Hildegarde

Second Post for Thanksgiving

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5 Responses to 'Second Post for Thanksgiving'

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1. I’m not sure I’m thinking straight because loud, roaring tinnitus kept me awake most of the night and is still going strong.

   But the comment about Wallace being a Republican set me to thinking about history. Someone who is 21 today was born in 1992. That means WW1, the Great Depression, WW2, the Korean war, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, the first Gulf War are all history.

   So are all presidents except George W Bush and Obama.

   And the Interstate Highway system, cheap airfares to Europe, TV, computers, and smart phones have always existed.

   

   jd

   28 Nov 13 at 4:46 pm
2. Oh, lordy, lordy, lordy. What a wonderful compendium of stupidity. This bit rang a particular chime: “Those vigilant about our welfare never sleep; Canadian relief supplies for Oklahoma tornado victims were stopped at the U.S. border until every item could be itemized in alphabetical order and its country of origin noted. You can’t be too careful.”

   You all may be aware, or not as the case may be, that Australia is having a little diplomatic contretemps with our near northern neighbour, Indonesia. This is not only courtesy of our mutual friend Edward Snowden, but also of our very own Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) that took it on itself to publish the bits of Snowden’s leaks that disclosed that during the reign of the immediate past Labor government, Australian intelligence organisations had listened in to the cell phone communications of the Indonesian President and his wife, among others. This particular bit of mischief-making by the kiddies at the ABC has been designed to embarrass the new Liberal/National coalition government down here and, in particular, the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, who is especially hated by the brain-damaged left that have colonised the ABC and other educational and cultural institutions down here. It worked, since the Indonesians have all but broken off diplomatic relations with Australia because, much to the left’s confected outrage, Abbott has declined to publically apologise for the sins of the previous government. Michael Moore at his worst has nothing on these guys.

   So, imagine my delight and surprise when I learnt this morning that the Indonesians, or at least some of them, have been caught out cheating. In the recent past, a deal was made with the Indonesians that we would gift them our refurbished (at our expense) surplus 35-odd year old C130H aircraft that have been superseded by the more modern J model and by C17s. The first of those aircraft was due to depart the Richmond Air Force Base (near Sydney) yesterday. On inspection by Customs before departure, the aircraft was found to contain a significant number of prohibited exports, namely native birds unique to Australia and highly desirable on the overseas bird market. The aircraft was eventually allowed to depart. When it arrived at Darwin for refuel, a lot more birds were found. The plane has now been “impounded” and we await developments with “baited” breath.

   

   Mique

   28 Nov 13 at 7:16 pm
3. The reader comments on the article were depressing. Either they were ad hominium attacks on the author (such as he’s a conservative, therefore not worth reading) or interpreted the article in terms of Democrats vs Republicans.

   

   jd

   28 Nov 13 at 7:49 pm
4. I cannot for the life of me understand the shock and horror that intelligence agencies spy even on what they hope are friendly governments. They’re not in the “trust” business, after all.

   Of course, JD’s right: the critics are born too late to even have heard tell of the Secretary of State who closed down our cryptographic service between the World Wars because “gentlemen do not read one another’s mail.” They’re even too young to remember why the decryption of the German Enigma machines was classified so long. (Hint: what unbreakable code machines did Britain give to every newly-independent former colony following WWII?)

   They’d have to actually READ HISTORY to know these things, instead of just quarrying it for grievances. And the schools would have to teach it. Fat chance either way.

   And ad hominem attacks are SO much easier than research or reasoning. I’d call the ad hominem attack the fast food of intellectual argument, but that seems unfair to the McNugget Combo.

   

   robert_piepenbrink

   28 Nov 13 at 11:02 pm
5. Robert, as the Diplomad says, “Spies spying? The horror!”

   What next from Kiddy Central?

   

   Mique

   29 Nov 13 at 1:25 am

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