Fuck Stalin.
On the 5th March 1953, he died at his Kuntsevo dacha (the pond will leave others to do the math dating the anniversary and contemplate that Freudian pun), and his passing was remembered in Stalin’s Been Dead for 70 Years. (Here’s Hoping He Stays That Way.)
The pond has always had a soft spot for the black comedy on view in The Death of Stalin - how to laugh at a sociopath while he slaughters and tortures and then leaves the planet - but you can never get rid of the Stalins, and the spirit is strong in Russia these days ...
But why start with inhumanity and cruelty and a sociopath? It's hard to do comedy when the killing fields are with us every day ...
But truth to tell, the pond has been bored into a state of batshit crazy by the reptiles of late, and their constant yammering on about an ever-diminishing number of topics, and so about all that's left is a cartoon recovery progamme.
If the pond has to read Polonius prattle on again about the ABC, likely the pond will let out an hysterical shriek, a cry of pain... or resort to cartoons to get through the outing ...
He really is a tragic obsessive-compulsive loon of the first water, and yet there's much fun happening elsewhere and celebrated in the 'toons...
The pond will admit that yesterday it overdid its appreciation of US comedy stylings yet they continued apace, with this at the bottom of Charlie Sykes berating the in-the-roomism of Paul Ryan ...a sampling of Tucky's comedy stylings ...
Too rich, and only a manly man could deliver that with the authority required ...
That noted, the pond deeply regrets suggesting that Fox had wavered from the mango Mussolini when there was Laura Ingraham Makes Head-Spinning Claims About Donald Trump's Work Ethic.
Not to mention more war, with Steve Bannon Vows to Go Nuclear on Fox News in His CPAC Speech.
But all this involves endless straying from the Polonial path. Perhaps best to just keep to a few 'toons ...
The pond must be careful not to overdo the 'toon led recovery ... just a couple of cartoons between gobbets should help the medicine go down, much like a couple of cupfuls of sugar, while Polonius can carry on ranting, though when he mentions the lack of conservatives in the ABC for the zillionth time the pond might well scream ...
No, no, rather than let out a scream, the pond will let out another couple of cartoons ...
That's better, and it provides a balance, because of late the reptiles have taken to inserting large snaps of people designed to evoke fear, terror, revulsion, horror, in the reptile readership, and so it came to pass, interrupting Polonius in mid-prattle ...
He really does live on another planet. Sky News, the paid kind, has always had abysmal ratings, and these days they try to poison rural minds by giving it away for free ... not that the pond is going to give details of the service, but will note that that it has as a result seen in the full horror while on a break ... enough to make the pond switch to a couple of 'toons ...
And so the pond arrives safe and sound at a last short gobbet ...
Oh if only he'd been appointed MD, or at least given his own show, and yet the bloody cardigan wearers never did it, refused to recognise his talent and skills. Some might have thought of him as a dull, tedious, boring old fart, pedantic and frequently in error, unaware of the suffering that produced. To think of the loss to humanity, and the reduction of a sentient human being into gibbering dotage that the ABC has caused with their unimaginable cruelty and profound indifference....
Here, have a balanced cartoon to celebrate balance Sky News and Chairman Rupert style ....
And so on to what is something of a novelty. The pond was astonished to see that our Henry was out and about on the weekend, leaving his Friday patch to deliver a Ginsbergian howl ...
As for freedom of expression and thought, and the curating thereof by governments urged on by right wing ratbags, the pond has a few 'toons standing by ...
And then it was back to the hole in the bucket man, once again stripped of references to ancient Greece and Rome, to the point where the pond is starting to worry that he might have forgotten all about the glories of western civilisation ...
Careful curation? The pond has just the right cartoon celebrating careful curation of freedumb ...
But why was the hole in the bucket man's last gobbet so short?
Well the reptiles are continuing their habit of inserting huge snaps of the enemies of the people, and the pond simply won't stand for it, and so took a screen cap, and then sized it down to a more appropriate size ...
There, that's better and that left space for another cartoon ...
It's a real pity that elephants are getting such a bad image and bad press, especially as it gets in the way of Henry's righteous indignation ...
Yes, indeedy do, government should intrude and censor and join forces because you never know what might happen otherwise, no thanks to devious, rat cunning feminists...
What we all need is the courage to be free ...
And so to the last gobbet, and whatever you do, don't crack a joke to score an easy laugh, because it'll send curmudgeons of the Henry kind into a deep sulk ...
How to help the hole in the bucket man, forsaking Thucydides for Pontius Pilate?
Perhaps a trip to Disneyland, a place where peace now reigns in the house of mouse ...
And so to a recanting. The pond passed on the Groaning yesterday, but desperately needed a bonus, a bit of spakfilla, interstitials that might break up the space between some cartoons ...
When the pond saw the tremendous work done by the reptiles graphic department, the pond knew it had made an error, perhaps more a mortal than a venial sin ...
That cracked golden egg was a masterclass in reptile graphics department illustration. The pond knew it didn't have a hope in hell of matching it ...
And then the graphics department got even more graphic, and spared no expense, lashing out to break a piggy bank, and dressing in a hammer and a heap of coins ... how an art department would weep to see that sort of lavish work, and yet there's no credit for the production designer or the standby props or the other thirty in the team who worked on it ...
How could the pond possibly match up to that ...
And then the reptiles followed up with an image of elegant simplicity, as a hapless stooge attempted to cope with mind-numbing paperwork, and once again the pond was distracted from the deep sighs and groans emanating from the groaner ... or was it the tedium of yet another listicle of Groans?
The next image almost took away the pond's breath, it was so dynamic. Curiously it reminded the pond of a treat it served up yesterday ...
Fucking gold, but look at the fucking gold the fucking reptiles' graphic department came up with by way of an image... a long suffering couple down wit it, and still no credit to the art department, or this time the director, who artfully got the pair to act it out...
Sure it was just a buy-in, and there were other poses the reptiles might have used ...
But it's all in the curation, the trendiness, the sense of now, and look at the work it's done for the reptiles ...
Forget the groaning, bask in the delights and the skills of the reptile graphics department ...
And if you thought that reptile graphics department image interrupting the Groaner's listicle was great, you ain't seen nothing yet, because the next one evokes hideous suffering on an astonishing level ...
It put other suffering into perspective ...
Now look at the image and marvel, conjuring up as it does the Groaning in all its fire and fiery about the suffering of humanity ...
Masterly, and such a useful image, bobbing up everywhere ...
There was no way the pond could match that graphic, but there was a cure ... just take two groans with water, and the relief will be effective and almost instantaneous ...
There's the sort of leadership the world badly needs ...
Even in the final gobbet the reptiles delivered, with a stunning evocation of a man sitting in a chair contemplating the meaning of life, gazing out into the vast interminable void, apparently unaware, or too stupid, to realise that the Groaning was to hand with an offer of instant release, and the chance to piss his retirement savings against the wall on anything he liked ...
Yes, you've guessed it ... a tremendous image thoughtfully curated by the reptiles ...
And that's why the pond recanted. You don't see that extraordinary level of graphics in the reptiles every day of the week, and Dame Groan should feel blessed that her groaning was so blessed.
At this time, some pedant might note that the pond has had barely a word to say about the actual groaning, used as a cunning device to provide some bubblewrap for the precious images, but the pond has already said all there is to say, thanks to the immortal Pope ...
And so to a final 'toon bonus, and most will have heard of Dilbert and his creator during the week. Some might even have read William Saletan's The Foolishness of Scott Adams, though it's a bit like taking a sledgehammer to a nut job ...
At this stage, as the pond winds down, Sunday meditation done, there's just time for a flurry of cartoons celebrating the affair...
Just a quickie on the way through:
ReplyDeleteHolely Henry: "...it is impossible not to be concerned about a speaker who, even if in verse, resurrects the notorious blood libel against Jews by claiming that Israelis, who have 'an unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood', 'harvest the organs of martyred (Palestinians)' and 'feed (them to) their warriors'."
"Israel has admitted pathologists harvested organs from dead Palestinians, and others, without the consent of their families – a practice it said ended in the 1990s – it emerged at the weekend."
Doctor admits Israeli pathologists harvested organs without consent
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/21/israeli-pathologists-harvested-organs
Are we all enlightened now ?
HH again: "To believe that freedom of expression demands giving a platform to such views is simply confused."
DeleteBut if nobody ever gives "a platform" to such views, how do we ever get to know what an often significant portion of 'our society' is actually thinking and believing ? Or should we just travel on in ignorance and then wonder why the hell the world is full of unheralded terrorists ?
" Sky News, the paid kind, has always had abysmal ratings, and these days they try to poison rural minds by giving it away for free" I was in the regions this week and dropped in to the local pokies for a drink before the train arrived. There, on the monitor above us, was Sky!! Brief discussion and it was agreed we would request the vexation be removed. The manager was surprisingly amenable, asked whether we wanted the sound turned down or the channel changed ( we opted for a channel change ). The other patrons didn't seem to realise Sky had gone. Mumbrella says Sky claims 160K viewers: no active viewers that day, but they probably claimed all the patrons in the venue.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - well done there. That set me thinking back to the days when I had to do business in Sydney. Seemed every taxi cab (this was in Sydney, GB - I know you were a cabbie at one time) was tuned to 'Jonesy' in the mornings, and at top volume. I soon learned that even a request to turn down the volume incited aggressive response, and the one time I tried the 'Look, I'm the one paying the fare' had the driver claiming that he did not HAVE to transport me. I needed to be at my destination, so took the coward way, in the cab, rather than walk! So - I got to, um 'absorb' Jones' opinions and themes, until I discovered that a slightly more up-market company did respond to passengers' requests for no radio broadcast. Not having to listen to Jones was not 'free' - it cost me a small premium for the 'executive' service.
DeleteAh, well I was a Yellow Cabs 'drift in' driver, Chad: drift in to YC's depot in City Road and take out any 'spare' cab (YCs usually had somewhere between 20 and 30 'uncrewed cabs' that I, and others, could just wander in and snag any time of any day. I would usually get there at around 3:00pm on a Friday eve and drive until about 6:00 am on Saturday morning and make enough to support myself - as indeed quite a few Uni Studes did back then.
DeleteSo, no radios unless I brought a portable myself which neither I, nor any of the 'drift in' drivers did back then. Didn't even have one when later I became a full-time 'crewed' later. Not even when I alternated 'day about hungry' with my co-driver of the time.
We didn't get 'Jonesy' down in Melbourne back in those days. Neil Mitchell (still going) was as close as we got, and I never listened to him at all.
Gerard is a gem. Where do you start? Perhaps at the beginning, but I doubt anyone could keep going until the end. I liked this one": 'Unlike most journalists, ABC employees have relatively secure employment. Moreover, the public broadcaster has guaranteed funding for years in advance. No commercial media organisation ... '.
ReplyDeleteWell it may be news to Gerard but there is no such thing as secure employment, in government or outside. I worked for a government organisation that went from 7,500 employees in 1989 to 2,500 employees in 1995 - anything that was not nailed down was outsourced. That was thirty years ago and the trend continues, but no pressure on employees! Obviously Gerard feels that all those underemployed ABC staff who have been retrenched while the ABC was swimming around in guaranteed funding deserved it. He does not mention that the only guarantee under the coalition was that ABC funding would diminish.
Still you can understand the nervousness at News Corp. Rupert is facing some serious legal bills, and his business model is struggling, so Gerard and his colleagues, who are kept on despite falling ratings, must be feeling the pressure. The world is in a sorry state when not even right wingers are guaranteed employment at News Corp. But he is kidding himself if he thinks that there might be a secure place for him at the ABC. Even if (as he believes) the ABC needs to be more balanced, hiring an avid right winger is hardly the way to go - a version of two wrongs making a right. Thus it is with Gerard - going on and on, and never reaching the end of his labours - Henry E could explain the tragedy of Sisyphus to him, because clearly, nothing is going to change; where is cancel culture when you need it? I think the pond has the right attitude - in these hardest of times for coalition supporters, just treat the lizard musings as comedy, and enjoy the moment. Afterall, the real news, of robo scandals and corruption, is elsewhere.
I wouldn't mind if only 'Gerard' was actually any good. But he isn't - just a tired old bore still repeating his lost "certainties" from many years ago. Besides, Polonius is so far right, it would take a power of moderate lefties (close to the fulcrum) to balance the way out leverage of Polonius.
DeleteThis cultist has skipped a couple of cult gatherings by going off on a tangent, but with Dame Groan’s ‘myths’ before us for this day - time to focus attention.
ReplyDeleteTo state the bleedin’ obvious - ‘Myth 2’ is a simple bait and switch. Yes, superannuation, as envisaged by Paul Keating, establishes savings. If I might cite William J Baumol (who lived to 2017, and age 95) and is regarded as one of the outstanding theorists in modern economics.
‘In a modern capitalist economy, investing is done by one group of individuals (corporate executives and home buyers) while saving is done by another group. . . . . households are the ultimate source of the savings needed to finance investment.’
Baumol wrote extensively in labour economics, which was, ostensibly, our Dame’s area of postgraduate study, so there is a fair chance she was aware of his writings. What Baumol wrote in 1988, absolutely applies in the Australian economy of 2023, where practically all households save through superannuation funds, but investment is done largely by corporations and a relatively small, and shrinking, group of home buyers. The bumblings of successive governments have helped reduce the proportion of our population who can buy homes, while giving them incentives - at cost to the many ‘savers’ - to buy multiple ‘homes’.
Baumol emphasised that, even 30 years ago - savers and home buyers were essentially separate groups. Australian government meddling has simply sharpened that differentiation.
Our Dame conflates the two groups in her ‘Myth 2’, but it is deliberate, and, give her credit of a sort - rat cunning.
I think what you mean, Chad is that 'Groany may have vaguely heard the name Baumol' but I think that's about as far as it went.
Delete"And then the graphics department got even more graphic, and spared no expense, lashing out to break a piggy bank, and dressing in a hammer and a heap of coins ... "
ReplyDeleteAnd what strange coins they are! They look to be pennies, nickels and dimes - I'm sure I can see Benjamin Franklin on the obverse of at least one. So much for the lizards' graphics department. Couldn't even smash a domestic pig!
And as for Dame Groan's rant, the happy couple in that stock photo don't look like they have been forced on to the Age Pension by their crap super balances. Why it's high fives all around! Maybe they're rejoicing in the 'modest' reforms Mister Chalmers has just introduced.
DeleteIt beggars belief that the Groany is so completely ignorant of her own so-called 'profession' and her own society. So here she goes: "It beggars belief that the superannuation industry would oppose withdrawals for the purpose of buying a home if they are really concerned about people having a dignified retirement."
ReplyDeleteBut then what about a significant government initiative that will supposedly help people buy a home: the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. If the government is funding such a scheme, why do people need to withdraw super cash to buy a home ? Let Super be Super and let the FHLDS look after getting people into houses that they buy.
See: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-28/housing-affordability-buyer-deposit-scheme-explainer/100944678
But then Groany goes on to say: "Do they [the Super Industry] really want older people navigating the perils and incurring the expense of the private rental market as they grow older ?" And why is "the private rental market" the only alternative to being able to withdraw Super cash early ? Is that just because the likes of the Groany have no knowledge of government services and the vast opportunity for government housing ? We have had, and still have, that, even if Groany doesn't know about it.
Then this: "One of the underlying precepts of compulsory saving is that people are too stupid to save for themselves." Yep, I was, aren't you ?Anyway, there they go, they're "too stupid to save for themselves". So we just had to have compulsory Super otherwise the oldies would starve and freeze to death, yes ? But then: "The flip side of this is that people are forced to forgo current spending such as paying bills and putting food on the table." Yeah, right, so as soon as compulsory Super came in, people couldn't pay bills or buy food - well of course they couldn't especially if they were withdrawing their super in order to buy the most expensive houses in the world.
Australians "have the world's second-largest household debts. We know it, we worry about it, and there is increasing evidence it is changing our way of life." And "It wasn't always like this, with that debt burden almost trebling in the 28 years since Australia's last recession in the early 1990s."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-18/household-debt-leaves-australians-working-longer-spending-less/11608016
And that's all down to compulsory Super, you see. Well, Groany sees that, I suppose; do you ?
An entertaining read when you have some spare time, Chad. I never knew I was quite so 'Smithian'.
ReplyDeleteHave employers used high inflation as cover to make excessive profits?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-05/have-employers-used-high-inflation-as-cover-isabella-weber/102051798
GB - thank you for that link. I saw that Isabella Weber had won a 'Joan Robinson Prize'. There are several prizes of that name, but the one she scored is a good one, the one awarded through the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (which prefers to be identified by its initials) for her book on China moving into a market economy. She gives a precis of that work at
ReplyDeletehttps://eaepe.org/?page=awards&side=eaepe__joan_robinson_prize&sub=2021
I have great admiration for the writings of Joan Robinson - it is not a week since I cited her cautions about confusing the rate of change in marginal curves compared with those rates across average curves, in commenting on Dame Groan's assumed task in this life.
But Dr Weber's thoughts on inflation as we see it now, draw on a very wide range of sources of information, including sociology (in a way that the Cater seems incapable of doing), even, as you note, she refers to Adam Smith. It is a useful point of view, and credit to ABC for putting it into the national conversation.
Joan Robinson: the best economist never to win the Economics Nobel which apparently she missed out on in 1975. Not because she was a woman supposedly, but because she admired Mao Zedong’s China and Kim Il Sung’s North Korea.
DeleteI see Isabella Weber says about Joan Robinson that: "She got carried away during the Cultural Revolution, but she tried to understand China until the end of her life when economic reforms were just beginning." Oh well, Joan wasn't the first or only one who got a bit carried away in the Cultural Revolution.
And there is a very wide range of sources of information the Cater is incapable of drawing on.