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Last updated on August 5th, 2017 at 08:17 am
The Age’s Traceeee Hutchison:
Perhaps it is just my natural suspicion of authority …
Why do big-government types so often identify themselves as suspicious of authority?
… but could the real reason the Victorian Government has been hell-bent on blowing open Port Phillip heads to gouge deeper into the bay’s shipping channel have been revealed with this week’s announcement that Tenix will build two massive amphibious warships at its Williamstown dockyards?
Note the word “amphibious”; these are landing ships, and therefore unlikely to require exceptionally deep waterways. Specifications on a similar vessel here. Those with a knowledge of shipping are invited to consider Traceeee’s theory.
UPDATE. The maximum draft for ships in Port Phillip Bay’s major shipping channel is currently restricted to 11.6 metres without tidal assistance, and 12.1 metres with. Proposed dredging would increase this to beyond 14 metres. The draft at full load of a Navantia vessel similar to the warships Traceeee’s concerned about is reported here as just six metres.
UPDATE II. Traceeee doesn’t know the difference between depth and weight.
UPDATE III. Curious George: “Her next article will be about her rage at the Defence Force having to extend their runways after buying Harrier Jump Jets.”
I guess it’s so that we can’t see the ship’s legs.
Traceeeee is stupid. Paranoid, suspicious and stupid.
“Why do big-government types so often identify themselves as suspicious of authority?”
at dinner, a socialist friend said once, “socialism is the only way to true individualism”. And then he told me to shut up, my laughing in great gulping breaths was disturbing the other patrons.
Posted by mencken_cynic on 2007 06 24 at 02:50 AM • permalink
To the tune of Blow the Man Down:
Come all ye young fellows that follow Traceeeee,
to my way haye, blow the ‘Heads up,
And pray pay attention and listen to me,
Give me some time to blow the ‘Heads up.‘Tis when a Black Feller’s preparing Traceeee,
to my way haye, blow the ‘Heads up,
You’d split your sides laughing at the sights that you see.
Give me some time to blow the ‘Heads up.Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 06 24 at 02:56 AM • permalink
The ostensible story of course is that the channel is being deepened to allow bigger container ships through, which we are all know are owned/taken over by the Chinese.
This leads to a more feasible conspiracy theory (well, Traceeee’s effort is pretty poor) is that the commie bastards currently running brackistan are really paving the way to make it easy for the looming Chinese invasion.
/LRWF as opposed to MBTraceeTraceeeeee.
I just made the mistake of actually reading her column. Does Fairfax actually pay for that shit? I mean, that is really, really bad, bordering on the psychotic.
It would really depress me to know what she is paid on an annual basis, as I suspect it is well above the average wage for those that actually contribute something useful to society.
Her next article will be about her rage at the Defence Force having to extend their runways after buying Harrier Jump Jets.
Posted by curious george on 2007 06 24 at 03:01 AM • permalink
Her next article will be about her rage at the Defence Force having to extend their runways after buying Harrier Jump Jets.
What about widening the ozone hole to allow bigger rockets through? She totally missed that one!
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 06 24 at 03:09 AM • permalink
She is a gross ignoramus, 144 times stupider than the average ignoramus.
She is also a conspiracy theorist, and a really, really bad one. I mean, neutronium has got nothing on her degree of mental density.
These ships are very small. 27,000 tons displacement is nothing on even a Panamax (see ‘Pasha Bulker’ for what a Panamax looks like).
In fact, let us take Pasha Bulker as an example. She is a bog-standard Panamax bulker. They don’t so much build such ships as churn them out by the mile and cut’em to length. As a bog-standard Panamax, she is about 40,000 gross registered tons. That is a measurement of volume. So, empty, she’d displace, about 15,000 tons of water. Add 50,000 tons of coal and she’ll displace about 65,000 tons of water. That is a SMALL ship.
As this shows:
HANDYSIZE TANKER = 20,000 – 30,000 DWTHANDYMAX TANKER = approx 45,000 DWT
PANAMAX TANKER = approx 79,000 DWT
AFRAMAX TANKER = between 79,000 – 120,000 DWT
SUEZMAX TANKER = between 120,000 – 180,000 DWT
V.L.C.C. TANKER = between 200,000 – 300,000 DWT
U.L.C.C. TANKER = over 300,000 DWT
Definitions for GRT, DWT, NT etc can all be found HERE
The LHD’s will displace 27,000 tons of water (Washington Treaty Standard). They are VERY SMALL ships.
BTW, they are not landing ships, they do not beach.
See this report on Port Melbourne dredging, which TraceeEEee obviously did not bother to google.
Or this:
Entrance DepthsVessels with a draught of 11.6m can be navigated through the Heads and South Channel at all stages of the tide.
Vessels with a maximum draft of 12.1 metres may be navigated when the tide is sufficient to provide a manoeuvrability margin of 0.9m (minimum under keel clearance (UKC). 1.5m).
West ChannelThis channel is no longer used for commercial shipping.
The depth varies, in May 1998 there was a minimum of 4.1 metres at Chart Datum, plus tide. Non-commercial vessels can be navigated allowing 0.6 metres UKC depending on draft and tide at the time.
MelbourneMain channels dredged to 13.1 metres.
GeelongThe channel depth is 12.3 metres at Chart Datum: Vessels over 10.8 metres draft are navigated depending on tide rise, to maintain a manoeuvrability margin of 0.9 metres (minimum UKC is 1.5 metres) at all stages of the channel.
The maximum draught is 11.7 metres. Some night restrictions exist.
WesternportChannel depth is 14.6 metres at chart datum up to No 31 buoy then 9.1 metres to the Steel Berths.
Vessels must maintain 10% underkeel clearance at all times
Or this:
Which shows that the Navantia LHD has a full load draft of 7.07m.
Traceeee-eieio seems to be so damned stupid as to have no clue as to what that thing between her legs is for.
What a blithering cretin…..
MarkL
canberra
At 27,000t, it is nowhere near as big as some of the stuff that comes through the heads now. I remember my year at Staff College at Queenscliff staring out over the heads watching some pretty big ships – tankers, RO-ROs and container carriers go in and out during some of the more boring lectures. Traceee really is a poor little demented fool with the research ethic of Robert Fisk.
Posted by AlphaMikeFoxtrot on 2007 06 24 at 03:25 AM • permalink
It’s obviously so US (nuclear!!!!!) Carriers can park there after we invade.
FWIW, these aren’t the old fashioned drive up on the beach and open the bow and let the vehicles drive off type of ship. They’re the sink the back end a bit and discharge boats or hovercraft kind of ship.
They are shallow draft compared to a CG though.
I wonder if Traceeeeee can wiggle her toes with both feet firmly planted in her own mouth.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 06 24 at 03:40 AM • permalink
Just read TracceeEEeeEE’s pitiful excuse for an article.
I am speechless. She gets PAID for that pathetic drivel? Every significant fact is either wrong or misinterpreted. Every single one.
That takes the rare talent of the utterly vapid and clueless. I’d call her a cretin again but quite seriously I don’t want to insult cretins with such a comparison. They cannot help their state. She is this stupid by CHOICE.
Amazing.
MarkL
canberra
Tenix will build two massive amphibious warships at its Williamstown dockyards?
On the face of it, the $500 million injection into state coffers the deal secures could be seen as a spectacular boon for the Victorian economy — that’s assuming you’re not queasy about the money generated by building two floating weapons of mass destruction.
Weapons of mass destruction?
In that case, I’m certain Saddam Hussein had a couple of barges hanging around Iraqi ports. If only they’d had Traceeeee to hep the coalition find them, we wouldn’t have had all those people saying “I told you so”.
Of course I’m a little bit worried that the Spirit of Tasmania and Wiseman’s Ferry are potentially capable of destroying humanity…
Of course I’m a little bit worried that the Spirit of Tasmania and Wiseman’s Ferry are potentially capable of destroying humanity…
The spirit of Tasmania, i.e. rampant Green bullshit, is perfectly capable of destroying humanity.
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 06 24 at 03:54 AM • permalink
“..by visiting humpback whales taking refuge in Port Phillip Bay in recent weeks.
And perhaps the inherent message these wondrous sea creatures delivered..”
The vessels are being made so the evil HoWARd can imprison all the asylum seeking gay whales on offshore facilities and create another Tampa to steal the election with!!
Its so obvious!
/tin foil off.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 24 at 04:09 AM • permalink
O/T but looks like more Buhddists?Catholics?Amish? are in trouble again.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 24 at 04:10 AM • permalink
amphibious = able to live on both land and in water
amphistomatous = able to speak out of both sides of one’s mouth (see: Traceeeeee Hutchison)
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 06 24 at 04:12 AM • permalink
I found someone possibly sillier than Traceeeee. Linda Burney a NSW MOP. She was on the box last night and was interviewed for two different reasons. I made a note to make a note then forgot due to the anaesthetic I was drinking. But watch this space. All I remember was that she made comments that made me think she was a particularly dumb teacher’s union rep. When it flashed that she is actually an elected member I guffawed and made a note to take a note….there could be more mileage in her than Traceeee.
#29 I can see makings of stupendous stupidity out of this humble beginning.
‘Linda Burney was born in the small Riverina farming town of Whitton where she was reared by her white great aunt & uncle as her non-aboriginal mother had given her up not long after her birth. It was a very poor household and that is where Linda attributes the beginnings of her Labor roots.’
With that sort of pedigree, who’s to say what vapid and innocuous drivel can be spruiked by poor fella-me?
#30 Well we can only wish her all the best with her Labor roots, but isn’t she the Member for Canterbury where the other Presbyterians hail from? I see that she gave some lecture recently that committed her to reinstating the authority of this country’s first peoples. I can’t see the Lebanese criminal element we allowed in here in the late 70’s having common ground with her on that one. Shame on the Liberals for having no one of substance to beat her.
“ships full of plastic trinkets from China”
Since 2004 China has overtaken Japan as Australia’s largest source of imported goods and services.
I am not aware of any reputable organization listing the amount of ‘plastic trinkets’ that China has exported to Australia. These items are probably listed in amongst “sporting goods and toys” which account for less than 15% of the imports from China.
Most people associate Chinese imports with the “Made in China” tag that they see on there clothes. However an increasing amount of heavy machinery and other more complex products are now being sourced from China.
This perception is understandable in most people but it should not be tolerated in a journalist who writes for a major newspaper.
Much of the lefts criticism of global trade is not too far removed from that of the racist right. They seem to have a view that certain jobs are beneath the dignity of white folk. Her ignorance of the level and of the composition of Australia’s imports from China may be in part due to her view of what Chinese people are capable of.
I have lived in China for two years and I can tell you that given a suitable economic system they are capable of a lot.
Unfortunately racist attitudes permeate the left as well as the right.
Posted by Lefty Wobbling Right on 2007 06 24 at 04:56 AM • permalink
In other Traceee-related news I hear that a new replacement has been selected to appear with Trace on her TV music show – none other than Noam Chomsky.
The new show is to be known as Chomsky and Hutch.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 05:03 AM • permalink
#2: “socialism is the only way to true individualism”.
It’s true. Socialism frees the individual from all the nasties that hamper real individual identity (e.g. families, private business, churches, private clubs etc) and leaves the individual in the care of its only one true friend – the state.
Socialism is all about niggllng away and undermining those private relationships.
Pretending to care for the poor was one way to undermine private business. As soon as they find some better way to undermine private business (e.g. climate change), the left will drop compassion for the poor like a hot potato and move on. With climate change I don’t know whether it is true or untrue, man made or natural. One thing I do know – it will hit the poor the hardest. The lives of rich buggers like Gore, Monbiot or Garrett won’t change one iota.
That is the 100% certainty of this whole thing. Heard a peep on this from the left?
Posted by Effing & Blinding on 2007 06 24 at 05:03 AM • permalink
#33 Good joke MM, keep up the good work.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 05:11 AM • permalink
I guess this kerfuffle is what happens when you have a thinking day but no time set aside for research.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 05:23 AM • permalink
Sitting in an empty hotel lobby, Deano reads the latest by Traceeeeee and needs a breather to clear his head.
Posted by dean martin on 2007 06 24 at 05:23 AM • permalink
But not knowing exactly how much the collective weight of a quiver of armoured tanks, a handful of choppers and more than 1000 people plus facilities will do to the displacement of these vessels with a full load — it’s hard to guess its needs at full capacity.
It’s worth asking the question, isn’t it?
I’m dumbstruck. She thinks it’s a question worth asking but she doesn’t bother to actually (a very good word) ask anyone who can answer before she is allowed to rush into print with her dopey conspiracy theory.
Taking my example from her and from the editorial management at The Age I give you this and ask a question that some may think is worth asking. Why is Tracee wearing fishnet stockings and why does she look so haggard? Huh? Huh?
# 39 Janice – re: your picture – James Reyne’s schoolboy smirk says it all.
Posted by Fast Eddie on 2007 06 24 at 05:32 AM • permalink
Sparrow, you underestimate the effects of two warships loaded with sailors and megaphones. If one small boatload can repulse an attack from the Iraninan Republican Guards, image what two whole boatloads can do. Beware.
Posted by Fast Eddie on 2007 06 24 at 05:36 AM • permalink
If one small boatload can repulse an attack from the Iraninan Republican Guards, image what two whole boatloads can do. Beware.
There’s gonna be shiploads of epithets, curses, short monosyllabic descriptive terms and a truckload of brown-eyes. Enough to stop cyclone traceeee in her tracks.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 06 24 at 05:51 AM • permalink
It’s obviously so US (nuclear!!!!!) Carriers can park there after we invade.
I found this at TIM DUNLOPS site.The poster must have been so full of bile and self loathing that this was the best it could come up with about the Aussie-Iran Naval clash.
Comment by nasking
# June 23, 2007, 10:21:12 |Quote|
Yea, that’s the way…wave the red flag at the bull Iran & insult the allies in the process. Talk about dopey. The media i’m talking about. The comments above are funny.
Lest we forget. When many Aussies fled Singapore during WW2 many Brits felt pretty irked & abandoned. However, in the long run both nationalities eventually worked together & stood firm against the enemies of Japan & Germany & bravely knocked them back.
Its probably best not to gloat…& ridicule the potential enemy & allies when the sh*t is about to hit the fan. Particularly when we have so few troops involved…and the rest of the World is beginning to look at our Government & some citizenry less favourably. AWB scandal, draconian measures against Aborigines, treatment of children & others in detention centres, sucking up Bushevik bum, abandoning our citizen David Hick’s for 5 years, riling up China by way of treaties w/ Japan, rejecting UN measures & the Kyoto treaty, contributing way too much carbon to the atmosphere….& so on.
Time for humility & a change of Government. Less hype & American style ‘big noting’ & gloating.
Time to be ‘fair dinkum’ & ‘not full of yourself’.
———————————————————————-
Traceeeeee makes a valid point: the fact that she knows the nude chick from the Ausseeeeeee Crawl album IS a big deal. It would have been seen so by my (teenage male) crowd back when the album came out. Whether or not you want to know her now depends on her aging better than Traceeeeee, of course!
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 06 24 at 06:07 AM • permalink
WAIT! STOP THE PRESS! According to you know who, sea levels are rising fast, so who needs a deeper channel, Traceeeeeee?
Posted by Fast Eddie on 2007 06 24 at 06:14 AM • permalink
#47 Lest we forget. When many Aussies fled Singapore during WW2 many Brits felt pretty irked & abandoned. However, in the long run both nationalities eventually worked together & stood firm against the enemies of Japan & Germany & bravely knocked them back.
Unbelievable. Someone who knows very little (if anything) about the fall of Singapore, or the course of WWII. Viz-a-viz Singapore, British cowardice and perfidy still rankles.
Posted by walterplinge on 2007 06 24 at 06:17 AM • permalink
Well you’ve certainly convinced me huck. I’m a lefty now.
Posted by dean martin on 2007 06 24 at 06:24 AM • permalink
OK, who gave the Huckster directions?
Hey Huck, that sod got caught, so what’s your problem?
Just another excuse to ramp up the anti-Americanism I guess. Why don’t you toddle off and fawn slobberingly over your personal heroes HAMAS, like a good little murder-supporting islamic theofascist fellow traveller?
MarkL
canberra
Strange – when the kiddie fiddling involves Aboriginal kids in remote communities, the likes of Huck don’t seem to care.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 06:33 AM • permalink
Does anyone else here think that fuckabee is inordinately fond of describing stories of child molesters?
He brings them up in virtually every post. Constantly refers to them, almost lovingly, I would think.
Nary a sentence goes by that he doesn’t raise the issue, usually under the guise of berating the hated West, Israel or Catholicism.
Any thoughts, fellow posters?
Shh. Don’t tell Traceee about the HMAS Howard, the 500,000 tonne hyper-battle-dreadnought-carrier which will draw exactly 14meters draft. It’s going to sail right up to West Melbourne and commence bombardment of Spencer Street, between Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale. It’s not like anything useful happens there.
If the Allies were in Singapore to save the likes of Huckabee or his ancestors from something like Nanking, one would have to borrow the phrase of Eric Bogel: “And I ask myself, the same question.”
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 07:29 AM • permalink
As a matter of fact, you would be hard pressed to find a better experiment demonstrating the benefits of British influence than Singapore and Hong Kong.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 07:36 AM • permalink
Apologies for my insensitivity sparrow.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 07:38 AM • permalink
One wonders what the British and Australians were doing in Singapore in the first place, installing democracy no doubt
No, preserving it.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 06 24 at 07:38 AM • permalink
Unbelievable. Someone who knows very little (if anything) about the fall of Singapore, or the course of WWII. Viz-a-viz Singapore, British cowardice and perfidy still rankles.
One wonders what the British and Australians were doing in Singapore in the first place, installing democracy no doubt?
You utterly vile, pig-ignorant, foul little mental midget. You dare to comment on Percival’s performance and that of those under his command in this manner? EVERY Indian, Chinese, Malayan, British and Australian soldier, sailor or airman there was a thousand times the person you will EVER be.
Have a read of the British, Indian and Australian official histories, of the extensive, indeed massive scholarship on the Malayan Campaign. Read Shore&Cull;‘s extraordinary volumes called “Bloody Shambles” describing the air war in the theatre. They fought the best they could with what they had, and Yamashita himself spoke of how incredibly lucky he was to win.
What were they doing there? Well, it was a part of the British Empire, and a very successful part, which started off as a nothing more than a malarial swamp. It was so successful that it became the very first Chinese democracy in 5000 years, and now is one of the most successful places on the planet, yet it is a place with absolutely no natural resources, not even enough water to drink.
And they were there, including some very, very dear friends who were with the 8th Division you insulting little prick to ward off unprovoked aggression on the part of Imperial Japan.
Now, these friends of mine are now mostly gone to their graves, mostly they started dying pretty young. Four years in a Jap POW camp was a less than pleasant experience, and it cost them many years of life.
Oh, yeah, I am now offended, but on their behalf, not mine.
Andrea, please ban this little knob. He is insulting veterans who were infinitely better men and women than he will ever be. He is way over the line.
MarkL
canberra
#82 I don’t have a link, and I might be wrong, but I read somewhere that that particular incident was wartime propaganda and did not happen. However, many other events were as bad or worse.
Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 24 at 07:58 AM • permalink
#87 Addendum – I meant the beheading race, not the Nanking massacre.
Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 24 at 07:59 AM • permalink
I think the huck-wit is hoping to be put out of his misery too, just quietly.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 08:00 AM • permalink
state. Many analysts consider Singapore to be more of an illiberal or procedural democracy than a true democracy. The Economist Intelligence Unit lists Singapore as a country with a “hybrid” system comprised of democratic and authoritarian elements. Freedom House ranks the country as “partly free”.
#84.
As a colonial possession of Singapore, I doubt very much whether the British were concerned with preserving, or even establishing democracy there.
#82. Actually, it would be interesting to compare the numbers killed by the British and Japanese empires in Asia. I have a feeling the British would come out on top, especially if their empire as a whole, outside Asia, was taken into account.
Does anyone else here think that fuckabee is inordinately fond of describing stories of child molesters?
I have no idea why huck is obsessed with that issue. I can think of some that would make any attack on him from that angle quite distasteful.
Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 24 at 08:06 AM • permalink
He is insulting veterans who were infinitely better men and women than he will ever be. He is way over the line.
I’m not sure how I insulted the veterans who were undoubtedly very brave, I was just asking what they were doing there in the first place.
It was so successful that it became the very first Chinese democracy in 5000 years,
“Many analysts consider Singapore to be more of an illiberal or procedural democracy than a true democracy. The Economist Intelligence Unit lists Singapore as a country with a “hybrid” system comprised of democratic and authoritarian elements.[citation needed] Freedom House ranks the country as “partly free”.”
My mother in law is convinced that a woman who runs a clothing shop in a nearby town wears all the clothes at least once before putting them on the racks. She knows this because the shop window is dirty. It is highly unlikely that she has ever seen this shop. Her claims were made after we mentioned its existance. Crazy? No more crazy than a Traceeee Hutchison column, which is just as full of bizarre conspiracies and factual inaccuracies as my poor mother-in-law’s head.
#98 It’s a fine example, as I’m always interested to see what Mark has to say, although I think he was being overly polite.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 06 24 at 08:12 AM • permalink
#84. As a colonial possession of Singapore, I doubt very much whether the British were concerned with preserving, or even establishing democracy there.
Huckabee I think you will find that Singapore was a colonial possession of Britain, not the other way around you dickhead. Thousands of allied soldiers and civilians died defending the place against the Japanese, then went back in the late 40s and into the late fifties fighting the communists.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 06 24 at 08:14 AM • permalink
- MarkL
My Great Uncle was one of those fighter pilots above Singapore,He was flying Bufffalos against Zeros, guns would stop and you had to hand pump fuel to keep pressure,rammed a jap, bailed out,hooked up with John Gorton and made their way down to Singapore,got on the last ship to leave,got torpedoed went back in the water,got picked up,got back to Oz,said “Let me back at them” RAAF said no because he was one of a small band of Survivers with combat experience so went on to be one of the youngst combat instructors in Australia.
Huckabe, I know you are a troll who is attempting to shit stir the commentariat, but when you insult the memory of our veterans, you step over the line.
Kindly go away now, please. (Pedro’s polite phase, not often seen here)
Mark L, (#85) well said, very much to the point. I detect a military background in your postings. Brings a certain bluntness to a person’s speech, seldom found in lawyers, politicians et al, and that is a Good Thing in civilised discourse.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 06 24 at 08:37 AM • permalink
I detect a military background in your postings. Brings a certain bluntness to a person’s speech, seldom found in lawyers, politicians et al, and that is a Good Thing in civilised discourse.
#109 Pedro, you obviously are referring to this.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 06 24 at 08:42 AM • permalink
Is this an example of the Right’s devotion to freedom of speech?
Tim’s blog; Tim’s rules (as administered by Andrea) Freedom of speech has nothing to do with how an individual runs his blog. How long do dissenting rightwing comments stay up at the various lefty blogs?
It’s simple, Huckleberry Fitt: obey the club rules. or get kicked out by the bouncer.
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 06 24 at 08:48 AM • permalink
I’ve banned Huckabee. I have low patience with history-twisters. Ah, I love the smell of crushed freedom of speech in the morning! (Because everyone knows that once you’re banned from commenting on an internet site, you are unable to comment on any other internet site, set up your own website, or so much as even write your opinions in your diary. And when you try to spout off in public, men in black suits come and take you away! It’s like magic!)
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 06 24 at 08:55 AM • permalink
They get banned so young these days.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 06 24 at 08:57 AM • permalink
“Many analysts consider Singapore to be more of an illiberal or procedural democracy than a true democracy. The Economist Intelligence Unit lists Singapore as a country with a “hybrid” system comprised of democratic and authoritarian elements.[citation needed] Freedom House ranks the country as “partly free”.”
What would we do without analysts? Build successful countries, for one.
In the 1950s, another bunch of analysts predicted that Burma and the Philippines were most likely to modernise, and Singapore was regarded as little more than a rabble of uncouth, impoverished Chinese. Funny how things work out.
I know it’s fashionable to make fun of Singapore and call it an illiberal democracy, but it’s now a financial hub for Southeast Asia as well as a centre for oil refining. It is rapidly becoming a centre for biomedical research and is HQ for some of the most successful businesses in the region.
Not bad for a shithole, huh? And in less than 50 years. It’s a place where women can walk down the street at night in safety, where education is taken seriously, and the family means something.
It has a vibrant arts scene, some of the best food in the region (although I think KL is still better, but that’s only my view), beautiful women, is clean, efficient and modern, and is thriving.
I know some people like to see Chinese, Malays and Indians in poverty, but LKY obviously had different ideas. Most Singaporeans are glad he did.
Huck, keep those analysts coming. But just remember, while they were writing academic articles and opining on editorial pages, Singaporeans built a country. I know who’d I’d rather have on my side.
#118 One of my fondest memories of Singapore was passing a building with the sign “Slim Ho Association.” Perhaps an initiative by LKY to create a country with “beautiful women”? :p
Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 24 at 09:16 AM • permalink
#78 Huck, with regards to what the Brits and Diggers were doing in Singapore? They were bahaving with a shitload more decorum than the Japanese.
I was friends with a woman who was a pow in Singapore. I don’t know exactly what happened to her; I suspect that she was a comfort woman. She died a dozen years ago so I can’t ask her, and I never would have anyway as she did not like to discuss it.
For someone who bleats on about democracy when the votes for your banning flood in, you hold it in remarkably low esteem.
Fuck off, Huck.
And that’s me being polite.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 06 24 at 09:23 AM • permalink
I enjoy toasted troll for supper, and don’t mind slinging a few mudballs across cyberspace, but insulting our veterans crosses the line in my book.
Another troll tossed into the rubbish bin of blog history, and a timely toss out as well. I believe some tempers were becoming a little frayed with this grub Huckabee.
Elegantly done, Ma’am, and not a Zulu spear in sight.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 06 24 at 09:32 AM • permalink
I’m actually rather sorry that fuckabee is gone.
Before you all send your Particle Adjusted Crushing Optimiser lasers my way, (he he), let me explain.
I’m sorry that Habib never got a chance to implode the wanker’s tiny little pea brain.
That was a sight I wanted ring side seats for. I could also have made enough money to retire on from scalping tickets to that “dialogue”.
By the way, where are you Habib? We miss you.
You know, I don’t so much blame Traceee. She’s just an ignorant fool with an agenda to serve, who writes this sort of drivel for the same reason as the dog licks his balls – because they can. I blame her editors for allowing the factual inaccuracies & mindless speculation to ever make it into print. And I blame the person who signs her paychecks for continuing to do so.
Much of the lefts criticism of global trade is not too far removed from that of the racist right
the idea that the right is more racist than the left is a myth propagated by the left. Their anti-trade tirade is nothing but insular nationalism; they are, and have always been anti-semitic (right back to Marx himself, but lets not forget Hitler or Stalin); they are anti-American to a bewildering degree; the “white male” is a source of contempt; their preferred solution to indiginous problems across the world (including Australian aboriginals) is to keep indiginous people in a state of economic stagnation by putting them on reserves and encouraging them to live their “traditional lifestyle”, as a kind of anthropological museum.
Make no mistake. The left is a racist place to be. Sure, it’s a problem that permeates the entire political spectrum, but the left fool themselves into believing they are immune from the “racist” tag.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 24 at 09:56 AM • permalink
You get to a point where a guy is saying a democracy isn’t, because uncited sources in a Wikipedia entry, while not actually going so far as to call the place something OTHER than a democracy, did snidely imply that some other member of their profession had his doubts about whether it was VERY democratic… and you realise that he really is a troll. He’s not here to argue, he’s not here to even proselytise… he’s just here to be a pain in the rectal region. As well as Singapore not being a democracy I assume Iraq isn’t, even though its participation rate is consistently higher than the USA, which is likely not a democracy either because it has electorates, just like the UK isn’t because of low participation, Australia isn’t because of compulsory participation, New Zealand isn’t because of proportional representation and some other place isn’t because of the reverse…
After his last thread (a continual and unbroken string of non-sequiturs) I was beginning to grow bored of his yammering- but with that faint edge of anxiety that comes when watching someone gesture too wildly, show too much of the whites of their eyes, and not breathe between sentences.
Huckabee was so sure he could beat a bunch of consertatives on any topic, because he’d never actually spoken to any before. The real thing turned out to be more of a challenge than he expected. If you look back over the past threads he’s participated in, he got trounced on every one.
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 24 at 10:10 AM • permalink
Listen to some music with me Pogria. I’m in the mood.
Ash, hopefully once you can get the whirring slowed down in your head, you may be able to relax.
That’s what has always kept me up. My body will slow, but getting my brain to slow down is a lot harder.
I don’t know what to suggest. Have you spoken to your doctor? I’m not suggesting pills at all. But, there are various sorts of drug free relaxation therapies that are available.
Insomnia – a new problem for you? I’ve long given up trying to sleep before 3am, but I need a nanna nap after work – 30 minutes, then I’m ready for another long night
But if I’m really tired and really want to sleep, I get out a text from Uni, Fundamentals of Policy Analysis for a spot of bedtime reading – guaranteed to send anyone to sleep in 10 seconds (it did in class too)
Got any really boring Uni teaxtbooks? Give it a go
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 10:14 AM • permalink
- #132,
you’re right about the boring books magpie.I’ve remembered something that always helped me sleep.Most of my life I’ve had long hair, and a sure way of relaxing was to have someone brush my hair.
It’s like a massage for the brain. A soft brush and an understanding family member of friend is all that’s needed.
For those who couldn’t see Tim’s column yesterday, here’s the link.
Yes I wonder how you’d declaw it? But that would stimulate your brain – you need an anti- stimulant like a text book, so dig around in those boxes and find the Corporations Law book – sounds perfect
Good luck but it’s good to know anyway there is another late night insomniac around
Sometimes I look outside down the street when I’m trying to get the mad cat in from the cold, and the only light on is here
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 10:32 AM • permalink
Sounds wonderful – but when I’m wanting to go to sleep I’m the only one left awake
The lefty lawyer I live with usually has been snoring for hours
BTW was it you who posted those pics of the Tim Blair building at Wilton – I’m heading to Picton on Thursday and thought I’d swing by Wilton to have a little look
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 10:37 AM • permalink
- #143,
yes magpie, that was me.If you get there, park your car in front like Tim did and take pictures. I did that also. As I said at the time, I’m the first of us to genuflect at the Great One’s House Of Worship. 🙂Maybe we can get a pilgrimage going. All of us who have been there can post pictures to prove it.
Don’t forget the Tasty Corn!!! 😉
Another trick passed on to me which doesn’t work for me but may for you – lie down in bed then imagine your toes, one by one, are going to sleep, then go up – your legs, etc then supposedly by the time you reach your head you’re asleep
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 10:43 AM • permalink
OK I’ll take some photos, and I won’t forget Tasty Corn!
Yes good thought there – a Sydney pilgrimage to Blair House, and then lunch at that historic pub in Picton where they brew their own beer
a
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 10:48 AM • permalink
- Damn – I missed all the fun again. Oh, well, I guess that’s what I get for being a lazy slug this morning.
Biopharmaceutics texts have the power to put me to sleep – as I am another member of the late night insomniacs club, that’s saying a lot. Unfortunately, this uncanny ability to knock me out was not all that useful when I was trying to study for exams, which probably contributed to my less-than-stellar grade in the course.Posted by Blue State Sil on 2007 06 24 at 10:58 AM • permalink
Paul Keatings best speeches!! LOL three times.
That reminds me of a very funny book that was around in the eighties called “The Wit Of Malcolm Fraser”.
It had his mug on the cover and the inside was totally blank. Not a single word on any of the 250 odd pages. LMAO funny.
Magpie, you’re talking about tha King George IV. It’s a good pub. Ten minutes away from my place.
Are you going with a car club? We get a lot of car clubs with all sorts of vintage and classic cars going there on Sundays.
Good one! At the moment I’m reading a book by Bill Hunter, the actor, who has all these facts about OZ
Under Governor General, he states that Sir William Deane will be our last one – it’s an old book and obviously old Bill was expecting the uneducated masses to approve a republic! Priceless
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 11:03 AM • permalink
#156 Bill Hunter wrote a book? I thought he just acted in some fairly dodgy Australian productions. I can’t remember ever seeing him in anything that was memorable for being great. His dreams must have been crushed.
I think once Queen Elizabeth II passes on, the Republic argument will start again, and will have a better chance of succeeding. What do you think?
Hey you’re near me then
I used to live in Campbelltown (Ruse and then Glen Alpine) now I’m in Hammondville near Liverpool
No car club, I sometimes go there to meet up with a friend who works in Picton
I was thinking a Tim Blair meeting there for local posters and whoever is available, food for thought there
I also have a friend in Buxton, and another who owns a B&B at Razorback
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 11:11 AM • permalink
Yes Bill Hunter did write a book – and I found it while clearing out boxes from the flooded garage after all the rain on the long weekend
As for the republic referendum, it was a total stuff up last time, and yes after the Queen is gone and we’re stuck with Charlie the Dhimmi perhaps the vote will be different
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 11:29 AM • permalink
Yes, almost neighbours!
I’ve been here in this area for a long time – I worked at Camden Hospital,then Liverpool Hospital for years
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 11:34 AM • permalink
The main problem with the model thrown up was the fact that the Pres was not going to be a popular vote
Like we’d vote for Kylie Minogue or Dame Edna – the masses could not be trusted!
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 11:37 AM • permalink
Ash, the salvage attempt looks like happening next week now. Some cracks have shown up on the hull, in about the same place they did on the Sygna. That’s the sign it’s back may be breaking. Lots of worry and fretting by the port authority.
But here’s a funny story out of the vineyard trip…old mate Lou who sails with us took the salvage boys on the vineyard trip. He swung by his former place of residence, Cessnock Jail, to explain what NOT to do when pruning grape vines. While he was incarcerated he was put on a work detail in the prison vineyard (yes, it’s true, there’s a vineyard inside the jail and it used to produce a very tidy red named Governor’s Reserve, until Lou took up the pruning shears). They released him early because the prison superintendent burst into tears each time they crossed paths.
Lou was inside for one drink-driving offence too many and is now safely on the wagon. He’s a very funny man.
I think once Queen Elizabeth II passes on, the Republic argument will start again, and will have a better chance of succeeding.
Once upon a time it was a hot political issue, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, and then it resurfaced again briefly at the time of the Dismissal.
Now, though, I think it’s way down the list of things we should worry about.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 24 at 11:42 AM • permalink
After the republic referendum was trounced, I remember being told by lefty retards that “the problem was that most Australians were not very well educated”.
This was coming from coke snorting hairdressers that I knew at the time. D’oh.
Aren’t we glad the stupid thing wasn’t passed.
Most Aussies also realise, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
#168, Ash,
only the top halve of Jeeeeeewelia looks anorexic. Have you seen the size of that arse, and the legs are bigger than my otto bin.
Great story about Lou!
As for that ship – looks like it’s going the way of the Sygna doesn’t it
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 06 24 at 11:45 AM • permalink
I spent my first five years at Villawood Hostel. It wasn’t a detention centre in those days!
Grew up in the Valley and then moved around a lot and finally settled just outside of Camden.
If there is a god, this is where he’d live. 🙂
Anyway, night ladies, I’m off.
Tim’s posted news brieflets.
The Christopher Essex article he’s linked to is a must-read. See ya.
This woman doesn’t like ships, shipping channels nor weapons to be used in her defense.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 06 24 at 11:55 AM • permalink
I’m gettin’ nervous… maybe Traceee’s on to us…
I mean, beaching a coal bulker up on Nobby’s as a decoy seemed like a great idea when wronwright first suggested it. But now, I’m not so sure.
Has anybody in the VRWC told Traceee how heavy uranium is?
Maybe she’ll get wise, you know, when we start blasting Bass Strait open so’s we can ship the whole mother lode out to Amreekkka?
Huge seagoing tankers unloading kilotons of cheeseburger ballast, with fries, in exchange for stadium-sized monster truck loads of premium-grade radioisotopes.
No Australian Workplace Agreements and no Union safeguards.
Oh, where are you now when your country needs you, Huckabee?
#15—Here: You know, they mount guns on those ships. Big rotary 20mm’s aimed by radar and computers. They might even have missiles!
And just for the record in case my pet moonbat is still lurking after all this time: if there’s any dredging I have no part of it…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 06 24 at 05:30 PM • permalink
Referendum … if it comes to that, have you guys considered merging with Texas? Not only would you have one king-hell voting bloc in Congress, but you guys would get along like a house afire…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 06 24 at 06:42 PM • permalink
Posted this on wrong thread, Here it is.
For those interested in the fall of Singapore, have just read The Bridge at Parit Sulong and recommend it. Story of the retreat, surrender, massacres and subsequent war crimes investigations and trials.
Lt Col Charles Anderson awarded a Victoria Cross, to go with the Military Cross he won in in WW1. Not bad for a slightly built bespectacled farmer from Crowther NSW.
As Rodney Rude might say “and, ladies and gentlemen, he was an angry little prick”
Memorial to be unveiled up there (Malaysia) next week.
“We are justifiably concerned that the cost of both ship projects has already risen considerably over the original estimate, from a total of $8 billion for both projects to a massive $11 billion,”
Sheeeeit, if you could hold and $8 billion project to $11 billion in the US, you’d like to get an award…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 06 24 at 07:53 PM • permalink
MarkL
My Great Uncle was one of those fighter pilots above Singapore,He was flying Bufffalos against Zeros, guns would stop and you had to hand pump fuel to keep pressure,rammed a jap, bailed out,hooked up with John Gorton and made their way down to Singapore,got on the last ship to leave,got torpedoed went back in the water,got picked up,got back to Oz,said “Let me back at them” RAAF said no because he was one of a small band of Survivers with combat experience so went on to be one of the youngst combat instructors in Australia.Sparrow, is this gallant gentleman still with us? I’d dearly love to meet him if he is. If he is, PLEASE sit down with a tape recorder or video and get him to tell all. Do this yesterday. I did this with my maternal grandfather in the early 70s and that audio tape is now the only recording the War Memorial has of a WWI AIF artilleryman.
If he is not now with us, I hope he kept papers, letters and diaries. Again, make sure that the AWM gets copies if he did.
The bit about Gorton makes this even more important. How Gorton survived that incident is a puzzle, how he survived having his face ripped off and hanging on his chest is a second, how he survived 19 hours in the water with such injuries is a third! Face ripped off from the bridge of his nose to both jaw joints, and hanging down onto his chest—- erk. I am buying ‘Bloody Shambles’ by Shore&Cull; when the tax cheque comes in. I have no doubt that your Great Uncle is in it, that is a phenominal read
PedroMark L, (#85) well said, very much to the point. I detect a military background in your postings. Brings a certain bluntness to a person’s speech, seldom found in lawyers, politicians et al, and that is a Good Thing in civilised discourse.
Posted by Pedro the IgnorantWell, yes. Getting awfully close to 30 years (mostly as a regular) and now a reservist. It has left me a grumpy sod with an inability to suffer wilful fools, let alone self-deluded narcissistic, posturing, preening, pansified, odious and pig-ignorant wilful fools like Huck. I have a lot of patience for people who are merely ignorant, but who also wish to learn. That is the sure-fire cure to ignorance, and who among us is not ignorant of many, many things? I know I am. But closed-minded ideologues who trumpet their ignorance and who have no wish to learn I have no time for. When such people start to use real people who went thru living hell for their country’s sake, I get a tad shirty.
Funny, that!Thank you, Andrea. That’s one more metaphorical carcass to bury in the high country!
MarkL
Canberra
Frogs = amphibiousAxolotls = amphibious
Crocs = amphibious