June 2005

Is there a message in this somewhere? Something along the lines of "try sacking me now you bastards"...

I wasn't going to mention him again before that old boys' reunion concert next month, but it's good to see the world's most prominent spiritual leader telling the Pope what to do...

http://au.launch.yahoo.com/050621/11/4x5n.html

This has to be the most bizarre act of convergence I've ever come across. Bob Dylan and Norah Jones are performing in a concert in Seattle on July 16 to mark the tenth birthday of Amazon.com, which will stream the event live on its homepage. Billboard has a report, while the Pantheon of New Consumerism will have progress reports. (What, no black artists, you say? And how can you have a Show of Thanks in Seattle without any Seattle musicians?

The question has to be asked: If Andrew Symonds stayed off the turps last Friday night, would Australia be undefeated in the NatWest Series today?

To quote John Howard's favourite answer in parliamentary question time:

In my BBC interview on Tuesday, Rhod Sharp described me as "following the NatWest Series avidly". I have no idea how he arrived at that conclusion. I went to bed on Saturday when Bangladesh were crawling along at 3.0 runs per over against Australia. I was asleep when Kevin Pietersen went berko on Sunday and I'll probably be snoring through his three-ball duck later tonight. And I don't have Fox Sports these days so I can't see the England-Bangladesh games.

Rupert Murdoch's flagship random word generator doctoring photographs and dredging up sexist, homophobic stereotypes yet again. Yes, it's all good clean honest sledging, isn't it?

I was interviewed by BBC Radio Five Live earlier today as part of their weekly Pods and Blogs program during their overnight shift. It's a program where they discuss current events through the eyes of bloggers and podcasters, and this morning they devoted a segment to cricket, with particular focus on Australia's woes in the NatWest Series.

You've got to hand it to John Winston Howard - when he's not blatantly lying about events he's doing his darndest to shift the blame onto others. I don't think I've seen anything for quite a while that encapsulates the John Howard mindset better than this exchange from last night's 7.30 Report on the ABC. It comes during an interview by Kerry O'Brien about the Government's announced changes to mandatory detention for asylum seekers:

The greatest cricketer the United States ever produced, and thus the greatest sportsperson in American history, King was snubbed by Discovery Channel viewers whose choices for the top 100 included Hugh Hefner, Martha Stewart, Mel Gibson, Michael Jackson and FOUR members of the Bush family.

Shane's Shame: Married Aussie cricket ace begged me for sex, but it was OWZAT! in seconds
(Mike Duffy/Sunday Mirror, 19.6.05)