It would have been a good rugby league score, but it happened on Sunday in the California League, which is to MLB roughly what, oh, Group 6 is to the NRL. The Lake Elsinore Storm defeated the High Desert Mavericks 33-18.

Box score from MiLB.com, match report heads the San Diego Union-Tribune daily minor leagues wrap. (Doesn't stop me cheering for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.)

I was not a fan of Michael Jackson. I didn't hugely go for his music. I found his persona and general behaviour in adult life to be repugnant. He was either a pedophile, or dangerously and recklessly naive in his attitude to children.

However, his impact on late 20th century culture was undeniable. I don't doubt the sincerity of the grief shown for him today, even if I am not a part of it myself.

What made him great? It was, essentially, his ability as a dancer. Think the likes of Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev. Add the rhythms of western Africa, the production genius of Quincy Jones. And replace the classical ballet or Hollywood musical with a new medium: the made-for-cable-TV music video.

The dance was the thing. His voice was nothing special once he hit puberty. But would the "Thriller" LP have sold even one-tenth of the records without the video to push it?

And was there ever, prior to 1983, the fulfilled anticipation that went with the first screenings of that video - directed by John Landis, choreographed by Michael Peters, song composed by Rod Temperton, music produced by Quincy Jones. From Jackson Five to Team Jackson.

Yes, I'm cynical about the legacy of Michael Jackson. I write this neither to bury him nor to praise him, but simply to attempt to think through my own reflections of his life and work.

In an online poll on the ABC Newsradio website today, I voted for "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" as my favourite MJ song. (Currently it's a close third to "Thriller" and Jellie Bean "Billie Jean".) Arguably, it's the only Jacko track that I've ever really liked. But I'm going to end this obit with a great cover version of one of the lesser songs off the "Thriller" album.

"Human Nature", music by Steve Porcaro (ex-Toto), lyrics by the prolific John Bettis, brought to life by Quincy Jones - covered here in an instrumental version by another African-American musical giant, Miles Davis:

Whatever happened to the principle "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story?"

Jeff Goldblum was, and I refer to IMDb as my source for this information, Hood Number 3 in one of my favourite Charles Bronson movies, St Ives. He was also a party guest in Annie Hall, soon - and I refer to my own deranged sense of humour as source for this information - to be remade with Godwin Grech as Woody Allen and Clare Werbeloff as Diane Keaton.

I'll leave the other eight films in my Jeff Goldblum Top 10 till the next report of Goldblum's fatal New Zealand death plunge.

What an incredible, hilarious waste of time this week has been in the House of Representatives. Has there a more ridiculous non-scandal than Utegate - a stupid, absurdly Australian moniker that befits the stupidity of the whole saga.

With Federal Parliament having shut up shop for the winter, coverage of Utegate can be read at Crikey, The Punch, the brilliant Annabel Crabb's column at the Sydney Morning Herald, Twitter, and, goodness me, even Wikipedia.

For my part, here's my Player Ratings on the winners and losers among the Utegate Dramatis Personae:

Kevin Rudd: Fair suck of the salt shaker mate, Kev's just helping out a cobber who lent him a second-hand ute. A winner, fresh from jumping the shark in the past fortnight.

Wayne Swan: For a Treasurer who receives email by fax machine, Swan has been a remarkable survivor, even before John Grant's OzCar application rolled off the Intertubes. So many questions unanswered, yet most of us couldn't care less. A winner in the tradition of David Bradbury (the speed skater, not the Honourable Member for Lindsay).

Malcolm Turnbull: Three words: (i) Dead. (ii) Man. (iii) Walking. The Oscar Wilde to Kevin Rudd's Marquis of Queensbury. (Or should that be OzCar Wilde?) Will remain Leader of the Opposition until the Liberal Party realises Brendan Nelson wasn't so bad after all.

Godwin Grech: The man no scriptwriter would dare invent. The only way Grech will come out of this a winner is if Woody Allen signs him up as a stunt double for his next autobiographical film.

Joe Hockey: Has a big future in comedy after his interview with Tony Jones on Lateline last Tuesday night. Will be a big(ger) loser only if he falls into the Opposition Leader's job in time to be hammered at the 2010 General Election. Could turn out a winner, however, if Dreamworks cast him in the lead role for Shrek 4.

Lindsay Tanner: Loser. For a couple of days it looked as if The Man Who Should Be Treasurer might actually get the job within his grasp. Then Turnbull and Co. let the Swanster off the hook.

Anthony Albanese: Winner. The Marrickville Machiavelli had the added bonus of Julia Gillard's absence in Israel, enabling him to trot out all his best schoolyard bully routines on the floor of parliament. You could tell he was having the time of his life when he started dissing Mark Latham and getting stuck into Malcolm Turnbull all at once.

Julia Gillard: Loser, for this week anyway. Has spent Utegate Week in the Middle East being bombarded with Israeli Government propaganda whilst enjoying the company of travelling companion Peter Costello.

Tony Abbott: Who cares? Mr People Skills was, to paraphrase Lindsay Tanner, supposed to be sitting in the back of the ute barking at strangers.

"The Hon. TONY KELLY (Minister for Police, Minister for Lands, and Minister for Rural Affairs) [12.36 a.m.]: I move:

That the House at its rising this day do adjourn until Tuesday 1 September 2009 at 2.30 p.m.

The Hon. DON HARWIN [12.36 a.m.]: Mr President, I move:

That the question be amended by deleting the words—

The PRESIDENT: Order! In accordance with precedent, as there is no Minister or Parliamentary Secretary in the House, I will now leave the chair until the ringing of the long bell.

[The President left the chair at 12.37 a.m. on Thursday 25 June 2009.]"

(source: NSW Legislative Council hansard)

Never mind second-hand utes and self-caricaturing treasury officials. The real scandal in Australian politics erupted at 12.37am this morning in the state Parliament House in Sydney.

The upper house of the New South Wales parliament is not sitting today. It is not scheduled to do so again until September 1. It was supposed to sit today, but no member of the Labor government ministry will turn up. Effectively, an arm of our elected state government has gone on strike from the moment that Tony Kelly walked out of the chamber while Don Harwin was speaking at 12.36 this morning.

It all seems to do with a sweetheart deal with the Shooters Party that fell apart, with the result that the Labor Party cannot get the numbers up for its proposed legislation to privatise NSW Lotteries.

According to Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon on Twitter this morning:

@leerhiannon NSW Upper House yesterday. Greens win on four key issues. No support 4 lottery sell off. Govt dummy spit. Cancel today's sitting till Sept.

Reports from smh.com.au, news.com.au and the ABC.

Meanwhile, I refer back to my blog entry of January 29. How, constiutionally, can we eject this malicious and incompetent state government which has no regard for its electoral mandate and absolutely no interest in heeding the wishes of its voters? I'm looking for ideas.

Clarence AFL Tasmania footballer Tim Orchard has been suspended indefinitely by his club and ordered to undertake counselling after wilfully permitting his manhood to be televised live on ABC television in the dressing sheds after his club's game on Saturday.

Television has a long history in this country of candid and over-intrusive pre and post-match visits to the dressing room while players are displaying their lack of club colours. Orchard, however, was (otherwise) fully clothed at the time.

The game was played on the 100th birthday of Hobart's greatest son, Errol Flynn. A total coincidence and, apparently, completely lacking in comparison.

Australian Associated Press picks up the story under the brilliant headline "Footballer's penis under microscope".

It's an organisation desperately in need of an overhaul, but the 61st Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission will be held at Madeira from 22 to 26 June 2009.

See the International Whaling Commission website for more details. I'll add more links here shortly and a daily summary of coverage in my blog.

• Save the Whales group on Facebook is following IWC61 extensively.
• Greenpeace's Making Waves blog
• WWF

This was my coverage of IWC59 at Anchorage in 2007. I didn't follow IWC60 in Santiago last year.

Today, June 20, is the centennial of Tasmania's biggest thespian, Errol Flynn. While I pondered some three years ago whether Ricky Ponting was a bigger Tasmanian, his Punterness hasn't been swashing his buckle too well in those live action shorts better known as the ICCWT20 lately.

My usual daggy way of celebrating the life of much loved movie stars (either at their 100th birthday or following their death) is to list my Top 10 Favourite Films of [Insert Name Here]. In the Flynnmeister's case this will not be easy. Best remembered for his adventure films of course, but I think his whole wartime body of work for Warner Bros was his standout.

Here we go, in chronological order:

1. Captain Blood (1935)
2. Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) and one of the few instances I have seen where colourisation [eng-us translation: colorization] has improved a film
3. Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Errol in codpiece in the days before widescreen, 3D or Imax
4. Dodge City (1939)
5. Virginia City (1940) Errol, Humphrey Bogart and Randolph Scott all in the one Civil War potboiler!
6. They Died With Their Boots On (1941) Imperialist revisionist anti-indigenous pseudo-historical action melodrama, but hey!
7. Gentleman Jim (1942) One of my favourite boxing films (and that is a list not long enough for a Top 10)
8. Northern Pursuit (1943) Errol co-stars with Julie Bishop ten years before he plays the part of Jamie Durie in The Master of Ballantrae
9. Edge of Darkness (1943)
10. Objective Burma (1945)

I regret never having seen Errol's "Big Boodle". On second thoughts...

This has nothing to do with football, but plenty to do with sexism and petty-minded politics going hand in hand.

By way of background, here is Senator Sarah Hanson-Young's interview with Sky News Australia yesterday, including footage of Thursday afternoon's incident in the Senate when her two-year daughter was forcibly ejected from the chamber while the division bells were ringing because, consistent with Standing Orders, the toddler was a "stranger":

The really disturbing thing about this unfortunate episode is the flood of negative and unsympathetic reaction that has appeared since. The "put her in childcare", "Parliament is no place for a child", descnding to "stay home with the bub, luv" and worse.

Going right beyond the pale was the claim by Senator Barnaby Joyce (Nat, Qld) that Senator Hanson-Young was staging a stunt. An interesting observation considering that Hansard shows that Senator Joyce was not even present for the division that was in progress at the time.

But if there's anything that makes me squirm about being an Australian, it's this blog entry by a Daily Telegraph columnist so foul that I refuse to let Google find his name on my website.

I do wonder, however, whether the reaction would have been different if Senator Hanson-Young didn't happen to be a member of the Greens?

Federal Parliament is a workplace and can be expected to have its workplace rules. As an employer, it can be expected to provide adequately for its working parents. What happened on Thursday was, as Senator Hanson-Young explained, an unusual moment and an unfortunate coincident of events. Senate President John Hogg later acknowledged that it could have been handled better.

Hopefully, when Senate resumes on Monday, rules will be changed so that the President of the Senate can exercise his or her discretion to determine that pre-school children of Senators are not deemed "strangers" when the situation arises.

Female members of parliament with young children are a fairly recent phenomenon in what has, for over a hundred years, been an extremely blokey institution. It's time attitudes changed.

Transcript of the incident in question can be seen at openaustralia.org.

Thank goodness for the Daily Mirror for a bit of perspective.