Oh joy! Joy and cat dancing! The racist hate mongering trollumnist Andrew Bolt has been silenced at last!

This is wonderful thing for democracy, fellow travellers. (And by that I mean authentic democracy, not the shamocracy endorsed by conservatives.)

But of course you all know that. To say so is practically preaching to the converted (but not in a Christian way, of course).

Needless to say, Bolt sees the guilty verdict as something sinister. In his usual eeevil and highly emotive way, he frames...
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Really, these attacks on Julia Gillard are becoming even more relentless and offensive. Now, because Insiders has dumped Glen Milne as a guest the right-wing reaches of the blogosphere are going ballistic and nuclear! They see a sinister case of censorship by the state. And they would, wouldn't they. In their tiny, literal minds, anything they don't like is either a lie, a betrayal, or some ugly attempt at intimidation. It's just another crazy conspiracy theory to add to an already long list....
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Fellow travellers, I'm sure you are as appalled as I am about the treatment of Christine Nixon by Rupert Murdoch's hate media. Both the Herald Sun and The Australian have pursued the poor woman relentlessly over her "hands off" handling of the Victorian bushfire crisis. It's completely obvious to any thinking, feeling person that if a man were to have done much the same thing as Nixon on Black Saturday there would be little complaint - less still if he were not deemed "overweight" by a societ...
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One thing that we have long known about eeevil right-wing conservatives is that they will never let a crisis (or an atrocity) go to waste. Immediately something horrible happens, they are shamelessly using it to bash their old enemies, even when there is no association whatsoever!

This tendency was accurately pointed out by fellow traveller Mike Stuchbery on Twitter when he revealed the cynical use of the massacre in Norway by you know who:

Andrew Bolt is on the same sick level as Oslo’s madm...
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Fellow travellers, I'm sure that many of you share my disappointment over the recent Murdoch hearings. It looked like we might have finally had the Evil Emperor on the ropes! But sadly, it was not to be. There seems to be a widespread feeling that he acquitted himself well. And then there was that foam pie "attack" on him by comedian and activist "Jonnie Marbles". That has resulted in even more sympathy for the old tyrant.

But was the attack genuine, fellow travellers? As we on the left know ...
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Fellow travellers, as you well know I write this blog out of love. I selflessly offer my deep wisdom for the good of all humankind. And while knowing that I am making the world a better place is deeply fulfilling, there is a downside. Being so far ahead of my time and so spiritually advanced, I do suffer feelings of isolation from time to time. It's lonely at the top, as they say.

That's why it's nice to know that there are others who share my deep compassion, and visions for a kinder, gentle...
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Fellow travellers, I'm sure you have all heard of this latest appalling act by the Opposition, in which the vile David Bushby meowed at sassy sister Penny Wong. Of course the right-wing knuckle draggers in the Liberal Party have argued that it was a comparatively minor insult, and that Labor politicians are capable of vile attacks as well. Their media apologists cite Mark Latham's use of the insult "skanky ho" against Janet Albrechtsen, and Julia Gillard's description of Christopher Pyne as a...
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It's hardly surprising that media blowhard Andrew Bolt's predictably aggressive, sensationalist and simplistic tabloid talk show on Ten would rate highly for that Sunday morning time slot. Of course he and his masters and backers (no doubt including the appalling Gina Rinehart) are just over the moon with the figures. It's typical of their thinking: more and bigger is always better.

Well, all it really means is that a bunch of brain dead, racist, climate change denialist warmongers were happy ...
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Fellow travellers, one of the most appalling trends in mainstream media discourse lately is this increasing perception that the ABC is somehow biased to the left. This is just completely false, and only a revolting right-wing reactionary would say such a thing.

The vile accusers making this offensive claim seem to be particularly fixated on Q&A for some reason. They say the show is guilty of bias in several ways, including the selection of guests. But haven't you noticed, they actually have c...
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Fellow travellers, as you well know our enemies in the Australian media are many and powerful. As Jonathon Holmes so searingly observed last night on Media Watch, those revolting shock jocks are stoking the carbon-spewing flames of climate change denialism, giving scientists who don't believe in climate change lots of air time, while denying it to scientists who do (which is all of them).

And even though what those broadcasters are doing is against the law (that's L A W - law - get it!) they c...
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As you all well know, the great unloofahed are quite happy to accept the first plausible, linear narrative offered to them as valid, then discount any other perspectives completely. But we see things more deeply, spiritually and compassionately don't we, fellow travellers? That's why we come to very different and more searingly insightful conclusions on so many issues.

Take the case of global warming. Climate change denialists pointed out that carbon dioxide had been present in much higher co...
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Fellow travellers, like many of you I tend not to watch the ABC as much as I used to. It seems to have become so much more conservative lately. It all started with the appointment of that revolting Janet Albrechtsen to the board a while ago. I mean, can't we just have a purge of reactionaries and right-wingers so that balance can be restored to our ABC?

One show in which this appalling bias is always depressingly clear is Q&A. The producers are quite brazen about it. They have people like Mira...
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Fellow travellers, I have been informed that one of my blog posts has been mentioned in The Australian's Cut and Paste section. For those of you who don't know, it's a sad little corner of that wretched rag that was accurately dubbed a "daily compendium of schadenfreude and spleen" by Robert Manne.

From my experience in the blogosphere and elsewhere I know what those who read (and write) papers like The Australian think of people who care deeply about humanity, the planet and the future - and ...
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Fellow travellers, a lot of people are saying that this story about Ted Williams, "the homeless man with the golden voice", is wonderfully uplifting; the first big feel good story of 2011.

But it doesn't make me feel good at all, just quite annoyed - and even a little depressed. You see, this upbeat approach relies upon many cultural assumptions that a compassionate and progressive person such as myself finds deeply suspect.

Firstly there is this idea that someone who is homeless is necessaril...
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Fellow travellers, as we all know racism and sexism often go together, particularly in the media. This is to be expected, since the whole paradigm is dominated by white male peenie wavers.

And sometimes this sinister subtext exists even in stories that appear at first to be attempting to deconstruct that depressing state of affairs. Take this article about how there are more and more Aboriginal women working in West Australian diamond mines. The whole tenor of the piece implies that this deve...
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Fellow travellers, being as philosophically, politically and spiritually evolved as I am, it's very rare that I can actually speak highly of another human being. But I certainly can in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Frankly, the more I learn about him, the more impressed I am. While he's not in my league - and never will be, of course - he's certainly getting quite close.

Not only is he a brilliant computer hacker who has made complete fools of the entire Western world and all ...
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Fellow travellers, there was much joyous cat dancing in the Sapphire household when Adam Bandt won the seat of Melbourne for the Greens. This can only be a good thing for Australia.

But I do find it quite upsetting that his past as a feisty student activist is now being dredged up and used against him. His enemies have made public some comments he made a whole 15 years ago!

I mean, really! They would never do such a thing to, say, Tony Abbott. It's truly appalling, and so typical of our ...
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In what is perhaps the most appalling example of media bias so far in this election campaign, the appalling right wing peenie wavers at the Daily Telegraph have depicted our Julia as an old biddy.

It's as sexist as it is ageist.

And these reactionaries have the gall to say that the ABC tilts to the left!

Appalling. Just appalling.

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Fellow travellers, I'm sure many of you will remember Claire Werbeloff, who enjoyed a brief period of "stardom" after pretending to witness a shooting at Kings Cross.

Well, she has made the news again! It seems that she has been asked to be a Liberal candidate for the seat of Bradfield. As this article says, that appalling men's magazine Zoo Weekly has offered to pay for her to run.

You know the Liberal Party is simply beyond hope when they are commissioning these appallingly sexist peenie wav...
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Fellow travellers, I'm sure that you are all sick and tired of climate change deniers insisting that those determined to stop the impending global catastrophe actually want to take humanity "back to the Stone Age" and "make us all cavemen". This is a contemptible and utterly false accusation! (But even if it weren't, what would be wrong with living more in harmony with nature, like our distant ancestors did?)

In any case, the many reich-wingers in the media and politics never miss a chance to ...
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Fellow travellers, as we all know, Gaia is constantly telling humanity how angry She is with us. Yet, so often we just don't get it. (Well, we get it, of course. But the rest of humanity - that is, The Great Unloofahed - sure don't!)

And here's a perfect example: During a news broadcast in Melbourne, the camera that captures the city skyline projected behind the newsreader was attacked by a seagull. Because of its proximity to the lens, it looked like a giant, monstrous creature.

Gaia's intenti...
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