URGENT AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL UPDATE

Seat-sniffing leader breaks down

(Thanks to many people)

Comments

[fudtheman]

If it was a particularly bad smell, you could say he 'gagged on a staffer'.

[Siouxie]

ewwww

[jug]

I'm trying to picture the conversation he must have had with his wife about this. Nothing says "I love you" like having to tell them you made an a$$ out of yourself in such a splendid fashion.

What a knucklehead.

[Meanie the Blue]

Worries, mate.

[lil rascal]

It has reached Australia.

TKS, better know as Ted Kennedy Syndrome. Aweful random singing, sniffing butts and acute stupidy...

[Siouxie]

Sooooooo..he wanted to know how she smelled down under???

[baligurl]

Figures. Act a$$ first, then act sorry. I bet he still wants to be friends, too.

[ellie]

I'm just wondering how they know the seat was offended.

And Sioux, eewwwww!

[Punkin]

He's been relocated to the bomb sniffing dept.

He now spends his days in a cage with 3 bitches.

He likes it.

[Jeff Meyerson]

Good one, Siouxie. Gross, but good.

But the article didn't say if alcohol was involved.

I think the public has a right to know.

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

It was only a problem because he keeps biting the buttons off the upholstery . . .

[Jeff Carrie's friend Jean]

Major Snorkage!

(Not to be confused with General Mayhem.)

[queensbee]

i'm with the EWWWWWWWWWWWW crowd. make that guy leave the room first. ick.
seat-sniffin pols - wbagnfarb

[Mot the Hoople]

Maybe he likes the smell of anchovies.

[Edward]

My favorite part:

"Dr Hames said his leader needed to change his behaviour, but also acknowledged there was no one to replace him."

The Honorable (sic) Mr. Buswell is irreplaceable!

[Siouxie]

Thanks, ellie & Jeff. I've done my job for the day.

Tears in his eyes, Mr Buswell said he needed a short break, turned his back and then asked his press secretary to bring him a glass of water.

He then proceeded to sniff her ass...

[baligurl]

Bad dog, Buswell!

[jug]

Snork @ Siouxie

[Annie Where-but-here]

Oh, oink. Where's K9? Get the whole pack over to sniff his family jewels cubic zirconia. They'll do more than sniff but at least then he'll have something to cry about.
Kudos to her for reporting him. Sounds like he had a history of this behavior. Perhaps wearing this to meetings would help him.

[Danny]

But did he inhale?

[mudstuffin]

annie - something tells me that he would not flinch at wearing that item.

[Annie Where-but-here]

I think you're right, mud. Maybe we should make him wear some of the K9's, too.

[...]

Once again bringing the question up: Men. Dogs or not?

[baligurl]

dogs

[Elon Weintraub]

It never says she was actually sitting in it at the time. Maybe he just huffs chairs.

[Annie Where-but-here]

But I like dogs.

[Eleanor]

*zips in*™

Was that a sexist remark, Mot? Sounded like one to me....

When I first started reading I was inclined to give him a pass, becuase it was just stupidity, but then when the article said he has priors - ick. PERV!

[mudstuffin]

dog, perv, whatever. what separates this guy from the rest of us is that he did it in front of people for laughs. most of us simply stick in it in a vaccuum cleaner or a bicycle in private and get laughed at on the blog.

[Steve Haller]

Couldn't they just settle his hide like us Yanks, plaster the vid all over YouTube until he has to resign?

[Siouxie]

Once again bringing the question up: Men. Dogs or not?

I vote pond scum. *

um...was I typing aloud?? ;-P

*not all, but most.

[Annie Where-but-here]

I second the motion for this guy as pond scum. As far as perv goes, this reeks more of power trip, putting women in their 'place' via sexist putdowns.
*opens can of worms for Mot to nibble on*

[Meditrina]

I vote we ship him to the Outback wearing caveman attire, sans sunscreen. ;P

[Annie Where-but-here]

Or maybe have him work the kitchen of a gay bar, wearing only a rainbow apron. NTTAWWT.

[Annie Where-but-here]

I had a boss who used to call me into his office, toss an assignment at me, then kick back in his chair and say, "It's good to be the king."
One night I WD-40'd the wheels of his chair. The next time he leaned back in it, he flipped over backwards.
I stifled a giggle and asked him what happened. He went to show me, and went @ss over head again.
There's more than one way to overthrow a king. :)

[Mot the Hoople]

I guess it was a sexist remark. My bad.

[Siouxie]

LOL Annie. Remind me never to get on your shit list.

[Steve Haller]

Mot, I watched "House" last night, and believe me you have a long way to go...

[Eleanor]

Thank you, Mot. :) Now if we can just find out why Jeff thinks that alcohol would have to be involved for a man to be a pig.....

[moooooog35]

Sniffing someone's seat is WRONG?!?

[Annie Where-but-here]

Siouxie - I fixed several squeaks at once!
Mot, that was huge. WTG.

[Siouxie]

El, I agree. Alcohol would only make him a drunken pig.

[Steve Haller]

Incidentally, Eleanor, I don't know if you caught my response to your query about my musical interests back in the Aug 27 NFL Draft Update ... ? I must have wandered by just before it got shoved into the Archives...

[Annie Where-but-here]

God:Here, drink this. Then do whatever you want. If someone gets mad, just blame it on the drink.
Guy:Cool!

[Siouxie]

Silly Annie! God would never say that. She's on our side. Hmmmm...could it be.....

[Eleanor]

Siouxie, the only problem I have with the She position is that I don't think a She God would have allowed so many horrible things to happen; i.e., Holocaust, Darfur, etc.

Steve, I did see your answer about your musical tastes. It seemed like you were saying classical music is your thing, yes? Or was it classic rock? But by the time I got there and saw it, everyone had moved on. You have to be quick here on the blog. Snooze and lose, right? ;)

[Steve Haller]

As a non-practicing atheist -- meaning that unlike Madeleine Murray O'Hair I don't give a flying fig whether "In God we trust" is stamped on our money or not, and whether my neighbor is a Muslim, a Jew or Ned Flanders makes no difference to me -- I am especially amused when a minister or priest says, in answer to inquiries about "why does God allow atrocities like Darfur?", that man has free will -- I'm sure that goes over great with the people in Virginia who just got hit with a slew of tornadoes, or for that matter the victims of Katrina. If there is indeed a heavenly being who allows people to be slaughtered like that at whim, then I want nothing to do with him, her or whatever.

But if that means I end up in Hell, I'll still have Wagner's music to comfort me, and maybe Liszt too. (Some intolerant folk would add Tchaikovsky just because he was homosexual, and if you believe "Amadeus" Mozart was no saint either...!) But my favorite composer is Hector Berlioz, and considering how graphically he depicted Faust's horrifying descent into Hell, I suspect he'll be there too. (No Bruckner though. Pity.)

[Siouxie]

Steve, I'll help pack the handbasket for ya ;-P

[Steve Haller]

Lotsa chocolate, please please? I think I'm well past male menopause...

[Eleanor]

The best thing about being Jewish is that we don't believe in Hell, so we never have to have a handbasket at the ready. :)

How do you feel about Beethoven?

[Steve Haller]

Beethoven and Mozart are the true masters and all else build upon that foundation. But my interests primarily involve the orchestra; if I were an organist it would be Bach, or if a pianist perhaps Chopin. Classical and Romantic periods most of all, but Rachmaninoff is of our time and he's still a Romantic at heart. Among American composers I like the turn-of-the-century New England school thru Gershwin most of all, but I have a very special appreciation for Alan Hovhaness -- his love of mountains and his Armenian heritage that have led some to speak of him as New Age long before there was such a thing may make his music closer to an idealized "Heaven" than anyone else of recent times.

[Siouxie]

El, that's why I'm converting to Judaism before I have to get on the handbasket.

[Steve Haller]

Eleanor, if you're not into classical music yet I'd recommend you start out with Schubert or Dvorak. No matter whether you go for the symphonies, string quartets, songs or choral works you can't go wrong, there is just so much melody everywhere you turn. If you have kids who express an interest in dancing, then you have to seek out Delibes (Coppelia and Sylvia), Adam (Giselle) and of course Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker that you hear everywhere around Christmas is just the tip of the iceberg. Since I like everything about opera except the singing, I'm afraid I can't help you out there...

[Eleanor]

I lost my post. :(

As I was saying, a few years ago the BBC played most of the Beethoven Symphonies and made them available for downloading free for a short while. I didn't find out about it when it started and was only able to get 6 and 7. I love to listen to them on a quiet Saturday morning.

When I was a kid my parents had records (remember records!) of a lot of Chopin pieces played by Arthur Rubenstein. They were beautiful.

Bach I think is too depressing and Wagner is an anti-Semite so I'm not to fond of those.

This makes me sound like I know more about classical music than I really do. :)
I do have Madama Butterfly and I like that a lot.

[Annie Where-but-here]

Chopin is like milk-chocolate for the ears.

[Steve Haller]

When you center on Wagner's anti-Semitism, you really strike at the major problem so many people have, and that is separating the man from the music. Of course Hitler adored Wagner's music, yet we will never know whether Wagner would feel the same way about Hitler if they lived at the same time. (This is related to the frustrating stereotype of the villain in the movies always listening to classical music; remember the scene in "Apocalypse Now" where the helicopter dropping the napalm is blaring the quintessential Wagner "Ride of the Valkyries". Or else he's sitting at the organ, and for some reason he's always playing Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. So this is nothing new.) Even today Zubin Mehta was met with tremendous resistance from musicians and public alike when he tried to get the Israel Philharmonic to play Wagner. I love the music, but not the hours and hours of German; I play the orchestral excerpts mostly. If I were Orthodox I would probably express the same sentiments as the Israeli musicians; but I would like to think that others could listen to the Prelude to Lohengrin or the Siegfried Idyll and embrace what their ears tell them, and not their religious strictures. And by the way if you simply refuse to listen to Wagner you will have to avoid weddings too because "Here Comes the Bride" is simply the Bridal Chorus from Act III of Lohengrin in English...! I've never been to a Jewish wedding, maybe there they only play Mendelssohn's Wedding March (from his music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), he was Jewish after all...

[Siouxie]

My all time favorite is still Vivaldi. His string concertos are totally like...super kewl! ;-)

Seriously, I love those. I also love Beethoven's 5th, & 6th (The Pastoral). I used to listen to classical music many years ago and have quite a nice collection of cd's. I should refresh my memory.

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

From cushion sniffing to classical music in one seamless thread, interesting . . .

[Eleanor]

I remember Zubin Mehta and the controversy when he wanted to play Wagner in Israel.
Sometimes it's hard to separate the person from the issue for one thing, and there are anti-Semitic Jews, and no, I don't know if he was one or not.

I saw Mehta once at an upscale mall in L.A. so I've always felt we had a 'bond'. ;) What I'm trying to say is that his wanting to play Wagner in Israel gave me pause. I don't really know where I'm going with this, so I guess I'll stop.

[Siouxie]

MKJ, that just goes to show ya that we're one classy-assed blog.

[Miss Ahjunist]

"Was that a sexist remark, Mot? Sounded like one to me..."

Guy makes a simple comment and gets flamed by people who go on to say all men are pigs, pervs and scum.

Pot,...meet kettle

[queensbee]

members of my family will still not purchase a german car. so those things run deep. i dont like vagner because i just dont like the music. gimme vivaldi anytime.

[Siouxie, not afraid to use my real name]

Hmmm...people?? please go back and read. And no one flamed anyone. Sounds like we're getting sensitive ...again.

[Gator Union of South Florida]

Miss A - all men? Perhaps you should have someone read that to you. Someone who understands it better:
Once again bringing the question up: Men. Dogs or not?
I vote pond scum.*
um...was I typing aloud?? ;-P
*not all, but most.
Posted by: Siouxie | 11:23 AM on April 29, 2008
Sounds like jumping to conclusions is the only mental exercise you get.

[Annie Where-but-here]

I'm with the Gator Union of South Florida, and I approved their message.

[Steve Haller]

Eleanor, I went searching for Deems Taylor's classic essay on Wagner and this is the best I could find. Obviously the translation is not perfect, but it will give you some idea of the man and why when you listen to his music, maybe it really doesn't matter. Here it is

[klezmerphan]

In keeping with the OT aspects herein, I have been completely swept up by Pachelbel's Canon in D ever since I saw "Ordinary People" -- not to take away anything from Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi et al. (and I adore all of their music as well), but the Canon in D is possibly my favorite classical piece ever.

ooh, I said "favorite piece!"

[Siouxie]

klez, that would be one my favorite classical pieces.

[Cat R]

Pachelbel's Canon in D fav of all time for me too, also because of "Ordinary People".

When Mr. R. proposed, my "yes" was on the condition of having that played in the church. (Only partially kidding.)

Oh, and booger.

[Steve Haller]

The slithery clarinet solo that represents the Cat in Prokofieff's "Peter and the Wolf" would make great slink-in and slink-out music...

[Cat R]

Thanks, Steve. And a-hunting I now go...

[klezmerphan]

Siouxie and Cat R., I just knew you were intelligent, cultured and cool women!

Also, Cat, those slinking in and out pics are just amazing. Wish I could get a shot of my cat doing something that would qualify him for your photo album, but the only time I can take his picture is when he's sleeping.

[Steve Haller]

Now if we could just get a quartet of French horns to play the Wolf music every time Cheney walks into the room...

[Siouxie]

Thanks, klez. We sure is.

*burp*

[Cat R]

SNOOORK! klez called me intelligent and cultured!

Pleezedtameetcha!

Ok, Steve, I found something here.

Will this do for some slinky sounds?

[Cat R]

Oh, and cool. Can't forget cool.

[Steve Haller]

Cat, I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you -- would you believe I had to wade thru 5 pages of "Peter and the Wolf" CDs on Amazon before I found one that had just the Cat slinking in (as cats do) ... ? Check out track 12 and you'll hear the basic theme for the Cat played on the clarinet. When the Cat is startled by the Wolf (the crash at the end) she runs up the tree and that is what you hear in the excerpt you sent me ... !

And track 14 is those wonderful French horns heralding the entry of the Wolf -- but I still think we should hear them with Cheney too ... !

[Cat R]

*Applause for Steve!!*

[Cat R]

*Slinks out®*

[Meanie the Blue]

I HATE it when I miss intelligent discussions on topics I know comparatively little about!

But that never stops me from opining:

I've gotten fairly small exposure to classical music, and what I have come to like (as a rock'n'roll child) are probably the more popular and less esoteric pieces. Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor and Wagner's (his racially charged views aside) Ride of The Valkyries are enthralling for their sheer power, but I also find Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations to be very intriguing for their intricacy and symmetry. Beethoven's 5th and 9th are masterful. Dvorjak, Moussourgsky, Handel, Copland all interest me greatly. Ravel's Bolero is a wonder.

And the Ave Maria is possibly the most majestic piece of all, even though I am probably the least devotional person you could find.

[Eleanor]

Hey Steve. Thank you for the article. My pal CG was here painting all day and I didn't get back here til just now. He's gone and i have stuff to do but I saved it and I will read it and then we can talk about it.
I always like to learn new stuff. :)

[Cat R]

Hi, Meanie!

I can't believe I've lasted this long in such an intelligent discussion about music, but I will shut my yap and let y'all think I know stuff, if you like. ;-)

What I do know is that I went to see Barrage last week with the family and they were awesome.

I highly recommend one of their concerts if you'd like to inspire any young 'uns to pursue the violin. My kids don't play strings, but they were appropriately humbled. They did a wonderful rendition of Ravel's Bolero.

Oh, and it was held at Fermilab here in Illinois. Appealing to all of the geekiness that is the R family. How cool is THAT.

[Cat R]

And Meanie, Ave Maria was also played in the church at my wedding.

Of course. ;-)

[Siouxie]

OH..Ravel's Bolero...did anyone actually have sex to that??

I'm not admitting anything, of course. Butt, it's pretty LONG. And if you play it over and over..you have more time...just saying. Um..so I've heard.

[Siouxie]

Meanie, I agree. The Ave Maria is a brilliant piece of music.

[Cat R]

Not at the concert, Siouxie. Kids, and all. ;-)

[Meanie the Blue]

Thanks, Cat. I can inspire my daughters to listen and appreciate classical, but they're probably past the point where I could get them to pursue playing.

My oldest daughter, now 13, tried the violin for a while, but didn't retain the interest. But we did get a few experiences we could at least laugh about. Her instructor, a very misplaced Eastern European older man, gave it his best shot, but didn't have what it took to inspire the class. During an informal recital in the classroom, he at one point addressed the parents by trying to convey, in the thickest accent you could imagine, his seriousness in attempting to get the kids to master the traditional American classic (as he phrased it) "Merr-i-lee Vee Rrrrrolllll A-Lung". There were no straight faces among either parents or students.

That wasn't necessarily the moment or factor that ended my daughter's interest in violin, but it did not help.

[Steve Haller]

Another suggestion? For kids or adults, Walt Disney's Fantasia was and is the best intro to classical music I know. The images are compelling, the music is conducted by Leopold Stokowski and you get a wide range from Bach to Stravinsky. The Rite of Spring with T Rex and of course Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice, it never gets old. Of course some pieces were whittled down a bit to fit the images, but then you can check out the originals on Amazon. The artists tried to recapture lightning in a bottle with Fantasia 2000, but the original is still the best. It's the only commercial videotape I own. (By the way, Ave Maria is the last piece; a lot of people complained at the time because Disney segued directly from Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain with its awesome Satanic imagery into a torchlight procession with the pilgrims singing Schubert's great melody...

[Cat R]

Hey, Meanie, I think that's funny!

Before I truly do slink out, here is a link to Barrage playing Bolero. The troupe changes their talent from time to time, but you get the idea.

And Steve, I loooove Fantasia, ever since I was a kid -- and so do my own kids. Mr. R is a Disney freak, so his appreciation of it goes without saying.

Have to run out the door. G'nite, intelligent, cultured and cool blogits!

[Siouxie]

Steve, I own Fantasia too and it's just amazing. My girls both loved it as kids and you're right - it introduces children to classical music. The Pastoral is still my favorite on that.

[Steve Haller]

Siouxie, Ravel himself described Bolero as 15 minutes of orchestration without music. It is really an extended form of a very common orchestral technique called theme and variations, the beauty of it is that it's the same tune played over and over but each time it's a different group of instruments. I used to think that if I were teaching a music lit class and wanted to summarize the principles of theme and variations in under 5 minutes I would simply show them the opening credits of "Dallas" -- first the theme in the horns, then the trumpets, then the strings come in -- I bet that would get the point across real quick ... ! (Of course I never missed Larry Hagman, darlin' ...)

[Meanie the Blue]

Steve - on the money. My first and still most vivid exposure to classical music was from Fantasia. Exactly as you say, the power of the music, amplified by the depth and skill of the animation, exposed me to a completely alien world in a captivating way. I have treasured that film and exposed my kids, to their utter delight, to its terrific beauty and enlightening power. It's no coincidence, probably, that the pieces I mentioned happened to be "portrayed" in that film.

It's also the film that gave me a love of the art, as opposed to merely the cartoon humor potential, of animation.

[Siouxie]

In other words..it's great sex music ;-P

*hairflip*

Seriously. I love the whole theme and variations aspect of that piece. The way it slowly builds up to the climax(heh!). It's brilliant. That's one of the cd's that I do own.

[Meanie the Blue]

Thank you again, Cat. Barrage looks very much like a performance worth seeing, and I'll be looking out for them.

I agree with you, Steve, that part of the power of Bolero is in its escalating depth as more and other instruments take on the recurring theme.

*Wonders what Siouxie would do with The 1812 Overture*

[Siouxie]

Meanie, I played that on my hornymoon. Nuff said.

[Steve Haller]

Oh, you want sex music? Well, why didn't you say so? Try the Strauss (what the track list calls "Shalome") -- I hear John the Baptist lost his head over it ...

[klezmerphan]

As to the "Bolero," raise your hand if you remember the "Partridge Family" episode where, I believe, Laurie walks in on Keith as he's getting ready for a date and finds he has "Bolero" on the stereo. (Yes, young 'uns, we had LPs then, made of vinyl.)

Goes to buy tickets for the Geezer Bus

[Cat R]

klez, I can't believe I don't remember that one, and I was nuts about David Cassidy. But I wouldn't have recognized Bolero as such at that age.

There seemed to be fewer PF reruns over the years, than, say, the Brady Bunch. And before the days of video, you just watched it when it aired. I'd probably recognize the episode if I saw it, but mostly for Keith's outfit, if anything.

(DC and I share a birthday. We have a special bond.)

*Puts away laminated Geezer Bus lifetime pass*