'Twas the seventh week before Christmas
and all through Clovergrad,
in municipal deccies,
we were already clad.
Crumbs, the chamber of commerce has some pull.
15 November 2009
seasonal adjustment
11 November 2009
remembrance day 2009
This is my biannual tribute, and it will remain up for only today ...
Update: This post has now been retired. Thanks.
11 October 2009
plus ca climate change
For RMG's fifth birthday, I was reminded of this apropos announcement from two years ago.
Greens astounded as Flannery backs TurnbullDoesn't that just say everything?
1 October 2009
back in their boxes
Reverend Moffat deals nicely with Catherine Deveny's quality broadsheet views on marriage.
"Maybe the writer has had a painful experience. But the thing about ranting is that it doesn’t invite a genuine response. Like a tantrum or a hissy–fit, there is no real way to engage with it on its terms. A rant exists to raise three things: the temperature of ‘debate’; the profile of the ranter and the number of Blog comments. All achieved in this piece."In his post, the Reverend explains how a level-headed grown up responds. The Fairfax editors could learn something about magnanimity; a concept the paper seems to have jettisoned around 1996.
27 September 2009
glorious leader's glorious triumph
The cheerleading hagiographers who pass for Australia's fourth estate need some editorial oversight -
Triumphant Rudd leaves as Obama battles onSomeone forgot to mention something obvious. From the G20's own website -
SHAUN CARNEY PITTSBURGH, Sydney Morning Herald
September 27, 2009
- "PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd and wife Therese Rein will fly out of the US today and are due back in Australia tomorrow, triumphant after cementing the nation's place in the G20 group."
PM Kevin Rudd wins place at new G20 seat of power
Dennis Shanahan, Pittsburgh : The Australian
September 26, 2009
- "AUSTRALIA is a founding member of the world's new premier forum for global governance and economic management, which has been finalised at the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Pittsburgh."
The Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was established in 1999 to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.Who was PM in 1999? My contribution to make the Oz aware of this was somehow declined, but one later insightful (insider?) commenter revealed some information that should have made it into the editorial copy:
... Australia has been an integral member of the G20 for over 10 years. It was a far more significant member under the 'indolent' Howard/Costello Govt than it is now. Strangely, back in those days of indolence, those lazy days of lying 'round the pool with a G&T in hand, Mr Costello was able to disagree with institutions such as the G20 and the IMF to solve real world problems. It seems solving real world problems is being superseded with YouTube-ready news bites, smiley faces, red-carpet walks, and grand words and statements. Has the Rudd Govt created a 'crisis' that it has then proceeded to 'solve', thereby leading to a rash of headlines of our PM saving something or other? Isn't this called spin? Australia was in no danger of being excluded from the G20. If Australia was in danger of being excluded from the G20 it would reflect very poorly on the countless hours of quiet diplomacy exerted by our diplomatic officials over many years. Lets give them a break okay. Australia was always going to do just fine. A perusal of the world's press and other media outlets including those on the left shows a completely unaccountable lack of reportage on Mr Rudd. That should give some pause for thought.See, another point of view is possible. Don't you wish journalism school could include such a radical thought process into their curricula?
Anyhow, G20 v2.0, just a further step on our descent to the utopian new world order. The left has everything sewn up now, unstoppable it seems. All they need do is lower the voting age to sixteen, then the dumbing down of the Enlightenment into a herd of pop mentality is complete. Yay, the future.
23 September 2009
23 August 2009
you've got till friday
It was probably a bit rude to say that blogging would resume in a week or two, but then not. So, the hiatus is now official, at least for the next little while. A lot's been happening in my world, so I'll wait for things to settle down a bit before I jump back in.
Importantly though, I should mention that the Senate Inquiry into the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009 has been extended, and submissions will close this Friday, 28 August. If you have a view about the Greens' attempt to redefine marriage as non-gender and non-orientation specific, you may want to make it known (contact link), as from what I've seen so far the debate seems to have been dominated by organised activism on both sides. The bill itself is pretty ugly.
As for me, I think the redefinition is unnecessary, as I've written about many times before: One, Two, Three. Most homos simply aren't interested in gay marriage. It's just not an issue for us as it is for far-left activists bent on the socialist mantra of 'social change'. We'd be perfectly happy with just official recognition of primary interdependent relationships, and they wouldn't even have to be gay-specific. So long as two people live with and rely on each other, they should enjoy the same institutional benefits and responsibilities as any couple. How non-discriminatory is that?
Anyhoo, changing the subject, here's a picture. Enlarge for better detail.
There's a lot to miss about that lost country.
6 August 2009
and they're off!
After the latest round of terror arrests, the tightly networked human rights brigade has swung into action. Phase one; counter the negative publicity with a coordinated PR assault.
The Sydney Morning Herald -
IBRAHIM KHAYRE wipes away tears and shakes his head.The Daily Telegraph was similarly set up -
To him, the story of his nephew, Yacqub Khayre, an accused terrorist, is one of a system that failed an intelligent boy...
Yacqub grew up to be a respectable, disciplined boy, who was nice to others and did well at school. But when he was in year 12, his grandfather, a major influence in his life, died and the boy lost his way.
It was around this time, Ibrahim says, his nephew began hanging out with the boys who were a ‘‘bad influence’’. He ran amok, his school marks suffered.
He stole Ibrahim’s car. Ibrahim rang the police, in an effort to teach the boy a lesson about the law. But when he got to the police station to pick up Yacqub, the police said the boy did not want to see him.
‘‘I was crying in the police station and they were laughing at us. They considered us a bunch of undesirables and they knew nothing about him.’’
Ibrahim says the system let him down. ‘‘The state who said we want to help, they did not. They left him out in the cold. It’s the Government that tied our hands.’’
Ibrahim sits at home, plagued by insomnia, crying constantly. His tears flow as he utters the words he says he thought he would never say. He regrets bringing his family to Australia, even though it saved their lives.
Yacqub Khayre's uncle, who brought the boy from Somalia as a toddler, wept yesterday as he looked at childhood photos.The message? "The system" is supposed to nanny us. We're not personally responsible for our relationships or our actions.
Ibrahim Khayre said Yacqub had not always been in trouble and was faultless as a child but the boy he raised as his son dropped out of Gladstone Park college in Melbourne at the age of 17 and left home.
He said authorities including police and court social workers foiled his attempts to reach out to Yacqub.
"He was stolen from us, basically. They treated us like undesirables. Like this kid has to be out of the house."
"I blame the Government itself. He left home when he was Year 12. As any normal kid will do, he became a big rebel.
Pardon my cynicism, but I've at times dealt directly with charlatans and fops who pass themselves off as human rights activists, lawyers, and academics. Recall that Marcus Einfeld was a paragon of human rights law and activism, a living treasure, the darling of the oppressed and their champions, which gives a fair indication of the calibre of those involved in the field.
Generally speaking, the human rights mindset is that of a self-involved, smug totalitarian who feels superior to hoi polloi's inability to override pragmatism and common sense with "compassion". Because they lack practical insight, their influence and lobbying in political policy have caused most of society's contemporary dysfunction.
UPDATE: Proving the entrenchment of the human rights network, the ABC led its evening TV news with this same story.
How do you suppose all media outlets were alerted to this particular relative? How did they all come to broadcast the same story on the same day, if not by a coordinated piece of propaganda?
However, the prominence given by the ABC to this puff piece of a non-story is another example of their ethical corruption. The cabal of human rights hysterics who relentlessly promoted Hicks, Haneef, Solon, et al, are closely allied across the ABC, NGOs, government agencies, advocacy groups, law, and what passes for "academia" these days. They're routinely interviewed for comment on air, and write pieces for ABC Online.
The control of the ABC by an activist minority to further its ideological agenda isn't just a breach of the ABC Charter. It is straightforward ethical corruption, a betrayal of the Fourth Estate's role to protect the public interest, and betrayal of the public's trust.
It needs to be said, and I'll say it to their faces, those most culpable for enabling this corruption are John Cameron, News Director, and Mark Scott, ABC Managing Director. The fair and impartial buck stops with them. The top-down left-wing bias throughout ABC News, its presenters, producers and information selectivity has only thrived through their dereliction in creating and maintaining an open, fair, transparent, non-partisan ABC for everyone.
Litmus test: where does the ABC present the non-left wing voice, or sensibility, or view? For instance, name one non-left wing or non-progressive, or even non-union, presenter.
5 August 2009
abc watch: part 78
According to the Harris Street communards, the eviction of some Palestinians in Israel is pertinent news to NSW viewers and needs to be run on the evening TV bulletin, yet not the ACCC's finding that GreenPower misleads NSW consumers. Funny that. Not swayed by agendas or anything.
One of the the ABC's rotating Middle East correspondents is Ben Knight, a keen demonstrator of the maxim that journalists who operate around Gaza and the West Bank toe the Palestinian line - if they know what's good for them.
It was mysterious why Ben's report, about some Palestinians evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem by some Israelis, had popped up in the middle of the news broadcast, given that it was about a civil property dispute without international relevance.
I waited for Ben to explain, alas in vain. He spoke to the evictees, their reps, and local Pally officials, but after much drawn-out victimhood and "inhumanity", the only explanation he gave was that "one side had documents to say they owned it, the other side said they had too." We remained unenlightened as to why the court had found for the Israelis, although Ben managed to assert that "Israel's government seems to be sending the West a message."
I had to go to other media for the full story:
"I think a lot of the criticism is simply not fair," said Mark Regev, a government spokesman, who described the dispute as a legal one between two private parties over who had title to a property in East Jerusalem.Israelis were the original owners, something Ben couldn't bring himself to mention. Neither could he point out that, essentially, it was the Palestinians who had opportunistically turned this into a political event.
In the court action, a settler group sued claiming the Palestinians had violated an agreement under which they were allowed to live in the houses.
"As you know, the Israeli court system is independent and professional," Regev said, referring to the Supreme Court's decision that paved the way for the evictions. "Many times it goes on the Palestinian side if they think that's where the justice is and, in this case, they ruled in favor of the Jewish side."
But then, pragmatism dictates that Middle East correspondents can't be so candid about the truth. You see, later, the 7.30 Report aired his piece on Palestinian progress with its self-defence forces. He interviewed the Palestinian Security Forces Chief and a Police Chief. You don't get that kind of access, or indeed safe passage around the territories, if anyone perceives you may not be always helpful.
we interrupt this hiatus ...
Question for progressives: Why do we have to "understand" what drives Islamists, and calibrate our society to appease them, yet we outright have no truck with White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis? For the former are surely the exact same mindsets and motivations as the latter, only culturally transposed.
Fairfax and the ABC champion the empathy argument for those who'd kill the innocent, yet wouldn't bring themselves to make an excuse even for a knitting circle outfit like the Australia First Party.
I'm sure that Sydney University and ANU "academics" could intellectualise an explanation at length for this, - although never actually get around to addressing the point.
6 July 2009
Hiatus time again. Give it a week or two, and I intend to be back wordier and imagier.
As a community service though, let me pass on this handy GFC pointer - recession drinking at its finest. It would have been handy in my clubbing days.
Subscribe to:
