Linksauce

March 2, 2009 at 11:09 pm (Monday Morning links, Tom) (Australian politics, Defence Department, Gamepolitics, late links, links, Newt Gingrich, politics, Raging snarkboner, Random junkination, Team Fortress 2, Venti Cylon)

It’s like weaksauce, only links. I am forced, by circumstance, to not post the thing I was going to post; since there is a whacky media embargo going on. Also: I am whacky tired. I’ll give you an update, maybe, if I’m on camera fighting the man tomorrow night.

A couple of stories from the Oz, today:

Globalisation has negative effects – and they’re your fault, cheapskates.

Sarcasm aside, it’s an interesting opinion piece. Blaming the immorality of the populace for the failures of the system is a popular way of excusing failed social experiments, but it still doesn’t make them work. See Communism for details.

Trouble brewin’

This is bad news for my jorb. Joel Fitzgibbon, the seemingly quite competent Defence Minister (not really new after a year and a half; either)  looks like he’s finally had enough of the “Defence Bureaucracy”. It is dysfunctional, and monumentally unwieldy; true. But the broken parts aren’t the ones about to get it in the neck; it’ll be the 20,000 civilian staff – primarily at the lower levels of the organisation who’ll cop it again. It would be nice to believe that some of the buzz-word spraying Howard-era ideologues at the top of the civilian pile will go too, but it certainly won’t bring the “cultural change” that every Defence Minister of more than a fortnight hopes for. To do that, you’d need to work on actually reforming the uniformed military; and the last government brave enough to try that was Whitlam’s – the fireball carnival of public governance. My main focus is civvies, so I perhaps don’t have the most unbiased view – but since I’m probably going to spending the next year trying to prevent collateral damage from the coming Houston vs Fitzgibbon brawl, I think I’m entitled to it. The other option is a reshuffle and a Combet takeover. I think I could live with that; I’m not sure Defence would feel much more comfortable with a pinko bolshevik running the show.

LAWL

One of my new favourite news feeds brings me this brilliant story. Perhaps I’m a little job fixated at the moment; but the Employee Free Choice Act is for American Labor Relations what the Fair Work Bill is for Australian Industrial Relations.

Spy sappin’ mah Scout pack!

Hells yes, Team Fortress 2. I’ve only written about Left 4 Dead so far, because that’s what I was obsessed with when the blog was starting up. But I will, one day, write of the neatness that is TF2. Hidden in the most recent update is a significant nerf to one of the character classes – which is arguably already the weakest class in the game. Why, valve? Whyfor make Spy suck harder?

Bitchin’ about jerks in print

I love snarking at my favourite bad columnists as much as the next newsjunkie. Which is why this blog is brilliant! All the petty sniping at right-wing propagandists and spinmasters I can eat! ‘Course, not being in Melbourne, I can’t enjoy the full range of anti-Andrew Bolt emotions, but, I try.

If you say so.

I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing tomorrow night; assuming it all goes to plan. Peace out.