Amanda v. Andrew

December 20th, 2004

Our Amanda is concerned that kids and teenagers could be learning from a Member of Parliament that a hungerstrike is an acceptable form of protest.

Three points Amanda

  1. Kids and teenagers don’t know or care who Andrew Bartlett is (sorry Andrew).
  2. In recent years the 40-hour famine which was directed at kids and teenagers is steadily loosing popularity (sorry Tim).
  3. Childhood obesity figures in this country tells us that if kids and teenagers want to protest they are going to use other methods (sorry kids).

Amanda!
Have the honest discussion about the conditions faced by asylum seekers at the Baxter Detention Centre.

Agree to make the changes recommended by so many.

Do that and I am sure that Andrew (and many others) will be big and fat again real soon.

Let’s send Phil out…he hasn’t had a big lie since October 2001.

December 19th, 2004

I notice that the coalition has sent forth Attorney-General Philip Ruddock to give an air of believability to the terror warnings for Indonesia.

They can’t expect us to believe HoWARd.

They can’t expect has to believe Downer.

Now we are supposed to believe Ruddock?

"A number of people have jumped overboard and have had to be rescued. More disturbingly, a number of children have been thrown overboard.

I regard these as some of the most disturbing practices that I have come across during my time in public life, clearly planned and premeditated."

– Philip Ruddock, then Australian Immigration Minister, October 7, 2001.

Leaving home has always frightened the conservative and unadventurous.

Travel anywhere you desire.
The flowers in Ubud are beautiful this time of year…

Look for me in the Lunesta queue

December 18th, 2004

A new sleeping pill is being approved for sale that can be used for longer than 7-10 days.
Yay.
I can sleep my way through the next 1026 days of the Coalition government.

Our drongo in London

December 18th, 2004

Firstly,
Sorry England.

Yes it’s true.
Richard "The public is as stupid as I am" Alston will be High Commissioner to London.

Simon Wright at Whirlpool rounds up our drongo’s achievements whilst Communications Minister:

  1. Initially dismissing broadband as a gaming platform
  2. Calling a country-wide broadband rollout a "costly waste of time"
  3. Decreeing that consumers should be kept in the dark about their phone line
  4. Linking the takeup of broadband to pornography
  5. Allowing his department to spend $4,000,000 on a small and poorly developed website

Richard Alston is perhaps best known for his 43 points of complaints against the ABC’s AM program in it’s coverage of the War in Iraq.

Talking to the ABC AM show, Alexander Downer runs out of resume material for our drongo and naturally drifts into attack…

"He [Alston] certainly has a great deal…I mean obviously cabinet ministers all deal with diplomacy in significant ways in the age of globalisation. Secondly, Richard Alston from recollection was the president of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid some years ago. He has extraordinary experience.

But you know, the criticisms coming from the Labor Party say it’s all about Mr Latham. He made it clear that he hated Liberals and was going to bring his children up to hate Liberals, so therefore anybody who is a Liberal is, according to Mr Latham’s team, disqualified from serving this country.

I mean this is just a preposterous attack."

Alston in his time as communications Minister was renowned for his inability to grasp simple concepts, such as the "on" button. I am hopeful that technology will continue to befuddle our dick and we won’t hear anything from him.

Abbott alone

December 16th, 2004

Finally, the fact that an abortion is a health issue, has been realised and underlined by the medical profession who are best qualified to make that statement.

According to Dr. Katharine Betts, author of the new study, Attitudes to Abortion in Australia 1972-2003.

"Australians overwhelmingly support abortion rights, with new research showing that 81% believe a woman should have the right to choose whether or not she has an abortion. Only 9% disagreed."

I am so proud of my fellow Australians and doubly so to see that we are not quite the US yet.