Tim Blair

Entry repair successful. Let comments sequence begin.

[Update: or let comment sequence commence. Er -- something like that.]

It was only awkwardly bad in small parts. Very good drama at its best, and some classic dialogue (e.g. part wherein a sexually abusing boss is blackmailed).

It doesn't at all show Australians as unable to cope with Muslim sensitivites, just the usual ignorance and natural predjudice against alien outsiders.

TO: Tim Blair
RE: Fasting, Anyone?

[1] Drive fast.
[2] Swerve lots.

The only two rules of the road you really need.

Enjoy,

Chuck(le)

'a Romeo and Juliet story ...'

Such crap writing and they appropriate William Shakespeare.

That's like calling the Yellow Pages 'a War and Peace epic'. Except the Yellow Pages has more interesting characters (than Marking Time).

And 'Two-part mini series'. What is that?

Does the storey end up with the Afghani girl being honour killed by her father for hanging around with a white anglo boy?

All I can think is 750 million a year that could be spent on something useful.

Two words to keep in mind during your spiritual journey:   Valentine One.   Don't leave home without it.

After sitting through that travesty known as "Changi", I resolved never to watch anything else written by John Doyle, and it looks like I was right. What a crock of shit.

Tim:
Yes, get in touch with your inner self. Perhaps ask him to, er, lunch?

Let him pay as part of this outreach.

Go in peace. But remember to drive on the right side of the yellow line.

Right side.

SMG

But remember to drive on the right side of the yellow line. Right side.

Thats an interesting topic Tim Blair. I have heard it takes three Americans to drive in Britain. One to drive , one to read the street signs and one to yell "GET BACK ON THE LEFT SIDE" when a truck is coming.
How are you adjusting to our roadways. We drive on the "right" side of the road as God intended. Has this upset your heathen sensabilities yet?

Heres a question: Why do Brits drive on the left side of the road? Yes there is a logical reason! Do you know it?

Those thieving ABC bastards!

The script I sent them was identical, except that the main protagonist was a gay disabled Aussie whale who fell in love with a Semtex-wielding bearded Palestinian "freedom fighter" whom he saved from the Siev-X.

So the homophobic ABC bastards get Doyle to rewrite it to be more "mainstream", and leave me out in the cold. Bloody right-wingers!

I'm a left-winger who agrees with the sentiments expressed by the show, but Jesus Christ! I burst out laughing at the blatant lecturing. It was a nice enough story, for a soppy romance, but it was let down by the ridiculous dialogue. Oh, and the bogans stole the show.

Tim writes: “I prefer the Wog's synopsis.”

ie

“MARKING TIME is the coming of age of an insufferably patronising wanker who likes a bit of Muslim gash.”

Right on! That’s quality writing, that is.

Blasphemer! Apostate!

The righteous knoweth that Holy Speed Month is September. Thy penance is a pilgrimage to the Bonnevillian Feast of The Salty Fast Shiny Things, where thou shalt light a votive sparkplug to St. Art of Arfons and St. Craig of the Breedloves (peace be unto him). I'll bring the Sacred Suds of Pabst.

I hear this Movie is a two parter. Brace yourself any of you on the blog who want to remain in suspence about the ending close your eyes now.

In part2 Uncle Hossain bursts in pulls his scymatar and hacks the Randy Randa into itty bitty bits. And six months after his conviction, Hossain sends the Ossie legislature a threatening note, powdered with talc, calling for jihad if he isn't released from prison immediately...

OK everyone that didn't want to know how it would end can Open your eyes back up.

Well thats what it would be in the real world, damn it.
Take the red pill already you, sheeple.

Tim! When did you see the show?

These peole may be arseholes to some degree, but fuck them- go and vote for me here as the most offensive male blogger; I'm a far bigger prick than Robert Manne, Roy Slaven, every member of Hezbollah and Michael Moore combined.

i reckon the rubbish that spews out of robert mannes arse/mouth/pen is WAY worse than anything you could imagine habibi. where is your weblog at? i wanna come over and wet the baby's head!

I am voting for Habib as "best speller".

Pod, there isn't a poll for that yet, but I would surely win it.

That is possible. You would cetainly win the prize for "most concurrent identities".

Cthorry. Something about a cetacian, or a cethalopod.

Certainly.

Afghani = currency
Afghan = person

just the usual ignorance and natural predjudice against alien outsiders.

No patronizing condescension there!

What the fuck has spelling got to do with being offensive, you big bottom burp?
Pedantic anal cretins like you probably review your comments before you post them, even cut and paste to word to run a spell-check then re-paste, then post, because you have such shallow, empty, pathetic lives.
Offensive enough? If not come back- I will taunt you some more.

Fair suck of the sav Doyle! I listened to this pompous twit discuss this drivel with Herr Adams on our own radjer stayshun just two days ago. Unfortunately for Phillip, just 5 minutes of listening to his verbal masturbation of Doyle, made me put on another ABC product, Triple J's latest Hottest 100, at volume 2000 to get the fat fucker's waffling out of my ears!
In conclusion, I got the whole gist from both the wog and the Gastropod, and have resolved myself to never, ever, sully my eyes with this bilge.
Imperially endorsed by Adams means avoid like a postpack full of anthrax.

The Liberal-Lefty is so convinced of their own moral superiority, that it's like water to a fish. They're not even aware of it.

Tripe like this show is proof of my statement above. Doyle takes it upon himself, to teach the rest of Australia about 'tolerance'. Who the blazes voted and make Doyle King? Why the blazes does Doyle believe that Australia needs or wants his tutelage?

Well, I can't find the link, but yesterday there was an article about some Reverend in Minnesota, who decided to lecture his 800,000 parishoners to give up the ideas of 'white supremacy'. Moral Superiority on parade. This is why all good Americans (and Australians) tell the Doyle's, Moore's and Streisand's to shut the fuck up. Thank you.

Iowahawk, YOU are the blasphemer! With an enlarged apostate!

The true Holy Speed Month is May, and the Temple is Indy. Or Saturday night out behind my local high school.

Oh, and in answer to papertiger's question about why the British drive on the left side of the road, I like to think it's so they can hold the Webley in the right hand.

Robert Manne worries that "we are about to experience the Americanisation of the Australian culture wars." Here's news, Bobby -- we already are. And it's being led by the left, using our taxes.

uh...huh. taxes belong to the right wing. i'm glad we're in agreement on this.

Oh Roop. That's some wilful misreading you got goin' on there. Our tax means all tax. The left doesn't mind using its part for idiot leftwing ideas. The right does. Sheesh.

I thought the first ep was ok - when it was focused on the bogans and their antics, small town life, and the lead wanker getting down with the babe.

But the 2nd ep, with all the l.e.c.t.u.r.i.n.g. Jeebus Xrist!

I was waiting to see if the potential honour killing was made an issue - I was sure it wouldn't be mentioned and was not disappointed. They got around it by making the Afghans Harzaras who "practice a tolerant version of Islam".

Haven't seen the program myself, but here's what Zane Alcorn, writing a letter into the Newcastle Herald, had to say... (no link, unfortunately)

John Doyle's mini-series MARKING TIME is a treat to those few Australians still interested in vernacular philosophical and cultural exploration. Doyle has his finger directly on the pulse of something Hollywood could never understand and which the majority of Australians refuse to be openly conscious of. The frequency and diversity of the type of cultural cross-pollination Doyle depicts is typical of the reason I feel lucky to have been born here. Multicultural Australia is an enriching, challenging and privileged place to live.

What can I say but - 'Me no spika di Espanol, ich bin ein Australian, mate!'. Seriously, though, does he actually mean anything by that???

In answer to papertiger's puzzle, here's something from Bill Bryson's "Made In America";

"An unusual feature of Conestoga wagons was that they were built with their brakes and 'lazy boards'-a kind of extendable running-board- on the left-hand side. If there was a particular reason for putting them there, it has since been forgotten. With drivers compelled to sit on the left, they tended to drive on the right so that they were positioned near the centre of the road, which is why, it appears, Americans abandoned the British custom of driving on the left."

As a Brit, I'd point out that driving on the right means that the all-important steering-wheel is in on the weaker side for the right-handed majority of the population....if God did indeed intend us to all drive on the right, then I guess He enjoys traffic accidents :)

BTW, while it's obvious enough why the Commonwealth drives on the left, does anyone have a clue why the Japs do?

"British roads, baffling the Continental motorist since 1895"

Japan - something to do with samurai warriors having their swords (worn on the right) closer to any potential action as they passed each other?

However, left/right driving confusion is nothing compared to Australia's multiple rail gauge screw-ups:

The United Kingdom in 1846 passed the Gauge Act and called on the Australian states to adopt a uniform gauge of 4'8.5".

However, the New South Wales chief engineer at the time – an Irishman – claimed the Irish gauge of 5'3" was superior and in 1852 an Act was passed stating that the NSW gauge would be 5'3". Victoria and South Australia followed suit.

The chief engineer was replaced by a Scotsman who in 1854 decided to adopt the United Kingdom's 4'8.5" gauge for NSW but failed to tell the other states. Victoria and South Australia had already committed to rolling stock and their railways both went into service on 5'3" gauge.

Meanwhile Queensland separated from NSW in 1859 and highlighted its independence by opening its railway in 1865 with a narrow 3'6" gauge, while Western Australia's first Government-sponsored railway was built using a 3' gauge that was soon altered to 3'3".

Tickets, please.

Go "play" with yourself Tim. You are an "evil" piece of shit that I'd spit on without hesitation if you crossed my path in the real world. Brandis is dead wrong that the Greens are Nazis. It's you and he that are the card carrying members of the new politically right "fascism" that is sweeping the world.

Your fellow travelers have spent the past 30 years working to take control of our societies and I would not be at all surprised to ourselves in "civil war" in the decades ahead. 1984 was written just as much about your own style of lying as those told by Stalin and his own communists thugs.

Scum like you never do the beating in the cellblocks but you'd sure dress up the justification for it via your poisonous prose.

I think that means Peter enjoyed the TV show, "Marking Time" and hence disagreed with Tim in this particular instance.

Soooo, Peter. I take it you're a Greens supporter?

What's with the random scare quotes, don't you believe what you're saying?

Mr Richardson has forgotten to take his medication. Next he will be telling us that Gough Whitlam was a good Prime Minister or that Allende was democratically elected.

I personally thought it was a good show - as I grew up in a similar area it reflected many of the problems facing those in rural Australia, especially those who like to think for themselves as opposed to what the uneducated masses espouse (who me, elitist? of course!)

Perhaps if people actually watched it they would be in a postition to comment on it as opposed to "it's on the ABC therefore it must be bad"

I did watch it (I taped it, due to the RWC quarter finals being on), and it was shite with a capital S.
Roy Slaven thinks we're all (except for his coterie of Balmian Bolshevik mates) ignorant, redneck racist fuckwits, who are in need of re-education.
Once a lefty teacher, always a lefty teacher, only this time the bastard has access to my money to indoctrinate empty heads to his way of thinking.
I'm getting mighty sick of paying marginal rates of 49% to fund arseholes to tell me what a piece of shit I am.
I have no problem with anyone making any film or TV piece, or writing anything they want, as long as I don't have to pay for it. At least with the Age and the SMH I don't have to buy them- I don't have any choice with the ABC.
If it is, as is claimed, so popular, what's the problem with making it a subscription service?

(VOTE HABIB!!)

I'll say it again, shite mouths: I'll pay for my innocent lefty ABC viewing and you pay for your own cocking bastard WARS!

Why does Petey put "play" and "evil" in quotation marks? And what bug got up adam's buttcrack today?

Marking Time = Wanking Time

'Randa Fair: "Do you have Ramadan?"

Him: "No, but we got Melbourne Cup. Is that the same? What about Anzac Day? Any advance on the Grand Final? Anyway, how about a root?"

Randa: "I like your style, boy. You could go far in Al Quaeda".

Yes, thanks John Doyle, I'll take that scriptwriter's job with the ABC. I'ts better than hanging round Centrelink. Did I pass the test?

More importantly, what did Peter have for lunch? I wonder.

Hey Peter Richardson, why do you talk about right-wing fascists? The Italian fascists were a nationalist and socialist party. The Nazis were National Socialists, which is why they had hugs and kisses with the Italians. Nationalism and socialism and not exclusive concepts - witness: The Great Patriotic War, communist China's rabbiting on about Hong Kong and Taiwan for so long, France, and our very own National Party (at least for most of its history).

As for control of society, I guess you need to decide which of the so-called right-wing idealogies you are frothing about. I guess Tim and most of the readers look more towards the libertarian end of the spectrum, who are radical reformers rather than capital C Conservatives. Libertarians are the real polar opposites of socialists and the libertarian credo is directed to the reduction or elimination of central control over society. The only true anarchists are necessarily libertarians.

So crap on all you want, but at least get the facts right, you goose.

"I'll say it again, shite mouths: I'll pay for my innocent lefty ABC viewing and you pay for your own cocking bastard WARS!"

Fine Adam. You pay for the lefty ABC, public healthcare, housing and education, welfare, public transport and the Arts. I'll look after my own private healthcare, education and transport and accommodation, I won't use welfare and I'll pay for defence. Seeing as that's only a few percent of GDP, I'll even throw in the police as a bonus.

Maybe Pete's comment was some sort of mad libs he was working on. Go "verb" with yourself Tim. You are an "adjective" piece of shit, etc...

"No patronizing condescension there!"

Human nature is human nature. Being wary of alien outsiders makes very good sense, evolutionarily speaking.

Anyway, not as patronizingly condescending as Tim, who thinks his readers so mindless as to be interested in his comments on a tv show he hasn't even seen!

I reread Pete Richardson's post and I think you took his meaning wrong. He isn't complaining about the Movie review. He is commenting on Tim's driving style.
Witness the phraseology:
"you crossed my path"..."in the real world"..."sweeping the world"..." Your fellow travelers"..." via"...You see?
He is just jellous that Tim is traveling in the Land of the Cowboy. Forbidden fruit to a leftist.

Poor Pete. That self imposed exile is beginning to chafe a bit.

I'm jellous too.

Marking Time was crap. Or so I've heard.

Ditto Alan Anderson- you beat me to it. I'd even toss Adam some change from my vastly enhanced income while driving past his skip in my Ferarri.

Weren't you going to mocky-mock-mock me further, Habibi? I took it as a promise. Or did I do a good enough job of undercutting myself in my second post to this thread that I looked like a total idiot? (Nothing new here, people, move along.)

I only ask because you posted adjacent to me, and I have a broomstick doing not much.

That last post would have been better if I wasn't so drunk on EXPENSIVE WINE.

I listened (briefly) to ABC radio during a drive time shift when the supposedly advertising-free public broadcaster was unashamedly promoting this "mini-series" on its sister station (ever noticed how much advertising there is on the ABC - cross promotion, ABC books, ABC shops, lead news items promoting 4corners or lateline stories etc).

Anyway, the presenter was falling over himself in praise of Doyle's "treatment of the refugee question" and I thought:

will he depict how the family got the US dollars to fund their trip through several safe countries on the way to Australia?

will he explore the role of the organised criminal synidcate in Indonesia which arranged the family's fishing boat trip to Australia;

will Doyle deal with the frustration of those who remain in transit camps waiting their turn to migrate officially;

how will the many breaches of local laws to get to Australia be dealt with;

what of the example the family will set for millions of other potential economic migrants around the world;

OR

will he jump on the left-wing bandwagon and have fellow lefties in the media hero-worship him like he was some sort of poster-boy for their pet causes ...

You guessed it.

More taxpayers money wasted on a biased piece of propaganda.

Dogma can only take you so far as a writer of TV drama - then you need real talent and experience. Doyle may be good one day but please ABC-types - a reality check and some patience.

E

Hey Adam anderson, you shouldn't have to pay for 'our' wars, you're right.

So I guess you'll be giving up your freedom too? Because every single right you have, you lazy ignorant fat sack of shit, was payed for in blood by men and women immeasurably superior to you in every way.

You're a fool and a coward and fit to be nothing but a slave. But hey, you don't pay for 'our' wars and I won't pay for your welfare, medicare, ABC viewing and, if you are (as I suspect) some form of government employee, job.

I'll do just fine from this arragement. You, I supect, will end up on the street.

Fine Adam. You pay for the lefty ABC, public healthcare, housing and education, welfare, public transport and the Arts. I'll look after my own private healthcare, education and transport and accommodation, I won't use welfare and I'll pay for defence.

presumably you'll also be paying for the subsidies that make private healthcare, private transport and private education possible.

So I guess you'll be giving up your freedom too? Because every single right you have, you lazy ignorant fat sack of shit, was payed for in blood by men and women immeasurably superior to you in every way.

yeah dude. without our troops in iraq, we'd be saluting saddam, our glorious leader. i see the connection. also, amos, maybe you should read alan anderson's comment again, carefully. i think you'll find you're in agreement.

Well Roop, by your logic why should Australian forces have fought the Germans and Italians? After all, Hitler and Mussolini never had any designs on Australia.

Any of you cretins decide to do the sums, the effort in Iraq and the entire defence budget, then have a dekko at the budget for welfare (we won't even worry about the ABC, Yartz etc). I have no problem with funding defence spending- it is a national cost.
Anything else is altruism, and through the tax system it is enforced altruism.
I say fuck the poor- get a job, and as far as students go, don't bother with law, do accounting or EDI; if you want to do a yartz degree, get used to starvation.

ilibcc,

The Japanese samurai wore their swords tucked into their belts (obi) on the left side of the body. They would pass each other on the left to avoid the scabbards from hitting which was a fighting offense.

Well Roop, by your logic why should Australian forces have fought the Germans and Italians? After all, Hitler and Mussolini never had any designs on Australia.

kindly fill me in on what my logic is, and how exactly you discovered it, causing i'm having some difficulty following it.

Roop, you just fisked yourself, nimrod. Thanks for sparing the rest of us the tedious work.

adam? alan anderson? adam anderson? amos?

you're all mixed up

GOP elephant: Your questions would be better covered by a documentary not a drama, perhaps you don't understand the difference.
Regardless of how left you percieve Doyle to be, he got off his arse and actually wrote something rather than whine about what other people are "doing".
I'll be looking forward to seeing your attempt at TV drama addressing the questions you feel are relevant. But i am sure your concern only extends to tapping some keys in the safe environment of this blog.

got off his arse and wrote something I don't see sitting in front of a PC and flogging your own personal views while collecting a grant from the ABC or Film australia or whoever stumped up the cash as being particularly admirable.
If he had gone out and sold the idea to venture capitalists, raised all the required dosh and wrote it on his own dollar, good on him.
Instead, he took the easy option of getting a left-biased public funded organisation to subsidise his hand-wringing; fuck him.

got off his arse and wrote a pile of shite which is all fine at the ABC as long as it leans left

as for what the rest of us write in our non-blog time your theorising is both
(a) pointless and
(b) incorrect

You want to make a drama series? Go out and make one. Get a script, plot, actors and a political viewpoint approach relevant bodies for funding and start shooting. There you have it. Now you can have your own piece of propoganda, telling how white middle class men are the most disadvantaged group in society. Ever.

How dare the man have a view different to your own. he must be stopped. Funny, I thought it was the left who was fascist?

War funding? WIth the exception of WW2 how has any conflicted Australia has been involved with threatened national security? Domino effect? DOn't make me laugh.

GOP. In the show we learnt that Sunny was a doctor, meaning he had some money and contacts. What? There's a shoretage of doctors in the bush? Oh well, send him back.

If you actually watched it, your opinions would actually count, but as it stands go out and play in the sandpit.

I expected 3 or 4 hours of preaching, so I expected the worst and it wasn't that bad.

At least they didn't explicitly criticise Australia for going to war with the Taliban.

MARKING TIME is the coming of age of an insufferably patronising wanker who likes a bit of Muslim gash.

If gash is a word like "flesh", then I think it's the opposite. He likes her almost entirely because her religion supposedly makes her something the rest of the town isn't: non-drunk, non-partying, non-randy, non-loutish, intelectual. Does he love her for who she is, or just for her religion? Is there honestly one iota of Randa's character that doesn't derive from her being a Muslim?

The portrayal of criminal acts against Muslims was a bit unbelievable. How many cases of arson against Muslim homes (not mosques, homes) have there been? Have there been any cases of lists of addresses of Muslims being published in Australia? (The former could be excused on the grounds of advancing the plot, the latter can't)

At least they didn't portray Australia as a two-party state where voters don't have an opportunity to express their opposition to mandatory detention. If people wanted to, they could vote for the democrats or greens to have a parliamentary majority and mandatory detention would be no more.

Randa's accent was a bit painful. It sounded like an attempt to imitate an Indian accent.

Does the storey end up with the Afghani girl being honour killed by her father for hanging around with a white anglo boy?

The father was pretty PO'd after they had sex. One silver lining for the series is that Randa having sex outside marriage with a khaffir (spelling?) (he and his father are atheists) would annoy the Islamists.

I've heard that Muslim women aren't allowed to marry non-Muslims, and that Muslim men are only allowed to marry Muslims or Dhimmis. I guess they hadn't reached marriage yet so it's not an issue.

I'm glad they had as one of the last scenes of Australia as such was the fair, which portrayed Australia well.

Did anyone else notice they chose the Medina as the hotel the two stayed at?

I'd have more respect for Doyle if he donated the substantial fee the ABC is no doubt paying him for this crap, plus some of his even more sustantial earnings as Roy Slaven, to the Red Crescent or any other worthwhile agency helping the people of Afghanistan recover from the effects of the Taliban, wars, famine etc.

Not very likely I suppose. He needs it to maintain the lifestyle of a trendy lefty in Paddington or Balmain.

Rob(No 1), everyone is entitled to an opinion, mate, whether they be rich, poor, trendy, square, left or right, and you shouldn't need to fork over substantial amounts of money to express it. Anyway re Doyle, specifically - it was a good drama, and well worth my taxes. WELL DONE THE ABC.

Joe, your sort of sloppy response unfortunately is what often passes for rigorous intellectual debate in Australia. The issue I refer to is Doyle's lack of moral integrity.

You should also raise your artisitic standards. Disregarding its lefty cliched approach, Marking Time was third-rate drama. The ABC can do better. Try watching some BBC drama - it'll help raise your sights.

You want to make a drama series? Go out and make one. Get a script, plot, actors and a political viewpoint approach relevant bodies for funding and start shooting. There you have it. Now you can have your own piece of propoganda, telling how white middle class men are the most disadvantaged group in society. Ever.

How likely would it be to get funding from the ABC?

Piece of piss if your proposal is to make a disabled lesbian aboriginal version of "Mr Squiggle", or perhaps a new version of the "Tintookies" from an asylum-seeker's point of view.

Rob: Huh? What lack of moral integrity? He did a job, he got paid! It's OK to be compassionate and earn a wage! I maintain; it was good drama, and good to see some Australian content.

Rob: furthermore:

1. Where is the moral integrity of dismissing a show as "dumb propaganda" when you haven't even seen it? (I'm assuming Tim hasn't seen it.) Eh?

2. "Marking Time" was no masterpiece, but it was still good. And better than bloody "Macleod’s Daughters" or whatever passes for drama on Australian TV these days.

3. If I have one main criticism, it is this: it was biased towards the right. There was a character taking a moderate left position (Hal's dad), there was someone taking a strong right position (the councillor) but no one taking a strong LEFT position! WHEN WILL THE ABC STOP THIS RIGHT WING BIAS??

He got paid OUT OF OUR FUCKING TAXES, how hard is it to get you moron lefties to understand this point?

Oh but I forget, they're not OUR taxes, the government has a right to that money, and smug left-wing wankers have a right to appropriate it to tell the rest of us what bad people we are. Goddamn idiots.

LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE PAID OUT OF FUCKING TAXES. JOHN HOWARD IS PAID OUT OF OUR FUCKING TAXES. ANDREW BOLT IS PAID OUT OF OUR FUCKING TAXES (when he appears on Insiders). THEY DO A JOB. THEY GET PAID. GET OVER IT.

C'mon Amos and the rest of you babies, the ABC did actually try to appease you all by hiring a few token right-wing commentators. But they got sacked because they - like you & your pals - base their opinions on whatever they read in their John Howard Yeehaw Fanclub 'zines, and think research is a five minute Google sesh..

I withdraw my previous remark, except it is true that Andrew Bolt gets taxpayers money for expressing his opinions on Insiders.

HOWEVER. You can't deny money for art because it expresses a viewpoint. If someone wants to make a drama that includes reminders about how great capitalism is, and how there's a place for everyone and everone should know their place, then fine. No problems with that. I'm sure the BBC dramatise E M Forster books and the like all the time. Or would like to.

3. If I have one main criticism, it is this: it was biased towards the right. There was a character taking a moderate left position (Hal's dad), there was someone taking a strong right position (the councillor) but no one taking a strong LEFT position! WHEN WILL THE ABC STOP THIS RIGHT WING BIAS??

The people taking the "strong right" position was basically a straw person. More like left wing bias than right wing person.

WHo said anything about having to do it through the ABC? There are other funding bodies. Approach the Australian Film Finance Commission or whatever it is they calkl themselves now.

I disagree with everything Howard stands for. He even uses a Statesman/Caprice instead of a Fairlane. This disgusts me and I don't want my tax dollars going to such a right wing man.

Talking of Islam, has anyone read Amir Butler's comments objecting to a scarf-less photo of Ms Brown? Sheesh, if there's anything wrong with the photo, shouldn't she be doing the complaining?

In case you missed it, the last bit of the above post by me was utilising sarcasm.

The silliest thing is that there is all this talk of how bad muslims are in conjunction with this, but the people were escaping the very people who you love to criticsie - fundamental Muslims. Think about the irony for a moment. It's okay for you to sit back in you nice comfy house and talk about liberating the people from a fundamentalist rule, but when they tried to get out of the very same fundamentalist rule you (in the general sense) chucked a hissy fit.

The portrayal of criminal acts against Muslims was a bit unbelievable. How many cases of arson against Muslim homes (not mosques, homes) have there been? Have there been any cases of lists of addresses of Muslims being published in Australia?

It's the artist's choice to portray acts of bigotry against one group in forms that have been previously employed against another group. This lends the acts a certain credibility, as the viewer can imagine that such acts could occur, based on their knowledge of previous events.

Arson attacks against hated subgroups are not that uncommon. Mosques have been burnt down in Australia, and not homes as you point out, but it's not much of an artistic stretch to swap one for another, if there was no mosque in the town to start with.

As for publishing lists of addresses, I've not heard it done against religous groups, but it has been done for other groups (pederasts, etc).

So I would argue that the portrayal of such acts is not "unrealistic" (or perhaps, not wholly unbelievable), even if it is not historically accurate.

"Unrealistic" would be lynchings, stonings, burned at the stake, etc, which are not something that can be imagined occurring in Australia.

On another note, a funny anecdote. I knew a refugee activist girl (law student of course) who "fell in love" with an Iranian asylum seeker (it was the trendy thing to do, I'm sure). She went out with him for several months, until he said he wanted to marry her.

When she told him she wasn't ready for that, he became abusive and then unceremoniously dumped her. He realised she wasn't his passport after all, and went chasing some other misguided leftie in the hope of securing what he needed.

Silly cow has, of course, written it off as a bad experience and continues to see only boundless good in her charges.

in other news,ted rall is an absolute treasonous scumbag.

Geoff, you are right. There have been plenty of attacks of this sort documented recently - committed against Jews BY Muslims.

Getting off track yet again, I'm afraid.

The ABC is deceitfully serving up left opinion as drama.

End of story.

"LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE PAID OUT OF FUCKING TAXES. JOHN HOWARD IS PAID OUT OF OUR FUCKING TAXES. ANDREW BOLT IS PAID OUT OF OUR FUCKING TAXES (when he appears on Insiders). THEY DO A JOB. THEY GET PAID. GET OVER IT." So we don't have a right to question what OUR money is spent on,eh?
We have to pay John Howard- we could spend a lot less by culling the number of politicians we have to have, by getting rid of the Senate and State governments- both anacronisms; if the ABC was privatised, i wouldn't give a rat's arse who was paid what, because I would only fund it if I wanted to, either by subscription or the purchase of products promoted on the network.
If I have to pay for it, I am fully entitled to question everything they do, especially if it is critical of me and my beliefs.
If you lefty dingbats want your own network, put your money where your voluminous gobs are, put up a submission to privatise the ABC, and bloody buy it- I'll shut up then.

And the Govt is serving up righty opinion as fact.

What a well balanced society we live in.

Actually I don't think this mini series is really the right basis for this "debate". It was not that bad, as someone said earlier, the bogans stole the show anyway.

As a RWDB, I could see Doyle trying to be fair and balanced. I think he has a very good eye and ear for "real australia" and he would find he is probably better at making his point when he wasn't so obviously making his point.

My humble opinion is that the major flaw in his thesis is that all those who support the Government policy in this matter are exclusively scare-mongering narrow minded rednecks - not all of us are. Doyle and his type cannot seem to acknowledge a lot of people are pro-immigration, pro-refugee, pro-diversity, pro-compassion, we are pro all of that trendy shit. We are against people just rocking up on the beach and making themselves at home, that is the crux of the issue for a lot of us. The real arguement is not moral at all but administrative. This point doesn't get made or it desn't sink in. Things get nasty and ad hominem when one side claims a monopoly on decency and compassion and preaches away at the other side. Doyle's approach is a little bit like that.

I liked the show, I disagreed with it. Well acted, Wog's points notwithstanding. ABC has done worse than put this show on.

Who elected the ABC?

Habib - no mate, you have every right to opine on what your money is spent on. But that's different to saying that John Doyle should work for free because his drama - which is what is was; drama - contained political viewpoints. Sometimes art has a viewpoint! It's not all Shakespeare and landscapes you know! Thank Christ. Come to think of it, the AFC-funded "Gallipoli" - WHY DID TAXES GO TOWARDS THIS BLATENT PIECE OF ANTI-ENGLISH PROPAGANDA.

You're right, Shakespeare had no viewpoint at all.

Shakespeare had a viewpoint?? Probably some trendy, lefty crap no doubt. Does the ABC ever show Shakespearean plays? I bet they do! BAN SHAKESPEARE! BAN THE ABC!!

In fact any intelligent reader of Shakespeare would spot him for the good conservative he is.

I don't expect John Doyle or anyone else to work for free- I also don't expect to be forced by legislation to pay the wages of someone I didn't employ to produce work I don't want, didn't order and don't like.
give me one logical reason why I should fund the ABC.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Leftie, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Yead Joe, you're right: the ABC has done worse. Unfortunately, it hasn't done better. Marking Time represents all that is bad about the ABC: intlellectually mediocre, timid, unadventurous, talentless and PC-hidebound.

Sorry Joe, that should be addressed to James.

NPR - BBC - ABC these are a few I won't go digging in every sundry country to find out which other stations are wholely owned and operated by Federal governemnts with or without oversight.

This is just the worst fuckking Idea since the square wheel. No matter who is in charge. Your giving untalented hacks who would not make it in the competitive market, a forum they did not earn.
BBC is a news service with an agenda that doesn't answer to anybody. Fox Msnbc Cnn they all have to tell the truth mostly because if not people will stop watching. If not a single mo fo ever tuned in to BBC again they would still get paid. ANd that is not just wrong. Not just galacticly Stupid and assinhien.

It is robbery by Government not for the people. It is evil incarnate.

By the way the Brits drive on the wrong side of the road for the same reason as the Japanese do. IE: left over tradition from when the roads were ruled by Knights in Shining armour. Who needed their sword arm handy when meeting a stranger on the road.

We are a civilized country in America, so we use the right side of the road as God's Plan intended.

Hey look papertiger, IF that is your real name, if a government funded broadcaster means no reality TV shows, no lifestyle shows, no Eddie McGuire, the odd quality drama and some really good nature docos, then give me a govo station any day. Anyway, it serves you bastards right for watching too much TV anyway, you should be reading a good book. I heartily endorse that right-wing kook Shakespeare. Or the Communist Manifesto - it's virtually the same as watching the ABC anyway! EH??

Joe I like your analogy--- if books were run the same way as the ABC, the communist manifesto would be delivered to your doorstep C.O.D. - And if you can't or won't pay the 40 bucks for the book you didn't want, the Government will put you in prison.

Steep price to pay for a couple good Nature docos and the odd quality drama.

No no; _really_ good nature docos. REALLY good. For example, last night they had this one that showed chimpanzees hunting. There was no leader as such; just a collective of hunters and AARGH! SOCIALISM! LEFT WING BIAS! IS THERE NO END TO THIS MADNESS?? BAN THE ABC.

I have a dream... that one day I will see the workers of Sydney storm the evil barricades of the Winter Palace on Harris Street and just as in the Eisinstein movie, liberate everybody's ABC from the dead clammy hands of the PC bureaucratic oligarchy. Blood will flow in the Revolution, but the people will be free; free to think for themselves. Free at last, free at last.....

Someone objected to the absence of a far-leftist character in that truly awful PC-fest called Marking Time. A real leftist would've just killed all the Muslim characters and any other followers of the various oppressive and far-right reactionary "opiates of the masses." Still want one in the show?

I thought is was funny when the main character read up on Afghanistan in the library and then said "gee, Randa, Russia and America tried to destroy your country" (note that this was BEFORE Sept. 11). How exactly was America's support for Afghanis fighting the Soviet invasion an attempt to "destroy" Afghanistan? I guess Doyle must be even more leftist than we think if he meant that the Soviet invasion should have succeeded.

And then the movie about it will be shown in media studies and film courses everywhere, replacing Chomsky Studies III and Feminist Film Fantasies IV.

Yeah Pooh, as my homage to Sergei. Should be good for a few PhD theses as well: eg Derivative Elements in early 21st Century Liberation Film-making: Towards a New Paradigm.

" Derivative Elements in early 21st Century Liberation Film-making: Towards a New Paradigm."

Been overdosing on the Post-Modernism generator again, eh? =P

A real leftist would've just killed all the Muslim characters and any other followers of the various oppressive and far-right reactionary "opiates of the masses."

What, whereas a real rightist would've sent them to the gas chambers? It works both ways, you know.

Still want one in the show?

Another strawman? Heck, why not.

I watched the doco / mini-series and it was crap.

It would have been decent if not for the leftist political bias, and the fact that they made everybody who disagreed with the leftists use idiotic arguments and stupid language.

Hey Joe, if you think I should fund your viewing choices, what say I send you the bill for my cable porno channel- quid pro quo?

It would have been decent if not for the leftist political bias, and the fact that they made everybody who disagreed with the leftists use idiotic arguments and stupid language.

Yes! Totally unlike the real world:

This is just the worst fuckking Idea since the square wheel. No matter who is in charge. Your giving untalented hacks who would not make it in the competitive market, a forum they did not earn.

Hey Joe, if you think I should fund your viewing choices, what say I send you the bill for my cable porno channel- quid pro quo?

Well that depends! Can I come over and watch it as well? And how much porn do you watch - do you pay by the hour? I wouldn't know because being a good communist I get all my porn c/- SBS.

No, you can't watch- I just expect you to pay for my viewing choices.
I also watch lots of Leni Reifenstahl footage- that should reinforce some stereotyping.

Andjam, Moslems are being victimised in their homes every second week in Western Sydney. By fellow Moslems with automatic weopons and fast cars.

No, Joe, a real rightist - such as Osama Bin Laden or the various mullahs who rail against liberal Western values - would've gassed the rest of us, not the Muslims.

Osama Bin Laden is a rightie? Tchoh.

No, you can't watch- I just expect you to pay for my viewing choices.

No one stops you from watching the ABC => flawed analogy.

I also watch lots of Leni Reifenstahl footage- that should reinforce some SILENCE COMRADE! I have no time to listen; I must be off to oppress dissidents in the Urals and then table my 5-year plan before the Committee of the People's Collective Farm #4983.

The US secreatary of state under Carter (forget his name... Eastern European sorta name) admitted in an interview in 97 that they drew the Soviets into conflict in Afghanistan - contary to what we were told at the time. I'm pretty sure it was an interview with either the Post or the Times (American versions thereof)

"if a government funded broadcaster means no reality TV shows, no lifestyle shows, no Eddie McGuire...then give me a govo station any day."

Hey Joe, I don't watch that crap either, but nor do I pay for it out of my taxes.

This feels like the same argument going around and around, I'm getting dizzy.

Spend every cent of the 750 million on mental health, public hospitals, schools, the environment, things that benefit everyone, maybe get the Murray flowing, or do something about salinity.

Its high school economics, all about 'needs' and 'wants'. I think the ABC falls into the 'wants' category and the funding should be going on some badly required 'needs'.

This feels like the same argument going around and around, I'm getting dizzy.

Amen to that, comrade.

Its high school economics, all about 'needs' and 'wants'. I think the ABC falls into the 'wants' category and the funding should be going on some badly required 'needs'.

Fair point. I'm not saying I agree, but it's a fair point, and a lucidly expressed one, and for that we should be thankful. I'll think about it long and hard until my brain hurts or explodes or whatever.

I would put government run Media lower then a "want" . Take a vote. Find out.

"I would put government run Media lower then a "want". Take a vote. Find out."

Shall we get the government to run that poll or just give the contract to Haliburton?

Shall we get the government to run that poll or just give the contract to Haliburton?

[Crickets chirping]

Haliburton is a Oil drilling/pipeline company. Miranda it sounds as though you don't have much faith in the political processes of your Government. All the more reason to balk at the same Government programming your entertainments, or thinly veiled (no veil at all according to Marking Time) propagandas.
Religion was the Opiate of the masses for the communist states. Television is the opiate for the masses of the West.

Pay your taxes and take your medicine.

Halliburton.

Joe, of course Osama bin Laden is an ultra-far-right fascist. He wants to install ultra-conservative theocratic fascist states everywhere. What did you think - that he's a touchy-feely compassion junkie leftie? He wants to overthrow the Saudi government because he thinks they're too LIBERAL!

Give the contract to Halliburton. Being an oil company they won't know how to run it, and without tax money it will die. Everybody happy.

Osama a far-righty? Um, yeah.

Righties in the US want to go back to the 1950s. A few, to the 1850s. But Osama wants to go back to the 1350s. It doesn't get much more ultra-far-mega-extreme-new-and-improved-now-with-20%-more-conservatism-added right wing than that.

if conservative = less government - I guess you could make the argument that a Dictator being one guy would be less, then binLaden would be a conservative.
but less government intervention is my litmus test for classical conservatives.
Binnie and his boys couldn't possibly make a bigger fuck up in Saudi Arabia then already exists. Morality Police are a liberal fixture. Just as is slavery , spending other people's money, demanding unequal treatment for some by the law , making all people pay for a forum for crackpots ... etc.

"The White House yesterday drew up emergency plans to accelerate the transfer of power in Iraq after being shown a devastating CIA report warning that the guerrilla war was in danger of escalating out of US control."

Guess those damned elusive French were right again about the need for a quick transfer back the Iraqis. They've been right all along, haven't they?

I hope I am not going to be mistaken for an apologist for the Saudi government when I say that Bin Laden most definitely totally and absolutely WOULD make a bigger fuck up than the Saudis.

The French should know -- the Baathists are fighting with French weapons...

Anybody who seriously considers the French opinion on matters such as these to be anything other than self-serving and, frankly, motivated by greed, jealousy, and strategic planning against a further erosion of their already rather decimated place in the world is just not paying attention, or is willfully ignoring France's foreign policy. Their role in the world over the last 200 years has been far more imperial, unilateral, and expansionist than the US -- period. Even limiting the debate to the last hundred years, the same holds true. Personally, France serves well as a moral compass -- to paraphrase George Costanza, "Do the opposite!"

Jerry

In the light of various comments made on this thread, I'm rewriting the script for my new film, Triumph of the Will in Bankstown.

A hommage to Leni, the story concerns the rise of Osama, a young drug-dealer and rapist from south-west Sydney who throws off his unsavoury past to become the leader of the Bankstown Hizbollah. The film culminates in a torchlight rally of thousands of fanatical Moslems at the Lakemba mosque.

I'm expecting generous grants from the ABC, Film Australia, the Australia Council and the NSW Department of Community Relations. It's sure to be a great hit at next year's Tropfest.

Leni will have to be a transexual Aboriginal who converts to Islam following abuse by a anglo-saxon catholic priest, the abuse making her/him also convert sexuality because of the confusion caused by the predatory priest. Oh, and throw in a dingo fence, and the cheque is as good as in the bank.
(Just to be sure, all white people in the film should be cast from New Zealanders, to be sure they appear brain-damaged every time they have dialogue).
A small consultancy fee from the proceeds will do nicely.
Meanwhile, I must get back to my dot paintings and bottling the greasetrap contents as "aromatherapy oil- all natural, no preservatives".

Well said Jerry.

A beautiful and moving cinematic experience from the Australian Film Commission in conjunction with the ABC, the SBS, ACOSS, CAA and the CFMEU.

The writers have given us a compelling portrait of our decaying society and our corrupt politicians who, when they're not drumming up jingoistic wars, are sinking boats drowning hundreds of innocent women and children.

The heroine is a strong and empowered woman, played gorgeously by Wendy Hughes, who gets what she wants against all odds, including the aggression, stupidity and lack of sophistication of the males she encounters. And what she wants is to stab them all to death and good riddance too, all such total planks of wood, mere yokels from the middle of nowhere who probably thought an Afghan was a dog or a rug.

Amazingly, she finally meets a man she half likes, a softly-spoken lecturer at a regional university who tells her of his novel plan to go to Canberra to set up a tent embassy for refugees, but before he gets the chance to do so, he dies of fast-onset skin cancer after rashly removing his hat while having a caffe latte in the sun outside his favorite cafe.

I wanted this beautiful film to go on and on forever. Its themes send a clarion call to the uncaring and the unenlightened masses - not that they will see it, it's only playing in arthouse cinemas - and remind the rest of us, the intelligent dwindling few, how truly important it is for us to continue the struggle against everything with which we disagree.

Five stars.

What did you think, David ... David?

Margaret, your moving and sensitive review of my film had me in tears. How typical of you to understand the subtle nuances of my script. Never mind David's oafish response, he's just a cynical old baby boomer- emotionally, a dried-up prune.
You brought the story to life so brilliantly and coherently.

You'll be happy to know that Margot's review has been similarly kind. Robert Manne has asked me to contribute to his collection of essays in appreciation of Malcolm Fraser's 70th birthday. Such an honour! But can I rise to the task? Fortunately, Randa is helping me. There could even be another script here: The Light on the Hill, perhaps?

Bye for now.

The light would have to be solar powered, or at a pinch an aromatherapy candle, hand-made by Amazonian tribespeople from their own earwax.

By God that guy is offensive. He should be in a contest.

If we can't privatise the ABC, why not make FOX subsidised and free-to-air in Australia?

You all need another shot of miracle water.

Miranda,

Is that anything like Wild Turkey?

"Mmmmmmm......cheap whiskey...."

Leni will have to be a transexual Aboriginal who converts to Islam following abuse by a anglo-saxon catholic priest, the abuse making her/him also convert sexuality because of the confusion caused by the predatory priest.

"Transexual aboriginal" ha ha, my aching sides. I think you meant "left handed lesbian transexual aboriginal"? If you're going to try on this ancient lame-o humour, at least DO IT RIGHT.

Yeah, Miranda that's a really good idea: "We just dropped a lot of bombs on your country in order to drive out the dictatorial government you had. Now that that government, in collaboration with international terrorists and religious extremists, is making a comeback, we're just gonna leave this mess for you to clean up. Bye."

I wonder if Randa was supposed to have an intact clitoris? Has anyone asked Doyle about this?

The sheer ignorance of some of the people on here. sheesh.

NEWS FLASH: Ignorance detected on chat thread.

I apologize for my ignorance about Randa's missing clitoris. Its a sensitive issue. Or is that tissue?

"We just dropped a lot of bombs on your country in order to drive out the dictatorial government you had.

WROOOOOOONG!!!!!! Driving out the dictatorial government was a happy outcome, but the reason for invading was to clean up the WMDs. Remember? Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, I was 100% DOWN with the invasion at the time. USA! USA! USA! But the reason given, at the time, was to do with WMDs. Remember how weapons inspectors got sent in at the last minute? And all the deadlines, and all that stuff? Trying to make out like the invasion was all about overthrowing oppressive governments and links with terrorists and stuff, after the event, is just plain weasley. It was about WMDs THEN, and it should be about WMDs NOW. OK they haven't found any, but what did anyone really expect.

Now that that government, in collaboration with international terrorists and religious extremists, is making a comeback, we're just gonna leave this mess for you to clean up. Bye."

It's just been reported that the White House has accepted Iraqi self rule by June.

Hey has anybody seen Tim Blair lately? Man it sure would be embarassing for us Americans to be defending our morality on Tim's blog, at the same time as he is turned into road kill in the Nevada desert.

Mr. Blair? paging Mr. Blair!

Dam he might be road pizza.

Due to technical difficulties Tim Blair, man at large will not be seen tonight.

Instead we bring you one of our quality government funded nature documentaries.

This one is titled Badgers: an American Original

Enjoy!

Man, you Aussies get worked up about that tv station. I'm glad I have about 900 stations to watch. Of course, most of the time there's nothing on but pro wrestling and Adam Sandler movies.

Hey, Miranda Divide! How's Italy working out for you?

State broadcasting lives on controversy like this because it might get people to actually watch their program and talk about it. Here in Canada we have the CBC which is the same as the ABC and the BBC. The programming was so simplistic, predictable and bigoted that a couple of years ago I blocked it (and a few other channels) from every TV in the house. Nobody noticed. Not one of the kids have came to me and said, "dad, how come there's not as much utter shit on the TV as there used to be?". I thought that one of them or the wife would have said that their friends saw a program on the CBC that they wanted to watch but that never happened either. (Once, my wife wondered why she couldn't find the CBC to watch the figure skating, but that only convinced me I'd done the right thing).

Ushie: Adam Sandler is a comedic genius. Happy Gilmore is a classic and Little Nicky can't be beat.

PBS, ABC, all these "public" broadcasting schemes operating in the public sector with public sector support must, by their very nature, improve us or they have failed.

I simply can't express how profoundly that chaps my ass.

Let me play devil's advocate for a minute. The Badgers show grew on me after a bit. I really felt their anxiety over the snake.

Hey Tim

I sure hope he didn't take US 50.

On the otherhand, he was stopped in Reno. He might have blown his money on the blackjack.

Safety tip: If your ever in Reno, Be sure to fill the gas tank BEFORE! you go in the Casino.

I predict Tim will be blogging for Gas, soon.

Arty's comments have given me the opportunity to ask the males who read this blog, "Why do men hate figure skating?" I'm not a big fan, but I watch it occassionally. Men seem to have such a visceral hatred of it.

"Hey, Miranda Divide! How's Italy working out for you?"

Italy's just fine thanks. How's Iraq going for you? I hope there were no loved ones among the 17 more dead American servicemen today. We won't bother counting the Iraqi dead today, it's only American lives that count. But there is the 27 in Istanbul yesterday, the 17 Italians the other day, plus the, how many dead in Saudi Arabia was it?

It's your game plan, but we are all paying the price. At least you got Saddam, huh? But, oh, that's right, all those "terrorists" now in Iraq are "Saddam loyalists" just desperate because the democracy gig is going down so well in the slums of Baghdad.

It's like Clinton wrote last week, America needs to "build a world with more friends and fewer terrorists. I'm all for a strong security position, but we cannot possibly kill, imprison or occupy all of our actual or potential adversaries, and we are drastically underinvesting in building a world with more partners."

And he doesn't just mean sexual partners. Now there was a guy who knew how to run the world's only remaining Superpower without giving the rest of us worry. Yes, worry.

Which brings us to our AWOL bloghead. Seems the blogmire is getting along just fine without him.

It's your game plan, but we are all paying the price.

How are you paying the price Divide?

Now there was a guy who knew how to run the world's only remaining Superpower without giving the rest of us worry. Yes, worry.

He certainly didn't give terrorists much worry.

we cannot possibly kill, imprison or occupy all of our actual or potential adversaries

America and its allies can certainly send out the message that going from being a potential adversary to being an actual adversary would be a bad idea leading to negative health or lifestyle consequences.

- But there is the 27 in Istanbul yesterday, the 17 Italians the other day, plus the, how many dead in Saudi Arabia was it? -

What a window into your soul.

You throw the Saudi thing in their for what reason exactly? Is that Amerikkka's fault, too? What does that have to do with the war in Iraq?

I guess you should throw in the Synagouge bombings in Turkey as well, just to make sure you've covered it all.

-It's like Clinton wrote last week, America needs to "build a world with more friends and fewer terrorists. I'm all for a strong security position, but we cannot possibly kill, imprison or occupy all of our actual or potential adversaries, and we are drastically underinvesting in building a world with more partners."-

Yes, the Arab world loved us so much during the clinton years that the WTC was attacked the first time, the Cole was bombed, the African embassy was bombed, the 19 hijackers were busy planning 9/11, etc.

Not that I'm blaming Clinton for any of that, but your memory of those times seems to be a bit faulty.

Why wouldn't ordinary Iraqis be suitable for democracy Miranda?

To answer Polly's question about why men don't like figure skating: Watching 12-year-old girls in tights is creepy and makes a guy feel like a pedophile. Especially if he enjoys it. Same for women's gymnastics.

Actually, I do kind of like figure skating but then, I started watching it when there were women like Dorothy "hubba hubba" Hamill, not scrawny children like Tara "for gawd's sake somebody feed that kid" Lipinsky.

Figure-skating to me is like ballroom dancing on methamphetaimine- I think a male would have to be a bit of a crafty butcher to enjoy it, rather than just perving at the ladies' undies.
(For a definition of "crafty butcher", refer to Rogers Profanisaurus at the Viz site).

My problem with ice skating? Not enough tits.

I might be in the minority though so don't start using me as an example of the herd.

No Tim Blair again? I'm really thinking he is some truckers hood ornament.

Anyhow we have another government docudrama for you.

This one is The life cycle of the Domestic Beef: From Udder to Outback Steakhouse

Oh it is pledge drive week, so if you enjoy this type of programming please touch the paypal button on the sidebar.

Enjoy.

Speaking of religion, check out Andrew Bolt's latest article.

Its a problem given how broad religion is: after all, Nazism was Hitler's religion (e.g. the swastika was a religious symbol for Thor).

The next time you demean someone as a Nazi in Victoria, you are breaking the law.

>Now there was a guy who knew how to run the world's only remaining Superpower without giving the rest of us worry. Yes, worry.

You know, for someone's who's trying to enlighten us and is personally communicating to the fates, you seem to give the impression of someone who spends a lot of time sitting her own urine.

"...worry. Yes, worry."

So that's what it's all about -- you don't have Clinton's honeyed words to soothe you back into your happy dreamworld where all the Bad People were "over there." That's pathetic.

Unlike you, I didn't spend the Clinton years in a drunken stupor. I actually remember all the wonderful shite that happened, culminating in Clinton's betrayal of that poor Elian kid. But I guess it was okay when Clinton sent troops into someone's private home to snatch a kid and send him back to a country ruled by a despot. (And after all, that "despot" is Castro, the left's favorite cuddly toy.) It's okay when Clinton's attorney general sets fire to men, women, and children because they wouldn't turn over their guns (yes, I am talking about Waco). Hell, I guess it would be okay with folks like you if Clinton demanded your virginal daughters for weekly orgies. Whatever -- I think Clinton should run for UN secretary-general. Kissing foreign ass (and having his ass kissed by them in return) sounds like the perfect job for him, and he can get slave-girls real cheap from the Sudan.

Superboot, Adam Sandler just reminds me of that kid who sat in the back and threw spitballs all during history class.

Miranda, shouldn't you also gloat over the allied servicepeople who die in Afghanistan each week?

Oh, and I'm sure Billy would slip a cigar into you if you just came out and asked him to.

Ushie: I don't remember sitting behind you in history class.

Miranda, Margo, Miranda . . . which is it?

There is no way I'm allowing you to get away with such tripe and drivel. To say Slick Willie is/was the panacea of all panaceas is laughable.

The game plan to which you refer may have not had been put into play if your boy Willie had kept his cigar and whatever else in his pocket and paid attention to what was going on around him in the world.

Case in point, the following:

Iraq "sought al Qaeda influence through its connections with Afghanistan, to facilitate the transshipment of proscribed weapons and equipment to Iraq. In return, Iraq provided al Qaeda with training and instructors," a top-level Iraqi defector has told U.S. intelligence.

The bombshell report says bin Laden visited Baghdad in January 1998 and met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.

"The goal of the visit was to arrange for coordination between Iraq and bin Laden and establish camps in an-Nasiriyah and Iraqi Kurdistan," the memo says. (From the Weekly Standard)

As a wise man once said, "Get some new material."
'Cause yours is old and tired.

I ready many blogs and many comments sections, but Miranda Divide is very likely the stupidest, nastiest commentator I have ever encountered on any blog, anywhere. She regurgitates incoherent crap from the Guardian, renders it even more incoherent, and thinks it's actually intelligent commentary.

For example, Ms. Dimwit, are you aware of the fact that one of the Turkish synogogues attacked this week was shot up 17 years ago (22 people killed) by Islamic extremists? How you gonna blame that one on Bush?

On another blog, this economically illiterate loon blamed US agricultural subsidies for our large trade deficit with China. Uh, honey, subsidies generally make products cheaper to buy both overseas and at home, not more expensive. A trade deficit is generally the result of your products being too expensive for overseas trading partners to buy, not because they are too cheap.

I voted for Clinton twice, and he accomplished some good things among all the nasty things, but the planning for the 9-11 atrocity took place on his watch and it was his State Dept. who blew the chance to take Bin Laden from the Sudanese in 1996. This is a stain that belongs on his record, not on Bush's.

Not even worth commentating on the sickening gloating over the deaths of US servicemen.

How appropriate that AQ has issued a (bom-bom-bom) "Cars of Death!" threat.

I understand the English have perfected a new weapon which will neutralise this puny threat.

AH: Hell, I guess it would be okay with folks like you if Clinton demanded your virginal daughters for weekly orgies.

"Andrea Harris", I'm guessing you're a MAN, baby! (See, the neat thing about guessing stuff is that you can say pretty well anything you want, no matter how stupid and outrageous, and it's OK because you're only guessing. Neat!) Also, Clinton has weekly orgies? Nice one!

Well, Joe, I'm guessing that you are an asshole. Well, actually, that's no guess; the content of your comment is proof that you are an asshole.

(And you can't read either; I didn't say Clinton had weekly orgies, I said that if he did, and asked for you to send your virginal daughters to one, that would be okay with you, since to your lot the Great He can do no wrong.)

Don't you just love it when the admin girl-geek who can't even maintain the comments section tries to participate in debate in the comments section! How many blocked commenters today, Androidea?

No Joe - Andrea and Miranda are the two different personalities of the same person. Note that, while the two different personalities have different political opinions, neither of them makes any sense. And both like to give shit, but can't take it.

Susan - a trade deficit normally indicates that your domestic savings is insufficient to cover your investment opportunities and so there is an inflow of foreign savings (ie foreign investment). And when the capital account is in surplus - the current account must be in deficit.

I didn't watch the damn show. I don't care whether it was good or not - there is no need for the government to fund art.

I don't know why the english drive on the left... but I understand that the reason continental europe drive on the right is because of Napolean. I once heard (and have never confirmed) that the french then started marching their troops on the right in some sort of manly "we're always marching so fast that we're always overtaking other people" thing.

As for the idea of the government not funding welfare, health, the ABC or war... while it was brought up as a joke (sorta), I can only say that I absolutely agree.

"...worry. Yes, worry." you see - with forums (unlike conversations) there is no reason to repeat yourself, because we can simply read your sentence again. I said, there is no reason to repeat...

Well, Joe, I'm guessing that you are an asshole. Well, actually, that's no guess; the content of your comment is proof that you are an asshole.

OH! OH! An AD HOMINEM! Frankly I'm SHOCKED and APPALLED. Actually I'm not that shocked. Further, it's ARSEHOLES, not assholes, unless you actually meant donkey holes, but I'm guessing you didn't.

(And you can't read either; I didn't say Clinton had weekly orgies, I said that if he did, and asked for you to send your virginal daughters to one, that would be okay with you, since to your lot the Great He can do no wrong.)

Well actually Andrea, it would NOT be OK! And you now seem to be re-phrasing your guess as an assertion! An INCORRECT assertion, I might add! Which would make it SLANDER! Also when you say "my lot", do you mean "my lot the Communists", "my lot the illuminati", "my lot, the Freemasons", or "my lot, the Sharks supporters"?

I looked it up in the Merriam-Websters and it is Asshole.

/Spellchecker fee will be deducted from your account automatically.

Your lot the assholes.

Engrish 101.

Forget the ad hominem rubbish, Joe, your first comment to Andrea was intemperate plus you misread her as well. Deal with it.

Intemperate my ARSE. "I guess it would be okay with folks like you if Clinton demanded your virginal daughters for weekly orgies" is plain offensive.

Joe - when will you learn. Comments aren't offensive when they are aimed at "you lot". They are only offensive if they are aimed at conservatives.

My Macquarie dictionary says arsehole ("a despised person")... but to be honest I don't care. I can't spell at the best of timmes.

On another matter, I see that the incidence of wife beating and family abuse in New Zealand increased on Saturday night, as a result of the All Blacks'loss.

The sheep must be feeling pretty nervous too.

Still it could have been worse for both the women and the sheep - the All Balcks might have won.

Hey Joe you should check this out from the DOD website:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 15, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DoD Statement on News Reports of al-Qaida and Iraq Connections

News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate.

A letter was sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee on October 27, 2003 from Douglas J. Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, in response to follow-up questions from his July 10 testimony. One of the questions posed by the committee asked the Department to provide the reports from the Intelligence Community to which he referred in his testimony before the Committee. These reports dealt with the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida.

The letter to the committee included a classified annex containing a list and description of the requested reports, so that the Committee could obtain the reports from the relevant members of the Intelligence Community.

The items listed in the classified annex were either raw reports or products of the CIA, the NSA, or, in one case, the DIA. The provision of the classified annex to the Intelligence Committee was cleared by other agencies and done with the permission of the Intelligence Community. The selection of the documents was made by DOD to respond to the Committee’s question. The classified annex was not an analysis of the substantive issue of the relationship between Iraq and al Qaida, and it drew no conclusions.

Individuals who leak or purport to leak classified information are doing serious harm to national security; such activity is deplorable and may be illegal.

-END-

Hey, Freddyboy, what's the difference between All Blacks and New Zealand sheep?

The All Blacks get fucked by Wallabies, the sheep get fucked by Kiwis.

Joe and 24601, it was OK by the left when Clinton was fooling with an underage female and then lying about it.

The left's response was to vilify those daring to criticise Clinton.

Clinton's adventures showed how far the Left could bend over backwards on a supposedly rigid stance in hypocritical defence of one of its own. The squeaky clean left's hero was a rotten sleazebag.

Plus he lied through his teeth until being exposed. Literally.

So where were the feminists? Where were the sexual harassment lawyers and myriad other organisations ready to can sexual misbehaviour, perjury and the misuse of power? Nowhere to be seen. We're talking Democrat president. A Republican politician, even a black one; or a judge with right sensibilities have not similarly escaped the wrath of the Left, the acticist judiciary and their friends in the media.

Andrea's comment lambasts the left for this chasm in their moral universe. She is asking you rhetorically, Do you approve of this behaviour?

Your virginal daughters can rest easy.

Oh yeah? Sounds to ME like she was saying anyone who says anything positive about Clinton would therefore cheerfully allow their daughters to participate in an orgy. Apart from tarring people with the same brush (note repeated use of phrases such as "your lot" and "you people") it's a weird extrapolation of a political standpoint. Like if you say anything positive about Republicans then you must approve of burglars breaking into your home and taking your stuff, because that’s sort of what Nixon did! Yeah! Crazy.

I wouldn't trust Bubba with a virginal whippet, let alone a daughter; mind you, if I was married to the Hildebeest, I'd be on the lookout for a shag with any carbon based life form as well.

Can anyone point to a Clinton root that wasn't a dog?

THe first one. Jennifer Flowers was hot.

Tim isn't a part of the asphalt after all.

Pledge week is still in force though. Our totegirl, the lovely Sheila, is pointing out that we are still 28 pledges short of our goal for this session, so get that pointer over to the paypal button on the left hand sidebar.
Give generously so that we can continue to provide you with the entertainment that enlightens minds.

Tonights feature is an Astronomy based Nature Doco/Rock Opera. Lunar Rapsody

Enjoy. And welcome back Tim.

hey pooh - am I now counted as a part of "that lot", whoever they are? Because I've never defended Clinton, and I'm certainly no leftie.

Having said that - maybe an intern under the table is a good way for a President to unwind? What do I care? Maybe if Dubya got a bit more, he might not be so frustrated and could stop spending so much taxpayers money.

24601, by your own definition, you are clearly not part of 'that lot'.

Re activities beneath the Presidential table: I'm sure it's an excellent way for a president to unwind - possibly none better; but not a good career move unless you're a Democrat it seems. My God, imagine the fuss if George W. were to indulge in a little injudicious mutual relaxation therapy with a junior flack. After all, Arnie had world headlines over some fairly tame stuff that happened thirty years ago.

Ah, I see numbers boy is back and shilling for his boyfriend Joe. Who by the way is tied up under my desk right now. A little more to the left, darling... thanks.

Remember 156976834, or whatever your number is, you have an appointment with me and Miss Lash at 3pm this coming Saturday.

Now you all know the secret of their, um, "irritation." Such naughty boys. They know that they will be punished, yet they just can't stop. Right, "Miranda"?