- I would blow Dane Cook
- Dec 26, 2008
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Media Watch Dog
Issue 308
18 March 2016 by The Sydney Institute
GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH DOG – ISSUE NO. 308
18 March 2016
The inaugural issue of “Gerard Henderson’s Media Watch” was published in April 1988 – over a year before the first edition of the ABC TV Media Watch program went to air. Since November 1997 “Gerard Henderson’s Media Watch” has been published as part of The Sydney Institute Quarterly. In 2009 Gerard Henderson’s Media Watch Dog blog commenced publication.
THE GUARDIAN SPONSORS SENATOR XENOPHON’S STUNT
Why oh why does the media encourage him? The reference is to Senator Nick Xenophon. Here’s a screen shot of how The Guardian led its story this morning of the all night sitting of the Senate. Here is your man Xenophon, dressed in pyjamas and plaid slippers and carrying a pillow. Posing for The Guardian Australia’s Mike Bowers, no less.
No one at The Guardian seriously suggested that Nick-the-Quick-Photo-Shot Xenophon had really got into his PJs in his Parliament House office and then suddenly realised that he had to attend the Senate chamber for a vote – during which time he would need a pillow. It was all just a stunt. And it worked. [Perhaps this should have been placed in your hugely popular “Can You Bear It?” segment. Just a thought. – MWD Ed.]
Xenophon
RICHARD GLOVER’S FOX NEWS HOWLER
On Drive with Richard Glover on ABC Radio 702 yesterday afternoon, the presenter interviewed Network 7’s Mark Riley about matters political. Following a discussion on the United States presidential race, Richard Glover declared that there is “only one side of politics on Fox News”.
Now, your man Glover is notoriously tight when it comes to elective expenditure. So it’s possible that he has not bought a subscription to Foxtel – which carries Fox News in Australia. In any event, Mr Glover’s comment was tosh, absolute tosh.
Fox News, which runs during the day, has a wide coverage of national and international events. It’s true that the opinion programs, that go to air in the evenings and early mornings on Fox News, tend to have what Australians would regard as right-of-centre hosts.
However, unlike the ABC, Fox News employs a number of paid commentators from the left-of-centre (or liberal) side of American politics on its main programs. The list includes Kirsten Powers, Geraldo Rivera, Alan Colmes, Joe Trippi and Cal Thomas. Moreover, Fox News’ MediaBuzz program contains a diversity of commentary – unlike the ABC’s Media Watch which has always had a left-of-centre presenter along with a left-of-centre executive producer.
It remains a fact that, in Australia, the ABC does not employ one political or social conservative as a presenter, producer, daily commentator or editor on any of its prominent television, radio or on-line outlets. Not one. This a decade after ABC managing director and editor-in-chief Mark Scott promised to introduce greater diversity in the taxpayer funded public broadcaster. Mr Glover, please note.
LATELINE’S GEORGE PELL “EXCLUSIVE” FLOPS
Just when you thought that the taxpayer funded public broadcaster may have run-out of beat-ups on Cardinal George Pell, Lateline had another go last night. This led to a story on this morning’s ABC Radio News. Let’s go to the transcript:
Toni Mathews: A former Catholic Church insider has called on the Child Sex Abuse Royal Commission to subpoena Church documents that she says will highlight how clergy covered up abuse. Helen Last was fired from the Melbourne Archdiocese after going against the Church’s directive not to intervene in several cases of abuse in Doveton. Ms Last has told the Lateline program the release of the documents known as “The Red Files” is of great importance to the survivors of abuse.
Helen Last: They are of great importance to the truth of what’s happened here. And the victims and the public want the truth – but they’re only getting part of the truth at the present time.
This report is totally misleading – and is not even consistent with Steve Cannane’s Lateline beat-up last night. Helen Last’s work for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne was discontinued in 1997 – that is, two decades ago. The ABC news report gave the (false) impression that this incident occurred more recently.
Moreover, there was no directive that Helen Last not intervene “in several cases of abuse in Doveton”. By late 1996 any such abuses had ceased after Archbishop Pell (as he then was) set up The Melbourne Response with the support of Victoria Police. See MWD Issue 307. Archbishop Pell soon after removed the pedophile priest Peter Searson from Doveton in particular and from the priesthood in general.
What’s more, according to what Francis Sullivan (the CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council – who is no George Pell fan) told Lateline, all the files of the Catholic Church on child sexual abuse have been made available to the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
This is how Tony Jones introduced Lateline’s “exclusive” last night:
Tony Jones, Presenter: A former pastoral care co-ordinator with the Catholic Church in Melbourne has called on the royal commission and police to subpoena all of the Church’s secret files on sexual abuse by clergy. Helen Last has told Lateline that until all the secret documents known internally as the “red files” are made available, the public’s only getting part of the truth about the scope of the crimes committed against children. She also says that former Melbourne Archbishop George Pell prevented her from helping victims of abuse in Doveton, a parish devastated by the notorious paedophile priest Peter Searson. Steve Cannane has our exclusive report.
The Royal Commission commenced operations in January 2013. This means that Helen Last has had some three years to provide information about “the red files” to the Royal Commission and/or Victoria Police. Ms Last told Lateline that Monsignor Gerald Cudmore, who was vicar-general to Archbishop Frank Little (Pell’s predecessor), had told her of the existence of “the red files”. She was not asked by Lateline why Monsignor Cudmore himself had not handed over this information to Victoria Police before George Pell became Archbishop of Melbourne.
The fact is that, on becoming archbishop, George Pell decided to direct all matters of clerical child abuse to the Melbourne Response (which worked with Victoria Police). Ms Last did not accept this decision and was removed from her position. That’s all. And that’s why last night Lateline’s “exclusive” was such a beat-up.
MWDEXCLUSIVE
Blanchet house
CATE BLANCHETT OF HIGHWELL HOUSE
What wonderful news – as reported recently in London’s The Sunday Times – that MWD’s favourite actor Cate Blanchett, formerly of Hunters Hill in Sydney, is moving into Highwell House which stands on 13 acres in Crowborogh, East Sussex.
Ms Blanchett has a real concern about global warming, climate change and so on. So it’s nice to know that Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton have limited themselves to a family abode with only five reception rooms along with only seven bedrooms and only seven bathrooms. Quite modest, when you think about it. There is also an attic plus staff accommodation plus outbuildings etc. This will ensure that the Blanchett carbon footprint will be smaller than what would have been the case if, say, she had moved into Blenheim Palace. Think about it (to use a dreadful cliché).
There is more good news. With all the unused space at Highwell House, there will be lotsa room for the Blanchetts to house all those asylum seekers in need of respite concerning which they frequently express such concern. MWD reckons that Ms Blanchett and Mr Upton should be able to open Highwell House to around 50 of the poor and the dispossessed without adding significantly to their abode’s climate footprint.
HOW THE ABC IS IN DENIAL ABOUT PEDOPHILIA IN 1975 OR 1982
Gee, didn’t ABC Radio National political reporter Alison Carabine get upset when talking to Fran (“I’m an activist”) Kelly on RN Breakfast yesterday? Ms Carabine bagged Liberal National Party backbencher George Christensen who had used parliamentary privilege to quote from an article by Gary Dowsett titled: “Boiled Lollies and Band-aids: Gay Men and Kids” which was published in the Spring 1982 edition of Gay Information. The sub-title was as follows:
Gay Men relate to children as parents and teachers, friends and lovers. What are the political, as well as emotional dimensions of these relationships? Do they need to be radically transformed?
Currently Dr Dowsett (for a doctor he has become) is professor in the Sex, Health and Society Department at La Trobe University in Melbourne. This is the same organisation which is responsible for the controversial Safe Schools program aimed at preventing bullying but with a wider agenda – although Gary Dowsett is not directly involved in this work.
Despite Ms Carabine’s agitation, Mr Christensen did not need parliamentary privilege to quote from Mr Dowsett’s essay of a quarter of a century ago. After all, a person cannot successfully sue for defamation simply because his/her previous work is quoted.
There is a link to the Dowsett paper in yesterday’s Crikey. MWD readers can form their own conclusions – but here is MWD’s interpretation of the article in question in so far as it is controversial. Quote by quote:
I also have a friend, a paedophile, who is working very hard on making sense out of his relations with boys. These relations consist of, among other things, a large amount of nurture and support for these boys, a real caring for their welfare and growth….
…a new political position is needed for there are significant political struggles at stake. First, we have three legal/social questions to win: custody rights for gay men and lesbians; the legal right of paedophiles and their young lovers; and finally the sexual rights of children as a whole….
Many mothers and some fathers will agree that children are sexual and generate sexual responses in their parents. Cuddling, breast feeding, bathing together, playing, kissing and fondling kids are immensely pleasurable activities for them and for us. And it is not uncommon to feel sexually aroused by that closeness, that touch of that love. How different then is that gentle, tentative sexuality between parent and child from the love of a paedophile and his/her lover? From all their accounts and from many academic studies (some worse than others), that kind of love, warmth, support and nurture is an important part of the paedophilic relationship.
I’m not saying that mothering/fathering is paedophilic; but I am saying that they are not mutually exclusive. Nor is the social parent so different from the child-lover….
The current paedophilia debate then is crucial to the political processes of the gay movement: paedophiles need our support, and we need to construct the child/adult sex issue on our terms….
The publicity over Gary Dowsett’s 1982 article serves as a useful reminder as to how attitudes to pedophilia have changed over the past quarter of a century. It is most unlikely that such an article would be written – and published – today in a journal of opinion.
Yet the likes of Alison Carabine and Fran Kelly – who expressed concern that a backbench LNP MP has drawn attention to Gary Dowsett’s 1982 comments – do not acknowledge that, four decades ago, the chairman of the ABC called on Australians to “understand” the urge of pederasts. Professor Richard Downing (for it was he) was speaking in his official position as ABC chairman.
MWD understands that when a listener to ABC Radio 774’s Mornings with Jon Faine raised this matter on air recently he was silenced by Mr Faine. So much for free speech at the taxpayer funded public broadcaster. It seems that your man Faine, like so many of his colleagues at the ABC, is in denial about this matter.
These are the facts – which are documented in K.S. Inglis’ This Is The ABC (MUP 1983) and in MWD over recent years. Dr Inglis is a long-time friend of the ABC.
In 1975 an ABC Radio program titled Lateline and presented by Richard Neville interviewed three pederasts in the ABC studio. It was a soft interview and no one raised the crimes of panellists. When this caused controversy, ABC chairman Professor Richard Downing wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald calling on Australians to “understand” the urges of pederasts. Professor Downing (1915-1975) also told the SMH that “in general, men will sleep with young boys”. (See Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 1975).
What Richard Downing said, on behalf of the ABC, in 1975 is not significantly different from what Gary Dowsett wrote in 1982 in Gay Information.
The likes of Ms Carabine and Ms Kelly express annoyance that Mr Christensen raised this issue. But both have said nothing about the refusal of current ABC chairman Jim Spigelman AC QC to disassociate the contemporary ABC from the public positions towards pedophilia proclaimed by one of its predecessors.
And now it’s time for a visual update which counts up [sic] the days that Mr Spigelman has declined to address this matter – along with a photo of the cover of Ken Inglis magnum opus.
Downing Spigelman
This is the ABC
media hypocrite of the week
DERRYN HINCH’S DOUBLE STANDARD ON PEDOPHILIA THEN AND NOW
On Paul Murray Live on Wednesday, discussion turned on the debate in the Parliament that day on the Safe Schools controversy. This is what Derryn (“I’m prejudiced against George Pell”) Hinch had to say – on the issue in general and Gary Dowsett’s article in particular – in his usual inarticulate style:
Derryn Hinch: Both sides – one side’s hijacked it a little bit, another side’s hijacked the conservative side as well. Some of the things that professor said 30 years ago in 1983 [sic] I’m uncomfortable with about relationships about paedophiles and child love and that sort of stuff. I find that offensive to me and other people would too. But that’s a long time ago….
Turn it up. Derryn Hinch has campaigned for decades to chase down every Catholic priest and brother who ever committed the crime of child sexual assault and/or rationalised pedophilia. Fair enough. Then, on Wednesday the very same Derryn Hinch said that he found references to “paedophiles and child love and all that sort of stuff…offensive”. However, he then went on to say that the article in question was written “a long time ago”. How’s that for hypocrisy?
A “DARLING” MOMENT WITH MR MURRAY AND MS COLLIER
As long-term avid readers will be aware, in the olden days of MWD, reference was made to the fact that Sky News’ Paul Murray would occasionally refer to his guest Grace Collier as “Darl”. How sweet.
However, following coverage of this in MWD and the gorgeous Ms Collier’s itinerary which reduced her appearances on Sky News for a time, “Darl” disappeared from the Paul Murray lexicon. How sad. Until Tuesday night, that is. This is how Mr Murray introduced Ms Collier on PML two days before St Patrick’s Day:
Paul Murray: And Grace Collier joining us now from Melbourne. Grace, my love, how are you as well. She’s got a column in The Aus. How are you, darling?
Grace Collier: Hello Paul, lovely to be here.
Paul Murray: Now in advance – you’re not offended if I accidentally call you “darling”?
Grace Collier: I’m not offended. I’m very happy to be called “darling”.
Paul Murray: Good just double checking. Just in case the emails inevitably flow our way.
How wonderful is this. Good on you “Darl”. And good on you Paul. By the way, do you mind if MWD calls you “Love”?
Can you bear it graphic
SEX, NUDITY AND NICE MR SCOTT’S AUNTY
During his first year as ABC managing director and editor-in-chief, Mark Scott used to refer to SBS television as “See Breasts Soon”. Nice Mr Scott’s point was that SBS – in an attempt to increase ratings – used to show lotsa nudity and sex late at night. And not so late at night.
However, during the Scott decade at the ABC, the taxpayer funded public broadcaster has also thrown the switch to lotsa sex and lotsa nudity. So much so that, in Mr Scott-speak of a decade ago, the ABC stands for Always Bonking & Copulating.
The ABC’s most recent entry into this field is Luke Warm Sex, which commenced on ABC 1 on Wednesday. The program that is. It features 33 year-old Hobart-born comedian Luke McGregor talking at length about his sex life – or relative lack of same and trying to get it out or up or whatever. Yawn.
Best viewed after half a dozen or so Gin & Tonics, Luke Warm Sex is a modern day version of a Benny Hill romp. Except that, unlike the late Mr Hill, Mr McGregor gets his kit off at times. Towards the end of the first program, Luke rocks up at the home of four middle aged nudists. He soon disrobes – but his private parts are conveniently blocked out by the ABC. How daring can you get? Moreover, if the first episode is anything to go by, MWD readers would be well advised to invest in banana and carrot futures – for they are used as props in Luke Warm Sex. Can you bear it?
Luke Warm Sex
A Flash of Luke McGregor – With a little help from an ABC Editor
KERRY-ANNE WALSH’S TONY ABBOTT APPLAUSE DELUSION
MWD just loves it when journalists interview journalists. It’s what the best of (self-indulgent) journalism is all about.
Hence MWD just loved the discussion between Canberra-based Sky News presenter David Speers and Canberra Press Gallery journalists Kerry-Anne Walsh and Andrew Probyn last Monday.
Towards the end of the discussion [Excuse me, don’t you mean conversation? – MWD Ed.], the issue turned to the relative popularity of former prime minister Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Liberal Party. When it was suggested that Mr Abbott was more popular than Mr Turnbull, Kerry-Anne Walsh was not having any of it. She suggested that Abbott/Turnbull rivalry was all part of the theatre, Canberra-style. Let’s go to the transcript:
Kerry-Anne Walsh: It’s all part of the theatre. But whether it’s replicated across the wider countryside – I can’t imagine it would be.
David Speers: But just thinking about the Liberal Party base.
Kerry-Anne Walsh: I can’t see it. Even at the John Howard dinner, I mean it was only a small pocket, apparently. But they were very, very noisy.
David Speers: He [Tony Abbott] got a cheer.
Kerry-Anne Walsh: But there were people there that said…well yeah he [Tony Abbott] got a cheer but they were confined to one table. They were very [K.A. Walsh drums the table] – you know, they were rabble-rousers.
What a load of absolute tosh. Here was Kerry-Anne Walsh giving Sky News a hearsay account of the dinner to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the election of the Howard government, which was attended by 650 guests. Ms Walsh was not present at the function in Parliament House on Wednesday 2 March 2016. Her source was, wait for it, “people there” who said that the “cheer” which Tony Abbott received was “confined to one table” which consisted of “rabble-rousers”.
In fact, there was widescale applause for both Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull. It’s just that the audible support for the former prime minister – primarily by clapping – was significantly louder than that for the prime minister. This partly reflected the fact that Tony Abbott is one of only four Liberal Party leaders who led the Coalition to victory from opposition. The others are Robert Menzies, Malcolm Fraser and John Howard.
As to the allegation that all the loud applause came from “one table” only – well Ms Walsh just made this up. Can you bear it?
DR BURCHILL – JUNKS THE TIP AND GOES FUNERAL BLACK
Isn’t it great to have Deakin University’s senior lecturer Scott Burchill back doing the “Newspapers” gig on News Breakfast every now and then?
As avid MWD readers will recall, Dr Burchill (for a doctor he is) got into a little bit of difficulty when he suggested last August that Don Randall might be the appropriate person to replace Bronwyn Bishop as speaker of the House of Representatives. It was a brilliant idea – especially for a senior lecturer in a humanities department. Except for the fact that Mr Randall had some time earlier joined the “recently departed” genre and dead people are debarred from becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives.
This was not a verbal typo – but reflected the reality that the Deakin University leftist does not know all that much about the Liberal Party. To Dr Burchill one unknown dead Liberal is not much different from one unknown live Liberal.
And so it came to pass that your man Burchill went on what appears to have been a Well Earned Break from News Breakfast for the rest of the year. The good news is that it’s a revitalised Dr Burchill who is back in front of the ABC cameras this year. In the past, he gave the impression of dropping into the ABC’s Melbourne Studio in Southbank on his way to the nearest tip – and dressed accordingly.
However, in his three News Breakfast appearances this year, Dr Burchill has rocked up dressed completely in black. Which suggests that he’s moved into black-is-the-new-black fashion or has nothing left to take to the tip.
Scott Burchill saw fit to announce his appearance on 7 March by tweet:
To which News Breakfast co-presenter Virginia Trioli replied:
Good advice. Even casual funeral wear deserves ironing. As it turned out, Dr Burchill’s black gear spoke more to truth than his commentary. Let’s go to the transcript for Monday 7 March 2016 where discussion turned on the primaries in the Republican Party presidential campaign:
Michael Rowland: Yeah, in the words of one Republican senator – referring to the choice between Cruz and Trump – it’s a choice between being poisoned or shot.
Scott Burchill: There you go. Well Mr Sanders is doing better than Mrs Clinton has hoped as well. So I don’t think that race is over yet.
Michael Rowland: Oh I think it is. Don’t you think?
Scott Burchill: Well, he’s doing damage to her. Lots of damage.
Michael Rowland: Oh, he’s doing damage. I don’t think anyone doubts Hillary will get the nod.
Scott Burchill: No. Yeah.
So Dr Burchill got up with the sparrows on Monday 8 March, put on his very best funeral-wear and travelled to the ABC studio in Southbank only to answer the vital question of the day with a “No, yeah” response. Can you bear it?
MR GOODSIR’S HIGH STANDARDS – EXCEPT FOR HIMSELF
Sydney Morning Herald editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir is a non-forgiving kind of guy – except, it seems, concerning himself.
When former Turnbull Government cabinet minister Mal Brough got into trouble over whether or not he got hold of former speaker Peter Slipper’s diary, the Sydney Morning Herald editorialised that Mr Brough should resign from the Cabinet. In time, he did.
Then, on 5 January 2016, Mr Goodsir moralised in an editorial that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has “work ahead to ensure all members of his government truly understand, embrace and stick to the high standards he has set for them”.
On 22 February 2016, the SMH published Paul Sheehan’s column titled “The Horrifying Untold Story of Louise” – which was highlighted on Page One. Any reader of MWD over the years would have been aware that Paul Sheehan is a naďve man with a bad sense of judgment. Yet the SMH under the editorial leadership of Mr Goodsir, took him at this word with deleterious results.
On 25 February 2016, the SMH published a backdown by Paul Sheehan titled “The Story of Louise: police have no case to answer, but I do”. This was accompanied by an apology, which did not mention Mr Sheehan’s name. Subsequently, on 4 March 2016, Darren Goodsir issued a statement that the columnist who wrote the “Louise” story had been suspended – again without mentioning Paul Sheehan’s name. In his statement Mr Goodsir declared:
The Herald’s reputation is founded on the trust our readers give us to provide fair, balanced and independent journalism, and it is critical that the editorial integrity of the Herald is maintained.
More recently, after Fairfax Media ran an unrelenting campaign against Cardinal George Pell, the SMH editorialised on 5 March 2016 that George Pell’s mandatory retirement which falls due on his 75th birthday should be accepted by Pope Francis.
According to SMH, Cardinal Pell has not fulfilled the high standards expected of him.
So, as the record demonstrates, Darren Goodsir spends a lot of time moralising about the failures of others. Yet he did not resign, or suspend himself, following the decision of Justice White in Hockey v Fairfax Media Publications which was delivered on 30 June 2015. In this case, the senior Federal Court judge found that Darren Goodsir had acted with “malice” concerning the coverage in Fairfax Media of (then) Federal treasurer Joe Hockey. Fairfax Media’s defeat in this defamation case was very costly – both in terms of damages paid and legal expenses incurred. Also, there was reputational damage to the SMH brand due to the finding that it had acted with “malice” concerning one of the most senior politicians in the Liberal Party. In the modern era, no such finding has been made with respect to a major newspaper.
The evidence suggests that Darren Goodsir is proficient in detecting the real and imagined deficiencies of others from Mal Brough, to Paul Sheehan and on to George Pell. However, Mr Goodsir seems to judge his performance by a different standard. Can you bear it?
KATE MCCLYMONT’S LACK OF SELF-AWARENESS
While on the topic of the Sydney Morning Herald, consider this tweet which SMH senior journalist Kate McClymont put out yesterday afternoon following the announcement that there was to be a total of 120 full-time jobs cuts across the SMH/The Age, The Canberra Times and The Financial Review.
What Ms McClymont failed to mention was that, over the years, she and her Sydney Morning Herald colleagues had launched all out attacks on the newspaper’s advertising and readership base. Herald journalists were all too eager to attack businesses, many of which advertised in Fairfax Media. Moreover, many Herald journalists sneered at anyone who held a religious belief or who sent their children to private schools or who insured for private health cover and so on. The problem was that this had been the Sydney Morning Herald’s readership base for decades – in the Eastern Suburbs and on the North Shore and in the rural and regional areas of New South Wales. This group used to advertise in and buy the newspaper in its printed form. Ms McClymont’s fan club in Sydney’s inner-city frequently do not buy the SMH in print or on-line. They follow her on Twitter and tend to get their news for free from the ABC and The Guardian Australia – or, sandal-clad, read the SMH in various cafes over skim-latte.
Kate McClymont spends a lot of time criticising decisions made by Fairfax management to overcome the SMH’s commercial problems, which are affecting all newspapers, without reflecting that she and her left-wing mates at the Herald may be at least partly responsible for their current predicament. Can you bear it?
[I note that Fairfax Media has gone out on strike over the weekend – with the enthusiastic support of Comrade McClymont. This won’t help retain readers or jobs – MWD Ed.]
nancyfiles
History As Horsing Around
Gee it’s been a busy week. So busy I was only able to write a single history book over the past seven days. Just one. Really. It’s on the role of horses in the charge of the 4th Light Brigade in the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 1917. Sure, one of my 27 researchers discovered that this topic has been covered by a dozen historians over the past century. So what? I’ve had the foresight to put a new interpretation on an old story. Sure, I used, in bower-bird style, all of the facts documented by the dozen or so historians before me – but they all neglected to cover one dimension. No one bothered to check the diaries of the horses or their letters home or to interview their equine descendants in the Middle East. Lazy. LAZY!!!
It’s as if my historian predecessors didn’t know that the calvary guys sat on top of horses. Please! Why is everyone so ignorant. WHY???
The Age To Red-Bandanna-Up
Some of you have asked why, at the age of nine, I have decided to put on a Red Bandanna. Listen up. It’s none of your business. But, since you asked, the truth is that I decided to imitate my hero Peter FitzSimons who re-bandannaed-up when he reached the equivalent of my age in human terms – i.e. about 60 human years. Or I think he did. Old Man Fitz does not reveal his age in Who’s Who in Australia. But I reckon he’s close to over nine in canine years. It’s around the age that every man and every dog needs to put a red handkerchief on top of his head. It’s great for recognition. I even wear my red bandanna in my kennel at night. It helps to get a television or radio interview next morning, I find, where I can tell my stories. Over and over again.
Fitz’s Limited Topics – But Great Taste
Each Sunday night, I eat my meat and dry dog food on top of “The Fitz Files” in that morning’s Sun-Herald. I certainly hope the paper never becomes an on-line only publication since this would reduce its influence on opinion-making canines. I find that the newspaper lead-print helps the flavor of my food. And I learn so much. Each Sunday night I get to read about Fitz’s limited range of topics. I’ve learnt that Cardinal George Pell is a bastard and that the Catholic Church is replete with evil and so is the Pell/Abbott faction of the Liberal Party and that all believers are FOOLS! You may think that Fitz should have a few more topics. Please! If Fitz had more than a couple of topics, he would never have time to write a couple of history books a week. And imagine what that would mean for Australian historical studies. Imagine!!!
Joke of the Week (i.e. other than Fitz)
Did you hear the one about the Protestant Kelpie, the Jewish Alsatian, the Muslim St Bernard and the Catholic Heeler? Well, I forgot the punch line. But Peter FitzSimons has helped out by saying that they are all JOKES because they all believe in “the sky daddy”. That’s funny isn’t it? Fitz reckons it’s funny. So that settles it.
Canine Republic Talk
Thank you. Thank you all!!! The Nancy Files is constantly asked when I’ll be speaking next on the matter of our coming Canine Republic. The next time will be at the Lost Cause Club in Canberra next Good Friday at 7.30 pm. All are welcome to attend and there is no charge. Indeed all guests will be paid $10 at the door and given a free Red Bandanna along with a throw-away copy of the Sun-Herald. I recommend the latter door prize as a tasty plate for (Sunday) evening meals. In my address I will make an attack on Kelpies, Alsatians and Jack Russells and then call on all dogs everywhere to support my Canine Republic – it’s a tactic which I have learnt from the (other) Red Bandannaed-One
fitz
ANTI-CATHOLIC SECTARIANISM IN THE AGE A CONTINUING SAGA CONTINUES
SUZANNE CARBONE’S ILL-INFORMED SNEER
Due to the excess of ready-to-publish material, MWD had to put on hold its hugely popular “Anti-Catholic Sectarianism in The Age” Segment. It returns this week with a flashback to Suzanne Carbone’s article in The Age on 23 February 2016 titled “Cardinal Pell to give evidence at Rome hotel steeped in operatic drama”. This is how – in full ignorance – Ms Carbone’s piece concluded:
While Catholics will gather at the Hotel Quirinale, it is not widely known that the church owns its own “hotel” [in Rome] with a chapel for pilgrims and tourists. For Catholics who wonder where their notes and coins in the collection plate end up, the Archdiocese of Sydney established the 32-room guest house Domus Australia with “the support of the other Australian dioceses” in a restored convent.
A major renovation in 2011 to incorporate Australian furnishings and artworks was officially opened by Pope Benedict. A single room costs 104 euro or A159 and for a heavenly upgrade to a suite, it’s 170 euro or $A260. At this hotel, you’d definitely expect a bible in the top drawer.
Er, no you wouldn’t. The fact is that most Catholics are not really into The Bible, as it is commonly understood. That’s more of a Protestant turn-on. Catholics tend to focus on the New Testament and traditionally have had little interest in the Old Testament. It would be much more common to find The Bible in a hotel drawer in, say, Atlanta than in Rome. Moreover, the concept of a “heavenly upgrade” is just another Age anti-Catholic sneer. In fact, accommodation at Domus Australia is modest – as the $260 a night for a suite in Rome indicates. Ms Carbone is a fool in search of a line or two.
DOCUMENTATION
WHAT JUSTICE PETER MCCLELLAN THOUGHT ABOUT ROYAL COMMISSIONS 25 YEARS AGO
There is considerable interest in Gerard Henderson’s column titled “Pell’s ‘implausible’ testimony not met with facts to the contrary” which was published in The Weekend Australian on 12 March 2016 – see here.
A number of readers expressed interest in the warning about royal commissions which Justice Peter McClelland AM (as he became) wrote in Current Issues in Criminal Justice in 1991 – which was cited by Gerard Henderson. The article by Peter McClellan QC Barrister-at-Law, titled “ICAC: A Barrister’s Perspective” can be read here.
Until next time – after Easter.
The ABC is a weakened and flawed institution for sure but it is a vital balance to ranting prejudices of Gerard Henderson’s boss @rupertmurdoch
– Quentin Dempster via Twitter, 10 January 2016
“Gerard’s condescension levels high on #insiders this morning”
– Lenore Taylor, via Twitter, 22 February 2015
“Gerard Henderson and David Marr are on #Insiders this week. Like a political Felix and Oscar.”
– Mark Scott via Twitter 19 February 2015 at 1.10 pm
“I once called Gerard Henderson `a complete f%^wit’. I deeply regret that. I was being much too harsh on f%^wits.”
– Malcolm Farr via Twitter 14 February 2015 at 10:14 am
“Oh Gerard. You total clown.”
– Jonathan (“Proudly the ABC’s Sneerer-in-Chief”) Green on Twitter, Friday 3 October 2014, 4.31 pm [Mr Green must be an obsessive avid reader to respond so soon. – Ed]
“Good morning. All the gooder for being attacked (for thousandth time) by silly Gerard in the Oz”
– Phillip Adams via Twitter, 27 September 2014
“What troubles me most is that he [Gerard Henderson] shows such low journalistic standards, yet he is politically quite influential. He is often on Insiders. It’s hard to see why: he comes across as a crank.”
– Kate Durham as told to Crikey, 16 September 2014
“The unhinged but well spoken Gerard Henderson….”
– Bob Ellis, Table Talk blog, 10 August 2014
“Gerard Henderson and Nancy are awful human beings.”
– Alexander White, Twitter, 25 July 2014
“This is my regularly scheduled “Oh Gerard” tweet for every time he appears on #insiders”
– Josh Taylor, senior journalist for ZDNet, Twitter, 20 July 2014
“…that fu-kwitted Gerard “Gollum” Henderson….”
– Mike (“I’ll pour the gin”) Carlton, via Twitter, 12 July 2014
“[Gerard Henderson is a] silly prick”
– Mike (“I’ll pour the gin”) Carlton – tweeted Saturday 27 June 2014 at 4.15 pm, i.e. after lunch
“If Gerard Henderson had run Beria’s public relations Stalin’s death would have been hidden for a year and Nikita [Khrushchev] and co would have been shot”
– Laurie Ferguson via Twitter – 22 June 2014 [By-line: Mr Ferguson is a member of the House of Representatives who speaks in riddles.]
“[Gerard Henderson] is the Eeyore of Australian public life”
– Mike Seccombe in The [Boring] Saturday Paper – 21 June 2014
“Without in any way wanting to breach anyone’s human rights or free speech – why do people write emails to Gerard Henderson?”
– Katharine Murphy, Twitter, Friday 6 June 2014
“[Gerard Henderson is] an unhinged prick”
– Mike Carlton, Twitter, Thursday 12 June 2014
“There’s no sense that Gerard Henderson has any literary credentials at all.”
– Anonymous comment quoted, highlighted and presumably endorsed by Jason (“I’m a left-leaning luvvie”) Steger, The Age, 31 May 2014
On boyfriend’s insistence, watching the notorious Gerard Henderson/@Kate_McClymont Lateline segment. GH: What an odd, angry gnome of a man.
– Benjamin Law, via Twitter, Thursday 17 Apr 2014, 11:21 pm
Can’t believe I just spent my Thursday evening with a video recap of Gerard Henderson. I’m a f-cking moron.
– Benjamin Law, via Twitter, Thursday 17 Apr 2014, 11:23 pm
“[Gerard Henderson is an] unhinged crank”
– Mike Carlton, via Twitter, Saturday 29 March 2014, 4.34 pm
Complete stranger comes up to me: that Gerard Henderson’s a xxxxxx.
– Jonathan Green via Twitter, 8 February 2014
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Mar 18, 2016 13:04
SAUSAGE IN BREAD
