Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas
Well, we haven’t condemned for ages, so it must be long past time again to condemn. Here’s a 40th open condemnation thread. What’s getting up your goat? Which evil political, cultural, social, musical, religious, and other phenomena need condemnation? (Or loud denunciation?)
You can condemn anything you like except the soundtrack to The Hunger.
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.
Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
I condemn all those departures from the original narrative of The Lord of the Rings in the film version which can’t be justified in terms of the inevitable challenges created by the differences between the literary and cinematic genres (such as the scene where the Witch-King kicks my butt). I also condemn the failure of the filmmakers to find an authentically grey horse rather than a white one to play Shadowfax, considering how many horses they breed each year in Aotearoa.
Count Dracula, Philip Ruddock, condemned for his prediction of a flood of 10,000 boatpeople. Go back to the bloodbank, creep.
yeah..kewl…you are condemned p. jackson…and no doubt asked many times before but hey, where was tom bombadil and goldberry? i also condemn p. jackson for losing all that weight.
I condemn the TV show – United States of Tara – for its half hour running time. And I condemn the Oz TV industry for producing remakes of Hey hey it’s Saturday instead of stuff like United States of Tara.
I condemn Caroline Overington.
Things could be worse indeed. Broken bones and bits of gravel, glass and bitumen pushed into abrased skin are a lot worse than an $84 fine.
Bauhaus! Freaky…was only just listening to their cover of Ziggy Stardust.
Liam, quite right — I remember an afternoon in Casualty where I sat holding the tip of my right index finger in a plastic bag full of ice and repeatedly rearranging the blood-drenched towel wrapped around said finger while I waited for the Royal Melbourne’s on-duty plastic surgeon to finish dealing with the badly infected full-body gravel rash of the boy who’d come off a scooter in Bali (yes, the tropics) in his Speedos three weeks earlier.
Meanwhile, I condemn all who condemn Julie & Julia.
I condemn the confusing interface of Google Wave. Great idea and great potential but it is quite clunky to edit at the moment.
I don’t reckon you need a reason to condemn Overington, Liam. (Your link is blocked at work, so I’m unsure what it’s about.) I’d just condemn her out of hand.
This is what it says DINR
DI(nr) the twitter entry in full reads:
And I agree about Overington. The worst thing about her journalism is that if you read enough, you start wondering whether Alexander Downer, DFAT and the AWB were unfairly treated.
Things are really crook when Vicky Chapman makes more sense and has a better grasp of ethics than other players in our latest Laura brouhaha here in Deep South Oz.
She recognizes that the ‘evil’ [SA Attorney-Gen Foley] and ’should be locked up’ {Monsignor Cappo of Social Inclusion] bunch of kids, yeah the gang is mainly kids, that are ‘terrorizing’ SA are a problem and some deep thought and decent policies are required rather than the populist crap that is being promulgated.
So I condemn the above players, plus our media, for making Vicki look good.
I condemn vandals who use their school holidays to spray idiotic stuff on property that isn’t theirs.
Mark: I also condemn the misuse of the expression ‘to get your goat’ as ‘get up your goat’ … and I condemn bestiality, too.
Finally, I condemn anybody who fines a bikini-clad woman in a vesper.
Kids of America: “All pops are the same aren’t they?”
American Family Physicians: “That’s the mistake a lot of people make!”
Step aside Dr. Pepper, there is only ONE thirst choice for Americans who care about nutritional family values.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marion-nestle/why-are-doctors-selling-o_b_317608.html
Coming soon: Organic Coke ~ the thing is….. it’s the real thing!
I also condemn my misspelling – let’s make the above read ‘on a Vespa.’
Oy.
An ecclesiastical crime, I think, not a legal one.
I think you mean Atkinson, hannah’s dad, although Foley stands condemned as well. A mate of mine calls Atkinson a Catholic fundy. I think he’s just creepy, in a similar way to Phil Ruddock.
Jeez, I’m having a condemn-a-thon here!
I’m just back from a funeral, so that’s my excuse for slipping into church terminology.
“….a bikini-clad woman in a vesper”
Place bikini-clad women in a deep champagne goblet then add dry Martini, gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet. Then shake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesper_(cocktail)
I condemn a certain ex Prime Minister who keeps popping up on the TV just when you least expect it. On this occasion it was a boring and pointless 4 Corners report on James Packer, so I should have avoided the whole programme anyway.
Adrian: That was a cringe-worthy piece by Howard I must say. By choice, I had not seen coverage of the state memorial service before. Almost as vomitous was Alan Jones hugging James Packer.
So here’s my ex post facto condemnation of the Packer memorial service.
What Hannah’s Dad and DINR said, especially the bit about — no, p’raps not, the SA walls have ears. Don’t laugh, they do, which is part of the problem. FWIW, me Labor Lawyer mates have a high opinion of Vickie Chapman despite the fact that she is on the wrong side.
I condemn Colin Barnett for his fossilising, stupid approach to reality, for favouring demonstrable falsity over fact, and for his attack on civil liberties with these latest efforts at “toughness” and Laura Norder.
ARRANT STUPIDITY
PC
There is a lot of that “no, p’raps not” goes on in this town.
You should see the comment I just deleted after some second thoughts.
I get an awful lot of RWDB crap from US because I was stupid enough to put a subsection American Revolution. History on my Google News. It’s crazy over there. I condemn RWDB crap.
Second that condemnation of the ubiquitous Ratty.
I condemn windy days. Its been a while but I also condemn dust-storms.
I condemn HHIS with or without the blackface. I condemn all oother cretinous TV programmes on 9, especially the Footy Show.
I condemn having to wait for series 2 of Mad Men to appear on SBS.
I condemn the fact that Torchwood on ABC2 clashes with Friday Night Crime on ABC 1.
I condemn Ashes to Ashes. Its crap.
Jeez, you really got me going there.
Hannah’s dad — you can’t talk about them in public because half the time they turn out to be sitting at the next table or standing behind you in the queue. Adders is just like that.
first, I condemn anyone who wishes to drink Miss Overington, nay, writes a recipe for the drink
second, some things are getting my goat, but as far as I can see, nobody is getting up my goat
thirdly…. Pavolov’s: we observed young Aussies who had never ridden a motored bike in their lives, signing up to hire same in Bali (mid-70s) and saw them riding off in T-shirts, shorts, no helmets; on crowded roads with bemos, buses etc. to contend with. We feared for their welfare. An experienced surfer said that if he ever got a scratch on the coral, he was straight to Darwin for hospital treatment of the likely infections.
I condemn young fogeys such as me who didn’t have the full Bali bogan experience through timidity and caution
Oh, I didn’t realise there was condemnation of the state Labor bully boys over here too, I’ll add my condemn.
I condemn Liam for putting the image of Caroline Overington in a bikini on a Vespa into my head. Where is the brain bleach?
Coal………..and Lowy Institute reports that give anti scientific media arsehats silly ideas about what the public may or may not think about global warming.
Oh, and one more thing. Old school barbers that say you’d look 10 years younger if you dye you hair. Dude! WTF! I come to you so I don’t have to listen to that kind of chit chat.
Agree 20 and 21: The Packer State Funeral, paid for by we taxpayers, was one of the lowest points of the Howard Hegemony. And there on the telly last night, lest we forget, chief mourners Mr and Mrs Howard at the funeral: Janette’s eyes gleaming adoringly in a Nancy Reagan kinda way, and Howie’s face screwed up and shoulders hunched in grief. The object of their adoration, a man who apparently refused to pay his gambling debts (one mill owed to Waterhouse, never paid). Now that is unaustralian. Let us condemn those who do not pay their gambling debts, just for starters.
I condemn my friend whom I’m shortly to visit (in the USA, on my first trip there) for coming down with Swine Flu. WTF? I thought I’d escaped that in Aus!
And Phillip Ruddock for dog-whistling on refugees, again. Unfortunately according to another Lowry report, or the spin given to it on the ABC’s World Today, it still puts asylum seekers up there as a major fear. Apparently 73 % of us are still scared of refugees. And what’s the point of condemning stupidity. But I do condemn the RWDBs who control the ABC.
I condemn our military commanders who ordered the shooting of the Australian army’s surviving horses at the end of the Boer War rather than repatriating them to Australia. I also condemn TV and radio program producers who insist on playing the recording of The Last Parade in programs about Anzac Day and World War I when I actually wrote it about an episode in the Boer War.
I condemn the stupidity of “boat people”. Don’t they realize that if you want a mass influx of a different ethnic group into this country, the best way is too have most of them convicted criminals, chain them below decks, and use sailing ships? (it worked well in the eighteenth century)… and at the same time condemn those who condemn “economic refugees” while praising those who came here during the gold rush.
NSW Labour.
Jeez, PC, you’ve got me a bit worried about what I wrote. (Not sure what it was, though.)
Fortunately I’m old enough to not much care who I offend, particularly if they’re members of the ALP, and I’m in secure employment.
For the moment.
We get to vote for the ones who’s names aren’t David Cappo, just saying.
On a lighter note, I’d like to condemn the fact that I can’t buy Grits in Australia. I became quite fond of them during my visit to the American south. Why can you get all sorts of sugary American breakfast items in our supermarkets, but you can’t get plain old grits?
Word, fb. But again, I’d watch your back, there, if I were you. And I don’t mean about the grits.
Actually, I should probably watch my back about the Grits too..a friend in Georgia tried to send me some but they got confiscated by AQIS.
I condemn context.
I hate it when I’m an filthy apologist, but my opponent is putting things in context.
I hate it when that happens.
I condemn the current argument that our immigration laws may or may not be the cause of the boat people arrivals.
This is a wild theory I know, but just maybe if we stopped bombing their countries…..
We didn’t bomb Sri Lanka.
I condemn the same old claptrap: “my family’s fine (we were immigrants) but all the NEW arrivals are dodgy”
I’ll never forget seeing a Melbourne Greek shaking his fist angrily at some Cambodians on a float in Melbourne’s annual “Moomba Parade” in 1985. “Go home!” he shouted.
I condemn the Moomba Parade.
[Barry Humphries: " 'Moomba' is an Aboriginal word meaning 'let's get together and have fun'. They gave us te word because they have no further use for it."]
I condemn the doctor who didn’t diagnose me with whooping cough and the pathology lab that took 7 working days to send the results back. The lab is rude to the receptionists too, I believe.
I condemn all the symptoms of said disease, especially the recent loss of my sense of smell. Mayday! Mayday! I cannot smell garlic!
I condemn the overpriced, dried-out food at the Opera Bar, and the slow service. I condemn the Geek for failing to use the magic word “performance” when ordering.
I condemn the disappearance of freezer bag labels. Can’t get them anywhere.
I condemn the NSW Govt’s (yes, them again) decision to prevent kids from doing high school via TAFE. There are a group of kids who, having grown up too fast, find school stifling. TAFE has given a high-risk group a second, more congenial chance at education.
I condemn homoeopathy that “cures” autism and communicable diseases.
Fortunately for my state of mind, the Geek has brought home
Bach Rescue Remedychocolate!Chookie@45
Shouldn’t you be condemning the person who decided you /shouldn’t/ get the pertussis vaccine, and the person who decided the person you caught it from wouldn’t be vaccinated,… ad infinitum.
Win a few, lose a few.
Some background.
We came to live at our block about 7-8 years ago after using it as a weekender for about 10 years.
One of the great joys of this place was setting up our garden.
Lots of lovely compost, a trailer load of you beaut chicken shit [well matured] donated by a neighbour, a truckload of mulch donated by the blokes who drove up in the morning mist looking for a place to dump their load of under power line tree clippings.
Some labour and there we were with a great garden, stuff growing bounteously.
And then the roos jumped the fence and ate the garden.
All of it, the greedy sods.
Plan B.
Redevelop garden in old wheelbarrows and washing machine tubs and old bath tubs next to the house. Very rustic. And safe, cos the roos won’t come that near to the house.
Wrong.
Plan C.
Build a you beaut enclosed garden area inside a roo proof fence.
Yes!!!!
Then our water supply disappeared.
So now we have a token garden back in the tubs etc in which we use some grey water and some of our precious rain water. And for some reason, maybe because the bounty is limited, the roos are leaving us alone.
But not the wombats.
The last two mornings we have gone to one of our bath tubs where we have just planted zuchini and there one of our local wombats has left her trademark nuggets of dung.
And dug up the dirt and the seeds.
Tonight at sunset hannah started barking from inside the house.
Passing by our house casually, taking no notice of hannah, were a mum wallaroo with joey tagging along behind.
They were casing the joint we’re sure of it.
I don’t think our garden is going to survive.
Now, do I condemn them?
Or bless ‘em for gracing us with their presence?
I condemn organisation, I just tidied my desk and now I can’t find a thing!
If I heard her right on ABC radio this evening then I condemn Sharman Stone (shadow spokesperson for immigration) for a comment along the lines that “we have run out of places providing free board for asylum seekers.”
She looks and sounds a real horror.
I condemn the politicisation of asylum seekers, generally. It is just so ugly.
Thanks for the clip, btw Mark. (Blocked at work … ) I’d forgotten how much my sons and I like Bauhaus (the band, not … shudder … the architectural style).
I can remember how much the song struck me when I first saw the movie, David. I condemn the fact that the soundtrack was an import at that stage!
That’s a beaut story, hannah’s dad.
A botanic Wackenhut is the only failsafe solution. Horticulturally, our bug-bear is bloody bush turkeys. The bastards are relentless. Short of resorting to persuasion of the “say hello to my little friend” variety, our “gitmo garden patch” and my Acme Avian Education Device (shanghai) have fortified well our vegetable redoubt. There’s a ton of fresh tucker for the blighters in the national park where the main offender, a handsome brute with a bright yellow neck-band, having graduated with honours, now forages. Mind you, some of his tutorials were a tad painful.
I condemn Michael Buble soundalikes. And Michael Buble, for that matter. And men in yellow suits and red shoes.
I condemn members of clubs who give a hard time to the unpaid, voluntary members of the various committees. Inevitably, the complainers are people are nowhere to be seen when the roles are up for election, and are never available when extra help is needed, but then find plenty to criticize in the running of the clubs throughout the year.
Is Phillip Ruddock’s growing resemblence to the Emperor in Star Wars worth condemning? Probably not, but it’s disconcerting none-the-less, sometimes dodgy politics can make you look crook – I condemn dodgy politics:
Phillip Ruddock:
http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/rwpgslib.nsf/GraphicFilesPersonal/%28CFD7369FCAE9B8F32F341DBE097801FF%29~pr22/$FILE/Ruddock+Philip25percent.jpeg
The Emperor in Star Wars:
http://www.hecklerspray.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/palpatine.jpg
I condemn EC for hyphenating bugbear. What next, hob-goblin? I also condemn Patak Foods for discontinuing Patak’s Ginger Pickle. I wrote to them, and it’s official. May I borrow your site for a sec, Mark; to arms Citoyens, write to Pataks at info@pataks.co.uk and ask them WTF!
Oh no! I condemn Patak’s too!
No way! They might also pull the Sweet Mango Chutney if there is too much whingeing.
Seems a good little subby is always in harness, SHC. Your condemnation is a powerful incentive for aetiological rigour going forward.
How can we ever thank you enough, Hyphen Man?
I condemn sweet chutneys. (Ahmed’s Mango pickle – sour/salty/oily. You’ll never look at one of those jammy horrors again.)
First a serious condemnation: I condemn that noxious poison about refugees injected into this nation’s consciousness by that foul little racist John Winston Howard. I condemn the fact that that racism against refugees is still here and all it takes is a little scratch by RWDBs in the media, the racists in the Liberalk Party of Australia, and some rare clumsiness in politicking by K.rudd to bring it to the fore.
On a more fun level – I seriouly condemn in the strongest possible terms the fact that Bi-Lo in Armidale has reduced its range of Birdseye Create -A-Meals to to teriyaki, honey soy, black bean sauce with vegetable and some yukky stuff with green ginger sauce. Gone are sweet ‘n’ sour, chile con carne (for years) and one or two others I can’t remember. How am I ever going to get any variety in my diet?
I also condemn the fact, though I love it, of endless varieties of spaghetti and other yummy pastas because I can never make up my mind which ones to choose.
Paul @ 62, you almost deserve condemnation for not learning how to cook chile con carne for yourself. It’s not that hard and, if prompted, I’ll provide my recipe (stolen with thanks from a book I have at home) later today.
I condemn Anna Bligh and Bill Ludwig.
Oh good, chille con carne recipes at ten paces.
This used to be the staple student dinner party recipe, for those of us who could not really cook, but wanted to make a quick impression at a party, by blowing the heads off all the guests.
First – how do you spell chili? Second – carne means meat, so this is not for vegos. Third – cheese on top? Fourth – cheap tinned tomatoes and red kidney beans (whistling berries). And so on…
I condemn myself for being too lazy to cook chili con carne, and resorting tio getting it out of a packet. (You can get it in Lite and Easy but they’re cutting down on the variety of those too. Recipes pls.
I condemn myself for living half the week on McCains TV dinners.(Love the turkey, Chicken Paramagente or whatever you call it, especially.
Paul, I’ll put it up tonight (no recipe books at work). The quantities would feed you for at least a week, so you might want to scale down.
..or cook heaps and freeze in meal-size portions. Then all you need is a bag of rice, and a bag of pasta (for variety), and hey presto, easy meals in 15 mins for those days when you cant be bothered cooking.
I condemn myself in advance for wishing that Paul would begin a review section, on his blog, of TV dinners….getting down to the nitty gritty of brands and varieties in the way he has just begun, here.
joe2, might do a post like thsat on my blog after I’ve gone out and bought the stuff tomorrow. Then I can look at the names and getb them righyt. I condemn myself for having a terrible memory for everyday things.
I condemn the fact that I’ve just had to renew a library book due to failure to read it in the time normally available, something that would have been unheard of when younger, due to novels being pushed out of late night reading time in favour of blogs and other online material.
I condemn the failure of the world to have yet constructed a space elevator.
I condemn the state of affairs where people consider water actually flowing through a river system as “wasted”.
“….after I’ve gone out and bought the stuff tomorrow.”
The Lean Cuisine cannelloni is worth a burl, Paul.
And while I am here, I condemn Chinese garlic for its supermarket takeover. Sometimes, admittedly, there is a little of the Mexican import but that is even worse.( I can hardly wait for the massive crop in me backbeyard to reach maturity.)
I haven’t bought garlic in years. Everyone should grow there own, it’s one of the easiest things to grow and young new season garlic fresh from the ground is one of life’s simple pleasures. While we are on the subject of gardening, has anyone here ever grown Lima beans? I’d like to know when to plant some seeds and what form they grow in…bush, vine?
er, to be on topic, I condemn my lack of knowledge re: the growing of Lima beans.
I condemn NASA’s failure to reveal whether or not they were successful in destroying an alien Earth-monitoring and communications outpost on the moon. The public has the right to know whether invasion is imminent or not.
I condemn every third wednesday for being too damn dusty, and the Uki pub for being too far away right now.
FB try the seed savers network.
Who deserve condemnation for challenging the potential agribusiness monopoly on seed supplies.
joe2 @ 74,
Haven’t tried that one. Guess I’ll have to buy the yukky green ginger one if I’m going to write a review of ‘em all on my blog in the next few days. Got a bit of time now. Have just finished the first draft of ch. 3 of my book (second draft, actually) apart from a 3-4 para conclusion. Will be editing and blue-pencilling madly over the next few days as the current draft, not counting footnotes is 10329 words long.
I condemn myself for overwriting, for not putting regular posts on my blog, and for living mostly on TV dinners. (Except for my endless chicken/vegetable soups. tried cabbage ‘n’ chicken last week. Think the cabbage had bugs in it, but that’s probably a long story.)
I condemn myself for spending money buying books from o/s instead of buying a crock-pot in Armidale.
Hey, Paul, I also want to buy a book or two on Amazon. They seem not to allow paypal. Is the best way to pay via a debit card like visa?
I condemn my O.T. edness!
joe2,
Use credit card or a debit card. I find Abe Books a liitle better. And Alibris quite good. They dock the card right away and are slightly slower in delivery by a week or so. Use Bookfinder. Then you get a list of all the sellers that have the book available and can compare prices. Sometimes the price differential can be quite substantial. I’ll see if I can establish a link for you. May not be able to as its a field.
Can’t comment on PayPal. Don’t know how to use them.
joe2,
Use this: http://www.bookfinder.com/
And, btw, I condemn those big o/s on-line booksellers who don’t want to send books from o/s to here.
I condemn all those people who feel a need to ring 3 times a day with advice when a baby is 8 days overdue.
Someone else here would like to condemn gravity, walking, and all furniture not designed with heavily pregnant women in mind.
Cheers, Paul. I have a reluctance to put credit card details on line. So it will be a debit card, I need to set up, I guess.
Yeh and I condemn English ebay that, kinda by default, excludes o/s buyers. God knows why they would not want to get the best price. The only diffence is that they would need to put more stamps on a package.
I condemn Paul for not realising that the bugs in his cabbage just added protien to his soup.
Seriously, Paul, crockpots are so fucking cheap, and they make any kind of stew or soup just about painless. You should get one. I paid 60 bucks for a huge one a couple of years ago, and it gets a lot of use in the winter especially.
joe2@74: Me too. I loudly condemned that awful small bleached white chinese garlic at the supermarket a while back, and to my astonishment it was replaced a week later with that lovely fat pink garlic that is locally produced. Perhaps it was just lucky timing that the local crop came on stream at that moment….anyway, I continue to condemn small bleached white chinese garlic, with extreme prejudice.
joe2@ 84,
I use a debit card. If you make sure you have nough in to cover the purchase, and, with the US, the little bit extra to cover the exchange rate, you’ll have no problems. I think they cost $3/4 a month to run, and now if you get $3 overdrawn it doesn’t matter because banks aren’t slugging people $30 for late fees anymore.
DInr)@ 85,
I think they were brown bugs. Theyt cooked up into little round mud-balls and I had to flush everything out under the tap and recook it. I condemn myself for sometimes not washing vegetables before I eat ‘em. Another good reason for TV dinners.
Dvae Bath @46 wrote:
Shouldn’t you be condemning the person who decided you /shouldn’t/ get the pertussis vaccine, and the person who decided the person you caught it from wouldn’t be vaccinated,… ad infinitum.
No. I condemn the fact that the pertussis vaccine has a life of only five years or so in adults, and that nobody ever thought to mention it. I had my last tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis booster about 8 years ago.
I DO condemn the student who was coughing all over the library. Most students have kept their
swine fludiseases at home this winter. Except for Pertussis Patsy.I condemn the next-door neighbour’s mower men, who arrived punctually with edge trimmer, mower and (double condemn!) blower, just as I settled down for a siesta on Monday. HOW do they always know when I’m sick?
furious balancing@56, I think Mike Carlton was right when he wrote that Ruddock looked more like the Picture of Dorian Gray every day. To think I can remember him crossing the floor on the immigration question in 1988! And if I couldn’t remember it, I wouldn’t believe it happened.
I condemn waking in the middle of the night AND not beuing able to get back to sleep again. Guess I’ll crash early tonight. Not that it matters, only crap on TV and I probably won’t hire a DVD. (Middle of the night is 2.30/3.00 am DST.)
But at least I can watch the sun come up. It’s kinda nice from my living room window which sorta looks out over bush land. I condemn not watching as many sunrises as I used to when I was young.
Actually, Paul, cabbages are bastards of things – they can still have bugs in them after you’ve washed them.
Yeh booooooo cabbages and their bugs, stink etc
and Joe Hockey for saying, “I don’t want to make this a partisan comment”, then going on to relate how “embarrassed”, “appalled” and “stunned” he is by bushfire reconstruction that his mob, with General Cosgrove, would have done so much better.
Prat!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/14/2713739.htm?section=justin
Even though I avoided the prat this morning (presume he was on AM or ABC2) I condemn Joe Hockey too.
I condemn the media for removing the ring of garlic around Phillip Ruddock allowing his vile utterances to be heard.
I condemn suicide with one exception, above, for which, if it was a crime, we could so easily forgive him.
The Republicans for opposing health care.
Birthers for being insane.
DOCS NSW for taking three times as many kids into care when compared per capita with Victoria.
The NSW gubberment for incompetence.
i condem pataks and sharwoods and other commercial pickle producers for always using far to much salt in everything.
after 20 odd years of experiement i make a flexible (from mild to screaming banshee) indian lime pickle and an excellent chilli and garlic pickle…i am prepared to share the recipes…be aware it is a three month process, but well worth the effort.
cabbages are bastards of things
NO YOU ARE LYING
Cabbage is delicious, just needs sympathetic cooking.
I condemn the ABC (yet again) for being little more than a pale clone of the commercial media, with a few notable exceptions.
I also condemn most food manufacturers for putting too much salt in everything. With the exception of Vegemite of course.
I like cabbage, Helen, I just don’t like the bugs that always infest the damn things unless they’ve got so much pesticide in them you wouldn’t want them anyway.
I suspect your children wouldn’t agree, btw. Mine have only consented to eat brassica since they turned into adults.
I’d be very interested in your lime pickle recipe, Eric @ 95, as I recently pickled some lemons and the result was … OK …
I condemn myself for not having shared my awesome chili con carne recipe yet, but I didn’t have the energy last night.
David Irving(nr): our kids liked olives when young, but while in the larval stage also rejected brassicas.
The kids have improved out of sight since emerging from the pupae [teenage years].
I condemn those P-platers who seem to wish to re-enter the womb via my vehicle’s exhaust pipe. WRONG WAY GO BACK.
I condemn myself for having nothing witty to add here…
I condemn all those that persist with bug-ridden cabbage instead of simply growing a more robust and more tasty brassica, like Cavalo Nero [or Tuscan cabbabe]…it’s yummy, versatile, drought tolerant and pretty much bug free. I have some from planting two years ago that are just about to set seed, so I can send seeds out sometime in the next few months if anyone is interested.
Garlic won’t work with Ruddock. Haven’t you heard, he’s Dorian Gray. I condemn my not being able to find the painting.
FB – I second your condemn, and I’d love some cavolo nero seeds. That stuff is awesome – like a cross between white cabbage and spinach, but better than either. And you can cook it for ages without disintegrating.
I’ll return the favour with some coriander seeds I’ve been breeding to bolt late for about five generations now. And some Warrigal Spinach too if you like – like a slightly bitter, peppery spinach, but also native, perennial, self-sowing and very drought tolerant (unlike pretty much all other green leafy crops). Ours were newly planted just before the Feb fires in Vic, and made it though 8 days above forty in their first month of life.
Any moderators around to put us in touch? Much appreciated.
My local library (Fairfield, Brisbane) has a cool technician who condemns brilliantly through his creative window displays. His latest is titled ‘Global stupidity is increasing’, and features quotes from George Bush, Elle McPherson and others, and the books in the display include such titles as ‘Triumph of the Airheads’. His previous display condemned banning books featuring heaps of titles banned or restricted somewhere, sometime (as diverse as Harry Potter, Lady Chatterley etc) with satirical posters warning of the ‘dangers’ of reading books. I applaud creative condemnation in worthy causes and I encourage anyone who lives near Fairfield library (Bris) to check out the display – it had a cheering effect on me.
I can send you some seeds FDB, no worries – hopefully a mod can give you my email address. If not, I will set up a temporary gmail and post it here, so anyone can who wants some can drop me a line. The seeds will be ready in about a month I think, if we get some warmth to dry them out – they are just starting to pod now.
I have Warrigal greens in my garden, though I’ve rarely ever eaten it – never quite figured out the best way to use it. It grows natually on the cliffs at the beach here, so it is definitely hardy, it takes the salt, wind and Adelaide’s westerly sun in summer. How do you cook yours?
I find a really short blanching is enough to then bung it in anything that calls for spinach. But it’s pretty robust flavour-wise, so some care is needed.
The best things I’ve done with it were a fish florentine (just wilted, then baked as per usual, with a tastier fish than you might normally use for a florentine – home-caught Aust Salmon in this case) and a really good chicken and potato and warrigal curry (where the greens ended up a green mushy mess as desired).
But it’s tasty enough that most of the time it’s just a few leaves across a pizza or baked tart-type arrangement.
Raw it’s too fuzzy and bitter for me.
On Joe2’s suggestion, the first food post on my blog. I know I should probably wait for Saturday Salon but what the hell.
http://beingahistoryheadandotherthings.blogspot.com/2009/10/burnseys-tv-dinners-et-al.html
And I condemn supermarket shelve stackers who break the plastic plates in McCain’s TV dinners when they stack them.
The Tuscan potatoes are just potatoes but they’re not worth a condemn.
In the interests of seeing who bites (and how hard): I condemn those who condemn others for not being vaccinated. If you don’t want to be vaccinated then that is your choice and no-one else should try to tell you otherwise.
Okay NADNANB, but I’m going to have to counter that by condemning those who deliberately peddle pseudoscience and blatant lies to discourage people from doing the responsible thing and getting themselves/their children vaccinated.
Also, we don’t always get to decide what we will and won’t do in a society, and this is a clear case of potentially doing harm to others. You’d want a good reason for that.
Brilliant, Paul@108. Lean cuisine have a very passable vegetarian lasagna that I personally recommend accompanied with a quickly thrown together mixed leaf (2.00 dollar at coles) green salad mix. I wonder if anyone has taken to reviewing cardboardonnay wines?
I condemn the Tuscanisation of every goddam thing…potatoes, cabbages, paint, flower pots, umbrellas, bread, rocks etc etc.
I’m with FDB, NADNANB. It’s extremely irresponsible and antisocial to refuse vaccination for potentially fatal diseases (including, but not limited to, polio, measles and whooping cough).
I condemn people who fail to immunise their children.
I sondemn the fact that while vaccines are a potentially brilliant technology any criticism of them is likely to be labelled pseudoacience.
I condemn a mentality that refuses to accept that these ideas are based on peoples fears. And refuses to engage those fears in an empathetic way.
I also condemn the ethics of big pharma.
Ultimately tho I condemn anyone who denies people their right to refuse a vaccination. Obviously refusing a vaccination only endangers yourself and others who haven’t been vaccinated.
(I accept that this applies only to concenting adults and wouldn’t touch the ethics of vaccinating or not vaccinating children with a barge pole or what vaccinating or not vaccinating your kids does or doesn’t say about your parenting.)
I condemn my spelling.
“I wonder if anyone has taken to reviewing cardboardonnay wines?”
As a mildly alcoholic and impoverished musician, I’m qualified if you want.
“refusing a vaccination only endangers yourself and others who haven’t been vaccinated.”
No, it also renders any attempt at disease eradication (or even control) at the population level useless. Health resources are wasted, and we all collectively foot the bill for the healthcare for individual cases resulting from the failed eradication.
Then the responsible folks’ children have to do it all over again for their children, on and on to eternity.
“I condemn a mentality that refuses to accept that these ideas are based on peoples fears. And refuses to engage those fears in an empathetic way.”
Fair enough. Though I’ve never seen that mentality on display, I’d imagine it feels awful for those already afraid. But why are they afraid? It’s because of another type of mentality, which knows all too well that “these ideas are based on peoples fears”. Then exploits those fears for ideological and profit reasons.
Also, I think you’ll find Big Pharma has more of an ongoing interest in disease treatment than in disease immunisation/eradication. For the most part, immunisation drives are the initiatives of governments, communities and not-for-profit groups.
David Irving (no relation) @ 99 and anyone else with a pickle fancy.
Lime Pickle
25 medium sized limes
225g/8oz salt (less for smaller limes)
50g/2oz fenugreek powder
50g/2oz mustard powder
150g/5oz chilli powder, this is kinda average hot..less = mild, more = deadly
15g/1/2oz tumeric
600ml/1pint/21/2 cups mustard oil
1 tsp asafoetida
25g/1oz yellow mustard seeds, crushed
1. Cut each lime into 8 pieces and remove pips. Place the limes is a large sterilised jar. Add salt and toss with the limes. Cover and leave in a warm place for 1-2 weeks minimum, a month is better, until they become soft and dull brown in colour.
2. Mix together the fenugreek, mustard power, chilli powder and tumeric and add to the limes.
3. Cover and leave to rest in a warm place for a further couple of weeks.
4 Heat the mustard oil in a frying pan and fry the asafoetida and mustard seeds. When the oil reaches smoking point, pour it over the limes. Mix well, cover with a clean cloth and leave in a warm place for about four weeks before decanting into smaller sterilized jars.
this lot will last you a year easy, and will still give you plenty to give away to adventurous chums. I condemn myself for taking up too much space however.
You may be right Paul, in which case I condemn the lack of wooden stakes and a mallet at that certain institution in Canberra, under that gigantic Hills Clothes Hoist.
Eric – never apologise for giving clear recipe instructions.
That sounds exactly like the method my Indian housemate used to use. We made a batch with mild yellowy-orange chillis in place of limes (limeless lime pickle!), which was hot enough that I haven’t finished it 3 years later.
As far as instant dinners go, I used to buy those Indian dinners in a packet for camping trips and they seem to have found their way into everyday life too. The Palak Panner and the Daal taste pretty much like the ones you get at those el-cheapo indian restaurants that are popping up everywhere. They charge you at least $10 but the instant meal ones are $2.50 at the Asian grocer. They are a good stand-by for when I’m too tired to cook, and they don’t have any preservatives or artificial shit in them.
That pickle sounds pretty good Eric Sykes. I’m gonna give DI[nr] a nidge for the chilli con-carne recipe. I’m preparing the ground for some capsicum plants this weekend.
oops, I mean a nudge. A nidge sound like…well, I’m not sure what it sounds like, but it doesn’t seem like something you should do to a stranger on the internet.
The point I want to make about vaccination is that it is great if people want to do it. If you believe it is important to protect yourself and others then this is noble and should be supported (and most certainly not condemned!). However it must be realised that this is a choice that you are making (and perhaps making on behalf of your children). The only thing I condemn are those who want to ridicule others right to also make a free choice (and come up with a different answer) through calling them stupid, selfish (or whatever else they might come up with). I condemn those who want to deny choice (including those manufacturers of freezer meals who are taking options off the shelf, insodoing limiting choice)!
NADNANB – what do you think of the reasons I gave as to why some opprobrium might be deserved for people who don’t immunise their kids? I don’t want to insult you, but have you thought through the implications of your “just do what you wanna do” social health policy? Where are the limits?
I’m with FDB and DI(NR). If not being vaccinated is your choice, then it is also your choice to be responsible for other people (like Chookie) and their kids getting potentially fatal diseases, and for actively hindering the eradication of disease.
I condemn propaganda and paranoia.
“No, it also renders any attempt at disease eradication (or even control) at the population level useless. Health resources are wasted, and we all collectively foot the bill for the healthcare for individual cases resulting from the failed eradication.”
Depending on the disease.
Its unlikely any influenza vaccination will ever eradicate influenza for example.
If we vaccinated the entire population of Australia tomorrow against smallpox, cos for the sake of this argument it hasn’t been eradicated yet, then between 20 and 40 people will die from the vaccination program. At least, and thats assuming no other complications such as a dirty batch of vaccine or whatever.
I know thats probably a lot less than would die from smallpox if we didn’t eradicate it with vaccination, but do you see what i’m getting at here?
There are other claims about vaccines that are crap, but then again there are some I wonder about. I’m more dubious on the swine flu vaccine. I played football with someone who had swine flu this year, for the entire time they had it, shared water bottles, cigarettes, billys and probably swigged from the same non H2O drinks as well.
I didn’t get it, or if I did, I didn’t have any symptoms.
If the disease mutates will a vaccination thats already been developed be any use?
(Reselling vaccinations to entire populations every year, that’d have to be a good gig wouldn’t it. So I dunno if big pharma is always going to against vaccination per se. While we are on the subject. And I wouldn’t want to get into any baseless conspiracy theories about people in government having a benefit from the sales of vaccines, cos I’m sure that has never happened.)
At the same time I’m happy to get tetanus shots, even tho they are uncomfortable.
As for kids … well I don’t have any, so I don’t want to get stuck in a debate between two sides that are both passionate about protecting their children.
I really do condemn people who drag threads too far off track all the time tho.
“As a mildly alcoholic and impoverished musician, I’m qualified if you want.”
Overqualified I would say. I want and please do.
I condemn adults who are unvaccinated for not walking around in sackcloth and ashes, ringing a bell and calling out “Unclean! Unclean!”
“NADNANB – what do you think of the reasons I gave as to why some opprobrium might be deserved for people who don’t immunise their kids? I don’t want to insult you, but have you thought through the implications of your “just do what you wanna do” social health policy? Where are the limits?”
Thats a fair comment, but what are the limits? Really.
Are you prepared to demand mandatory vaccination for everything for everyone? (provided it was possibe.) In theory in a perfect world where nothing ever went wrong I’d be all for that.
Except sometimes being sick can be a weirdly mystical experience, sometimes its good to identify with your immune system as it fights infection, especially if you are at the point where you feel like shit.
Thats not an excuse for not vaccinating tho, cos in the world here and now there are plenty of challengs without that.
“If not being vaccinated is your choice, then it is also your choice to be responsible for other people (like Chookie) and their kids getting potentially fatal diseases, and for actively hindering the eradication of disease.” – Pavlov’s
Thats true. And there is a bit of a difference between flu vaccination and smallpox eradication imo, so taking that into account, personally, since its an issue of personal responsibility, if I have kids then the probability of me getting them vaccinated for most things is high 90% range, but I dunno about getting them vaccinated against the flu every year. There’ a huge range of other things tho that sure, vaccination would be my choice.
I can only speak and act for myself tho.
I condemn anyone who would deny that choice to people. In the strongest possible way.
Tho I accept they are responsible for their choices and their actions, and the consequences of those actions. I celebrate that.
I also condemn paranoia and propaganda, and the SNAFU priciple, which states that communication is only possible between equals, cos without it all this would be so much easier.
I condemn the guys that created those little nanobot tracking devices which are injected into those receiving flu vaccinations, mostly because they play merry hell with the signal from my mobile phone.
Tinfoil is the answer there, Rewi.
I condemn all this talk about food when I am hungry.
I’m getting a swine flu vaccination next Thursday.
I condemn extra postage charges on books sent from Us and quoted in US $ because it means I don’t really know if I’ve got extra money in the bank to cover it. I think I’m $2 short. Which means I’ll have to walk all the way up town this afternoon to put $5 in the bank.
I condemn the extra time I’ll have to wait to get the book.
Paul, why are you getting the swine flu vaccination? Have you done the research that shows you why it is a good idea. Have you researched and implemented all the other things that you can do that may be more effective in stopping you from getting it? However if you want to get it, for whatever reason then that is great. You see you have the choice.
As to this “it is also your choice to be responsible for other people (like Chookie) and their kids getting potentially fatal diseases, and for actively hindering the eradication of disease” then so be it. What I am not talking about is developing health policy, I am talking about my right to make decisions about my body and what goes into it (sounds a bit like ” and the circumstances in which they come” doesn’t it, except I am saying that we all have a choice, not just some of us). The interesting thing about this debate is that some people would actively like to deny choice to some because of what they believe (not what they know). As Jules rightly says there are many diseases, many vaccinations and in my book therefore many choices (which should be considered carefully before being made). I condemn those who think that exercising choice is being selfish and paranoid. Though I condemn paranoia too (just because I think they are out to get me doesn’t mean they aren’t).
I get vaccinated, despite my crippling fear of needles, because I trust that my GP who recommends either vaccination or non-vaccination has a better handle on the individual and public health questions than I do. His/her empathetic (or otherwise) treatment of my pathetic squeamishness about syringes doesn’t enter into it. Yes there is “choice” involved in every medical decision but not everyone has access to equal amounts of information.
Do you have a background in medicine, epidemiology, or public health statistics? What makes you think that you are capable of undertaking such research as a layperson?
Given that vaccinations usually prevent contagious disease, that’s a spectacularly false dichotomy, NADNANB.
NADN whatever at 133,
Because I have cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonory disorder and if I catch swine flu I’ve a 90% chance of dying, One one seventh of the way through a book I’m writing and I don’t want to die until I’ve finished it and had it published.
OTOH, once I’ve had the swine flu vaccination I’ll have only a .001 chance of dying, and at the worst if I have an adverse rection, which I freely admit is possible I’ll spend a night and part of a day in hospital after the excitement of a free ambulance ride and get to eat some nice hospital food.
Got it, you irresponsible idiot?!
Now I am getting paranoid! I am talking about my right to make decisions about my body. I am not, and I dont know how it could be contrued as such, trying to tell anyone else anything about the merits (or lack thereof) of vaccination, or whether or not they should or should not have them. I condemn those who are trying to argue I am doing anything else. Of course I should have known that talking about vaccination was going to mean that things got off track so (although that was part of my original condemn) I now condemn myself for having done so. Vaccination really does arouse strong feelings and I wonder why it does so why more so than many other things (where the actions of some impact on others)? However in the interests of not being further abused or misunderstood I promise to post no more on this topic, either here or anywhere else (though it would be a good one for a post!)
People who don’t vaccinate free-ride on herd immunity. That herd immunity has been very high in the late C20th but has declined recently due to lower vaccination rates amongst a cohort of the latest generation of parents (Complacency / false belief that there is no chance of catching these things anymore- see herd immunity, woo-woo, pseudoscience.) As a result, child deaths from whooping cough have increased, especially I believe in northern NSW where there is a lot of woo-woo or so I’ve heard.
A mother whose baby dies because she hasn’t reached vaccination age but the kids around her are contagious for whooping cough hasn’t been able to make a “choice”.
A small child who dies or goes through immense suffering because of their parents’ complacency, belief in woo-woo, or their belief that they are cleverer than the epidemiologists, hasn’t made a “choice” either.
Now I know I said I wouldn’t post again, and I’m not doing it in response to Helen (who sums up the point I was trying to make). I am actually just doing this for Paul so that he has more information that will assist him (measures to undertake in addition to vaccination) to protect himself from getting swine flu or any other flu http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/sep21_1/b3675 (I know you called me an idiot but I am just trying to be helpful here so please read it in the spirit in which it is intended).
NADNANB,
I have a very good GP and a very good oncologist. I should be dead. Between them I’ve been kept alive 2 years more than I thought I would be with a good quality of life living at home alone and I expect to live several years more. Think I’ll rely on their advice mate. Thanks all the same.
Paul, its from the British Medical Journal. It is reputable, in fact it is the sort of thing that your GP and your oncologist might read to get information (that is what doctors do you know, read peer reviewed journals to keep up to date with information about what other doctors and scientific researchers are up and finding out about). Your response suggests that you rude, hopefully something that can’t be said about me (even if you disagree with what I say)
NADNANB – I’d say PB is one of the least rude commentators on this blog, and he rarely if ever gets into personal conflicts with others. Maybe you should just give it a rest.
i condemn NADNANB @138 & 140 for being so obviously insensitive it is actually frightening.
I condemn Paul for trusting his doctors over some random guy from the internet.
Looks like my goose is cooked from here on in LP wise…
I cannot see why you conclude that nadnanb@144. You are entitled to your opinions. It is just that you are wrong about Paul being rude. He has trust in his doctors advice.
May I suggest you learn something about the spread of infectious diseases? Helen mentins “herd immunity”. That’s a good starting point. Epidemics don’t occur if there are very few “susceptibles”. Susceptibles are those without immunity caused by previous illnesses or those who’ve not been vaccinated.
So your “individual decision” may affect many others in the community. Think about it, please.
ummm, that was directed to nadnanb, not joe2.
Thanks, everyone.
Brett @ 143,
Firstly, I pre-emptively condemn myself for the length of the following.
Here goes, as promised.
Ingredients (to serve 8):
1 to 1.5 kg stewing steak
3 Tbsp oil
2 large onions, chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 – 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 cups crushed tomatoes (about 1 800g tin)
1 l beef stock / water with stock cubes
6 fresh hot red chilies, seeded and chopped (I prefer serranos) OR 6 Tbsp ground chili (maybe use paprika – exercise considerable caution here – I’ve not ever tried it, preferring fresh)
2 tsp cumin (whole or ground)
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 capsicum, de-seeded and chopped
4 cups cooked beans (tinned or precooked)
Optional 1 – 2 chipotles (or 1 – 2 tsp smoked paprika)
The meat can be partly or all mince. I usually use 500g mince and 1kg diced shin, as this gives a very pleasing texture. The beans, if you do them yourself, need to be soaked overnight then cooked in fresh water with a bit of chopped bacon, an onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp whole cumin, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp oregano, maybe 1 tsp salt, and maybe a bay leaf. Pintos are best (because they reduce the amount you fart), but red kidney or black turtle are pretty good too. 2 cups dried beans is heaps.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, and brown the meat in batches (so it doesn’t steam). As each batch is finished, transfer it to a large saucepan or casserole. (I actually brown the meat in the casserole and just transfer it to a bowl.) When all the meat is browned, make sure there’s at least 2 Tbsp of oil/fat left. Add the onions, cover, and sweat at low heat for about 5 mins. (They shouldn’t brown.) Remove lid, raise heat, stir till lightly browned. Add flour and keep stirring for a minute or so. Add the onion mixture to the meat. Add everything else EXCEPT the capsicum and beans, simmer covered for 1 1/2 hrs, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick. Add more water if necessary. Add capsicum, simmer for further 15 minute. Add beans, simmer for 5 minutes more.
Serve with rice or tortillas, and spinach steamed with cumin seeds and a bit of oil.
Thanks for the pickle recipe, Eric, I’ll be trying it next time I get a bunch of lemons from my lady friend, who has a tree.
What a beautiful recipe!
And now for the really simple version – for that bloke in the supermarket aisle who asked me one day which of the disgusting bottle sauces he should plop over spaghetti – and I said – make your own, its tooo easy!
The basic necessities are: big dollop of oil, couple of handfuls of mince, heapsa garlic, couple of chopped onions, big tin red kidney beans, big tin tomatoes and some tomato paste, oregano, salt, many chilli, splash of water – cook all this and at the end add chopped red capsicum, and when serving (with pasta or rice) throw parmesan over top.
You can do this over a camp fire or on a stove. Yum.
Thanks DI[nr], that looks good…the cider vinegar is a good idea, I wouldn’t have thought of that. I think that would be good with kangaroo as well. I think even 6 teaspoons of dried chilli would be too much, I think it must mean paprika.
Yum! Guess I’ll have to try them both. Thanks heaps, DI(nr) and GP.
I’ve not tried it with kangaroo, furious, mainly because of consumer resistance from the young people who share my house. However, it’s on my list. I think it would be fantastic. The reason for the cider vinegar is, I think, for the same reason as you put tamarind or amchur into Indian food – souring agents reduce the apparent heat of the chilies. It also makes it really zingy.
grace’s looks heaps easier than mine, btw.
It does sound like a good recipe. I will try and get around to trying it with the Kanga(I already cook with it a fair bit and fortunately the family have no probs) during the week and let you all know how it turned out.
I condemn the waste of kanga as food for the pet trade when it is lean and delicious.
I condemn overseas booksellers who send books by sea-mail.
I condemn humans who eat non-humans. If left-wing means anything, it’s that when it comes to the weak being dominated by the powerful, you side with the weak. Humans eating non-humans is an archetypical example of the domination of the weak by the powerful. Non-human animals need more people on their side.
Moreover, I condemn the sad decline of whiteface.
(Sorry, I couldn’t find a version with subtitles. Synopsis: The criminal Lacenaire steals a watch – Lacenaire can be seen early in the clip, on the right, with a moustache and a top hat. Garance is accused of the theft. When a police officer asks for witnesses, Jean-Baptiste Deburau gives his account of the theft.)
Personal aside: in honour of Jean-Baptiste, I almost lobbied to have my nipper named John the Baptist.
A 1000kg cow is not ‘weak’. Looks like I’m condemned to eat steak.
Sorry to go back to the vaccination question but there are two things I want to say to NADNANB.
1) Vaccination is not a matter of ‘belief’. It’s not a religious faith, it’s just acceptance of exhaustively tested science on the understanding that, statistically, getting the disease will do a lot more harm than having the vaccination. But by your reasoning, you shouldn’t be using the roads because it’s just a ‘belief’ that engineers know how to build bridges and everyone knows bridges occasionally fall down, therefore it must all just be a big conspiracy theory, right?
2) Your right to swing your arm ends where it meets my eye.
I stand well condemned before you James Rice but promise I will only eat right wing animals from now on. Rebetiki anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6tDe2t_K7U
I condemn LP for not bothering to post on the racism skit. Or vaccines. And other stuff I want to read about.
I condemn Woollies and Coles.
I also condemn any recipe that has chilli in the title that calls for less than 10 (hot) chillies.
My chilli tommato soup might not cure cancer, but it sure helps beat the flu.
I condemn David Miliband for his pathetic excuses:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/16/binyam-mohamed-torture-evidence-miliband
Not surprisingly, for being caught with pants down, the UK government has appealed that ruling. Hopefully some more judicial “reaming” of Miliband, MI5/6 is to follow.
Memo to Miliband from the Judges:
“I condemn humans who eat non-humans. If left-wing means anything, it’s that when it comes to the weak being dominated by the powerful, you side with the weak. Humans eating non-humans is an archetypical example of the domination of the weak by the powerful. Non-human animals need more people on their side.”
That’s a heck of a lot of condemnation there. I condemn people who politicise peoples dietary choices. I was vegetarian until I was presented with some kangaroo in the middle of the desert, it caused my to contemplate the privelege of my choice to be vegetarian.
BTW: Vegetable growing regardless of whether it is organic or not is an exercise in dominion over nature.
If you want to discuss the ethics and politics of food, then I’d suggest condemnation without qualification is a wee bit strong. And unless you’re a hunter/gatherer, you’ll probably be called a hypocrite.
I read an interesting article on the topic of immunisation in the context of universal health care at salon.com:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/10/16/healthcare_for_immigrants/index.html
I condemn the BMJ for letting the authors of the paper linked to in #138 make strong conclusions up to and including “number needed to treat” based on such weak evidence as meta-analysis of retrospective case-control data when the better evidence was useless.
On a side note, it is now much improved but the BMJ used to have such predictably awful primary research papers that I would use it as a teaching tool. Ask medical student to go to the library, take a random original article from the BMJ and come tell me why it was false. The nosology of poor research was enlightening,.
I also condemn my waste of over thirty dollars on the Bauhaus reunion album. Beautiful cover, dull record. Even with all the nostalgia of an aged Goth it failed.
Back to my “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” studio version picture disc…
I condemn Australia’s live exports when some 40,000 livestock are thrown overboard every year. Pretty sick eh when millions of people are starving? Pretty sick eh when Australia tortures non-humans in pursuit of a quick buck? Pretty sick when the non-human terrestrial animals, who miraculously survive a tortuous journey by truck and on the high seas, are then heinously slaughtered in the lands of barbarians and Australia’s livestock growers rejoice eh?
Pretty sick, too, when other people are described as “barbarians”. I condemn that.
I condemn those who use the race card to conceal acts of brutality, perpetrated on Australia’s livestock.
The live export industry, in collusion with state and federal governments, has lied to the Australian public.
At the behest of Animals Australia and its Action Network, Princess Alia, a member of the Royal family of Jordan, inspected an abattoir in Jordan which slaughtered Australia’s livestock.
What she witnessed was sufficient for Princess Alia to close down the abattoir immediately and raze the meat markets surrounding that abattoir. And what were Australia’s livestock growers doing in the meantime? Ducking for cover!
Australia’s own barbarians – ie. Meat and Livestock Australia, have egg on their face but undeterred, they continue to perpetrate acts of extreme cruelty on Australia’s defenceless critters. Slaughtering practices in other countries include stabbing a beast in the eyes, slashing its flanks to bring it down and suspending huge beasts from the ceiling before cutting its throat. And that’s not the whole picture. Charming eh?
Whoops – I almost forgot the advice I was once given – “It’s the economy stoopid!”
http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/jordanian_horror_slaughterhouse_closed.php
furious balancing at comment 163:
The dietary choice is already a political act, an expression of power. I’ll agree that if eating habits are more the result of necessity than choice, this would affect how these habits should be viewed. But the proportion of the Australian population who eat non-human animals out of any kind of necessity is virtually zero.
I condemn the term “heart-rendering” which was used to describe the endearing appeal of the Sri Lankan lass in Merak. (On Insiders but that’s not the first instance.)
My heart can be rended, it might be rent asunder, but I will NOT have it rendered, thank you very much. Sheesh! Cruelty to live livestock is one thing, cruelty to living human bipeds, quite another.
Oh, while I’m at it, I also condemn “incidences” used (apparently) in place of “incidents”.
I condemn our television and radio reporters for using words and expressions they don’t understand and thus making asses of themselves on air.
If your stock in trade is words, make sure you understand them before using them.
“Sheesh! Cruelty to live livestock is one thing, cruelty to living human bipeds, quite another.”
And I condemn those who condemn one but not the other!
“The morality of a nation will be judged by the manner in which it treats its animals.” (Gandhi)
Hello Emily,
all I said was they were different.
“The humnan race should be judged by how it treated Gandhi”.
(Speak Truth to Condemnation)
My dear Ambigulous
A wise man once wrote that animals exist in an eco-sphere and humans exist in an ego-sphere. The ego-consciousness of man is a mental fabrication. In the present-time 6.8 billion humans are adapted to the falseness and insanity of ego-culture and all the exaggerations that result including the abuse of non-humans – which continues all day and all night.
There is no difference in the intensity of physical pain experienced by sentient beings – human or non human.
But Nature’s reaction to physical abuse is more subtle. Now seventy percent of diseases afflicting humans are zoonotic in origin but egotistical homo-sapiens in white coats flog you a remedy, oblivious to Nature’s arsenal of resistance. Such is the insolence of man.
Dear Emily,
I unreservedly condemn insolence.
I condemn insularity, egoism, arrogance, and gurus-who-test-their-moral-worthiness-by-sleeping-next-to-young-maidens. [M. Gandhi, yes we're gossiping about you!]
Nonetheless, egotistical as it may be, I don’t wish to have my heart rendered.
It is not Caesar’s.
For those interested in issues about non-human animals, ethics and philosophy, I’ve found this blog an interesting read. So, I’m not condemning it.
http://rowlands.philospot.com/
I condemn Peter Galbraith for speaking out about the elections in Afghanistan, apparently without thinking that UN politics is just as dirty as everywhere else and that it was only a matter of time before we were told about his apparent conflict of interest in an oilfield in Kurdistan whilst assisting to draft the Iraqi constitution.
Ambigulous, I doubt if you’d want your heart rendered for its tallow, either.
Oh, this is fun! You probably wouldn’t want a thin layer of cement applied to your heart, either.
Heh David Irving!
I was thinking of the tallow, but the cement sounds just awful too….
And with Caesar it was “render unto” which is different, but I was just trying to throw daggett off the track.
I condemn leaf blowers. When I’m in charge, they will be illegal.
As I also condemn over charging overseas booksellers, I have been using the bookdepository.co.uk.
I condemn petrol driven gardening tools – lawnmowers, hedgecutters, whipper snippers etc. They’re awful – the greatest polluting scourge of Urbansville. Petrol driven lawnmowers should be outlawed because of their high polluting factor – acknowledged in the National Pollutant Inventory. If one must use these tools, then go electric and avoid polluting your neighbours’ vegie patch (and everything else!)
Better still, pull up the lawn which no-one uses anyway and plant natives in preparation for the meltdown.
When cranking up a petrol driven lawnmower, one releases some fifty six chemical nasties into surrounding suburbia – benzene, VOCs, xylenes, butadiene, formaldehyde, CO, NOx, PM10, chromium 111/1V, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins etc, all contaminating soil, streams and rivers and adding to the burden of CO2.
Dear Emily
A good point about the industrialisation of gardening. Many years ago a physiologist pointed out how strange it was that people would buy a chainsaw to cut their firewood, and then buy an exercise bike to make up for inadequate exercise (these days it’d be a gym subscription and they would drive there).
His answer? “Use an axe!”. More exercise, less pollution, lower costs.
Bring back the “push mower”. Rake leaves (and compost), don’t blow them.
I condemn gadgetry.
I condemn the creature designers at ILM and the Children’s Television Workshop for not thinking up the gerenuk before nature did.
Yowie zowie.
(h/t FUP)
Turns out God has a much weirder imagination than George Lucas does. Well I guess I always figured that. I mean, look at a spider sometime, really close. H.R. Giger’s a rank amateur compared to that. Thank heavens for a sense of scale.
So, someone finally had the sense to crossbreed a meerkat and a giraffe.
About time.
Petrol powered leaf blowers are actually really useful for backburning, and any hazard reduction burn for that matter.
Thats about their only use tho.
I condemn the United Nations for terrifying my two teenage daughters.
I condemn Planet for having reproduced.
I condemn the tropics for being so tropical. When was the last time I heard the phrase ‘unseasonally hot’?
August?
I condemn people arguing at dinner parties.
I condemn that rancid Kevin Anderson for his disgusting Islamophobia.
I condemn K.rudd for cutting the Medicarte rebate on cataracts, especially since I’m going to have to have the operation eventually and I have no idea how I’m going to afford the gap payment.
I condemn Shorten’s shilly-shallying over asylum seeker policy on Q&A last night. The Federal ALP is sounding more and more like Ratty’s former goverment used to every day.
As for Tony Abbott, i just condemn him.
I condemn Aunty for running a report, yesterday, about the cut to the medicare rebate on cataracts without once mentioning the reason why the government has plans to do so. And thus giving the AMA and Bill Glasson an unwarranted free kick.
I condemn Aunty in its totality (well almost) for the 514,369th time.