Monday, February 2, 2009

("CY") Borg express

Imagine my surprise when reversing out of a carpark uptown (after getting a takeaway coffee) when I had to wait for a whopping great bus called "The Borg Express". It's a bus, with a huge friendly picture of Lawrence (Laurence?) Springborg on the side and covered in the LNP logo. I appreciate the effort in expressing it all the way to regional Queensland to meet with some local voters, but I am not really sure if "The Borg" is the best or most catchiest of nicknames for a political campaign. He's just begging for someone to graffiti "CY" in front of it. Perhaps they should try to concentrate on humanising, rather than (further?) robotising Springborg. (Not sure if "robotising" is a word). I also think they must have bought the bus at a discount as well because as I passed it in my little yaris, it was spewing out diesel fumes fit to choke a small town. Not a very good climate change look. And it wasn't exactly very "express" either. I was only going 63 and I left it far behind quite quickly.

Perhaps if he started wearing a hardhat at all public appearances and rarely travelling further north than Caboolture. Oh, no I forgot, that's the Labor strategy.

Hmmm...got all political there for a moment. Don't worry you haven't stumbled on to Larvatus Prodeo by mistake. :)

I'll just drink my coffee and settle down.

Update: A-HA!!! So this is what the visit was for. Because we just can't get enough political mileage out of the awful and unfortunate "Patel saga"

I've finished my coffee now.

Update 2: Could this be where the great big borg bus came from?

Just asking.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't the Borg all about "Resistance is Fultile, You will be assimilated"
Star Trek.

Just a thought about the borg express

Wendy said...

really? I'm going to check that out now!

Wendy said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Star_Trek)

lots of info on the borg here ...maybe laurence is a closet trekkie

Anonymous said...

I believe that it was Mark at LP who coined the nickname (ironically), and was quite surprised when the Nationals picked it up. I guess they didn't watch Next Gen either.

Kinda like the time the One Nation party flogged a bit from _Starship Troopers_, not realising it was all about a hardline fascist government.

Wendy said...

I bet he was quite surprised. That's hilarious! Because I'm pretty sure the LNP aren't being ironic in their use of it...unless they think there is a whole new demographic out there that they are about to tap into...and that it's the key to taking government.

I don't know the one nation story? (well i know the story that they existed..but not the starship troopers connection??)

matt said...

I think Mr Springborg decided to embrace The Borg thing and capitalise on it since everyone was doing the Borg/Cyborg joke anyway. I remember the Courier Mail did a writeup on how clever he was to use the "Resistance is Futile" thing from Star Trek. I, for one, welcome our new LNP overlords.

Wendy said...

Oh...that's what I get for not reading the courier mail!

the new overlords hey...I like it...as least people are taking some notice i guess...any publicity is good publicity clearly!

I'm not really up with my Star Trek but who would Captain Kirk be in this scenario ...or indeed Captain Picard?

And who is Anna Bligh? And where does Peter Beattie fit? And Joh BJ Peterson? Or Russ Hinze?

Are all opposition leaders Borgs? - i.e. Malcolm Turnbull? or just qld ones? Or are all oppositions storm troopers? Laurence is tall..maybe Chewbacca would have been more appropriate?

Is Kevin Rudd Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader...or is that Paul Keating? I'm pretty sure Kevin isn't Han Solo? Unless he is cryogenically frozen and the ALP forgot to thaw him out. Is Julia Gillard Princess Leia - she does like to wear her hair down over her ears...but I don't know if she would do very well chained to Jabba the Hutt? Is Peter Costello Lando Calrissian (spelling wrong I nkow). And what about John Winston

So many questions....so much mixed up science fiction...maybe John Winston is Darth Vader and Peter Costello was Luke "I am your father".

I do think Julia Gillard speaks a little robotically...maybe she is c3PO in disguise...or a dalek?

I've got to stop procastinating and do some work!

Anonymous said...

If we're talking the Borg, that would be Captain Picard--they're strictly a Next Gen. (and after) villain. So we could have Captain Jean Luc Picard, or Captain (originally Commander) Benjamin Sisko, or even Captain Kathryn Janeway, but no James Tiberius Kirk.

Actually, given the rhetoric creeping into some discussions, Captain Janeway might be a good fit for at least one politician--either Janeway or the actress playing her was staunchly (and, in some ways, oddly) Catholic, so that might well have influenced her attitude towards the Borg, one of whom she befriended . . .

And then Picard himself was assimilated by the Borg, and while he may have had their implants removed, he never really recovered from the incident . . .

But if the LNP see Captain Sisko coming towards them, I'd advise them to run! He may have forgiven Jean Luc Picard for leading the Borg attack that killed his wife, but he never forgave the Borg . . .

Hmm. So many Starfleet captains, so many levels of vaguely scurrilous sub-text . . .

Wendy said...

yes indeed...my knowledge is patchy at best! but it sounds like the politics and dramas of Star Trek Next Generation is equally as intriguing as the merging of the liberal and national party!

(Are you sure we couldn't just have a william shatner cameo somewhere? Or is that strictly against the rules?)

So if Anna bligh was Catholic and befriended Laurence Springborg we would have a Janeway-Borg mirroring in real life?
Hmmmmm....or are you picturing someone else? "staunchly Catholic"...the choices are endless!

Anonymous said...

Captain Kirk never, alas, made a cameo in Next Gen., though Bones McCoy did and maybe one or two others. He was in the first Next Gen. movie with Captain Picard, but that wasn't against the Borg.

Well, there was always that strange speech that Peter Costello gave a few days (or maybe a week or so?) ago, emphasising that if you look back over the hundreds of years of its history, Australia has always been a Christian country and needs to continue to live by Christian tenets. Not Catholic, but, meh, close enough.

I never cared for Captain Janeway, anyway . . .

Wendy said...

Aah Peter Costello...I missed that...but it sounds a little strange. Although wasn't he the one who spoke at Hillsong during the election. (I might have that wrong?)

Paul Keating out and about on Lateline last night...maybe he's our Captain Kirk?