In which the reptiles speak the pond's mind ...

All things shall pass, as noted here, but not the pond's determination to see RN's ratings move from * to ** ...

Vale Paul Gough, and the pond is so out of there, it's hello world and a whole new set of logarithms ...

But wait, what lurks outside the bubble, and should the pond take precautions?

It's a long time since the pond has felt the need to publish this sort of advice, but look what the Oz editorialist scribbled this morning ...

The Australian - which is to say the lizard Oz, the reptiles of Murdoch - are speaking your mind, which is to say, also the pond's mind, and any other mind within cooee?

They know the pond's mind and dare to speak it, and so their editorial is devoted to Paul Gough?

Or they've taken over the pond's mind and are using their power of mind control to make the pond speak of other things?

Oh dear sweet long absent lord, and day one of the Donald, and already the reptiles are speaking the pond's mind and exercising their hideous undisguised powers of mind control ...

Well what other sense to make of The Australian is speaking your mind ...?

And what secret message are they speaking?

Nothing so Australian as saying what you think?

Nothing so Australian as saying that The Australian really is a drop kick loser rag ready to regurgitate the most simple-minded, meaningless slogans it can find, as it scours the rubbish bin of history and weak jokes?

Well the pond thinks it can say with some safety that the one thing that would be most likely to embarrass and humiliate the pond and get it agitated, is to be given an honour which is actually a thinly veiled ploy for the reptiles of Oz to drape their own flag of pathetic obsessions on ...

Oh spare the pond's days ... 18C is now wrapped up with Ming the Merciless attempting to ban the Commies and Chifley nationalising the banks? And yet not a mention of the reptiles' attempt to speak the minds of everyone?

How much righteous tomfoolery can the reptiles deliver, along with an enormous dollop of self-regard?

This is where ideological obsession leads ... to be up yourself so wholly and completely that you lose all sense of perspective and begin to lead the life of mushrooms, speaking to yourselves in darkened caves ... but there's a positive outcome ...

At least the reptiles avoided giving the gong to Gina Rinehart ...

Keep us free and strong?

There's nothing more larrikin Australian than to mock this sort of sanctimonious, righteous blather, of the kind where patriotism ends up as the first and last refuge of the scoundrel reptiles ...

Never mind, the pond now has all this splendid artwork which it may as well throw into the mix ...