Just Another 'Possum Goes Wild In A Leagues Club' Video
Obviously the possum in the below video is a scout, checking out another target for future possum occupation. Nature's War On Humans continues.
Fantastic, very cute, very funny. I wonder if the possum had been watching those doors open and close for a while from a nearby tree, working out a way to get inside? The possum's adventure inside West's Leagues Club lasted an hour.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Baby, That Was Years Ago....
Is this the first recorded reference to Cold Chisel in Australian Parliament?
Australia's PM2, Julia Gillard, got stuck into the UnOpposition's Christopher Pyne today :
I won't be happy until The Angels and The Radiators also get referenced.
The Chiz in rare 1978 live TV action, performing Australia's real national anthem back when speed was still, for Jimmy Barnes, 'The Breakfast Of Champions' :
I have no idea why it cuts off after a minute and a half, but here's a video of the anthem in full.
Is this the first recorded reference to Cold Chisel in Australian Parliament?
Australia's PM2, Julia Gillard, got stuck into the UnOpposition's Christopher Pyne today :
"Presumably he prefers Abba to Cold Chisel, because that is the kind of thing we see on display.''Okay, now I feel old. Some of Australia's leaders, and most senior politicians, grew up smoking cannabis and listening to the same music I did.
I won't be happy until The Angels and The Radiators also get referenced.
The Chiz in rare 1978 live TV action, performing Australia's real national anthem back when speed was still, for Jimmy Barnes, 'The Breakfast Of Champions' :
I have no idea why it cuts off after a minute and a half, but here's a video of the anthem in full.
Monday, February 23, 2009
"Assassinate" Bob Brown Talk Shows Up Again On Bolt's Blog, After Moderation
By Darryl Mason
The Professional Idiot, aka Andrew Bolt, grows uneasy at the latest results of his Stop The Pagan Nazi Commo Greens Before They Kill Us All! campaign :
His commenter's talk of killing Bob Brown "to save lives" is the expected fallout from the helplessness Andrew Bolt instills in his regular readers with his endless hysteria on the threat to their very lives he so often tells them they face from 'Green Nazi' policies, and ideology.
He's been ramping his readers up for months in anticipation of Green Terrorists posing the same kind of threats to their very lives and lifestyles he once promised were posed by the crazed Islamists living down the road, in country Victoria.
This dim fucker now tries to pretend that threats to Greens leader Bob Brown's life, published in his own blog's comments (that is, after moderation), have nothing whatsoever to do with anything he's ever written.
And it's not the first time assassinating Bob Brown has been been directly, or indirectly, discussed on Bolt's blog.
Threats of violence, and throat-slitting, directed at Bob Brown appeared on Bolt's blog, shortly after the February 7 bushfires, after Bolt goaded his readers with this headline, and intro :
.
By Darryl Mason
The Professional Idiot, aka Andrew Bolt, grows uneasy at the latest results of his Stop The Pagan Nazi Commo Greens Before They Kill Us All! campaign :
Really? Repudiated by every regular reader of your blog? Are you sure about that?I have just deleted from this thread a comment from a reader saying he wished he’d “assassinated’’ Bob Brown to save lives. It is a disgusting comment that would be repudiated by every regular reader of this blog.
His commenter's talk of killing Bob Brown "to save lives" is the expected fallout from the helplessness Andrew Bolt instills in his regular readers with his endless hysteria on the threat to their very lives he so often tells them they face from 'Green Nazi' policies, and ideology.
He's been ramping his readers up for months in anticipation of Green Terrorists posing the same kind of threats to their very lives and lifestyles he once promised were posed by the crazed Islamists living down the road, in country Victoria.
This dim fucker now tries to pretend that threats to Greens leader Bob Brown's life, published in his own blog's comments (that is, after moderation), have nothing whatsoever to do with anything he's ever written.
And it's not the first time assassinating Bob Brown has been been directly, or indirectly, discussed on Bolt's blog.
Threats of violence, and throat-slitting, directed at Bob Brown appeared on Bolt's blog, shortly after the February 7 bushfires, after Bolt goaded his readers with this headline, and intro :
Preaching Over The Dead :Bolt expected, and got, more than a hundred comments attacking Bob Brown for something he did not actually do. Many of the comments that followed hummed with a desire for violence against the Greens leader :
"At least 36 Victorians die in bushfires, and Bob Brown sees on opportunity to preach politics..."
When blog commenting in Australia becomes illegal without moderation, or some form of digital ID being used, you can thank Andrew Bolt for giving those who wish to censor us exactly the kind of ammunition they needed to ramp up their campaign."What a truly appalling man he is. And more appalling is that so many hang off every sickening word."
"(He's) not a man. Men are human.
"Public crucifixion would be suitable for zealots such as Brown and Wong."
"Bob Brown is a sick and twisted fool."
"Frankly, if I’d been there at the time I’m not sure I could have refrained myself from decking the slimy moron."
"Brown is a swine of the first order, how anyone votes for this bastard and his party is beyond my comprehension."
"Brown, you are scum."
"Brown you are a poor excuse for a human being..."
"Bob Brown...what a despicable Turd!Makes his sick, twisted political capital out of charred bodies & ruined lives."
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
.
The Curse Of Crap Headlines
Rugby league legend Dale Shearer is not in a good way this morning. He's in a critical condition, after crashing his car into a pole while reportedly fleeing from police, driving home from a party. There's speculation he may have been drinking before the accident, but that hasn't been confirmed. Not altogether an unusual incident or accident in Australia, but obviously newsworthy because Shearer is so famous.
But what the fuck is up with this?
That's from the front page of News.com.au, the portal news site for all of Rupert Murdoch's Australian online newspapers.
"Now it appears Dale Shearer....is the victim of a ghastly curse."
Does it? Maybe if you're sniffing Ajax.
Did some old witch point a bone at Shearer and declare, "You will drive dangerously fast and out of control when you see the police"?
The article the News.com.au front page links to says nothing about a 'curse', and is a straightforward piece of reporting about the tragic outcome of what appears to be Shearer fleeing from police and losing control of his car.
The Daily Telegraph headline and story the News.com.au 'Deadly Curse' headline box links to doesn't say anything at all about a Ghastly Curse. The word 'curse' isn't even used. Though it does mention Shearer lost his wife recently to cancer.
So curses are causing cancer and car accidents, according to News.com.au.
How monumentally fucking stupid and trashy can a mainstream news site get?
Not even the most ethically barren blogger would try and pull off something like that.
UPDATE : Err, now it appears, the Australian novelist recently jailed in Thailand for daring to print a harsh word or two about that country's royal family is somehow involved in Shearer's crash. And this headline box now appears on The Daily Telegraph site as well :
And I thought I made some embarrassing mistakes on this blog.
Rugby league legend Dale Shearer is not in a good way this morning. He's in a critical condition, after crashing his car into a pole while reportedly fleeing from police, driving home from a party. There's speculation he may have been drinking before the accident, but that hasn't been confirmed. Not altogether an unusual incident or accident in Australia, but obviously newsworthy because Shearer is so famous.
But what the fuck is up with this?
That's from the front page of News.com.au, the portal news site for all of Rupert Murdoch's Australian online newspapers.
"Now it appears Dale Shearer....is the victim of a ghastly curse."
Does it? Maybe if you're sniffing Ajax.
Did some old witch point a bone at Shearer and declare, "You will drive dangerously fast and out of control when you see the police"?
The article the News.com.au front page links to says nothing about a 'curse', and is a straightforward piece of reporting about the tragic outcome of what appears to be Shearer fleeing from police and losing control of his car.
The Daily Telegraph headline and story the News.com.au 'Deadly Curse' headline box links to doesn't say anything at all about a Ghastly Curse. The word 'curse' isn't even used. Though it does mention Shearer lost his wife recently to cancer.
So curses are causing cancer and car accidents, according to News.com.au.
How monumentally fucking stupid and trashy can a mainstream news site get?
Not even the most ethically barren blogger would try and pull off something like that.
UPDATE : Err, now it appears, the Australian novelist recently jailed in Thailand for daring to print a harsh word or two about that country's royal family is somehow involved in Shearer's crash. And this headline box now appears on The Daily Telegraph site as well :
And I thought I made some embarrassing mistakes on this blog.
This Is Australia, We Burn
By Darryl Mason
It must be incredibly unnerving to be living in thick bushland within 100kms of the three major firefronts in Victoria this morning, as mid-to-high 30s heat and strong winds are expected to intensify the fires already burning, and new outbreaks are expected.
Hundreds of families have reportedly already decided to leave their homes in bushland outside of Melbourne, but fire authorities are trying to cut through the anticipatory fear-mongering of the morning news shows on TV as I write this to remind people that February 7 was a day of record-breaking extreme heat, and today is not expected to come close. Plus, at least 400,000 hectares of the state has already been burned out.
Conditions are grim, fire authorities are saying this morning, there will be plenty of heat and wind, but they are not expecting similar extremes of temperature and wind as February 7.
Fire authorities are still telling Victorians that if they have prepared their properties, if they are confident of protecting their homes, it is not necessary to leave. They are still pushing the 'Stay' choice of 'Stay or Go.' For those who don't think their homes or families are safe, then the time to leave is well before midday.
They've made it clear that evacuations are not underway, and they're working hard to stop the more excitable morning TV and radio hosts from whipping up useless, and dangerous, fear.
It would seem that emergency services in Victoria are as concerned about the possibility of widespread panic breaking out - causing untold chaos on roads and appalling accidents if tens of thousands of people smell the smoke and run for their cars - as they are about fires wiping out more communities. Kilometres of traffic building up in areas where fires may sweep through is something they are now trying to avoid.
The threat of more fires, more ember attacks, and more decimated towns and villages, is still jarring, terrifying, and now all too real. For those who have forgotten what carnage bushfires can unleash in this country, we need no more reminding. The images of destruction, death and misery are seared into the nation's mind now.
And it's hard to shake out of your head those images of fireys battling ten, fifteen, twenty metre high walls of fire, and funnels of flame. So many Australians are simply at the mercy of the bush around them burning. That fireys manage to control as much bushland and keep in check as many fires as they do is downright remarkable, but bushland dried by more than a decade of drought is so widespread, and so dry, they'd need tens of thousands more fireys and dozens of helicopters to even come close to guaranteeing that Victorians will be mostly safe from fires for the rest of this summer, and the summers to come.
Not being safe from fires, however, is an old Australian reality that most of us have only recently learned about again. As has often been said in the past, and in the past two weeks in particular, "This is Australia, we burn", and the land will continue to burn when the heat is intense, when the bush is paper dry and the winds are blowing hard.
If you live in the bush, when the heat boils up into the mid-to-high 30s, and strong winds pick up, you can no longer look at that billow of the smoke in the distance and shrug and say to yourself, 'Well, those fires are 40 or 50 ks away. We'll be right."
There's probably at least a few dozen people who lost their lives in Marysville and Kinglake who thought the exact same thing, never imagining that fire could sweep in faster than they could get the kids into the car and drive to escape it.
But as the Victorian premier, John Brumby, has repeatedly pointed out since February 7, even if mandatory evacuations were announced, as some believe they should have been two weeks ago, and if you were to evacuate everyone potentially threatened by fire on days like this, where exactly do you evacuate 500,000, or more, people to? Where do they go?
In the outskirts of Sydney, up into the Blue Mountains, there are some 1.5 million people living in what could be described as "bushland settings." If conditions in the future were ever to mimic Victoria's on February 7, where would all those people go? And who would do all the evacuating?
In Australia, it's all but impossible to evacuate 500,000 to 1.5 million people from an area under threat. China evacuates millions, some years more than 20 million, from flood zones every time the super-rains come and rivers rise dangerously so. But it takes days to do it safely, and it's a fantasy to think that we have anywhere near the resources to stage such mass evacuations. In Victoria or New South Wales, unlike China, most of those evacuated would have nowhere to go, and state governments would have nowhere to even tent all those people while a bushfire threat passes.
If climate change has in reality given us an horrific preview this year of what's to come, perhaps the impossible problems of massive evacuation in Australia will be overcome, eventually. Maybe.
This is Australia. We Burn.
But tinder dry bush doesn't always just burst into flames either, even when the heat is so intense it sears the nose to breathe the air. Poorly maintained electricity lines can spark bushfires (as may well the case with the fires that swept into Kinglake two weeks ago), so can discarded cigarettes, and arsonists strike around the country every year, when fire-ready conditions are most perfect.
Is there somebody, right now, down in Victoria, thinking about going out and lighting more fires today? It absolute shatters fireys every time one of their own is busted for lighting fires in the bush, and it seems to happen nearly every year now. But how do you stop these people? In the future will potential arsonists be spotted, and dealt with, pre-emptively, as we now deal with supposed terrorists? Get them before they get the chance to do something destructive and deadly?
The most moving part of the 'National Day of Mourning' yesterday was to see the fire fighting men and women, who lost their homes and friends trying to protect the houses of complete strangers. They will be back out there today, and all this week, and again this time next year. They face dangers we can't comprehend, and it's a sign of just how professional many of them are that so few are injured or killed as they battle those flames.
The fire threat, unlike most other natural disasters, comes on so many fronts, sometimes all at the same time - arson, spot fires caused by loose embers from burn-offs, lighting strikes - and all are impossible to fully contain or control. It's worse than a war, fire is without mercy.
This is Australia. We Burn.It's a reality few of us will forget anytime soon.
UPDATE : Stories hitting the online headlines right now, at 8.40am, are claiming the new Victorian fires threat is greater than mentioned earlier, but authorities are still trying to avoid a situation developing where roads become choked with traffic, blocking emergency response vehicles, and potentially trapping people in the path of fires :
By Darryl Mason
It must be incredibly unnerving to be living in thick bushland within 100kms of the three major firefronts in Victoria this morning, as mid-to-high 30s heat and strong winds are expected to intensify the fires already burning, and new outbreaks are expected.
Hundreds of families have reportedly already decided to leave their homes in bushland outside of Melbourne, but fire authorities are trying to cut through the anticipatory fear-mongering of the morning news shows on TV as I write this to remind people that February 7 was a day of record-breaking extreme heat, and today is not expected to come close. Plus, at least 400,000 hectares of the state has already been burned out.
Conditions are grim, fire authorities are saying this morning, there will be plenty of heat and wind, but they are not expecting similar extremes of temperature and wind as February 7.
Fire authorities are still telling Victorians that if they have prepared their properties, if they are confident of protecting their homes, it is not necessary to leave. They are still pushing the 'Stay' choice of 'Stay or Go.' For those who don't think their homes or families are safe, then the time to leave is well before midday.
They've made it clear that evacuations are not underway, and they're working hard to stop the more excitable morning TV and radio hosts from whipping up useless, and dangerous, fear.
It would seem that emergency services in Victoria are as concerned about the possibility of widespread panic breaking out - causing untold chaos on roads and appalling accidents if tens of thousands of people smell the smoke and run for their cars - as they are about fires wiping out more communities. Kilometres of traffic building up in areas where fires may sweep through is something they are now trying to avoid.
The threat of more fires, more ember attacks, and more decimated towns and villages, is still jarring, terrifying, and now all too real. For those who have forgotten what carnage bushfires can unleash in this country, we need no more reminding. The images of destruction, death and misery are seared into the nation's mind now.
And it's hard to shake out of your head those images of fireys battling ten, fifteen, twenty metre high walls of fire, and funnels of flame. So many Australians are simply at the mercy of the bush around them burning. That fireys manage to control as much bushland and keep in check as many fires as they do is downright remarkable, but bushland dried by more than a decade of drought is so widespread, and so dry, they'd need tens of thousands more fireys and dozens of helicopters to even come close to guaranteeing that Victorians will be mostly safe from fires for the rest of this summer, and the summers to come.
Not being safe from fires, however, is an old Australian reality that most of us have only recently learned about again. As has often been said in the past, and in the past two weeks in particular, "This is Australia, we burn", and the land will continue to burn when the heat is intense, when the bush is paper dry and the winds are blowing hard.
If you live in the bush, when the heat boils up into the mid-to-high 30s, and strong winds pick up, you can no longer look at that billow of the smoke in the distance and shrug and say to yourself, 'Well, those fires are 40 or 50 ks away. We'll be right."
There's probably at least a few dozen people who lost their lives in Marysville and Kinglake who thought the exact same thing, never imagining that fire could sweep in faster than they could get the kids into the car and drive to escape it.
But as the Victorian premier, John Brumby, has repeatedly pointed out since February 7, even if mandatory evacuations were announced, as some believe they should have been two weeks ago, and if you were to evacuate everyone potentially threatened by fire on days like this, where exactly do you evacuate 500,000, or more, people to? Where do they go?
In the outskirts of Sydney, up into the Blue Mountains, there are some 1.5 million people living in what could be described as "bushland settings." If conditions in the future were ever to mimic Victoria's on February 7, where would all those people go? And who would do all the evacuating?
In Australia, it's all but impossible to evacuate 500,000 to 1.5 million people from an area under threat. China evacuates millions, some years more than 20 million, from flood zones every time the super-rains come and rivers rise dangerously so. But it takes days to do it safely, and it's a fantasy to think that we have anywhere near the resources to stage such mass evacuations. In Victoria or New South Wales, unlike China, most of those evacuated would have nowhere to go, and state governments would have nowhere to even tent all those people while a bushfire threat passes.
If climate change has in reality given us an horrific preview this year of what's to come, perhaps the impossible problems of massive evacuation in Australia will be overcome, eventually. Maybe.
This is Australia. We Burn.
But tinder dry bush doesn't always just burst into flames either, even when the heat is so intense it sears the nose to breathe the air. Poorly maintained electricity lines can spark bushfires (as may well the case with the fires that swept into Kinglake two weeks ago), so can discarded cigarettes, and arsonists strike around the country every year, when fire-ready conditions are most perfect.
Is there somebody, right now, down in Victoria, thinking about going out and lighting more fires today? It absolute shatters fireys every time one of their own is busted for lighting fires in the bush, and it seems to happen nearly every year now. But how do you stop these people? In the future will potential arsonists be spotted, and dealt with, pre-emptively, as we now deal with supposed terrorists? Get them before they get the chance to do something destructive and deadly?
The most moving part of the 'National Day of Mourning' yesterday was to see the fire fighting men and women, who lost their homes and friends trying to protect the houses of complete strangers. They will be back out there today, and all this week, and again this time next year. They face dangers we can't comprehend, and it's a sign of just how professional many of them are that so few are injured or killed as they battle those flames.
The fire threat, unlike most other natural disasters, comes on so many fronts, sometimes all at the same time - arson, spot fires caused by loose embers from burn-offs, lighting strikes - and all are impossible to fully contain or control. It's worse than a war, fire is without mercy.
This is Australia. We Burn.It's a reality few of us will forget anytime soon.
UPDATE : Stories hitting the online headlines right now, at 8.40am, are claiming the new Victorian fires threat is greater than mentioned earlier, but authorities are still trying to avoid a situation developing where roads become choked with traffic, blocking emergency response vehicles, and potentially trapping people in the path of fires :
"Of most concern is the giant East Kilmore-Murrindindi fire," Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Lee Miezis said.
"We're talking about temperatures to the mid-30s with a northwesterly wind and a late chance with southwesterly winds
CFA state duty officer Neil Bumpstead said residents would be most at risk after the wind change forecast for late this afternoon.
Mr Bumpstead warned that if fire did reach the Warburton Valley, people who had left should be prepared to stay away for several days.
"We cannot stress enough that with limited road access in the Warburton Valley, traffic may become congested," he said.
"Being on the roads is dangerous during a fire threat."
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Bargain Basement Bush
Elton John charges more for floor seats, and Elton doesn't give you a meal :
Bush is desperately trying to raise about $US500 million for his presidential library. Not a lot of those who promised him years back, "Yeah, sure, Mr President, I'll throw in $50 million for your book place, sure, now how many missiles do you want to buy?" haven't come up with the money he needs. And he'll be lucky to get even a few hundred grand for his memoirs.
At least he'll find enough punters in Australia to cash him up enough to fit out his library.
A smaller library.
Maybe a mobile library....
They won't be shutting down the streets of Sydney and running kilometres of steel fencing through the heart of the city and the Botanical Gardens this time when Bush visits.
Elton John charges more for floor seats, and Elton doesn't give you a meal :
The day after Obama was sworn in, Bush was ready to start hoiking his blood-caked wares to punters in Australia.Celebrity agent Max Markson plans to bring former US president George Bush to Australia on a $1000-a-head speaking tour next year.
"I was on a cruise in the Caribbean the day after President [Barack] Obama was sworn in and I received an email asking if I could arrange for president Bush to come out," Mr Markson said.
Bush is desperately trying to raise about $US500 million for his presidential library. Not a lot of those who promised him years back, "Yeah, sure, Mr President, I'll throw in $50 million for your book place, sure, now how many missiles do you want to buy?" haven't come up with the money he needs. And he'll be lucky to get even a few hundred grand for his memoirs.
At least he'll find enough punters in Australia to cash him up enough to fit out his library.
A smaller library.
Maybe a mobile library....
They won't be shutting down the streets of Sydney and running kilometres of steel fencing through the heart of the city and the Botanical Gardens this time when Bush visits.
Laugh? I Almost Disemboweled Myself
By Darryl Mason
The Murdoch media "across the board" cutbacks to staff are biting deep into News Limited blogger-luxuries like moderators.
The Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt :
All those pro-Costello Liberal Party staffers and "PR consultants" trying to fuck with Malcolm Turnbull's leadership via Bolt's chaos-ridden comment boards, trying to wreak further havoc on the party that John Howard all but destroyed, will have to fruitlessly shout into all that online silence and hear no reassuring yowing in return. For a few hours, anyway.
Surely the advertising revenues on a mainstream media blog like Bolt's, heavily cross-promoted through Murdoch media online news sites that attract hundreds of thousands of readers a day, would earn enough to pay somebody else at least something to do the moderating, part-time?
Here's a recent prime space ad from Bolt's "One Million Hits A Month" blog :
That would be "global warming" that Andrew Bolt repeatedly claims "stopped in 1998", the same global warming that he thinks is "the most superstitious pagan faith of all" and is being promoted by "the carbon cult". In the case of the above advertiser on his blog, "the carbon cult" is own employer.
The mentality here, of earning a wage from a company that promotes what you claim is dangerous and will cost lives, is summed up like this : "Hi. These true believers are the new Nazis and it's my job to warn you how terribly dangerous they are. Oh, by the way, I work for them!"
News Limited bloggers don't earn anything from "Hey! We're Really Green, Too!" ads from News Limited. That's not good news for Bolt, or for News Limited.
Why in the world aren't advertisers rushing to flog their wares on a mainstream media blog that is so undeniably popular, at least in Australia? Bolt's a regular taxpayer-soaking guest of the ABC, and is an enthusiastic dancing bear on A Current Affair. As far as bloggers go in Australia, there's few more famous. And no-one wants to advertise there?
Well, no-one except for his own employer, who mocks him with its own massive ads above his posts, pumping News Limited's New Corporate Green campaign to fight global warming that Bolt himself so often proclaims doesn't actually exist.
Does a near total lack of non-News Limited advertisers have something to do with Bolt's feign warning to his regular readers today that much more time will now be spent judiciously culling the more extreme and disturbing comments?
Well, yeah. Of course.
Rupert Murdoch has made it very clear to his shareholders, if not his own staff, that the more highly paid employees, like Howard-era conservative-minded opinionists, are now expected to perform - that is earn decent ad revenue - in the online world. There's no free rides for 'star columnists' anymore. And if News Limited is forced to fill ad space on Bolt's blog with its own ads, then his ad revenue earning performance is less than spectacular. No doubt Rupert himself has already noticed this.
It's like ranting near daily that Scientology is a dangerous cult, and then having Scientologists advertising on your blog. Daily. Actually, it's much worse. Scientology ads would at least pay for the ad space.
Anyway, who needs to hire in moderators? The secret to staying on top of your blog's comments is to not attract so many verbose, intolerant, insult-spewing commenters who need constant monitoring.
Not like here. Right?
Hello?
Is anybody out there?
No? Good. I can go to bed then, and sleep late.
Rupert Murdoch Admits He Tells His Newspapers What To Print
Murdoch Journalist Denies Murdoch Media Conspiracy
Andrew Bolt Announces Boycott Over Corporate "Global Warming Hypcocrisy (sic)"
By Darryl Mason
The Murdoch media "across the board" cutbacks to staff are biting deep into News Limited blogger-luxuries like moderators.
The Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt :
Have your say here.
Apologies in advance, but there may be a delay in moderating today. My eldest son in playing with his band in the country, and I’m not sure if anyone is around today to fill in for me.
Wait a sec...moderate your own blog's comments?
Work on your own blog, on the weekend?
Outrageous!
Surely the advertising revenues on a mainstream media blog like Bolt's, heavily cross-promoted through Murdoch media online news sites that attract hundreds of thousands of readers a day, would earn enough to pay somebody else at least something to do the moderating, part-time?
Here's a recent prime space ad from Bolt's "One Million Hits A Month" blog :
That would be "global warming" that Andrew Bolt repeatedly claims "stopped in 1998", the same global warming that he thinks is "the most superstitious pagan faith of all" and is being promoted by "the carbon cult". In the case of the above advertiser on his blog, "the carbon cult" is own employer.
The mentality here, of earning a wage from a company that promotes what you claim is dangerous and will cost lives, is summed up like this : "Hi. These true believers are the new Nazis and it's my job to warn you how terribly dangerous they are. Oh, by the way, I work for them!"
News Limited bloggers don't earn anything from "Hey! We're Really Green, Too!" ads from News Limited. That's not good news for Bolt, or for News Limited.
Why in the world aren't advertisers rushing to flog their wares on a mainstream media blog that is so undeniably popular, at least in Australia? Bolt's a regular taxpayer-soaking guest of the ABC, and is an enthusiastic dancing bear on A Current Affair. As far as bloggers go in Australia, there's few more famous. And no-one wants to advertise there?
Well, no-one except for his own employer, who mocks him with its own massive ads above his posts, pumping News Limited's New Corporate Green campaign to fight global warming that Bolt himself so often proclaims doesn't actually exist.
Does a near total lack of non-News Limited advertisers have something to do with Bolt's feign warning to his regular readers today that much more time will now be spent judiciously culling the more extreme and disturbing comments?
Well, yeah. Of course.
Rupert Murdoch has made it very clear to his shareholders, if not his own staff, that the more highly paid employees, like Howard-era conservative-minded opinionists, are now expected to perform - that is earn decent ad revenue - in the online world. There's no free rides for 'star columnists' anymore. And if News Limited is forced to fill ad space on Bolt's blog with its own ads, then his ad revenue earning performance is less than spectacular. No doubt Rupert himself has already noticed this.
It's like ranting near daily that Scientology is a dangerous cult, and then having Scientologists advertising on your blog. Daily. Actually, it's much worse. Scientology ads would at least pay for the ad space.
Anyway, who needs to hire in moderators? The secret to staying on top of your blog's comments is to not attract so many verbose, intolerant, insult-spewing commenters who need constant monitoring.
Not like here. Right?
Hello?
Is anybody out there?
No? Good. I can go to bed then, and sleep late.
Rupert Murdoch Admits He Tells His Newspapers What To Print
Murdoch Journalist Denies Murdoch Media Conspiracy
Andrew Bolt Announces Boycott Over Corporate "Global Warming Hypcocrisy (sic)"
Friday, February 20, 2009
Howard : You Stupid People, Why Can't You See How Mega I Was?
By Darryl Mason
How strong, how formidable a legacy can it really be when John Howard has to repeatedly remind us of how strong and formidable that legacy is supposed to be?
"The legacy of the former Liberal government is one that we should all want to own," says the 2007' Federal Election's Biggest Loser, who, in the words of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch, destroyed the Liberal Party on his way to retirement.
By Darryl Mason
How strong, how formidable a legacy can it really be when John Howard has to repeatedly remind us of how strong and formidable that legacy is supposed to be?
"The legacy of the former Liberal government is one that we should all want to own," says the 2007' Federal Election's Biggest Loser, who, in the words of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch, destroyed the Liberal Party on his way to retirement.
"Australia was a stronger, prouder and more prosperous nation in November 2007 than it had been in March 1996. Yet attempts have been made to discount the contributions of competitive capitalism and more open markets to the remarkable economic growth, in many nations, during these past 30 years."
And how many of those who "prospered" through increased access to cheap and voluminous personal credit remain prosperous today? Enough to sustain that fantasy...sorry, legacy?
John Howard spells out "Who We Liberals Are" for those who have forgotten, and how easily they forget :
"We are a party of the individual rather than of the collective. We see the maximum good for the nation being achieved when each individual is encouraged to do his or her best.
"We are a party that should always see the family as the most important unit in our society, not only as a source of love and emotional security, but also, quite pragmatically, as mankind's most efficient social welfare system. Liberals should always retain their strong belief in the fundamental force of the market. That does not mean that the market always functions smoothly or that it is not open to abuse."
And something from Mr Howard about a new great, or even greater, depression now looms thanks to some of the most outrageous gambles and acts of mega-billion dollar fraud ever committed in the history of the world, perhaps?
No.
"The notion that markets need extensive reregulation is based on a false reading of what has happened to the world economy."
World economy? Do they still even call it that? What's left of it?
It's bad enough that Rudd & Friends dare to claim credit for what was achieved during the Liberal Years Of Peace And Prosperity And Magic Wonderfulness For All, but Howard is so desperate to scrabble for scraps of credibility and respect these days that he is positioning himself as having continued in the tradition of 1980s economic reformers, and former prime ministers, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
Heeeeerrrrrre's Johnny :
"In 1980 our nation needed five great reforms. We needed to deregulate our financial system, fundamentally change our taxation system, make our labour markets freer, reduce excessively high tariffs and rid the government of ownership of commercial enterprises that would be better run privately. By 2007 these five great reforms had been achieved."
Folding himself into the legacy of the Hawke and Keating Years must have come as something of a surprise for the Liberal desperates gathered to hear Howard speak yesterday.
Well, gathered to hear Malcolm Turnbull speak, suffering through Howard, stifling snores and groans as they collectively wondered when this loser was going to get the fuck off the stage so Turnbull could wake up himself and get on with leading the Liberal Party into whatever hell awaits them next.
END OF PART ONE
Above, The Herald Sun takes a photoshop shot at imagining what actress Cate Blanchett would look like if she were to take on the role of Pauline Hanson in a planned movie of her life :
Melbourne filmmakers Leanne Tonkes and Steve Kearney believe Australia's most radiant leading lady would be perfect to play the One Nation founder in their Pauline Hanson biopic.They should include the very real conspiracy that unfolded between the Labor Party and The Liberals to destroy Hanson beginning in 1996, after John Howard lifted some of her most popular policies and made them his own. Neither the Labor or Liberal parties wanted to see a third party threatening their shared monopoly of federal politics, and for a while there, One Nation with Hanson at the helm looked to have a decent shot at shattering that monopoly. Sabotuer extraordinaire Tony Abbott went so far as to arrange pro-bono lawyers for those who really wanted to grind Pauline Hanson into the ground with lawsuit after lawsuit, a standard tactic for shutting up those with too much to say, and too many people listening.
AFI award-winning screenwriter and playwright Stephen Sewell is on board. So is director Anna Broinowksi, best known for her account of the Norma Khouri literary hoax, Forbidden Lie$.
The producers have talked to Blanchett. "She's very busy," Kearney admits. "It really depends if we deliver a script she likes."
"It's based on Hanson's life, starting from a fish and chip shop and ending on Dancing With the Stars."
"Slimy? Mudhole? My Home This Is"
This three year old pic of a familiar looking mud puddle is doing the e-mail rounds again. Tasmania might be a bit big, but Queensland looks pretty accurate right now.
Snopes hasn't decided whether or not this is photoshopped, but believes the image's appearance at the Army newspaper online lends it a level of credibility :
This three year old pic of a familiar looking mud puddle is doing the e-mail rounds again. Tasmania might be a bit big, but Queensland looks pretty accurate right now.
Snopes hasn't decided whether or not this is photoshopped, but believes the image's appearance at the Army newspaper online lends it a level of credibility :
ADF personnel deployed to Sudan were given a unique reminder of their island home with a picture on a track. Rain left this mud map in potholes, bearing a striking resemblance to Australia.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A Dream Given, Then Stolen Away
After years of pathetic whining about when oh when will the Evil Pagan Lefty-Infested ABC finally give a whining Howard-era conservative his own show, Andrew Bolt receives the call he's been waiting so long for :
UPDATE : I'm shocked, stunned, shocked and stunned, that I've fallen for a fake Twitter. The Andrew Bolt I've quoted above, mewing like a schoolgirl in love, is apparently not the real Andrew Bolt, AKA The Professional Idiot.
Gary Kemble, the big spoilsport, at ABC Online, reveals all :
It was fun while it lasted.
After years of pathetic whining about when oh when will the Evil Pagan Lefty-Infested ABC finally give a whining Howard-era conservative his own show, Andrew Bolt receives the call he's been waiting so long for :
Just received call from ABC, asking me to produce/host my own show for $20m. Squealed "Yes!".But life is cruel. So very, very cruel.
They giggled, and then hung up.Andrew Bolt is taking his obsession with Peter Costello beyond mere infatuation :
"Now I've started photoshopping myself into Costello's wedding photos. How good do I like in white? Very.This is all taking place at Twitter. But why won't Andrew Bolt share his sweet emotions with his blog readers at the Herald Sun? What is he afraid of? People will mock him for confessing his man love for Peter Costello, but I think it's quite touching.
"Peter says I would look good with a moustache. Spent 30 mins in front of mirror with various fake moustaches. Looked quite good."
"Peter Costello dropped by for lunch. On the way out he touched me on the small of my back. It was electric."
"I keep finding myself scrawling Mr. Andrew Costello all over my notes. What is wrong with me?"
UPDATE : I'm shocked, stunned, shocked and stunned, that I've fallen for a fake Twitter. The Andrew Bolt I've quoted above, mewing like a schoolgirl in love, is apparently not the real Andrew Bolt, AKA The Professional Idiot.
Gary Kemble, the big spoilsport, at ABC Online, reveals all :
Bummer.Twitter has taken off in Australia in recent weeks, aided by mainstream media focus and the Victorian bushfires, drawing in a whole new audience for enterprising tweeps who snapped up the names of some well-known Aussies.
Following in the footsteps of fake Henry Rollins, fake William Shatner and fake Megan Fox comes fake Andrew Bolt, obsessing over former treasurer Peter Costello.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Miranda Devine also cops some heat, with her Twitter alter ego detailing a "blazing row" with ABC journo Leigh Sales at an upmarket Sydney eatery.
"Claimed my use of 'holocaust' in today's piece was inapropriate. Offered her my dictionary," the fake Miranda Devine writes.
It's not yet clear if the fake tweeps will be allowed to continue as they are.
Guidelines covering the use of Twitter state: "You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive others."
It was fun while it lasted.
We've Already Moved On
By Darryl Mason
Did the media 9/11 the Victoria Fires to death?
Have we had about as much as we can take of survivor stories and hearing about the tragic loss suffered by so many fellow Australians?
If you read one more opinion piece about "back burning" and "fuel loads" will you mutter "Fuck those hillbillies, they wanted to live in the bush, I'm sick of hearing about this shit" like a middle-aged man did at my local 7/11 as he flicked through a Daily Telegraph while queuing, drawing nods and shrugs, but no outrage, from others also waiting in line?
Will you be watching the live cross to Sunday's memorial service, or 'The Day Of National Mourning' as it's also known, or does that pile of unwatched DVDs seem more than a little tempting?
There are still plenty of interesting, and shocking, stories flowing from the aftermath of the Victoria Fires, but outside of news about a fireman who fell victim to a 'widow maker' and another about Google Earth's problems with government bureacracy when it tried to map the fires live, all stories related to the Victoria Fires just aren't rating any more, at all, on the Top Stories lists of our major mainstream online news sites.
It's back to business as usual for millions of Australians who get their news online, with celebrity shit, crocodiles, diet, tech and sex stories proving to be as popular as they always were, and will no doubt continue to be.
And from ABC News Online :
By Darryl Mason
Did the media 9/11 the Victoria Fires to death?
Have we had about as much as we can take of survivor stories and hearing about the tragic loss suffered by so many fellow Australians?
If you read one more opinion piece about "back burning" and "fuel loads" will you mutter "Fuck those hillbillies, they wanted to live in the bush, I'm sick of hearing about this shit" like a middle-aged man did at my local 7/11 as he flicked through a Daily Telegraph while queuing, drawing nods and shrugs, but no outrage, from others also waiting in line?
Will you be watching the live cross to Sunday's memorial service, or 'The Day Of National Mourning' as it's also known, or does that pile of unwatched DVDs seem more than a little tempting?
There are still plenty of interesting, and shocking, stories flowing from the aftermath of the Victoria Fires, but outside of news about a fireman who fell victim to a 'widow maker' and another about Google Earth's problems with government bureacracy when it tried to map the fires live, all stories related to the Victoria Fires just aren't rating any more, at all, on the Top Stories lists of our major mainstream online news sites.
It's back to business as usual for millions of Australians who get their news online, with celebrity shit, crocodiles, diet, tech and sex stories proving to be as popular as they always were, and will no doubt continue to be.
And from ABC News Online :
How Does A Chicken Consent To Sex?
According to "a leading Queensland biologist", innocent chickens are being "raped" by bush turkeys, who are growing in number and are taking advantage of the locals :
According to "a leading Queensland biologist", innocent chickens are being "raped" by bush turkeys, who are growing in number and are taking advantage of the locals :
"Bluntly, that's a form of rape," he said.It's a brutal world out there.
"Especially black chickens....(bush turkeys) seem to think 'oh well, these look close enough' and they'll mate with them."
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
It's Easier Than You Think
But what is 'Sydney' talking about over there? Rocks, Evil Pagan Lefty Commo Nazi Greenies, Hamas children's TV hosts, flavoured milk, Al Gore Is Fat, American radio host Rush Limbaugh and some cricket commentator who uses the word "must" a lot.
Now that Murdoch media bloggers will soon have to rely on blog revenue to fill the money gap left by the boss's "across the board" staff and wage cuts, Blair will need all the promotion he can get, even if it qualifies as false advertising.
UPDATE : The Great Al Gore Global Warming Conspiracy Collective is at war against The Deniers and has hacked into Blair's blog (obviously I can't ignore it) and is gremlinising comments, to accidentally amusing effect :
It's excellently random and chaotic, and should be kept. Much more entertaining.
But what is 'Sydney' talking about over there? Rocks, Evil Pagan Lefty Commo Nazi Greenies, Hamas children's TV hosts, flavoured milk, Al Gore Is Fat, American radio host Rush Limbaugh and some cricket commentator who uses the word "must" a lot.
Now that Murdoch media bloggers will soon have to rely on blog revenue to fill the money gap left by the boss's "across the board" staff and wage cuts, Blair will need all the promotion he can get, even if it qualifies as false advertising.
UPDATE : The Great Al Gore Global Warming Conspiracy Collective is at war against The Deniers and has hacked into Blair's blog (obviously I can't ignore it) and is gremlinising comments, to accidentally amusing effect :
When I moved house recently I lost my treasured paper clip. The one special paperclip, that clipped together many of my favourite peices of paper. I was devastated.
bondo of Melbourne (reply)
18 Feb 09 (06:20pm)
Surreal. Apparently, comments posted in reply to comments on other News Limited blogs are popping up randomly wherever they feel like at Blair's. So a riveting discussion about pens, paperclips and the Holocaust at Blair's is suddenly interrupted by comments meant to appear on some other blog entirely where the conversation is centred around the TV show WifeSwap.Simultaneous Lover replied to bondoYes, I have been a cheater. Sorry to admit it, but before I found the right girl to settle down with, I dated 3 simultaneously. It’s expensive and time consuming.
Wed 18 Feb 09 (10:46pm)
It's excellently random and chaotic, and should be kept. Much more entertaining.
Tragedy Porn, Did It Do It For You?
By Darryl Mason
The Professional Idiot thinks he has found a potential comment volcano in the ugly truths that Ross Gittins writes about here. The Professional Idiot takes a couple of reasonable arguments that Gittens raises - for example, that the media coverage of the Victorian bushfires has been hyperbolic and Spielbergian in its gratuitously obvious manipulation of our emotions - and claims that those wanting to help out the victims must be "sick". Gittins says no such thing. It's a concoction of The Professional Idiot's poisoned mind.
The Professional Idiot wants his readers to go all out in hammering Gittens - "Please don’t restrain your criticism of Gittins," he goads, "Any pity you may feel for him is just a sign of your depravity" - but it completely backfires, with about 80% of commenters agreeing that Gittins is pretty much exactly right when he says that the media focus on the Victorian bushfires (to the exclusion of other tragedies and daily tales of loss and hardship) bordered on pornographic, and that while Australians are lining up to help out the survivors this time, they are mostly missing in action when, say, The Red Cross, appeals for blood donors at any other time during the average year.
Here's the two snippets The Professional Idiot provides to provoke his readers :
Here's some of the hassh reality from Gittins that The Professional Idiot chose to ignore because he is exactly the kind of Tabloid Media that Ross Gittins so relentlessly hammers and holds in contempt (excerpts) :
You only have to look at the Top Stories listings at our online mainstream media to see that our interest in the victims of the Victorian Fires is already waning.
Then again, how much emotion can anybody be expected to commit to such a tragedy? Life goes on, everybody's got their own problems to deal with, and the media goes back to hunting, and waiting, for the next moment of National Caring that reminds us, indeed, how much we really do care. Or want to care.
Or want to feel like we are caring.It's hard to imagine that anything could happen that will let loose again such an outpouring of National Caring, but it will.
What's next? A massive train wreck? An earthquake sinking half of Sydney's CBD? A tsunami wiping out dozens of villages along our endless coastline? A cyclone carrying away most of Cairns?
And what will the reaction be the next time a firestorm wipes out an Australian town or three? Will we be more sympathetic, or less? Will there be a guilty reaction from feeling, 'Been there, done that'?
Will another holocaust seem more horrific or less, if the bodycount is only 50 instead of more than 200?
By Darryl Mason
The Professional Idiot thinks he has found a potential comment volcano in the ugly truths that Ross Gittins writes about here. The Professional Idiot takes a couple of reasonable arguments that Gittens raises - for example, that the media coverage of the Victorian bushfires has been hyperbolic and Spielbergian in its gratuitously obvious manipulation of our emotions - and claims that those wanting to help out the victims must be "sick". Gittins says no such thing. It's a concoction of The Professional Idiot's poisoned mind.
The Professional Idiot wants his readers to go all out in hammering Gittens - "Please don’t restrain your criticism of Gittins," he goads, "Any pity you may feel for him is just a sign of your depravity" - but it completely backfires, with about 80% of commenters agreeing that Gittins is pretty much exactly right when he says that the media focus on the Victorian bushfires (to the exclusion of other tragedies and daily tales of loss and hardship) bordered on pornographic, and that while Australians are lining up to help out the survivors this time, they are mostly missing in action when, say, The Red Cross, appeals for blood donors at any other time during the average year.
Here's the two snippets The Professional Idiot provides to provoke his readers :
Selective quoting at its best. And strange, too, seeing as The Professional Idiot usually fills his blog with hundreds and hundreds of words written by others. Not this time. Gittins nails so many extremely valid points about the media and public reaction to the undeniably horrific human tragedy of the Victorian Fires 2009 (Part One) that The Professional Idiot must be seething with jealousy. Gittins already controversial piece makes most of TPI's recent efforts at trying to Capture The Emotion of the tragedy seem so much trivial fluff. It must be doubly grating for The Professional Idiot that so many of his readers so overwhelmingly agree with Gittins.The outpouring of public concern over the terrible Victorian bushfires, the rush to give blood, the huge amount of donations, the efforts of governments to do all they can to help, the way business has swung behind the appeal for assistance - it makes you proud to be an Aussie.
Is that how you feel? I don’t. I find it all strangely disturbing and distasteful.
And it's served to strengthen my suspicion that the community's reaction to natural disasters is exploitative, voyeuristic, unfair, self-gratifying and even pathological.
Here's some of the hassh reality from Gittins that The Professional Idiot chose to ignore because he is exactly the kind of Tabloid Media that Ross Gittins so relentlessly hammers and holds in contempt (excerpts) :
Media Watch examined the Tragedy Porn of the Australian media last night, and how some journalists stomped their way through crime scenes, homes to which owners had been denied access. The transcript is here....media coverage of this (disaster has) gone way over the top. And it's served to strengthen my suspicion that the community's reaction to natural disasters is exploitative, voyeuristic, unfair, self-gratifying and even pathological.
Natural disasters are a time when emotions and appearances reign supreme and rational thought goes overboard. Let a victim corner a politician on talkback radio and he'll agree to almost anything. The media devote such huge resources of space and airtime to covering natural disasters for an obvious reason: they believe it will increase their circulations and ratings.
But don't blame it all on the media. They do what they do because they know it's what their audience wants.
I've never liked having my emotions revved up by the media, but it's clear most people do. They want the media to give their feelings of sympathy, sorrow and grief a good workout.
The unspeakable truth is that most people enjoy a good natural disaster. We're fascinated by the misfortune of others. It's a form of entertainment, just as people find weepies and horror movies entertaining. As part of this, audiences want as much personal, intimate detail about the victims' trauma as possible, and the media deliver.
I suspect we use natural disasters to add interest and excitement to our humdrum lives. Modern city life leaves us with weaker connections to our extended families and neighbours, so whereas once we could let our emotions loose on the misadventures of people we knew, now we need the mass media to provide our emotional exercise.
Our preoccupation lasts a week or two before the media senses our waning interest and turns away, waiting for the next natural disaster to get excited about.
Our emotion-driven caring is highly selective. People with problems get wonderful treatment provided their problems make good TV footage and for the 15 minutes they're in the media spotlight. People with chronic (old-hat), unphotogenic problems get ignored.
You only have to look at the Top Stories listings at our online mainstream media to see that our interest in the victims of the Victorian Fires is already waning.
Then again, how much emotion can anybody be expected to commit to such a tragedy? Life goes on, everybody's got their own problems to deal with, and the media goes back to hunting, and waiting, for the next moment of National Caring that reminds us, indeed, how much we really do care. Or want to care.
Or want to feel like we are caring.It's hard to imagine that anything could happen that will let loose again such an outpouring of National Caring, but it will.
What's next? A massive train wreck? An earthquake sinking half of Sydney's CBD? A tsunami wiping out dozens of villages along our endless coastline? A cyclone carrying away most of Cairns?
And what will the reaction be the next time a firestorm wipes out an Australian town or three? Will we be more sympathetic, or less? Will there be a guilty reaction from feeling, 'Been there, done that'?
Will another holocaust seem more horrific or less, if the bodycount is only 50 instead of more than 200?
Police Do Not Have The Right To Immediately Search Your Mobile Phone, Blackberry Or Video Camera
This story is a few weeks old, but it's worth repeating, again and again:
Unless the media happens to have an exclusive 'reality TV' deal with the police, then their on the scene program makers can report back to the news desk what sort of shit has just gone down.
This story is a few weeks old, but it's worth repeating, again and again:
Maybe they just wanted to see what the quality of the footage was like, maybe they thought they could use it in one of the many reality TV shows police now control, and profit from :A man detained and threatened with arrest under the Terrorism Act for filming police on his mobile phone says police abused their powers.Nick Holmes a Court, CEO of web-based media companies BuzzNumbers and ShiftedPixels, was walking to his home near Kings Cross in Sydney about 10pm on December 19.
He said police forcibly took his BlackBerry phone and threatened him with arrest both under the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act and for allegedly disobeying a police directive.
Mr Holmes a Court said he had started filming what looked like a search after he noticed a group of police walking down his street.
"I went to one guy and asked what was going on but he told me to move along, and if I didn't they'd be able to arrest me," he said.
"So I moved down the street a few hundred metres to where my apartment was, pulled out my phone and started filming."
Mr Holmes a Court said he had stopped filming before two of the police officers approached, demanding he surrender his BlackBerry mobile phone and telling him he had committed a crime if he had recorded them.
"It was in my hand, and they were saying, 'Give me your phone, give me your phone,' but I just kept repeating, 'I do not consent to a search of my phone'," Mr Holmes a Court said.
"It was pulled out of my hand - it wasn't me handing it over to her - and now I've got this girl looking through my phone and all my content - my contacts, photos, text messages and emails."
Mr Holmes a Court said he repeatedly complained to the police while they tampered with his phone, but was told to "shut up".
Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said police did not have the authority to confiscate cameras or stop people from taking pictures of them performing their duties.
"It's not appropriate for the police to be stopping people taking pictures of them," Mr Pope said.
"They've got no power to do that, none whatsoever, and they've got no power to confiscate cameras.
"Why should they be fighting being scrutinised?"
The insatiable demand for reality-TV is proving to be a boom for NSW Police with the force signing an increasing number of exclusive deals with "true crime" style shows.The force has signed contracts with at least four highly-rated shows, granting film crews exclusive access behind the crime scene tape in "user-pays" arrangements.
In return for signing confidentiality agreements and allowing NSW Police to vet their final products, reality-TV crews are ushered in by police film supervisors to crime scenes while other media are being kept back.
Earlier this year, the NSW Police Force encrypted their police scanners, which means the media is not informed of many major crimes, such as murders, until a media release is issued the following day.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Take Your Spew And Wee Elsewhere
Inner-city Melbourne has become one big public toilet, and vomitorium, according to local councils. They want maggoted youth to stop pissing and puking in the street. How to get the message across? 'Shock' ads, of course.
Be warned, the first ad is particularly chunky :
Inner-city Melbourne has become one big public toilet, and vomitorium, according to local councils. They want maggoted youth to stop pissing and puking in the street. How to get the message across? 'Shock' ads, of course.
Be warned, the first ad is particularly chunky :
Crack A Joke, Break The Misery
I was wondering when we were going to see the return of the black-as Australian sense of humour amongst all the seriousness and tragedy of the Victorian fires. It sounds like it's back :
I was wondering when we were going to see the return of the black-as Australian sense of humour amongst all the seriousness and tragedy of the Victorian fires. It sounds like it's back :
Great story."The Catholic Church has burnt down, the United Church has burnt down, and I see the Buddhist temple is still standing," one survivor said.
"It sort of makes you realise who might have the real God. I think I'll change religion."
One woman says that when she took a TV crew to her house, they began walking over the rubble and she called out to them, "No, through here please," and proceeded to pick up what was left of the front door handle.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Raging Against The Firey Accused Of Killer Arson Challenges Online Freedom Of Speech
By Darryl Mason
When volunteer firefighter Brendan Sokaluk was named by Channel 7 news on the weekend as the person arrested as the key suspect in the arson that started the Churchill fires, which killed as many as 21 people in Victoria, an elderly woman was asked for her opinion as she exited a Churchill supermarket. Without hesitation, the old woman said she wanted to cover him in petrol and set him on fire.
Burning the currently unconvicted man to death for what he may have done is the most popular choice for revenge murder amongst thousands of Australians commenting online at blogs, MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.
There hasn't been such a popular public demand for instant death of an accused murderer since the gruesome pack rape and slaughter of Anita Cobby in 1986, when Blacktown locals surrounded the city police station, where the suspects were being held, and waved nooses and screamed for bloody and savage revenge, calls for revenge that were echoed across the country.
Facebook, in particular, has been inundated with thousands joining 'Kill That Sick Fuck Now'-type groups, filled with comments proposing creatively gruesome ways to torture the accused to death :
More on all this here
VEX News broke the Online Vigilantes At Facebook story early on Sunday, February 15.
A reader-submitted image from ABC Online shows a view of the Churchill fires Brendan Sokaluk is accused of lighting
.
By Darryl Mason
When volunteer firefighter Brendan Sokaluk was named by Channel 7 news on the weekend as the person arrested as the key suspect in the arson that started the Churchill fires, which killed as many as 21 people in Victoria, an elderly woman was asked for her opinion as she exited a Churchill supermarket. Without hesitation, the old woman said she wanted to cover him in petrol and set him on fire.
Burning the currently unconvicted man to death for what he may have done is the most popular choice for revenge murder amongst thousands of Australians commenting online at blogs, MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.
There hasn't been such a popular public demand for instant death of an accused murderer since the gruesome pack rape and slaughter of Anita Cobby in 1986, when Blacktown locals surrounded the city police station, where the suspects were being held, and waved nooses and screamed for bloody and savage revenge, calls for revenge that were echoed across the country.
Facebook, in particular, has been inundated with thousands joining 'Kill That Sick Fuck Now'-type groups, filled with comments proposing creatively gruesome ways to torture the accused to death :
President of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, Terry O'Gorman, says the creators of the Facebook groups, some of which have over 2,000 members, could face charges for being in contempt of court and could put a stop to the accused actually going to trial.
"As far as stopping comments about torture and killing and so on, that's a bit more difficult, I think however Facebook has got to bring their good judgement to bear.
"While people have a right to express an opinion about the person who has been charged, it's got to be kept in mind that this person has to have a fair trial.
"If this person who has been arrested for arson is to face trial before a jury, it makes it very difficult to get a jury pool who is not tainted by the results of these Facebook entries."
Mr O'Gorman says just as media outlets can face prosecution for breaching court orders, so too can individuals.
"The law of suppression, when laid down by a court, applies just as much to individuals who use Facebook as it does to major media outlets," he said.
"I think it's high time that those people who are making these entries on Facebook realise that they are not operating in a legal vacuum."
Membership for the online groups continues to grow, as does the anger (hopefully being) vented in the comments on the Facebook groups :
"let the people get him I say".
"Ya know, I would go to jail myself if I could get my hands on this creep, let me hurt him, burn him, put a bullet and knife in every orrifice of his body," wrote one poster.
"tie the bastard to a post and put a ring of fire around him....let the fire make its way to him and make him suffer like the other 100's of people had to indure...."
"yes thank christ his address was given out, just in case the police din't catch him in time, i had a small chance to go and smash the cunt's knee caps in with a metal pipe..."
"what a fucken sicko yeah?"
"You dirty piece os scumbag shit. how the fuck can you do what you did. your lucky i dont get my hands on you cause i light you on fire then put you out and continue to do it untill you slowly burn to death you low life piece of shit. remember what goes around comes around your fucked..."
"...you fuckn worthless piece of shit… ur a fuckn disgrace to human kind… to any living thing!!!! if i was the magistrate dealing wid ur case i would be giving ur the harshest punishment ever recalled… it wouldnt be putting u in prison it would be putin u in a tidy cell… n one day at a time cut ur limbs the burn them up the put lemon or salt on them n rub it… il make u fuckn suffer like our family and friends did!! u DIRTY, PERVERT FUCKD UP HUMAN BEING……rot in hell u bastard
It shouldn't really come as any surprise that some of those making these kinds of comments are friends or relatives of people who burned to death in the fires Brendan Sokaluk is now accused of lighting.
Obviously there are now serious concerns about whether such an outpouring of public fury and calls for violent revenge will jeopardise the chances of Brendan Sokaluk receiving a fair trial.
While radio commentators, and newspaper opinionists, can't publicly call for the accused to have his fingers cut off, sewn back on and then cut off again (as one Facebook commenter demanded), right now the laws that could stop Facebookers making such threats are mostly untested in the courts and may prove to be extremely difficult to prosecute :
Here's Mathew Rimmer, lecturer in law at the ANU, on why Facebook should not be seen as any different to any other media organisation :"It's the problem with the internet and particularly internet sites such as Facebook and other chat arrangements, the law really hasn't kept up with internet developments..."
"It's quite clear the major newspaper or radio station can't make those comments.
"Equally people on Facebook can't make them, but the law really hasn't caught up to internet technology to ensure that sort of prohibition can be properly policed."
"Much like a newspaper, Facebook needs to be careful what it publishes because it's not just the author who is liable. Sometimes the publisher is liable ," he said.This could be all the fuel some need to push for all comments to blogs or social networking sites to be regulated, moderated, with any kind of anonymity wiped away forever.
Dr Rimmer said Facebook users needed to think carefully before posting. Individuals who posted comments that breach confidentiality, privacy or defamation laws, or any relevant court orders, could be held liable.
More on all this here
VEX News broke the Online Vigilantes At Facebook story early on Sunday, February 15.
A reader-submitted image from ABC Online shows a view of the Churchill fires Brendan Sokaluk is accused of lighting
.
Quick Draw McIdiot In Spectacular Self-Goosing
The Professional Idiot's team of content providers delivers some more pure Gold :
The Professional Idiot's team of content providers delivers some more pure Gold :
Me, a Bolt who hates anyone with “a name like Hussein”? Not so, believe me.
The Profesional Idiot, or one of his team, meant to link to this story on sprinter Hussein Bolt to counter claims of Barack Obama related anti-Husseinery, but instead (before a hasty correction) readers were directed for a second time to this post by Irfan Yusuf that reasonably asked if anyone actually reads through the mind vomit of many Andrew Bolt commenters, before publication, and highlighted some of the more insane comments by the most dense of The Professional Idiot's long conga line of absolute fucking morons.
Some of those comments :
"It’s a bit hard to be friends with an invisible enemey. The religion/ideology that is Islam has been at odds with the civilised world for more than a thousand years. It continues today either in the form of wars being faught in Africa and the Middle East or your local town, suburb or capital city where a more subtle form of ideological control is taking place. Gradually they will either kill us or out number us via massive birth rates. It is happening and people are letting it happen."
"Islam is a threat to non Islamic people everywhere ... Given any chance, Muslims will oppress peoples the world over if they resist conversion to Islam....Denying this is like denying the Holocaust, but I guess you think that was propaganda too?"
"We have to consider these things from Obama’s perspective, which is very different from ours. He is the first Arab President, the US has had."
I'm not sure what The Profesional Idiot's intention was here, unless he intended to point out to his own readers how thick-as some of the fellow brethren are, but when you're relying on 'one million hits a month' to make up for the "across the board" cutbacks from the boss that are now taking effect on the mega-paid opinionastra, like himself, you've got to find something Muslimy every day to keep the last dregs of vehemently paranoid Howard-era conservatives coming back for more.
The Myths Of Marysville : They Died In Church, On Their Knees, In Prayer
By Darryl Mason
The London Times doesn't care whether the following story is true or not, it just makes for a dramatic headline :
I can't find even one news story from the Australian media that still claims people died in those churches, and the claim that people died on their knees in prayer appears to be a complete fabrication.
Why make up stories, or spread myths, when the truth of what happened in Marysville is far more dramatic, and terrible?
UPDATE : I submitted a comment to the London Times story, using the feedback box on the same page, at 2am, Sydney Time, pointing out the claim of many deaths in Marysville's two churches was a rumour dismissed a week ago by locals and officials. Six hours later, the story remains uncorrected, and the headlines remains : 'They Died On Their Knees In Prayer.'
By Darryl Mason
The London Times doesn't care whether the following story is true or not, it just makes for a dramatic headline :
Estimates vary but up to 80 residents who had taken shelter at the Cumberland hotel, Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church and the Anglican Parish Christ Church lay dead. Some were said to have died on their knees, in prayer.On Sunday and Monday, after the destruction, stories flew around amongst survivors from Marysville that dozens perished in the local churches, where they'd tried to find shelter from the inferno, but these tales were quickly dismissed. Some people had tried to shelter in at least one of these churches, but were evacuated before the flames ashed it.
I can't find even one news story from the Australian media that still claims people died in those churches, and the claim that people died on their knees in prayer appears to be a complete fabrication.
Why make up stories, or spread myths, when the truth of what happened in Marysville is far more dramatic, and terrible?
UPDATE : I submitted a comment to the London Times story, using the feedback box on the same page, at 2am, Sydney Time, pointing out the claim of many deaths in Marysville's two churches was a rumour dismissed a week ago by locals and officials. Six hours later, the story remains uncorrected, and the headlines remains : 'They Died On Their Knees In Prayer.'
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Man Up, Fire Crybabies
Compassionate international YouTube commenters share some love with Australians devastated by the Victorian fires :
Here's whatever the hell 'Al Qaeda' is supposed to be these days :
And Irfan Yusuf takes a closer look at the claims made by SITE and the Herald Sun, and warns of the threats posed by jihadic koalas.
Compassionate international YouTube commenters share some love with Australians devastated by the Victorian fires :
"Fucking Australians all think they're the hottest motherfuckers on the planet. Now you're literally hot! BURN FAGGOT CAVEMAN PEOPLE, BURN!"
But you don't have to go to YouTube to find hatred of bushfire victims. There's always religion."Seriously, who cares? Thanks for AC/DC, Mad Max, and INXS - but WTF has Australia been up to lately? You're like a cousin that had so much potential when he was younger, but now sniffs glue in a camaro out in the school parking lot listening to speed metal."
"...fuck you. Thousands of people die every day, thousands of babies are born every day. Its life. Build a bridge and grow a dick. Stupid Australians. They all think they're Crocodile Dundee."
Here's whatever the hell 'Al Qaeda' is supposed to be these days :
Senior analyst at SITE Intelligence Group Adam Raisman said they were posting pictures of burnt homes and devastated victims and "taking joy in the scenes".
One jihadist wrote: "It would be an act of revenge for Australian's participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Pretty calm stuff. For the really extreme hatred, you have to turn to American Baptists :
GOD HATES AUSTRALIA.Grods has more
THANK GOD FOR KILLER FIRES & FLOODS, 100+ DEAD; PRAY FOR MANY MORE...
Yes. It is WBC's sincerely held religious belief that Australia is a land of False Prophets, many of whom are fags or fag-enablers.
And Irfan Yusuf takes a closer look at the claims made by SITE and the Herald Sun, and warns of the threats posed by jihadic koalas.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The (Perhaps) Perfect Crime
Was this rip-off inspired by some crime flick I haven't seen? There doesn't seem to be any news stories archived online where this caper has been pulled before, at least not in the past few years. It's stunningly simple, scarily so.
A car dealership in Liverpool, New South Wales, Saturday morning, before opening time. Thirteen men walk in, confront the three employees, assault them and each man climbs into an unregistered car and drives away. The thirteen cars are believed to be worth as much as half a million :
Was this rip-off inspired by some crime flick I haven't seen? There doesn't seem to be any news stories archived online where this caper has been pulled before, at least not in the past few years. It's stunningly simple, scarily so.
A car dealership in Liverpool, New South Wales, Saturday morning, before opening time. Thirteen men walk in, confront the three employees, assault them and each man climbs into an unregistered car and drives away. The thirteen cars are believed to be worth as much as half a million :
You'd imagine the copycat potential for this, anywhere in the world, is extremely high. Though, rounding up thirteen people to pull a job like that points to very well organised criminals, lots of rehearsal (no crashes as they try to get the cars out of the dealership as quickly as possible) with a way of getting the stolen cars off the street, or out of the country, very quickly.The thieves' haul included one white and two blue VW Golfs, a black Mitsubishi Lancer, a grey Holden Barina, a white Mitsubishi Triton, a black VW Passat, a black Subaru Impreza, a white Mazda 3 and one black and one green Holden Commodore.
More Than 10,000 Australians Have Lost Their Homes To Natural Disasters In Two Weeks
Amongst the horror and human carnage of the Victorian fires, the devastation wrought upon thousands in North Queensland has slipped into the background for many, understandably so. But floods and heavy rains that have reached more than two-thirds of Queensland in the past few weeks, more than one million square kilometres, have devastated cane and banana plantations, cut off entire towns, wiped away bridges and major roads and left, according to this story, thousands of people homeless. Combined with the 7000 thousand now homeless from the fires in Victoria, more than 10,000 Australians are urgently looking for somewhere else to live. Just mind-boggling :
Amongst the horror and human carnage of the Victorian fires, the devastation wrought upon thousands in North Queensland has slipped into the background for many, understandably so. But floods and heavy rains that have reached more than two-thirds of Queensland in the past few weeks, more than one million square kilometres, have devastated cane and banana plantations, cut off entire towns, wiped away bridges and major roads and left, according to this story, thousands of people homeless. Combined with the 7000 thousand now homeless from the fires in Victoria, more than 10,000 Australians are urgently looking for somewhere else to live. Just mind-boggling :
In Ingham residents are beginning the clean-up. But the situation remains dire in Queensland's gulf country, which is experiencing the highest river peaks in 35 years.
In Karumba, a remote fishing town in the state's north-west, residents have been asked to cut back on showers because the town had as little as three days' drinking water left after a water pipeline to nearby Normanton burst. Some towns in the area have been without fresh food since early last month.
Many in the gulf expect to be flood-bound for at least another month.
The floods have devastated the state's sugar industry, which was already struggling due to years of poor growing conditions, high costs and low returns. The water has also damaged banana plantations, which were recovering from Cyclone Larry in 2006.
Yesterday heavy rain between Townsville and Mackay continued. Charters Towers, inland from Townsville, and Longreach, central Queensland were still on flood alert.
Hungry Australia
The below figures from FoodBank are stunning. And remember, this is the state of poverty and hunger in Australia today, before a few hundred thousand people lose their jobs in the next two years :
If you're not growing some of your own food - in your backyard, in your frontyard, on your balcony, on your window sills - you are not being responsible for yourself, or your family.
The losses of fruit and vegetable crops in the Victorian fires and North Queensland floods this past week are expected to be monumental.
The below figures from FoodBank are stunning. And remember, this is the state of poverty and hunger in Australia today, before a few hundred thousand people lose their jobs in the next two years :
* The aged, 'singles' and the 'working poor' have become the new battlers in AustraliaFoodBank
* 13% of Australian adults and 15% of children live in poverty, and the numbers are growing.
* 2.4 million Australians don't have enough money to take care of basic needs such as housing, clothing and food.
* 15% of Australian children live in jobless households and this figure has increased by 30% in the last 20 years.
* In Australia over a million children don't get enough to eat.
* Two million Australians rely on food relief every year and half of them are children.
* These one million children often go to school without breakfast, or to bed without dinner.
If you're not growing some of your own food - in your backyard, in your frontyard, on your balcony, on your window sills - you are not being responsible for yourself, or your family.
The losses of fruit and vegetable crops in the Victorian fires and North Queensland floods this past week are expected to be monumental.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
'Citizen Journalist' Photos, Videos, Eyewitness Reports, Dominate Media Coverage Of The Victorian Fires 2009 (Part One)
The Victorian BushFires 2009 (Part One) was the first Australian major news event where the public supplied nearly all of the most spectacular images and video and breaking news. The video and story of Sam The Koala's rescue being the most obvious, world famous example.
The professional news media were kept out of the most fire-savaged towns until it was all over. The images that so shocked and stunned and saddened us have mostly been taken by members of the public, and the quality of many photos and video has been excellent.
It's going to be grim seeing a pack of professional journalists picking up Walkely Awards for the Victorian BushFires 2009 (Part One), if all the 'citizen journalists' who supplied so much of the content get little or no recognition.
From a spectacular Readers Pics photo gallery in The Age :
Photo by Mulheiren Family
Photo By Hannah Phillips
Photo by Tina McCarthy
Photo by Steve Jameison
Let's hope all the major newspapers and TV news shows that have enjoyed huge audiences, and increased ad revenue, are digging deep for the Bushfire Relief charities, as few if any of the networks or daily newspapers paid for their readers pics and videos.
More Coverage Of The Victorian Bushfires From The Orstrahyun Here
Songs About "Fire" And "Burning" Banned Cut Australian Radio Playlists
Religious Extremist : "Baby Cull" Makes Angry God Burn Children To Death
Why Are We Supposed To Be Surprised That Australians Want To Help Each Other?
Mother Nature : Terrorist/Mass Murderer
The Victorian BushFires 2009 (Part One) was the first Australian major news event where the public supplied nearly all of the most spectacular images and video and breaking news. The video and story of Sam The Koala's rescue being the most obvious, world famous example.
The professional news media were kept out of the most fire-savaged towns until it was all over. The images that so shocked and stunned and saddened us have mostly been taken by members of the public, and the quality of many photos and video has been excellent.
It's going to be grim seeing a pack of professional journalists picking up Walkely Awards for the Victorian BushFires 2009 (Part One), if all the 'citizen journalists' who supplied so much of the content get little or no recognition.
From a spectacular Readers Pics photo gallery in The Age :
Photo by Mulheiren Family
Photo By Hannah Phillips
Photo by Tina McCarthy
Photo by Steve Jameison
Let's hope all the major newspapers and TV news shows that have enjoyed huge audiences, and increased ad revenue, are digging deep for the Bushfire Relief charities, as few if any of the networks or daily newspapers paid for their readers pics and videos.
More Coverage Of The Victorian Bushfires From The Orstrahyun Here
Songs About "Fire" And "Burning" Banned Cut Australian Radio Playlists
Religious Extremist : "Baby Cull" Makes Angry God Burn Children To Death
Why Are We Supposed To Be Surprised That Australians Want To Help Each Other?
Mother Nature : Terrorist/Mass Murderer
Songs About "Fire" And "Burning" Banned From Australian Radio
Something very similar happened in the United States after September 11, 2001 - Australian radio stations are purging their playlists of any songs that might remind listeners of last weekend's holocaust in Victoria.
Gone from radio playlists, already, are the following songs :
Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
Bruce Springsteen - (I'm On) Fire
Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning
INXS - Burn For You
Jessica Mauboy - Burn
U2 - Fire
While radio stations are engaged in such rampant fucking stupidity, here's a few they might have missed :
The Doors - Light My Fire
Various - Great Balls Of Fire
Madonna - Burning Up
INXS - Girl On Fire
AC/DC - This House Is On Fire
Olivia Newton-John - Walk Through The Fire
Ben Harper - Burn One Down
Various - Burn Baby Burn (Disco Inferno)
Bob Marley - Burnin' & Lootin'
Cold Chisel - Baby's On Fire
Silverchair - Ana's Song (Open Fire)
Icehouse - Touch The Fire
John Farnham - Burn For You
Bryan Adams - Hearts On Fire
Hunters & Collectors - Everything's On Fire
Peter Gabriel - Walk Through The Fire
Elvis Presley - Burning Love
John Mellencamp - Paper In Fire
John Farnham - Hearts On Fire
Usher - Burn
Jesus & Mary Chain - Catch Fire
Metallica - Jump In The Fire
Nickleback - Burn It To The Ground
Bloodhound Gang - Burn Baby Burn
Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire
It's fascinating to note just how many great, timeless songs could make the 'You Can't Play That Now!' ban list.
If ridiculously over-sensitive radio stations decide to include all songs that include the words "fire" or "burn" in their lyrics, instead of just the choruses or song titles, they won't have much left to play at all.
Do you know how many U2 and Midnight Oil songs, for example, use words like "fire" and "burn" in their lyrics? I can't be arsed to check, but from the most vague of memory recalls, I know it's a hell of a lot.
If Australia was hit by a tsunami, would we ban all Beach Boys songs?
Definitely one of the most ridiculous fall-outs of the Victoria Fires 2009 (Part One) I've found so far. No doubt, it won't be the last.
Something very similar happened in the United States after September 11, 2001 - Australian radio stations are purging their playlists of any songs that might remind listeners of last weekend's holocaust in Victoria.
Gone from radio playlists, already, are the following songs :
Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
Bruce Springsteen - (I'm On) Fire
Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning
INXS - Burn For You
Jessica Mauboy - Burn
U2 - Fire
While radio stations are engaged in such rampant fucking stupidity, here's a few they might have missed :
The Doors - Light My Fire
Various - Great Balls Of Fire
Madonna - Burning Up
INXS - Girl On Fire
AC/DC - This House Is On Fire
Olivia Newton-John - Walk Through The Fire
Ben Harper - Burn One Down
Various - Burn Baby Burn (Disco Inferno)
Bob Marley - Burnin' & Lootin'
Cold Chisel - Baby's On Fire
Silverchair - Ana's Song (Open Fire)
Icehouse - Touch The Fire
John Farnham - Burn For You
Bryan Adams - Hearts On Fire
Hunters & Collectors - Everything's On Fire
Peter Gabriel - Walk Through The Fire
Elvis Presley - Burning Love
John Mellencamp - Paper In Fire
John Farnham - Hearts On Fire
Usher - Burn
Jesus & Mary Chain - Catch Fire
Metallica - Jump In The Fire
Nickleback - Burn It To The Ground
Bloodhound Gang - Burn Baby Burn
Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire
It's fascinating to note just how many great, timeless songs could make the 'You Can't Play That Now!' ban list.
If ridiculously over-sensitive radio stations decide to include all songs that include the words "fire" or "burn" in their lyrics, instead of just the choruses or song titles, they won't have much left to play at all.
Do you know how many U2 and Midnight Oil songs, for example, use words like "fire" and "burn" in their lyrics? I can't be arsed to check, but from the most vague of memory recalls, I know it's a hell of a lot.
If Australia was hit by a tsunami, would we ban all Beach Boys songs?
Definitely one of the most ridiculous fall-outs of the Victoria Fires 2009 (Part One) I've found so far. No doubt, it won't be the last.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Back To The Shed, Ponting
A 10 year old survivor of the Victorian bushfires is basking in a moment of glory, after he took on Ricky Ponting in an improvised cricket game at a relief centre and clean bowled him :
More Here
Video Of Ponting Getting Done Over By A 10 Ten Year Old Is Here
A 10 year old survivor of the Victorian bushfires is basking in a moment of glory, after he took on Ricky Ponting in an improvised cricket game at a relief centre and clean bowled him :
To the crowd's delight, and with a wry smile, Ponting headed for the sheds as the youngster, Koby, took over batting duties.The kid should be proud. But then again, it was Ricky Ponting at bat. Great story, and probably the most worthwhile thing the Australian cricket team will do this year. I don't know if they knew they were going to have to improvise as counsellers to totally shattered people, and a lot of very upset kids, but they did a magnificent job.
"I was actually trying today," the Aussie skipper said with a grin.
More Here
Video Of Ponting Getting Done Over By A 10 Ten Year Old Is Here
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"You mongrel Brown...Come on you snivelling creep. Stop hiding behind your media whores."
"...the opportunist way Climate Change proponents are latching on to the event. Whats the term for opportunistic bastard? Its Bob Brown, taking this approach before the bodies are even counted.
"Insane, crazy, maddness. Its the Greenies, save a bloody lizard at the expense of human lives."