Foggy Friday Raffle Evening

Fiona Uncategorized

(Image Credit: Nicole Garmston; News Ltd)

We’ve been having strange weather this week, with heavy fog more like autumn than early spring. Most days the fog has cleared by late morning … but not today … and who did the week’s laundry this morning?

The fog seems to pervading the political scene as well – especially the brains of our Coalition Lords and Masters. Tony Burke’s weekly email is worth a rerun to highlight their sorry condition:

There wouldn’t be many occasions in living memory when a Prime Minister was asked to defend his Treasurer in Question Time and sat silent. That said it all about this Prime Minister who doesn’t want to be near his Treasurer or his Budget. That stood apart from everything else this week.

BEST:
1. Often in Question Time we talk about how many people are affected by Government policies. On Wednesday Bill Shorten made it about one person, Jacob Floyd. Jacob, who Bill met the day before, is from Bendigo and will be affected by the privatisation of Australian Hearing.
2. Check out this speech from Bill. My favourite part is at 3:18 seconds when Bill talks about the antics of the Government over the five week sitting break.
3. Just before Question Time on Tuesday there was speech after speech from the Labor Caucus hammering the Government’s unfair Budget.
4. Combine the core Labor value of universal healthcare with one of our strongest advocates and you get this speech from Shadow Health Minister Catherine King.
5. Penny Wong is on Facebook. I know this email is meant to be about Parliament, but Penny Wong is finally on Facebook!

WORST:
1. Joe Hockey arguing with Joe Hockey on Tuesday.
2. Joe Hockey still arguing with Joe Hockey on Wednesday.
3. Joe Hockey was beaten in an argument against Joe Hockey on Thursday. Why can’t Joe Hockey just get along with Joe Hockey?
4. Poor Warren Truss. The Leader of the National Party claimed on Wednesday Labor was holding up funding for local roads. The problem was, Albo had brought on the debate for the funding the day before, only to find the Government voted to oppose their own measure. I’d like to say someone should have told Warren, but he was in the Chamber voting against it himself.
5. On Wednesday Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull released a report on the NBN (written by his former staff). It proved that a slower, less effective NBN will cost less. Thanks Sherlock.

Mind you, I suspect Blood Oaf would have been pleased if his apparently uncontrollable … urges … had been decently shrouded by fog:

(Image Credit: Andrew Meares)

Ho hum – another week, another Liberal bites the dust at New South Wales’s ICAC; Kathy Jackson seems to be looking into that abyss called The End of the Age of Entitlement; JoHo is now officially embattled.

But we wise people at The Pub will gather around the

(Image Credit: Tripadvisor)

with our

(Image Credit: Sip Advisor)

of choice, remembering to order our

(Image Credit: Melbourne Community Toy Library)

from the amazing CK Watt and to start up the

(Image Credit: Penny Japan)

In honour of the weather, I present this for your delectation:

329 thoughts on “Foggy Friday Raffle Evening”

  3. Just goes to show what a farce our “democracy ” has become…Abbott can insult and scorn our nieghbouring countries, the indigenous peoples, more than half the voting public, the living, the dead, the yet to be born and the aged citizens…he insults the judiciary, the bureaucracy, theocracy, academia and the intellect of everyday citizens…he goes over the head of the Queen in knighting HIS choices and undermines her authority by scorning her admonishments…there is now nothing left to denigrate, decimate, prevaricate save freedom and God himself…and just by existing, THAT insult has to be a given!

    I suspect those countries looking on, that are not democracies, that WE are trying to convince to join the “club”, must view with abhorrent horror the piss-weak authority that permits such a ship of fools to steer this nation toward the rocks with such an apparent joy of abandon and without constitutional restraint !….Who, in the name of sanity would embrace such a system that leaves the entire nation at the mercy of such imbecility for more years than it takes to educate a fool to peel a banana !!?

  6. jaycee,

    I knew that you would come up with a good one, but that one exceeded my expectations by a long way!

    LOL……….. 👿

  12. The Popes number plate – SCV 1.

    = Status Civitatis Vaticanae 1 = State of the Vatican City 1.

    Just like C . 1.

  16. Ctar1

    Razz says she’s never heard that song sung so well. We are both in stitches. (She’s trying to get dressed to go to another Pub for lunch).

  19. Not that tired old Bridget Abbott/BMW thing. AGAIN! Look, sorry, but it was wrong when the story started months and months ago and it is still wrong.

    Ages ago – May 2012, to be precise, Ms Abbott was given a job as a Sydney Racing Carnival ambassador. Whether or not she was paid for a few days’ work parading around Randwick in pretty clothes and posing for photos with horses has never been revealed. As it was sort of a modelling job she was more than likely paid the going rate. Paid by the AJC.

    Her job was to promote the carnival.
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/turf-thoroughbreds/tony-abbotts-daughter-bridget-the-face-of-sydneys-autumn-racing-carnival/story-fnajufri-1226299360866

    The carnival was sponsored by BMW but Ms Abbott’s job was given to her by the AJC, after consultation with Peta Credlin, who has links to the racing industry through a former job.

    There was never any ‘job’ with BMW, despite the tired old rubbish that keeps getting dragged up on Twitter by the same people who, really, need to find something new to post about.

    Whenever Abbott’s new cars are mentioned this rubbish is dragged up yet again.

    Remember one thing – the Gillard government was planning to order new cars for the PM, tenders had been called and yes, they were to be bomb-proof and gas-proof. Abbott decided to go with BMWs despite that company not having been part of the original tender process.

    It all fits with Abbott’s ‘I’m so much better than you poor colonial upstarts’ mindset – go for European cars rather than the locally produced, modified Holdens that were originally to be bought. I really don’t think Bridget spending a few days at the races had anything to do with it.

  21. So far this morning I have tracked down the following reports in the MSM

    The Guardian
    News.com.au, which look remarkably the same …

    So far I’ve only tracked down one media article for our local newspapers that referenced the March yesterday, and that was written earlier in the week.
    I didn’t spot anything on the TV news programs last night, whilest inflicting myself with large quantities of ‘sport’ masquerading as ‘news’

    I suspect that the Perth march was overwhelmed by the Dockers game yesterday (that and the MSM’s requirement to be notified of interesting things going on *snarks*) but that the eastern states marches may get a little more coverage having been alerted by yesterday’s efforts elsewhere in the country.

  22. The big marches are on today. Mybe the MSM will mention one of them around the 25 minute mark on tonight’s news.

    Remember when a few dozen grey nomads portesting outside parliament house was headline news everywhere? Sigh…..

  26. Embattled miner Nathan Tinkler’s horses and properties up for sale as Gerry Harvey tries to recoup more than $40m in loans
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/embattled-miner-nathan-tinklers-horses-and-properties-up-for-sale-as-gerry-harvey-tries-to-recoup-more-than-40m-in-loans/story-fni0cx4q-1227042499842

    Note the word ‘miner’, a bit different to the usual ‘property developer’ tag. The Smelly trying to help Tinkler with his ICAC troubles?

    Tinkler is dealing with other troubles too.
    http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/private-sydney/private-sydney-daddy-days-again-for-nathan-tinkler-20140829-109cao.html

    What on earth would a woman see in this bloke? They have to be with him for the money, and when that money runs out……..

  27. Mari

    That being a little elusive is ‘elusive’: we should ditch and dive not very well.

  28. yes curios local channel 9 did maybe 20 seconds march on central coast then 3 stories later was on old soldiers on horseback commemorating something riding down the main street and then back in some park where kiddies could jump into army tanks and pretend to fire them, get that feeling of war.I don’t get it

  29. I could not believe my eyes. My son (40yrold) jumped off the roof.

    Yesterday he replaced a cracked roof tile for me. While I was fussing around finding a ladder he had already climbed up onto the roof and replaced the tile. He decided not to wait for the ladder. There is this old car of his that us going to the wreckers parked a couple of metres from the house, Next thing I see is Son landing feet first and going over in a yelling heap,

    His calculations on launching himself from the roof and landing on the car roof went astray because he did not take into account 1) the 15kgs he has added to his waist line, and 2) he is no longer a 10 year old training in gymnastics,.

    I took him to the doctors surgery, The medico said take panadende/codeine and see him next day for x-rays, so we went to my Mum’s and ordered pizza for dinner. After dinner, I was driving Son home and he was in so much pain I took him to A&E. X-rays revealed no breaks, but a terrible sprain. Son ended up with a foot in plaster, doped up to the eyeballs in pain-relief and with his Mum laughing as she described how Son had forgotten to flap his arms.

    So I was not here last night.

  35. Fiona , one of those doctors popped up yesterday.

    Lady al-Qa’ida: On the trail of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, the world’s most wanted prisoner

    Why would Isis offer to give up its captives in return for the release of a Pakistani serving an 86-year sentence in a Texas penitentiary? Andrew Buncombe goes on the trail of the mysterious Dr Aafia Siddiqui

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/lady-alqaida-on-the-trail-of-the-worlds-most-wanted-prisoner-9700466.html

  36. I trust we all realise where this “leadership” has taken us as a nation?….if you think about it, this govt’ (as accepted) is by far the worst govt’ this nation has ever had. So where do we go from here?…I mean, do we accept this as the low-bar of politics and refuse to go lower with any next govt’, or do we now turn a blind eye to a lower-level beast than this PM. and Cabinet?….Because, by any past measure, we have now got an absolute oaf of a PM., leading the most obtuse and oafish ministry in our history..as a matter of fact, this govt’ is sooo bad, that if I was the regal head of state, I would instruct the Governor General to bring in the troops and one by one give the “Bum’s- rush” to each one in turn….the disgrace of them ruling in my name would be that bad !

    So either the next govt’ (pray it is Labor!) must pass legislation to insure that we never have another govt’ this awful, by constructing some constitutional legal framework that allows the democratic eviction before an election or we have the possibility of descending even lower, if that could be imagined, in status and competence than where we are now!

    Because what we are in possession of, in regards to the parliamentary leadership of the LNP. , is a concubine of ministers that if you were to line them in single file, their collected personalities wouldn’t even get you a “charity shag” from one ; K. Jackson and their collective intellect wouldn’t be equal to enough points on a fly-buy scheme with Uganda Air to get you from Kinshasa to Kampala………ONE WAY!!!

    Something must be done!

  37. Labor backs aid, weapons delivery, Greens call for debate

    Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor supported the Government’s decision to contribute to “a remarkable act of international cooperation” to assist communities in Iraq with humanitarian relief and weaponry.

    “What we see today is the air forces of several countries resupplying with light weapons Kurdish Peshmerga troops who are the front line against the Islamic State incursions in northern Iraq,” he said.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-31/australian-planes-drop-humanitarian-aid-into-iraq/5708636

  39. Jaycee,
    The first thing to be done is to remove the power from the media and to clean out our National Broadcaster of the Murdoch scum that have infiltrated it.

  43. Agree, Janice…the only thing keeping Abbott in power is a compliant MSM. the number and scope of the gaffes and insults and general fumbling and bumbling would one time be enough to get such a party creamed!…The shameful cowardice of the MSM. journalists, in clinging to their pay-packets over their “duty to report” demonstrates the loss to our psyche of that strength of character so familiar from the works of Banjo Patterson like ; ” The Man From Snowy River”, Henry Lawson’s working folk ; “Water Them Geraniums” and C.J.Dennis; “Ginger Mick”….and others we know from our own experiences…, honest people from all walks of life who wouldn’t stand for the nonsense these journalists go down on their bended knees for!….trash!…absolute trash!..We have waited long for some sort of acknowledgement of decency from the MSM. but it is not forthcoming…I think we have to dismiss them all as being tarred with the same brush.

  45. The Kurdish Workers Party aka PKK is listed by ‘Straya’ as a terrorist organisation. PKK are fighting Isis alongside the Peshmerga in northern Iraq , saved some Peshmerga arse I might add.. Will a journo ask how we can ensure the PKK does not get their hands on the kit we are delivering and/or is Abbott relaxed and comfortable about “terrorists” getting their hands on our kit ? Will Turkey be “relaxed and comfortable” about it ?

  46. I’m not really happy with the way Shorten is handling the “terrorist threat” wedge.

    To begin with, I don’t believe there is any threat worth being overly concerned with.

    It’s a phony threat designed to put the population in a state of mild anxiety, and it acts as a flag-waving dog-whistle. In short, it’s a con.

    Menzies kept the liberals in power for twenty years with a similar con. Reds under the bed.

    Shorten obviously thinks that by going along with the bullshit he “neutralises” it as a vote-switcher.

    Wrong. His supportive language has boosted Abbott’s leadership creds. The polls are closing up and it’s no wonder.

    I voted for Shorten in the leadership ballot. Now I’m regretting it.

    With the liberals in dire trouble over their mismanagement of everything, we need some brimstone and fire. Instead we’re getting pipsqueak comments starting with “hmm .. “

  47. God the Grief !! Abbott will be delivering Russian type weapons to the Peshmerga and so very likely the PKK “terrorists”

    Australian troops to deliver arms in person in Iraq

    He said the arms, which would supplied by “eastern bloc” countries, included rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and various calibres of ammunition

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australian-troops-to-deliver-arms-in-person-in-iraq-20140831-10amxx.html#ixzz3Bx1Glt7S

  50. Dedalus,
    Can’t agree with you re Shorten. You want ‘fire and brimstone’ from Shorten which will do nought for anyone. The media would simply nitpick through the words so that what Shorten says and what they ‘report’ would be very different. Both the abbott camp and the media are, I suspect, a bit frustrated that Shorten is not presenting a target they can use to take the focus off the govt ‘s incompetence and their lousy budget.

    I take the view that Labor are currently in the position where they must not waste their bullets, pick their fights carefully and hold their fire until they see the whites of their eyes. Labor are fighting on more than one front, i.e the coalition, the media, the IPA and the big mining companies etc.

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