So much commentariat pulp, so many dead trees, such a waste of wood-chip ...

(Above: a world where Trebants are treasured is a world to treasure).

So out of the west comes news that karri trees dated somewhere between 511 and 594 years old are being chopped down for benefit of wood chip industries (take your pick on the source, the lizard Oz with Ancient karri trees destroyed by woodchippers, say environmentalists, or the ABC, with Conservationists slam logging of 600-year-old trees).

Naturally the state government went into obfuscatory befuddled mode, while the industry exhibited complete denialism, and all, presumably, so that the antique delivery of newspapers or the wrapping fetish of Japanese retailers and consumers can continue undisturbed ...

Whenever one of these stories breaks, the pond is reminded of the way that conservative, conservationist and the action 'to conserve' parted ways some time ago, and as a result the way that conservatives no longer seem interested in conserving.

As a result, if you go looking for western red cedar in the wild in the north of New South Wales, good luck with your hunting.

The pond likes conserving things. There seems no point in material destruction if it's possible to conserve and preserve. Even the humble East German Trabant has its own museum, a warning to all who follow of the folly of certain forms of car manufacturing, while Checkpoint Charlie is now preserved as a tourist trap where you can get your picture snapped with ersatz Russian and American soldiers.

It might seem trivial given the lives wasted on the wall, but if you roam Berlin you will get more serious reminders of the students, activists, gays, unionists, socialists, Jews and gypsies who lost their lives under various regimes, another reason the pond goes into a frenzy whenever anyone says Adolf Hitler was a socialist because he named his vice National Socialism. By that standard of proof, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea should be a first class democracy ... So many silly people, so little time ...

There's no point in tearing down churches - at some point someone will turn up to rebuild them - or hauling down statues like a flock of angry Protestants, and even if you bomb Berlin flat, some nostalgia freak will build a kind of Disney-fied version of a lost marketplace.

Speaking of why wood-chipping is a profound waste of resources, no doubt some wood-chips have gone towards the pulping and the paper required to distribute Paul Sheehan's thoughts to the world, with today's load of pulp running under the header Abbott suffering a Labor Party stoning.

Sheehan spends an inordinate amount of time establishing that the Labor party and its apparatchiks have spent a considerable amount of time abusing Tony Abbott.

He could have - but naturally wouldn't - spent an equally inordinate amount of time listing and detailing Tony Abbott's extraordinary nattering negativity.

This was at one time considered a virtue - he was a feral attack dog, nipping at the heels of the Labor party sheep, bringing them into line. You might not like him, but you had to admire the way he produced the scar on the cheek, brought blood to the surface.

What's so amusing about the Sheehan piece is that it remains firmly on the 'nah nah yah yah' level of schoolyard abuse - look at 'em miss, look at what they'se been doing - and so one-sided, it will inevitably provoke predictable responses.

Oh wait it has already, the very first one out of the gate:

Paul Sheehan - seriously what is your point? And what is your problem? If you believe you are supporting the right wing well, frankly, all I can see is you digging their and your own grave. Any one of us could sort through Hansard and prove pretty much any point we wanted to. Your impartiality on this matter may well appeal to other grumpy old men but it does not to me.

The point of course is that politics is a form of theatre, and theatrical abuse part of the staple diet, and Sheehan as a generally grumpy correspondent has chosen to sample just one side of the menu, with a list of quotes compiled of Labor curry powder.

This is a tricky course to set, because it means over-looking an equally tasty cuisine, the Schezuan Liberal pepper spiciness, which applied to any dish will enhance the palate.

In short, it's mind-boggingly one-eyed, and silly, and a tit for tat, but it shows how Gillard's bagging of Abbott has resounded amongst the commentariat, and how the breach in the wall must be repaired and how fortifications must be strengthened, and how a determined assault - in like style - must be made on that mastermind of personal abuse and invective, Julia Gillard:

These are insults delivered this year, by federal Labor MPs, directed at one person, and orchestrated by Julia Gillard. The level of personal insult has been on an industrial scale. 

Yes, the invective has all been organised and orchestrated by one person, Julia Gillard. It's all her fault, the deviant witch and Bob Brown bitch.

It's such a silly thing to say, and in his usual way, Sheehan manages to conflate the serious with the comical. When Gillard cracks a line that Abbott is Gina Rinehart's butler, does Sheehan crack a smile? Of course not.

As to the key charge which occupies the last two pars of Sheehan's piece - Gillard's smack-down of Abbott - he naturally sees only abuse and darkness and a viral social media. But Abbott would have done himself immense goodwill if he'd repaired the damage done long ago, when he stood underneath those signs proclaiming bitch and witch ... by apologising.

Instead what happened in subsequent months? He didn't see the signs, he didn't notice them, they were behind him. Lies, and more lies, and that's where the real charges of sexism began to fester and congeal. It was an ugly scar on the public discourse, along with the worst sort of signs you see in Islamic fundamentalist parades, and feral construction union demonstrations.

You'd think that conservatives would want to conserve some shreds of public decency, but on the evidence routinely provided by Sheehan week in and week out, they want to maintain the rage and the ugly negativity. On the basis of Sheehan's piece, you'd feel free to go out and continue the abuse, because ... look miss, he done it to me first, so I was just giving him back what he gave me ... And so on and so forth ...

Meanwhile, it continues to amaze the pond that good trees are killed simply so Sheehan's grumpiness can be circulated to the punters ...

And so the fuss continues - never mind that we've all been invited to move on - with Amanda Vanstone - now safely in her bunker as a cardigan-wearer for the ABC - thinking it fine to call a gaggle of women a handbag hit squad, no doubt for its comedy value.

Well a cardigan wearer would think that was funny (and you can read Vanstone's fine defence of the right of Tony Abbott to continue to be negative in The PM, the shock jock, sexism and a whole lot of hypocrisy).

It's always a wondrous sight to see an ex-politician accuse current politicians of hypocrisy, but it's no good Amanda, we know that deep down you're a leftist, and a singular disappointment to all, especially now you've become a seat-warmer, as the Bolter so splendidly noted when disapproving of all four who've recently held the Counterpoint seat:

... I’m not sure the ABC even knows the name of a single genuine conservative it could trust to be not too conservative with the one program it allegedly wants a conservative to run. (here)

Oh dear, nailed by the wallet hit squad. Hang on, hang on, that doesn't sound half as funny as handbag hit squad ...

Which just leaves time for a little nit-picking regarding Annabel Crabb's Grubby, grotty, silly and sexist, but misogyny is a sledge too far.

Like a lot of the commentariat, Crabb rushed off to the dictionary, determined that 'misogyny' (even when mis-spelled) simplistically meant a hatred of women, and 'hatred' was a step too far.

As any goose would know, any word has shades of meaning, and so does misogyny.

It can just as easily be construed as dislike, perhaps intense, perhaps comical. As examples of misogyny, one on-line dictionary leads with these two quotations:

misogyny 
noun 
Quotations 
"Nothing makes a man hate a woman more than her constant conversation" [William Wycherley The Country Wife] 
"Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all." [Dr. Johnson] (here)

Yes, hate can simply involve a hatred of constant conversation, or perhaps the incessant reading of the commentariat, and if you've got the time and the inclination, you can do the same for philogyny, and the ways to admire women.

There's not even a need to invoke Humpty Dumpty's 'words mean what I choose them to mean' routine ...

So how does Crabb get Abbott off the hook of misogyny? Why by comparing idle chatter about ironing and kitchens to 14 year old Malala Yousafzai getting shot in the head ...

But is chatter about housewives doing the ironing so far removed in spirit from Dr. Johnson invoking dogs' hind legs? Take a note, Ms Crabb and Ms Vanstone:

Sir, a woman writing columns is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done it all.

Well at least this piece kept the trees of Western Australia safe ...

(Below: says it all really, about the relentless advance of civilisation).