Sunday, October 7, 2012

Seek Not Inspiration from Marieke Hardy

A REMINDER to commenters: Please, watch your language.

It is impossible these days to ride public transport, walk the street, dine in a restaurant or watch the telly without being exposed to casual obscenity, so there is no need for more of it here. Those who cannot form a sentence without the procreative verb should put their energies into comedic screenplay treatments for the ABC, where foul speech is taken as the hallmark of wit.

That said, there are some some things that make it very hard to keep a civil tongue, but is still worth the effort.

35 comments:

  1. "If Liberal Party members come to recognise this and turn to Turnbull, their election victory will be assured."

    Voting for the Liberals with Turncoat as leader would just be like voting for Labor or the Greens. No thanks!

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  2. Professor, do you think the good Perry Stalis is able to see the names of all those decent and patriotic folk who have signed his petition?

    If so, do you think you could prevail upon him to supply you with the names so you could publish them for our elucidation?

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  3. Imagine, if you can, being assigned by The Canberra Times to report on the public service.

    Exactly how more dismal could your journalism career be?

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    Replies
    1. I wonder if Paul Malone knits his own grey cardigans?

      Or, being a progressive public service type with lefty tendencies, no chin, a paunch, thinning grey hair and little left of any masculine musculature - perhaps he excels in producing them via macrame instead.

      Gobsmacked of Gippsland

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    2. I read this CV after I'd posted below. It doesn't tell me much more than I already know about Malone and there's something oddly reticent about it. If I were interviewing him for a job, I'd be grilling him hard about it.

      Interesting that he is or was employed at the ANU, although he doesn't seem to have produced much since 2006. The ANU has an excellent reputation in medicine and the sciences, but it seems to use its humanities and administative departments as an income support and pension supplementation scheme for people like Malone.

      Delete
    3. "Exactly how more dismal could your journalism career be?"

      You could be a presenter on The Drum, or Bob Carr's speech writer :-)

      Delete
  4. Labor and the Left Luvies are salivating at the thought of Malcolm T making mischief or actually becoming Opposition leader again - as Mr Malone says, "a win at the election would then be assured."

    He's right... but it would not be by the Liberals.

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  5. The Old and Unimproved DaveOctober 7, 2012 at 2:38 PM

    Geez, Bunyip old man, if you're going to link to a page containing a side-bar mugshot of Edvard Munch's original model for 'The Scream', could you at least give us some sort of warning first?

    That said, if Weird Al ever decides to parody Akka-Dakka again, he could do worse than take as his subject the ABC screenwriters.

    "Dirty Screeds, Done Dirt Cheap....."

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  6. Many apologies for my previous commentary. It is a lazy man's word in its versatility.

    Interestingly enough, and as an aside, many if not most of the examples at the following link are from the Left.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck#Use_in_politics

    If that correlation isn't enough to change one's language use, I don't know what is.

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  7. Malone is a former public servant who for a short time was the CT's public service reporter and now bloviates on general topics in the Sunday edition, a journal whose audited circulation declined by 7.9% in the quarter to 30 June 2102 and that now sells around 29,000 copies per edition.

    We know very little about Malone's background experience or qualifications - he rang me a couple of times when I was a public servant, and he has an Irish accent - but he seems to be your typical CT opionionista - Bruce Haigh is another - a man in late middle age, with no obvious analytical or writing skills above the average, who suddenly pops up and starts orating. The concensus here - which may not be entirely fair - is that these people are all mates of the editorial staff who are down on their luck.

    Anyway, don't expect to hear anything from Malone that you wouldn't hear from any aging teacher of Australian Studies at a public high school and don't believe that anyone in Canberra actually reads this stuff!

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  8. I read that with disbelief this morning. It was in the Canbverra Times tho and that in itself is an explanation.

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  9. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.October 7, 2012 at 5:05 PM

    Peri Stalsis has been visited by many of the good, brave and wise. He is certainly a chap who keeps things moving along nicely, from my understanding of his place in the world. I do hope the comments on Perri's most carefully developed petition have kept to the required standard of civility that we see the good Professor Bunyip trying to re-instate. Hear ye, sinners. As custodian of such a place of retreat and renewal as the Billabong, the Bunyip must be respected and obeyed.

    Prof, so far I have done my best in this regard, but I will now be even more vigilant, although I must point out that my only swearing lapse recently has nowt to do with procreation (it refers to what gentlemen of a certain persuasion do together and, strangely, it seems quite socially acceptable, even making it to TV ads - but I will now eschew it completely). Thus will I endeavour to let not foul word or even an impure thought cross my flighting fingers as I join your attempt to fly high the standard of civilised discourse, with never an 'arch' or anything crude in sight, no siree.

    Except that effing robot-detector, as now, will yet defeat all of my well-meaning attempts to stay undefiled ....

    Oh feck, it's done it again.

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  10. Sorry it's taken so long to comment but I've only just finished cleaning up after reading Malone's trashy outpouring for MT.

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  11. TL;DR but caught this line:

    The polls show that, were an election to be held today, Abbott would win a comfortable majority.

    Naturally the SMH says the Liberals should therefore elect Turnbull as leader. The logic is impeccable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abbott has a winning lead, but when Turnbull actually was leader he never had any sort of winning lead. Therefore Fairfax experts tell us the Libs should replace Abbott with Turnbull to ensure a win.

      Yep, impeccable logic.

      The truth is they know the Libs will win and would prefer Turnbull. Simple as that. I can't remember ever feeling such contempt for journalists as I do lately. They must have dumbed down even more than teachers. Does anyone believe they are giving sincere and impartial advice to the Libs on how to ensure victory? Are we idiots?

      Pedro of Adelaide

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  12. Why do Greena voters presume the right to choose the leader of a party they will never support?

    This all stems from some sort of fantasy that the carbon tax is here to stay. Not only will it go, it will never be reintroduced.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The sick legacy of Bob Brown, Christine Milne, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard will be that, while the carbon tax will go, the higher prices we have been acclimatised/trained into paying will remain.

      No cororation will eschew the extra profit flowing from the mitigation of a major overhead. It will be the windfall that was always going to happen. The consumer has been proved capable of paying the higher price, and for this they will be grateful. Any other reaction would be seen as detrimental to shareholders.

      mr.simmon

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  13. Don't forget that these 'journalists' are writing stuff in a desperate attempt to keep their luvvies on side. The idea of Mal becoming leader of the Libs again is sick fantasy time for the mentally challenged. Ah. OK.

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  14. Two questions ....
    (1) What is the parallel universe which manages use the phrase "How governments create money" to describe the gouging of the diligent and hard-working?
    (2) How do you clean vomit off an I-pad?

    The Irish Lion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. Exercise greater caution in the first place; otherwise,
      2. http://www.theipadguide.com/faq/what-best-way-clean-my-ipad-screen

      Cheers

      Delete
  15. We don't need another Malcolm for Liberal PM. It's as simple as that.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Michelle Grattan, after outliving everyone, is passing through that last, rarely-seen physical phase where her body takes on the appearance of a pre-op transgender male.
    Can Fairfax seriously not afford a professional (and sympathetic) photographer for her byline pic? It's like Andrew Jaspan offered to do it for free.

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  17. After all of Tony's sweat and blood to put the Libs in front, Malone wants Turnbull to have the leadership. I know what I will do to the ballot paper on election day if MT gets the leadership - tear it into two halves and throw it in the ballot box. That would be my most decent contribution to MT in place of a foul word.

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  18. The Left want Turnbull because they see him as agreeable to their views. They want a time when after one of them finishes speaking during question time, they can look across the floor for Mr Turnbull, Leader of the Opposition, to stand up and say "I completely agree".

    Then all Lefties can safely sit back and sip lattes safe in the knowledge that everyone agrees with them and the world is a nice place that conforms to their view.

    A Leftie believes that they, and they alone, are correct. People who disagree with them confuse and annoy them as they can't see how anyone would think differently. A Right, when faced with people who disagree with them, tends to ignore them and get's on with their lives.

    Poor Lefties. So determined to have everyone think the same they can't accept that the reason they might be dying in the polls is that THEY are the one's who need to change.

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  19. They other hard truth the Left will never accept is that their long term best future is to hope they suffer a Queensland style Total Extinction Event result come next Fed election.

    The stain of the complete failure of the Rudd/Gillard period needs to be removed from the public image of the ALP and the only way to do that is to have some 80% of them kicked out on the street. Only then might the ALP be able to actually successfully represent a worthy sized block of the voting public again.

    Let's face it kids, the current party of the Workers is the Liberals. The ALP is now the party for the Lattes and the union elites and, as it shows in the current low primary vote for the ALP, that group is not a representive of mainstream Australia.

    Hard fact Lefties, YOU are the one's killing your party.

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  20. Paul Malone? He would say that, wouldn't he?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous at 1:25am has it right.

    I shocked a small group of (progressive) people yesterday who were assuming Malcolm Turnball would make the Libs a shoe in by simply saying "then I won't vote Libs, but more conservative".

    Aside from the fact that MT hasn't done the hard yards and had the Coalition in a losing oposition, the fact that a few lefties prefer him over Abbott but would then vote Green-Labour anyway is not relevant to Lib leadership strategy.

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  22. Two comments if I may. I have been a member of the Libs for most of 40 years. I have tilted at pre-selection. I pester politicians with policy suggestions. But about 2 years ago I told the secretary that if Mr Turnbull stays as leader, I am leaving the party. Sure, if he comes to Mt Gracious to talk, I will go and listen (the more feedback he receives, the better) - but I still will not lend support to a party that makes him its leader.

    The petition. I surmise that most readers already know that the definition of peristalsis holds the clue.

    Cheers, y'all.

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  23. "There is an obvious reason why these figures should be taken with a big grain of salt. When asked whether they prefer Rudd or Gillard, committed Coalition supports tend to nominate Rudd as a way of undermining the current Labor leader. Similarly, committed Labor supporters say they prefer Turnbull over Abbott."

    Is there really any more that need be said?

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  24. I know this is a silly question but what position does Malone hold in the Turnbull train?
    He writes as if he is on the payroll.

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  25. I'd vote ALP or even Green, before I voted for a party led by Malcolm Turnbull.

    I'm amazed at the people who think he has any goodwill in him at all, beyond what's good for Malcolm.

    He is quite the salesman though, look at all the Green and ALP people who think he's wonderful, makes you want to dust off your carpetbag and go and separate them from any money they have.

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  26. Malcolm Turnbull,
    Centrefold of the year for the left. So they can pin him to their bedroom walls panting and swooning over him.
    Malone-baloney.

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  27. Good to take a stand on Parliamentary language, Prof! Mind you, what constitutes Parliamentary language is becoming more and more blurred. Given the nature of a government dependent on the support of those away with the Faeries, would Slippery rule in or out references likening The Yabbie to a Green-lipped Muscle?

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  28. It's obvious that Fauxfax dill doesn't know that 400,000 emails caused the spill in leadership of the Liberals and they came from people like me wwho made it plain we wouldn't support Turnbull supporting Rudd What has changed to make us want him back in the saddle again?
    Go Tony!

    ReplyDelete