It is fair to say the Right has been feeling the ideological pinch lately. While the fussing and feuding has been going on, the Hard Left in Australia continues its moral decay at an impressive clip with hardly a mention.
Take the animal liberationist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Usually PETA spends the bulk of its energy and time routinely supplying the ABC’s Four Corners with free footage, allowing the current affairs program to work within its budget. It’s a win-win, provided you’re a card-carrying member of PETA or a journo with an insatiable thirst for a gold Walkley.
Yesterday it surfaced PETA had written to the management of Hunters and Collectors urging the band to change its name to something less violent and antagonistic. The thought being the band, first formed in 1981, might now be inadvertently encouraging young kiddies to load up the shotties, the pig dogs and several cartons of Emu Bitter and go out blasting away at ecosystems various in a frivolous manner.
Full column here.
The ‘story’ is so completely ridiculous. PETA wanted publicity so huge free success for them.
I actually thought duck shooting was banned in Australia. It is in Qld, NSW & WA so if it is still going on in the other states, then shame on them for cutting their rednecks loose on those poor birds.
Takes a real man to end the life of a harmless creature for kicks.
Pfft, Bella
You’re right there Bella, theres method in that apparent PETA madness. Any publicity is better than no publicity.
Give ’em heaps.
Cindy Prior’s appeal against the judgement in November that there was no 18C case to answer and awarded costs against her has been denied.
Thankfully some commonsense has emerged from the nonsense.
Meanwhile one of the former QUT students has given very explicit evidence of what this sorry episode has done to affect him now, and in the future. He is a smart guy who has been done over by the system. As a society we should hang our heads in shame at this PC gone feral.
Appalling Lou. Hats off to the students who maintained their dignity throughout, whilst all around lost their’s.
Yep! But nobody on the left and quite a lot on the right could not give a stuff.
Meanwhile Triggs appears to lie through her teeth about Bleak.
What a wonerful world we create when common sense disappears down the sewer.
Agreed Lou. A disgraceful slur on some young students who were themselves the victims of racism and discrimination. Subsequent to that they were mere names in a Kafkaesque nightmare of ideology, revenge, avarice and control. The very idea of conciliation from one perspective speaks volumes about the arrogance of the left pc crowd. Dangerous, and the reason why Hanson will go from strength to strength.
Conciliation is dangerous? Do you really want to turn back the clock to the days when every civil dispute went straight to court?
IMO if Hanson gets stronger it won’t have anything to do with this. 18C is an elite, non-economic ideological issue that IPA types would like to link to right-wing populism. Similar links have been attempted in the US and UK. IMO that’s baloney. When a disgruntled laid-off blue-collar guy wakes up in the morning, he doesn’t think “Geez I wish I was allowed to say ‘nigger’ like in the old days”, he thinks “I want my job back”.
I may not have expressed myself clearly enough John as I do not think conciliation is dangerous, nor did I say it. The fact in this matter is that the students didn’t even know there was a case against them, and when they finally did it was 3 days before a meeting was ordered. My point is that for conciliation to happen it has a better chance of working if parties are aware of the matter. Nor does it seem that conciliation was a Priority (pun intended) when it seemed expedient to frighten some of the students to forking out $5 grand to make the matter go away, forgoing conciliation.
Yes Milton, the plaintiff was obviously not seeking ‘sit-down money’ on this occasion, but rather ‘hush money’.
CotC – that’s thin ice and skating stuff there, Carl!
Any idea what gets dicussed at the pub John.
They are not amused.
I think it probably depends which pub, JS. As a musician for 30-odd years, I’ve spent far too much time (and money!) in far too many pubs, city, suburban, regional, outback, the lot. Never once heard anyone mention section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Your experience may differ, of course, but I assume you choose your pubs, which is something I didn’t get to do.
On that topic, I must say I’m baffled by this notion of the “pub test” as some kind of benchmark of authenticity. In my regrettably extensive experience, people who frequent the front bars of pubs — and I include my younger self in this — are not known for their powers of clear thought, nor are they representative of the population as a whole, most of whom have jobs to do or at least a preference for having their wits about them most of the time.
John O’Hagan. Ye spake true. Booze makes one think one is smarter than one is, a pleasing effect but not reliable. Enough of it for long enough and one is liable to form an opinion of ones intellectual capacity not commensurate with ones actual capacity, shickered or sober, reinforced by the peers one feels most comfortable with.
Getting to a pub session late often gives one the odd feeling that the minds of ones familiars have been taken over by weird people from a parallel universe.
Give ’em heaps.
John,
“The pub test” is not necessarily at the pub.
I think it is used generally to describe the feelings of those who are not members of the elite.
Labor’s “battlers”, Menzies “forgotten people” and pretty well my whole neighborhood.
John O’Hagan – as a muso you would have been1/ ignored at the public bar; 2/ if point one didn’t take, been polite, whilst distracted, to your new bestie (with a heap of requests, and questions) and found a reason to move on
; or 3/ head to the bar with band and friends, warding off interlopers.
Well that’s my observations as a groupie!
If I could sing or play and instrument, or both, I’d be up there John. And I know you’ve done big in Circus. Kudos to you, John. I doubt the law is as much fun; or perhaps a variation on a variety of themes!!?
Circus is, or should be, a platform for fun, fear, frivolity and social commentary (even handed, and rough?). A bit of Bread and Puppet and Brecht and Paul Capsis and the Kransky Sisters….
You brought up the pub, JS, I just ran with it!
As for that “battler” rhetoric, that’s an old carny trick from way back:
Fortune teller: “You have deep feelings but you have trouble expressing them.”
Mug: “That’s right, I do…”
FT: ” Your talents are not appreciated by your work colleagues.”
M: “How could you know that?”
FT: “You work hard but you struggle to get the things you want, while others are rewarded for their laziness.”
M: “Your powers are incredible!”
Howard, and Menzies before him, were the finest of sideshow soothsayers.
Sure some people really are struggling, but the problem is, everyone genuinely believes they are battlers, no matter how well off they are:
https://mattcowgill.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/what-is-the-typical-australians-income-in-2013/
The best example I’ve seen of this self-serving mass-delusion is this straight-faced story in the Oz back in 2011, in which a couple on $200K whine about their desperate hand-to-mouth existence and how the government should help them more:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/national-affairs/balancing-act-makes-for-some-hard-choices/news-story/02b16061c013653b5a552e3b68aadacd
O’Hagan Top post. 5 Gold stars.
So sweet to see much passionate agreement on this topic. As much as I hate to pop that bubble, it’s not such a simple issue. The NewsCorp version is not even close to the full story.
If you are interested in what actually happened in this space and how the system actually works, read this, or at least some of it:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights_inquiries/FreedomspeechAustralia/Report
Or, if you’d prefer to continue making melodramatic pronouncements based on nothing, just carry on. I guess that’s more fun than doing research.
JOH, but no-one’s interested in the research. As the old saying goes, never let the truth get in the way of outraged ignorance.
Penny, did you read the “Additional Comments by Labor” section, in the ‘Freedom of Speech Report’ with reference to the Labor rep’s claim that 18c has ” no substantive evidence of a ‘chilling effect’ “?
I say, try and convince the young uni students with that baloney.
You’d have Buckleys.
It won’t chill any speech the PC folks agree with, is what they meant.
Amen, Dwight! You can dis the white farmer, the Christian, the moderate, the law abiding atheist, Muslim, vegan, Buddhist, lesbian, poof, athlete, or a combination of the above; the benign hegemony (that voted Howard in for a record innings!)
But hey, any of those weirdo’s start talking conservative, or pro-Trump shit and they arse be whipped (metaphorically?) and made mock of on the taxpayer funded abc and the uni’s and their ilk!
Very few will be brave enough to be pro Trump, Dwight, and certainly not in public. The left are masters in quasi moral and ethical social ridicule, which manifests in many an isolation, ensuring a conformism for those who just exist to belong.
One question: where are people fleeing to and what are they fleeing from?
And yes it is to QLD and from Vic/NSW. However I am questioning on the bigger scale.
John, leaving aside the merits or otherwise of the legislation, i would give the Commission 1/10 for their handling of the application, and that is on the understanding that they spelt the names right.
it was error piled on error. Ok, yes, mistakes do happen, judgement is sometimes absent or on leave, but then they have made it worse with their public statements since.
when even the SMH calls time on the President, editorial march 3, it is over, they have managed to bugger the process and lose the politics as well.
If you want to keep burying your head up a dark orrifice John, at least have the honour to your legal profession and heed the judge’s finding.
Justice Dowset said in his 56 page judgment:
“The young people have suffered more from legal proceedings than any other young person would have suffered in a lifetime”.
He went on to tell the lawyers on both sides to bring the proceedings to an end.
I for the life of me can’t understand your belligerence on this issue in the face of clear testimony. Research? Maybe you need to search.
Lou, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. It should have been obvious from the link that my comment wasn’t about the merits of this particular case. I haven’t read that judgment yet, but I have no reason to believe there’s anything wrong with it. (Nor was there anything wrong with the judgment in the Bolt case; did you “heed” that one?)
My beef is with the deliberate misinformation about how the statute works and the role and powers of the AHRC in the process. As long as that keeps circulating, I’m going to keep putting out the correct information. Call that belligerent if you want, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what the word means.
John, you haven’t just got,the wrong end of the stick, you’ve got the wrong stick.
Your earlier comment was direct response from my original that started this thread, which was specifically about this case, nothing more nothing less. If you can’t see past the law to see the unfortunate consequences of its use, or indeed abuse, then you’ve missed the point, again, entirely.
Even Triggs has acknowledged changes are necessary, and the harder she refuses to concede or apologise to the defendants in this particular case the sillier she looks. The next recall before the Senate committee will b enlightening.
The other issue is the Leak case, where she either doesn’t have grasp of the facts presented by Leak’s lawyer, or has mislead the committee in her statement.
These are just a couple of cases, so far! Dare I say it to a man of the cloth like you, but sometimes the law is an ass.
Milton. “Fleeing” is a bit melodramatic. Trump supporters are objecting to the loss of what for them was comfortable and ideal. The ideal has been systematically dismantled by the oligarchs, who have accumulated vast fortunes in doing it.
Saps like you and the people who voted for Trump are simpletons who believe that Trump has a genuine interest in the welfare of working and middle class people.
Which again proves another of Einstein’s theories, human stupidity is infinite.
Trump doesn’t even like the middle or working classes, like Queens and Kings, he despises them. He is so blatant in his coquetry and bare faced lying he must have the most abject contempt for his toadying fan base.
But he knows how to manipulate the half wits who seriously believe he isn’t going to take them to cleaners again.
Good Lord! PETA and Left Renewal are hard left? Is that the best we can do in this beige nation?
How very disappointing.
Rupert! A l’eau. C’est l’heure!
I’m with you, Jean. Unless a couple of million have been murdered and a couple more million have been starved to death these pretenders are poor imitations of the hard left. Karl would roll in his grave, except that would have him leaning to the right.
On the plus side I think your mob are encouraging people to eschew, and not chew, Jewish chocolates.
NSW must be going gangbusters when the local govt types etc can take it upon themselves to get involved in the Israeli/Palestine disaster. Stuff the traffic, the crime and dodgy toilets lets try and sort out an issue way beyond our remit and more.
The oligarchs and their handmaidens can never forgive Karl for the ideas that forced concessions from the elites. Remember the days when seven peasant workers were traded for one Borzoi? When it was perfectly acceptable to flog your servants including the children?
Those were the days my friend.
Rupert is a legend in the making, if not for anything else, his penmanship alone!
JB in disguise I reckon
Letting his inner Rupert out
No. Rupert writes a lot better than I do. I hope he’s not just a one trick pony with the Marxist shtick.
What can one say Jack – the nutters have always been there but now they have a voice and some take the message seriously.
On a more serious side I just read a report.
10 years ago the value of the 8 major US retailers (Sears, Macy’s, Walmart etc/) was $400 billion and the value of Amazon was $17.5 billion.
Today, the same retailers’ value is $298 billion and Amazon is $355 billion. Walmart has just managed to hold its value while the rest have tanked.
The big 8 are shedding jobs and closing stores like there is no tomorrow.
The moral of the story? Yep you can keep paying people double penalty rates on a Sunday but all that will do is make the jobs dry up faster.
The whole of the retail industry is experiencing one big upheaval.
JS. Penalty rates in US? More like minimum wage, up to $7 an hour I think. Talk about a propagandist for bizarre world. Pathetic effort.
Did you ever go in a fast reading course?
If you did, it has affected your comprehension.
If not – well I guess you can rationalize it with some other deficiency dressed up as a fact – as you always do.
Changing you story again when called out? No surprises.
Dismayed, if the bulk of the US retail industry went into serious decline at $7 an hour, I would have thought that, even with your myopic view of the world, you could have extrapolated the information and deduced that the Australian rates would make the demise even quicker here.
But there again thinking for yourself, apart from your occasional really good insight into cricket, is not one of your strong points.
But never mind, I am sure the Guardian will publish something on the subject during the next few years and you will be away.
JS, lighten up, every one else has.
Not in this case Penny.
Seven bucks an hour doesn’t make for the consumer spending necessary for a buoyant economy now does it?
Never said it did JB, The popularity of Amazon, apart from convenience is price.
Retail overheads are reflected in the price.
Australian retailers suffer from very high rents and high wage rates – especially at weekends.
All I was saying is that these high costs will quicken the pace to on-line purchasing quickly.
Interestingly enough, returns on on-line purchases in the UK are free but one pays for them in Australia.
You say in your column, Mr Insider, “In January, the Greens proposed to block Donald Trump’s entry to Australia”. FGS what goes through the minds of the Left who would be screaming for US help like the rest of us if we were attacked by a major power! Who saved us from the Japs in WW2! Welcome POTUS Trump to Australia whenever you choose to grace these shores with a visit I say. I cant wait!
HB, I keep telling you that my Dad saved us from the Japs, probably JTI’s too. All I know is those yankee boys came over here and stole some fine young Australian women with the promise of nylons, cigarettes and big ranches back home
Ah yes Penny, overpaid, oversexed and over here. Still, nylons, cigarettes and bi ranches back home (I think you left out the chocolates) probably beat the crap out of what the Japanese offered during their tour of China and South East Asia.
If the Aussie ladies didn’t get a good deal, how many came back eh? Don’t forget the man shortage that ran through Austrlia post WW1, amplified in the early years of WW2. Short of turning lesbian, what were the local girls to do when the Yanks came to town?
True Lou, but they also seemed to take advantage of the girls who were supposed to be pining for their boys who were fighting overseas. Didn’t happen with my parents..well as far as I know….but my mother did tell me about a friend of hers who fell for one dastardly fellow who left her high and dry, plus when she called the footpath a sidewalk when her fiancée came back. Oddly enough he was not impressed.
Yeah. But has beens like Keating think we should cozy up to a totalatarian country that has no independent legal system, imprisons dissidents, censors any outside information, is expanding its borders in th South China seas, has a leader who is gradually eradicating all potential opposition and is trying to set up another 10 year term, and runs an extremely corrupt country.
Such are the forces that control the left these days.
It is in their interests to denegrate the US.
Never mind the invasion HB. I reckon we need to borrow him to sort out our pathetic political situation. Shake ’em all up
So which major power are you thinking of Henry? And why would they? The USA acts in it’s own interests.
You need a little top up on Realpolitik
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-american-companies-that-aided-the-nazis.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104×2892830
War is a racket Henry. If there was enough time left, Australia would be bought not invaded.
It was bought some time ago
Good little boy Donny.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/1/trump_seeks_record_pentagon_budget_eclipsing
Ah Jack, funny as a fart in church. Have you been using some additives?
All the tightarses here will not be witnessing the outbreak of musical name humour that has broken out over the wall. Plent up for a name change, Midnight Oil, AC/DC, ELO, Black Sabbath, Diesel, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Pink. Your effort with Meatloaf to Tofu-Blob was particularly cute.
We may never pass this way again —- so put your arms around me —- and lets get started.
Watch out for the rabbit’s foot pointed at you, humour of the far left leaves a lot to be desired.
All day long I think of things………
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkXHsK4AQPs
I’m hoping the Greens go back to the future and pick Ronnie Burns for their entertainment act – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n__ZTfZ7mZ0. If he doesn’t get chased off the stage for playing this song Barry Gibb gave him.
Oh yes! If you loved the 1956 comedy “Jerry Lewis and the Banana Skin” the humour over the wall will have you slumped over your wheelie walker wheezing with laughter.
Yep, Black Sabbath should change their name to Green Weekend.
ELO to Candle Light Orchestra maybe?
I’ll tell you what’s wrong………
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RJPaj97H24
candles=tallow……tsk
bioluminescence orchestra perhaps
If that’s the only fluff they can find in their belly buttons it’s time to throw it in.
Very clever JTI. Is it not just a coincidence however that Hunters and Collectors are about to go on tour and PETA want to create awareness that the Duck shooting season is about to begin? Maybe a cross-promotion, but if it is it’s worked.
You’re onto something.
Why in gods name, Mr Insider, has it taken PETA since 1981 to now to object to the bands name? That’s 36 years FGS!
There has always been a strong lobby for an approach to H&C within the movement Enery, but opinion was divided and it was generally accepted that such action should be delayed until an auspicious occasion arose. As you know over such a time span people come and go and different priorities evolve.
No doubt your consternation will be noted and factored into further considerations, quite probably expediting actions under consideration.
with compliments.
http://www.peta.org/about-peta/learn-about-peta/
Along similar lines, not long back I wrote to Angus and the boys asking them to change the name AC/DC to something more culturally sensitive, as the people in South Australia find their name humiliating and offensive. I suggested The Burning Cow Patties but as yet have received no reply.
A bit disappointed this article didn’t give “praxis” a run, but that’s my only criticism.
btw. does Betty Farrelly ghost write these peoples stuff?
Milt how sweet, you caring about bisexuals like that. I didn’t know you were a supporter good on ya love! Not that AC/DC wouldn’t appeal to all gays and straights and bi-lesbians, but it was “their thing first”. Imagine you being a little bit Acka Dacka.
Cheers darl
Or something like this In this days of changing ways?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uixc025fZRE
You are on fire Milton top post however you better hope dear Dismayed does not read that good buddy, a resident I do believe of the “dark” State!
Actually the Gas fired generators are on fire. Again the fossil fuel generation fails the state. Without renewables there would be No power. Fossil fuels have failed consistently over the last 12 months. the AEMO reports show this. But still sheep like you mislead by the coalition and News media refuse to acknowledge the facts because they are an affront to your ideology.
When 1 generator in 5 catches fire, it is an accident.
When 4 out of 5 catch fire it is incompetence.
It looks as though producing reliable electricity is was beyond SA. Close everything down and import the stuff from states that can.
One has to agree JS. How on earth can this state be having all these problems? One after the other. Hopeless government maybe – no maintenance done on infrastructure? This isn’t an issue of solar/wind etc. It has to be, as you say, incompetence.
Nothing like that ever happens in Tassie, ay? Like the power cord to Victoria.
What happened in Tassie was that when it was obvious the Gillard government was on the way out TasHydro sold vast amounts of hydro electricity to Victoria, cheap, to get the carbon credits or whatever it was. . They used up a heck of a lot of water in the process not for one moment thinking it would stop raining! I mean this is Tassie – it’s always raining on the West coast!! Then Murphy’s Law struck and the Basslink cable broke. Out of anyone’s control really. Took a while to fix too.
To their credit the Tasmanian government brought in generators quick smart and we never had a single day without power here. Not one. Used a lot of diesel though. The aluminium smelter up north, that uses the most power in the state, was asked to shut down for a certain number of hours per week. Which they did.
It all ran as smooth as clockwork actually. At least they knew when they would not have power!
Thank God it started raining and we had a very wet Summer and Lake Gordon is looking good again. I’m off walking there tomorrow actually. Pity we cannot post photos!
Next time I suspect TasHydro will look at long term weather patterns 🙂
On fire you say?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrpXArn3hII
Gee Dismayed – you’re in a good mood today – putting some nice music out there. My kids went to Springsteen at Hanging Rock. They loved it
Yvonne by the way the Electricity industry in SA is privately owned. The government do NOT run it. So you should be attacking the Privately owned business that has sacked hundreds of maintenance workers and yes not maintained their equipment. Do you believe in markets or only when it suits you?
Dismayed
Privatisation tends to lead to highly paid execs and little infrastructure maintenance.
But, perhaps, in view of the apparent problem with compatibility btw renewable and electric power someone needs to stand up and ensure diesel is going to be available when required. Even if the government has to fund it. Industry just cannot live with the uncertainty
Any power cuts yet today as they service the extension cord to Victoria?
Well since you mention it Milton . Today in SA after a week of 38 degrees days the Gas fired generation has “tripped” read broken down again as it did in the last heat wave and as it did by fluctuating wildly when the transmissions lines were nocked down last year in the massive storm that hit SA. The only think powering SA this afternoon was renewables as it was in the last heatwave and as it was before the big storm. See how that is working? It is NOT the renewable here that are the problem it is the old fossil fuel generation plants that the Privately owned Industry do NOT want to invest in. The AEMO again dropped the ball by firstly saying there was no problem then belated put out a notice asking for more power but there was a shortfall due to Fossil fuel breakdowns.
I agree entirely, SA shoulde get rid of the gas fired stations as well, renewables 100 per cent is the way to go.
People will get used to it eventually.
Yet that very same reasoning was used, here and elsewhere, to argue against renewables when there was an inconclusive suggestion that wind generators were involved in a previous failure.
Well I am sure Gas fired plants will be the transition generation but another study showing renewables are the cheapest option and 100% is entirely possible
http://reneweconomy.com.au/anu-wind-solar-hydro-grid-cheapest-option-australia-87796/
Might have to bring back whaling to fuel the lamps though.
Damn, you are doing some good work Dismayed. Following your recent link to the oil companies deep concerns decades ago I meant to link to sites demonstrating that even the most right wing politicians in the USA agreed that action on climate change was urgently required in the eighties. . And how the big fossil fuel interests came down on them like a ton of bricks threatening to starve them of electoral funds.
Reagan removed the solar panels from the roof of the White House and the rest is history.
That’s the world we live in . Keep up the great work.
Wonderful comment. Run for cover mate. Now if they could roster the power cuts for Sundays it would fix the penalty rate problem mebbe
Thanks. 😉
Still hanging around?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm-ySQdxG-c
C’mon Milton, you’re slipping. “Dexter Duckett”, there is a fantastic limerick there just waiting to be penned.
Sock it to us then Mack!
Dexter Ducket, the boy from Kentucket
Went to South Australia
When the wind didn’t blow and the sun didn’t show
He said im outa here fuck it
It’s another failure.
Nice one Lou!