Let me begin with a simple sentence that, even as I write it, appears less than Swiftian in the modesty of its proposal: "Prison conditions at Abu Ghraib have improved markedly and dramatically since the arrival of Coalition troops in Baghdad."
I could undertake to defend that statement against any member of Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International, and I know in advance that none of them could challenge it, let alone negate it. Before March 2003, Abu Ghraib was an abattoir, a torture chamber, and a concentration camp. Now, and not without reason, it is an international byword for Yankee imperialism and sadism. Yet the improvement is still, unarguably, the difference between night and day. How is it possible that the advocates of a post-Saddam Iraq have been placed on the defensive in this manner? And where should one begin?

we are informed early on that, while "one of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit", the phenomenon is "so vast and amorphous that no crisp and perspicuous analysis of its concept can avoid being procrustean".

Of course, the suggestion all bullshit is necessarily uncrafted collides head-on with our use of that allied term, bullshit artist. But Frankfurt has a ready answer to this conundrum, and it takes us to the heart of his project, which is to distinguish the concept of bullshit from straight-out lying.

In fact, while lying is a craft, bullshitting is a kind of art; instead of extracting nuggets of truth from an account and substituting them with lies, the bullshit artist uses "improvisation, colour and imaginative play" to create a more spacious account in which there operates, as it were, a suspension of disbelief.

Thirty years ago, when he said he did not know about the Watergate break-in, Richard Nixon was lying. But when former NSW premier Bob Carr promised last year that Sydney's rail services would achieve "more robust on-time running" under his administration, he was simply bullshitting.

US philosopher Richard Rorty was suggesting something similar in his famous aside about Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction: "He's given bullshit a bad name."

Wasn't lies, it was just... bullshit

One rainy night, Halle Berry crashes her Saab and wakes up in a bad movie with Robert Downey Jr. and a bad wig. Lights flicker menacingly and steely grey corridors echo with the sound of Ms. Berry crying 'help, I've fallen down another plot hole'
...
And Ms. Berry? Let's just say that for all her wild bewilderment and wide-eyed fear, she is ultimately defeated by that ridiculous fake hair-do.

• No one understands the rules.
• Workers are prohibited from using the tools that would let them be more productive (hands).
• From time to time petty bureaucrats (officials) interfere with play in such a way as to limit production.
• Players, coaches, officials and fans are all fully involved (employed) and yet output is miniscule.
• Any production is met by celebration all out of proportion to its objective value.
• Followers are slavishly (religiously?) devoted to the system and their own brand of it and resort to violence at any criticism of either.

But Mr Kennett said he was confused about what role McGuire had when he was working on The Footy Show.
"Is he speaking as the presenter of The Footy Show or is he speaking as the Collingwood president?" he asked.
"Who am I responding to?
"Am I responding to Eddie McGuire The Footy Show presenter, who's after ratings and entertainment?
"Or am I responding to the president of the football club?"

JK: Why do you ask me such questions?
JJ: I have to premier, I'm a journalist.
JK: No you're not, you're a public servant.

What Did the Control Group Get?
"Study: Placebos Make People Feel Better"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 24

had wanted the blue trees to impress visitors during the International Arts Festival, Australian Open and Commonwealth Games.

65 Girls At Area School Pregnant
CANTON, Ohio -- There are 490 female students at Timken High School, and 65 are pregnant, according to a recent report in the Canton Repository.
The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame.
School officials are not sure what has caused so many pregnancies.

If Timken High has a biology teacher, maybe the school officials should ask him if he has any theories.

School officials are not sure what has caused so many pregnancies, but in response to them, the school is launching a three-prong educational program to address pregnancy, prevention and parenting.

So if sending money to Russia will solve global warming ... maybe sending skateboards to Portugal will fix global poverty! It’s worth a try!

"What does it make me look like that I have slept with Alan Partridge?" she allegedly told her friend. "Given the A-grade stars I've dated it's embarrassing. I mean ... Alan Partridge!"

Unlike Loane, Trioli doesn't have children, is avowedly left wing in an '80s post-feminist Melbourne University way, and is said to be "up herself" and "Brunswick cool" - as in wears a lot of black.

BOURKE St Mall's tram stop strips will soon be transformed with a "cosmic-themed design" reminiscent of the Milky Way, the city council has revealed.

"There's nothing like it in the world," he said. "We're doing it special for Melbourne. It's got its own unique look."

"It's like a big painting in a way. It's hard to explain it," Humphries said.
"I'm being cautious about it until I see it ground back."

HARDENED criminals are on the run after stealing thousands of sex-aid pill Viagra from pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

It's got a sub's grubby mitts all over it.
Nice one.

one student looked forward in the booklet to the English test, to be examined the next day, after finishing the maths test early

SEPARATING the English and maths tests and printing them in separate booklets.

in June, an Altona P-plater, 19, nabbed doing 173km/h on the Princes Freeway at Laverton said he was going to Carlton for a kebab

DEEPLY religious Maria Korp once sacrificed a goat to ward off evil spirits from her Mickleham home.
The animal's throat was cut by Maria, who bled it before placing the carcass on a large wooden pyramid she built.
The structure was then set alight, the Herald Sun has been told.

CUTTING COSTS, NASA SAYS IT WILL WAIT FOR MARTIANS TO COME TO US
Mars Must Share Financial Burden of Space Exploration, NASA Chief Says

Prof Joss Bland-Hawthorn used a new hi-tech telescope to look at the edges of a similar, close galaxy called NGC 300.
"We found NGC 300 is twice the diameter we thought it was before. Therefore we would imagine that our own galaxy is twice as big as currently believed," he said.

Please leave your Political Correctness at the door. Freedom of speech and thought are mandatory. Good grammar will be rewarded (although posting and drinking may impact upon this at times).

The government's attempts to get us to change our ways have been an abject failure. The 'Five-A-Day' campaign, even with the helpful support of food producers and retailers, has made little difference to our fruit and veg consumption - but it has convinced many healthy people that their otherwise satisfactory diets are killing them. The result has not been behaviour change but fatalism, a belief that eating and drinking what we like might cause us harm.

The irony is that the campaign is unnecessary. Quite apart from the fact that life expectancies continue to rise, it is clear from Family Food that we are eating and drinking better already - not because of the exhortations of ministers and health professionals, but because we have a bit more money in our pockets and a more interesting selection of things to spend it on.

While the official line from ABC Radio is "no comment", Aunty's Southbank headquarters are awash with rumours that drive-time's Virginia Trioli is packing her bags.

Justice Kim Hargrave quashed the charges against Mr Mendonca on a legal technicality. The curry king must return to the County Court for a rehearing.

Failed lord mayoral candidate Gary Morgan said the station's decay "typifies Melbourne -- a city in decline which has lost its leadership in a world market".

Upset at kinder gay family guide

Though who knows, maybe the party will follow that other Labor tradition of getting a woman to carry the can, like they did with Carmen Lawrence, Joan Kirner and Barry Unsworth.

Muir, the potato commission chief, said Atkins' misfortune would send farmers "jumping up and down in the potato fields of Idaho today."

"We have always been aware that there is a small increased risk, this report is not saying there's a further risk to what we already know," said the president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal.
"It's putting the risks up front as being a warning, but there are no more dangers." [my emphasis]

HRT cancer link found - Melbourne Herald Sun
Pill and HRT drugs cause cancer, say researchers - Sydney Morning Herald