In which the pond goes hunting walri ...

(Above: tweeting up a storm here)

The pond was immediately alert to the way that the twitterverse and the twitterati had gone off in a frenzy, making quick, superficial, unfair and ill-considered judgements, with cheap shots, cheap jokes and much snidery.

Greg Hunt's a fuckwit, thinks there are walruses in the Antarctic, doesn't have a clue, didn't Greg Hunt it on the wiki, and so on ...

That's what happens in twitter. An unfair rush to judgement and then repentance, whereas the art of the mature, sophisticated blogger is to pause, to contemplate, to consider, to inspect, to reflect, to calibrate and then if necessary, to reconsider.

(Above: yes there it is at the Hobart Mercury, printed at face value and without a cartoon, though many would think that face is its very own cartoon)

Oh dear. Greg Hunt's a fuckwit, thinks there are walruses in the Antarctic, doesn't have a clue, didn't Greg Hunt it on the wiki, should forget blogging and take up tweeting, and so on ...

Sadly, all it proved in the end that bloggers are slow to catch up on the latest idiocy of the Abbott government, there being so many, coming so fast ...

Of course as follow up homework the pond immediately did a Greg Hunt and rushed off to wiki "walrus" and the result here is not a bad effort, as it includes two of the pond's favourite walrus devotees, Lewis Carroll and John Lennon. 

It even provides something of a map showing a Greg Hunt doing a Greg Hunt how to find walri (no correspondence please, lie back and dream of Groucho):

Why should any of this matter?

Well it's Greg Hunt who has taken on the job of practical denialism, which is to say espousing climate science while doing exactly the opposite, and while going about this dirty, nasty business, the mainstream media routinely give the sucker an easy break.

But there's no need for a break here - either the Hobart Mercury are a pack of rogues, thieves and fools for getting their quote wrong, or Hunt is a rogue, a thief and a fool.

Here's how the reptiles at the Oz gave Hunt a free pass:

While the minister may have confused walrus - which are not native to Antarctica - with seals, he was clear not to have his proposed crowd-sourced funding model mistaken for a fundraising drive. 
"To paint it as anything other than supplementary would be wrong," he said, insisting that the government would remain the primary sponsor of Antarctic research. 
But Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre professor David Worby, who welcomed the report, said later that the community should not be relied upon for funding at any level. "The questions we are trying to answer are far more important than having to rely on the good will of people who might want to throw (in) a dollar or two," he told reporters. (Australia's two-decade Antarctic plan)

Yes, as well as oh goo a goo thing, Hunt was out and about talking up crowd sourcing as some sort of funding solution.

And here's how the ABC let Hunt off the hook:

In its submission, the Environment Department raised the idea of the Antarctic Division broadening its funding base by looking at sources of revenue such as commercial, philanthropic and crowd-sourced funding. 
Mr Hunt said that would be a supplement to government funding. 
"Whether it's in relation to the walrus population, whether it's in relation to penguins, you can have iconic species which can attract community interest," he said. 
Although no walruses live in Antarctica, the Minister's commitment to preserve Antarctic biodiversity was welcomed by Antarctic researchers. 
 Professor Tony Worby from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) said the plan was a vital step in Australian maintaining its commitments in Antarctica. 
"Most Antarctic infrastructure, logistics and search activity happens over very long periods of time so having a plan is the first important step," he said. 
"I'm very hopeful that the Government will act on [the report's] recommendations." (here)

Uh huh. You can hope way, dear Prof, but a fuckwit's a fuckwit, and there are only two likely sources for the fuckwittery, as this time we can rule out the wiki.

Either it was Greg Hunt's office, or it was Greg Hunt himself, and in either case, there's not much hope ...

What's even funnier than the way the scientific establishment had to bite their lips and the mainstream media had to look the other way was the way Hobartians and Tasmanians were expected to line up to be part of the crowd sourcing:

Mr Hunt said Hobart would emerge as an internationally renowned hub for Antarctic exploration. "Tasmania should be a gateway and the partner of choice for the world," Mr Hunt said. 
Increasing Hobart's capacity to support Antarctic operations was another key recommendation in Mr Press's report. Tasmania should be a gateway and the partner of choice for the world. Greg Hunt Environment Minister "There are great opportunities to build on here, to build on the reputation that Hobart has as a place for scientists to come and visit and as a place for Antarctic operators to reprovision and resupply and also as a place to launch new initiatives in the future," he said. 
He said it would also require the Tasmanian Government to step up. 
"Hobart can capitalise on that potential by some strategic investments in infrastructure and encouraging the industries around Tasmania to be actively involved in the Antarctic sectors," he said.

So these days a Federal government media gathering is just a chance to explain how state governments should muscle up because the Feds are broke and the crowd sourcing might be a bit tricky?

No wonder the twitterati had a field day:

Meanwhile, on a planet far away:

Say what? A stern attack on false claims about walri?

In your dreams.

You see, it's another bout of false equivalence.

The reptiles have just begun to wake up to what's being proposed by the Abbott government in relation to press freedom, and Kenny would like to have a go at Abbott, but in the end he falters.

He just doesn't have the intestinal courage, known in Tamworth as guts:

There are some twists and turns for Tony Abbott to explain here — some no doubt justifiable because of unexpected events — but the changing perspective on freedom of speech will require expansion.

That's as far as he gets. What a pathetic ideological fundamentalist zealot wretch.

To fill in the rest of the column Kenny mounts the usual attacks on everybody else:

Take the uncritical view of media regulation from former Ten Network bureau chief Paul Bongiorno. “They are giving the citizens of this country greater redress against their treatment in the media,” Bongiorno told ABC radio in March last year, “that’s actually all these reforms are doing.” 
Yet in recent weeks, seeing bipartisan support of the much more specific national security provisions, Bongiorno tweeted: “Labor’s support of the latest batch of terror laws is frightening. At least Abbott pretended in opposition to believe in our freedom.” 
Hypocrisy is not his alone; the same wildly divergent approach has been evident across much of the ABC and even from the journalists union, which was “disappointed” by the proposed media regulation but says the anti-terror provisions are an “outrageous attack” on press freedom. 
News organisations and commentators that have been eagerly prosecutorial of the Christian ­churches for many years now baulk at any criticism of Islam, even on related issues. 
The same people, for instance, who condemn the Catholic Church for not allowing gay marriage or female priests not only fail to make the same criticism of ­Islamic tradition but actively defend the right of Muslim communities to shroud their women in burkas or niqabs.

Kenny's such a fuckwit he finds it unimaginable - since he can't do it himself - that some might be able to rub their tummy, pat their head and chew gum all at the same time.

Actually it's easy peasy to criticise Islamics because they sound exactly like angry Sydney Anglicans and fundamentalist Pellists on so many issues.

But here's what you won't find in Kenny's bit of moral equivalence: the way demonising moderates gives fundamentalists a free break.

There's more to Anglicans than the angry ones and quite a few the pond wouldn't mind sharing a cucumber and cheese sandwich with.

There's more to the Catholic church than the Pellists, like the gay priest in the pond's extended family, still going about his pastoral duties ...

Good on you Gosford Anglicans and more Gosford signs here.

And there's another thing you won't find in Kenny's piece, and that's the way Christian fundamentalists are now running the show, to the great harm of the greater good:

There's more about that crazed, blind, pig ignorant religious fanaticism and fundamentalism in the story School chaplaincy program: government stands firm on excluding welfare workers, but the real sting in the tail comes with this line:

Under the new scheme, chaplains can be of any faith but must not proselytise.

Taken literally, that means you can get a gig if you're a rabid ratbag evangelical founded on a tradition set up by a pervert, or a deviant Islamic fundamentalist or a Scientologist, since for who knows what reason, that's recognised as a religion and its schools funded by the federal government ...

Yep you can can get a gig provided you can find a home in some rabid fundamentalist school intent on teaching creationism, homophobia or proper ways of dressing.

Eamon Waterford, director of Youth Action, which represents young people and youth workers in NSW, said religious chaplains were often not qualified to provide support. 
"There will be a lot of qualified youth workers who will be out of a job simply because they don't believe in God," he said.

By golly, that's up there with Saudi Arabia or Iran.

Where's your long absent god now Chris Kenny?

So what's Kenny got to say about it?

Directly? Nothing ...

Indirectly? Pure gibberish ...

The extremist ideology respects no government other than an all-powerful Islamic caliphate, and will abide no law except sharia law. 
We will need to challenge this ideology with intelligent, sure-footed debate, as well as vigilance and resolve

What? By funding Islamic chaplains in Islamic schools, along with rabid Christian fundies for the angry Sydney Anglicans, the Pellists and the perverted evangelicals?

By our own branch and version of mad Mullahs?

While decent honest secularists get done down purely on the basis that they don't have a belief system that allows for tooth fairies and transubstantiation ...

What a fuckwit Kenny is ...

Put it this way:

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. 
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly. 
I'm crying. 
 Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come. 
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday. 
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long. 
I am the egg man, they are the egg men. 
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.

Or perhaps put it this way:

The Walrus and the Carpenter 
Were walking close at hand; 
They wept like anything to see 
Such quantities of rabid fundamentalism: 
"If this were only cleared away," 
They said, "it would be grand!" 
"If seven maids with seven mops 
Swept it for half a year. 
Do you suppose," the Walrus said, 
"That they could get it clear?" 
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter, 
And shed a bitter tear.

And so to a report on the progress of the war. 

Over to Mr Pope and more of his popish knavery here: