According to the Daily Telegraph – Chaz jumped from his rescuers’ car and into the arms of Mr Barr, who struggled to hold back tears. Apparently Jen’s sister (the girl on the ground with her feet in the air) said:
He’s an amazing boy.
Jen – good to see you back on the page and good to see your sister’s ok too!
Hugs all around.
“sure” as hell….pre-coffee spelling is atrocious!
On the collapse of America front, I notice that AIG is now so far down the toilet, shares at 53 cents, and losses piling higher than the fabled towers of Babylon, that you have to wonder if the US government made a prudent decision to ’save’ it. Apparently selling it’s assets is tough in this environment! Who would have thought it????
The next few weeks are going to be very tough, but here’s a predication I saw some years back, and thought it may have been a little ‘out there’:
We will eventually see gold higher than the Dow!
…and you know what, with gold heading over the 1,000 and the Dow ready to break 7,000, it’s actually looking like it may indeed come to pass. Some commentators are looking to see the Dow hit 1,000, by which time gold will be 2 or 3 thousand!
Yikes…..interesting times, as the Chinese say.
Kirri, as we blog, axis-of-evilers possessing expertise in the ancient art of alchemy, are perfecting an undetectable airborne metallo-virus which aggressively seeks out and retro-transmutes gold into lead. Probably explains why the custodians of Fort Knox have such a strict profiling policy when hiring help.
————————————————————-
Feb 23: Soldiers get paid whether they’re home or abroad. Same as the recently re-branded Blackwater mercenaries a.k.a. Xe mercs (pronounced “zee” apparently in their inspired attempt at slaughter-chic). United Mercs of Benetton.
Military-Industrial corps only suck down a fat profit when the hardware and ammo orders keep rolling in and are paid for. ‘Twould be a travesty for Warmongers-R-Us if “already spoken for” taxpayer-sourced Treasury monies were diverted from Lockheed, Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel, the Carlisle Group and other blood profiteers in order to fund un-necessary expenditure on infrastructure, education, health and the non-polluting renewable energy opportunities afforded by the sun, wind and tidal surges.
Can’t gouge a profit from what people can source for free. Just ask Linux.
Help screw a psychopathic corporate exploiter today!
There’s nothing like the satisfaction that comes from legally by-passing The Man, from helping to sustain our planet’s future…..and telling all your peers about it afterwards.
Let your inner bush-ranger roam free. Bootleg all your domestic energy requirements from the sun. Let “drill baby drill” oil-wise and “surge baby surge” war-wise become long faded echoes from the corporate Neanderthals who are most strident that’s it’s OK to keep fouling our biosphereic nest.
Do they shit all over the walls and ceilings in their own nests? Not bloody likely.
Then maybe it’s not such a great idea to stand-by gawking and tugging our forelocks while our Pale Blue planetary home is destroyed by the end-products (XS CO2 etc.) of the spoils of never-ending wars over the control of M.E. oil and gas.
Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it’s off to war we go….
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/jeffdanziger;_ylt=AlsKsdUnMxZa.sq0QwP5wdXX.sgF
more on Politico
Good to see someone with a positive outlook on the Democrats.
I loved this New Yorker piece about Rahm Emmanuel. It’s fascinating not just for the picture it creates about Emmanuel, but for the juicy details on the machinations of the White House.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/02/090302fa_fact_lizza
Way OT, but far too funny not to share.
via today’s Crikey.
Microsoft’s answer to falling sales?
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/What-Would-A-Microsoft-Store-Look-Like/
This is exactly what we need to hear, even though we already may have suspected as much.
may need to be registered.
more on the New York Times
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/67134
Fzzzsst…….
http://images.inmagine.com/168nwm/iris/stockconnection-002/ptg00102879.jpg
http://pil.phys.uniroma1.it/~emmcapp/kaboom.gif
Oops! Upsy Daisy, here….. gee that was a surprise, let me help you brush yourself off. As a revenue producing unit and valued customer you would expect a lot more from that Citi mob….there…..that’s better, did they hurt you?
Hey, you’re looking better already, great threads btw, now please, step over here and take a butcher’s at how they fleece, fillet and feed off an otherwise perfectly good system—- at Galaxy Bank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou3TukauccM&feature=PlayList&p=1F4870B15F30F7F8&index=2
I would like to draw everyone’s attention to this American Fundamentalist group that is operating in Australia.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52068304715#/group.php?gid=52068304715&ref=nf
read the whole story on CQ Politics
705
Good story KatieLou
The good news keeps rolling in.
read the whole story on ABC News
jen
The !GB project is still alive and well.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Open-Memo-to-Eric-Holder-by-Stephen-Pizzo-090223-98.html
Galaxy Bank…we snare!
Ecky, I think in the case of Citi, it’s a case of a supernova gone from one galactic orgasm to a red dwarf in a matter of months!
more of this story on the EU Observer
It’s amazing to see articles in the mainstream financial media saying things like:
We’ve been through this before. The stock-market crash of 1929 may be more familiar to us, but the current climate reminds history buffs more of 1837. In that panic, Americans lost faith in banks after an epidemic of real-estate speculation. Nearly half the nation’s banks failed.
History is repeating itself. As a society, we put too much faith in credit and speculation, and not enough in the value of savings.
This is nothing new. The idea of profit without work is as old as money.
…one could say the oldest profession resides on Wall Street, they sure have screwed just about everyone! LOL
If anyone is interested in the European Elections, here is an EU Forums site. The EU has two main parties the center left and the center right. Then lots of smaller groups including the Greens which have about 40 seats the far left about 40 and similar groupings on the right. Which makes for a right old mish mash. Oh, and the Liberals (not connected to our Liberals).
read it on Europa
Here is a better breakdown of parties.
on Wikipedia
read the entire article on EU Business
The crisis of credit, visualised.
Via today’s crikey.
Fun stuff that even I could understand…..(unfortunately)
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0zEXdDO5JU&e
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhDkZjKBEw&e
McCain wants Obi to cut back on his fleet of presidential choppers.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/23/mccain-grills-obama-on-ma_n_169267.html
Video
719
Paddy
Good shit.
I now feel confident enough to jump into a serious debate with Kirri.
Turdblossom is a no show on his subpoena. Now Barry has to decide on Feb 4th whether to send Chuck Norris to haul him in.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/24/karl-rove-skips-house-jud_n_169365.html
719 paddy Scary shit.
719 paddy It’s interesting to see you thank Crikey for something You Tube presented.
Bush is trying to do exactly what Nixon tried to do. Because you are President you can’t be guilty of anything as you are in charge.
I wonder if Hitler considered the same issue in his final days?
Poor Senator Barnyard Joystick’s getting wedged by Tony Jones on Lateline tonight! LOL
The Opposition is so riven on the ETS and climate change in general, it’s hysterical. To hear Barnyard crying that we’ll all be rooned with Rudd’s ETS is bordering on comic.
When we really need an intelligent debate we get this drivel.
Lucky country, not.
Brilliant Youie quinella, paddy. Incredible the number of otherwise rational folk who were swept away by the greed-fueled groupthink that lured them to do their arses.
———————————
Good call Mister Deputy Shadow Treasurer:
OK, a rant:
The AB friggin’ C has really done a sloppy job on this one. Tonight on Lateline, ostensibly doing a bit of ‘fair and balanced’ on the Conroy Net Filter, they dragged out this middle class mum and primary school aged daughter, and let this vacuous woman tell us that she had friends who are very concerned about what their kids might see on the net, but in the next breath, they’re too ‘busy’ (!) to install a filter themselves.
So clearly, the government MUST do it for them!
Crikey, I’ve heard some lame shit in my time, but that didn’t pass any kind of smell test.
Was this Lateline’s attempt at subtle irony????
Maybe they could interview me: “it took five minutes to download, install, and configure a perfectly good filter that won’t let my five old visit porn or gambling sites. The eight year old wouldn’t be interested in them anyhow.”
“Oh, yeah, the government provided the software free”
…but that would just tell people what they could do for themselves, and hey, why not waste millions ’saving’ kids, when it will do no such thing.
END of RANT
Yes – good to see Barney Banana performing well.
724
Chris B Says:
In these troubled times for media Chris, I believe in giving a plug to any “pay for” media site that I think is doing a good job.
Crikey seems to have a (possibly) viable business plan and so when they point me to a good link, I feel they should get some credit.
They’re also the only online news source that I actually pay for.
Partly because I think the writing’s good, but mostly because they’ve got Australia’s finest online cartoonist.
The fabulous, furry, first dog on the moon.
Nothing like a good old-fashioned tip-off to undermine the fiscal regulators:
http://www.truthout.org/022409J
Paddy
)
719,
Excellent…though scary….clip.
Clear,concise.
Wonder if they could also do one on carbon credits,etc. ?
(Even better would be one on how to set up computer wizardry, a
la Kirri, so that the rest of us mere mortals can maximise our PC enjoyment….
Oh, and Gaffy, re ‘the nanna-naps’ the answer is “No”, though love the ideal of the ’siesta’…but chance is a fine thing!
Suspect if you lived too close to backpacker heaven, your nights too would be disturbed by grog-laden howlers straggling home from late-closing pubs. Have found them passed out on my back-porch, flaked out on road below…..and worry at how oblivious most of us are when our offspring go out with their friends on Fri/Sat nights. I love my drop but to see the vulnerability of young girls , on their own,utterly plastered outside hotels scares the hell out of me and I just hope they are well and truly contracepted up to their eye-balls!!
Timely article as we look into the financial abyss …..
“Reinventing Wealth”
which examines the present diverging views on wealth and the need for a new cohesive set of values to rise to meet future challenges.
Includes snapshots…..
Progressive’s perspective-
“Wealth is wellbeing.
Wealth is seen as the well-being of individuals, society and the earth. Wealth is already present in nature; it is not “created.” Clean air and water, strong communities and fertile soils are inherently valuable because our well-being depends on them – independent of markets.
Conservative’s perspective:
Wealth is Material Accumulation
Wealth is seen as (1) money accumulated by corporations and their investors; (2) “created” through resource extraction and labor; and (3) owned by whomever controls it. ”
http://www.truthout.org/022409A
728 Kirribilli Removals Saw that couldn’t agree more with your perspective. They also roped in someone from the Christian Lobby. Duh! Why not rope in someone from this mob as well, just as relevant.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52068304715#/group.php?gid=52068304715&ref=nf
730 paddy I hope they give you a discount.
731 megan What can I say, gross incompetence, criminal negligence?
735 Let’s get Al Qaeda’s view on the firewall as well.
read the entire story on The Huffington Post
736
Chris B
Well naturally Chris.
I’m on a pension, so it’s half price.
731
megan. Every time another steaming turd from the halcyon days of the Bush administration emerges, I (foolishly) think…..Surely, they couldn’t seriously think that they weren’t going to get caught.
Just goes to show what happens when you put a monkey in charge of the banana shop.
read the rest in The Huffington Post
Is Jon Stewart The George W. Bush Of Oscar Hosts?
more on The Huffington Post
742 Watch out for a surge of young American females looking for some more of that Hugh Jackman types. Boys we’ve now got a reputation we have to keep up, so to speak.
Obama and Rudd have got it wrong. Both are trying to attract the middle ground and moderates, by doing things to please them. The Internet filter is one of them. What they should be doing is bringing in good policies that work, then the middle ground will move over regardless. The ABC is another issue, not being tackled, so as not to disturb the middle ground.
This is a good one to pass on to your friends. It helps makes sure McDonalds pays out one way or another.
find the whole story and the video on The Huffington Post.
Barry’s popularity is 10% higher than the Imbecile and Clinton were at this stage of their Presidency.
The majority polled want him to now ignore the Repugs and get on with his program.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Poll-Public-Supports-Obam-by-Rob-Kall-090224-626.html
megan, dug the Truthout link on “Reinventing Wealth.” Duly filed and copied for future exchanges with neo-neanderthal Mammonists and “flutterdown” cargo cultists.
—————————————
Feb 24: Benny “Call me Nuke” Netanyahu; peacemaker, a leader with whom the MIC can do business.
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/jeffdanziger;_ylt=AuEDTfhP.21D5rj3kCj1c67V.i8C
Feb 23: Winning the hearts and minds of your typical Pashtun wedding party; an ongoing initiative with “advisors” and complimentary photography.
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/tedrall;_ylt=AhVSwKk_ukGRoair1QA7qCPV.i8C
Feb24:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/tomtoles;_ylt=AhS.VhMOBjqplLMd.pjQ6eTV.i8C
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20090224_harsh_medicine/
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/patoliphant;_ylt=AjrqRIff.LS4nOIiV6y0iubV.i8C
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/67083
——————————————
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/67162
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre51n23m-us-nasa-satellite/
Orbiting Carbon Observatory fails to acheive orbit.
Very disappointing.
They will not get another $250 million to build another and send it up – not any time soon, at any rate.
Oh dear!
Alan Kohler cries FIRE in the crowded superannuation theater.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Delayed-wealth-destruction-$pd20090225-PKRKJ?OpenDocument&src=sph
To quote a certain well known singer……
“Sometimes people can be so unkind.”
http://www.crikey.com.au/Media/images/pyne2-c1c5ad19-75a8-47b0-bb27-c4497dd13b29.jpg
:mrgeen:
Obama’s address now on live here.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/
Well that was a bit late. (only caught the last 5 mins)
No doubt there will be a full video repeat soon.
748
David Gould
Bugger.
The only way I would have approved of it failing is if it happened to fall on Andrew Bolt…that would be worth it!
Think of all the gaseous emissions the planet would have been spared.
The full text of President Obama’s address:
Here on Huffpo.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/24/obama-speech-tonight-vide_n_169671.html
748 David Gould Funny it would be one that tracks carbon emissions.
Obama’s speech is fairly well received per the editorial in NY times – though there was no expansion on what Obama plans to do with the banks.
Meanwhile, huge favourables for Obama from a CNN poll carried out on people’s reactions to the speech.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/24/225515/637/244/701488
Poll: Michelle Obama Most Popular First Lady in Decades
A CBS NY Times poll reports that Michelle Obama, at this early stage in her husband’s presidency, is the most popular First Lady of all recent first ladies.
The poll reports, “49% have a favorable opinion of her, while only 5% hold a negative view.” And “…44% are undecided or don’t know enough about Michelle Obama yet to have an opinion of her.”
This compares to other recent first ladies:
Laura Bush 30% favorable
Hillary Clinton 44% favorable
Barbara Bush 34% favorable
Nancy Reagan 28% favorable
read more about that poll right here on Op Ed News
Michelle can be used in women’s magazines, to put more women in touch with the US presidency than ever before.
Just by her mere presence in the magazines.
Mind you I just looked at those figures in Daily Kos. Does he need any help?
It would be more useful for conspiracy theorists if it had been a satellite dedicated to tracking Karl Rove …
Just remember: high levels of popularity three years and eight months out from an election do not mean much. His popularity could plummet to 53 per cent by the election, for example.
KR, re your rant @ 728:
The woman is even more clueless than she seems for there are already ISPs which can offer a filtered service, negating any need to setup a home based filter. The woman in the Lateline interview is even too feckin’ lazy to inform herself of this option. It’s just horrifying what the Rudd government is going to do to our internet infrastructure, in order to swing a few votes from these dunderheads.
Like-wise remember, dear David, that we are dealing with a published intellectual here, and not an Imbecile who claims to have read “three Shakespeares and a Camus”.
The times mightn’t smile upon The Kid but he’s got the smarts to make the most of the hand he’s been dealt.
Unless the “53%” to which you refer is a cryptic shot at Anna Bligh whose mob are 53/47 in latest Newspol?
Just a coincidence – I popped for a figure 10 per cent below his current figure (which is still as high as any other recent – and probably every – president).
I suspect that Obama has less chance of losing the next election than Bligh has of losing this one – and, after having a look at Possum, it is clear that Bligh will not lose this one.
I also suspect that the timing of things for Obama is actually pretty darn good. He comes in right at the start of the economic collapse, and has four years for it to play itself out. This leaves him with plenty of elbow room, so to speak.
On the internet filter thing, it could simply be that Labor have realised that the left will never not preference them over the Liberals, that the Greens are not a serious threat for any House seat but Tanner’s and that if they can steal a few thousand or so arch-conservative votes from the Liberals then they will be in power until Jesus returns ….
Slightly off topic but i wish i had the power to send some of our rain down south. We are in the middle of another downpour which has so far dumped 50mm and more and we are getting it nearly every day.
I feel so sorry for youse Mexicans.
761
And preferably stuck up his arse!
I think we’ve all got a handle of the politics of the filtering situation, David. Even still, the reckless cynicism is astounding. What happens when Labor really needs conservative votes to keep power, do they bring back capital punishment? If this filter gets up then nothing can be discounted, particularly with expedient stooges like Arbib making their way through the ranks.
I’m never astounded by cynicism in politics.
There is also the bizarre possibility that Labor are doing this because at heart they are a bunch of religious conservatives who sincerely believe in this nonsense …
To be honest, of the two options, I would rather that they were being cynical bastards.
Perhaps we should be proud of the government, David. For this is world first cynicism for a liberal democracy.
761 David Gould Who mention conspiracy? It’s just your mind.
There would be huge money available to pay for anyone to stop it. Coal and oil industries for starters.
762 David Gould Spot on. Two years is a very long time in politics.
Obama has his election in four years, but there is another one in two years which includes 1/3 of the senate. The Democrats are in a position to pick up 5 senate seats. With the big potential for even more.
When the election happened in the depression. The Republicans ended up with 16 senate seats.
This is huge. YES!
read the whole story on The Hill
Bush was actually trying to help domestic abusers getting weapons.
“Today, the Supreme Court sided with abused women and children and against the gun lobby,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), a gun control advocate and the author of the original amendment.
“Today’s decision means we can continue keeping guns out of dangerous hands and saving innocent lives.”
Is there no end to that arse hole. Fuck George Bush.
The good thing is, police would know which criminals beat their wives girl friends children. I suspect their will be quite a large number of domestic abuse cases coming up.
I’ve just been looking at the Votemasters senate page, there is 8 seats for the taking by the Democrats. This includes Ohio, Pennsylvania and Alaska. Palin may go into Alaska, which will knock that out. Its not to sure what the Repugs are doing in Florida. They may not get a high profile person in there. Anyone with any sense would see how the wind blows before committing themselves. But then Republicans and sense don’t seem to go together well.
From the Votemaster.
more on the Votemaster
767 gaffhook This Mexican thanks you for your thoughts.
761 David Gould There is also a huge number of Bush climate change deniers still alive and well.
766
David Gould.
The other side of that coin David is that there just might be the same number few thousandALP voters who do lodge a protest vote over it which could tip it the other way.
There isn’t much in this world that i have not been exposed to and a few runs ashore in Subic Bay in to Olongapo when we did not have the internet took care of that.
I am not concerned about what they are using for the trojan to get the filters in. I am more interested as to what happens to blogs like this where we eventually will not be able to communicate with each other the way we do now.
Once it is there both parties will use it for political censorship.
No doubt you have seen or experienced trying a post on a Tugger Bolt or Ackerman’s blog when the post does not lean the right way. It just gets moderated in to cyberspace.
Fuck internet censorship and fuck anyone who wants to do it.
see the full list of groups on Op Ed News.
Fuck George Bush fuck Steven Conroy.
It’s amazing how fast everyone wants the EU process to move now. Previously it was bogged down and looked to be undergoing a crisis. The Lisbon Treaty was failing. Lisbon Treaty is the new EU rules. Now everyone wants the EU to put down the accelerator.
.
read the whole article in the EU Observer
Maybe the economic crisis in the long run will have done more good than bad. It’s giving Obama a much freer hand to do what he wants to do than he would have got previously. After the next senate election (barring any unforeseen reversals) Obama and the Democrat will have Carte blanche. The speeding up of the European Union after its malaise for the last few years is awesome. Both of them combined together is massive. No stopping the NEW WORLD ORDER!
read more of this on EU Business
read more of this story on the Parliament
more of this twisted countries story on BBC News
POOR GEORGE BUSH.
more Justin Webb on BBC News.
more about this idiot catholic bishop on BBC News
He, he, he, the pope never makes misteakes. He is infallible. Nobody questions the pope. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
more on The Huffington Post
more on The Huffington Post
A Vanno representative put together this chart:
I hate to see a health food companies reputation dented like this.
Anyone noticed how everything keeps falling Obama’s way.
read more of this article in The Guardian
Don’t ya just love it. Allbull, Fugu Joe and Bishop have been pumped full of Adrenalin! the last couple of days and savaging Fitzgibbon over defence pays. They have been crowing to the rooftops about it.
Then one of their own, dear Brenda comes out in show of disciplined party unity and backs Fitzgibbob. HaHaHa.
Some days it doesn’t pay to get outa bed heh!
http://www.smh.com.au/national/they-dont-follow-orders-nelson-opens-fire-on-top-brass-20090225-8hzh.html
OT… am I the only one who searches high and low for Oz-manufactured, in fact manufactured anywhere, but China?
Having lived for years in both Hongkong and Japan, and loving both places, it is a matter of quality , and thereby sustainability ,that drives me. Plus the danger of one country having almost a monopoly on manufacturing. There are so many other countries with cheap labour that we could outsource to, (IF we must..such as East Timor, Bangladesh, etc.), but am concerned at the loss of skills and know-how in this country over the long-term.
Maybe here is a chance to set up a “Cobber’s” cooperative with textile locals selling direct to the public…..quality basics,a la Bonds, but with superior thread and fabrics that LAST. Quality not quantity. Use the best design, not fashion, and I’ll be the first knocking at your door.
As it is , I spend too much time looking at labels, but rarely find.
Oh, and I like to support countries who “Do the right thing” by looking at first three numbers on barcodes, even in supermarkets, to make sure my hard-earneds don’t support those whose actions I disapprove of. Helps identify countries of source, though not necessarily of manufacture.
http://www.makebarcode.com/specs/ean_cc.html