- Once again, this isn’t skepticlawyer’s ML – it’s Darlene Taylor’s. Enjoy.
Welcome to Missing Link 2: The Darlene Edition. Almost as good as Basic Instinct 2, but without the aged sex symbol. This time I have busyness rather than technophobia to use as an excuse for lateness. Hey, whatâs a day or two between maaaates? Of course, a Saturday Link should be a sensible size because I know you all have more interesting things to do on the weekend like watching grass grow or reading the Financial Review. Iâd like to first put in a plug for the Journal of Knot Theory and Its Ramifications. While I donât think youâll find many articles about the decomposing corpse of Anna Nicole Smith in ‘Knot’, the very intelligent Sacha Blumen may have an article published in it soon.
Itâs the Economy, Stupid
Thanks to S Lawyer for suggesting to me the post you will find by hitting this link. It is about water, governments and other things. Have a look. Ms Lawyer has a very interesting post about evil on Catallaxy.
News and Politics
Steve from Opinion Dominion hits the nail on the noggin with his analysis of KRâs response to ‘The Burke Affair’:
I reckon the damaging thing about Kevin Ruddâs performance under pressure yesterday and today is his psychological reaction – the glum face, the look of a good boy who knows he really does deserve the scolding, the extra blinking on his Sunrise appearance this morning, the depressed sounding voice etc.
According to Taylor, Darlene and not Steve from Opinion Dominion:
While Howard always looks like a cranky old coot with sunburn when things are not going his way, KR appeared to be as nervous as an ethnic on the beach at Cronulla at his press conference this week. Not a good look, Kev.
Shock, horror and gasp, Andrew Landeryou thinks Burke aka ‘Mate, Iâve got this mate who’s got a mate who needs your support, maaaate’ is a victim of persecution akin to that suffered by a man imprisoned by the Nazis. Well, thatâs what heâs implying by using the words of Pastor Martin Niem¶ller. Landeryou argues:
In this ugly campaign of vilification against Burke we are seeing the very worst aspects of human nature, a government agency out of control using draconian powers in a scandalous and partial manner and the creation of a new standard: anyone with a criminal conviction is unable to lobby a public official of any kind. This presumably means The Age’s Lawrence Money – a man convicted of the criminal offence of child endangering – is going to be banned from dealing with politicians.
Hmmm, seemingly Burke is allowed to be forgiven but not Mr. Money. First they came for The Age journalists, and then they came (well, you know the rest).
Apparently, people on planes can buy ‘carbon offset credits’ as a way of making up for the damage aircraft do to our planet. Go figure!!! In any instance, only a raving feral or a RWDB would think anyone can depend on a yak for their travelling needs these days, environmentalist or not. Tim Blairâs thrilled to learn of this headline:
Bob Brown uses frequent flyer points to go to Earth Summit
Frankly, I have no idea whether global warming exists or not (a double major in politics has equipped me for nothing more than being a smartarse); however, I challenge anyone to think you can be a federal politician and not accrue frequent flyer points.
Will J F Beck agree with Blair? Only time will tell.
The Yartz
David Tiley of Barista writes films, so I will put him in The Yartz. Davidâs post of choice is about Dr Gillian McKeithâs Fast Formula Horny Goat Weed Complex. Ms – let us not call her a doctor â McKeith is apparently doing quite well trading on peopleâs fears about not being able to get it up. More pathologising of sexuality for the sake of making a few bucks.
David from Sarsparilla writes eloquently about the late Billy Thorpe.
Billy Thorpe came up through the ranks as a rock ânâ roll singer, baby-faced, funny little dance moves, acquired a group called the Aztecs and then shuffled their membership, acquiring hot new players as they came along. He recreated himself entirely at the end of the 60s as a long haired, very loud boogie rocker, and somehow – quite late – became a good guitar player too. He still had Aztecs and continued to shuffle them, till he went overseas later in the 1970s.
Life and other serious stuff
Audrey, the bad apple who got everybody talking during the days of Best Blog Posts, is on a bit of a bender at the moment. Ms Apple offers KR some comforting thoughts, although hopefully these havenât been inspired by drunken frolics. You donât have to drink to have a good time, Audrey, but you may as well.
Gianna from She Sells Sanctuary saves a chook from a fate worse than death. Thatâs right; the tasty one was going to be crucified by conservative columnists for once meeting Brian Burke. No, he was going to end up on in a doggy bag. ‘Lucky’ chicken, indeed.
Speaking of our feathered friends, Caz from Avatar Briefs continues her once a week commitment to ducks, albeit not Duck a la Orange. Quack, quack, Caz.
All done, Darlene. And Audrey A, that was some bender ;)
Can someone tell me in a few words what burkey has done and why it is wrong.
It seems he is merely a lobbyist trying to make money however I admit I have no time to make any investigation.
Yes Homer, I agree. I can’t be bothered butting into CL’s repetitive blather on the other thread, but it’s difficult to see what Burke has actually done (at least from what’s been publicly revealed) that’s any different from any other political lobbyist. Obviously the WA Ministers who leaked Cabinet discussions to him or altered government documents at his behest deserved sacking, but that says nothing about the propriety (or efffectiveness) of Burke’s activities, nor about the propriety (as opposed to political wisdom) of anyone else including Rudd meeting with him.
I doubt that there would be many senior politicians on either side who haven’t attended meetings of businessmen arranged and chaired by a lobbyist. That’s what lobbyists do. Moreover, their aim is indeed to achieve levels of communication, and even informal understandings about future policy directions, between business and governments/aspiring governments. Burke appears to have been more aggressive than most in the way he used his connections into WA Labor to achieve results for his business clients, which no doubt justified the Gallop and Carpenter bans on dealing with him. However that says nothing at all about the propriety of Rudd attending a meeting organised and attended by Burke. I don’t blame the Coalition for beating it up for all its worth to make it look sinister, just as I don’t blame Labor for its equally spurious attempt to beat up Howard’s meeting with Ron Walker to sound sinister. Both are bullshit, and I don’t expect the “punters” to take any notice (unless this week’s unimpressive effort by Rudd and his team continues).
What’s the story with Burke finishing up in the slammer? If anyone can summarise the guts of it in two or three pars – or point me to a good link – I’d be grateful. Thanks.
There are five pages of it here, if that helps.
Access to power means that people like Burke will always gravitate to politics.
Perhaps he gets off on it all. Rudd wasn’t wise, although it must be said that he was hardly popular in the party back then.
I think this will blow over, but Rudd has got to be confident and strong. “It’s Time”, and I don’t think this blip will change that. By the way, can’t stand the cult of Gough.
The concept of serving one’s time and moving on with one’s life should be respected.
Guilt by association is a nasty business, and we could all suffer from it.
Thanks Helen once again for your great work. You’ve been a sweetheart.
Thanks Robert. Sounds like he’s the kind of bloke who’s hard to avoid, like that other networking Westralian, Crighton-Browne.
Senator Ian Campbell has resigned? Tee hee. Be careful of the fights you pick.
Thanks Ken & SL but as yet no-one can tell me why meeting with Burkey is such a bad thing.
Is one never to meet with someone who has been to prison?
Was Burkey attempting something underhand?
Don’t get him started again Homer. He’s half-demented about the guy. I expect Currency to explain at length with liberal amounts of bold that Burke is worse than Saddam. The problem might go back to CL’s Vatican days.
Sorry Darlene. Wrong thread. Delete at will …
Just checking this again I realised I must have accidentally blockquoted part of the wrong par – the quote from Steve at Opinion Dominion. I see someone’s fixed it but even so. Sorry about that Darlene, it was an oversight!
Bring back, I would think someone who would refuse to have something to do with a person because they have served time would be a not terribly forgiving or Christian person.
Hi CS, that’s fine.
Thanks SL, I just didn’t want Steve to have to wear the wrap for something I wrote.
burke is a lot worse than the age article makes him out to be. he almost bankrupted the state of wa by losing over a billion dollars trying to bail his mates businesses out.
Burke (like David Hicks or Pauline Hanson?) was a good example of person nominally charged/convicted for one thing but really charged/convicted for something else. There is much to be critical of Burke for, helping scuttle national land rights for example, but the expense account charges and the jailing were silly. A Royal Commission into 10 people picked at random from the street could probably find evidence to jail some of them on tax and centrelink fiddles. ‘Links’ and phonetaps I have heard it all before in NSW long ago…
Sharing more of the up to date joy..
“Crunchy munchy balls”
Ingredients:
Marie biscuits-1 cup [crushed],
Powdered sugar-1/2 cup,
Dessicated coconut-1/2 cup,
Crushed ground nut-1/2 cup,
Sesame seeds[white]-1/4 cup,
Corn flakes-1/4 cup,
Milk powder-1/4 cup,
Coco powder-2tbsp,
Milk maid-2-3tbsp,
Butter-2tbsp[or ghee].
Extra dessicated coconut for rolling.
Heat the butter in a kadai. Fry dessicated coconut,crushed groundnuts and sesame seeds till light brown. Add the sugar,coco powder,milk powder,crushed marie biscuits. Keep in a low flame and stir well. Add milkmaid and milk if required for binding.Mix well. Take off from fire. Make in to medium sized balls. Roll them in dessicated coconut. Decorate them with cherries.
“Royal Commission into 10 people picked at random from the street could probably find evidence to jail some of them on tax and centrelink fiddles.”
Good point, oh and thanks for the recipe, Robert. Cook away.