The Hubris of Tony Abbott

The ancient Greeks called it hubris (ὕβρις) and back then it was considered one of the most abhorrent offences one could commit. It referred to actions that shamed and humiliated the victim for the pleasure or gratification of the abuser. In its modern use, hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance, often associated with a lack of humility. Whatever you call it - arrogance, presumption, hubris, pride - Tony Abbott is its very personification. 

It's that Simple

The lead-up to the Australian election in September has well and truly begun and the difference between the two contenders, Julia Gillard (Yay!) and Tony Abbott (Boo!), couldn't be more marked.  #auspol

Obsolete Men

In an article titled “Babies from Bone Marrow” appearing in Discover magazine, it was reported that “the North East England Stem Cell Institute just took a step toward rendering men obsolete”:

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/babies-from-bone-marrow

One Trick Tony

Tony Abbott (aka One Trick Tony - for his relentless negativity), the ultra-conservative, rightist leader of the opposition in the Australian Parliament, is running out of puff.

Advice for Tony Abbott from Niccolò Machiavelli

“The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler

is to look at the men he has around him.”

- Niccolò Machiavelli

I rest my case!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/23/2499270.htm

Tony Abbott's Minions

Is it just me? Am I the only person in Australia who sees Tony Abbott for the truly dangerous, self-serving, Machiavellian manipulator that he is? His minions are all lining-up to kiss his a*se. I won’t be joining them!  #auspol

Machiavellian Tony Abbott

“Machiavellian” - synonyms listed at http://thesaurus.com/browse/machiavellian #auspol

Barry O'Farrell's Second Crossing

The construction of a second airport for Sydney has been a contentious issue for many years. The present airport has been at capacity and beyond for a considerable period of time and an additional airport is desperately required. Because of the potential loss of votes in an electorate where such a facility would be established, the politically conservative Premier of New South Wales, Barry O’Farrell, recently proposed that Sydney’s second airport be located in Canberra, the capital city of the Australian Capital Territory, to be linked to Sydney via a Very Fast Train (VFT) service. If approved, not only will the new airport not be in Sydney, it won’t even be in New South Wales. It will be hundreds of kilometers away, in Canberra! And the VFT will cost gazillions of dollars to construct – if it ever is. It’s yet another exercise in cynicism from the rightist O’Farrell government. All that concerns them is winning electoral seats in Sydney’s south-west and north-west, where the more sane proposals for construction of the second airport are located. Which brings me to this cartoon. I couldn’t help but wonder, when Premier O’Farrell recently proposed a new harbour crossing for Sydney, if he is intending that it too be located in Canberra!

Fred Nile's Legacy

He has also been called a bitter, twisted, hate-filled, homophobic bigot.

Tony Abbott Revealed

Tony Abbott, the ultra-conservative, rightist Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Federal Parliament has been quoted as saying of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, “Julia Gillard won't lie down and die”. He has also been linked, through association, with similarly violent, thuggish comments about Julia Gillard such as, “Ditch the Witch” and “Juliar (sic) . . . Bob Brown’s B*tch” (see pic below). Such threatening, misogynistic pronouncements from this overtly intimidating bully-boy should not come as any great surprise to the Australian electorate. The man is an embarrassment. Go and sit on the naughty step, Tony! He has no policies of his own. His entire raison d’être would appear to be trashing the lawfully elected government of Australia, solely for his own political gain. The poodle’s comment in this cartoon, relative to disrupting parliament, relates to the Opposition’s farcical practice of constantly disrupting Parliament by bringing motions for the suspension of standing orders each day. Why do they do it, when they know full well they don’t have the numbers? Well, they do it so as to prevent the parliamentary press corps from hearing about the Gillard government’s excellent policies during question time. Oh, and also so they can sit on the Treasury benches for a few fleeting moments. Pathetic! How much are we, the Australian electorate, paying Abbott and his goons with our hard-earned tax-payer dollars, just so they can play these silly, time wasting games at our expense? #auspol

The REAL Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott's Politics

Google "Tony Abbot Slash and Burn" and you'll see what I mean.

Villainous Peter Jensen

The Most Reverend Peter Jensen is the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Australia. His restrictive, ultra-conservative brand of evangelical Christianity is what drove him to make reference to himself as a villain and an idiot, in terms of popular culture. He opposes the ordination of female priests, opposes the consecration of female bishops, opposes stem cell research, and opposes absolutely anything whatsoever to do with the equal rights of the law-abiding, tax-paying, gay and lesbian citizens of Australia:

http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s2701075.htm

Castro's Comment

Far be it from me to disagree:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/25/fidel-castro-idiocy-us-republicans

Tony Abbott's Dummy Spit

Tony Abbott and his not-so-merry band of rightist conservatives lost the last election and they're not happy about it. Well, get over it, guys! You lost! Julia won! Accept it! We're sick to death of hearing your interminable moaning and whinging. It's so unbecoming!

The Reverend Fred Nile

The Reverend Fred Nile is an Australian clergyman and politician within the New South Wales Legislative Council. He has clearly never heard of the separation of powers. He is vehemently opposed to homosexuality and is widely known for his spiteful, venomous, ongoing campaign against the law-abiding, tax-paying, gay and lesbian citizens of Australia. He contends that homosexuality is a “lifestyle choice” that is “immoral, unnatural and abnormal”. I wonder what Jesus - who never once mentioned homosexuality - would make of the bitterly misanthropic pronouncements of The Reverend Fred Nile and his ilk. 

Tony Abbott - The Abominable No Man

Tony Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament. He is known for his consistently negative outlook and has several nicknames including "The Mad Monk" (because he once studies unsuccessfully for the Catholic priesthood), "Abbott the Wrecker" (because wrecking is what he does best in the political sense) and "The Abominable No Man" (because of his consistent negativity). His brand of politics is overtly conservative and he has been quoted as saying that he feels threatened by gay people. Yep, he's a real charmer alright! NOT!

Tony Abbott's Gorilla Gait

And yes, he does walk like a gorilla, with an intellect to match! Heaven help us if he ever becomes our Prime Minister!

Log Cabin Republicans

Bear with me, I'm Australian. I have a limited knowledge of American politics, mostly gleaned via the pages of my weekly Time magazine subscription. I thought I had a cursory understanding of the subject - who were the good guys and who were the baddies - until I came across the Log Cabin Republicans, an organisation of gay and lesbian Republicans. The term "Gay Republican" sounded somewhat oxymoronic to me. I wondered why a gay person would willingly choose to align him/herself with a rightist party, stacked to the gunnels with sexist bigots and religious zealots. To each his own, I guess. 

The Simian Peter Jensen

The Attention-Seeking Peter Jensen

Archbishop Peter Jensen is the Anglican Primate of Sydney. Among other things, he is opposed to the ordination of female priests and the consecration of female bishops. He also opposes gay equal rights and stem cell research. He is extremely outspoken in expressing his negative views.

Alan Jones Revealed

"Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones" is the unauthorised biography of Sydney radio broadcaster Alan Jones, written by highly respected Australian author and investigative journalist Chris Masters. To quote Alan Jones' Wikipedia page: "Extracts of the book published in The Sydney Morning Herald concentrated largely on Jones' sexuality, questionable behaviour while Senior English Master at The King's School and the 'cottaging' incident in a London public toilet. The book claims that Jones is a homosexual and that his denial of this is 'a defining feature of the Jones persona'." Not that Jones' sexuality should be anyone's business but his own. The operative word here, however, is "denial". His choice to remain in the closet, I guess. That is, of course, presuming that Masters' claims are correct. Personally, I find Jones' shrilly outspoken and extremely aggressive, xenophobic hate-mongering, to be by far the more unattractive aspect of his personality. Following the 2005 Cronulla race riots in Sydney, "The NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal upheld a complaint of racial vilification against Jones and (radio station) 2GB on 21 December 2009. The tribunal said: 'His comments about Lebanese males in their vast numbers hating Australia and raping, pillaging and plundering the country, about a national security crisis, and about the undermining of Australian culture by vermin were reckless hyperbole calculated to agitate and excite his audience without providing them with much in the way of solid information'." (Wikipedia)

It's an abomination!

And it’s not only the keeping of slaves that’s endorsed by the Bible. Here are some other teachings of the Bible that you may not have been aware of:

* Children who swear at their parents should be put to death. (Leviticus 20:9)

* If a couple have sex while the woman is having her period, they should be deported. (Leviticus 20:18)

* It’s OK to keep slaves and make them your property. (Leviticus 25:44-45)

* Men are forbidden to have haircuts and trim their beards. (Leviticus 19:27)

* It is forbidden to eat pork. (Leviticus 11:7)

* You’re not allowed to plant two crops in one field and cannot wear combined fabric blends such as polyester/cotton. (Leviticus 19:19)

* It is an abomination to eat prawns (shrimp), lobsters, oysters and other shellfish (Leviticus 11:10-12)

* It is an abomination (same as eating prawns) for two men to have sex together (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13)

And we haven't even touched on the circumcision thing. I trust you’ve all been circumcised.

Why have we selectively discarded most of this and only retained the homophobic references?

Certainly, all of the above quotations are from the Old Testament. But Saint Paul also condemns homosexuality in the New Testament in his writings at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Romans 1:26-27. It must be remembered that Paul was not one of  the original twelve disciples chosen by Jesus. He never knew Jesus. Paul converted to Christianity after Jesus had been crucified. Up until then, he'd been actively engaged in the persecution of Christians. It would appear that his default personality type was discriminatory and persecutory. If he had known Jesus personally, perhaps he may not have been quite so quick to judge and condemn.

The four Gospels are the true jewel in the crown of Christianity. It’s in the Gospels that we read the authentic message and very words of Jesus himself. And let us not forget that Jesus NEVER once mentioned homosexuality. If it is such an abomination, as claimed in Leviticus, why did Jesus never mention it?

The Insightful Peter Jensen

Sydney's Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen has been making yet more of his inane, vacuous, homophobic pronouncements. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I wonder what Jesus would make of him.

Sarah Palin's Presidency

Another cartoon drawn at the time of the 2008 American Presidential election. Even though Sarah Palin has not yet thrown her hat into the ring for 2012, I understand she is presently touring the United States in a bus. No-one seems to know quite sure why. Will she be running again? If so, will she settle for second-best this time around, or will she be aiming for the Top Job? Maybe her bus tour is just a red herring and she has no interest in running again. I guess time will undoubtedly tell. This cartoon, with its defibrillator reference, was particularly relevant in 2008, when Sarah Palin was running with John McCain, a man with a cardiovascular history. I fear there may be many more of us requiring defibrillation if she is chosen as the GOPs contender in 2012. Surely they wouldn't do that! Would they? Fingers crossed!

Proud Ego

Gone Huntin' with Sarah Palin

I drew this cartoon at the time of the 2008 American Presidential election, when Sarah Palin first strode onto the world stage as John McCain's Vice-Presidential running mate. Most of us here in the far-flung antipodean south had not heard of her before then. And what an alarming picture of contemporary America she personified for us non-Americans. I remember being very concerned at the time about John McCain's well publicised heart condition, presenting the potential nightmare scenario of Sarah Palin being literally just a heart-beat away from the American Presidency, should John McCain happen to suffer a heart attack whilst in office. Which would arguably make Sarah Palin the most powerful person on earth. That's a prospect just too scary to contemplate, in my humble opinion. I acknowledge American Pulitzer Prize winning author, Annie Proulx, for the reference to balls and apples. It comes from her iconic short story "Brokeback Mountain", of which I am a great fan. The exact quote reads as follows:

"Shot a coyote just first light," he (Ennis) told Jack the next evening, sloshing his face with hot water, lathering up soap and hoping his razor had some cut left in it, while Jack peeled potatoes. "Big son of a bitch. Balls on him size a apples. I bet he'd took a few lambs. Looked like he could a eat a camel."

Jonestown

I drew a couple of satirical cartoons about Sydney radio shock-jock, Alan Jones, after reading Chris Masters' highly acclaimed exposé, "Jonestown - The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones".

Applause for Tony Abbott

I acknowledge Phillip Coorey's column in the Sydney Morning Herald on 16 May 2011 for giving me the idea for this cartoon. In the same column, Phillip Coorey also observed that if Julia Gillard got married, Tony Abbott would call it a stunt. It's all part of Abbott the Wrecker's destructive, slash and burn brand of politics. Attila the Hun had nothing on Tony Abbott!

Anglican Primate Peter Jensen

Archbishop Peter Jensen, the Anglican Primate of Sydney, is opposed to the ordination of women priests and the consecration of women bishops. He is also opposed to stem cell research, even when it provides sight for the blind and enables the wheelchair-bound to walk. And what he thinks of gays and lesbians probably doesn't bear mentioning in a polite blog such as this. I wonder what Jesus would make of him?

Tony Abbott's Statesmanship

Tony Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives. That's his part-time job. Being a great big tantrum-throwing sook is his full-time occupation. So much so, his previous nickname, "The Mad Monk" (because he once unsuccessfully studied for the Catholic priesthood) has been superseded by the more succinct, "Abbott the Wrecker", primarily because his only viable "policy" appears to be mindlessly trashing everything the Government proposes. Abbott and his party lost the last election and they're not happy about it. Well, get over it, guys! You lost! Julia won! Accept it! We're sick to death of hearing your interminable moaning and whinging.

Julia Gillard's Pet Poodle

Before Julia Gillard became Prime Minister of Australia, when she was still the Deputy Prime Minister, she famously referred to Christopher Pyne, the Manager of Opposition Business in Australia's House of Representatives, in somewhat less than glowing terms. Under the banner headline "Gillard Labels Pyne 'Mincing Poodle'", here's how Australia's revered ABC News reported the event: 

The Federal Government has spent question time taunting the Opposition over its recent infighting. Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard mocked the Coalition for choosing Christopher Pyne as the manager of opposition business, rather than Tony Abbott, who did the job in Government. "In a choice between macho and mincing I would have gone for macho myself," she said. "The leader of the Opposition faced with the choice of a doberman or the poodle has gone for the poodle." 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/23/2499270.htm

Persona Non Grata Peter Akinola

Peter Akinola is the decidedly UN-Christian Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria. Another one who has clearly never heard of the separation of Church and State.


To quote from Wikipedia: In September 2006, the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria, headed by Akinola, issued a Message to the Nation, taking up ten political controversies in Nigeria, among them a bill regarding same-sex relationships: "The Church commends the law-makers for their prompt reaction to outlaw same-sex relationships in Nigeria and calls for the bill to be passed since the idea expressed in the bill is the moral position of Nigerians regarding human sexuality." The bill in question, as well as criminalising same-sex marriage, also proposed to criminalise "Registration of Gay Clubs, Societies and organizations" and "Publicity, procession and public show of same-sex amorous relationship through the electronic or print media physically, directly, indirectly or otherwise", on penalty of up to 5 years of imprisonment. The proposed legislation was formally challenged by the United States State Department as a breach of Nigeria's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Some western supporters justify the legislation on the basis that it does not support the stoning to death of homosexuals under the Sharia code.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Akinola

Barack & Michelle Obama on the cover of New Yorker Magazine

Out of the mouths of babes . . .  

Labels

Ann Coulter's Envy

Fred Nile's Camouflage

The Reverend Fred Nile is a clergyman and also a Member of Parliament in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He has clearly never heard of the separation of powers! He is an outspoken homophobe, who has been attending Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras Parade for many years, in order to pray for rain (I'm not making this up!). In the past 30 years, I have known it to rain on only a couple of occasions. Mostly, the parade occurs on a gloriously starry-skied, clear,  full-summer night. I'm not sure whose  prayers God is listening to, but it certainly doesn't appear to be those of Fred Nile. Oh, and yes, he does have very big, bushy eyebrows.

Gordon Ramsay's Forte

Go sit on the naughty step, Gordon!

Gay or Androphile?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo & Juliet (Act II, Scene II)

William Shakespeare

Gordon Ramsay's Sex Appeal

Ah, "Celebrity Chef", my favourite oxymoron.

Gay Adoption

Elton John in Tobago

Lipstick Economics

And while we're on the theme of lipstick, who could ever forget this incident from the 2008 American Presidential election? 

Pitbull with Lipstick

Who could ever forget this notorious incident from the 2008 American Presidential election?

What a Dump!

Meanwhile, overheard at a somewhat lacklustre Roman orgy near you - The man is exclaiming in Latin "Quid gurgustium" ("What a dump"), to which the woman appears to be concurring by responding "Me transmitte sursum Caledoni" ("Beam me up, Scotty"). 

Papal Platitudes

Surely The Pope's time and energies could be more constructively utilized in realizing  The Vatican's fabulous wealth for the betterment of humankind, rather than in merely delivering hollow, platitudinous missives. 

Tony Abbott Under Threat

Tony Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives. He is known for his rightist leanings and anti-gay, homophobic sentiments. Last year he infamously stated that he felt threatened by gay people. Because he once studied unsuccessfully for the Catholic priesthood, he has been given the nickname "The Mad Monk" by his critics.

Mike Huckabee's Opinion

I drew this cartoon at the time of the 2008 American Presidential election. Mike Hackabee suffered from Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome back then and it would appear that not much has changed in the intervening years. Not if this week's Time magazine is any indication. In it, Mike Huckabee is quoted as stating that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and was sympathetic to the "anticolonialism" of the Mau Mau rebellion. Then, backtracking, he said he simply meant to imply that Obama had a "different world view," having been raised in Indonesia. "Most of us grew up going to boy scout meetings, and our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrasahs." Of course, Obama was raised in neither Kenya nor Indonesia (where he did spend four years) but in Hawaii, by his Kansas Republican grandparents. He was a Boy Scout. He didn't attend a madrasah. There are a multitude of Rotary Clubs in both Indonesia and Hawaii. And about the anticolonialism business, isn't that why Americans, especially the Teasies, adore the Founding Fathers? At least he's leaving the gays alone this time around. We should be grateful for that, I guess.

Acknowledgement:

"In the Arena"

Joe Kline

Time Magazine: South Pacific Edition

21 March 2011

Consul Sarah Palin

Drawn at the time of the 2008 US Presidential election.

Desalination

Groan! That's a lame one. My apologies.