Here are a few bits of conspicuous silliness that I picked up during this morning’s web-surfing:
New blogger Andrew Bolt has found a new hobby horse – defending the reputation of the very upright Augusto Pinochet against the unfounded leftist slur that Pinochet was just another brutal dictator.
Andrew’s also set his readers an interesting, if pointless challenge: can you tell the real news story from the bogus anti-American story confected by Andrew? Or something like that. The purpose of the exercise isn’t very clear.
At On-Line Opinion, Mirko Bagaric writes:
If you have a choice between a fiercely loyal colleague and one that is brimming with integrity you should always choose the former. Moral rules can be rote learned, but commitment is ingrained.
That’s why Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer nailed it earlier this week when in reaffirming our commitment to the US occupation of Iraq he said, “We stick by our mates through thick and thin and I think when times are difficult, you look to your friends to see if they are really friends�.
Bagaric’s conclusion is that Downer ought to be praised for setting a very good example of how to behave in social life and the workplace.
It seems that Caroline Overington isn’t the only one who thinks we should bring in Melanesians to do the jobs Australians don’t want. In the opinion pages of The Age, Anthony Bergin argues its time Australia had a Melanesian foreign legion:
We already have a skilled migration scheme. Now we need to get foreign nationals here whose skill is a willingness to serve in the Australian Defence Force.
Not a bad idea – get them over here and teach them the skills they need to die for our country. When they go home they can use those same skills to take over their own.
Finally, some non-entity has nicked one of my hobby-horses and ridden off with it.
Come on Ken! Where’s the good stuff?
Should that be “News blogger”?
Bolty started blogging in July:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/2006/07/
The gist I have gathered from reading various lines of argument – Bolt, GMB on Catallaxy, Jonah Goldberg – is that Pinochet was all right because he stabilised Chile; Even if it did mean killing some socialists.
Wait? Now we do support a tyrannical strongman to maintain stability? Man, I can’t keep up.
We already do – they are called Brits. Don’t have the exact figures, but a lot of members of the British Army (and I assume other forces) are choosing to transfer to the Australian Army.
As for training them how to take over their own countries – we do that already too. It’s called ADFA – there are quite a few foreign nationals doing officer training there.
So that’s that one ticked off…
Kim,
OK, so maybe that should be “relatively new”. But when it comes to blogging, Bolt will always be a newbie to me.
Ken’s thingamebob has been posted for a bit, Gummo. I don’t think the email subscription thing works. I didn’t get it in my inbox.
You’ve got to watch those non-entities! They have a habit of stealing identities.
Kim – just updated the post with a link to the “good stuff“.
Loyalty over integrity, says Mirko Bagaric. The man who advocates torture, but who (quite rightly) argued that eating factory-farmed pork products is unethical.
Congrats to the non-entity who of course retains plausible deniability.
Mirko: why have a Schweitzer when you can have a yes-man.
Given the standard measure of commitment of willingness-to-help-move-house, Dolly’s been the equivalent of moving a few chairs before asking if there’s some wrapping he can do out the back [to sound of fridge falling down stairs].
“plausible deniability” eh?
Totally off-topic, I’ve been thinking over the past week or two that there’s a post in the history of plausible deniability, starting perhaps with the Henry II(?)?Thomas A’Beckett affair.
Anyone know any earlier examples?
Who’s Paul Bamford, Trotsky? Is that you?
Yes nice tightly argued piece by some non-entity in Online Opinion…