A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Jen McCulloch and Stephen Hill
Politics
Australian
Tim Lambert on the fallacy inherent in yesterday’s umpteenth climate change denialist “global warming stopped 6 years ago” article by Michael Duffy:
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In response to calls for buying kidneys rather than wait for donations, pommygranate believes it will only bring out druggies and cash-desperadoes.
Jeremy Sear argues that cutting stamp duty on real estate transactions (in Victoria) won’t do a thing to reduce housing prices (and he’s right - KP).
Things are getting really crook in New South Wales for Kim at LP to condemn nanny state madness.
International
For those wanting to keep up to date on developments re Iraq, Juan Cole has a useful news/links roundup.
Sarah gives the SMH’s Paul Sheehan a well deserved spray for his idiotically odious piece on Obama.
Economics
Doing a latter day imitation of Jake the Peg, econobloggers span the gamut of opinion on inflation and interest rates. Fred Argy thinks the Reserve Bank has them too high, Harry Clarke thinks they’re about right (acknowledging Fred’s point that the RBA is right not to raise rates further if inflation is a result of price increases that are not necessarily the start of an inflationary process) and Stephen Kirchner agrees with Don Harding that they’re too low:
The seven increases in the nominal cash rate over this period have just kept pace with inflation and do not represent a tightening of policy…
The danger is that if I am right and inflation accelerates because the RBA’s approach is too soft, then the RBA will need to move aggressively and hike rates several times.
Law
Currency Lad senses double standards in the release and non-release of papers under the FOI act.
Don’t like the radio station your co-workers listen to in the office? Sue the bastardsblighters.
Ted Frank won’t get much opposition in suggesting that it’s probably not a good idea for a lawyer to make “jerk-off” motions in court or send a death threat to opposing counsel by fax. Some of the other examples of actual lawyerly conduct are just as weird.
Howard Wasserman meanwhile suggests that using the expression “Most respectfully, this is a concept that even a mentally-challenged monkey could grasp” in the plaintiff’s pleadings in a suit seeking $40 billion dollars in damages for a T-shirt listing the names of US servicemen killed in Iraq may be a little unwise.
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Issues analysis
Orin Kerr and Dale Carpenter both leap in bravely in defence of Burkean conservatism.
Robert Merkel sees signs that the American love affair with trucks is waning, and looks at a better way of producing biofuels.
Andrew Leigh extracts some well considered observations on the shortcomings of international aid and agriculture policies.
Arts
Chris Boyd provides some more details on the extraordinary life of John Cargher, the long-time host of Radio National’s Singers of Reknown who sadly passed away this week at the age of 89.
Pavlov’s Cat posts on Tim Winton’s new novel Breathe, while also commenting upon the May issue of the Australian Book Review, which includes James Ley’s review of the same book, a Coetzee essay on Frederic Jameson and a review of the new Helen Garner novel, The Spare Room.
Decomposing Trees considers folk singer Emmy the Great to be one of his “musical discoveries of the year.”
Ben Peek recalls the ethereal pleasure of listening to Portishead, discovering the presence of a third studio album, aptly named Third.
Ben also reviews the new Robert Downey Jnr cartoon superhero-based movie Ironman (and is underwhelmed).
Amanda Rose recalls the heady twelve days she spent as co-editor of the school newspaper, considering whether it was her Iago-like tendencies that scuppered the chance of a career on Grub Street. 11. SH: Wouldn’t Iago make the ideal byline chasing, compliant libertine that would produce the inane columns of snark that delight news executives these days? If Iago was alive today he’s bound to have become a tabloid editor within a couple of years of riding the greasy pole. [?]
In light of the horrific case out of Austria, The Happy Antipodean explores Nigel Cawthorne’s Killers: The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Times (which recounts the cases of some of the most famous serial killers, including a few well known local sadists.)
Snark, strangeness and charm
I’ll (gilmae) add Tiger to the list of airlines I won’t fly with.
Laura is less than impressed by the essay writing efforts of her undergraduate students.
