An open thread where you can, at your weekend leisure, discuss whatever you like.
111 Responses to “Saturday Salon”
Leave a Reply
Please read the comments policy. If you would like an icon beside your comment, please register a Gravatar.
There is a Comments Preview function below the typing box which activates when you start typing.
I’d just like to let Chairman RH know that Lindt chocolates have a new flavour out in their Petits Desserts range: yes, it’s … Crème Brûlée!
Roman Catholic couples who practise the rhythm method of contraception may be committing mortal sin because of their failure to properly comprehend reproductive science.
Philosopher Luc Bovens, of the London School of Economics has written that the rhythm method, which is only 75% effective, depends for its success on massive embryonic death.
Bovens argues that, because couples are having sex on the fringes of the fertile period, they are more likely to conceive embryos that are incapable of surviving. Embryos created from sperm that has been sitting for days within the female’s reproductive tract before ovulation may be disadvantaged. The situation is similar, he suggests, for eggs that have been waiting around for sperm to arrive. These embryos may then face a less-than-ideal uterine lining, since the uterus is not as receptive outside of the most fertile period.
He says, “If you’re concerned about embryonic death, you’ve got to be consistent here and give up the rhythm method.�
According to Roger Gosden, at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility in New York, at least one study found that Roman Catholics had higher rates of miscarriage, presumably due to aged gametes.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9219-rhythm-method-criticised-as-a-killer-of-embryos-.html
Silkworm is No.1!
Damn, I’m number twos.
Creme Brulee (courtesy of Madame Kim Gordon — btw, when does La Kim get a rock n’ roll guest post?):
Walking down the road it nearly struck me blind,
You and me burning in the summertime.
…Said it before and I’ll say it again,
I’m so happy we’re just friends.
Meantime the strategy of trying to work all night, sustained only by cross-oceanic blogging, Throwing Muses, and Columbia Valley wines may be morphing into a bad idea…
‘If affairs are proceeding
As we’re expecting, soon enough,
The weak spots will show.’
–Brian Eno
Courtesy of Jess at Ausculture, via Ms Fits, Nikki from BBUK tackles the serious issue of bottled water torture in the hoose:
video here
I know it isn’t high on many people’s list of international issues, but this sucks:
Taiwan fails in 10th bid for WHO observer status
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=38428
What is the Ilha Formosa to do.
Here’s one for Flute.
Some of Britain’s leading doctors have urged NHS trusts to stop using complementary therapies and to pay only for medicine “based on solid evidence”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5007118.stm
Here’s an Open Thread proposal for the bored and the clever. (If it takes off, mebbe it’d even merit its own thread.)
Fake Book Review of Fake Books.
In classic Borges-ian fashion, write a fake review of a book that doesn’t actually exist. Use the review to subtly advance your own POV [author Fisk is clearly guilty of obfuscation!] …or not. In *truly* classic Borgesian fashion, use both the review and the book to advance a point of view *that doesn’t really exist.* Huh. Wudzatmeen?
Put *that* in yr latte and smoke it. (I still can’t get over this whole ‘latte’ thing… that’s just *far* too much milk to put in yr coffee. Gimme a straight cappuccino or a cafe con leche any day.)
Speaking of coffee, seems like it’s now time to make another pot (thank God for Le Procope!) and solve the next batch of problems…
Moderator: my last (rather innocuous, I woulda thought) comment just got sucked into jug, if you care to have a look.
Just lettin’ ya know, if’n you feel like liberating it…
Meanwhile my book-club discussion of ‘Fuck-head Anne of Fuck-wad-Green Gables’ seems to continue w/o disruption…
If you’re bored already with Saturday’s papers, we have a heap of headlines from around the world for your perusing pleasure over at :
http://www.yournewreality.blogspot.com
I’m not posting the following info, which you can read below, to help the spread of ‘conspiracies’ about what’s happening in East Timor, I only cut and paste the below comment because I’m interested in how this writer’s opinion sits with the regulars here.
Quick note on the writer. Wayne Madsen in a Washington/US intelligence insider, who has broken any number of Capitol Hill scandals in the past two years. He’s the little secret that lots of US politico journos keep to themselves. They go to his site for tips, info, leads, and then write up the ‘exclusives’ as though they had done all the hard work themselves.
The NSA Spying Scandal was a story that Wayne Madsen broke and was detailing for months before the NY Times did its first piece on the issue in late 2005, and there is plenty from Madsen’s reports in the USA Today story that set the whole issue on fire a few weeks back.
Madsen’s been a news breaker on the Enron Scandal, the Plamegate Scandal, Liddy Indictement, CIA Rendition Flights, and much more. Checking in on his site is sometimes like reading next week or next month’s news.
Which is why I don’t know what to think about the below piece by Madsen. Some of it makes sense, most of it sounds like a nutter rant, but there’s some truth amongst it all.
Okay, decide for yourself.
From The Wayne Madsen Report :
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com
More on East Timor’s “sudden rebellion.”
According to Australian sources, East Timor’s long sought independence is in severe jeopardy as a result of collusion between the United States, Australia, Indonesia, and the World Bank under pro-Indonesian president Paul Wolfowitz.
More astounding are reports that Indonesian intelligence has thoroughly penetrated the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), by using blackmail techniques involving pedophilia and bribes.
These techniques have also been used to target former Australian and U.S. ambassadors and other diplomats and military personnel assigned to Indonesia. Wolfowitz is a former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.
Australian sources report that Woodside, Australia’s largest oil and natural gas company, has been playing hardball recently with East Timor’s government over disputed oil blocks in the Timor Sea. Woodside has also been active in oil deals in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, a major reason for Australia’s troop deployment to that war-torn nation.
Fighting continues between loyal East Timorese government troops and rebel troops loyal to Maj. Alfredo Reinado, who is said to have been supported by secret contracts, arms, and training supplied by covert Australian private military contractors with a wink and a nod from the Bush and John Howard administrations.
Bush and Howard met in Washington just prior to East Timor’s military rebellion. Australian sources report that the scenario is the same as employed by Autralian neo-colonialists in the civil war-plagued Solomon Islands: secretly support a rebellion, force the government to call on Australian military assistance, and then declare the country a “failed state” and permanently establish a military and political presence in the country.
Australian neo-colonialists (operating on behalf of Bush neo-cons) target East Timor’s oil, launch a rebellion against East Timor’s government
East Timor’s government led by Xanana Gusmao, wise to this Australian ploy, a first denied entry to Australian troops, instead calling on help from Malaysia (as a counter to Indonesia) and Portugal (one of the few nations East Timor can trust).
However, after the denial of Australian troop entry, Gusmao witnessed a drastic upturn in the rebellion by ex-East Timorese military rebels that directly threatened the entire East Timor government with a coup. The East Timor executive was then forced to accept Australian troops, which are now pouring into the country ahead of troops from Malaysia, Portugal, and New Zealand.
Quietly looking on is Indonesia, which hopes that a new government in East Timor beholden to the multinational oil industry will give former President Suharto’s family’s oil firms, trading firms that deal with the state-owned Pertamina, lucrative deals for East Timor’s off-shore oil blocks.
Meanwhile, big oil has now re-introduced war to East Timor, a nation that lost 100,000 of its people in a brutal war with Indonesia, supported by the past Republican administrations of Ford, Reagan, and Bush I.
Rafe Champion – he’s here, there and everywhere
http://badanalysis.com/catallaxy/?p=1797#comment-70182
Dazza, don’t get too far out there mate. There’s plenty to get your teeth around with the mainstream Castro lovers comrade, without hitting the cyberspace button and major moonbat to ground control
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19267959-401,00.html
Hey Steve Edney, I finally read the Tryptopham paper and I THINK my argument still stands. All the paper asserts is that EMS is not associated with Tryptopham. But I can’t find anything in the paper that suggests the GM bacterium used in the manufacturing process of the Dowa Shenko brand was not responsible. http://larvatusprodeo.net/2006/05/25/fudging-facts-on-murray-river-salinity-reports/#comment-81073
SE again: I’ve now read the second paper and all it seems to suggest was that the disease was caused not just by an isolated component of the Shhowa Denko tryptophan, but to a number of factors.
This simply suggests to me that people with predispositions to certain allergies, when exposed to the Showa Denko brand of tryptophan, experienced EMS, but that EMS could be caused by other products, too.
(Sorry to do this on a Saturday thread, but Gummo said we can’t discuss it on his…)
Stalinist purges under the “blight” lights at that bastion of freedom, democracy, and self-publishing, Deakin Uni Law School:
http://www.james.observationdeck.org/?p=163
James says Deakin are letting Mirko go. Fuck! the last thing this country needs is Mirko Bagaric roaming the streets after dark.
http://www.james.observationdeck.org/?p=165
The publishing event of the century, comparable to Salinger coming out with a sequel to Catcher in the Rye (and check out the psychedelic cover)
http://www.corporate-research.net/files/Mountain_flyer.pdf
Yay! Mirko going!
But as LE has pointed out, with views like his, he’s sure to secure a cushy position at the IPA.
red jelly sliding down the mountain?
For all you Buffy devotees here’s a clip of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s new flick (she plays a hooker) that has been getting pretty good reviews, and is currently showing at Cannes. Made by Richard Kelly (of Donny Darko fame) it is supposed to be a thriller/comedy/musical, with the soundtrack featuring Moby, Janes Addiction and the Pixies, amongst others. The clip needs RealPlayer BTW.
http://stream.arte-tv.com/ramgen/permanent/c3/cannes2006/southland_thales512K_Stream001.rm
James can certainly be a tactful bugger when he puts his mind to it:
At the end of the day, its not a major problem for Deakin. I think it is fair to say that none of the six [Deakin staff leaving to take up jobs at Monash] were among the top researchers at Deakin Law (as measured by DEST), and are joining faculties (Monash Law and Monash B T) with a relatively unexceptional research track record.
Guess we can take it that he’s happy with his current gig and doesn’t expect to be back in the job market any time soon.
Although it has been getting great reviews, apparently ‘Southland Tales’ has also been greeted by booing and walkouts by the Cannes audience ( a la ‘Fire Walk With me’).
Here’s a review from the Village Voice
“But all around these cluster movies concerning war, state terror, and as one title has it, The Rights of the Weakest. The strongest of the lot, Richard Kelly’s phantasmagorical satire Southland Tales, even features a porn star version of The View covering all these issues, plus ‘teen horniness’….
…Not so the most audacious, polarizing, and to my mind, enjoyable movie in the competition thus far: Southland Tales.
Kelly’s second feature is as talented as—and even more ambitious than—his debut, the cult hit Donnie Darko. A high-voltage farrago of unsynopsizable plots and counterplots, Southland Tales unfolds—mid–presidential campaign—in an alternate, pre- and post-apocalyptic universe where Texas was nuked on July 5, 2005, and a German multinational has figured out how to produce energy from ocean water. The mode is high-octane sci-fi social satire; the cast is large and antic (with wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as an anxious, amnesiac action hero and Sarah Michelle Gellar biting down hard on the role of socially conscious porn queen Krysta Now).
Essentially, Southland Tales is a big-budget, widescreen underground movie. (“Star-Spangled to Death,” one colleague commented as we left the screening.) Filled with throwaway gags and trippy special effects, it’s a comedy as well. Philip K. Dick is the presiding deity—the movie is thick with drugs, paranoia, and time-travel metaphysics—although Karl Marx (and his family) keep surfacing in various guises, including the last remnant of the Democratic Party. The film is a mishmash of literary citations, interpolated music videos (mainly with Justin Timberlake), and movie references—most obviously to Robert Aldrich’s apocalyptic noir Kiss Me Deadly—but it’s even more concerned with evoking the ubiquitous media texture of contemporary American life. The film is a mishmash of literary citations, interpolated music videos, and movie references—most obviously to Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly—but it’s even more concerned with evoking the ubiquitous media texture of contemporary American life.
At two hours and 40 minutes, Southland Tales flirts with the ineffable and also the unreleasable. There’s no U.S. distributor; nor does the movie’s humor, much of it predicated on a familiarity with American television, political rhetoric, and religious cant, seem designed to travel easily. Received with a lusty round of boos and a smattering of applause, Southland Tales provoked the festival’s most negative press screening and hostile press conference since The Da Vinci Code. The first question suggested (incorrectly) that Kelly’s movie had set a Cannes record for number of walkouts and asked the director how he felt.
Why was the Kelly Code too much to take? Sensory overload is certainly a factor, but unlike Da Vinci, Southland Tales actually is a visionary film about the end of times. There hasn’t been anything comparable in American movies since Mulholland Drive.”
“I’m not posting the following info, which you can read below, to help the spread of ‘conspiracies’ about what’s happening in East Timor, I only cut and paste the below comment because I’m interested in how this writer’s opinion sits with the regulars here.”
Well how the writer’s opinion is sitting with me is that it sounds like a load of knee-jerk conspiratorial hooey.
I don’t claim to have any greater insight into what’s led to the meltdown in East Timor than, say, Steve at the pub or Tiddles the cat. But it seems obvious that ETimor’s PM sacking half the army was an act of pretty monumental incompetence with foreseeable consequences.
“According to Australian sources, East Timor’s long sought independence is in severe jeopardy as a result of collusion between the United States, Australia, Indonesia, and the World Bank under pro-Indonesian president Paul Wolfowitz.”
And which Australian Sources might they be? A mole in ASIS or the ADF perhaps? Well I can’t be sure, but I’ll put my money on the dickwits over at Green Left Weekly:
“Australia’s corporate rulers are keen to make sure that the island is “open for businessâ€?. But ironically, the neoliberal policies that Canberra helps foist onto Third World nations are those that lead to events such as the protest and killings on April 28.”
I don’t know Wayne Madsen from a bar of soap, but if he’s going to peddle conspiracy theories he’ll have to do a whole let better than that.
Meanwhile I’ll just say that the presence of UN sanctioned international forces in ETimor is probably not a bad thing under the circumstances.
Speaking of coffee, I can’t abide lattes. I’m a flat white drinker.
I’m off this arvo to check out the Taking to the Streets exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane – about how radical politics intersected with personal lives from 65-85:
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE:801695081:pc=PC_1566
The Barcaldine Tree of Knowledge has been poisoned.
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,19191978-3102,00.html
Well Lefty that’s what happens whenever you let Joe Ludwig anywhere near something that vaguely resembles a life form.
Thanks cal. Southland Tales seems intriguing. I love Kiss Me Deadly and will be interested to see how the movie is referenced. Also good to see SMG back on the screen. The legacy of Buffy will be hard to shake which is probably a reason why she chose this role.
I don’t mind films that are mishmash of ideas. Usually the end result is often not what is intended but the ride is a wild one. If you can find it check out Brotherhood of The Wolf. Part horror movie, part period drama, part ass-kicking martial arts epic, part political thriller. Something for everyone!
You forgot to mention it has Monica Belucci, Shaun!!!
Christine, you’re right at one level (ADF is very much needed there now, and they’ll do a good job Im sure; and the ET government handled the sacking very badly) – but there’s clearly more going on in Timor- at a high political level- than meets the eye.
Consider the following. Tin-foil hat optional.
* Reinado has strong links with the Australian military. Even lived in WA for nine years. His goal all along, and he’s been saying it for weeks, is to prompt an intervention.
*Once our navy boats were parked in the Arafura sea, as well as being a “precaution”, it was also, inevitably, a green light to cause further chaos for those actors with an intervention goal.
*Woodside has been pressuring finalisaiton of the unitisation agreements for Greater Sunrise, which Alkatiri hasnt been rushing – as he was angling for downstream benefits in Timorese soil. They wont get them now, but corporate oil actors certainly arent happy.
* Reinado, with a mere 20-30 armed MPs in tow, has been bizarrely sanguine and confident, for my money, for a man who would ostensibly be public enemy #1 for any force aiming to restore security.
* Timor has certainly been bucking the script for third-world nations, by refusing toborrow a cent from the World Bank. Wolfowitz is, s we all know, a big player in the US adminsitration, and Chief of the World Bank.
* Downer and Howard loathe Alkatiri. This has been clear for ages, well before there were problems in the military. No one in Canberra would seriously duspute this.
* Austrlia has recent form on the board for pressuring changes in local administrations (Solomons).
Piece it togetherm and yes, maybe any one “conspiracy” theiry might be off – but it would be naive to suggest nothing untoward is going on.
In other news, I had no idea that LP’s own Paul Norton was a famous 80s musician. It would seem that he’s appearing in the live Countdown Spectacular tour – hosted by Molly Meldrum:
http://www.undercover.com.au/news/2006/may06/20060517_countdown.html
You know, I just woke up and I looked in the mirror and thought, “Hey, what’s with all the sin.” I need to change. I’m dirty, I’m bad with the sex, and the envy, and the loud music us kids listen to nowadays. Oh, I just suck at undercover.
Mark, I did say the movie had something for everyone.
Mirko’s going! What a blow for Australia’s most controversial law faculty.
hello crank ‘thinktank’ gig.
“Wayne Madsen in a Washington/US intelligence insider, who has broken any number of Capitol Hill scandals in the past two years”
Madsen never lets the truth get in the way of a good story and understands that if you throw enough conspiracy theory around then some of it will seem plausible
Thanks for the heads up on Brotherhood of the Wolf, Shaun. I’m dogsitting my partners mother’s dogs tonight so am desperate for somthing good to watch (other than those 2 pampered neurotic shitzu’s). Any other recommendations for someone who’s into watching some Philip K Dick inspired Sci-Fi??
cal, two rather Phildickian sf films are these two directed by Vincenzo Natali:
Cube
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/
Cypher
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284978/
Cypher will also appeal to Lucy Liu fans!
Wouldn’t disagree with you for a moment, Lefty, that the big picture has yet to emerge, or that oil may well be in the mix somewhere. Downer and Howard might not be happy with Alkatiri but on my admittedly cursory reading of events he’s coming across as a bit of a goose.
Equally fascinating is the role now being played by Kirsty Sword Gusmao as commentator/player now that Xanana’s been struck down by kidney problems.
Regardless of the larger picture as far as Australia’s regional interests are concerned the breakdown among ET’s ruling elite seems fairly serious and, given the current situation, intevention by international forces to stabilise the situation can’t simply be tossed off as the culmination of a dastardly plot.
Has anyone else besides me had to shoot a cow that had a still-born calf hanging out of her vagina? It was a horrible experience (though not as bad as watching the Blair-Bush Apology Show).
Just askin’?
Thats fair enough Christine – I wouldnt quite call it the ‘culimination of dastardly plot’ either.
I reserve my judgement, however, on the role of external actors in bringing the existing crisis to a head, in encouraging certain internal actors, and capitalising on existing internal problems in their own perceived stategic interests.
Hmm… am I stuck in the spaminator again? Shite.
Seems fair enough to me Lefty. I anticipate Four Corners will do a sterling job in eventually teasing out the story.
Alkatiri is a Moslem, who has made the study of religion optional in schools. The Catholics, 90% of the population, have threatened to campaign against him at the next election.
I can’t understand the base of his political power. He is not only the PM but also secetary of Fretlin.
He has a PHD but in what?
Any answers?
Damn! Imperialist gunboat diplomact be damned, its a Catholic plot! I just knew it!
According to Wikipedia:
Marà bin Amude Alkatiri (born 26 November 1949) is the first Prime Minister of an internationally recognized East Timor.
Alkatiri was born Dili, Timor-Leste and had 10 other siblings. He left East Timor in 1970 for post secondary studies in Angola.
Before entering politics, he was a chartered surveyor (Angolan School of Geography), and lived in exile in Angola and Mozambique during the Indonesian occupation. He also studied law at Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique. Alkatiri was Senior Legal consultant, in a private Law Office in Maputo, Mozambique from 1992-1998 and consultant on Public International Law and Constitutional Law to the Mozambican Parliament from 1995-1998.
He is of Arabic (Yemenite) origin, and of Muslim religion.
Alkatiri is a Moslem, who has made the study of religion optional in schools.
He sounds like a secularist to me, which would explain why the Catholics don’t like him.
In any case, religion is a side issue. The problems in East Timor are mostly about who controls the oil in the Timor Gap. I think Madsen’s observations are correct.
I’ve had a glance at the rest of Madsen’s site and I thinh it’s fairly apparent he’s an A-Grade idiot.
Christine, stick to Little Green Footballs.
So dross peddled by left conspiracy theorists is of a higher standard than lunatic RWDBs? Waht’s your point?
I am with Little Ms Scandal. The East Timorese are more than capable of stuffing each other up without foreign intervention – this is the sort of thing that happens in the transition period when you put former revolutionaries in power. They are not necessarily self-selected to be good managers.
Thanx for the recommendations Mark.
All this talk of conspiracy theories and PKD influenced movies reminds me of one of my all time favourite flicks- John Carpenter’s “They Live”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/
Definately worth a look (if you can get around the main actor being none other than Rowdie Roddy Piper from the 1980s WWF)
Well, if there was zero external input into this crisis Jason, it would be the first time in Timorese history.
For me, the root causes are certainly homegrown, but its quite clear, at the very least, that Australia has been playing favourities, and that this has given Alkatiri’s opponents the courage to come out into the open and bring it all to a head. Witness the recent OZ media support for the dodgy Guterres challenge. Did you read anywhere after it failed miserably that he couldnt even get the 20% signatures necessary to actually mount a challenge? He didnt even get to the starting line.
And before we all start nodding and regurgitating the offical OZ govt line on Alkatiri, he has actually managed a lot of things very well indeed. The Petroleum revenues, macroeconomic policy, avoiding debt, health system imporvements. The world Bank report auhtors agree. (Howard selectively cites the concerns about corruption, while ingoring all governance “positives”).
Dont believe me? Here’s Paul Wolofowitz a couple of days ago:
“As I said during my visit there in April,
> Timor-Leste has achieved much thanks to the
> country’s sensible leadership and sound decision
> making which have helped put in place the
> building blocks for a stable peace and a growing
> economy. It seemed to have achieved a degree of
> social and political harmony and stability that
> was remarkable against the background of the
> country’s tragic history. I hope that the
> current situation will be resolved soon so that
> Timor-Leste’s future can be one of hope, opportunity, and peace. ”
On the negative – he and his government managed democratic responsiveness to a younger generation, the former Falinitl fighters, and the security sector very badly.
I think Alaktiri’s had it, myself – and he has to much of the blame. But he warrants a objective appraisal, rather than simplistic cliches approved for press release by our PM.
Daniel, why shoot the cow? Even a week after a still birth it is worth trying to save the cow. Head bail & leg rope her, then spend a hour or so scraping out the womb.
The smell is rather unpleasant, and you don’t eat pea soup for quite some time, but provided you scoop out every last bit of the slop, she should be okay.
Shooting is the easy way out.
Here’s some interesting analysis over at the World Socialist Web Site, which I could be inclined to agree with:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/timo-m25.shtml
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/timo-m27.shtml
On East Timor, by the way.
S worm
Is it just coincidence but everytime I see your posts they’re around 90% anti-Christian. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t give a hoot if there is a big fella in the sky. However you seem obsessed by this intensity.Is there anything we or the med profession can do to get you over the hump? Always there to lend a hand.
Do you have any drugs?
Silkworm, you need a blog.
Start at http://www.blogger.com/start and invent a name. I suggest Coliseum as a first bid.
Then you can post trenchant atheist polemic, various sincere religious people will add a bit of respectful polemic, and then about ten trillion demented fundy maniacs will heap on and whack people.
If you are a clever coding nerd you could add an automatic thumbs up or down vote to every comment.
To comment, you would first have to nominate yourself as a Huge Toothy Starving Carnivore or a Damp, Squealy, Hymnwailing Christian Martyr.
You would soon have more traffic than any of us. And your own uniquely horrible gang of nutters. We would watch horrified, and quietly perfect the art of throwing a cracker into a wasps’ nest every time it goes quiet.
GO FOR IT!
Thanks for the links Steve. Interesting reading.
No doubt Australia does have its own agenda in sending in troops, but I’m afraid after the third or fourth incantation of “neo-colonial aggression”, “mafia-style operation”, and “Australian bourgeoisie” I basically consigned it to the same basket as the Greg Sheridan piece that branded Alkatitri as entrenching “the clique of ageing, dogmatic Marxist-Leninists within Fretilin.”
Shouldn’t somebody tell these people the Cold War’s, like, over?
My sense is that LE and Jason are both on the right track. Sure there are fundamental issues concerning resources and I think Lefty makes some pretty valid points. However the situation on the ground and within the Timorese body-politic appears to be far more nuanced than suggested by those who would simply label this an act of “neo-colonial aggression”.
What the issue does raise, however, is the circumstances in which Australia should make use of its troops in the region. It seems to me from tonight’s broadcasts that the population of Dili would rather have them there than not.
Of course we could just leave them to the tender mercies of machete wielding gangs and suggest they just work it out for themselves. That would be better.
Oh dear. I think I’ve just wet myself. Thanks for that David.
Ok, I’ve just seen the 2005 DVD of ‘The Producers’ and, while mildly amusing, nothing like the 2005 Australian theatrical version. I saw it in Sydney and it was far funnier. The translation to the big screen didn’t work (even though they used some of the US cast). But if you have seen the original 1968 version how can you go past Zero Mostel?
No matter the medium, ‘Springtime for Hitler’ is just absurdly funny.
Go now. Leave the house now. Go see Dave Chappelle’s Block Party NOW.
Oh and I agree with steve at the pub about the cow (not about anything else) shooting hte cow reminds me a little too much of Barnaby Joyce
S Worm
You need some? I can’t help sorry
Speaking of Barnaby, apparently Ian Campbell went spec in Senate Estimates and *directed* his departmental officers not to reveal whether we had any knowledge of whether Antarctica has minerals that could be mined. Those who saw Barnaby’s “video diary” of his trip to Antarctica on Australian Story will understand why these eccentric questions are too controversial for public servants to answer.
Joe – I thought you were a good Catholic like me and Kim!
Laura, are there sessions of Dave Chapelle’s Block Party at 12.28 am?
Just wondering…. (“leave the house NOW”)
Dear Godzilla,
My name is Timmy I am 8 years old. Please don’t destroy Tokyo again my uncle lives there and he has a puppy. Thank you.
signed,
Timmy
Dear Godzilla,
Hello how are you I am fine. My name is Billy I am 10. Will you please help defend us from Megalon he is very big and mean and likes to destroy our town. Also Gamera and Mecha-godzilla. Will you help us please?
signed,
Billy
p.s. I liked when you fought King Kong!
–j_p_z, who must’ve got something funny slipped into his morning coffee…
At least 50 US Marines and an unknown number of special forces players, plus an unknown number of Blackwater Security guards (clearly visible on TV tonight, if you know the insignia and kit to watch for) have now entered East Timor to protect “US interests”.
Today’s Sunday papers carry stories about Australian troops in at least one village not interferring as ‘rebel’ military raid and loot homes. It’s been made pretty clear there will be no disarming of government or anti-government military by Downer and the ADF spokesmen.
So you now how a ‘rebel’ military of at least 700, with ongoing defections of cops and soldiers swelling their ranks, outside of Dili staging raids on villages but the major leading them declaring he will not order them to attack Dili.
You have the pro-government military and police being told to return to their barracks and being shot when they are disarmed.
You have the prime minister claiming there has been a coup attempt.
You have armed gangs of East and West Timorese seeking righteous revenge and payback, fighting each other with rifles, slingshots, bows and arrows, burning homes of ‘enemies’, trying to enter hospitals to kill wounded cops, and they’re all linked up by mobile phones to warn their friends of where Australian patrols are, and where they’re heading to.
You have US Marines, Special Forces and Private Militia (even Blackwater Security have seriously-jokingly referred to themselves as such in their e-mail circulars) already inside East Timor and, presumably, more on the way.
You have hundreds more New Zealand and Malaysian soldiers (with their own SF in tow, or already in place) pouring in.
You have Australian warships in Dili harbour and and at least six Blackhawk helicopters conducting air ops across the city.
And all this started because of a pay and promotions dispute between West Timor soldiers in the East Timor Military?
The Fog of this war has already well and truly descended.
Big round-up of all media coverage on Your New Reality by 6am.
Go here :
http://www.yournewreality.blogspot.com
Good God. Dili is in an appalling mess. Ive stopped being able to think about the overall picture, now Im just worried for Timorese I know.
It now appears, for all their disfunctional attacks on each other, the army factions and the police were keeping something of a lid on gang violence. They’ve been ordered back to barracks before the Austrliaans were anywhere near ready to maintain order, and its exploded.
The Australians want to be very careful – any sense of playing political favourities in this envrinonent was and is a terrible mistake. Not coming in with the explicit goal of restoring order for the elected government risks leaving no reference points on the ground.
Quick! Buy shares in arms manufacturers! Lots! We’ve got another potential war going on and all’s well!
The forces of the (self)-righteous are on the move, bringing freedom and democracy to another country while Indonesia looks on with alarm. Fight! Fight! Profit! Profit!
‘When will they ever learn? When will they ev…er learn?’
Check out the latest arcane theological dispute between me, ABL and Birdman if you have the patience. I’m using his verbal armoury against him:
http://badanalysis.com/catallaxy/?p=1783#comment-71087
Laura: You think Barnaby Joyce looks like a cow?
I prefer to shoot the cow rather than scrape out the womb. Coz that is time consuming, distasteful, (smells MUCH worse than a cow which has been dead for a week or so) and there is no guarantee of success.
Most cows in such trouble just die in the bush. This ensures that genetic faults are not retained in the herd. In the event a cow was seen in such difficulty the only option usually is to shoot her. Shooting as a mercy is not particularly difficult, as the alternative is much worse.
I am a firm advocate of doing all vetinary work with a rifle. (With the exception of herd medicine and traumatic cuts to working animals)
The first time one shoots a big animal it may cause a questioning of one’s own capabilities, but there is nothing inherently difficult or awkward in shooting an animal.
It is my experience that most people squib out when confronted with the unpleasant reality of DIY veterinary work (either with a rifle or a “hands on” repair – and especially a “hands IN” repair), particularly “animal lover” types, and it is left to someone realistic to carry out the hard work.
You don’t agree with me on anything else Laura? But I didn’t write anything else, except to say that shooting isn’t all that difficult, and there is an (albiet extremely unpleasant) alternative.
Or do you mean to say that you are the (possibly sole) reader of my blog, and agree with nothing in it? Hehehe… one day I shall find out who is the person who makes up 100% of my readership….
“The Australians want to be very careful”
Yes Lefty. Trouble is the rules of engagement seem to be very unclear, and that can’t be good. Appalling mess seems to be something of an understatement.
As a general question, what is it that motivates someone to decide it would be a good idea to torch their neighbours homes and hack them to death?
Steve at the pub – your comments here at LP on colonialism & the war in vietnam spring to mind. As for Barnaby, I was referring to something he said last year during the abortion debate along the lines of: according to his understanding of what the prochoicers were saying, if he shot a pregnant woman in the belly & killed the foetus, he would not have committed a crime. I don’t think he looks particularly like a cow though now you mention it his eyes sometimes bug out in a silly cud-chewing manner. Cows are nice.
Good question Christine – part of the answer is the lack of justice for the crimes of 1999. Like Australia, ET has been in the business of appeasing Indonesia lately – no Indonesians have been brought to justice, and even inside TImor, very few former militia have been tried. In Dili, people literally live down the road from those that attacked their family in 1999.
Add the recently fanned flames of regional tension – which you actually dont see much of in the normal course of events in ET – then subtract any forces of law and order, and kapow.
Gosh Laura, your memory is better than mine. I cannot recall any comments or postings after I have entered a new screen.
Cow chew cud with their teeth. His eyes though do have a passing resemblance to the eyes of a Jersey, which is also seen in a few people of mongol stock, but quite rare in caucasians.
Shooting a pregnant woman would be a crime at any time. (mitigating circumstances excepted). Presumably Mr. Joyce meant it would not be murder? (Er.. to qualify as a murder victim the deed must be carried out post birth) At the very least it would be GBH.
Personally I believe abortion should be permitted up until 23 years after birth.
Nice. Children as young as fourteen were held in Gitmo.
This must have been part of the ‘pre-emptive’ fight against terror.
You know, grab the kids who aren’t yet terrorists just in case they might one day become terrorists.
It was horrific enough that children were detained at Abu Ghraib, and allegedly subjected to the kind of sexual torture exposed by those nightmarish photos denied for a solid year by Rumsfeld & Co before they finally fessed up.
Christ knows what happened to the kids at Gitmo. I seem to recall Bush and Howard highlighting the disgusting way Saddam Hussein jailed children in his prisons. If you’re going to conduct psychological warfare and kidnap peoples’ children, you might as well learn from the best. And obviously the Gitmo Club did.
So much for these stories being more anti-American propaganda in the early days of the War On Iraq.
What anti-Bushisms will turn out to be true next?
The allegations that Abu kids were videotaped being raped while under the care of the US and the tapes were let out into the Iraqi communities to well and truly mess with their heads?
Let’s hope not.
But then, plenty of Iraqis already believe that to be true enough, it’s just we in the West who can’t get their heads around the mega-incomprehensible anti-human horrors that this war has unleashed.
The Right-I’m-So-Rightists might like to laugh and use the Bush-Hitler term, but for hundreds of millions of Muslims it’s no joke. It’s their reality.
Apparently that intellectual heavyweight Dana Vale got pinged for speeding in a school zone. Now I think she has a legitimate defence this time, and being a lawyer she only has to go to her past record of parliamentary statements to back this up. You see all she has to tell the magistrate is about how tragic affliction, being mathematically challenged (and where is Kevin Donnelly to decry the standards of education some thirty-forty odd years ago when maybe Dana would have had the chance to move beyond 2 2 5) a galling condition that can result in the purchase of time-share properties, a belief in creationism and the ability to decipher what the hell is going on in that game-show “Deal or No Deal”.
Dana’s dilemma can of course easily be proven with her claims that Australia would become a Muslin nation in 50 years, which defy any sort of aptitude for calculation (except of course a certain act of political calculation). From this it can of course be posited that Dana is in possession of this rare condition that accidently places a couple of zeros at the end of any numerals – a condition she shares with Christopher Skase’s accountant and certain tail-order batsmen. So how could Dana in these circumstances be aware that the School Zone speed limit was 40, and not 4000 or 40,000 kilometres per hour. From all this evidence it can easiliy be seen just how unfairly the media has treated her, and why she is indeed appealing her ticket. Stay brave and true Dana.
omfg….Juz’ James throws his schmick hat into the ring for King of Deakin Law:
I’m dying here.
Why doesn’t he just send in an application and a resume, like everyone else? Or don’t top researchers have to grubby their hands with that sort of stuff?
Call me childish but I had to point out this Freudian slip in James’ application
We’d better archive his application for posterity:
If you look at selection criterion four, I’m not entirely sure James understands the meaning of the word “hubris”.
I read it as a humorous piece of boosterism. He must know he has no chance.
Err…
LE I hope you are right. The alternative makes my head assplode.
As you know, Mark, I am the Principal, CEO and CFO of a leading research think-tank called Catallaxy. We operate wholly on the Net like every leading edge weightless New Economy firm does, and issue regular press releases known as ‘blogposts’. Tom Vogelgesang is our CIO and Andrew Norton is our Managing Director. Our highly prolific and sought after Senior Associate Mr Rafe Champion also holds positions on Club Troppo, Oysterium Inc and Thoughts on Freedom.
http://www.corporate-research.net/content/about/index.php
Heh. And you have a law degree, do you not, Jason?
Quick, polish up your cv, blog your application, and Professor Soon will lead the Deakin Law School onwards to greater glory!
Well, it’s a nice way of letting your current employers know you aren’t all that interested in staying on with them.
I thought the same as you LE at first, about it being some kind of self-destructive pisstake, but the ten point list is just too full on for joking. I have to conclude it started out as a joke and developed into something else (?)
Oh yes, the boy has ambition Laura!
IMHO, universities should institute an AFL draft pick system. See here for recent Au rankings (rather interesting reading actually).
http://www.australian-universities.com/rankings/
In my view, a “gun” like McConville should be going straight to Notre Dame!
Young James certainly has a penchant for eye catching cover designs and writing good copy. Check out the jacket cover for his other major tome
http://www.sandstonepress.net/books/docs/truth_flyer_final.pdf
I kowtow to you, Mahatma!
You may say he’s a dreamer, Jason, but he’s not the only one. I hope someday we’ll join him, and the world will live as one…
Why try to get an academic book contract when you can self publish and then put down the experience of running a publishing business on your cv? He’s got all angles covered!
I don’t care if he becomes head of the law school. What I really want is for him to be an intruder on Big Brother.
Yes, I was about to say, he ought to be more careful revealing his home address.
And what’s with the soft porn cover?
Oh, and I see he’s writing for “Sandstone Press” these days (you can almost touch the pain of our Deakin boy there).
You know, I really must check out their full catalogue! didnt they do Singer’s latest?
Their full catalogue is one book by Bagaric and three by McConvill.
Isn’t James at LaTrobe now?
I thought he didn’t like sandstone – after all those putdowns of Melbourne Uni…
Bring on the Research Quality Formula, I say!
The happy band of blood brothers at Deakin Law have exposed the model whereby DEST funded research on the basis of quantity of publications as pure farce.
As you know Mark, Id just about claim these posts as ‘publications’. Lord knows they’re subject to peer review!
However, in Mirko and James’ case, I really think the defintion of “commercial publisher” is being stretched, and warrants a full DEST investigation!
Indeed! And the *five* law reviews published by Sandstone Press might be worth a look too…
Neat scam though. Prodeo Press, anyone?
Heh.
Mark,
Thanks for the recommendations. “Cypher” was much better than I thought it was going to be.
Here’s an interesting PKD anecdote for ya (from Richard Linklater’s Waking Life)
http://strivinglife.net/jamesrskemp/html/jms2/wakinglife/jms2wakinglifelinklatersconcludingdialogue.htm
No worries, cal, I was a bit sceptical about Cypher when I saw it at the movies on a friend’s recommendation. But I was quickly converted.
http://www.thanksgiving.org.au/
What’s the deal with this? I just saw all the ads on TV…
With the emphasis on the Christian god and how thankful we should be to him/her this is sure going to alienate alot of people. Also it provides a further example why Labor needs to ditch Beazley asap.
Here’s a list of the sponsors:
“Koorong
Koorong is a 100% Australian owned, Christian, family company. Offering over 100,000 products including books and Bibles, Australia’s largest range of software titles, a huge selection of Christian music, videos, gifts and stationery.
Australian Christian Channel
Offering the best line up of Christian Televison from both Australia and around the world, broadcasting 24 hours 7days a week.
96 Five Family Radio
96 Five is a not for profit community radio station, broadcasting to the greater Brisbane area. It’s mission is to “Building Stronger Families, Connecting people to Jesus Christ, Supporting the Christian Community, through Excellence in radio broadcastingâ€?
Vision Radio Network
Vision is Australia’s national Christian radio network, connecting faith to life through a mix of great music and engaging talk across it’s vast network of 200 relay stations. Part of UCB Australia, Vision is heard in regional areas of every state as well as some penetration into Brisbane, Perth, Hobart, and the Gold Coast.
Australian Heart Ministries
Australian Heart Ministries is a non-profit incorporated association helping people both in Australia and around the world. Australian Heart Ministries is motivated by a love for people and a desire to make a difference in our world.
Australian Prayer Network
Believed to be the largest in Australia, is linked to the International Prayer Movement through the World Prayer Centre in Colorado Springs.In Australia we have more than 4,200 registered members representing Churches, prayer groups and individual intercessors all over the nation.
The Word for Today
Australia’s most widely read daily devotional, read by thousands each day. Author Bob Gass uses today’s language and using stories of everyday people. Almost 100,000 copies are published and distributed by UCB Australia nationwide each quarter, with as many people receiving daily it via email.
Fatherhood Foundation
The goal of the Fatherhood Foundation is to inspire men to a greater level of excellence as fathers, by encouraging and educating them, thereby renewing and empowering families and helping children. They produce a weekly e-magazine for fathers and run fatherhood courses to help men excel as fathers.
Yes we care
An initiative of BrizNet, a network of Brisbane Churches and ministries helping to bring transformation to their city and region. The goal of “Yes We Care” is to radically demonstrate Christian love to an entire city. The initiative is supported by the Lord Mayor and Brisbane City Council.”
Will there be turkey, though?
Turkey in the plural or one particular turkey? Resubmit your question Mark, for another answer.
Turkeys, Liam, people eat turkey to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Bah! My pathetic joke has gone unheeded!
Kim Beazley is a turkey!
I will now undertake a serious and sustained course of self-criticism and renew my training in literalism.