Smokin sloppy Joe is supremely frustrated and desparate :)

Think of a child throwing a tantrum. I in fact saw one with my very own eyes only yesterday. It was one of those ghastly embarrassing supermarket episodes for the parent. The kid started screaming about wanting something I guess, really high pitched ear piercing stuff that you could hear through the whole place. Kids seem to get to a particular age during toddler growth where that can scream a house down. The mother handled it very well though. Stayed completely calm, and slowly walked to the checkout and not paying him the attention he wanted. He soon pipped down and all was as before.

I got the same sort of feeling when I read through this article from the SMH; a report on Joe's tantrum. I got an image of Joe, with that pumped up figure of his, blustering about in a rage because he hadn't gotten his way. Making ridiculous, sort of "WTF?" threats that leave people scratching their head as to this explosive outburst.

Hockey said there were already budget measures that the government did not need legislation for. 

He said if the government could not clinch the votes it needed on the Senate floor for proposals that would be presented as separate legislation, it would have no choice but to find alternatives. 

Mr Hockey added that the warning was not "retribution" against an increasingly unpredictable Senate, and the government remained open to discussions. 

''If the Senate chooses to block savings initiatives then we need to look at other savings initiatives that may not require legislation," Mr Hockey said. 

''I would ask the Greens and the Labor Party, who between them hold 35 votes on the floor of the Senate, to understand that there are alternatives through government.'' 

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said the opposition was happy to negotiate with the government, but the Treasurer's approach was all ''bluff and bluster''. 

''If the Treasurer thinks he can sneakily get his changes through by somehow avoiding the Parliament well he should explain to the Australian people what he's planning instead of the normal bluff and bluster we're get from this guy,'' he told ABC radio on Wednesday. 

''What we're seeing is pretty much a Prime Minister and a Treasurer who just think, well, we'll arrogantly say what's going to happen and we'll just say that it will pass the Senate and saying it will pass the Senate means it will pass the Senate. 

''Well that's not how parliaments work.'' Read more

Is the gov finally starting to get just the slightest inkling yet? That the senate is resolved against major parts of the budget? Do they understand the word "resolve" yet? 

And what a ridiculous threat anyway. What sort of unlegislated budget measures would they possibly be able to pass that would fill in the untold (as yet) billions that the senate has and will torpedo from the budget? And what sort of political suicide is that anyway to be seen sneakily trying to go around the parliament to get their way on taxpayer $? Does not Joe realise the unpopularity that that would bring to the electorate of his gov, already on the mat in the polls? Talk about desperation.