THING ADMIRED

Wordsmith Antony Loewenstein:

[Jimmy] Carter has been saying the same thing for things and I admire him for it.

Surreptitious edit coming up. By the way, amongst other things claimed by Carter is that he is a "nuclear engineer".

DEAD DISRESPECTED

Animal lovers voice their disapproval of Japanese dolphin hunting by desecrating the graves of non-dolphin-hunting Japanese Australians. It's a lefty thing.

RACE NEWS

New questions concerning 800 metre world champion Caster Semenya:

Now reports indicate she was found to have levels of the male hormone testosterone three times higher than normally expected in a female sample.

Since this report concerns a black South African, ABC News is obviously racist. Over to you Damian Lataan...

KENNEDY DEAD

Edward Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate – and we all know how much lions hate water – is dead at 77.

AMATEUR IDIOT

Darryl Mason, who claims to be a "writer and editor", writes and edits this:

After reading through a list of all the pharmaceuticals Michael Jackson took before he died, only two words come to mind : drugpussy.

Hey Darryl, that would be one word. Then there's this example of sublime idiocy ... And while we're talking about lefties with delusions of creative grandeur, there's this.

HORNY?

It's a stainless steel tool, currently on sale for $128, reduced from $171. What is it? Answer here.

BOOK HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

First year university student Daniel spits the dummy Jeremy-style after unsuccessfully trying to find a copy of Fahrenheit 451:

Find it. I double dare you, I triple dare you to find this book at a bookshop.

This is a book you cannot find new within Australia at all. Why? Publishers don’t publish it anymore in Australia. Which is really strange because for a book about censorship it’s interesting how ironic it is that we don’t have it here in Australia.

There’s probably some ulterior motive politically based in the publishing business.

Rather than display the resourcefulness and adaptability for which university students are renowned (HAH!) young Daniel goes straight for a conspiracy theory to explain why he can't find one of the most widely available books in Australia. More confirmation that universities are lefty dumb-ass factories.

BUSY

Doing some work with a short deadline. Yippee!

SEX IN DOUBT

A committee will determine the sex of controversial record-breaking South African runner Caster Semenya:

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the "extremely complex, difficult" test has been started but that the results were not expected for weeks.

The verification test requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.

Why is a psychologist involved in determining someone's sex? What the hell is a "gender expert"?

NON-DISCUSSION DISCUSSION

As noted earlier, The World Science Podcast, a co-production of BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH, the other day ran an interview and discussion with entomologist May Berenbaum where she responded to questions concerning DDT and malaria. Now since I've written quite a few DDT posts, Tim Lambert admirer Ed Darrell dared me to get involved:

Got any guts? Why not go ask a question?

So I did:

It appears that you are not an authority on DDT, malaria and mosquitoes. Why then do you think PRI [Public Radio International] chose to interview you for a "reality check" on the need for, and dangers of, DDT, rather than someone with actual expertise in such matters, Donald Roberts, for example?

In his introduction the PRI interviewer says that environmental activists are worried that DDT use in Uganda will kill people. Are you aware of any human deaths directly attributable to DDT? How likely is DDT IRS to kill people or even make them ill, in your opinion?

Your 2005 Washington Post essay says that indoor DDT spraying led "to the evolution of resistance 40 years ago and will almost certainly lead to it again in many places unless resistance monitoring and management strategies are put into place." Please cite some of the many examples of DDT resistance, and elaborate on the magnitude of the problem of resistance, resulting from indoor spraying of DDT.

Can you think of anyone likely to influence malaria policy either at a national of international level who advocates DDT spraying for malaria to the exclusion of all other insecticides and methods (for example, bed-nets)?

On a separate but related topic, is it correct to regard yellow fever control strategies implemented in Panama associated with the construction of the canal as the first well-documentent example of integrated pest management?

My comment was not posted and the discussion is now -- four days later -- closed:

Thanks to all who commented on this complex and challenging issue. It’s amazing that, on the 70th anniversary of the discovery of its insecticidal properties in a laboratory in Switzerland, DDT continues to make headlines and create controversy. In closing, I’d just like to make the plea that parties on all sides of this issue remember to take advantage of seven decades of acquired knowledge about DDT’s strengths and weaknesses and make decisions based on data–not only with respect to DDT use in Africa for malaria but for pest management problems around the world.

The podcast of the Berenbaum interview is described by PRI as a DDT "reality check" when it's actually the same old leftist anti-DDT crap. No-boat-rocking-allowed. By the way, PRI has yet to answer an email asking if the comment would be posted.

Fact averse American educator Ed Darrell and I discuss the Berenbaum post here. Read it and marvel at a leftist DDT-hater's twisted thinking.

JEWS HARVESTING PALESTINIAN ORGANS?

Prominent Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has published outrageous claims that Israeli Defense Forces harvested the organs of dead Palestinians. Even the Swedish embassy in Israel is outraged by such nonsense:

The article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet is as shocking and appalling to us Swedes, as it is to Israeli citizens. We share the dismay expressed by Israeli government representatives, media and the Israeli public. This Embassy cannot but clearly distance itself from it.

Unbelievable, isn't it? Or maybe not:

But are the allegations true?

Uh, no.

BURN IT AND PAVE IT

Andrew Bolt wrote today about the importance of "fuel reduction burns" as a means of fire mitigation. Jeremy Sear's finely honed lawyer brain magically transforms "fuel reduction burns" into something all together different:

The only way to stop nature burning the state down is to do it ourselves first. And then cover the embers over with concrete in case something flammable grows back.

Controlled burns are a well established fire mitigation strategy with many benefits -- some Australian species actually require fire for propagation. City boy Jeremy wouldn't have a clue.

GAS PASSED

Global warming accelerates:

It's been predicted for years, and now it's happening. Deep in the Arctic Ocean, water warmed by climate change is forcing the release of methane from beneath the sea floor.

But at the end of the article a disclaimer:

Cohen cautions that the Arctic methane may not be from hydrate, but could be coming from the methane's primary source, which might be deep within the Earth.

If that was the case, the warming of the West Spitsbergen current may not be to blame.

Another theory presented as fact.

REALITY INCONVENIENT

In the Arab world wild conspiracy theories are more acceptable than the truth.

CRIME STOPPER

A shop-owner on his use of lethal force in resisting armed thugs: "I'd do it again if I had to."

The Pure Poison lefties are aghast, of course:

So the appropriate consequence of attempted armed robbery is execution? I don’t think you’ll find that flies in any Western justice system, matey.

The disadvantaged perpetrators simply needed some counseling.

By the way, a shop owner acting in self defense is not a "vigilante".

MEAT ADDICTIVE

If cocaine contaminated money doesn't kill you sandwiches will:

They might seem a harmless lunchtime filler but ham, salami and devon are on the World Cancer Research Fund's hit list.

The cancer charity says eating processed meat is linked to bowel cancer in adults and it is now calling on parents to teach healthy food habits early.

And like cocaine, ham can easily become a compulsion:

Nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton says processed meats can become addictive.

"If you are going to start looking at what you put on sandwiches, most people put about 35 grams or so on a sandwich," she said.

"So two ham sandwiches a week, if you didn't have any other processed meat, wouldn't be such a big problem.

"But if your kids or anyone else gets addicted to ham sandwiches every day they're going to go way over that by the end of the week."

Ham sandwich addicts would do well to eliminate the carcinogenic bread, lettuce and tomato.

SYMPATHY SOUGHT; REJECTED

Shane Kent, 32, has pleaded guilty to membership in a terrorist organisation. The ABC reports that Kent "does not believe he could survive many more years in jail" after three years on remand and is apparently depressed and suicidal.

At today's pre-sentence hearing his lawyer offered ignorance as a mitigating factor (in relation to Kent's role in preparing a promotional video) but the presiding judge was unmoved:

Kent's defence lawyers argued Kent made the graphics for the video's seven-minute introduction, and there was no evidence he knew how the film would turn out.

But Justice Bernard Bongiorno said that given the introductory references to blood and martyrdom, it would have been remarkable if the rest of the video was of sheep grazing in a paddock.

Hey, maybe it was the al Qaeda version of Bambi. Oh deer!

CULTURAL TRADITION REJECTED

Food variety is one of the great pluses of cultural diversity. Kiwi's are showing some reluctance to embrace imported pragmatism when it comes to menu planning, however:

The SPCA wants to educate certain communities that eating cats and dogs is unacceptable in New Zealand.

It follows a Tongan family cooking up their pet dog to eat, because they wanted to get rid of it.

SPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger says the eating of cats and dogs is also known to happen in Vietnamese and Chinese cultures.

"We want to talk to the Tongans, but also we need to be aware that there are other communities where that's culturally acceptable. So we need to actually educate them as well, that this is not our culture."

Better the dog was eaten than euthanised and discarded. Suggestions for anyone with a spare cat or two.

COMMISSIONER CONFUSED

Beth Wilson is Victoria's Health Services Commissioner.

She is a lawyer by training and has worked mainly in administrative law. Beth has had a long-standing interest in medico/legal and ethical issues.

She is keen to educate:

Beth regularly conducts seminars, lectures and classes for consumers, carers, health service providers and others.

She is currently pressing for traffic-light labeling of food -- red is bad, green is good, with amber somewhere in between. Why does highly educated Beth want nutrition labeling changed?

Labels, however, can be confusing by containing heaps of information that is incomprehensible to most of us.

The inmates have taken over the asylum.

PET MEAT

Man's best friend is on the menu across the Tasman:

A New Zealand man who cooked his pet dog in a backyard pit cannot be prosecuted, because it was killed humanely.

The puzzled owner, Paea Taufa, says dog is a delicacy in Tonga and he had knocked it unconscious with a blow to the head before slitting its throat.

Appropriately, the dog was a pitbull.

PRAYER GROUPS CLASH IN IMAGINATIONLAND

A bit of biffo in Gaza with Hamas taking on al Qaeda allied rival Jund Ansar Allah:

The confrontation was triggered when the leader of the group defied Gaza's Hamas rulers by declaring in a Friday prayer sermon that the territory was an Islamic emirate.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya was in deny-there's-a-problem-but-blame-Israel-anyway mode:

"No such groups exist on the ground in Gaza," he said at prayers in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. He blamed the "Israeli media for spreading this information with a view to turning the world against Gaza."

But just in case anyone's actually paying attention:

During his own Friday sermon, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, dismissed Mr Moussa's comments.

"These declarations [of an Islamic emirate] are aimed towards incitement against the Gaza Strip and an attempt at recruiting an international alliance against the Gaza Strip.

"And we warn those who are behind these Israeli Zionist declarations: the Gaza Strip only contains its people."

The imaginary clash with the nonexistent group produced real casualties:

Hamas police stormed a mosque in Gaza on Friday where radicals had declared an Islamist "emirate," sparking clashes that left 13 people dead and injured at least 100, emergency services said.

Shooting continued after dark, witnesses said, after clashes began in the afternoon following weekly prayers in the southern city of Rafah, which straddles the Egyptian border.

Among the dead was Mohammed al-Shamali, head of the Hamas military unit for southern Gaza, emergency services said, adding that bodies of some other victims could not be reached because of the intensity of the fighting.

Twenty of the wounded were said to be in serious condition as the confrontation developed into one of the most violent incidents in Gaza since Israel's 22-day onslaught on the impoverished enclave in December and January.

An Egyptian security official said a three-year-old boy was critically wounded by a bullet from the fighting across the border.

The assault that didn't happen also involved rocket propelled grenades and dynamite. Palestinians obviously have vivid imaginations.

CARS ALL UPSIDE

P. J. O'Rourke interviewed on Reason.tv:

We'd be Australia if it weren't for the car. No offense to Australia, it's a nice enough country, but it's too few people in too huge a space. It just never came together as a real nation.

No offense taken since he's talking about the crucial role of the automobile in America's development as an industrial power.

The video interview covers a range of topics: "bailouts, who ruined the U.S. auto industry, politicians' love affair with trains, how easy women made O'Rourke a youthful socialist and how getting a paycheck turned him into a libertarian."

LIKE SEX OFFENDERS, COAL MINERS ARE DEPRAVED

An unanticipated increase in UK coal production draws a predictably hyperbolic response from NASA climate scientist James Hansen:

[The] UK will be a joke. It is moral turpitude, depravity, to build more coal-fired power plants or open coal mines, knowing what we know now. ... The UK would not be in a position to ask anybody else to do anything.

This again points to the obvious question: if moving away from conventional energy sources is economically advantageous, why would any country need to be asked to make the move?

POISON QUESTIONS

The other day I linked to a Tim Lambert anti-DDT post linking to an interview with entomologist May Berenbaum featuring an online discussion. Lambert understudy Ed Darrell challenged me to become directly involved:

Got any guts? Why not go ask a question?

Taking the dare I lodged this for Berenbaum (edited to correct a spelling error):

It appears that you are not an authority on DDT, malaria and mosquitoes. Why then do you think PRI [Public Radio International] chose to interview you for a "reality check" on the need for, and dangers of, DDT, rather than someone with actual expertise in such matters, Donald Roberts, for example?

In his introduction the PRI interviewer says that environmental activists are worried that DDT use in Uganda will kill people. Are you aware of any human deaths directly attributable to DDT? How likely is DDT IRS to kill people or even make them ill, in your opinion?

Your 2005 Washington Post essay says that indoor DDT spraying led "to the evolution of resistance 40 years ago and will almost certainly lead to it again in many places unless resistance monitoring and management strategies are put into place." Please cite some of the many examples of DDT resistance, and elaborate on the magnitude of the problem of resistance, resulting from indoor spraying of DDT.

Can you think of anyone likely to influence malaria policy either at a national of international level who advocates DDT spraying for malaria to the exclusion of all other insecticides and methods (for example, bed-nets)?

On a separate but related topic, is it correct to regard yellow fever control strategies implemented in Panama associated with the construction of the canal as the first well-documentent example of integrated pest management?

My comment has been in moderation for over five hours. Will it be posted? Stay tuned.

Update: My comment still hasn't appeared almost 24 hours after posting. It could be that comments are moderated, like at the Prime Minister's blog, during business hours. Stay tuned.

GOLD DIGGERS

There's money in misery:

Since Hamas took control of Gaza two years ago, when they defeated Fatah (militarily, and at the ballot box), they have found out how to make money from misery. First, they had to turn Gaza into a police state. Then they took charge of the economy by controlling what goes through smuggling tunnels, and what people pay for it. While Hamas complains about the Israeli blockade, which is in place because Hamas refuses to stop demanding that Israel be destroyed, and bringing weapons (especially long range rockets) into Gaza to make that happen, they would go bankrupt if the blockade were lifted.

These smuggling operations are so lucrative that Hamas deems them legal enterprises, and charges a $2,500 fee for anyone who wants to build and operate a tunnel. In addition, armed Hamas revenue collectors stand at the Gaza entrance for each tunnel, demanding a payment for everything coming out of Egypt, or going there.

Jeez, you'd think canny Jews would figure out some way to profit from this rather than executing expensive tunnel-busting air strikes.


Referred by reader minicapt.

FEMINIST SMACKDOWN

Christina Hoff Sommers in the right corner vs Nancy K.D. Lemon in the left. Sommers wins.

HUNGER FED

Antony Loewenstein shares the pain of Gazans forced by Israel's blockade to go without food. After dinner it's time for sweets and a ride on the ferris wheel.

AMAZING TECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGY DEVISED

The BBC's Jonathan Beale reckons the Obamacare protests in the U.S. might be "manufactured 'astroturf'". Beale's proof: protesters are " filming the meetings and then posting video on the internet". Political videos on You Tube, how extraordinary.

ANTI-DDT CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

Computing teacher, Scienceblogs.com blogger and part-time ddt "expert" Tim Lambert:

May Berenbaum is an entomologist at UIUC and been correcting the Rachel-Carson-killed-millions hoax for a while now. Public Radio International has interviewed Berenbaum for a podcast on DDT and malaria. She is also answering questions on the forum there. Predictably Marjorie Mazel Hecht, editor of Larouche's 21st Century Science & Technology has shown up to push the line that all that you have to do is spray DDT to solve the malaria problem.

Berenbaum claims no DDT, mosquito or malaria expertise, however, and is nothing more than a well informed layman on these subjects:

Berenbaum is interested in the chemical interactions between herbivorous insects and their hostplants, and the implications of such interactions on the organization of natural communities and the evolution of species. Her particular research interests focus on the secondary chemistry of the Umbelliferae (=Apiaceae) and the insect associates of these herbaceous plants.

Berenbaum's only significant writing on DDT's use in the fight against malaria is a 2005 Washington Post essay containing this clanger:

Spraying DDT on the interior walls of houses -- the form of chemical use advocated as the solution to Africa's malaria problem -- led to the evolution of resistance 40 years ago and will almost certainly lead to it again in many places unless resistance monitoring and management strategies are put into place.

Over time insects develop resistance to all insecticides; where did DDT resistance develop as a result of indoor spraying and how big is the problem? Entomologist Berenbaum for some reason does not address these all important issues.

A tip for the uninitiated: Tim Lambert is not an accurate source of information on DDT and malaria.

HISTORY SANITIZED

Scott Bridges spent "literally thousands of hours... building, maintaining, moderating and writing" GrodsCorp but now won't even mention the site by name referring to it obliquely as a "certain website featuring an orange-and-blue theme and a pretzel mascot", and isn't about to link to it. But then there's really no point in linking since the entire Grods archive has been deleted. Why is Bridges so keen to distance himself from his blogging history?

Update: In deleting Grods Bridges has deprived the world of some really great writing -- trust me -- including this "Stone.Cold.Classic.". There is one good thing about Grods demise, however: Grodster Bridgit Gread has taken the opportunity to disappear.

Update II: Bridgit Gread emerges from obscurity to inform us that the "Grods archive is not 'deleted'; it is just not publicly viewable." Perhaps she'll tell us why Grods' outstanding five-plus-year-history is no longer "publicly viewable".

ITALIAN JOB

The ultrarich should probably leave their valuables at home, or in Fort Knox, while traveling:

Burglars have made off with jewels and cash worth 11 million euros ($18.7 million) from the hotel room of a Saudi princess in Sardinia, Italian newspapers have reported, sparking a diplomatic incident.

According to the daily La Repubblica..."A military official from the Saudi embassy arrived in Sardinia and the Italian secret services and diplomats from both countries have been involved."

If there's a war I am, against my better judgment, betting on the Italians. By the way, if Italy's most recent big foreign adventure is any guide the Saudis might want to invest in some gas masks.

GO ON STICK YOUR HAND IN THERE, I DARE YOU

The raging obesity epidemic has created a problem for police who now have all sorts of secret spots needing to be inspected:

An obese prisoner in Harris County, Texas, has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm after he was discovered to be hiding a 9mm pistol in between his rolls of fat, local media reported.

A police spokesman told the Chronicle that Vera was searched three times over the course of his arrest and booking at the jail but managed to conceal the handgun with his rolls of fat until it was discovered in the shower.

I reckon get a small crane to turn them upside down and shake them.

ONCE SILENCED JEW AGAIN INTERVIEWED

Antony Loewenstein was recently interviewed on ABC radio's Late Night Live. The first poke at Israel isn't from Loewenstein, however, with host Phillip Adams in the intro erroneously describing Gaza as "the most populated strip of land in the world" where 400,000 are homeless as a result of Israel's invasion (Mahmoud Abbas says 90,000). Adams goes on to describe his guest as "forceful" and "courageous". I managed to listen to Loewenstein for maybe two minutes before hitting stop. If you can force yourself to listen to the whole thing -- it's Sunday so you really have nothing better to do -- please let me know if he says anything even close to worth hearing.

OUTRAGE MISPLACED

Jeremy Sear, a straight white middle-class boy who enjoys computer games, loves cats and is fussy about sweets, continues his brave campaign on behalf of gay people who want to get married and are "sick of being seen and treated as second-class citizens":

Nor is it just homosexuals who are “outraged” by the injustice…

And it’s a pity that the present Prime Minister continues to side with these cretins and their indefensibly weak “arguments” for bigotry, condemning gays and lesbians to a few more years of unnecessary suffering until the pointless, stupid discrimination ends…. idiotic… cruel… appalling…

With so much suffering and cruelty happening, you’d expect gays to be even more outraged about this than their self-appointed saviour. But no. Here’s Jane Black in last week’s Age:

I did the rounds of my gay friends to see who would come with me to the gay marriage march on Saturday. One was working, another hungover, another playing tennis, and my last resort was at the movies.

According to Jeremy, gay marriage is “the most important civil rights fight of our generation.” But actual gays would rather play tennis. Beats hanging out with boring straight guys.

SENTENCES TOO SHORT?

Pure Poison's resident legal expert Jeremy Sear:

You’re aware by now that I take particular issue with News Ltd’s relentlessly dishonest and misleading campaign on criminal sentencing, which it furthers by constantly exaggerating, underplaying and omitting crucial facts in the cases it covers - because the result of it is that its readers have demonstrably false beliefs on the subject, and consequently, insofar as certain easily swayed politicians and lawmakers are influenced by the imagined desires of the ignorant, and impose those on real people, actual injustice results.

In short, Jeremy thinks the courts are not soft on crime, with appropriate sentences awarded. Not everyone agrees:

A Long-serving solicitor from the Office of Public Prosecutions has condemned the widespread abuse of the plea bargaining system, warning that defendants accused of violent crimes are negotiating their way out of more serious charges without appropriate consultation with victims.

His claims are backed by the NSW Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, whose spokesman said: ''Concerns about communication between the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and victims is an issue which has been raised with the Attorney-General on a number of occasions''.

~

Mr Hatzistergos is so concerned about the issue that in January last year he commissioned another review by the Sentencing Council. Its report is due this month.

''For the public and police to have confidence in the justice system it is important to see offenders being held accountable for their crimes and that any discounts have a legitimate public purpose'' he said.

Will Jeremy acknowledge these official doubts about sentencing? Not likely.

FAIR FIGHT

Larvatus Prodeo's visiting military specialist has nothing but praise for the latest batch of accused terror plotters:

I think it is very high-minded of the would-be terrorists to go for army barracks instead of train-stations in peak hour. Perhaps they read about Durruti? I mean if you imagine yourself as at-war with Australia as a jihad soldier you’d take on the armed forces not the civilian population. That shows a level of senitivity a shade above Churchill, Bomber Harris and Curtis Le May, not to mention US Air Force target planners for the Plain of Jars, Laos, 1967, or even staff officers in charge of the Australian SAS in Afghanistan. So, no credit given where credit is due.

~

Second, the Melbourne group planned to attack Holsworthy Barracks which is home to 17 Signals Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), 2nd Commando Regiment (2 Cdo Regt), 171st Aviation Squadron olus some dentists in the 1st Health Support Battalion. Worthy adversaries, except the dentists. Warrior on warrior, right?

The plan wasn’t to bomb it with mortars or rockets, which the IRA or the Palestinian insurgents would have done but to rush in through the gates in a suicide attack spraying the enemy with automatic weapons.

Unlike Martin Bryant in Tasmania, who stalked and murdered unarmed civilians, the jihadis would eventually be overwhelmed by trained soldiers bearing arms. They would probably have the element of surprise which would allow them to kill some people, but one guesses that their spree would be cut short fairly quickly.

And nothing good to say about Australian forces:

Perhaps the real plan was to get publicity in the media to draw attention to themselves and the plight of innocent civilians being killed in Afghanistan by the SAS but the information about this is sanitised by defence spin doctoring.

The “terrorist attack” thus starts to make more sense.

Very sporting chaps, indeed. I'm mean, it's not like an attack on an army base guarded by unarmed security guards, where all weaponry is kept in a locked armoury, would produce significant casualties, now is it?

HAVING ACTUALLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT...

Jeremy yesterday:

As for News Ltd - let's hope there are some consequences
for that outrageous breach of privacy.

And Jeremy today:

As for News Ltd - let’s hope there are some consequences
for what appears on first glance to be an outrageous breach of privacy.

That the post has been edited is, of course, not noted. More championship skullduggery from Pure Poison's team of intellectual dishonesty debunkers. Crikey should be proud.

Update: Jeremy advises of the edit, sort of:

NOTE: A minor amendment to the post was made to reflect the update.

Readers aren't told what was changed so they won't realise Jeremy didn't do his research and was wrong in unequivocally saying an "outrageous breach of privacy" had occurred. So here again Jeremy perpetrates the intellectual dishonesty he claims to deplore.

PERSONAL TROLL

A few of the bogus comments lodged this evening by a very determined nuisance:


Amongst which is this very clever effort:

I hear you were in the US Navy?
Did they ever ass fuck you in a hammock Beck????

The Grodsters have found a new place to play, apparently.


Note: The comments above are not from the real Iain Hall.

TWITTERING TWAT

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

LAWYER CONFUSED

PP boy Jeremy in a post titled "Remember when journalists gave subjects an opportunity to respond to allegations before publication?":

I may have learned some bad habits from the example set by the previous “journalists” we were watching. Also, it hadn’t clicked that, unlike when I was just some guy with a blog, I can now actually ring the subject of a piece and say “it’s Jeremy from Crikey” and they’ll answer the phone.

Anyway - I’ll ring next time.

Unfortunately for Jeremy he couldn't be bothered doing any research before posting this:

Kyle Sandilands may have been one of the most repulsively cruel broadcasters in recent memory, but that doesn’t justify News Ltd tracking down and publishing the private financial arrangements between him and his banks. This is indefensible, and whoever leaked that material may be in a great deal of trouble under the Privacy Act...

When Jeremy's unsubstantiated breach of privacy allegation is challenged he goes all defensive:

That’s an interesting point, and of course I have no idea if Sandilands did purchase those things through his company rather than personally.

Perhaps he should, as he promised he would, check things out before he posts. Nah, that requires way too much effort -- it's much easier to remain clueless.

Update: Jeremy refuses to accept responsibility for incorrectly terming Sandilands' former sponsors "Quislings":

Who knew Quisling was actually the name of a real person?

(Resolves to throw away the Paul Keating insult dictionary.)

Yep, it's totally unreasonsable to expect a professional political blogger to know obscure stuff like that.

Update II: Online vigilante Jeremy publishes the personal details of a parking officer -- a “miserable bastard”, a “vindictive twerp”, a “petty tyrant”, a “prick” and an “arsehole” -- who was just doing his job.

HATING WOMEN IS WHAT MEN DO

Man-hater tigtog fully understands the pressures that drove George Sodini to open fire on a exercise class full of women:

There’s been some feminist commentary on tumblr as people react, and there’s been some kickback. Pandorasmittens quotes three tumblrers who talk about how the shooter’s feelings of sexual entitlement are normalised for men in our society, so that it’s hardly surprising when the occasional bloke reacts with deadly violence to women not giving him what he wants – all his life he’s felt safe expressing the opinion that women owe men attention and companionship just because that’s what women are for, so that it’s obvious to him that if he is not getting attention and companionship from women it’s because the women are defective and broken, and defective and broken things should be trashed. It is noted that already news stories are focussing on his isolation and loneliness because that’s relatable and sympathetic, instead of examining how he ended up hating women enough to cold-bloodedly kill them. “Because, in the end, it is easier to hate and blame women than to hate and blame yourself.”

Thus Sodini, as a product of sick women-hating western society, is absolved of responsibility for his horrific shooting spree. In reality it's just as likely he was just another violent gym devotee.

VIDEO DEMOLISHED

Antony Loewenstein links to a very iffy You Tube video:

A revealing video from April featuring children cleaning up rubble after a house demolition in the Old City of East Jerusalem when their home was destroyed by Israeli military. If the rubble is not cleaned up the family will be charged $600 a day along with paying for the house demolition itself.

The synopsis is taken directly from the video and is obviously wrong, with an unidentified woman saying a fine of 600 shekels is payable if the rubble isn't cleared. The supposedly demolished house is not shown. Also, marvel at the industrious Palestinian children moving the rubble away and then bringing it back. More anti-Israel crap from Loewenstein.

Update: The errant $ before "600 shekels" has been removed.

TERRORISM PLOT UNDERSTANDABLE

Antony Loewenstein quotes academic Scott Burchill:

Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, one of the men charged this week [in Australia] with preparing a terrorist act, told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday he was not a terrorist and accused Australian troops of killing innocent people overseas. “You call me a terrorist but I’ve never killed anyone in my life,” Fattal told magistrate Peter Reardon. “You send troops to Iraq to kill innocent people.”

He’s right, in part. Australian troops do not intentionally kill innocent people, but the result is almost exactly the same. So are the effects. The CIA calls it “blowback” – the unintended consequences of our interventions in other peoples’ countries. Until Australians understand how our military’s behaviour, previously in Iraq (eg Fallujah) and currently in Afghanistan, is perceived by others these threats will continue.

So it's understandable, and acceptable, that Australians who disapprove of overseas military operations are plotting military-style attacks here at home. Fattal and his mates aren't nascent terrorists foiled in the planning, they're budding freedom-fighters. Lefties will bend over backwards to justify violence perpetrated in a "good cause".

By the way, Australians weren't involved, at least not as far as I know, in military operations in Fallujah.

DETENTION CONDITIONS SLAMMED

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) is unhappy with conditions at the Guantanamo detention centre, where there were 30 suicide attempts in the first six months of 2009. It was also noted that prisoners are in a "worse mental condition now" probably owing to overuse of solitary confinement:

Significant periods of isolation induce disorientation in time, memory disturbance, and deterioration in communication skills, to name but three serious effects. Further, symptoms of anxiety disorder are commonly seen, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression develop, and there is agitation, self harm and a risk of suicide.

My mistake, those remarks actually refer to Sweden's prisons and remand centres.

LEADERSHIP REQUIRED

John Holdren, President Obama's science adviser, on the need for climate change leadership:

The industrialised nations need to get their acts together before they can expect the developing countries to come on board. We have historically produced a large part of the problem, although the numbers are shifting. Two things are obvious: the industrialised nations have an obligation to lead, and the developing countries have to join pretty soon, or we're going to be cooked.

If, as we are constantly told, reducing carbon emissions presents unparalleled economic opportunities, why aren't developing countries jumping on the bandwagon?

TATTOOED LADIES

The New South Wales entrants in the Miss Tattoo Australia competition. Work safe although some images could well cause eye damage.

HEADLINE INTERPRETED

What would you assume on reading the following headline?

Just $10 for a life

You'd think the story that followed is about someone being killed for or over $10, right? You couldn't be more "wrong", as barrister Jeremy Sear -- applying his finely tuned lawyer's brain-- explains:

That makes it sound like the punishment for this manslaughter was a $10 fine (the $10 was the amount the defendant offered his 15 year old mate to chase the victim), whereas the actual punishment was a two year Community Based Order with the maximum 500 hours of community work. (You can read the judgment to hear the Judge’s reasoning.)

All of that from a five-word headline that says nothing about fines or manslaughter.

The Herald Sun has now changed the headline so there can no doubt what the story's about:

Thug walks free after callous bet led to student's death

In any event, Jeremy opposes the incarceration of youthful offenders who are merely misguided and will likely be turned into "hardened criminals" by a stint in prison. Yep, prison turns good people into bad.

Update: Jeremy, true to form, refuses to admit he reads too much into the five-word headline.

Update II: Pure Poison reader WillB points out the obvious:

“Just $10 for a life” is an appropriate header for an article that describes how a bet for $10 cost a man his life.

Lawyer Jeremy denies the obvious:

OH come on. You know as well as I do that that is not the most obvious way of that headline being read, particularly if someone just glances at it.

Error admission isn't in Jeremy's repertoire.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

GRODS GONE

In a Spin Starts Here moment Scott Bridges has shut down GrodsCorp and deleted -- some would say flushed -- its entire archive. In a eulogy of sorts Chuck A. Spear laments the passing of a left-wing institution, hinting that GrodsCorp succumbed to unspecified right-wing pressure -- Bridges says he shut down the site owing to travel commitments, in 2010. No mention of the purged archive, however. Regardless, I'm confident Jeremy and Keri can step up to fill the humour void.

JOHN WALKER LINDH: A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES

An American Taliban fighter is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Give me a break. By the way, Steve Earl should quietly fade away.

IN THE ZONE (REPOST)

A transcendental performance by Alvin Lee and Ten Years After at Woodstock. This high quality version is watchable full screen. Unfortunately, the watermelon roll at the very end is omitted.

Link fixed, again, maybe.

PRIORITIES SORTED

The other day I wrote a short post on high profile anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott's attempts to frighten Australians into abandoning uranium mining. Grodster Bridgit Gread dropped in to accuse me of nitpicking. In the discussion that followed it emerged that Gread knows little about Caldicott or her activities and isn't interested in finding out more. I was surprised that Gread took so little interest in Caldicott's role in the ongoing uranium mining debate, a matter of some significance.

On the other hand, Gread has both the time and inclination to investigate and discuss cabbie John Sunol. She thinks right-wingers derelict in not helping her expose a man who she regards as "stupid to the point of possibly having some kind of disability":

You’d expect Sunol’s loopy behaviour to invite condemnation from bloggers on both sides of the spectrum and his own colleagues in the taxi industry. Not so. According to JF Beck, Sunol is just “outspoken”, while fellow cabbie Adrian Neylan describes him as “fearless, artless” and “hapless”.

Thanks for the prompt Bridgit but the Grods crew needs no help from me in the paramount task of exposing and attacking Sunol's views on "poofters" and the like. In any event, the Grodsters have poofter issues of their own:


It's really weird how lefties so often dish out what they obviously see as gay insults.

By the way, this post follows on from an earlier effort in the same vein -- Gread has lots to say in comments.

THE RIGHTS OF ONE VS THE RIGHTS OF MANY

A man in the street comments on the death in police custody of a Nigerian Islamic radical:

I want to see the body of Mohammed Yusuf to know the man who has caused us so much pain and hardship. May his soul rot in hell.

Nigerian officials claim Yusuf, whose body was apparently riddled with bullets, was killed trying to escape. Rights groups aren't buying this explanation but the government, at this point at least, doesn't seem to care:

Nigerian information minister Dora Akunyili told BBC World television: "How he died is a big issue... because Nigeria believes in the rule of law, Nigeria believes that fundamental human rights should be respected. But what is more important is stopping the killing from spreading to other northern states."

Maybe police should have tried "we were cleaning our guns and they just went off..."