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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Dec 20, 2012 19:18:53 GMT 10
Is it just me, or has tim blair been posting increasingly crap arguments lately?
"our arguments are so unpersuasive that they can only succeed when people aren’t thinking clearly"
Well, no. The arguments in favor of gun control have always been clear. The problem is that the pro-gun lobby has a lot of money, donated by gun manufacturers, and they use it to threaten congressmen in marginal seats who dare to consider doing things like keeping assault rifles out of the hands of children.
Also working very effectively against the pro-life cause (i.e. pro gun reason) is the sheer quantity of utter crap believed by the pro-death mob (i.e. pro gun accessibility). Just browse through the pages of PJM over the last week to see how utterly fact-free the pro-death arguments are.
Did anyone else know that australia has completely banned all guns? Yep. Totally banned, all guns. And yet somehow, in spite of these bans, we ALSO had one of the worst mass peace-time shootings ever in the western world. And that was just part of the massive crime spike we saw when we totally banned all of those guns.
That, folks, is the sort of parallel world that NRA-junkies travel from.
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Post by angra on Dec 20, 2012 23:22:20 GMT 10
Well good bye everyone.
It's 12:00 on 21/12/12
Wait - nothing's happened.
Have I been ruptured?
The dog's still here.
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Post by angra on Dec 21, 2012 6:30:56 GMT 10
What hypocrisy.
The righties hammered Swan when he said he was aiming for a budget surplus, and now when he can't do that due to global economic reality, they are hammering him again for not meeting his promises.
Just goes to show that the likes of News Ltd aren't interested in objective reporting, just bashing Labor.
Another example - that The Australian would publish anything by the likes of James Delingpole, which Blot of course gleefully jumps upon... " who is free to write in Britain what we barely dare now in Australia Salem: "
Complete bollocks Andrew.
"James Delingpole is a writer, journalist and broadcaster who is right about everything. He is the author of numerous fantastically entertaining books, including his most recent work Watermelons: How the Environmentalists are Killing the Planet, Destroying the Economy and Stealing Your Children's Future, also available in the US, and in Australia as Killing the Earth to Save It."
Does anyone need any more evidence that News is just a mouthpiece for the extreme right?
Delingpole is to conservatives what Genghis Khan is to Howard.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Dec 21, 2012 6:52:18 GMT 10
"Have I been ruptured?"
Maybe this is it? Maybe this IS the afterlife? Is that all there is?
Has anyone checked to see if whyalla's still there?
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Post by richard on Dec 21, 2012 16:06:44 GMT 10
The usual denizens of this place may be interested in this Guardian article by Carl Bernstein (yep, that Carl Bernstein): Why the US media ignored Murdoch's brazen bid to hijack the presidency
Did the Washington Post and others underplay the story through fear of the News Corp chairman, or simply tin-eared judgment?
Article deals with a scheme by Rupes to back David Petraeus as POTUS candidate for 2012. Key material for the story, a tape recording of a meeting between a Murdoch emissary and Petraeus was obtained by...yes you guessed it...Bob Woodward. Link is: www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/20/bernstein-murdoch-ailes-petreaus-presidency?CMP=twt_gu Hyperbole alert: You must read this article to be aware of the danger to democracy that the Murdochracy represents! Hyperbole ends.
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Post by angra on Dec 21, 2012 16:21:18 GMT 10
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Post by richard on Dec 21, 2012 18:16:20 GMT 10
In hindsight I don't feel that the hyperbole of which I warned of in a previous post was in fact hyperbole. The Murdochracy truly is a threat to what we call democracy. On another topic the lonely inhabitants of this blog may want to check out the unfolding drama re: US Speaker of the House John Boehner's probably temporary failure to prevent the repealing of G.W Bush's tax cuts for the rich. From the Washington Post: Enjoy the Republicans’ debacle, but don’t read too much into it
Posted by Jonathan Bernstein on December 20, 2012 at 9:17 pm There was nothing but embarrassment for Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans tonight, as they were forced to pull the vote on Boehner’s “Plan B” tax bill at the last minute because, as Boehner said, they didn’t have the votes to pass it. The Speaker sent the House home for through Christmas, with the option of recalling them afterwards if there’s anything for them to do.
Link is: www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/20/boehner-plan-b-vote-fails-enjoy-the-republicans-debacle-but-dont-read-too-much-into-it/?hpid=z2Is it really going to be all over for Grover Norquist and his pledge? More than likely not- but it may indicate the beginning of a pragmatic bi-partisan approach to US politics not seen for a long time. I'm not paid to provide Pollyanna type observations, but it would benefit millions if this minor rebellion brought about positive change.
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Post by angra on Dec 21, 2012 19:43:49 GMT 10
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Dec 22, 2012 9:30:02 GMT 10
America has lost it. www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-22/nra-defiant-as-america-mourns-newtown-victims/4441070The NRA is refusing to back tighter gun controls in response to one of the worst shootings in American history, instead calling for armed guards in all US schools Here's hoping that they've badly focus-grouped this, and the majority of rational americans think "you gotta be kidding". Yesterday's round in the argument was how the "less guns = less crime" thesis was undermined by four countries - always the same four countries, in every article - which had low levels of surveyed gun ownership but high crime rates. These are: Russia, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico So .... which one of those 4 stand-out examples does the NRA think the US is analogous with? I guess I shouldn't care. As I've said before, the best thing about the US gun regime is that its outcomes mean it'll never happen here. What drives me insane, though, is seeing powerful people reciting utterly bogus arguments on something that is genuinely important. It's the possibility that a modern, developed country might actually CHOOSE to be this wrong.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Dec 23, 2012 9:35:49 GMT 10
Here's a little story that got almost no attention locally ... www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/16/us-hungary-jews-idUSBRE8BF0HI20121216 A week after a leader of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party called for lists of prominent Jews to be drawn up to protect national security, Janos Fonagy stepped forward.
"My mother and father were Jewish, and so am I, whether you like it or not," the state secretary of the Development Ministry told parliament, explaining he did not have dual citizenship with Israel and was not religious. According to google, the only australian paper to report this story was the SMH. I guess old-fashioned anti semitism isn't sexy any more.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Dec 23, 2012 12:51:12 GMT 10
This is an interesting idea, but I doubt it'll go anywhere: www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-23/afp-asked-to-investigate-liberal-involvement-in-ashby-case/4441728A Federal Labor MP has asked the Australian Federal Police to investigate the involvement of key Liberal Party figures in the Peter Slipper sexual harassment case. The reason I don' t think it'll go anywhere is the same reason that I don't think (or would be astonished if) abbott (or whoever is the next liberal PM) will launch an inquiry that targets gillard's "role" in the AWU affairs. Because it'll be an escalation in the way politics is done in this country. The ALP could have re-opened the AWB business, could have launched an investigation into what the government was REALLY told about WMD (and other fairy tales) in iraq, or what actually happened to all that money we paid in levies after ansett went under. There any number of questionable activities of the last government that could be prosecuted under the glare of federal police powers (pop quiz: Who here knows whether the AFP answers to parliament, or the minister alone? Anyone?). Now, given past events, I think there's marginally MORE chance that the libs would try on a thing like that - they seem to find the lure of unaccountable police investigative powers just that little bit stronger than the ALP does (simply based on the evidence). But I think that, as tempting as it might seem, gillard would be ill-advised to give into that temptation. The libs will find it hard enough to resist unleashing the police state against their enemies already, so let's not give them an excuse. By all means pillory the contestants in all of the recent political game shows - heck, spell out for the public exactly what mal and jim got up to - but don't get the police involved. That's crossing a line, IMHO.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Dec 23, 2012 12:55:39 GMT 10
Now ... I normally find Katy Perry about as engaging as fingernails on a blackboard. I think she's taken madonna's old 80's adolescent-titillation schtick and jazzed it up for the noughties.
But this is quite good. Somebody took her "zOMG I'm totally gonna put out!" lyrics and added ... talent, inspiration and some classic synths.
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