REASONS UNREASONABLE

Margo Kingston pulled Webdiary from the Sydney Morning Herald for a number of reasons, not least of which, mateship:

When I stepped up the pressure on Fairfax to help me meet rising reader demand on Webdiary, FF asserted for the first time that it had the right to veto Webdiary columnists, and ordered the deletion of longstanding columnist Antony Loewenstein from Webdiary's archive. Several reasons were given, none of which stood up to scrutiny.

Maybe SMH management doesn't want to be associated with someone who writes stuff like this:

The San Francisco Chronicle has finally started publishing Sean Penn's reflections on Iran. He attended the country during the June elections. His short film is also worth a look and this great Reservoir Dogs style photo.

Hey, I can't write, but Loewenstein, who claims to be a writer, cranks out some real crap. (Is it just me or does it appear that Penn found his street walk – see linked photo, above – arousing?)

Update: Here's another of today's Loewenstein gems:

Latin America is generally ignored in our media unless the Bush administration threatens one of its overly independent nations.

Take this story about Argentinean medical staff. The government threats, use of the word "terrorist" to describe workers fighting for better pay and conditions and rapid privatisation all show that Australia could one day experience a massive backlash against the status quo.

They have been warned.

Huh?