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Car big, ego bigger

Oh dear. The Sunday Telegraph gives* Timmy Blair a $140,000 Volkswagen Touareg to review and he gives his editor a smarmy piece on the new golden age! I suppose it must be if Tim can get a gig like that.

Timmy, in all his populist wisdom, figures a car review is as good a place as any for some suburbanite rednecking (“halts progress more effectively than a Greens-controlled Senate”), but soon returns to full-throttle drooling.

Has there been a more gushing review since Nicole Kidman’s Blue Room performance was described as “pure theatrical Viagra”? I swear something hit me on the cheek while reading this abomination online, and it wasn’t a drip from the ceiling.

It’s a car for God’s sake, Tim. Not the second coming.

“To celebrate Earth Day,” Timmy typed some weeks back, “ this week I picked up a Volkswagen Touareg.” Only when commenters congratulated him on his purchase did he quietly admit it was only a review car! That was embarrassing for me, let alone Timmy.

Which brings to mind this pompous pronouncement some months ago: (baritone voice, please) “This week I set up a deal,” to send him to the US to write about the Democrat and Republic national conventions. Go Timmy, you Bondi Junction SUV-driving (return to dealer by Tuesday) media mogul!

While we’re at it, how about the in-all-seriousness footnote on Andrea Harris’s ingratiating Twisted Spinster blog: “this site is a subsidiary of Spleenville”. Funny, but a search of Florida’s business names index reveals S & P Legal Nurse Consultants Inc and Splendid Co but, shockingly, no Spleenville! It leaves one little to do but kneel and prey that the Spleenville empire’s dodgy business practices don’t lead to another scandal of Enron/WorldCom proportions.

Wednesday, 9 June 2004

Albrecht hypocrisy

I do try to avoid indulging in the reading pleasure of Chomsky and other true leftist types. But when they spell out the truth with such plainness and coherence, one must defer.

Here, the World Socialist Web Site sets straight loopy Janet Albrechtsen…

As far as columnist Janet Albrechtsen was concerned it was all the fault of “media bias”. Looking back on the horrors of Nazi Germany, one sometimes wonders how it was that Hitler could find supporters in the media. Were they perverted types, deformed from birth? Not at all. They were rather like Ms Albrechtsen: well-paid individuals, attracted to power and those who wield it, and who understand that their well-being is bound up with the maintenance of the prevailing order.

According to Ms Albrechtsen, the “skewed reporting” of Iraq raises the question of whether Western nations can successfully wage war. “If Adolf Hitler were rampaging through Europe now, would we have the stomach to fight him, to accept the carnage inevitably required to defeat him? Or would media images of our own brutality cause us to surrender?”

Janet, so elegantly you sidestep the reality that if the Iraq invasion had a shred of legitimacy, the outcry over prisoner abuse would have lasted days, not weeks.

Thursday, 3 June 2004

The good, the evil and the just plain ugly

There’s civilisation. And then there’s US right-wing crazies like this blogger. Referring to the sickening bashing of a blasphemer, she lets one roll too many of ugly bigoted fat slip out from her GWB t-shirt.

Good grief. And we wonder why “Muslims hate us.” They (or at least – gotta put in the disclaimers for the .0000031564% of Muslims who aren’t like this! – some of them) hate just about everything and everybody on earth. What a miserable group of people.

You have no shame, Andrea Harris.

Monday, 29 March 2004

The Official George W. Bush CV

Dubya’s resume. Online.

A taste:

Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the 'poorest' multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice has an Chevron oil tanker named after her).

Wednesday, 10 March 2004

John Howard

Remember him? Poor bugger makes a political career out of honesty only to have it come back and bite him on the bum.

You’re not dubbed Honest John for nothing. Sadly for the Coalition, even Howard’s most fanatical supporters at heart have grave doubts about their idol’s integrity. On issues like tax, health, the economy, education, it’s possible he hasn’t blatantly lied. Shifty, slimy, repulsive – yes. But not outright duplicitous.

However – when it comes to issues of sending the young lads and ladies of the nation into the firing line for a war based on fabricated pretences. Or, when it’s politically convenient to sling allegations of “children overboard” against refugees. And even to let a shipload of asylum-seekers perish in the high seas, well, let’s not let integrity get in the way of the slaughter of a goodly sum of Pakis.

Why lie, John? It’s naughty, don’t you know.

And what now, John?

MARK Latham has changed the political landscape in just 100 days. He's not a "new" politician but he definitely has a fresh face and a fresh approach. His success in the polls has been spectacular. His ability to rattle John Howard and the Coalition has been unprecedented.

Friday, 27 February 2004

Case for war grows stronger

It could be inevitable. British or US intelligence services monitored Hans Blix’s mobile phone conversations while he was in Iraq, sources have told the ABC. The development further strengthens the case argued by the Coalition of the Peaceful for a full-scale military invasion of both countries.

Andrew Fowler from the ABC's Investigative Unit says sources have told him that Australia's Office of National Assessments has read transcripts of Dr Blix's phone conversations in Iraq.

"That's what I'm told, specifically each time he entered Iraq his phone was targeted and recorded and the transcripts were then made available to the United States, Australia, Canada, the UK and also New Zealand," Fowler said.

This is clearly in contravention of international law, and means the Coalition has little choice but to blow the bejeezus out of the two nations.

Wednesday, 25 February 2004

I’m so sad there’s nothing to be sad about

Mourning for people you don’t know is selfish showboating, says a new report.

Ostentatious displays of public mourning such as the outpouring of grief in Britain after the 1997 death of Princess Diana have become a "cheap emotional fix" replacing real emotion, according to a new report.

The report by leading political think-tank Civitas says people are kidding themselves in the way they display their sorrow.

It says the British have shed their traditional emotional reserve to indulge in "recreational grief" for dead celebrities and crime victims, so as to feel better about themselves.

This sort of "grief lite" was "undertaken as an enjoyable event, much like going to a football match", the Civitas group charged in an 80-page report.

The report’s author, Patrick West says people who indulge in this sort of schmaltziness want nothing more than to prove “what nice people they all are.”

Someone should do a similar investigation into the deliriously tacky displays of post 9-11 grief.

Monday, 16 February 2004

Humour inspectors turn up nothing to laugh about

Gee, that Imre Salusinszky “piece” in the Australian had me rolling around in fits of uncontrollable cringing.

An announced feature of the deal is the zero tariff on US manufactures, giving Australian consumers access to the latest gadgets at affordable prices. But there are some disturbing caveats:

23(c). There will be no Australian tariff on US-sourced electronic goods, including toys, appliances and portable sound equipment. Batteries not included.

There’s a funny bit in there. Somewhere. Or at least the intention to produce some time in the future some line that might be a little bit funny.

Friday, 13 February 2004

Backflip!

Howard’s really caving now.

Yesterday the Coalition and the ALP joined forces in the Senate to block a Greens motion to hold a judicial inquiry into the intelligence agencies.

Mr Howard told parliament that "for once I agree with the Leader of the Opposition" and that they should wait until the parliamentary inquiry reported before making a decision.

Make that twice:

In a desperate decision to regain the agenda from the new Opposition Leader, the Prime Minister surprised his own colleagues with a backflip that dramatically cuts the taxpayer contribution to MPs' superannuation to 9 per cent of salary for those elected from this year's poll.

Can’t wait for the next Newspoll.

Friday, 13 February 2004

Blame the spooks, not the kooks

Dennis Shanahan gives you this in yesterday’s Australian:

AUSTRALIA'S spy agencies can expect an external inquiry into their handling of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction within months.

The Howard Government is expected to agree to an independent inquiry into the Australian agencies' assessment of secret reports from US and British intelligence bodies after a parliamentary committee reports next month.

And then today’s editorial gives you this:

AN inquiry into how Australia's intelligence services overestimated Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability may help ensure no error of similar magnitude is made again

This sort of scapegoating should make professional propagandists out of journalists on the Australian. As if the intelligence agencies bent the intel to hype the case for war. That’s not the way they work. It’s all part of the Australian’s desperate, unerring plan to ensure the conservatives remain in power for another three years.

Friggin pathetic.

Tuesday, 16 December 2003

Why posting has been so light …

The Journey

The Destination

[Click to enlarge]

Posting may have been light, but the packs we took up Mt Anne weren’t. The climb up south-west Tasmania’s highest peak can be done in a day (a very long day), but we chose to stay overnight at a campsite not too far from the summit – the sight of the second photo above.

Actually, posting’s been light for many reasons… so it’s good to see the hit count is still fairly steady.

Stay tuned…

Friday, 12 December 2003

Wiping our arses with habitat

Always excellent OnEarth magazine has a feature on how, much like Tasmania, the forests of Tennessee are being turned into toilet paper.

As one environmentalist put it arrestingly: "We're wiping our asses with habitat."

The article mentions how the “federal and state agencies that are supposed to be regulating the paper, timber, and mining industries are populated with these companies' former executives and have come to view these industries as clients whose permits and projects should be facilitated rather than scrutinized.”

And how “much of the devastation is hidden from view by thin "beauty strips" of native forest left along the plateau's highways.” They could be talking about Tasmania, where the Department of State Development pretends that the $713 million of largely woodchips exported last year wasn’t largely woodchips. The official three-page breakdown of export earnings showcases Tasmania’s $127 million catamaran exports (Incat), our $336 million in aluminium exports (Comalco Bell Bay) and our $411 million in exports of zinc (Pasminco). But the single biggest export category, at $713 million (29% of all Tasmanian exports), is credited to “Confidential Items of Trade”.

Officially, we export just over $1 million of woodchips. Anyone who believes that has never sighted one of the massive piles of woodchips at our ports, awaiting shipment to Japan.

With such blatant non-transparency its is no wonder Forestry Tasmania and its corporate siblings (or sibling, Gunns Ltd control the overwhelming majority of forestry operations here) are oft-referred to as the “Tasmanian Mafia”.

Friday, 5 December 2003

Apparently this is still newsworthy

Says the Missoula Independent, “Western Montana’s weekly journal of people, politics and culture”:

If it’s acceptable for the president and his cabinet to lie on a regular basis, why should CEOs, government officials, or citizens feel any compunction against doing likewise? In the end, as the bright light of truth is abandoned and our country’s credibility collapses around us, we will be left like rats, skittering through the twilight of our once-great nation.

Hopefully not. 2004 is shaping as a monumental chance to throw both Bush and Howard from power and restore some kind of decency to our once proud nations, and the expanding realms in which their influences are felt.

Thursday, 4 December 2003

No weapons, no weapons report

Where are the weapons? The US doesn’t know.

Where is the weapons report from the Iraq Survey Group? The UN doesn’t know.

United Nations weapons inspectors say they still have not been given a key report by American and British experts who have searched post-war Iraq for weapons of mass destruction.

ABC News Online

United Nations weapons inspectors withdrawn from Iraq on the eve of the war in March have continued analyzing biological samples and evaluating Iraqi Al-Samoud 2 missiles in their search for evidence of banned weapons that Saddam Hussein may have possessed, according to their latest report released today.

The inspectors, who have not returned to Iraq in a functional capacity since the United States occupation, have not been given the results of investigations by the US-led Iraq Survey Group, other than a statement made to the public on its interim progress report. The Survey Group has not given that report itself, they add.

United Nations News Centre

Evidence – who needs it?

Wednesday, 3 December 2003

Tone up, tone down?

Latham seems to be saying he’ll tone down his rhetoric somewhat. Yet that may be a worse proposition than maintaining his virulent verbal assaults on Coalition policy.

At least that’s the view of David Burchell in today’s Australian.

Bob Hawke's wit seemed to evaporate over his prime ministership, like a slowly shrivelling fruit. Likewise, the former British Opposition leader Neil Kinnock was a renowned wise-cracker prior to his elevation. As Labour leader, on the other hand, Kinnock was about as boisterous as Eeyore.

Latham's harder task may not be to tame his tongue, but rather to keep it barbed, and to keep the barbs on target. As a student of Labor history he must be well aware of the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. The great trick of political oratory, as one of its finest ancient Roman practitioners well knew, is to project an impression of easy spontaneity in utterance, while measuring every word. We're about to find out whether Latham is up to that rather demanding task.

And Burchell makes this point, overlooked in most tripe written about the potential of leadership contenders:

Nobody in their right mind sits down to read party manifestos, or to watch question time on TV. The key task of the party leader isn't so much to lead as much as to project the political personality of their party. It's a matter of direction rather than detail.

One small example: GWB.

This is the sort of piece the Oz should run more of. Not this guff from rich white lawyer’s wife Janet Albrechtsen:

Last week came the call for a woman to lead the ALP because "it's time". Alas, that tired sales pitch failed and a woman will not lead the ALP. These days, whenever women don't get a senior post, the next question is: why not? The answer is another slogan: discrimination. And from discrimination flows the next feminist shibboleth: regulation.

Not because A Token Lefty disagrees with Janet, but because she doesn’t make reasoned, intelligent arguments. Seems the controversy over last year’s gang rape piece served only to teach her you can manipulate other’s views to fit your own worldview, string together a pieces of anecdotal-at-best ‘proof’ and a blizzard of emotive adjectives and voila! You boost your own profile and become the darling of the far right. Never mind the majority of decent-minded Australians think you should put your hood back on and head home to Tennessee.

Wednesday, 3 December 2003

A good lie?

Labor’s unwillingness to just take Medicare Plus and a good lie down attracted this quote from whom in parliament yesterday?

"What is wrong with a safety net, how could anybody object to a safety net, Mr Speaker?"

"I can understand them objecting to other things but a nice, simply protective, cuddly safety net?"

Could be Howard. Or Costello. Abbott, easily. Even Downer.

Funny how similar in tone they look on paper. It must be the Liberal Party Sneer’n’Smirkâ at work.

Tuesday, 2 December 2003

Picture this

Richard Wald on the link between superficiality and niche media proliferation:

We all live in this world. It is our culture. We think in its terms. But politicians will have to reach across all the individual outlets that constitute this avalanche of stuff to pull together a constituency and influence national discourse. How will they do it? They will reach for image.

Tuesday, 2 December 2003

Latham wins

Choosing boldness over been-there-tried-that, the ALP Caucus have at least injected new vigour into the Opposition. Latham may be a risky choice – cabbie incident, foul mouth, inexperienced – but he represents the best chance of this country freeing itself from the shackles of Howardism.

Beazley’s small target strategy was a shocker. Latham’s success will depend upon getting the right policies up to handcuff Costello and Abbott’s often effective head kicking.

Latham comes across as slightly unsure of himself in parliament and in doorstops. Which contrasts with his tough-guy image, and contrasts nicely – the right balance of thoughtfulness and muscularity.

Still, it all comes down to media savvy and we will have to wait and see whether he’s got what it takes to work the media a la the Libs.

A Token Prediction: Labor in power mid-next year.

Friday, 28 November 2003

Blair at it again

Even if he has read Troppo’s expose of another Tim Blair tomfoolery, fact-oblivious Timothy is probably blissfully unaware that claims he made in a previous column that Pvt. Lynch had been “raped after all”, are just as reality impaired.

Still, that’s why I read his column – to laugh at the idiocy. I no longer find it sad or disturbing. I’m happy for him. He’s got a lot of years to come to grips with the real world.

Thursday, 27 November 2003

Sayonara, Simon

Simon Crean's leadership of the federal Labor Party hangs in the balance tonight after he was told he had lost the support of the caucus.

A number of key powerbrokers told Mr Crean he no longer had the numbers after the left faction deserted his leadership.

ABC News Online 27/11/2003

OPPOSITION Leader Simon Crean had failed to win voter support because he didn't have the "it" factor, Newspoll head Sol Lebovic said tonight.

He said unless the government collapsed, which was unlikely to happen, Mr Crean had no hope of gaining enough support among Australians to challenge Prime Minister John Howard.

NEWS.com.au November 27, 2003

Latham, Rudd or Beazley? Matt Price and Michelle Grattan on Lateline were unsure who’s next in line. Methinks Latham and Rudd will be anointed. But they both agree Crean will step down tomorrow.

Wednesday, 26 November 2003

The future looks bright (and bleak)

In the end, does it really matter what direction politics takes? We’re destined to be little more than a footnote on the pages of history anyway.

Consider and give thanks for a moment that the only reason you on any given day are able to blog, make whoopee between satin sheets or feed your children Junior Burgers at McDonald’s is because:

1. Around four and a half billion years ago an insignificant lump of rock fell into orbit around a ball of hot yellow stuff in an otherwise unremarkable corner of the universe

2. On said lump of rock a fortuitous combination of methane, ammonia, hydrogen, water and electricity spawned organic life forms that were able to adapt to gradually evolve into all manner of creatures, from protozoa to poodles to giant ocean-cruising whales

3. We have been blessed with the occurrence of very few ELEs (extinction level events). Yet.

We’re lucky to be alive, sunshine. And here we are arguing about who should fund Australian film production!

Monday, 24 November 2003

Regime change the new norm

Before the Iraq invasion, ending regimes was just not the done thing – well, it was done a lot, actually, but always under a cloak of secrecy and spin. Defence Minister Robert Hill provided an insight into the new international norms when speaking to the ABC last week.

He said now was the time not only "to lock in the gains achieved through ending the regime of Saddam Hussein but also to lock in the opportunity for the Iraqi people to build a better future".

No, it’s not all about oil. Nor WMD, nor US politics. It’s about reshaping the world in our image.

Sovereignty? Schmovereignty.

Tuesday, 18 November 2003

Fluffy bunnies, fluffy news

What does it tell you when the source for the top story on Google News, the inauguration of the leader of “the world’s fifth largest economy”, is E! Online? If you suddenly thought E! had morphed from sleazy celebrity tabloid into political news heavyweight, a quick look at its other items would have set you straight:

Sexes and Hexes

Whether it be a cranky mood, a humpy dude or a skanky 'tude, I've got the naked lowdown on Hollywood heavies. From the naughty likes of Mike M., Sean P. and Christian S. to plain ol' nooky types such as Benicio D., Leo D. and George C., the Truth will tickle you free. Ready to ride? read it >

Of course, I’m not to criticise the convergence of entertainment and politics. Then you’d call me a hypocrite and would stop clicking on the Paypal button – the white one on the left of this page, near the top, just below the email link, that helps keep atl alive and kicking and helps feed my fluffy little bunny rabbits who have big floppy ears and bright blue eyes…

Friday, 14 November 2003

Puppets of doom

What’s that – the Iraqi Governing Council is unrepresentative of Iraqis and they don’t really care about the transfer of control of the country to its people?

For some of them, it sometimes seems like the "Governing Council" is something of an interesting hobby- a nice little diversion in the monthly routine: golf on Saturdays, a movie with the family in London on Fridays, a massage at the spa on Tuesdays, and, oh yes- nation-building for 5 minutes with Bremer on the Xth of each month.

Thursday, 13 November 2003

That pesky Iraqi problem

Having summoned Paul Bremer to the White House so urgently he had to cancel a meeting with the president of Poland, more bad press comes Bush’s way:

A CIA report concludes that ordinary Iraqis increasingly are siding with the insurgency amid doubts about the U.S. ability to stamp it out, officials said on Wednesday, while the U.S. administrator in Iraq said it was hard to figure out where the Iraqi public stands.

Well, torn between a relatively stable life under Saddam and the current situation of promises, promises but little in the way of concrete improvements, where would you stand?

Thursday, 13 November 2003

By George, you’re right

Less neo-conservative, more American supremacist, says George Soros of the ideologues driving policy in Washington. Ousting Bush at the next election has become the “central focus” of his life, he told the Washington Post.

The proposition that the United States will be better off if it uses its position to impose its values and interests everywhere is the misconception. It is exactly by not abusing its power that America attained its current position.

Republicans, happily, are outraged.

Wednesday, 12 November 2003

Baring all but the truth

Larry Flynt has nude pictures of Private Jessica Lynch.

Flynt told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he bought the photos last month from the men who purportedly participated in the amateur shoot with the Army supply clerk. The soldiers "wanted to let it be known that she's not all apple pie," Flynt said.

Wednesday, 12 November 2003

Private truths, public lies

Billmon on the Private Jessica Lynch story. Which Jessica Lynch story, you ask? I’m as confused as you..

By next week, I wouldn't be surprised if there are conservatives calling their favorite talk shows to say Lynch deserved to be raped.

6/11/03 3:31 PM

The blogosphere: more dead than alive

There’s a lot of dead wood in the blogforest. Of approximately 4 million registered blogs, 1 million were updated once and once only. A further 1.7 million blogs had not been updated in two months, and only 50,000 blogs were updated daily, according to online researcher Perseus.

Other findings:

· Nine out of ten bloggers are aged 30 or under

· More females blog than males

· More males abandon blogs

· The typical blogger is a teenage girl who updates twice a month to let friends and classmates know what’s being going on in her life

I’ve personally contributed to these stats, with two false starts with blogs titled Unspun and Sowing Wild Oats on blogger.com. Why delete them when they’re free?

6/11/03 3:20 PM

Wizards at the Oz

I think Cup fever had taken the better of the editors at The Australian yesterday. This from the front-page Scrapbook section:

Time magazine on the tremendous progress in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq

Security, which almost all Iraqis say is their major concern, is far better in both the north and south than it is in the capital…

Whichever way you look at it, ‘tremendous’ is not an accurate reflection of the way Time characterised the progress post-Saddam Iraq. From day to day The Australian lurches from delusional to comical. Still, shouldn’t criticise – they’re probably doing a good job of reading the market.