Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most mendacious of all ...

Of course the pond this day is calling for a frank and open debate on the relationship between Christianity and two world wars, and war mongering MPs declaring war on Islam in the guise of a 'war hero' ...

And wondering whether this sort of ongoing campaign might lead to this ...

Or to this sort of confusion ...

It's frustrating because the pond would have liked to have asked today whether Greg Hunt is the most artfully mendacious of them all...

Of course Malware deserves exceptional credit for his role in the ruination of the NBN, but Hunt is a figure of tremendous awe at the pond for the exceptional way he's managed to turn on a penny, downplay coal, and embrace renewable energy, as you can read for the moment outside the AFR paywall in Clean coal unlikely in Australia, says Hunt.

And there on the box this morning was his dissembling visage assuring all that Australia and Canada had been selected for praise for their exceptional and diligent work ... as if Australia's exceptional work as supplier of coal, coal, coal to the world counted for nothing ... and Greg Hunt's service to Tony "king of the coal chocolate cake" Abbott had been forgiven and forgotten ...

Never mind, let us bear in mind that clarion call for Islam to change, making just one little detour ...

Actually common sense would tell us that there's no point in capitalising Common Sense, since that's little better than blathering about COMMON SENSE, and if there's one thing common sense tells the pond, common sense is under-stated, whereas Common Sense is ineffably stupid ...

But let us not waste more time with a Ruddster urging us all to vote for a Common Sense Party - common sense suggests it's a complete waste of time - because we must get on with the urgent business of issuing a clarion call for Christianity, Catholicism and the Murdochians to change ...

And instead what do we get?

Yes, it's the usual aggregation of saucy doubts and fears ...

Now there's an exceptional way to frame your opinion, with blather about "same-sex romp" as your attention getter ... as once more we blather on about wider religious freedoms ... and note how quickly we can turn from having an anxiety attack about Islam to having an anxiety attack about Christianity under vicious assault by teh gays ...

Yes, of course, it's all the fault of devout Muslims, this infernal and wretched debate ... ssssh, don't mention the Australian Catholic University ...

Now the pond loves this sort of phrasing ...

"Respectful proponents", "sincerely believe", "as much as they love their gay brothers and sisters, marriage for them must be between a man and a woman ..."

Which of course is excellent sheeps' clothing for the usual cant, and the standard bigotry and hate ... as if by words or deeds, Christians in the past or the present have shown a deep love for their gay brothers and sisters ...

Unless you think calling for the filthy, vile sinners to rot and burn in hell for all eternity a sign of deep love ...

It also makes a wonderful juxtaposition, as the savaging of Islam continues, while Catholics of the Craven kind, continue to call for the right of fundamentalists to be fundamentalist ...

Naturally the confusion extends to the reptile editorialist ...

The pond has long marvelled how the reptiles, like starlings in the sky, can manage to whirl and turn together in a wonderful display of symmetry and synchronicity, and once again the editorialist manages the feat today by displaying a capacity for a Craven turn of phrase ...

Of course any kind of reader with a relatively short memory will  still manage to remember this magical, oft-repeated reptile formula:

The Australian, in supporting personal freedom, does not oppose same-sex marriage.

Could wording get any more mealy-mouthed, faint-hearted and devious?

Are the reptiles intent on giving Greg Hunt a run for his money?

After all, the point, after a little blather about a genuinely pluralist secular democracy is to endorse fundamentalist Catholicism, and the Pellist-approved Anthony Fisher talking about a secularist caliphate.

A secularist fucking caliphate, because, it goes without saying, in the world of Pellists and reptiles, secularism and jihad and the caliphate are inseparable ...

Well, the pond makes a prediction - that there will be more and more of this hysteria as eventually Malware gets around to arranging a plebiscite ...

Some might think that talk of a "secularist caliphate" is a moderate and reasonable way of talking about the simple notion of gay marriage, which has done nothing to introduce an apocalypse or even a secularist caliphate wherever it is available ...

Instead, in short order, we get references to the "thought police", "calculated assault",  "aggressive secularism" and a secularist fucking caliphate, all dressed up as "legitimate debate" and "rational argument" ...

Well let's just note that there's sure to be a sub-section of Godwin's Law that confirms that talk of the thought police is not a rational fucking argument ...

Oh dear, the pond seems to have got carried away, as if there's something wrong with fucking ... when it is after all, one of the great pastimes, though much penalised by god's religious thought police in the past ...

Which brings the pond to a theological nicety, thanks to Corinthians ...

But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn ...

Ah, the pond gets it. The Catholics and the reptiles would prefer teh gays to burn ... in hell ... until the twelfth of never ...

And then call that legitimate debate and rational argument ...