Last evening my grandson and his mother had to attend his school for parent teacher interviews. My boy is not an 'A' student, except at rugby, the best in the world, but so far this year he has improved and scored a good report with a couple of B's, and favourable comments from teachers, well done my boy.

This discussion is not about my grandson, but rather about Australia's number one poly student Scott (ScoMo') Morrison. Scott is in senior class at Parliamentary High in Canberra, where he managed to bump off that nice kid Malcolm Turnbull and score the school captaincy a year or two back. Malcolm left the school and has has been on 'Youth Allowance' ever since, deemed unemployable. Over the last couple of terms Scotty has been studying, Economics, Viral Medicine, Natural Disasters, Religion of course, Women's Affairs, an elective only which he wishes he didn't take, and a few other subjects you can guess for yourself.

p/s Unlike my grandson ScoMo' is not great at sport, playing second row in the grandstand for the Cronulla Sharks rugby league team, and they are not doing to well either, beaten by Anthony (Albo) Albanese's South Sydney Rabbitoh's on Saturday, a mob Albo plays Left-right-out for. Unfortunaly, Anthony has not been seen in class since May 2019. some wonder if he still attends the school. The looser at the last Captains election Bill (I can't lose) Shorten has been on permeant detention for the past two years, bad report coming for Bill.

The best Captain can't run a ship with a mutinous crew !

The final exams are just around the corner and
ScoMo has been gearing up for them. I'd say
he's well prepared - and just may do very well.
He's taking all the right steps thus far.

When an ultra-Leftist says of Morrison, "He's taking all the right steps thus far" we know there is nowhere left to go for Australia.

I'm looking forward to posters other than the Three Left Stooges starting threads. I've 'retired' for various reasons, but surely there are others out there who don't belong to the loony left or the right equivalent who can put up SHORT, knowledgeable posts that encourage sensible discussion with no grandstanding and narcissism. A lot of wise and good posters have dropped out of OLO, most with no particular obsessions or political bigotry. It's not hard to understand why.

Ah folks, You now can clearly see why some
posters choose to leave the forum.

LOL!

ttbn,

"I'm not for the left-wing
or the right-wing.
I'm for the whole bird!"

(Billy Graham).

Hi Foxy,

I don't believe our raving ratbag from the right has ever had an original thought in his life. A couple of weeks ago I made a comment about the "Three Stoogers" now look, this clown makes a comment about the "Three Stooggers". Calls you "an ultra-Leftist", on another tread concerning the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian, ttbn makes a gem of a comment; <<No Arabs - no problems.>>, obviously believes in the extermination of millions of innocent Arab men, women and children, but too gutless to tell us how it should be achieved, sounds like "final solution" stuff to me.

Before the last election the clown was trumpeting his membership and active involvement with an extreme far right political party, evident by their pathetically low vote. The party dissolved and ttbn was left out in the lurch and out of pocket. Wow takes all kinds!

As for the comment from the man; "I've 'retired' (from posting comments) for various reasons, but surely there are others out there who don't belong to the loony left or the right equivalent." I would like you to start threads, they are such a hoot! Uninteresting BS all of them.

Dear Paul,

I've found the following link which you might find interesting:

http://www.theconversation.com/pauline-hanson-built-a-political-career-on-white-victimhood-and-brought-far-right-rhetoric-to-the-mainstream-134661

cont'd ...

Dear Paul,

As for ttbn?

He is the same old sausage,
fizzing and sputtering in his own grease.

Hi Foxy,

Thanks for the link to 'The Conversation' piece on Hanson. ttbn is the classic Hansonite, believing as a white Anglo-Saxon male he and those like him are the true victims of society. Before the last election he harboured grand ideas of a white male led resurgence of "conservatism", probably imagined fearless leader Corny Banana at the head of a great torch light procession of the true believers like himself marching on parliament house to form the new "conservative" government, a sort of Australian third reich. The lads were given a slap in the face by the electorate scoring less than a half a percent of the popular vote. Poor ttbn was disillusioned, blaming defeat on the treachery of not the traditional enemy, progressive socialists, Labor and greens, but some moderate conservatives such as Morrison and others in the Liberal Party. Thus the continual whinging and whining of our poor old jock strap about Morrison, he has nothing to turn to in his hour of political need, except maybe the Lovely Pauline. I'm sure that's where he resides now.

Dear Paul,

I'm glad that you found the link on Pauline
Hanson interesting.
I did as well.

Regarding ScoMo lets not forget that he won
an unwinnable election - which just shows that
being behind in the polls is not a death
sentence. And predicting anything in politics
is risky. However there's a lesson to be learned
there. Labor ran mostly on climate change.

However voters turned out to be more interested
in prosperity and job creation then they were in
promises to clamp down on coal mining.

Politicians whether conservative or progressive
need to avoid "fashionable causes" and emphasize
the basics - economic competence, fairness for those
who try, law and order, national defense, and
national sovereignty.

Currently Labor is not offering great alternatives
to the current government's policies and actions.
I suspect that Scott Morrison and the Coalition
just may win the next election.

cont'd ...

Dear Paul,

I'd like to see Albanese replaced as leader.
But who?

Tough call.

I'd like to see Albanese replaced as leader.
Foxy,
I'd like to see the Labor Party replaced by a complement of common sense thinkers !

Common sense is not so common.

Hi Paul,

What do you think of Penny Wong?

I know she's in the Senate - but can't she change
houses?

I find her principled and pragmatic. She's concerned
with matter of fact, rather than what could or
should be. Deals with things sensibly
in a way based on practice rather than theory.

Her natural strength is policy and strategy. She's
great in the Senate. I'd love to see her in
the House of Reps.

But would she want the job? She's always said - she's
not interested. And I guess the question is -
Is Australia ready to have a gay, Asian, female, PM?

Is Australia ready to have a gay, Asian, female, PM?
Foxy,
NO !

I'm for the whole bird!"
Foxy,
Yeah, a flightless one !

flightless birds escape predators by galloping
away and fighting with their massive claws!
They're awesome!

The last thing we need is a Penny Wong as PM. She is probably the nastiest, most biased person in parliament right now.

What is it with the left. The Libs have had a couple of pretty useless nongs as PM, the worst the most recent in Turnbull, but the left have saddled us with Whitlam, Rudd & Gillard. Wong would top the whole lot of them combined, with bells on.

Dear Hassie,

Penny Wong would be great as PM. She's principled
and pragmatic. Her political judgement is acute.
She's fiercely intellectual, (yet emotional) and her
natural strength is - policy and strategy.
She's concerned with matters of fact, rather than what
could or should be.

She deals with things sensibly in a way based on
practice rather than theory.

But don't fret. She's made it quite clear she's not
interested in the top job. She's happy where she is.
And who can blame her. Why would anyone put their family
through any of it?

Foxy,
With all due respect but I think Penny Wong would be the least suitable person for PM of all.
Jacquie Lambie or Pauline Hanson would be a thousand times more suitable than Wong.
Wong, you say is intellectual. Well, therein lies the problem with all Labor & many LNP pollies.
Being intellectual means nothing more than that they have proof to have been heavily indoctrinated & know how to use Grammarly ! Principled & pragmatic you say ? She wouldn't even know the meaning of the term !
We've already had several Gits for PM, time not to let any new ones near that job !

Hi Foxy,

The wife is an ALP member, they don't like me. "T" is a big fan of Penny Wong, even though the misogynistic racists Indy would hate to see a gay, Asian, female as PM its the exclusive domain of white Anglo-Saxon males for Indy. But Indy, Penny is not one of your "Concrete Jungle Bunnies" which you called me once you knew I had both black and Aboriginal heritage.

My view is Penny Wong is very good in the roll she has successfully filled for Labor in the Senate etc for many years now. Anyway, there would be a logistical nightmare trying to move her to the lower house. Its extremely difficult for a Senator to act as PM, John Gorton found that out many years ago. The best prospect for Labor would be Tanya Plibersek, but she didn't want the Opposition Leaders job, so she certainly doesn't want to be PM. I would suggest that Federal Labor, after they lose the next election look seriously at talking Mark McGowan into making a shift to Canberra.

I actually like the straight forward politics of Jacquie Lambie, but Jacquie would be the first to admit she is not the sharpest political tool in the shed, and even a ministerial roll would be beyond her capabilities. Indy being the racists he is, his real love is Pauline Hanson, what can I say the Lovely Pauline is simply a tool, nothing else.

The old fellas Indy and Hassy are all dressed up in their spatts and straw hats, waiting for the return of Stanley Bruce! Stanley is their kinda guy!

Hi Paul,

I also like Jacqui Lambie. She's a straight shooter.

As for Indy and Hassie?

Not sure who they'd like as PM.

Their kind of PM might have been Alfred Deakin, from
a historical viewpoint. And then onto -
Menzies, later on to John Howard and Tony Abbott.
But I'm just guessing.

Nah Foxy,

Stanley is definitely their kinda guy, the Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, I kid you not, that was his title. Sir Stanley was the last National PM of Australia. Even in 1929 poor old Sir Stanley was out of fashion, still wearing spats and a straw boater (hat), not seen on a man since WWI. Prime Minister Bruce called the 1929 election, then promptly boarded a ship and headed off to London, believing it was unsavoury for the PM of the day to sully himself with electioneering matters, that's where he was when the result was announced. Not only did Sir Stanley lose the election in the face of an all mighty depression, he also lost his seat, not achieved by a PM until Little Johnny Howard did it years later. Sir Stanley made Sir Robert look like a positive radical, there is no doubt he would get the Indy and Hassy votes, definatly their kinda guy!

Just to add, during the Great Depression Bruce was a wholehearted supporter of the Niemeyer edict (Sir Otto Niemeyer the Bank of England rep in Australia) which demanded a totally austere economic program from the Australian and State governments, NSW had a larger budget at the time than the Commonwealth. Wages were to be cut, all capital works expenditure to be curtailed etc etc. Above all Sir Otto demanded cash payments were to be made on time, no repudiation, to British bond holders, Australia had borrowed heavily from England to support the British Empire during WWI and was repaying with premium interest, much higher than say Canada.

The Niemeyer edict was opposed by the Primer of NSW Jack Lang, with his 'Lang Plan' which called for greater government expenditure to create employment, sound familiar, and a moratorium on loan repayments. This infuriated the British and eventually the Crowns representative in NSW Sir Phillip Game sacked the democratically elected Lang. The rest is history. Sir Otto had the same political philosophy as an Indy or Hassy.

My "kind" of PM would be one that can see through the racist & insidious vindictive, other-blaming, integrity-devoid Paul1405's of this World.
A PM that realises the waste of resources on such people who happily take up so-called "stolen land" but perpetually pointing the finger at those who settled here & have been paying one of the most costly leases on the Planet ever since.
A PM with the conviction of righting wrong being done now, instead of letting him/herself being distracted by the pontificated wrongs of the past blamers association under el Presidente Paul the 1405th!

Dear Paul,

I'm impressed by your knowledge of Australian PMs.
Well done - and more please.

I always find it amusing when someone from the far left fringe creates a "report card" on conservative politicians. The biggest problem for Pauliar is that Morrison is so far ahead in popularity and policy than any greens candidate that by comparison with Morrison the entire lot would get F's for just about everything.

I believe that Lambie doesn't have the IQ to suit anything other than the peanut gallery. Penny Wong would struggle to move from the senate to the house and Tanya is too far to the left to win the centre.

Shadow Minister,

There's no accounting for a voters taste. Pauline
Hanson was voted in and there are quite a few other
politicians who one may well wonder - "How on earth
did they get here."

We've also had world leaders
who surprisingly did well in their jobs despite
their lack of so called "credentials." As we know there
are a lot of skills that are not taught but that are
needed to handle difficult situations and some people
simply have those skills - other don't no matter how
many tertiary qualifications they may have.

Anyway, at the moment it looks like our current PM
is doing a good job and there does not appear to be
a challenger for his job from the Opposition.

But who knows what will happen over the next couple of
months. We'll have to wait and see.

When options are poor, people simply opt for the least poor option !

People usually have a strong tendency to vote for
candidates in their preferred party in most elections
and they are inclined to support policies endorsed by
the particular party.

Hi Foxy,

From memory; Joseph Cook, later PM himself, was the first Australian minister to be sent overseas in an official capacity, in about 1904, I think he was then Trade Minister in the George Reid Free Trade party government. Poor old Cookie made it to San Francisco aboard a steamer, all on his lonesome, no PS or such with him. A couple of months later Cookie cabled the Australian government with something like; "Please send funds for my return, I am destitute and living in a most unsatisfactory condition in a undesired boarding house. I do not have private means to support myself. My previous requests to your good self for funds have as yet not been met." Cookie did eventually make it back to Australia, somehow.

Dear Paul,

There are many characteristics of political
leadership that people discuss - strength,
courage, wisdom, vision, judgement, responsiveness
and so on. Having a sense of entitlement is
something that many take for granted as your
story shows. We can only laugh at these
larrikins today.

Today a genuine political leader must be able to
correctly identify the main causes of the
social and economic circumstances (including the
causes of their suffering). This is necessary for
vision and action.

cont'd ...

What we need most is a leader who tells it like
it is and matches that with vision and action.

Hi Paul,

One more thing - there's an entire group of
young politicians from both sides of
politics entering Canberra that should give
us re-assurance about this country's future.
There's the old saying - "change the politicians,
you change the nation." (or words to that effect).

Instead of continuing with the "pale, male, and
stale," brands of the past young pollies like -
Claire Chandler, Phil Thompson, Anika Wells,
Nita Green, Julian Simmonds, Kate Thwaite, to mention
just a few - are encouraging. Fingers-crossed.

support policies endorsed by the particular party.
Foxy,
That's Labor's only Grace because if it were down to policies they'd be history !

Hi again Foxy,

What we don't need is crusty old "Yesterdays Men" running the show, people with no foresight or imagination for the future, simply hanging on to power for powers sake. There are some good progressive men and women on both sides of the political divide.

Shonky made disparaging remarks about Jacqui Lambie, "I (shonkyminister) believe that Lambie doesn't have the IQ to suit anything other than the peanut gallery." Given the opportunity I most likely would not vote for Lambie, but people like her make a valuable contribution to the body politic of our nation. She may not have the public schoolboy aplomb, or the elite swagger of a grub like Porter, but she does try to tell it like it is. Shonky would much prefer a Laming, a Johnsen or a Porter because they are his kinda guys!

Hi Paul,

I admire Jacqui Lambie for telling it like it is.
and trying to match that with action. Especially
her fighting for Veteran's rights and their
families.

Pauliar,

You couldn't get any more "yesterday" than Labor and the greens pedalling 1950's failed socialist drivel.

Foxy,

Lambie might do well on single populist issues, but she is largely clueless on 99% of the legislative agenda.