“Steady, Eth ” . . .

Fiona Uncategorized

(Image Credit: BBC: Take It From Here – The Glums)

So many Captain’s Nose Picks bleeding – haemorrhaging even – in such a short time:

The Elder Bishop and her sudden relegation to cattle class

Marriage Equality over abbott’s decaying corpse (okay, that may alter come Wednesday – but I suspect too little too late)

Dyson Heydon and cognitive ease (failing to be cognizant of bias when it’s in your comfort zone)

A brand-new Speaker who wasn’t Captain Nose-Pick’s choice – much to Captain Nose-Pick’s wattle-wobbling fury

That brave whistle-blower, Kathy Jackson, and the missing $million plus (“Whaddaya mean, that $1.4mill was supposed to go to the *sharply indrawn breath* plebs?”)

The ABC will be Killing Bill next Monday (Typical lefty ABC – too little too late)

Not to mention ongoing security warnings about DEF KULTS in front of a gazillion or three Union Jacks Australian flags (Who the hell do these uppity colonials think they are, pretending to have their own flag?)

Oh, and who let the cat out of the bag about that thoroughly dee bloke Heydon being on the selection panel to choose the only possible candidate for the Rhodes Scholarship? Heads will roll.

* * * * * * *

Oops, someone seems to have gatecrashed the séance through the Ouija board’s back gate. Sorry about that . . .

I keep telling myself to calm down; it’s too early to order nonstop popcorn; almost anything could happen – but we might, just possibly might be on the cusp of viewing the Great Unhingement.

Or not.

Whateves.

Sit back, folks (fasten your seatbelts – it could well be rough) and enjoy.

(Though I still and really want him to stay until we hear those words that will be ripped from his guts – when he finally gives his post-election concession speech . . .)

462 thoughts on ““Steady, Eth ” . . .”

  1. I’m not an expert, but they all look like Spitfires to me (one clipped-wing low altitude variant, and one with the later, pointed rudder.) Hurricanes look more hunchbacked and have a longer rudder.

    “Spitfires and a Hurricane fly in formation to mark the Battle of Britain’s Hardest Day. ”

  2. Re Jason Clare and QT – I think this is more about where the ALP would like the narrative to be positioned. In a lot of policy areas the LNP have been useless and retrograde. People have that general impression about them already, and the polls reflect that. NBN is one of those areas. But the thing about QT is that you’re not going to get any wins on the floor. Hardly ever happens, because the one thing front bench MPs know inside out is how to turn a tricky question to their own advantage.

    Turnbull would welcome questions on the NBN. He’ll have a “Labor’s fault” rant all lined up. It wouldn’t make any sense and would likely cloud the issue further, but it would do the job of keeping him and his party from being damaged on the issue.

    But right now the ALP are scoring hit after hit on Heydon. Abbott’s deflection skills are improving, but the damage has already been done, and all the ALP need to do is keep him talking about it. He won’t lose face on the floor of Parliament, but out in the press Abbott is copping a royal hammering over it. That’s a rare and wonderful thing, and ought to exploited for all it’s worth. Last week Abbott went from daring the ALP to make a substantive allegation, to raving about unions as being Teh Evil, to accusing the ALP of trying to bring down an ‘honourable man’. From attack to retreat. So far this week, Abbott’s just erected a barricade around the idea of ‘due process’ and tried to hide behind it, sneaking out to take the occasional potshot here and there. The MSM have worked out that there’s a story in there somewhere, so it’s not going away, and won’t until Abbott does one of a small number of things that are all anathema to him. The most likely of which is replacing Heydon on TURC and trying to carry on with it. TURC is tainted now, it’s exposed for what it is, a political witch hunt. It can’t win votes for Abbott, so it’s just going to flap about in the breeze, costing us money.

    Mesma has been abysmal this week. Last week she attempted to rise above it all. In contrast to the hysteria around Heydon, and the limp attacks on the ALP in every other dixer, she gave what sounded like sober and considered reflections on IS in Syria, a pile of facts cobbled together to make a substantive case for intervention by our troops. It sounded like Foreign Affairs for once. That tactic must have been abandoned, because this week she’s joined in the base slurs against ALP MPs and gone all shrill and hysterical herself. it was so embarrassing that Tony Burke actually asked her another question straight after just so she could dig a deeper hole for herself. She’s a prize dill, is Mesma.

    The keynote for the LNP yesterday was Anger. Hockey bellowing, Abbott finger-pointing, Mesma schoolmarming, and Dutton and Andrews joined in as well. All theatre though, something to indicate to the backbenchers that they’d better step in line because otherwise they’re all gone next election.

    Last week was horrible for Abbott. This week, while less spectacular, is shaping up as worse. Having stepped into the quicksand around the time Bronnie got 94A’d from the Speaker’s chair, they’re just sinking slowly deeper. If you want to get out of quicksand, flailing your arms around isn’t the solution. It just makes you sink more quickly.

  4. The situation as I see it is this: in the Gillard government, accusations and ‘scandals’ were taking the attention of the electorate away from the large number of policy achievements. The ALP could still be proud of what they’d done, even if they were being undermined all the way. Under Abbott, accusations and scandals are taking the attention away from the accusations and ‘scandals’ they want to level against the ALP. Not only are they being beaten at the game they devised and wrote the rules for, but there’s nothing beyond that for them to console themselves for having achieved. They’re only good at one thing, base politics, and it turns out they’re not even as good as the ALP at that any more.

    So if this fails, there’s only the void for them.

    No wonder no-one’s putting their hand up to lead the party. It’d be like putting your hand up to captain the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

  6. No wonder no-one’s putting their hand up to lead the party. It’d be like putting your hand up to captain the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

    So true. I suppose they could ask Robb or Dutton or Andrews – people who would perhaps not mind putting their hand up, even if it’s just for a short time.

  8. jaeger
    They all look like Spitfires to me, too, they don’t have that Hurricane hump behind the cockpit and the wings look like Spitfire wings.

  10. Ms.bitchop lost it in QT yesterday. She has been winning applause from the media in recent times for her efforts to appear ‘statesmanlike’ as FA minister, so her appalling outburst in shrew-mode, shrieking and hurling personal insults at her opposite number must have had more than a few of her supporters reassessing their analysis of her character.

    Actually, it crossed my mind that the bitchop had swallowed a truth drug or something, when she let fly with loud hysterical burst of laughter at dutton’s joke. She showed herself up to be a nasty woman with a sharp tongue.

  11. Re the planes. I wonder if the original photo had both types in but the editor (or whoever does that sort of stuff) cropped them out for the publication.

  12. For those who live in Sydney:

    The Camden Branch of the ALP has recently revived the Politics in the Pub idea. Their next meeting might interest some.

    At the Crown Hotel, Camden, Sept 21 at 7.30pm, the topic up for discussion will be the future of the NBN. The guest speaker will be Jason Clare, shadow Minister for Communications.

    The idea of drinking guinness while discussing broadband matters with Jason Clare and others rather appeals to me.

    Might also be a chance to meet up with some of my fellow pubsters.

    Politics in the Pub! What a splendid idea. Just the ticket for us pubsters, what?

  13. Just like a comedian whose audience usually laughs, Julie believed she was so funny we would all laugh at her jokes, and at her abysmal screams.She’s seriously deluded. I believe the woman is extremely angry at the current situation.

  14. The thing about Bishop is, when she gets angry she tends to say some very inopportune things in a bid to convey her mood. She overstretches, thinking it lends force to her argument, when in fact it weakens it badly. It’s a political weakness she shares with people like Barnaby Joyce and, on occasion, Hockey. Rudd had that problem on occasion too.

    I don’t know what she’s angry about, but she’s trying to take it out on the ALP. Maybe she was just caught up in the general Abbott directive to ‘get angry’ that seems to have been given down yesterday. At any rate, she can’t do it convincingly.

  15. Speaking of Abbott and angry. Security footage from the PMO taken some time in the last couple of weeks.

  18. First there was the horse

    Now the cattle at the Yass stockyard Tones visited this morning expressing their opinion of the NE

  19. All this government leaking is made so much more fun because they just lapped it up when Labor rats leaked about leadershit. Now it’s their turn, and they do not like it, not one bit.

    Erica – so self-righteous, so pure, so high principled.
    Government colleagues who leak anonymously are ‘gutless’, Cabinet Minister Eric Abetz says

    Coalition frontbencher Eric Abetz has lashed out at Government colleagues who are leaking anonymously to journalists.

    “I think it’s gutless,” Senator Abetz told AM. “It’s a breach of the rules.”

    “If somebody is gutless and in breach of the rules one really wonders why a journalist even bothers to repeat comments from such an individual.

    “Every now and then you have these breakouts, which are unfortunate,” he added.

    “Those journalists that deal with those people should be asking the question – what motivates?”

    Senator Abetz said he spoke to his colleagues “face to face or not at all” and said he was “not one of those people who has unattributed comments in the media.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-19/government-leakers-gutless-says-eric-abetz/6707530

  20. gigilene

    It was Abbott’s history of kicking in glass panel doors and punching walls that made that one so apt.

  21. Dyson Heydon gets paid close to $1 million for Royal Commission work

    EMBATTLED Trade Union Royal Commissioner Justice Dyson Heydon will be forced to give up an annual salary of close to $1 million if he steps down from his position amid continued controversy.

    The Commissioner has been under increasing pressure since it was revealed last week that he had agreed to be the keynote speaker at a Liberal Party event that raised money for the NSW branch of the party.

    According to cabinet submissions seen by News Corp Australia it can be revealed Justice Heydon, a former High Court judge, is being paid a daily rate in excess of $3000.

    The rate represents annual costs to the Commonwealth upwards of $780,000 and is the ballpark figure cabinet considered when deciding costs for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sex Abuse

    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/dyson-heydon-gets-paid-close-to-1-million-for-royal-commission-work/story-fntzoymk-1227489487600

  24. Can’t believe it!…all though, I bet Jancie could…My old Telstra modem (Gateway 7.2) gave up the ghost and I got in touch with Telstra (our provider) and the bloke there in Manilla ; “Alfredo” (now..I ask you; Alfredo , FFS!) told me I would have to speak to sales and order a new modem…he then put my call through to a lady named ..wait for it!…”Barbi”…
    “Barbi ? ” I asked.
    “Yes” she replied in that clipped Asian voice….I waited for a few seconds..
    “”You poor bastard..” I sighed..she laughed and said ; yes…

    Anyway they sent me this you-beaut 4g wireless modem device that was absolutely useless on my un wifi’d enabled older pc’s..
    Effing great!..just bloody lovely…fortunately, one will work using a usb connection from the modem to the computer…my other one downstairs, formerly connected using an ethernet cable now is redundant…it seems…though I will try to get a usb. splitter with an ethernet connection so I can try to reconnect using the new 4g device.

    But I’m telling you..for the life of me, how many older pc.’s are now useless because of this hotch-potch wireless / saterlite/ FTTN /FTTH ad hoc bullshit??

    And that F#CKIN’ shit muzac they play over the phone while you are on hold at Telstra!!!???…who the f#ck chose that?..Bloody Donny Osmond???..Keeerist it’s shit!!

  25. gigilene

    Indeed it continues. A great demonstration of the power of press silence that ANY polly could survive stories like this.Of which there are many.

    Witness speaks of ‘squad of goons’

    Date September 14, 2012

    …….a student at the time, said he was outside the Student Representative Council’s offices photocopying when ”Abbott’s famous flying squad of goons crashed down the stairs, threw me against the wall, kicked in the doors of the SRC and started creating havoc”.

    The man, who says he was not involved in the SRC election, said it was extremely scary.

    ”I saw Abbott throw a punch at Barbara Ramjan, but didn’t see it land … when next I saw her, she was in an extremely shocked condition, leaning against the wall … I thought he had actually struck her, but I can see that was simply my assumption and rationalisation.”

    The witness wishes to remain anonymous but says he is willing to sign a statutory declaration.

    Mr Abbott has denied the event.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/witness-speaks-of-squad-of-goons-20120913-25v6v.html#ixzz3jDiOgYIS

    Holes appear in Tony Abbott’s account of ‘wall-punching’ incident

    March 21, 2013

    “Suddenly a flying squad of yahoos led by Abbott came down the stairs. Abbott is unmistakable,” the man said.

    “Everybody knew Tony Abbott. He was all over campus all the time. He walked past me quickly but his gang screamed ‘commie’ and ‘poofter’ and the guy behind him grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me against the wall. I was furious. I picked myself up and immediately followed these thugs down the corridor.

    “I saw Abbott raise his elbow above his head and his fist was clenched and then he drove his fist down. I did not see a punch land. As I pushed along the corridor, I saw Barbara being helped up very ashen-faced.”

    ….The biomedical professor, who asked not to be named, now insists he saw it happen July 28, 1977, only two days after the birth of the child Mr Abbott thought was his son conceived with a university girlfriend.

    http://www.news.com.au/national/holes-appear-in-tony-abbotts-uni-life/story-fncynjr2-1226602057790

  26. kk
    What makes everything worse is all that stuff about Abbott’s past was out there long before he became LOTO, but the MSM didn’t mention any of it. Social media did though.

  29. His colleagues would also have known all about his past but must have thought he was the right guy to lead them – someone strong and determined … Instead they elected a real coward. They are also to blame.

  30. God they are going all out slamming people for blocking the Adani coal mine. The economics are no longer there with coal price going down, down, down and lenders are walking away from the deal.

    Is this stupidity, that they think the ornamental snake and the lizard caused the mine to not go ahead? $20Bn, 10,000 jobs etc all got a good hearing, all long discredited. I am thinking “tell the truth, tell what can be done (if anything can) and show HM jobs there are coming” and you might take people with you. But that isn’t abbott, as we all knew even well before the election so no wonder the polls are where they are.

    Same with the China FTA, clearly a disaster and their sales job, blaming the CFMEU, is hopeless! Jeez!

    Re turncoat, the NBN and QT, there is time to ask one Q at least, then dissect the waffle from turncoat and ask a new Q based on that the next day. There really are so many lines of attack it is stupid they are not availed of. Catherine King is an excellent questioner and should be given the job along with Jason Clare. ALP is CRAZY if they don’t!

  34. Catherine King is one of my favourite MPs. She has a far-reaching voice, she’s frank, outspoken, knows her subject. Very impressive, imo.

  36. From over the road. Someone spotted that a leading Scottish political blog has discovered Tony’s bestie and fellow Santa fanboi Greg Sheridan. They were not impressed.

    If you think some of the coverage of the Corbyn surge in the UK press has been a tad hysterical, you should check out a mad rant by The Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan, which includes this gem –

    http://scotgoespop.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/which-non-mad-electoral-system-would.html

  46. Viewing warning. Place any cups you are holding on the table before you get to Pyne’s “Kathy Jackson is a revolutionary Madame speaker.She will be remembered as a lion of the union movement…..”

  47. I’m heading off for a meeting, and won’t be back online until about 3pm. If anything exciting happens . . .

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