Henry Rollins: Sarah Palin, a dynamo of dumbassityHenry Rollins rants about Tea Parties, Sarah Palin, homophobia and America’s race to the bottom.
February, 2010
How Toyota broke down
Reuters goes behind-the-scenes at Toyota with a fly-on-the-wall look at how the wheels fell off its recent product recall, turning a bad situation into a total car-crash.
Looking after the Labor loyal
What a surprise: Mike Kaiser, a former ALP state director, has landed the NBN top job. Mates over merit, anyone? Lucky Rudd’s arse is covered, thanks to cushy postings bestowed upon Costello and co, says Tony Wright.
Australia’s climate mess: arguing over crap policies
Realistically, both Rudd’s ETS and Abbott’s ERF climate policies are far more alike than either would care to admit. Quit bickering over details and bring in a carbon price to get the ball rolling, writes Richard Denniss.
Google Buzz is a fizzer
Google has just released its new “Twitter killer”, Google Buzz, adding status updates, photos and video sharing, and geolocating to Gmail. Business Insider’s assessment? “Lame”.
Why Iran’s nuclear weapons aren’t all bad
With news that Iran is enriching its uranium stockpile, the West has got into a tizz over potential nuclear weapons. But there are benefits to Iran building a nuclear bomb, explains defence analyst Adam B. Lowther.
Rudd’s new airport security: futility meets impossibility
There is no remotely practicable combination of procedures and technology that can remove the risk of a terrorist attack on the population at large, writes Ben Sandilands — and the government knows it.
Gittins: Just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t mean the ETS is bad
Remember the GST scare campaign? We’re seeing a similar thing now with Rudd’s ETS and Abbott’s alternative plan is just puffery. Don’t let fear of change drive us, writes Ross Gittins.
Toyota President: We’re off to the mechanic
Toyota’s image is taking a huge battering, with the company recalling thousands of cars around the world — including 2400 in Australia. President Akio Toyoda takes to the WashPo’s op-ed pages to explain how he plans to repair public trust in the company (might take a few weeks — need to get parts in from overseas…)
Grattan: Fire Barnaby the loose cannon
Barnaby Joyce as opposition finance minister is destroying Abbott’s already shaky economic credibility. Get Joyce out of finance and into a less risky portfolio before he ruins it further, writes Michelle Grattan.
Climategate: The Book, written by you
The Guardian is taking crowd-sourcing to a new level: publishing the manuscript for its new book about the hacked climate change emails and asking readers to help write, edit and “peer review” the tome. Great idea or total gimmick?
Take an interactive walk down Haiti’s main street
A clever interactive photo feature at the NY Times allows you to view all the earthquake damage caused to one of Haiti’s main streets, Grande Rue. With stores “cracked open like piñatas”, the damage is distressing.
PHOTO GALLERY: The drunkards and junkies of the literary world
It may be wrong to glamorise drug and alcohol abuse, but this fascinating gallery of famous literary addicts — with names like Edgar Allan Poe, Phillip K. Dick and Hemingway — show that at least pain does make great art.
China’s deadliest weapon: the debt bomb
China’s most powerful weapon isn’t its three-million-strong army or its nuclear bomb: it’s the $789 billion stranglehold it has over the US economy, putting America and the West at its mercy.
MTV officially stops pretending to be about the music
MTV has given its logo a makeover for the first time in about 30 years, officially dropping the “Music Television” tagline to reflect the fact that the channel now mostly plays cheap reality TV shows.
Great myths in Australian politics: GST almost cost Howard ’98 election
The GST didn’t nearly lose John Howard the election in 1998, instead it’s the only reason he stayed in office. Just check out the Newspoll ratings before the GST announcement, says Stephen Spencer.
A quarter-billion dollar rort and the media plays dead. Wonder why?
The Government’s weekend handout to the free-to-air television networks — $100-odd million this year and $150m next -– has sunk with barely a trace in the media.
Where did Joe’s mojo go?
Joe Hockey has been in a funk since the leadership spill and needs to snap out it for his party’s sake.
Advice from Malcolm Tucker: nail the line, Ron Jeremy style
Crikey came up with some scenarios (OK ripped them off from real-life events) for the poisonous Malcolm Tucker from In the Loop to spin. Apologies in advance for the profanity and the lols.
Lamenting the old Age: pies, not rucola panini…
Age journalist Raymond Gill has penned a review, of sorts, of the paper’s new Spencer St home. Former Age employee Michael Vaughan responds.
Video of the Day: How to make iced tea
Steve Sutton explains how he makes iced tea. Enjoy.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Debating a sustainable population
Crikey readers weigh in on immigration and a sustainable population, Tony Abbott’s views on climate change (and Crikey’s coverage) and the swine flu debacle.
Property value never falls? Don’t put the house on it
Australians’ household debt levels are world leading. We pay about five-six times our household disposable incomes for our average dream home. This won’t end well.
Business As Usual: The dollar is travelling well
The booming Aussie dollar is encouraging Australians to travel more overseas, yesterday’s Super Bowl was the most watched game in history and the most watched TV show ever, Clive Palmer is back to his old tricks and more business briefs.
