KADAITCHA

“A good heavy book holds you down. It’s an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic.” – Roy Blount, Jr.

Amandarin Grindstone comes out with more detail about her language acquisition expenditure, admitting that

taxpayers had in fact picked up a $54,000 bill for her Mandarin lessons and speech coaching.

Thus, perhaps her interpreter costs would be $16,000 out of the original $70,000 said to be involved in her Chinese diplomatic linguistic efforts.

“If money had been spent for somebody to come in and just give me tutoring in a language so that I could order a gin and tonic, or go to a restaurant and order a meal, that would be fair enough to complain,” she told media outlets.

“But that’s not what it is, it’s helping with speech preparation and things”.

Does Amandarin enjoy her gin and tonics as much as she obviously does her tucker?

We await the discoveries of her Immigration ministry successor, Kevin Andrews, who is conducting

a full search for all receipts, bills, invoices and other documents relating to his predecessor’s training in the Chinese, or any other, language.

48 naughty pollies have rushed to update their investment interests since Howard called for a spring clean following the revelation of Santoro’s disastrous blunders. The miscreants include Lie-berals Malcolm Turnbull, Mal Washer, Bronwyn Bishop, Don Randall and Jo Gash, and Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen.

New parliamentary secretary for health, Brett Mason is the mischievous boy for whose declaration oversights the rodent has shown unremarkable forbearance.

Senator Mason, who was promoted to parliamentary secretary for health this week in the wake of Santo Santoro’s resignation for failing to declare share transactions, had undeclared investments dating back 18 months.

Senator Mason this week declared four new managed funds investments on the register of senators’ interests – the oldest dating back to August 2005.

Senators and MPs are required to disclose changes to their interests within 28 days.

Mr Howard said he was angry that Senator Mason had breached the rules, but said he had fixed the matter before his promotion.

With warm paternal beneficence, the prime monster has decided not to sack Mason, declaring

“I think in all of the circumstances and particularly as he has repaired the breach before he was a parliamentary secretary, as distinct from Santoro, who committed multiple breaches after becoming a minister – no.”

Apparently, unless one is a minister, undeclared monetary dealings are comfortably irrelevant, with contravention of the 28 day disclosure requirement of little import to the beleaguered rodent.

Once again, it is clear who is little Johnny’s main priority, and it isn’t the long-suffering Whorestralian people.

While the Rodent gang attack the Opposition over a mooted $4.7b spend on upgrading broadband access in Australia, including to rural areas, there has been a complete lack of fiduciary restraint on the part of Brendan Nelson in sneakily acquiring overpriced, already outdated yank military surplus to the tune of $6b. The plan has been “lashed by critics as an expensive buy”. Team Rodent’s latest fetishist foibles, the 24 Super Hornets are

designed to plug any gap in air defences that may develop between the retirement of the ageing but potent F-111 and the arrival of the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF), which Australian companies have been involved in developing.

The plan bypasses the two-pass review process introduced after the Kinnaird report on Defence procurement, with critics saying the purchase is politically motivated and inconsistent with Defence capability plans.

The Super Hornet buying frenzy is the precursor for more costly errors for Australia and windfall gains for United Stupids military corporations:

Continue reading “Optical illusions”

Pertinent questions about the type of bombs used in the 2002 Bali bombings which left over 190 dead are raised in this article by Jakarta Post Editor, investigative reporter and licensed P.I., Robert S. Finnegan. The forensic investigation was wrapped up in record time after only a week and a half.

Continue reading “What Bali Bombs?”