In which the pond is in like Flynn, or Flint, or ...whatever ...

Yes, the pond has thousands of bad movies on the Shield, and it's a fair bet that none of them are worse than this outing, but "In Like Flint" is a way of heralding important news ...along with the gats, the girls and the grog ..

Waiter, a nice red for the gentleman reader, or perhaps a deliciously dry sherry served to the leather chair, because ...

Flint is back. 

Good old flinty Flint has returned ... 

Flinty is on the move ...indignant and aroused, the beast has stepped out of the cave, has floated to the surface, like the kraken, or ill-treated Sydney stormwater, and is ready to smite Comrade Bill ...(smoting is best left to Sundays).

The pond became aware of these glad tidings, thanks to a dire shortage of reptile fodder this Friday - well, it figures, because ever since General Kelly stopped the leaks, there's been nothing to talk about, especially nothing to do with Malware... until suddenly ... the pond was redeemed and saved ...

At first glance, the pond almost gave up ... 

There was Bettina being Bettina (oh you poor suffering hard-done by men, let her clutch you to her broad forgiving bosom), Michael Baume being Baumeish, the thinking man's McDonald burger doing Simone Young, but look, there at the bottom, "constitutional notes," by our man Flint ...

Naturally the pond was compelled ... and dusted off its old jokes ...

Good old Flinty, yaroop garooah, he'd give 'em what for ... oh they don't like it up 'em, not when Flinty is in like Flynn ...

Now all this is predictable enough, but the pond was waiting with bated (baited with Defender snail pellets if you will) breath for the coup de grace that Flinty always delivers when his back is to the wall ... the Crowned Republic ...

What to say, except ...

Good old Flinty.

Well with the Crowned Republic established and affirmed - please, no arguments, just enjoy the ripe absurdity of ...

... the rest was just a doddle, a walk in the park, a stroll down memory lane ...

What could possibly be said? Just get out the fireworks, let off the crackers and the rockets and never no mind if the stick should happen to fall in the mud, because ...

And now m'lud, if it please, point of order, the pond would like to explain why it ignored the reptiles this day ...

You see, m'lud they whipped out the second eleven at the top of the opinion page, Lord Gra Gra of the Gold Hooker Coast, and some nonentity from the ACU ...

Now there was something extremely sordid about that offering from Dillon ...

You see, the reptiles are still in deep grieving about the loss of Leak, and they haven't come to terms with it. 

Dillon, shamelessly, like a thief in the night, knows this, and pandered to the reptiles. 

It was roughly equivalent to a villain sneaking up on a mournful widow (or widower, as you will) still dressed in black, and speaking smooth, unctuous words about the lost loved one ... while using the chance to make off with the estate's valuables, or in this case, with valuable digital space, the internet already full to overflowing and bursting at its copper-clad NBN seams ...

Of course, confronted with a homage, and testimony to St Bill, what could the reptiles do, but run it, and rehash all the old usual ...

What, there weren't any blatant caricatures or stereotypes? No wonder it wasn't funny ...

Yes, we've been there before, so many times and in so many ways, and the pond has to hand it to Dillon - on a slow opinion day, the still grieving reptiles were suckers, an easy mark, hankering for the glory days and the controversies they provoked ...

... while the pond was bemused at the notion that Leak needed distinctly Aboriginal-looking people to be reminded of his bigotry and his racist inclinations, mingled with the odd burst of homophobia ...

Oh wait, Bill Leak explained can be found here, but we're meant to be talking about Leak's capacity to offend uppity blacks, and for that we should perhaps head off to the Pope here ...

Oh heck, why not show it big, so the T-shirt messages are a little clearer ...

And so to the rest of the Dillon, being remarkably fatuous, and silly, and well ... it grieves the pond to say it, but it must be said ...just plain dumb ...

In fact about the only reason that the pond ran that second gobbet was that it put a little space between the Pope cartoon and this day's offering from David Rowe, with more Rowe here ...

Sure, it's got nothing to do with what's passed before on this page, but with such a dreadful shortage of irony, the Rowe is a welcome relief to the regular NSW spin, wash and dry cycle ... just remember that after the drying, there's still the ironing out of the wrinkles to be done ...