Tim Blair

That Bush is "clever, funny and warm" doesn't mean he's not stupid, dangerous and ignorant.

Ironically, these same adjectives probably describe Tim Blair just as well....

Go the Trolls.......

I don't know about that... Usually "clever" people aren't "stupid". But "stupid" people don't seem to realise that.

The last three do.

Hey Tim-
Why don't you and all of your blogging friends get your own arses off the comfy computer chair and organise your own 'protest against terrorism' or 'march for freedom'.
Why do you just recite from what Howard said on the weekend anyway? Have you not an original idea in your head?
PS I LOVED seeing Howard's surly face as he presented the medals to the poms. I'm sure you approved of his behaviour though, eh Tim?
The old 'spit the dummy and come off looking like an idiot'?
Keep trollin' trollin' trollin' trollin' on

"Blue Heelers actor John Wood, for example, told the ABC before the awards that 'it's really unfortunate that we share a language with them, because it makes it so much easier for them to take over'"

"Sig heil, mien furhrer."

Meanwhile, Mr Whatever...your response (above) would have been perfect if this guy was merely praising Bush's fine taste in suits (without mentioning his personal traits). But he was clearly commenting on Bush's character ("funny and warm") and intellect ("clever").

Was he supposed to say "George Bush is a clever, funny and warm man...and he is not an evil tyrant"?

Richard.

To "lunches" and "expensive wine" we now add "comfy computer chairs." Man, we're livin' the life here at spleenville!

I can see it... a perfect vision....
Tim Blair in the pub, crying over his beer as the Wallabies go down, still trying to recover from the trauma of seeing all those Brits tear down a fake statue of 'Father George,' the new REM song 'It's been a bad day' playing in the background, loutish Brits all up in his ear, and all Tim wants is to be alone, dammit alone, to process the pain, the horrible pain, the horror.

I don't drink beer.

And, being Victorian, I can cope easily with a union loss. It's hard to grieve too much when you don't know all the rules.

There were no loutish Brits, by the way. Several charming and funny ones. A fine time was had by all.

..that Bush is "clever, funny and warm" doesn't mean he's not stupid, dangerous and ignorant...

Yes. Yes, it does. And as long as he's President, you lefties are going to spend a long time in the wilderness.

..why don't you and all of your blogging friends get your own arses off the comfy computer chair and organise your own 'protest against terrorism' or 'march for freedom'...

Oh, we do. Most of us can barely spend a moment to post. Two Spleenville readers, for instance, attended the recent CBA AGM at Darling Harbour, to mount a counter protest against greenies who had bought a hundred or so bank shares in order to put a vote against loans to the hardwood industry on the agenda. All while you were sipping on a decaf latte at the SBS cafe in Artarmon.

The Soap Phobics lost.

And being a Victorian, who barracks for Collingwood, we can easily cope with a union loss.

I don't drink beer.

You don't? Did your pub ban swearing and beer?

Tim drinks wine! At lunch! Now it can be told.

And I demand a comfy chair!

Byron the Aussie:
Tim's threads are better than Free Republic's these days, no

Noam Chomsky...arguably the greateat intellectual ONANIST of our time....

"There's a fine line between clever and stupid."

- Nigel Tufnel

"I demand a comfy chair!"

Gasp! Not THE COMFY CHAIR!!!

I came here for quality blogging. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.

NOBODY expects... ah, fuck it.

I still can't believe they had all them goobers in Trafalgar Square at one time and nobody thought to put blue dye in the water tanks of the fire brigades...

I sense a change in strategy.

Tim must have seen that went he went AWOL the Crisis in Confidence was becoming a blogmire and in danger of becoming a platform for rampant anarcho-environmentalism and proto-feminazism.

Now's he back to take charge of debate and make sure there's no fundamentalist troll takeover of the blogmire.

Tim modestly considers himself a "mere journalist" who is "incapable of influencing even a parking cop?" At least you got the "mere" and "incapable" right.

You attack Kirby as "inclined to profoundly influence Australian law according to his own particular concept of "fundamental human rights" without any authority from the electorate."

Mr Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v, I respectfully put it to you: What is YOUR particular concept of "human rights"? Do we have any?

And do you seriously think judges should be elected?

And, lastly, have some pride in your work, man. I'm sure you are capable of influencing a parking cop.

Hey Tim, this cutting pasting is fun! You're right, it does beat working for a living!

Let me try:

Tim must have seen that went he went AWOL...

Er... Dare I comment?

Quoth Miranda,

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I WANT ATTENTION! I WANT ATTENTION! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Tim, Tim, Tim. your article shows you to be merely a tool of the great Zionist conspiracy! Don't you know Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem?

So therefore, we could say

"Natalie Portman, who, like Ariel Sharon, is a native of Israel..."

That's how she keeps her skin soft and beautiful - the BLOOD OF ARAB BABIES!

Mwahahahahah

Oh, excuse me.

Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem? Wow, she's like the Edward Said of Generation Y!

Anyways, what I _actually_ wanted to complain about was Tim's use of "None... have..." rather than "None... has...". Didn't they drill that out of you in primary school?

Miranda, don't you know that "human rights" were invented by wily Jews to make slaughtering them seem wrong somehow? Along with "democracy"? You really should try to keep up with the cutting edge of international thought on these issues.

I don't beleive that judges should be elected. However, they represent the pinnacle of an elitist "meritocracy" and are basically unaccountable to the popular will. It is hard to imagine the true role of a judge operating efectively in any other way. However, this carries enormous responsibility to respect your proper role in a democratic system subject to the rule of law.

A good judge must take a very circumscribed view of the scope of their role and power. The problem with "activist" judges like Kirby is that they fail us and fail our democracy on this vital point.

It's not that I don't trust Oliver Kamm, but does anyone have the full text (better still a link or reference) for that New York Times quote on Chomsky? I've seen several truncated forms, and none quite matches Kamm's.
It seems too good to be true, which usually means it is.

'Lecturing in England on law-making by judges, Justice Kirby also spoke up for judicial activism, declaring that if there was no apparent law on a subject, the judge was duty-bound to create it.' - From yesterday's Herald Sun, no link available.

I thought Parliament made laws. Kirby goes on to acknowledge that governments will seek to appoint judges reflecting their agenda.

Surely judicial activism will encourage that trend. Kirby then has a bet both ways by averring that governments making such appointments will inevitably be disappointed.

The net argument appears to be that he wants the judiciary to be able to make laws without interference from government.

ilibcc - under a common law system, such as we have, a large portion of our law consists of generations of precedent on subjects that have never been legislated about. In that sense, judges make law all the time as they analogise from the body of precedent to new sets of facts.

Even in relation to interpreting legislation - it's not always perfectly clear what a statue means or how it's meant to work - if it were, we'd never have legal disputes about them. Judges MUST interpret statutes, and once they have done so, by the operation of the doctrine of precedent, their decisions have the force of law.

Don't they teach civics any more?

[A bit off-topic]

Hey Mork, I went to add a comment to the "Crushing of dissent" thread from yesterday but the comments box is gone. A genuine "crushing of dissent", perhaps ;-)

Judges and lawyers promote vague and complicated laws other wise they wouldn't have a job and status that lots of them don't deserve.

Mork, of course law is being enacted or made every day - that is not at issue; but judges themselves will often disagree about degrees of interpretation and whether such interpretation is more properly placed in the realm of parliament.

Greater judicial activism will surely result in the greater tendency of governments to make 'political' appointments - that is, even more so than now - which nobody really admits to wanting, with the result that the distinction between the two arms will become further confused.

From the "Cont. Crisis" column linked above: That's because Doyle's script (about the tragedy of post-Tampa Australia and our craven re-election of John Howard) was told in simplistic grabs, free of complication and easy to sell.

Tim: you haven't seen the show, but you've read the script? Is that it? Ot did someone tape it for you when you were in the US? Or are you basing these opinions entirely on the say of a few mates? Explain yourself, I say.

Thanks for that attention, big dog. I really needed it.

Yeah - I do agree with that, ilibcc - I was just responding to the quote you reproduced, which I don't think is anything more than stating the obvious.

But it is a difficult balance. For example, clearly there must be some limits on parliament's powers to restrict individual freedom - in that sense, the judiciary is check on unrestrained majoritarianism.

But one fellow's democracy-preserving restraint on parliament's powers is another fellow's judicial activism and legislation from the bench. Generally, which side of that line you sit on depends on whether you support the government of the day.

Watched the first episode on tape, Joe. Well, what I could tolerate of it.

Make Michael Kirby president of the Roaccutane Survivors Group and replace him as judge, with Pauline Hanson. She's prettier (see latest Womens Weekly)and got better skin. She couldn't be any worse. In fact she'd be heaps better.

Yeah, Tim, glamourpuss wasn't the best word to describe Kirby.

..Tim's threads are better than Free Republic's these days, no...

No, not at all. Tim's is the first weblog I've visited or posted on and I'm intrigued by its dynamics. A pity the software doesn't have a 'last ten posts', for infrequent visitors. PS what's your screen name, there?

Wow. Way to link a few tangents together.

If that's all it takes to become a "commentator" who needs a university degree? I've read better written things in my primary school yearbook.