Windbag Wankery

Kim Beazley's on the telly as we speak, calling for stronger anti-villification laws: the proscription of "hate books" that say it's a good thing to kill jews, christians or muslims. I wonder if he's read any of the major religious texts lately. There's a fair bit of incitement to smite infidels in the koran, and fanatics have managed to find justifications for violence in the bible and torah.

Wicked Witch of the West

Rose Porteous is threatening to help the Liberal Party with public relations. Perhaps while she's at it she can recruit Alan Bond & Pixie Skase to lend a hand. No thanks.

More Reds Under the Bed

Another pinko site pops up - this one is truly bizarre - glorifying Craig Johnson, the thick thug jailed for trashing workplaces & scaring workers. What planet are these throwbacks on?

http://thehouseexposed.blogspot.com/

Commie Watch #56,488

On SBS tonight, another heartwarming tale of stubborn resistance in the face of overwhelming force deployed by the evil empire of democracy:

Storyline Australia Vietnam Symphony Time: 8.30 Channel: 28 Duration: 60 Minutes In 1965, when Hanoi was under threat of massive US bombing, students and teachers from the conservatorium fled Hanoi for the safety of the countryside. Villagers helped them build an entire campus underground ­ including a 500-seat auditorium and individual caverns for 40 pianos. The students and teachers lived, studied and played music there for five years. Real Life PG

All kinds of questions spring to mind.

How big was this village? To build an underground complex like that you'd need a lot of people with time on their hands. The local economy would have to be exceptionally prosperous to allow this. Were these villagers perhaps growing opium or something equally lucrative that would allow them to purchase diggers & such? As well as supporting the students & teachers, who presumably weren't diverted from music to planting rice & raising pigs.

Why go underground? Why not put pianos in village huts, much easier to build? Were they afraid the enemy would hear the tinkly sounds of, say, The Trout, & go holy crap, let's bomb those pianos before they go nuclear?

How did they ventilate a 500 seat underground auditorium? Aircon circa 1965, for which the Vietnamese countryside at the time was of course well known? Or a few villagers pedalling away on modified bicyles driving fans?

You get my drift.

Liberal Party State Council

A fine weekend for right wing death beasts in freezing Ballarat. Pre-selections are reaching a crescendo of activity, so the place was full of hopefuls searching out delegates. The savvy would-be candidates actually listened to the views of the people who would be their selectors. Others were not so smart. One MP seeking pre-selection for a new Bracks-designed unwieldy travesty of an upper house seat brought along a folder of his achievements and bored his victims to sobs with the wonders of his career to date. He has obviously not yet learned that when you're asking for someone's vote, you do well to find out how they see the world and what they want from the political process. Another hoot was the party's perpetual adolescent (there's only one - no prizes for guessing) being greeted by a groan from the auditorium full of delegates when he raised a point of order. But apart from these sideshows, Peter Costello & Robert Doyle performed well and there was sensible debate on some good issues. Not enough women candidates yet for the 2006 election, but we live in hope.

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