Urban Kvetching

Oh Malcolm, not again!

Mr Fraser yesterday returned fire, saying Mr Leibler’s attitudes would result in
continued conflict, warfare and terrorism. “It is time Israel and America learnt
that if a country has confidence in itself, in the justice of its objectives,
talking with people involves no risk. Failure to talk represents lack of
confidence, lack of conviction and a weakness that can have tragic
consequences.” Mr Fraser also called on others to speak out.

(Read complete article here)

Malcolm, Malcolm where do I start? And how do I get through this post without making a single pants joke? I shall try my best, just for you.

I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, and others are in turn entitled to a response. However, inconsistency and hypocrisy do not a good argument maketh, nor does reacting like a snotty teenager. On one hand you have previously asserted it is known “Islamic fundamentalists… won’t be changed by logical argument” but then go on to argue we should talk to Hamas. Oh Malky, what is to be done?*

Now pray tell, how do you propose politicians “talk” to an organisation whose whole raison d’etre is the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a militant Islamist theocracy? Don’t believe me? Go read their charter. I mean really, the world needs another Iran as much as it needs another Britney Spears album.

By the way, your talks with Mugabe achieved what exactly? Nope, no tragic consequences there. Oh wait, what talks? I guess that someone else’s job now, innit mate?

The Chardonnay must taste pretty good up there in that ivory tower, Malcolm.

* Communist connotation intentional.

UPDATE

How does one talk to folk like this Mr Fraser?

Recently, after a period of about 2 days with merely 6 hours sleep, I responded in a
long winded and, er, creative manner to an amusing bunch of truncated stereotypes
Aras used to try and make a point on a mutual friend’s blog.

I maintain I wrote it sober, but Aras doesn’t believe me.

It’s no secret that I enjoy getting on the turps when possible, hence I would have no
problem saying I had written it wasted (I would have been quite proud had I done so
actually), but it got me to thinking;

Who believes extreme tiredness and inebriation can have the same or similar effect on brain function?

(You can read the offending document after the jump)

Read the rest of this entry »

Words escape me.

Möge Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager in Friede ruhen.

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”

At least he tried.

May he rest in peace.

Comrade Ken Livingstone, noted member of the Radical Moonbat Gallery, and total dickwad, just lost.

Lost… lo… los… los… lost. See, I’m so happy I can barely type!

Boris is London mayor as he routs Red Ken to complete Gordon Brown’s
day of misery

Boris Johnson capped a cataclysmic day for Labour by seizing power in London last
night, and left Gordon Brown facing a desperate fight for survival.

The Old Etonian handed David Cameron a stunning political triumph by ousting
veteran mayor Ken Livingstone.

Mr Johnson won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr
Livingstone’s 1,028,966 on a record turnout.

(Read the rest of the article here)

Is 3:30 in the afternoon too early to crack open a bottle of bubbly?

Nazdrovya!

This one is from my favourite goat, Andy B, over at Spatula City blog, a leading subsidiary of the esteemed Spatula Publishing Conglomerate.

White men can’t
Friday, 2nd May 2008 at 11:02 PM
Posted by Andy B in General Crap

So, there I was today half watching Channel 10 5pm news, and half having a
conversation with someone about the cleanliness of sticking a finger up ones
arse, when some news story (ie, filler) came on about some charity walk for
sufferers of Bipolar disorder.

Turns out that they are sending a group of these sufferers on a bridge climb across Sydney
Harbour Bridge.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the top of a tall fucking bridge the last place you want
someone with bipolar?

No really, Andy’s a goat.

If anyone buys this I will personally come to your house and punch you in the face.

I don’t know how to explain, but this is gold!

Berlin to Name Street After 1968 Revolutionary Dutschke

A court in Berlin has given permission for the city to name a street after one of Germany’s most famous student revolutionaries, Rudi Dutschke, 40 years after his
attempted assassination.

The court ruling means that part of Kochstrasse in the Berlin district of
Kreuzberg can be named after Dutschke. The re-naming had been the
subject of protracted legal debate, as publisher Axel Springer AG, which
has its headquarters on Kochstrasse, objected to the plan.

In 1968, at the height of Germany’s student movement, various Springer
publications called on readers to “eliminate the trouble-makers” and “stop the terror of the young Reds.” When Dutschke was shot in the head and chest on April 11, 1968, his followers demonstrated outside the Springer building, as they deemed the company partially responsible for the attack.

(Read the rest of the article here)

What next, Michael Moore Street in front of Fox Studios? Bob Brown Street out of the front of the Herald Sun? George Bush Street at the doorstep of The Age offices?

And who said the Germans don’t have a sense of humour?

* Click the above image to enlarge (Source).

No, not the Communist one, because I would never condone eating babies, but rather an interesting debate about affirmative action and the caste system in India over at Blogodar, The World’s Greatest Blog about Darius Razgaitis.

Affirmative
Sunday, April 20, 2008

Interesting news out of India this week that the Supreme Court
has ruled to extend quotas for universities based on “class, race,
religion or economic circumstance.”

This ruling has received criticism for legitimizing and even
legalizing the caste system, which has long been abolished in
India. In order to give advantage to people from “backwards”
castes, one must define “backwards,” and in the process enforce
prejudices that are illegal.

When Ellen and I were there this past winter, we clearly saw
evidence of a hierarchical system of people. It’s very clear and
open. I thought of comparing it to the U.S., and our varying levels of historic economic and racial segregation. I’m sure the two countries’ forms of discrimination vary greatly, but would be interested in reading a comparison if anyone knows of a good one.

On that note, I think it’s interesting to compare the Indian view of “affirmative action” with regards to the caste system as compared to what the Democratic U.S. presidential candidates said last Thursday during the Philadelphia debates. While I haven’t decided for whom I will vote come November, I found the answers similarly contested. Should affirmative action be enforced and hence a form of legalized discrimination? How should it be defined if so? Should our focus rather be on reaching the less fortunate much earlier in life?

I don’t usually agree with affirmative action, but in this case I do, if only due to the profoundly entrenched nature of the centuries-old caste system in India. Although the last census requiring one to state their caste was undertaken in the late 1920s (possibly early 1930s, I’m not sure) it would be somewhat specious to suggest that the caste system isn’t to a large degree still alive and well in India today.

I do not regard encouraging affirmative action in the country’s educational system an attempt to remake India in America’s image, or that of the Western world’s for that matter, instead I see it as an issue of human rights and, above all,  the alleviation of poverty.

But don’t debate here, go and shower Mr Darius with some e-love.

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things at work after my most recent sojourn in hospital, as well as a few other hiccups, and have recently finished translating an article taken from a national newspaper in Nazi-occupied Belgium. This particular article really got me thinking; how can anyone alive at that time say with a straight face they didn’t know, or didn’t have any inkling whatsoever, as to what was happening to Europe’s Jews?

I must say the most rewarding aspect of being employed in the archives section of
a museum, apart from working alongside the colleagues I do, is coming into contact
with so many physical, tangible links to the past. Instead of having to sift through a
plethora of pretentiously verbose historical interpretations in academic journals to
reach my own conclusions about the bloodiest century, I am privileged enough to be
given the opportunity to handle and examine actual newspaper articles from 1941, all
tattered around the edges and stained with the sepia tones of time.

I haven’t worked in awhile, so apologies in advance if the following translation doesn’t flow as well as it could. This was a particularly difficult piece to translate, and I found it especially intriguing (and frustrating) to discover just how many different words German has for surveillance and control.

Residential Restrictions for Jews - Night-Time Curfew - Impeded Residential Exchanges
6 September 1941

A regulation was published in the new regulations manual (Verordnungsblatt) of the military commander in which the Jews are forbidden to linger outside their lodgings during the hours of 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Furthermore, it is likewise forbidden for the Jews to move to places other than Brussels, Antwerp, Liege and Charleroi. This regulation was essential after it became apparent that Jews today still dare to act as contrabandists to a considerable extent and by such criminal means are sinning against the general public.

Today they are also playing on hardship again, after the curbing of their appetite for relocation to other areas, to haggle for money.

That the night-time appeared especially suitable for this (haggling for money) made it necessary to relegate the Jews to their apartments during the evening.

During this time they have nothing to seek on the streets and above all in isolated areas.

In order to prevent the attempt of Jews to steal away from the stricter control of the cities and relocate to lesser controlled areas of the country, or to exchange their residences in the case of frequent hardening of surveillance outside these cities, Jews who want to exchange their residences will also be strictly prohibited from the move to places other than Brussels, Antwerp, Liege and Charleroi.

For this reason measures were taken through the military administration that are indeed displeasing for the Jews, but will soon surely be felt very beneficial by the general public.

This was just one of many articles published on a daily basis throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, which became more frequent, and the anti-Semitism more virulent and overt, as the rope slowly tightened around the necks of the Jews, literally.

Having scrutinised so many similar articles and documents, I can simply no longer accept that the urban elites, who had access to education and reasonable exposure to various media forms, no matter how strictly controlled, still had the audacity after the war to claim they knew nothing.

As for the peasants in the countryside, with little to no education and even more restricted access to media, they also had to at some stage - along with the urban elites - have begun to notice that the Jews were disappearing, leaving all of their belongings behind and not returning.

I have therefore come to the ultimate conclusion that just because someone was not actively complicit does not mean they were not aware. Ignorance was not bliss in this case, it was an alibi.

And by golly, don’t start me on the Vatican and other so-called Christian bodies who did little to nothing to dispel such utter fallacies as the blood libel myth and similar such myths that fuelled anti-Semitism among “the common folk” through the ages.

It never ceases to amaze me how power can transform a characterless, unscrupulous totalitarian asswipe into an object of sexual desire and admiration.

This is Eurotrash at its finest.