Well, it’s Wednesday already and we haven’t condemned, so it must be long past time to condemn again. Here’s a 43rd open condemnation thread. What’s been worthy of condemnation this week so far? Which evil political, cultural, social, musical, religious, and other phenomena need condemnation? (Or loud denunciation?)
You can condemn anything you like except Shostakovich.
Ok, I won’t be popular on LP for this, but Sharan Burrow for playing the man and not the issue. I’ll bet she’s lobbying Labor hard now too though. Even if Abbott is having us on, a con if you will, she should surely welcome this issue being debated.
I condemn having bad eyesight.
I condemn the thought police, whether of the right or the left.
I condemn the fact that TV seems to be getting exceedingly boring and having watched all my DVDs – not that it matters too much, I suppose.
I condemn bones in chicken when you cook it in the stockpot but not with any great genuineness but they are a nuisance.
I condemn Bunning’s being built virtually next door to my block of flats, and blocking the view and probably the light even if they are going to have 12 specialty shops.
I condemn the next Opposition stunt, and the Green’s for being taken in by their last one (the parental leave scam.)
Surely Tony Abbott wins hands down? Dog-whistle homophobia and bald-faced lies regarding taxation and maternity leave. The man’s a joke.
I condemn confusing internet forms you need to fill out to get people to pay you money. And I condemn slow internet banking sites.
I condemn myself for not having booked a ticket to see the Borodin Quartet, IMO the most compelling interpreters of the Shostakovich string quartets.
I condemn the weather in steamy beppu, which is going to be -3 tonight, while I’m living in a typical Japanese house that is earthquake proof on account of being made entirely of paper, and therefore completely weather-not-proof.
I don’t think I’ve been warm for 2 years.
No, the Borodins have always played them like they’re church music. All hushed and sacred; totally impersonal. The Mandelring Quartet best captures that uncanny juxtaposition of banal irony and appalling tragedy you need to highlight in the quartets. I also like the Fitzwilliams for sheer emotion (brilliant No. 6) – only their technical proficiency is less than excellent.
I can’t condemn the borodins who played beautifully and i can’t condemn the london sinfionetta for playing Conlon Nancarrow (and so well) but i can condemn dementia and (my) casual labour and most of all I can and will condemn morning glory (saint furious -any ideas).
I condemn the sad fact that Klaus Nomi no longer walks among us, and hasn’t for some time now. Dig this…
and this…
*snffle*
Wonder what he would’ve made of the modern world…
btw, now that Kim is back in town, will we ever see another Love Boat thread?
“No, the Borodins have always played them like they’re church music. All hushed and sacred; totally impersonal.”
H&R, perhaps you and I have different conceptions of what constitutes church music (Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers: ‘hushed and sacred’? hardly!). But I could never agree that the Borodin’s recordings are ‘totally impersonal’. Quite the opposite.
In fact, if pressed to nominate dry and academic renditions of the Shostakovich quartets, I’d plump for the Fitzwilliams that you so admire (though I’d concede they’re not without merit).
I condemn an ABC so bushwhacked by the climate change debate, the chair’s screed about the issue is confused, contradictory and manifestly in bad faith to viewers. When you have to accept that mainstream media refuses to report the issue honestly, that’s a lonely feeling.
Me2, ewe2. I second the condemnation of Maurice Newman’s attack on science and his confusion of scientific scepticism with a politically-based contrarian libertarian faith. In the interests of breaking one of the main examples of media group-think consensus–the Neoliberal consensus–can the ABC now act on the Chairman’s directives and broadcast David Harvey’s lectures on Marx’s Capital.
Wow. Just wow. As a young’un I always had this… reverence… for the New Yorker as a magazine of quality. Now I read “…We have all had our full of Emanuel this week…”
I condemn the decline of English even in the most unlikely places *Shakes walking stick*
I condemn my inability to close a link tag.
I condemn computerized telephone answering devices that one now encounters when one rings a bank or any other big corporation as I was born with mild cerebral palsy and my speech is slower and less distinct than normal (Although I was able to deliver university lectures for 30 years!). The usual response from the computerized male voice is “I do not understand, please speak clearly.” – I wish I could but….
It usually takes quite a while before the voice says “OK, I will transfer you to an operator.” Big wait and I finally get a real person on the other end. GRRR
Helen, the i is next to the u on the keyboard so with any luck it’s just a bit of mis-typing that the stupid spell-checker, for obvs reasons, didn’t pick up. But if what you’re saying is that you condemn the absence of human intelligence at the publishing coalface these days, then I could not agree with you more.
On the other hand, if there were still human intelligence etc, we wouldn’t get wonderful howlers like this one.
NB that Punch thing is not a so-called “typo”; that is a failure to use words to mean what they do actually mean. Which I condemn.
Rex Newcombe @ 15,
I double-second that condemn. They’re bloody dreadful. I also condemn the uselessness of the operators when you finally get on to them.
My conversation with a telephone: ‘Oh, FFS, shut up and but me onto a real person.” (Pause)’ Look I want to talk to to a real person, not this f–king computer. Get off the bloody f–king line! (Burnsey finally gets onto real person, has a conversation, then:) “Whaddya mean its the computer’s fault?! You mean you can’t fix it?!’
I could go on forever but you get the drift.
I condemn the entire Australian arts sector (except for circus and the APT) for being so boring at the moment.
I condemn Miranda Devine for writing about the Oscars instead of vouchsafing us her considered conservative Catholic opinion on Tony Abbott’s parental leave scheme.
I condemn Rudd, Abbott and Indonesian President SBY for all wearing red ties in Parliament yesterday.
I condemn the Punch full stop. The comment threads are a sewer. It makes me despair for this country ever gaining any progressive policies if this is the true voter base.
Don’t think Miranda woulda liked The Green Room if the reviews are anything to go by. I don’t know if I should condemn Alice in Wonderland, because a) I haven’t seen the movie; b) I really like Tim Burton films. OTOH, I gather Lewis Carroll might be turning in his grave. Oh, hell, I’ll condemn it. Somehow I don’t think Dodson meant Alice to be 19.
I condemn the Age and Peter Roebuck for this disgusting, misogynist rubbish. Shorter Roebuck: back to the kitchen woman. With a bit of she’s really god looking and she has some problems, so she must by a skanky whore.
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/bingle-dramas-put-clarke-captaincy-dream-at-risk-20100309-pvm9.html
Oh, dear how dare this poor girl Lara Bingle get in the way of SPORT?! I applaud her and roundly condemn all sports writers condemning her.
Condemn TV reporters who stake-out celebrities and say “Just look at this media frenzy!” while the camera pans over the other weasels.
BTW, it was only Sunday that Ms Bingle was being offered as a “reality media” package for $1 Million.
I condemn both Rex @ 15 and Paul @ 17 for beating me to condemn, complain and generally beef about automated help lines which have almost driven me to throw my handset against the wall. I was really looking forward to a good well and truly justified bitch after being ticked off elsewhere for being mildly critical of a certain female hack on a lousy right wing rag.
Automated help lines? Ditto to all your comments R & P. I want real people to talk to! Why can’t we have ‘real’ people to talk to any more? If the Coalition can do it, so can the banks! They’ve got ‘real’ people out there talking to the public.
You know – ‘real’ people like Barnaby, and Julie….Wilson….Tony….Sophie….Nick…Peter Dutton…..Eric Abetz….Joe Hockey………….Bronwyn…………..
Maybe automation’s not so bad. I feel better now.
I condemn Brendan Fevola who started this mess. I also condemn sports writers who blame Lara Bingle for Michael Clarke not getting to be Australian captain without pondering whether Ricky Ponting might be a more important factor, because he isn’t retiring and may not for some time because he is still a very good cricket player.
I condemn Shostakovich. His music is coarse, primitive and vulgar.
I condemn anyone who cares about Lara Bingle.
I condemn line managers.
I condemn anyone who doesn’t read this post.
I condemn others for beating me to the name of Maurice Newman and for saying pretty much what I’d have said. I condemn Paul Burns for condemning thought police because clearly, the people who raised Maurice Newman and pre-empted my commentary must be very good thought police.
I also condemn anyone who says “we need tougher sentences” after some nasty crime hasd been committed. I also condemn journalists who don’t ask: “Why so?” and “How tough?” and “is there any eveidence that these would acheive anything commensurate with the cost?” and “if the tougher sentences were brought in and someone still committed a heinous act, would you still be in favour of tougher sentences?”
I don’t anticipate sensible answers to these questions, since the person would be blindsided, and condemn in advance the silliness that would follow.
I condemn Paul Norton for condemning anyone who hasn’t read his post when clicking on the link just leads to an error message.
So the companies can give their saved salaries to the Sacred Shareholders, of course. Also, it’s to keep us abject and in line. Literally.
Great Gorby post, Paul. I love the whole ‘one day’ approach to historiography.
I don’t condemn anyone who cares about Lara Bingle but I sure as hell condemn anyone who writes about her. Angelina Jolie (whom I abominate) is starting to look really interesting by comparison.
I condemn myself for making the error to which Sam refers, and which I have hopefully now corrected.
I condemn the dismal intellects of federal politicians as evidenced by the performances of Tony Burke, Julie Bishop and especially Steve Fielding, on Q&A last monday night. Steve Fielding is even dumber than I thought. And I thought he was pretty stupid to begin with so my expectations were low.
Well, I condemned Maurice Newman to PM last night, so I don’t feel put out about not getting at him first here.
Did you notice he doesn’t even understand the difference between a physician and a physicist?
I think Newman’s term as ABC chair might be coming to an end, so he feels free to express his inner Abbott.
Paul Norton @ 20 TIES or PrioriTIES?
Sorry, premature expostulation there. Even wordplay overwhelms me these days.
I condemn the priorities of our parliamentarians in general as they resoundingly applauded the Indonesian President when he announced the planned prosecution of people smugglers.
What a bunch of xenophobic, spoiled, ill-informed, insensitive and selfish fuckwits he must think we are.
Sam @38 is to be condemned for getting my hopes up. The sad fact is, he has about another one and three quarter years to run in the job. Planet Gone…tick.
I condemn myself for not checking when Newman’s time is up.
Newman’s statements deserve a post of their own.
Eric Beecher doesn’t pull any punches in Crikey:
Coming out of the mouth of the most senior person in the organisation, Newman’s comments are a direct and visceral attack on the professionalism of the ABC’s journalists. They are a direct attack on the elaborate notion of editorial independence at the ABC?—?which is laid out in hundreds of pages of documents and policies. And they are a grotesque distortion of the role of the chairman of an independent broadcaster.
If the ABC staff have any cojones this should trigger a big revolt.
Don’t hold your breath Sam, though the next Media Watch might be interesting.
Newman’s statements deserve a post of their own.
I’d go for a tree myself. More swingin’ room.
His main claim to fame on Wiki….”friend of John Howard”.
Sam Newman, now Maurice Newman – are they related? Is foot-in mouth genetic?
And A.E.Neuman from the American family branch.
http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/hopeless-20081027-135546.jpg
This character was so obscure and unknown I had to look him up on the internet. The last person I looked up on the Internet before Maurice Newman was Andrew Eliot who was a Congregationalist pastor of the New North Church (which is apparently so obscure it gets confused with the Old North Church)during the 1775-1776 siege of Boston. Just sayin’.
Rex Newsome @15, I add my condemn to yours on ALL voice (absolutely no) recognition sites. I’m assured I have clear, audible, understandable speech but the sodding things NEVER, EVER understand a word I say.
I’ll go a step further and condemn businesses that use those appalling devices which not only don’t recognise my speech, but have the unmitigated gall to claim that my call is important to them, when clearly it is no such bloody thing or they’d have a HUMAN WHO LIVES IN MY STATE to take the calls.
I further condemn the atrocious bloody things for shortening my life due to apoplexy at a)the embarrassment of being caught ranting and raving at a machine and b)for putting me in the position where I do the above!
I also double, nay triple condemn Tony Abbott because he exists and makes me feel as though I’ve just done 10 rounds with voice recognition.
I’m also dark on the Greens for allowing themselves to be duped by Abbott’s parental leave scheme.
I condemn all the clowns who think this Lara Bingle and whatever it is she’s supposed to have done is newsworthy.
Patricia WA, I condemn all the xenophobic, spoiled, ill-informed, insensitive and selfish fuckwits out there and their moronic labelling-towelheads, slopes, boongs, coons and Liberal voter and/or MP spring to mind.
I condemn uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics and neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians.
Also tight-lipped, condescending, mama’s little chauvinists.
Same goes for schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas.
And John Lennon Plagiarists
I also condemn the poisoned dwarf for this load of old cobblers.
Jane @ 24, sorry haven’t got the linking thing right yet. I followed yours and was glad to see as below that sane people keep popping up to counter the poiosonous Milne whenever they can.
“Johnny Rotten Posted at 12:43 PM March 08, 2010
Even qualified electricians have been known to die in roof spaces. Of the four deaths one of the insulation installers apparently died of heatstroke, another because of the use of metal staples which Garrett had banned DESPITE expert advice to the contrary, while the other two men appeared to have stepped where the should not have. We will not know for sure until the coronersâ?? reports are available. Sad for the families but these things occurred in the context of 1.1 million installations. There is no guarantee that a similar failure rate would not have occurred if the installations were carried out over a longer period. The installations were carried out by your beloved PRIVATE SECTOR which FAILED to carry out the work safely and in accordance with appropriate standards and in some cases apparently committed outright fraud on the taxpayer. As for the 87 fires, ceiling fires have been occurring for years. Fire Brigades have been warning people to check even old insulation to make sure it has not blown onto existing or newly installed down lights. . The ABS figures indicate that the rate of house fires is actually lower since the insulation scheme was put into operation.”
Does anyone know when those post mortem reports are likely to be in? Until they are I guess the govt. can’t really counter the Opposition on this productively.
Jane and PatriciaWA that “load of old cobblers” came out on the same day Aunty began running their news reports with “insulation on the agenda” reports from early morning. Trouble was, their attempt at news creation went south just like the poisoned dwarf’s twaddle.
I condemn the confusion caused by the i) electrician installer, ii) electricity retailer, iii) network company
about which of them is prinicipally responsible for organising a new bi-directional meter for our house so that the solar photovoltaic arrays can be connected both to the grid, and to the house beneath the roof on which they uselessly sit, being unconnected
currently*
* no pun
I condemn and condemn and condemn the bad reception on my digital set top box caused by my next door neighbour walking around outside my bedroom.
I will refrain from commenting about what I really think of my next door neighbour. None of it is complementary.
I condemn Alan Jones for his useless intervention and chairing of the anti US beef import rally in Armidale. He attempted to conflate apologies to the stolen generation with the resumption of US beef imports, somehow thinking that BSE is related to social policy One local wag mumbled that with Heffernan, Jones and Joyce in the same room, a single round could have improved our political fortunes, lifted the national IQ and measurably lowered VD transmission rates but you didn’t hear that from me. Not one of these fools mentioned that US exported beef is a tiny, high value product that nobody cared about before.
I had to delete my condemn because it was the type of thing that can make the workplace not a lot of fun to be in, or at, when it gets back (as they always do). Rest assured, though, it was a good condemn, very indignant and spittly.
I condemn the higher-ups at my workplace for not moving a bit faster to help a student who is manifestly in the wrong course. His English is poor and he needs a tutor, but it seems to me that there is some other disability involved. Said higher-ups are actually lovely people who will look after this poor man, but they are very busy at this time of year. In the meantime, he wants the library staff to do his homework and help him with letters to his MP. The MP sent him a boilerplate greeting card for Chinese New Year, so now the student thinks they are best buddies, and writes to the MP at least once a week!
I condemn the Mac shop that claimed my Mac is ready but could not find my husband’s name in their database today. Very glad to have an iPhone.
I condemn Steve Fielding. Again.
I condemn my husband for giving me a cold. I condemn the cold, especially the coughing which has made my neck lock up again, to the frustration of my physiotherapist. I also condemn that painful unlocking-the-neck thing my physio likes to do (as in, I think it’s painful, and I’ve given birth twice!).
I condemn the dull but necessary party preparations (eg cleaning, filling loot bags) for my elder son’s 9th birthday this weekend, though I admit to looking forward to creating his volcano cake tomorrow.
“The MP sent him a boilerplate greeting card for Chinese New Year, so now the student thinks they are best buddies, and writes to the MP at least once a week!”
Chookie a good while back I took to emailing my local federal member quite regularly over various issues that I was pissed off about. He ended up replying quite often, especially when he was stuck in Canberra and bored. I could tell it was him and not a lackey by his crumby typing/grammar skills.
I even ended up with an individually signed Chrissy card. So you never know, strangish relationships do develop.
The correct term is “poison dwarf”. Unfortunately the dwarf has not yet been poisoned.
I condemn things getting back to workplaces so that we can’t enjoy good indignant spittly condemnations.
I condemn my new next door neighbour who has one of those horrible speakers in a clapped out car that plays highly unpleasant music.Boom-boom-boom shit; at least that’s what it sounds like. (You may have guessed by now that I am almost utterly unmusical and actually don’t like much music. An astrologer friend of mine told me it was because of my Saturn semi-square Neptune.) I condemn myself for not liking much music composed later than Stravinsky.)
I condemn enourmous bureacracies which have crazy systems in place whereby when you start work you get an office, but no key, so every day has to start with you calling security in order to have someone let you into your office. Your key must be ordered in a process that takes 2 and a half weeks (because you can’t place the order until you are on the system which you already were but got removed accidently instead of instated when you went from casual to permanent status) and nobody else can order you key for you. After your order is successfully placed key takes another 5 days to be approved. In the meantime you are on first name terms with security.
In addition to loud denunication of bureaucracy I condemn this horrible office chair which is hurting my back – have ordered new chair – have no idea how long it will take to defeat the red tape and arrive in my office.
and by ‘crazy’ I mean ludicrous or ridiculous. Apologies for the use of the word ‘crazy’ – a habit of mine that I am trying to break.
I once again condemn Jenny Macklin for attempting to bring back the Susso.
re: Uteman @ 59
I condemn you for not working in a “what’s his beef?” pun …
Yes, Paul. I realised well after I’d submitted the post, but wrote it off as wish fulfilment.
I also condemn Sarah Hanson-Young for her piece in today’s OO. The Greens are coming across to me as just another arm of the Liberal Party of late.
Dennis Shamaham should also cop a serve for his rant in today’s OO.
Grrr! I woke up in quite a reasonable frame of mind this morning, to find windows 7 has removed the local temperature icon from my desktop, and now steadfastly refuses to let me reinstate it. I was grumpy enough with that little lot, only to have the grumpy factor increased 100-fold after reading that pap!
Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm…………
Joe2, your MP probably wrote back to you because you were coherent. I’m afraid this student’s prose is somewhat disjointed. Try Ern Malleying a page of Under Milk Wood and giving it a South East Asian accent.
Poor sod. He’s probably fallen through the cracks everywhere else — we see quite a few like that. (I condemn the cracks that the most vulnerable seem to fall through, though it isn’t a light matter.)
I condemn the length of time it is taking for a double quantity of cake mixture to cook in a casserole dish, and praying it doesn’t sink.
Chookie, if the cake sinks just right it’ll be a sinkhole cake instead of a volcano cake. If your child is inerested in geology, it’ll be almost as good …
Sorry. No condemns from me today.
“Sorry. No condemns from me today.”
Why not? Christ, there must be something.
What about no beer in the fridge?
Too much/ Not enough rain?
Greg Hunt, the bloody ABC News running another insulation scare beat up or asylum seekers flooding the country or how GENEROUS the Tony Abbott Parental Leave scheme is?
There must be something. A hole in ya boot?
Jane @ 70 My long patience with the Greens, largely because of affection and respect for Bob Brown as well as real sympathy with their environmental concerns, is wearing thin. So I’ll air a limerick I’ve kept hidden away, even when Christine Milne has tried me to the limit.
A wonderful party the Greens
Who thought compromise was obscene
With ideals of perfection
They’d rather lose an election
Than survive in a world less than clean
O
Bravo, Patricia WA. I dub thee Poet Laureate of LP. Long may you reign.
Chookie @71, DI(nr)’s suggestion is good-hole full of jelly with a geyser of whipped cream in another incarnation as a hot spring. Or you could turn it upside down and still have a volcano. However, I’m sure it will be fine and an enormous coup for your son.
DI(nr), I must also take issue with your lack of condemns. The fact that the Mad Monk is still free to roam the streets and attract hoards of spittle-flecked troglodytes, should be reason enough for a hearty condemnation.
Alternatively, there’s always voice recognition assistance.
I condemn the Western Australian climate, and my lack of air-conditioning.
Anna, South Beach at sunset made up for the heat of the earlier day. The absence of the Fremantle Doctor which usually serves me very well as air conditioner made the evening even more magical. Boats, people and dogs everywhere. Perhaps we’ll get some rain tomorrow. Not much red in the sky.
Nights are starting to get cold here in Armidale, NSW. Not enough to condemn yet, but I no longer have to leave my front and back doors open to cool the flat.
And after all the Oscar hype, I condemn Hollywood for not even nominating Abby Cornish for best female actor.
I thought this was a bit of fun:
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/historically-inaccurate-films.php
I condemn the idle habit of googling one’s own name in a non-productive employment moment and getting a thorough fright from something like this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/15/anthony-nolan-dead-prison
anthony nolan, stop whining. Until you’ve googled my name, you haven’t lived (especially for the internet game “david irving needs” – you’re looking at Stormfront before you know what’s hit you).
I condemn this unbelieveable histoty war in Texas.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8941
Though it does kind of explain George W. Bush.
A truly terrible story Anthony … it does make you wonder why the second jury was certain beyond reasonable doubt of Mr Nolan’s guilt, (and why the Crown thought that the case was on balance worth pursuing in the absence of more compelling witnesses or evidence).
Was there any other connection between the victim of the crime? Some motive? Bizarre.
Obviously it will be interesting to see cause of death …
Not for the first time I resent and condemn the fact that trhe governance of the country is in this fuckwit’s hand.
http://www.watoday.com.au/technology/technology-news/broadband-is-in-fieldings-hands-20100312-q45x.html
Still, Labor have only themselves to blame.
Indeed, Paul.
Dr Frankenstein Conroy created the Fielding monster with his, ever so smart, preference deal for the Senate in Victoria and deserves individual condemnation.
I condemn both Fielding and Conroy for being themselves, and the Australian political system for letting them anywhere near positions of power. Let’s have mandatory numeracy, rationality and scientific literacy testing for political candidates!
Looks like Texas is becoming famous for all the wrong reasons.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/mar/13/texas-textbooks-republicans-education
Anyway, I condemn it again. (The video is a bit worrying.)
AN and Fran B – doesn’t it seem odd that Nolan died in his cell a few days before Christmas, the story only appeared in January and in March there are still no published details on how he died?
Reading about this sad case brings up haunting accounts of so many other miscarriages of justice. I am thrown back to the horror of the hanging of Derek Bentley, an epileptic, illiterate nineteen year old whom all the weight of the British justice system condemned for a crime for which he was later pardoned.
He was barely older than myself when he was executed and I can still feel my outrage as I became aware that judicial process often has little to do with truth or fairness. Anthony Nolan, of course, was not executed but it does seem that in his case too justice is guilty of his death.
Patricia WA, @88, particularly as Bentley’s accomplice actually committed the crime. They had to have someone to punish I suppose and they couldn’t hang Craig because he was only 16 at the time. It’s also disgraceful that Bentley’s disability wasn’t taken into account, either.
Another reason why the death penalty should never be allowed. A posthumous pardon wasn’t much use to Derek Bentley or his family.
I condemn the use of schizophrenic as an adjective to describe stupid ignorance. I also condemn the Greens for allying themselves with the ratbag right of Australian politics to presumably score points with the electorate even though my daughter is contesting a South Australian Onkaparinga seat for the Greens. But well versed Patricia WA!
I also condemn those who choose to term adultery as to ‘beast’ other men,s wives.
Zorronsky
Best wishes to your daughter. Always a commitment and big ask.
We wait to hear how the day unfolds.
Zorronsky, I guarantee your daughter won’t win the seat. OTOH, it all helps get Tammy and (maybe) the second candidate whose name, I’m ashamed to say, I can’t remember, elected to the upper house.
No argument with that DInr, and Simon is I believe next on the paper. Ta F.
I condemn Bart Cummings for persuading me that I needed to lose a couple of kilograms to realise my full potential, but not telling me which couple of kilograms he had in mind until after the procedure had been completed.