Keep the bastards honest

The following is a repeat of an old LiveJournal entry. I was clearly in a sarcastic mood when I had this idea, but it hasn't lost its appeal with time.

2004.08.23 15.46

You know what would be really cool? At the start of every session of state or federal parliament - morning, after morning tea, after lunch, after afternoon tea, after the-speaker-has-had-enough-everyone-get-
out-for-five-minutes, whatever - the parliamentarians had to look at a large, projected image of a cartoon plucked at random from the letters page of a daily newspaper. They can run it like an exam: Nobody gets out for fifteen minutes, and if you weren't there at the start you don't get to participate. Well, maybe you can get in during exams, but not here. Let's see them try and keep their plastic smiles when the nation's court jesters are punching them in the face repeatedly.