McRubber

Here's a story that is guaranteed to get plenty of coverage.

A father of a two-year-old girl says he was "absolutely disgusted" to find his child chewing on a used condom she picked up in a McDonald's playground.

A spokeswoman for McDonald's said the company is investigating the incident at the fast-food chain's Geraldton outlet in Western Australia's mid-west.

The father was eating lunch at the restaurant on Saturday when his infant daughter came out of the playground with a used condom in her mouth.

Whilst it's possible some kids simply had a shag in the playground (practicing safe sex too I might add) it would be extremely easy for someone to embarrass a company like McDonalds in this manner. Readers may also recall the 'Ice Cream incident' at the Coogee Bay Hotel where a chocolate ice-cream contained some other brown material. Inserting something into the food at McDonalds would be a lot harder.

I think we're going to see a lot more of this type of thing by idiot protesters. There are plenty of them (click the link entitled 'capitalism' to see what upset them about Maccas).

Update: Yep. It was a prank. McDonalds are being terribly nice about it, taking no action against those responsible. And still, comments on the news page smell a conspiracy:

Is anyone else highly suspicious of this supposed development? Why would girls come forward. The cynic in me says this is something McDonalds dreamt up to deflect blame from themselves and their badly cleaned playground!

The problem with compulsory voting, is that braindead morons get to have a say in who runs this country.

Sheiker Fries

The Daily Telegraph reports:

It was a bloody brawl allegedly sparked by a hamburger with bacon.

Now 32 witnesses will be called to give evidence at a hearing about how an incorrect order allegedly led to a violent assault on two police officers at a western Sydney McDonald's in April.

Mouhamad Khaled, 23, his 20-year-old girlfriend Daphne Florence Austin and his father Walid Khaled, 53, have been charged over the brawl at the Bankstown fast food outlet.

Sounds like Mouhamad had a good role model.

By total coincidence I was in McDonalds Bankstown earlier this week. I noticed that the menu signboard included very large stickers warning "contains bacon" over some of the burgers. This was either as a convenience to local Muslim customers, or as part of McDonald's risk management.

After the KFC Jihad incident, I for one am looking forward to the Youtube remixes of this latest Jihad du Jour.

Cereal Killer

In today's Age:

Manners on move

IT IS nice to see people observing good etiquette while eating. The young lady bringing the plate to her chest and supping her cereal with a spoon was a case worth observing. The problem was she was driving, on Sunday morning, along Ferntree Gully Road. Now I have seen everything.

Norman Miller, The Basin

Well. At least she wasn't speeding! So there's no problem.

Fetch Capitalism

The 2004 movie Mean Girls had a cute scene showing one of the 'trendy' girls trying desperately to have others start using the word 'fetch' as an adjective.


Despite some assistance from www.makingfetchhappen.com, fetch is not going to happen.

Since hearing the term "Disaster Capitalism" by fellow leftard Naomi Klein, Antony Loewenstein has been trying for some time to have "Diasaster Capitalism" happen. According to his ever-expanding bio, he's writing a book about it (and at least three other books also).

He is currently working on a book about disaster capitalism and privatisation in Australia, the Asia-Pacific, the “war on terror” and beyond, a book about the role of the Left in modern politics and a title on the Israel/Palestine conflict.

My Serco Question is another bestseller for sure. Well, as long as the publishers don't reject it, again forcing Antony to beg for donations to pay his electricity bill.

Antony's last (ahem) bestseller, the "Blogging Revolution" was revised. According to Antony:

Now, post the Arab uprisings, I’ve updated the title

Arabs being shot in the street will be pleased to know that according to Middle East Expert and regular contributor to the ABC and Fairfax, the Arab uprisings are over.

Why is The Australian Apologising?

An apology appears in the Weekend Australian:

AN article published in The Weekend Australian on August 20 (" 'Anti-Israel bullies' hard centre bites in chocolate shop campaign", page 13) reported an anti-Israeli protest march on Israeli-owned Max Brenner chocolate shops.

The article reported comment from a number of people opposed to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the continuing occupation by Israel of the West Bank and Gaza and that some of the BDS had descended into racist generalisations.

The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (SA) has noted that Israeli companies operating in Australia are being targeted, not Jewish companies. They have no criticism of the many shops operating in Australia which happen to be owned by persons of the Jewish faith. As noted in the article: "We stress that the BDS movement is an anti-racist movement that rejects all forms of racism including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia . . . They do not target any particular religious or ethnic group."

The Weekend Australian did not refer to nor intend any suggestion of racism or anti-Semitism on the part of the Australian Friends of Palestine Association (SA).

It is a complete lie to suggest that "Israeli companies operating in Australia are being targeted, not Jewish companies".

This blog has already reported on Australians for Palestine's attempt at boycotting Westfield, an Australian business, because of it's Jewish owner.

The Australian has nothing to apologise for. The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (a different mob) feature on their home page a blatant lie accusing Israel of perpetuating genocide and a "Holocaust" against the Palestinians. That is, a holocaust with Five-star hotels and a genocide where the population is growing exponentially... Still, they're only lies about Jews, right?

2GB's Ben Fordham can see right through these liars, having done a sterling expose on professional protester and Jew-hater, Brian Concannon. Audio here, well worth listening to.

Lefties offensive

Anti-development Lefties go on the offensive:

West Australian Aboriginal MP Carol Martin says she'll sue the people who put out newsletters labelling her a "coconut"', saying the racial slur was the worst ever directed at her.

Newsletters have been circulated in Broome vilifying Aboriginal traditional landowners who support Woodside Petroleum's $30 billion liquefied natural gas hub.

The newsletters label Aboriginal leaders as "toxic coconuts'' and "Woodside's money hungry coconuts'', naming Kimberley Land Council chief executive Nolan Hunter, former chief Wayne Bergmann and Ms Martin.

Ms Martin, who represents the Kimberley region in state parliament, said she knew the people behind the campaign and intended to take legal action.

And so it is that the "worst" slurs ever directed at an Aboriginal woman come from the Left.

Research too hard

Crikey's News Ltd obsessed media analyst (and legal eagle) Jeremy Sear claims the Murdoch press has ignored the execution in the U.S. of convicted murderer Troy Davis, with Fairfax and the ABC providing much better coverage.

Jeremy's whining is, typically, much ado about nothing, quick searches revealing the following Troy Davis execution results: ABC News, 129 hits; News.com.au, 579 hits; the Sydney Morning Herald, 5,900 hits; and The Australian, 9,460 hits.

Jeremy is oddly research averse for a lawyer, this slackness perhaps accounting for his relegation to the Pure Poison media "analysis" backwater.

Lefties stingy

PP Boyz Jeremy Sear and Dave Gaukroger appeal for help with the audio component of their Crikey rubbish:

Unfortunately we aren’t able to offer you anything beyond recognition and the love of our listeners, as the podcast doesn’t generate any revenue at the moment ...

Note how the plea neatly separates the podcast from the rest of the PP Boyz' Crikey work, for which both are paid – by a for-profit media company run by a millionaire. Yet the Boyz want some sucker to just donate time and expertise for exactly nothing.

The podcast may not generate revenue, but Pure Poison sure does. Perhaps Jeremy and Dave don't want to share. No wonder they didn't open comments on that post.

Update Multi-media phenomenon Antony Loewenstein – journalist, blogger, photographer, documentary-maker and best-selling journalist – begs for cash:

Finally, and I should be saying this more often, any financial assistance you can provide will be much appreciated. The donation button is at the bottom of the website. If you like my work and analysis. If you want to support the importance of independent media. If you like the thought that in the next year I’ll be visiting some fascinating and unique places in Australia and overseas for original reporting.

So, if you want to help finance the Ant's travels and his prodigious output of near gibberish no-one reads, be sure to donate.

Update II [Dan]: If Antony's career as an 'independent journalist' doesn't pay the rent, he can always fall back on a promising career as a comedian. After Chris Berg made a comment about socialism, here is Antony Loewenstein tweeting him:

You love national socialism, right? @chrisberg

Chris Berg:

Huh?

Loewenstein:

@chrisberg t'was a joke...

Get it? Loewenstein called Berg a Nazi. Hilarious! Real thigh-slapping stuff.

Even the hackiest Jewish comedian would instead be asking how a guy with a surname like "Berg" could possibly have a first name like Chris. Loewenstein is no Jerry Seinfeld...

The only joke is that Loewenstein appears regularly in the ABC and Fairfax media. Perhaps Chris Berg, a columnist for both the Sunday Age and the ABC Drum might care to discuss this with his management and get back to us.

Something different

Crikey media analyst Jeremy Sear deviates from the norm with today's post on a Sydney Morning Herald piece by Gerard Henderson. What makes Sear's post different is that it's not about News Ltd: all of the Pure Poison "analysis" and "elsewhere" posts by both Jeremy and sidekick Dave Gaukroger going all the way back to 9 September are News Ltd related.

That's ten days of anti-News sniping from media "analysts" whose stated mission is to "expose the intellectual dishonesty, the flimsy arguments and the distorted data wherever they appear in the mainstream media." Pure Poison's predominantly Left-wing commenters are, being equally News-obsessed, delighted, of course.

Dutch Sicker than Americans

Q and A last night was discussing euthanasia. (video and transcript here).

A quadriplegic man raised his concern (33m55s) that "We don't want to go down the track as, in fact, has happened, I believe, in America, where a 25 year old woman who was a ballerina got arthritis in her toes and went to a doctor and asked to be euthanised, killed, and she was."

He concluded, "To me that's a symptom of what I would call a sick society" and "there is something wrong with that society".

There is also something wrong with his story. If the story is as reported, it didn't happen in America. It happened in Holland.

Molls ain't Molls

Grant Thompson is the extras casting coordinator for Underbelly: Razor, a semi-biographical crime mini-series set in Sydney during the 1920s.

In this interview, he explains how difficult it was to cast authentic looking women to play 1920s prostitutes.

Besides good looks, the basic requirements were:

• No fake breasts
• No fake tan
• No tattoos
• Hair a single colour

Apparently the pool from which to select young aspiring actresses was very small.

In other words, prostitutes who worked for Tilly Devine in the 1920s looked classier than 'ordinary' girls in 2011.

More Ads

The technology in this product placement system is impressive.

Of course television executives will abuse it making free-to-air television even harder to watch. Channel Seven are already on board.

I do look forward to seeing how they manage to associate some brands with certain on-screen events.



Taronga Zoo perhaps?

Zionists get to First Base

Sexually frustrated bestselling author Antony Loewenstein reports:

When friends are limited, Zionists make out with Christian Right

First, some casual making out. Before long... Third base.

Somebody find this guy a girlfriend. Please.

In Antony's latest book review (the peak of his journalism career at Fairfax) he complains of the Sri Lankan civil war:

It was one of the worst massacres of the 21st century but remained largely a secret war, with journalists, human-rights workers and independent observers refused entry to the conflict zone.

The UN Human Rights Council issued only one resolution on Sri Lanka but a dozen against Israel’s war in Gaza a few months before.

It's a shame when certain groups and individuals are obsessed with demonising the Jewish state.

Polite Tip

At least the waitress didn't piss in their Coke.

Another Clover Moore Achievement

Remember the Bourke St Cycleway?

The one that would cause the area to become "a Parisian-style boulevard lined with cafes and grand homes"?

Yes, well.

Locals were curious to see closed the Remy & Lees "Bicycle Cafe" on the Bourke Street cycleway

The café was at 547 Bourke St Surry Hills (off Phelps St)

The recipient of huge free publicity and locals assume a small business grant or two from Clover Moore MP Lord Mayor, has gone to the wall.

The spin says ‘lease was up’ it's another way of saying they went broke!

Speaking of spin, check out pro bike-lane comments on that article.

And let's completely ignore the number of businesses along the Bourke St Cycleway which are prospering as a result of the increased bike traffic e.g. Deus Cycleworks, Tokyo Bike,

Perhaps if Clover Moore encouraged horses and carriages, there would be an overnight boom in farriers and blacksmiths. How about it Clover?

Helping Those Less Fortunate...

Gavin Atkins is doing his bit for Senegalese Refugees.

It would bring a tear to Marilyn Shepherd's eye.

New Topics About Which he knows Nothing

It's not just Israel about which Antony Loewenstein is clueless.

Your tax dollars paid for The ABC's Drum to feature Antony, talking for a change about something other than eeeevil Israel.

Finally, the announcement of a media inquiry is welcome but it appears the main issue will be absent; an investigation into ownership and power of the moguls. It’s unsurprising that the Labor government is scared to seriously tackle the Murdoch thugocracy in Australia – why should one family control 70% of our print media?

One family doesn't control 70% of our print media.

Media expert Loewenstein appears to have confused daily newspapers, with the broader print media.

I would welcome an inquiry into why Australian taxpayer money funds programming that includes clueless idiots with a long history of incompetence and dishonesty.

For what it's worth, Antony is in esteemed company having made the same error about Rupert Murdoch's media ownership, that Bob Brown did. See also: Blair's Law.

Loewenstein Sucks

Classy headline from The Ant:

Another day and all we hear are conservative voices fellating Israel

Oh Aus­tralia, you are a parochial place.

How does a voice fellate a country?

Antony has previously reported that there are:

Free Trips to Fellate Israel

And according to Antony, New York Times journalists "Fellate Israel". While elsewhere, embedded journalists "diligently fellate the military". How Loewenstein, deeply embedded in his bedroom would know that is anybody's guess.

Previously Antony has commented on Murdoch and :

Jay Rosen on a bloated corporate culture that indulges and fellates power.

Apparently anything can be fellated. Well, almost anything. Poor Antony must be terribly frustrated since getting dumped.

Psychotic overreaction

One of Australia's finest legal minds on the West's reaction to the September 11 attacks:

We elevated their crime to super villain status, and took away civil liberties from our own citizens on a scale the psychotic idiots could scarcely have hoped for.

Yep, the compulsory ID cards and endless document checks are a huge pain in the arse.

Emerging economies to save Europe?

An interesting prospect if true:

In a stunning reversal of fortune, it has emerged that the so-called Brics nations, the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - who almost alone in the global economy have weathered the financial crisis sitting atop huge international reserves - are planning to come to Europe's aid.

Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega on Tuesday said that the Brics states are to hold a meeting on 22 September to discuss co-ordination of an EU rescue plan.

"We will meet next week in Washington to decide how to help the European Union to get out of this situation," he said.

The nations are considering substantially boosting their holdings of euro-denominated bonds in their foreign exchange reserves.

But can Europe be saved and is it worth saving?

Media Control

So here's how it works.

Small time blogger notes that the Prime Minister follows a less than savoury Twitter account - @BoltIsACunt.

Andrew Bolt mentions on his blog.

Prime Minister's office does nothing. Asleep at the wheel again.

Then, Menzies House notices something interesting about ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Twitter account. Bolt mentions on his radio program that the (current) Prime Minister's choice of Twitter accounts is on the nose.

Minutes later, @BoltIsACunt has one less follower...

Glad to be of service, Prime Minister.

Update: The offensive Twitter account is still being followed by a Crikey correspondent and editor of ABC's The Dumb Drum, Jonathan Green. Curiously, when Twitter suggests accounts "similar to @BoltIsACunt", NSW Greens member Adam Butler's Twitter feed features prominently.

The Age spits on America

This letter was given prominence at the top of today's Melbourne Age.

Time to reflect on decadence of US

BLANKET media coverage of ceremonies to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, creates the impression that lives in the US are of far greater value than lives in the rest of the world, particularly in poor countries.

Fewer than 3000 people died and some "collateral" damage occurred to New York and Washington. In contrast, more than 300 times that number have died in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as a direct result of the response to the terrorist attack.

No serious self-examination has occurred in the US to determine why the terrorists desired to hurt them in such a spectacular fashion.

About 8.5 million people die every year from starvation due to poverty. Where are the ceremonies to mourn their loss? Americans have enjoyed the life of a spoilt adolescent with their only care being retaining their lifestyle. Reflection upon their decadence might be a good starting point. The result might be some action towards a more humanitarian strategy as a means to counter terrorism and make the world safer for all of us.

Frederick Gower, Drysdale

What a petulant attack on the US.

Accusing the US of being like a "a spoilt adolescent with their only care being retaining their lifestyle" ignores the amount of aid and assistance offered by the US to countries who in some cases return the favour by harbouring those calling for "Death to America". Such a deal! How's that "humanitarian strategy as a means to counter terrorism" working out?

While Americans go without jobs, they might ask why their government gives billions away to other countries which perhaps should be left to rot. Of course Americans generally don't ask such questions.

Consider the volume of American Aid given to the Arab world alone, while Arab dictators buy themselves palaces and helicopters instead.

Like a teenager who lives in their parents house and eats their food while shouting "I hate you", the fact is despite all the criticism heaped on the US, the world would be a disaster without American foreign aid.

The UN would shut up shop overnight (probably a good thing mind you) and Islamists would suddenly find their Jihad a whole lot easier. No. God Bless America, even though some people, especially in peacetime are completely ungrateful cynics.

As for Gower's claim that "No serious self-examination has occurred in the US to determine why the terrorists desired to hurt them in such a spectacular fashion." he's apparently upset that nobody in America has concluded "this is all our fault, we totally had it coming, we absolutely deserved this".

The reality of America's attitude was summed up neatly by Colin Powell.

At this stage it would be redundant to say The Age has hit rock-bottom.

Everything you need to know about BDS in their own words.

Antony Loewenstein is organising a "Focus Group" to discuss why the BDS movement might not be viewed kindly by parliamentarians and the media.

One idea likely not to be discussed, is that the BDS movement is antisemitic and violent. Sure, they will insist that they are only anti-Israel (even though calling for boycotts of Jewish businesses) but take a look at them lest there be any remaining doubt.

(Thanks to Daphne for the video and report)



Quote: "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free".
That refers to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean sea. That is, the entire Jewish state. Forget two peoples living side-by-side in peace. No, they want the area free of Jews. Like Hamas.

Quote: "Max Brenner, get off it, there's blood in your chocolate".
A chocolatey variation of the ancient Blood Libel against Jews.

Glorification of Jihadist violence too: "Israel out of Palestine or meet the Intifada"(albeit unlikely to be an Intifada led by smelly Socialist Alternative members).

Amazingly, these people who cheer the murder of Jews have the gall to accuse their opponents of being "Neo-Nazis" in the video's title. The only placard missing from their demonstration was "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1939".

Interestingly, the video shows one person wearing a T-shirt from the Australian Protectionist Party. One. Yet Loewenstein has run with this, deriding the Jewish Community as being in bed with fascist organisations.

Does Zionist lobby feel comfortable with fascists [plural -ed] marching alongside them for Israel? [they were standing still, actually -ed]

It would seem so, as I’ve read no con­dem­na­tion by the lobby of the far-right sup­port­ing Max Bren­ner at a protest in Syd­ney and Mel­bourne over the week­end. Being “pro-Is­rael” clearly trumps de­cency, strate­gic depth or human rights:

The Jewish Community has a pretty good record for opposing fascism. What it is they are supposed to "condemn" on this occasion is unclear. I doubt they sent a limo to pick the fellow up. For what it's worth he seemed a lot better behaved than the people across the road spitting "Fucking Jew" at Daphne's correspondent. Which side of the road do you think the Police preferred being on?

Naturally Loewenstein has never expressed concern about huge numbers of Hamas and Hezbollah supporters turning up at protests which he has addressed. Again and again to the point where Arab and Green-Left protest organisers now specifically engage crowd marshals to pull down swastikas and similar signs.

From the OzLeft website after a previous anti-Israel march:

The organisers of the Sydney march were at some pains to insist that the march confine itself to attacks on the state terror of the Israeli war machine and avoid anti-Semitic attacks on Jews. I saw the very tough and seasoned Arab community marshalls very effectively encouraging one protester to take down a placard that could be seen as an attack on Jews, and after some argument the protester complied. This approach of focusing the political attack on Israeli state terror rather than on Jewish people is both principled and strategically necessary

Not being an antisemite in public is apparently good strategy.

I can only wonder how one becomes qualified as a "tough and seasoned Arab community marshall".

Update: Ben Fordham delivers some excellent audio.

The Day the World Changed

September 11, 2001 (9/11) is described as a day the world changed. I believe it was actually the same world that it was on September 10, 2001. However people suddenly woke up to the reality of an enemy sworn on killing them.

If you flicked through the SMH this weekend, you could be forgiven for thinking it was all our fault.

No. The victims of 9/11 were murdered in the name of Islam and Allah. As were hundreds of thousands of people murdered since.

If the world got a 'wake up call' on 9/11, it has since rolled over and hit the snooze button.

Never Forget. Or something.

Update: Mark Steyn sums it up beautifully: From ‘Let's roll' to 'Let's roll over'.

Top Cop as Blind as the Kids

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has lashed out at the alcohol abuse that turned a Year 11 formal into a drunken, bloody brawl involving 130 teenagers.

Drunken teens turned the National Maritime Museum into a bloody battlefield as students from Killarney Heights High School fought a running battle with gangs from Glebe and Waterloo.

Friday's celebration, organised by parents of students at the school, was supposedly "alcohol-free".

The venue probably was. However every single week I see schoolkids around my area drinking out of hipflasks or 'pre-mixed' Coke bottles containing a lot more than Coke. The venue may have been dry but the kids would have been tanked before they walked in. 'Skolling' 200ml of spirits will have that effect.

Commissioner Scipione said:

"It's the same old formula. Just add grog and they turn into monsters.

Wrong. They needed to be monsters to begin with. I'm pretty confident it wasn't the school debating club who got in the biffo.

As noted, this "running battle with gangs" was happening during schooltime. Were they drunk at recess on school days? Of course not. Why the hell are students from one school even aware of other schools? Social networking sites?

No. The grog certainly doesn't help, but it's naive to blame everything on the drink and not the person drinking it. And their parents. And their teachers. And a system which means these young punks are afraid of nobody, including cops, parents or other people.

This is a major social problem and the result of 20 years of failed social policy. Unlike London, we haven't had the riots yet.

Anorther Stuff-up

Alien adventures with Antony Loewenstein:

Anorther [sic] day and yet more dishonesty over BDS, Palestine and Australian democracy

You would think Is­rael is about to be at­tacked to­mor­row by aliens com­ing to suck the Zion­ism away. If only.

Yeah. If only.

Huh?

Meanwhile, poor Antony is upset that no serious news organisation is following the eeeeevil Serco.

Voices rising against Serco’s power

Very few jour­nal­ists in the cor­po­rate press seem in­ter­ested in the ever-ex­pand­ing role of un­ac­count­able Serco, the British multi­na­tional. Pri­vati­sa­tion is ac­cepted as gospel by both major sides of pol­i­tics and the main­stream media.

To its credit, Green Left Weekly pub­lishes today the fol­low­ing im­por­tant part of the story:

Translation: Despite claiming there are "voices rising", in reality nobody actually cares what Loewenstein thinks, except maybe the Green Left Weekly - The thinking man's toilet paper.

I'm sure some of his best friends are Jewish too...

Moammar Mashni of Australians for Jihad Australians for Palestine is fed up being called an anti-Semite, according to his letter in today's Australian.

AT the risk of sounding like a cracked record, let us be clear, again, about what the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) call from Palestinian civil society is actually about.

It is about recognising the inalienable rights of the Palestinian refugees; about ending the illegal military occupation; and about ending the systematic discrimination of Palestinian citizens in Israel.

It also specifically renounces all forms of racism including anti-Semitism. How can it be that any criticism of Israel is automatically anti-Semitic? How can a legitimate BDS target, such as Max Brenner (the Israeli business with strong links to the Israeli Defence Force), be automatically anti-Jewish?

And since when did a BDS protest have anything to do with 9/11 as suggested by John Ferguson ("Unions' anti-Israel campaign puts ACTU, Labor on the spot", 3-4/9)?

Why is there a near singular narrative that continues to misrepresent the voice of Palestine in this debate?

There certainly is a near singular narrative that continues to misrepresent the 'voice of Palestine' - his.

The Hamas charter states, unequivocally that:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." and "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

Nice people. Yet Mashni and his mates continually try to dishonestly suggest that Palestinians are serious about peace and Israel is the problem.

Naturally Mashni is also adamant that his boycott movement isn't anti-Semitic. However this doesn't reconcile with the fact that Australians for Palestine, the organisation he represents, called for a boycott of Westfield due to their owner, Frank Lowy, a Jew. The undeniable fact is that the BDS campaign singles out Jewish, Australian owned businesses and can quite fairly be described as antisemitic.

When this site exposed their antisemitism (and it was picked up by Andrew Bolt and others) they quickly edited their web page which now simply claims Westfield deserves to be boycotted because it sponsors the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce.

Checking the Chamber's sponsorship page it seems so do a lot of fine organisations, including the National Australia Bank and Australia Post, both of which have had a Muslim CEO. I'm sure Australians for Palestine will be boycotting them any, moment, now...

Unlike Australians for Palestine, as offensive as they are at least Hamas are honest about their objectives.

A Hundred for a Dollar

A book featuring Antony Loewenstein is currently selling on Amazon for one cent.

Shipping will cost four bucks.

Bestseller!

A world in fear of commonsense

As we approach September 11, the Sydney Morning Herald's front page sums up the last decade.

Al-Qaeda's lasting damage was to our minds, writes Malcolm Knox.

The September 11 terrorists lost, but they also won.

That confused opening represents the clearest thought in the whole piece.

Highlights:

How is our world changed? Superficially, Australians may feel unscathed. Flying is more inconvenient. We have to take off our belts and shoes, stow or drink our liquids, tell our children they can't visit the cockpit. Next to the lives lost in the United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia, London, Madrid and elsewhere, Australians were deprived of very little.

Notice how he draws a moral equivalence between deaths in NYC and those in Afghanistan and Iraq (mostly also caused by Islamists)? Or how he refers to Indonesia, hoping that Australians will forget about one of its cities - Bali.

Once transport and architecture were redefined as missiles and targets, everything changed, and the consequences ramified outwards from the cause. Terrorism's shadow gave a Coalition government, on its last legs on September 10, 2001, two bonus terms.

Take that Labor!

It wasn't just rendition and Guantanamo Bay, it was the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in London and the hounding of Mohamed Haneef in Brisbane. It was the Cronulla riots

Yes. And what was that little armed rampage that happened the night after the Cronulla riots all about?

September 11 was the last hurrah of bin Laden's band of gangsters, who spent their last years watching and making onanistic videotapes. Their delusions looped the loop and met up with the wackiest of ours. Did al-Qaeda really destroy the Twin Towers, or was it the CIA? Dick Cheney? International Jewry?

I knew Fairfax was in trouble but I had no idea they'd been sold to Indymedia.

Imagine if Clover Moore tried it

I first saw it months ago but still love watching this video made by the citizens and local government of Grand Rapids, Michigan USA.

Those that can, do...

Despite having never held down a job in a real media organisation, in his puffed up Bio Antony Loewenstein claims to be:

a Research Associate at the University of Technology Sydney’s Australian Centre for Investigative Journalism.

He should start his "research" by investigating the name of the organisation, which is The Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.

They seem to hand out honorary appointments pretty lightly. I guess they were short of applicants. You tend to stop being "independent" when you get a real job.

Apparently Antony also "sits on the advisory council of the British-based Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice." I'm sure he makes a valuable contribution.

Update: As you might expect, Antony has read this post and corrected yet another embarrassing error without so much as a thank you.

It seems Antony has also landed himself a speaking engagement (PDF) at a symposium of the Australian Society of Archivists. According to the synopsis (clearly not written by sub-literate Loewenstein):

“if we want a rich, complex and civil civilisation then we need to have this robust intellectual ingredient, which is the historical record."

Their program includes his erroneous biography and stands as a historical record of his incompetence. I wonder if he will be asking the Society of Archivists to err.... change the archives.

What a fool.

Update: Antony's previous efforts at investigative journalism.

Update: Antony corrected the error. Not a word of thanks, of course.

I just don't see a movie deal coming

Poor bugger.

Update: Toe-knee Award-winning comments galore!