The pond doesn't like to go over old doggie vomit, even if it's as fresh as yesterday, but for once the pond found something with which it was in furious agreement, as the dog botherer rabbited on in the usual way about the ABC and climate science …
Indeed, indeed, how insufferable those pious cardigan-wearing prigs at the ABC are.
The pond is regularly nagged about turning off the lights to save electricity, or more to the point, given the outrageous charges, money, but to what point?
The pond likes to leave lights on all over the house 24/7 and keep appliances pointlessly running, because it's the manly, dog botherer thing to do. And it can be the womanly thing too. Want to heat the bathroom? Just keep your hair dryer blazing away hour after hour, and if it explodes and the house burns down, you'll be as snug as a doggie lover in a warm blazing rug.
As for News Corp, if you drive past at night, and notice that someone has turned off all the lights, in some maniacal fit of environmental or bill-saving insanity, please honk loudly, and then write a furious letter to the editor advising that you can't stand the rag turning all ABC cardigan wearer. The pond loves to run-up squillion dollar electricity bills, so the reptiles should be aiming at a mega squillion …keep on all the lights, keep all the bulbs blinking ...
Look at it as a small contribution to fucking the planet, doggie botherer style.
Now perhaps some see the pond's tone as sarcastic, but nothing could be further from the truth. You could hit a moronic dog botherer around the head with a club - perhaps a mashie or a niblick - and he'd think it was some kind of love tap …
And yesterday the pond failed in another mission … to keep track of the work of the cult master …
And so on and on, because it seems the WSJ is also infested with Catholics …
But with those jobs done, the pond must perforce explain, why this interest in yesterday, because it seems so far away?
Sadly, it's because today's reptile effort is below par, and needs more than a niblick, a brassie, a spoon, a mashie or a jigger for the pond to get around the course.
The good news is that the war on China has been won …
Pity about the barley, but the pond is sure the farmers will understand.
Of course there's a reason that Xi hastily backed down … what with the onion muncher returning to the fray, backing the pastie Hastie …
And so came the pond's first duty for the day, drawing the short straw with "Killer" Creighton, who in turn drew the Tom Jellett short straw ...
Not the cult master, not by a long way, or even a country mile.
And the best that can be said about a sojourn with the "Killer" is a chance to let loose a few cartoonists, perhaps an infallible Pope …
Now back to "Killer" Creighton, and don't you worry about "Killer", he counts himself as amongst the 'leet, a strange posture for a reptile, and he's doing fine ...
Yes, "Killer" is alright Jack and Jill, but he does still yearn to live in America, as we all do …
But back to the "Killer", celebrating that he's one of the fortunate minority, one of the corporate elites.
The pond doesn't know how many years it's endured the reptiles railing at the 'leets, yet with refreshing honesty, the jogging "Killer" admits that he and his mob are just that ...
Indeed, indeed, how lucky to be a member of the corporate Murdochian 'leet … let's face it there are too many 'leetists out there who refuse to admit they're a member of the 'leet …
It's amazing how a few cartoons can help the pond get through the musings of a corporate 'leetist, especially as having first talked blithely of the need for the killing fields, "Killer" Creighton can now talk with extreme satisfaction about slashing workers, just to teach them a productivity lesson ...
Yes, it's all good, if you're a member of the corporate 'leet, and by good fortune, also soundly up yourself … as for the pond, it has a few reservations …
And so to a trifle, a soupçon, a ‘Je ne sais quoi’, a bagatelle, a bauble, a gewgaw, a trinket, a whatnot, a knicknack, a curio …because the Sexton today was very grave, but also, for a reptile, remarkably short …
Hmm, the pond isn't certain, but perhaps the very grave Sexton left out a few examples … say, south Sudan, Montenegro, east Timor, Palau, Eritrea, and so on, and that's without going into the break-up of the Soviet empire, or mentioning countries that unluckily went the other way, such as Tibet … but mentioning China again does allow the pond to slip in the immortal Rowe of the day … with more Rowe here …
Meanwhile, the very grave Sexton goes on to prove that any treaty or agreement is only worth the paper it's printed on, and maybe not even that ...
Yes, who cares if a government signed an agreement, when really it was only Tony Blair … and they wonder why some young states are suspicious of the values at work in western countries … while the pond must resist the urge to bring up memories of Neville Chamberlain waving a piece of paper in the air as if it meant something. Not while Adolf or the venerable Sexton are around ...
Now normally that would be enough for the pond … what with feeding the Godwin's Law swear jar, it could just step away, leaving the computer, the heater and all the study lights running, in best dog botherer approved style, upsetting the cardigan-wearers, and torn up an agreement or three, because that's what grave Sextons do, in the very best Adolf style, but the point of the pond is to make stray readers suffer beneath mounds of reptile inanity, so how could the pond ignore Dame Groan?
It's true that the reptiles presented her absolutely barebones, with no illustration of any kind, even though she brought good news, and is a reliable cartoon coat hanger ...
"Strong commercial incentives"?
What on earth does that mean?
Gasp, could Dame Groan have gone commie prevert socialist in these troubled times, and done a most un-reptile thing, and contemplated government incentivisation?
Might the glory days still yet return?
It's not Lobbecke, but oh the memories … and soon the first Dame Groan Holden XYJ will be rolling out into the world … but only if we can get rid of any of this nonsense about the environment and development approvals.
Once we can get rid of all this stuff, who knows what we can produce. Perhaps an NBN 1.0001, or a Snowy upgrade .003 ...
Ah yes, it'll all be better if bigger projects can be made smaller projects, and everyone can get their snout in the trough … we just need to make sure there's enough cheese to go round for everyone ...
Okay, it doesn't have much to do with Dame Groan, but she does have an important point to make.
The destruction of the country must proceed apace, because development should be synonymous with destruction, and where's the harm in that. Please, turn on another light bulb, chew through a little gas, help with productivity …and whatever you do, do it without any of those bloody imports, those cursed furriners, because dinkum Australians are ready to do the hard yards building Dame Groan's Vision, like they did in the Snowy and like they now do every day, picking strawberries and such like, doing the hard yards, taking the pill up the middle ...
All levels of government must commit to ensure that Dame Groan's Vision happens!
Never you mind about the private sector, it's the guvinment wot must do it.
Good luck with that, but thank the long absent lord, it's all up to the government … and next week, Dame Groan will explain the joys of Keynesian economic theory … while the pond will settle for the cult of personality …
"The pond is regularly nagged about turning off the lights to save electricity"
ReplyDeleteSeeing that, DP, I just had to chip in with an account of an office I once worked in: at a set time (normally 7:00pm) the floor lights would automatically turn off, leaving just a few 'safety' lights on for anybody left inside to be able to see their way out. The lights could be turned back on manually, but only in smallish sections, not the whole floor in a single switch.
Of course, back when house lights were 240v and 60 or 100 watt, it made a difference. Now I have 6 watt leds, which have to be on for 10 hours to consume the same amount of electricity as one of the old 60-watters per hour. And also very much to the point, the 'peak demand' has been reduced by 54 watts for each one.
Just my small contribution ...
Hi Dorothy,
ReplyDeleteIt’s a pity that due to the pandemic international travel is severely curtailed as otherwise I would suggest Micheal Sexton take himself off to a Glasgow Pub and repeat his stated belief that Scotland is a province.
Firstly he would be corrected that the Kingdom of Scotland was an independent sovereign state throughout the Middle Ages. That James VI of Scotland by inheritance became the King of England and Ireland in 1603 forming a personal union of the three kingdoms.
Scotland would later enter into a political union with England in 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. At no point did Scotland diminish itself to become a province of England.
Once that was cleared up Sexton would then be most likely treated to a Glasgow Kiss.
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/discovering-origins-glasgow-kiss-what-16254909
DiddyWrote
I thought that after losing the battle of Culloden (1745) Scotland was indeed counted as part of England and Scots formed a large part of the English army under Wolfe which defeated the French under Montcalm to capture Quebec (1759).
DeleteHi GB,
DeleteCulloden has been mythologised as a Scotland vs England battle. It’s better to consider it as an attempt by the Stuart dynasty to recover the thrones of Scotland, England and Ireland from the House of Hanover.
The Jacobite army was not a ‘clan’ army as many of its better regiments were lowlanders and there were a large number of Irish, French and English volunteers in the ranks.
Neither was it a Catholic vs Protestant conflict as many Episcopalians and Presbyterians supported the Stuart cause.
Many Jacobites believed a Stuart Monarchy would lead to a more confederal multi-kingdom monarchy, with capitals and parliaments in Edinburgh and Dublin.
A Stuart Scotland would probably have been ‘independent’ and have had its own army, but would likely not have had much room to pursue a separate foreign policy from London.
The Hanoverian army meanwhile was neither wholly English and had a large contingent of Scottish troops some from the Highlands.
After Culloden Scotland lost even more of its autonomy but it still was considered a kingdom which was part of a Great Britain (although without much of a voice).
Many Scots after the 1750s threw themselves wholeheartedly into the Great Britain project, especially the idea of a British Empire which is probably why the Scots are disproportionately represented in the early start of the colonies.
DiddyWrote
Thanks for that clarifying background DW. 'Patriotism' back then clearly wasn't just a simple matter of where one was born with both Stuart and English-Hanoverian 'loyalties' being spread all over the place. Nonetheless, I take the aspect that, as you say: "After Culloden Scotland lost even more of its autonomy", to the point that today Scotland can't hold a referendum on secession without 'British' permission, to mean that there was no longer really a 'separate' Scotland.
DeleteStrange to think this was all so close to the time when the British colonised both Australia and New Zealand and I seem to recall that there was a strong Scottish component to NZ but not to Australia so much - more Irish from the penal settlement of the exiled Irish rebels, I think.
But having one's history mythologised always seems to happen, especially after a significant and symbolic military victory, or defeat (being two aspects of the same event).
DP - The ‘Contributing Economics Editor’ seems to have had bets each way over the last couple of days. She has, er - contributed - to ‘Catallaxy’ by copying en entire article by an otherwise obscure William Anderson. Unlike her regular efforts for the Flagship, when she copies almost an entire article, from an author with whom she disagrees, but makes it a work of criticism by adding, after the purloined content, an incisive comment like ‘Give me a break!’ - for the Anderson work (?) she has told those who take Catallaxy seriously ‘It’s well worth reading.’
ReplyDeleteAnderson makes a claim to relevance by being a ‘Fellow of the Mises Institute’. That is the one named for Ludwig von Mises - not his much smarter younger brother Richard.
The Anderson article seems to follow the line that the response to Covid in the USA is directed by ‘experts’ (yep, unelected, of course) who could not be more wrong, but are followed slavishly by journalists - even some, gasp, from conservative media.
No DP - it was no trouble to scan through this. If you can protect our mental health by revisiting the dog person, and tracking down the Cult Master to an article by George Who - it is little enough we can do in turn, with our minds happily free of dog bovvering.
Now, presumably the Contributing Economics Editor accesses the thought balloons of the Mises Institute regularly. To show that she was much engaged with Anderson’t thinking, she added a prelude to what she had purloined, even though she took up the dubious logic of other self-styled ‘libertarians’. Wrote the Dame -
‘While initially there was a case for seeking expert opinion at the earliest stage of the emergence of COVID-19 cases, because it was an instance of political decision-making under conditions of extreme uncertainty, as time has gone by it has become clear that these experts are really just making it up. They have no understanding of economic costs and operate according to the principle of extreme caution.’
- but adding a petty personal snark -
‘Take the ill-equipped Chief Health Officer in Queensland – these were never real jobs, given to political mates whose clinical careers had often stalled.’
Yep - the mark of the serious professional in one area of study, in debate, is to accuse the other side of not being professional - or even qualified. It works for Donald Trump.
Other Anonymous.
My 'younger decades' (the first 3 anyway) were all maths-science centered, so I wasn't even aware until I was much older that Mises had an older, duller brother. Still not sure it's revelation that I needed to have.
DeleteBut as for 'experts' well I'd say Dame Groan will never be accused of being one. Unless you count her tutored skill at personality assassination. But even then, she's not really good at it.
However, the whole 'expert' thing is indeed a worry. Not that they aren't elected, but whether they do really offer any value. I remember the 4 categories of Donald Rumsfeld: known known, known unknown, unknown unknown and unknown known and think that we really need the highest populated category added: wrong known.
How many things do we - ie our experts - sincerely think they know that actually "just ain't so". How many times in the past, and how many more times in the future will that bedevil us ? And is it seriously bedevilling us now ? I sincerely wish I knew.
But we'll have to keep on going along with their judgement(s) because what other sensible choice do we have ?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDo you think she really believes this shit OA or is it just a prerequisite of belonging to that cult?
DeletePost GFC I was reading a few blogs to see if anyone had any sort of idea of what would happen. It was very obvious that the Austrians were barking mad. Their general view seemed to be that reality would eventually see sense and come in line with the views of von Mises and Hayek.
GB and Befuddled,
DeleteBF - first up, you have saved me assuring GB that any time trying to interpret the elder von Mises would be time wasted. Thank you.
I have found it amusing that Ludwig is cited by the 'libertarians' when they disparage 'lefties' as people who want to convert the world to their vision of how it should be, when Ludwig is even more deluded in thinking that the world really really is likely to warp around to his vision, if only its members could free themselves from all and every social link to other folks.
But at least there was a kind of numb consistency to the elder von Mises, and Hayek. The Dame, the Henry and assorted others that throw words into the Flagship now, all passed through a time when, on the strength of work published in recognised journals, they might have been seen as likely 'experts'. Later in life, they have realised that that does not attract the Chairman's dollar, so - write what does boost the bank balance, even though that is 180degrees from the products of your time in active research.
There are others - Plimer, for example, although it is difficult even to understand what he is now trying to say.
In looking at supposed 'predictions' of what might come post Covid, I go back to Mancur Olson, who essentially said that for a perturbation to an economy to completely reset that economy to a new, freer, better way of doing things, the perturbation had to be so great that just about all special interest groups were dismantled, or imploded. I don't see Covid getting us to that stage, and the 'contributions' to the Flagship are trying to maintain business mantras which were notably failing in their promises right up to the advent of Covid. For the contributors, who, I guess, thought of Olson in the same way as they now think of Piketty, we will need a new Talleyrand to remind them “They had learned nothing, they had forgotten nothing"
Other Anonymous
Thank you for that reinforcement, OA, I wasn't all that enthused by the idea of trying to understand Mises the Elder.
DeleteYou do put the point though that the likes of Henry and the Groan did have both some scholastic integrity and some achievement back then before they realised where the butter on their toast best came from. I do remember Leibnitz for comparison: on the one hand the simple nature of Candide, on the other a sophisticated philosopher and the great co-creator of the mathematical Calculus.
But the subjects of our discussion aren't like that - more mercenary and significantly less accomplished.
Not sure just how 'Plimer' gets into this, if by that you mean Ian Plimer, professor emeritus of geology and loyal devotee of mining companies. Not to mention failed (and largely ruined thereby) suer of Ark fundamentalists.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15420850-800-ark-verdict-spells-ruin-for-geologist/
Mancur Olson I have never heard of previously - you always seem to be able to drag such people into the conversation. :-) Though from my position of minimal understanding of your (Olson's) proposition, I would agree that COVID-19 won't restructure established economies - not nearly enough to overcome special interest groups and the prevalence of "free loading" anyway.
Can't recall much reference to Piketty in reptile writings, though I can't imagine that the reptiles would properly represent his views. But then, I wouldn't know because I have almost no knowledge of his work.
Incidentally, I understand that the 'learned and forgotten nothing' quote has been misattributed to Talleyrand, and it is, in fact, basically an other 'anonymous'. Oh my.
GB - you would appreciate that we Anony Mice tend to stick together, and cross-quote each other.
DeleteYou pinned Plimer nicely - and that Ark business seems to have been the reason he had to mine the dollars directly.
But it is another day, and my source tells me a Ms Magnay is disparaging Fortran in the Flagship.
Other Anonymous
Killer's effort seems a bit lacklustre today, more intent on dispatching small businesses than troublesome boomers.
ReplyDeleteThe "let it rip" argument is becoming untenable as the benefits of early action become increasingly apparent.
https://theconversation.com/the-costs-of-the-shutdown-are-overestimated-theyre-outweighed-by-its-1-trillion-benefit-138303
https://theconversation.com/eradicating-the-covid-19-coronavirus-is-also-the-best-economic-strategy-136488
Ah, the coming of the "boomer remover" you reckon, Bef.
DeleteThe "let it rip" viewpoint is quite remarkable in a way. Naive as I am, I would have thought people would actually be quite reticent about espousing such a viewpoint. But no, up front and aggressive is the way.
On the other hand, I did see a reference to the "whataboutery" approach - you know, "what about deaths from influenza, we don't shut down the nation for that" kind of thing - that whataboutists never much go past just mentioning their favourite 'alternative' because to be more explicit they would have to clearly state their alternate evaluation criteria for judging the COVID-19 situation and that most people wouldn't like what they say.
I'm fairly certain I wouldn't.