On Fecklessness

In my name

2004-08-15T17:37:00.000+10:00

Unremarkable picture?

Read the caption.

Via Vodkapundit

For want of a root

2004-08-13T16:20:00.000+10:00

For the greater good there should be a program to enable the "socially unfortunate" to get laid. Here's why.

A sad day for Israelis worldwide

2004-08-13T15:59:00.000+10:00

This is absolutely disgraceful:

While on a tour of the museum at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland on Sunday, a group of around 50 Jewish university students from Israel, the U.S. and Poland were verbally attacked by a three-member gang of French male tourists.

Nowhere in the article will you find the words "and were torn limb from limb".

Pathetic. 50 students intimidated by 3 frenchmen. Arts students are obviously pansies the world over.

Vietnamese communists know a good thing when they see it...

2004-08-12T23:20:00.000+10:00

Not sure if this picture is on the level or not. Like I'd be suprised though.

43 old whiners

2004-08-11T19:27:00.000+10:00

This is the best I've seen from Andrew Bolt:

Only recently, Gration signed a petition which hysterically attacked the Government's "fascist" anti-terrorism laws and cried: "We do not want Australia to be turned into a carbon copy of Hitler's Germany."
He barely blushed when that document was found to be the work of the far-Right Citizen's Electoral Council, and backed by a gaggle of Muslim "spokesmen" including radicals such as Grand Mufti Taj El-Din El-Hilaly, who has called suicide bombers "heroes".
Still, it's nice to see Gration objecting to fascism, having once negotiated Paul Keating's infamous secret defence pact with Indonesian dictator Suharto.

Read it all.

Sex me up

2004-08-10T21:38:00.000+10:00

New to my vocabulary: Warporn.

Slack taken up

2004-08-09T20:52:00.000+10:00

I've been too busy to dig into the claims that Kerry's Vietnam record is a bit on the nose. John Hawkins has helpfully summarised a lot of what I should have read myself. If this gets into the mainstream media (and it probably won't) then I'd say Kerry's finished.

You're terrible, Muriel

2004-08-08T05:43:00.000+10:00

Andrew Bolt does Toni Collette:

It was touching, this concern of Collette to save us from American films, American accents and American vacuity, particularly when she is so busy here, promoting Connie and Carla, the latest American film to star her.

So why is Collette here flogging the very kind of vacuous American film she warns will make us a mindless "country of clones", and must be stopped?
Who knows? I'd ask her, but don't know which of her houses to ring - the $5 million Sydney mansion, the country property or the Tamarama home.

Gotta love being lectured on the FTA by second rate actors. If I want a lecture on economics, I'l ask for one from an economist. If I want a lecture on culture... who am I kidding, no straight man has ever wanted a lecture on culture. Do boobies count as culture?

Yesterday's hero

2004-08-07T21:08:00.000+10:00

Remember Labor's "star recruit" Peter Garrett?

He disappeared from sight on about the 10th of July and hasn't been heard from since. Can't think why.

1200 'minutemen' surrender, 300 don't

2004-08-07T19:22:00.000+10:00

Michael Moore, Wednesday, April 14th, 2004:

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush?

Iraqi Police General Directorate, Saturday, August 7, 2004:

"Over 1200 criminals have surrendered to Iraqi forces," it said, adding that the holy city of Najaf had been "secured".
It said most of the captured militiamen were criminals who were released from Iraqi prisons by ousted president Saddam Hussein before last year's US-led invasion.

Nice work by the Iraqis, bit much of the prisoner taking and not enough of the summary execution for my liking but there's democracy for you.

The reporters tried to contact Sadr:

No-one in Sadr's Najaf office was immediately available for comment on the statement.

No shit, Sherlock? Bet there's an answering machine message: "Nobody can come to the phone right now - we're either dead in the street or kneeling in wet pants, begging for our lives."

Oops

2004-08-02T22:11:00.000+10:00

Looks like the asterix has the night off at the Australian:

"I said `what are you doing, I'm a cop', then the person kicked me a couple more times and then I fell unconscious'," he said.
Insp Lee said the attacker responded "fucking pig, fucking cunt" after Const Allen told him he was a police officer.

F*cking charming.

Update: Ever the do-gooders, several dots have now got together to take up the slack:

Insp Lee said the attacker responded "f...ing pig, f...ing c..." after Const Allen told him he was a police officer.

The last straw?

2004-07-11T18:36:00.000+10:00

Mark Latham must have lived for years terrified of his past becoming public. It might have paid him to seek forgiveness from his first wife:

OPPOSITION Leader Mark Latham demanded an "open marriage" from his first wife, Gabrielle Gwyther, during a visit to Spain in 1997, she claims.
As their marriage fell apart, the young Labor frontbencher told his wife he wanted more "flexibility" to explore life's opportunities, Ms Gwyther claims.
Mr Latham, possibly Australia's next prime minister, put the request to her as they sat in a cafe in Madrid after her long flight from Australia, Ms Gwyther said.
"He wanted 'new experiences'. It was like he wanted to do other things. My understanding was that he was asking for an open marriage," she said.
She told the Sunday Herald Sun that Mr Latham went "very strange" during 1997 and started seeing other women in Canberra during parliamentary sitting weeks.

Dumbass.

Meanwhile his new love must be feeling a little spurned:

OPPOSITION Leader Mark Latham today ruled out appointing star recruit Peter Garrett to the environment portfolio should Labor win the coming election.
Mr Garrett has been an longstanding advocate for the environment and outspoken opponent of Tasmanian logging practices.
Former ALP powerbroker and environment minister Graham Richardson today told the Nine Network's Sunday program he expected Mr Garrett to be the next Labor environment minister.
Mr Latham said while Mr Garrett would eventually serve on the front bench, his first task was to get elected to the Sydney seat of Kingsford Smith.
He said he had no plans to shift his current environment spokesman Kelvin Thomson.

Should be interesting to see that relationship go sour as Garrett realises that he's going nowhere and has sold out everything he believes in for nothing.

The headlines

2004-07-01T07:23:00.000+10:00

I just opened the Australian version of Google News; much to comment on:

The UN is proving itself incapable of delivering food. But it's OK - they've drawn up a draft resolution.

Saddam is in Iraqi custody; the Guardian describes his trial as "the painful process of holding the former dictator and his henchmen accountable". It's not clear if this will be more or less painful than decades of his rule. The Guardian probably doesn't care.

The Saudis are joining the war on terror and have killed Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Rashud, described by the Saudis as "one of the most dangerous suspects in the kingdom" and by Reuters as a "top Saudi Qaeda spiritual guide". When killed this gentle cleric was in a car packed with explosives wearing an explosive belt.

Our very own prodigal son, David Hicks, has his lawyers claiming that his trial is being rushed. About a week ago the lawyers were complaining that he'd been in custody for years with no trial. The SHM scare quote generator hasn't been run across their Hicks story where the headline reads "Military hearing for Hicks cast in doubt" (quotes are mine and sentiment is detainee's lawyers only).

Afghanistan

2004-06-30T17:58:00.000+10:00

The good news.

Iraq explained (for the dullards)

2004-06-29T19:22:00.000+10:00

John Howard explains the Iraq War:

He said the handover was crucial not only for Iraq and the Middle East but the world.
"If Iraq can become the first democratic Arab state that will be a very historic event and it will, over time, alter the dynamics of the Middle East for the better," Mr Howard said.
"On the other hand, if this experiment fails, if the terrorists win, the cost of that in the Middle East will be very severe indeed.
"And the cost around the world, the boost it will give to terrorism around the world, will be quite incalculable."

Still unclear? Let's see if I can assist:
Scenario A - Democracy catches on in the middle east; resulting prosperity/security pushes Islamic Jihadis to irrelevance.
Scenario B - Democracy fails; eventually Islamic Jihadis acquire and use a nuke; US protects itself by nuking Islamic Jihadis and whatever Arab cities they happen to be in.

Either way the Islamic terrorists lose - it's just the amount of glass that varies.

Welcome back

2004-06-29T18:52:00.000+10:00

Mohammed gets it:

Having witnessed the way the allied forces stormed into the country, overran major towns and took control of Baghdad last year, how many of us would have expected this power transfer to happen so soon? Even when many of us expressed optimism about the eventual exit of Paul Bremer and his men, there were lurking fears whether the handover time schedule would be kept up. It could have dragged on for one reason or another.
And, how curious it was to note the fact that it was the US coalition authority that was more keen on handing over power, and also that the reason why they advanced the ceremony by two days was that the forces of disruption would not get a chance to harm and hurt the civilians on the scheduled day of power handover. The allies wanted it to be a surprise, so that no evil designs could succeed. See, how they care about people. And, all these days, some people were crying, "Occupation!, Occupation!". But, what have they got to say now?

Here's what Paul McGeough is saying in Australia:

Iraqis retook control of their country in a furtive Baghdad ceremony yesterday intended to wrong-foot any insurgency plans to disrupt a formal handover that was to take place tomorrow.
At 10.26 local time (4.26pm Sydney time) on a sultry morning, the US administrator, Paul Bremer, handed a blue-bound document to the Chief Justice of the Iraq Supreme Court, Midhat Mahmoud.
There was no flag-raising or brass bands as officials of the new government gathered with Mr Bremer and David Richmond, his British counterpart, in a windowless room amid intense security.

Furtive! No flag raising! No brass bands! No windows! Doom! Gloom!

Steenking meeces

2004-06-26T05:31:00.000+10:00

For a period yesterday I was the not so happy owner of two top of the line cordless meeces; the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 2 and the Logitech MX-700.
I've had the Logitech since it was first bought out and it hasn't impressed. I've had to pull it apart three times now to "adjust" the buttons (think plastic vs soldering iron); they just stop working as the microswitches wear a small indentation in the plastic underside of the button. The drivers are uninspiring to say the least.
So I bought the top of the line Microsoft offering; the cordless Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 2 (with leather look - don't ask). I saw it for $100 at Hardly Normal's and had a $100 gift voucher. It was fate - a marriage made in heaven.
The honeymoon ended the moment I used it. It had about 20 degrees of "lean" to it. Not really a problem says I, the orientation tab will take care of that. If there was an orientation tab. Bugger. Opened Firefox to see what the www thought I could do about this. Found the second problem; the scroll wheel is very sensitive and the middle mouse button is very insensitive. Several attempts later I managed to middle click on the URL. Nothing. So I opened the driver software again and found the buttons tab. Stumbled into the third problem - you cannot remap the middle mouse button to "middle mouse button". Unbelievable. While I was there I looked to see what choices I had for the tilt switches attached to the mousewheel. None. It will only scroll horizontally which is pointless if you have a 21 inch screen.
So I drive, swearing, back to Harvey Normans and find the "service" desk.
"It's not a button - it's a wheel" claims the moron behind the desk. After 30 seconds of turning the box over in his hands, as if it somehow has more than six sides, he admits that he is wrong. After 10 minutes of incredibly slow paperwork I'm off to get my money back from the cashier.
The cashier is dealing with a woman who has refunded two items and wants a fax. She also has a credit from somewhere else and wants an extended warranty. Time slows to a crawl...
Anyhow, if you're an ubergeek, or just an overpaid nerd bachelor looking to buy a new mouse be warned that the world's two most expensive mice are complete trash.

Firefox 9 and some tweaks = no advertising

2004-06-21T19:24:00.000+10:00

Put up with popups? Firefox blocks popups straight out of the box.
Register for access? Not now.
Surf through ads? I think not.

Try it - you won't go back.

When scare quotes lie

2004-06-21T18:45:00.000+10:00

Fairfax are pushing the boundaries with their scare quotes in this article.
In a report under the headline British troops 'tortured' Iraqis is a paragraph which reveals that the entire story is very likely to be incorrect:

A doctor at nearby Amara hospital who was the first to see the bodies cast doubt on the claims, however. The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, examined the corpse of Jemindari.
He said: "What we saw on examination is multiple bullet entries and exits. Also I can say is his arm wasn't severed like what was written on the form by Dr Adel [Majid]. His right shoulder was severely destroyed yet still the right arm was connected by some tissue.
"Also, you couldn't say whether the right eye was removed after death or before. But such an injury might happen in war, perhaps a bullet came into his right eye and pressed it inside the skull. And as for the signs of slashing around his neck it could be another bullet passing very near to his neck caused that wound."

So the scare quotes in this case mean "this report is almost certainly untrue and completely unfounded but we are hopeful our readers are too stupid to actually read past the headline"

Time the pretending stopped

2004-06-19T13:05:00.000+10:00

I don't believe much in coincidence. So I'm looking forward to more details about how the Saudis managed to kill Abdulaziz Al-Muqrin just after Abdulaziz Al-Muqrin's group killed American Paul Marshall Johnson.
The Saudi security forces knew where Abdulaziz Al-Muqrin was just after Paul Johnson's death - so it's reasonable to suspect they knew beforehand. Or claim they stumbled across him keystone cops style.

This may be a more significant event than it first appears, the US may use this failure to force the Saudis to finally join the War on Terror.

On a lighter note

2004-06-14T09:42:00.000+10:00

I have a fantastic headache, the domestics to do (as in cleaning etc., not wildly rogering the scullery maid) and a generally crap day ahead. Till I read this:

A MAN who had been sitting up a tree since April to protest against a Queensland development has fallen from his perch, forcing protesters to change their strategy.
Daniel Jones, 28, was taken away by ambulance with a broken wrist and ankle on Saturday night as his protest against a supermarket on the Sunshine Coast hinterland came to a crashing halt.
Mr Jones had been perched in the bunya pine since April 14 in a bid to stop it being cut down to make way for a Woolworths store in Maleny.
Protesters have vowed to continue their fight against the development on the ground, saying the tree-top vigil was too dangerous to continue.

To top this off the last thing he should have heard before the ambulance door closed is the chainsaw starting up.

Google news headlines say it all

2004-06-11T16:56:00.000+10:00

The current headlines on Google News Australia:

Garrett now in the ALP - The Age
'Super significant': Garrett's ALP membership approved - Sydney Morning Herald
Peter Garrett supports Tasmanian pulp mill - ABC Online

"Ungrateful" redefined

2004-06-11T06:46:00.000+10:00

The UN is attempting (the UN is attempting again) to build housing in the Jenin camp for the peace loving Palestinian people. The peace loving Palestinians don't think the houses are large enough.
So the matter was settled the traditional Palestinian way - gunmen repeatedly threatened the workers till the work was suspended.

From Diesel and Dust to urine and wind

2004-06-10T16:54:00.000+10:00

Mark Latham's decision making process scares me.
Cons:
Peter Garrett doesn't live in the electorate,
he isn't a member of the Labor party,
he hasn't voted in 10 years,
his nomination has met with disgust from local party members,
and he disagrees with Federal Labor on key environmental/greens/democrat issues such as Pine Gap and logging Tasmanian rainforests that no-one ever visits.

Pro:
Peter Garret will appeal to the youth vote. As much as a 51 year old millionaire has-been can appeal to youth voters.

Scarier still is the suspicion that the average young Australian can't see this for the cynical manipulation that it is.

No added value

2004-06-08T18:49:00.000+10:00

I'm not contributing much here at the moment; I'd like to blame work but they just pay me a bucketload to turn up and work my arse off for 36 hours a week. I'd like to say I have a hectic social life but that's just laughable. Truth is I'm getting lazy.
So I'll only post if I find something worth posting about that I can add some value to.