Thursday, January 03, 2008
SHANE DRIVES
Ian Botham on England’s failure to retain the Ashes:
I think that some players lived off the back of the 2005 Ashes for a while, but I don’t blame just them. The establishment went over the top, the management went over the top. It was farcical in Australia last winter. The England team had security outriders, and there’s Shane Warne driving the Aussies around in a minibus.
Sums up the differences between the nations, in a way.
WARMENING EVERYWHERE
“I haven’t seen An Inconvenient Truth,” writes Lee M., “but I love its theme song.” Hum along during this globe-rending warmenist update:
• All of Florida frozen;
• Extreme cold alert for Toronto;
• Washington man killed by four feet of warming;
• And record snow in New Hampshire:
It might be an “inconvenient truth” for global warming hysteria preachers like Al Gore but it’s perfect timing for the primaries! Today the Associated Press is reporting that the National Weather Service recorded 44.5” of December snow in New Hampshire—the most snow they’ve received (in December) in over 100 years!
Makes you wish Al Gore was running, doesn’t it?
(With assistance from Daniel F.)
DRINK UP
A memo to Cincinnati Post staff from editor Mike Philipps, on the occasion of the newspaper’s closing:
Please do not bring any alcoholic beverages into the newsroom. Let’s go out like the professionals we have been these last, difficult weeks.
To which Jack Shafer quite reasonably responds:
1) Since when is it considered unprofessional for a journalist to take a drink? and 2) If Post staffers, who were all scheduled for dismissal, did bring flasks to work, what was Philipps going to do if he caught them? Fire them?
(Via Rich Stadnik)
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
KNIFE OF PEACE
Moonbattery reports:
In the proud peacenik tradition of axe-murderer Carlos Hartmann and brutal maniac Christiaan Briggs, antiwar activist Ricardo Cortez was arrested for murdering his wife last Sunday in Greeley, Colorado.
That was in September. Now we have yet another peacenik on the warpath:
Less than five years ago, Jock Palfreeman was a year 11 student at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, a strapping young man handy with an oar and on the rugby field. He also had a left-leaning political consciousness - enough for him to organise student protests against the Iraq war ...
A photograph on the website of the Parramatta Advertiser shows him in school uniform in July 2002 posing behind bars in a “Ruddock Free Zone”, at a time when Mr Ruddock, as minister for immigration, was embroiled in detention centre controversies.
In 2003 Palfreeman joined students from across the state in opposing the war in Iraq. He joined the socialist youth organisation Resistance, and formed a Riverview Student Peace and Unity Congress. In an interview with Green Left Weekly he said: “There’s a large majority against the war, but still some people who support it. Most of the staff that I’ve talked to support the anti-war movement.”
Immediately subsequent to his involvement in the Riverview Student Peace and Unity Congress, in 2004 peacenik Palfreeman reportedly wanted to join the Australian Defence Forces and lately claimed to have been working for the British Army. Weird. Anyhoo, he’s now charged with murder and attempted murder after allegedly stabbing two men during a brawl in Bulgaria.
(Via Steve S.)
CARS SMOKED
“The night was relatively calm, without notable incident,” reports a spokesman for the French national police. Yep, sure sounds like it:
Vandals torched 372 cars as France celebrated the New Year ...
Only 372? Lazy “vandals”! The Reuters piece sounds vaguely admiring of the good old days - when “youths” ran the car-torching racket:
Cars are burned fairly regularly in France ... At the height of the 2005 riots as many as 1,400 cars were attacked in overnight violence. In protests over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s election last May, demonstrators set fire to 730 vehicles.
Meanwhile, France has now banned smoking in cafes and bars. Lighting up will get you fined.
(Via Murph)
NATION VISITED
Brian Boyko, the Texan fellow who vowed he’d move to New Zealand following George W. Bush’s 2004 election win, has at last arrived in his Chimpler-free paradise:
at auckland airport - I’m finally in NZ!
Sadly, it seems Brian is only there to make - ahem - a documentary about New Zealand’s proportional representation voting system. But the dream will never die:
I’m thinking about emigrating to Berlin in late 2008.
RIGHT RISING
A year-long trend noticed among US blogs. One possible reason for increased non-left traffic: the Republican nomination contest is relatively open, while at this stage the Democrat contest is a two-horse race. More viable candidates = more debate = more posts = more traffic.
(Via Cory G.)
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
DAG DOWNED
Another senior moment for Phillip Adams:
Comparatively recent times have seen the assassinations of three Gandhis, two Kennedys, Luther King, Malcolm X, Yitzhak Rabin, Rafik Hariri, Sheik Yassin, Louis Mountbatten, Tom Mboya and Dag Hammarskjold.
Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash.
(Via Hal G.P. Colebatch)
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
I used to work at the big Toyota factory in Altona, Victoria, during the mid-80s. Of course, the suburb has gone downhill since then.
UPDATE. Paco: “When I click the link and look at that picture of her, I keep expecting to see the words, ‘A Walter Lantz Production’ pop up on the screen.”