L'Afrique du Nord par avion ...

The pond has been marvelling at the attempts of the reptiles to deal with a sudden high-powered outburst of Islamophobia, which saw the Nine network snatch away the crown from the Bolter and News Corp and make it their own ... even if the Bolter deserves due credit for setting it all in motion, and is even now in a frothing, foaming frenzy of righteousness, hate, fear and loathing.

But of all the bits and pieces to emerge, the pond treasures this most of all ...

Actually, in the view of any sane person, it's very hard to reconcile what's in the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Book of Mormon or Hubbard's Dianetics with a modern, secular, pluralist democracy.

But you won't catch your average fundamentalist Catholic managing that sort of modern, secular, pluralist bold stroke.

One of the key tests for people wanting to join Team Australia - count the pond out - is the way they're willing to keep gays off the team. We know Team Catholics, Team Islamic fundamentalists, Team Mormons, Team fundamentalist Jews and such like don't want them on the team.

It was by sublime coincidence that the pond was reminded of one particular Team Abbottism back in 2004 ...

For those who can't be bothered wandering back down memory lane with Playschool, Abbott said "I must say, I think if I'd been watching it with my kids, I would have been a bit shocked."

Abbott didn't go on to explain how he would have felt watching the show with his sister.

There's such a profound hypocrisy at work there, the public profile and the gay sister hidden for years, that the pond still can't imagine how the contradictions inside the head played out.

The Fairfaxians also have that flurry of homophobia covered in Play School's lesbian tale sparks outrage. Dear sweet long absent lord, to think Daryl Williams once existed, and was in a position of power.

But back to the phobia of the day, and the reptile stenographer was on the case early ...

It is of course the right of anyone to howl at anyone else, especially if the first aforementioned howler has seen fit to howl at others, and the stenographer rushes to defend the howler's right to howl.

But let that pass. What's interesting in this exposition of the alleged clear link between immigration and terrorism is the way it's all seen as a one way street.

No mention of course that France can thank itself for having expended considerable energy maintaining colonial outposts in north Africa ...

A very active two way street ...

But enough nostalgia for the moment, time to return to the chief stenographer's apologetics ...

Remember too she's a new mum? At this point the pond should confess, with perhaps a sense of shame, that the desire to ram cars carrying a "baby on board" sign is sometimes almost overwhelming.

And then there was all the rest of it, which unfortunately forced the pond to pay a hefty amount into the Godwin's Law swear jar.

Paraphrased, the right to spout ignorance and prejudice is a right to be defended, without regard to the ignorance and prejudice and without the howler copping any howls back.

Paraphrased, it would seem that this smothering of free speech that is behind the support for Herr Hitler .. 

Yet many people support Herr Hitler's right to express a view, even if they do not agree. They feel Herr Hitler is a breath of fresh air in an environment that is so politically correct, it's stifling.

Now as it turns out, no one is smothering the Bolter, the Kruger, the stenographer, the Hansonites, Herr Hitler or any of the rabid ratbag right wing commentariat that litters News Corp, radio and now television,  or their right to be outrageous.

But why should the fetid breath of hot prejudice be dressed up as fresh air? Why isn't it that the bigotry that is stifling?

And so to Caroline Overington today, who offered up the pond that Abbott gobbet ...

Ah, the old "as a mother" defence gets another outing ... 

Along with that peculiar notion about Twitter tending to lean left. Where did that come from?

Ah, it came from the steaming pile of woeful paranoid reptile fear and loathing about being an irrelevant bunch of angry tossers pitching to an old fart demographic.

Left wing bias? It's Twitter!! It's driven by opinion! Is there a rocket scientist in the house?

But please, do go on, now that the pond understands that being a bigot doesn't mean someone should be called a bigot ... because, you know, mother ... motherhood ...

Ah, the old belief in freedom of speech. Which is why the Nine network routinely has so many Muslim commentators freely speaking their minds as hosts of the morning show, drumming up teh hate against News Corp and angry white folk,  as opposed to blonde mothers, hallowed be thy freedom speaking mind, being allowed to share their prejudices, though strangely and suddenly, it seems social media was then littered with a wave of support for Kruger ... not to mention that great Amnesty man Philip Ruddock helping out ...

There's a lot more, including Q and A, a show the pond refuses to watch, and its efforts to produce heat rather than light ... but we did catch this contribution in an ad break for The Bourne Supremacy ...

Infested? There's an infestation? 

The pond usually talks that way about the Sydney cockroaches that infest the kitchen.

Or the reptiles and the reptile mindset that infests News Corp. Strictly in a light hearted post-ironic way of course.

How did that "infests" get through? What an appalling, offensive show it is ...

Well with the heat far outstripping the light, and with due credit to News Corp and the Bolter and the homophobic Tony Abbott for feeding the Hansonite in us all, the pond thinks it might soon be time for a holiday ...