An open thread where, at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
Frist!
GO THE REDS!!!!!!!
Going to be an amazing game – pity that there is nowhere to watch it here in Hannover…
Second. Not bad after all. Just got home from the NAIDOC Ball. What a night. Spent a lot of time dancing to Jessica Mauboy. Met lotsa nice people and a woman. Uh-oh.
Just watched the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis for the final time on ABC 24. Never seen a space shuttle launch live before, some incredible footage and Dr Karl was good too, very enjoyable.
I’m looking forward to Tony Abbot singing the Groucho Marx classic song “I’m against it” (from Horsefeathers) in his campaign against the carbon tax. But it won’t have any effect unless he dances as well as Groucho!
I see that Channel Seven and Nine are not only now broadcasting PMGillards carbon tax announcement but also broadcasting Tony Abbott’s reply. I wonder how they now rationalize the fact that they did not broadcast Simon Crean’s reply after John Howard’s broadcast officially commiting us to the invasion of Iraq.
Sometimes the old expressions are the most apt — and Tony Abbott is the very epitome of the aphorism “empty vessels make the most noise”.
I noticed yesterday that two ARL matches concluded with the same score on the same day (22-6). Do any of the footy tragics know when the last time a round was completed in which two matches ended with the same score (particularly on the same day).
How anomalous is this?
Hacking scandal: is this Britain’s Watergate?
Surely its time all the shit flying in the UK started splashing the heels of Murdoch’s Australian operations?
The recent controversy in the United Kingdom around the “News of the World” has exposed for all to see the seedy nature of the News Corp. operations, and the public hostility to Murdoch’s power has been heartening. But I have to admit, I am very pessimistic; there will be a few enquiries, and a few scapegoats, but the basic control of the British political class by News Corporation will remain; the BSkyB takeover will go through, and nothing will really change.
@ Scott – looks like Murdoch Jr isn’t going to get off quite so likely though – there’s rumors that he could be charged also.
The politicians and Murdoch may well be in the same game of holding the populace down while the corporations screw them but Murdoch has also been an out of control schoolyard bully. Most if not all the pollys must be sick of his relentless intimidatory tactics that hold their personal ambitions and careers hostage. Notwithstanding the effects of Stockholm Syndrome the moment may finally have come where they have the chance to give the bully a thorough bashing and possibly even rid themselves of him once and for all. Doesn’t mean there won’t be others to take his place but in the mean time they may finally be rid of him. At least this is now increasingly obvious http://bit.ly/148uX
Rupert Murdoch is going to be charged? Excuse me while I double over in laughter.
Paul Burns, This is the moment they should be reading their Machiavelli “Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared. ” If they don’t go for it now they will have a lot more to fear afterwards. And it is usually when someone seems at their most powerful that they crash, that is the nature of hubris.
PB – not Murdoch himself, but part of the family. See the link in the Guardian here…
As disgusting the phone tapping was, still more scandalous are the circumstances that excited Cameron’s astounding admission, as reported by FB. This admission merits repetition:
This is a confession of the obstruction of justice of the most egregious kind. Ford pardoned Nixon. Will anyone pardon Cameron?
Give it up for The Guardian and the police who acted ethically. The Guardian dug and dug and dug even when there wasn’t a sensationalised headline that its staff could squeeze out on a daily basis.
As for the police, of course there were a few who were willing to break the law and a (larger) number who were willing to turn a blind eye for the sake of their ‘brothers’ and perhaps even some who fancied themselves a player and may have actively assisted the skulduggery. However there were some who took their oaths seriously and should be acknowledged.
Its clearly time to break up Murdoch’s Australian media holdings in the public interest. The level of influence he exerts on government here far exceeds that he has in Britain.
Who will be the Murdochian Candidate,Rebekah Brooks?
Will anyone pardon Blair, will anyone pardon Howard, will anyone pardon Keating, and on and on and on?
It seems to me the real reason NOTW was put down was it’s terminal monomania, the moral insanity of the culture had passed it’s use by date!
It’s a week of controversy at my blog … I have started reading a book called War without mercy about the use of racism on both sides of the Pacific War. It’s hard going, because the racist logic of both sides (Allied and Japanese) is grotesque (I feel I have to wash my brain every couple of pages) and the atrocities committed by both sides are appalling. It also changes my image of the allies as righteous in their military behaviour (even excluding opinions on area bombing). I’ve put initial thoughts at my blog and will be putting up more when I get back from my holiday in Beppu …
Newspapers don’t phone-hack murder victims.
Newspaper personnel phone-hack murder victims.
By terminating NOTW Rupe is behaving like Basil Fawlty flogging his Morris 1100.
Katz@23 Perfect! Tiny Dancer@20 Was it James that said, Forgive me father for I know not what I do?
Am I the only one getting annoyed that it keeps getting referred to as phone hacking when no phone or phone call got hacked. Is it too hard to call it voicemail hacking or does that not sound scary enough?
Any chance of an LP thread on the Rupes voicemail adventures?
@25:
I nominate (because I remember watching Catweazle when I was a child) that we all use the term “Telling-bone Tampering” instead of ‘phonehacking’.
@Uncle Buck, we have been discussing it on this week’s Spotlight the Spin, but why not have a dedicated thread? Done.
RE HackingGate (I prefer that to Hacker-whatever, as Hacker in the English context reminds me of Jim Hacker) I have a little theory about why something like this couldn’t happen here.
It all has to do with the fact that the electronic media tabloid/faux populist shriekers are ultimately bigger beasts in the Australian newz market when things get really, really down towards the gutter. Your generic Cole Allans and David Pembarthys may indeed like to take the Sydney Daily Telegraph as far in the same direction as London’s NoTW and the Sun, but ultimately they have to operate from the assumption that the evening TV tabloid shows and the radio shockjocks can tear them to pieces if they get caught doing anything truly egregious. I reckon ACA and the Parrot have enough clout to end the career of any mere newspaper editor who puts themselves out on a limb, like this Coulson guy has.
From what I’ve learnt it appears that the Murdoch UK redtops have no real bigger, bloodthirsty opposition to challenge them. The Daily Mirror is both smaller in circulation and mildly economically progressive, so it can’t put the beat down on the News Limited taboids. (This also explains the unusual single-handed power the Murdoch rags have over Cameron.)
Obviously my theory of tabloid mutual assured destruction works better if there was still a hairy backed Packer with any skin in the Australian meeja game.
Perhaps Mr Denmore would like to comment?
Tony Blair serves up some self-serving twaddle – http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jul/08/tony-blair-new-labour-gordon-brown
Well the other reason its unlikely to have happened here is that AFAIK the phone providers here require that the user sets their voicemail password when setting up their voicemail or it is only accessible via their own phone.
Its still possible to reset it by faking that you’re that person but its a lot riskier for people to do that, requires more personal information and the users of the phone are much more likely to notice.
Yep. Blair appears to be unaware of the occurrence of the GFC. Failure to acknowledge force majeure suggests pathological egotism.
Is anyone else watching the Women’s World Cup soccer? This has been one hell of a tournament. Really good stuff, and none of the histrionics that the Men’s soccer embarrasses itself with.
Am cooking up a stockpot of vegetables and lamb rosettes for a change. Guess it will either be very nice or bloody awful. (Presmably it won’t explode or catch fire on mew.) well, we’ll see.
Japan adapts to power demand management post Fukushima:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20110709p2g00m0bu081000c.html
Interesting
How did the lamb stew turn out, Paul? I’d expect it to be pretty tasty.