Australia Cuts And Runs

I'm sure they view their actions as courageous, but it just seems like Australia is bailing on a friend and even more, they are bailing on the Iraqi people. Peter Khalil extols the military (rightfully so) and simultaneously claims moral superiority for quitting combat while combat is still needed to achieve this nebulous goal:

In making the case for responsible withdrawal the Prime Minister has demonstrated independence and candour. The Rudd Government's Iraq policy is grounded in the recognition that stability in Iraq requires a political solution among all the ethnic and sectarian groups on such critical issues as the distribution of oil revenue, powers of regional governments and demobilisation of militias. The strategic reality is that an indefinite presence of foreign troops as part of a one-dimensional military campaign will never end the violence. This can be achieved only by Iraqis through negotiation and agreement.

Can you say rationalization? This is just Leftist-speak for desiring a positive outcome but being unwilling to do the tough work to get it done. Oh, they're available for the easy stuff, but the Americans can do the hard work and the Australians can feel good about themselves because they'll give some money and "support".

Sure, Americans still like Australians, but Kevin Rudd and his stupid minions and craven foreign policy? Not so much.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

Child Pornography As Art

In America, it's "spiritual marriages" or slut baby clothing. In Australia, it's "art". Either way, exploiting children seems to becoming more normed throughout Western civilization. Make sure to watch the news clip at the link. Even Australia's leftist Prime Minister is appalled.

My question, upon watching all this, is where are the parents? There are laws against child pornography, but there's no law that can stop parents from being complete morons. Why would a parent allow this? The child has no consent. The child will grow up some day and see these images and try to rationalize his parent's failure to protect him and worse, his parents cooperated.

Of course, the art community feels persecuted because police are investigating. Enter the obligatory Nazi references:

Commenting on the decision to shut down the Henson exhibition, he said it was "a sad day that an artist or a gallerist has to edit an exhibition on the basis of public fear".

"It's like Australia's way back in the 1950s again," he added. "It's a reminder that we still live very much in basically a philistine country."

Judy Annear, senior curator of photography at the Art Gallery of NSW, says artists like Henson need to continue to push the boundaries, despite public opinion.

"The day art museums and artists decide that the only thing they can do is react to public opinion is the day that we are in the same scenario as people were in the 1930s in Germany," she said.

So, the Nazi's were preventing children from being exploited? Why, if my cursory understanding of history serves, it was the Nazis who were doing the exploiting. Lampshades were art, no doubt. Hitler hated modernism and artists in general because of his own failings as an artist. What deep chasm in the modern public psyche accounts for the outrage at seeing children exploited?

It is never possible that the artist has crossed a inviolable moral line. Nope. The Australian populace are a bunch of Philistines. How open minded! Only if you agree with the art communities are you a free thinking genius, but if you disagree--you're a Philistine. To the true artist, there are no boundaries. To the average person, artists have no sense.

H/T Reader Dana Hanley

Depraved Is The New Normal: Part II--UPDATE

Does anything look strange about this picture? Oh, there's something strange alright. But who are you to judge?

See Part 1 here.

UPDATE: Who are you to trample on the rights of the incestuous?

Tim Blair Wins Funniest Blog Post For Monday: Allah Don't Do Irony

He reports:

Around 150 Muslims voted with the leader of the radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir that taking part in the political process is a waste of time.

I'm still giggling. And these are the times that even in our stupidity, I figure, we gots to win this war.

Some Thoughts on Australian Forgiveness

My friend in Australia rejoices at Prime Minister Paul Rudd's decision to apologize to the indigenous Australian population for forced separation. Other Australians like Tim Blair says this in an aptly named post Happy Sorry Day!:

Sadly, the effect of the apology on those it’s aimed at is a secondary concern. This is more about smug white folks feeling nice about themselves. That’s why, despite it being an apology for allegedly terrible events, everybody is smiling.

Manny at Auspundits sees this as the beginning of indoctrination which is the government's ultimate goal:

Today, across Australia, state Labor governments and teacher's unions encouraged public schools to feature Prime Minister Rudd's apology to the "stolen generation" and to "educate" its pupils of the historical importance of this largely symbolic gesture. The kind of impetus and vigor with which this was pursued has not been seen in Australian life for well over a decade. Not even the "Public Schools: A National Priority" campaign was so shamelessly promoted.

My concern and the one I voiced to my friend a couple weeks ago, is that the apology is essentially toothless. It cannot right the wrongs. The children are damaged. (Google search it here.)

I'm highly suspicious of collective guilt generations on. Claire Berlinski wrote of the German psychology a few generations after the horrors of Hitler's regime. It's not good. Germany has its own peculiar need for pride and strength and discipline that has been lost in nihilistic angst but boils beneath the surface. It seems to me a uniquely German perspective. The guilt and fear feed resentment. At a certain point this reactionary emotion needs to be left behind.

In the Anglicized West--Britain, America and Australia--an uncomfortable pall rests on them for various reasons. Britain struggles with a pernicious multiculturalism and integrating Muslim populations. America struggles with another form of pernicious multiculturalism where Blacks harbor the legacy of slavery (and some still seek reparations), Latinos vie for special status and American Indians live apart, cut off from the American dream. In Australia, the Aborigines are, according to my friend, a shadow people operating out of the view of everyday Australians.

These strains of shame from the past suck the possibility from the present. They also separate peoples, isolating them from the potential of the new age. For the Aborigines, clinging to old custom will leave them behind the modern world. Is recognition that you're a victim a good thing?

My concern is that casting oneself as victim can be damaging long-term. If it induces helplessness and hopelessness, what's the point? And for those apologizing: Did you do the harm? Then, what good is the apology?

Steyn Mourns Howard's End

And so do I. Steyn says it best:

In more genteel mode, he put it like this: "Multilateralism is a synonym for an ineffective and unfocused policy involving internationalism of the lowest common denominator." See Darfur, the Iranian nukes, the UN's flop response to the tsunami. If it's right to intervene in the Sudan, it's not wrong because the Russian guy declines to stick his hand up at the relevant meeting. The Howard years saw the emergence of a regional power that, from East Timor to Solomon Islands, understood its responsibilities at a time when the Euro-Canadian poseurs shrunk from theirs.

As a distant observer of Australian affairs, I had some small personal contact with Howard and co. over the years. Merry, feisty, blunt and fair, they were exactly what we need at this moment: happy warriors. I'm saddened Australians feel differently. But if it's too late to get the US constitution amended in time for them to run for president next November, the savvier candidates ought to snap 'em up as speech writers.

Howard Out In Australia

And what is the jubilant USA Today headline? Australia Ousts Conservatives is the Google headline and when you get to the actual page, the paper itself is a bit more subdued: Australia ousts center-right coalition. Such restraint! How about Howard concedes or some such?

They might as well have written, "Ding-dong one of the witches is dead!" Remember how stomach-turning it was to watch Clinton and his minions dancing around to Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow like he was new prom king? Yeah, so do I. If a Dem wins in 08, I expect to feel like this. More here.

Don't expect any dignity from the press should a Democrat win in 2008. Not that they have much on a good day.

Our Press Could Be Worse

It could.

New Zealand The Empty Vessel

One of my very best college friends was a New Zealander who now works in Australia. She was tall, gorgeous, smart and funny with auburn hair, a few freckles and an expression that implied she was always up for a little trouble. We got on great and I've always wanted to visit New Zealand since.

Well, last year, my sister took a business trip to Australia and took a side trip to New Zealand where she was hosted by her co-worker's gracious family. They were wonderful, the countryside was sublime, and the natural beauty breath-taking. I have the pictures on my Mac to prove it. But the people generally did little to hide their contempt for Americans. She said she listened as N.Z. citizen after citizen assaulted her with diatribes about how bad America was. She didn't bother to argue. They were full of righteous rage.

New Zealanders, my sister said, valued the environment over all else. Every natural thing is protected. The island is astronomically expensive because like Dean Esmay notes in his discussion of all things Kiwi, they are 1000 miles from anywhere. The world view is, to put it delicately, tiny. Rather than having a sense of proportion, their place in the world, New Zealand is like the undisciplined spoiled baby of the family. She is the center of attention, the cutest, most charming, over-indulged petulant child that everyone endures. Just because no one has smacked her down, doesn't mean she doesn't deserve it.

Americans are noticing the unwelcoming attitude in New Zealand. They'll probably survive if Americans give up on New Zealand altogether and spend their money in Australia. Will they survive if their little corner of the universe gets attacked? My sister said that New Zealand was awash in Japanese and their yen. It's a popular Japanese vacation spot. So fine. But I'm not eager to visit anymore. And I'm not alone.

My girlfriend and her family just got back from France and had a phenomenal time. We're thinking about going over there. Who wants to spend their weak dollar in an expensive, contempt-laden place? There are friendlier shores to visit. It's time to discipline the baby.

Glenn Reynolds says, "Just respond with the sheep-jokes they tell about Kiwis in Australia." Or jokes like this.

Australia: A Little Slice of Heaven

Posted by Laura at Ace, at an Australian Awards Ceremony, a Journalist stormed the stage and pushed another journalist off-stage. You absolutely must go read the article via her link. I laughed so hard my stomach hurts (well, it still hurts anyway, but whatever). And read the comments, too, for some Friday frivolity.