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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
Nationals bitch slap ALP and LP in Gippsland. Ralph Buttigieg finds good news for Brendan Nelson and the Coalition in the Nationals win. John Humphrey’s celebrates the LDP garnering 4.6% of the vote, enough to leach funding from the public tit. Geoff Robinson believes it highlights Rudd Labor’s need for a charismatic spokesman to sell the need for an economic reform agenda.
Andrew Elder asks just what have the ALP achieved with their once-in-a-lifetime alignment of Federal and State power. Or for that matter, what did the Democrats achieve in the last decade?
Cameron Reilly interviewed the folks behind OpenAustralia.org.
Bid farewell to Andrew Leigh for six months, censored by the Government, while he is seconded to the Treasury.
International
Mark Steyn is off the hook in one venue, but still has the British Columbia case dangling over his head.
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Economics
Joshua Gans joins in a conversation between assorted eminent econobloggers on Creative Capitalism, stimulated by of all people Bill Gates.
Peter Martin approves of the commitment not to allow any monies raised by the imminent emissions trading scheme to go into the general public purse. They will be used to smooth out economic bumps and pains caused by the policy.
Joshua Gans gives a thumbs up to the idea of a HECS-inspired system of paid parental leave.
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Issues analysis
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Harry Clarke has a couple of items about the sexualisation of children, both locally and internationally.
Mark Richardson believes the American idea – traditionalism conflicting with liberal modernism – is weird.
Andrew Norton on the Prospect’s attempt to damage it’s credibility with an internet driven poll to nominate top intellectuals.
Should students have academic freedom or should they concentrate on mastering a field of study with topics freely set by the academic staff? And isn’t it ironic that the Senate may end up telling the academic staff how to teach their courses? Don’t you think? Andrew Norton discusses.
ALP stalwarts support nuclear power in the name of Green energy. Rudd believes it isn’t necessary, possibly because of all those other cheap and effective alternative energy sources coming on line in the next decade.
Terje discusses private health insurance.
Keysar Trad calls for de facto polygamous relationships to receive official recognition and legalise polygamy. Unlikely, says Colin Campbell, who is a little stunned that polyandry exists.
Saint wraps up the agenda and reporting of the rebel Anglican conference in Jerusalem. ((Not really rebels, I just wanted to picture cardigan-clad Peter Jensen as a rebel.~gilmae))
Arts
Joshua Gans recommends Get Smart.
They were a little non-plussed at Decomposing Trees about Get Born making it into any list of the Top 50 Best Australian Albums. (SH – Not a single Augie March album either)
Paul Martin considers British director Mike Leigh’s (Naked, Secret and Lies) move into comedy in Happy Go Lucky “quite an accomplishment.”
Darlene Taylor reviews Errol Morris’s (Thin Blue Line,The Fog of War) new documentary Standard Operating Procedure about the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
Brendan McCallum previews the Melbourne International Film Festival
The Art Life has some fantastic brain art (different diagramic depictions of the human brain) that are bound to arouse any hungry zombies.
Bryan Lewis reviews Jo Lloyd’s latest work of dance Apparently That’s What Happened.
Snark, strangeness and charm
Andrew Leigh plays Mythbuster and proves eating chocolate before a test has no effect on the mark. Also, the lecturer wearing a suit appears to have minimal effect on how highly his students rate his classes.
Graham Young wonders why the MSM is so poor at reporting scientific achievement. ((Only science?~gilmae))
Cameron Reilly predicts that in five years Bill Gates will be back at Microsoft, to do a Jobs and rescue the company from those that followed him. But for now? Malaria and HIV.
Kev Gillett is a tad incredulous that French soldiers mistook live rounds for blanks. ((I’m shocked the other soldiers didn’t surrender before they could be fired upon.~gilmae))
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after just seven months, Andrew Elder doesn’t understand that cultural, social, political or industrial reform might take a little longer???
MAYDAY ON MY MIND
Let me hear you say “place holder”!
“Place holder”!
“Place holder”!
Now let me get some action from the back section.
Mffsh, tsh, upth, schm tsh, sshm, umpf tsh
“to damage its credibility”
Apostrophe atrocity alert!
This is going to be one of those place holder on my mind threads, isn’t it?
“Saint wraps up the agenda and reporting of the rebel Anglican conference in Jerusalem.”
Rebel? I seem to recall that the bloke who started it all for them was considered a bit of an iconoclast in his time. (I’m talking JC here not Hank 8, for those of you that may have thought I was referencing Marty L.)
There’s nothing like a good religious schism for highlighting the essential absurdity of claiming that because you believe you were made by your maker, it gives you the right to make over the lives of others.
And. as usual, God ain’t sayin’ nuttin’.
“And. as usual, ”
Period penalty alert!
Come back soon Missing Link. We will miss you.