Zombie Jesus Holiday News, and The Cole Commission.

[tcpip]

Big event for Zombie Jesus day was playing GURPS Bunnies & Burrows with some fellow rabbits. It is a game certainly deserving of its cult-status. The night before caseopaya and myself took log_reloaded out for her 21st birthday with her partner Jase and her mother and her partner (got all that?) also in attendance seeing Ross Noble at the Melbourne Town Hall. He's not bad; sort of a Northumbrian version of Billy Connoly, but not quite as funny (yet - he's still young).

Once a year caseopaya and I consume red meat (well, I have a taste here and there) and when most other folk in Christendom are not; Good Friday (aka "Dead Jew on a Stick Day"). This years meaty feast was Hungarian goulash. You just can't have too much paprika.

Our trustworthy Prime Minister claims that he never saw any of the 21 diplomatic cables between warning of AWB bribery claiming that AWB tricked him. But he acknowledges that he was aware that sanctions were being broken. So is he incompetent or a liar? In either case he is not fit to hold office. Trade Minister Mark Vaile knew nothing and did less as he ignored 31 cables.

Summary courtesy of greylock on Mark Vaile's performance

* "Incompetent" and "buck-passing" – Dennis Shanahan, The Australian
* "The Trade Minister doesn't have a clue." - Neil Chenoweth, Financial Review
* "Quietly and with an air of polite resolution, Mr Agius carved the minister up". – David Marr, Sydney Morning Herald
* " ...at best, totally naive and, at worst, frighteningly incompetent." – Michelle Grattan, The Age
* "Vaile floundered." – Matt Price, The Australian
* "It can be fairly said that Mr Vaile has probably enjoyed better days in his political career." – Kerry O'Brien, The 7.30 report
* "... a picture of incurious and incompetent ministerial oversight." – Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald

Weird links of the week goes to the Anarchist Icecream van and O RLY the Owl.

Comments

[mortonhall.livejournal.com]

I think Ross Noble probably peaked a few years ago. We've seen him every year at the Comedy Festival and I don't think he's as sharp as he was the first 3 or 4 times. I reckon he's losing his touch as he gets older - or maybe it's that living-in-Melbourne-thing that's killing his comedy

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

or maybe it's that living-in-Melbourne-thing that's killing his comedy

*nods* All the interesting things in Melbourne is distracting his imagination.

[shorxrore.livejournal.com]

l

o

l

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but which part? O RLY? Or me in rabbit ears? Or the whole post?

[shorxrore.livejournal.com]

mainly o rly :)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Whilst it's political effectiveness is limited I do love culture jamming...

[shorxrore.livejournal.com]

hahaha true that

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

Zombie Jesus Day! Heh heh heh...

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

... "I love you all... That's why I've come back.... Let me eat your BRAINS..."

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

aaaah!

[caseopaya.livejournal.com]

It would have been even better if I could have actually tasted the goulash! (damned colds)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I thought that what the tapping was.

Promise to make an even spicier dish soon...

[caseopaya.livejournal.com]

If you are going to make a spicy dish you had best do so while my taste buds are in a state of malfunction!

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

My favourite comment on the AWB affair came from crikey.com.au:

Here in the Crikey bunker we have been furiously hunting the Cole Commission
transcripts for a tally of how many times the memories of our government
ministers, officials and AWB executives have lapsed. How many times the key
witnesses at the Cole inquiry have answered questions with phrases like: "I
can't recall", "not to my knowledge", "I don't know", "I'm not across that
detail", "I'm not sure", "I'm not certain" and "not that I'm aware of".
So here it is - the 2006 Australian Leadership & Competence Index:
John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia - 2 times at least (subject to transcript)
Mark Vaile, Deputy PM and Trade Minister - 44 times
Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs - 62 times
Andrew Lindberg, Managing Director of AWB - 733 times
Trevor Flugge, Chairman AWB - 201 times
Michael Long, General Manager, AWB International Sales and Marketing Division -
138 times
Peter Geary, Domestic and Global Trading International Sales and Marketing, Risk
Management - 275 times
Paul Ingleby, CFO AWB - 30 times
Charles Stott, Marketing Chief AWB - 24 times
Ian Donges, International Chairman AWB - 74 times
Richard Fuller, Company Secretary and Director AWB - 37 times
Jim Cooper, Counsel and Company Secretary AWB - 94 times
Brendan Stewart, Chairman AWB - 43 times
That comes to 1757 expressions of ignorance, denial, obfuscation, memory lapse, vagueness and incompetence we can find by a range of people in influential leadership positions in Australian government and business.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

That comes to 1757 expressions of ignorance, denial, obfuscation, memory lapse, vagueness and incompetence we can find by a range of people in influential leadership positions in Australian government and business.

*wail* We're under the control of evil morons!

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

...for the last decade

:::sobs:::

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think it's been longer than that ;-)

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

Yes, alas.

Clone Natasha!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Mmmm.,... If we make lots of Natasha's we can all have one ;-)

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

Yum!
Y htoghts gezackly.

I would bake her a cake :-)

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

my thoughts

(not enuff caffeine)

TICU...bat chain puller or the best batch yet?

[imajica-lj.livejournal.com]

Why do I get the feeling that the vans "come hither" music would be a perpetually looped tape of everything Captain Beefheart ever produced?

Happy miss-appropriated fertility festival guys.

Re: TICU...bat chain puller or the best batch yet?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Why do I get the feeling that the vans "come hither" music would be a perpetually looped tape of everything Captain Beefheart ever produced?

If it isn't it certainly should be... With the occassional Frank Zappa guest appearance.

The festival is OK. caseopaya is recovering from a cold. I've managed to keep it at bay through natural medicine.

Have you recovered from the 'flu?

Re: TICU...bat chain puller or the best batch yet?

[imajica-lj.livejournal.com]

Getting there... just a slight cough and brain not working right sometimes.

D=R*T

Serious A team potential in that van.
Oh man...these ppl have the hydrogen bomb.

Re: TICU...bat chain puller or the best batch yet?

[imajica-lj.livejournal.com]

oh and I feel like I must vote for Orly.
Siln is going to Hell...but as a champion of the people.
Cheers dude.

Re: TICU...bat chain puller or the best batch yet?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

We should adopt O RLY to other workplaces as well. Make siln's campaign international!

Re: TICU...bat chain puller or the best batch yet?

[imajica-lj.livejournal.com]

Written and endorsed by:
"O rly, y rly, no wai, yes wai, FUCK YEAH international"
On behalf of the committee to elect Mark Vaile as the next Peter Reith.

Terminology

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

Zombie Jesus day

I love it - yes! Much better than "Ressurection Sunday" which I read the other day.

[evil-genius.livejournal.com]

You know you want to move to New Zealand......

[raven2000.livejournal.com]

must...stop...reading...get ready for the day...uuuuuuhhh.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Suffering from el-jay addiction?

Hell, between livejournal and usenet there's not many hours left in the day...

I fear that I'll be sucked in to download my brain in Wikipedia one day...

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

But I'm not there yet myself!

(OK, so it's a quick flight across 'The Ditch')

[horngirl.livejournal.com]

You just know I have to comment on this...

AFAIC, that is not a recipe for gulyas, if you're trying to be authentic. I know it says everyone has their own version, and that's probably true, but the stuff I was brought up on has many more vegetables and no dumplings.

So there ;-)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was thinking of when I was making it.

I considered adding more vegetables in it... But what the hell, it was "meat Friday"

What extra vegies did your family have?

Is it possible to do vegetarian gulyas? With say, mushrooms and paprika?

[horngirl.livejournal.com]

The vegies that my mum generally put in were: peas, corn, carrots, beans and potatoes. Personally, I like to use all of them plus add pumpkin and sweet potato and you can even put in broccoli or pretty much anything. I think my brother made some while I was staying with him that had squash in it. oh, and or course you cook the meat in onion.

I don't think it's really achievable to make gulyas without meat, since it's by stewing the meat at the beginning of the process that you get the flavour of the dish. Anyway, it'd hardly be a Hungarian meal without some sort of meat in it - even bableves (bean soup) is made with a base of meat.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Time for some more experimentation in cooking.. yum!