First up, an apology for the lateness of this issue. I’ve been overdoing things at the Edinburgh Festival, with the result that Missing Link has suffered. Still, there’s plenty of goodies here for your weekend delectation, so sit back with something drinkable and enjoy.
I’ll kick off this issue with a couple of classy posts that come highly recommended. Legal Eagle manages to drain some of the emotive silliness out of the abortion debate (I didn’t think this possible, but it can be done), while Pommygranate puts his finance background to good use in this piece on hedge funds. Finally, Colin Campbell has found a simple way to do very odd things to your photographs. One of his efforts tickled my funnybone rather, so I’ve used it to decorate today’s issue of Missing Link.
Today’s issue brought to you by James Farrell, Peter Black, Amanda Rose and gilmae, with Helen ‘skepticlawyer’ Dale stumbling out of the pub in order to step into the editor’s shoes.
1. News and Politics Stuff
John Quiggin has been writing about some new doctrines that guide governments. On the international front, he considers the creed of the US Foreign Policy Community, and finds it both clear and clearly disastrous. The new doctrine in domestic politics is of course aspirational nationalism, where aspirational
appears to mean a shallow person with no ethical values who splashes money about without any clear sense of priorities.
Valiant Jeremy leaps to the defence of the maligned Kevin Andrews and the even more cruelly maligned Exclusive Brethren. On the latter:
Why SHOULDN’T well-funded closed-society religious groups THAT ARE NOT CULTS be able to buy the legislation they like at the expense of everyone else?
As for Mr Andrews and his colleagues, William Burroughs’ Baboon has a neat solution, while Apathetic Gam lets pictures do the talking.
Legal Eagle and Cam discuss the need for limits on executive power, as exemplified by the Haneef affair.
Diogenes argues that the tide is turning against climate change hysteria. In contrast Andrew Bartlett urges Brisbanites to attend the rally against global warming this Saturday. Andrew also took time off from umbrella shopping to crunch the poll numbers for the Queensland Senate race. Scroll down to the penultimate paragraph for the bottom line on his chances.
Paul Norton is disturbed about the proposed amendment to the Trade Practices Act, whereby the ACCC can sue people who exhort boycotting of a product in protest against harmful practices by that product’s producer. He wonders, however, if the legislation won’t prove to be a double edged sword.
Ken Lovell scans the murky horizon confronting participants in the Iraq war; among the features he discerns are a plot against Al Maliki, the abandonment of democracy as a goal, and some kind of strike on Iran.
Robert Merkel makes a concerted attempt to grasp the roots of the current financial crisis while Pommygranate asks, is free trade working? Still on trade, Jason Soon catches the Australian Hotels Association engaging in a nasty bit of anti-competitive lobbying.
The Analyst at Australian Politics identifies emerging differences between Rudd and Howard.
It is possible to be a big ‘L’ Liberal… and green. Harry Clarke talks us through it.
Chris Berg reports back on various municipal broadband projects. Not looking good.
2. Life and Other Serious Stuff
A guest post at LP about Holly Hill, the contract kept woman, strays off to ruminate on monogamy in general, posing more questions than it answers.
dr faustus dismisses the idea that terrorism could be a viable threat to the nation’s food supply.
Tim Lambert notes that Media Watch has taken up the matter of The Australian misrepresenting the IPCC Chair, first raised by Tim a week ago. The paper’s behaviour has gone from bad to worse. Not everyone agrees, however, with R.F. Beck claiming that it is Lambert who is waging the war on science.
Diogenes is pleased that Terry Lane has given up his Age column.
tigtog is encouraged by the strengthening of Victorian rape legislation, but impatient for progress on the decriminalization of abortion. Legal Eagle is glad to see decriminalisation of abortion on the way, but also notes that it would be just a beginning, there’s a whole world of edge cases that need to be thought about.
Pauline Hanson’s website has not converted The Editor of GrodsCorp to her cause.
Tim Blair and MK are unimpressed by the gun shop controversy in Roseville.
Jacques Chester continues a sporadic series on discovering the next generation of blogging and Nicholas Gruen counters that with some thoughts on the next generation of Big Media.
dr faustus and arleeshar independantly point out that the wikipedia-edit contretemps is more the result of bored and childish minds than political whitewash. ((Ask SL; most of the edits on her entry are inanity, right down to the accusation of publicity seeking.~ gilmae)).((Which appears to have been stomped, probably by Catallaxy commenter Deus Ex Macintosh.~SL))
Glen has waited two years for useful feedback on his PhD. Now he’s applying for an extension…
Whoops, not all bikies are evilzzz… as Ken Lovell discovers. Still on crime, Oz Conservative is excellent on the Gangs of Summer.
Andrew Norton tackles the lawyers’ perennial: conflicts of interest.
3. The Yartz
Jane Austen’s great. If I had my time at uni all over again, I’d totally be the sole gentleman in Laura’s Jane Austen class.
~ Will Type for Food
Edward Albees savage lullabye Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? reminds you that the Elizabethans enjoyed their theatre in the interludes between bear-baiting.
~ Theatre Notes
Like a run-of-the-mill group-devised (I typed ‘group-divided’, how utterly Freudian) show, there were countless ideas which were waved over our heads like glow sticks only to be discarded — like glow sticks — cos they didn’t shed enough light.
~ The Morning After
However, it is possible that she did something vaguely palatable with a keyboard on Monday night, which is somewhat promising, even if she is clearly only proficient in the use of a limited number of keys.
~ Scott, To Be Certain
I wonder if the wealth of information available on even the simplest thing to do with knitting is in fact hindering people’s understanding by just giving too many ways to do what are essentially quite straightforward techniques.
~ Witty Knitter
But tonight Ryan 1 and Sydney had a bit of a run in. The crowd never got into it, yelled things at the band, and Ryan cut things short.
~ A Reminder
I have always been a huge fan of mathematician and musical satirist Tom Lehrer. In fact I had a precious autograph, dating back to the late 50s, on a scrap of paper taped to my piano until it got lost in one of many house moves only a few years ago.
~Cyberslacker
Amazing Grace: a great film that might afflict you.
~Andrew Landeryou
A fabulous piece on Islamic calligraphy.
~Austrolabe
4. T.S.S
(troppo sports stadium)
Arrgh! No sport, or no sports links to speak of (I realise I’m too late to link sidelined‘s usual footy tips for all codes). Consider this a call to all bloggers to, um, write some more sporty stuff. Ta.
5. Mad, Bad, Sad and Glad
zomg, lyk john surname @ random brainwave is, lyk, being driven ovr teh edge by kids these days and calls for a cull.
Kevin Rudd has adopted only one of our positions, and unfortunately, it’s not culling Emos.
Perhaps Kevin just realises that the culling mechanism already exists ((What? It’s called growing up. You thought I meant suicidal tendencies, didn’t you.~gilmae))
Richard Watts has proof positive that the apocalypse is nigh.
Tony the Teacher goes backwards in time (musically, at least).
Kev Gillett gets rained on. Big time.
- Adams[↩]
The last couple have been rawther good, mainly because people have been writing such good stuff.
Been too busy to write much lately. Wish I had about 60% extra waking hours.