tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51591172011-04-22T14:18:29.175+10:00Trenchant LemmingsPointed missives thrown blindly into the void, there to pass unnoticed and unloved.Robnoreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-1105781891768734272005-01-15T20:27:00.000+11:002006-07-15T00:22:16.353+10:00Taking a leaf out of the book of Richard Herring, I've started blogging again as an exercise in improving my written English, this time with a less counter-intuitive URL. As I'm also trying to wean myself off political commentary, on the very sensible ground that I suck at it, don't come looking for topical material unless you're ready to click through to the best of snark as listed in my huuuugeRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-939116132003-05-07T16:03:00.000+10:002003-06-30T16:25:56.906+10:00Pynchon on Orwell
Just a brief note, for those of you still bothering to drop by, drawing your attention to this extract [Update 30-06-03: That link is dead, try here], published in the Grauniad, from Thomas Pynchon's introduction to a new edition of 1984. An excellent piece, sez I. Those interested in Orwell (or prefaces) might wish also to stroll by this page from my li'l ol' pre-blog website, Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-930162522003-04-22T11:23:00.000+10:002003-04-22T11:27:41.000+10:00TTFN
What with having no home PC at present - and the unexpected discovery that I have a work ethic, albeit feeble - posts here will be noticeably thin in the short- to medium-term future, if not absent entirely. Such a hiatus will allow me the opportunity to consider if I can be bothered continuing with this vicarious (now there's a euphemism) endeavour. Which doesn't mean I'm starting to think Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-927485912003-04-17T11:04:00.000+10:002004-03-30T14:13:18.106+10:00The Pledge
I had toyed with the idea of composing a pledge that US leaders and their hangers-on can take now that they've apparently sworn off supporting dictators. Perhaps a twelve step program for the more weak-willed recidivists. However, Fox pundit Col. David Hackworth seems to express my views adequately, while giving a detailed rundown on how "we" got into this mess in the first place, Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-926191042003-04-15T11:18:00.000+10:002003-05-20T12:48:55.000+10:00Next!
Just in case you were worried about Syria:The White House has privately ruled out suggestions that the US should go to war against Syria following its military success in Iraq, and has blocked preliminary planning for such a campaign in the Pentagon...Not a surprise to me, I gotta say. I doubt even Rummy is so deranged as to think Americans will cheer for perpetual war. Of course, they Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-925661732003-04-14T15:43:00.000+10:002003-04-14T17:24:35.000+10:00Nothing of Interest Here
First, an epigram:At the same time, I learnt that you always lose. Only the bastards think they win.Jean-Paul Sartre*"Yeah but what would that commo surrender-monkey know about it?"
Trawling through various newspapers' letters pages on Friday, I couldn't help noticing that only a few of the pro-war writers could celebrate the fall of Saddam without turning such into a Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-924036382003-04-11T13:25:00.000+10:002003-04-11T13:25:02.966+10:00Saudis and Syrians Say: "Let the People Speak!"
I wasn't going to post again for a while but this was too good to leave alone.
From AFP via the SMH:Arab heavyweights Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria in unison called for allowing the Iraqi people chose its government as quickly as possible.What, no endorsement from the Ultra-Democrats in Kuwait?
Tom Lehrer was right. Satire is dead.
Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-923376092003-04-10T14:10:00.000+10:002004-03-30T13:53:58.106+10:00Mmmmm, It's Good to Be Wrong
As we all know, Iraqi civilians took to the streets yesterday and gosh darn it was great to see 'em. I'll go out on a three-millimetre long limb here and say that Hussein's regime has indeed collapsed and won't be troubling anybody any longer. This watershed this early in the Baghdad end-game means those of us who believed there would be a bloody and protracted finaleRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-922610542003-04-09T12:17:00.000+10:002003-04-09T12:21:23.000+10:00Never Mind the Details
Let's compare and contrast some reports of yesterday's assassination attempt of Hussein. First, from Paul McGeough of The Age and the SMH, from Baghdad:Four or five houses have disappeared and in their place is a crater maybe 30-40 metres wide and 15-20 metres deep.
Some of the photographers use a chilling term they picked up from the US military in Afghanistan to describeRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-921996482003-04-08T14:35:00.000+10:002003-04-08T14:37:15.000+10:00Tim Flannery: Tree-huggin' Whale-hater
This is interesting. Stephen Romei belatedly brings to my attention that Tim Flannery, author of The Future Eaters, will be the latest contributor to Quarterly Essay and his piece, Beautiful Lies, while painting a grim picture of future environmental problems, contra Lomberg, will also say, in passing, that there's not much point in saving whales. See what Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-921926542003-04-08T12:40:00.000+10:002003-04-09T17:52:31.000+10:00Well, It Looked Like a Baby On a Bayonet to Us
So much for the main atrocity story in yesterday's Tele:More than 400 sets of human remains discovered in a barracks outside of Basra are of soldiers killed during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the leader of a U.S. military team that examined them said Sunday.
Forensics experts sent to southern Iraq to analyze the makeshift coffins and plastic bags inRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-921890682003-04-08T11:40:00.000+10:002004-03-30T13:38:34.543+10:00No Atheists in FoxNews
Another excellent performance from Media Watch last night, comparing Fox News and Al Jazeera."I pray for our President. I pray God will give him wisdom. I pray for our military commanders. And I watched Olly, and I watched the other reporters tonight on your program give their reports. I pray for these men who bring us the news, whose lives are on the line. I just say God Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-921230792003-04-07T13:07:00.000+10:002003-04-30T12:24:58.000+10:00Septic Tanks in the Suburbs
Hmmm, it appears I was a little testy on the fourth. I wonder why.
The weekend long story - not blogging from home any more, the PC is dead, dead, dead - was the tank incursion the Seppos made into "the center of Baghdad". Looking at the map of the route in the Herald this morning, I assume this must be a technical military usage of the word "center". As the last Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-919628832003-04-04T15:20:00.000+10:002003-04-04T15:35:07.000+10:00So Very, Very Tired
Okay, Rob, we know what you hope will happen; but what do you think will happen?
I don't know. I have no fecking idea, and neither do you, so why don't we all just shut our yaps until this lunacy is over.
(Can't help thinking I should have posted this on the 20th and taken a month off.)Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-919511452003-04-04T11:46:00.000+10:002003-04-04T11:55:37.000+10:00Endgame
That erudite bastard Guy Rundle once again plagiarises my thoughts before I've even expressed them. Does he have any idea how annoying that is?
I might take mild issue with him over his concern that a swift victory in Baghdad will increase American enthusiasm for future unilateral acts of this sort. I'm not entirely convinced of that, both in terms of cause and of effect. Firstly, the USRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-918939992003-04-03T15:21:00.000+10:002004-04-16T13:23:03.733+10:00No Rest for the WillingIn the back of Gore Vidal's The Last Empire, he includes a table of US military operations since the Second World War. As PR awareness increased, the titles of these operations have become more and more bumptious; so the list makes for amusing reading, in a gallows humour way. Vidal extracted the list from that provided by the Federation of American Scientists; the originalRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-917453952003-04-01T11:34:00.000+10:002003-04-01T11:43:59.000+10:00News, As It Happens
An article in Editor & Publisher has listed fifteen stories the media has already got wrong.1. Saddam may well have been killed in the first night's surprise attack (March 20).
2. Even if he wasn't killed, Iraqi command and control was no doubt "decapitated" (March 22).
3. Umm Qasr has been taken (March 22).
4. Most Iraqis soldiers will not fight for Saddam and instead are Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-917402462003-04-01T09:57:00.000+10:002003-04-01T09:57:40.403+10:00Lynne Cheney Has A Glass Leg
I understand April 1st is to be International Make Fun of Lynne and Dick Cheney Day. I'm not sure if this is April 1st "Absolut" or the U.S. April 1st which those wacky Americans celebrate on April 2nd. I know only one Dick Cheney joke, and it actually makes fun of other people:How do you know if Dick Cheney is lying?
George W. Bush's lips move.
How do you know if Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-917384232003-04-01T09:20:00.000+10:002003-04-01T09:26:33.000+10:00Polls
Here's some discussion of polls showing the level of Australian support/opposition to the war. Other commentary here and here. Raw figures here. Here's the most recent Newspoll figures (pdf file).Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-915169682003-03-28T12:59:00.000+11:002003-04-01T11:51:24.000+10:00Drapetomania
Being the pathological desire to seek freedom. See here. Drapetomania was coined as an explanation as to why plantation slaves kept trying to escape from the comfortable and stable environment provided to them by those better suited to run their lives. The condition was first diagnosed by Dr Samuel W. Cartwright in the 1850s.
In Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith satirically created the Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-915151592003-03-28T12:23:00.000+11:002003-04-01T11:49:42.000+10:00Fog
The Guardian Media section has a break-down on the litany of non-facts that have characterised reporting of the war up to this point. So far that's all the coverage has been about: discovering that what was said two days ago isn't actually true. So much for the value of "embedding".
Unlike Gulf War I, this time it's much easier to get a more comprehensive selection of viewpoints on what's Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-913924942003-03-26T16:00:00.000+11:002003-03-26T16:02:05.000+11:00Bless Our Little Cotton Socks
This today from the Central Command Briefing transcript:Q: (Off mike) -- Channel 9, Australia. Australia has a relatively small contingent here taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Have you been impressed by their capability? (Laughter.)
GEN. RENUART: Absolutely! (Laughter.) No, actually it -- my good friend General Maurie McNairn, their senior commander here, isRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-913829992003-03-26T13:04:00.000+11:002003-03-26T14:14:38.000+11:00In Case of Doubt...
Australia has two Ann Coulter wanna-bes, Miranda Devine of the Herald and Janet Albrechtsen of the Australian. Neither is as entertainingly loopy as Little Miss Get-Clinton, but if ever I find myself doubting the political philosophy I've chosen, I know I can just turn to Miranda's or Janet's latest offering and they will remind me of why I hold the Right in contempt. Today, Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-913112832003-03-25T11:19:00.000+11:002003-03-25T21:55:33.000+11:00The Big Man Comes Through
Thank God for Michael Moore. Yes, occasionally he can be a self-promoting tosser, but one act like last night's Oscar acceptance speech is worth a thousand missteps. He showed those effete, disinterested, Hollywood time-servers how it's done, as did the other nominees who joined him. Kudos, gentlemen and ladies, kudos.
I see that Suharto-lovin' skank-boy, Greg SheridanRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-912643492003-03-24T17:10:00.000+11:002003-03-25T11:29:19.000+11:00These People are Beyond Parody
Yesterday, I watched reams of footage of Iraqi POWs, including a roving commentary from some cretin on NBC (?) wandering about in the desert bugging some of them while they huddled on the ground under a blanket each trying to get some kip. "Look, at this guy, he's got no shoes. These rations are ours, we gave him those." They're in all the news reports, on the frontRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-912560202003-03-24T14:21:00.000+11:002003-04-22T11:39:28.000+10:00Monday Monday
Stepping out for lunch some minutes ago, I came across some children of our clientele here for an assessment interview. The kids were rough-housing in the lift area. One twelve-year old was hauling up his laughing younger brother and hanging him upside down, and I realised again how long it has been since I've been in that position, head to the ground, feet above. As you grow older Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-911678102003-03-22T17:15:00.000+11:002006-11-11T23:21:36.876+11:00Behold, Your Liberator!All this bombing for freedom puts me in mind of this World War 2 poster. It depicts a skull-faced Statue of Liberty (now, apparently, a nasty French icon) spewing fire onto a city with the caption "Ecco i Liberatore!" The language of the slogan should provide a clue as to why this arresting image isn't really appropriate for use by the anti-war movement - it's from Fascist Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-911647452003-03-22T15:58:00.000+11:002003-03-22T16:47:42.000+11:00Murdoch's Militants
Front page Daily Telegraph today, headline above an Iraqi POW getting a drink from a water canteen held by a US soldier (presumably because our Iraqi friend had his hands restrained):Capture and Compassion.In relation to News Limited staff is the word "journalist" really accurate? Would "stenographer" not be closer to the mark?
A British expect featured on BBC World today Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-911630362003-03-22T15:17:00.000+11:002003-03-22T15:20:04.000+11:00Sausage for Breakfast, with Liberals* on Toast
Did my civic duty, voted early. Lots of idiots in the queue who didn't know what electorate they were in. The polling station was shared between Coogee and Vaucluse electorates - Vaucluse is blue-ribbon Liberal* whereas Coogee is Labor-leaning but not with certainty. So only those of us in Coogee will actually cast a vote that counts. Odd to think Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-911629042003-03-22T15:14:00.000+11:002004-05-10T11:03:19.930+10:00War - How Very, Very Tedious
And so the betrayals start - Turkey gives the US the right to overfly their territory and a matter of minutes later Turkey sends fifteen hundred troops into Kurdish Iraq. The US says there's no quid pro quo involved; in fact, they would rather the Turks hadn't done it. Still, I won't be holding my breath waiting for the US to kick Turkey out. After decades of US Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-911024762003-03-21T15:05:00.000+11:002003-03-24T17:17:31.000+11:00Immiserators Love Company
We're now being told we're part of a "growing" coalition of forty nations: Poland's sending 200 soldiers, Denmark and the Netherlands are sending a frigate/submarine matched set each, and the other thirty-four have their fingers crossed or something. I feel so validated.
Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-911023812003-03-21T15:03:00.000+11:002003-03-21T15:15:15.000+11:00Crowd Me
Apparently I don't own anything purple, so there's that act of anti-war solidarity torn.
I don't know who the police think they're kidding with their "eight thousand" figure for the anti-war rally and march yesterday evening. There was no rallying point for the end of the march, just the organisers' plaintive request (plaintive even with the megaphone) that we all didn't stay in the Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-910345852003-03-20T14:43:00.000+11:002004-08-05T14:08:49.540+10:00Deja Vu
This time last war, I wandered down to Pitt Street Mall. In front of the large multiscreen TV installation there (now extant*) scores of people were standing, neatly in rows, all facing the giant screen, like extras in a DEVO video, while CNN's best and brightest created news out of rumour and speculation. Earlier that day, before the bombing started, we'd been working at our desks with Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-910328722003-03-20T14:17:00.000+11:002003-03-20T14:48:38.000+11:00Harmony Day
Once again reality out-satirises satire:Gary Hardgrave MP
Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs
Media Release H27/2003 - 18 March 2003
Domestic Security Begins with National Unity
The Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Gary Hardgrave says that there has never been a more important time to promote unity and harmony within Australia.
'National security Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-910271832003-03-20T12:22:00.000+11:002004-05-10T11:00:34.026+10:00Legal Opinions
Yesterday, Janet Albrechtsen of The Australian has followed the example of some "international lawyers" and tried to claim this war is legal. Tosh, apparently, if today's letters are any guide:WHAT a desperate search it must have been to put together the ragbag collection of signatories to make a "legal" case for the aggression against Iraq (Opinion, 18/3). Washington fee-on-briefRobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-910228422003-03-20T11:01:00.000+11:002003-03-20T11:01:24.763+11:00Mess Distraction
I was going to e-mail this to the man responsilble for "freedom fries", but the pin-head doesn't appear to have an e-mail address.
Congressman Bob Ney
Chairman, Committee on House Administration
U.S. Congress
Dear Congressman Ney
Far be it from me to prevent - even at this late stage - the United States Congress making itself a laughing stock in the eyes of the world, but I Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-909775242003-03-19T18:09:00.000+11:002004-05-10T10:58:59.750+10:00Some Pointless Invective
Dobedobedoo. You know, it wouldn't be a proper modern high-tech massacre from the sky if we didn't allow a suitable period for thumb-twiddling beforehand. Robert Fisk says the Iraqi defenders have been playing soccer. Perhaps they looked closely at what Dubya has been saying and decided the last two months were just surreal performance art.
Of course, practically Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-908962852003-03-18T13:57:00.000+11:002004-05-10T10:57:21.946+10:00It's On
Looking at real post #1 I realised it was way too poignant. This no time for poignancy.
Noon Aussie-time that sick-joke, draft-dodging, born-with-a-silver-spoon-up-his-nose, Oh-Dad-won't-you-buy-me-my-own-baseball-team, dead-eyed automaton the American people didn't elect President gave Saddam Hussein "and his sons" ("This man tried to kill m'pa!" What is this? A Sicilian feud?) Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-908436742003-03-17T18:48:00.000+11:002003-03-17T18:50:30.000+11:00Learning Curve
Well, I did have a sizeable post but when I tried to post it I got an Error 401 message and, of course, everything I'd typed disappeared. Simple lesson: compose on something else first.
I posted this tiresome note instead of my original post so that you could share the pain.
Hurts worse for me.Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-907847212003-03-16T13:12:00.000+11:002003-03-18T14:07:26.000+11:00Monomania
This is a hell of a time to start a weblog. One issue, one obsession, everywhere I look. We're going to war, like it or not. So what's my opinion on that? On what - going to war or that my opinion about going to war is irrelevant? Is there a possibility of meta-anger here? "I'm angry because no-one cares that I'm angry." There's a T-shirt slogan for you.
It's like the dreams you get Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5159117.post-906348622003-03-13T17:06:00.000+11:002007-09-27T13:19:18.884+10:00Hello to meA billion logorrheists cluttering up the datasphere - why should not I be among them? If my opinions count for nothing, they can at least take up server space. Or so we'll see.Links (updated) Print MediaElectronic MediaThe HubThe Hub MirrorPhotosOther Media/Politics LinksRobnoreply@blogger.com