Lets play state the bleeding obvious.

When John Howard says any radical changes to the parliamentary pension would "...slash the gene pool for potential members to this parliament,"

What John Howard means is the parliamentary pension scheme and superannuation benefits are an obvious method for MPs to financially assist members of their own family into positions as members of parliament.

Also in other news, new legislation dictats that by plugging in your phone line, unknowingly buying counterfeit goods or burning a DVD you will henceforth quite possibly but not definitely be committing a terrorist act. See your old anti-terrorist fridge magnet sent out at the beginning of all this bullpuckey for who to call!

the crocodile hunter effect; starts out serious with a tail-end lashing

As soon as you read Germaine Greer's article deploring the late Steve Irwin's living behavior in the days following his death, a foreboding sense of cultural backlash descends like a dark cloud. This sets off uncomfortable certainty that she will undoubtedly respond to the displays of naked anger and scorn from Australian public figures and media personalities only to make them more inflamed than a puffer fish being circled by a shark.

A seasoned cultural and academic warrior like Germaine is no stranger to being put down in public. This is typical treatment for people who go outside familiar boundaries of expression our society has seen fit to draw.

This sucks because Germaine Greer is one of the greatest living icons of modern feminism. She is a worldwide bestselling author and top level academic, a feminist tall poppy with a resolve of iron. So might her releasing what seems to be intentionally inflammatory material not just be for kicks?

So why so unacceptable to voice what about a person you'll remember most when they die (even if its something which shits you off)? I assume that was all Germaine was doing when she wrote her article for The Guardian, or when she gave a subsequent video interview saying exactly what she thought of Steve's treatment of wildlife (even though some may not have wanted to hear it) on his TV programs. Maybe to Germaine, the best way to remember Steve's life is to show the world the thing she will remember him for the most--despite that its meant to be 'distasteful' to say you will remember someone negatively in the days following their death.

Regardless, its apparent that Steve Irwin's 'larrikinism' will live on in a generation of youngsters aping his behavior both at Australia Zoo and worldwide. Every time a doctor treats a kid wearing ill fitting shorts and sporting a reptile bite they will remember Steve Irwin. Conservationists and people who like to tromp through wetlands (I'm sure 'wetlands' are just swamps, really) will remember Steve Irwin when they're out of insect repellent. People who enjoy a visit to Australia Zoo will remember Steve Irwin.

For Germaine Greer to want to touch the feelings of all of these people in the time after a sudden death when the unreality of the circumstances are still firmly held in place by shock shows that whatever she remembers him for, too remembers Steve Irwin, for his unseemly, raucous, out of control hyperactive animal displays on television despite his many undoubted contributions to preservation and conservation foundations.

In their own way everyone remembers Steve Irwin, while Germaine Greer cemented that very experience of remembering firmly in our memories by shattering another social taboo against remembering negative aspects of the deceased. Finding middle ground between these two experiences is difficult without the grappling hooks of humor:
1. Germaine cautions us to be sensitive and aware of the feelings all dumb animals including lower primates, snakes and the general public.
2. Steve died doing what he loved; a martyr to his conservationist cause--we will remember "The Crocodile Hunter" at his best. May his work protect our wilderness for our grandchildren's grandchildren in 2090, unless the accelerating rate of climate change sees a return to the wilderness (we'll all be nature lovers then).

In 2090 Steve Irwin may be best known not for his slogan "Crikey!" but for offhandedly saying "Now this is really dangerous!" before doing something incredibly dangerous. Germaine Greer could be most quoted saying that "Snakes on a plane only want to get off."