The rise of the private political office reflects the sheer complexity of the political management task required of contemporary politicians – especially when in government.
Source: Not governing, fighting: Peta Credlin’s role in Tony Abbott’s collapse
There was further strife today for Volkswagen after the carmaker admitted its range of Polos have been pre-installed with pretentious wankers.
Any unwanted economic indicators trying to reach Australian shores will be locked up on a small island and never spoken about again, the new Treasurer has revealed.
Making clear he would not comment on operational matters, new Treasurer Scott Morrison said, “If there’s a problem with our economy you certainly won’t be hearing about it from me”.
When asked where the debt levels were currently at, Mr Morrison said, “on a boat to Manus Island”.
Mr Morrison was then asked what the unemployment rate was, to which he replied “it’s the number of people over 15 who are actively looking for work, as a percentage of the total workforce”.
Social media users hit their meme-makers in support of ‘Karen’, the fictitious indie music fan held up as an example of violent extremism in a new Federal Government booklet.
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/9/22/noam_chomsky_on_the_myth_of
In a speech titled “On Power and Ideology” delivered at The New School for Social Research in Manhattan on Saturday, world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky discussed the persistent notion of U.S. exceptionalism, Republican efforts to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal, and the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.
In clips broadcast by “Democracy Now!”, Chomsky explained why he believes the U.S. poses the greatest threat to world peace.
“[The United States] is a rogue state, indifferent to international law and conventions, entitled to resort to violence at will. … Take, for example, the Clinton Doctrine—namely, the United States is free to resort to unilateral use of military power, even for such purposes as to ensure uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies and strategic resources—let alone security or alleged humanitarian concerns. And adherence to this doctrine is very well confirmed and practiced, as need hardly be discussed among people willing to look at the facts of current history.”
Chomsky also explained why he believes the U.S. and its closest allies, namely Saudi Arabia and Israel, are undermining the possibility for peace in the Middle East.
“When we say the international community opposes Iran’s policies or the international community does some other thing, that means the United States and anybody else who happens to be going along with it.”
Malcolm Turnbull’s overthrow of Tony Abbott has ‘set off a civil war within News Corp’, according to the media giant’s conservative commentator Andrew Bolt.
Source: Liberal leadership spill coup sparks News Corp ‘civil war’
As important as it is to manage crises in the correct manner, there are some mistakes that simply cannot be unmade.
Source: Volkswagen scandal: Even textbook crisis management can’t save VW
Volkswagen has suffered a shocking loss of credibility after conspiring to violate US pollution laws and dupe customers on a systemic scale.
Source: VW’s ‘dirty diesel’ cover-up taints Germany and its car industry
‘He bought this patent and he’s milking it for all it’s worth. In a way, I thank him, because it’s really sort of like putting a sign on your back saying, ‘Kick me’.
Source: CEO raises pill’s price from $US18 to $US750 overnight, calls journalist ‘moron’
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is massively relieved that the next election will not be contested on the basis of personality.
Describing it as a ‘weight off his shoulders’, Mr Shorten said he … actually we lost interest.
Labor insiders said the potential for a new direction in politics was a godsend for the party. “We’re totally lacking in policies as well. But at least you can feasibly create new policies over time,” one staffer said.
Mr Shorten told reports, “The next election will be about ideas. But the Liberal Party doesn’t have ideas. They’re literally like a deer with no eyes”.
WASHINGTON – (CT&P) – His Holiness Pope Francis met today with the Antichrist, President Obama, at the White House to discuss ways in which the church can delay the inevitable apocalypse brought about by his reign of terror over the American people and citizens of the world.
Before the meeting, His Holiness told reporters outside the White House that he had been monitoring right-wing websites and listening to “kooky radio talk show hosts” talk about the evils of the Obama Administration for years and thought it might be time to intervene.
“After reading about the ravages of Jade Helm 15 on various right-wing websites, which reported that the operation eradicated the Christian population of Texas, I decided it was high time someone tried to reason with that demon masquerading as president,” said the Pontiff.
No one knows what went on during the meeting, as it was conducted behind closed doors and the Pope was alone with the Son of Satan. However, afterwards the Pope had some discouraging words to say to journalists.
“I was unable to convince the Prince of Darkness to delay the End Times,” said Francis. “He insists that he will continue to offer health care to the poor and attempt to destroy the United States through the use of clean air and water acts, and encourage free cancer screenings and the use of low-cost contraceptives among the poor at the expense of wealthy Americans. Worst of all, he says he won’t just start invading Muslim countries out of misplaced fear and hatred. I’m afraid we’re all doomed.”
For his part President Obama told the press that he really enjoyed his time with the Pope but had to say goodbye after lunch because he had plans to destroy the entire fucking country again late this afternoon.
The new film, starring Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon, goes where too few movies have been willing
Leaks, anonymous briefings, gossip, Tony Abbott’s “febrile media culture” that “rewards treachery”: this is political reporting, Canberra style, and it’s existed like this for decades.
While Obama’s Iran pact makes headlines, America’s own corporate-nuclear complex remains hidden in plain sight
The Pontiff’s visit to the U.S. presents some difficulties for Catholic GOP Presidential Candidates.
Source: Catholic GOPers Want Pope Francis To Stay Out Of Politics | Crooks and Liars
As the Pope heads to the east coast today, it’s worth examining just why Republicans are so angry
Source: The GOP’s venomous Pope tirades are the ultimate example of hypocritical right-wing rage – Salon.com
Islamic State defectors have spoken out, including two Australians, shattering many of the myths about the I.S. and its fighters. Gerard May reports.
Source: New Report: Australian Islamic State defectors tell the true story
“Today, the largest power against intimidation and terror is our armed forces,” Rouhani said at a massive military parade in Tehran.Iran has played a major role
Source: Iran is the best defence against Middle East ‘terror’: Rouhani – Your Middle East
A stun grenade flipped into faces of a child and his family. We should never discuss this debate the same way again VIDEO
IRVING, TEXAS – (CT&P) – On his radio program yesterday, panic monkey, conspiracy theorist, and born-again Mormon cult member Glenn Beck announced that insiders from several previously unknown American intelligence agencies had revealed to him that they had finally determined the identity of “half bomb” maker Ahmed Mohamed’s partner in crime.
“I can now say with 100% certainty that I know the identity of Ahmed’s co-conspirator, and it’s Sasquatch, more commonly known as Bigfoot,” said Beck, as he posed in front of a nonsensical poster that featured a flow chart, a bell curve, and arrows pointing to the names of shadowy Jewish media figures, an artist’s rendering of Bigfoot at a Planned Parenthood meeting, and a long-range photo of members of the Illuminati attending a NASCAR race.
“You can bank on this information just like you did my predictions of worldwide disaster on September 13th earlier this month,” said Beck, as he adjusted his tin hat, “and we all know I was right about that.”
Beck claimed that after the hardened 14-year-old genius terrorist stood up to over 48 hours of grilling by the Irving Police department and the FBI, Beck’s friends in an unknown “but really important” U.S. intelligence unit whisked Ahmed off to a black site and used “enhanced interrogation techniques” on him.
Ahmed was supposedly subjected to reruns of Beck’s old programs on Fox News and tapes of campaign speeches by current mayor of Irving and ignorant slut Beth Van Duyne.
Ahmed is said to have coughed up the truth in less than two hours.
It seems that Bigfoot, after a meeting with the shadowy hierarchy in charge of removing the brains from flailing newborns at Planned Parenthood abortion factories, was supposed to meet Ahmed at an Irving Arby’s and provide the deadly explosives that would turn his “clock” into a 30 megaton nuclear device.
However, Bigfoot was unavoidably detained by a traffic jam outside a Bernie Sanders campaign appearance in Austin and missed the clandestine meeting, forcing Ahmed to go with the “innocent clock” story. The rest is history.
“Ahmed represents the tip of the iceberg of the Muslim threat we face in this country,” said Beck, as he fiddled with his super secret ballpoint pen camera. “There are training camps all over Mexico where ISIS recruits are conspiring with descendant of the Knights Templar and secret societies that send messages on one dollar bills. I tell you we are all fucking doomed!
‘In the meantime I would appreciate it if you would continue to send me money and support my various hare-brained theories so I can single-handedly save the world from people who don’t love Jesus. Thank you and good luck.”
“There’re a lot of altruistic properties” to raising cost of treating toxoplasmosis from $1,350 to $63,000, he said VIDEO
Raising the price of a drug 5000 percent may be legal, but it’s wrong
Sour, bitter character assassination – that was Tony Abbott’s description of the circumstances of his ignominious defeat. But it could just as well have been a summary of his time as leader of his party – the story of the rise and fall of Tony Abbott.
While Europe is erecting fences, deploying armies and expressing its “concern” about how to deal with the annual influx of some 300,000 asylum seekers, vast areas of the world – namely the Middle East and Africa – are essentially ceasing to exist.
Source: Refugee crisis: Brought to you by Western imperialism — RT Op-Edge
A new Census Bureau report paints a bleak picture of the so-called recovery.
“We will now go up to 85,000 with at least 10,000 over the next year in Syria specifically. And in the next fiscal year we will target 100,000,” he said.In the f
Source: US to take in 85,000 refugees in 2016, and 100,000 in 2017 – Your Middle East
Details are emerging of a revolting rite of passage ceremony at an elite university that required young men to put their genitals in a dead pig and join the Tories.
One man – now in his forties – said he had strong memories of the bizarre ritual. “It felt weird – getting your dick out and swinging it around in front of the guys. The pig thing was a bit odd too,” he said.
Another man explained the ritual in more detail. “The pig’s head would be resting on your lap with your Johnson inside its mouth – so far all pretty normal. Then a guy would come up with a piece of paper and ask you to join the Conservatives. I physically vomited”.
Oxford University has refused to comment on the tradition.
Joe Hockey’s wife Melissa Babbage has confirmed that the fee for staying at her Canberra house remains at $271 a night, regardless of who is footing the bill.
The news came as a shock to Mr Hockey, who announced his retirement from politics yesterday after being dumped from the Treasurer position.
A spokesperson for Babbage said there was no reason for the tariff to be scrapped now. “Why would it change? It’s the same house, nothing’s changed. You’re not suggesting the amount was previously claimed simply because the taxpayer was paying for it? It would be strange to change the fee structure now, wouldn’t it?” she said.
She pointed out that there were other, cheaper accommodation options available in the area should Mr Hockey wish to stay in Canberra again.
Mr Hockey said he was currently searching for alternative accommodation options in Washington.
Cameron denies that he had sex with that pig.
Source: I did not have sex with that pig – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Why was this wealthy GOP presidential candidate a deadbeat?
Source: Multimillionaire Carly Fiorina Took 4 Years to Pay Staffers From Her Last Campaign | Mother Jones
A leading climate skeptic organization is worried that “pagan forms are returning to the Church.”
Source: Conservative Group Blasts the Pope: “Paganism” Has “Entered the Church” | Mother Jones
Rigorous new research provides more proof that the world is continuing to warm and claims of any slowdown are unequivocally illusory.
Source: Global warning slowdown an illusion — the world is heating up
And the West Coast’s massive drought isn’t going away anytime soon.
Source: 2015 Will Probably Be the Hottest Year on Record | Mother Jones
Palestine solidarity activists have proven they can exert pressure on Canadian politicians.
Source: Has Canada’s love affair with Israel reached its climax? | The Electronic Intifada
A monster lives among the Arabs. Its sole purpose is to terrify people from love and sex. No one has seen it, but we’ve all heard it. The monster whispers at t
Source: Love, sex and the burden of shame on the Arab woman: changing the narrative – Your Middle East
Netanyahu announced the plan at the start of a cabinet meeting, his office said. The finance ministry later said the cabinet had approved it.Israeli attorney gen
Source: Israel to bring in 20,000 Chinese construction workers – Your Middle East
Al Qaeda’s Syria affiliate and its Islamist allies execute at least 56 regime troops at a military airport they recently seized in the north-west, a monitoring group says.
Give us a sign Malcolm. You’ve made promises to the Nationals and to the right wingers….how about some promises to the Australian people? Something….anything that reassures us that we haven’t just swapped the word nope for the word hope.
What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight ? That we laugh ? Cry ? Our curiosity ? The quest for discovery ?
Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.
The government and their business backers are constantly telling us that we must support and promote entrepreneurs. Both our Prime Minister and his deputy have handed over government funds to very dubious entrepreneurs in their ministerial capacities – Malcolm as Environment Minister with his rain-making scheme and Julie as Science Minister with her magic little…
olddogthoughts 
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