Angus Laidlaw Beveridge

August 25, 1976 - July 31, 2007.

The night too quickly passes

And we are growing old,

So let us fill our glasses

And toast the days of gold;

When finds of wondrous treasure

Set all the land ablaze,

And you and I were faithful mates

All through the roaring days!

***

Henry Lawson "The Roaring Days"

Catch ya later, Nipper.......

His shit Does stink!

He may be a stuck-up old racist but in some small way Philip is a man after my own heart.

Hooray for Privatisation

Frustrated commuters to ride free
Public transport users will be entitled to a free ride after train operator Connex revealed it had fallen short of performance targets for July.
Connex spokesman John Rees said the operator had fallen short of the 92 per cent target by about half a per cent.
This is the sixth time in seven months that Connex has missed the performance target for trains running on time.

Howard rules out apologising to Haneef



See below...

Compassionate Conservatism...

2007

A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.....
Three people directly involved in its preparation said its publication was blocked by William R. Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history whose family has long ties to President Bush and Vice President Death....

2004

Mr Steiger's letter questions the scientific basis for "the linking of fruit and vegetable consumption to decreased risk of obesity and diabetes." He adds: "There is an unsubstantiated focus on 'good' and 'bad' foods and a conclusion that specific foods are linked to non-communicable diseases and obesity... The assertion that heavy marketing of energy-dense foods or fast-food outlets increases the risk of obesity is supported by almost no data." The letter also criticises "the identification of adverse economic status, especially in women, as a causative factor in obesity," despite research that has consistently shown poor Americans are fatter than rich ones.

It's always great to see a scholar of Latin American history leading the way on public health crises. Has Bush ever made a bad choice? I think not...

Way to go, Brownie!!!

GUILTY!!!!!

"Kevin Andrews should immediately reinstate his visa. He seems to be the only person in Australia who still thinks Dr Haneef is guilty of something."

He is guilty of something, he is guilty of having brown skin, being a muslim and having the audacity to embarrass Kevin Andrews and his boss by not being a terrorist thereby blunting their ability to win support through fearmongering.

Evil bastard, he's probably a homosexual commie abortionist as well.

President Bush's polyps benign

Unfortunately the same can't be said about George himself.

Eaten by Singapore

By Stephen Mayne

WHEN shareholders in Perth-based energy utility Alinta Ltd gather to vote on the $15 billion carve-up of the company on August 13, few of them will realise the remarkable historical event they will trigger.

In accepting $4.5 billion of cash from Singapore Power for a suite of Australian electricity and gas distribution assets, Alinta shareholders will lift the total value of Australian business assets controlled by the Singapore Government to almost $30 billion.

This will exceed the value of commercial assets owned by our own Federal Government, which is surely an unprecedented situation for any First World country. How can a foreign power own more of Australia than our own government?

While ordinary Singaporeans have limited democratic rights and still don't enjoy benefits such as Australia's minimum wage (the world's highest), the Singapore state has amassed an empire worth more than $200 billion — and it has now put more of it into Australia than any other country.

The investments come from two discreet vehicles. The $100 billion-plus Government Investment Corporation (GIC) invests Singapore's foreign reserves around the world while Temasek Holdings owns the shares in government-controlled businesses such as Singapore Airlines, Singapore Power, Singtel and the giant DBS Holdings financial conglomerate.

Few people realise how much these two vehicles have ploughed into Australia since 1995, buying many sensitive and prestigious assets such as Optus, Myer Melbourne and large parts of the old State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

This compares starkly with the Howard Government, which has raised about $65 billion from privatisation — the biggest chunks coming from selling 83 per cent of Telstra ($45 billion), 50.1 per cent of the Commonwealth Bank ($5.15 billion) and the nation's airports ($8.5 billion).
With Medibank Private also slated for sale next year, the Government is left with only Australia Post, which made a net profit of $370 million in 2005-06 and is therefore worth about $7 billion. The residual 17 per cent stake in Telstra is worth $10 billion but the Government doesn't control it.

While other nations such as China, Singapore, Russia, Korea, Kuwait and Norway build up huge sovereign funds, Australia, with its world-beating dowry of natural assets, still has a Federal Government with a negative net worth of $10 billion in the middle of an unprecedented commodities boom.

Even including the $52 billion in the Future Fund and all land and defence assets, these assets do not exceed the $50 billion in outstanding federal debt and $111 billion in unfunded superannuation liabilities as at June 30, 2007.

The contrast with Singapore is stark indeed. This island nation of just 4.4 million people in a land mass broadly equivalent to Melbourne has amassed vast public wealth, although its private wealth is nowhere near the $8130 billion that the federal Treasury and Australian Bureau of Statistics estimate Australia's 21 million citizens have accumulated.

So how did this happen? It all started when Singapore Airlines wanted to buy the cornerstone 25 per cent stake in Qantas offered by the Keating Government in 1993, but lost out to British Airways. It took the defeat very badly.

Its first major successful move came in 1995 when a Singapore government body, Capita Land, bought a controlling interest in Australand, the property developer that built the Commonwealth Games village. This stake is now worth $1.1 billion.

After staying out of the original $30 billion energy sector privatisation program in Victoria, Singapore Power, which is fully owned by the state, picked up the monopoly electricity transmission business Powernet for $2.1 billion in June 2000.

This was quickly followed by Singtel's $14 billion bid for Optus in 2001. Singtel is 56 per cent government-owned, so Optus is now more publicly owned than Telstra — albeit by a foreign power. I, for one, switched my mobile phone contract from Optus to Telstra as a small consumer protest when Australian drug trafficker Van Nguyen was executed by the immovable Singapore authorities in 2005.

The next big bite was Singapore Power's $5.1 billion acquisition of TXU's Australian energy portfolio in April 2004, although $2.2 billion of retail and generation assets were on-sold to China Light & Power in March 2005. Late in 2005, 49 per cent of the remaining Australian power assets were floated in a vehicle called SP Ausnet, raising $1.3 billion.

This reduced the total power sector investment to $3.8 billion, but now we have the huge Alinta deal in which Singapore Power is offering $4.5 billion in cash to become the monopoly gas distributor in NSW and the largest distributor of electricity in Victoria.

It will even own 50 per cent of ActewAGL — the company that keeps the lights on at Parliament House in Canberra.

Coinciding with the Alinta deal has been a recent splurge of property investments. Frank Lowy sold to GIC a 50 per cent stake in Westfield Parramatta, Australia's third-most valuable shopping centre, for $717 million in May.

An even more prestigious purchase last month was the Myer Melbourne complex, which is now one-third owned by GIC after it teamed up with the Myer family and the Commonwealth Bank to buy it for $600 million.

GIC already owns the Park Hyatt hotel in Melbourne, along with Sydney's Queen Victoria Building and the Strand Arcade, and there's been recent press speculation that it will buy into Westfield's Doncaster Shoppingtown to help fund a $400 million redevelopment.
But it doesn't stop there.

Even child-care behemoth ABC Learning, which receives $3 million a week from Australian taxpayers to look after 40,000 children and has former children's minister Larry Anthony on its board, this month issued 12 per cent of its shares to Temasek for $401 million.

In some countries, child care is provided by the state, yet our Government is now funding a company which has a foreign government as its largest shareholder to deliver this service. All this must make for interesting discussions when John Howard catches up with his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, or his autocratic father, Lee Kuan Yew, who is still "GIC chairman minister mentor" at the ripe old age of 83.

Peter Costello was busily showing Lee Kuan Yew around Federal Parliament a few weeks ago and, given the 2003 Free Trade Agreement, it's fair to assume relations remain close.

The same can't be said for Singapore and Thailand. In January 2006, Temasek bought control of Shin Corp — the family company of Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra — for $US1.9 billion ($A2.1 billion) in a deal that sparked widespread protests and a military coup.
The generals have since crippled Shin Corp's telecoms and satellite business to the point where Singapore has dropped well over $1.5 billion and relations between the two countries are severely strained.

Could Singapore's financial imperialism ever cause tensions here? The only time Singapore has faced any takeover resistance in Australia was in 2000 when Peter Costello blocked a proposed bid for Westpac by financial conglomerate DBS Holdings, which is 28 per cent owned by Temasek.

However, Singapore Airlines remains bitter about losing almost $500 million in the Ansett collapse and being denied access to the lucrative Pacific route, which might explain why it is now funding Tiger Airways' assault on the Australian domestic market in an attempt to damage Qantas.

Planes, child-care centres, shopping centres, department stores, satellites, hotels, power lines, gas pipelines and mobile phones: the Singapore Government owns all that and more in Australia yet this is barely mentioned in public debate.

Does anybody else out there feel a little uneasy about this phenomenon, especially given the secretive, autocratic and undemocratic tendencies of the Singapore Government?

Australian companies, let alone our Government, would never be allowed to buy equivalent assets in Singapore. And all this investment didn't even give us the leverage to save Van Nguyen from the gallows.

Stephen Mayne was founder of Crikey.com and Kennett government spin doctor responsible for privatisation from 1992-1994.


Fuck me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Proud to be Australian....

.

There is growing sentiment that we should cut our losses and deport him (Haneef). No one is backing away from the fact that this guy is a security risk. We are standing by the decision to cancel his visa but there is simply not enough evidence to convict him of anything.

The lucky country...........

The Faces of Evil..... apparently.

Look at that flesh that she's showing..... How can we trust people like that??????

Maori MP slams 'racist' Howard

An MP for New Zealand Maori Party has labelled Australian Prime Minister John Howard a "racist bastard"......

Right on Bro....

These go out to PiPi an FOARP.....












Here's to the athletes!!!

Commuter Scooter!

To be expected.....

Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work — and life.

I don't believe my role [as governor] is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own, unless there are new facts or evidence of which a jury was unaware, or evidence that the trial was somehow unfair.

The Middle Kingdom

This is magnificent....

Just Because...

Bugger art! Why not study law?

Hit Them Where it Hurts the Most

GLAD-handing US President George W.Bush may have given adoring Albanians more than his affection when news footage and photographs showed him apparently having his watch stolen off his wrist in front of a throng of secret service agents.

Mr Bush was being mobbed by a euphoric crowd in the town of Fushe Krujein, near the capital Tirana when the handsome watch with a dark strap disappeared.

Heh...

First not-Jenna gets her bag stolen by some swarthy Argentinian, now the swarthy Albanians are at it, this is terrorism at it's most base.

I have no doubt that this is an al-Queda plot, all Argentinians and Albanians should be deported from the U.S. It's just not safe with them around. I just know they're all sitting around right now, munching on their morcilla and shendetlie, planning devious ways to steal fashion accessories and bring down America.

Gloating as Hitch Stumbles

THERE is a huge trapdoor waiting to open under anyone who is critical of so-called popular culture or (to redefine this subject) anyone who is uneasy about the systematic, massified cretinisation of the major media.

If you denounce the excess coverage, you are yourself adding to the excess.

It's almost like Hitch is trying to re-re-invent himself. He was never worried about massified cretinisation during the run up to the Iraq war. If fact, at that point he seemed quite chuffed with the mass media, what with it giving support to his gin-soaked warmongering.

But, just when we start to believe that Hitch must have spent some time at Betty Ford and emerged sans florid cheeks and bellicose wankery, we get this:

....an even more acid piece of creepy populism, in the form of an order from Judge "Reggie" Walton, who poured his witless sarcasm on those who had filed a brief in support of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Would such "luminaries," sneered Walton, be equally available for other litigants? It's not his job to arbitrate such a question, and he seems not to understand the law, but if his words mean anything, and from a federal judge at that, they appear to mean that to be a public figure is to risk double jeopardy in the courts.

Yep, Hitch is still pissed as a hummingbird whooped up on fermented nectar. He must be if he can't understand what the "sneering" Judge Walton was getting at.

Hitch, the point that Judge "Reggie" is making is that people of influence are not beyond the law no matter how much their supporters would like them to be. Because Hitch, if they were, the law would really and for true be an ass.

A Day in the Life.....

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paris Hilton has not eaten or slept since arriving at the medical ward of a Los Angeles jail and is being given psychoactive drugs, celebrity Web site TMZ.com reported on Saturday, citing law enforcement sources.

Sounds like business as usual for our Paris.

But Les Kennedy Must Live!!!

said a man named Wallid

A local hairdresser, who said her name was Sheryne

Jeffrey Anbinder Must Die!!!!!!!

Update: Not the Cornell Anbinder. Down here in Oz we don't know much about Cornell, although I've got a cousin who studied law there and there is a guy with the same name as myself who was in the step team(whatever that is).

Update II: Unless, of course, the Cornell Anbinder is also a prick. If so, then he must die as well.

Wolf Shown the Door. (Good riddance)

Greg Sheridan says

PAUL Wolfowitz is a good man brought down by a shabby, politicised witch-hunt. The terms under which he was forced to deal with his partner when he joined the World Bank may well indicate that he was set up for a fall.

Wolfowitz tried hard to avoid personnel issues surrounding his partner. He sought advice, and followed it.

The spouses of other executives had been allowed to keep working at the bank but the hostility to Wolfowitz, which is a displaced enmity for US President George W.Bush, exacerbated by Wolfowitz's exotic name and reputation as an architect of the operation in Iraq, was present from day one.

First thing, Greg: she was his mistress not his spouse and he has successfully managed to fuck her over with his unethical shenanigans.

Second thing, Greg: Wolfies rep as an architect of the fuck up in Iraq shows him to be a far right warmonger and, given the very predictable results of his draughtsmanship, a fucking idiot.

Third thing, Greg: "exacerbated by Wolfowitz's exotic name" Wolfie hasn't been fucked over because he is a jew. He has been fucked over because the behavior which is typical of his type (i.e. right-wing, neo-con); nepotism and wing-nut welfare.

The title of Greg's hagiographic wank is "Dedicated servant of humanity" a more apt title would be "Dedicated servant of right-wing extremism and un-democratic political goals."

Fuck you, Greg Sheridan! Wolfowitz is not a good man and neither are you!!!

Terrible News

Rare throat cancer linked to oral sex

A RARE cancer in the back of the throat is "strongly associated" with a virus transmitted during oral sex, US researchers believe.

This is not a good thing, hopefully a vaccine will be developed very soon. I'm willing to bet that even those cavemen in Texas won't block the free distribution to all females.

Still hampered by her injuries, Lynch walked slowly to the witness table. “The American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes and they don’t need to be told elaborate tales,” Lynch said.

The thing is that the Bush Administration needed to tell elaborate tales to keep the public on it's side. Once you start lying you gotta keep lying. Tangled webs an' all that Shakesperian stuff.

Sunday Arvo

Blind what??

Early Tuesday morning memory blogging.

Leunig

Explosion rocks Iraqi parliament, 2 dead

BAGHDAD - A bomb rocked Iraqs parliament building in the heavily fortified Green Zone Thursday, killing at least two lawmakers in a stunning security breach in the third month of a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown on violence in the capital, officials said.

No mention of the peaceful marketplaces and all the schools that were painted today. Goddam librul media!!

Vale Kurt Vonnegut jr.

But I had a good uncle, my late Uncle Alex. He was my father's kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life-insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

November 11, 1922 - April 11, 2007.

I don't know why but I've always felt that there was something of the Pooh bear about Kurt.

They walked on, thinking of This and That, and by-and-by they came to an enchanted place on the very top ofthe Forest called Galleons Lap, which is sixty-something trees in a circle; and Christopher Robin knew that it was enchanted because nobody had ever been able to count whether it was sixty-three or sixty-four, not even when he tied a piece of string round each tree after he had counted it. Being enchanted, its floor was not like the floor the Forest, gorse and bracken and heather, but close-set grass, quiet and smooth and green. It was the only place in the Forest where you couldsit down carelessly, without getting up again almost at once and looking for some where else. Sitting there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached the sky, and whatever there was all the world over was with them in Galleons Lap.

Falling Joys, Lock It.

Thursday night memory blogging.

Fuck you Mr. Jones...... heh.

Century

The Fun's in the Fight.

So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.

Painters and Dockers

The mighty Painters and Dockers!!!!

These guys were the first live band I ever saw by myself (i.e. Without Mum and Dad or other elders) it was early 1989. I sang "Dirty Ol' Town" on stage with them three years running (Bendigo Uni 'O' week 91, 92, 93). The third time, after the song finished, I got thrown head first off the stage by a bouncer...... Ouch.

The More Things Change........

You may leave here for 4(0 years) days in space,

But when you return, it’s the same old place

I was just listening to this old lefty classic and realized that the only thing that has truly improved since 1965 is technology.

Does this make us more civilized?

How Quickly We Forget.

House costs segregate rich, poor

THE gulf between Melbourne's rich and poor is becoming more territorial as the lack of affordable housing forces people on low to average incomes to live in the city's outer suburbs...
...And the lack of affordable housing has caused greater segregation between Melbourne's wealthy and poorer residents, according to the report's co-author, RMIT's Professor Gavin Wood.

I'm sure that the "Rich" don't have a problem with this at all.

Advance Australia Fair?

Australian officials will speak to the Sri Lankans and decide whether they satisfy the test for refugee status contained in the Refugees Convention. From that decision there is no avenue for appeal; no right of judicial review; no means of correcting errors of bias, or stupidity, or corruption. The officials who go from Canberra to Nauru to ‘process’ the Sri Lankans will not be operating under Australian law, or under Nauruan law, or under any other law. Although paid by Australian taxpayers, they will apparently not be subject to the constraints of any laws.

If the Sri Lankans are determined to be refugees, which looks likely, they will not be offered protection by Australia. Instead, we will hawk them around the world to see if another country will take them.

Way back in 2002 I had a German mate who backpacked through Iran. At each place he stopped he asked the locals what they thought about various countries:

About Europe and Germany he got different answers at different places but the median seemed to be "They're Ok as they tend to stay out of our business."

About the U.S. the general answer was "There are many things we like about America, but, by Allah, they are nosey pricks and they seem to think that we all want to be American. We don't!"

About Australia the answer was always "Ahh... A beautiful country of friendly beer drinkers. I would like to see a kangaroo." It wasn't that long ago that so much of the world felt this way about Oz....... I wonder how they feel now?

A Gathering of Eagles

The American patriots/Hardcore-Spartanesque-Banes-of-Terrorists-and-their-Librul-Allies from the mighty Gathering of Eagles enjoy a well earned libation after their succesful defence of the Vietnam Memorial from evil americans who don't want there to be a need to build any more memorials to the noble dead of less than noble wars.

UPDATE: Deep insider "Betty" reports that the Parks and the Washington Metro constabularies added their strength to the Gathering of Eagles and their cause.

The adversaries were across Henry Bacon Drive aiming their blaring loudspeakers our way, playing inappropriate rock, latin and hiphop music over our Memorials and I’m sure it was wafting across the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery.

We were also supplemented by the Park Police and the Washington Metro Police.

The Gathering of Eagles were posted on a very windy knoll at the East End of the Wall, where they had surrounded themselves with hundreds of American flags flying briskly in the breeze. No loud music, no complaining about the environment. Just there to defend the Wall.

Still no comment from the police on this but I'm sure they'll soon be trumpeting their involvment.

I do hafta say that I was surprised to learn that dead soldiers don't like music.

Krazy Khalid Kills Kittens (and Infidels).

Now I'm really afraid.

"Clearly he is responsible for some of the attacks. But I believe he is taking credit for things he did not have direct involvement in," said one recently retired senior FBI counterterrorism official.

"In my opinion, it's excellent," the former official said of Mohammed's occasionally rambling statement. "It proves the point that these people are not stable or predictable, but that they are lethal."

You fuckin' what? Excellent???????

It's excellent that these people are not stable or predictable, but lethal???

This stupid, fucking stupid, comment is made by a retired senior FBI counterterrorism official.

We're all gonna die!!!!!

Guantanamo Unbound!

Karen Greenberg takes a look at the inside and gets sold the "good oil".

1. Guantanamo is not a prison. The official term is "detention facility". Although the two most recently built complexes, Camps Five and Six, were modelled on prisons in Indiana and Michigan, it is not acceptable to use the word "prison" at Gitmo.

Got that?

2. Guantanamo has no prisoners, only "enemies". As in "unlawful enemy combatants" or "detained enemy combatants".

Get that one as well?

3. Once an enemy combatant, always an enemy combatant. "Today, it is not about guilt or innocence. It's about unlawful enemy combatants," Rear Admiral Harry Harris, the commanding officer of Guantanamo, told us. "And they are all unlawful enemy combatants." This despite the fact that the Government also has a category for those deemed "no longer an enemy combatant", which was not mentioned. Nor was the possibility of mistaken detention.

Gee, why should it really matter? Hmmm...?

4. No trustworthy lawyers come to Guantanamo. The handlers used the term "habeas lawyers" as a seemingly derogatory catch-all for those who are defending detainees. It was clear that at Gitmo, detainees are believed to be using lawyers in accordance with directives in an al-Qaeda training manual that was discovered in Manchester in 2000: "Take advantage of visits with habeas lawyers to communicate and exchange information with those outside."

I wonder what the founding fathers would think of these damnable "Habeas lawyers"?

5. Reporters misrepresent Guantanamo. The media arrive with ostensibly open
eyes,yet graciously hosted from morning to night, they go home perversely refusing to be complimentary to their hosts. They suffer from "the chameleon effect", as I was told more than once, taking on the colours of betrayers, and "we just don't understand it".

Bastards never mention the tasty lemon chicken in their articles!!!

6. The detainees still possess valuable information. Harris explained: "We have up-and-coming leadership in al-Qaeda and in the Taliban in Afghanistan, (and) we don't know what they look like … But their contemporaries … are quite often the same individuals that are in the camps here today … Sketch artists will work with these detainees … and those pictures will be sent out to the forward fighting area." But how reliable would anyone's memory be after five years of isolated detention?

They should open a gallery to help pay for all the korans and that delicious lemon chicken.

7. Abandon individuality, on either side of the wire. The prisoners were referred to by number.

Easier than remembering difficult raghead names like "David" or "Mohammed".

8. Hard facts are scarce. "You'll notice that we speak vaguely. We can't be specific. You will notice that we talk in approximate terms and estimates only. Those are operational security measures."

Remember, please, that these are the most dangerous people in the world, we can't be specific or their evil brethren could get information to them by carrier gull.

9. Guantanamo houses no contradictions. Islam is treated with respect. The prisoners' food is halal. Every prisoner, even the non-compliant, has a Koran if he wants it. But if you ask about other basic rights, such as the presumption of innocence, a sergeant without a name will chastise you about the dangers posed by enemy combatants.

They got their Korans what more do these damn musselmen want? Huh...? What? They want freedom you say? How could they want freedom when they ain't christians? Gotcha there, don't I? Goddam bleeding heart islamolibrul!!!

Tamsyn Again!

Two more Australian Titles (400m & 800m). Well done sugarbean.........

UPDATE: First time in 26yrs that both titles were taken by the same person.

Congrat's Matt Sanchez

Congrat's on winning the Jeanne Kirpatrick Academic Freedom Award.

But wait, there's more!!!!! Matt has used a couple of other pseudonyms in the past.

Biography for Rod Majors

Mini biography

Born Pierre LaBranche, this hunky French-Canadian started his movie career in hard-core porn videos for Kristen Bjorn and the late William Duffault back in 1993. The following year he moved to San Francisco, changed his name to the more American-sounding 'Rod Majors', and worked successfully in several gay and bi videos for Catalina and Falcon. His most memorable titles are 'Idol Country' (1994) and 'Built Tough' (1995). Very sexy looking, dark skinned, fluent in several languages and extremely well endowed, Rod was often marketed as an 'exotic' sex performer. He took a break from the porn industry at the peak of his career and has subsequently lived in England and Germany.IMDb mini-biography by: tigon

It seems that Matt is quite the artiste.

The Mature, Serious Right-Wing

Sweet little Annie Coulter, famous for her adams apple, claims that calling presidential candidate John Edwards a faggot , while speaking at the very serious and mature CPAConference, was just a "Schoolyard Taunt". Hmmmm........?

Reminds me of the time Bill Clinton called Newt Gingrich a poo-head.

I don't consider myself an overly mature person, but I do wonder about the "serious" right-wing which gives Coulter, and people like her, so much air time and support.

Meh... The righties wont give a shit, they are very well aware that only liberal lefties are unserious and immature. Their evidence is that liberal lefties are liberal lefties, of course. What more do you need?

Pot no longer hot

ONE in three young people find cannabis use unacceptable, according to research suggesting the drug is now seen as addictive and linked to health and social problems.
A new survey by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre found marijuana use has become socially unfashionable, with three-quarters of the 1500 adults surveyed believing it is dangerous or very dangerous.

But suckin' down 4-5 pills on a weekend? Well that's just ticky-boo!

Sorry kids but Uncle J says "Killing your brain quick with chems is way less cool than a slow, sllloooow burnout with weed, man."

恭喜发财!

Happy Chinese New Year and welcome to the year of the Pig.

FUCK!!!!!!!

Just browsed past Working for Change and started looking for a new article from Molly Ivins.....


FUCK!!!!

Telegraph insults Obama's Wife!

Obama's Wife His Secret Weapon

HER admirers believe she combines the poise of Jackie Kennedy with the brain of Hillary Clinton and the uncomplicated charm of Laura Bush. Many Democrats believe she will be a powerful asset to her husband's presidential campaign.

The uncompilcated charm of Laura Bush????

Where I come from uncomplicated charm means "Sweet Girl, but none too bright." or as my father would put it "She may be nice but she's as dumb as dog-shit."

I would hope that Sen. Obama takes great umbrance at this insult.

UPDATE: I'm also pretty sure that Michelle Obama, educated at Princeton and Harvard Law School, wont be making jokes about her huband masturbating horses.

It's Funny 'Cos it's True!

A police officer pulled over a driver who'd been weaving in and out of the lanes. He approached the car window and said, 'Sir, I need you to blow into this breathalyser tube? The man immediately reached into his pocket and produced a doctor's note. On it was written: 'This man suffers from terrible asthma.Please don?t make him perform any action that'll leave him short of breath. The officer said, 'OK then, I need you to come and give a bloodsample.' Straightaway, the man produced another letter. This one read: 'This man is a haemophiliac. Please do not cause him to bleed in any way.' So the police officer said, 'Right, I need a urine sample then.' The man produced a third letter from his pocket. It read, "This man plays for the English Cricket Team. Please don't take the piss out of him.'

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.

Guantanamo Display Meant to 'Stimulate' Inmates.

THE photos and articles depicting Saddam Hussein's execution shown to inmates at Guantanamo Bay, including David Hicks, were provided for their "intellectual stimulation", the US military has said.

Uh, right....

Obviously because it's "intellectual stimulation" it must be good, kinda like the intellectual stimulation you get from one of Shakespeare's plays or the thrill a budding young mathematician sees in the wonders of geometry or even possibly like the stimulation a woman finds in the keen edge of the blade that a rapist is holding to her throat.

Vale Molly Ivins.

Molly Ivins, that wonderfully prickly Texas rose, died today and Texas, the United States and the world are lessened by the loss.

Google her, read her words, chuckle at her acerbic wit. Here are three quotes that I like, but do some searching 'cos there are so many, many more.

The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world. We want and need to work with other nations. We want to find solutions other than killing people. Not in our name, not with our money, not with our children's blood.

I know vegetarians don't like to hear this, but God made an awful lot of land that's good for nothing but grazing.

During a recent panel on the numerous failures of American journalism, I proposed that almost all stories about government should begin: "Look out! They're about to smack you around again!"

Don't worry Molly, we'll hold onto the rage.

Definition of a Conservative.

Recently, whilst brushing up on my geology, I found this definition:

Conservative - A contaminant that moves with the same velocity as water.

"A contaminant" OK, I agree with that. A conservative is a contaminant. "...moves with the same velocity as water." Hmmm..? I've seen water move pretty fast, I'm not so sure about conserv....... Wait, of course, Bill Clinton! Conservatives are always fast to blame their fuck-ups on Bill (and now on George W., because even though they enabled and supported him in all his fuck-ups, now that his numbers are down he is, apparently, no longer a conservative and therefore can be held up to scrutiny and critique). Oh yeah, they are also pretty quick when they try to destroy social safety nets and to lower taxes for the wealthy and big business, lining the pockets of family and friends, and their own pockets, as a result. (Hey, there ain't nothin' wrong with a little taste is there?! Is there??!?).

Yes, I agree with that definition.

David Hicks Luxury

The US prosecutor preparing the case against Australian terrorism suspect David Hicks said he expected the Australian to be charged by the end of the week.
Colonel Mo Davis also denied that Hicks was being held in harsh conditions and rejected claims the Australian was shackled to the floor of his cell in conditions that resembled a Nazi concentration camp.
"I just wanted to make sure that that was bogus, so I called to check on his condition and I'm told everything's fine," he told ABC Radio.

Well that seals it for me, the prosecutor called and they said "Fine man, no problemo.!."

I can just see that bastard Hicks swanning around the crescent shaped pool, sipping upon rare tisanes from the far east and enjoying surf and turf every night as he watches the Simpsons.

Hell, look at the pic, it's like my last holiday in Bangkok. How could anyone possibly think otherwise?

Meh.............

George W Bush, Cocaine, Abortion and Sodomy.

You know the Bible 92%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Just did this quiz and as you can see I got 92%, the funny thing is that the last question was "Do you read the bible?" My answer was no, but still the stupid thing congratulates me on reading the silly book. Oh well, you know these christians, they are quite happy to ignore the answers that are in front of them and make up their own reality.

Yes!! It's the Jonnys'

The Mechanical Contrivium is Back!!!

The Mechanical Contrivium

Now that Saddam is dead let's see what the Contrivium has to say about him.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Saddam hussein!

1. US gold coins used to say 'In saddam hussein we trust'.
2. Saddam hussein can't drink - he absorbs water from his surroundings by osmosis.
3. The international dialling code for saddam hussein is 672!
4. In Chinese, the sound 'saddam hussein' means 'bite the wax tadpole'!
5. Neil Armstrong first stepped on saddam hussein with his left foot.
6. If you lick saddam hussein ten times, you will consume one calorie.
7. It is bad luck to walk under saddam hussein!
8. Saddam hussein cannot burp - there is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in his stomach.
9. Scientists have discovered that saddam hussein can smell the presence of autism in children!
10. Donald Duck's middle name is saddam hussein!

Look out Barak Obama...!..., Donald Duck is after your notoriety.

The Preznits Speech.

President George W. Bush lets the American people know what he thinks of their feelings about the war.

Haditha Shows Civvie Deaths Par for the Course. No Care = No Foul.

Marine officers said Chessani, the Marines' battalion commander, informed his superior, the regimental commander, of the civilian casualties the day they occurred and was told by that officer, Col. Stephen W. Davis, that no investigation was needed.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary about any of this, including the number of civilian dead, that would have triggered anything in my mind that was out of the norm," Davis told military investigators, according to a transcript. "There is nothing about this incident that jumped out at any point to us."

WTF? Civilian deaths at U.S. hands is the norm!!??

Glenn Reynolds on Republican Presidents.

"It's as if the only good Republican President is a dead Republican President."

You said it Glenn!!!

Heh, indeed!

Most Outrageous Right Wing Comments of 2006

The wankery of the right. There's a whole raft of jerks in this article that need a good bitch slappin'.

E.g.

CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck to Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn.: "OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. … With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, 'Let's cut and run.' And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' " [11/14/06]

George the Bibliophile

George Bush, long noted as an avid reader (hey, his wife is a librarian), has recently finished reading King Leopold's Ghost (We haved to take his word for this but what reason would the President of the United States have to lie?).

Author of said book, Adam Hochschild, has a few questions to put to the Prez.

First, the long effort by King Leopold II of Belgium to bring the Congo under his control was driven by his avid quest for a commodity central to industry and transportation: rubber. Does that remind you of anything? Oil, perhaps?
What's more, the king justified his grab for the Congo's natural resources with much talk about bringing philanthropy and Christianity to darkest Africa. Now what did that remind you of? Democracy to Iraq?
Leopold cleared at least $US1.1 billion ($A1.4 billion) in today's dollars during the 23 years he controlled the Congo, and his business friends made additional huge sums. Much of the money flowed into companies with special royal concession rights to exploit the rain forest.
Final question, for extra credit: Do those companies remind you of anything? If you mentioned Halliburton or DynCorp, you're right again.

Go ahead, read the whole thing.

Say, Homer, do you like nachos?

“Jerry Ford is so dumb that he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.”
Lyndon B. Johnson

US President George Bush and his top advisers made a "big mistake" in their justification for invading Iraq, Gerald Ford told journalist Bob Woodward in an interview embargoed until after the former president's death......

......"I don't think, if I had been president, on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly, I don't think I would have ordered the Iraq war," Ford said......

......Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the justification for the 2003
invasion of Iraq advocated and carried out by key Bush advisers and veterans of his own administration - Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld......

......"Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in
justifying going into the war in Iraq......"

Hmmmm...? Mebbe Jerry weren't so dumb after all.

Jerry's Dead!

Jerry Ford is dead. He was, by most accounts, a nice guy but even nice guys can make fucked-up choices. This pic shows Jerry hard at work with two guys who, unfortunately for Jerry, will be remembered as part of his legacy.

Can you recognize these chaps? Click the link and see if you guessed right.

The resolute face of the Right.

Your 'Do You Want the Terrorists to Win' Score: 98%

You are a terrorist-loving, Bush-bashing, "blame America first"-crowd traitor. You are in league with evil-doers who hate our freedoms. By all counts you are a liberal, and as such cleary desire the terrorists to succeed and impose their harsh theocratic restrictions on us all. You are fit to be hung for treason! Luckily George Bush is tapping your internet connection and is now aware of your thought-crime. Have a nice day.... in Guantanamo!

Do You Want the Terrorists to Win?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I'm disappointed I only got 98%

What Evah Happened to Gert Jonnys?

In the words of our lord and savior Jesus Christ "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!"

Leunig

Excelsior!!!!

Why I read the newspaper.

God bless 'em. I love articles like this.

Did Borat split Pam from Kid?
Jano Gibson
November 29, 2006 - 8:26AM

Is Borat to blame for the ex-Baywatch star Pamela Anderson's split from hubby-of-four-months Kid Rock?.....
....."Bob started screaming at Pam, saying she had humiliated herself and telling her, 'You're nothing but a whore! You're a slut! How could you do that movie?' - in front of everyone. It was very embarrassing.

Values added Liberally

Phil is refreshingly shrill

Once upon a time Australia was a terra that was wonderfully nullius. Nobody owned it and nobody lived there apart from a few Aborigines who, as well as having the misfortune to be black, hadn’t bothered to invent writing, the wheel or the Liberal Party. Nor did they speak English or share our wonderful Australian values. So if they were to arrive here now, in their funny canoes, we couldn’t let them in, could we?

Damn straight!!

Rove's October Surprise

I have worked out what Karl Rove's October surprise will be and I believe it involves this.

The madrassa attack which killed 80 young punks and, supposedly, some al'Queda hotshots was orchestrated by the US just before the election.

"Wha???" I hear you cry "That's not much of an October surprise!"

True, but I'm thinkin' that Karl's October surprise is not really an October surprise, it is more of a Feb., March or maybe April Surprise.

"What the fuck is he talking about?" you mutter under your breath.

I'll explain. It looks as if the Democratic Party is going to take either the House or the Senate or both in the election and this sucks for Karl & Co. so something big and bad is needed to place at the feet of the Dems. The Dems supposed (according to right-wing-nuts) big weakness is national security and an attack in the months after they take office will be a big glittery invitation to a turkey shoot for the Repubs (actually it will be more like the hunting scenes from "Danny the Champion of teh World" where Danny (Rove) feeds the pheasants (Dems) with sleeping pill laced raisins and goes around picking up the drugged pheasants (Dems) from the floor of the forest to be taken home, cooked, eaten and crapped out).

A US predator drone knocking-off 80 madrassa students (al'Queda or not) will piss off the crazies big time and I reckon that Karl and Co. are hoping that this will encourage them to have another crack at Yankee soil and create an opening for the wing-nuts to blame everything on the feckless Dems and possibly Michael Moore (cos he's fat).

The Great Trick

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the rubes that the media has a liberal bias.

Leunig

Leunig drew this cartoon in 1985. Hmmmm........................... We never imagined that such a thing could happen!!!!

Some memories never fade.

Memories of a better time....

If you look carefully you will see that I am the one in the blue cloak with the maroon body suit as you can tell by my dark and brooding countenance. And, yes, my real name is Jason.

Grunt.

"The most important thing any conservative writer can do today is convince people who think that we’re perfectly safe that we’re not." Dean Barnett

The most important thing that any liberal/progressive writer can do today is convince people and conservative writers that we've never been perfectly safe (Yes Virginia, there have always been terrorists and stingrays and there always will be terrorists and stingrays) and the shallow idea that taking away rights and freedoms will make us safer is false, it just changes the threat to us from nut-jobs in caves to nut-jobs (right-wing christofascist corporate thugs. Mebbee even left-wing thugs, just not as likely) in our own govt. and authorities.

Did you know......

A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body. Lucky little blighter.

Clinton urges Dems to question criticism

Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill....

You can lead an ass to the ring but you can't make it fight.

The fall of the Republic

Yesterday President G. W. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act into law, by doing this President Bush and the Republican led congress declared their emnity for the Constitution of the United States and the people of the United States and the world.

I admire the U.S. Constitution as probably the greatest document ever written and I also happen to like the American people (for the most part). By signing this document President Bush and any who support this law have made themselves just as much my enemy as Osama Bin Laden.

If you have a problem with that.... Step in the ring.

UPDATE: Someone asked me to clarify the Bin Laden comment so I will. Patrick Henry (if you don't know the name Google it) said "Give me liberty or give me death." Bin Laden wants me dead or Muslim (as a person who isn't a muslim this takes away my right to choose), Bush want to take away my rights to liberty. If you kill me I won't give a shit, but if you try to take my liberty.... Look Out!

Republican Gays are Closeted Dems
By Cliff Kincaid

...The party brought so-called gay Republicans into positions of power in Congress only to realize that the confidential information they held about a secret gay network...

...gay Republicans have occupied "crucial staff positions" in Congress and "have played decisive roles in passing legislation, running campaigns and advancing careers."...

...If you are getting the idea that gay Republicans may be closeted Democrats, then you are beginning to understand how the Mark Foley scandal could have been a Democratic Party dirty trick....

...gay Republicans are in reality "liberal activists" who want to use the party to advance the same homosexual agenda...

...Ominously, the Foley scandal suggests that this network has inside information about the sexual behavior of members of Congress and their staffers that can be exploited in order to create scandals at a moment's notice. Only now are House Republican leaders like Dennis Hastert beginning to understand the trap they may have gotten themselves into...

...Conservatives who blame Soros, the media or the Democrats for this debacle are whistling past the graveyard...

...Kolbe was the first closeted gay Republican to have been threatened and blackmailed by radical gay activists into coming out...

...Some liberal and left-wing groups, in addition to the gay Republican organizations,
seem fearful of what the investigation might uncover...

I can see where this is heading

In breaking news

Lieberman urges Dems to alter their ways


heh.

A poem by Moja in the early days of the war

...8.23.2003...

they are showing up...
in strange uniforms...
most of them brand new...
with little colored flags on their sleeves...
from far away places like portugal...
and estonia...
and south korea...
they are here in one'zees and two'zees...
little groups that stick together...
they walk around big eyed...
taking everything in...

the 'coalition of the willing' is finally starting to show up...
it's 6 months into this thing...
and i can't say that i blame them...
i remember seeing the first groups...
the south koreans...
or R.O.K. army as they are known...
in super crisp d.c.u.'s...
in the R.O.K. army you can be beaten for disobeying an order...
and it is mandatory that south korean men serve a term of service...
talk about scary...

the aussies are here...
in bigger numbers than the rest...
and they are some of my favorite...
i've never met a nation of people who are more friendly...
they would literally give you the shirt off their backs...
which...
coincidently i have tried to trade american camouflage uniforms for...
their camo pattern kind of resembles cow spots...
and i would love to have some of their pants...
to sport at the club...
they've also got the biggest floppiest hats you have ever seen...
there is so much brim to these things that the aussie soldiers don't even try to control it...
but i bet it keeps the sun off...
their weapons are straight out of the future...
a big difference from the M-16 which hasn't really changed much looks wise in the last 30 years...
one of the coolest features about the aussie weapon is the clear magazine...
you can see exactly how much ammo you have left...

i was just in the chow hall for breakfast...
and many different nationalities of soldiers were eating...
eyeing our american bacon...
wondering why it is burnt to a crisp...
and i was checking these soldiers out...
the balken and former soviet republic soldiers just have a certain look about them...
even if they weren't in uniform i could probably gather from the shape of their faces that they were definitely not american...

some of these countries wear the old skool american desert uniforms...
the cookie uniforms...
because they kind of look like chocolate chip cookies...
but they wear them very well...
and you can look right at these uniforms and see impeccable creases and unstained trousers...
they are brand spanking new and hot out of the factory...
i get the feeling these countries offering their support want to make a good impression...
they want to be seen as professional world powers...
and helpful allies...
but still they are only here...
so far...
in one'zees and two'zees...

but i wonder...
how many of my troops would i send from mojaland...
to take the burden off a country that started a war...
and quite possibly bit off more then their it's '1st world mouth' could chew...
how many troops would i be willing to quite possibly sacrifice so that american troops could hop on a plane...
and head back to the great states of america...
how willing would my coalition really be...
can i really blame them...

it would be nice to see whole butt loads of dutch soldiers...
and portuguese...
and macedonians...
and moroccans...
but i'm not going to hold my breath...
the bombing of the u.n. building was probably the dumbest thing the militants could of done...
i hope that the moron that thought up that ingenious plan to oust the occupying forces from iraq was driving the cement truck filled with explosives...
because someone who has that little common sense should not be in charge of other human lives...

i'm feeling an increased number of u.n. troops in this area in the near future...
and the tides of this war are a changing...
but maybe not so much in the ways that we would expect...
america doesn't want to relinquish it's power over this country...
but it also doesn't want the burden of rebuilding to fall solely on it's shoulders...
it wants it's cake and to eat it too...
preverbaly speaking of course...

i remember reading that the u.n. didn't want american support from our military...
it didn't want to be seen as part of our occupying force...
but i don't think that the militants care to much for world national groups...
or the subtle differences of outside forces now staking a 'claim' on a country thrown into chaos...
no matter how good for this country that 'claim' may be...
i just wish that these militants could see that it is a hell of a lot easier to destroy then it is to rebuild...
pushing a button and creating a crater takes no effort...
picking up a hammer and driving a nail...
well that takes work...

and maybe that advice could be tossed back and forth like a volley ball.

Riverbend.

Whether you loved Saddam or hated him, Baghdad tore you to pieces. Baghdad was burning. Baghdad was exploding…

Riverbend was blocked in China (like all "blogspot" sites) so I never had a chance to read her words (I am computer illiterate and didn't know of proxies until I came back to Oz).

Everybody should. Start at the beginning.

Hmmmm.....?

Lidle's passport was found on the street, according to a federal official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear who was at the controls and who was the second person aboard.

Why is it that only in New York do passport flutter down to the street to be quickly found after air tragedies?

Just askin'.

Dozens of Amish mourn schoolhouse killer

"It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed,"

Any right wing fucks who support Bush's war, promote intolerance, seek to screw education, healthcare and social security, support uncontrolled gun ownership, fear truth and generally oppose anything that will benefit humanity as a whole then proclaim their (superior style of) christianity should read this article and then grab the shotgun resting under the portrait of white, blue-eyed Jesus and remove themselves from the species.

BTW I am not a christian.

Will the reely, real christian please stand up........

Two of the survivors of the shooting told their parents that 13-year-old Marian Fisher, one of the slain girls, asked to be shot first, apparently hoping the younger girls would be let go, according to Leroy Zook, an Amish dairy farmer.

Attn: Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, Viguerie, Perkins, Graham, Colson, GWBush, etc.

This is how a christian is supposed to act, not by breeding fear, hate, intolerence and cowardice. All you evangelical lunatics (only the lunatics, some evangelicals are ok. Carter for example.) need a good dose of the salts.

Thnx ncl Sm :)(:

As my dear ol' nana woulda said ".....so if this boy, Sam, told you to jump off a cliff you'd think it's a good idea and do it, would you?"

On Sunday, Ruddock said that using sleep deprivation to extract information from a terror suspect was not torture. "I don't regard sleep deprivation as torture . . . it would be seen as coercive."

The distinction he drew between "torture" and "coercion" referred to the new US laws that ban the use of torture when interviewing terror suspects, but give the OK to something called "aggressive interrogation techniques". It was in the interests of providing clarity about which was which that Ruddock volunteered his considered view.

……..for he admitted that sleep deprivation could extract dud information. "Obviously the question would be looked at as to whether the evidence obtained that way had any probity value," he said.

Curiously, this inconsistency in his logic drew little attention. For if the legitimacy of the information you extract might be affected by the very means with which you extract it, surely that distinguishes your process from any legally sanctioned "aggressive interrogation technique".

Well, there you have it. The thing that reeely boggles my mind is that there are folks (see above) who actually believe that the US torture act and the way that the Howard Govt. blindly follow will in benefit us and be a valuable contribution to the "War on Trrr". Fuckin' Morans!!!