As noted many times before, the pond simply can't go there, as once again Dame Slap makes her mischief in Lehrmann-related matters, even when it's the centrepiece of the digital edition ...
The Major was, as usual and expected, perched at the top in the extreme far right position in the digital position, as is to be expected, but taxes as the media topic?
Incredibly boring, and the pond decided it couldn't go there - perhaps a late arvo edition might be the go - because there were far bigger fish to fry.
Today was brave Churchillian onion muncher day at the lizard Oz ...
Regrettably this meant passing on the Monkish one, and the lizard Oz editorialist, apparently unaware of the genocidal Israeli government, currently gearing up to demolish Rafah and kill as many civilians as possible ...
Yes, it's in all the other rags, but the pond must stay in the cloisters with the lizards ...
As for Vlad the impaler, the pond had already had the word on Tuckyo, and it came from Masha Gessen in The New Yorker as Tucker Carlson Promised an Unedited Putin. The Result Was Boring, In an interview that lasted more than two hours, the Russian President aired well-trod grievances and gave a lecture full of spurious history meant to justify his war in Ukraine. (paywall possible)
They had great fun with it - their ability to speak Russian being a great advantage - and the piece was told in Rashomon style from a variety of viewpoints.
But Putin is no Kurosawa, so the pond settled for the final viewpoint:
What I Saw
I can’t get one passage out of my mind. In the history-lecture portion of the interview, when Putin got to 1939, he said, “Poland coöperated with Germany, but then it refused to comply with Hitler’s demands. . . . By not ceding the Danzig Corridor to Hitler, Poles forced him, they overplayed their hand and they forced Hitler to start the Second World War by attacking Poland.” (This is my translation.) The idea that the victim of the attack serves as its instigator by forcing the hand of the aggressor is central to all of Putin’s explanations for Russia’s war in Ukraine. To my knowledge, though, this was the first time he described Hitler’s aggression in the same terms.
Putin has reproduced Hitler’s rhetoric before. Ten years ago, announcing the annexation of Crimea, he seemed to borrow from Hitler’s speech on the annexation of Sudetenland. At the time, I assumed that the language had come from a speechwriter who knew what they were doing while Putin may not have. But the way Putin described the beginning of the Second World War in his interview with Carlson suggests that, although he keeps accusing Ukraine of fostering Nazism, in his mind he might see himself as Hitler, but perhaps a wilier one, one who can make inroads into the United States and create an alliance with its presumed future President.
It’s telling, too, that Putin took the time to accuse Poland of both allying with Nazi Germany and inciting Hitler’s aggression. As he has done with Ukraine in the past, he is positioning Poland as an heir to Nazism. He mentioned Poland more than thirty times in his conversation with Tucker. If I were Poland, I’d be scared.
I can’t get one passage out of my mind. In the history-lecture portion of the interview, when Putin got to 1939, he said, “Poland coöperated with Germany, but then it refused to comply with Hitler’s demands. . . . By not ceding the Danzig Corridor to Hitler, Poles forced him, they overplayed their hand and they forced Hitler to start the Second World War by attacking Poland.” (This is my translation.) The idea that the victim of the attack serves as its instigator by forcing the hand of the aggressor is central to all of Putin’s explanations for Russia’s war in Ukraine. To my knowledge, though, this was the first time he described Hitler’s aggression in the same terms.
Putin has reproduced Hitler’s rhetoric before. Ten years ago, announcing the annexation of Crimea, he seemed to borrow from Hitler’s speech on the annexation of Sudetenland. At the time, I assumed that the language had come from a speechwriter who knew what they were doing while Putin may not have. But the way Putin described the beginning of the Second World War in his interview with Carlson suggests that, although he keeps accusing Ukraine of fostering Nazism, in his mind he might see himself as Hitler, but perhaps a wilier one, one who can make inroads into the United States and create an alliance with its presumed future President.
It’s telling, too, that Putin took the time to accuse Poland of both allying with Nazi Germany and inciting Hitler’s aggression. As he has done with Ukraine in the past, he is positioning Poland as an heir to Nazism. He mentioned Poland more than thirty times in his conversation with Tucker. If I were Poland, I’d be scared.
And so to the important stuff, the onion muncher strutting the world stage.
Now the pond is aware of the onion muncher's glorious career in the military, the stuff of legends, so the pond will tippy toe past all that - even the time when he did service with Churchill in the Boer war - and get on with the present crusade ...
Instead, carry on regardless, because there's nothing beats picking a fight while strutting on the world stage ...
Never mind, it was time for a martial snap of the onion muncher, his steely stare showing he could out-glare just about anyone ...
Instead there was another snap, showing one of the genocides that the mango Mussolini was cheering on ...
But we must stand by Israel as. it carries out the genocide? By this point the pond was confused, and then the reptiles offered up another statue snap ...
Meanwhile, the reptiles showed the onion muncher shirt fronting Vlad the impaler...
And then at last a final word from the armchair general, which sent his bromancer chum whimpering off stage, knowing that a better man needed to be dragooned in to arrange Australia's defences forthwith, with everyone remembering the astonishing amount that the onion muncher invested in knighthoods during his short reign ... (as for defence, perhaps not so much) ...
Freedumb for some perhaps, you won't find much freedumb in Gaza at the moment, but the reptiles were so enraptured that they sent Will to scribble a story celebrating the onion muncher's warrior deeds ...
Some might be startled by the inane repetition, the beat-up of a column parroting the onion muncher, but it's the reptile way.
Say it once, then say it again, and if in doubt, say it one more time, and stick in a terrifying snap of privilege and power, even if they lack a knighthood ...
And so, after too much loud onion munching and unseemly associated belching, there was just room for the Caterist ...
Sure he always needs a little rest after working out the flow of floodwaters in quarries, but then it's back, nose to the grindstone, helping gouge cash in the paw from the federal government.
It's impossible to imagine how tough it is, scribbling columns and holding down sinecures in think tanks ...
The most obvious Division of Society is into Rich and Poor; and it is no less obvious, that the Number of the former bear a great Disproportion those of the latter. The whole Business of the Poor is to administer to the Idleness, Folly, and Luxury of the Rich; and that of the Rich, in return, is to find the best Methods of confirming the Slavery and increasing the Burthens of the Poor. In a State of Nature, it is an invariable Law, that a Man's Acquisition are in proportion to his Labours. In a State of Artificial Society, it is a Law constant and as invariable, that those who labour most, enjoy the fewest Things; and that those who labour not at all, have the greatest Number of Enjoyments...
Edmund Burke (1729-97), A Vindication of Natural Society, 1756 (p536)
The Caterist took it in his stride and the reptiles offered up a snap of a minion of that sloth, Satan ...
With the greatest respect to Burke and the pond's correspondent, the pond thinks it began generations ago, the tendency to bludge and imitate the lilies of the field ...
...Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Then came a snap of Captain Spud, workaholic, showing if you couldn't do a honest day's work, you could at least do an honest day's shouting ...
But the Caterist wasn't having any of that ...
This is all very well, but does it go far enough?
Surely the first rule should be that everyone is banned from using the full to overflowing intertubes, full of time-wasting twits offering up stupid X's ...
How does this help keep minds on jobs? How does this improve the work ethic? You there, yes, you, the cardigan wearer at the ABC, stop reading this and start reporting on how the government funds the Menzies Research Centre, wherein the bludgers can go about the business of bludging on the government dime.
And frankly they must ban EVs. The pond wastes far too much time shouting "I didn't buy a Ford either" at Tesla drivers, or "fascist car", or whatever else springs to mind, and some of the sayings are quite musky, if not full-blown fruity, and who knows where it might end, or what musky far right ratbag company the pond might end up keeping ...
Finally ...another incredibly irritating thing.
The pond was reminded that before the Moggie currently doing the rounds in British politics, there was the Muggie, or Muggster to his friends. The pond was reminded by a story in The Observer by Emma Beddington, Malcolm Muggeridge sums up the 60s in 1969.
Regrettably, it wasn't actually the Muggster, it was Emma summarising the Muggie, and the pond felt a great wave of nostalgia and also deprivation. Why run Emma doing a bald summary of a choice words when The Observer could have treated us to the whole thing?
Cue Trove to the rescue, having recovered from its weekend down for maintenance.
That great archive had within it The Bulletin, and in the 27th December 1969 issue you could find the Muggers compleat.
Now you could of course download the whole thing as images or as a pdf, or you could read it online here.
But the pond decided to show Emma and The Observer how to do it in style, because the original Muggie was a loon of the first water, a loon nonpareil, a loon unrivalled and matchless ...
Of course it will only have meaning to those who were there. Vulgar youff can get lost. You will find great art work, and Muggers in a pose worthy of the more recent Moggie, and there's great period artwork of the time, featuring girlies straight out of The Avengers, not to mention a Kaiser 'you'll be sure to fall off your Stuhl' ad.
Dare one venture to suggest to the reptiles that they could learn much by going back to the future?
With the Caterist having laid out a great argument for time wasting and wandering the internet, here he is, beginning with the cover celebrating the Mugger's visitation ... though you'll have to click on to enlarge to get the full experience ...
Tempted? This arvo at four thirty, the Caterist will invite everyone to knock off early, and the pond will return with the Major and run the rest of the piece ...
While DP notes the surprising absence of the Bromancer, I wonder if he’s present in spirit - ie, as a ghost writer for the Onion Muncher? The latter’s jingoistic rant certainly reads as though it could have been composed by his old mate the Bro, particularly given its inordinate length. I certainly hope that it wasn’t delivered to the fine chaps (probably not many chapesses…) of the Legatum Institute after the Port; even the nasal braying of the Muncher would have failed to drown out the snoring.
ReplyDeleteI wonder though…. “”Will Glasgow” is a name that’s unfamiliar to me. Is it possible that the Bro has adopted a pseudonym in order to approvingly summarise his own prose, as delivered by his old chum? I suppose that if it’s at least saved us from another serving of the same in yet another lengthy screed from the Bro himself then the repetition may have been worth it.
I wonder how often the Caterist is contacted out-of-hours by his workplace(s)? There’s an undercurrent of envy and neediness in his offering that makes me think it doesn’t occur very often - possibly never. It’s hardly surprising - after all he’s no longer top dog at the Menzies Institute but merely a “senior fellow”, and advice on floodwater movements can probably easily be sought between 9am-5pm. To the Caterist though receiving emails, texts and phone calls around the clock - even if it’s only accidental bum-dialling - is a sign of one’s commitment, importance and PRODUCTIVITY!!!, and a concern that he may be lacking in such attention burns in him.
ReplyDeleteApologies BTW for the above use of shouting caps, but the Caterist is yet another Reptile who continually demands greater productivity without bothering to give any definition, leading to the assumption that it’s used as a meaningless buzz-word. Young Nick also refers something called “quite quitting”, which I think is actually “quiet quitting”. I could make a rude crack about the spelling skills of red brick university Sociology graduates, but it’s probably yet another example of the poor proofreading that is so common in Reptile scribblings these days. The Subbies have clearly been subjected to the same “productivity gains” as the Graphics Department.
Indeed so, Anony; as went the Graphics Dept, so also went the 'proofreaders'.
DeleteThanks for the Malcolm Muggles, DP: long time no read and on his better days he was readable. Many long days since the Punch era too.
ReplyDeleteWhat would that useless English FOP and Remittance Man, Cater know about workplace culture and work at all?
ReplyDeleteYeah, there we go again, the Flood-water man raving on about "work" and how it "bestows dignity and social obligation on individuals". It is amusing how right wingnut reptiles like NickC can waffle about "dignity and social obligation" when he has never possessed either. Perhaps it's time to resurrect 'beautiful Daisy Cousens' again ? She'd put him straight pretty quick as to his status in the world.
Delete[ https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/leak-tribute-reemerges ]
For a supposedly trained sociologist - the Cater is not good at viewing issues from the perspective of a professional sociologist.
ReplyDeleteThe attitude that is barely shrouded in his contribution for this day rather pre-empts Dame Groan on employer/employee relationships. (Or, in reptile terminology - leaners and bosses). In that part of business that is supposedly much admired and favoured by the coalition - small business - the decision to hire anyone is driven essentially by the expectation that that person could ease the workload of the owner of the business, increase the efficiency and size of the business which should increase the profit to the business owner. That requires employer to identify what she wants the person to do, select person who seems capable of doing those tasks, and develop that employee to deliver, including, if the employee has daily contact with clients - good client relationships; during work hours, and, at the very least, not to bad mouth the business out of those times.
The attitude manifest by the Cater has the boss thinking that if he can’t just call any employee, any time, (or cannot negotiate an arrangement for that, if it is important to the business) he will seek out some or other of the many little accommodations that deliver better overall performance in small business - and stop them, out of - well - no higher aspiration than spite.
Yep - nothing like causing Raelene to pull out of the school pickup pool because ‘the boss’ has told her she cannot have that flexible afternoon on Thursdays; not because of any personal failing by Raelene at work, but because the boss has to pay her back for something done in Canberra. Of course, in her conversation with the others in the pickup pool, Raelene will be totally sympathetic to ‘the boss’ and that business - won’t she?
If you think that is the way things should go, Nick - come live in a small town, where every business is small (although often with turnover that might surprise you), and focus your sociologist eye on just how things operate in that ‘real world’ that you folk so often try to tell us about.
It would be really interesting to see how the Cater, running a small business in a country town, would handle the matter of the annual Christmas bonus.
I dunno if you'd call being 'Executive Director' of the Menzies Research Centre in Sydney as being equivalent to a 'small business in a country town' Chad, but I can't recall ever seeing any genuine reasons posted as to why he was sacked. Nor have I seen any comparison of the MRC's performance before, during and after his 'executive directorship', but there hasn't been any obvious praise for his performance.
DeleteI guess we'll have to wait and see whether the MRC is getting any more annual funding from the government than it got back in the Cater days.
Surely he simply decided to “explore other opportunities”, GB?
DeleteIt couldn't be 'spending more time with the family - because she is now sooo busy editing the Quad Rant. Or some of it - I see someone else still has listed creds for being 'online editor' - which, I suspect, is the version most of its dwindling number of readers look at.
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