In which the pond seeks a little institutional relief, before the bromancer beams out a tiny glimmer of hope ...

 

 

The pond looked around at the top of the reptile digital page this day, and averted eyes ...

 

Then the pond went looking below the fold, and still kept the eyes averted ...

 

 

Neville Bonner, ancient Troy?  We have to go that far back to discover a milestone? But what about right now, right here and now? What deeds and accomplishments might you offer that would distract the pond from the misery of failure?

 

Uh huh, well no need to waste time with ancient Troy wandering down ancient history lane. 

Instead the pond plucked out of the ruck at the top of the page's litany of despair and failure a strange story about a Liberal think tank, knowing that the coupling of 'Liberal' and 'think' always posed a risk of irony ...

 

 

 

 

Now to be honest, the pond had never heard of the Blueprint Institute, but wondered why it was alleged to be in turmoil ... and frankly the pond needed a distraction where the disarray didn't involve falling from an aeroplane ...

Dear sweet long absent lord, the wets splashing about and making a mess. But what exactly would undermine the integrity of Blueprint's research and make positions untenable and so on and so forth ...

Malware! And the tacticians displaying all the subtlety and nuance of an inner west Labor party heavy armed with a baseball bat!

Naturally the reptiles had to offer some immediate relief, so they slipped in a click bait commercial suggesting Scotty from marketing would romp it in, and the next election would be a clap happy rapture ...

The pond was mightily reassured, but was still completely clueless as to the real cause of the problem, but then it became clear. Climate science!

 

Indeed, indeed, top quality garden fresh research, provided it has nothing to do with climate science or that deviant Malware ...

Mention the war if you must, but please, don't mention climate science ...

It was the lift to the spirits that the pond had sorely needed and so it could turn to the bromancer with some equanimity, even a tiny glimmer of hope ...

 

The jury is still out? So all those deluded people clustered at the airport trying to escape from Taliban hell don't have a clue? The Taliban might well have changed its fundamentalist spots?

Uh huh, it was going to be another weird trip with the bromancer ...

There is a tiny glimmer of hope? There you go women of Afghanistan, feel the warmth radiating from the bromancer's tiny glimmer of hope ...

Why, the Taliban has surely become more sophisticated in its understanding of Islamic fundamentalism, so what better way to put a gloss on a humiliating defeat than go searching for a tiny glimmer of hope?

Ah, there we go, the tiny glimmers of hope carry on regardless. 

What a pity they didn't glimmer for long, just enough time to ignore a monumental fuck-up, one that preceded the orange one, but which was loaded on to an express train by him, with jolly Joe standing by to take the train over the cliff, as enthusiastic train lovers are wont to do ...

While coulda woulda shoulda's rent the air, the pond kept on with the tiny glimmer of hope ... because, you know, a barking mad fundamentalist Catholic should surely be able to see the good side of barking mad fundamentalist Islamics ...

Why did the pond think, even for a nanosecond, that the bromancer could change?

Right there in that gobbet is mindless turmoil and confusion ... changed, but billy goat butt, not changed, and a futile threat to make life very difficult, which reminded the pond of the results with Iran, or perhaps the reptile war on China, or perhaps Monty Python's black knight ... but at least there are porn snaps of suffering people, caught up with excitement at the bromancer's glimmer of hope ...

 

A glimmer of hope? That began to sound like a gigantic mess, compounded by a massive fuck-up. Could we have another porn snap of people wildly excited by the bromancer's glimmer of hope?

So there's your glimmer of hope ... in a pitiful place ... and just to make the picture complete the reptiles ended with a click bait video showing the tiny glimmer of hope now in situ  ...

Indeed, indeed, reasons to be cheerful part three ...

And just because the pond couldn't stop kicking itself, it turned to a reptile rarely seen on these pages ...

 

 

 

 Ah, sounds like there's not going to be much by way of a tiny glimmer of hope here ...

 

Best of intentions, backed by a noble cause? So what was the bromancer rabbiting on about yesterday ...

 

Never mind, it turns out the most galling aspect is that the noble cause was to stay stuck up the bum of the US alliance at all costs ...

So all that the pond now asks is that we don't see snaps of Australian politicians in shaking paws mode ... that never ends well ...

Coulda woulda shoulda, but dammit reptiles, what did the pond just say about showing Australian politicians? Little "war in Iraq a strategic triumph" Johnny?

Still it could have been worse, it could have been the onion muncher mindlessly blazing away like the dill he was, and the dill he remains ...

Oh sheesh, reptiles, not a tour down memory lane, not the onion muncher's greatest hits ...

Oh enough of dills... time to break for an infallible Pope ...

Sorry, how was the pond to know there'd be a dill on the infallible Pope's tilted lap top?

Still, it's a glimmer of hope, it evokes how it's all been done with splendid style ...and how we've done a terrific job taking care of those who helped in country ...

At this point the reptiles decided they'd insert a couple of snaps of US presidents ...

 

But we are celebrating Australia's role in producing a tiny glimmer of hope ... so perhaps a First Dog might have been more useful while wandering down memory lane ...

 

And with that it's time for a final gobbet ...

 

Say what? A foreign policy failure? Vietnam a failure?

It hurts the pond to say it, but Cameron will have to attend the Polonial school of historical corrections, because Polonius has always celebrated Vietnam as a triumph, a success, a way of stopping those pesky difficult dominoes from falling ...

 

 

 

Yes, Cameron, a little re-writing will be in order town the track. Certainly the war in Afghanistan was lost by the Afghan government - noting to do with anybody else - but the world will now be in a much better, a most excellent position, to take on Islamic fundamentalist terrorism ... and if you believe that, you might some day get a job at the Sydney Institute.

Luckily, others will have learned equally important lessons, as celebrated by Rowe this day, with more instructional Rowe here...