Trevor,
Alas, I did not get a chance to read your entries other than give them a quick scan. Too exhausted. And I have to catch a plane to Canberra in an hour, check intot he motel, a quick shop at Coles supermarket, a late drink and a catch up of the Sunday papers of the eastern states at a trendy cafe then to bed. It is a 7am start in the political machine.

A quick observation.

I concur with your argument about the easy anti-Semitism that is around the place these days. For an example take a look at the responses in the comment box to an English cartoon I posted over at public opinion on Ariel Sharon and his Likud Party policies. The post was universally condemned as being anti-Semitic and as an expression of Nazism.

Something strange is happening here. Public Opinion got 1500 conservative readers in 24 hours. That (anti-intellectual) conservatism is a strange beast. It colludes with the state in the name of defending the nation from external attack; nasty in tone; deeply cynical; takes the cultural wars seriously; and is full of hate for the old 1968ers.