The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

Today has been the most entertaining Question Time in Canberra since the Mad Monk called the opposition leader the “Doctor Goebbels of Economic Policy

It was so truly touching to hear of the Government’s dedication to ‘The Rule of Law” on today’s 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. Especially when spoken by a Prime Monster who along with his lapdogs and minions is doing his damnedest to tear up every last shred of decency and accountability in government.
He sets his attack dogs on the woman whose actual job description it is to call government to account when it oversteps the mark. “Executive overreach” was the polite phrase Gillian Trigg used to describe some of this appalling behaviour.


Some time later this week his government will try to pass legislation that will strip citizenship from Australians at the whim of a minister no doubt relying on just the sort of intelligence information that led their predecessors to follow George Bush like a mindless zombie into the quagmire of Iraq. No due process, no fair trial just the word of some brown nosed spineless guttersnipe on a petty power trip. It will not be the first time either. These folks are just too arrogant to ever learn from their mistakes no matter how many lives they destroy in the process.

These measures are so drastic that even members of the Prime Monster’s own party are complaining that he has gone too far.

( Mad dogs and other hounds of hell )

Izzie was getting all nostalgic for the election of 2010 when we had some seriously wicked campaign adverts courtesy of Evil Auntie ABC

This year Tony Abbott was going to not just stop the boats but buy them and send drones flying around our borders to serve as an early warning system

That's where a pair of wings comes in very handy

( It's a dog eat dog world out there. )



Mad Mutt Tony can't swim out in his budgie smugglers to rescue a desperate drowning dog because he's too busy being a suppository of wisdom and Kevin 747 is off in his superman suit (or should that be Incredible hulk?) saving the world on behalf of his American lords and masters

It looks like even the Taiwanese are in on the action




Strange how the faces look nothing like the originals but their mannerisms are pretty spot on

The present prime minister is getting increasingly desperate as it appears he has less than two weeks as top dog. When a so called Labor party wants to set up tax havens up north and one of their has beens wants to turn Oz into the world's nuclear rubbish dump while the so called conservative party proud of their fiscal rectitude promises to pay rich women up to $75,000 to have babies, then you know the world has gone completely and totally bonkers

Even the Wikileaks party is being sneaky and secretive. Any day now the Greens will be also wanting nuclear waste dumps, million dollar grants for Monsanto and big fat taxes on solar panels and wind turbines

Interesting times lie ahead.

Izzie’s been busy packing up the Camp Nano tent, putting away the phoenix feather quill and emerald ink and returning to the usual abnormal existence
There’s been so much going on in politics not just in Oz but all around the world. Been greedily grabbing all sorts of wonderful cartoons but never got around to posting them
Last week I came across a strange Korean cafe on the north side of the city. Along with the usual selection of newspapers and magazines aimed at tourists and foreign students, there were some rather obscure and intellectual journals gracing the book shelves. One of these had the intriguing title “Political Animal”. It was by David Marr so it was certain to be seriously snarky. It was all about the life and times of one Anthony Abbot who is looking increasingly likely to be the next Australian prime minister.

The recent sudoku addiction did not stand a chance against such wickedly wonderful temptations. It also happened to be perfect research material for November’s nano novel.
A main character who is supposed to be a militant atheist dedicated to stamping out religious expression in all its various incarnations had already developed an obsession with boxing, cycling and running around the beach wearing budgie smugglers.

Even boring old state politics has suddenly gotten very interesting. A whole bunch of local councils are going to get tossed in the bin. There’s been some amusing suggestions for the new names of the amalgamated entities. No matter what the goblins decide, public opinion has pretty much unanimously decided that one council’s unofficial name will be South Park. Another has been simply wiped off the map. Here’s hoping that is the definite sign and omen that its present mayor will run again in the federal election. With a bit of luck she will be our next female prime minister. Unlike Julia Gillard who was too nice for her own good, Alannah McTiernan will be kicking butt big time. Getting the trains running on time would be the least of her achievements

On the subject of trains, the Fremantle line is closed yet again so they can put the final touches to the new tunnel. To compensate for the inconvenience the transport authority put on a bunch of free ferries between the central business district and the port city.
Already did the trip when they first closed the line a fortnight ago. The trip in itself is gorgeous and scenic and it was a lovely sunny day. But it was school holidays at the time and it was like being on a floating playground.

( Don't stop the boats )

Izzie's been such a slacker on the posting front. It's not like there's a hectic schedule with a full time job and a dozen kids or something. There's simply no excuse for slacking but laziness and sheer procrastination

But there has been the little distraction of Camp Nano. Took advantage of the new rule that let you set your own word count goal.
Since the point of the exercise was to do snowflake stuff for November's Zombie novel, there was just no point in writing 50,000 words worth of character sketches, background information, scene lists and sorting out a bunch of possible speed bumps on the road to the zombie apocalypse.

After all there has to be some story still left for November.


Once again it is time to take the tricks and mind games used to reach the daily word count quota and extend them to other areas of the serpent existence. Such as the annual ritual of the tax return and more mundane matters such as house work

Not much doing on the gardening front of late except waiting a few weeks for the oranges to ripen. It's way too cold to even consider planting any of those delicious Diggers real tomato seeds

There's a lot to be said for turning all sorts of menial chores into games. It is a sneaky and fun way of getting them done
Must go snatching tips from a certain Cat who is an expert in such matters

The other topic of amusement is the pathetic antics of our "What's old is new again" Prime Minister. A previous one got himself a bunch of nicknames. One of the funniest and most apt was "Lazarus with a triple bypass" And Mr Sheen also known as Kevin 747 has also come back from the dead and is channeling Lazarus. Yes. It truly is a zombie conspiracy

They have taken to bullying the poorest neighbours to take in the couple of thousand people in leaky boats who try to get to Australia every year. Of course you cannot let everyone in who wants to come here but it is not exactly an invasion.

At least the East Timorese refused to sell their souls to Big Brother Down Under unlike Nauru and Papua New Guinea


Here's guessing that the whole boat people thing is a big red button in Australian politics because they all know deep down that this society was founded by a bunch of Brits in boats who were also uninvited by the locals. The political cartoonists are fond of pointing out the parallels. Maybe it's a guilt thing or they fear the new invaders will do to them what their ancestors did to the Aboriginal people
But whatever reason lies behind it, rational or irrational, "Stopping The Boats" is the Oz equivalent of "Law and Order"

The government have even resorted to placing full page advertisements in the newspapers warning people who try to get in without a valid visa that they will be shipped off to some mosquito infested islands far from the mainland. Like the people floating in leaky boats would actually be reading these papers. Or maybe they are looking at them on their ipads and other nifty little gadgets

The adverts are really aimed at local voters. This is Labor party election campaign propaganda trying to pass itself off as immigration policy using funds from the public purse

It is pathetic and disgusting to see both parties appealing to the meaner streaks of human nature in a race to the bottom of the barrel.

It seems that this federal election is going to be even meaner and nastier than the last one.

It's going to be such a nightmare voting this year because you cannot put every one of them last.