In which the pond has a dull day with the usual Caterist and Dame Slap suspects, but at least we're all Keynesians now ...

 

 

The pond decided to give the Caterist pole position, prime posturer on the reptile perch, this day, for no particular reason, except he was there ... and he was celebrating the thoughts of Freedom House, that wonderfully ironically titled institution ... (see its wiki here)

 

Indeed, indeed, best to turn away from looking at the Donald, no need to ponder that particular navel ..

 

 

...so on we go ...

 

We are drawn reluctantly? But Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh would be welcomed with open arms by today's GOP and make admirable members ... anti-semitic, racist, isolationist, and no doubt loving the Donald posing on the balcony for his Mussolini moment ...

 

Let us hope? What a deluded wuss. Standing by for duty suh!

 

 

And if the pond found the standard Caterist delusions uninspiring this day, that goes double for Dame Slap ...

 

 

 

Before beginning the usual Dame Slap tirade about woke - what a tiresome word it is, what a tiresome mindless chant - though it was fun to watch the #Proud Boys war provoked by George Takei - it should be remembered that at one point in her life, Dame Slap was appointed to the board of the ABC, on the basis that she was a token far right conservative female who deserved a break ... and then served with a tokenistic lack of far right distinction thereafter ... before retiring to resume furious scribbling about the ABC and tokenism ...

 

Uh huh. Well if there's one thing that really gets the goat of the IPA and lickspittle servants of the Dame Slap kind, it's talk of gender equality and diversity ... after all, it's not supporting tobacco, is it, so where are the priorities?

 

Around this point the pond remembered again how Dame Slap willingly served as a board member on an organisation she had derided as a "Soviet-style workers collective" and then gave up the ghost when her term ended, and instead took an insider job vetting ABC board appointments.

“Once again this Government is attempting to wind back the clock to an era when government think it is acceptable to appoint your mates and cheerleaders to plum positions in the public sector. Appointing Janet Albrechtsen and Neil Brown as gatekeepers for board positions on the ABC and SBS is a prime example of this Government’s modus operandi,” said Michael Tull, President of the CPSU.
“The Nomination Panel was supposed to depoliticise the process of appointing board members to the ABC and SBS. Appointing a right-wing figure such as Janet Albrechtsen makes a mockery of that intention and points to what we have been saying all year — that this Government has its sights set on editorial control of the ABC.” (Mumbrella here)

Of course a complete lack of shame and a willingness to embrace hypocrisy and irony is an important part of the battle with the woke ...but thankfully this chapter is drawing to a close with a final short gobbet ...

So, are we condemned to IPA-style board selection by being in the know and in with mates, to dividing the spoils amongst pampered princesses of the far right, like some ancient monarchy? Who knows, and who cares, but that reference to monarchs provided a perfect segue into the next piece ...

The pond has absolutely no idea why this piece turned up in the lizard Oz, but the reptiles thought enough of it to give it an illustration by the cult master, and out of respect, the pond paid attention ...

 

All that talk of monarchs and privilege did bring to mind the Donald ...

 

But the pond was sure the reptiles intended no parallels ...

 

Indeed, indeed, but what is done is done, and that plague of English cockroaches has long since roamed the world, ruining many parts, but now retreated back into isolation to ruin itself ... so the pond is pleased the writer is none too upset by 1066 ... you know 1066 and all that ...

And so to that final gobbet ...

 

 

Indeed, indeed, and the pond was moved, but even more moved by the infallible Pope this day ...

Alas poor history scribbler, and at that point the pond would usually wrap it up, but realised with a shock that it had completely forgotten about the budget. Should it pay token attention with Killer Creighton?

No, no, the pond can't do the Killer, but what about nattering "Ned's" headline?

A huge bout of arse-licking, and what's more bonus full Keynesian on steroids!? That the pond should ever see the reptiles reduced to this shameful level of debt and deficit worship.

Even more peculiar was that the pond's browser presented "Ned" in small chunks of meaty goodness. By the time the pond cut out all the spaces it had assembled a veritable sultana and nut treat ... so why not just throw them all together?

 

It's truly weird to score "Ned" in chunky gobbets of goodness, celebrating debt and deficit and the whole damned thing, so why not just carry on?

 

Of course there's not a dime or a cent or even a penny or a ha'penny in the budget for the pond, but the pond isn't bitter, because the complete transformation of the reptile line into Keynesian love is more than enough recompense for the pond ... just the sheer pleasure of seeing it, of biting into it and savoring the taste and the rich flavour ... so on with the chunky slices of "Ned" cake ... (what's that, someone left a grim pip in the mix?)

 

 

 

Well that wasn't hard and before you know it, the end is nigh, we're on a reptile high, grim uncertainty waved away, and the pond left to forever treasure the reptile celebration of Keynesian economics ... (who could have imagined such a day would come?)

 

 

 

And so to the Rowe of the day, and after all that "Ned" hagiography, a few might still remember the talk of history this day, and that shot of the Donald standing by, ready to serve, without a mask, which makes the mask in this cartoon all the more delicious, with more delicious Rowe here ...