Community service announcement

I’d blog more, but a new job and not having a permanent internet connection at home (yet) prohibits it. So for the time being new posts will be very irregular.

Just so you know.

What do they stand for again?

Pamela Bone, not necessarily a person I agree with all the time, but still one of the sole remaining sensible voices of the Left, in today’s Australian:

WHY is it, asks British journalist Nick Cohen, that apologies for a militant Islam, which stands for everything the liberal Left is against, come from the liberal Left? Why are you as likely to read about the alleged conspiracy of Jews controlling American foreign policy in a literary journal as in a neo-Nazi hate sheet? Why, after the bomb attacks in the London underground, did left-leaning British newspapers run pieces excusing the suicide bombers, these same young men who were motivated by “a psychopathic theology from the ultra-Right”?

Questions like that have been asked for quite a while now. Dismissed, of course, mostly due to vocal lefties believing anybody who asked such a question had to be a warmongering Zionist. Still, it is worth reading all of Bone’s column. She concludes:

So the Left now is about resistance to material progress, to globalisation, and most of all to American power. There is plenty to criticise about Western lifestyles. Still, it should be obvious to all but the most blinkered that the system the US wants to impose on the Middle East is far better than the system the Islamists want to impose on us.

Of course. But try telling one of today’s wannabe revolutionaries that.

Letters read

Meandering through the letters section of The Age is a dangerous exercise. But hey, I’ll do it anyway.

Seemingly referring to a story The Age ran bemoaning David Hicks’ situation, Brian Haill from Frankston writes:

I HOLD my breath as to what the future might hold for Osama bin Laden if he’s ever caught — and he’s actually confronting, threatening and killing elements of the entire “coalition of the willing”!

Short of being shot on sight, I hope if Bin Laden is caught, he’s thrown into Guantanamo. If only because wankers like this will start holding up signs saying “Bring Osama home!”

Gregory Serong from Heidelberg writes:

NOW that the Country Liberal Party leader, Jodeen Carney, former Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett, current federal Liberal MPs Judith Troeth, Bruce Baird, Petro Georgiou, Judi Moylan, and Dana Vale, and the Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce have added their voices to the growing chorus of criticism of the Howard Government’s compliance in the continued incarceration of David Hicks by the US authorities, this issue can no longer be denigrated as the domain of the “loony left”. Conversely, this means that anyone who continues to support the Federal Government’s untenable position must, in fact, hail from the far right.

Firstly, Barnaby Joyce is not a Nationals MP. He’s a Senator. And a nutbag. Secondly, Hicks was caught fighting against Western forces — allies of Australia — in a time of war. I’m sure if he weren’t caught, he’d still be looking to destroy the Jews and the United States of Infidels. Still, a fair trial may be in order. Even Saddam Hussein had a trial.

The other letters in The Age are generally pointless dribble. I survived an Age letters page and I’m still alive!

Question posed

The Green Left Weekly asks:

Venezuela – an ecologically sustainable revolution?

No. Just… no.

At a meeting in Brazil on April 26, 2006, plans moved ahead between Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil for a major transcontinental oil pipeline. The pipeline would be 10,000 kilometres long and would link the four countries plus Paraguay and Uruguay.

It’s all about the oil!! Wait, where have I heard that before?

On the one hand, the Chavez government needs to keep revenue flowing into its coffers to fund its massive array of social programs in Venezuela. On the other hand, the government’s major source of revenue is from the export of oil – Venezuela’s principal natural resource – by the state oil company PDVSA.

What, so the Venezuelan government needs to export to other countries stuff that they will buy, in order to make a profit. That’s a pretty neat system. Wonder what they call it?

This whole socialism thing is arse-about. In Australia, how many people on the Left would moan if the Australian Government profited from an operation? It’s okay if a socialist government does it, obviously. All you need to do is kill off all private enterprise and you’re set. It’s a recipe for success!

Anyway, back to the Great Oil Pipeline of Chavez:

This export income often comes at the expense of the environment. In a stark example of the environmental degradation caused by the oil industry, the December 18, 2000, US Business Week described the impact of the industry on Lake Maracaibo, located in the northern state of Zulia (where the bulk of Venezuela’s oil has come from). Once a pristine habitat for mangroves and flamingoes, the lake is now crowded with tankers, polluted with toxic industrial waste and is the repository for raw sewage from the surrounding area’s 5 million inhabitants.

So not only is Chavez destroying the environment, he’s starving the people of Venezuela and also pissing off the rest of the world. That’s what happens when you get a commie nutbag for a leader. Even the Green Left Weekly is casting the evil eye on Chavez. How telling.

Intolerance demonstrated

Marieke Hardy, the reason why Channel 7’s Last Man Standing sucked so hard, doesn’t like young’uns with flags. Here’s how she tells of a “real” conversation she had with a flagged youngster at Melbourne’s Big Day Out:

Me: Nice flag, fuckhead.

Moron child: Whatever.

Me: Why are you even wearing that? Do you have any idea what you’re doing?

Moron child: Aussie pride, man.

Me: Go and die.

In this day of tolerance of other cultures, why is it our own culture that idiots like Hardy are intolerant of? Though being cornered by Hardy at a festival is probably a little more fearful. Drunk and with eyes pointing in different directions, this kid would have been confronted with something more like this:

Anybody who is arse-over-head in love with Bob Ellis is surely as retarded as the old coot himself. ‘Nuff said.

Perking up

Channel Seven’s Today Tonight has not been shy to find stories about people being apparently crushed by WorkChoices in the past (“all I done was look at stuff on th’ net all day. It’s rool unfai-ya!”). Last night they aired a story that shows WorkChoices must be bad:

Unemployment in Australia is at a record low, meaning the worker has the upper hand for one of the only times in history.

And that means bosses are becoming very generous.

According to a Drake Recruitment survey, about 99 per cent of companies in Australia are providing some form of non-financial benefit to staff.

Businesses are throwing extra money at their staff, but the big increase in rewards is coming in the way of perks, better known in official circles as non-monetary or financial benefits.

The Drake Recruitment survey of employers found the top five non-financial benefits. Dominic Toledo from Drake said they were common across many jobs.

“The main ones are work-life balance, which includes flexible work hours, family-friendly start and finish times, the ability to work from home, workplace accessories such as laptops, mobile phones, home Internet connections, opportunities to work overseas,” Mr Toledo said.

Clearly the Aussie notion of a fair go is under attack. Those poor, poor Australian workers.

Boxer’s head needs examining

Anthony Mundine, not known for his intellect, has released a video for his rap song which shows him burning stuff.

The openly political video for Mundine’s hip-hop single Platinum Ryder, filmed at The Block in Redfern, shows indigenous residents tearing up Mr Howard’s photograph and tossing it into a barrel of flames.

A Union Jack meets the same fate.

The burning takes place against the background of Mundine’s rags-to-riches rap lyrics: “I am just one man, it ain’t the whole of the nation, politicians won’t say sorry for the stolen generation.”

Firstly, I have serious doubts about the legitimacy of stolen generation claims. Name some victims, Anthony!

Secondly, why should today’s government say sorry for something that was allegedly happening long before the political time of anybody in the current government? It’s not as if the evil neo-conservative forces of John Howard ordered the removal of Aboriginal kids from their families.

Thirdly, what would it achieve? The entire concept of a forced apology is stupid. Saying sorry these days seems to be used mostly as an attempt at a “get out of jail free” card. As a child, if your parents forced you to say sorry for punching another annoying kid, would you really mean it? Of course not. However, if you are responsible for something that is an accident and is your fault, it’s okay to say sorry… and mean it.

Why should the current Australian government apologise for something that folks like Mundine can only allege, and that happened before our current Prime Minister came to any kind of power? What would it achieve? Would it really get rid of all the problems folks like Mundine say it will? Somehow I doubt it.

Anthony Mundine, you are a fool. Do everybody a favour and shut up.

Lynch the wealthy

Ethicist Peter Singer is appearing on Channel 10’s 9am program at the moment, suggesting that Australia’s top 10% of rich people should donate one third of their incomes to the poor. One of the presenters posed the question, “what would this mean?”

It means we’d turn into filthy, stinking socialists like Peter Singer.

Not dead yet

Dictator and commie scumbag, Fidel Castro, is getting better, according to another commie scumbag, Hugo Chavez.

I can hear the collective sighs from the Fairfax press from here.

Dominic Knight, blithering fool

As what seems to happen whenever I issue a notice of leaving, I tend to find internet again fairly quickly. That said, if I were you I would expect only sporadic posting over the next few weeks.

Anyway, not that it needed me to declare it or anything, but Dominic Knight who runs the Radar blog at the Sydney Morning Herald website is a tool. A couple of days back, he decided to take on the Young Liberals.

To address the outrage that is people being actively encouraged to live longer, the Victorian branch of the Young Liberals has advocated bringing back tobacco advertising.

They have?

Really, their logic is infallible. Like the good little ideologues that they are, they know that individual free will should reign supreme. “Prohibitions on tobacco advertising are an insult to the intelligence of the ordinary Australian,” the branch says. “These bans assume that individuals are not fit to make up their own minds on the benefits or otherwise of smoking and need the Government to make the decision for them.”

Well, it’s true. I feel it’s a bit of an extreme example, however anytime that the government bans anything it is a result of nanny-state thinking. There are times when you need to ensure you don’t let ideology get in the way of pragmatism — and I believe this is one of those situations — however at the end of the day, it is simply not good to have a society who always needs the government to distinguish right and wrong for them. The individual should reign supreme. On the other hand, it is refreshing that in saying this, Dominic Knight implies he is not up to the task of making his own decisions and that government bureaucrats should make them for him.

And while we’re at it, why not leave more things up to the wisdom of ordinary Australians, like whether to take drugs? We should be able to determine the “benefits or otherwise” for ourselves, surely?

With adequate education programs in place, there is no reason why not. The thing is, regardless of whether drugs are illegal or not, the idiots that will misuse them will obtain them somehow. Decriminalisation is not necessarily allowing a free, unregulated market, rather than allowing a little more government control over a black market. At any rate, Dominic would prefer the government to tell us what we should and shouldn’t do because he simply cannot look out for himself.

In fact, this argument applies to the whole of organised society. How dare society interfere with my individual choices about whether to vote, wear clothes, pay taxes, or unleash a hail of bullets into a Young Liberals convention!

Now society is interfering? I thought Dominic’s rant was against the Young Liberals, who don’t like the government interfering? How confusing. A genuine intellect at work. At any rate, voting is part of any democratic society — and I’m sure Dominic wouldn’t like to see that disappear. He can not wear clothes at his own peril. I’d love to pay significantly less amounts of tax, however the cuts in non-essential government services and mass public service sackings would not sit well with Dominic (who presumably wants to pay no tax, but have the government provide everything for him and make his decisions for him). And unleashing a hail of bullets at a Young Liberal convention is a bit much; though it shows how idiot lefties are all for dissent unless it’s against their point of view.

I’m sick of the nanny state interfering with my choices about whether to inject heroin, and it’s time I was given the liberty.

Of course. Just because the government won’t throw you in jail for doing it means it’s a good idea and that everybody will do it. This is sickening.

There must be some limits to this bountiful individual freedom, of course. The same people that passionately advocate liberty for all generally draw the line at allowing women to “make up their own minds on the benefits or otherwise” of proceeding with their pregnancies.

An issue like this is what distinguishes libertarians from social conservatives. I’m sure you’d get a good mix of both if you went to a Young Liberal convention. Just as you’d get a mix of hardcore socialists all the way to Keynesian thinkers if you went to a Young Labor convention. And it’s not as if the Liberals have a monopoly on social conservatism — Kevin Rudd is about as Catholic as they get, and I’m sure he doesn’t like the idea of abortions.

Dominic continues dribbling on for a few more paragraphs, before coming out with this:

The Young Libs have lots of other great policy ideas as well, like the flat tax. Although that was Pauline Hanson’s idea first. Still, that never stopped John Howard.

I’m sure that idea has been around long before Pauline Hanson came around. And considering it’s a libertarian policy (that the government should be as small and non-intrusive as possible), it’s unlikely Hanson came up with it herself. She’s said a lot of silly things in her time, however a flat tax is not one of them. The flat tax is a core policy of the Liberal Democratic Party as well, but I’m sure Dominic wants to put in a cause-and-effect argument forward instead. The Young Libs are proposing something that Pauline Hanson proposed years ago, therefore they agree with everything she ever said, especially those things about Asians!

Dominic Knight is a complete idiot. Perhaps he could be eliminated with a hail of bullets through somebody’s own free will like he suggested in his post.

Notice

Due to circumstances completely within my control, posting will slow to a squished-bug-like stop over the next little while. Moving houses and continuous internet connectivity don’t usually go hand-in-hand, and this will be no exception. As such, if I disappear for a while, you’ll know why.

I’m not able to give any approximate timeframes, but I’ll pop in to post up some rabid rantings from time to time when I can.

Counting down…

… To the big one.

The brilliant, wonderful Top Gear is returning to television this weekend to the British peoples. And they’ll be showing footage of Richard Hammond’s 290mph crash (that’s over 460km/h).

I, for one, am glad Richard has made such a speedy recovery and that there will be more Top Gear goodness for all. Oh yes.

UPDATE: Hammond’s crash is available at certain places on the internet. YouTube is a good place to start, though BBC’s lawyers will no doubt be onto it like a cheap suit any time soon.