Tim Dunlop takes advantage of a lull in the sniper killings to take on Tim Blair.

...without giving an inch in terms of our outrage against terrorist attacks like this, isn't it incumbent upon all of us to also examine the circumstances under which such things happen? What is wrong with saying that it is our involvement on the American side of the "war on terror" that makes us vulnerable to such attacks? Isn't that actually what you yourself said? What is wrong with questioning that involvement and wondering if we can insulate ourselves against such attacks? What is wrong with pointing out the inadequacies and hypocrisies of Howard and his minister's responses?
Keep the discussion fierce and committed, but let's not turn this latest act of terrorism into another excuse to unpack the usual ideological baggage. It's more important than that.

I'm with that. We have enemies, even I know that, and they are not the people who write to or for the Herald. They're not placing bombs outside packed nightclubs.

Tim Blair links to this story by Dewi Anggraeni, who says this:

Given the fact that the first bomb exploded near the US consulate, it is very easy to draw the conclusion that the attack on Kuta was designed for Australia, because of Australia's open support for the US push for war on Iraq. Kuta is one of the most favoured holiday resorts for Australians. And, yes, it's true that the Howard Government's official stance may not endear Australia to many, especially Muslims, in Indonesia.
But having said that, Australia's support for the US war on terrorism has not been a big enough issue to preoccupy Indonesians. It would be a big jump to conclude that the second bomb in Kuta was aimed at Australians.

I actually agree with that. This bomb was not placed to specifically target Australians; it was placed to target Westerners (frankly, the explosion of the first bomb at the US Consulate should indicate as much). By the same token, though, it was not placed by Indonesians as such; it was placed by terrorists (who probably were Indonesian, to be sure, but this is not an Indonesian issue we're dealing with). Blair uses this latter statement, nonetheless, as justification for refusing to contemplate the idea proposed by the Herald letter and editorial writers who he so venomously loathes that our government's support for the War On Terror™ had something to do with the attack (without really providing any other explanation that I can see for why it happened). Tim D, though, reckons Tim B

even makes a tacit acknowledgement that the letter writers are correct in their assessments. He himself acknowledges Howard's position, and the thrust of his "analysis" is that Howard is right to oppose terrorism and that we just have to stand up to such attacks. So he actually agrees with the letter writers who obviously make the same connection between the bombings and the wider "war on terrorism" of which we are part.

Tim B's right on one count: those people arguing we should keep out of things are wrong. Whether or not Australians were specifically targeted in this attack, Australians were killed in it. Some sort of action has to be taken... I just don't know what. Tim D reproduces a pretty scathing editorial on the matter from Crikey doubting our ability to do anything. And I'm not really convinced the US will be much help either. W. is presently girding his loins for war in Iraq anyway, but apart from that I seem to recall Australia being left to lead the proceedings in East Timor when shit blew up there three years ago:

President B.J. Habibie announced on September 12, 1999, that Indonesia would accept a U.N. peacekeeping force for East Timor. Although some in the Indonesian parliament called for a ban on the involvement of Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and Portugal, Habibie did not impose any conditions on the makeup of the U.N. force.
The UN force was led by Australia and consists of troops from Australia, Britain, Thailand, and several other countries. U.S. involvement was limited to about 200 troops who provided communications and logistical support.

So I'm afraid I'm not terribly confident that the US will make too great an effort in Indonesia either. The only thing that gives me much cause for hope is that their consulate was attacked, even without casualties arising. It's a hideous situation whichever way you look at it, complicated by the fact that as yet we still don't know who was actually responsible (the JI group are being widely credited, but I don't know if there's any specific proof yet), and I don't see it being resolved easily even when we do know who we're after. Christ, it's no wonder I hate humanity as much and as often as I do...

2:22 PM | link

Nice to see Tim Blair approaching the Bali bomb business with such calm rationality.

11:00 PM | link

Slight bit of tweakage to the Celluloid Dreams ad... had it at the top of the page, but have now moved it into the column at right. Don't forget to listen in.

10:30 PM | link

OY. I don't know what the fuck was up Blogger's arse there, but that's the first I've been able to update the site in five hours. I've posted, and Blogger's insisted it was publishing the changes, but this is the first (at about 10.20pm) that they've actually appeared on the page. I have SO got to get webspace where I can install Movable Type...

10:21 PM | link

TEST?????

10:16 PM | link

TEST?

7:25 PM | link

All right, Blogger, you cunting piece of shit, why has my blog page not been updated for the last hour and a half?

6:42 PM | link

Theodore Dalrymple not impressed by Jeffrey Archer's prison diaries.

Completely worthless from the literary point of view, and relentlessly banal in thought, observation and analysis, they are nonetheless revealing: of Lord Archer's mind and personality rather than of the prison system. And to be privy to Archer's mind in full cry is a depressing experience indeed.

6:24 PM | link

Multibabel! A fantastic new way to mangle the English language. I processed my post on Enter The Dragon (below) and got this:

It enters the flight that the red red deers are present in the game of the television. Nevertheless it clears - lheo of the noises of a certain way that the remarkable person of Brushes it could produce the hell of Santo. Protection straight-line some these faces expressions on the other hand, special approximately in center of film, where the Hara kills or ' when it jumps in the relative registry and the right of the camera, to return the face relative to an association from Bologna, when it has.

BOLOGNA????? Where the hell did Bologna come into it?

6:20 PM | link

Who the hell loses ninety-three million dollars at a casino?

5:39 PM | link

The Middle East's cola wars.

In Morocco, a government official estimates sales of Pepsi and Coca-Cola could fall by half in the north, a stronghold of Islamic groups. In the United Arab Emirates, sales of the local Star Cola are up by 40 per cent over the past three months.
The Islamic cola companies say this is an easy way for Muslims to punish US President George W. Bush for his Middle East policies.

Yeah, the soft drink manufacturers of the Western world must be crying into their Cokes over the loss of all this revenue. They'll just have to hope all those tens of millions of people in non-Islamic states who consume their products will be enough to tide them over.

5:34 PM | link

You strip in court, you lose your right to a retrial.

5:30 PM | link

Fighting fire with fire.

Under lentivirus research, the genetic parts of HIV that make it dangerous are removed so that it can't attack immune cells or even reproduce to affect other cells. Instead, researchers replace the bad parts of HIV with therapeutic genetic material. In effect, the virus is turned into one big delivery truck that unloads genetic medicine.
In diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other disorders of the central nervous system, lentiviral therapy might be tailor-made to suppress or stop the disease.
Since the lentivirus can't reproduce itself, it can affect only the cell into which it penetrates. In disorders with a localized origin, such as Parkinson's disease, thousands or millions of converted HIV vectors would be sprinkled or infused onto disease spots to affect a genetic change.

I don't know what to say to that except "whoa". I still don't quite understand how one disease can be turned around to fight another like that, but I'm sure they know what they're up to...

5:20 PM | link

Michael Jackson, ape abuser?

Michael Jackson and his family practiced a bizarre ritual in which they sacrificed a live monkey. This is just one of the allegations made by sister LaToya Jackson's former husband, Jack Gordon, who has penned The Jackson Family: The True Story Of The Most Powerful Family In The Music Industry. The book comprises the oddities Gordon claims he witnessed when he was brother-in-law to the "King Of Pop." [...]
Jack Gordon and LaToya Jackson married in 1989 and ended their relationship in 1997 amid allegations that he physically abused her.

Ye Gods. Look, Jacko is weird but that just seems to me to be beyond the pale even for him. I just wonder what corroborating evidence brother Gordon intends produce to support himself, or is he just relying on the innate desire people seem to have to believe the worst about a person without caring about the truth or likelihood of the story...

5:17 PM | link

Simon B. of No Rock n Roll Fun trashes the Conservative Top 40.

5:06 PM | link

Philip Marchand on cultural terrorism.

At one point in the evening Simic showed a video of a documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Knut Gorfald, titled Burned Books, a deeply disturbing account of the shelling of the Bosnian National Library in Sarejevo in August 1992, by Serbian nationalists dug in the hills surrounding the city. The shelling, and the fire it caused, destroyed thousands of priceless manuscripts and books, as well as gutting a historic and beautiful building.
It was an act of cultural terrorism, which New York City was at least spared. As bad as Sept. 11 was, it left New Yorkers with their morale intact. They mourned the 3,000 dead — but no one mourned the World Trade Center. It was missed, of course. People who had gotten used to seeing those monumental buildings in the city skyline took a long time before they adjusted to the shock of their absence. But this was nothing compared to the emotional and spiritual loss the people of Sarajevo felt for the assault on their National Library, which was a cultural symbol as well as an important landmark and institution.

Actually, several thousand photographs of John F. Kennedy and his family were destroyed in the WTC attack, or rather their negatives were. Of the 40,000 negatives stored in the vault at the WTC, only three or four hundred were printed. Those negatives may not be as old as some of the manuscripts and things in the Bosnian Library, and their loss may not have been deliberately planned like the attack on the latter, but I daresay it would be considered by many to be a similarly irreperable piece of cultural vandalism. That aside, Marchand has some good points, and it's worth reading.

4:58 PM | link

Women-only police station inadvertently becomes agony aunt centre.

4:42 PM | link

That'll teach these cows to shit in public.

Some locals in Bovill, Idaho, believed cows belonging to Lloyd Hall were responsible for the mess on their streets and lawns.
They became so irate that about 50 marched into city hall on to demand some action.
Mr Hall, a 77-year-old former mayor, complained that somebody had corralled seven of his herd and he wanted them back.
City Councilman Phil Stradley later confirmed that he and other residents had loaded five of the unbranded cattle onto a truck and taken them to a livestock pen as stray cows.

In other words, all they've done is remove the cows to another council-owned area where they'll still have to clean up the mess anyway. Can we say "pointless waste of time"? And what about the two unaccounted-for bovines?

4:41 PM | link

Pakistan blow chunks.

All sorts of records tumbled in the calamity. It was Australia's biggest victory over Pakistan, and the Pakistanis' worst defeat by any team. Their two-innings total of 112 also was their lowest in 50 years of Test cricket. Australia were on their game but by any judgment, Pakistan were abysmal with the bat.

Of course this just means Australia's usual arrogance about the greatness of its international sportsmen will be worse than ever. I'm really not looking forward to this year's cricket season.

4:33 PM | link

Cleaning up the auction business.

When the auction bell rings on a Saturday afternoon, you can often step outside and stumble upon a show full of emotion, greed, and good old-fashioned bluff.
But, according to some real estate agents, this free street theatre is under threat, with tough new legislation designed to make the auction system more transparent introduced into parliament last week.
Going are the dummy bids, with the legislation banning vendors or agents from planting people in the crowd to drive up the price.

How exactly are they going to police that? Go round and talk to everyone at the auction? "Excuse me, sir, have you been planted here by the agent to call out and jack up the price? No? OK, then, sorry to have troubled you..."

4:17 PM | link

Holy shit.

4:11 PM | link

Enter The Dragon is on TV at the moment. Holy hell but Bruce Lee could produce some remarkable noises. Just watch some of those facial expressions too, particularly about midway through the film where he kills O'Hara by jumping on his chest and the camera just takes a close-up of his face while he does it.

1:08 AM | link

Fancy a free copy of Glenn Gould playing Bach's English Suites? I have one already, otherwise I'd find this tempting.

12:43 AM | link

Illegal Art : Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age. At a time when copyright and intellectual property laws are being argued in court, here comes a great looking exhibition defying them. If you can't attend the festival you can watch the film component online. There's a CD available too, freely downloadable from the site in mp3 form so you can burn it yourself; hilariously, many of the tracks are used without their creators' permission. Best of all, it restores Buchanan & Goodman's "Flying Saucer" to circulation, the original and still rather marvellous sample epic; if you allow for the fact that it was made in 1956, it's a remarkable piece of work. I'd heard of it before but never actually heard it, so was surprised at how advanced it was.

12:33 AM | link

Micro$oft announces umpteenth security flaw of the year.

"Outlook Express ships with every Windows system, or rather as part of IE, so it's on every system. But unless it is configured to receive mail, you are not at risk," said Scott Culp, manager for Microsoft security response.

What the hell else would an email reader be configured for? Making toast?

12:13 AM | link