For A Monday

Quickly now...

Australian voters have almost unanimously given Kevin Rudd the boot:

Nine weeks after he wrested control of the party and the country from Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd conceded defeat and with a "heavy heart" announced he would step down from the leadership.

With a national swing towards the Coalition of around 3.5 per cent, Mr Abbott has led the Coalition to a strong victory, winning a swathe of seats in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.

"I am both proud and humbled as I shoulder the duties of government. The time for campaigning has passed, the time for governing has arrived. I pledge myself to the service of our country," he told a triumphant crowd of Liberal Party faithful in Sydney.

"I now look forward to forming a government that is competent, that is trustworthy, and which purposefully and steadfastly and methodically sets about delivering on our commitments to you, the Australian people.

"In three years' time, the carbon tax will be gone, the boats will be stopped, the budget will be on track for a believable surplus and the roads of the 21st century will finally be well underway.

"And from today, I declare that Australia is under new management and that Australia is once more open for business."

After the institution of an unpopular carbon tax and lax immigration policies, it's only natural that someone like Tony Abbott would make sense, not a back-stabbing drunk like Kevin Rudd. The pants-wetters can quit crying now.

Tony Abbott waltzed Matilda... to victory!

In the real world where grown-ups have to worry about real things like Syria and pipelines, no one has time to smoke pot:

Trudeau believes legalizing pot would keep it out of the hands of kids and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in enforcement and judicial costs.

He called Harper a prohibitionist and urged the prime minister "to explain why adults shouldn't be given the opportunity to make their own free choices and why they think the continued prohibition that's obviously failed in protecting our children is still justified."

To anyone considering voting for Justin Trudeau: pot is his main issue because he's "down and cool with the kids". Think about that if things with Syria go sideways.


Speaking of Syria...


I'll bet John Kerry is happy about that swamp land the Russians sold him:

A possible diplomatic solution to avoid a U.S. military strike arose Monday when Syria swiftly welcomed a suggestion to turn over all of its chemical weapons for destruction under international control. President Barack Obama said the proposal could be "potentially a significant breakthrough" but he remained skeptical that Syria would follow through. ...

Kerry told reporters in London early Monday that Assad could resolve the crisis surrounding the use of chemical weapons by surrendering control of "every single bit" of his arsenal to the international community by the end of the week.

Hours later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov promised to push its ally Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control and then dismantle them quickly to avert U.S. strikes. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem immediately embraced the proposal.

The Russians side-blinded Obama and Kerry but I'm sure they will count that as a victory. The Russians will either hang onto the weapons or sell them back to Syria.

You've won nothing, guys.


And now, a soccer-scoring dog. Enjoy.


(Merci)