Just take a squiz at all this in the lizard Oz today ...
Dear sweet long absent lord, what a gaggle of contending voices and mounting hysteria …
Should the pond keep a war diary… or should it just trudge off silently into the night?
Look at the reptiles this day … they're like a bunch of supermarket trolley freaks trundling up and down the aisle in search of something to ravage. How is it possible to find any of it amusing? How is it possible to find basic supplies, while politicians - clearly not in the habit of doing the shopping - still assure everyone the shelves are stocked with all they need?
And to cap it off, there's nattering "Ned" at the top of the digital edition talking of a "strong PM", when just last week this very same loon was talking about going to the footy, until someone with a bit more sense persuaded him that it might not be the best look …
Truth to tell, the fun has gone out of the game …
Colbert without an audience is a dismal sight - how he fed off their energy - and poor old Micallef struggled on personfully last night, but maybe he should have kept the canned laughter machine handy, because comedy thrives on the shared laughter of a live audience … It wasn't his fault, there were the usual handy number of gags, but in the absence of a response, it just had to be flat ...
But there's something to be said for observing the reptiles being unable to cope, and noting the reptiles who, in any given dire situation, will scribble something enormously stupid …
Yes, come on down bromancer, show us that Dame Slap isn't the only one not to have a clue …
Join forces across borders? Co-operate to battle the hidden enemy?
Nope, just plain old-fashioned tooth and claw white nationalism, with a dash of Darwinian survival of the fittest and to hell with everyone else … or at least that's what the pond took as the takeaway ...
Say what? Strange, the pond had mistakenly thought that national wealth had been front and centre of reptile thinking for some time. How else to explain their devotion to dinkum clean pure sweet coal, and their desire to do a viral attack on the planet's immune system?
But then this was just one of the pond's failures to understand the world, as seen through the very unique* eyes of the bromancer … (* ABC 24 patent applied for) … and so to the white nationalism (thinly disguised) and that love of coal, Gina, and reptile gas ...
Well that didn't last long did it? All the Donald's talk of destroying Washington, and tearing down the system, and Steve Bannon and all the rest of the small government mob …
Suddenly in the reptile pages we're hearing talk of nationalisation along with the nationalism ….
Of course the lesson the nation took from World War II was that the last person they needed leading the country in time of peril was Ming the Merciless … and yet somehow out of the rubble the bromancer manages to drag the Donald ("despite his many flaws" - an aside worthy of a Donald tweet, as read by Colbert in the good old days) …as well as all the rest of the no-hopers, ne'er do wells, and outright Hindu fascist loons of the Modi kind ...
That last par would have fitted, without much adjustment, into a passage in Mein Kampf … and yes, the pond will break Godwin's Law and toss a gold coin into the swear jar, just for the pleasure of the contradiction between China making the bulk of medicines the US consumes, and the bizarre notion that only nations count, somehow juxtaposed with the notion that we can now continue to fuck over the planet, because, you know, climate science suddenly doesn't matter, and yes globalisation is dudded and dead, except hang on, we really need those medicines, except perhaps we could start making them in that small arms factory in Lithgow like we did when we lived on crispy bacon …
It's weird shit, no doubt about it, these end times and the reptile response to them, and the pond imagines this is what happens when a deluded soul cries out in torture to his or her imaginary friend, and only hears an echo of their voice …
Update: speaking of weird shit, after scribbling all this, the pond went off to eat breakfast and read a piece in the NYRB and immediately came across this line by Blanchot in 1991: "There is no such thing as good nationalism. Nationalism tends always to integrate everything, all values, that is how it ends up being integral, i.e., the sole value." (and was Blanchot weird or what? Sorry, inside the paywall).
Update: speaking of weird shit, after scribbling all this, the pond went off to eat breakfast and read a piece in the NYRB and immediately came across this line by Blanchot in 1991: "There is no such thing as good nationalism. Nationalism tends always to integrate everything, all values, that is how it ends up being integral, i.e., the sole value." (and was Blanchot weird or what? Sorry, inside the paywall).
Fortunately the immortal Rowe was along to offer a timely correction, with more timely corrections here …
And so to the savvy Savva … because what's the alternative?
Yes, the pond will take the savvy Savva any day over simple Simon talking about Scotty from marketing leading by example, the example apparently being off to the footy last week, and suddenly realising that maybe all this supermarket looting actually meant something (though at least Hillsong will now have to call a halt to their giant sized clap happy fests, and SloMo won't have to lie about getting his good buddy Brian into the White House...)
And it turns out that there's another reason for offering the savvy Savva as some padding, apart from the sceptical tone she adopts towards SloMo …
As a dedicated exponent of social isolation, the pond doesn't need to make an adjustment … though the pond is also in the demographic where if the damn thing gets a hold, this war time diary will suddenly cease to exist …
But at least the savvy Savva seems to have done what few politicians did … actually walk into a supermarket, and discover that it had been overrun more thoroughly than what a plague of grasshoppers might manage to do to a Queensland station ...
Well yes, the zombie apocalypse is here, and few did the prepper thing and have a bug out to go to, and so must shelter in place, but at least the infallible Pope has returned …
He has been busy doing posters for charity work, because there are still plenty of people recovering from the bushfires, almost forgotten in the tooth and claw panic of the bromancer survival of the fittest types …and he shows it's possible to hold at least two thoughts in the old noggin, and perhaps even join them together for a little comedy …
And that's as good a reason as any for running the savvy Savva, as filler for the infallible Pope ...
Well we all know where the Donald and SloMo and the reptiles get their ideas from, and so as prep for the next infallible papal missive, it might be worth while just nudging stray readers towards some of the fun and follies to be seen this week …
Is it possible that the Parrot and News Corp and in particular Fox News do even more damage to the social fabric on a daily basis than the virus? First the lies, and then the simple Simon hero worship, or the bromancer blasting off into the ether of his mind?
Who knows, but the infallible Pope offered a capper that wraps the pond's war diary up for the day …
Bear with me friends as I test the system. Goggle has changed the rating of this site to 'not secure' and it - or some secret security agency - was not allowing me to comment. So - see if there is a 'work around'.
ReplyDeleteOther anonymous.
- and there is.
ReplyDeleteOther Anonymous
Pray tell what was your solution OtherAn? Mine is to use Firefox instead of Safari (which contains the words 'Not Secure' also). That makes me think the cause is your browser.
DeleteThe most frustrating thing is that, using Safari, there's no indication my comment won't publish, it just evaporates when I try.
DeleteIt has made me much, much less likely to contribute. Which is bad - for me.
Correct Mercurial - Firefox (on Mac 10.11.6 currently) presents none of those problems of access, or evaporation problems.
DeleteOther Anonymous
Bad for us too Merc, some of us enjoy your comments. Yours too OA. I was beginning to wonder if you had found fresh fields and pastures new.
DeleteIncidentally, sometimes my attempted comments just disappear when I try to post (why I draft them offline) but I find when that happens if I hover the cursor over the letter suymbol at the top of the comments section, the URL is given as "draft.www.blogger.com...". I wait, that goes away, and I can post again.
Thanks GB. Unfortunately I couldn't replicate the thing with the email link changing to 'draft' on Safari. So looks like I'm stuck with Firefox. It does have the added advantage however, of penetrating the reptiles' paywall. So I can drink directly from the Kool Aid fountain, at least on the OO website.
Delete“how else to explain their devotion to dinkum pure clean sweep coal, and their desire to do a viral attack on the planet’s immune system”.......Good one Dorothy! Fight or flight appears to have kicked in bigly at the herpetarium.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Bromancer, he truely is Capt. contradiction.
Life must indeed be getting pretty weird down in the bunker......dare I suggest an imminent sense of the demise of relevance. Of wars lost!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggls7w8FM3Q
P.S. Via the grapevine.i.e. Unconfirmed news on the supermarket bus steamrollers......a bus load of dunny roll marauders descended on Tongala early this morning. After a quick phone call from staff, about 15 burly dairy farmers descended on the scene within a few minutes and “politely” escorted said marauders back onto their bus. Cheers.
Interesting that a country town has an instant anti-marauders squad at hand to repel all greedy hoarders. Should be more of it. The supply lines to country towns are rarely as good as the capital cities. But then our Minister for Home Affairs has risen from his sick bed to claim that all gougers who try to sell their ill-gotten goods on e-bay and other platforms for exorbitant sums will be 'dealt with'. Perhaps for once he is doing something good not just being cruel, mean and dishonest.
DeleteThanks to Anony for posting a link to that Talking Heads video the other day. I had forgotten how great that whole concert was. Life In Wartime is a heavy song but it’s performed with such energy and passion you just have to join in and dance around the place trying to copy David Byrne’s incredible moves – (well some of them anyway).
DeleteLife In Endtime
Coronavirus - broke out in China
Took off and spread round the world
Filled up the graveyards - emptied the highways
It stops when nobody knows
Starting to panic - keep social distance
We’re getting used to it now
It’s in the White House - it’s in the ghetto
It’s over every town
This ain't no party - this ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing - or lovey dovey
We ain't got time for that now
Transmission’s deadly - to the receiver
Hope for a vaccine some day
Unseen and lethal – a micro killer
We can’t decide on its name
Meanwhile at Hillsong - the rapture’s comin’
Everyone is ready to roll
This is the end-time – the holy flight time
Heaven is snatching them home
What about Wuhan – and poor Italia
What about the U S of A
You oughta know not to - stand near your neighbour
It’s in their clothes and their hair
Can’t buy no groceries - or toilet paper
To last a couple of days
The curve is rising – it’s a tsunami
How much more can we take
Why stay in college - why go to high school
Gonna be different this time
Ain’t gettin’ better – there ain’t no trump card
We need someone with know-how
No planes in transit - the world in gridlock
No standing round in a crowd
Put up the borders – protect the homeland
No one gets in or gets out
This is the end of – globalization
It’s every dog for itself
Ten thousand dollars – per ventilator
They’re flying off of the shelves
It’s getting scary – apocalyptic
A world of unknown unknowns
With zombie looters – and redneck shooters
The demon seed has been sown
Starting to shiver - muscles are tender
Something is in my bloodstream
I feel exhausted – maybe I'm dying
Tell me it’s all a bad dream…
Brilliant Kez.... as always! Sings fabulously! Bravo.
DeleteI guess we all have ways of dealing with stress events. We have music and humour, writing, kindness, reading....it’s a long list that helps us get by. Scottyfrommarketing at this moment is indulging in gaslighting Australians as I type, whatever gets you by I guess. Cheers.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/18/join-our-happy-thread-things-that-bring-a-smile-in-these-hellish-times&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiqsdLq56XoAhUOxzgGHdE5DHYQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw3De-IkJK3nw_JkkhjrplhL
Truly so, OA, truly so.
DeleteIncidentally, couldn't get some of those burly farmers to visit selected parts of the Great Metropolis, could we ?
Makes you wonder GB.....where’s Border Force when you need them. Let’s face it there ain’t much happening at the airports. Then again, they do have a lot of stuff to iron and polish before they spring into action.
DeleteI just hope they have enough room on their belts for sanitizer! ......after they have made it. Have heard their has been a bit of a run on Metho too.:):) Cheers.
https://mol.im/a/8124251
I have happily used meths as a disinfectant and steriliser for years, and I can assure you that supermarkets of all persuasions have been emptied of meths for well over a week.
DeleteI used to go to our local supermarket for a bit less than an hour just once a week. Now, whenever I'm anywhere near a supermarket of any persuasion - Aldi, IGA, Woolworths or Coles - I go in to see if there's one single item that I want that is actually in the store. Today it was dishwashing scubbers (2 hard 2 soft) and Edgell tinned peas (2 medium-small cans).
I haven't seen any meths for quire a while.
But at least I have been able to get some muscatel, table sultana and table currant grapes at the Camberwell market (table currants are very rare these days and 'white muscatels' have entirely disappeared, as have Waltham Cross.
Muscatels? The pond yearns for the days when it's aged Aunt used to hand out muscatels and almonds in a box every Xmas … foolishly, the pond went looking online for something similar, and wasted an hour before realising yet again the past is a different country, and they did things differently there ...
DeleteOh yes; dried (dark) muscatels, dried sultanas and dried currants. I do prefer the undried table varieties (having once, and only once, worked on the Robinvale sultana harvest - ok, fresh sultanas straight off the vine).
DeleteBut I do remember such Xmas treats, DP, though the nearest I get these days is ground almonds added to my Carman's porridge.
Hard to disagree with Paul Arbair, https://paularbair.wordpress.com/2020/03/16/covid-19-a-few-thoughts-on-the-meaning-of-a-global-pandemic/
ReplyDelete"Beyond all this, however, it is getting more and more difficult not to see this incredible assault on human societies worldwide as a way for Mother Nature / “Gaia” / the Earth system, or whatever you want to call it, to fight its own worst pathogen, i.e. Homo Sapiens."
(using Mozilla Firefox on Linux Mint)
Then Gaia shouldn't have waited until we developed advanced science and communications and gotten to be so many that even wiping out half of homo sapiens would leave the planet vastly overpopulated by humans.
DeleteCourse she has tried before - black plagues and influenza plagues and so forth. All noticeably ineffectual.
But really, her war was lost when synapsids survived the great Permian-Triassic Dying and then resumed their position as the lead advanced life form after the major sauropods snuffed it back about 65 million years ago.
Sayeth the Bro: "But European nations cannot close their own borders ..."
ReplyDeleteThe reptiles are just lazily ignorant, they'll write any bunch of lies and untruths they feel like. Of course EU nations can close, and are closing, their borders. Mainly their land borders so far, but more will surely come.
A couple of examples:
Germany closing borders to EU travelers, minister says
https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-closing-borders-to-eu-travelers-minister-says/
Europe Barricades Borders to Slow Coronavirus
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/world/europe/EU-closes-borders-virus.html
(Spain has closed its borders to attempt to slow the coronavirus spread)
Does the Bromancer really, really fancy that large, middling-powerful nations can't do what they need to do under strange and destructive circumstances ? Does he really think that Spain, Germany, even France maybe, are bonded slaves of the EU ?
But, butt DP: "But at least the savvy Savva seems to have done what few politicians did … actually walk into a supermarket,"
Well of course she has, the keyword there being 'she'.
So, according to Savvy: "Labor will have to forget about smart-alec attacks designed to embarrass Scott Morrison or his ministers. Morrison will have to abandon his default setting of blaming Labor for everything."
What, no more smart-alecing ScottyfromMarketing and he will have to stop blaming Labor ? But absolutely nothing could possibly be the fault of God's miracle worker, so who can SloMo blame ? Oh, oh yes of course, Greta Thunberg and the evil Greenies, that's who.
Savvy again: "When he hits the mark, Morrison is impressive"
Is he ? Has anybody noticed just how impressive a mark-hitting SloMo is ? Can't say I have, personally.
But oh dear, oh dear, Savvy: "Morrison was in grave danger of appearing not to understand the gravity of a situation he had spent hours and weeks discussing..."
Well, our very own Trump, then. A total failure of any understanding of what he's rabbiting on about. Why, that's the exact description of a salesman, isn't it ? The only part of Trump SloMo hasn't got is Fox Noise.
Arselicker Sheridan on the postwar building boom:
ReplyDelete“Menzies built them all…”
No he didn’t! The workers, namely my war service uncles and their immigrant labourer mates who toiled like navvies for shit pay while Ming swanned around and subjugated his lust for young Libby into poncey attempts at poetry.
Zinger right there! lol.
DeleteCheers.
And don't forget that a lot of what Menzies finished had been started by Curtin and Chifley - eg GM Holden, Snowy Mountain Scheme (and talk about exploiting workers, and especially immigrants).
DeleteAnd also remember the things Chifley tried to start - Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme - that Menzies and his running dog lackeys killed. But at least Menzies did open up the universities and got the Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme going for which I am grateful. And which earned him Santamaria's undying scorn.