”
FORCEFUL KEVIN
Stephen Kirchner notes an interesting promise in Labor’s online advertising:
Interest Rates in 2007. Families Today Are Carrying Record Debt. Labor Will Force Rates Down.
Writes Stephen:
Clicking on to Kevin07.com.au, I could not find how Labor proposed to ‘force’ rates down, but it’s an interesting verb choice. Even the government’s claims about interest rates in the 2004 campaign did not go that far.
(Via Andy B.)
MEETINGS PLANNED
Amnesty International is trying to save the worthless lives of three Bali bombers sentenced to death in Indonesia:
The human rights organisation’s Australian website urges people to write to Indonesia’s ambassador in Australia, calling for the death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment.
The call comes just days before Australians and Balinese gather to mark the second anniversary of the 2005 terrorist attacks on the tourist island.
[Amnesty International Australia anti-death penalty coordinator Tim] Goodwin acknowledged the issue could be controversial in Australia, where the Bali attacks are still a sensitive issue.
No kidding. Meanwhile, the trio’s lawyer says his murdering clients are upbeat:
“If they are to be executed, they just want to be executed under the Islamic law.
“And they are ready because they will meet the prophet Muhammad, the mujahids, and beautiful virgins.”
Prepare yourselves, hot virgin chicks of the afterlife - these studly dudes are headed your way soon.
(Via Dan Lewis)
OFFSETS OFFSET
Infuriated by bands forwarding his CD-buying and concert-attending cash to stupid carbon-offset schemes, music fan Jasper M. Walterson comes up with a fix. It’ll work for you, too.
DON’T TISE ME, BRO!
This year’s AFL Grand Final has sparked a battle of the ‘Tisers – the Geelong Advertiser versus the Adelaide Advertiser. The Geelong paper seems to be leading at present, with about 90 per cent of front-page copy devoted to tomorrow’s game.
UPDATE. A silencing is alleged:
I noticed during the week that so-called Blair had a most unexpected and surprising column about rugby league - no mention of it on these pages, though.
Here it is. More straightforward than the usual column; topic requested by the Telegraph’s deputy editor.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
THAT MAGNIFICENT CAT
Ray Smuckles is six gin and tonics deep, people!
RABBIT STOLED
Bunny burglary in Spokane:
Children at a downtown preschool got an unplanned lesson in animal rights activism when their pet rabbit was stolen and anti-circus fliers were left in the animal’s cage.
Sugar Bunny vanished from the Community Building Children’s Center during a celebration of building renovations Saturday evening, teachers said.
“Somebody stoled him,” 5-year-old Zion told The Spokesman-Review, which gave only the first names of him and other children in a report on the heist. “I’m sad.”
PETA goons are suspected. Check the teachers’ reaction:
Teachers gathered the children in a circle Monday to remember Sugar Bunny, some by drawing pictures and others by writing songs.
“We talked about how some people have different ideas about animals,” [teacher Lori Peters said]. “Some people don’t think they should be in cages.”
A better lesson for those kids: some people are thieves.
UPDATE: Site of Sugar Bunny’s theft corrected.
PHIL PHOLLOW-UP
“Only Media Watch could report on a shameless invention of a famous ABC Leftist like Phillip Adams,” posts Andrew Bolt, “and spin it into an attack on a truth-telling conservative on the ABC board.”
Media Watch has previous form. In an earlier item on Adams, the program laboriously connected his case to that of a conservative columnist. Must be their idea of balance.
Lately Adams has been moved by the fate of dead Labor child-sex offender Bob Collins:
In a recent letter I promised Bob my collection of The New Yorker magazine he loved.
Quite a sacrifice for Phil; he was deeply attached to those magazines.
(For more on Phil’s recent Media Watch appearance, please read Jason Soon and Ken Parish. Scroll down at the Parish link for David Tiley’s excellent description of the Media Watch gang, whom he suspects live “in a particular kind of moralistic, cardiganey, second-hand SAAB kind of bubble.”)
BLOGGING PEAKS
Ted Olsen reports:
As weblogs proliferated earlier this decade, Andy Warhol’s famous aphorism was modified to read, “In the future, everyone will be famous to 15 people.” Now it looks like Warhol was right after all: Thanks to widespread blog burnout, everyone will be famous to 15 people for 15 minutes.
Tech researcher Gartner Inc. reported earlier this year that 200 million people have given up blogging, more than twice as many as are active ... Given the average lifespan of a blogger and the current growth rate of blogs, Gartner says blogging has probably peaked.
Possibly, if judged by number of participants. More certain is that blogger influence - particularly on the left - is in decline. David Brooks:
Both liberals and Republicans have an interest in exaggerating the netroots’ influence, but in reality that influence is surprisingly marginal, even among candidates for whom you’d think it would be strong.
Several weeks ago, I asked John Edwards what the YearlyKos event was like. He couldn’t remember which event I was talking about, and looked over to an aide for help.
GOLDEN AGE RECYCLED
Mark Steyn reviews Hollywood’s, er, Golden Age:
In the Golden Age of Hollywood, actresses had no known position on toilets. If Myrna Loy or Ginger Rogers, Norma Shearer or Mary Astor had opinions on bodily fluids, they kept them to themselves.
In the seventies, when it was put about that Sarah Miles drank her own urine every day, it got her marked down as a kook. You don’t remember Sarah Miles? She starred in Ryan’s Daughter, very memorably, but not apparently as memorable as her formidable urine intake. Thirty years on, it’s understood in Fleet Street that whenever you pitch an interview with Miss Miles to your editor you’ll be expected to bring up the pee-swigging. She usually replies that she hasn’t touched a drop in years.
Unlike Cate Blanchett. Read on.
BLAME THE TIGER CAR
Doom Year update! According to Australian Conservation Foundation gumby Don Henry, the Great Clock of Dooming will time us out anywhere between 2012 and 2015:
We know from the science we’ve only got five to eight years get on top of this issue because when you put greenhouse pollution in the atmosphere it stays there for 80 years.
For 80 years, you say? Curse your massive carbon output, 1927 Tiger Car!
KARL KONCERNED
A career change for a climate changer:
High profile Australian science commentator Dr Karl Kruszelnicki is turning his attention to politics.
Dr Karl, as he is best known, said today he would run for the NSW Senate as a candidate with the Climate Change Coalition after becoming “more and more concerned” with the way big issues were being tackled.
Interestingly, petrolhead Dr Karl is the proud owner of a V8 Monaro. For turning against the internal combustion community, he deserves to be tased.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
NO NO THAPPY
It’s the death of No Thappy:
“Not Happy, John”, the official slogan of Howard-haters, will not be emblazoned in the skies above Bennelong during this year’s election, as it was in the 2004 campaign …
John Valder, the former Liberal Party president who masterminded [Ed: !!!!!!!] Not Happy, John three years ago, approached star Labor candidate Maxine McKew recently with a view to relaunching the campaign in Bennelong. He was politely but firmly rebuffed.
Valder – shown here with No Thappy spiritual leader Margo Kingston – had other plans, too:
It is understood Ms McKew and one of her key advisers, NSW Labor senator John Faulkner, were unimpressed when Mr Valder unveiled his proposed marketing device: lollies labelled “National Embarrass-Mints” bearing a cartoon of John Howard on the packet.
THEY BELIEVE THE TELEVISION
“Idiots are now convinced that Dubya doesn’t know Nelson Mandela is still alive,” writes Abu Wabu. “What has in fact died, and what a miserable, stinking death it was, is real intellectual rigor on the idiot left.” As made evident by followers of Daily Show host Jon Stewart, “a voice for democratic ideals and the noble place of citizenship”, at least according to Tom Brokaw. Pity, then, that Stewart’s idealistic nobility is wasted on an audience of morons:
Thursday’s episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Oh my God. How funny was it? And for a very wrong reason indeed. I’ve already shared it with others. George W Bush thought Nelson Mandela is dead? Dude! How wrong could he possibly be!
You bet it was wrong. Here’s another Daily Show sucker:
Daily show had a clip of this, yes, Bush is just as dumb as he sounds…
And another:
The Daily Show just showed another classic Bushism: “Today I hear people say, ‘Where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead.” Did I miss a meeting?
No, you missed the full quote. Yet another Stewart stooge:
I saw this last night on the Daily Show, a breathtaking example of how utterly screwed up America’s presidency has become. It was George w. Bush hisself opining on the sad fate of Nelson Mandela ...
Keep ‘em coming:
I swear the writers on the Daily Show are stealing money while making fun of this President. The jokes practically write themselves!
Well, technically, they edit themselves. Gullible Daily Show fans abound:
I saw this on the Daily Show, and I nearly wet myself…
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Hussein killed Mandela. In fact, he killed all the Mandelas… he was a very brutal tyrant.
I’m… speechless…
We… noticed. Also speechless is Tiffany Wayne:
I’ve never really watched the Daily show before, but I watched it tonight. Very FUNNY! I always knew President Bush was an idiot…but I was really left speechless when there was a clip of him stating Nelson Mandela is dead….is this guy seriously the “man” in charge?
Question authority, Tiffany. Especially the authority of Jon Stewart, who must be feeling so proud of his viewers right now:
[Bush] said Nelson Mandela is dead. That’s not funny. That’s horrifying. The man who runs the free world provides enough material to give the Daily Show god knows how many emmies. IT’S NOT FUNNY! WE HAVE AN IDIOT WITH HIS FINGER ON THE BOMB!
At least this fellow went to alternative sources:
My morning routine is to have breakfast, do laundry (if needed) and watch the tape of the “Daily Show” show from the night before.
So I’m sipping my coffee and there is Chimpy at yesterday’s press conference, who said: “Mandela is dead.”
Holy shit. When did this happen?
I stopped the tape and went to Google News to find a reference.
He did say that, much to the astonishment of the reporters. But it seems that what he was doing was referring to the Iraqi equivalents.
And one Bush hater is furious:
I say this as an unapologetic Daily Show lover and Bush hater ... only someone with the brain of a jellyfish would come away from the quote actually believing that he thinks Hussein killed Nelson Mandela.
Not a small community, apparently.
PLAY IT AGAIN
The New York Times pulls an Adele Horin.