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A Tale of Two Cities

On the 12 June 2009 a presidential election was held that would mark the beginning of an unravelling of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Just sixteen days later events were unfolding that would trigger a constitutional crisis in Honduras. As events unfolded in Iran, the world discovered a nation of people, educated, smart, brave, scared, and perhaps most of all – human. Across an ocean a South American head of state was removed from office in what has been cited as a democratic coup involving a supreme court, a congress, and a standing army.

Tehran and Tegucigalpa are the two cities in question. In Tehran we witnessed a popular uprising against an election result that announced a landslide victory to the incumbent president, a brutal suppression, and the beginning of a political power struggle that will possibly continue for a number of years. Tegucigalpa in contrast was much more a political/industrial action to maintain a status quo, a pre-emptive action to circumvent what was perceived as a move by a rogue president to move the country to the far left.

Rahm Emanuel said [1] …

You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

[1] YouTube: Rahm Emanuel on a serious crisis.

What he meant by that was that in crisis there is opportunity to do things you could not have done before. In Iran this principal translates into an opportunity for structural changes to the Islamic Republic of Iran, it’s relationships with the outside world, it’s position on human and moral rights, and the potential for the change to the ultimate power structure. But to be clear, the role of popular unrest in this scenario is just the trigger enabling a political opportunity. Over in Honduras the events unfolded with a pre-emptive political move, a reactive but unsuccessful counter-strike, the emergence of a mediation process, and a probably conclusion within which the exiled president will be returned to his position but stripped of any effective power, and the ultimate arbitrators will be the people of Honduras in a new election in November.

In the Honduras case, chances are that the people will get to vote in free and fair elections in just a few months from now. For Iran the situation is much less clear and projection much more uncertain.

What is common between Tehran and Tegucigalpa is that …

Crisis is the mother of political opportunity.

452 replies on “A Tale of Two Cities”

Morning Catrina.
Not being picky but line seven do you mean ‘cited”, and last line para 2 do you mean “rogue”.
After all if he wears “rouge” we may have to nickname him Merlin.

The Closing of the Southern Highway from Tegucigalpa: An Eye Witness Report

On the twentieth day of the military coup here in Honduras—and another night of imposed curfew in which anyone on the streets after 11:30 can be detained and jailed without question—thousands of Hondurans continue in their active, non-violent struggle for a return to democracy. Today marked another day of widespread, peaceful protests and the second day of pro-democracy/pro-Zelaya supporters blocking principal highways in efforts to curtail commerce—hitting the regime where it hurts.

http://www.narconews.com/Issue58/article3691.html

Anyone that wants to help Iran could set up a peer to peer network using Lime Wire or Vuze you could use both on the same directory. Then place documents that help them by pass the censorship laws. Make sure you have a very good firewall and virus protection.

From today’s Crikey comes one of the better put downs I’ve ever read.

Prime Minister Tony Blair’s conceited plan to resuscitate his political career to become the first President of Europe has been greeted with howls of anger and derision.

One person who won’t be supporting Blair is Dr Jonathan Miller, a formidable intellectual whose career spans science, theatre, opera, television and comedy. Interviewed on the eve his 75th birthday which falls on Tuesday (tomorrow), Miller, whose Cambridge chums included Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, was asked what he thought of the Blairs.

“Well, I have a deep disdain for them. I couldn’t bear that grinning, money-hungry, beaming, Cliff Richard-loving, Berlusconi-adoring, guitar-playing twat, at the risk of being inoffensive. No, it’s that beaming Christianity and that frightful wife with a mouth on a zip-fastener right round to the back of her head. And both of them obsessed with being wealthy. And he got us into this disastrous war with Iraq because he had consulted with God. Like Bush. Well, anyone who claims to do something on the basis of a personal relationship to a non-existent deity…”

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/07/20/tony-blairs-eu-presidency-bid-stumbles-at-the-first-hurdle/#comment-31709
(sub req)

Meanwhile…..In more important news…..Annabel Crabb chats with Kevin Rudd’s dog Abigail about the mistress of the lodge. 🙂
http://media.crikey.com.au/Media/images/090720-Therese-434ea6ad-9698-4c21-bd39-33c0ae685fb1.jpg

Great stuff to use in the run up to the 2010 election. Use this and the Democrats will win Florida and possible Arizona.
==================================================
Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accused the Republican Party of playing “racial politics” with the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, even declaring that the leaders of the GOP had called her a “bigot” and the “head of the KKK.”

The Huffington Post

Well Jen.
It looks like the day of reckoning may be not far away, and Barry is making the smart move distancing himself from all the inquiries.
Can he blame it on the Bossa-nova!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBewNtmvCsU

While he is doing all that the wheels go round and round.

One member of the House committee, New Jersey congressman Rush Holt, told his local newspaper that the inquiry should be as intense as the that of the committee which investigated Watergate. “I think any new investigation will produce revelations that are as jaw-dropping as those that were uncovered by the Church committee,” Holt said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/19/george-bush-dick-cheney-torture

Wouldn’t it be loverly seeing some of those bastards squirming on their seats at Senate investigations.
And hopefully prosecuted.

And it gets better Jen

Remember the Elephant in the GOP room. Well, it has taken a sabatical and left a big steaming turd in the middle of the room.
The rest of the repugs are now claiming it as Dicky and are prodding it with sticks waiting for it to firm up a bit so they can kick it out the door as well. They are about to give him the leper treatment, not wanted Dick, fuck off and fight your own battles, we don’t want to know ya!
The village idiot has left em for dead as well. LOL
Good old slimy Dick has his daughter firing all his bullets now, she is the only one who wants to own him. Poor girl.

So sweet when the Ray McGoverns of the USA open their wardrobes and the corpses fall out.

Small wonder that Republicans are wincing, although the winces have been largely suppressed. The Washington Post reported recently that many Republicans now consider Cheney a major problem, but cannot say so. The Post quoted one Republican strategist on the Cheney dilemma:

“He continues to be a force among many members of our base, and while he is entirely unhelpful, no one has the standing to show him the door.”

http://www.alternet.org/action/141371/could_dick_cheney_go_to_prison/?page=1

White House Plans to Use DeMint’s “Waterloo” Quote to Rally the Troops
==============================================
On Friday, on a “Conservatives for Patients Rights” conference call with conservative activists dealing with health care reform, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said, as Ben Smith at Politico reported, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”
DeMint said he could “almost guarantee you this thing won’t pass before August, and if we can hold it back until we go home for a month’s break in August…Senators and Congressmen will come back in September afraid to vote against the American people.”

more on The Political Punch

Vulnerable House Democrats Are Well-Funded.
The 42 House Democrats to whom party leaders are steering extra financial and political assistance banked an average of nearly half a million dollars 16 months before the 2010 midterm elections.
more on CQ Politics.
.
I’ve already got a fair idea how the 2010 election is going to go. I just want to see how the health bill turns out and the immigration issue turns out before I take on David and his political mathematics machine again. 😈

Adulterous Saudi Princess Granted British Asylum For Fears Of Death Penalty.
Shades of the early 1970’s
A book called The Death of a Princess. A story written about the beheading of a princess for adultery. Bush invaded the wrong country!

I assume since Gerard Henderson thinks it represents the views of left wing pundits, that Liberal Rule tonight on SBS at 8.30pm will be pretty good. In fact, Hendo thinks “it’s a shocker and a disgrace”. I think therefore it must be great! The blurb in the TV guide in the SMH says it’s more balanced than “The Howard Years”, because it includes both the views of insiders and outsiders. Part 1 of 3 airs tonight.

I am thinking the same Katielou but just the sight of the prick on TV gives me a massive rush of reflux to the throat.

I would love to watch the series though when they try him for war crimes for taking us illegally to the Iraq war.
I will have a bucket handy that night.

Hi all –
gaffers @13 and 14- looking promising indeed.
This won’t go away no matter how much the Repugs might hope it will. Once the whistleblowing starts in earnest – and there must be people busting to spill all – thos slimebag bastatrds will be dragged through teh mud. Nixon came a cropper, but that will be nothing if what we know to be true is publicly proven. And then yes- let Howards and his merry band be dragged right alongside them .

Chris dear- you don’t really have to share every piece of footage you know. 😉

Poor old Sarah.
Mind you when i see this it reminds me why i used to hate my school teachers.
I was never in the same league as this though, I could string a couple of sentences together that meant something. I think.

If you watched Sarah Palin’s resignation speech, you know one thing: her high-priced speechwriters moved back to the Beltway long ago. Just how poorly constructed was the governor’s holiday-weekend address? We asked V.F.’s red-pencil-wielding executive literary editor, Wayne Lawson, together with representatives from the research and copy departments, to whip it into publishable shape. Here is the colorful result.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/07/palin-speech-edit-200907

Jen at 26
I suspect this is more rhetoric than real sentiment on the ground. Zelaya is playing a high stakes game and seems willing to actively engage in heating things up in Honduras. But other facts speak against this. Before the event his popularity was rather low (although this has picked up after the event). A poll taken by CID-Gallup on the 9-10 July asked a couple of questions:

Do you consider that the actions taken by Mel Zelaya with respect to the fourth ballot box justify his dismissal from the post of President of the Republic?

Yes 41%, No 28%, Don’t know/No answer: 31%.

Are you in accord with the action taken last sunday which removed President Zelaya from the country?

Support 41%, Oppose 46%, Don’t know/No Answer 13%.

These numbers suggests that ‘the people’ didn’t like what Zelaya was doing and figured it was reasonable to remove him from office. On the other-hand the poll numbers suggests that they didn’t like the way in which that act was executed. It’s just hard to see a major popular event unfolding here given these numbers.

By Post Author

hmm Cat- opportunism all round.
Not sure what I think about fixed terms- it meant Bush had to go regardless, and not having it allowed Howard to remain for far too long, but the Will Of The People and all…
but then again voters can be really fucking dumb. :mrgreen:

I think i am for fixed terms as that is a sure fire way of getting rid of of a leader before he personally becomes firmly entrenched in activities which invariably are no good for the people.The particular party can still be reelected but with a different leader.
Surely fixed terms are some kind of preventative measures to having the likes of the Amins and Mugabes of the world. Surely after 8 years, or whatever the term may be, there would be someone in the party capable of taking the reigns if that party was still popular with the majority.
I am sure Julia would be able to do it after KR but not sure about Mal’s mob.

Well Cat, aren’t we lucky to have CID-Gallup to fill the void where democracy once was. LOL

Democra-Phobia: Fear of Citizen Power in Honduras

Strip away all the sensationalism, distortion, simulation, ideological axe-grinding, flotsam and jetsam of media coverage of events in Honduras over the past month and it still boils down to one central conflict:

The coup regime fears, and was imposed as a last line of defense against, “Citizen Power.”

Citizen Power – “Poder Ciudadano,” in Spanish, which was the credo on the posters and ads of Manuel Zelaya’s victorious 2005 presidential campaign – manifested itself this year in popular demands for a referendum on whether to write a new Honduran Constitution via democratically elected representatives to a constitutional convention.

It’s that simple, and the coup regime’s fear of authentic democracy is exactly why the failed “talks” in Costa Rica between the two sides have now ended without agreement on anything at all, as foreseen here and elsewhere.

That’s why the violent kidnapping of the president – accompanied by the military occupation of TV, radio and other independent media – took place on the dawn of an election day, Sunday, June 28, when the people of Honduras were going to vote in a nonbinding referendum on whether to have a vote in November over said constitutional convention, known as a constituent assembly in Honduras.

The hasty timing of the coup was intended to prevent the people from voting, and it speaks volumes of what the coupmongers believed the results of that referendum would have been, had the vote been allowed to happen. Their informed belief was that the referendum would have been approved and, even though it would be non-binding, that would have put to rest, once and for all, their claims to somehow speak for a majority of Honduran citizens.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/democra-phobia-fear-citizen-power-honduras

HusseinStWorm at 41

Well Cat, aren’t we lucky to have CID-Gallup to fill the void where democracy once was.

Why does that remind me of another turn of phrase?

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

🙂

By Post Author

Mind you, at the previous rate of Coup d’état, I’m surprised it took so long for this one. Will they be able to hold back others is the next question.

paddy-
despite the warning and the careful placing of the glass-
** snorting***
FFS, need the vacuum cleaner.

OBAMA IN WONDERLAND:

“Let the jury consider their verdict,” the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

“No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first — verdict afterward.”

“Stuff and nonsense!” said Alice loudly. “The idea of having the sentence first!”

“Hold your tongue!” said the Queen, turning purple.

“I won’t!” said Alice.

“Off with her head!” the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.

The Queen’s pronouncement — “Sentence first — verdict afterward” — is a fine expression of Obama’s approach here: these prisoners are decreed to be Dangerous and Guilty and are sentenced to prolonged, indefinite imprisonment and must not be released; now let’s tailor a process for each of them to ensure that this verdict is produced. It’s far better to dispense with the ludicrous facade, simply imprison everyone the President wants with no charges, and let the world and the citizenry see what we’re really doing.

http://www.commondreams.org/print/44921

Defiant Honduras leaders to expel Venezuela diplomats

The increasingly defiant de facto leaders in Honduras Tuesday gave 72 hours to staff from Venezuela’s embassy to leave, accusing them of threatening to use force and meddling in internal affairs.

Venezuelan diplomats swiftly rejected the expulsion order, saying it was issued by leaders of an illegitimate government that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in a coup late last month.

The toughened stance came after negotiations with Zelaya hit deadlock and amid growing international pressure for his reinstatement.

http://www.france24.com/20090721-defiant-honduras-leaders-expel-venezuela-diplomats

By Post Author

Gaffhook at 29,

It’s a conspiracy theory. Therefore, the odds are that it is crap. Conspiracy theories are like religion: they build a whole fantastic edifice connecting various events to a powerful and shadowy figure, discarding inconvenient things such things as ‘evidence’ and ‘logic’. The resulting construction is often very attractive to many people, even many intelligent people. But illusions often are attractive.

Re term limits: any nation wisely tries to create laws that go some way towards protecting people from their own stupidity. Seat belt laws, for example; laws that ban cigarette advertising; laws that prevent people voting Liberal (okay, we haven’t got that one through yet, but it can only be a matter of time ;)).

Term limits are one of these laws. While we do not have them in Australia, many nations do have them, especially those with turbulent histories that contain dictators.

48 David Gould It only tale two to make a conspiracy!!!!!
Or didn’t you learn from before.

Chris B,

Learn what? I already know that conspiracy theory thinking is crap. I think some others need to learn that. 😉

There seems to be a misunderstanding here. The fact that conspiracies occur (something I do not dispute) is *not* evidence that any particular conspiracy theory is true.

David Gould at 56

The fact that conspiracies occur (something I do not dispute) is *not* evidence that any particular conspiracy theory is true.

Equally, it is *not* evidence that a given conspiracy is false!

🙂

By Post Author

Of course not – it is irrelevant. What is evidence that a conspiracy theory is false is the irrationality evidenced by those pushing it. You can see this irrationality clearly demonstrated in 911 Truthers, global warming deniers, creationists, moon landing hoaxists, holocaust deniers and so on. The similarity in methods and in arguments is very telling.

One test that I would give all conspiracy theories: what observation would falsify the theory? My experience has been that no matter what is observed, it can be fitted into the conspiracy theory.

As to the specific conspiracy theory that Gaffhook raised, so many people would have to be involved that it is hard to know how to start. Basically, the theory makes the assumption that dozens of people in positions of authority in countries all around the world are prepared to directly assist the cover up murder.

Arriving back to terra firma, and perusing the usual sources of comedic information:

Bernanke Is Ranked World’s Best at Handling Financial Crisis, Survey Shows Global investors give Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke top marks for combating the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and overwhelmingly favor his reappointment amid optimism that the world economy is on the mend.

…Bloomberg catches my eye.

This guy, let’s recall, told us that the little sub-prime hiccup was but a storm in a teacup, and hardly a drop of the precious fluid would even stain the table cloth!

Ooooops! But now we are told, he is the “maestro nuovo” and we should all hail him, just as we did his predecessor, until we discovered he was a clueless old git that had, in fact, ably helped to wreck the world’s economy.

Are we going to all genuflect yet again?

As I like to say to the kids: I don’t think so.

How to lie straight in a burning bed AND become First Maverick On The Moon:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/opinion/cartoons/
——————————–

Barack O’Bush:

…..the Newsweek reporter who first printed what DOJ officials told him about Holder’s intentions, Daniel Klaidman, confirmed in an interview on The Young Turks that Holder intends to confine any investigations only to “rogue” interrogators who exceeded John Yoo’s torture permission slips while shielding high-level Bush officials who acted in accordance with Yoo’s decrees.

Suggest cf. short Colbert clip, “Perfect World”: the agony of torture witnesses.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/22/colbert/

In Obi’s Perfect World, 1+1 = 3. Coulda happened to anyone who ever taught U.S. Constitutional Law, I guess. That’s the trouble with the audaciously hopeful, they can’t always deal meaningfully with numbers. Once knew a bloke went by the name of Winston Wordsmith who was utterly convinced that 2 + 2 =5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIkOVe0MF1k

Kiriri- can’t find the links from a few days ago, but headlines here in Vic were that housing prices are rising, retail is soaring, we have avoided the recession and, well – once again old friend, looks like the amigos were right and you were just getting all in a dither over nothing. 🙄
of course if you bother to read the content (which I suspect many don’t) it goes on to say that we haven’t really started to feel the full impact, that unemployment is going to rise sharply, that interest rates are almost certain to , that retail is only survivng due to the recent handoouts etc etc.
That old parallel universe again!

Ecky – don’t give up yet,. I still reckon Obi is just being seen to be keeping his hands off this one ,and the torture issue will gather so much social, public and international momentum that the truth will be forced out.
It’s just too big to bury IMO.

23.7 trillion …
what does that mean in years again ?? Still can’t get my head around the reality of these figures.

“Follow the drugs, and you’ll find dealers and users. Follow the money, and you have no idea where the case will take you.”

“If you want to understand who the real power behind the [Honduran] coup is,” says Robert White, president of the Washington-based Center for International Policy, during a recent interview, “you need to find out who’s paying Lanny Davis.”

Davis, an ally of the Clinton family who is best known as the lawyer who defended Bill during the presidential impeachment proceedings, was recently on Capitol Hill lobbying members of Congress and testifying against exiled President Manuel Zelaya before the House Foreign Relations Committee. White, who previously served as the United States ambassador to El Salvador, thought that such information about Davis’ clients would be “very difficult to find.”

But the answer proved easy to find. Davis, a partner at the law firm Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe, openly named them — and his clients are the same powerful Hondurans behind the military coup.

“My clients represent the CEAL, the [Honduras Chapter of] Business Council of Latin America,” Davis said when reached at his office last Thursday. “I do not represent the government and do not talk to President [Roberto] Micheletti. My main contacts are Camilo Atala and Jorge Canahuati. I’m proud to represent businessmen who are committed to the rule of law.” Atala, Canahuati, and other families that own the corporate interests represented by Davis and the CEAL are at the top of an economic pyramid in which 62 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.

For many Hondurans and Honduras watchers, the confirmation that Davis is working with powerful, old Honduran families like the Atalas and Canahuatis is telling: To them, it proves that Davis serves the powerful business interests that ran, repressed, and ruined Honduras during the decades prior to the leftward turn of the Zelaya presidency.

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=our_man_in_honduras

Geez, Jen, I really do hope you’re right about The Kid, but from my perspective the portents don’t look inspirational, so not holding my breath for his promised changes.*
——————————-
Now check dis out bruddah ‘n’ systems. Whole bunch o’ black folk gettin’ funky to white boys playin’ Sly Stone music.
Dem Whities sho’ got a natural sense of rhythm.
What is that?
Born right in ‘em ah guess!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFzNXUUSFF0
——————————-
In the end, only fate could wise-up Americans that multi-tasking has its limits. Meanwhile, in the true spirit of Sep entrepreneurialism, ATT are branching out into roadside funeral parlours.
July 22:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/mikeluckovich;_ylt=AjUk3Cr9EyKcVqzOAc19sMTmcLQF

July 22:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/tonyauth;_ylt=AngWMsL.5mfpRAWDRX4bNxjmcLQF

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/73363
—————
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/73370
—————-
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/73372
—————-
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/73367
————–
Ah-Nuld’s next campaign will feature Guv Gropinator with a bong in one hand and a bible in the other. Both are nice little earners for their purveyors but only one can truly save the CA economy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjbV9z50gPM
——————————–

* no water-boarding was used in the preparation of this response

78
EC
I have to learn not to get excited when Holder or DOJ says they are going to do something or other.
I get to the top of the gum tree then a day later, look down and someone has got the chainsaw at the trunk, and get the feeling the more things change the more they stay the same.

Obama Lawyers Shield Cheney on Leak:

The resistance from the Obama administration has left some of its supporters shaking their heads. Not only does the obstruction go against President Obama’s pledge of government openness, but it is protecting the reputation of former Vice President Cheney, one of Obama’s most vocal critics.

The administration’s position also seems to equate with cheap partisanship a request for information about a major controversy from George W. Bush’s presidency the leaking of Plame’s covert CIA identity as part of a campaign to discredit her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was an early Iraq War critic.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-Lawyers-Shield-Chene-by-Jason-Leopold-090722-673.html

And why shouldn’t a good upstanding patriotic merkin company ask the judge for a gag order on all the evidence that will probably scar their good will among all upstanding merkins.

The July 20 motion, filed on behalf of Blackwater by Peter H. White of Mayer Brown, requests that Judge Ellis issue “an Order restraining extrajudicial statements relating to these cases by the parties and their counsel to ensure that all parties receive a fair trial and a decision from an impartial jury.” The motion specifically seeks to prohibit statements to “the national and local news media.”
At the same time, according to a court filing, Blackwater is also asking Judge Ellis to seal evidence that Blackwater claims is confidential or could impact national security. The company argues that if its contracts with the State Department and its “Tactical Standard Operating Procedure” guide are publicly revealed, it “could give valuable information to those who wish to plan more effective attacks against diplomatic personnel stationed in Iraq.”

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090803/scahill

Seems like every merkin who knows the shrub and dicky are in court for one reason or another.

81
Jen
Gut wrenching stuff! 🙁

However, on an equally OT, but much more positive note….
(It always good to be pleasantly surprised by a “celebrity”.)
Ian Thorpe has made a damn fine speech in London recently.
Well worth a read.

Australia’s dirty little secret
by Ian Thorpe

In a speech given at the “Beyond Sport Summit” in London on Thursday July 9, 2009, Australian Olympic legend Ian Thorpe dove head first into Australia’s failure to address the problems in its indigenous communities.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/07/23/ian-thorpe-australias-dirty-little-secret/

Meanwhile back in the clear skies and drones over Paki hellfire missile department comes the news that:

U.S. officials believe Saad bin Laden — a son of Osama bin Laden — has been killed by an American missile in Pakistan.
Saad bin Laden reportedly spent years under house arrest in Iran before traveling last year to Pakistan, according to former National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.
It’s believed he was killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a U.S. Predator drone sometime this year.

Spokesperson said he was not targeted, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106903109&ft=1&f=1001

Plus ca change, indeed, gaffy.
Reckon you make a great political koala though, all treed and waitin’ for the saw to fall. At first, all would seem lost, but in every imminent disaster there sprouteth glorious green shoots of opportunity!

Yeah, can picture it now…… feature this:
Always shootin’ from the hip; gaffy the Unscripted Eucalyptor. Dwindling though they be in influence, The MSM would eat you up. Now that we’ve witnessed first hand what a switched-on and dedicated teams of bloggers can do (BHO’s win), we can use the internet for “policy releases” on your website and keep personal appearances scarce enough to generate maximum campaign sizzle.
When you’re elected you’ll be able to get on the turps and watch the cricket with Gouldie in the Members Bar. FNQ politics needs a bit of colour, whaddya say? I’ll jump on a Greyhound Bus come spring and we’ll plan your——–
” The Capricornia Campaign: Fear & Loathing in the Land of the Rainbow Serpent” :mrgreen:

A Senate seat would probably be best due to the widespread publicity your cadidacy will generate. We’ll have the right people handle the preference pow-wows. Piece of piss, no worries. Imagine the good you could do for your Shire, the Great State of Queensland, and the country we hold so dear if you managed to arse balance-of-power type power? Fair dinkum mate, if that dickhead Fielding can get up in Victoria you’d bolt in on a Queensland Senate ticket.

———————————

http://www.salon.com/comics/boll/2009/07/23/boll/

Seeing it has been a slow news week, on behalf of the Daily Show, we should drop a little snifter in here.
What’s that about foxes? Wher is Kevin Bloody Wilson, with his mate Mick, he should be in there as well. :mrgreen:

While the rest of the economy is mired in a deep recession, the wonderful world of tort law just keeps on chugging. The Daily Show recently took a look at the legal battle between two iPhone app makers who claim the rights to a fart noise-producing app.

“Pull My Finger” was the first fart app to launch, reports The Daily Show, pulling in over $10,000 per day. At one point in the below video, the man behind Pull My Finger actually compares his application’s importance to Jackie Robinson’s effect on baseball. Pull My Finger claims that its rival iFart came onto the scene and allegedly infringed on the company’s legal rights.

Yes, it’s hard to believe that a legal battle has ensued over fart noises. Says Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac: “Pull My Finger and iFart have attorneys?”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/22/iphone-fart-app-legal-war_n_242817.html

“Yes, it’s hard to believe that a legal battle has ensued over fart noises. Says Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac: “Pull My Finger and iFart have attorneys?” ”

Way things are these days, seems every arsehole’s got a mouthpiece.
Still, might make things a little easier for upwardly mobile folk in the advertising industry.

87
Fair suck a the sauce bottle Ecky, what kinda conspiracy theory is all that?

Well, gaffy, there would be more than 2 people involved, so theoretically it could classified as a conspiracy. Perhaps David could enlighten us tomorrow on our comprehension skills 🙂

Looks like BO is goin ahead with his cash for clunkers subsidy to get the old gas guzlin buckets off the road.
Not to be out done Chrysler are goin to double it if you buy an 09 Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep models. One would suspect that they are the big gas guzlin ones that they have not sold yet. FFS

As part of a new incentive program tied to Uncle Sam’s upcoming “Cash for Clunkers” program, the automaker will begin running ads tomorrow themed “Double Cash for Your Old Car.” The push offers all buyers of most 2009-model Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep models a cash incentive of $4,500 or zero-percent financing for 72 months via GMAC Financial Services.
That’s on top of an incentive of between $3,500 and $4,500 for buyers whose trade-in vehicle qualifies for the government’s Car Allowance Rebate Systems program, more commonly known as “Cash for Clunkers.” The CARS program is aimed at getting fuel-inefficient cars and trucks off the road.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=138059

gaffers- you just gotta love them.
The Chaser boys are surely just the latest incarnation of a proud tradition of Oz irreverence … think Rubbery Figures, think Aunty Jack, think Norman Gunston, Australia Down-Under and so on.
Or don’t think at all – just piss yourself.

As for Diogenes : he’s just attention-seeking.

Ecky – have faith.
it’s what got a man like Obama into the Whitehouse. He is not a revolutionary leader – he just can’t be.
He is not Jesus, Ghandi or Mandela , but he is a vast improvement on what we have had, working within a system that is entrenched with political minefields.
Have a little faith, my friend.
And accept that Strategy is part of the game he plays.
He needs to be seen to placate many interests, so he will use use the puppets he has on hand.
And if he fails – they can vote him out.

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