In this the first of my new series of Art for non-artists, I teach youse how to win The Wynne Prize for Australian Landscape painting and pocket a cool $25,000:
Step 1: Take an old but famous painting like this Dutch landscape from 1668
Step 2: Photocopy or scan it onto a smaller piece of paper so it looks like this:
Step 3: Apply some white-out:
Step 4: Darken the tone, colour in the bits, add a few stars and voila: Continue reading
Has anyone checking out the Darkside noticed this post?
Those of you who have been following the roiling disaster that is Pure Poison will know that the Post that got them into so much hot water was written by a chap who went by the the name of “Ant Rogenous” now this author has proven himself to be a total clown and I can only wonder just how much his unfounded accusations against Tim Blair has actually cost Crikey in damages and lost prestige.
Oh the humanity!
Cheers Comrades
But a former people-smuggler now living in Australia, who can only be identified as Shadi, said: “The immigration rules in Australia were changed and everyone knows it and that’s why so many are now coming.
“Before, the reason it stopped was John Howard absolutely, he deterred some boats by force and Nauru Island where they (boat people) knew they could get stuck for one or two or three years.
“We and the passengers would check the Internet daily to see what Canberra was doing and we all knew these things,” he told The Courier-Mail.
It never ceases to amaze me that the minions of the left want to assert that they are media savvy and that they understand the potential of the Internet and yet they then think that asylum seekers are not likewise aware that the best source of information about their chances of getting that all important residency visa is actually the Internet.
Anyone would think that the left have a patronizing view of the abilities, resourcefulness or the intelligence of those whose cause that they claim to support. Oh I get it! ( slaps forehead ) This is another example of the left wanting to have victims to champion and it suits that political narrative to foster the idea that the people on the boats have a sort of noble ignorance.
The trouble is that in the information age such fantasies have a habit of being unravelled by the truth….
Until next time Comrades
Motekiai Taufahema (above) killed Special Constable Glenn McEnally. Bassam Hamzy shot an 18-year-old outside a Sydney nightclub.
Prisoners such as Motekiai Taufahema, who murdered Senior Constable Glenn McEnally in 2002 and is due for release in two years, could be locked up for longer if he is deemed not to have reformed.
It is thought more than 50 inmates could expect to be locked up beyond the end of their sentences after the review is completed. Ms Keneally said: ”This is about sending a message to the worst prisoners: ‘If you don’t do the rehabilitation, you know what? You won’t get out.’
”Those prisoners who do the right thing will not be impacted by this review … but those refusing to take responsibility for their actions will be identified.”
Civil libertarians said the plan undermined the justice system and would deter prisoners from rehabilitation if their sentences were effectively meaningless.
Well call me cynical but this looks very much like Kristina Keneally is trying to open a bidding war on Law and order for the next state election. I will give her credit for making a very canny opening bid because it will be very hard to argue that what she proposes would be unacceptable to the public as this opinion poll shows
The first question that I ask my self when considering these men (and they are mostly men)is will they do it again and will the public be safe with them at large? I can’t help but think that the solution offered is something of a band-aid measure, quite simply the solution to unrepentant murders and rapists is that they should be banged up for the term of their natural lives (in the absence of a capital sanction) What ever happened to a judge sentencing a scumbag to be held “At her Majesty’s pleasure” in the first place?
The ALP are still very much on the nose in NSW and I have my doubts that their lady in red will win by trying to be tough on these scumbags (even though they deserve it) Maybe she is onto something here but I can’t help thinking that it won’t win her the election.
Cheers Comrades
Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren being led away by the police after his arrest, May 1977. McLaren has died, aged 64. (Photo by RB/Redferns)
I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but in the late seventies I was a Punk rocker, I just loved the music the cynicism and the no bullshit and no bollocks approach of the whole thing. Heck I even pierced my ear with a safety pin (which is hard to do simply because they are not really that sharp) I actually though that the way that Malcolm McLaren went about promoting the sex pistols was a brilliant bit of nonsense. He managed to undermine the rich and bloated edifice of popular music and fashion and in one fell swoop every thing was different. The libertarian in me just loved the advocacy for anarchism but of course it did not last because before to long the fashion and music industries adapted and absorbed the new Punk ethos, they soon realised that there was a market for pre-torn clothes and razorblade jewelery.
As a student of the Media I enjoyed the ride but I was also savvy enough to get off before it became became a parody of itself. Now when I occasionally see John Lydon on the box, still young and still singing about “Anarchy for the UK” I enjoy that momentary shiver of happy nostalgia.
Malcolm McLaren is dead at the age of 64 and I feel sad about it. He had that most vital of ingredients for someone involved with popular culture and that is wit and cheek. Some how I think that St Peter may well be recruiting him to the PR team for the second coming, that way he could be sure that media expectations would be turned on their heads and that no one would ignore the Messiah , or think that he is just a naughty boy.
Cheers Comrades
After three years of dancing around and pretending that his policy has had no effect, the asylum seeker dance is over for Brother Number One
I predict that the detention center on Christmas island will actually get quite a workout in the coming years as the change of government encourages the people smugglers to try their hand once again. How long will it be before that facility is not only commissioned but full to capacity?
Ever since the government of Brother Number One changed the rules for those who arrive here uninvited in those leaky boats I have been questioning the very broad definition of a refugee and suggesting that the majority of those attempting to get in here are in fact claiming to be refugees in an effort to circumvent our tough immigration laws. The consequence of my stance has been vilified by the usual suspects. Now it seems that the hero of the Ube-left Brother Number One has realised that he has (yet again) made a huge mistake .
Senator Evans says the changes will mean that more asylum claims from the new countries will be refused.
“The changes we are announcing today send a strong message to people smugglers that they cannot guarantee a visa outcome for their clients, and a message to those seeking to employ people smugglers that they may find themselves not to be refugees and returned to their country of origin,” he said.
Senator Evans denies the suspension is inhumane and says new arrivals will still be subject to the same legal protection as other asylum seekers.
“They will still be treated with dignity. They will still be treated as human beings,” he said.
The vast majority of asylum seekers arriving in Australian waters by boat are Sri Lankans and Afghans.
The Government will also bring in tougher measures to target those facilitating the flow of money to people smugglers in the region.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has defended the decision as “methodical” and says the safety of minority groups is improving in both countries.
“As we speak we are witnessing in Sri Lanka, for the first time in two decades, a parliamentary election,” he said.
“In our view, again reflected by the UNHCR’s own review processes, it is not now automatically the case that just because you are an Hazara Afghan that you automatically fall within the provisions of the convention.”
ABC NEWS
I wonder what the excuse makers will come up with next now that Rudd has had to finally admit that he was wrong?
The one thing that I can’t accept though is the suggestion that the Sri Lankan and Afghani applicants who have already got here should be treated any differently from any that arrive after today.
Cheers Comrades
Why is it that in every instance when men and women have to share facilities that men are expected to leave the toilet seat down? Are women incapable of actually lowering the seat before use? No in a world where we are constantly told that there should be gender equality why should the female preference of having the seat down be more valid than the male preference for having it up?
Personally living in a rural circumstance I think that domestic peace can be found by we gentlemen doing what nature intended and taking up the practice of nocturnally marking our territory, Or if you live in a more urban setting offering “her indoors” the option of seat down and no effort made for an accurate aim, then again there is no seat on the hand basin…
Finally the only certain way to be ensure gender equity on this one is to make some roster system whereby the toilet seat is left up or down on alternate days.
Cheers Comrades
Governor Peter Underwood late yesterday announced he would commission incumbent Labor premier David Bartlett to form a government, in the wake of the March 20 election in which the major parties tied on 10 seats apiece.
While Mr Bartlett had advised Mr Underwood to give Liberal leader Will Hodgman first chance to attempt to form government, the Premier retracted key statements that gave the Governor little choice but to reject that advice.
Last week, Mr Bartlett said Labor would “only ever” move a motion of no confidence in a minority Hodgman administration “in the most serious circumstances of gross maladministration, of corruption, or incompetence”.In a letter to Mr Underwood yesterday, released by the Liberals last night, Mr Bartlett backed away from this pledge, and appeared to deny ever having offered any such support.
Now I look forward to readers of, a hem, should we say of the left, explaining to me how this is not the most massive betrayal of the electorate . The explanations of why we should ever trust an ALP politician could be good though…
It does prove one thing though the crazy electoral system in Tasmania is entirely to blame and that the Hare Clark system is as mad as a tea party attended by a certain hare , door mouse, and of course that fellow with the hat.
Cheers Comrades
Cheers Comrades
8)
If you click on this photo you can make ms Nixon even larger, but not real life size.
The airwaves and broad tabloid sheets are full of scaving critercisms of fat Christine Nixon the person supposedly in charge of the black satyrday bushfires emergency crisis leaving the crisis centre at 6 o’clock to “have a meal with 2 friends at a North Melbourne bistro” knowing full well that people were dying and that fires were bearing down on more towns without checking to see if anyone had been warned.
But I am not going to join in that chorus of condemnation of the big lady with the big job and the big fat pay cheque of $380,000 per year. No, I will defend her.
It is a little known fact that Nixon is a raging diabetic (as if it isn’t half obvious from the photos of her girth) and she cannot go more than 3 hours without a Hungry Jacks whopper to pump up her sugar and fat levels. Yes she “had to eat” and that is why she was also late in getting to the crisis centre 3 hours after she knew the state was burning.
Lay off the fat lady. Let her eat.
(PS: The royal commissin is not really sponsored by Hungry Jacks. I clevely photoshopped the logo into the picture)
“
A group of men in the streets of New Baghdad just prior to being fired upon by a US Apache helicopter. Among those believed to be killed in the attack was Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his driver Saeed Chmagh, 40. Picture: AP Source: AP
Since 2007, we acknowledged everything that’s in the video,” the official said. “We acknowledged that the strike took place and that there were two Reuters employees (killed).”
“We know that two kids were injured,” the official said.
“The RPG in the video is real,” the official added. “We had insurgents and reporters in an area where US forces were about to be ambushed.
“At the time we weren’t able to discern whether (the Reuters employees) were carrying cameras or weapons,” the official said.
In a statement, Reuters news editor-in-chief David Schlesinger said “the deaths of Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh three years ago were tragic and emblematic of the extreme dangers that exist in covering war zones.
“The video released today via Wikileaks is graphic evidence of the dangers involved in war journalism and the tragedies that can result,” he said.
In war some very bad mistakes are made and people die as a result. If you lose sight of that as you climb onto your high horse of moral indignation it is probably because you have your head right up your arse.
Until next time Comrades.
8)
When a city has no beach why not build one?
I only mention this because I have encountered bigotry recently and it has of course been the bigotry from those of the Latte sipping persuasion and they all seem to cluster together around that den of leftard inequity that goes by the name of “Pure Poison” not surprisingly one of the offenders is a chap who sometimes drops in here to have a go at yours truly. He seems to be very keen to insist that anyone who questions the veracity of the claims for asylum is doing so for racist reasons but he is not alone in his hatred of anyone with less than an open door policy on accepting those who want to claim asylum here. Clearly this is a portent of things to come when the question of how many immigrants this country should welcome becomes part of the political discourse.
Mr Morrison said the current population growth rate of 2.1 per cent put Australia ahead of Canada, Britain and the US
“It even puts us ahead of China and India,” he said. “It’s principally fuelled by net overseas migration. A natural increase in the fertility rate has (increased it) but what has been driving the numbers . . . has been spiralling rates of net overseas migration.”
Mr Morrison said the Coalition would support skilled migrants coming, but was likely to cut other elements of the program, including family reunion.
“It’s about getting your immigration policy under control,” he said. “The migration program should be tight and focused on skills and productivity.”
The Opposition Leader last night backed Mr Morrison’s comment that the prediction of a population of 35.9 million was not sustainable, saying the roads of Sydney and Melbourne were already choked.
But Mr Abbott stopped short of committing the Coalition to a cut in migration, saying decisions on the intake should be taken on a “year by year basis”.
“Immigration has to be in Australia’s national interest,” he said on the ABC’s Q&A program last night.
Mr Morrison said the 35.9 million forecast, which Kevin Rudd has endorsed as appropriate, was being driven by net overseas migration well above what it was under the Howard government.
He said average net overseas immigration under the Coalition had been 126,000 a year, but under Labor it had risen to more than 300,000.
This morning I watched the episode of Q&A in which Tony Abbott went solo and for once the ABC seemed to achieve some measure of balance in the studio audience as the applause for and against what Tony was saying attested. he very neatly made the point that we just can not take everyone who wants to come here for a better life and that fleeing a war does not actually meet the criteria to claim asylum here, especially after they have travelled through intermediate countries where they will be free of persecution. He also made the point that we should not lock in any figure when it comes to the numbers of immigrants that we will accept in coming years.
Getting back to our friend who I mentioned earlier, over on the dark-side I posed a series of questions that he seemed unwilling to answer so I will pose them again here:
#53 Damian
Go on, tell us (preferably in less than fifty words) how blaming the victims of war for imposing on a rich country like ours is actually compassionate.
Who said anything about issues of blame?
I am making no such value judgment at all.
In your view do we make the decision to accept any claimant on pure compassion or are we permitted to be at all discerning about the veracity of their claims?
If we find that their claims do not meet our criteria for entry what then?
Do you think that any should be sent back?Looking forward to you reply
Oh and the post that you refer to is here.
Of course he and his cronies are typically unwilling to consider the question with any honesty, instead vilifying those of us who want to question the mad rush to make the population of Australia bigger. No one can say for sure what the best number a sustainable population is for this country but it is a question that is better asked sooner rather than later quite simply because the sooner that we decide where we want to be the the better placed we will be to plan for that result.
Open doorers like Damian Doyle annoy me because they are all heart and no head on issues like this. We have a duty to the next generation of Australians to think before we increase on our country’s s population or allow unrestricted right of entry if we want the social harmony that I saw and admired at Southbank yesterday to continue and to be enhanced.
Cheers Comrades
Yesterday the family and i had occasion to visit the south side of the city to visit t with relatives and just for fun we decided to try out the new Clem 7 tunnel well it certainly was impressive in engineering terms but as a driving experience it was actually rather boring.Coming from the north you actually have to turn off the main road to chose it as an option but at the other end where it emerges near the Princess Alexandria Hospital it has been designed to make choosing not to use the tunnel more difficult there are no signs to tell you how to choose the Story Bridge instead and of the three lanes at the point of entry only one allows you to avoid the tunnel, this seems to be an effort to funnel road users into the tunnel on the southern approaches and that just has to be about helping the tunnel gather more cash from motorists .
Of course being a tight wad I only tried it out because there was no toll yesterday.
Motorists make their way through the Clem7 tunnel on its first day of operation.
Motoring group RACQ predicts the number of drivers using the tunnel could drop by 40 to 50 per cent once the full tolls take effect as people weigh up whether the time saving is worth it. It is understood drivers have so far made more than one million trips in the tunnel.
RiverCity Motorway chief executive officer Flan Cleary last night refused to be drawn on traffic forecasts, saying the company wouldn’t gain a full picture of the tunnel usage for three or four months.
However, Mr Cleary said he would be “surprised” if the RACQ’s predictions were correct.
“Traffic varies all the time,” he told brisbanetimes.com.au.
“Traffic drops when you put a toll on. There’s no point speculating [on how big the drop will be].”
We ere going to visit my wife’s sister who lives near the Gabba cricket ground and that was actually a problem because once you come out of the tunnel you have to back track and for us that meant trying to firstly find a place to do a U turn and then top try to find our way through the back streets to where we wanted to be.
Anyway we then strolled down to South Bank which was rather crowded. Now while this place was very obviously well loved and well used I could not help thinking how lucky we are to live where we do away from all of the crowds and the traffic. As the ads go it was a nice place to visit but I would not want to live there.
Cheers Comrades
On the Right we have the hairy chested lily white skinned marathon man Tony ‘the monk’ Abbott desperately appealing to women, gays and cyclists
AnD on the Left we have the DOMINATRIX Kate Ellis
I would defenitely root her but not Abbott.
mmmm
Premier Anna Bligh yesterday said “a very serious” investigation would be launched into how the coal carrier came to be more than 15 nautical miles away from the nearest shipping lane in a restricted zone.
Maritime Safety Queensland had concerns the ship could break apart, which would most likely result in an oil slick reaching the coast at Shoalwater Bay. “Where the ship is at the moment, it would be very difficult for it to actually sink because it is on the ground, but it is in danger of breaking its main structures and breaking apart, which is a serious situation,” Maritime Safety Queensland general manager Patrick Quirk said.
The grounding has raised questions about maritime safety around the marine park after it was revealed the ship was not required to carry a pilot and was not being tracked at the time of the accident. Mr Quirk said the Shen Neng 1 could have been warned of the danger if a second Vessel Traffic Service – the marine equivalent of air traffic control – had been in the area.
What precisely was the captain thinking ? In these days of GPS and modern navigation aids how on earth could he have been so far off course?
So obviously the next step would have to be working out a way to take off the nearly 1000 tons of heavy fuel oil that this ship has aboard followed by its cargo… I don’t know if that is even possible. But one thing that we all know is that all levels of government are responsible for this and if they do not make a very big effort to digitus extractus then this disaster is going to get worse by many orders of magnitude.
Angry Comrades
