Are these the polls that count...

... or the polls the government counts on?

Coalition polling has started to go south already! The new government's combination of apparently doing nothing for a time, then fumbling a number of critical policy issues once they had surfaced post-election, putting a key regional relationship under the hammer as a result of their hesitant reaction... and, lately going all secretive in their interface with electors, must have weighed heavily on their credibility(?)

Is that persistent background 'whirr' in my head a spot of tinnitus affecting my own hearing... or, the sound of leadership buzz-saws limbering up in the right wing?

 

Ashes to ashes?

This arvo, I heard that Michael Clarke has been charged by the ICC with sledging during yesterday's early wind-up of the first test at the Gabba. The naughty word he used was bleeped on this morning's TV news so, I too have sanitized my cartoon by substituting a visual gesture for Clarke's phonetic gymnastics.

Did they do this sort of crap back in Bradman's day? I think not.

What I do on a rainy day...

Stay in-doors doing cartoons of course.

Tomorrow, a brother-in-law has a birthday, so I put together a one-page e-Card for the occasion this morning.

Good news for Victorian crooks?

According to a recent news report, Victorian prisons, other 'correctional' facilities and, even Police holding cells, are bursting at the seams with little or no prospect of relief in the near to medium future. I imagine other states may be suffering the same problems... with the hairy chested (but, thick-headed) variety of 'law and order' politicians generally rampant in Australia at the moment?

An immediate reaction might be to apply a 'by-pass' system to delivery of convicted felons, similar to that used to divert emergency ambulances from grossly overflowing hospitals? Except that, every other form if incarceration is chock-a-block as well.

They'll be wanting to resurrect ye olde English HULKS next ... whilst maybe 'foxing' around to find some god-forsaken patch of unclaimed land unto which our surplus convicts might be ... er... transported perhaps?

Billy the blind miner's dog.

Ms Gillard (who was she again?) has joined in the spy controversy, giving her audience some words of wisdom on behalf of the group driving the Ozbus when it actually ran over Indonesian sensibilities.

Not that it hasn't been zig-zagging all over community feelings since being driven by the new outfit.

I spy ...

As the spying drama remains topic of the day ... here's a bird's-eye view.

OK...it's a mess! Moving on...

Spying on 'friends' is probably considered pure bastardry by ordinary people of any nationality. But, only if you get caught!

That Australia has done both is patently obvious to anyone with half a brain. Despite the smoke-screen about everyone does it, so that makes it 'alright', own up and move on ... before the collateral damage really gets out of hand!

BTW... make sure any demonstration of regret doesn't result in another dose of unintended embarrassment for all concerned.