Missing Link bullying edition

Courtesy Tanja “Poligoths” Stark

• 1. News and Politics Stuff
• 2. Life and Other Serious Stuff
• 3. The Yartz
• 4. T.S.S
• 5. Mad, Bad, Sad and Glad

This weekend edition of Missing Link has been produced by a reduced complement of James Farrell, Gilmae, Jim Belshaw and Ken Parish, with editing by the latter. It’s also a little delayed by a nasty hangover inflicted at the CDU law school christmas party last night.

I’ve decided to focus today’s issue on bullying of bloggers. The major impetus is Graham Young’s announcement that the Queensland Branch of the Liberal Party has purported to expel him after 30 years as a member. Graham posts a passionate rebuttal of the “charges” against him here. Although you would have to wonder why anyone would want to be associated with the pathetic joke that the Qld Libs have become, Graham’s expulsion is nevertheless a new low in disgraceful, thuggish behaviour by the faction that currently runs the party there. We at Missing Link convey our best wishes and expressions of support.

As many readers would already know, Sarah and Gam at Voice of Today’s Apathetic Youth have recently been monstered by phone by the appalling Murdoch “journalist” Caroline Overington for daring to satirise her utterly unprofessional meddling in the Wentworth election contest. Fortunately, Sarah ands Gam managed to treat Overington’s attempt at bullying with teh contempt it deserved, and apparently have heard nothing since.

Finally, and more equivocally in a moral sense, billionaire Solomon Lew is apparently dragging RWDB Labor-ish blogger Andrew Landeryou through the Victorian courts, even seeking orders that would allow him to take control of Landeryou’s blog and edit it!! It certainly sounds outrageous, but then again what would one expect a Landeryou target to do given that he appears to specialise in extreme defamatory sledges of anyone he doesn’t like, and seems to regard himself as enjoying foolproof protection by virtue of being an undischarged bankrupt?

1. News and Politics Stuff

Andrew Elder notes his thoughts on each of the new shadow ministers. And Kev Gillett doesn’t trust all those lefties his namesake has selected in his Cabinet:

If Im a conservative now and have been since the early 60s why does Steketee presume someone who has beaten the drum for the left for decades will suddenly join the conservative club? Doesnt compute..keep an eye on em.

Rudd has been (formally) in power a whole four days and he’s still on track, as far as apathetic but love-sick Sarah is concerned. Harry Clarke, by contrast, reckons Rudd is a bull-artist on climate change (an issue on which he’s well to the left of Rudd, Howard and Nelson). And a follow-up blast from Harry:

What I find galling, in view of the recent election, is that Rudd achieved prominence by presenting John Howard as someone ‘going slow’ on climate change. Rudd is replicating the Howard position along with some inconsequential rhetoric relating to targets in 2050.

A new view of McKew from Poligoths

Peter Martin notes that the Reserve Bank flexed its muscles during the change in government.

Mark Bahnisch is disappointed with the new Attorney General for failing to cooperate with the ACT’s plans to allow same-sex ‘commitment ceremonies‘. Whether his permission is needed and what aspects of the proposal he (or rather Rudd) objects to, is not entirely resolved, despite the best efforts of commenters. Jeremy interprets the matter to Rudd’s disadvantage — another case of discrimination against Christians.

Gummo Trotsky dreams that by 2010 no Sikh schoolboy will be denied a Kirpan. An enthralling comments thread follows. Elsewhere Gummo reveals that Australian Values are determined in the last instance by Immigration Department ‘flunkies‘.

Andrew Bartlett speculates on the stability of the new Senate, on the circumstances that might precipitate a double dissolution, and the likely composition after a full Senate election.

There is a popular notion that the Howard Government’s economic achievements are somewhat exaggerated, but according to Bernice it’s much worse. She alleges serious economic negligence.

Ken Lovell worries that Julia Gillard has been captured by the “education=productivity” forces of evil.

Should the Liberals adopt “Progressive liberalism”? asks Andrew Norton, and surprisingly (given that he styles himself carlton’s only liberal) answers in the negative.

State Politics

Possum Comitatus sniggers at the Queensland Liberal party’s methodology for picking a Leader. Cam Riley does not agree that it is bizarre, while Graham Young contributes another of his insider’s views of goings on in the Qld Libs asylum.

International stuff

Since Muslims have no conception of decent Western values, we wouldn’t expect them to surpass us when it comes to acts of humanitarianism — like accepting refugess, right? Ken Lovell has a second look. He also examines the conclusion President Bush drew from the NIE’s assessment that Iran stopped working on the bomb in 2003, namely that Iran is dangerous:

Its beyond stubbornness or stupidity; its wilful determination to assert that his chosen goals and values are beyond question and exist in a world of their own, untarnished by anything as everyday as evidence or logic.

But Harry Clarke would have us disbelieve the NIE on the basis that one of the agencies involved – out of 16 – was wrong once and that it’s all just guessing anyway. Presumably the same criticisms holds for the previous NIE, but that remains unspoken. Niall Cook points out that the US and Iran are both signatories to a treaty that permits civilian nuclear energy programs and Iran is just a special case in a world of blind-eye-turning.

“Roger Migently” also focuses on the NIE Iran assessment, as well as the convenient destruction of US film apparently showing torture of terrorism suspects, and identifies a John Howard link.

2. Life and Other Serious Stuff

Can any Sydney readers help I tigtog’s FO?

Lauredhel thinks her son has plenty to wonder about in this generally wonderful world without needing ‘more wonder in the form of a contrived fib about a guy in a red polyester suit and pleather boots.’

Australian Atheist pursues his obsession with blasphemy laws, focusing this time on a UK judgment finding that the BBC didn’t blaspheme in screening ‘Jerry Springer – the Opera’.

Saint posts on a new outbreak of the scarey Ebola virus in Uganda.

The world’s most unsuccessful supermarket ad? (courtesy Legal Eagle)

3. The Yartz

Tony reviews Dexter.

Over at Sarsaparilla Beth Driscoll gives a rave review to a new summer season gritty Oz cop drama called East West 101. Apparently its a descendant (of sorts) of the superb Wildside series of some years ago. Maybe an oasis in the desert of summer TV crap.

Getting out of the blocks early, Brendan McCallum previews Melbourne’s Red Stitch Theatre 2008 Season One offerings.

Happy Antipodean Dean posts a somewhat equivocal review of a new collection of Oz short stories edited by Barry Oakley.

Ben Peek reviews the new blockbuster Beowulf movie:

Eventually, I was forced to come to the conclusion that, in part, the fascination with Angelina Jolie’s fake nudity was due to an acknowledgment on the audiences part that the film wasn’t very interesting.

Meanwhile, betraying his age, Slim Pickens gives a positive review to a new Neil Young album, an artist most younger readers probably have never even heard of, but who seems to be bent on disproving his own motto that it’s better to burn out than it is to rust.

4. T.S.S

(troppo sports stadium)

Niall Cook runs through expected changes in the various V8 Supercar driving rosters.

Tony has come here not praise World Series Cricket, but to bury it.

Mike Salter and Guido both focus on the appointment Pim Verbeek as Australian team soccer coach after some other Dutchman ratted on a deal.

Tony the Teacher valiantly tries to recall highlights from 25 years or so of Tri-series one day cricket matches, but struggles to find any apart from the Trevor Chappell underarm controversy. And Tony hasn’t ignored Murali’s chucking world record, he was just stewing quietly before launching a double broadside here and here.

5. Mad, Bad, Sad and Glad

Ashleigh’s cat is well on the way to self-sufficiency.

Over on a Western Heart, writers continue to fulminate about climate change, sentencing, the IQ superiority of whites as compared to blacks and feminist geography. While some of us do have complaints about the collapse of academic English, the comments on the feminist geography postwere more intelligent than the post itself.

Sam Ward finds that a love of country music is associated with a greater rate of suicide among whites. A sign of white inferiority?

Marcellous rhapsodises about the joys of a Rivercat cruise on the Parramatta River. ((We wanted to use the Rivercat last year to attend a Sydney Festival performance at Parramatta Riverside Theatres, but discovered that the timetable was hopelessly inconvenient, a great concept ruined by government ineptitude ~ KP))

John Surname continues his series on racist cartoons, and takes pleasure in the discomfort of christian fundamentalist preacher Danny Nalliah, who seems to be an even more complete nutter than might have been imagined, as well as an embittered Howard supporter.

Colin Campbell looks at a Google attempt to rule the blog world (to the extent that it doesn’t already), while Slim Pickens posts one of those bracing anti-Microsoft rants that we all need to read from time to time:

Ive been a big fan of The Evil Empire over many years – without Microsofts monopolistic stranglehold on the the world of computing creating consistent design standards for developers we would not have advanced to where we are now. But MS has outlived its usefulness and I suspect it will gradually become just a marginal corporate player over the next decade in the way that IBM did after being synonymous with computing back in the 70s. The way of the future lies with open source and web distributed applications.