The Bet

I will copy this little exchange here in the highly probable likelihood that Mr Bob Ellis refuses to make good on his $10,000 bet that Tony Abbott will face prosecution by August.  I have earmarked this money for my daughter's new bedroom so I will not take a refusal to pay lightly. 

spleenblatt May 4, 2012 at 11:07 am

Abbott is no more likely to face prosecution for his links to Murdoch than Joe Hockey is to have an intelligent, original thought. And enticing as it is to contemplate the ignominy of a bewildered, indignant, unshaven and handcuffed Rupert Murdoch being eased into a Fed’s car for an interminably long and silent ride to a minimum security white collar prison, I fear such a scene will only ever unravel as a dream sequence in your Murdoch script.

Reply

• Bob Ellis May 4, 2012 at 2:24 pm

  ‘No more likely’, you say.

  Do you want a thousand dollars on it?

  Reply
  • Bob Ellis May 4, 2012 at 9:09 pm

    Please answer this.

    Reply
    • spleenblatt May 4, 2012 at 9:28 pm

      Make it ten thousand – I’m good for it. Are you ?

      Reply
      • spleenblatt May 5, 2012 at 2:24 pm

        Please answer this.

        Reply
        • Untitled, 1966May 5, 2012 at 2:42 pm

          Spleenblatt – do you have dinner plans?

          Pick you up at 7 sharp.
          
        • Bob Ellis May 6, 2012 at 2:35 am

          Ten thousand is fine, Abbott is now enmeshed with Brough and Pyne and Ashby and will not be leader by August. Done?
        • spleenblatt May 6, 2012 at 10:23 am

          Ok, so that’s the bet. Abbott toppled by August. In the docks in the subsequent months. 

On the fallout from the Mel Gibson affair, this thought provoking missive from Terrance.  


We await its fate.


May 1, 2012 at 11:27 am

You are unquestionably a great and gifted writer, polemicist and raconteur. You have added immeasurably to the body politic and to a better Australia. You have done this in media platforms – film, theatre, books, plays, and essays.

But you are also a classic shit stirrer and I suspect (I could be wrong) that you like to inflame, challenge, stir and rankle.
Okay, so I may have gone over the top, as have others. But is there nothing you have written you regret? Did you not apologise about an accusation over Newspoll in Qld? Are there not times when you’ve though you may have let anger or ire or disgust cloud your missives?

Our falling out, if it can be called that, was over Gibson. Frankly, I don’t understand your zealous defence of him, but that’s what debate is about. I find the man evil and dangerous and you find a man whose drunken words should be excused.

And hence you seek to ban me. Fine, I’ll live. But there an issue here worth discussing, and that is how you frame your polemic with challenging words like “prove me wrong” and then tell others to f**k off and use terms like moron et cetera.

So I say that this is good, enjoyable, entertaining and robust debate. Set some rules about language and the like, but surely you don’t want a website full of sycophants and toads, you want a site that is lively, engaging, annoying, angry and addictive?

To the Ellis challenge of the day - 'Say what Labor policies are wrong'

This posting by Frank.  We await its fate. 

Frank May 1, 2012 at 1:46 pm

A message from distant Siberia…. 

1.. Carbon Tax – “There will be no carbon tax under the Government I lead.”
2.. NBN – $50 billion but no cost-benefit analysis
3.. Building the Education Revolution – The school halls fiasco
4.. Home Insulation Plan (Pink Batts) – Dumped
5. Citizens Assembly – Dumped
6.. Cash for Clunkers – Dumped
7.. Hospital Reform – Nothing
8.. Digital set-top boxes – Cheaper at Harvey Norman
9.. Emissions Trading Scheme – Abandoned
10. Mining Tax – Continuing uncertainty for our miners
11. Livestock export ban to Indonesia – Over-reaction
12. Detention Centres – Riots & cost blow-outs
13. East Timor ‘solution’ – Announced before agreed
14. Malaysia ‘solution’ – Still not agreed
15. Manus Island ‘solution’ – On the backburner
16.. Computers in Schools – $1.4 billion blow out; less than half delivered
17. Cutting Red Tape – 12,835 new regulations, only 58 repealed
18. Asia Pacific Community – Another expensive Rudd frolic. Going nowhere
19. Green Loans Program – Abandoned. Only 3.5% of promised loans delivered
20. Solar Homes & Communities plan – Shut down after $534 million blow out
21. Green Car Innovation Fund – Abandoned
22. Solar Credits Scheme – Scaled back
23. Green Start Program – Scrapped
24. Retooling for Climate Change Program – Abolished
25. Childcare Centres – Abandoned. 260 promised, only 38 delivered
26. Take a “meat axe”’ to the Public Service – 24,000 more public servants
27. Murray Darling Basin Plan – back to the drawing board
28. 2020 Summit – Meaningless talkfest
29. Tax Summit – Deferred and downgraded
30. Population Policy – Sets no targets
31. Fuel Watch – Abandoned
32. Grocery Choice – Abandoned
33. $900 Stimulus cheques – Sent to dead people and overseas residents
34. Foreign Policy – In turmoil with Rudd running riot
35. National Schools Solar Program – Closing two years early
36. Solar Hot Water Rebate – Abandoned
37. Oceanic Viking – Caved in
38. GP Super Clinics – 64 promised, only 11 operational
39. Defence Family Healthcare Clinics – 12 promised, none delivered
40. Trade Training Centres – 2650 promised, 70 operational
41. Bid for UN Security Council seat – An expensive Rudd frolic
42.. MySchool Website – Revamped but problems continue
43. National Curriculum – States in uproar
44. Small Business Superannuation Clearing House – 99% of small businesses reject it
45. Indigenous Housing Program – way behind schedule
46. Rudd Bank – Went nowhere
47. Using cheap Chinese fabrics for ADF uniforms – Ditched
48. Innovation Ambassadors Program – junked
49. Six Submarines – none operational
50. Debt limit to be increased to $250 billion – to pay for all of this and much more