Billablog

This week I have been mostly reading...

'The day I meet you in the emergency department will probably be one of the worst of your life' Read this one. It's worth it.

Australia:
Coalition proposes reducing childcare payments to rich families

Kings Horses – The Dark Side Of The Melbourne Cup

Modelling from Curtin University shows lifting the GST rate from 10 to 15 per cent could add nearly $4000 to the average family budget.

What if Aboriginal people helped all Australians to connect to country?

Human teeth found in meal served to asylum seekers on Manus Island

Nationals risk losing voters over coal seam gas, Greens leader Richard Di Natale says

Grave fears held for Melbourne Cup runner Red Cadeaux

Melbourne Cup is not the problem

Red Cadeaux pulls through Melbourne Cup injury

Pyne has 'no friends on other side'

Raising GST to 15% 'will cost poorest families 7% of disposable income'

The problem when everything is on the table - in which Laura Tingle compares the new Liberal policy debate to Mr Creosote in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

Question Time a ‘playground’ when you’re trained for war like Captain Mona Shindy

Raising the GST is pointless if done to cut taxes on the rich

US:
Republican Translator: Your Go-To Guide For Understanding GOP Catchphrases

Massive crack opens in Wyoming mountains

University Releases Orwellian Social Media Policy, Hopes Students Are Too Dumb To Fight

To Save Campaign, Jeb Bush Hires TV Wizard Who Trains Fox News Anchors

Why Libertarianism is Extreme Conservatism

'Iron-ass' Cheney and 'arrogant' Rumsfeld damaged America, says George Bush Sr

UK:
Mum and I were relieved to get a council home - today's homeless families won't be so lucky

World:
Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away?

Ahmed Chalabi, Iraqi exile who helped spur U.S. invasion, dies of heart attack

Unhappy? Welcome to Bhutan – the nation of 90% joy

We Took Part In An Australian Aid Program. It Was More About Helping Your Country Than Ours

Canada's New Minister Of Defense Is This Badass Sikh-Canadian Warrior

Canon Andrew White: 'Vicar of Baghdad' on leading a church in Iraq and being in the crosshairs of Isis “If you want to make peace, you can’t just do it with the nice people. Nice people don’t cause the wars.”

Music:
Autistic and Epileptic, In a Rock Concert

Media:
Margaret Pomeranz: the feisty first lady of the Australian screen tells why she couldn't stay away

New 'Star Trek' TV series coming in 2017

8 Things the New Star Trek TV Series Must Have

How Trevor Noah Is Making The Daily Show His Own, Without Changing It Completely

Jon Stewart signs deal with HBO to create 'short-form digital content'

Kitchen Cabinet is good but may not be good for you

Kerry O'Brien resigns from ABC, taking his many awards but leaving a legacy

Kerry O'Brien leaves ABC's Four Corners program after five years as presenter

Society:
It's only an awkward society that believes Stevie Payne needs to be a 'joyous beacon'

Germaine Greer is ruining the world again

Culture:
Was Jar Jar Binks the most powerful Sith in Star Wars?

Tech:
Hello, I’m Mr. Null. My Name Makes Me Invisible to Computers

History:
Malcolm Fraser delivers proof John Kerr lied over the dismissal

Education:
VCE maths problem: Can you solve the 50 cent question?

Animals:
Here’s why dogs tilt their head to the side

Guinness Is Going Vegan - The point this article misses is that it's not consuming trace amounts of fish that it the problem, so much as the process requires dead fish.

Mental health:
13 Things to Remember If You Love A Person With Anxiety

Humour and satire:
Henry Rollins Driving App Tells You How Hard It Would Have Been to Get There in the 80’s

Melbourne Cup 2015: a heartwarming, rags to riches rollicking horsey tale - Yep, it's complex.

Clickbait of the week:
This Spoof Kids Book About Hipsters Is Hilarious

I got stupid on me and now I'm wiping it off on you:
Malcolm Turnbull's 1999 referendum loss behind dumping knights and dames: David Flint

Tony Abbott, the 'opinion and thought leader' should stay in Parliament, says Eric Abetz

Ridicule of Tony Abbott's religious beliefs is 'bigotry at its most shameless', says George Brandis - Yes, THAT George "people have the right to be bigots" Brandis.

Ben Carson believes Joseph built Egypt’s pyramids to store grain — and it just might get him some votes - Carson can't possibly be as dim as he comes across but it goes to show you can be brilliant at one thing and awful on most other ways. He and Dawkins deserve each other.

The least boring photo on my camera roll:

Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) October 8, 2015

Oh, for pity’s sake Rupert! Do you have to make it so bloody easy?

I would have thought that to be as rich and powerful as you are, one would have to have at least a modicum of sense. Oh well, you know what they say about assumptions. Or are you playing the ‘doddery old man who, despite a 60-year reputation for being a control freak, doesn’t know what’s going on in his own businesses’ shtick that you pulled in front of the Leveson inquiry?

For you, and anyone else who needs to be told, here are the rules:

If you renounced your citizenship in order to own a television network, you don’t get to talk about who is real.

If you took up citizenship of another country, not because you love the country or believe in its values, but to expand your personal empire, you don’t get to talk about who is real.

If you frequently use the word “we,” when referring to the concerns of Australia, and of Britain, and of the United States, you don’t get to talk about who it real. I’m all for internationalism but you have made your choice.

If you’re an old white man, you don’t get to decide what makes a “real” black man. I thought you might have learnt that from your minion at Southbank after he came unstuck doing something similar. Oh, but who am I kidding?

Finally – and this is for anyone – if you’ve found a black person you like, that doesn’t prove you’re not a racist. In fact, using the “Look, here’s a black person I agree with, so I’m totally not a racist,” angle is actually pretty racist. We might not have thought you were until you brought it up. You might as well tell us who some of your best friends are, and how much you liked The Cosby Show or Michael Jackson before he went all funny.

And one last thing, Rupert: Don’t ever call yourself Australian again. I know you like to claim to still be Australian when it’s convenient to you but you are not. You said so, under oath without purpose of evasion, on September 4th, 1985. So don’t talk to anyone else about being real.

Billablog

07 November, 2015

Thinking of linking

01 November, 2015

Thinking of linking

25 October, 2015

Thinking of linking

18 October, 2015

Thinking of linking

11 October, 2015

Thinking of linking

08 October, 2015

The Rules: Keeping it real

07 October, 2015

Clichés Translated