Light snow today but it is too warm to hang about and melts as soon as it hits the ground.

We have given Sissi a few snips but she complained so much that we did not get all the wax out.

I have decided not to shave her and will work on the de-waxing over the next few days. I can catch her unawares and get in two quick snips before she tries to shred me.

I was pleased to be informed by Maalie that I had captured some Tufted Ducks in flight. This was a great achievement as to me a Duck is a Duck and I am grateful that Maalie was able to highlight this extraordinary achievement.

I mean it’s not like discovering a new species – but I am well pleased – and with the photo as well.

Maalie (and indeed William) and I share a Prince. We actually share a number of Princes and Princesses together with a Queen and a Duke and whole hordes of lesser but oh so nobly born beings.

In Australia we have a form of government called a Constitutional Monarchy of which HRH Elizabeth II - the Queen of England and of Australia - (she multitasks) - is Le Grand Fromage.

Her representative in Australia is the Governor General and nominally Le Petit Fromage. She is currently Ms Quentin Bryce – a girl with a boy’s name - and is responsible for representing the Queen in Australia and for attending events, opening fetes, making sad and profound (but uplifting) statements after disasters, meeting foreign dignitaries – stuff like that.

Occasionally the Governor General is an alcoholic, gets truly plastered and sacks the government of the day. This happened once and is not likely to happen again because it created a ruckus that could be seen from the moon.

Now – occasionally the Queen looks up from watching Coronation Street and thinks – it’s time we sent someone to the colonies. It would normally be her son Prince Charles (the next in line to the throne – Eeeek!) but he is as mad as a cut snake and is rarely allowed out on his own.

So on this occasion our shores have been graced by Prince William, son of Charles – and second in line to the throne. He seems like a nice enough young man – no madder than the rest of his family – and an entirely suitable person for Australians to bow and scrape to in their droves.

He is swanning about in Australia at the moment and people are formicating all around him trying to immerse themselves in the royal aura.

On occasions such as this the question of an Australian Republic is always raised. We had a referendum on this some years ago and 75% of Australians voted for a Republic. There was a split about how we would elect the leader of a Republic and this was cunningly exploited by the master politician John Howard. So in the end the Republican proponents missed out because of disagreement among themselves.

Our current Prime Minister favors a Republic – but is unlikely to do anything in his first or even second terms.

I don’t think it matters much. I am in favour of a Republic but am in no hurry. The advantage of having a Royal Family is that they are usually benign, rarely corrupt and – in the case of the current family – provide endless hours of amusement because of their inevitably dysfunctional and whacky ways.

Of course the whole concept of a ‘Royal Family’ which rules over us in perpetuity is so bizarre and stupid that it is not worth discussing.

Now to more serious things.

The Democrats have lost the Senate seat in Massachusetts. WTF? How could this happen? Well there are many reasons – I am familiar with all of them and will not bore you with them now - but it is summed up by a quote from Drew Western:

“It is a truly remarkable feat, in just one year's time, to turn the fear and anger voters felt in 2006 and 2008 at a Republican Party that had destroyed the economy, redistributed massive amounts of wealth from the middle class to the richest of the rich and the biggest of big businesses, and waged a trillion-dollar war in the wrong country, into populist rage at whatever Democrat voters can cast their ballot against”.

Suffice to say that things in America are about to take a significant turn for the worse. You need to gird your loins for this.

It’s goodbye to Health Care Reform and indeed any other piece of legislation that the Democrats were planning on getting through the Senate. The Republicans are waging total war and are entirely committed to ensuring that President Obama can achieve nothing useful. My view is that President Obama will be a one-term President.

However, I have read some interesting speculation lately that Murdoch has signed up Sarah Palin to the Fox Network so that she has a platform from which to launch her bid for the 2010 Presidency.

Clearly this is a man who thinks – “I am not far from shuffling off the mortal coil – how can I take everyone else with me? “

I think a Palin-Beck ticket would be a real winner by the time we get to 2011 and am going to start storing supplies in the basement to prepare for the happy event.

Merisi has questioned my statement yesterday:

“The number of people who do not believe in a ‘god’ or a ‘supreme being’ is decreasing in most places except the USA and Muslim countries. It generally decreases in modern societies which are secular and where there are high standards of education. This is why religion is on the way out in most parts of Western Europe”

Hmmm…. I appear to have used a double negative which renders my statement – meaningless. What I meant to say was that religious practice is declining in Western Europe – but not in the USA or Muslim countries.

But – having said that – I can’t find the sources I used to make that bold statement. I will do some more research.

And by the way – Merisi has upped the ante by posting twice in one day. This is a sinister development and is not to be encouraged. How can we possibly match this?

A joke I thought of while writing about Sarah Palin.

A young child comes into the hospital and stands by his grandfather’s bed.

“Granddad” he says “can you make a noise like a frog?”

“Why do you want me to do that?” asks granddad

“Because mum says that when you croak she will take me to Disneyland.”