And there goes another week in the life of EDM. It's late January already and the news (and hits) just keep on coming.
First up, a big story for the week seems to have been the Kochie-breastfeeding-in-public saga. Uncle Kochie, the old scallywag, made some comments on Sunrise that he thought breastfeeding mothers should show more respect and some "common courtesy" by covering up if they're going to indulge, sorry, if their babies are going to indulge in public (Bit rich if you ask me...common courtesy not a redeeming trait of most Port supporters).
Not that suprising I guess that an elder TV man has an opinion that he wishes to share with the rest of us and certainly not that suprising that an elder TV man has that view. But perhaps he went a little too far when he said topless sunbathing was OK. Just not topless breastfeeding. Controversy was a-foot of course with it being national news for a few days and mothers storming Sunrise HQ (not quite the Bastille) on Monday and dropping their tops right under Koch's nose and on national television to protest at his remarks.
The footage was quite entertaining actually with Kochie eventually fronting the mothers flanked by a phalanx of security (hell hath no fury and all that) and some of his fellow female presenters looking a tad uncomfortable. But no doubt thoroughly appreciated by Channel 7 and Sunrise bosses with all manner of publicity and exposure being the result. What's the saying about any publicity being...
The political story of the week has been the Prime Minister's 'Captains Pick' of preselecting Olympian Nova Peris for the top spot on the Northern Territory Senate ticket for the Federal Election later this year. The current Labor NT Senator, Trish Crossin, was obviously not happy and didn't hold back in her attacks on the PM or Peris herself.
Labor was subsequently divided with some MPs claiming it was a good move while others didn't like the fact the normal preselection processes were supplanted. The attacks were nothing though in comparison to the personal remarks aimed at Peris from Alison Anderson, a NT politician, who claimed Peris would be nothing but a maid serving tea to her white party members. So it's definitely been a baptism of fire for Peris and she's probably wondering what the hell she's got herself into. At least she's already lasted longer than another sporting candidate, Mal Meninga, who didn't even get 30 sec into his first political interview before quitting.
Now I must admit I raised an eyebrow myself upon hearing the news of the Captain's Pick and just knew for sure there'd be the usual loud shouts and knashing of teeth about celebrity candidates, the bypassing of preselection procedures and rank and file members not getting a say. But a lot of that was dismissed once I read this article outlining Peris' achievements, other than sporting related, and I was impressed. Certainly her background of community work is a damn sight more impressive than about 95% of candidates we'll get at the next Federal election.
Another aspect of this issue has been the insight into something very new for me. Because until now, I never knew LNP MPs and conservative opinion-makers had such concern for the wants and needs of ALP rank and file members. Yes, it was truly enlightening the way they rounded on the PM and defended the rights of local ALP members to select their candidate. Others might say it was pure political opportunism, but I think that's selling them short. Solidarity forever hey comrades.
In other news, we have the big wet cometh to Queensland, including to the south east this long weekend where nearly 300mm is expected to fall. Quite a contrast to just two weeks ago when I wrote about the heatwave across the nation and I was bemoaning the late monsoon and very little in rain and storms for Queensland.
As I said at the time, I was a little unsure about doing a raindance seeing last time it resulted in the 2011 floods. Alas, some James Brown on the stereo brought it on and here we are about to receive a major dump again and all sorts of warnings about flash flooding and dam releases. My apologies people.
In all seriousness, while it's not expected to be anywhere as devastating as the 2011 floods, there is a level of nervousness about our first big wet since. As I wrote back then, the events of two years ago are not easily forgotten and there will be thousands of people across Queensland who've only just rebuilt who will have a wary eye on their local creek or river this weekend.
It's actually being reported that some Queensland towns are likely to have their second or third 1 in a 100 year flood in the last five years. And this only a few weeks after a record heatwave across the eastern seaboard and hundreds of temperature records being broken. But as you were, move along, nothing to see here. Climate change is crap and we should all just settle the hell down (sarcasm btw). But at the very least we should probably change the way we describe floods. This '1 in a' thing certainly isn't working anymore.
Anyway, as I type this it's thundering down outside and I'm keeping an eye on the neighbours rainwater tank as it has a tendency to overflow into our backyard. It's a given to happen sometime over this weekend though so maybe I should just give up watching and settle in for the drenching. It's not like I had an immense keenness to mow the lawns or anything. In fact, it's saved me a number of jobs this weekend. Maybe I should put some more James Brown on?
Til next time,
EDM.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
EDM Extract - Laming and Armstrong
Straight Face Tweets
You would have had to have been living under a rock to miss the Logan street violence story during the week.
What was first a neighbourhood dispute between two families quickly escalated into gang warfare between Indigenous and Pacific Islander youths, all played out on Douglas Street, Woodridge. For four days small skirmishes broke out on a regular basis with the police doing a fine effort to calm things down and often got themselves right in the firing line of metal bars and fence palings to keep the two groups apart.
Cue the media frenzy with headlines implying ‘our suburban streets are at a flashpoint’ so we had live crosses from everyone to the local ABC radio reporter to Kochie and Mel on Sunrise. Some serious questions were raised as to whether the media was actually contributing to the conflict with their sensationalist reporting, but of course they were drowned out by the latest live cross to a police press conference or opinion pieces blaming it all on out of control ‘yoofs’ and social media.
One thing that certainly did not work to resolve things and take the heat out of the situation was this tweet from Federal Liberal MP, Andrew Laming:
Mobs tearing up Logan tonight. Did any of them do a day's work today, or was it business as usual and welfare on tap?
9:06 PM - 14 Jan 13
Notwithstanding the fact an elected Member of Parliament should actually be showing some leadership in a situation like this rather than inflaming things even more, this man is the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Health.
How on earth then, can someone who so readily employs massive generalisations and racial stereotypes about Indigenous people be responsible for promoting Indigenous health and holding the Government to account on Indigenous health issues?
It’s like a card-carrying member of the NRA being Shadow Minister for Gun Control. Or Pauline Hanson being Shadow Minister for Immigration. The mind truly boggles as to how the man still has that job.
But the funniest part of the whole saga was Laming’s ‘clarification’ the next day once he’d finished wiping the $hit from his fan and no doubt after a few calls from LNP HQ. Apparently what he really meant to convey was how unfortunate the situation was and he was merely raising concerns about training and employment prospects:
To clarify: Working together to resolve these riots the priority. Training and a chance for jobs are key.
9:51 AM - 15 Jan 13
Being a tweet, it’s hard to tell if he said it with a straight face. But being a politician, I’m sure he did and he actually thought it would work.
Death Match Cometh
The other big story for the week so far (as mentioned last week) has been the impending Armstrong vs Oprah ‘no-holds-barred’ death match coming up later today and tomorrow our time. I say death match given the way it’s been promoted with the most unintentionally funny television promo I’ve ever seen. All deep voiceover and thunderous drum beats. I’m sure Saturday Night Live could not have done a better job of satirising it to be honest.
Anyway, the whole lead-up to the interview with the early announcement and selective leaks has been so blindingly obvious in its attempt to recuperate Armstrong’s image that it may actually work in reverse. The strategies and tactics are so transparent that Media Studies 101 students could easily rip it apart for what it is.
Alas, here and here are two of the best articles I’ve read on the whole sorry saga over the last week that really demonstrate how stage-managed the event has been.
The other topic of interest with this is the role the interview will play in heavily promoting Oprah’s fledging cable television network. The network has struggled big time since its launch and Oprah needs a big ‘catch’ and a big moment to try and gain some traction and put her name back up in lights once again. Even Oprah herself is spruiking the Armstrong interview as “big for my career”.
Anyway, just some points that are worth reading about before the interview is aired in a few hours time. Millions will be glued to their televisions and I’m sure it’ll be a ‘water cooler’ discussion for the days that follow.
Just remember though that Armstrong isn’t confessing because he feels guilty and is contrite and sorry for his actions. It’s because he got caught not just for cheating, but for lying to us all for nearly a decade about the cheating. And not just in the media and in interviews. But under oath during multiple legal proceedings and court cases.
And of course there’s millions of dollars at stake. Not the most altruistic of motives.
EDM.
Friday, January 11, 2013
EDM Extract - Kicking Off 2013
Welcome to the first EDM Extract of 2013. As advised late last year, there's a few changes-a-foot at Nah Seriously and I plan to provide more regular posts but in a less comprehensive fashion.
For instance, I used to wait until some form of inspiration struck me down before jotting down my thoughts with it usually being something that got me riled up or annoyed before I'd contemplate posting. With a busy life outside Nah Seriously, these moments didn't come around as often as I liked last year so I'm trying to be more regular (insert toilet humour here) while also being a little more light-hearted and light-on in terms of content.
Well, that's the plan anyway. Let's see how we go. So herein is my first post for the year. The EDM Extract from the week that was.
================
First up we have the Tony Abbott / Peta Credlin puff piece from News Ltd papers last Sunday. For those that missed it, here it is, but the gist of it is really about an interview with Abbott's Chief of Staff, Credlin, in which she denies Abbott has a problem with women and he's really a raving mad feminist because he let her put her IVF drugs in his office fridge. Offered to burn her bra for her as well I heard.
As a bit of PR, it certainly worked with top billing in a number of Sunday News Ltd tabloids with accompanying photos and highlighted quotes. One thing that a lot of people wouldn't have known as they read the article over their weet bix and vegemite toast though, is that Credlin's husband, and a big player in her IVF quest you'd imagine, is Mr Brian Loughnane, Liberal Party Director and the man who will run Abbott's 2013 campaign for Prime Minister.
Yep, big news then and something that just demanded a two-page spread across a lot of our Sunday papers - people on Tony Abbott's payroll support him. Ground breaking stuff that. And not even the really important issue raised - the appalling lack of adequate fridge facilities in Parliament House.
Next it's the heat and all this bloody heat. The whole country has been smashed with a massive heatwave from Alice Springs to Tasmania to Weipa and even as I type there's little end in sight with Birdsville expected to hit the 50 degree mark over the next couple of days. Records have been tumbling on a daily basis both nationally and locally with the first eight days of 2013 making it into the Top 20 hottest days recorded in Australia in terms of average maximum temperature.
On Monday, the average maximum daily temperature record for Australia was broken at 40.33°C. The previous record, 40.17°C on 21 December 1972, had stood for 40 years. The average maximum daily temperature on Tuesday was a close third at 40.11°C. The number of consecutive days where the national average maximum daily temperature exceeded 39°C was also broken this week - seven days, almost doubling the previous record of four in 1973.
It's the late monsoon apparently as the cause as there's just no damn moisture in the air to bring some relief. I'd do a raindance but last time I did that roughly two years today it didn't stop for weeks.
And of course all that heat has brought us plenty of bushfires with hundreds raging across Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Now I don't mean to turn this into a Tony-fest but hey, his actions just damn well make it that. I'm referring of course to the issue of Abbott attending one of the bushfires near Nowra in southern NSW as a Rural Fire Volunteer and the controversy that followed.
Basically, Federal Minister Brendan O'Connor copped plenty for calling it a stunt on twitter and there's been calls for his resignation because of it. But I gotta say I agree. By all means Tony, fulfil your volunteer duties and strap on the fire boots and helmet. It is admirable that you remain a Rural Fire Volunteer being such a busy man and you cut short your holidays to help out. But the minute your staff (Credlin and Loughnane again) put out a media release asking news agencies to attend and interview you and film you while you sat in a truck, well then sir, it did become a 'stunt' and should be called as such.
Getting more local for you Queenslanders out there, we had the return of the Captain of Ship, Arts and IT Minister Ros Bates after two months sick leave followed by a few weeks annual leave. There had been some other leave taken earlier in the year which means the Minister has been on some form of leave for a quarter of her tenure as a Minister. All of which has occurred as controversy surrounds the appointment of her son by the suspended Transport and Main Roads Director-General, Michael Caltabiano, meaning she's been able to avoid any questioning in Parliament and by the media.
While I'm not for a second claiming any bogus-ness in relation to her fall and ill health, it's certainly nice leave if you can get it. No-one else would get two months sick leave before they'd been in a job a year so the eye-raising and tut tuts are a little justified. And before you think that's it, came the news that Caltabiano himself will have earned $130,000 while suspended from duties awaiting investigation by the Parliamentary Ethics Committee. Garden leave is the new black apparently. Only in Queensland they say.
And finally came the news that Lance Armstong is due to go on Oprah Winfrey next week. No other news about the interview just yet but it's hard to see Armstrong actually admitting too much with all sorts of legal questions remaining and sponsors threatening to sue. But then again, the man has never done things by the book so it will be interesting to see what comes out of it and whether a mea culpa is coming our way.
Who knows, but I'll leave you with a tweet from Fairfax Sports Writer Richard Hinds that sums it all up for mine.
Richard Hinds @rdhinds
For instance, I used to wait until some form of inspiration struck me down before jotting down my thoughts with it usually being something that got me riled up or annoyed before I'd contemplate posting. With a busy life outside Nah Seriously, these moments didn't come around as often as I liked last year so I'm trying to be more regular (insert toilet humour here) while also being a little more light-hearted and light-on in terms of content.
Well, that's the plan anyway. Let's see how we go. So herein is my first post for the year. The EDM Extract from the week that was.
================
First up we have the Tony Abbott / Peta Credlin puff piece from News Ltd papers last Sunday. For those that missed it, here it is, but the gist of it is really about an interview with Abbott's Chief of Staff, Credlin, in which she denies Abbott has a problem with women and he's really a raving mad feminist because he let her put her IVF drugs in his office fridge. Offered to burn her bra for her as well I heard.
As a bit of PR, it certainly worked with top billing in a number of Sunday News Ltd tabloids with accompanying photos and highlighted quotes. One thing that a lot of people wouldn't have known as they read the article over their weet bix and vegemite toast though, is that Credlin's husband, and a big player in her IVF quest you'd imagine, is Mr Brian Loughnane, Liberal Party Director and the man who will run Abbott's 2013 campaign for Prime Minister.
Yep, big news then and something that just demanded a two-page spread across a lot of our Sunday papers - people on Tony Abbott's payroll support him. Ground breaking stuff that. And not even the really important issue raised - the appalling lack of adequate fridge facilities in Parliament House.
Next it's the heat and all this bloody heat. The whole country has been smashed with a massive heatwave from Alice Springs to Tasmania to Weipa and even as I type there's little end in sight with Birdsville expected to hit the 50 degree mark over the next couple of days. Records have been tumbling on a daily basis both nationally and locally with the first eight days of 2013 making it into the Top 20 hottest days recorded in Australia in terms of average maximum temperature.
On Monday, the average maximum daily temperature record for Australia was broken at 40.33°C. The previous record, 40.17°C on 21 December 1972, had stood for 40 years. The average maximum daily temperature on Tuesday was a close third at 40.11°C. The number of consecutive days where the national average maximum daily temperature exceeded 39°C was also broken this week - seven days, almost doubling the previous record of four in 1973.
It's the late monsoon apparently as the cause as there's just no damn moisture in the air to bring some relief. I'd do a raindance but last time I did that roughly two years today it didn't stop for weeks.
And of course all that heat has brought us plenty of bushfires with hundreds raging across Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Now I don't mean to turn this into a Tony-fest but hey, his actions just damn well make it that. I'm referring of course to the issue of Abbott attending one of the bushfires near Nowra in southern NSW as a Rural Fire Volunteer and the controversy that followed.
Basically, Federal Minister Brendan O'Connor copped plenty for calling it a stunt on twitter and there's been calls for his resignation because of it. But I gotta say I agree. By all means Tony, fulfil your volunteer duties and strap on the fire boots and helmet. It is admirable that you remain a Rural Fire Volunteer being such a busy man and you cut short your holidays to help out. But the minute your staff (Credlin and Loughnane again) put out a media release asking news agencies to attend and interview you and film you while you sat in a truck, well then sir, it did become a 'stunt' and should be called as such.
Getting more local for you Queenslanders out there, we had the return of the Captain of Ship, Arts and IT Minister Ros Bates after two months sick leave followed by a few weeks annual leave. There had been some other leave taken earlier in the year which means the Minister has been on some form of leave for a quarter of her tenure as a Minister. All of which has occurred as controversy surrounds the appointment of her son by the suspended Transport and Main Roads Director-General, Michael Caltabiano, meaning she's been able to avoid any questioning in Parliament and by the media.
While I'm not for a second claiming any bogus-ness in relation to her fall and ill health, it's certainly nice leave if you can get it. No-one else would get two months sick leave before they'd been in a job a year so the eye-raising and tut tuts are a little justified. And before you think that's it, came the news that Caltabiano himself will have earned $130,000 while suspended from duties awaiting investigation by the Parliamentary Ethics Committee. Garden leave is the new black apparently. Only in Queensland they say.
And finally came the news that Lance Armstong is due to go on Oprah Winfrey next week. No other news about the interview just yet but it's hard to see Armstrong actually admitting too much with all sorts of legal questions remaining and sponsors threatening to sue. But then again, the man has never done things by the book so it will be interesting to see what comes out of it and whether a mea culpa is coming our way.
Who knows, but I'll leave you with a tweet from Fairfax Sports Writer Richard Hinds that sums it all up for mine.
Richard Hinds
Oprah asks "tough" question. Lance confesses. Lance cries. Oprah forgives. Audience goes nuts. "Yellow jerseys under your seats!"
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