Tradition is only worth keeping if it's occasionally worth breaking ... and today the pond must break a tradition.
Usually the pond begins with a loon ranting at the moon in the lizard Oz, and then moves on to another loon, and never bothers with an actual news story in the lizard Oz ...
Relax, the loons are waiting in the wings for their turn on the pond stage, but this yarn was too rich, if only because ...
Yes that was back aways, in the Graudian here, but these days you can now have the pleasure of heading off to The New Daily for Charges laid against Hillsong founder Brian Henderson, close friend of Scott Morrison, or interesting questions, such as How Scott Morrison responds to allegations against Brian Houston could be Australia's clincher ...
The pond has never attempted to conceal its irritation at the clap happy Hillsong cult ... and so this was exceedingly rich ...
Oh the story was everywhere ...
But the pond found it exceptionally rich to see it in the lizard Oz ...
Oh it's too rich and before moving on to traditional loon fare, please allow the pond to celebrate our prime minister - Scott Morrison - with a bit of a First Dog cartoon, with the full cartoon here ...
And now ... oh heck, might as well be hung for a lamb as well as a sheep, as they used to say in tar-feathering days in Tamworth, and the pond did love this report in Crikey about the current doings of the onion muncher ...
And speaking of Hindu nationalists and a tendency to fascism, the pond should note this story ...
Yes, the Murdochians aren't bothering to conceal their love of fascism and dictatorships these days ... as the evidence mounts that the orange one almost pulled off a coup, thanks to minions, lickspittles and fellow travellers of the Jeffrey Clark kind ...
Yes, there's a lot of fascist shit going down in the world, from the Taliban to the Iranians to the Chinese dragooning in music to celebrate a hundred years of a one party dictatorship to the Republicans and the Murdochians, and with all that, the pond is stuck with loons in the lizard Oz howling at the moon ... so come on down loon, it's finally howling time at the pond...
Oh fucketty fuck, not the teenager ... why if he starts his caroling with J. K. Rowling, the return to old reptile shibboleths will be over before it started ...
Funny old lamenting loon, with such a wild-eyed Spanish Inquisition litany, and yet how wonderfully irrelevant. Who might speak of the vainly narcissist and yet not lament the orange one, and the Murdochians, and not revile the very lickspittle rag in which you're caroling away?
But still, listening attentively and seeming to give a flying fuck is what the pond does, even as it furtively nods off ...
Funny old lamenting loon. Would you feel better if you could just go out and bash up a poofter? How about turning magisterially on a woman and yelling, "woman, get thee to a nunnery or at least the kitchen ..."
Oh if only he could be back in the good old days ... when poofters and uppity, difficult blacks knew their place, and you could pick up a complimentary woman at your local Anglican outfitter ...
What a tremendous wank, and the pond hopes the resulting ejaculate, copious and considerable in size, will satisfy the pond's traditional readership ...
And at this point, the pond will pause for an infallible Pope, celebrating the religion of climate science ...
And so to the bonus for the day, and of course the the pond couldn't leave the hole in the bucket man out of it ...
The pond actually doesn't give a flying fig for the topic, or this variation on reptile lamentations, but being deeply conservative, and this being Friday, the pond will always make available a little space for the hole in the bucket man's wailing and lamentations ... and the notion that the entire conception of Australia as a total fucking disaster certainly has some appeal ...
Funny old delusional hole in the bucket man, bringing back the anti-federation movement by hearty borrowings from a book emanating from the bowels of Connor Court Publishing ... as if we haven't already had the spruiker himself at the lizard Oz ...
With a sickening feeling, the pond knew what it must do ... having ignored the original, it must now double down, and let the pair carry on like pork chops in a William Burroughs cut and paste (careful where you point that gun when aiming at an apple) ...
Tremendous stuff, double the amount of blather the pond cares not a whit nor a jot about. Are you not entertained? Come on hole in the bucket man, keep it going, let's get that tag team tagging...
Indeed, indeed, but let the plucky lad speak for himself ...
Tellingly? Tell that to Tucker and Hungary, the pond says, but enough already, it's time for the final gobbet from the hole in the bucket man ...
Oh dear, the pond reached the end, and had entirely miscalculated the cutting and the pasting. What the heck, here have a couple of final gobbets from the prof flung together willy nilly because the pond has an Olympic event to attend ...
Ah yes, forget Sparta, we Greeks must band together for the war on China ... we must stage another battle of Plataea, and add it to Gallipoli, because nations are born from the clash of steel and the spilling of blood on sand, and there must be lebensraum for 'roos and koalas and ...seig Eureka!
Phew, the pond got quite into Tucker mode there, but luckily the immortal Rowe has arranged for more competition from various states competing as cockies, toads, sandgropers, croweaters, and southerners in the alternative olympics, with more events staged here ...
"the pond couldn't leave the hole in the bucket man out of it ..."
ReplyDeleteAnd we can celebrate him with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=045__ojHb_g
(but definitely not with this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIw0JL-O6mo )
Re John Carroll.
ReplyDeleteMe thinks he protests too much!
The evidence!
The appearance of the Orange Haired Monstrosity as Potus which was widely considered to be "good news" for Western civilization (especially in Amerika) by almost everyone associated with the Quadrant/Australian Spectator/the IPA and the Reptilian "news"-paper too.
Quite some time ago Carroll aligned himself with this toxic nexus even calling himself a "conservative" in doing so.
Just another Trumpublican in disguise then, Anony.
DeleteIf you were creating a checklist for right-wing nutjobs Greta Thunberg derangement would probably be the first box. Trump supporter would probably be the number two (thanks anony). It's a real give away but they cannot resist the bait but once they have bitten they don't really have anything to say.
DeleteWhat's the actual point of this ramble? You have a kid who is just sticking to the facts, highlighting real problems and showing social responsibility. In response you have someone rambling about goatherder tales, medieval society and vengeful deities.
I assume this guy is a Quad-Rant regular?
A question I have is why have Australia been so quiet on the attempt by the orange one to over throw an election result in America.We have examples of the Americans interfering with South American countries electoral processes by sending American agents to incite insurrection but there is no recognition of these activities but we have politicians trying to build a Chinese hatred and distrust.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they have to "build a Chinese hatred", ww, belief in 'the yellow peril' has been an integral part of Australia for many years.
DeleteNo doubt it arrived with the First Fleet but it gets turbocharged from time to time when the invaders dig up too much gold or buy up the choice properties.
DeleteDespite all the real issues the US might have with China the only one that counts is the trade war. The US will do anything short of actually competing - I think they have given up on that one.
If you have a large enough sample, you'll always get a wide range of views. But Little Bourke Street in Melbourne - from roughly Swanston St up over Exhibition St has been known as "Little China" throughout my life. But that ghetto just reinforces that until very recently, a sizable Chinese population was all but invisible to most Australians.
DeleteHowever, go back a while and "Chinese coolies" - apart from digging for gold anywhere they could - were out here doing for Australia what they had done for sundry other places (especially the USA): build things, especially railways.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/pine-creek-20040208-gdkqbi.html
and just for comparison:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jul/18/forgotten-by-society-how-chinese-migrants-built-the-transcontinental-railroad
So, from the Holeleist Henry: "Once upon a time, schoolchildren were taught that the coming of Federation in 1901 was the work of providence..." No I wasn't, HH old mate, I was taught that it was the work of a bunch of politicians such as Henry Parkes, Edmond Barton and Alfred Deakin plus some sterling work from David Syme (who else could have created Australian protectionism and the White Australia Policy).
ReplyDeleteNow that might or might not be wrong, but it is what I was taught back in the 1950s.
And then we have some truly typical Holely: "Reading William Coleman's brilliant new book ..." And that's it then: it has been declared "brilliant" by Holely Henry, so "brilliant" it must indisputably be, and everything I was taught in school is indisputably wrong !
And all that, as DP says, "from a book emanating from the bowels of Connor Court Publishing..." and written by a guy who can't even make it - despite busily writing away since at least 1995 - to become a full professor (do the Unis really still have 'Readers' ?)
But hey, what about this from Coleman: "From the prospect of this year, it seems more likely than not that within the next decade, war will break out on one periphery of China." "On one periphery" - does he mean in Taiwan, and if not what does he mean ? Is there any mainland "periphery of China" on which a war could break out ? America to invade North Korea. perhaps ? Insurrection on the Mongolian border, perhaps ?
And what about this: "Fiscal space, however, had been found for the federal government to fund car parks." Now what can he possibly mean by that ?
If I may be allowed a little recycling (which is what the reptiles do so well, and it is not difficult) because the Henry did as we expected - we were just not able to predict the time with precision.
ReplyDeleteChadwickJul 22, 2021, 2:13:00 PM
THis may be a harbinger for tomorrow's Holey Henry - but the Connor Court site for the book of long title, includes this encomium -
‘Better than any other account, Their Fiery Cross of Union shatters the myths Australians have cherished about Federation. It both sets out those myths and—in gripping prose—exposes their limitations and contradictions. Using, without ever being heavy-handed, all the tools of modern social science, it mercilessly tests the claims of Federation’s staunchest advocates and compares them to explanations which make sense of events. At the same time, it brilliantly presents the protagonists in the Federation story, removing the protective sheen which has so often been used to protect them. A riveting story, it has all the hallmarks of a classic’. - Henry Ergas"
Reply
Replies
GrueBleenJul 22, 2021, 2:34:00 PM
Ah, well, a chance to see just how good you are at precognition, Chad.
And to see just how bad Holely Henry's present cognition is.
dorothy parkerJul 23, 2021, 7:45:00 AM
Sorry Chadders, they always disappoint, it's in their nature, but perhaps next week ...
Hmmm, yes; a little chronologically misordered, Chad, but you were right eventually. And indeed it seems that Holely Henry is also right: "A riveting story, it has all the hallmarks of a classic". Yep, it might even sell a few hundred copies amongst the Connor Court Confraternity.
DeleteChad, capitalising on your recent success, here's a test for your powers of prognostication: will this idea of economists as misnamed 'empirical-mathematical' sociologists catch on ? I'm afraid I still associate economists with money and sociology with sociologists - though both seem to be equally unable to predict anything much.
ReplyDeleteVital Signs: If you want predictions, ask an astrologer. Economists have better things to do
https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-if-you-want-predictions-ask-an-astrologer-economists-have-better-things-to-do-165616
GB thank you for the link to Richard Holden - a good way to get away from the deja vu with the Henry.
DeleteI would take issue with Holden’s statement that ‘The big ideas in economics involve formal (i.e. mathematical) theory.’ I am sure I have said before, that the one genius-level mathematician/economist I have worked with - Colin Whitcomb Clark, of Canada, (absolutely not to be confused with Colin Grant Clark, who settled in Australia in his later life) - anyway, Colin W. showed me that very little was ever revealed just by fancy manipulations of equations. His approach was that you had to figure out what your problem was as a kind of ‘thought experiment’. Mathematics was the language you then used to describe your problem in a way that helped you analyse it. I hope that is what Holden was trying to say - if so, he could have said it better.
One thing that economists in the pay of financial institutions and lobby organisations are getting smarter at is to NOT rise to the bait of reporters asking for an ‘estimate’ of whatever important number is to be announced in a few days. Unemployment rate? Inflation? Reserve Bank money rate? - the number announced is produced from crunching large quantities of data. Much larger quantities than the tame economist for whichever bank is capable of gathering, let alone processing - so whatever number they come up with, ostensibly from data analysis, simply will not have the depth of the set that the government authority draws from. The announced number is no more ‘right’ than the one that which bank’s tame ec. reached by GFA - but they are likely to differ, and the tame ec. will look wrong.
Moving up to a different stratum of resolution - there is the (not quite) joke that the way to score one of those ‘Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel’ is to make a firm prediction about some possible link of cause and effect. Make sure it is widely publicised, and keep on making it. You will go through a decade or three when you appear to be wrong - then, quite possibly, THAT relationship will be found correct. Make sure everyone is reminded of that - and hope the relationship is sustained at least until the good folk at the Sveriges Riksbank process the cheque, to recognise you as a seer.
Of course, economics need not necessarily be predictive. There is a lot of good work done on events of centuries ago, which does not need to make any prediction to give historians or general economists that ‘food for thought’.
The biggest error that persons trained as economists, who now consider themselves ‘public intellectuals’, make, is to proclaim political ideology as tested economic theory. This is little more than pissing on your leg and telling you it is raining, but the pay is good - and we see examples, in the Flagship, several times a week.
This is not limited to Limited News. Senator Canavan has item in this day’s ‘Fin’ which rather follows the reasoning (?) of our Killer on responding to Covid-19. According to the ‘Wiki’ the Senator has qualified as, and worked professionally as, an economist. Which does not justify his saying ‘If we applied our coronavirus approach to vehicle regulation, we would make everyone buy a Volvo. That would be patently unfair to poor people.’
This tells us a lot about the Senator’s understanding of risk assessment, as it involves seat belts - going back to the Nash company in the Land of the Free in 1949, and - by happy coincidence (and you have brought this to our attention several times) - the world first compulsory seat belt legislation in the state of - no, it can’t be - yep Victoria, Australia.
OK - rambled on a bit there, but I feel a bit bad for the Henry deja vu. Your link to Hank Williams did ease my feelings there.
Thanks for that, Chad, eminently readable, especially the bit about "proclaim political ideology as tested economic theory". There's always an awful lot of that going around.
DeleteBut it seems to me that a lot of "economics" is explaining where we've been rather than predicting where we'll go. The 'predicting where we'll go' side of things covers a lot from the likely fate of companies and corporations up to the way nations will turn out - and the larger the scope and the greater the time period, the less reliable and useful prognostications become. So I guess Holden has some kind of a point.
Glad you enjoyed the Hank, not so keen on the Chicks though.
As to the seat belts, having lived through years of him, I'm always just a wee bit touched with bemusement that it was the doing of a Henry Bolte government; but I suppose liking to hang people doesn't preclude wanting motorists and their passengers to survive automotive impacts.