The Adventures of QueerPenguin

The Oz's Evil Green Fantasy Planet + Darren Gayes

I don't know why I bother reading the Oz editorials, I really don't. I guess because they actually seriously criticised the Howard government earlier this year over the AWB scandal, I started to entertain the crazy thought that it was something other than a daily Liberal Party Press Release posing as a broadsheet.

But no - you read about "Howard power(ing) ahead with bold plan" (with a sub-heading poking fun at Steve Bracks) and such hopes are dashed. Still just a press release after all.

But that's not the silliest or most blinkered part of the editorial - scroll past the Howard arse-kissing (and the evils of Hezbollah) and then you get to some old-school Green bashing. The Oz editorial writers are slightly better at articulating the Destroy Greens At All Costs agenda of the Murdoch media than, say, the Herald-Sun editorialists, but as always, a Murdoch newspaper by any other name would be as biased.

Their approach here, with regard to the Greens' harm minimisation approach to hard drugs, is to try and nab their so-called NIMBY supporters - inner-city chardy socialists who apparently never put their money where their mouths are because all the lefty causes they support must only happen at the periphery of their existence - i.e. Not In My Back Yard.

To wit:

"Come November, it will be interesting to see how inner-city voters sympathetic to the Greens feel about the party now that its policies threaten to land, quite literally, on their doorsteps."

Well let's see - how does the Green vote stack up in the polling booths of Tanya Plibersek's seat of Sydney that are centred around the existing Kings Cross injecting room? Bearing in mind Greens' policy supports the existence of this room, and it was opened in 2001:

Kings Cross: Greens primary vote = nearly %26, higher even than the primary Liberal vote. Up over 9% since the 2001 election.

Woolloomooloo: Nearly 19% of the primary vote, up 8%.

Potts Point: Over 20% of the primary vote, up 6%.

So my guess: the inner-city Green sympathisers are pretty cool with it. No hypocrisy about backyard action going on here as far as I can see. Nice try, Ozster.

Oh, and this:

"the party, smelling success at the next election, has become cocky enough to reveal its real agenda to voters."

Well spotted Oz, your sense of smell is so finely-attuned. Shame this "real agenda" has been part of the Greens' policy for years and is clearly and explicitly outlined on their website. But you go anyway Oz. You go.

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Just quickly, and completely unrelatedly: Oh.My.God - Darren Hayes is gay??!! Never would've picked that. NEVER. Who're you going to tell me is gay next - Elton John? Ian McKellan?! Anthony Callea??!! My head is swimming.

The reason for my sarcasm: Only a fag could be this, well - faggy:

"Most recently, I've been moving toward a career that is more closely aligned with 'art' than it is 'commerce'. And in keeping on this trajectory - I have become increasingly more emotionally authentic in my music, writing and my relationship to my audience. "

"I'm proud of who I am, and after what felt like an eternity, I'm finally in a place where my heart is secure and content. And I can finally make sense of all of the searching."

Oh Darren. What can I say really, other than:

posted by Sam @ Wednesday, July 19, 2006