The pond is taking a break to celebrate the impending arrival of winter.
The pond also admits to being more than slightly jaded at the thought of reading the local reptiles in the chilly morn. It's so unfair, how can they possibly compete with their US counterparts? Take the Killer for example, and his well-known fear and loathing for masks. Not even the Killer could manage to compare wearing masks, in the MTG manner, with the Holocaust.
The pond has also been increasingly distracted by other events. Strolling past the Enmore theatre in Enmore road, for example, the pond saw this interesting spectacle ...
It reminded the pond of the day it saw a line-up of strollers and prams outside the theatre while inside The Wiggles did their thing ... the scent of saturated nappies hung heavy in the air ... though in this case the demographic was slightly different ...
Well done Spacey Jane, you've hit the core female teen demographic ...
As for the rest, it's just a FAQ day at the reptile factory ...
Another disheartening outing, another reason for the pond not to pay attention. There's the bouffant one talking up the state election, and there's Dame Slap doing her usual thing, showing how IPA chairmen are a tough bunch and don't mind a few deaths in the family, not if there's a Virgin flight to hand ...
The pond didn't have much choice ... so in it plunged ...
A year plus more than a little change and we need to be told the truth about a world pandemic?
Only in reptile la la land could that be considered as a headline, but the novelty of the proposition - that IPA chairman Dame Slap was a truth teller who could handle the truth, evoking memories of Jack - at least caught the eye ...
To tweak an old adage, we get the IPA-dominated reptile media we deserve. And how wondrous for Dame Slap to deplore the yelling, when it's the reptile business to do the yelling ... but the pond is really pleased that Dame Slap has stood up and is happy to die, all for the pleasure of flying on Virgin ... and so to the slagging off of SloMo, which has become a feature rather than a bug in recent Dame Slap outings ...
The pond isn't sure where Dame Slap's strident antipathy to SloMo has come from, but it's palpable and real ...
Where does all this leave the pond? Perhaps a little closer to joining Virgin, Killer and Dame Slap in a killer flight, or perhaps safely in the hands of a Rowe cartoon, with more safe hands here ...
What else? Well the bromancer was out and about in the reptile triptych ...
Forget Xian Porter, why not celebrate preparations for the next world war?
It won't take long...
Indeed, indeed, how comforting to think that Darwin will become a likely hotspot in the next eagerly anticipated world war ...
Oh yes, things are heating up nicely ... proceed with speed ...
And so on and on, as the drums of war keep copping a pounding, and so to a final duty before the pond's winter break ...
No, not the dreaded Sharri lathering up another dreaded conspiracy-laden reptile storm ... the pond will await the inevitable report about Sharri's latest on Media Watch, as when she had a chat with Steve Bannon - but rather a tour of duty with nattering "Ned" ...
It's always a tough, lengthy, endurance-laden assignment, and the pond will be pleased to avoid doing it for awhile ...
Ah yes, the handyman PM ... but the pond promises not to show those same paws clutching a lump of coal ... there's no need to lengthen this tour of duty unduly ...
Indeed, indeed. The Upper Hunter hasn't been won for the past ninety years by the Labor party, so we may certainly take it as a sign of voter realignment under way for many years.
In the pond's old stomping ground of the federal New England seat, Labor has only won the seat twice - in 1906 and 1910 - or so the wiki says here - which certainly suggests a sign of voter realignment under way for many years ... what with Barners now triumphant after his dual citizenship and marital woes hiccups ...
But why does "Ned" blather so? Well, he's obsessed with "progressives", as you might expect of an antiquated luddite scribbling for an organisation situated in Surry Hills, with young hipsters all around him ...
At its heart, reptilism thrives on anxiety, fear and loathing. Note well that talk of being a banner carrier for the tertiary-educated, because it will produce a splendid joke at the end of "Ned's" piece ...
Sorry, the pond felt the need for a coal joke before proceeding to the penultimate "Ned" gobbet ...
Thank the long absent lord that there's someone as bold and as brave as "Ned", willing to disappear up the arses of SloMo and Josh ... a place where even Dame Slap refuses to go ...
And so to the punchline ...
Yes, there she blows. After all that blather about working class values, and the need for hard honest toil, what do we get as values? Get an education and start a business. But if you get an education, won't you become one of those useless progressives, seeking a new moral order, weakening traditions, institutions and established cultural norms?
Don't try to resolve it, it's just the usual nattering "Ned" bullshit, purporting to provide analysis, but desperate to provide reasons for SloMo to get back in, so that we might all speak in tongues and wave hands in the air as we talk to our imaginary friend, and celebrate our values ... you know, Hillsong and all that, making a mint of money, and never mind a little child molestation along the way ...
Meanwhile, on another planet faraway ...
Don't worry SloMo. "Ned" and the other reptiles have got your back, and they like nothing better than blathering about progressives, because it sure as hell beats talking about the science of climate change, and paws holding up lump of coal in triumph, not to mention gas power station follies ...
And so to a final duty before the break ... a cartoon from the infallible Pope ...
'maybe we get the media we deserve' - this Dame just does not 'do' irony, does she?
ReplyDeleteIn the face of that, DP - time for a break. Relax, enjoy: will imagine you in front of the fire, perhaps with suitable liquid to hand, allowing the brain to reset. There are many books that promote such resetting so much better than that 'deserved' media.
She does a great job of 'attribution and projection', though.
DeleteBesides:
Slappy: "... a country where more people can face reality than be offended by it." I dunno, personally I face reality because I am offended by it. And here I am, facing it as and the Chinese military are likely to furnish it.
Have fun DP.
ReplyDeleteSeem to be saying this all the time lately but we don't get a lot of variety from the reptiles, it's just the same things with slightly different wording each day. The only amusement is in the irony of people that set out to spread disinformation complaining about --- disinformation. It's the bunch who reject any and all change who suggest they will 'adapt', who scream down anyone who disagrees with them complaining about 'cancel culture' and generally project all their own failings onto everybody else.
By the by, are we likely to see some opinion about the reliability of coal-fired power following the explosion at Callide and the other stations tripping as a consequence. Angus was proposing subsidies to keep these plants open for 'reliability'.
Why is it when Dame Slap talks about straight talking, all I seem to see is swash buckling?
ReplyDeleteThere's no-one I know that deserves a winter break more than your good self DP.
ReplyDeleteWell, perhaps the English language also deserves a break after being tortured by Nattering Ned day in, day out. Couldn't agree more Bef, it's the same columns adjusted ever so slightly month after month, year after year. Doggie Bov just switches "woke" in to replace "virtue signaller" from 2020's columns, which in its turn replaced "social justice warrior from 2019.
At least Dame Slap is providing a little winter sunshine by turning her cannon towards the hapless PM. 3rd time I've agreed with her this year - maybe I should take a break too?
Go well DP.
Dear old Neds: "Its [Labor's] primary vote is in structural decline, having fallen from 43.8% per cent in 2007, when Kevin Rudd won, to 34.73 per cent at its 2016 defeat and 33.69 per cent at the 2019 poll when Bill Shorten lost."
ReplyDeleteAnd fallen from 37.63 per cent in 2004 when Howard so convincingly defeated Latham that he took a Senate majority (and then proceeded to use it to so appeal to the Australian voters at Rudd's election that not only was the LNP et al summarily tossed out of office, but Howard was summarily tossed out of his own long held 'safe' seat. Never has Labor duplicated that electoral feat, not even close.
So how can this be ? Labor gets 37.63 per cent of the primary (aka "popular") vote in 2004 and is soundly defeated, then gets 43.38% in 2007 to roundly defeat Howard. It's a genuine puzzle, isn't it, that votes can change so quickly and significantly. Looking at 'LNP et al' primary votes:
2004 46.71 %
2007 42.09 %
2010 43.32 %
2013 45.55 %
2016 42.04 %
2019 41.44 %
Yes, more stable than Labor, but still up and down a fair bit. But what keeps the 'Liberal' vote so constant: the fixed loyalty of 'Country' (aka National) party voters no matter how much the 'Liberals' screw the rural electorates, and the total myths about how 'Liberals' are much better at money management no matter how much they screw the economy and that 'Liberals' are better at defence, regardless of the fact that the last time we had a major conflict, we had to chuck out 'Pig iron' Bob and replace him with Labor - the wartime duo of Curtin and Chifley.
As my respected colleague once asked very pointedly: have you ruled out stupidity ?
And enjoy your break, DP, though you know that we desperately miss you for every day of your absent recreation.
Have a good rest DP. You truly deserve it. We will have to find other entertaining diversions until your return, but as far as the interweb is concerned nothing comes close in my opinion. Your succinct comment on that photo of Scott the builder inspired this little observation.
ReplyDeleteOde to A (Not So) Handyman
It was in the town of Geebung on a promo whistlestop
That Scott was busy posing for another photo op
But instead of paying attention to his grip upon the handle
He was more concerned to get a flattering camera angle
So when he brought the hammer down the crowd were all struck dumb
The tool completely missed the nail and pulverised his thumb
Oh, if only ...
DeleteOh look, something for the Bromancer to show us when DP returns: what we're going to do about those wondrously amazing French submarines that quite a few of us will have "passed over" before any actually enter the Royal Australian Navy - if indeed any of them ever do.
ReplyDeleteAustralia considers German submarine option as tensions with French company grow
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-27/australia-considering-german-submarine-option/100168878
Is there maybe a German fighter plane we could buy instead of those pointless F35s ?
Enjoy your break. Did you see Lloydie has been outed in Pearls & Irritations? "Climate Change and The Australians’ Graham Lloyd."
ReplyDeleteThank you, a handy note, worth a link:
Deletehttps://johnmenadue.com/truths-half-truths-and-the-australians-graham-lloyd/
And worth a quote:
They produced arguments – we heard them all. The top ten went something like this:
Any warming is perfectly natural – it has happened before.
It’s caused by the sun .
Warming isn’t actually happening – it has stopped since 1998.
Warming isn’t happening – world and national meteorological bodies are manipulating the data.
It’s not a big deal – coral bleaching on the reef has been hugely exaggerated.
Severe weather events aren’t increasing – we have had big fires/floods before.
Climate models can’t be trusted.
Economic models can be trusted and they show huge costs – wind and solar power are unreliable and infrasound from wind farms causes severe health problems.
Antarctic ice coverage has increased offsetting any decline in Arctic ice.
Climate change is real – but it’s less important than poverty or nuclear risks, resources shouldn’t be diverted to dealing with it – only no regrets policies are worthwhile.
At various times over the last decade or more Graham Lloyd has highlighted each of these claims – moving on as facts contradict them...
To travel with Lloydie to the sun, follow the link.
Friday, and My Source tells me there was a Henry - supposedly on the lessons ‘we’ had not learned about the period after the Spanish ‘flu had done its thing, that century back.
ReplyDeleteThe Source admitted to difficulty in pinning down the lessons on which the Henry was effectively catechising his readers, but her communication was brief - suggesting I could pick up his text on ‘Catallaxy’.
Of recent time, the Henry has been so carried-away by the erudition, wit and rapier-like reasoning of his Friday columns, that he had been listing them on ‘Catallaxy’. Well, for a while he had been writing there that his distilled wisdom was available through a link, provided - to the Flagship, of course - but which went straight to a never-to-be-repeated invitation to take out a subscription to Limited News. This invited scorn from regulars at ‘Catallaxy’, accusing him of spruiking for his masters, and pointing out that they were not inclined to subscribe to anything as tame as the Flagship - when there were much weirder sites available, direct from the US of A, usually with words like ‘Patriot’ or ‘Liberty’ or even ‘Thinker’ embedded in the title.
Over recent weeks, the Henry has been transporting the entire weekly wording to ‘Catallaxy’. Today - no show. From what I see on that site, it is ‘libertarian’ to the extent that it does not have an editorial policy, so unlikely that the Henry’s text would be rejected - but it is not there, for whatever reason.
So I am unable to tell you if he did identify important lessons for nations recovering from that other ‘flu, but he did provide a column.
Apologies Chadders, the pond went MIA and forgot the two day rule, when it was vital for Henry devotees to learn that he could be found at Catallaxy, until his lizard Oz ramblings couldn't be ... for there are mysteries even deeper than transubstantiation ...
DeleteHi Dorothy,
ReplyDeleteWaiting with bated breath for Dame Slap (I oppose Lawfare and the rapacious Class Action Industry) to denounce Xian Porter for not ruling out that he might be quite comfortable with wealthy supporters paying for his defamation court case against the tax payer funded ABC.
DiddyWrote
Thank you Dorothy - when you take a break, take a break. Perhaps the Henry just does not like being mocked by the ferals on 'Catallaxy'. Understandable.
ReplyDelete