In which the Caterists make a light commercial taxpayer-funded luncheon

After the huge dalliance with the climate-denying coal lovers this morning, it's something of a relief to turn to the Caterists for a luncheon treat ...

Who better than the Caterists to speak expertly of the capacity of bureaucrats to waste money than a fox in the henhouse?

Hire the poacher as the gamekeeper was always the pond family motto - though we had no pheasants to protect and the pond thought that hiring a burglar for security was just as apt - and with the Caterists so expert at looting the Department of Finance, who better to speak with authority about the ABC?

Of course there have been others of late who've joined in the ritual ABC bashing ...

There's something astonishing about the sight of an MP wasting government funds to attack the ABC for wasting government funds ... but gorgeous George managed the task, as reported in the Graudian here ...

How sweet that the Murdochians should cop the taxpater loot ... 

George also turned up in the Fairfaxians here ...with a better pic of the delusional cane cutter, a man who looks like he's never done a hard day's work in his life, except for the pudge of polishing off taxpayer funding ...

Of course George was only feeling envious of Michael Danby, a man who provides many excellent reasons not to vote for the Labor party ...

Danby made it into Fairfax here, and was celebrated at the Graudian here ...

Well yes, it's appalling, if only because it's another example of a bizarre use of taxpayer funds.

Fancy Danby deploying his taxpayer funds to further enhance the notion that he's a part of a Jewish lobby that routinely tries to suppress all negative news regarding Israel ... talk about a way to produce blowback ...

Even a reptile from the lizard Oz can go on record regarding the shamelessness of these activities, as recorded in Media Watch last night...

Now these are current and active stories, and sublime distractions from the dullard Caterists, because, in the usual Caterist way, the lad from a second rate British university hares off into simple-minded ABC-bashing in a style from ancient days of yore ...

As always, the pond's quest for fatuous stupidity amongst the Caterists is satisfied on a Tuesday.

Take that notion that the ABC shouldn't screen Peppa Pig because it's the work of a UK commercial enterprise ...

Now it's true, if Greg Hunters are right, that Peppa is screened on Channel 5 in the UK and on Nick, and on many other kids' channels, but if being produced or screened by commercial enterprises is a reason for the ABC to leave a product alone, then the ABC would have its programming shredded.

This would also likely produce the odd howl amongst commercial enterprises ... 

It's taken years of effort for local production companies, those that like to dress themselves as commercial enterprises while sucking Caterist style on the taxpayer teat, to get rid of in-house ABC productions.

Mission eventually accomplished to a large degree, and now they supply in place of in-house units, the out of house dramas and documentaries they produce...

This allows them to supply commercial broadcasters as well as to the ABC ... though in many cases they drink deep at the well of Screen Australia and state body funding ...

We all know how that sort of post-ironic whiteboard 'commercial' funding works ...

(Here)

If the same Caterist logic applied to the BBC, the Beeb would never bother picking up the work of these 'commercial' production enterprises for screening in the UK. 

Now it's true that the BBC is up itself, and rarely takes much antipodean product, but every so often they spring handsome bucks for Australian shows ...

What it does explain is how befuddled Caterists can become while sucking on the taxpayer teat ...

Why, if we followed the Caterist logic, the reptiles of Oz shouldn't be running columns from a taxpayer funded fool, but instead should be seeking out someone untainted by taxpayer dollars, someone conducting a genuine commercial enterprise ...

Strange isn't it, whether its Danby, gorgeous George or the Caterists, that the taxpayer ends up footing the bill for their ABC bashing ...

Strange also isn't it that the Caterists should put at peril what is clearly the only form of entertainment that prattling Polonius lets into the house, since he never shows a sign he's listened to or watched commercial media ...

It's comical of course, the notion that the ABC should only service old farts and silly old buggers ...

The reptile business plan is obvious enough ... 

Once the old silly buggers die off, there won't be any new audience for the ABC, and at last the ABC can be killed off, and the country made safe for Murdochian media ... as if chairman Rupert himself isn't an old bugger scheduled to fall off his perch much sooner than later ...

It doesn't seem to occur to the reptiles that they're competing in the same silly old bugger space, and that the young have long fled the nest.

The reptiles only appeal to a niche audience ... their demographic reads old and getting older, because who amongst the young would dare to pick up a tree killing newspaper when reading on a screen is de rigueur?

But while this might be rolled gold comedy, the distilled essence of of iron pyrites comes with the Caterist talk of gap years in Peru, degrees in cultural appropriation and privilege checking ...

It takes a particular skill to exude contempt for young people, while managing another dollop of contempt for old people who enjoy episodes of Antiques Roadshow ... some of them might even enjoy episodes of Midsomer Murders ... while also mocking old farts for not finishing Year 12 and therefore not having a degree in financial appropriation from the Department of Finance, so that someone else can foot the bill for privilege checking ...

As soon as the ABC attempts any digital connections, it's routinely reviled by the reptiles who regard the intertubes as their space, and the way that they might finally reach the safe harbour of a successful business model ... though they don't have much of a clue as YouTube devours everything, including Midsomer Murders ...

Of course the ABC has tried to expand into the digital arena, though the public broadcasters are singularly inept. The SBS app and streaming service is wretched, and the ABC hasn't bothered to devise an app for assorted devices, such as the pond's Shield, and the quality of the streaming is particularly poor ...

Why, the pond is better off watching Like a Version on YouTube, and has trained its logarithms to serve up this dish on a Friday, though who knows who scores the advertising revenue from the advertisements that are inclined to run before the screening session begins ...

No wonder the reptiles are paranoid.

That's why the Caterists squawk so loudly about the ABC daring to use google to draw attention to itself. That's why the Caterists join in the bashing, in an attempt to prop up the Murdochians, since birds of a poacher feather ...

Never mind, the pond might spend its blog time with the reptiles, and its screen time watching the bizarre, surreal, unmatchable comedy of the limehouse Golems now in charge in the United States ...but there's hope for the ABC yet ...

If the reptiles succeed in their plans to topple Malware and bring back the onion muncher and coal, perhaps the ABC will once again enjoy a surge in ratings ...

Meanwhile, only in America ...