A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Jen McCulloch and Stephen Hill
Politics
Australian
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Graham Young points out yet another pointless quick-fix by the government and then offers an alternative solution. Blames unions. Petering Time doubts that letting a major US retail chain operate in competition with our own major retail chains will make much difference.
Bad Apple Audrey finds recent news that Australian women are drunk and confused unconvincing((But surely it must be true – it was in the Women’s Weekly. They done a survey and everything. ~ GT))
Ant Rogenous catches those sly subbies at News Limited pointing the finger the wrong way on inflation.
Lauredhel is not at all unhappy that an anti-abortion leafleting campaign fell foul of the Advertising Standards Council.
International
Daniel Drezner on the response of the Chinese diaspora to western Olympic protests:
Though the synergy is the result of the people and the government touting the same line, it’s an impressive campaign for a country with a state-run media. It’s also worth pointing out that, unlike people within China itself, these expats have access to the gamut of information on their homeland, and yet they still feel strongly that the Western view is biased.
saint tells the story of a Paraguayan priest presenting the Vatican with an interesting problem.1
Darryl Mason catches Al Qaeda plagiarising the Onion.
Derek Barry looks at OPEC and oil prices.
Prince William is a Knight of the Garter. John Howard isn’t. News Limited is in a snit about it.
Economics
Andrew Bartlett suggests that “Root and Branch Tax Reform” should be just that.
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Issues analysis
dr. faustus gives props to PETA for ponying up $1 million as a prize for the development of vat-grown meat2 He also offers advice on how to smuggle illicit bits through customs.
Andrew Leigh points out that research simply doesn’t justify broad-ranging early childhood intervention programs.3
Harry Clarke is anti-nativist, wants Australian kids off his lawn. But seriously, believes that first-generation immigrant kids in Australia try harder in school, want more out of life. Harry also commences a series of posts on lung cancer.
pommygranate suggests that now is the time to buy US dollars.
Dave Bath suggests that if Kevin Rudd is sincere about encouraging kids to take up science, a good start would be to set an example – by actually listening to scientists.
Robert Merkel raises a surprising health issue.
If you’ve been tossing and turning at night wondering what Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle was all about, Eliezer Yudkowsky has just the post for you.
Arts
Bud Parr discusses the recent critical rediscovery of Russian author Daniil Kharms
Mark Thwaite considers Gabriel Josipovici’s list of the ten best novellas, which included works Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Hermann Melville and Heinrich von Kleist
Sarahann provides details of the line-up of bands at Splendour at the Grass, which includes Devo, Sigur Ros, Wolfmother, Tricky, The Music and Cold War Kids
David Tiley provides an elegant riposte from documentary maker Peter Vaughan to senior Age writer Jim Schembri’s criticisms of the Australian film industry, asking why Schembri’s employer (Fairfax Media) has significantly reduced its artistic coverage in the last few years.
marcellous has been looking over the Opera Australia 2007 annual report.
Chris Boyd calls for divine help from Sister Wendy in explaining a Missing Link philistines’ question about why so many classical portrayals of female beauty (well, Venus anyway) resemble big beefy blokes with boobs. Meanwhile, Alison Croggon reviews Bell Shakespeare’s current Melbourne production of Venus and Adonis.
Sport
Tony doesn’t like the lazy blokes-bullshitting-for-an-hour that masquerades as football analysis programming on television. Channel Nine in particular.4
Snark, strangeness and charm
Pavlov’s Cat looks back into blog history and finds a modern Nostradamus.
At Grodscorps, Bron discusses the pros and cons of giving toilet paper to the homeless.
Peter Martin and Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan both love shopping at Aldi.
- Pope Benedict was heard to say “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?” Two albinos were later spotted in Silvio Pettirossi International Airport.~gilmae [↩]
- B..b..but…the murder is what makes the meat so very tasty.~gilmae [↩]
- like Rudd’s idiotic pre-2020 “Big Idea”, which fortunately almost certainly wasn’t seriously proposed ~ KP [↩]
- Is setting an effigy of Phil Gould on fire too far?~gilmae [↩]
Is setting an effigy of Phil Gould on fire too far?
It’s barely enough.
Talking about ‘missing links’. Sorry to use this post for some self-advertising. But for those who knew me through the blog ‘Rank and Vile’ the server is no more.
So I am continuing my blog addiction with a new blog called The accidental Australian.
OK after that shameless plug, I do actually would like to signal a blog that I find interesting which is written by Father Bob.
Some of you may know Father Bob through that program on SBS called ‘Speaking in Tongues’ with John Safran. Apparently he’s doing the same thing with Saffran on Sunday nights on JJJ.
Even non-Catholics, or even those who are not into religion would be able to get some value from this blog IMHO.
Sorry, I forgot to provide a link for Father Bob’s blog! Doh!
http://www.fatherbob.com.au/father_bob/
I used to believe Graham Young to be a reasonable person, until I met him in person. Despite his sanctioning by the Qld Liberal Party, he’ll always be a party apparatchik
Niall:
Have you giving it some thought that he possibly felt the same way too.
Niall
What connection does that bit of bile have with the post? Presumably just that a post by Graham was linked. Anyway, why does being a loyal member of any political party (albeit one that in Graham’s case treated him appallingly despite his loyalty) make someone not a “reasonable person”? What a strange attitude. Surely just because you (and I for that matter) might be a confirmed sceptic about political parties generally doesn’t mean that all reasonable people must share that viewpoint? The democratic system needs committed loyal party members as well as uncommitted sceptics. I’ve had quite a bit to do with Graham over the years (although I’ve never met him face to face), and although I don’t always agree with his opinions I think he’s one of the relatively few genuine, consistent and principled classical liberals in the Liberal Party (which may well be why they kicked him out!!!). And Online Opinion and associated ventures are excellent democratic participatory initiatives which deserve our support and applause rather than petty bitching IMO. Here endeth the sermon, brethren.
That’s ok, JC, the possibilty that Graham was so silly is remote.
Ken, I was speaking from a personal perspective, which if you’d taken the time to evaluate, you’d have picked up on. I have met Graham, and I do find him to be a supercilious twat. That he chose to point out “yet another pointless quick-fix by the government” simply confirms for me his partisan attitudes. QED Herewith endeth my tirade.