And so to price signals, from Tony Abbott and climate science to frocks and Murdoch la la land ...

(Above: look ma, no brains either, and more David Rowe here)

So a seven dollar price signal on medical services is just what the doctor ordered.

But a price signal on carbon will never work.

And now the stupidly incoherent Tony Abbott is attempting to export his stupid incoherence to the world.

What most sticks in the craw is the sanctimonious hypocrisy of Abbott as he attempts to export his tainted goods.

''We think that climate change is a significant problem, it’s not the only or even the most important problem the world faces but it is a significant problem and its important every country should take the action that it thinks is best to address emissions,'' he said.  (here, forced video at end of link)

Which is, when you think about it for a nanosecond, really stupid and incoherent.

If you accept the science, and what it proposes, it's by far the largest problem confronting the world in the immediate future. Especially for economies like Australia, riding on the back of coal.

And effectively dealing with the issues involved also constitutes by far the largest problem, especially when you consider the stupid contributions being made by the likes of Abbott and Harper (oh yes Canadaians, it's your oil sands fault too).

The truth of the matter is that Abbott doesn't really accept the science, or accept the need for action, which is how he always seeks to diminish and downgrade the problem. And so you get window-dressing lines, faux expressions of concern like:

... it’s not the only or even the most important problem the world faces ...

And then Abbott compounds the crime by pretending that he's discovered the best way to solve the problem.

Downgrade all renewable energy initiatives, sack as many people as possible involved in climate science, and anyone who might draw attention to the problem in an inconvenient way, pump coal into the world and carry on business as usual. Which is to say:

''I am encouraged that President Obama is taking what I would regard as direct action measure to reduce emissions, this is very similar to the action my government proposes in Australia.''

He's encouraged? The world will scurry to devise a socialist Tony Abbott Green Army to tackle and solve the issues involved in climate change?

What's even more astonishing is that Abbott sought to dragoon Abbott into his army, by saying Obama's latest initiative is just another bit of Abbott-invented direct action:

It has been hailed in Europe and Australia as the jolt needed to restart stalled global climate talks but Mr Abbott said such a regulatory approach was similar to his direct action policy, an opt-in scheme in which polluters would be paid from general revenue to reduce emissions. 
 “I am encouraged that President Obama is taking as what I regard as direct action measures to reduce emissions,’’ he said. “It is very similar to the actions that my government proposes to take in Australia.’’ 
 The comments are potentially inflammatory given President Obama has long advocated a market mechanism like an emissions trading scheme. He dropped his last push for such a mechanism in 2010 when the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. (AFR here, may be paywall affected)

The man is in la la land ... but at least the pond is pleased that the price signal on the use of medical services is certain to be dropped, and everybody will join Tony Abbott's plan for direct action on matters medical ...

But will Abbott himself join in by adopting a voluntary mechanism to reduce his personal emissions? And if not, can the pond impose a price signal?

As usual, David Pope said all that needed to be said on the matter, and more Pope here:

Meanwhile, off on another planet, which is to say la la Murdoch land, the reptiles are agitated, and it's supposedly over a story that featured in the Daily Terror on 25th May under the header This is the best dress a woman can own.

It's a typically mindless bit of trolling of the click bait kind, and a barely disguised infomercial for a particular frock and its maker (click to enlarge).

There are so many ways this story is risible, not least that the Terror had the cheek to label the story "news".

If that's "news" no wonder the planet is well on the way to being truly fucked.

But it got even funnier when the reptiles at the lizard Oz got to huffing and puffing about the story in News warns Mail: stop lifting or we'll sue (paywall affected, because you have to pay to read the reptiles getting indignant):

Suddenly a piece of fluff that was so light it would have drifted away into a zephyr became a major piece of investigative journalism:

From its inception, a seemingly simple fashion story such as this one would likely have required the input of six Telegraph staff members: a chief of staff, the fashion editor who organised the shoot and wrote the story, the photographer, a graphic artist, a layout producer and a sub-editor. 

A seemingly simple fashion story?

No, no, no, say it ain't so. Why it took the greatest minds of a generation to put together this sort of copy:

Taking tips from experts in recruitment, dating and colour theory, the Sacha Drake frock ($299) ticks all the boxes.

Here's how the Daily Mail did the rip, as you can see in all its original glory under the cover-all header Is this the perfect dress? The $299 design frock that will make you slim, get you a job ... and a man (well, according to the experts):

Thus primsed, the pond ready to roll Jaffas down the aisle when it came to this bit of confected reptile outrage by the Oz:

Whittaker said that while the Mail boasted it would hire dozens of journalists to break stories, “in reality they are mainly ‘breaking’ our stories and, in turn, the spirits of their young reporting staff by forcing them to work on a production line of copycats.” This was not only an issue for News Corp Australia, said The Sunday Telegraph’s editor, Mick Carroll, but for all Australian media companies that invest time and money in creating journalism. 
“Our reporters are the best at what they do,’’ Carroll said. “They have spent decades cultiv­ating contacts, building trust and developing expertise, and it is offensive their work is being devalued by a team of aggregators whose greatest skill is the cut and paste.”

Pure comedy gold.

On and on the reptiles ranted, and never mind that the Murdochians are one of the greatest tribes of cuts and pasters in the digital era, serial abusers of copyright and intellectual property rights.

You see, the Daily Terror retrofitted its front page to rip off one of the very worst features of the Daily Mail, its side bar of the wall of cheap, common, sordid gossip, or if you will, the sidebar of shame.

The fatuous imitative reptiles showed tremendous creativity - by naming their sidebar of shame "the right rail". Look, there it is on the right (no hot links, screen cap only):

The Mail, lacking the imagination of the reptiles, call their strip "Don't miss" in the local edition:

Whatever you call it, routinely it's a trip into the "don't miss" "the right rail" of gutter journalism ...

What probably startled the Murdoch reptiles was the discovery that in the race to the bottom there was another rag even more willing to get down and dirty in the gutter. And doing really well out of it.

A tabloid lower than a Murdoch tabloid? It probably boggled their imaginations.

And then out of the mouths of the babes came the truth of the matter:

Adding to the insult is the fact that The Daily Telegraph’s content sits behind a metered paywall, while the Daily Mail Online rip-off of the Telegraph’s journalism is free.

So why the indignation at a model that Huffington Post and others have turned into a winner? Well the Huff hasn't opened a local outpost yet, but the Mail did.

Naturally the pond headed off to The Graudian for an insight or three, in News Corp accuses Daily Mail Australia of plagiarism:

Sources from the local operation of the Daily Mail told Guardian Australia the legal threat was “ludicrous” and simply meant News felt threatened and was trying to bully a new entrant on the market. 
 Since it launched in January, the Daily Mail’s Australian readership has grown to 2.18m unique visits a month and it now ranks sixth in Australian news websites, according to Nielsen. 
The only News Corp heritage masthead to rank in the top 10 is the Herald Sun, although news.com.au is No. 1.

So many ironies. It's a fair bet that the HUN is only in the top ten because of crazed Victorians fetishising about AFL football, while news.com.au is of course free ... It's as sleazy and as base as all the Murdoch tabloids put together, but it also routinely recycles allegedly EXCLUSIVE content from its "News Partners". Like this:

And there's the hapless Advertiser trying to make a living out of that "story":

Dear sweet long absent lord, think of all the skill it took to put together that story, what with the candles and the lighted taper and the graphic X ... hang on, hang on, isn't that trading off on the X Files?

Yes it is, it is, the story's called South Australia's X-Files ...

And if you follow the link, and try to click on another story, you cop the usual sign:

Sad to say, the pond's idea of great member benefits doesn't include paying for crap. Or unlimited access to crap ...

Yes, at a time when Tony Abbott is helping drive the world over the abyss, the reptiles expect their potential readership to give a flying fuck about stories about dresses and Adelaide's hidden tunnels ...

How stupid are the reptiles?

Guardian Australia found two examples of News Corp using stories broken by the Daily Mail without a link back or attribution. 
 In May, news.com.au used quotes from an exclusive Daily Mail story by experienced crime reporter Sutton: “The day I was kidnapped and beaten by Jamie Gao”. “Breaking his silence, Jaiweu Yi, 19, told a British newspaper that he was kidnapped over a love split involving a friend, 18-year-old Alex Li,” news.com.au reported. 
Another story, which ran in several News papers, included screenshots of pictures sourced by the Daily Mail of the English cricketer Stuart Broad paddling in Sydney Harbour. 
In the latest Nielsen rankings for news websites, news.com.au was in first place with an audience of 3.67m, followed by smh.com.au with an audience of 3.61m and Ninemsn third with 3.1m. Daily Mail Australia rose from 2.08m in April to a record 2.18m last month. 
 Guardian Australia, also a free site, posted a record audience result of 1.77m to finish in ninth place. The Herald Sun finished in seventh spot with an audience of 2.03m, while the Daily Telegraph and Courier Mail were not in the top 10. (the pond has already given you a link back to that story, but here it is again)

And why would the Terror or the Snail expect to be in the top ten?

The Daily Terror is a daily disgrace, and the Quivering Quail is just a legacy masthead only of interest to people devoted to following Queensland thugby league, with the weekly fixture always featuring Clive v. Campbell ... except when Hedley Thomas does his daily match report for the lizard Oz ...

If it wasn't for Tony Abbott doing his level best to fuck the planet, in consort with the Canadiaians, what fun life would be ...

UPDATE: the pond forgot to provide a link to this comedy gem, The Daily Mail's response in full:

The Australian submitted a series of questions to Daily Mail publisher and editor-in-chief Paul Dacre, MailOnline publisher and editor-in-chief Martin Clarke and Daily Mail Australia editor Luke McIlveen about the allegations. 
Spokesman Sean Walsh responded on Mr Clarke’s behalf: “We have received all of your media requests. Martin Clarke has provided the below on-the-record quote that we expect you to run in full in your piece tomorrow: ‘Is this the same Sharri Markson who told me she should be the editor of the Daily Mail Australia?’” 
The questions were resubmitted by media business writer, Darren Davidson. Mr Walsh responded: “Our quote still stands. If you don’t publish it in full we will ensure it is published elsewhere.” For the record, Nine Entertainment chief executive David Gyngell told Markson last year she was held in “very high regard” at Nine and she would be great as editor of Daily Mail Australia. She was asked last November to send her CV to Mr Clarke, whom she met, once, briefly at Nine. 
Markson said yesterday: “I was not aware at the time that the job of editing The Daily Mail was to lift content produced by other journalists and editors.” 
 Editor of The Australian, Clive Mathieson, said of The Daily Mail response: “This is nothing more than a grubby attempt to avoid answering legitimate questions.” (here, behind the paywall because you have to pay for great comedy).

Markson scores another goal. Well played Sharri. Apparently she isn't aware of the way the Murdochians routinely lift content.

As for Clive Mathieson, isn't he the man who isn't up to the job of replacing Chris Mitchell? Who's to replace Chris Mitchell? Rumblings over Oz editorship (behind the Crikey paywall).

Reptiles on the good ship Titanic ... and ahead a few icebergs if climate science is any guide.


(Below: you might have seen them before, but at least if you give the Fairfaxian cartoonists a hit here, you're doing something more noble than clicking on the daily beyond the pale or the reptiles in Murdoch la la land).