Friday, July 04, 2014

And so the pond's Godwin's Law swear jar is full to overflowing ...

(Above: guilty as charged here)

And this:

(Disgracefully here)

Yes, yes, the pond has been exceptionally busy handing out Godwin's Law infringement notices, swelling the swear jar to unprecedented levels, as tough a job as keeping racism off Sydney buses, out of the comments in the Bolter's pages and out of the ears of the Parrot's "let's have a riot in Cronulla" listeners ...

But why the sudden upsurge? Well you have to blame the callow, insensitive remarks of Australia's crude, boofhead kicking PM, who noted that Sri Lanka was at peace.

Immediately everyone took to Twitter to observe that German was at peace in the 1930s (no, you can't mention Spain), but that didn't seem to do much for the prospect of the Jews.

Even worse, a few dared to note that in the 1930s fleeing Jews were often denounced as economic migrants and tourists. And then they took over Hollywood, the banks, and the United Nations and quite possibly Mars, and here we are today ...

These same sensitive souls objected to some elements in the government's posturing:


But hey, the pond understands this is a recent artist's impression of Scott 'speaker in tongues' Morrison:


Or was that Tony Abbott? Whatever. We all have a role to play:



Naturally the vigilant Bolter was on the case early, giving up his enormously important work as the world's best climate scientist to sagely note:


Yes, there's racism and then there's fake racism, and wouldn't you know it, those bloody pesky blacks are at it again:

It is not the first time I’ve thought the anti-racism movement is underpinned by racism, from the insistence on racial division and the creation even of Aboriginal courts to the hatred of our Western civilisation and history.

Damn you pesky blacks, you'll cop a good serve the next time the pond catches a Sydney bus, with your cunning anti-racist racism sure to be on display.

The pond and the Bolter know your sort. Oh sure you pretend to be anti-racist, but that's deeply racist, unlike the Bolter who isn't deeply racist but knows how to spot people who hate the Bolter in a deeply racist way ... because he exemplifies all that's best, fine and noble about Western civilisation, history and climate science ...

Meanwhile, on another planet, the planet of la la Sharri Markson (bidding fair to upstage planet Janet), Neil Brown has outed himself as a worthy appointment to the influential, at one time ostensibly apolitical advisory panel designed to inform said callow PM on ABC board appointments:


There's nothing else in this EXCLUSIVE thought bubble, though you can get around the paywall if you like and read Neil Brown: I'd scrap ABC and start over.

The immediate question that came to mind is why Brown would bother to be involved in an organisation that he thought shouldn't exist? Wasn't this a tad contradictory? A wee bit hypocritical? 

Well Tim Wilson and Gerard 'prattling Polonius' Henderson will have none of that sort of nonsense.

But given his position, how would Brown approach a board candidate? What would he ask?

Why do you think you should be on the board? Do you agree with me your first act should be to perform a ritual public hara-kiri, and while you're at it, do an act of seppuku on the ABC? Spread the guts everywhere, let the blood flow to the sea ...

Of course up close Brown reveals himself to be the usual average doddering commentariat columnist for the Spectator down under:

“I think it should be sold,” Mr Brown said. “The best thing to do might be to start again. 
“In the meantime, I think the chance of the ABC being sold or privatised are very remote, so in that context, where it is unlikely, the next question is, Do you want to make it better? And that means you should have good people on the board to make sure it has good management and to make sure it fulfils its functions. “My role is to contribute to seeing if we can produce really good people to be on the boards of those organisations.”

Yes, he supplied the headline, then he fled the scene to fill in the rest of the column with corporate speak and blather.

But not before, and as usual, parading a typical bunch of canards and abuse of the kind you can find on a Sydney bus any day of the week.

What do you know, Brown is one of those "print the controversy" climate denialists:

While he enjoyed the content on both the ABC and SBS, and recognised that they were impor­tant organisations, Mr Brown said the ABC in particular had grown to have “more of a disposition to the Left rather than a balanced approach”. 
“I certainly think there should be more balance,” he said. “I would be looking for directors who could contribute towards that balance being maintained. 
“It gets a herd mentality about it and takes an official view about what you, the citizen, should believe in. I’m not saying it should be conservative or right-wing: I think it should give balance. 
“There has been a tendency to pick up the accepted zeitgeist on issues of climate change without giving the other side the opportunity to present its views. That’s my concern.”

Out of the mouth of babes. So climate science is the "accepted zeitgeist" and it's all just a political debate, or perhaps a night out at Lions or Rotary, and the other side should be allowed to present their views ...

In much the same way as creationists and flat earthers should also be given equal time ...

Brown went on to deplore the notion that the ABC might make money from its content - how would it be possible to berate it for being a leech on the taxpayer if it made a little cash in the paw?

Poor old big Mal had to front AM this very day, and explain that Brown didn't actually know much about the ABC, and that its commercial revenue was in fact declining, no great matter for the pond, given the profound irritation induced by watching the ABC's feeble attempts to commercialise its product ...

More to the point, big Mal brought a bowl of water to the microphone and publicly washed his hands for all in radio land to see ... and yes, the pond swears it saw the feat live. (Mere mortals can only hear the astonishing act at Turnbull says Brown and Albrechtsen appointments not his decision)

It was absolutely nothing to do with him, and possibly it had nothing to do with Tony Abbott PM or his colleagues or any other politician in government who might be seemingly responsible for such appointments.

It seems Dr Ian James Watt AO (no, that's not Dr Who, Who's on second, Watt's on first) is entirely responsible for the lick-spitting, fellow travelling, forelock tugging to the la la right appointments ...

There you go Ian, you flap doodle dunny door banging in the gale ... you've been hung out to dry and left flapping in the breeze ... and now all you have to do is supervise the abolition of the ABC and start all over again. Have you thought of hiring the entire staff of The Australian?

Hang on, is that the same big Mal who's adept at dodging tax? Turnbull investment in tax haven criticised ...

Never mind, speaking of the reptiles, sure enough the denialist Chris Mitchell turned up to issue another epic denial on the ABC's Media Report, The Australian newspaper turns 50.

It seems, if you listen to Mitchell, not that the pond's suggesting you do, you might as well listen to Sauron, the lizard Oz has published more terrifically scientific papers on climate science than denialist guff in the rag, which led to this comment:

Congratulations for not guffawing as Mitchell asserted that 'The Australian's' has published more (was it really five times more??!!) climate science than denialist dross. That's real chutzpah! No wonder The Australian and Tony Abbott are joined together like Siamese twins.

Chutzpah indeed.

By the time poor old Tim Lambert retired from the field, exhausted, he'd got up to 81 lizard Oz crimes against climate science, with the last post on the matter back in January 2013: The Australian's War on Science 81: Matt Ridley's 20 year old wrong prediction. 

In that particular case, the reptiles recycled the thoughts of one Matt Ridley:

Given how wrong his prediction was so far, Ridley reconsidered his beliefs. Ha ha, just kidding. Ridley still believes exactly the same thing. And being spectacularly wrong doesn’t stop a pundit from being published. Here is Ridley in the Wall Street Journal and reprinted in The Australian. 

Given what we know now, there is almost no way that the feared large temperature rise is going to happen. Mr. Lewis comments: “Taking the IPCC scenario that assumes a doubling of CO2, plus the equivalent of another 30% rise from other greenhouse gases by 2100, we are likely to experience a further rise of no more than 1°C.”


You can understand why Lambert stopped counting. He must have been exhausted.

Since then, the reptiles have continued to publish the deep science of Maurice Newman, along with sparkling insights like Greg "the bromance" Sheridan explaining that Abbott was right, and carbon and/or carbon dioxide was weightless, and now we have Neil Brown explaining how the ABC doesn't give creationists, flat earthers and denialists a fair hearing in the interests of scientific balance (he's obviously not heard the parade of loons hosted by the likes of Dr Rachael Kohn).

Will we ever hear a Neil Brown complain about the reptiles at the lizard Oz, and about the confusion and conflation between opinion and news, between reporting and commentary?

Ha ha, just kidding. Not when we have our fearless PM setting the pace on science and bigotry:


Yes, he really did run that line!

“As a general principle we support foreign investment. Always have and always will,” he said. 
“Our country is unimaginable without foreign investment.” 
“I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the British government in the then unsettled or, um, scarcely-settled, Great South Land,” he said. (as quoted by the Fairfaxians here)

Terra nullius lives. It breathes. Take that you pesky blacks.

Luckily the pond has to hand a Liberal party map which establishes exactly where terra nullius still lurks:



There it is. Right in the head heart and head of Tony Abbott and the Bolter ... when it's not lurking on Sydney buses ...

Which brings us to that other matter, which makes the pond too angry to scribble in the light-hearted way suitable for TGIF.

People getting agitated about an incident on a Sydney bus, and then look what the Australian government is doing on the high seas ...

Take it away Alan Moir, and more Moir here.

And people wonder why there's a deeply ugly side to the Australian dream.

But stay, already the pond has more than it knows what to do with in its Godwin's Law swear jar ... let's not add crimes against humanity to the list.




16 comments:

  1. I recall Dame Slap being given the once-over by Media Watch back in 2002. She was caught lifting copy from other papers, making up sources, changing quotes to fit her agenda and generally behaving like a spoilt brat when taken to task about this.

    http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/090902_s3.htm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent link. In the usual way, nothing disappears from the intertubes. The article, headed Blind spot allows barbarism to flourish, can still be found here

      http://www.hindunet.org/hvk/articles/0702/140.html

      and Dame Slap copped another roasting at Crikey here

      http://www.crikey.com.au/2002/09/15/2500-words-later-janet-still-misses-marrs-point/

      Shameless, but then where would the reptiles at the lizard Oz be without shame? It seems that Adam and Eve gene completely passed them by ...

      Delete
  2. The good Dame hasn't changed much in 12 years has she?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some recent choice cuts from the wacky world of Bolt's commentators
    ________________

    As for the savages called Plalestinians not deserving a state, they already have one - it’s called Jordan

    wouldn’t surprise me at all if this Arab [Palestinian] boy was killed by his own people to try and implicate the Jews!

    I must be a “racist”

    WE, Australia, should decide who comes to our country ... It is not up to every Tom, Dick or Mohammed to just sail on in.

    Well done Scott Morrison. Keep up the good work and hold strong.

    They are NOT asylum seekers. They are economic migrants

    I’d like to thank Rintoul and his fellow morons for alerting the Aust navy so that they could intercept and return the country shoppers.

    illegals will soak up welfare and also are likely take jobs from Australians

    3 cheers for minister Scott Morrison ... What a fantastic performance

    The Guardian on-line is in league with the ABC and often carries out “dirty work” a public broadcaster cannot be seen to be involved in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh Dannosaurus could we at least agree on an alternative? Eerie perhaps or sinister or unsettled?

    ReplyDelete
  5. The map's wrong. The centre of the universe is Tamworth, as everybody knows.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was in Whyalla a couple of weeks ago, yep, it's still there.


    fred

    ReplyDelete

  7. "Sri Lanka is not everyone's idea of the ideal society but it is at peace," Tones said yesterday.

    Yet as of today DFAT says:

    "• We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Sri Lanka at this time because of the unpredictable security environment.
    • Security forces maintain a visible presence throughout the country. Military and police checkpoints are present along some roads and road closures can occur without warning."

    ...&etc in similar vein - http://smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Sri_Lanka

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they'd be great links except they're such depressing links. Exercise a high degree of caution! Let's not forget

      You should avoid all demonstrations and large public gatherings as they may turn violent or be a target for politically-motivated attacks. Police have used tear gas in response to protests.

      In the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, which includes Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochichi and Jaffna Districts, post-conflict security force activity is ongoing.

      In both the Northern and Eastern Provinces you should stay on main roads and pay close attention to signs warning of danger from landmines.

      Delete
  8. thanks, great link, and the pond see that some 718k agree

    ReplyDelete
  9. How does Morrison sleep at night, or reconcile his actions with his religious beliefs?

    Penn and Teller have one explanation. It's bullshit.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jBlotl6uJE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Penn and Teller are interesting guys - great magicians and bullshit debunkers. But I take issue with some of their 'libertarian' stances.

      Nevertheless they are the ones behind a very interesting film - Tim’s Vermeer - proving they aren't just cunning stunts.

      http://www.vulture.com/2013/12/movie-review-tims-vermeer-penn-teller.html

      Delete
    2. The pond saw them in Vegas and loved the show. Yes they're libertarian weird, but they also do interesting things

      Delete
  10. Life's unsolved mysteries.

    The Tour de France commences in Yorkshire,

    The Paris-Dakar rally takes place in South America.

    The film U-571 claims the yanks captured the Enigma machine to break the German codes. It was the British and Polish.

    And Chris Columbus wasn't the first European to set foot on American soil (actually he only ever got to Haiti, and the Vikings got to Newfoundland 400 years earlier.)

    Here's some more to have you scratching your heads -

    http://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/10-historically-inaccurate-movies.htm

    http://brainz.org/15-historical-inaccuracies-widely-believed-fact/



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)

      How about they call it an Abbott government. Does the pond win an award for being oxymoronic?

      Delete

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