Disqus - Latest Comments for Splatterbottom

Re: Islam and refugees

SB — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:29:00 -0000

I try and stay away from the 'Alice In Wonderland' genre, including those fairytales which would have us believe that jihad is really a struggle against the self, there is no compulsion in religion or that Islam is a religion of peace.

Re: Islam and refugees

SB — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:10:35 -0000

How can a book published by the UNHCR have any credilbility at all? The primary role played by the UNHCR is to attack Israel and close down any investigation of human rights abuses arising from the application of sharia law. The UNHCR has a totally discredited organisation, worthy only of contempt. Their publication of a book like this is entirely predictable.

Re: Islam and refugees

SB — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:02:23 -0000

That wasn’t a rant. I cut most of the inflammatory stuff out. This is a nice blog and I am trying to play nice here. Besides you practically asked for a rant with your wingnuts and xenophobes reference.

Also, I used the Palestinians as an example of how Islamic countries treat refugees. That seems apt enough.

Re: Islam and refugees

SB — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:25:28 -0000

Toaf, there may be some historical basis for this, but in recent times, a quick look at our refugee intake would suggest that the Islamic world is much better at creating refugees than accommodating them.

The Palestinian situation is particularly poignant. There is virtually no attempt by the Islamic host nations to integrate them, although in the West they are eligible to become citizens of the countries they take refuge in.

It seems that even being Muslim is not enough. There are plenty of refugees in Dafur, and even being Muslim doesn't help them against their Arab tormentors.

Given that Christian citizens in Islamic countries from Malaysia to Pakistan to Egypt face discrimination, one wonders how Christian or Jewish refugees would fair. Jews have been driven out of most Arab countries, and Saudi Arabia is completely Judenrein.

The uncritical reception of apologetics like this book is merely a form of wishful thinking.

Re: Hot Lagos nights... In New York

SB — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:56:03 -0000

This looks interesting. My favourite African music is the Highlife style developed in Nigeria and Ghani in the 50s and 60s. E.T. Mensah was the master. Like reggae it features bittersweet horns which I find most attractive.

I'll go home and listen to some Fela Kuti tonight, and try to track down some Moussa Doumbia.

Re: A Bantustan for the Palestinians

SB — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:13:35 -0000

Toaf, I would not expect either side to put their final bid on the table before they even begin to negotiate. Also, the reason there has not been any negotiated settlement to this dispute is that the Palestinians have always preferred the path of violence, from the time they rejected a (much larger) state in 1948, to the failure of the Oslo process, when Israel began the 'land for peace' process, but Arafat chose the path of terror instead. Until the Palestinians can live with a Jewish state next door there will be no Palestinian state.

Re: Will Kenya answer Somalia's call for help?

SB — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:36:04 -0000

Toaf,I have to admit that I really have no framework to deal with problems like this. Iraq and Afghanistan have driven home the point that foreign adventurism is costly and of dubious value.

There is no obvious solution to this problem. I have internationalist tendencies, but deep down I know that that world government would end in tears if for no other reason than as a result of concentrating so much power in so few hands.

Re: Swine flu in perspective

SB — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:02:37 -0000

Sorry Toaf. It was an attempt at a pun, a reference to the of the MSM, which, being focussed on selling advertising, drenches us with the verbal diarrhoea of trivial stories rather than highlighting serious issues. Once they latch onto something that titillates the public, it tends to dominate the headlines.

Re: Swine flu in perspective

SB — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:03:49 -0000

Toaf, If you pick up a paper today (or any other day) you are likely to see a different global diarrhoea crisis.

Re: Swine flu in perspective

SB — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:44:28 -0000

Seems to me that swine flu isn't a whole lot worse than seasonal influenza, which knocks off quite few people every year.

Zimbabwean cholera is more of a political problem than a health problem. We have some idea about the health measures required, but at the political level no one really knows how to deal with Mugabe.

The ones I feel really sorry for are the Egyptian pigs being slaughtered. Not much to do with swine flu, but good for keeping the Copts down.

Re: Swine flu in perspective

SB — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:43:06 -0000

Swine flue is certainly overplayed by the media - fear, uncertainty and doubt writ large in the headlines. It is something that needs watching, but so far seems no worse than the annual influenza pandemic that strikes each winter.

I feel most sorry for the Egyptian pigs which have been slaughtered. This doesn't seem to have much to do with swine fever, but does keep the Copts in their place.'

The Zimbabwean cholera epidemic can be dealt with, but it seems nobody knows how to deal with the recalcitrant Mugabe.

Re: Another dead end for Somalia

SB — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:56:57 -0000

No way forward here – organised tyranny or the tyranny of chaos. With the proliferation of weapons and explosives, it now takes only a small committed group to make government impossible. The combination of human nature and technology may be the undoing of civilisation.

Re: Can't let this one past

SB — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:30:34 -0000

It’s also funny to watch the left get riled up about Obama.

I suspect he is going to have as many critics from the left as from the right before he is done. This may not be a bad thing.

Re: Can't let this one past

SB — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:13:57 -0000

Bolt’s comment is atrocious. Obama has noted the positive value of his varied cultural influences. That Bolt attributes value to only one of them is evidence of his myopic prejudice.

Re: Such impatience

SB — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:18:07 -0000

It's not about the rush home. It's about the rush you get from speed.

Re: Research but no context

SB — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:35:47 -0000

I think if he's stepping on toes then he must be doing something right.

You could be right about this.

Re: Bule the Vespa

SB — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:55:41 -0000

Looks like a lot of fun, and quite cool as well. No doubt we will hear more about its adventures in due course.

Re: Research but no context

SB — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:53:17 -0000

It seems pretty stupid for a minister to not only take the free flights, but also to rent his digs from her. I'm not sure it is more than stupidity, but when you add it to is inability to deal with his department he should probably resign.

Re: A plan for the 'Stan?

SB — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:29:55 -0000

The real problem is that the Taliban enjoys sufficient popularity to enable it to destroy all attempts at civilisation. If enough people back the terrorists, or turn a blind eye to them, they can make civilised society impossible. We saw this clearly enough with the IRA. It only takes a small percentage of the population supporting the terrorists to denormalise civil society.

Compromise with the Taliban is ugly. In the latest compromise in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan, the first item on the agenda was the end of female education. Even in non-Taliban Afghanistan apostasy and blasphemy are capital offences, and people are still being charged with them.

Ultimately this is about ideas, and it is a seemingly impossible task to excise the more brutal interpretations of islam from Afghan society. In Iraq, which is still hanging in the balance, the position was helped by the fact that many of the hardliners were foreign. This is not the case in Afghanistan where the Taliban ruled for five years.

If, as seems likely, the NATO forces leave Afghanistan before the Taliban is subdued, jihadists everywhere will receive a huge boost. That is Australia’s interest in this fight. Sadly, I agree that the fight is a waste of Australia’s time and resources without a plan that has some prospect of success, and it is far from clear that such a plan exists.

Re: The difficult task of choosing words over bombs

SB — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:31:52 -0000

This is just another case of the US cosying up to an oppressive regime. Carter decided to let the Shah fall to the leftist-islamist alliance. Of course Khomeini knocked off the leftists as soon as he consolidated power.

Iranians may be a proud people, but they are not big supporters of the current klepto-theocracy. By giving credibility to the regime Obama is selling out the Iranian people. Still, if you don’t give a shit about human rights then Obama’s move is pure genius.

Javanfekr also said: "Supporting Israel is not a friendly gesture and the New Year is an opportunity for the United States to change this policy".

If Obama turns his back on Israel, he may avoid an Iranian nuclear strike on Tel Aviv, but only because it will then be easier for the islamists to murder 6 million Jews by conventional means.

Obama’s naiveté was exposed when, in the election campaign, he declared that he would be willing to have unconditional talks with Iran. The Iranians replied by listing their preconditions.

Obama is a huge disappointment. He tried to appoint the usual crony crew to administrative positions, had four or five of them withdraw due to their personal tax issues, tried to put Daschle in charge of health even though he had just taken $5m in consulting fees from medical and drug companies, tried to appoint the hideously biased Saudi shill Charles Freeman chair of the National Intelligence Council and signed an earmark-ridden bail-out bill into law. The last straw for me was having his ex-RIAA lawyers in the DoJ intervene on behalf of the RIAA in a downloading case against an individual. It’s business as usual in Washington. Rahm Emmanuel, Chicago machine man and now Obama's Chief of Staff, will see to that.

Re: Hyperlink here while you still can

SB — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:27:33 -0000

I am going to make a complaint about all the cat porn on this blog. It is littered with beastly images.

Expect to be included on the banned list soon!

Re: Hyperlink here while you still can

SB — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:22:55 -0000

This is an abomination. Historically the left have not respected free speech, and this should come as no surprise.

Of course there are already petty tyrants running roughshod over the right to free speech, in the form of VCAT and other human rights tribunals that plague Australia - most of them creations of the left.

In these new star chambers, the left and religious fundamentalists come together in an orgy of oligarchy, all glowing and febrile in the transcendent ecstasy of their inquisitorial power. There they punish the iniquitous who would freely speak their mind, and vindicate the sensitive.

But the worst is yet to come. The fix is already in for the Bill Of Rights. You can bet that it will not contain anything like a real right to free speech. There will be exceptions for blasphemy, ridicule and the usual array of politically correct hurt feelings. It will do nothing more than entrench the censors whose ill wind will chill free speech throughout the land.

Re: Some things are sacred

SB — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:57:33 -0000

Marek: "SB is a bit like me... "philip travers 3 hours ago.

Yikes! That's gotta sting

There is actually some truth in it. But I try harder with the editing, formatting and punctuation. And I am a bit more selective about conspiracy theory nutters.

Re: Some things are sacred

SB — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:28:09 -0000

Obviously the Hun needs to adopt the mandatory ABC style guide for reporting, namely:

1. Obama is the new messiah.
2. Emissions trading is something other than what goes on in backroom bars and comments threads.
3. Jihad is really just internal struggle.
4. Israel is the fundamental cause of all conflict in the middle east.
5. Free market economics is a total failure.
6. Non-leftists are to be portrayed as being terminally stupid.
7. Pinochet was much much worse than Castro.
8. Islam is a religion of peace.
9. All religions must be respected except Christianity, which is to mocked at all times.
10. Every news report must use glowing language to describe leftist activities and words with negative connotations for anything non-leftist.
12. Humans are responsible for the weather.
13. Anyone falling into the category of 'victim' is to be venerated, and must never be held to account for their actions, or be expected to help themselves.
14. All cultures are equal and any criticism of any culture (apart from western culture) is racism.
15. The west, particularly the US, is to blame for all of the problems of the world.

Re: Moved on

SB — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:48:23 -0000

Then of course there is the Gerry (keep your hands of my billions) Harvey approach:

"You could go out and give a million dollars to a charity tomorrow to help the homeless. You could argue that it is just wasted. They are not putting anything back into the community.

"It might be a callous way of putting it but what are they doing? You are helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason. They are just a drag on the whole community.