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MYTH MARKETED

Former Media Watch executive producer David Salter:

There’s a blatant confidence trick behind the received wisdom that the bulk of those who shape the media are leftists who nefariously exploit their positions of influence to foist a political standpoint on unsuspecting consumers. The most cited columnists and bloggers of this era are Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman, Janet Albrechtsen, Tim Blair, Miranda Devine and Gerard Henderson - all of whom regularly espouse positions significantly to the right of the soup spoon, and all of whom market the myth that large sections of the media are captive to an anti-conservative conspiracy.

Consider why that little group is most cited; it could be because they offer points of view not common throughout the rest of the media. Just a theory. As for the “myth” that large sections of the media are anti-conservative, well, I suppose we could start with the ABC …

(Via Andrew Bolt)

Posted by Tim B. on 09/12/2007 at 10:11 PM
  1. Exactly right Tim,  As I ready indicated in Bolta’s comments the reason they are the most cited is because they are the most reasoned….

    Posted by The Big Fish on 2007 09 12 at 10:19 PM • permalink

  2. As for the commentariat of the left its a matter of ‘never mind the quality, feel the width…’

    Posted by Big Jim on 2007 09 12 at 10:19 PM • permalink

  3. Ahh the closed mind of the Media Watch EP. Peter McEvoy would be proud.

    Posted by lingus4 on 2007 09 12 at 10:27 PM • permalink

  4. #1 not only that, they can actually be counted! The reason articles like that are so easily written as it’s very easy to name the five or so conservative journalists that exist.

    My challenge is to not list the conservative journalists in isolation, to make it seem if those few are the entire world, but rather to have a table showing all high profile journalists and their political leanings. This will give an entirely different picture.

    Posted by Nic on 2007 09 12 at 10:27 PM • permalink

  5. excpet that many would classify themselves as centre or centre left, but it is all relative, eh?

    Posted by entropy on 2007 09 12 at 10:30 PM • permalink

  6. Well if that’s the best we right wingers can do, then we’re royally fucked.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 12 at 10:32 PM • permalink

  7. “Most cited” by whom? The media? Other bloggers? And if by the media, are their unvarnished opinions permitted to serve as a genuine counterweight to the leftist party-line, or are they simply set up as a “dunk-the-righty” booth for wild-eyed (and wild-armed) lefty writers and commenters? Cited or “sighted”?

    Posted by paco on 2007 09 12 at 10:34 PM • permalink

  8. Mr David Salter does not get it. Some people maybe sick and tired of the old PC drivel and collective rubbish put out by these scribes. The syrupy patronising ‘I know better than you’ twaddle espoused, the half truths and fantasies published as fact, the same thoughts and hates, published ad nauseum, but in different wording and style. No wonder the German/Russian people, in the end treated their propaganda like a joke.

    Posted by BJM on 2007 09 12 at 10:34 PM • permalink

  9. I might also add, that in some respects, the worse thing to happen for these people, would be the internet and blogging.

    Posted by BJM on 2007 09 12 at 10:36 PM • permalink

  10. And, I’d rather be right of the soup spoon than West of the bread roll.  (Damm metaphor’s got in my head… must be time for lunch.)

    Posted by Big Jim on 2007 09 12 at 10:36 PM • permalink

  11. OT - $3.55 for coalition victory at Fed election.

    Might be time to put money where foot usually is.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 12 at 10:40 PM • permalink

  12. The Saltster was snorking on last week about how there’s no left tilt at the ABC- having one eye tends to rob you of depth perception.

    The ABC has been so totally submerged in lame lefty leaning that it permeates everything it presents- even a supposedly rural affairs program such as Landline devotes about 90% of its content to global warming climate change blather, the rest to other items of interest to Balmain basketweavers but utterly irrelevant to cockies.

    SBS is worse, the commercials marginally better, with well-heeled commies like Ray Martin and Jana Vendt flapping their soup-coolers about the iniquities foisted on the underpriveliged by a heartless neocon government and rapacious big business.

    Mind you, compared with the current occupant of Salty’s pew ol’ Salt’s a beacon of balance, and bereft of bias- don’t know about Mrs. Palmer but Dave would appear to bludgeon the bishop with both mitts.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 09 12 at 10:40 PM • permalink

  13. ....and all of whom market the myth that large sections of the media are captive to an anti-conservative conspiracy.

    I wouldn’t say “captive to”.

    More like “willing participants in”.

    Posted by rinardman on 2007 09 12 at 10:41 PM • permalink

  14. #13: an anti-conservative conspiracy.

    Two or more people plotting in secret is a conspiracy; an entire class operating in the open is an oligarchy.

    Posted by paco on 2007 09 12 at 10:48 PM • permalink

  15. Yep, sounds like Economics 101 alright. The demand for right-wing news is roughly 50% of the population that votes Liberal. The supply is distinctly less than that. Hence the ‘price’, in circulation and citation of each columnist, is high. It reminds me of Krauthammer’s crack that with Fox News, Rupert Murdoch spied a niche market of half of America.

    It’s also unsurprising that an ABC commentator isn’t exactly on top of Economics 101. If they were,they’d flog off Kath and Kim and The Chaser, and liquidate themselves in shame.

    Posted by Behemoth on 2007 09 12 at 10:51 PM • permalink

  16. Phil Adams: “The ABC is a big outfit and the number of lefties in it, you could count - and this is a terrible Barry Humphries-ism - you could count on the finger of a leper’s hand.”

    I was thinking that they’d be more numerous than the calories in Phil’s lunch, but, hey, I’m just a seppo, what do I know?

    Posted by paco on 2007 09 12 at 10:55 PM • permalink

  17. Indeed Paco, but I’d put it more like more populous than bacteria in his bowel.

    And about as evolutionary advanced.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 09 12 at 10:56 PM • permalink

  18. Generally I’m a supporter of the ABC, but sometimes the leftist tilt is too obvious to ignore.  A perfect example is last night’s radio bulletin on the local ABC station.  Reporting on the Howard leadership issue having been comprehensively put to bed, the description was “the leadership turmoil has been temporarily papered-over”.

    I mean, geez Louise.  If a four-square declaration of unanimous support can be described thus, it does make you wonder.

    Posted by Olrence on 2007 09 12 at 11:05 PM • permalink

  19. So if one was to take a disinterested look at the hobby horses of the left, lets start with the 3 R’s Refugees, reconciliation and the Republic issue.
    Which side has the ABC sided with on each one?
    Shamelessly advocating in favour of each one, to the extent facts were thrown out the window.
    Funny how all those issues seem to fall square into the handbasket of the soft “left”. Sure its just coincidental?

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 09 12 at 11:11 PM • permalink

  20. #15 - Kath & Kim: Goorne! Chaser: out on bail.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 09 12 at 11:21 PM • permalink

  21. Yeah, as usual we could start with ABC.  Lead item on the 7am bulletin today? “Criticism of Howard’s retirement plan”  In other words, what Howard says or does isn’t the news, it’s what the ALP thinks about it.  No distinction between news and editorial spin, and that spin is always from the ALP direction.

    Posted by cuckoo on 2007 09 12 at 11:23 PM • permalink

  22. OT spectacular foot in mouth - moderate muslim reckons keeping him out would be bad for australia’s security
    linky

    Posted by KK on 2007 09 12 at 11:39 PM • permalink

  23. Consider this the caboose on the Castro thread: ipecac for the soul.

    Posted by paco on 2007 09 12 at 11:45 PM • permalink

  24. #11, better get your money on soon as it’s already started dropping. You could get $3.70 this morning. I went to put a few beer vouchers on about an hour ago and while I was logging in it dropped from $3.55 to $3.40

    I also whacked a quick $50 on Johnny winning Bennelong at $1.72. I expect that to drop too.

    Ahhh… retirement here I come!

    Posted by Gibbo on 2007 09 12 at 11:46 PM • permalink

  25. He rounded you nasty right wing death machines all up in less than a line!  I am sure it would take him somewhat more space to name those sweet natured peace loving folk on the left hand side of the political space…

    Note to David Salter.  Stop wanking.

    Posted by stickit on 2007 09 12 at 11:50 PM • permalink

  26. Maybe you’re all “most cited” because you have more useful and intelligent things to cite?

    Although come to think of it, David Marr for one often cites you when he gets his knickers in their latest twist.

    Posted by ann j on 2007 09 12 at 11:50 PM • permalink

  27. #23 - from the pen of Che...

    Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    I’m a mass murdering commie scumbag
    And a tshirt too

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 12 at 11:52 PM • permalink

  28. whom market the myth that large sections of the media are captive to an anti-conservative conspiracy

    Salter doesn’t get out much, does he?

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 09 12 at 11:54 PM • permalink

  29. #24 - Taking readies from satchel swingers is fun at the worst of times, but taking their loot if this gets up will blow the front of my strides off.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 12 at 11:58 PM • permalink

  30. OT - Man fired for not invading Poland.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 13 at 12:05 AM • permalink

  31. While OT its still on media bias, my letter to the editor of the Mercury was ‘cleansed’ to remove a criticism of MSM behaviour:

    http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,22398779-5006549,00.html

    Comment started “I have been closely following the research on (effects of National Agreement on Firearms) for seven years and would make two points:”  There was a third:

    “And finally, the news media are not just the messengers but one of the causes of mass killings.  Media hype over mass shootings and gun laws was a major contributor through the copycat effect, as reported by Professor Mullen and others.  Media organisations acknowledge copycat effects on suicide and act responsibly, but in contrast mass shootings and terrorism are still guided and rewarded by the world news media. And the results of Autralia’s gun laws may be more due to news organisations reversing perceptions they themselves created, when mass shootings were made an easy path for sociopaths to get huge personal significance.”

    Posted by ChrisPer on 2007 09 13 at 12:39 AM • permalink

  32. Phil Adams quoted by Katharine Betts: “Of course Radio National is a seething hotbed of political correctness!”

    Posted by ChrisPer on 2007 09 13 at 12:46 AM • permalink

  33. Re #2, Big Jim:

    As for the commentariat of the left its a matter of ‘never mind the quality, feel the width…’

    Or as one of their idols (indeed, a veritable saint of the left) once said:

    “Quantity has a quality all its own.”

    100 carbon credits to the first wingnut that correctly identifies the author of that quote!

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 13 at 01:08 AM • permalink

  34. #33- Phillip Adams, while surveying a buffet?

    Posted by Habib on 2007 09 13 at 01:13 AM • permalink

  35. p.s. Columnist write opinions, and opinions are just that. They do not necessarily alter reality.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  36. #33. I believe that may have been Mr Stalin.

    Posted by Gibbo on 2007 09 13 at 01:16 AM • permalink

  37. Stalin - supposedly.

    I’m an RWDB, not a wingnut, can I enter anyway?

    Posted by ChrisPer on 2007 09 13 at 01:17 AM • permalink

  38. “Most cited” by whom? The media? Other bloggers?  Paco. Galaxy poll??

    This is valid point.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:20 AM • permalink

  39. #35

    That depends on which reality in which one resides, 1.6.

    Posted by kae on 2007 09 13 at 01:24 AM • permalink

  40. Hi kae. Let me think on that point. It’s a good point.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:25 AM • permalink

  41. That’s why Blair blog is good, self regulation self governing and thinking points of view.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:26 AM • permalink

  42. From previous:

    Auntie and other public institutions continue their Left Wing electioneering onslaught on the Fed Govt:

    Workers ‘losing 30pc of earnings’ under WorkChoices

    Auntie’s Radio National Life Matters*, traditionally mum’s kitchen sink issues program, is immediately into the Federal political leadership issue, FFS:
    Leaders/power politics/contrasting State Labor Premiers’ successors vs the Liberal Prime Ministership ...

    *Screed:
    Life Matters is a unique daily interview program about social change and day-to-day life. Richard Aedy talks with the main people behind our social policies—from workplace reform to education, health, family relationships, and social change. Specialist producers monitor developments in these fields to bring you the most up-to-date information, as well as personal stories which will move and inspire you.

    Life Matters’ perspective is from the ground up. It’s practical and down to earth, and offers regular opportunities for listeners to contribute their opinions and ideas on the big social debates.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 01:27 AM • permalink

  43. What makes the left dysfunctional in reporting then?

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:27 AM • permalink

  44. ALP is one big smoke screen of political promises.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:29 AM • permalink

  45. #43- They invented the concept of propaganda.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 09 13 at 01:31 AM • permalink

  46. #8
    No wonder the German/Russian people, in the end treated their propaganda like a joke.

    Likewise in the West: with the aging population, naive newspaper editorials churned out by recent graduates of left wing Humanities Depts appear as the pap of college newspapers.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 01:32 AM • permalink

  47. Hi Habib.

    Deconstruct it and what do you find?

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:33 AM • permalink

  48. 46/ You can see children at high schools influenced by left wing spin. Why do teachers do this? They’ve not been exposed to the outside world at all, and create phantom ideologies people willing believe.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:35 AM • permalink

  49. Tim, are you creating a smoke screen of deception?

    What’s your perspective?

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 01:36 AM • permalink

  50. #9
    I might also add, that in some respects, the worse thing to happen for these people, would be the internet and blogging.

    What the patronising Left meeja fear most: original thought by the masses?
    Bloggers cast as the ‘shock jocks’ of the future, poisoning the public’s mind?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 01:42 AM • permalink

  51. #33/#36 Yes, Wikiquotes says Stalin, but is not able to supply a source.

    Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 09 13 at 01:51 AM • permalink

  52. #34
    INTERNAL MEMO
    Manager ABC Staff Cafeteria to CFO

    Authorisation request to re-stock with serving trays of greater durability; upon receipt of official complaint from one Mr Adams regarding OHS issue of current trays’ apparently inadequate load bearing capacity.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 01:55 AM • permalink

  53. The list of items on ABC news and current affairs programs still resembles the agenda for an undergraduate Labor club meeting -  all environment, social and human rights issues with some superficial political gossip. Almost complete absence of anything on science and technology, industry and commerce, government waste or decent policy analysis. Have you noticed the absence of expert opinion lately? When was the last time you found out something useful on the 7.30 Report?

    Posted by MAGB on 2007 09 13 at 02:01 AM • permalink

  54. That’s social engineering at it’s best 52.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:03 AM • permalink

  55. We must remember that without the ABC these people would be on the streets interacting with us. Surely 8cents a day is not too much to ask if it stops Phatty Adams from scrounging for change or selling his arse at The Wall.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 13 at 02:07 AM • permalink

  56. 1.6
    New T-shirt suggestion:

    Kevin blows ‘7

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 02:08 AM • permalink

  57. #53- I found out that John Clarke and Brian Dawe are about as funny as finding a family of funnel webs in your shreddies; a bit sad, really, Fred Dagg was genuinely amusing.

    I also discovered that being an unsuccessful press secratary for a failed government minister is not the career dampener one would expect it to be.

    Finally, I managed to ascertain what was on every other channel (including cable) between 1930 and 2000, in order to escape the mind-numbingly predictable polemics broadcast by my* ABC.

    *Mine in that I pay for it- unfortunately ownership doesn’t extend to having any of my tastes, convictions and needs catered to.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 09 13 at 02:11 AM • permalink

  58. ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ROLFA

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:11 AM • permalink

  59. Tiger, you’re in fine form today. Egg you took the T-shirt out of my mouth.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:12 AM • permalink

  60. Tiger I sent Blair a picture of me, so he knows me.

    I sent in an interesting story, and he said he’d post it later.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:13 AM • permalink

  61. #56. egg.
    There a so many connotations to that excellent T-Shirt suggestion.

    Posted by BJM on 2007 09 13 at 02:15 AM • permalink

  62. I notice that the only commentator cited by Osama Bin Laden was Chomsky. Why doesn’t OBL get with the program and mention Tim Blair?

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 09 13 at 02:17 AM • permalink

  63. 61, Add the word “A” into the 7 and that would be thought provoking.

    Kevin’s Chinese Whispers T-shirt Out now!

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:17 AM • permalink

  64. #53
    Auntie’s breaky program in a nuttershell.
    The best live theatre is when Franny crosses to a financial correspondent and gets the markets’ straight dope on certain issues, often at odds with the running editorial theme ... ‘dead air’ and sound of pins (pennies would be asking too much) dropping in ABC radio studio ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 02:18 AM • permalink

  65. Chomsky? Didn’t he write the Age of democracy????????

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:18 AM • permalink

  66. #61 <eg> :)

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 02:19 AM • permalink

  67. #55 IT.

    If the ABC didn’t exist I’d probably still pay 8 cents a day at the wall to hear Phatty squeal.

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 09 13 at 02:23 AM • permalink

  68. #53- The 7.30 Report has occasionally informed me that it is time to swith over to The Simpsons or Top Gear. It has also steeled my conviction to drown any red headed fruits of my loin.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 13 at 02:23 AM • permalink

  69. “Mystery surrounds Big Brother star Gordon’s death ... Original Big Brother contestant Gordon Sloan has died in Beijing “.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:25 AM • permalink

  70. #68- Surely not before a well deserved severe beating.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 09 13 at 02:26 AM • permalink

  71. #55
    Don’t be too hard on Phatty, no one listens to his radio show, his farm’s only worth about $15 million and Patty is, according to him, “completely humourless”. Only he wonders why that is so.

    When Johnny comes marching home on a Saturday night soon, poor Phatty will have two choices; implosion, or explosion.

    Phatty, Marr et al will weep, wail, gnash their teeth and tear at their clothes.

    Surely they couldn’t bear it ? Again ?

    Posted by Pickles on 2007 09 13 at 02:26 AM • permalink

  72. http://www.angelfire.com/movies/mypics2/flash.htm

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:27 AM • permalink

  73. #60 - Good work, 1.6. I think Tim’s probably wanted to know what you look like for some time.

    Looks like Margos has taken the Blair Chopper and gone on holiday too.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 13 at 02:27 AM • permalink

  74. Hi Margos XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

    Tim, what do you think?

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:32 AM • permalink

  75. Do I look like Michelle P?

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 09 13 at 02:33 AM • permalink

  76. More pre-election destabilisation from Auntie:

    Downer backs Costello takeover

    This has become ridiculous.
    Privatise the crunts NOW ... FOTABC can put their money where their mouths are and take out subscriptions.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 02:33 AM • permalink

  77. #69- Maybe he was acting as a human shield for some Falun gong members, and had his organs harvested. They would’ve been mightily dissapointed when they looked in his cranial cavity.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 09 13 at 02:36 AM • permalink

  78. #60 1.6

    He’ll be mere putty in your hands soon, no worries. Lots of us want to know…

    Posted by Pickles on 2007 09 13 at 02:43 AM • permalink

  79. Bumper sticker that says it all

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 02:49 AM • permalink

  80. It’s all about the intellectual inbreeding.

    The left has degraded so far as to be unable to even recognize the mess they sit in as their own waste.

    They’ve become nothing more than a philosophical/ideological equivalent of fecal phages.

    Attempting to reason with such folk makes no more sense than discussing dietary options with dedicated shit eaters.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 09 13 at 02:54 AM • permalink

  81. Nowadays I go out of my way to avoid the ABC, so any biased reporting I pick on, up is done by accident.
    On the day Bush arrived in Sydney for APEC, the ABC midday news announced that the President’s motorcade had “sneaked” out of Sydney Airport.

    Posted by chrisgo on 2007 09 13 at 02:55 AM • permalink

  82. #81 - That’s some impressive sneaking! About as likely as Phatty Adams sneaking into an anorexics anonymous session.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 13 at 03:07 AM • permalink

  83. Afternoon lead story ABC Radio News re Parliament Question Time Rudd & ALP questioning PM re ‘retirement plan’ - not matched in online News, as usual: as on-air spin can be less accountable?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 03:11 AM • permalink

  84. #79. egg. ‘Independent media?’ Poor delusional bastards. Well let them pay for it, I want my bloody eight cents back. LOL.

    Posted by BJM on 2007 09 13 at 04:05 AM • permalink

  85. #74 hey, back at you 1.6. Tim’s column never sleeps, and now you send him that photo.

    Been a bit slow posting lately. At least one commenter is a movie star. Dave S (damn you) always nips in with comment of the year, IT had something removed on grounds of taste, and everyone else has already been mentioned on Media Watch.  Too many over-achievers at this joint, dammit.

    Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 09 13 at 04:10 AM • permalink

  86. Every ABC Local News bulletin I heard today was reporting that, paraphrased, Howard has admitted he will retire in his next term if elected.

    Wait a minute. I heard what he said. He said “Late in his next term if elected,” because he has lots more he wants to do.

    Sell the ABC could be the start!

    Posted by kae on 2007 09 13 at 07:35 AM • permalink

  87. #83 #86 et al

    Finally in print:
    Labor targets Govt over PM’s retirement plans ... spin implies in the immediate future.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 08:48 AM • permalink

  88. the bastard left Michael Duffy and Paul Sheehan off the list.
    Since he’s proving how conservative the media is, he could at least have the courtesy to name all eight conservative journalists currently working in Australia.

    Posted by daddy dave on 2007 09 13 at 09:22 AM • permalink

  89. There’s one other reason why this group is quoted so often. They’re actually quotable, producing coherent sentences and consistent reasonings. Admittedly, Tim deviates from anything resembling reason where Australian Rules is concerned. Nevertheless.

    Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 09 13 at 10:16 AM • permalink

  90. “Tim deviates from anything resembling reason where Australian Rules is concerned”.

    Don’t we all..

    Posted by Olrence on 2007 09 13 at 10:41 AM • permalink

  91.   Fixed?

    Posted by Olrence on 2007 09 13 at 11:09 AM • permalink

  92. Damned italics.  Fixed now?

    Posted by Olrence on 2007 09 13 at 11:10 AM • permalink

  93. How ‘bout now?

    Posted by Olrence on 2007 09 13 at 11:11 AM • permalink

  94. Tsk.  Who left the broken jar of italics lying in the middle of the aisle?

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 09 13 at 11:48 AM • permalink


  95. Not I this time ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 13 at 11:53 AM • permalink

  96. Ohh!! cool. I like the squiggly letters.

    Too bad they’re so expensive that us poor folk can’t afford to see them, except when some rich schlub spills a truckload.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 09 13 at 12:27 PM • permalink

  97. Hehe, I’m writing in squiggle letters just like the rich folk.

    The kin will never believe this, back home.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 09 13 at 12:28 PM • permalink

  98. Re #33, Gibbo in #36 wins 100 carbon credits!  That quote is most attributed to Comrade Josef Stalin, Blessed Saint of Leftards.

    ChrisPer, as the runner up in #37, is hereby awarded membership in the RWDB Club, at the lowest rank possible: RWDB Third Class (Probationary).

    Habib in #34 wins a bottle of Sumerian mead for most humorous answer. 

    Please see wronwright to collect your prizes (since he has all the keys).

    hrisPer, be sure to ask him for your copy of the Evil Minions Handbook™ when wronwright gives you your membership card.  This is a FREE copy, given to all new members, so don’t let wronwright skin you out of any cash for it.

    Just don’t lose it, ‘cuz the replacement copies are EXPENSIVE.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 13 at 02:00 PM • permalink

  99. (BTW, folks, if you have problems turning off rampaging fonts, and Andrea isn’t handy, just send me an e-mail, along with US$100 to my PayPal account, and I’ll pull out my trusty Font Controller™.  I did this one for free, ‘cuz I wanted to post.  Next time, you may not be so lucky…..)

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 13 at 02:02 PM • permalink

  100. Well well…looks like I accidentally stepped in a squiggle puddle. What ever will I do.

    I hope this isn’t contagious.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 09 13 at 02:09 PM • permalink

  101. #99: From Andrea’s FAQ: “Please don’t try to fix formatting mistakes people make in their comments . . .”

    Uh, oh, RJ! Better light outta town!

    Posted by paco on 2007 09 13 at 03:05 PM • permalink

  102. That’s OK, I’m firmly ensconced in my bunker, paco.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 13 at 03:08 PM • permalink

  103. That’s OK, I’m firmly ensconced in my bunker, paco.

    *glances at orbital laser power indicators*

    Uh, okay. If you say so…

    *flees to other side of the planet*

    Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 09 13 at 03:40 PM • permalink

  104. wronwright has the keys to the orbital lasers as well, Patrick.  I understand he’ll give them to Andrea only when she returns his Zulu spear.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 13 at 04:31 PM • permalink

  105. #33 TRJ;

    “Quantity has a quality all its own.”

    100 carbon credits to the first wingnut that correctly identifies the author of that quote!

    Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, although his pal Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili quoted him.

    Interesting that Lenin and Stalin were both criminal aliases of guys (usually) hiding out from the Okhrana.

    Posted by steveH on 2007 09 13 at 05:40 PM • permalink

  106. steveH, you could be right, I’ve never seen any citations for “Dzhugashvili” saying that; mayhaps Josef stole merely borrowed it.

    In any case, I hereby award you 100 carbon credits as well (in addition to Gibbo’s award), but you still have to pry them out of wronwright’s hands…..

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 13 at 06:06 PM • permalink

  107. How can one say that the media is not diverse?  Why it ranges from the anarcho-syndicalists on the left all the way over to the Trotskyists of the extreme right.

    #104 TRJS
    Wronwright thinks those are the keys to the orbital lasers.  Actually we in the Climate Control Division have them.  Those lasers are essential to our…um…experiments.

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2007 09 13 at 07:40 PM • permalink

  108. Shhhhhh! Don’t let wronwright find out, Michael!!!!  It’s a secret.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 13 at 09:28 PM • permalink

  109. Ah, David Salter, the Editor of the Zeitgeist Follies ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2007 09 14 at 09:17 AM • permalink

  110. Michael Lonie.  Give.  Those keys.  Back to me.  Now.

    (wronwright steps onto soap box he always carries with him)

    The orbital space station and the laser cannons are official VRWC assets.  We in the Inventory Control Department must carefully control the possession of those keys.  And, um, those to the mead storeroom.

    You and the rest of the rabble of the Climate Control secretariat must make do with your access to the weather satellite.  Speaking of which ...

    (wronwright steps off soap box, wielding an angry visage)

    I’m currently enjoying vacation time—badly needed vacation time after the sacking of Karl Rove—in one of the VRWC beach homes in Beaufort, South Carolina.  It’s been cloudy today.  And yesterday it rained.  Please check the satellite program.  I specifically requested one whole week of cloudless days.

    Posted by wronwright on 2007 09 14 at 02:28 PM • permalink

  111. In any case, I hereby award you 100 carbon credits as well (in addition to Gibbo’s award), but you still have to pry them out of wronwright’s hands…..

    Excellent.

    Wait. He’s still got the keys to the Tardis, right?

    This is going to complicate running him to ground…

    Posted by steveH on 2007 09 14 at 02:38 PM • permalink

  112. RJS
    Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, alias “Joseph Stalin”.

    Cheers

    Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 09 14 at 02:40 PM • permalink

  113. Hey its not that Tim Blair is right wing, its that the illiberal wingnuts who control most of the agenda are making Tim look moderate and plausible.

    That’s what’s really happening.

    Posted by John A on 2007 09 14 at 03:49 PM • permalink

  114. I think the ABC is now beyond repair.  The Government has tried to appoint board members to counter the ABC’s lefty bias but it has not worked.

    I suggest the Government should appoint a completely far-left board - Phillip Adams, Clive Evatt, Carmen Lawrence, Quentin Dempster (staff elected), Joan Kirner, etc.

    There will be no resistance to a complete left slant in all programming and the ABC would be unable to resist occasional contributions from left-wing unions, Fairfax media, and other groups.

    In time the audience will come to understand what the ABC is and drift to pay-tv (which already provides documentaries, news, drama, children’s programs - everything we used to have to rely on the ABC for) and the Government will be able to progressively ignore the ABC.

    Posted by johnt4103 on 2007 09 14 at 07:15 PM • permalink

  115. I’d have more respect for the ABC typres if they just dropped the objectivity crap. That the Commission is full of leftists is as obvious as balls on a dog.  Trouble is that the ABC was not founded to be the plaything of such a narrow portion of the political spectrum. 

    What amazes me is that they have got away with this Emperor’s new clothes routine for so long. The fiction is no bother for them of course because they don’t see themselves as holding a ‘position’ at all.  No, they are ‘the light on the hill’, the standard bearers of truth, warriors of ‘social justice’, the champions of the underdog etc, etc.  That self-interest and bullying authoritarianism of the worst kind sits under all this bien pensant stuff does not occur to them for a minute and those that point it out are pictured merely as neanderthals.  Many seem incapable of debate or of grasping that there are many paths up the mountain. They can only promote the monoculture bounded by their dinner party tables which is why Radio National is the earth’s dullest channel.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2007 09 14 at 11:22 PM • permalink

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