Friday, January 02, 2015

Steal the Terror ... before the terror steals you ...


(Above: found in the streets of Newtown).

The pond would once upon a time have been shocked by that clarion cry to steal and burn the Daily Terror ...

At least until Janet Albrechtsen wrote an impassioned plea for fare evasion as the best way to get ahead in politics and life.

Become a leaner, she furiously scribbled.

Evade a fare, avoid the legitimate demands of a train conductor, and soon enough you might become PM of Australia, or at least get to Budapest.

So that's where zero tolerance ended up ...

Meanwhile, the Daily Terror itself is in fine fear-mongering form:


The resemblance to Elmer Gantry and other fundamentalist preachers shouting "evil is among us" is astonishing.

Throw the phrase into the googleator, and up comes the Mormons screaming about pornography, in A tragic evil among us. It's also the title of a book about the murder of two Mormon missionaries, Greg Hunt it here.

The problem of course is when one set of fundamentalist ratbags (the Murdochians) start using fundie religious language to describe another bunch of fundamentalist ratbags (the Islamics), we're in the middle of a religious war, with the Murdochians posing as the Crusaders. And we know how that turned out the time they tried it in the middle ages ...

There's such a profound inability in the evil empire to grasp the simplest of truths about the way demonisation works.

This probably comes from the evil heart of the evil empire - oh dear, that fundie religious language is catching.

You see, only a short time ago, there was Tony Abbott explaining how every dinkum digger had won the lottery of life.

And what do you know, right at that time, the American who gave up his winning dinkum lottery ticket was busy explaining how it was Americans who had actually won the lottery ticket of life:


Did he mean "greatest incoherence"?

Well at least it gives the pond a chance to link to the NYRB's How the Murdoch Gang Got Away, currently outside the paywall.

The Murdoch Gang! Yes, that resonates. It's a bit like that other tribe, the James-Younger gang.

At least the Chairman's tweet hints at a way forward: Tony Abbott could cash in his exceptionalist Australian lottery ticket and head off to the United States for a life of American exceptionalism. Worked for gangster Rupe.

But wait, what's this?


Exceptualism?

Well it might not be popular with dictionaries, but it is a favourite word in birther circles, and it shows the madness of King Rupert.

Here's a billionaire talking of masters and liberal elites despising ordinary folk, and pretending that as an 'umble billionaire he sees better, because he's just one of the ordinary folk, as opposed to being a rascal born with a silver spoon in his mouth (though The News wasn't worth much, it was worth more than most messes of pottage people are given as an inheritance).

Then double down and wheel in a man boasting of, and indulging in the title "Prof", and you're so far down the rabbit hole you might be drowned in a pool of tears ...

No wonder Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the NYRB, contemplating the evils of the evil Murdochian gangsters, took time out to admire the twittering:

There are signs that Murdoch’s attention is flagging, and what might be politely called his increasing eccentricity is magnified by his addiction to Twitter—that device helpfully enabling people to write faster than they can think—with such effusions as “Why is Jewish owned press so consistently anti Israel in every crisis?” or “Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are.”

But speaking of the chairman, today the Terror, in the guise of Elle Hardy, the Terror showed off the depths of its schizophrenia:


Yes, they're still trying to wring some juice out of that load of old rope, but here's how Hardy concluded:

While it can never be said that one looks toward Hollywood for moral clarity, its long history of politicisation means that those who want to be influential must be active in the defence of the principles from which they benefit so handsomely. 
The film industry is rotting from the inside because it lacks the principles upon which to make sound judgments.

Uh huh. That first line delivers the sort of incoherence we expect in Murdoch la la land, but it's the second line that really got the pond going.

With the Murdochians owning Twentieth Century Fox, the pond knows how the inside rotting started in Hollywood... gangsters at the helm.

Here you go, here's a list of the studio's recent films.

Item: the pond holds up for your inspection Exodus: Gods and Kings, which gave a couple of working Aussie actors a chance to work, and which inspired that bizarre 'white people' tweet by the Chairman.

Now the pond has no argument with Hardy.

She manages to sound merely stupid throughout her piece with standard memes, such as Christian satire is everywhere, and Islamic satire nowhere to be found. That only works if you manage to conceive of shows like Exodus: Gods and Kings and Left Behind - Greg Hunt that show here - are deeply clever satirical thrusts at the more bizarre outreaches of Xian thinking.

The real question revolves around the Terror. Does anyone at the rag know of the Chairman's movie connections?

Did anyone think twice about Hardy saying the Chairman and his main company vehicle for profits was rotting from the inside?

It might be true, but should it be said in the Terror?

Wh,y that's up there with Dame Slap explaining how fare evasion is the best way to get ahead in life ...

Oh okay, it's the day after the first day of the year, and the reptiles are slow to stir, with many still stuck on a hot holiday rock (how's that rock today, crow eaters?)

Meanwhile, it seems a few lottery winners have been disturbed by the antics of the guest cartoonists who have been hired by the Canberra Times to replace David Pope while he's on leave.

The latest is indeed a curious one:


Now the pond was never a big fan of the twee Schulz, but the wrestling-loving Nick - oh George was gorgeous Nick, no doubt about it - has struck just the right nonsensical tone with this effort (as usual, the other efforts in the series can be found here).

First he's made Lucy verbose, in the patented Nick way, and he's done a neat role reversal when it comes to doing the dump, and he's dressed up his real intentions with a fine flurry of rhetoric.

And he sent the pond scurrying off to check the primary sources, and be reminded of all the actual outcomes of this sort of game-playing:




Ah yes, it's going to be a good year. All the best for every lottery ticket winner in this lucky Abbott country in this brand new year ... and stand by for all the last minute changes ... and remember, if you want to get to Budapest, avoid paying for the fare ...

Thanks to a reader drawing attention to this Moir cartoon (and more Moir here):


11 comments:

  1. " (though The News wasn't worth much, it was worth more than most messes of pottage people are given as an inheritance)."....I hope I am not verging on the litigious here, but I was told by an old copper many years ago that Murdoch's mum got him "The News" as a distraction to keep the young "communist" delinquent out of jail!....from my own memory of the mid sixties, I remember the old News Limited building on Nth Terrace burning to the ground...a happy coincidence ?
    jaycee

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    1. Can you defame gangsters? Well at least it's a discussion starter ... and didn't they always burn things down in Hindley Street and North Terrace as a form of renovation? Or was the demolition of the grand old South Australian Hotel on the Terrace ust a way of showing that Adelaideans had a very Murdochian sense of heritage ...? Oh Adelayde, Adelayde ...

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  2. Old Mr Howard has been whistled up, again, by one of Roop's tools to rebuke that uppity Obama ... again. Desperate times, maybe, but whoever else is called out to help Abbott can only look good, by comparison.

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  3. Hillbilly SkeletonJan 2, 2015, 1:02:00 PM

    Dorothy, been sunning yourself in hot old Adelaide,eh, and are also a bit slow to start the year? As it appears you haven't quite mastered the dystopian logic that allows sycophantic scribblers like Elle Hardy to say what she does about 'Hollywood' (slithering supporters of Barack Obama that they are) but exonerate her boss from blame at one and the same time.

    Let me explain: The Boss is an East Coast man, not a West Coast man, scrabbling for a living in his penthouse atop the highest apartment building in New York. Not 'of' Hollywood per se. Just conveniently using a Movie Studio as yet another arm of the empire in order to spread the propagandistic manure as far and wide as possible under the guise of entertainment for the massed morons. No, 'Hollywood' is run by those same 'Jews' he so despises (because they won't sell him The New York Times or Time Warner,) and which is coincidentally and probably railed against on a regular basis as being full of the dreaded 'Liberal Elites' that are ruining 'our' aims to make it an Arch Conservative world(!), by his mate Saudi Crown Prince Faisal.

    There! QED!

    Actually, I'm waiting for the Murdoch Mafia to organise a hit on that guy, what's his name? Ah yes, Pope Francis! (Only kidding!) However, he must be causing Arch Conservative Catholic, Rupert, much dyspepsia, what with his support for Global Warming, Homosexuality and Alms for the Poor. All those decades manoeuvering George Pell into place and they go and elect that guy! Oh well, Murdoch converted to Catholicism, so I guess he can just go and convert to the Happy Clappers with their Hillsong-inspired, 'Prosperity Gospel' next! He has no real allegiances, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch. Having short arms and long pockets he might just find the tithe a bit of a stretch, however.

    Finally, another epistle from the Newtown/Marrickville area, which I think you might appreciate. Stuck to a wall a picture of Tony & Rupert in their regulation blue ties with the simple words separating them : 'Blue Ties Tell Lies'.
    Pithy. And I hope it pithes them off! I've ordered mine and I can't wait to whack it on the wall of BLeak's place, as he lives just down the road.

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    1. Hey, HS, are you in Central Coast? Watch it, though. BLeak may set his dawg on ya. Wear a black t-shirt, you should be OK.
      How's this for weird?

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  4. Hi Dorothy,

    “How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?”
    Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint. The Usual Suspects.

    Thank you for the link to “How the Murdoch Gang Got Away”. Geoffrey Wheatcroft’s review of “Hack Attack” is a very good summary of the whole phone hacking affair at The Screws of the World as well as an insight into the whole reptile culture at News International.

    With the acquittal of Rebekah Brooks for charges of conspiracy to intercept voicemails back in June, it would appear that Murdoch and his empire are now safe from prosecution or any major negative government interference. Whatever evidence she may have had implicating James and Rupert Murdoch will remain safely stashed away, as she enjoys the millions bestowed upon her by a grateful company.

    Brooks could still be charged with authorising corrupt payments to public officials whilst acting as Editor of The Sun however. Recently e-mails have come to light which corroborate her involvement in approving nearly all cash payments there and she actually admitted to paying police in front of a Parliamentary Select Committee back in 2003.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1AJjnl2y8U

    Indeed Murdoch himself “allegedly" admitted knowledge of corrupt payments to police when he was “allegedly” secretly taped addressing staff.

    Rupert Murdoch: “we’re talking about payments for news tips from the cops: that’s been going on a hundred years, absolutely. You didn’t instigate it.”

    But you sense that what ever political enthusiasm there was to pursue Murdoch and his Media Empire, has long since dissipated. Public outrage has moved on to some other topic and the politicians on either side of politics, fear reprisals if they speak out. The police and prosecution service will quietly wind up their investigations deciding that there will be no gain in attempting further prosecutions and the News Corp stock price will soar.

    Wheatcroft disagrees with the author Nick Davies that “since 1979, no British government has been elected without the support of Rupert Murdoch” and believes newspapers cannot order readers how to vote. I think he fails to realise that the media and in particular Murdoch’s strength is not in promoting a political party but in denigrating and undermining its opponents. The collapse of support for the LNP and Abbott in such a brief time proves the point quite well. Abbott was never personally popular before the election but was seen as a salvation, as News along with the rest of the MSM painted the incumbent Labor government as chaotic and out of control.

    So it appears that we will have Rupert Murdoch pulling the levers of power for the foreseeable future and our political, judicial and social institutions will all be the poorer for it.

    On the bright side however we can all look forward to our daily dose of horror and hilarity, as Loon Pond dissects the ranting and raving emanating from the febrile minds of Rupert’s Reptilian Corp.

    More power to your blog in 2015.

    DiddyWrote

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  5. Today, on Catallaxy Files, Nick Cater questions the page five lead in yesterday’s Oz which states:

    “In just the one year of 1988-89, the Hawke government achieved savings three times greater than those planned by the Abbott government over the next three years, as it sought to reduce Australia’s foreign borrowing…”

    He is also unconvinced with John Stone’s endorsement.

    But I’ve always believed Cater knew it all. Apparently not for he asks correspondents of Catallaxy:

    “Can anyone help explain the significance of Walsh’s reference to the cost of debt servicing?”

    That’s akin to giving blood to vampires. Give us a break, Cater, go look under rocks or under beds or where angels fear to tread


    http://catallaxyfiles.com/2015/01/02/memories-can-be-beautiful-and-yet/comment-page-1/

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    1. Some excellent loon spottings and sightings this day, suggesting the year's hunting is off to an excellent start. Thanks Anon, and you too DW, and all the above, more power to all because more will be needed in this year of the boofhead ... where, as noted by Miss PP, sledging was about the only skill the Abbott could offer to the cricket season ...

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  6. Dorothy..after many years of youthful fretting and concern for the image I was presenting to older, "tougher" youths, in one fell night, in the grand year of 1967..the summer of "Sgt. Pepper's ..." and the emergence of Japanese motorcycling independence...at the tender age of seventeen years..I learned the unforgettable truth that ; With mortality being the only certainty..The whole world runs on bluff !.
    And THAT is the only thing Murdoch has now and all he ever has had...and as soon as the first major authority calls that bluff..down will come the house of cards.
    Perhaps, for the sake of his and Credlin's own survival, it will be Abbott!!...wouldn't THAT be a shock in some quarters?

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  7. As a reflective observation, one has to lament the intervention of Wendy Deng at the Levison inquiry, when she forestalled the salubrious action of that philosophical genius who was wanting to plant that cream pie into Rupert Murdoch's mooch!...I can't help but feel our whole domestic political scene would have been otherwise had that wonderful and thoughtful deed been carried to a successful conclusion in front of a all too serious world...sometimes a bit of old-fashioned slapstick brings a touch of reality to a very foolish situation.

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    1. :), and finally branded forever as Mo of the Three Stooges

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