Open letters are the hissy fits of our times, petulant and tedious expressions of collective outrage. It is also by some considerable measure the laziest form of protest.
In other words, the terminally aggrieved could take to the barricades but that would mean having to walk all the way to the barricades, standing around, feeling uncomfortable and what if it rained? It’s much easier to simply put names to a letter someone else had written in strident agreement with its contents.
There is one particularly egregious example of the open letter that caught my eye last night. It comes from the Columbia Journalism Review and is allegedly an open letter from the American press corps to President-elect Donald Trump.
As if journalists weren’t despised enough by the community, along comes this haughty expression of well … a journalist’s basic job description albeit dripping in sanctimony and self-importance. It even includes the grammatical venal sin of writing ‘you’re’ as ‘your’. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Full column here.
Jean Baptiste
January 23, 2017 at 8:16 pm
Says: “You’re incapable of taking on any new information Carl. If you want to believe the mush fed to the masses, that’s fine with me.”
“New information” JB ? What new information?
Let me explain simply what actually happened.
1. Reagan had a chat with Gorbachev.
2. Gorbachev then abandoned the Brezhnev doctrine.
3. From then on it was ‘Goodnight Irene.’
May I suggest you find a new library me old mate.
PS. I assume you know what No. 2 was all about.
You’re living in la la land Carl.
Must he a good place. JB. Lots of Oscar nominations! 🙂
Also, Janet Albrechtsen hated it.
JB – I’ll take your reply as being a kapitulyatsiya comrade.
Error on post 07:51am .
4th last line replace “does”with “doesn’t”.
Why just the error on this particular post Rodent? What exactly do you mean by the “fowl he garbage” that Madonna is “spruiking” Seriously Rodent stop lecturing Bella, Tracy and myself on what to read and how we should feel about women’s rights. By all means keep your little in house arguments going with Bassman, but you seem to think that the rest of us care about what you think……I for one don’t Rodent and find your posts incredibly ignorant and badly written.
I’m sure there are those who hang on your word, but you might find that you also piss a lot of us off……if I may be so bold as to finish with a sentence that is not quite grammatically correct.
So Rodent isn’t as eloquent as some on the blog Penny does that make his contributions less worth while? I don’t know the bloke but perhaps he is from a non English speaking background or is more mechanically minded than literate.
Razor, I don’t expect eloquence, but if you are going to push your opinions as forcefully as Rodent tries to do, could we not expect just a little intelligent posts to make us all sit up and take note? You and I have had our moments Razor, but (believe it or not) I do respect what you have to say….well most of the time. Rodent hogs this blog with nonsensical crap and spoils it for a lot of us. It might sound like English is his second language, but if he is to be believed he has a “dinky di” genuine history with Bassman. Personally I think he is boring as bat shit…
Trust me I do understand your point of view on the matter.
I can never understand what rodent is on about, Penny even though, to borrow a phrase from el presidente, I’m like, a smart person. It’s like ee Cummings crossed with hunter s Thompson but without the funny bits.
Welcome back dazza.
Thanks Razor. Ive been travelling all over the countryside – just like the Leyland Brothers. Lots of development and roadworks down south but bugger all up north (except for a lot of new houses in townships – most of which appear to be on airbnb). If anything things appear to be going backwards up north.
Ah. Airbnb’s. Springing up all over the place. Property booming here – and houses on the market for less than a fortnight generally. I’d say the majority of buyers are interstate who haven’t even sighted the property. Most of them immediately have a planning application on the fence for ”visitor accommodation” – especially where I live – which is high tourism zone. A real shame to have the quaint”village” identity slowly being lost. As is the case – developers destroy what people came to enjoy.
The problem with that is that they are pushing up property prices artificially for the locals and also putting huge pressure on would be renters.
I see in this morning’s edition of the noble Mercury that the tax office data matchers are starting with Airbnb’s too and someone here was hit with a $20k Land Tax bill. They are trying to claim that they just had someone in to look after their property while they were away. Well, why did they charge them to do that one would ask – quite reasonably. Ah well at least they will recover some taxes there – some small contribution against the negative gearing tax concessions.
I thought the iron ore price was kicking again? Don’t know much about your state mate but obviously that hasn’t done much. Is the South because of tourism?
Anyway hope you have a great Australia Day. I’ll be having a quite time. I actually would love to see the date changed. The apology was crap in my view but changing the date of Australia Day is actually doing something.
In reply to your last, Razor, I’m surprised so few people know about this.
Oh dear the “alternative facts” of the cons are being shown to be just that a con.
“Strangely, Frydenberg didn’t mention Queensland. He should have, because then he would have understood that the issue is not about renewable energy, but market rules and market competition.” ” But wholesale prices in January in South Australia have been less than NSW, little more than in Victoria and Tasmania, and less than half what they have been in Queensland, where the lack of competition to the coal and gas generators (apart from rooftop solar) has meant prices have average more than $200/MWh.”
(RenewEconomy editor Giles Parkinson has already pointed out that the AEMC modelling actually shows that the RET is actually a cheaper option.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/public-not-buying-coalition-attack-wind-solar-36457/
Perhaps you should peruse the below link. I think reneweconomy must be indulging in a bit if false news or perhaps pandering to the rent seekers.
https://www.aer.gov.au/wholesale-markets/wholesale-statistics/annual-volume-weighted-average-spot-prices
You are wrong.
Razor you are typical of the dishonest people who support trump and one nation. Anything you refuse to accept because it highlights you are WRONG and does not reconfirm your already held false fixed belies has to be disparaged as “false or fake” news. Your desperation if not so ridiculous would be comical. Your pathological dishonesty is again proven for all to see. You area an oxygen thief.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/modelling-from-government-advisor-shows-high-ret-may-be-cheapest-option-82484/
Here is another one
http://reneweconomy.com.au/aemo-says-gas-plants-may-stranded-falling-renewables-storage-prices-41103/
Dismayed you have linked to a site that panders to and makes its quid from the renewable energy sector.
I have linked to the Australian Energy Regulator’s site. The figures are there in black and white. I set you up for this a couple of days ago but you didn’t bite. Thankfully you gave me another chance to make a fool of you. The AER is the independent umpire. Those are the official figures. Could you advise where I have gone wrong?
Please note the explosion in the SA price the moment they got rid of coal.
Hey dickhead Razor. the links point to report after report that refute every bit of dishonest nonsense you continue to make. You have some sort of self selected disability. you choose not to want to know the facts.
So little man are the official figures I presented wrong? Was your obvious unhinged rant at 10.48pm reaction to old razor proving you a fool with his little linky……..
All you continue to prove is you do NOT understand what you are reading and you are deliberately misrepresenting because you are pathologically dishonest.
So you are saying reneweconomy figures are right and the Australian Energy Regulators are wrong. Is that correct or are you going to continue to obfuscate?
Bella 03:56pm .
I support your right for protests after all that is what democracy is all about . We can all live in harmony with protests , but having the wrong people on the front line being the greatest abuses of womens rights staging grubby events ,is what turns majority of women away from Madonna . Madonna just trashes herself with radical intent to shame the real women out there trying to inject her style of abuse , but smart women don’t wear it . Madonna sees it all about her this shabby entry into this march. Trump is just an excuse for her to rant on while she neglected all the men abuse on women when Obama was around Bella!
I wish some one of mature nature in support of womens rights at marches ,would come forward and not a burnt out grubby people like Madonna trying to boost her career using this lagitimate gathering march . Lets face it she does not fit the occasion been untidy in her past exposures both appearence and with the mouth.
cheers.
They did come forward Rodent, as I said in my post. The collective media decided Madonna would sell more copy, as I said in my post.
Please try to stop making what was an important event for women into a personal attack on ONE out of the millions who marched.
The only protest gatherings I have attended never involved violence & have been very important to me.
Bella
“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place. Or not to bother.” Jane Goodall
I sent a reply to you last night Rodent but somehow it’s lost, so let me be clear now, so we won’t waste more space with your Madonna fixation. She was ONE of millions & the march wasn’t about her.
And don’t start telling me to ” fall into line” on anything mate, in fact, don’t be the guy who thinks he can dictate what the ‘consensus’ is on any issue, because you strictly swallow any opinion the Oz has printed as fact.
Try to remember why I became an activist & just because I’ve partaken in protest gatherings the issue has to be very important to me to do so.
Your use of the words ‘grubby events’ is absolutely off Rodent cos those marches in the States were about issues that directly affect women.
Like this ignorant stroke of Trump’s poison pen:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-24/trump-makes-early-move-on-restricting-abortions-around-the-world/8206444
As long as you’ll live, you will never see a photograph of seven women signing legislation about what MEN can do with their reproductive organs!
Over & Out, Bella
Razor says:January 23, 2017 at 3:10 pm. I see electricity is more expensive in Queensland today again compared to other states.
Refer to my above link.
Yvonne 07 :40am.
NO surprise with Dismayed ,it does not sink in describing issues like health now worst ever under Obama crippling many Americans . When you argue with an idealogue , it just bounces off .The rabble comes from these people is only hurting themselves not tuned in.
Bella ,…I am surprised in you not mentioning the disaster Obama was for women’s rights not protecting the women abuse plus the fact supporting a tramp like Madonna . The fowl he garbage she spruiks is damaging the lives of kids trying to weather the storm of fowl language she proceeds with . If you are all for womens rights , you must immediately get on board with those who condemn her Bella! I f you want to have an impact on women abuse in the protectionism circles ,lets start with rubbing Madonna from your list as a women rights supporter ,Bella!
Jeez Rodent stop. I’m starting to wonder about you….. stalking comes to mind!! You sure do appear to be overly hung-up on her.
Don’t be telling me you’re “surprised in me” mate cos you really can’t judge my story by the chapter I’ve exposed on here & saying “I must immediately get on board” is not something I expect from you.
I repeat, the Womens March was not about Madonna.
Dismayed 06:17pm.
Just a few questions in the mix on your posts hopefully NO internet sledging to follow ,regarding the Trump entry into this American politics. Up till now I see no evidence of doomsday or the world will stop turning ,but ,we now living in a ”new progessive strategies of negotiations laid on the tables”.
Trump, like him or hate him , makes no difference to you and I ,but Americans voted for change knowing business world looking for lucrative markets means jobs ,families economy , prosperity in all circles , sustained family stability , security, protectionism internally ,must benefit having significat impact on years ahead if progressive management persist . Trying to move out of the circle of pessimism , must me a bonus for Americans being a very resilient nation full of pride .
On the business survival and expansion , jobs can filter through when achievements come around leaving the family structure better off and possibly far less crimes when people have jobs.
Trump , yes he looks a grumpy old man with some aggression of intent to kill the media that cruels him , but he has America at heart and dignity the people first. With the pinnacle of democracy at fine edge , lets start tracking forward ,not backwards leaving the dust to settle behind us . All this pre-emtive hysteria about Trump and his past sequence of events , only damages us all having greater social consequences .
As Australian Paul Kelly states , “We now live in a new cultural revolution “. ‘Structural economic change is badly in need”.
Lets now focus on Australia not learning the dire lessons we had directed at us. We are a nation of a “pack of whinges”. We are continually swimming through red tap ,obstructionists , infrastructure stalled ,alarmists , freedoms of speech we all jumping around at each other , castigations , out of order slease comments thrown around , hunting down the new party Hanson as though she is a criminal , while not putting our own house in order , we slander Trump. Lets just sit back and keep our ears on , heads cleared , and see what transpires leaving out the conspiracy propaganda stuff alone. Maturity is far more important then castigations on targets giving a pre-emtive strike on a personality not yet tested .
Amen.
Smoot like tarrifs and taxes will not help the US economy. trumps statements so far show the only thing likely to rise in the US is inflation on the back of his trade war, along with Defence spending . He has no plan other than figurative, administrative and physical walls and barriers. The Federal reserve have already warned him against his delusionary rhetoric. Threatening business, the EU and China is bad for world trade and therefore Australia. He is dictatorial and not democratic, He is regressive and protectionist. If he was from a South American or Asian country you and the other cons here would be attacking him as a Marxist or socialist dictator. He does NOT represent middle America and his “policy” rhetoric ( there is NO detail) so far will make life harder for them. You like other here have been sucked into the personality cult. Put down the kool aid.
Sadly theres too many suckers like you who fall for con artists like Trump every time. Trump has no intention of bettering the lot of the non elites. God Almighty, you are just so simple minded Rodent, I mostly laugh but sometimes I am reduced to tears.
Someone give Rodent a chocky and a pat on the head for Christs sake.
Calm down JB. Early days mate.
What are the chances of Malcolm losing the leadership for a second time over energy politics?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/govt-sticks-by-renewable-energy-target/news-story/587e04490d2b8a165cabc0d79a9e9d4c
Almost as good as him losing it for a myriad of other reasons I’d say.
Josh Frydenberg , Japan India, China and other nations in Asia suddenly broke the news on base load power from new technology on brown coal and gas will be the future energy source.China and India knew this ages ago creating one new power plant every ten days , Why was all this a secret? We hearing from 2GB 12 months back from Allen Jones that Bassman an I tune into on podcast at times and the Murdock Press broke it , but why does the rest of the media inform us on this secrecy? It is now officially out that Turnbull saying we increasing our coal by 35%this year .
Frydenberg says cheap power this way with new technology discoveries will serve us all with business will thrive .
Rodent = Delusional. China is cutting Coal use 30% this year.
truth/china=bullshit
Beijing will get tidier
everyone else can choke for a few more years
Hope so – judging by the pollution the usage is probably at 200%.
10 years ago, the world spent less than US$25 billion per year on renewable power. Now it is spending US$400 billion per year. China has blazed ahead of the rest of the world in terms of investment in renewable energy last year, spending a total of $103bn, or 36% of the world total.
Dismayed your equation needs a slight correction. It should be
China says it is cutting Coal use 30% this year.
Fixed.
As they say in China, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. They might do that 30%. But then again, they might not.
There is a” mountain” of difference in your corrected version Darren. Spot on. A 30% reduction, even if they actually achieved it, will not make much difference to the pollution there either one would think. It’s horrendous.
DOB: At least they say they have a plan. Unlike the mob here and trump undoing everything that has been put in place in the US. I think trump is China’s best ally at the moment he is opening doors for them.
On about renewables again? Old mate I will try and make this as simple and painless as possible. Look, coal will be around for a loooooooong time but we must start thinking outside the square Bald. Abbott and The Hard Right want the renewable energy target scrapped. They says it will push up power prices which is in conflict with the government’s own appointed Chief Scientist as well as their own hand picked panel. It is a fact that the review panel on renewable energy that Tony Abbott put in place headed by Liberal hard right man Dick Warbuton, a confirmed climate change denier, found that the renewable energy target actually put downward pressure on wholesale power prices. Dick Warbuton concluded that to remove the renewable energy target would see wholesale prices for electricity go up.
Now keep in mind this was the unanimous view of the committee appointed not by Labor but by a Liberal government.
Additionally, a price on carbon is still the way to go. Ask Greg Hunt. He wrote a book advocating this. Abbott also said ‘If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax.’ Abbott, July,2009 The latest research shows that pricing carbon will bring down electricity prices, not increase them as renewable energy is embraced-exactly the opposite to what Turnbull and the Liberals say. The Chief Scientist, the CSIRO, the Climate Change Authority (a group appointed by this government!), the energy companies, all of the peak energy bodies, the Grattan Institute all support the view that pricing carbon will lead to lower electricity prices as well as maintaining energy security and meeting international emission targets. The Turnbull government actually sat on advice that an emissions intensity scheme – the carbon policy it put on the table only to rule out just 36 hours later – would have save households and businesses up to $15 billion in electricity bills over a decade. This is unforgivable behaviour by the hard right deniers in the government.
A case of ideology over science.
Without a doubt there IS a cost associated with our transition from a dependence on burning fossil fuels to clean energy. Cost is a relative term. Something costed in the future relative to today will always looks more expensive.
The cost of building ANYTHING new from the ground up is always more than staying with what you have been using and set with for yonks. Should we keep the same car design forever or build a new one? Cheaper to stay with the old one until economies of scale and increased sales make the new design economically worthwhile. The cost of new renewables would cost more than staying with the old technology but LESS if you had to build more fossil fuel generators and DEFINITELY less than doing NOTHING and having no plan. Building anything sooner than it is needed by the market will bring forward that cost. E.g. if you only need a new power station in say 2025 but a decision is made to build it next year because we want it to be cleaner, then bringing forward that investment is going to cost a little more.
The important thing to bear in mind is that renewable energy is cheaper than burning fossil fuels when it comes to building a new plant. It’s the Old v New argument. An old power station will always be cheaper than building a new one because it already exists! If you definitely HAD to build a new power station, the cheapest thing would be to build a wind farm or a solar plant. This will easily beat the costs associated with building a new coal fired power station and certainly less than building a new gas fired power station. Competition also brings power prices down. The competition to build more wind and solar farms is greater than the competition to build more fossil fueled power stations.
The Liberals’ Warbuton Review clearly demonstrated that where you have more supply in the market there is downward pressure on prices. If more houses are being built for example (increased supply/competition amongst builders), then this should result in more downward pressure on house prices. The renewable energy target is encouraging people to build more wind and solar farms and that puts more supply and more competition which results in downward pressure on prices. Once you have built a renewable power station they are much cheaper to run-the fuel is free. I know, I know the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Tat is why better storage batteries are being invented. The initial cost is of course there but the incremental cost is very low over time.
South Australia, foolishly, I might add, is always held as the golden standard when arguing against renewables by the Liberals and their denier cheer squad. To align the SA blackout with renewables was pure politics. 23 power towers were blown down by a tornado. For safety reasons a design is automatically built in to shut everything down when such a once in a lifetime catastrophe occurs. The Liberals of course jumped right onto this. They are still washing the egg off their faces. Strange thing is SA has experienced another blackout since-not a word from Turnbull or the Hard Right this time.
The building of renewable power plants in S.A. DID make power prices lower than they were in the early 2000’s where prices were terribly high because of greedy suppliers a lack of competition and rocketing gas prices. S.A. historically and for decades has always had a much higher reliance on gas than other states. 40% of its power comes from renewable energy. The failure of one of S.A’s oldest and most expensive- to- run coal-fired power stations resulted in less competition amongst producers. This increased the reliance on gas which has become ever more costly. It has always been more expensive than coal and has become more dearer because we are exporting it at outrageously low prices.
The energy market is very complex and to use silly slogans as Abbott did to link Labor with higher power prices was an absolute lie. Prices are much higher now under the Liberals. Good politics though. Firstly, power prices went up over 70% before the carbon tax was even introduced. Secondly, gold plating and over investment in poles and wires were the real demons associated with increased electricity prices. Thirdly the power companies became just too plain greedy and increased costs without careful checking by governments. There must be a reason why investment in renewable energy development is absolutely soaring. In the last couple of years investment in renewables across the world, the developed world and the developing world has dwarfed the combined investment in new gas, hydro, coal and even nuclear power. The Looters? Having a plan that does not acknowledge or factor in climate change is worse than having no plan at all. Sadly, this is the Liberals approach to renewable energy.
Way too long, Bassman.
Sorry…er again.
Gotta be honest Bassy. – I gave up 🙁
No stamina for facts. to confronting eh Avon?
Sorry all
Holy shit, bassman, you easily broke my record there.
Touch and go I’d say…….
Nah, Bassman knocked me out of the ballpark there, Razor. I’ll have to save one up, ha ha…
Rodent. Put your slippers and dressing gown back on and let the people who see things clearly do what is needed. Your vision is blurred by all the smoke in your eyes from last century. You continue to be wrong and show what regressive people many of your generation are.
From Associated Press on China. ” A target of cutting the use of coal by 30 percent in 2017 to shutting down 500 higher-polluting factories and upgrading 2,500 more. And about 300,000 high-pollution vehicles will also be restricted from entering the city starting next month.’ ”
Clean Coal is a myth and will not eventuate. Even at the absolute best case scenario it is still very Dirty and more expensive than renewable generation.
https://theconversation.com/ultra-super-clean-coal-power-weve-heard-it-before-71468
http://fortune.com/2017/01/05/china-renewable-solar-energy-spending/
Just gotta love the last line in this piece!
“Will he stick around to watch his greatest vanity project implode!”
http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/how-donald-trump-could-bankrupt-america/news-story/1c2fb014cbcd14a6691f4f42208bcf6f
The showboater has a reputation for dropping the baby and hightailing it outa town.
Old opinion piece JB. Get with the times old chap
Nov 2016 is old? Okay, so what’s changed ? Trump has still bankrupted 6 companies and he’s loopier than ever.
JB’s piece is still a couple of decades after the information you put out here. How is that localised ice age going over there in your lounge room? I am sure you still have the radiator going to warm up by.