"Print Is Dead"

Rupert Murdoch should have listened to Egon, who made this prediction about the future of printed works back in 1984 :

Immeasurable Hurt DeHurted

According to Daily Telegraph associate editor, Tim Blair, the "Graceless & Weird" defamation suit he lodged against Crikey publisher Eric Beecher is now "Case Closed."

Here's the April 2, 2009, apology on the Pure Poison blog at Crikey that was deemed not satisfactory enough :

In a post last night titled “Sockpuppet Worn” it was suggested that enthusiastic Pure Poison critic “WB"....had been making comments from Tim Blair’s private IP adress. The post, now removed from the Crikey site, included speculation on the identity of WB, concluding that it was Blair. Tim denies this flatly, and notes that people in the same house would share an IP. Commenters to the original deleted post had also made that point. We don’t know any more than that WB comments from the same private IP. Our criticisms are reserved for whoever “WB” turns out to be. We unreservedly withdraw any allegation that Tim has been using the “WB” identity, that he had personally used this identity to artificially boost his “hits”, and apologise for any offence caused by the above.

That apology, for an incorrect story that was online for all of a couple of hours, did not soothe the immeasurable hurt caused, apparently, so twelve months later Crikey publishes another apology, this time written (or at least guided) by Blair's lawyers.

The April 12, 2010, apology on the Pure Poison blog at Crikey :

On 1 March 2009, an article entitled “Sockpuppet Worn” was published on this blog about Mr Tim Blair that was incorrect. The article wrongly suggested that Mr Blair publishes comments under a pseudonym on his blog and various other blogs to make them appear as if they were independent reader comments.

It also falsely suggested that Mr Blair is dishonest in that, by publishing comments under a pseudonym on his own blog, he artificially boosts his blog readership and visit numbers, and that Mr Blair is unprofessional in his conduct as a journalist.

Crikey and the authors of this blog acknowledge that each of these suggestions are false and that there is no basis for any of them. We withdraw them unreservedly and acknowledge that Mr Blair has acted properly at all times. We apologise to Mr Blair for the hurt and distress caused.

The assumption is that a cash settlement was part of the ap0logy. But it's hard to know for sure, because tabloid journalists, despite often writing articles that blow up to headlines the most insignificant details of peoples' private lives, don't like to talk or give quotes when they become part of a story. They don't even want others to comment or discuss such stories :



Blair's lawyer friend WB - Wogblogger - cracks the champagne :



(click to enlarge)

And gloats about the settlement on any number of blogs :

....he’s sued a superrich publisher. Epic fail on the hypocrisy argument and no points for trying.

And the ‘glass jaw’ argument......is just historical revisionism at its finest. Blair has taken more abuse than most over the years. I think you’ll find Tim Blair’s reputation is as the guy who cracked Crikey’s deep pockets (that’s Private Media = worth >$6m), which in journalistic circles makes him some sort of a God.

Some sort of a God....

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"Cool And Weird At The Same Time"

They have their own personal dressmaker. Of course they do. You can't just get duck clothing of this quality off the rack.



Even the dog looks a little humiliated on their behalf.

Video Is Here (if the ahove Sky News clip doesn't play for you)


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The Australian newspaper has an anti-ABC agenda? You must be some kind of crazed, paranoid Leftist. Obviously, this is the most important lead national news of the day :

If he wasn't religious before, he probably will be now :

A freak wave saved a man's life after he plunged off The Gap at Watsons Bay (Sydney) last night.

The 45-year-old man who fell 200m was washed back on to dry land unharmed shortly after 9pm.

He was found by emergency rescue crews with only minor injuries and suffering from chest pains.

Stories I've Been Reading :

Forget The Bullshit From Murdoch Gatekeepers, US Soldiers Detail How Rules Of Engagement In Iraq Included Purposeful Shooting, Killing, Of Civilians

This Isn't The First Time US Military Has Killed Journalists In Iraq - In 2003, A US Tank Opened Fire On A Baghdad Hotel Filled With Journos

Nigeria, China & India Are Supposed To Havens For Movie Piracy, So Why Are Their Movie Industries More Successful, More Profitable Than Hollywood?

The Incredible, Life-Saving Legacy Of Henrietta Lacks

Matt Taibbi : "Most Of The Work In This World Completely Sucks Balls And The Only Reward Most People Get For Their Work Is Barely Enough Money To Survive"

Carl Sagan On How Cannabis Taught Him How To Appreciate, Enjoy Fine Art, Music, Food & Sex

South East Asia Drought : "We Will Have A War, A Water War. When They Need
Water To Drink They Will Fight For Everything"

Have You Ever Heard A Carrot Scream? The Feelings, Rights And Dignity Of Plants

Apes Have Theory Of Mind, Just Like Humans

The Iraq & Afghanistan Civilian Slaughter Cover-Ups That Exploded In The Petagon's Face

"How Do You Trust An Ally That Steals British And Australian Citizens' Identities For An Assassination?"

Fall Of Newspapers : Ad Revenues Decline 43% In 3 Years For American Print Media

Peter Hartcher On How President Obama Used Reasonableness To Expose Republican Opponents As Extremists

American Conservative Media Seem Very Nervous About Using The Words "Christian Terrorists"

86 Out Of 88 Cities In China's Drought Zone Running Short Of Drinking Water, Affecting At Least 17 Million People

How To Repossess The Executive Jets Of Drug Dealers & Dictators Without Getting Your Head Blown Off

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Sydney's Daily Telegraph runs a story about a bar of soap allegedly made from the fat of Holocaust victims :

Historians have dismissed reports that the Nazis mass-produced soap from the remains of Holocaust victims during World War II....

True enough. But WTF is going on with the DT's 'related coverage'?



It'll get worse, the more the Murdoch media outsource their newsrooms.

"It's Terribly Flabbergasting"

Smiley

Andrew Bolt, a regular guest of ABC's Insiders :

Islam, after all, is a faith that preaches rejection and subjugation of non-believers...

...doesn't sound like he's been to a mosque recently.

....and is thus likely, at least in theory, to inhibit assimilation and a sense of communal responsibility towards other Australians.

You get the feeling sometimes he's incredibly disappointed Muslim youth haven't tried to suicide bomb our trains or buses. If they had, just once, he wouldn't have to spend so much time clinging desperately to so many self-constructed straw men.

Powderfinger, before all the fucking ballads :






Awesome. Haven't seen this before :




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"That Water Was Cold, Ladies. Real Cold"

Tony Abbott, another victim of Unnecessary Censorship :



More victims of UC.



It's not them, it's your dirty mind.

The 'NothingLikeAustralia.net' tourism campaign keeps coming up with reader-submitted Gold :

More Here

"It's The Worst Insult You Can Give A Man!"

They're A Weird Mob

Wombats Listed By Australian Zoos As Only Slightly Less Dangerous Than Lions And Bears

Oh yeah, they're cute, they look cuddly, but given the chance to do so, adult wombats will seriously fuck you up :

A wombat will hoist an intrusive dingo on its back and crush it against the roof of its burrow.

It can skittle a fully grown man as if a 120-litre barrel had bowled him over.

Bruce Kringle fought off a wombat for 20 minutes, suffering numerous bites, before a neighbour killed it with a blow from an axe.

"I Thought I Was A Goner"

Turnbull : Hatred Does More Damage To The Hater Than To The Hated

Former leader of the Australian Liberal Party Malcolm Turnbull announces his resignation as the Federal Member for Wentworth, and posts a poignant farewell to Canberran politics. Excerpts :

The last 5 ½ years have been a wild ride, filled with achievements and disappointments. Losing the leadership was heartbreaking....

I will miss enormously my work as a local MP. Whether it was visiting a school or a play group, a surf club or a church or synagogue, being the local member has always been fun.

My wife, Lucy, and I have always lived in Wentworth and look forward to remaining involved with our community, and to again pursuing new business opportunities, especially with early-stage businesses and new technologies. One of our greatest passions is supporting and promoting Australian technology. For a highly educated developed nation, we derive far too little of our gross domestic product from our own intellectual property.

The dispute about climate change policy and the loss of the leadership was traumatic but I am resolved to leave Parliament without bitterness or resentment. Politics can be a tough and brutal business. We politicians treat each other harshly and the media treats all of us - no doubt deservedly - even more so. It is a rough game and if you lose a battle, as I have done, then you will get hurt. But you don't have to get bitter.So many people in politics find themselves nursing resentments and hatreds for years. Often they may have justification in doing so, but far better to let it go. Hatred does more damage to the hater than to the hated.

Turnbull wanted to, and doggedly tried to, drag the Liberal Party and conservative politics into the 21st century. Obviously they're not ready for all that, just yet. And it will cost the Liberal Party dearly at the 2010 federal election.

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Not a parody.....

Why Rupert Murdoch Loves The iPad

By Darryl Mason

Media readers, like the iPad, will effectively, eventually, shut out the free news competition :

Sweeting says he thinks many of the major media companies would love to see computers discourage people from searching the open Internet for content.

"I think the media companies will leap at this," he says. "It offers them the opportunity to essentially re-create the old business model, wherein they are pushing content to you on their terms rather than you going out and finding content, or a search engine discovering content for you."

Overhead-heavy bloated media corporations, like Murdoch's, who want to "put a tollbooth on the ocean" are betting the house that locked up media readers will save their outdated 20th century business models.

But they seem to be the only ones who believe that there will be enough people willing to pay to make it profitable enough to continue paying corporate media executives like Rupert Murdoch tens of millions of dollars a year.

Media Watch chewed through these issues last night.

Murdoch newspapers like The Australian are already planning to do away with their print versions, at least on a daily basis. It's the only way they can survive. The sums have been done and print must go. Here's The Australian's editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell :

"When you remove the fixed costs in newspapers, they become much more viable. So if you think of a newspaper without paper and ink and petrol and trucks, you're taking out between 60 and 70 per cent of the cost base....

"But I guess my view is that the core of the business is your ability to dream up ideas to create news - the things that we chase each day. "

"Dream up ideas to create news." What a curious thing to say, or to reveal about how the newsrooms of a corporate news empire actually work.

And you thought their job was to simply report the news.

September 17, 2009 : Rupert Murdoch Celebrates Death Of Newspapers : "It's Going To Be Great!"

October 2009 : The Australian Tries To Rally Support For Murdoch's War On Free News Media

Man Vs Wombat

Nature's brutal War On Humans continues :

A man is recovering in hospital after he was mauled by a wombat at Flowerdale, north-east of Melbourne.

Paramedics say the 60-year-old was attacked by the animal as he stepped out of a caravan early this morning. He was bitten on the arms and legs...

The ABC, of course, joins in with a no doubt pro-nature Lefty infiltrated government department to play down the savagery of this animal insurgency :

Jeff McClure from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) says it is highly unusual for a wombat to attack a person.

Yeah, sure. What is unusual is that yet another unprovoked attack by native fauna has broken through the standard media smokescreen.

"Wombats that are in an advance stage of mange will become very agitated from the suffering and the irritation of the mange," (Mr McClure) said.

He said if they are approached or feel threatened wombats will rush towards someone.

"But it's not known that they will push the attack to where they would physically attack someone."

Stop the lies, Jeff. Tell the truth. The wombats, like the kangaroos, koalas and ring-tailed possums are out to get us. They want to kill us and eat us and suck the marrow from our bones.

There is only one solution. Concrete all the national parks. Do it now. Mother Nature must be taught a devastating lesson.

You're either with us, the humans, or you're with the fluffy and cute, but also heavily fanged razor clawed fauna.

Why do Australian male conservative commentators hate on female politicians when they glam up, but fawn over the perpetually nearly-nude Tony Abbott?

For non-Australian readers, this is Kate Ellis, Federal Minister for Youth & Sport.

The Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt on Ellis : "thick head."

The Daily Telegraph's Tim Blair on Ellis : "She looks like an East German gymnast"

Maybe they prefer their politicians in high heels to look like this instead?

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Get Out Of The Way Boomers, It's Time For Generation X Nostalgia

Pollytics on Twitter :

If you can't listen to Radiators "No Tragedy" and not go wow, then you just ain't living

Agreed!

Pollytics also made note of this excellent YouTube comment attached to the above vid :

Early 80s = Paddle Pops, Dennis Lillee retiring, first tongue pash, nobody singing Oz Crawl lyrics confidently, Orchy bottle bongs....then the Rads. Fucking timeless

Here's The Radiators first single, released in 1979 :

More than 3400 live gigs later (no, that's not a typo), The Radiators are still touring.

April 17 - Blacktown RSL Club

April 23 - Wyong Leagues Club

April 24 - Panthers World of Entertainment

May 7 - Moorebank Sports ClubMoorebank

May 14 - Edgeworth Bowling Club

May 21 - Wests Illawarra, Shellharbour