Any good ones?

Ian MacDonald is yet another ex-Labor minister crooker than a dog’s hind leg. Nuttall in Queensland, Judy Spence, Craig Thomson and MacDonald levering his bloody mate into tens of millions of dollars through blatantly obvious conflict of interest. He makes a mockery of the inquiry by absurd assertions of innocence and statistically incalculable probabilities.

I seem to recall the same absurd explanations arising from one Craig Thomson with regards to his wallet being stolen by ‘someone’ on a wild night of prostitute consumption, finished with Union credit cards and cabcharge slips signed with ‘forged’ signatures before sneaking into Craig’s house and safely returning his wallet by the next morning.

Your people make a mockery of the law, tell lies as if they meant nothing and use their influence routinely and endemically to use other people’s money for personal pleasure, to unfairly influence the outcome of decisions made regarding government spending (as Nuttall did) and to make their friends insanely rich.

Anyone in this room who ever whispers about Fitzgerald should be cautioned to heed the cliche about people in glass houses. Joh Bjelke-Petersen was a boy scout compared to you lot.

How dare you justify your pathetic party. Morally bankrupt. Why doesn’t anyone here have the balls to admit you’ve lowered the bar on the conduct of politicians in this nation that used to be known for low levels of political corruption instead of spraying bile at the ‘team’ you hate.

Get your own house in order you bastards.

State ( & Fed ) Labor take the Adelaide northern suburbs for granted: ex Premier Rann (former northern suburbs MP though not resident)’ s government promised the earth, eg electrifying the Gawler railway.His ALP successor Mr Weatherill has broken this promise, though many locals will remember the shutdown of the line 3 times in the last 2 or so years (more than a year all up) twice for claimed (now redundant) pre-electrification works, the most recent to allow the groundwork for the southern suburbs rail electrification which, with the southern expressway road duplication, will deliver a huge infrastructure leg up to the south (& therefore another kick in the guts to the north).

Do the Libs have the will (or the candidates) to draw attention to the broken promises and, if not win Makin, Wakefield and (perhaps) Port Adelaide, at least make inroads into Labor’s majorities and complacency?

My fave saying about common sense is “Common sense is not so common.”

I often give a fuller version.

That which is common, rarely amounts to sense and that which amounts to sense is most uncommon

I can’t recall where I first heard this aphorism — I always assumed it was one of Mencken’s dicta — but oddly the only references to it on the internet (with some variations) are in my posts …

I always like the sound of the antimetabolic, so perhaps I coined it. If someone can find a version of it that pre-dates one of my own, I’d love to be advised.

With Graeme Wood being an investor in both The Global Mail & The Australian Guardian …there is an obvious linkage. How this translates to editorial policy/linkage of stories/campaigns etc. I don’t know.

Interesting times though

... the IPA get even more free airtime on ABC. They and other conservative lobbyists now get about 60-70% of guest spots on the various ABC chat shows.

Sustainable future,@1329

Drives me crazy, too. Seems the ABC’s concept of “balance” is to wheel in a couple of comedians to counter the nut jobs.

Nothing against comedians, but I find the present crop unfunny. The ABC seems to be besotted by comedians. Dunno, maybe they’re cheap.

IPA types are presented on ABC programs as good, sane chaps. Hale fellow, well met.

A hypothetical question – at the risk of lapsing into hyper bowl – if you had, say, Mugabe, on your TV chat show.

Would you say, as an intro: G’day, mate. How they hangin’ …

Or would you feel obliged to inform your audience of your guest’s history?

At least, the ABC should have the common decency to point out to its shrinking audience that the IPA is an ultra-conservative think tank that believes the poor should die. And not litter the streets.

Like The Age, the ABC, in its present form, is beyond hope.

Balance? Mark Scott – I pass wind in your general direction.

3 weeks of wall to wall feel good stories about Tone and the girls, Peta and JulieB.

3 weeks of rotten stories for PM on Thomson, Obeid and any policy decision the Libs trash, not to mention internal scuffles.

Last week almost every journo wrote and spoke of the alternative PM looking so much the kinder, gentler stateman.

probably mentioned already, but the UK Guardian has been the leader in invetigative journalism leading to the outing of Rupert Murdoch’s organs as serial law breakers.

Only one thing wrong with this. The bloke who is setting up The Guardian here is a former FoxNews chief, isn’t he?