Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’

Tourism New Zealand should advertise itself as a preferred destination for asylum seekers - Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Obama Fan Club Letterhead

Newsletter from Australia

White House,
Washington DC.,

5th March 2010

Dear Mr President,

It’s been a terrible week here and I feel so sorry for poor Kevin.

I know its been such a strain on him claiming to be perfect all the time but I’m having trouble suddenly adjusting to the fact he’s stuffed up.

You know how Tony Abbott’s always going on about what a non-event he is, well Kevin’s started to agree with him.

As I said to Neville this is just like his mother agreeing with everything I say about her, the old cow. Oops, sorry I always get carried away when I think about her.

Kevin is admitting his mob have totally ballsed up the home insulation scheme, hospitals and supplying school kids with computers. Next he’ll be thanking Tony for helping him understand what a failure he is.

It’s a good job you’re coming to visit him because I’m sure it will help give him a bit of confidence back. Why don’t you tell him when you did that mea culpa stuff in Europe and the Middle East it only helped people understand that the US was as bad as they’d always thought it was.

By the way while you’re here please don’t mention the ETS. Now you’re not doing one it will only make Kevin feel like a bit of a goose.

We’re still hopeful that you can visit the Club.The local bakery has promised us buns with stars and stripes icing.

I’m pretty sure the Eels have got a home game while you’re here. Neville and I are both members so there would be no problem getting you good tickets.

This week the Club’s World Affairs Think Tank tackled one of the most profound issues facing this region “What is New Zealand’s future role in world affairs?” I wasn’t prepared for what followed.

Cyril reckoned it is the ideal place to test Tony Abbott’s latest idea for tackling global warming, a huge snow-making machine.

Marge said it should become the next centre for world terrorism and give the Middle East a chance to settle things down a bit.

Our Mavis’ Bert saw the country as the centre for another major initiative against global warming, the grass diet. Twenty-two million sheep can’t be wrong. He reckoned that the New Zealand diet is an issue which has been eating away at sheep for some time.

Mildred believed New Zealand offered the ideal environment for the world’s leading sex addiction academy. She should know, she’s a qualified instructor.

Ron thought it should be declared a Peter Garrett free zone because it was already insulated from the rest of the world.

Doris suggested that the Australian Government should launch an advertising campaign in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka promoting New Zealand as the preferred destination for asylum seekers.

Fred was convinced that New Zealand’s future role in world affairs was similar to having your head in the sand at the end of a bungee jump.

I summed it all up by saying that my Kiwi mates would never speak to me again if they heard what had been said. And please don’t mention anything to Kevin.

Till next week,

Gaelene Woo
President

High-powered international diplomacy - Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Story No: 21

George was away in the UK so I was treating myself to a lie-in when the dog-and-bone rang in my kennel. It had to be George. He was the only one who knew the number.

‘Hi Barney’ he said ‘sorry to bark at you so early in the morning’

George had cracked that funny at least a dozen times previously and still thought it was hilarious.

Actually the call was useful because it reminded me I still hadn’t developed a cunning plan to send my phone number to that bitch at the Clinton’s

‘I’m having trouble over here with Tony Blair and his gang’ said George ‘and I need a bit of advice’

I was very proud of my iron self-control. I resisted the temptation to say ‘I told you so’ and ‘you should never have got involved with that Labor bunch of limeys in the first place’

‘They’re doing a bit of backsliding on Iraq’ George went on ‘Tony’s getting depressed about the whole thing, the British public’s on his clacker and one of his ministers, Gordon Brown, is trying to bully me. What should I do?’

‘I think you should take a deep breath’ I said ‘and go and get tickets for the Arsenal versus Manchester United game’

The Gordon Brown thing surprised me. I had only encountered him once and as he was a Scot and a bit of a terrier like me I was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. But trying to bully George was simply not to be tolerated.

‘First of all George’ I said ‘tell Gordon Brown that if he doesn’t stop behaving like Mel Gibson in Braveheart the CIA will get Mossad to steal his passport and arrange for it to be found in a pair of Scottish y-fronts at the scene of a wild sex party for Latvian cross-dressers’

‘Then tell Tony Blair to stop listening to his wife and the union movement and send all those Pakistani clerics back home. Make him understand if he doesn’t pull his finger out the UK will soon overtake Afghanistan as the centre of world terrorism.

‘Is that all?’ asked George

‘That’s not half of it’ I said ‘then go and see the Queen and tell her to summon Tony and give him the biggest bollocking of his life and inject some British Bulldog Spirit into him. Scottish terriers understand all about that’

‘Ok thanks Barney’ said George

‘Hold on George’ I said ‘then take Tony out to dinner and get him absolutely hammered on the sauce. Next get the CIA to pick him up, take him to a massage parlour and get some really sordid photos. Finally they should write to him enclosing the photos and threatening to send a copy of everything to the Mirror if he doesn’t deliver on Iraq. Welcome to the world of high-powered international diplomacy’

‘I’m shocked’ said George ‘there can’t be anything else’

‘Oh yes’ I said ‘please pass on my regards to the Queen’s corgis while you’re at the Palace. We exchange emails about the privations of being owned by Heads of State’

‘There can’t be more’ said George

‘And most important of all’ I said ‘make sure that Arsenal wins. Goodbye George’

GWB plans 04 election strategy - Friday, February 26th, 2010

Story No. 20

‘Look George’ I said ‘it’s time you took the 2004 presidential election seriously’

There was less than a year to go and I was worried that George was resting on his 9/11 laurels a bit too much.

‘Don’t worry Barney’ said George ‘Karl’s got everything under control’

Now I was a big fan of Karl Rove the Architect. In fact I’d been meaning to ask George if he could design a new kennel for me.

He devised devilishly cunning plots which made the Watergate break-in look like Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He was so good at elections he could get Madonna voted into the Order of Vestal Virgins.

‘Ok George’ I said ‘I just wanted to be reassured that things are on track. Kerry and Edwards might give us a pretty tough contest’

‘Do you really think so’ said George ‘I thought they were a pretty pinhead pick even for the Democrats’

Well’ I said ‘Kerry’s a decorated Vietnam war hero while you got a cushy job in the Air National Guard through the back door’

‘Wait a minute’ said George ‘Dad could see I was a future national treasure too valuable to be shot at. You don’t think it will be a problem do you?’

‘You’re in luck’ I said ‘I talk regularly on the dog-and-bone to this friend whose owner was on the swift boats with Kerry in Vietnam. Tell Karl we should be able to organise something. Kerry’s married to that Heinz heiress. All those baked beans have made him stodgy’

‘That Edwards could be a worry’ said George ‘for a democrat he seems quite a reasonable sort of guy’

‘It would help’ I said ‘if you had a decent running mate like McCain instead of Dick’

‘Look Barney’ said George sternly ‘we’ve had this conversation before. Don Rumsfeld got it right when he said our election chances could be maximised exponentially through judicious use of our Dick. Edwards can’t do any damage can he?’

‘There’s a bit of goss around town’ I said ‘indicating that he’s carrying out extended testing of his social inclusion programme with female members of his campaign staff’

‘You don’t mean…’ began George

‘I’m afraid so’ I said ‘what you need is a running mate like Eliot Spitzer who could out-bonk him. How are the election policies shaping up?’

‘Absolutely brilliantly’ said George ‘my Clear Skies Act will shake the environmental movement to its core’

‘You mean you’re actually getting rid of carbon pollution?’ I asked

‘No’ he said ‘I’m getting rid of pollution controls. And I’m bringing democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan’

‘Have the Iraqis and the Afghans had a democratic vote on that yet?’ I asked

‘Good heavens no’ said George ‘I’m introducing American democracy’

‘What about a campaign slogan?’ I asked

‘I am planning to use ‘Yes America Can’ said George

‘Tell Karl it needs to be more inclusive and personal’ I said’ ‘Yes we can’ would be much better. That slogan’s so good that if you don’t use it someone else will’

Curbing the Mexican immigration wave into US - Friday, January 29th, 2010

Story No. 16

‘George’ I said ‘you’ve got to secure the border with Mexico’

‘Come on Barney’ said George ‘we’ve been through all that stuff before and you’re barking up the wrong tree’

‘Very funny’ I said ‘but as you know George I’m not one to let sleeping dogs lie. You’ve heard of the Mexican Wave. Well if you leave that border open much longer, forget the football stadium, you’ll have one right round the country’

‘I don’t know what you’re worried about’ said George ‘We simply turn a blind eye to a few million Hispanic illegals because they’re a great source of cheap labour and Vincente Fox loves it because they send all their cash home’

‘George’ I said ‘you’re sworn to uphold the US Constitution but you’re running the country like a rundown baseball stadium. You have to pay to get in through the main entrances but you can get in free through a hole in the bleachers’

‘I think it’s very civilised’ said George ‘that Mexicans can stroll into our country and we can take a stroll into theirs when we feel like it. And it makes me feel good that we’re lending a helping hand to the Mexican economy’

‘That elevates you to the same status as the drug barons’ I said ‘and they love your open door border policy’

‘And just think of the huge savings in the Immigration Service’ said George ‘not having to process all those millions of people’

I sensed it was time to play my trump card.

‘Listen George’ I said ‘I hope you understand that all these Hispanics which are pouring in could one day become US citizens. And guess which party Hispanics vote for, the Democrats’

‘Good heavens Barney’ said George ‘this is a national emergency. We’ve got to take action immediately to stop this illegal immigration outrage. This is a clear and present danger and we’ve got to send the army down there immediately’

‘Wait a minute George’ I said ‘you haven’t got enough troops. The border with Mexico is nineteen hundred miles long. To guard it effectively you would have to bring back all the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and ask the Taliban and Al Queda if you could borrow some of theirs into the bargain’

‘Perhaps we should invade Mexico’ said George

‘Bad idea George’ I said ‘not only would Vincente Fox stop coming to Camp David for tortilla weekends but that would achieve the impossible dream of uniting Fidel Castro, the UN and the Mexican drug barons in a coalition of the willing’

‘I know’ said George ‘I’ll let them in as long as they promise to vote Republican’

‘George’ I said ‘you’ve got to build a wall nineteen hundred miles long.. And get some Staffordshire Terriers to patrol it. The Scottish Terriers like me got the brains but they got the teeth’

‘That’s a helluva lot of wall’ said George

‘Well look at it this way’ I said ‘it could become a tourist attracton to rival the Great Wall of China’

‘So let’s get this straight’ said George ‘by building this wall I’d be keeping out drug runners and Democrat voters. But wouldn’t I also be keeping out all that cheap labour that we rely on to keep the economy strong?’

“Absolutely right George’ I said ‘you’d be creating the perfect Mexican Standoff’

Bush searches for reasons behind his faultering global popularity - Friday, January 15th, 2010

Story No. 14

‘Barney, why do you think so many people don’t like me’ asked George

I instantly recognised that a complete response to that question would take at least a couple of hours. So I decided to be kind and considerate because after all I like George and more to the point he pays my licence fee.

‘Well George, let’s put it this way’ I said ‘half the people in the world don’t like you because you’re way over to the right, another 10% don’t like you because you appointed Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld, 10% more don’t like you because you’ve started two wars, yet another 10% don’t like you because they’re women who are pro-choice, there’s at least 10% don’t like you because they think you did the dirty on Al over the election results, 5% think you’re a brainless rich kid who only became president through family connections and there’s 4.5% who live in the Middle East’

‘That only leaves .5%’ said George

‘You can’t expect people to like you if you’re a politician’ I said ‘if it was popularity you were after you should have become a pop star or a great lover’

‘I’m pretty popular in Texas’ said George

‘That’s because when you were the Governor’ I said ‘you were responsible for executing more bad guys than Wyatt Earp’

‘Wait a minute’ said George ‘I’m quite popular in Europe’

‘Well the French think you’re as pig-headed as the Brits’ I said ‘the Brits think you’re a sabre-rattling loony like the French and the Germans can’t understand how anyone could possibly start a war’

‘Tony Blair likes me’ said George

‘That’s why nobody likes Tony Blair’ I said

‘Well what about John Howard’ said George ‘he really likes me’

‘I know’ I said ‘and so did that other Aussie Steve Irwin. He had great respect for crocodiles and other primitive life forms’

‘And they even have a bush culture in Australia’ said George

‘Yes I know’ I said ‘but the only connection with you is that it covers a lot of wide open spaces’

‘I get on very well with Putin’ said George

‘Yes’ I said ‘but it was unfortunate you took his advice on how to fight a war in Afghanistan’

‘So Barney’ said George ‘how would you advise me to improve my image?’

‘That’s easy’ I said ‘form a coalition government with the Democrats, fire Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld, stop both the wars, carry out a couple of abortions, make Al Gore your Secretary for the Environment and take out Palestinian citizenship. I’m afraid we’re stuck with the fact that you’re a brainless rich kid with family connections’

‘Or’ said George ‘I could become a President beloved the world over for his humanity, integrity and unswerving commitment to raise the human dignity of mankind’

‘Sorry George’ I said ‘Mother Theresa’s already done that gig’

FIRM RESOLUTION IN 2010 - Thursday, December 31st, 2009

It’s such a busy time of year and not surprising that so many forget about New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s a few gentle reminders to those sorely in need.

Hostesses and
cocktail waitresses - ban dates with Tiger

Obama - change into something we can really believe in

President Hu - develop an image as Old King Coal

Tony Abbott - take the painful step up to ferret smugglers

Malcolm Turnbull - reduce greenhouse gas emissions by becoming less of an old fart

Gordon Brown - take constipation tablets regularly

Berlusconi - stay out of crowds unless they’re young girls

Penny Wong - tattoo ‘ETS’ on her backside so she can sit on it for a while

Father Christmas - abandon plans to extend his franchise into Afghanistan

Julie Bishop - pick up a few tips from Deputy Dawg

Bill Clinton - don’t become jealous of Tiger

Robert Mugabe - spend Zimbabwe’s climate change grant from the UN on a luxury ski lodge in St Moritz

Julia Gillard - stop talking like an education revolution headmistress

Joe Tripodi - reduce carbon emissions by becoming a solar power broker

Al Gore - stop emiting anything. We’ve got the message

The Mayor of Copenhagen - clean up after the cyclones, earthquakes and bushfires caused by the Climate Change Conference

Sarah Palin - make an unpresidented impact

Joe Hockey - reduce waist in the Liberal Party

Kevin - achieve a further reduction in greenhouse emissions by extending the ETS to cover baked beans and artichokes

Tiger - become President of US Adulterers Anonymous and recruit Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and Mark Sanford as foundation members

Wayne Swan - needs to take at least a couple of stimulus packages a day

Letter to Father Christmas - Friday, December 18th, 2009

Letter to Father Christmas

Dear Santa,

‘Tis the season when people of goodwill at Friday Mash think not of themselves but only of others.

We would really appreciate the delivery of our Christmas gift list set out below in your usual timely festive fashion.

Kevin Rudd - a pair of budgie smugglers to prove he’s got nothing to hide.
Malcolm Turnbull - a CD of Kevin singing ‘Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen’
Tony Abbott - a DNA test to prove he’s not the lovechild of John Howard and Bronwyn Bishop
Barack Obama - the Nobel Olympic Prize for failing to bring the Games to Chicago
Penny Wong - a climate change; a long stay in Siberia perhaps
Sarah Palin - melting moments at the North Pole with Al Gore
Hillary Clinton - an ‘I should have been President’ bumper sticker
Kristina Keneally - the magic formula which turned Pinocchio from a puppet into a person
Peter Garrett - a part in Coneheads II
Bill Clinton - Tiger’s mobile with all the phone numbers
General McChrystal -  a McBall so he can forsee what’s about to happen in Afghanistan
Joe Hockey - a Father Christmas outfit because he’s your natural successor
Julia Gillard - a life size Tony Abbott doll so she no longer has to flirt with him in person
Wayne Swan - a Navman so he can find his way out of the woods
George W Bush - WMDs found in Iraq
Gordon Brown - something to wear under his kilt because he’s been left dangling recently
Berlusconi - bandaids
John Howard - a dancing frog wearing a Bob Hawke face mask. On second thoughts the mask wont be necessary
Barry O’Farrell - a gift similar to that bestowed on so many hostesses and cocktail waitresses; a bit of Tiger in him
The People of NSW - an early election

The delivery of these gifts will make many people very happy. Making people happy is one of your gifts which politicians seem incapable of accepting.

Merry Christmas

From Friday Mash

King Coal, ETS & trading munitions with Taliban, Libs in anarchy, an Abbott & a Bishop leading the Libs - Friday, December 4th, 2009

carbon_emissions_masthead

Old King Coal was a merry old soul but lately politicians are telling him to clean up his act.
……………………………………………

Some Obama advisers believe the best solution for Afghanistan is an ETS designed to reduce carbon emissions from gunfire. Both sides of the conflict would have their ammunition quota capped and if the US army ran out of bullets the only way they could get more would be to trade with the Taliban.
……………………………………………

Kevin and Julia have recently been saying lovely things about Malcolm. Was this a new found love or was it simply a lust for getting the ETS bill passed?
……………………………………………

It’s been difficult of late to tell the difference between the Liberal Party and anarchy. Experts however have now discovered there is no recorded instance of anarchists stopping the chaos to hold a leadership spill.
……………………………………………

It’s such a shame that Malcolm has lost the Liberal leadership so soon after promising to treat his backbench more humanely, much the same way as Kevin treats asylum seekers.

This Christmas the Liberal Party is celebrating with the mad monk’s midnight mass emissions and Malcolm stuffed. They’ve saved the Joe the plump pudding for another year.
……………………………………………

It is rumoured that Kevin will open the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen by singing ‘There is nothing like a Dane’ in Chinese.
……………………………………………

The Liberal Party we are told is a ‘broad church’, broad enough to be led by an Abbott and a Bishop.
……………………………………………

Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian problem - Friday, November 27th, 2009

Story No. 9

‘I was lying in bed the other morning’ said George ‘and I came up with a brilliant idea for solving the Israeli-Palestinian problem’

‘Oh that’s great George’ I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster given there was as much chance of George solving the Israeli-Palestinian problem as Hillary Clinton phoning to offer me a date with her glamorous bitch.

‘I’ll invite Arafat and Sharon to come to the White House for as long as it takes to get things sorted.  What do you think?’

‘Sorry George’ I said ‘but Bill Clinton’s already tried that.  They all shook hands on a deal then Arafat and Rabin went home and carried on as usual’

‘How about if I rendition them instead?’ mused George

‘George’ I said ‘Listen to me.  The whole Israeli-Palestinian thing is a massive dog’s breakfast.  My advice is leave it alone.  You’ve already got a huge mess in Afghanistan and Iraq and you don’t want to score a Middle East trifecta’

‘Barney’ said George ‘solving the Israeli-Palestinian thing is my destiny.  The crowning achievement of my presidency.  I need your help to do great things’

‘Even with my help’ I said ‘you’d still have a better chance of being appointed chief rocket scientist at NASA’

‘All I’ve got to do’ said George ‘is persuade the Palestinians that becoming good neighbours with the Israelis is a better policy than annihilating them’

‘George’ I said ‘it’s the same as you living next door to Osama bin Laden.  In those circumstances being good neighbours is not firing rockets at each other for an hour or two’

‘Alright then’ said George ‘I’ll persuade the Israelis to accept the state of Palestine’

‘Then the question you have to consider’ I said ‘is whether Jerusalem becomes part of Palestine or whether Israel keeps it’

‘Tell you what’ said George ‘I’ll persuade them to toss for it; heads Israel keeps Jerusalem, tails it becomes the capital of Palestine’

‘I’ve got a better idea’ I said ‘we could sit you on a horse, create the legend of George of  Arabia and then you could lead the Palestinians across the desert to their promised land.  I’d make a fortune out of Hollywood for the film rights’

‘Great thinking Barney’ said George ‘I could cut off all US financial support for Israel until they agree to everything’

‘No chance’ I said ‘if you did that you would never be invited to another bar mitzvah, lose a squillion in campaign funding and you’d be kicked out at the next election’

‘Do you really thing so?’ asked George ‘Perhaps you’re right Barney about leaving the Israeli-Palestinian thing alone.  There’s plenty of other areas where I can do great things’

‘Right on George’ I said ‘for example you could create the Dogs Hall of Fame.  Lassie and I would be shoe-ins’

‘Great idea’ said George ‘that would certainly guarantee me the dogsbody vote’

APEC, Britney, Tiger, Vikings & Bob the Builder - Friday, November 20th, 2009

Obama Fan Club Letterhead

Newsletter from Australia

White House,
Washington DC.,

20th November 2009

Dear Mr President,

I can’t tell you how disappointed we all were that you didn’t make it down here from Singapore. Trust you had a nice chat with Kevin at APEC. I’m sure he would have told you some dirty jokes in Chinese to help you liven up the discussions with Unowho in Beijing.

Your mates Tiger Woods and Britney Spears have both been here recently. Tiger seems to have no problem getting into holes and Britney’s got into one too because people complained that when she opens her mouth nothing comes out. Neville thought it was a marked improvement.

Kevin’s so humane. If those asylum seekers on the Oceanic Viking had defied me like they defied him they’d have been over the side and swimming to Indonesia before you could say ‘Bali Belly’.

Kevin has not had much luck with solutions recently. The Indonesian Solution was a dead loss because the Indonesians are much better at creating problems than solutions. The Macklin Solution for Aboriginal housing would have been better handled by Bob the Builder and the Wong/MacFarlane Solution for the ETS seems to have gone up in smoke. No-one’s head from Penny or Ian for weeks and Neville thinks they could have eloped.

At the Obama Fan Club meeting last Tuesday we went into a plenary session designed to provide solutions for you in Afghanistan. I couldn’t believe the sheer quality of the solutions we came up with. Mildred had a brilliant idea. She said that Osama and all the other terrorist heavies are in Pakistan so you should send the 40,000 troops there instead.

Godwin, who’s a new member, thought you should send 40,000 criminals to Afghanistan. He reckons that if Karzai can’t clear out the corruption at least it should be under US control.

My idea was to send over 40,000 copies of Sarah Palin’s new book. If the prospect of her becoming the next US President doesn’t scare the Taliban to death then nothing will.

You wouldn’t believe what’s happening in NSW government circles. Some of the ministers have been plotting against Nathan the premier so he’s been plotting against them. Now his plot’s worked better than their plot because he’s fired them but now they’ve started a counter plot to out-plot him. If you ask me they’ve all lost the plot.

It’s a big week or two for Malcolm on the ETS. He’s in deep trouble if Ian only manages to get agreement to a pennysworth of amendments.

Let me know if you would like more detail about our amazingly good solutions for Afghanistan. I’ll bet you don’t get anything half as good from that Axelrod guy.

I still can’t find anything out about New Zealand. I think they may have knocked off for Christmas.

By the way we’re planning a huge Obama Fan Club Christmas Party for the 22nd December. Please let me know if you can make it.

Till next week.

Gaelene Woo,
President