From Andrew Bolt's blog: a plan to green the North of Australia. By which the Federal Opposition means "turn it into a food bowl" as opposed to the Australian Greens' idea of locking it up and preventing anyone from doing anything with it, including, it must be said, the Aboriginal population - which was regularly and repeatedly fetishised and fawned over whenever the loony left wanted a stick with which to beat the Howard Government.
Unfortunately for them, Howard is now gone and their usefulness to the "environmental" cause is at an end, to the point where Aborigines who voted in favour of a huge ($30bn) natural gas export infrastructure development have been the targets of racial slurs. Of course some people will resort to extraordinary lengths to cripple or delay development and get this thing shut down, to the point of asking inane questions in Parliament and not accepting reasonable answers. If there are bilbies there, pick the bloody things up and move them - we have enough experience with raising the things in semi-captivity to do this.
Wednesday 21 September 2011
Sunday 11 September 2011
10 years since Sept 11 2001...
Those who carried out the attacks have, of course, been screaming in hell from the moment they did the deed.
He who commanded it has since joined them, and good riddance to him.
However, they still have many admirers in certain well-known parts of the globe, who have not felt the West's lash - and for that omission the West deserves to feel eternally ashamed.
Also deserving of eternal shame are the Western apologists for that outrage. They would do very poorly under the rule of the individuals whose cause they defend - in fact, they would probably not last a week alive and free.
If Islam has an image problem, it's because of the outrages committed in its name - 9/11; suicide bombings using mentally retarded people, disgraced rape victims and little children; the beheading of unarmed aid workers; the stoning of raped little girls in Africa (and the gunning down of people who try to help them); the flogging of raped women in Saudi Arabia; female genital mutilation; and the judicial execution of homosexuals just to name a few.
It's not hard to see where the "Islamophobia" is coming from when people who identify themselves as Muslims do unspeakable things in the name of their religion and their god. If that's really Islam, then there's nothing wrong with Islamophobia - we've every right to fear it.
He who commanded it has since joined them, and good riddance to him.
However, they still have many admirers in certain well-known parts of the globe, who have not felt the West's lash - and for that omission the West deserves to feel eternally ashamed.
Also deserving of eternal shame are the Western apologists for that outrage. They would do very poorly under the rule of the individuals whose cause they defend - in fact, they would probably not last a week alive and free.
If Islam has an image problem, it's because of the outrages committed in its name - 9/11; suicide bombings using mentally retarded people, disgraced rape victims and little children; the beheading of unarmed aid workers; the stoning of raped little girls in Africa (and the gunning down of people who try to help them); the flogging of raped women in Saudi Arabia; female genital mutilation; and the judicial execution of homosexuals just to name a few.
It's not hard to see where the "Islamophobia" is coming from when people who identify themselves as Muslims do unspeakable things in the name of their religion and their god. If that's really Islam, then there's nothing wrong with Islamophobia - we've every right to fear it.
Thursday 8 September 2011
On my mind today.
Much was said about Sarah Palin's "responsibility" for the shooting (by an unhinged psychopath) of Gabrielle Giffords, inasmuch as she advised that opposing members of the US Govt be "targeted" electorally; advice which was associated with a map bearing crosshairs in the relevant areas. Much was also said about the need for less inflammatory language from both sides of politics.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Jimmy Hoffa Jr heard that message, nor did the inventors of the videogame described here. The poison continues outside of the United States, with conservative (which in the Australian context means secular centre-right) female politicians coming in for their fair share of abuse, to quote the Rolling Stones.
Let's get one thing straight - politics is not a pretty game, and anyone who enters it should go in with a fairly thick skin and the expectation of being called some pretty vile things. I can accept that. What I do NOT like is when the left-wing side of politics screams and rants and raves whenever "hate speech" is used (whether that be sexism, racism, etc. or just really poorly-worded advice of the sort Palin gave), but then proceeds to dish out the exact same thing against its opponents - and not a word is spoken.
A similar bit of hypocrisy raises its head whenever Palestinian rocket attacks "threaten the fragile peace", whereas the peace is only "ended" when the Israelis (rightly) shoot back. And speaking of Israel, it's nice to see people standing up against anti-Semitic crap from a Left that really should know better. The only reason Max Brenner chocolate shops should be obstructed by crowds is because they're all desperate for the chance to go in and buy Brenner's goods. As for John Zelig (see the link), he should know better.
In the meantime, things continue to look grim for the Australian Prime Minister. Negative media coverage suddenly being pulled doesn't help her cause. Nor does this story, which strongly suggests that the government really is in zugzwang, that unenviable point in the game from which all roads lead downwards.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Jimmy Hoffa Jr heard that message, nor did the inventors of the videogame described here. The poison continues outside of the United States, with conservative (which in the Australian context means secular centre-right) female politicians coming in for their fair share of abuse, to quote the Rolling Stones.
Let's get one thing straight - politics is not a pretty game, and anyone who enters it should go in with a fairly thick skin and the expectation of being called some pretty vile things. I can accept that. What I do NOT like is when the left-wing side of politics screams and rants and raves whenever "hate speech" is used (whether that be sexism, racism, etc. or just really poorly-worded advice of the sort Palin gave), but then proceeds to dish out the exact same thing against its opponents - and not a word is spoken.
A similar bit of hypocrisy raises its head whenever Palestinian rocket attacks "threaten the fragile peace", whereas the peace is only "ended" when the Israelis (rightly) shoot back. And speaking of Israel, it's nice to see people standing up against anti-Semitic crap from a Left that really should know better. The only reason Max Brenner chocolate shops should be obstructed by crowds is because they're all desperate for the chance to go in and buy Brenner's goods. As for John Zelig (see the link), he should know better.
In the meantime, things continue to look grim for the Australian Prime Minister. Negative media coverage suddenly being pulled doesn't help her cause. Nor does this story, which strongly suggests that the government really is in zugzwang, that unenviable point in the game from which all roads lead downwards.