Well, we did warn them; (we did) that is an angry, insulted, well informed committee and they intend to see things put to rights. One thing for certain, they are better briefed than the hapless Staib and obviously have access to good 'intelligence', a commodity Staib seems to be lacking. This demonstrated from minute one, as she stumbled, mumbled and fluffed her way through the highly inflammatory opening statement. The statement was not only inflammatory, it was insulting to the intelligence of both Senators and observers, clearly designed to head off what ASA believed were the issues. Wrong: underestimating the will, intelligence, competence and fury of this committee, hoping that bluff and praying that pony-pooh will save the day, is an arrogant assumption. Attempting to deliver that message, into that atmosphere, in such a condescending manner simply added fuel to the flames. Some of the later rhetoric and heroic platitudes dragged out by a sinking Staib, were ill considered waffle, which only deepened to opening chasm. I'm going to wait for Hansard, there were some classic moments mixed with the pregnant, poignant and electrical ones, the detail is worth the wait.
It was a long session, while cringing with embarrassment during the 'reading' of the opening statement (Staib should spend some of her ill gotten gains on a public speaking course, after the reading lessons of course) I was watching the Senators, you could see the finely tuned, high power BS detectors at work, body language spoke of a hostile frustration, a larded with indignation, tempered only by good manners; the Senate Haka. Then it was game on. If public whippings, or humiliation is your thing, watch the video. –
HERE –
The Senate team systematically took the ASA apart, smacked their plush, plump bottoms, then sent them around again, to come back for more. The ASA were out played, out guessed, out gunned and had nowhere to hide; every dark corner and bolt hole was either lit or covered. Make no error, this was an orchestrated team effort which sent a clear, unambiguous message to Mrdak, CASA and the ATSB. The Senate crew are trusted by industry, they don't leak and they demonstrated that they can and will wisely use any information provided, to achieve sane, sensible governance of all matters aeronautical.
Top marks Senators. Bravo...
..(Choc frogs in the mail).
I really only used the Sarcs' bucket twice; the first was a big one (huge) – "Courage" badges, worn on the wrist. Ducking bright blue wrist straps with "Courage" inscribed. Did you ever, in all your days, ever hear of such a mealy mouthed, merchant bankers, multi handed stropathon. Once I'd stopped puking and Hoody has stopped waving his about, like a talisman to ward off the evil eye, I managed a smile. (I'll have to do a fairy story twiddle, it's priceless). Whoever dreamed up that piece of artificial feel good, psycho- babble, arse about logic for three year olds, crock of pony-pooh, deserves to be put in the public stocks and pelted with filth, on the hour, every hour for as long as they live. Ye gods, I though it was joke, until I realised, Hoody was a true believer; unless, he was just taking the Mickey and bringing the tomfoolery to the public attention. Anyway, I tracked down the manufacturer and ordered two gross, Red, with "Bollocks" inscribed for wrist wearing and two dozen small - with BOHICA inscribed, for Willy decoration, as IOS Christmas presents.
Speaking of the hooded one; did you ever see such a display of plain and fancy foot change dancing. Talk about chopped up for bait, even with NX playing nice and telegraphing his punches, Hoody still kept walking into them, left foot in mouth, no, no, quickly – right foot in mouth, no-no; Bugger says Hoody, clutching his courage badge as he walks into a straight right. No contest really, he did manage to salvage some dignity and struggled through to round three, but Xenophon was just patting him about for sparring practice in the end. My fault; for buying a ticket to watch a Bantam weight v Cruiser weight bout. Don't think ASA have grasped it yet, the LAHSO thing; I'll give them a clue : it's not really ALL about 'safety' (or courage..
..) think of where it's leading to.
Then, Staib fell into a beautifully preset, off-side trap; it was elegant in it's simplicity : "IF you don't call in PC Plod for fraud; why is he called when you suspect an internal 'leak' of the truth? " Well, out came the courage badges...
, then the puzzled looks..
.. and memory loss ploys...., no defence though against a concerted panzer attack by the forward pack. ASA lost the ball, Staib is left laying in the mud, drowning, confused, by not initially seeing the inconsistency or contradiction. Then a dim bulb flickers into light and the denial starts, "Oh – but, but that's totally different". Bollocks: converted try: team Senate.
Well, much to study and ponder; must thank brother Sarcs for talking me into using part of a RDO to watch the one sided show. The senate team played brilliantly, it's hard to pick the man of the match when a well oiled team sets to business, the props Heff, Sterle played a solid 90 minutes with moments of dour defence and aggressive running, the hooker well supported, scrum half feeding the ball to the backs, who had some flashes of inspiration and moments of sparkling brilliance. The opposition, well, perhaps it's time they had a new coach, one who's plays are not so well known and; maybe, a captain who can actually tell whether a tossed coin has landed on it's head or it's tail: could be a help.
MTF?, I'd say so.
Toot toot.