Another year, another polly on the ropes over expense claims. Sussan Ley has been on the receiving end of a media pommeling and the collective wisdom is she’s been a naughty minister. She has been dispatched to Coventry and the view is she should settle down and grow accustomed to her new home.
As an observer of various entitlements farragoes over the years, I think Ms Leys’ spending puts her in exalted company, somewhere between Peter Slipper and the guv’nor, Labor’s Mal Colston. Spending $21,000 in a week or so on transport is extraordinary. I didn’t even think it was possible. With those frequent flyer miles, you can forget about the carrot sticks and chardy in the Qantas club. It’s foot-long lobster subs and Moët by the schooner. Hell, they’ll get you your own plane. Maybe even let you fly it.
The Minchin Protocol always sounded like a bad novel and now as it comes to its denouement, it is about as satisfying as an EH Holden Mechanics’ manual or anything knocked out by Clementine Ford.
Full column here.
How’s the NBN going Jack?
Now it’s Tuesday, maybe.
Should have gone the dongle mate, would save you recurring grief.
Why not get one next time you are near a Telstra store. For a hundred bucks or so, you’ll have good 4G backup home and away. It’s a lifesaver.
BASSMAN says:
January 13, 2017 at 4:50 pm
Tracy says:
January 13, 2017 at 5:39 pm
The original blog entry by Dismayed was
“Really, Clinton with the help of Stiglitz left GW Bush $5 TRILLION SURPLUS $. Let me repeat that. Clinton with the help of Stiglitz left GW Bush a $5 TRILLION SURPLUS $.”
It had nothing to do with debt.
Ah now we see you out yourself again. That line of mine you cherry picked was a RESPONSE to your comment you felt the US was worse off now than it was under the clown GW. As I have said you are another sovcit looking to press your “cause” whatever hat may be. Your effuse to accepts facts because they are not part of your fixed false narrative.
Dismayed says:
January 14, 2017 at 11:48 am
Way way back on this blog you had a crack at me about the “Deep State”.
You mentioned a paranoia an.
“Who is it again the illuminati ? the deep state? the Masons. the Jews? The blacks, FFS.”
Let me enlighten you.
It is a term widely used to describe the nexus of power between the military-industrial complex, Wall St, and the US Intelligence community.
Many people these days also throw in the Ivy League Economists.
Once again your response shows a total ignorance of anything outside the leftist propaganda supplied to you.
NO. You mentioned the “Deep state”. I simply highlighted how paranoid you have lead yourself to become. Which you continue to show yourself.Careful the pre crime unit are monitoring you.
Penny ..04:34pm .
Good work Penny expanding your reading.
Well done .I wish others would show some interest like you expanding in media circles , Penny!
Cheers.
Trevor Snott 10:05 AM
Thank you Mr Snott for reminding me of the Totten glacier.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2926354/Warm-ocean-melting-East-Antarcticas-largest-glacier.html
When you consider that most of the extra heat, see active graph (right side bar next link) is absorbed into the great ocean currents it is no surprise.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/climate-change-global-warming.htm
I shall not say a word to Carl. He can be a bit littoral at times.
JTI apologies for the length and breadth but you flock is seriously out of touch. In my view of course.
Oh for heaven’s sake. Give us a break. Let’s talk about the weather……..
Yvonne, you continue to be a “good german” and keep your eyes and ears closed. I will do as I do and call out those who wish to shape the world for their own greed and to satisfy their narcissism and those that blindly follow them in the hope they will collect the crumbs from the table. Move along. Nothing to see here.
Can you remind us what a “good German” is Dismayed? I assume it’s derogatory but I’ve lost track of where you got it from. I’m really interested.
I keep myself informed actually and am always open to rational argument.
JackSprat says: January 14, 2017 at 10:12 am
Show me the “rosie” picture I painted. I said that Obama was a Class act a class above trump and anything we have here. You and others then jumped in with your need to be the opposite and opposing view for the sake of it and attack me and denigrated a President that was and will remain streets ahead of his predecessor and the dangerous fool you support that follows him. You then started throwing all sorts of information that suits your sovcit view of the world plus other information that I have previously alluded to on this blog that you again want to use is some other manner. Talk about HYPOCRISY. When a conservative does something for the greater good I will review it and then comment. To date all I see cons doing is helping themselves and their benefactors nothing for the rest that you somehow think trump or hanson will help??
The “Nasty” thing in the world I inhabit is the fact that so many struggle with so little and the self entitled few continue to take more and begrudge those that just want a Chance, then we have sheep the “conformers, the conservative” that aspire to be next to these takers these self entitled hoarders at the expense of the many, the sheep follow blindly and excuse dishonesty, excuse bigotry and excuse divisiveness excuse regressive policies and believe by aligning themselves with the self entitled they may also be able to become one of the self entitled hoarders. We then have those who find it easier to be disaffected to be offended and support the latest divisive right wing fruit cake because it is easier than actually taking the time to look at what is available and possible and review information. That is all too hard for many it is easier to join the ignorant posse. Give us a positive policy of one nation that will Improve Australia, not just regress it back to an imaginary 1950 white Australia, a policy that will actually improve Australia. Like wise give us policy detail of trump? Something that will not take the world back 40 years. You cannot because that detail does not exist. He is dangerous and divisive, hanson is dangerous and divisive to Australia yet you want to support these bigoted people. You say people are angry. Well tough shit if they stoped for one second and thought about what they are angry about they would probably come to the realisation it has been their own apathy that has lead them to where they are. But Ohh No that would mean taking responsibility, stuff that lets be angry and take Nations back to how we think it was in 1950. Wake up to yourself give a couple of your mates a shake too.
I think Obama deserves about a B.
If you want me to rates Bush, I would say about a C-.
If I take my good self and your biased rant about the Conservative out of the above diatribe, I would agree with you on many points.
The point I was making is that they are now angry, have role models about voting and are coming out of their apathy.
The result is Trump. The next Trump will be far worse.
You two seem to have found some common ground, and if that’s the case it must be true!
You seem to agree that some slices of Western society feel they’ve been robbed by some aspects of the political/economic system and are voting accordingly. Correct? What you seem to disagree about is exactly who is being robbed and by whom, although it seems to me there is quite a bit of overlap there too. The same could be said about your respective views on the desirability of those voters’ responses.
For what it’s worth — and I’ve said this before — there seem to me to be two broad responses to these perceived injustices: to blame the system, or to blame immigrants/intellectuals/elites. Again, there is some overlap there, but generally those votes translate to the left and the right of the major parties respectively.
In Australia, there are outlets for this; the Greens benefit from the left of the disgruntled classes, and One Nation and most of the rest of the menagerie from the right. It’s around 10% each give or take a point.
But the US electoral system makes it very hard for a minor party to get a toehold. Sanders effectively harnessed the disgruntled Left but the Dems failed to leverage that, and most commentators failed to take him seriously enough, in much the same way they did with Trump.
IMO what was exceptional about Trump was the way he managed to hijack the Republican Party against its will. It’s very difficult to know whether his election is really revolutionary, or likely to be repeated, because it’s hard (for me at least) to separate disgruntled Right votes from the votes that would normally have gone to the Republicans anyway. The percentages may well be comparable to Australia’s, but it’s as if Pauline Hanson had managed to become the Leader of the Liberal Party. That is, a marginal effect has had disproportionate consequences.
Think you’re right there. JS. We will be facing One Nation as our “Trump” – particularly at the upcoming QLD election.
Regardless of his ideological leanings the political landscape will be to the poorer with the departure of Culleton. The poor bloke was born too late. In the days of Joh he would have gone to the top with a bullet. I particularly love his stream of (un) consciousness stuff. I did but hear him passing by, but I will love him till I die.
Go you good thing. AUSSIE OY!!
I too will miss his unconscious comedy. He did indeed have a Joh-like word-salad approach to the English language but unlike Joh, he seemed too self-deluded and incompetent to do any real harm.
But don’t worry, we haven’t seen the last of him. He’ll be doing the talk-show rounds for a while, and he might yet get a spot on “Dancing with the Stars” or Sky News, or failing that, a Fellowship at the IPA.
Kitchen Cabinet would have been an ideal format for him John. I hear Ms Ley will be on this year and she will be cooking…….the books!
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk
Rodney’s not a bad poor bastard Milton and I have been following his downward spiral with interest and concern. Sadly unless his fortunes take a turn for the better its off to Centrelink and 40 job searches a fortnight!
I think One Nation must have driven him crazy, HB. That bloke up North too……….. even crazier
Dismayed
So you cannot substantiate your claim that Clinton left Bush with a $5 trillion surplus.
How many your other claims on this blog are figments of your imagination?
I cant be bothered attaching links you had already excluded the information. I have previously provided evidence and you consistently refute it to then present it back to me a couple of blogs later for your own purposes just twisted into something else. I have NO need to waste my time with you. You are Malcom Roberts you refuse to accept information you have false fixed ideals and that is what drives your paranoia. It is easier than taking responsibility for your own issues. Clinto left a big surplus and even bigger projected surplus Bush blew the lost and then some. Obama has halved Bush’s deficit. Bush blew out debt by 101% only shaded by Reagan who blew out debt by 186%. Your cons are bad news for more people every time.
That’s because there are NOT any to prove your case.
The blokes a great bulldhit artist JS.
They all are except the ones linked to Fauxfacts and other dubious sources. Those are figments of other peoples imagination
Bassman.
Did you stop and think Sadam set 256 oil wells on fire creating worlds worse environmental pollution disaster ?Is that exceptable to you? 100s 000s women men murdered by Sadam ? 75%of Arab nations like UAE called 22 nation coalition forces in to stabilize ME? Lets see some answers on this while Sadam invades countries around him , gassed 13 000 Kurds , is that exceptable also? He had WMD gassing Kurds and caught sending missiles by trucks into Iran by spy Sats .
Imagine today if the ‘butcher of Bagdad was still there .This blaming America is futile only allowing yourself to be conned dodging the real benefits like trade would not be safe in ME today have these murderas at large .
Just stop and think 256 oil well blacked the planet northern hemisphere for 6 months altering temperatyre 3 degrees .
Rodent, once again please check your facts. I lived in Kuwait from 2007-2011. You are wrong
Penny, I believe Rodent is talking about the 1990-1991 episode where Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. As a nice touch Saddam installed Chemical Ali as Governor after killing the Emir’s brother then running his body over with a tank. 610 oil wells, 85% of Kuwait’s wells at the time, were set on fire or blown up. Luckily in Kuwait, all the cellars around the wells are back-filled to ground level so the Iraqi soldiers mainly put explosives around the tubing hanger spool and x-mas trees, a little known fact that made the job of securing the wells much easier. Dismayed will know what I’m talking about. If they had dug down around the wellhead & placed explosives lower around the casing spool B or C sections the job would have been a bigger nightmare than it was. They also spilled on purpose into the Gulf waters, an amount of crude estimated between 4 and 11 million barrels, which makes the Exxon Valdez disaster look like a minor incident. Trenches were dug and filled with oil and set on fire as well, to slow down the ground troops, the amount of oil burnt is unknown. This was supposed to stop U.S. marines from launching an amphibious assault.
I worked in the Wafra and Burgan fields in 2002 to 2006 and there was still black claypans all over the place from 1990, as well as the odd land mine that used to surprise the hell out of Bedouins poor buggers. They weren’t surprised for long.
In 2003, the U.S. thought Saddam would do the same with oil wells in Southern Iraq as the U.S invaded, luckily the troops must have been too busy retreating to blow the wells. Halliburton staff went into Iraq with the troops just in case this happened. I didn’t see my regular mud engineers for a couple of months.