Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas
… until you’ve convinced the “Wheel of Fortune” host.
A lot more than 10 questions on Man-Made Global Warming from US spinmeister and vowel pusher, Pat Sajak.
The link from the site’s home page says that Sajak’s piece answers “… all your burning questions.” That’s clearly an overstatement - what we now need to know is where does Alex Trebek stand on climate change?
I caught part of Brian Loughnane’s address to the National Press Club on ABC wee-small-hours last night because I was having one of those can’t sleep a bloody wink nights again. In fact, I caught the whole of Loughnane’s speech then piked out on watching the question and answer session after the third or fourth questioner.
In his introduction to Loughnane’s speech, NPC President Ken Randall said Loughnane would give an insider’s view of how the Liberal Party campaign had failed, based on recent Liberal Party post-election polling. What Loughnane delivered was roughly 50% spun analysis - that is, something that purported to be analysis but sounded more like the Liberal Party’s continuing attempts to push their “the voters were just bored with us” line, this time dressed up with a few cherry-picked figures about key demographics. The other 50% was just a re-affirmation of Liberal ideology mixed in with some pretty egregious claims about promises Labor had made to win the election, and the coalition’s obligation to hold Labor to those promises.
(Cross-posted at Larvatus Prodeo in exile)
I’ve been reading another bad book over the past week - a really bad book. It’s a long spray at consumerism and urban sprawl. It follows a fairly familiar formula - after the introduction (where you tell the reader what you plan to say), the author moves onto a quick survey of the human condition, cramming in as many references as possible, then launches into several chapters of condemnation and denunciation.
Writing that first chapter is a complex job. To show readers you’re not an intellectual snob, you have to mention popular culture, so references to pop music and movies (but not cinema) are a must, the earlier the better. Of course you now have to convince them that you’re not a bogan either, so you bung in the literary references. Reference one or two web-sites to show that you’re not a complete Luddite (very necessary in this writer’s case). Top that off with some guff about human evolution, neurology and psychology, add a dash of philosophy and religion and there’s your first chapter written.
Pull it off, and your readers will be convinced that you’re a very knowledgeable person, whose facts are reliable and opinion trustworthy. Well, some of them - enough, you hope to preserve you from the ingnominy of the remainer bin. As long as no-one notices the non-sequiturs and the fact that you’re relying completely on emotive argument - including the odd dose of alarmism - you’re home and hosed.
Here’s an entertainingly alarmist passage from that first chapter, with some explanatory notes from me.
Paul Kryten of the GG is afraid, very afraid:
Continue reading ‘Panic mode engaged. Aaargh!’
Experiment, Observation, Econometrics
The blogosphere’s a fun place isn’t it? Always throwing up a post somewhere where the argument is so irritatingly and egregiously wrong that it niggles and niggles at you until the only way to get rid of the mounting irritation is to sit down and write as thorough a refutation as you can. And on a Sunday too!
Let’s start with a not so imaginary experiment. Suppose you want to test the effect of two newly discovered drugs - Viaglis and Cialgra - on the sexual behaviour of male rats. After a little thought (and it wouldn’t take a biological scientist much thought to get to this stage) we decide that the way to do it is to take a few adult male rats, give some of them a shot of Viaglis, another group a shot of Cialgra, a third lot (our control group) nothing at all, put each of them in with a female rat and see how often they try it on. But that’s just the easy part.
ON the first day of campaign 2007 John Howard and Peter Costello sought to dictate the terms of this election, the formula they have used with success since their 1996 victory.
They have made the correct move. This is not to argue it will save the election. Indeed, the election may be beyond salvation. But Howard and Costello will fight by putting tax reform on the table, and for 11 years tax has been their strength and Labor’s weakness.
Under the Coalition, Australia is a different country from what it was under Labor – less apologetic about its past, more confident about its future.
We’re better able to appreciate the modern Australian achievement – a nation that, despite its faults, is a beacon of democracy, opportunity and tolerance in today’s world.
(Liberal Party policy summary)
Continue reading ‘Lies, Damned Lies, and National Unity Agendas’
… a-hunting we will go!
Australia’s nice people have found themselves a new quarry this week. This time the unfortunate vixen is Clare Edwards, a 20 year old single mother who recently advertised in the Subiaco Post for a sperm donor so that she can conceive a second child. Clare’s declared ambition (according to Bettina Arndt in The Hun) is to have 11 children in total. As she’s a single mum, she’s already got one for her, so if she goes the full 11, there’ll be ten for the country. Under any other circumstances, this would be a laudable achievement.
Ever get the feeling that the world has turned totally arse-about? That’s the impression I get from the coverage, and comment, on Peter Phelps’ stoush with David Kelly last week at a public meeting in electorate of Eden-Monaro, currently held by Special Minister of State, Gary Nairn.
I’m not sure why we need a “Special Minister of State” but I suppose the government finds it a useful place to park a loyal party hack who can be relied on to do the occasional bit of political odd-jobbing when other cabinet members find their portfolio responsibilities getting in the way of the real business of politics - smearing your opponents, pork-barrelling the key marginals and wimping out on challenging for the party leadership.
The Indefatigable Wingnut, Episode 4: Action, at last!
Continue reading ‘Friday Arvo Funnies’
Above all, [nice people] keep alive the pleasures of the hunt. In the homogenous population, such as that of the English shire, people are condemned to hunt foxes. This is expensive and sometimes even dangerous - moreover, the fox cannot clearly explain how much he dislikes being hunted. In all these respects the hunting of the human beings is a better sport but if it were not for the nice people it would be difficult to hunt human beings with a good conscience.Those whom the nice people condemn are fair game; at their call of “Tally-Ho”, the hunt assembles and the victim is pursued to prison or death. It is especially good sport when the victim is a woman since this gratifies the jealousy of the women and the sadism of the men.
Bertrand Russell, Nice People, 1931 (Podcast from here)
The hunt is even better sport when there are two victims, both women, both lesbians, and suing their IVF specialist for lumbering them with one child too many. The only thing that detracts from the sport is that the identities of the women in question have been suppressed by court order. Nonetheless, the hounds have caught the scent and they’re in full cry.
The Age/SMH Good Weekend supplement this weekend has a feature on Joe Hockey. The second paragraph includes this entertaining explanation of why Hockey bought a farm in Far Northern Queensland:
I want my kids to know where the beef and the chicken in the supermarket comes from. I don’t want them to take things for granted, and certainly not lecture others on how they should live their lives unless they understand a bit about the challenges other people face. I want to be sure they know about hard work and sacrifice.
Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
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