Open Forum: August 4, 2012 at Catallaxy Files

Open Forum: August 4, 2012

1,044 comments

Written by Sinclair Davidson

August 4th, 2012 at 12:01 am

Posted in Open Forum

1,044 Responses to 'Open Forum: August 4, 2012'

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Brandos, Teles and 501s forever, Squirette!

Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims

and strap your hands across my engines…

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 12:02 am
About time. Would it have killed you to put this thread up earlier given how slow the other open thread was? /grumpy.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 12:02 am
GOLD!

Megan

4 Aug 12 at 12:02 am
I didn’t make it here on my own

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 12:04 am
Yawn, I’ve seen the rise of a new thread.
Now I can go to bed.
At 2C this morning* (but I’m sure it was colder ‘cos Jack Frost had hit the gully, and the car, bad!), I’ll be sleepin’ in until at least 8am…

*It was 2C at 7:30am. I’m sure it was colder as the ice slid down from the roof onto the windscreen.

kae

4 Aug 12 at 12:07 am
Gab – getting cheeky.

Sinclair Davidson

4 Aug 12 at 12:09 am
Campbell Newman accelerates cuts to the QPS. He says it’s because of leaks, intended to whip up fear about mass sackings, which prevent him from planning and doing it in a slow, orderly fashion.

“Across the public service, we have people who are busy leaking information out. Frankly my ministers can’t even ask for a briefing on options without someone choosing to inappropriately leak it.

“That’s why we’re now moving on at speed.”

dd

4 Aug 12 at 12:11 am
Actually…Bronze. But I’m not going to cry about it!

Megan

4 Aug 12 at 12:12 am
Wow.. Newman is a great methodical executive. He’s absolutely fucking fearless and makes all the right moves.

God’s speed Campbell.

JC

4 Aug 12 at 12:13 am
JC
I hate to agree with you but so far Campbell is doing the right things. I heard him say today “Do Queenslanders really want another $1000 per man woman and child this year”. This is my sort of language.

kelly liddle

4 Aug 12 at 12:19 am
To paraphrase a famous movie quote. “You had me at “I will seriously try to balance the budget”"

kelly liddle

4 Aug 12 at 12:21 am
I am guessing I have put my foot in it.

kelly liddle

4 Aug 12 at 12:26 am
Gab
NBN at your doorstep shortly.

kelly liddle

4 Aug 12 at 12:27 am
“I will seriously try to balance the budget””

That was very very good.

Mainly because now we see he really meant it.

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 12:29 am
Push to lift uni rank for teaching:

work conducted by the previous state government revealed problems in the training of Queensland teachers, with many lacking fundamental literacy and numeracy skills

I am so filled with confidence.

benson

4 Aug 12 at 12:43 am
A case of one bad government replacing another

Van Onselen somehow thinks (and I use the expression loosely) the incoming Abbott government should be advocating raising the GST to improve the fiscal position of the States. FMD.

How about we empty the Augean Stables first before worrying about all the shit State and Federal Labor will leave behind.

H B Bear

4 Aug 12 at 12:53 am
Gab – getting cheeky.

Getting? Then I’m trying hard enough!

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:02 am
van Onselen is primum tosser

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 1:05 am
A BRITISH court has found a mother and father guilty of murdering their daughter in a so-called honour killing.

The Chester Crown Court found that Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, both originally from Pakistan, suffocated their 17-year-old daughter, Shafilea, in 2003.

During a trial in northern England, Shafilea’s sister Alesha told the jury her parents pushed Shafilea onto a couch and she heard her mother say “just finish it here” as they forced a plastic bag into the girl’s mouth.

She said her parents thought that Shafilea was too westernised. She also said Alesha refused an arranged marriage.

Murder. The game all the family can play.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:06 am
God’s speed Campbell.

I agree with the sentiment, JC – but it’s “God Speed” or “Godspeed”.

Hope this helps

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 1:08 am
Excellent line-up for Bolt Report: Joe Hockey, Tim Wilson and Cassandra Wilkinson

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:12 am
What would we do without you, Fleeced?

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:13 am
What would we do without you, Fleeced?

Probably live in blissful ignorance, Gab

Seriously, I’m pretty bad at these sort of mistakes myself – especially as I get older – but some “mistakes” just jump out at me more than others. The dribble/drivel thing from last week is a pet hate, for example.

Personally, when I’m caught out, I resort to the “evolution of language” defence. In employing this defence, I’m effectively admitting error – as only time will tell whether my language-mutation will become part of the accepted language or be considered an evolutionary dead-end – but most people don’t think of that, so it serves as a good excuse.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 1:25 am
I actually don’t mind people correcting me when I make a spelling mistake or grammatical error, Fleeced. In fact I appreciate it as I think someone has taken the time to improve my skills in the area.

As for dribble/drivel- that was deliberate, not a mistake, as I explained last week. Let it go.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:30 am
As for dribble/drivel- that was deliberate

lol – I know you say that, and I believe you – but the word drivel means exactly what you wanted to convey with your deliberate use of the word dribble… but whatever

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 1:38 am
I thought dribble was more condescending than drivel, as used last week.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:42 am
At time of writing, Australia still has just one Gold Medal… New Zealand? Three!

It’s just not fair, but I don’t care.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 1:46 am
some “mistakes” just jump out at me more than others

“Baited breath”. That one drives me nuts.
>.<

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 1:53 am
Wow. That’s a glare that could drive the angry villagers with pitchforks and torches away.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:56 am
I love it
That photo was actually taken at a Duke vs UNC basketball game, but the triple-facepalm + evil glare suits so many situations.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 2:00 am
stoned…

Nanuestalker

4 Aug 12 at 2:02 am
“Baited breath”. That one drives me nuts.

Not sure I’ve noticed that one before… probably will now though.

Most common annoyance I see is “your” instead of “you’re” – though this one (and bated/baited, now I think of it) are excusable when typing “stream of consciousness” (as in a blog comments), since they sound the same. Dribble and drivel, however…

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 2:04 am
Maybe the thread’s functionality would last longer if people didn’t devote 400 comments to leftist idiots.

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 2:05 am
Dribble and drivel, however…

Okay, you need to get some therapy.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 2:08 am
Funny how the police don’t go ahead with prosecutions of unionists, huh?

Cops wanted Julia Gillard’s ex, Bruce Wilson, charged.

INTERNAL documents from an exhaustive police probe into a union funds scandal in the 1990s show detectives suspected former Australian Workers’ Union boss Bruce Wilson and his then alleged bagman, Ralph Blewitt, were “crooks” and wanted them criminally prosecuted over a $400,000-plus alleged fraud…

The police running-sheet states that “suspect withdrawals” were made to buy a Melbourne house at the centre of the alleged fraud, in Kerr Street, Fitzroy, in 1993. Mr Blewitt was the legal owner of the house, purchased with allegedly stolen money for the use of Mr Wilson in a transaction handled and part-financed by Slater & Gordon solicitors. The firm waived its conveyancing fees.

That was sporting of them!

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 2:10 am
Funny how the police don’t go ahead with prosecutions of unionists, huh?

Police don’t prosecute and in this case. at least as I read it, the legal eagle decided not to prosecute.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 2:17 am
This is starting to become the Wilson affair hour at the Cat.

JC

4 Aug 12 at 2:20 am
I didn’t make it here on my own

dude!

Nanuestalker

4 Aug 12 at 2:21 am
Not sure I’ve noticed that one before… probably will now though.

There are a few irregulars at Blair’s who use it quite regularly. That git who signs EVERY SINGLE FREAKING COMMENT with a “cool-smirk” emoticon, for one.

What the hell is the point of that, anyway? But that’s another debate.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 2:34 am
bad links: click, click?

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 2:36 am
Nope. Catallaxy keeps inserting itself. Oh well.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 2:36 am
This is starting to become the Wilson affair hour at the Cat.

What has changed, that News Ltd is suddenly not afraid to “mention the war” so to speak?

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 2:39 am
I wait with baited breathe…

OK, that one’s doubly annoying

BTW, other links still bad… I think you’re missing http bit – it seems to be making them relative links (though I tried correcting for that and it still didn’t work)

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 2:41 am
Police don’t prosecute and in this case. at least as I read it, the legal eagle decided not to prosecute.

Police don’t need permission to charge people they regard as “crooks.”

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 2:48 am
Maybe this and this.

Though, having tracked them down, I have to say it wasn’t worth the effort.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 2:49 am
Gay Taliban launches lawfare against Chick-fil-a – almost certainly designed to send it bankrupt.

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 2:52 am
…almost certainly designed to send it bankrupt.

Such tolerance for diversity of opinion, How dare Chicken-Fil-A not support diversity of opinion by agreeing with them!

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 2:55 am
Breaking developments in Sen. Reid pederast scandal; Reid camp to Ace of Spades HQ: Allegations are ‘cute,’ refuses to deny

Force them to play by their own rules, baby!

“Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: It’s Not Just for Liberals Anymore.”

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 3:58 am
Continuing through spain.
2 weeks after black friday’s 5% share price fall and 7.5%+ bond rate hit.

We are now in Leon and two very different indicators showed up.
The positive – In Plaza San Martin – 15 plus restauarant/bars in a single square – all well filled, with people waiting as well – probably only 15% tourists.
The negative – On the Gran Via San Marco (a main street) 2 CompOro shops with full shop fronts and a jeweller also showing Comporo opportunities. For those not fully across Spanish, that is the WE BUY GOLD!

When you can have two stores in 500m that only run the we buy gold you are in trouble as it is clear they are getting gold to buy from the punters. In Canberra in 2009/10, they were little stalls offering gold buying in the thoroughfares, not permanent lease operations.

Further, we are still seeing about 5-10% of shopfronts simply boarded/painted up. This doesn’t include those closed for the 2-4 week summer break.

Really nice to be here though …

In an unrelated matter, Spain joins France as a place where it is illegal to play online cash poker. Interesting.

dismissive

4 Aug 12 at 6:53 am
I am getting more confident Romney is comfortably ahead after seeing the recent Pew poll that gave Obama a comfortable lead. The Pew demographics gave Obama a 10% head start by choosing a polling sample with a massive 40%+ of registered democrats. And then selecting an over abundance of hard Left democrats and soft moderate Republicans. Looking through the cross tabs was hilarious. In this poll only 6% of registered Democrats were going to vote Republican but 9% of Republicans were going to vote Democrat. Really. When you put in Rassmussens registered voter model, based on their 1500 person survey, the Pew poll has Romney 4 points ahead. If you plugged in more conservative Democrats and tea party republicans Romney would really blow out.

The recent NYT battleground States polls that showed Obama ahead in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania were equally bad. Using the same model of registered voters Obama would have won these states in Landslides in 2008. Even the polling companies are schilling for Obama. And now I read that Democrat pollsters Pat Cadell and James Carville are warning of electoral annihilation if the Democrats keep letting the hard left Marxists take over the party. Sound familiar?

I might put $100 on a Romney win. I think he is going to win big. I suspect the anger in mainstream America is so great that no amount of media interference is going to stop a wipe out.

Has anyone on the groundinnthe USA got anything to say?

John Comnenus

4 Aug 12 at 7:59 am
And the Chick fil A franchise broke all sales records as regular people supported the company against Democrat backed, anti religious bigots and anti free speech fascists. The Democrats in Chicago didn’t give the franchise a license to operate in one ward because the owner is opposed to same sex marriage.

I have always supported gay people, often in charged environments where they met genuine discrimination, although I don’t support gay marriage. The underlying fascism of the gay ‘community’ now worries me. It is relentless, bigoted, nasty and increasingly voilent. I have a right not to support gay marriage, even though I support gays rights to inherit, get hospital access, have nursing home cohabitation etc. Their current behavior is losing my support for their causes.

John Comnenus

4 Aug 12 at 8:12 am
While Democrat Mayors force gay marriage fascism down the throat of local companies, they have nothing to say about the right to live: Chicago has a Mexican or Syrian level murder rate; nor the right to work: it has the third highest unemployment rate in the USA.

Yet the morons who live there keep voting Democrat. At some point, surely, even brain dead, battered citizen Chicagoans must come to the conclusion that Democrat government is bad. Surely Chicagoans rate as the dumbest of the dumb in America.

John Comnenus

4 Aug 12 at 8:16 am
Going on what DD and HBB said re Onselen:

Abbot should be able to capital and recurrent expenditure in the Federal budget by 100 bn and give more money to the States and have the same or better outcomes in every portfolio, and pay off the debt.

Then after that, and we have abolished some taxes and cut some, should we even consider raising any current taxes.

I say we don’t.

A few years ago peter Saunders said there was 90 bn AUD of waste ‘merely’ from welfare churn alone.

There is more fat to cut than from a prime hog.

Cleaning the manure out is correct. They need to start from scratch with a liberal philosophy. If the fishing bans get rammed through on top of the carbon tax and RSPT and none of them get repealed, we’ve basically handed over three industries (energy, mining, fishing) to the deep green barbarians.

I hope the Liberal Party with their beautiful manifesto don’t find it too hard to follow their confession and reintroduce economic utilitarianism and in the social sphere the ideas of personal responsibility and live and let live.

.

4 Aug 12 at 8:30 am
be able to cut…

Wow. Maybe I should proof these things.

.

4 Aug 12 at 8:31 am
Campbell Newman accelerates cuts to the QPS.

I like the cut of his jib. He has the ‘fuck you we’re broke and need to cut spending’ thing well in hand.

Although the bleating from the state PS is hardly suprising.

Carpe Jugulum

4 Aug 12 at 8:42 am
I dunno dot – it depends on whether you want us to understand what you’re saying…

Winston Smith

4 Aug 12 at 8:48 am
The US is giving away M1A2 Abrams tanks from their stockpile.
Why the fuck aren’t we asking for a couple of hundred?
So they have to be refurbished, so what?

I wonder what GD is thinking of replacing them with?

Winston Smith

4 Aug 12 at 8:52 am
Dot, I agree smash the State (to coin someone else’s term) by demolishing its most destructive elements – the ridiculous welfare state mentality built by a bloated public sector.

The government does nothing well. Nothing. It is worse than the private sector in education, health and welfare. It spends more money in each category than the private sector yet it secures worse outcomes – at a much higher cost.

The real issue is access to health, education and a safety net. The government and its bureaucracy are only concerned about ownership.

Those who can afford it should have to pay for themselves. Currently my boys’ school spend ~ $12,500 per student p.a., the public school next door (with second rate facilities and educational outcomes) spends ~$13,000 per student. But Gonski wants to make my school fees go up another $500 per student to achieve the same funding level as the State school. Why reward incompetence? Surely he should cut the funding to the state school until they achieve the standards of the neighbouring Catholic school. Surely the nation would be better off if they just let me deduct all my schoolmfees from my tax bill and let me pay the fees direct? That would leave the State about $500 better off, multiply that across the land!

Likewise in health. Private hospitals are cheaper to run than public ones and provide better outcomes. My own loss of income insurance is better than the dole. There is so much wanton waste to cut.

I live in Canberra and revel in telling public servant friends that I hope Abbott cuts public spending by 20%. I also tell them that it is embarrassing that Canberra has the highest average wages in the land, because those wages are paid for by people doing it tougher than us.

I seriously hope Abbott has the balls of Newman and balances the budget in the first year by slashing the public sector. Contrary to popular opinion the public sector is very well paid, has very generous conditions and is bloated to the hilt.

John Comnenus

4 Aug 12 at 8:56 am
I’m with your Carpe – it just spins me senseless when I see the PS out there screaching to hold onto their jobs. Why should they immune to what is happening across the rest of the community.

And also, every business that I’ve worked in over the last number of years you are expected to do more with less. It’s called productivity improvements. The PS & their union mates could do with a dose of productivity improvement – IMHO!

Just Me

4 Aug 12 at 8:57 am
I have always supported gay people, often in charged environments where they met genuine discrimination, although I don’t support gay marriage. The underlying fascism of the gay ‘community’ now worries me. It is relentless, bigoted, nasty and increasingly voilent.

Their current behavior is losing my support for their causes.

And that is precisely where I am at, John. From being a supporter of their rights (not their conduct) I now vote against the gay lobby.
They have no one to blame but themselves.

Winston Smith

4 Aug 12 at 9:02 am
Newman should tell the QPS that if he can’t rely on the impartial confidentiality of the QPS then it serves no purpose and that he will outsource whole departments that leak, starting with treasury. I am sure that one of the banks or investment houses could run a better treasury than the public service. It is time to call the public sectors bluff.

I would like to see Abbott privatize the federal Treasury with incentive payments for accuracy.

John Comnenus

4 Aug 12 at 9:03 am
Last Lib budget spending (06-07): $219b. Current budget (11-12): $376b (plus $250b debt). Spending is totally out of control. Libs could cut $100b comfortably so long as they explain they’re reducing the confiscation of public money and returning it to taxpayers to keep in their pockets; it’s not “magic money”, which is how Labor and the Greens treat it. They’re like a primitive Papuan tribe for whom government money is a slush fund to be cornered and divvied up like chocolates and soft drink.

Tom

4 Aug 12 at 9:10 am
Tough but fair:

North Korean Olympic Losers Face Threat of Gulag (Video).

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 9:24 am
Tough but fair:

Farming leader likens PM to ‘old cow’.

THE head of one of Australia’s largest agriculture companies has caused a stir after comparing the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to a ”non-productive old cow” during a speech in Adelaide this week…

InDaily reported the remark was met with sustained laughter.

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 9:26 am
A couple of movies on YouTube I’ve come across which may of interest, if not already seen.
Berlin Symphony of a Great City (1927), a silent documentary of a day in Weimar period Berlin.
Man with a Movie Camera (1929) is a more ‘artsy’ portrait of Soviet city life and some of the dare-devilry of the cameramen.
Both are fascinating documents because of, or despite, an underlying social message.

manalive

4 Aug 12 at 9:34 am
Latham’s 1500-word account of lunch with Bolt is now outside the AFR paywall. Great read.

Tom

4 Aug 12 at 9:40 am
Yet the morons who live there keep voting Democrat. At some point, surely, even brain dead, battered citizen Chicagoans must come to the conclusion that Democrat government is bad

It’s Chicago John Comnenus.

A significant percentage of the voters, genuinely, are actually dead.

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 9:42 am
some “mistakes” just jump out at me more than others

What about “one foul swoop” or even better “one fowl swoop”?

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 10:00 am
Tough but fair:

North Korean Olympic Losers Face Threat of Gulag (Video).

Our Olympians should be treated worse. The poor old NoKos have been living on dirt and leaves. Ours are the most pammpered and mollycoddled brats on the planet.

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 10:02 am
I like the cut of his jib.

Me to.
However I’ve heard (second hand) the PS machine might be playing the look what you made me do game.
An example: To fudge operating costs, half the medical staff in a burns unit are on contract, but the admin are permanent PS.
It wasn’t politically advantageous for the permanent pukes to ensure this minor detail was properly understood further up the line, so when the contract close out occurred, the medics were boned and the union had an understaffed hospital ward thanks to evil Campbell Newman.

lotocoti

4 Aug 12 at 10:14 am
This is a very disturbing article.

All the money spent on advice and information has had a ”trivial” effect when it comes to heart disease, according to the study by Linda Cobiac, a research fellow at the University of Queensland’s school of population health.
Advertisement

Healthy lifestyle messages cost state and federal governments $132.9 million in 2008-09, with the amount spent growing more than any other public health area.

Government programs MUST be evidence-based. If something isn’t working, we should stop. Some preventative health programs have very large returns, but ones like this need to be identified and cut ASAP.

Unfortunately, that’s not the direction taken in the article.

Research released this week found diet and exercise campaigns are so ineffective at preventing heart disease that they should be abandoned in favour of strict government regulation of salt content in foods and wider medication use.

Uh oh.

“The industry and government like to say what we eat is a matter of individual choice because it takes the pressure of them. But consumers don’t have a choice and they need help.” Neal compares the debate about salt regulation with that of tobacco.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Jarrah

4 Aug 12 at 10:19 am
One would have thought that the Campbell Newman fans would be somewhat cautious after the example of Kennett: conservative, get-things-done hero one day, gone in an unexpectedly short time the next.

Seems to me that public service cuts done in too much of a hurry, particularly in the health field, can bite you with some pretty bad publicity pretty quickly.

steve from brisbane

4 Aug 12 at 10:20 am
Duh Jarrah. First it’s smokes, then salt, then sugar, then alcohol. They won’t be happy until they regulate every part of your life.

John Comnenus

4 Aug 12 at 10:24 am
but the admin are permanent PS.

Lotocoti – that is part of where the problems in Qld health are, it is bloated with admin and non essential staff, wastes too much time on useless meetings and spends more time talking about ‘initiatives’ than delivering medical/nursing services.

Carpe Jugulum

4 Aug 12 at 10:25 am
IT, it is neither “foul” nor “fowl”, but is “fell” as in “one fell swoop”.

It’s an old word, in use by the 13th century, that’s now fallen out of use other than in this phrase, and is the common root of the term ‘felon’. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘fell’ as meaning ‘fierce, savage; cruel, ruthless; dreadful, terrible’, which is pretty unambiguous.

Shakespeare either coined the phrase, or gave it circulation, in Macbeth, 1605:

MACDUFF: [on hearing that his family and servants have all been killed]

All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?

The kite referred to is a hunting bird, like the Red Kite, which was common in England in Tudor times and is now making a welcome return after near extinction in the 20th century. The swoop (or stoop as is sometimes now said) is the rapid descent made by the bird when capturing prey.

Shakespeare used the imagery of a hunting bird’s ‘fell swoop’ to indicate the ruthless and deadly attack by Macbeth’s agents.

In the intervening years we have rather lost the original meaning and use it now to convey suddenness rather than savagery.

Septimus

4 Aug 12 at 10:28 am
“They won’t be happy until they regulate every part of your life.”

It’s the narrow focus of the specialist. Professor Neal sees bad health, and doesn’t care much about other considerations in his zeal to improve it.

Jarrah

4 Aug 12 at 10:30 am
Seems to me that public service cuts done in too much of a hurry

Perhaps they are, although i disagree.

All Newman has to do is reinforce to the average citizen that Qld is essentially broke/living beyond its means and as with a normal household budget you cannot borrow to pay your bills.

It is unfortunate that Kennett was voted out – Victoria is a bit of a wreck these days.

Carpe Jugulum

4 Aug 12 at 10:31 am
I always remember it’s ‘fell swoop’ because of Tolkien’s ‘fell beast’.

Jarrah

4 Aug 12 at 10:32 am
I like the “fowl swoop”, it sounds more Australian.

candy

4 Aug 12 at 10:38 am
Fmr Mossad Chief: Iran Should Fear Next 12 Weeks

JERUSALEM, Israel — Speculation is growing that Israel may attack Iran’s nuclear plants soon, possibly before the U.S. election.

Ephraim Halevy, former head of Israel’s intelligence agency, told the New York Times that Iran should take this seriously.

“If I were an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks,” Halevy said.

CBN News Terrorism Analyst Erick Stackelbeck shared his insight on the Iran nuclear threat facing Israel, on CBN News Channel Morning News, Aug. 3

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Washington’s current strategy is “perilously close” to failing.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is renewing his calls for the destruction of Israel.

“Any freedom lover and justice seeker in the world must do its best for the annihilation of the Zionist regime to pave the path for the establishment of just and freedom in the world,” Ahmadinejad told ambassadors from Islamic countries earlier this week.

In remarks reminiscent of the Third Reich, Ahmadinejad said the Zionists are “behind the scenes of the major power circles in political, media, monetary, and banking organizations in the world.”

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 10:40 am
“Across the public service, we have people who are busy leaking information out. Frankly my ministers can’t even ask for a briefing on options without someone choosing to inappropriately leak it.
“That’s why we’re now moving on at speed.”

I am sure that has happened in some departments. There is also the possibility in other departments the question has never been asked, and further, the message given that unsolicited briefs will not be accepted. The MInisterial Office knows it all and don’t need any advice thank you very mucky.

Programs are being cut that should be, that is true, and the public services, especially after the formation of the super departments in the last government, became bloated, particularly in the corporate services and reporting areas. But making decisions on limited information (or worse, presumption) means that good programs will be cut simply by mistake. There will be an enormous amount of backtracking in the next twelve to eighteen months, although I guess they can always say the are doing it properly, unlike the clowns in the last government.

Entropy

4 Aug 12 at 10:43 am
I like the “fowl swoop”, it sounds more Australian.

Yeah … like hyperbowl.

Tom

4 Aug 12 at 10:52 am
IT, it is neither “foul” nor “fowl”, but is “fell” as in “one fell swoop”.

Me knows that, but seldom few do.

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 10:58 am
“Seems to me that public service cuts done in too much of a hurry, particularly in the health field, can bite you with some pretty bad publicity pretty quickly.”

oh he’s just doing what we voted him in to do. A resource rich state like ours, where did the ALP spend all the money? it’s not that people aren’t insensitive job cuts, but someone has to fix things and the job’s fallen to C.Newman.

candy

4 Aug 12 at 11:01 am
IT, it is neither “foul” nor “fowl”, but is “fell” as in “one fell swoop”.

Me knows that, but seldom few do.

Alas,’tis true ’tis pity. Most people seem to use “foul/fowl swoop”.

Septimus

4 Aug 12 at 11:37 am
New Zealand is thrashing Australia in the medal count!

Fisky

4 Aug 12 at 11:48 am
Australia is equal in gold won with Belarus, Venezuala, Georgia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Romania and Ethiopia.

Ahahahahahaha!

Fisky

4 Aug 12 at 11:49 am
“They’re like a primitive Papuan tribe for whom government money is a slush fund to be cornered and divvied up like chocolates and soft drink.”

I wonder who would win the gold medal ,in the cargo cult stakes!!

blind freddy

4 Aug 12 at 11:55 am
If our athletes have been taken off Stilnox or other addictive sleeping meds they’ve been accustomed to then they’re probably got withdrawal symptoms, sleeplessenss, nervousness. guess they’ve got doctors monitoring it.

candy

4 Aug 12 at 12:00 pm
Language

It helps to know the origin of the saying/word.

rapt (not wrapt), from rapture

bated (not baited), probably from abated, or stopped/ceased, so it’s held breath

kae

4 Aug 12 at 12:12 pm
You’re coarrect, Kae.

bate (1) “to reduce, to lessen in intensity,” c.1300, aphetic of abate (q.v.). Now only in phrase bated breath, which was used by Shakespeare in “The Merchant of Venice” (1596).

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 12:16 pm
…correct. PIMF.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 12:16 pm
If our athletes have been taken off Stilnox or other addictive sleeping meds they’ve been accustomed to then they’re probably got withdrawal symptoms, sleeplessenss, nervousness. guess they’ve got doctors monitoring it.

Good point, candy – the knee-jerk reaction with these was a bit silly.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 12:17 pm
Odd that Gillard hasn’t sued anyone yet.

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 12:24 pm
“However I’ve heard (second hand) the PS machine might be playing the look what you made me do game.”

You can bet the rent money, lotocoti, that they spend more time on fortifying the citadel in the manner you outline than they do providing so called essential services. The “work” these otherwise unemployable public service dills do is easy to see, any time one enters a government department (most recently a motor registry and Prince Charles Hospital).

The welcome as you walk in is walls festooned with posters announcing “Bullying, offensive and “I’m sooo hurt leave” inducing behaviour is very much not the right thing to do, inappropriate and unaccepterbubble” – they are all around you, loudly announcing “We’ve got rights!” as you arrive to do business.

The sloths slouch about with studied indifference and the service is along the lines of “I know what you want but you’ve got to guess exactly what to ask for ‘cos I’m not going to help you”.

We pay their wages. If the kids at Kentucky Fried behaved like this one could make a phone complaint and they’d never win another shift.

Conversely a formal complaint to the public service would likely end up with you being charged with being intimidatory and sentenced to anger management classes. The bone idle moron would jag six months paid leave to recover his self esteem.

From 2001 to 2011 their permanent numbers went from 148,000 to 207,000. Lord knows the additional numbers created in contracted workers (to pretend the head count was being contained). Free cars to drive to and from work, conferences at Port Douglas, credit cards, bare minimum hours and an exotic array of leave entitlements.

They’ve had a free run for a decade and now it’s time for them to sorf off, for which they get a pocket full of our loot anyway, as they shuffle out the door.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

4 Aug 12 at 12:25 pm
Olympic swim boss Leigh Nugent says our female swimmers are all lazy fatsos:

OLYMPIC swim boss Leigh Nugent has bizarrely attacked Australia’s “easy life” society as the reason for the nation’s worst pool performance in 16 years…

“Fat cats don’t fight; they sleep in front of the fire. And there are no fat cats in China.

“Most of our girls, the Aussie girls, are carrying too much weight.”

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 12:32 pm
This has been going on for months. Just ridiculous.

THE US army psychiatrist accused of a massacre on a Texas military base has been fined $US1000 ($A960) for refusing to shave before a military hearing.

Major Nidal Hasan, who could face the death penalty if convicted, is accused of opening fire at the Fort Hood army base on November 5, 2009, in an attack that killed 12 soldiers and a civilian, and wounded 32 others.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/us-army-shooter-fined-for-not-shaving/story-e6frfkui-1226442773685#ixzz22XbXmET4

So what if he has a beard? He’s still the shooter.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 12:36 pm
So what if he has a beard? He’s still the shooter.

Religious statement, Gab. He wants to be a martyr for Allah.

Tom

4 Aug 12 at 12:50 pm
swim boss Leigh Nugent says our female swimmers are all lazy fatsos

Appalling! Swim boss Nugent and past Olympic swimmer Susie O’Neill, who agrees with him … what would they know?

They’ll be forced to apologise now, to announce they were mis-contexted. John Coates may even have to excuse himself from a long lunch with very important people like him, to admonish them. There will be mass resentfulness counselling for the entitled but yet-to-achieve swimming team kiddies.

What was that I saw a week or so back, all those gasps of outrage at the hurtiness of mean, nasty people commenting about an Australian swimming girl being on fork lifted onto the plane to London?

If it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck … this is too funny!

Mick Gold Coast QLD

4 Aug 12 at 12:52 pm
Yes I know it’s a religious statement, but I can’t understand why that would stop the court hearing becuase he has a beard.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 12:53 pm
I always remember it’s ‘fell swoop’ because of Tolkien’s ‘fell beast’.

And the Way that Eomer laughs when he thinks the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is lost: “For once more lust of battle was on him; and he was still unscathed, and he was young, and he was king: the lord of a fell people.”

What a line. Great Anglo-Saxon word.

James in Melbourne

4 Aug 12 at 1:08 pm
Good point, candy – the knee-jerk reaction with these was a bit silly.

Psychologist?

Really?

What James Magnussen need after a good exercise routine during the day and three square was a good root from a talented girl at 10pm the night before the comp.

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 1:10 pm
They train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write ‘fuck’ on their airplanes because it is obscene. Col Kurtz Apocalypse now.

Its because the beard is defiance Gab. The Army doesn’t like deviancy in their ranks.

Splatacrobat

4 Aug 12 at 1:14 pm
Psychologist?

Really?

No, I just think needed sleeping tablets.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 1:30 pm
Pre-murderous-in-the-name-of-allah spree, the accused didn’t have a beard. He grew a beard in defiance. Seems logical. By their own rules, he has gazumped the legal process. On a stupid stupid technicality he is directing a two finger salute at the survivors, the murdered, the relatives and friends of the dead.

What are they doing about it? It’s not like they can send him to jail as punishment, he’s already there. So they fine him. So what. He doesn’t pay and won’t shave his beard. What’s next? They forcibly remove his beard? Can’t do that as the yuman rights activists will scream torture at the military, an abuse of his civil rights! So stalemate. The military really has been sissified. Just absurd.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:42 pm
Wait, what?

Hasan was motivated by some kind of religious fanaticism?

The New York Times said his motives were “still unclear.”

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 1:46 pm
No, I just think needed sleeping tablets.

Really?

Instead of or in addition to a good exercise routine during the day, three square and a good root from a talented girl at 10pm the night before the comp?

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 1:52 pm
Yet the gunman and his motive remain an enigma. No emotion or hint of the defendant’s thoughts flickered across his pale features, as more than two dozen other soldiers and civilians spoke under oath about their struggle to survive in the terrifying minutes after he yelled “Allahu akbar!” — “God is great” in Arabic — and started shooting.

Heh. That was written in the Clueless Times in 2011. The murderer went on his rampage in 2009.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 1:54 pm
…a talented girl at 10pm the night before…

Rocky’s coach forbad women the night before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CObJZf2YzDw

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 1:58 pm
Days after Iran’s prez backed Obama…

CLINT Eastwood just made Mitt Romney’s day.

The Dirty Harry star and Oscar-winning director of Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby endorsed the Republican presidential candidate on Friday night during a Sun Valley fundraiser.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/eastwoods-magnum-force-behind-romney/story-e6frfkui-1226442826974#ixzz22XyNm900

He will be shunned! shunned I tells ya by the Hollywood elite.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 2:07 pm
A feel good story from Andrew Bolt. Schoolmates become supportive instead of ostracizing a kid with Aspergers. Makes a change from stories about bullying.

Poor Old Rafe

4 Aug 12 at 2:11 pm
Yet the morons who live there keep voting Democrat. At some point, surely, even brain dead, battered citizen Chicagoans must come to the conclusion that Democrat government is bad. Surely Chicagoans rate as the dumbest of the dumb in America.

They have been re-enslaved, mate. That’s what welfare is when taken to that level – slavery.

Slaves do as they are told by massuh.

Mk50 of Brisbane

4 Aug 12 at 2:11 pm
Atheist state insists on seal of the confessional in South Australia:

The Government is now fighting in the District Court to stop any release of documents relating to the case.

Abuse children were ignored by a welfare worker.

C.L.

4 Aug 12 at 2:16 pm
Really?

Instead of or in addition to a good exercise routine during the day

My understanding is that they were on the tablets already, but after Hackett’s recent revelation that he was addicted to them, they banned them at the last minute.

This is what I think was silly… I didn’t mean that they should start taking them if they hadn’t before – merely that they be allowed to continue.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 2:16 pm
Rocky’s coach forbad women the night before.

I never had any trouble sleeping after Rocky.

Or during it.

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 2:17 pm
My understanding is that they were on the tablets already, but after Hackett’s recent revelation that he was addicted to them, they banned them at the last minute.

Yeah.

Leave Rehab for after the comp.

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 2:18 pm
It looks like the everybody gets a ribbon mentality pervading our school system has finally reaped what it has sown. Professional athletes who are too scared to compete.

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 2:25 pm
Taking them off the pills like that seemed unwise? but you have to assume it was done under a team doctor’s care. Stilnox is known to cause hallucinations I think pretty potent stuff to suddenly stop.

candy

4 Aug 12 at 2:34 pm
Why the hell, if the athletes are getting so much exercise and being taken care of so well, do they need sleeping tablets?

kae

4 Aug 12 at 2:36 pm
I imagine a lot of them use it just to adjust their body clock… I wonder if modafinil is banned – that is often prescribed for jet-lag in the US, and would probably aid the shooters a lot more than sleeping tablets.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 2:37 pm
Why the hell, if the athletes are getting so much exercise and being taken care of so well, do they need sleeping tablets?

Is this a serious question? Nerves/excitement aren’t allowed? Not to mention timezone issues… I know you guys are determined hate on the Olympics, but be reasonable.

Fleeced

4 Aug 12 at 2:38 pm
86% of all Romney stories in the MSM are negative. I’m shocked.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2012/08/02/networks-fawned-over-obamas-world-tour-mock-romneys-international-bl

JC

4 Aug 12 at 2:40 pm
Why the hell, if the athletes are getting so much exercise and being taken care of so well, do they need sleeping tablets?

Trying to sleep after training or a game is almost impossible. Too much adrenalin pumping around.

It’s quite reasonable to be taking sleeping tablets in their situation in my view.

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 2:41 pm
“Nerves/excitement aren’t allowed”

For sure they would be really wired up, and need their sleep.

candy

4 Aug 12 at 2:43 pm
Is this a serious question? Nerves/excitement aren’t allowed? Not to mention timezone issues… I know you guys are determined hate on the Olympics, but be reasonable.

No, the whole thing is a taxeating racket. Fuck’em.

JC

4 Aug 12 at 2:47 pm
So the sleeping tablets are only for certain times, like before a big meet or after travel. That I can understand.

Like trying to go to sleep after afternoon shift. Can’t do that, too awake.

I think the Olympics suck because it’s no longer an amateur* thing. I don’t think it’s right for taxpayers to fork out to support the training of the teams, I’m against the AIS being funded by taxpayers when there is no kind of restitution from the students. Students at any other University must pay back their fees when supported by the taxpayer.

I’m tired of hearing someone who won gold at the Olympics is the best at that sport in the world. They are not. They are the best at that sport at the Olympics on that day.

*Lleyton Hewitt won an Olympic tennis match. WTF? He’s a professional.

kae

4 Aug 12 at 2:50 pm
Fuck the Olympics. FFS, why do we worship people who devote their lives to excelling at useless skills? I can run fast(I have a phone, here I come constantinople). I can swim fast – I have a boat. It is nuts the way we carry on about this crap.

Dead Soul

4 Aug 12 at 2:51 pm
Or was that just a demonstration sport?

kae

4 Aug 12 at 2:52 pm
Um, so let me get this right, they take potentially addictive drugs that help them sleep so they can perform better. How then are these tablets not performance enhancing drugs?

John Comnenus

4 Aug 12 at 2:53 pm
They are the best at that sport at the Olympics on that day.

Yep.

*Lleyton Hewitt won an Olympic tennis match. WTF? He’s a professional.

To deny professionals to compete in the limpix is to deny them their yuma right to compete in the limpix.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 2:55 pm
I can’t understand why that would stop the court hearing becuase he has a beard.

He’s an officer in the US Military facing a US Military court.

He still has to abide by US Military standards.

If he wanted all the “freedoms” of being a civilian, he never should have voluntarily joined the military.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 2:57 pm
Not to mention timezone issues…

There was a US neuroscientist who made a small killing betting on NFL games relying principally on one variable: the time zone difference for away matches. If you look at studies on circadians and performance, this is not so surprising when the competition is tight because it represents that tiny margin of advantage that can make all the difference in leading sports.

Dead Soul

4 Aug 12 at 3:00 pm
They ought to just tie him to a chair and shave it off, FFS.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 3:01 pm
Good piece in Bloomberg by Virginia Prostel

The Bad History Behind ‘You Didn’t Build That’

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-02/the-bad-history-behind-you-didn-t-build-that-.html

JC

4 Aug 12 at 3:01 pm
They ought to just tie him to a chair and shave it off, FFS.

They need too tie him to a chair ,for sure,old Sparky.

Jumpnmcar

4 Aug 12 at 3:10 pm
This is currently a big issue in immunology but poorly understood. Until I wrote this up I had grave doubts about The Hygiene Hypothesis but at least now I have two tentative approaches to understanding how it is arising. This is difficult to understand so don’t be surprised if you don’t understand.

Sunshine, Pathogen Genocide, Vitamin D, Happiness, and Cognition

Dead Soul

4 Aug 12 at 3:44 pm
Leigh Nugent’s head will be the first one on a stick while I can feel John Coates hand in my pocket already.

H B Bear

4 Aug 12 at 3:47 pm
Why is John H’s soul dead?

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 3:50 pm
SHOCK-JOCKS and their coalition friends have created an environment that fosters disrespect for the prime minister, says treasurer Wayne Swan.

Really? So what created the “environment” that fostered disrespect for and abuse of Howard?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/pm-compared-to-cow-by-cattle-chief/story-fn3dxiwe-1226442658506

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 3:56 pm
John H’s soul will die when he is dead.

dover_beach

4 Aug 12 at 3:58 pm
Personally, the Olympics bore the tripe out of me. I have not watched a second of it and won’t.

hearing here that Australia has won bugger-all medals fills me with delicious schadenfreude – useless people with useless skills fail. Maybe now the mug taxpayer who was forced to fund them via the AIS can catch a break.

Defund the lot, and screw all these preening princesses who are actually just very fit welfare leeches with a sophisticated scam.

Mk50 of Brisbane

4 Aug 12 at 3:59 pm
I’m trying to work out if this government is more or less hopeless when Gillard is on holiday?

I’m not sure but a couple more days from Wayne “The Goose” Swansteen might be enough.

H B Bear

4 Aug 12 at 4:03 pm
It’s the first true Gen Y Olympics – personified by that objectionable, over-indulged, mono-talented douchebag Nick D’Arcy.

H B Bear

4 Aug 12 at 4:06 pm
Swansteen

lol i like it, might have to steal it.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 4:07 pm
HB Bear
Nice summation. Especially the douchebag D’Arcy bit.

kae

4 Aug 12 at 4:10 pm
SHOCK-JOCKS and their coalition friends have created an environment that fosters disrespect for the prime minister, says treasurer Wayne Swan.

Flashback to the ABC newsreader who got Howard’s seat… for a very short while:

Saint Maxine contradicts herself in crowing over John Howard’s defeat:

MAXINE MCKEW: Well I think Paul Keating got it right, you know, this election has wiped away the toxicity. People are smiling, a sort of sense of, we can get on and do things.

And I think we all want to get on and do things in a certain way, in a civil way, in a sensible way, and get rid of perhaps I think that brutishness that has characterised our politics probably since 2001.

A terrible thing happened then, but we all, we all have assembled here today, haven’t we? And I think it’s time to get rid of that horrible absolutism…

And remember the video the ABC chose as a winner, “A Farewell to John Howard,” featuring a band standing in front of McKew posters and singing a re-worded Howard-hating version of the Angels’ Am I Ever Going to See Your Face Again, complete with the chorus “No way, Get f—– f— off” and shots of Howard’s head being blown up in an explosion of blood?

They’ve since deleted it or made it private, but enough people noticed it when it was up.

“Civility!”

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 4:20 pm
Yeah, but no. Gillard’s our first female PM so she deserves respect, unlike Howard.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 4:27 pm
Maybe now the mug taxpayer who was forced to fund them via the AIS can catch a break.

We’ll see the opposite.
There’ll be a clamour to fully fund “elite” athletes for the country’s sake.

lotocoti

4 Aug 12 at 4:39 pm
Results matter not. If there’s a poor medal tally it will be used as justification for more funding, a la stimulus rationale. If there’s a good haul then it’s because they were funded and thus more funding will produce more medals. Either way, we the taxpayers are screwed.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 4:43 pm
By the way, those of you who were shrieking that Blair was SILENCING DISSENT!!!1111!!!! on the thread about Jessica Irvine joining News, fret no more:
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/welcome_aboard/

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 4:56 pm
Maybe taxpayers should be allowed the option of funding their favourite athlete/coach, or not at all. AIS could run it as an NGO, on a donation basis.
The recent opening of that ridiculous surfing “institute” (yes really) settled the question of government funded sport for me. Never again.
At the opening they even had Lane Beachley there to say how terribly important for the sport it would be. Such a ‘facility’ wasn’t available, yet she dominated the world championships for so many years unassisted.

Keith

4 Aug 12 at 4:58 pm
“It’s the first true Gen Y Olympics – personified by … D’Arcy”

More succinct than I can manage, H B Bear, and accurate.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

4 Aug 12 at 4:59 pm
those of you who were shrieking that Blair was SILENCING DISSENT!!!1111!!!! on the thread about Jessica Irvine joining News

Yep, my dissent was indeed silenced.

No comments allowed from yours truly.

My comment did NOT merit binning.

I made some very salient points about rewarding failure and ignorance and the fact that hacks such as the beached political economy whale are the reason fauxfacts is about to be liquidated.

Not. Happy. Timbo!

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 5:02 pm
I do get the idea that sometimes he gets jack of whatever that faux “accent” you try putting on is, Rabz. He’s mentioned that to you before. He did print plenty of other critical comments, as you can see. Whenever he’s chosen not to print one of my comments, I try to take it as constructive advice and try not to replicate whatever I did in that comment. Just sayin’.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 5:10 pm
Dogue (oops!)

I made that comment at about 6:40am.

No accents, fake or otherwise, were deployed.

Too close to the bone, I’d merit.

The whale’s appointment is totally unacceptable.

She’s a self aggrandising egomaniac whose ignorance of even the most basic economic principles is utterly infuriating and unforgivable.

And don’t get me started on her strident advocacy of marxist redistribution.

She’s an absolute disgrace who deserves to be fronting up at Centrelink once fauxfacts is liquidated, nothing more, nothing less.

fauxfacts was a Business and she and her ilk deconstructed it.

WAR.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 5:21 pm
Well Rabz, somebody at News must be besotted with Jessica.

Maybe she has hidden talents?

Jessica: You don’t know how hard it is being a woman looking the way I do.
Valiant: You don’t know how hard it is being a man looking at a woman looking the way you do.
Jessica: I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 5:23 pm
Woo-Hoo!

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 5:26 pm
My comment got through. Now I feel I didn’t go far enough.

Double or nothing?

H B Bear

4 Aug 12 at 5:36 pm
sdog,

I’ve been causing Timbo grief for literally about five years now.

He has the patience of a Saint and I’ve appreciated him indulging me on many drunken occasions.

Like Bolt, I respect the guy immensely.

Tim was the character who alerted me to the possibilities of this new fangled blogosphere.

He also cheered me up after September 11.

Long may he do what he does.

The LOLs are just too damn valuable and necessary.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 5:42 pm
Woo-Hoo!

Rabz, that’s one of those infuriating websites that locks you in and makes it impossible to leave without just deleting it, which is a pain if you’re in a long Cat thread and have to find your way back to your spot manually.

BTW, I agree Blair’s censoring of criticism is pissweak. He’s a bit of a nanny, but I understand where it’s coming from, so I take the good with the bad. Look at the positives: Terry McCrann versus Jessica Rabbit will be tremendously entertaining when Tezza lets it all hang out.

Tom

4 Aug 12 at 5:42 pm
Received some sad news this afternoon.

A good mate lost his father, an architect by profession.

Tony was one of those restrained, dignified, quiet achievers.

His poor wife is inconsolable.

He was the sort of salt of the earth types who helped this country recover from the horror of WWII.

His children and many grandchildren have nothing but the fondest of memories.

Vale.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 5:49 pm
14 of the 20 comments printed so far were overtly critical of Jessica Irvine. So at least he’s not systematically “SILENCING DISSENT!!!”

He’s killed some of my comments that were, in hindsight, just way too OTT or simply stupid – no great loss.

Both his blog posts and the excellent comments there keep me sane, probably a lot of us sane. Hope the lawfare zombies don’t shift their focus to his blog, now that they’ve more or less nailed Bolt.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 6:00 pm
He’s killed some of my comments that were, in hindsight, just way too OTT or simply stupid – no great loss.

Mea culpa.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 6:02 pm
Sorry for your friend’s loss, Rabz. Hate to lose the good ‘uns.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 6:03 pm
Thanks Dogue,

The greatest generation is now almost gone.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 6:03 pm
JohnH/Dead Soul – your piece on the Hygiene Hypothesis, sunlight, vitie D, circadian rhythms, cognition etc. was very interesting in drawing it all together. Self, not-self – used to own McFarlane-Burnett’s great original tome, and had a close friend who was into immunology in a big way. She kept me updated but we are not as much in touch now as I’m no longer working in anything related. This field is certainly at the forefront, with genetics, of our biological understanding. Explains a lot of ‘alternative’ approaches working too. Go the pathogens, friendly little parts of us.

Glad you are back putting stuff up here for those who like to keep up with da bio-science, and I hope you are personally moving towards sunny and relaxed ‘cos you know that’s the way to go if you read your own stuff (that ‘dead soul’ tiredness is a bit of a worry, do take care). Now I’ll have to go and do all those things I’ve been avoiding doing while chasing up your various links (like prepare to feed da Hairy Ape; maybe we will go out instead if I promise him one of my failures, which he always kindly eats, but without real relish).

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 6:18 pm
Still here. It seems the carbon tax has not destroyed the Australian economy. Phew!

Comment by Tim Lambert, opening his open thread for August. This comment is coming from someone whose entire existence has been reliant on the public trough. Maybe market forces will catch up with him one day… one could hope.

JC

4 Aug 12 at 6:19 pm
The greatest generation is now almost gone.

One of the GayPatriot community turned NINETY recently. He wrote a short post on the occasion. He’s points out that he’s lived through

Harding Coolidge Hoover Roosevelt Truman

Eisenhower Kennedy Johnson Nixon Ford

Carter Reagan Bush Clinton Bush Obama

Now that was “The Greatest Generation”.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 6:24 pm
Still here. It seems the carbon tax has not destroyed the Australian economy. Phew!

What an outstandingly anserine and puerile comment. Have come to expect no less from him.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 6:36 pm
That is sad news, Rabz. Sorry to hear of your loss.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 6:39 pm
When he isn’t lying or attempting to destroy someone who he politically disagrees with. Every scumbag on the planet is looking to be as good as he is.

JC

4 Aug 12 at 6:40 pm
Stilnox?
They’re giving healthy athletes Stilnox?

Talk about overkill! Yes, it will put you to sleep. A bit like a 350Kt nuke will open a tin of baked beans…

Winston Smith

4 Aug 12 at 6:42 pm
This is difficult to understand so don’t be surprised if you don’t understand.

No such warning given to the skepticlawyer crowd.
Still, thanks for posting the link.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 6:52 pm
That is sad news, Rabz. Sorry to hear of your loss

Thanks Gab,

It’s my mate’s loss, but I regarded Tony as a friend and respected elder – he was a true gentleman and scholar.

There’ll be a mad dash to Sydney next week to get the Funeral.

Then we have to cheer up Betty.

The reminiscing will make it all worthwhile.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 6:56 pm
The greatest generation is now almost gone.

Spot,

When you think about what they lived through, the mind boggles.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 7:01 pm
I realise this is a ‘light weight’ contribution however it is open forum. Opened our local newspaper here in Cairns, not front page news, photo of Juliar/Timmy with cockatoos on their shoulders. Are they a member of the parrot family?? (blonde question). Thought they (the birds) were sort of Christine Milne/Sarah double dose representatives. Also it mentioned one of the friendly buskers was an ex school mate of the partner – possibilities, possibilities, played them a special number. Aaaaah.

delfino

4 Aug 12 at 7:16 pm
Are they a member of the parrot family??

Yes.

Are ‘they’ deceased etc?

Hopefully not, but an encounter like that would put the frighteners on anyone, animal or vegetable.

Here’s hoping ‘they’ don’t wind up in Zombie Parrotville…

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 7:19 pm
Bwahahahhahahahaha!!!

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 7:25 pm
Keddie? He’s the one who recently (when he realised his whole scam was going tits up), signed all property over to the missus for a dollar.

kae

4 Aug 12 at 7:28 pm
Just checked. Got up re Jessica Irvine on Blair’s site. Took the liberty of speaking for the Cats, saying we were all mystified.

Rabz – it is so sad when someone you admire and love dies. My sympathies. I have a friend (an old family friend of da Ape) who is 97 years old, in the past a high-up Naval man. He still makes a better Thai noodles than I do and prepares a mean gin and tonic. He is the compleat gentleman, who calls his 88 year-old girlfriend ‘my girl’ and is not averse to giving me a wink. What a generation! Vale.

Please keep up your funny language. It cracks me up even if Timmy gets all rough with you about it.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 7:42 pm
On the food front – I have knocked together a meatloaf. It may taste like a cooked bat out of hell. We shall see. We apparently can’t go out because of de Olympics. He’s counting the drop-outs one by one in the women’s Triathlon and is intensely focussed, giving commentary – ‘oh down to four, oh, she’s going now’, ‘they just drop off, one by one they drop off’. Yeah, I would too, I mutter.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 7:47 pm
No new post at The Bunyip’s,I hope all’s well with Nanna Bunyip

Tal

4 Aug 12 at 7:49 pm
No such warning given to the skepticlawyer crowd.

yeah, but we are all such dummkopfs here Gab.

Tal, I guess it’s Nana Bunyip, I keep checking too.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 7:51 pm
No such warning given to the skepticlawyer crowd.
Still, thanks for posting the link.

Yes, I enjoyed that classic bit of John H intellectual smugness. He would deny it, I suppose, but he really is the worst kind of elitist. God knows how he bears to slum it over here amongst the economists, commercial traders and BA graduates.

Abu Chowdah

4 Aug 12 at 8:00 pm
Big (really big and leggy) Swedish girl just won the Triathlon. She put on an outstanding sprint at the end, and the little Aussie girl was left behind coming in Bronze third after a stirling (geddit? going for Silver) run up close to the other two right till then.

I was a little squib at school (only stayed till I was just 14 and was a year younger anyway than all the rest). For a moment just then, all the old fear of the big girls came rushing back to me.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 8:10 pm
Abu

but he really is the worst kind of elitist

A bit like Mecurius Goldstein?

Jumpnmcar

4 Aug 12 at 8:13 pm
Dover – this one is for you.

Sinclair Davidson

4 Aug 12 at 8:21 pm
Speaking of the limpix, you might prefer the Village Games.

nilk

4 Aug 12 at 8:23 pm
Lizzie, my old mum (recently departed) always told me: “It’s the hours before midnight that count.” So, if I don’t put myself to bed around 10pm, I basically write off the next day, which I like to start around 4.30am-5.30am. Which is a very long-winded way of saying that, even though I love sport, if they want to run the Limpix when I’m sleep’un, I’m more interested in the footy finals and the spring carnival. The next Limpix are in Rio de Crimeo (AEST -13h), so I won’t see my next proper instalment before 2020 at the earliest.

Tom

4 Aug 12 at 8:26 pm
Last Lib budget spending (06-07): $219b. Current budget (11-12): $376b (plus $250b debt). Spending is totally out of control. Libs could cut $100b comfortably so long as they explain they’re reducing the confiscation of public money and returning it to taxpayers to keep in their pockets; it’s not “magic money”, which is how Labor and the Greens treat it. They’re like a primitive Papuan tribe for whom government money is a slush fund to be cornered and divvied up like chocolates and soft drink.

Basically I reckon we’ve pissed away half a trillion dollars during that time.

That probably cost at least an additional 100 billion of lost production to raise that revenue. I’d say a cumulative total of around 900 000 jobs at the median wage.

We have destroyed so many jobs through treating resources as infinite – whilst the same yokels in power like to remind us they believe in Malthusian economics.

.

4 Aug 12 at 8:32 pm
Dover – this one is for you.

Would you believe I watched that again? Just in case. BTW, Mr. Puopolo, what were you thinking?

dover_beach

4 Aug 12 at 8:38 pm
A quote from Mercurius Goldstein

And I’m an elitist all the way, in all endeavours. We only pass this way once. Whether as a spectator or a participant, I prefer to engage with well-wrought, sincere, diligent, high-quality performance, in any field — in science, in surfing, in business, in politics, in baking, in writing, in triathlons, in agriculture, in children’s party entertainers, in sports, in teaching, in medicine, in art, in academia, in pickling, in rhetoric, in software, in cinema, in music, in gardening, in TV, in books, in pizza-making and in lovemaking.

So, if there are people out there who prefer things to be shit, then they can revel in their non-elitist credentials.

He give 100% in everything he does, I hope he tries donating blood.

Jumpnmcar

4 Aug 12 at 8:41 pm
I do like the Olympics now I’ve watched a bit of it.

Flanagan and Nelson are hotties. Why did Commens drop Kate Hollywood though?

.

4 Aug 12 at 8:41 pm
Dover – twice in the last two minutes your mob played on and took advantage instead of stopping, wasting time, and kicking a goal.

Sinclair Davidson

4 Aug 12 at 8:46 pm
I know, Sinc, I know. Sewell should have simply taken the free and then hit a target, sideways, backward or forward. Siren. Monkey off your back.

You’ve got to hand it to Geelong, they are one tough cookie.

dover_beach

4 Aug 12 at 8:51 pm
How did you find this Mercurial chap?

Abu Chowdah

4 Aug 12 at 8:54 pm
Tom, if it’s the hours before midnight that count then I am out for that count, as we don’t seem to head bedwards till gone eleven most nights. Even then, would you believe, we don’t always get straight to sleep.

Will leave here now for the big Meatloaf unveiling. Hate to tell you and it is a big secret from Da Ape, but it is made with the last of my dear little departed kitty’s defrosted meat (rest her furry little soul). Oh help, I didn’t mean kitty herself, she’s in an expensive memorial park, I meant her best ground beef that she loved so much.

That’s a depressing piece you just put up Dot. But so true. We could have done so much more with the resources boom, which won’t last for us given the current world situation, and we could all weep for the opportunities lost due to one seat missing in 2010 and a couple of culpable Independents.

Might be time for a nice glass of red to cheer me up. The Hairy One grumbling about the quality of the commentators: these people are edjits, he complains. Job opportunity for someone then, I pointedly say.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 8:56 pm
Abu

How did you find this Mercurial chap?

On LP,a more condescending sanctimonious lefty you will never meet.
Oh, I didn’t find it, it found me.

Jumpnmcar

4 Aug 12 at 9:05 pm
Lizzie, you lovely lass, thanks for the kind words.

Tommy, sorry about your mum. The Jessica problem I didn’t predict – thought I’d linked to a picture, not a site.

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 9:36 pm
Yes, I enjoyed that classic bit of John H intellectual smugness. He would deny it, I suppose, but he really is the worst kind of elitist. God knows how he bears to slum it over here amongst the economists, commercial traders and BA graduates.

I don’t know who the audience was for that piece. I suspect it wasn’t clear in John H’s mind who the audience was.

Dangph

4 Aug 12 at 9:52 pm
Gab, if you believe in a deity, go and thank it for that victory over the Saints by the car thieves, who were extremely lucky to win.

Tom

4 Aug 12 at 10:19 pm
He give 100% in everything he does, I hope he tries donating blood.

Death by prolapse would be funnier.

.

4 Aug 12 at 10:20 pm
Go da poies!

JamesK

4 Aug 12 at 10:22 pm
Gab, if you believe in a deity, go and thank it for that victory over the Saints

No need to thank a deity – just thank the umpires – especially the one who gave Harry O’Brien a free with seconds to go.

Sinclair Davidson

4 Aug 12 at 10:23 pm
Two, a three, a four…

I should run,

on the double…

I think I’m in …

Rabz

4 Aug 12 at 10:27 pm
You know, James, it’s always “the umpires wot dun it”. Every time without fail.

Tom, nice set of hubcaps you’ve got there. Shame if something should happen to ‘em.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 10:37 pm
I’m an elitist all the way, in all endeavours

Yep, Mercurio’s a top class wanker. All the way.

Dangph – a few of us (ahem, Lizzie here, ahem) on the Cat aren’t exactly strangers to science at higher degree level either. John H’s links are sometimes quite specialised but this last lot wasn’t so much so, because it was mostly dealing in some general principles rather than the deep biochemistry etc. I think most literate people could have grasped the basic thrust of it.

I was impressed with John’s link to the lovely Polly Matzinger, a fine mind and genuinely original scientific theorist, who was once a Playboy Bunny. Never judge how smart a girl is by the silly things she gets up to.

The Meatloaf was quite acceptable, by the way. All quiet at the Zoo.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 10:40 pm
To be fair, John lacks any emotional intelligence. That’s why he doesn’t get why people don’t kiss his ass for posting links to his day job here. He’s a bit like our own Bob Brown. Clueless and slightly mad.

Abu Chowdah

4 Aug 12 at 10:46 pm
Dover – twice in the last two minutes your mob played on and took advantage instead of stopping, wasting time, and kicking a goal.

Sinc, there was blatant holding the ball in the final minute that should have been paid for Rioli’s tackle that would have sealed the game. Hawthorn were robbed.

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 10:47 pm
I was thinking the same, Abu, regards his EQ, not about the Bob Brown comparison though. Nobody deserves that.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 10:48 pm
To be fair, John lacks any emotional intelligence. That’s why he doesn’t get why people don’t kiss his ass for posting links to his day job here.

To be extra fair to John H. he has admitted to suffering from some sort of condition that makes him who he is, idiosyncrasies and all. I find him very frustrating but also illuminating. His hatred of Billy Short pants is something to behold!

He should comment here freely but somehow learn to develop a thicker skin.

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 10:52 pm
IT, dam straight.

dover_beach

4 Aug 12 at 10:54 pm
Dover, Rioli is so fast I don’t think the umpie could believe it!

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 10:56 pm
Well, they better school themselves. If it happens during the finals, we’ll start a petition.

dover_beach

4 Aug 12 at 10:58 pm
Hawthorn were robbed.

Yes they were and I loved every second of the robbing.

Sinclair Davidson

4 Aug 12 at 10:58 pm
I once had a boss, not dissimilar to John, who had a very high IQ but low EQ, very intelligent and smart and a real forward thinker. One of those lucky people who can quickly discern patterns in everything and be ahead of the game. Quick thinker, too quick for most. She could never figure out why colleagues were so angry and snipey towards her. And why some cried just because she told them the truth. I had to explain a lot to her to foster some understanding of Why People Behave Differently Towards Her. However, we made an excellent team, me with my low IQ and high EQ, complementary to hers.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 11:00 pm
Yes they were and I loved every second of the robbing.

Great stuff! Good to see the hatred between Bombers and Hawks lives on long after the 80′s!

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 11:00 pm
It will go with me to the grave, IT.

dover_beach

4 Aug 12 at 11:06 pm
Nothing to do with the 80s. Rather the pain and suffering it would impose on the fans.

Sinclair Davidson

4 Aug 12 at 11:09 pm
Lizzie, Tal: Thanks for your concern. Many worries on the home front just at the moment. Hope things will have settled by next weekend.

Exciting times otherwise, almost end-of-days stuff: The Age publishes a column by a proper man of science, Jessica Irvine is recruited by News Ltd, and the Australian fleshes out with vigour the very same story that 12 months ago cost Glenn Milne his job.

Jessica Irvine, and with the title of National Somethingorother, no less! God help us. One assumes it was a holdover nitwit from the Hartigan era who hired her. Certainly would not have been Terry McCrann.

Bunyip

4 Aug 12 at 11:10 pm
W00T! See? Say his name three times, and he appears!

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 11:13 pm
Godespeed Professor Bunyip.

One knows the country is in the best of hands when a semi-retired cartoonist and a hack golfer are the two foremost investigative journos in the land.

Infidel Tiger

4 Aug 12 at 11:13 pm
And I’m sorry for what you’re going through with your mother, Prof. Prayers for strength and comfort for her and for the whole Bunyip family.

Take care and go well.

sdog

4 Aug 12 at 11:14 pm
All the best to your mum, Bunyip.

Jessica Irvine, and with the title of National Somethingorother, no less! God help us. One assumes it was a holdover nitwit from the Hartigan era who hired her. Certainly would not have been Terry McCrann.

Tim Blair welcomed her to the fold the other day. I thought it was ironic in intention.

Abu Chowdah

4 Aug 12 at 11:16 pm
You can’t beat teamwork Gab.

Just laughed at Da Ape watching the donkeys jumping over fences in the Limpix. Donkeys? he disapproves at me, and suddenly got rather British for an Irish Ape (he is after all a Cambridge man). It’s the aristocracy, darling, he says, in that voice he uses for negotiating deals. Not donkeys then? I say.

Nuff said.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 11:16 pm
Heartfelt good wishes and a speedy recovery for your dear mother, Prof, Bunyip.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 11:17 pm
Thank you Rabz for bothering to answer my comment, considering the loss of your friend. Or not only a friend, but someone who has obviously contributed to society, a gentleman.
An Aunt of mine, driving along in the car with the grandchild, said =’I want him to grow up with manners.’ That was about 10 years ago. Unfortunately I am on the other side of the world to them, hope the ambition is fulfilled. Guess it is up to the parents.
Thank you once again Rabz.

delfino

4 Aug 12 at 11:18 pm
Many thanks once again. What you might call a geriatric chain reaction began early last week, so walking frames and oxygen bottles have been sprouting like mushrooms. Off to bed now. Those prayers and kind thoughts are much appreciated.

Bunyip

4 Aug 12 at 11:24 pm
Pickering update.

What Blewitt Has On Gillard Is Big.

Snippet follows:

Blewitt and his wife, Mel, arrived back here from Malaysia terrified that, two weeks earlier, “The Pickering Post” had disclosed what was about to happen. His wife was concerned that they might be popped before Ralph could utter a word.
…
How do I know there is much more to come? The paper I once worked for would never splash this story as a page one lead without knowing the full extent of the substance of what Blewitt has to say. The story, when it breaks, will have plenty more meat on the bone; meat we have not yet chewed on, and certainly enough to ruin Gillard’s holiday.

Gillard will not be charged but it will be claimed that she was fully aware of, and complicit in, the fraudulently-acquired funds and that she benefited from them. Her boyfriend at the time, and prime culprit, Bruce Wilson, will again attract police interest. My view is that he will not be charged either. Blewitt’s testimony will need to withstand rigorous scrutiny against a closing of the ranks in the AWU. Only a Royal Commission will prise apart that sort of solidarity.

Kim Williams, the incoming CEO of News Ltd, deserves commendation for biting the bullet and not bowing to Gillard’s threats of exposing phone hacking if the story was exposed. Maybe he had a religious epiphany or simply realised that Gillard is already spayed and far beyond the power to blackmail media.

Gab

4 Aug 12 at 11:29 pm
Hope you’rre still here for me to add all of my good wishes to the long list of them from others too, Prof.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 11:30 pm
Kim Williams, the incoming CEO of News Ltd, deserves commendation

He does, and wouldn’t it be good if a little bit of real reportage of the allegations and exactly who it is making them now started to emerge in ALL of the media? Don’t hold your breath yet though.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

4 Aug 12 at 11:39 pm
Lizzie, I take a keen interest in the stuff John H was talking about, even though I don’t have a background in the biological sciences. I have picked up a lot in the last few years though. I was thinking the article should have been right up my alley, but I didn’t end up getting much out of it.

I’m glad your meatloaf turned out well. As it happens, I’m going to be making some meatloaf myself. I’ve never had it before. I’d only ever heard about it in the context of american TV sitcoms.

I bought 5 kg of organic grass-fed beef mince last week. Speaking of vitamin D, I assume there’s lots in the fat of my mince. And speaking of inflammatory pathways, grass fed meat has a better omega 3 to omega 6 profile compared to factory farmed meat. I understand that omega 6 is inflammatory.

Dangph

5 Aug 12 at 12:01 am
Nicola Roxon: Australians don’t have “permission” to make “sexist and silly” remarks about Julia Gillard.

“I am concerned that people think that there is permission to make these sorts of comments about the prime minister … in the footy parlance, play the ball, not the man.”

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 12:05 am
So good to see (via Blair) Bill Thomas of Wheels call bullshit on speed camera revenue raising:

No other government on earth have been able to get away with such extortion.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 12:07 am
Roxon, the nanny said that?! Holy cow.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:07 am
Gillard had a video linkup today with the “party faithful”. Wonder what went down. Anyone heard anything?

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:10 am
Notice that Roxon’s remarks came – what? – 24 hours after Bill Shorten was caught verbally abusing a female immigrant (using the f-word) about a pie?

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 12:13 am
Two cockatoos and a couple of galahs.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:19 am
IT’S the heated debate over a mircowaveable pie that’s quickly become a political punchline – but the husband of shop owner Annie Huang says there was nothing funny about his wife’s run-in with federal MP Bill Shorten.

After fleeing China 20 years ago for a new life in Australia, Tony Zhao said the war of words was “scary” and “frightening” rather than amusing for someone who grew up in a communist state.

He said his wife spent the night in tears, fearing the Workplace Relations Minister was a “big person” who could hurt their business.

“That afternoon after Bill Shorten came into the shop was really sad. She started crying,” Mr Zhao said.

“My wife knows Bill Shorten from TV. She knows he’s a very important person.

“We come from mainland China, communist China. We know what big persons can do. We don’t want any trouble. When he left the shop he said, ‘you lose business’. She said to me, ‘What does this mean to us?’. I said, ‘I don’t know.’ It was scary.”

Just disgraceful. As I said yesterday, had the shop keep been of european descent with a broad aussie accent I doubt Shorten would have tried it on.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:26 am
So Shorten is in it up to his eyebrows. No wonder he chucked a mental in the pie shop. Byebye Billy, and take your mother in law with you.
The video link up would be to discuss who can succeed Gillard, but doesn’t have an obvious AWU connection.

Keith

5 Aug 12 at 12:32 am
Dangph, 5kg is going to make a monster meatloaf. I trust you’re going to freeze some of it.

A new approach to immunological inflammatory response chemistry, encompassing a new insight re the immunological effect of killing useful pathogens, the action of sunlight and Vitamin D on triptophane, serotonin, melatonin production, and the collapsing the self-other paradigm dominant since the earlier times of MacFarlane Burnett were all items of reasonable interest for me.

I’m not a nutritionist just an interested eater, but I don’t go overboard personally on selecting foodstuffs. It’s really hard to tell how much of what is in what food at the point of purchase, although if you want to pay for non-commercial variants like organic or grass-fed in the hope of better nutrients, your choice. Just keep it varied and yes, look at the type of fats you consume and keep some balance in them. Singing and laughing in the sunshine might turn out to be as important as anything else.:)

Always surprises in science. Eat, drink and be merry and if you eat in America remember that one portion serves two hungry people or four nibblers.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

5 Aug 12 at 12:32 am
Australians don’t have “permission” to make “sexist and silly” remarks about Julia Gillard.

Is there a form we can fill out?

Infidel Tiger

5 Aug 12 at 12:35 am
Maybe just raising one’s hand?

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:37 am
It’s a wonder Roxon didn’t spin the death threat angle, seeing the discussion was about abattoirs.

Keith

5 Aug 12 at 12:39 am
That Pickering article made my day. It’s funny – number 2 son was out of the country when Rudd was knifed. He just left for another OS conference yesterday. Here’s hoping…

Keith

5 Aug 12 at 12:42 am
Your son’s escaping this commie hole, Keith? Good for him. Safe travels.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:45 am
Gab, did you see ~~Tammy Wynette~~ Jacqueline Maley in the SMH yesterday?

The pie thing was all hilariously funny, don’t you know.

She even made fun of the woman’s proficiency in English.

Read it and be amazed.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 12:45 am
She’s barren, can kick you from any direction an just turns good food into shit. Three outa three ain’t bad.

Pickles

5 Aug 12 at 12:46 am
She’s barren, can kick you from any direction an just turns good food into shit. Three outa three ain’t bad.

Got a hide on her too. I’d say she’s a Red Poll.

Infidel Tiger

5 Aug 12 at 12:51 am
No I didn’t, CL.

what he got was a hot serve of back-chat.

How dare she! I bet she didn’t have permission from Roxon to “backchat” Shorten.

Jacqueline Maley is the Canberra-based Parliamentary Sketch Writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.

What the hell is a “sketch writer” and what does her belittling scrawl have to do with writing?

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:57 am
Lizzie, yes, the mince is frozen in handy portions in my deep freezer, along with what’s left of the half a lamb I bought.

I suspect that most of us don’t get significant vitamin D production from sun exposure. Usually we only have our face and arms uncovered–or even just face and hands. I think you’d really need to have your torso uncovered to get significant D production going. I’d like to walk around with my shirt off, but it’s not socially acceptable.

I’ve been taking cod liver oil to get D (and A). I’m going to get some fermented butter oil to get K.

Dangph

5 Aug 12 at 12:57 am
Definitely Of british breed, but I think a “run out” shorthorn. Poor balance, bad muscle definition and bloody awful temperament.

Pickles

5 Aug 12 at 12:59 am
Love your Hairy Ape stories, Lizzie. Keep ‘em coming.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:59 am
Sir John Keegan died.

Infidel Tiger

5 Aug 12 at 1:22 am
DRUDGE:

Obama: Negative ratings in 37 states, but king of DC.

Gallup has just released Barack Obama’s job approval rating for the first half of 2012, broken down by state, and the news is not encouraging for the president.

Obama’s approval rating is below 50 percent in 37 states, ranging from a 26 percent rating in Utah to a 49 percent rating in Michigan. Obama is at 50 percent or higher in just 13 states, from a 50 percent rating in Minnesota to a 63 percent rating in Hawaii. The president is most popular in Washington DC, where his job approval rating is an astonishing 83 percent.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 1:30 am
But strew his ashes to the wind,
Whose sword or voice has served mankind-
And is he dead, whose glorious mind
Lifts thine on high ?
To live in hearts we leave behind,
Is not to die.

Rabz-
Please accept my condolences on your friend’s loss

Nanuestalker

5 Aug 12 at 1:52 am
Potemkin’s Village

It is curious – curious that physical courage should be… here

Grigory Potemkin

5 Aug 12 at 4:20 am
Peter Hitchens doesn’t think much of the Olympics!

This is supposed to be a light-hearted, generous-spirited event. But it isn’t really. It’s an overbearing, officious, self-important celebration of corporate greed, unpunished corruption, tolerated cheating and multiculturalism.
As for it being a demonstration of the greatness of Britain, what can I say? If they gave out Olympic medals for fatherless families, deindustrialisation, graffiti, violent disorder, traffic congestion, illiteracy, swearing or really high train and bus fares, we’d be going for gold in a big way.

Eddystone

5 Aug 12 at 4:59 am
Thanks for that link re Keegan, IT. By coincidence I’m in the middle of Six Armies in Normandy at the moment, having been entranced by that famous opening sequence about his early life in the rural setting, almost straight out of Hardy. The long periods of illness and reading, plus later serious scholarship, produced a military historian and writer of great skill. Perhaps some common ground between him and VDH, with the classics as part of the mix.

Blogstrop

5 Aug 12 at 6:46 am
Your son’s escaping this commie hole, Keith? Good for him. Safe travels</blockquote

Thanks Gab. I'm not sure California's much better.

Keith

5 Aug 12 at 7:32 am
I wonder what the headline would have been if Eric Abetz walked into a pie shop and abused the owner and staff, who happened to be Asian, and made them cry? What would have led the story. Oh, I know, “Racist MP”, you could guarantee it.

John Comnenus

5 Aug 12 at 7:35 am
Fairfax and the ABC are all atwotter about Tasmania’s decision to confirm its social and economic leadership of Australia by becoming the first state to legislate for same-sex marriage. (The ramifications of the basket-case state becoming such a freak show – on top of what it already is, or isn’t – are mind-boggling.)

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 7:54 am
They’re not very good outside their little bubble are they? They look decidedly uncomfortable facing the people on the street. That said, folk who are unhappy with them ought take them to take in person at every opportunity. Give them an absolute gobful face to face.

Pickles

5 Aug 12 at 7:55 am
Pravda-on-Yarra prays for a drought.

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 8:09 am
That article is all over the shop. The 1965 la Nina was a whopping drought, but I guess not so much in the Melbourne offices of BoM and Pravda.

But yes, an El Niño in spring/summer is more likely than not. I am hoping it doesn’t end up a drought, although the current situation, where nowhere in Australia is in drought, is very unusual.

Entropy

5 Aug 12 at 8:43 am
I remember that killer drought, Entropy. It drove my family off the land. The 1997-2010 “drought” was a much different animal in SE Australia – a 20% reduction in rainfall over 13 years. I worked out it resulted in a cumulative rain “deficit” of about 60 inches. The big wet since 2010 has made up only a fraction of the deficit – if our “average” over the past century or so is truly the average. The Aborigines didn’t have rain gauges.

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 9:15 am
Just extraordinary extreme elitist condescension from extreme progressive leftism on Insiders.

The Seccombe is ultra-creepy.

Just back from the Washington cocktail circuit and boy, does it show.

They really are repugnant creeps.

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 9:40 am
extreme elitist condescension

I’m suprised they havn’t all nuded up, oiled their bodies and begun rubbing against each other in a collective circle jerk.

Carpe Jugulum

5 Aug 12 at 9:45 am
Glad you volunteered to watch on our behalf, James. I knew this week would be revenge for allowing conservatives on last week.

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 9:49 am
Insiders – unadulterated leftism – That smug Seccombe is repulsive.

Mike of Marion

5 Aug 12 at 10:11 am
The 1997-2010 “drought” was a much different animal in SE Australia – a 20% reduction in rainfall over 13 years. I worked out it resulted in a cumulative rain “deficit” of about 60 inches

Tom, while interesting, what does that really mean? Once the soil profile is full, it’s full. You are not in deficit now.

Entropy

5 Aug 12 at 10:33 am
“I am concerned that people think that there is permission to make these sorts of comments about the prime minister … in the footy parlance, play the ball, not the man.”

RUN FATTY!

.

5 Aug 12 at 10:40 am
GET OFF, FATTY!

Entropy

5 Aug 12 at 10:42 am
Suicide bomber kills 25 in southern Yemen village

(Reuters) – A suicide bomber struck at a funeral in a village in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan overnight, killing at least 25 tribal fighters and wounding dozens more, officials and medics said on Sunday.

The bomber targeted tribesmen who fought alongside the Yemeni army during an offensive against al Qaeda-linked militants in Abyan that the government hailed as a major victory in June.

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 10:53 am
Mark Steyn: Olympic Spectacle

But where was that much-vaunted British sense of irony on opening night? The overhead camera settled on robotic formations of grateful apple-cheeked urchins in a giant children’s ward spelling out the letters N-H-S like a Busby Berkeley chorus in Gold Diggers of 1935 — and, horrifyingly, they seemed to mean it. Had the pageant been truer to life, the patients would have left their hospital beds riddled with C. difficile, MRSA, septicemia, and the other parting gifts that attend a stay in an NHS hospital. But no; when the state religion of government medicine comes up, the dark irony of Danny Boyle, the epitome of Blair-era Cool Britannia, withers and dies like a geriatric waiting for her hip replacement. And all this in the week that the nation’s doctors are going on strike.

The lack of basic awareness is remarkable. To that ever-dwindling band of Americans who believe in truly private health care, the NHS is a byword for disease and degradation. On the other hand, to Continentals who believe in clean, efficient universal health care, the NHS is a byword for disease and degradation. Yet the British delusion that the NHS is “the envy of the world” is indestructible. Years ago, in London’s Daily Telegraph, I carelessly remarked that, while one might be able to find a Bhutanese yak farmer somewhere upcountry who envied Britons the NHS, nobody else on the planet did. A couple of days later, the paper printed a letter from Mr. Sonam Chhoki, a Bhutanese gentleman who, while not a yak farmer himself, came from generations of sturdy yak-farming stock. He reported that his British in-laws were still waiting for their operations after two years, and that based on his experience Bhutan’s health service was superior. Whether or not Danny Boyle’s NHS musical will run longer than Cats, the waiting list already does. Yet there they were, dozens of Mary Poppins figures descending into the Olympic Stadium on unfurled umbrellas, like British paratroopers behind German lines on D-day. When everywhere’s a nanny state, inventing the great iconic nanny is a source of national pride.

Britain may not be able to match the Continentals at music and art, but it gave us the language of global business, of global culture, of law and democracy, the language of liberty, of the modern world. And yet, aside from a perfunctory bit of the Bard, words were oddly avoided, save from the finale when the audience joined Sir Paul McCartney in a mass singalong of the universal message:

“Na na na, na-na, na na, na-na na na . . . ”

Hmm. What can Americans learn from the Olympics spectacle? According to the IMF, China will succeed America as the dominant economic power in the course of the next presidential term, so Howard Fineman, editorial director of the Huffington Post and MSNBC mainstay, was anxious to pick up tips. “Brits long ago lost their empire,” he tweeted, “but overall show us how to lose global power gracefully.”

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 11:02 am
Most stupid ‘sport’ of all time must be walking.

WALKING.

I channel-flipped onto the walking race at the Olympics last night. At one point the racers’ feet were shown in slo-mo. Every single one of them was actually running. The commentator, obviously taken aback by the visual feed her team was receiving, observed: “You have to remember that the judges don’t use slo-motion cameras. They rely on the human eye only.”

Absolutely hilarious. They were all cheating.

Then she hurriedly went on to give some background on the Australian ‘walkers.’ One of them, she said, had been on an AIS scholarship for NINE YEARS. She said she’d spoken to the Australians and they were all full of praise for the AIS, without which they couldn’t survive as ‘walkers.’ Endorsements etc were hard to come by, she said.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 11:05 am
Recapitulating:

“I am concerned that people think that there is permission to make these sorts of comments about the prime minister…”

There is permission, you overweight gargoyle.

Suck it the fuck up.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 11:11 am
Ahahahahaha.

RNC Sends Cake to Obama for Birthday With Message: “You Didn’t Bake This”.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 11:17 am
I am concerned that the ALP think that there is permission for them to govern.

Fleeced

5 Aug 12 at 11:40 am
“I am concerned that people think that there is permission to make these sorts of comments about the prime minister…”

i remember Julian Burnside on Twitter some months ago saying about T. Abbott was “paedos in speedos”. No-one in ALP seemed to think there was anything amiss with that or J. Burnside thought he had permission to say it.

it’s absolutely astounding the Chief Justice can say something so hideous about the opposition leader on social media and Federal Govt is all good with that.

candy

5 Aug 12 at 11:40 am
Old Leatherface adds to the diversity of views on the ALPBC by recycling some deadbeat Lefty from that fetid Wotif-funded cesspool The Global Mail.

Before jumping straight into that most pressing of issues … gay marriage in Tasmania.

Bwahahaha … make it end…hang on I’m paying for this?

H B Bear

5 Aug 12 at 11:42 am
You’ve really jumbled that story up in your head, candy.

steve from brisbane

5 Aug 12 at 11:49 am
That said, folk who are unhappy with them ought take them to take in person at every opportunity. Give them an absolute gobful face to face.

We don’t have permission to do that.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:07 pm
You’ve really jumbled that story up in your head, candy.

No you are lying.

sdog

5 Aug 12 at 12:10 pm
I suppose in a cabin somewhere in Tasmania there are a couple of old pooftas for whom gay marriage in Tasmania in the most pressing national issue.

And those How-to-Vote preferences won’t direct themselves.

H B Bear

5 Aug 12 at 12:10 pm
The Asian Pie Sop owners have every right to be concerned about the incident. The Labor Party have form on this sort of thuggishness – remember Rudd telling the miners (or was it bankers?) “We have a long memory.”
Every now and then, when they are tired or angry, the steel fist is unintentionally taken out of the velvet glove.

Winston Smith

5 Aug 12 at 12:10 pm
…Pie Shop…
Bloody hell.

Winston Smith

5 Aug 12 at 12:11 pm
True, sdog, the links you posted show the truth.

candy

5 Aug 12 at 12:27 pm
You’ve really jumbled that story up in your head, candy.

No you are lying.

sfb didn’t have a permission slip either.

Keith

5 Aug 12 at 12:37 pm
“I am concerned that people think that there is permission to make these sorts of comments about the prime minister…”

Suck it up, princess. You weren’t exactly stopping people from your side attacking Howard’s appearance etc, you fat useless turd.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 12:39 pm
Revealed: Jason Soon’s apartment.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 12:50 pm
PLAIN packaging isn’t going to see cigarette sales drop off any time soon, former federal health minister Nicola Roxon says.

In fact, forward estimates in the budget predict that, if anything, sales will increase over the next few years.

So what was the point?

“We’ve been very clear – we haven’t made any estimates about the level of reduction that will flow from plain packaging,” she told Sky News on Sunday.

So what is the point of this ludicrous exercise? Just a brain fart?

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 12:52 pm
PLAIN packaging isn’t going to see cigarette sales drop off any time soon, former federal health minister Nicola Roxon says.

In fact, forward estimates in the budget predict that, if anything, sales will increase over the next few years.

Unbelievable.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 12:55 pm
“Brits long ago lost their empire,” he tweeted, “but overall show us how to lose global power gracefully

Unfortunately I don’t believe the US will be gracious. They are going to hurt a lot of people on the way down.

Parents learn different lessons than their children from the same event.

Driftforge

5 Aug 12 at 12:58 pm
So what is the point of this ludicrous exercise?

Just do what Nanny Roxon tells you.

H B Bear

5 Aug 12 at 1:04 pm
Remember when the old crony said she wouldn’t send asylum seekers to Nauru because it wasn’t a signatory to the UNHRC? But then sending reffos to Malaysia was fine even though it was not a signatory – and still isn’t – to the convention?

THE federal opposition is “massively hypocritical” and wants it both ways when it comes to stemming the flow of asylum seeker boats, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says.

The coalition is happy for boats to be turned around and sent back to Indonesia, but has criticised the government’s Malaysian people-swap deal.

Neither country is a signatory to the United Nations refugee convention.

“I do think the Liberals are being massively hypocritical in this area,” Ms Roxon told Sky News on Sunday.

Labor’s hypocrisy is just jaw-droppingly amazing.

Roxon’s being very vocal these last two days. Wonder what’s up?

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 1:04 pm
So what is the point of this ludicrous exercise

It is all about the warm and fuzzies. They make themselves feel better because they’re doing something…

The carbon tax, plain packaging, banning live exports, pink batts, the list goes on and on. To the ALP/green luvvies It doesnt matter if the problem exists or not, doesn’t mater if the proposed solution works or not, it doesn’t matter what it costs.

What matters is they feel better about themselves by doing something, then after having done something no matter how damaging and ineffectual. They thrive on the warm and fuzzies, they can pat each other on the back and piss in each others pockets while sipping a latte at the inner city cafe or quaffing a red at the next dinner party, all the time really believing they are doing some real good.

It’s part of the socialist mantra, we know what’s best for you.

Old Fridgie

5 Aug 12 at 1:11 pm
Wayne Swan: Mr Newman is just so mean. He’s cold-hearted. He won’t give us mo’ money for NDIS. What a mean person. Waaah! Waaah!

Campbell Newman: We just don’t have the money after Labor’s years of profligate spending. Do the math.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 1:14 pm
Old Fridgie, you don’t have permission to say that.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 1:15 pm
Nanny Roxon – a jumped-up articled clerk, is about to make an appointment to the High Court too. As part of a collapsing Labor government that knows it may not be back in power for another decade.

That fills me with hope.

H B Bear

5 Aug 12 at 1:15 pm
Roxon’s being very vocal these last two days. Wonder what’s up?

I don’t know but I loathe the drone.

I wish they would all just fuck off.

They really are all quite insufferable.

Fme I beginning to sound like ‘em!

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 1:15 pm
Old Fridgie, you don’t have permission to say that.

Fuck em.

Gillard is a fat , red headed scrag, Roxon is a greasy haired mol, Shorten is a tip rat. Swann is possibly the dumbest fucker I have seen in politics. I could go on…

No permission needed, fuck em.

Old Fridgie

5 Aug 12 at 1:20 pm
* fat arsed

Old Fridgie

5 Aug 12 at 1:21 pm
You’re such a rebel, Fridgie.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 1:23 pm
I’m a rebel without a clue, but learning quickly here at Catallaxy. Fucking love this place!

Old Fridgie

5 Aug 12 at 1:25 pm
Insiders appears to have been a leftie love in. Who was the bald idiot on, as I’ve never seen him before?

I turned it off after the first 10 minutes.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 1:26 pm
Who was the bald idiot on, as I’ve never seen him before?

Wasn’t he a particularly smugly odious condescending leftist?

Something Seccombe, I think

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 1:30 pm
Tip Rat is a favourite insult. If Roxon appoints a HC Judge it’ll be Burnside.

Pickles

5 Aug 12 at 1:36 pm
Gillard is a fat , red headed scrag, Roxon is a greasy haired mol, Shorten is a tip rat. Swann is possibly the dumbest fucker I have seen in politics.

Tough but fair.

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 1:37 pm
Pat O’Shane, yes that magistrate, is suing lefty Alan Jones for defamation.

The offending comment:

she “can deliver the most diabolical and wrong decisions in law, and they go through to the keeper”.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 1:38 pm
lol but of course… “Seeco” writes for the venerable Globe and Mail.

http://www.theglobalmail.org/reporters/mike-seccombe/1/

Jeez, the “talent scouts” at Insiders are now starting to look under unturned rocks. FFS.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 1:40 pm
It’s sad what he said about her, Gab. Pat’s one of the most competent jurists in the country. NSW was lucky to have her sitting on the bench.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 1:44 pm
Excuse me, but who is the “Chief Justice” you referred to, candy, and what evidence did you have that “Federal Government” was OK with it? Burnside apologised quickly.

Or maybe sdog can explain it for you.

steve from brisbane

5 Aug 12 at 1:45 pm
Ridiculous:

NBC forced to apologise after ill-timed ad features a monkey doing gymnastics – right after showing Gabby Douglas’ gold medal victory.

Isn’t it more racist for the Outrageously Outraged to link a black gymnast to a monkey than for a network to innocently run an ad?

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 1:56 pm
The country’s in the very best of hands:

Bruce Springsteen fan Wayne Swan says he’s found the perfect song for opposition leader Tony Abbott – the Beatles’ Hey Jude with its famous hookline “na, na, na, na-na-na-na”.

And note this, Swan’s full-fledged embrace of communism:

“Nobody wins unless everyone wins,” he added.

He blames da Tea Party for making fun of him:

“We’ve had a conga line of Tea Party wannabes in the media getting stuck into me for talking about my musical preferences,” he said.

“They’d be better off listening to a bit more music.”

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8510847

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 2:06 pm
“Nobody wins unless everyone wins,” he added.

We’d better cancel the Limpix then.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 2:12 pm
No mention of the Wilson,blewitt, Gillard clusterfuck of dodgyness on Insiders today? Funny that?

Splatacrobat

5 Aug 12 at 2:15 pm
To the ALP/green luvvies It doesnt matter if the problem exists or not, doesn’t mater if the proposed solution works or not, it doesn’t matter what it costs.

In fact we can confidently predict that plain packaging will increase tobacco consumption and lead to negative public health outcomes. Why? We all know about the law of unintended consequences. All leftist action is governed by a more specific law, the law of ironic consequences. Policies designed to increase employment reduce it; policies designed to cool your house set it on fire; and so on. I don’t know how it will happen, but we can count on it because this law is inviolable.

Dangph

5 Aug 12 at 2:22 pm
Roxon can always appoint Julia to the HC. Lionel Murphy got a job there a while ago. She’s dabbled in family law a fair bit just like Murph?

Pickles

5 Aug 12 at 2:28 pm
JamesK:

Just extraordinary extreme elitist condescension from extreme progressive leftism on Insiders.

The Seccombe is ultra-creepy.

Just back from the Washington cocktail circuit and boy, does it show.

They really are repugnant creeps.

Yep. Every time the camera panned back I expected it to catch Seccombe on his knees blowing old Leatherface.

Mk50 of Brisbane

5 Aug 12 at 2:28 pm
“Nobody wins unless everyone wins,” he added.

I bet when the Goose had to wrap the “pass the parcel” ball at his kid’s birthday party he put a prize in every layer. That is all except that fat Palmer kid, the music never stopped for him.He actually had to fund the parcel prizes.

Splatacrobat

5 Aug 12 at 2:29 pm
Rather than going through to the keeper, Pat O’Shane has already been referred upstairs to the 3rd umpire. I don’t like her chances but they might just let her retire to the UN indigenous conference, visiting academic and writers festival circuit where she can’t do any more damage than already exists.

Maybe Pat should have had a word to Craig Thomson about the problem with launching defamation proceedings. Although she should know a few things about the law shouldn’t she?

I’ve got no time for The Parrot but it is fun to see him in action.

H B Bear

5 Aug 12 at 2:58 pm
If Burnside is appointed to the High Court illegal immigrants will be able to walk to Christmas Island there will be that many boats out there.

H B Bear

5 Aug 12 at 3:01 pm
I’m wondering when passion became so popular
Now everybody is feeling it from politicians to book reviewers
Stuff passion I say, there’s only one place I want to feel it thanks

val majkus

5 Aug 12 at 3:25 pm
I’m passionate about decisiveness…….I think?

Splatacrobat

5 Aug 12 at 4:22 pm
Wayne Swan nodding his head whitely to Bruce Springsteen defines the Australian left’s ‘passion.’

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 4:45 pm
heh heh heh Tim Wilson likened Swan, on Bolt, as the national village idiot.

Tim, he’s been called a “boofhead” and he’s taking the “shock jock” who said that to court. Expect to see a summons any day now.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 4:48 pm
As predicted, heavily decorated flight instructor Angus Houston dutifully plays his role:

Legal advice sought on turning back the boats.

ANGUS Houston’s expert panel on border protection has sought legal advice on the Coalition’s policy to turn back asylum-seeker boats at sea, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has said.

Speaking on Sky News’ Australian Agenda program Ms Roxon said her department had received the request from Mr Houston’s panel recently.

Gee…

I wonder if Nicola Roxon’s department will give Tony Abbott a big fat free kick by declaring his policy entirely lawful…

Mmm…

C.L.

5 Aug 12 at 4:53 pm
“I am aware they have asked for legal advice and I have made an active decision that that shouldn’t be something I vet in any way or look at,” Ms Roxon told Australian Agenda.

oh bullshit. Why change now?

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 5:00 pm
passion from the Chasers

val majkus

5 Aug 12 at 5:07 pm
by the time all this legal advice is gotten by the Govt there’ll be no alternative to just letting in the boat people
(that’s if you believe the legal advice) as opposed to just making a decision and going with it
(dare I say like Howard)
no that might be showing too much passion

val majkus

5 Aug 12 at 5:11 pm
febro and who said ‘aspiration’ has to be ‘passion’
beats me …

val majkus

5 Aug 12 at 5:12 pm
the coalition needs to trump that with their own legal advice and bring it out after the Labor’s panel. Fuck’em royally for being partisan douchebags.

Are they actually trying to get to the point where they would suggest we have no control of over our borders and who comes in.

That fat loathsome cow ought to be arrested if she comes out with such nonsense.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 5:24 pm
Val ignore the troll. Don’t waste a secondo on the moron.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 5:25 pm
I see the G20 is in Cairns in November 2014. Good.
NO AIR-CON Bitches, you know, CO2 pollution and all that.

Jumpnmcar

5 Aug 12 at 5:27 pm
to the tune of I’m on fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrpXArn3hII

‘Hey little Wayne is your nanny home
did she go and leave you all alone oh ho
I got some bad pink batts
Oh oh oh the roofs on fire

Tell me now Wayney is she good to you
Can she deficit spend like i do oh ho
I can tax them higher
Oh oh oh the detention centres on fire

Sometimes it’s like someone took economics degree baby
Edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley
Through the middle of your scull

At night you wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a carbon tax running through the
Middle of your head
Only more – tax can cool the shire
Oh oh oh the economies on fire…’

Goose Swansteen

5 Aug 12 at 5:35 pm
lol, Jump.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 5:40 pm
JC doesn’t worry me, thought it was quite funny … but now I’m trying to work out whether a gnat’s mental outperforms sensual when you’re measuring passion or is it the other way round

and I wish Swan would get passionate (whichever passion gnat measurement you’re using) about balancing the budget

val majkus

5 Aug 12 at 5:43 pm
mental and sensual life of a gnat.

febro – i’m curious how does one get an insight to the sensual life of a gnat?

Is there some sort of inadequacy you need to share with the group????

C’mon it’s ok, even people with a penis as small as yours need to talk about their obvious shortcomings.

Carpe Jugulum

5 Aug 12 at 5:45 pm
George Calombaris on football passion.

H B Bear

5 Aug 12 at 5:45 pm
heh heh heh Tim Wilson likened Swan, on Bolt, as the national village idiot

Actually Cassandra’s critique of him being a university posh boy having a self-imagined bond with da wuuckers plight thru da wuucka webel songs of Da Boss was devastating.

That’s becasue it was the truth and points to the vanity and insubstantial idealism of our beloved Treasurer, Woine

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 5:49 pm
lol, yes James, Cassandra described him as

posh university boy

.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 5:58 pm
ANGUS Houston’s expert panel on border protection has sought legal advice on the Coalition’s policy to turn back asylum-seeker boats at sea, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has said.

Reminds me of the charade Oakeshott and Windsor subjected us to after the last election in an effort to convince that they had only come down on the side of Labor after impartial and weighty consideration, the final act being Oakeshott’s 17 minute speech. So we had demands, for example, for the Coalition to submit their costings to Treasury for examination but the NBN, which was cited as critical in their decision, is waived through without any request for a cost-benefit analysis. All designed to weaken the Coalition’s position and strenthen Labor’s in the eyes of the public. That was the reason for the post-election circus being drawn out and culminated in the insulting spin of the triumph of the “Great Negotiator”.

Labor and its cronies have rich form for this sort of tactic that would surely win admiration from Sir Humphrey.

Ivan Denisovich

5 Aug 12 at 5:59 pm
Carpe
You are not up on sex I think. It is the breadth not the length that matters and women like that foreplay stuff. So the length of a mans genetalia comes third. Maybe Fibro if he is a man has plenty of breadth and is good at foreplay.

kelly liddle

5 Aug 12 at 6:01 pm
~~breadth~~ GIRTH !!

Jumpnmcar

5 Aug 12 at 6:05 pm
So pencil dicked betas don’t score?

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 6:14 pm
JamesK – found the pencil you used for comparison.

Mk50 of Brisbane

5 Aug 12 at 6:21 pm
The next battle that has to be had is duplication. I think the average Aussie understands that government can’t run up debt forever. I think they understand the Carbon Tax is stupid and just have to wait until next election.

So why duplication. Well if you look at the US you can see the devistating consequences. Health double the cost, education double the cost. We are going down the same path at a rapid pace and this should be stopped. I don’t know anything about the NDIS but this is most likely an example of duplication. Is it a cash handout or is it physical things related to dissability. We already have the Feds for cash handouts and the health services are to be provided by the State. So because I have no idea what the NDIS is supposed to be I can only guess it is duplication. Telling schools what to do Federally really works doesn’t it like in the US. Environment is already working in duplicate or even sometimes triplicate this is utter stupidity. The expenditure we are talking about here makes the Carbon Tax look like a tadpole, just look at some US gov expenditures and compare them to our own.

kelly liddle

5 Aug 12 at 6:47 pm
Kelly,

See what I said at 8.30 am and 8.32 pm yesterday on this thread on the same topic.

.

5 Aug 12 at 6:51 pm
Dot
Yeah we actually agree more often than you like to admit. We just don’t agree around the edges.

kelly liddle

5 Aug 12 at 6:57 pm
I wanted to say bad luck, Sinc. Then I thought better of it.

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 7:23 pm
There is no way Romney is going to win the election. They are both bad, both off track, but Obama will see an even bigger sing than before.
The right has lost its way in the US still pushing for tax cuts and a shrunken government when so many are doing it tough already and yet the rich just keep getting obscenely richer…
No way REomney can win. The right grassroots are ahead of the damage their own republican politicians are doing.

Alice

5 Aug 12 at 7:30 pm
Umm yes he can win the election, Alice.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 7:36 pm
After reading the article re Clint Eastwood endorsing Mitt Romney, out of the corner of my eye caught the by line of Billy and the pie shop (to paraphrase). Preface this by saying I am not a fan of his. However what bad luck, taking the step-son to soccer training, who decides he is hungry, wants a pie. Step dad tootles to the pie shop, goes in (why didnt kid hop out of car and buy the pie), no pies, aaahhh, thought bubbles, then words exchanged, ALL OUT OF CONTEXT, life moves on. Except… and the rest is history or public history. World War 111 with Chinese labor voters. My mates at the office today had a good laugh. We think, the opposition, should insist at the First Sitting, a pie break. Also loved Madam Pie owner, she is going to have a panadol, as opposed to ‘a bex and a lay down’. Poor Billy, cant take a trick these days.

delfino

5 Aug 12 at 7:36 pm
Ill place my bet now that you atre wrong JC. Inequality is screaming at voters in the US and it doesnt seem to me that the repubs have any solutions. They have been experimenting on pissing down on everyone but the rich for the last four decades and well….it has all started to stink a little hasnt it?

Yes – Id place my bet with you that there will be an even bigger anti right swing (its just a shame Obama has been similarly captured by those with a surplus of self interest).

We will see.

Alice

5 Aug 12 at 7:40 pm
Alice, I think you’re out of your damn mind.

It is not a governments job to enforce equality of outcome.

Craig

5 Aug 12 at 7:44 pm
The invisible hand made that pencil Mark

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 7:47 pm
Alice, febbie, febbie, alice.

Looks like we’ll be in a for a big knees-up tonite on Da Cat.

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 7:50 pm
Ill place my bet now that you atre wrong JC.

Okay what odds are you offering?

Inequality is screaming at voters in the US and it doesnt seem to me that the repubs have any solutions. They have been experimenting on pissing down on everyone but the rich for the last four decades and well….it has all started to stink a little hasnt it?

Perhaps if the 23 million that were left both under and unemployed by the rotten policies of this administration had jobs it wouldn’t be as bad

Yes – Id place my bet with you that there will be an even bigger anti right swing (its just a shame Obama has been similarly captured by those with a surplus of self interest).

Odds please and amount of the bet.

JC

5 Aug 12 at 7:50 pm
Is that the limit of your repertoire, febro, doing teenage zombie occupy student politics?

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 7:59 pm
If the bets are on, i tend to think B.Obama will just get through, perhaps by only a couple thousand votes, if that’s possible over there I don’t understand their system.

Which is a shame because someone needs to fix their unemployment problem, but Mr Romney, i don’t know why but he does not seem to finally “break through” with people. (all from a distance of course)

candy

5 Aug 12 at 8:00 pm
If the bets are on, i tend to think B.Obama will just get through, perhaps by only a couple thousand votes, if that’s possible over there I don’t understand their system.

Well I had an interesting conversation in the cab with some American working over here and the answer to these 2 questions were.

Who do you think will win the election? Obama will walk it in Romney will not even be close.

Who will you vote for? I am not sure haven’t decided yet.

Was what you could call a businessman selling a product in Aus and our market is a standout.

kelly liddle

5 Aug 12 at 8:13 pm
Candy, you ain’t seen nothin yet.

blogstrop

5 Aug 12 at 8:14 pm
The answer to

Which is a shame because someone needs to fix their unemployment problem,

Jumpnmcar

5 Aug 12 at 8:24 pm
It’s spelt, “febrile”.

Abu Chowdah

5 Aug 12 at 8:27 pm
The right has lost its way in the US still pushing for tax cuts and a shrunken government when so many are doing it tough already and yet the rich just keep getting obscenely richer…

If people are doing it tough…then you try to increase real wages and employment.

People also get rich in the process. So what?

“We’re going to help you by never allowing that to happen!”

Madness.

A supporter in Tampa thanked Romney for creating jobs by quadrupling the size of his $12 million California beachfront mansion. But did those jobs last? What happened to those jobs when the remodel was finished?

Yes. Unlike Swan and Obama’s “shovel ready” bullshit.

.

5 Aug 12 at 8:33 pm
If Romney becomes president, expect the whole of the US to be outsourced.

Yes. Kids in high school will go to class one day and find a bunch of Indian kids in class. All Americans will be persona non grata and be replaced with Indian and Vietnamese doppelgangers.

You freaking idiot, your rhetoric is hyterical and lunatic.

I suspect you are one of Margot Kingston’s old supporters.

.

5 Aug 12 at 8:35 pm
The right has lost its way in the US still pushing for tax cuts and a shrunken government

http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Global/Local%20Assets/Documents/Tax/Taxation%20and%20Investment%20Guides/matrices/dttl_corporate_tax_rates_2012.pdf

Yeah wonder why they would do that?

“Don’t forget Zambia!!!! We want to be just like them!!! And Nambia…… those rats got us by 1%!!! Maltal and Mali, Guyana… sort of, …… Not to be confused with Guinea…. nor Gabon. France though….. France is almost up with us!!! And Congo…. well we’ve got them in our sights!!!

The rest is just too depressing to list.”

Quote from Suyts which I found quite funny when I sent the international corporate tax tables to him. http://www.suyts.wordpress.com

kelly liddle

5 Aug 12 at 8:47 pm
Do his parents know he’s out this late?

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 8:48 pm
I wanted to say bad luck, Sinc. Then I thought better of it.

Oh, they lost having been in front? I think that deserves a beer.

dover_beach

5 Aug 12 at 9:01 pm
BTW, is it just me or has the font of this blog changed?

dover_beach

5 Aug 12 at 9:05 pm
Hawthorn’s only saving grace, Dover, is that they’re coached by a complete fucking lunatic.

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 9:06 pm
Competing currencies. Somewhat audacious testimony from yesterday.

Driftforge

5 Aug 12 at 9:10 pm
Wait, what? The Bombers didn’t fly up?

What.A.Shame. Tsk.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 9:13 pm
Hawthorn’s only saving grace, Dover, is that they’re coached by a complete fucking lunatic.

They will be there late September, however…

Rabz

5 Aug 12 at 9:13 pm
is it just me or has the font of this blog changed?

It’s just you or you’re using a different device.

Rabz

5 Aug 12 at 9:15 pm
Tom, I’m a hopeless romantic. In my mind’s eye, the hoodoo that the Cats have over us can only be expelled on the last Saturday in September. Seriously, a Hawthorn v Geelong GF would be an out-an-out, last man standing blockbuster. Hawthorn by 2 pts. Delirium ensues.

dover_beach

5 Aug 12 at 9:17 pm
Put the bottle down and back away from the Shiraz, Dover.

Gab

5 Aug 12 at 9:17 pm
I still got the tip right. Was worried there for a bit.

Sinclair Davidson

5 Aug 12 at 9:20 pm
Put the bottle down and back away from the Shiraz, Dover.

It’s probably a cheeky Zinfandel, Gab

JamesK

5 Aug 12 at 9:23 pm
As Gore Vidal predicted, the US will become a police state. It’s the only way it can be held together by those who run it.

So will the totally outsourced jack booted gestapo agents of Indian and Vietnamese origin boss around the Indians and Vietnamese who have replaced the Americans and ignore the replaced Americans who are now persona non grata, or will they be bossed around too?

.

5 Aug 12 at 9:24 pm
She give to it who she love

She give it to who she want

She give it to who can do it…

Rabz

5 Aug 12 at 9:25 pm
Hawthorn v Geelong GF would be an out-an-out, last man standing blockbuster.

Count me in – live calls all round…

Rabz

5 Aug 12 at 9:26 pm
Who the fuck is Alice?

Alice, febbie, febbie, alice.

Looks like we’ll be in a for a big knees-up tonite on Da Cat.

St Hubbins

5 Aug 12 at 9:30 pm
I’m one of few who picked GWS to beat Port, who’ve sacked their coach as a result. 9/9 this round. This proves I know nothing about football.

Tom

5 Aug 12 at 9:30 pm
Via Barnhardt for the military minded. Small Wars Journal is gaming a Tea Party insurrection, which leads to this comment:

Congratulations to COL (Ret) Benson. You have just hit the national political scene via Free Republic. The headlines will read: “US ARMY PLANNING TO QUELL TEA PARTY INSURRECTIONS.” This article should be a thoughtful discussion on the process of suppressing potential insurrections and Military/Defense Support to Civil Authorities. However, your scenario using the TEA Party, combined with your credentials as a Seminar Leader at Ft Leavenworth, has a high potential of causing a major political firestorm on the national level. Your scenario could easily give the President, the SECDEF, the CJCS, the SECARMY, and the CoS a political black eye. You have given credibility to the conspiracy theorists who believe the President is preparing to implement martial law to stay in power, and have undermined the faith which so many of the TEA Party members place in the United States Military to support and defend the Constitution. For an author who discusses the importance of information operations your article, you have demonstrated your utter incompetence in this area.

nilk

5 Aug 12 at 9:30 pm
I’m one of few who picked GWS to beat Port

Sheeeeeeeeeeds!!!!

Rabz

5 Aug 12 at 9:31 pm
Passion .

Splatacrobat

5 Aug 12 at 10:31 pm
Potemkin’s Village

The can is open… here

Grigory Potemkin

5 Aug 12 at 10:35 pm
Another first world problem…

ANGRY white females are clashing with migrant taxi drivers – forcing the industry to develop cultural training on dealing with drunk, aggressive and assertive women.

Rabz

5 Aug 12 at 10:37 pm
Rabz
Whats that racist crap about. I have problems dealing with them too.

On a slightly different note I understand the racist problems now. Previously I have been called a white cu… and a fu…ing cu… , about 2 weeks ago I was called an Indian cu… This situation can happen with those inside or outside the cab. There are racist pricks out there though but these are not them.

kelly liddle

5 Aug 12 at 10:48 pm
Enough.

taylor walker is a lobotomised, mulleted, axeville meatoff*.

He knows in which barrels the bodies are dissolving.

*A cross between a meat head and a write off

Rabz

5 Aug 12 at 10:51 pm
this is a firm with far too much money rolling in. Larry and Sergey need to give it back to the shareholder.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443687504577563462488455008.html?mod=WSJ_hp_Asia_EditorsPicks#slide/1

JC

5 Aug 12 at 11:12 pm
LinkedIn’s PE ratio is 814.64
FaceBook’s PE ratio is 68.67

Wish I had the capital to put a HUGE short on LinkedIn.

.

5 Aug 12 at 11:25 pm
Via Barnhardt for the military minded. Small Wars Journal is gaming a Tea Party insurrection, which leads to this comment:

What the everloving FUCK?

Craig

5 Aug 12 at 11:31 pm
Is this ‘febro’ another incarnation of Tilman/Les? Notice how we get a new lefty troll every month, he gets banned and then another comes along that recites similar talking points… and so on and so on?

Alex Pundit

6 Aug 12 at 12:04 am
You know, this dude is the coolest participant in the Olympics. He deserves every endorsement, except possibly for sneakers.

He even wears shades while competing.
http://gawker.com/5931849/oscar-pistorius-has-no-legs-and-still-runs-faster-than-you-do

JC

6 Aug 12 at 12:05 am
Abbott hits out at fascist Finkelsteinians in the government.

Snippet:

Another threat to freedom of speech in Australia is the operation of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which prohibits statements that “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” another person or a group of people on grounds of race or ethnicity.

At the time of its introduction, oblivious to its Orwellian overtones, the then minister, Nick Bolkus, said that it was designed to prohibit “speechcrime” over and above the traditional tort of defamation.

But… he wimps out:

The Coalition will repeal section 18C in its present form. We would be prepared to maintain a prohibition on inciting hatred against or intimidation of particular racial groups, akin to the ancient common law offences of incitement and causing fear.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 12:41 am
He is wimping but at least it’s a start.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 12:55 am
He is wimping but at least it’s a start.

I don’t think it’s a start JC, it’s the end. It’s all he’ll give and there’ll never be anything more.

I hope I’m wrong.

twostix

6 Aug 12 at 1:11 am
inciting hatred against or intimidation of particular racial groups

Thats completely different to just talking about issues. Surely if someone was to say lets go and kill all the …… this would be wrong.

kelly liddle

6 Aug 12 at 1:17 am
We know the present government’s attitude to fearless reporting because it is constantly complaining about it. Perhaps the most shameless example was Doug Cameron accusing the “Murdoch press” of actually “fabricating stories” about the prospect of a Rudd challenge for which he was one of the numbers men!

LOL

twostix

6 Aug 12 at 1:18 am
Thats completely different to just talking about issues. Surely if someone was to say lets go and kill all the …… this would be wrong.

It would also be illegal under common law.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 1:19 am
He is wimping but at least it’s a start.

Nah.

I’m tired of that Liberal Party cop-out.

He’s railing against the government’s attack on free speech, then he castigates Bolt for the quality of his ‘offending’ article – when, in fact, Bolt highlighted a massive, disgraceful scandal (white ‘Aborigines’) – and then says he’ll leave racist thought crimes on the statute books.

Fuck him.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:22 am
Before abbreviating “you” as “U”, take a few moments to consider whether the saved 2 keystrokes are worth the 40 point drop in perceived IQ.— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 4, 2012

Quite so.

Unless ur bein ironic.

sdog

6 Aug 12 at 1:22 am
Fair enough if that sort of thing is already covered no reason to have it twice.

kelly liddle

6 Aug 12 at 1:23 am
We would be prepared to maintain a prohibition on inciting hatred against or intimidation of particular racial groups, akin to the ancient common law offences of incitement and causing fear.

I’m not sure that means they won’t rewrite the legislation to what that suggests which was illegal anyway before the legislation.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 1:26 am
Gay Taliban thugs gang up on, abuse and “chalk” homeless street preacher.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:27 am
The socialist Courier Mail – now out to get Campbell Newman – says government exists to deliver services…

Goes on to argue that Newman has mandate to save Queensland’s bacon but really shouldn’t do so because public servants are sad.

…remember that they are now dealing in the business of human lives. And human lives are not only fragile, they are also hugely interconnected. While there will always be a vocal libertarian cheer squad for any regime that delivers smaller government no matter what the cost to services or the impact on morale and productivity, Mr Newman must remember that government is not a business. It does not exist solely to deliver a beautiful set of numbers and win plaudits from economists and ratings agencies. Its raison d’etre is to deliver services for its constituency.

It must do this in an affordable and sustainable fashion and, like any enterprise, there are times of change that require restructuring, reprioritisation and a loss of jobs in some areas. Managing that change with the minimum of dislocation and grief is the mark of good leadership. As The Courier-Mail has repeatedly urged, Mr Newman must take not only the public service but all Queenslanders with him on this painful journey.

Yeah right. The Queensland public service would be only too willing to work with Newman on reducing their rat plague proportions. Uh-huh.

In his first months in the job, Mr Newman has eschewed positive rhetoric about Queensland’s future for dire warnings about an economy that could match basket-case Spain. This does not sit well with the broadly optimistic Queensland ethos or the messages that his Government is sending to offshore investors about the state’s economic strengths and opportunities.

The heavy-handed approach taken to some of the recent cost-cutting would indicate that Mr Newman runs the risk of believing his thumping mandate and parliamentary majority abrogates the requirement for careful and considered consultation; that he is prepared to foster an “us and them” attitude with the public service. Such an outcome would not serve well the Queensland public or his Government’s political prospects.

The Government could take a positive step by displaying a degree of real and genuinely engaged humanity towards not only those thousands of workers who are joining the unemployment queues, but also those Queenslanders whose lives are affected by decisions to cut services in areas as seemingly trivial as caravan park ownership. Those affected want to hear more empathy than the occasional “sorry” during a media interview or on the floor of Parliament.

These are very real and vulnerable lives at play here, and they have every reason right now to worry that they are the collateral damage that comes with an ideological shift aimed as much at attaining a goal of small government for the sake of it, as improving services on a more sustainable budget basis.

Imbeciles.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:44 am
Meanwhile…

Newman bashes union leaders pretending to be impartial voices of da people:

Mr Newman’s comments on Saturday came a day after a dozen irate school cleaners stormed the state government’s headquarters in Brisbane and two days after unions vowed they would hold a statewide day of strikes in September…

Mr Newman said Friday’s action was led by the same man who paid people to protest against him before the election – United Voice secretary Gary Bullock. “He’s anti Campbell Newman. He always has been, he always will be,” the premier said.

“He won’t lose a day’s pay if people go on strike. He’s on his fat union salary, with his expense card, with his Cabcharge vouchers.”

Mr Newman also attacked Queensland Council of Unions president John Battams. He said the union leader should declare that he worked on the Labor campaign at the last election before every press conference.

“Don’t pretend to be some impartial person, because you’re not,” Mr Newman said.

Workers hit hardest, says Newman.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:47 am
1. Speaking of fat salaries, does the Communist Mail actually mention the huge retrenchment packages those public servants will receive? Does it mention that those poor orphans won’t all just be turfed out in one fell swoop?

2. Note to the public servants earmarked for eviction:
welcome to the real world.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 1:53 am
would hold a statewide day of strikes in September…

I hope they do then can start sacking people none of this voluntary redundancy stuff. Not one person has been sacked to date. Sacking a public servant is like declaring war.

kelly liddle

6 Aug 12 at 1:56 am
LOL:

HARRY REID IS BEING SANTORUMED.

Via Reynolds.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 2:08 am
IT’S official – the majority of mothers-in-law are a nightmare.

More than 70 per cent of couples have a tense or terrible relationship with one of their mothers-in-law, a Daily Telegraph online survey found.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 2:37 am
Ted Cruz Talks Upset Victory On “FOX News Sunday”

After his primary won.

A powerful national interview.

The guy is very very smart.

Either a future President or future Supreme court justice and definitely a Senator next january.

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 2:47 am
The Courier Mail’s breast screening abolition scare in yesterday’s edition was one of the most wilful acts of journalistic mendacity I have ever seen.

It was, of course, a concocted lie.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 2:50 am
Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates says schools should be forced to offer compulsory sports.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 2:59 am
Another mass shooting, this time at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee.

Didn’t take but 10 minutes for ghouls to start politicizing it.

The shooter is either a extreme right-wing Christian or a black Muslim thug; and the lesson to be drawn is either that all guns must be banned or that if concealed weapons had been allowed in the Temple it wouldn’t have happened.

FFS. Sometimes I really hate the Internet.

sdog

6 Aug 12 at 3:41 am
Romney Promises 12 Million New Jobs In First Term

A must watch vid. He unleashes absolute conservative gold in this one.

“You are going to see that happen in this country but not under this president. His answer is always, ‘Can’t we grow government some more?’ and the problem with growing government, among other things, is that it stays long after these little stimulus years … and it becomes a burden on the real job creators, which are small businesses in this country.”

Alex Pundit

6 Aug 12 at 4:23 am
Sorry, the full quote from that vid is,

“I can absolutely make the case that now is the time for something dramatic. And it is not the time to grow government. It’s the time to create the incentives and the opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses big and small to hire more people. And that’s going to happen. You’re going to see that happen in this country, but not under this president. His answer is always can’t we grow government some more. And the problem with growing government, among other things, is that it stays long after these little stimulus years, and people have to be paid, and their retirement benefits, and it becomes a burden on the real job creators which are small businesses in this country. The burdens on small business in America are just crushing small business. We’re at a 30-year low in business start-ups in this country. We need to get people back into business, starting at various employers and putting people to work.”

Alex Pundit

6 Aug 12 at 4:25 am
Now, everyone be nice while I’m at work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhmjnYKlVnM

Jumpnmcar

6 Aug 12 at 5:38 am
would hold a statewide day of strikes in September…

I hope they do then can start sacking people none of this voluntary redundancy stuff. Not one person has been sacked to date. Sacking a public servant is like declaring war.

Actually Kelly, They are and have been. The process is:
you get a letter advising that your position is no longer needed and
you have two weeks to accept the offer of redundancy, or you are put on a placement process that gives you four months to find an alternative job (that do not exist).
at the end of four months you are made redundant.

There is no arguing out of it if you are given the letter. But you are eligible for the redundancy.

The redundancy benefits exceed most in the private sector. There is two weeks of pay to a maximum of 52 weeks for every year of service. As an incentive to leave now, there is a bonus 12 weeks, which you don’t get if you decide to go through the four month placement process. The tax treatment is generous: the first $8,909 is tax free, plus $4,400 for every year of service. Then the rest is taxed at 15%. You would need to be a Senior Officer to pay any significant tax at all.

If you get the letter, it is definitely your best option to take the package.

entropy

6 Aug 12 at 6:48 am
On the breast clinic matter, I think Newman should send a strongly worded letter to the Courious Snail asking for an explanation. I know it was a Sunday Parer, but that article unnecessarily upset a lot of women.

entropy

6 Aug 12 at 6:50 am
Michael Roland (ABC TV) says that the Finklestein affair is only of interest to journalists.

blogstrop

6 Aug 12 at 6:57 am
FORMER ABC television and radio star Andy Muirhead used to be a stand-up comic.

While working as a scientist in Tasmania’s forests, the Victorian-born Muirhead moonlighted as a comedian until the national broadcaster hired him to present morning radio shows in Hobart and the popular Collectors television series.

He said back then that friends were surprised to discover he led a double life in stand-up.

But there was nothing funny about Muirhead’s double life. It was criminally sinister.

On the one hand, he was a privileged and generously taxpayer-funded radio and television host.

In his other life, he sat down and watched videos of children being sexually tortured. He couldn’t get enough of it.

Australian Federal Police officer Phillip Magness said he had found 39,000 files on Muirhead’s computer totalling 10.2 gigabytes which, Magness estimated, would have taken two or three days to download.

Muirhead once spoke of performing in front of a “room of agents, publicists and successful comedians — the group you fear most as a comedian — and it was very scary”.

I doubt he was anything like as scared as the performers he preferred: kids aged from three to 17 forced to have sex with persons unknown, bound by ropes and gaffer tape and cruelly raped while being filmed for Muirhead’s later enjoyment.

[...] He now says he is “ashamed” of the 13,000 pictures and videos of children he admits amassing.

Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

Bravo to Alan Howe for refusing to whitewash this the way “our” ABC has.

sdog

6 Aug 12 at 7:44 am
link via Tim Blair:
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/better_be_jail_soon/

sdog

6 Aug 12 at 7:45 am
Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates says schools should be forced to offer compulsory sports.

We used to have PE, at least waaaay back in the 70s and 80s when I was at school.

These days, what is on offer for the little tackers is a truncated version of what we got. In a recent discussion with my offspring’s PE teacher, I was gobsmacked to learn that there are schools where the kids don’t even learn how to do somersaults.

Apparently some schools have forbidden them in case said little tackers hurt themselves.

I asked the teacher how many kids had actually been injured doing forward rolls, and the answer was…. none that he knew of.

I’m sure you’re all surprised at that one. Add to that, schools in this lower socio-economic area also have a policy of not retrieving balls from the roof.

nilk

6 Aug 12 at 7:53 am
Oh, yes, and let’s not neglect the preppies whose idiot parents won’t let them on the monkey bars, so when they start school they don’t know how to take risks or take a fall.

nilk

6 Aug 12 at 7:55 am
sdog – but were the pictures and videos taken in an artistic way and aren’t we just infringing on his freedom to express beauty ala Henson?

/sarc

It is but a smalls tep!

What happened to that apologist for kiddy nude pictures you guys had here to bounce around – Adrien I think – he just found it aweful some thought the pictures were pornographic.

slippery slope argument had no weight with him

I wonder if Muirhead had anythingt o say on Henson …

pete m

6 Aug 12 at 8:07 am
“Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste” –

Left blames Wisconsin temple shooting on Michelle Bachmann and ‘racists like her’

sdog

6 Aug 12 at 8:11 am
Gee, that didn’t take long, Spot.

nilk

6 Aug 12 at 8:14 am
While there will always be a vocal libertarian cheer squad for any regime that delivers smaller government no matter what the cost to services or the impact on morale and productivity

These fuckwits must approve of the old DEST system at unis:

“productivity equals money spent!”

.

6 Aug 12 at 8:16 am
Wow, the crony companies that have been looting the US taxpayer through the Lefty schemes may be learning that listening to the Left can cost a lot of money:

On August 1 Carbonite released its 2d Quarter 2012 results, the first full quarter after dropping Limbaugh in March. The results shocked Wall Street, as Carbonite did not meet its growth targets, causing multiple analysts to drop the target price. The stock dropped 15% in a day. (h/t reader W)

Most important, in a conference call held on August 1, the CEO David Friend admitted that dropping Limbaugh damaged Carbonite’s growth, and is likely to do so for at least one or two more quarters.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 8:22 am
Gee, that didn’t take long, Spot.

The buzz was they were p**sed that their attempts to beat up Aurora went flat after the baseless claim of the shooter being from the Tea Party, so the Left are back hating a woman on the right.

Lefties really do have women issues.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 8:27 am
LOL:

HARRY REID IS BEING SANTORUMED.

Via Reynolds.

The spirit of Breitbart lives on in this campaign.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 8:35 am
Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates says schools should be forced to offer compulsory sports.

…you can bet his is not offering some of that budget the bloated and underperforming AOC gets from taxpayers to pay for it.

No for Coate’s he wants lashings more of public funds to pay for his high profile failures.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 8:36 am
Government ‘hidey’ exposed: $36b NBN bill excludes up to $10b in debt interest.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 8:56 am
The spirit of Breitbart lives on in this campaign.

“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

“Force them to play by their own rules.”

“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”

“A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.”

“Keep the pressure on.”

“Punch back twice as hard.”
.
.
.
.
. “………WAR.”

sdog

6 Aug 12 at 8:57 am
Breitbart ‘got’ Alinksy. So do a lot of us, now.

sdog

6 Aug 12 at 8:58 am
OMG the horror, think of the children…

…won’t anything think on the consequences of developing shale oil & gas. Actually the NYT & Guardian have:

That is why on May 29 the British newspaper The Guardian quoted Fatih Birol, the chief economist for the International Energy Agency, as saying that “a golden age for gas is not necessarily a golden age for the climate” — if natural gas ends up sinking renewables. Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the I.E.A., urged governments to keep in place subsidies and regulations to encourage investments in wind, solar and other renewables “for years to come” so they remain competitive.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 9:03 am
Muirhead will meet mr right inside the grey bar motel, and will make news as the first new improved Tasmanian marriage while incarcerated. It will be a simple ceremony, and Mrs Bubba will be given special dispensation to wear white.

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 9:05 am
August 25 NT election will be a premonition of a federal Labor annihiliation if Aborigines (25% of the population) rally behind CLP Aboriginal candidates, including Bess Price, who have deserted the ALP.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 9:10 am
Fatih Birol, the chief economist for the International Energy Agency, (says) that “a golden age for gas is not necessarily a golden age for the climate

Birol is one of the bureaucracy’s more embarrassing and hysterical climate zombies.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 9:14 am
Ok JC $50 says Romney wont win and Obama will win but who cares either way – they both are just .01% captured dancing puppets. The only knees up is the sham of voting at all. Another tea party (war) is needed so the US can get back to business as usual instead of being force fed BS by Rupert “the gangsta” Murdoch.

Alice

6 Aug 12 at 9:25 am
Someone up there spins me round like a record baby right round…

equality of outcomes is a an attempt to avoid the bleeding obvious with a little word twist here and there..
Your equality of outcomes sucks when equality of income is this high

Alice

6 Aug 12 at 9:27 am
Recap “our equality of outcomes sucks when inequality of income is this high

Alice

6 Aug 12 at 9:29 am
Equality of outcomes is irrelevant if everyone has a job with high productivity and low consumer prices, or can live off their savings or investments.

Just how would protectionism or a turnover tax do that, Alice?

.

6 Aug 12 at 9:42 am
our equality of outcomes sucks when inequality of income is this high

Perhaps because equality of outcome is a bullshit concept. People do not have the same abilities, thus income is different.
People are not willing to take the same risks, thus, income is different.
People know different things, people assess things differently, people have different interests – etc and so forth.

For there to be equality of income, you either need a populace where every member is exactly like every other, or you need to remove the incentive for doing well.

The first is ridiculous, the second is an abomination.

Craig

6 Aug 12 at 9:44 am
Alice,

Your fucking brave betting 50 bucks and at evens for Romney.

Your bet/odds suggests you don’t believe your own crapola.

Go away.

Here’s a good timely piece explaining da inequality.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/the-treasurer-is-dancing-in-the-dark/story-fn7078da-1226443380153

JC

6 Aug 12 at 9:45 am
Perhaps because equality of outcome is a bullshit concept. People do not have the same abilities, thus income is different.

Check a maternity ward and see how equal we start off. Kids born without legs or arms, few or more brains.

You could spend $1 billion dollars on a mentally slow kid and it won’t get him or her to be like Einstein.

Here’s my belief. Fuck equality.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 9:49 am
Check a maternity ward and see how equal we start off. Kids born without legs or arms, few or more brains.

Good point. Though I’d posit that missing limbs are not frequently, but also not infrequently, overcome with enough brains and the willpower to drive them.
Lack of brains at birth though, yeah, totally fucked.

No excuse for limiting the possible achievements of others though.

Equality has never existed, and it never will. People are inherently too varied.

Craig

6 Aug 12 at 10:16 am
Peak Oi Oi Oi.

That’s my theory.

Australia is now such a feminised country of crybabies and wimps that we will never again rank as a sports superpower.

Somersaults in school banned. Adults riding to the shop sans helmets, banned. Disrespect for stinking dead whales – banned.

Peak Oi Oi Oi.

And good riddance.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 10:21 am
Lack of brains at birth though, yeah, totally fucked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtEyAe1QqCg

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 10:23 am
Equality is one of the most pernicious memes to have come into existance. It’s the wedge that drives reasonable outcomes in one instance into unreasonable outcomes elsewhere.

We are equally human and that is all.

Driftforge

6 Aug 12 at 10:27 am
The European left: sexually assaulting white women is a human right.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 10:30 am
CL Blairs post on blaming the lack of gold on the carbon tax is pretty funny. But some people have noted that Gold medals always decline under Labor. While that’s a joke, it might be interesting to map gold medals to labour productivity. I wouldn’t be surprised if declining productivity also shows up in declining medals, because the same forces would be at work – people being paid more to do less.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 10:35 am
Don’t desecrate the whale carcass! Waah! Waah!

Meanwhile, late term abortions are just fine.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 10:42 am
The European left: sexually assaulting white women is a human right

How dare a woman complain about being propositioned, then abused. The outrage!

Then to compound it by documenting the cases and thereby highlight a pattern in terms of culture of the perpetrators.

Doesn’t she know due to a very selective reading of history which the left have tactically chosen, she will always be guilty in their eyes due to her skin colour?

Token

6 Aug 12 at 10:53 am
Poor fellas, the Sikhs, continuously being mistaken for radical Muslims (at least I suspect that’s what this is all about). A Sikh was shot after S11 too.

jtfsoon

6 Aug 12 at 11:01 am
FYI:

Queensland Health is alerting general practitioners of their legal responsibility, under the Public Health Act 2005, to notify Queensland Health public health units of anyone bitten or scratched by a bat.

This alert follows a warning about potential Australian bat lyssavirus exposures issued to the public on 1 August 2012 in relation to a bat sanctuary at Cape Tribulation called the Bat House. An unknown number of people may have been potentially exposed to Australian bat lyssavirus through bat bites and scratches at this facility over recent years, without receiving appropriate post exposure prophylaxis.

Gee. I wonder why this happened?
I sat on a plane with a CSIRO batologist a few months ago and this person casually informed me that 40% of the bats tested for Lyssavirus showed positive. And we’re not allowed to hunt them out of our backyards.
Best way to get rid of them?
Tie a mousetrap or ten in the tree they stop in. Mousetrap gets set off, bat is trapped, and squawks like shit. The rest panic and fly away. Let the trapped bat go in the morning.

Winston SMITH

6 Aug 12 at 11:05 am
Good ‘straight’ cartoon from Pickering

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 11:07 am
Tie a mousetrap or ten in the tree they stop in. Mousetrap gets set off, bat is trapped, and squawks like shit. The rest panic and fly away. Let the trapped bat go in the morning.

Err, letting a trapped bat go? Isn’t that a route to getting scratched?

And I don’t know about you, but having a screeching bat ouside the window for 6 or 7 hours is pretty unappealling.

The amount of bats you see around now is staggering. Some nights the sky is literally black with the flying rodents.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 11:08 am
Let the trapped bat go in the morning.

Umm, without getting bitten/scratched?

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 11:09 am
Keating giving speech at Lowy Institute pimping someone’s book (don’t know who), mentions that 911 was America’s fault.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 11:11 am
Excerpt from a Letter from Hitler’s neephew to FDR asking to be cleared to enlist in the army

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/to-hell-with-hitler.html

I am the nephew and only descendant of the ill-famed Chancellor and Leader of Germany who today so despotically seeks to enslave the free and Christian peoples of the globe.

Under your masterful leadership men of all creeds and nationalities are waging desperate war to determine, in the last analysis, whether they shall finally serve and live an ethical society under God or become enslaved by a devilish and pagan regime.

Everybody in the world today must answer to himself which cause they will serve. To free people of deep religious feeling there can be but one answer and one choice, that will sustain them always and to the bitter end.

I am one of many, but I can render service to this great cause and I have a life to give that it may, with the help of all, triumph in the end.

All my relatives and friends soon will be marching for freedom and decency under the Stars and Stripes. For this reason, Mr. President, I am respectfully submitting this petition to you to enquire as to whether I may be allowed to join them in their struggle against tyranny and oppression?

At present this is denied me because when I fled the Reich in 1939 I was a British subject. I came to America with my Irish mother principally to rejoin my relatives here. At the same time I was offered a contract to write and lecture in the United States, the pressure of which did not allow me the time to apply for admission under the quota. I had therefore, to come as a visitor.

I have attempted to join the British forces, but my success as a lecturer made me probably one of the best attended political speakers, with police frequently having to control the crowds clamouring for admission in Boston, Chicago and other cities. This elicited from British officials the rather negative invitation to carry on.

The British are an insular people and while they are kind and courteous, it is my impression, rightly or wrongly, that they could not in the long run feel overly cordial or sympathetic towards an individual bearing the name I do. The great expense the English legal procedure demands in changing my name, is only a possible solution not within my financial means. At the same time I have not been successful in determining whether the Canadian Army would facilitate my entrance into the armed forces. As things are at the present and lacking any official guidance, I find that to attempt to enlist as a nephew of Hitler is something that requires a strange sort of courage that I am unable to muster, bereft as I am of any classification or official support from any quarter.

As to my integrity, Mr. President, I can only say that it is a matter of record and it compares somewhat to the foresighted spirit with which you, by every ingenuity known to statecraft, wrested from the American Congress those weapons which are today the Nation’s great defense in this crisis. I can also reflect that in a time of great complacency and ignorance I tried to do those things which as a Christian I knew to be right. As a fugitive from the Gestapo I warned France through the press that Hitler would invade her that year. The people of England I warned by the same means that the so-called “solution” of Munich was a myth that would bring terrible consequences. On my arrival in America I at once informed the press that Hitler would loose his Frankenstein on civilization that year. Although nobody paid any attention to what I said, I continued to lecture and write in America. Now the time for writing and talking has passed and I am mindful only of the great debt my mother and I owe to the United States. More than anything else I would like to see active combat as soon as possible and thereby be accepted by my friends and comrades as one of them in this great struggle for liberty.

Your favorable decision on my appeal alone would ensure that continued benevolent spirit on the part of the American people, which today I feel so much a part of. I most respectfully assure you, Mr. President, that as in the past I would do my utmost in the future to be worthy of the great honour I am seeking through your kind aid, in the sure knowledge that my endeavors on behalf of the great principles of Democracy will at least bear favourable comparison to the activities of many individuals who for so long have been unworthy of the fine privilege of calling themselves Americans. May I therefore venture to hope, Mr. President, that in the turmoil of this vast conflict you will not be moved to reject my appeal for reasons which I am in no way responsible?

I am,
Very respectfully yours,
Patrick Hitler

jtfsoon

6 Aug 12 at 11:23 am
August 25 NT election will be a premonition of a federal Labor annihiliation if Aborigines (25% of the population) rally behind CLP Aboriginal candidates, including Bess Price, who have deserted the ALP.

Not that simple, traditionally NT elections are decided in Darwin electorates. Pollsters and political commentators here are all saying the same thing, that is, too close to call. On that score we have a couple of independents here that may well define the result.

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 11:25 am
Keating now saying the US has failed in every war.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 11:26 am
“He’s railing against the government’s attack on free speech, then he castigates Bolt for the quality of his ‘offending’ article – when, in fact, Bolt highlighted a massive, disgraceful scandal (white ‘Aborigines’)”

to my mind T.Abbott was right about A. Bolt being wrong with his white Aborgine articles, it’s baffling how he thought or his boss/es thought it okay to put pictures up of people and insinute in his column that they were rorting money.

The story is relevant and the issue everyone knows, but to frame individuals like that was quite wrong.
If that was yourself with your pic up there for all the world to see, and you’d done no rorting done nothing wrong,
how would you feel? pretty angry at A.Bolt.

candy

6 Aug 12 at 11:30 am
Keating still droning on and on.

More boring than Rob Oakshott.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 11:31 am
it’s baffling how he thought or his boss/es thought it okay to put pictures up of people and insinute in his column that they were rorting money.

They weren’t?

JC

6 Aug 12 at 11:34 am
ABC’s had enough of Keating, now switched over to Abbott addressing IPA on free speech.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 11:37 am
…it’s baffling how he thought or his boss/es thought it okay to put pictures up of people and insinute in his column that they were rorting money.

Interesting take on events Candy.

Many would say that a middle class man (regardless of racial background) should not be entitled to a grant specifically set up for disadvantaged poor women…

…but as you say, he would feel angry for being exposed.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 11:39 am
f that was yourself with your pic up there for all the world to see, and you’d done no rorting done nothing wrong,
how would you feel? pretty angry at A.Bolt.

I’d have felt ashamed, Candy.

Maybe some less principled would feel angry that about being caught rorting public funds under facile immoral if not illegal claims.

The claims should actually be illegal.

Bolt did the right thing.

Bolt actually did the brave thing.

He expected a leftist and loathsome leftist dependent culture aboriginal leadership backlash.

what he didn’t expect was judge’s ruling against free speech in our society.

He already knew he hadn’t broken defamation laws because what he said was the truth.

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 11:42 am
I am,
Very respectfully yours,
Patrick Hitler

LOL.

Jason, not sure if you noticed my post on your apartment. 5 Aug 12 at 12:50 pm

———————————————–

Poor old Keating. The love media convinced him he was an intellectual.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 11:45 am
Abbott labelled Gillard govt. “the thought police”.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 11:45 am
Usually when people talk about their “livelihood” they’re referring to their business. As in, ‘sound roads are necessary for me to get my produce to market. My livelihood is at stake.’

Unions slams Newman tactics in wage negotiations.

The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) says the State Government is playing ‘Russian roulette’ with public servants’ livelihoods.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 11:48 am
Yes, Captain Marvex, Darwin’s northern suburbs generally determine who governs the NT. But if bush electorates, where Aborigines (who Labor treats as its property) are often in a majority, vote CLP, there will be a Labor wipeout, bearing in mind the Assemby is already deadlocked 12-12 ALP-CLP (+1 independent). The fact that Labor is hated federally also changes the dynamics, in spite of the NT’s parochialism, IMO, so I’m tipping a wipeout. Another small fist-pumping moment for the majority, who hate being governed by the delinquent left. PS: I used to live there.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 11:50 am
He come the Olympic panhandlers:

Government funding cuts cost Australia gold: Gosper.

The most senior Australian member of the International Olympic Committee says the Federal Government must increase funding to the Australian team if it wants to win more gold medals…

This morning Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates told ABC News 24 that he was disappointed with Australia’s medals haul.

He said it was a sign the Federal Government needed to consider changing its policy and funding to give priority to school sports.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 11:53 am
Abbott’s in defense of free speech transcript.

The article for which Andrew Bolt was prosecuted under this legislation was almost certainly not his finest. There may have been some factual errors. Still, if free speech is to mean anything, it’s others’ right to say what you don’t like, not just what you do. It’s the freedom to write badly and rudely. It’s the freedom to be obnoxious and objectionable. Free speech is not bland speech. Often, it’s pretty rough speech because people are entitled to be passionate when they are arguing for what they believe to be important and necessary. Speech that has to be inoffensive would be unerringly politically correct but it would not be free.

If it’s alright for David Marr, for instance, to upset conservative Christians, in his attempt to have them see the error of their ways, why is it not alright for Andrew Bolt to upset activist Aboriginals to the same end? The rallying cry attributed to Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it”, should have been invoked to defend Bolt, no less than it has been to justify robust speech from different points in the philosophical compass.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 11:58 am
Potemkin’s Village

What luck for rulers… here

Grigory Potemkin

6 Aug 12 at 12:01 pm
Here come the Olympic panhandlers:

I think the North Korean system has merit. We could adopt that and save a ton of money. Send our losing athletes to forced labour camps.

Dangph

6 Aug 12 at 12:02 pm
Bob Brown emotive speech in Broome against mining and raving on about a whale nursery. He’s now attempting to do to WA what he has done to Tas. Sans condom.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 12:04 pm
Forgive me if I don’t take the Indians seriously -

India plans Mars Mission in 2013

jtfsoon

6 Aug 12 at 12:05 pm
Woodside gas hub.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 12:05 pm
I’m really over Bolt’s faux outrage about the Robb/Hockey ‘split’ about funding the NDIS.

Bolt neglects to say that the Liar’s party has pushed the onus for funding onto the states. Just another useless Liar’s party thought bubble.

He neglects to indicate any concern for the way quite significant numbers of unemployed have been pushed on to the disability rolls, diluting the current funding for the disabled, and hiding the extent of the unemployment benefits problem.

No, it’s all booga-booga two liberals have a slight difference of opinion. Hockey wouldn’t commit to funding, and Robb said hypothetically that other programs would have to go, if NDIS was to be funded.
Bolt thought this meant Robb gave a unqualified commitment to funding. Nonsense.

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 12:11 pm
It’s A. Bolt putting pictures up and naming names that was wrong, not the issue. So easy to get something wrong – factual errors – and s. hits the fan.

candy

6 Aug 12 at 12:19 pm
That didn’t take long, did it?

Funds slump behind gold drought: Gosper

KEVAN Gosper has blamed a lack of government funding for the dearth of gold medals in London, saying ‘money is the difference between silver and gold’.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/london-games/money-the-difference-between-olympic-silver-and-gold-says-aoc-chief-kevan-gosper/story-e6frgdg6-1226443802086

JC

6 Aug 12 at 12:21 pm
It’s A. Bolt putting pictures up and naming names that was wrong, not the issue.

That’s not true. He didn’t stick up wrong pics of people sucking down water at the money trough.

He got a few points wrong. Big deal

JC

6 Aug 12 at 12:23 pm
Yes, Captain Marvex, Darwin’s northern suburbs generally determine who governs the NT. But if bush electorates, where Aborigines (who Labor treats as its property) are often in a majority, vote CLP, there will be a Labor wipeout, bearing in mind the Assemby is already deadlocked 12-12 ALP-CLP (+1 independent). The fact that Labor is hated federally also changes the dynamics, in spite of the NT’s parochialism, IMO, so I’m tipping a wipeout. Another small fist-pumping moment for the majority, who hate being governed by the delinquent left. PS: I used to live there.
You are in the right of it Tom, but I disagree with you that it will be a wipe out, my feeling is that it will be close and most likely CLP will get in and have to resort to agreements with independents. Stuart Blanch has a real chance… http://stuartfornightcliff.com/ He is deliberatley not aligned with the Greens, although he has a strong environmental record, to my mind he is a ‘realist’ on the environment. With recent sea rights for Indigenous people, current discussion on sea bed mining, soon to start harbour dredging etc. envronmental concerns are very much on the electorates mind.

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 12:24 pm
I think John Coates should be forced to step down. Ultimately the job of the AOC is to bring home gold at the games.

No Gold, no more ~~gold~~ plastic fiat currency.

The entire operation needs a cleanout. They’re living on the achievements of long-retired athletes.

The next olympic squad needs to be rid of the thugs (D’Arcy) the vandals (the bloke who smashed up the windows) and the cry-babies.

It needs to be replaced with hard-heads and hard coaches. Perform or out. Results count. Complete ban on real+social media before events.

The whole thing about letting D’Arcy back in the squad despite appalling behaviour (I’m talking about the assault, not the guns) just sends a message that they are a protected species.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 12:24 pm
It’s A. Bolt putting pictures up and naming names that was wrong, not the issue.

Why is it wrong Candy?

What these people were doing in the moral sense, if not the legal, was stealing from the taxpayer ie us.

i think it was important that he put faces to this outrage.

A face in a picture paints a a thousand words (and none of it aboriginal art).

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 12:26 pm
Anyone who bangs the ‘not enough cash’ drum should point to NZ, who I’m sure spends less per athlete than Australia does.

The difference between gold and silver in many events has been very small. That difference is in mental edge, not physical.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 12:27 pm
It’s A. Bolt putting pictures up and naming names that was wrong, not the issue.

Don’t worry Candy, Judge Mordy shared your concerns and punished him dutifully.

Many in the community are happy the judge was able to throw out 800 years of legal tradition and set the precedence whereby the learned members on the bench may convict you on what you do not say and your tone.

I trust those backing the current governments efforts to muzzle the media using these laws will be overjoyed when a conservative government has these tools in their kit bag.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 12:30 pm
The only Olympic even worth a pinch of shit was run and won brilliantly by U. Bolt.

They can end the coverage now.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 12:38 pm
Ultimately the job of the AOC is to bring home gold at the games.

No need brc. Australia has plenty of gold reserves in the ground. The “elite athletes” need only be redeployed to the mining industry.

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 12:48 pm
So JC are you up for the bet or what?

Alice

6 Aug 12 at 12:48 pm
Ultimately the job of the AOC is to bring home gold at the games.

It appears the AOC has put too much emphasis on in bringing gold home from Canberra and not enough work on bringing gold home from London.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 12:50 pm
@keith the government should offer to exchange the counterfeit gold medals with real ones if an athlete wins.

It’s an outrage that gold medals aren’t made of gold. The amount required to do this is about $1.5 million, from what I read. They would have spent more than that on the NHS segment in the opening ceremony.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 12:51 pm
With recent sea rights for Indigenous people, current discussion on sea bed mining, soon to start harbour dredging etc. envronmental concerns are very much on the electorates mind.

For those here interested in our itinerant troll roll call, Xevram has outed himself as a bright Green.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 12:53 pm
envronmental concerns are very much on the electorates mind.

I call BS.

In my experience, as long as someone isn’t clear-cutting a forest, dumping toxic waste or building a tannery next to a primary school, the ‘electorate’ doesn’t give even 1/10th of a seconds thought to ‘environmental concerns’.

The only arguments I’ve ever seen about Harbour dredging are how deep it should be, and who should pay for it.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 12:57 pm
So JC are you up for the bet or what?

For 50 bucks at evens? No.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 1:01 pm
The whole thing about letting D’Arcy back in the squad despite appalling behaviour (I’m talking about the assault, not the guns) just sends a message that they are a protected species.

Made even worse by his faux bankruptcy to avoid paying compensation.

Septimus

6 Aug 12 at 1:02 pm
What if they just remember that it is about taking part, doing your best and remembering that it is just a game?

Compulsory sport at school is not such a bad thing, it was spoiled in the old days because there was too much emhasis on winning and not enough options for kids who were not good at the traditional manly games.

Rafe

6 Aug 12 at 1:04 pm
With recent sea rights for Indigenous people, current discussion on sea bed mining, soon to start harbour dredging etc. envronmental concerns are very much on the electorates mind.

For those here interested in our itinerant troll roll call, Xevram has outed himself as a bright Green.

LOL and LMFAO, so Tom are you saying that the elctorate has no environmental concerns? Big stretch that one.

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:04 pm
Good grief. A “gold” medal is really 92.5% silver with 6 grams of gold plating. Even more incentive to go mining than swimming/running/jumping, etc.

They would have spent more than that on the NHS segment in the opening ceremony.

Sounds about right.

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 1:09 pm
He come the Olympic panhandlers

I didn’t see that coming at all.

H B Bear

6 Aug 12 at 1:11 pm
envronmental concerns are very much on the electorates mind.

the elctorate has no environmental concerns

Big stretch that one.

Driftforge

6 Aug 12 at 1:11 pm
LOL and LMFAO, so Tom are you saying that the elctorate has no environmental concerns? Big stretch that one.

You can bet middle Australia values cheap energy and money from exports above giving the green/left (via indigenous “right”) carte blance rights to prevent all development.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 1:14 pm
I call BS.
In my experience, as long as someone isn’t clear-cutting a forest, dumping toxic waste or building a tannery next to a primary school, the ‘electorate’ doesn’t give even 1/10th of a seconds thought to ‘environmental concerns’.

The only arguments I’ve ever seen about Harbour dredging are how deep it should be, and who should pay for it.

So BRC you are fully up to date on the NT electorates concerns with the environment?
Re Deredging; here is an ‘over the top response’. http://www.amcs.org.au/WhatWeDo.asp?active_page_id=686

This one is a whole ot more balanced and reprsents, (I thnk) a sensible level of oversight. http://www.ichthys-panel.org.au/

Of course as you know BRC we do actually have a lot of mangrove areas in and around the Darwin harbour.

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:14 pm
One of the things being missed re the gold medal is that the Brits have massively upped their effort for their home games.

Just so happens that their sporting strengths are similar to ours.

Their ascent is at our expense; things will return to the natural order soon enough.

Driftforge

6 Aug 12 at 1:16 pm
so Tom are you saying that the elctorate has no environmental concerns

Tom might not, but I certainly am saying that the electorate might have ‘environmental concerns’, but they would be about position 85 on a 100-item list.

Like I said, absent an actual environmental problem people can see/smell/touch with their own senses, most people won’t change their vote on it.

‘sea bed mining’, ‘harbour dredging’, ‘sea rights’ – these are things the average voter couldn’t care less about.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 1:17 pm
{Coates} said {Australia’s low medal tally} was a sign the Federal Government needed to consider changing its policy and funding to give priority to school sports.

FMD that man’s got a hide. When the Crawford report suggested exactly the above, Coates screamed black and blue that it would affect our medal tally (we’d slip catastrophically from top 5 to eighth or maybe tenth spot)

His hissy fit got an extra $375mil for elite athletes. Now we’re actually 24th behind NZ, Ethiopia and North Korea, he suddenly endorses Crawford? Fuck off Coates…

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 1:18 pm
@keith – what did I tell you. It’s a scandal. Why are the authorities so afraid of giving athletes real gold? Afraid they might melt it down? It certainly cannot be budgetary concerns, with each event running into the billions.

After all the reward that Bolt gives the Olympics – all the viewers, spectators and advertising that he brings, a real gold medal wouldn’t be such a big deal to give him, surely?

They could give out mini-sized ones for the team events like hockey, and maxi-sized ones for the individual events.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 1:19 pm
You can bet middle Australia values cheap energy and money from exports above giving the green/left (via indigenous “right”) carte blance rights to prevent all development.

Correct Token, middle Australia does values cheap energy and money from exports. Consequently we have an existing LNG plant and the go ahead for the Ichtys project.
The green/left (via indigenous “right”) and a whole lot of other interested parties all had their say and the decision was made to go ahead with the project, so in what way does that show a “carte blance rights to prevent all development” ?

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:20 pm
that said – I agree with rafe that encouraging sport at school is not a bad idea, provided there’s choice and it’s not just cricket/footy.

I know he’s gotten sucked into Green paganism and booga booga dreamtime stuff, but one thing Demetriou gets very, very right is the big emphasis on Auskick for 5 year olds and up.

It’s extraordinarily well run and ensure the next generation of AFL players. Compare to Little Athletics which is an underfunded shambles.

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 1:21 pm
There was some white bloke in one of the hundred metre heats the other day.

Honestly, what’s the point?

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:22 pm
‘sea bed mining’, ‘harbour dredging’, ‘sea rights’ – these are things the average voter couldn’t care less about.
Sorry BRC but I disagree, these are real concerns and entirely real to the NT electorate, they are events going on right now.

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:23 pm
Why are the authorities so afraid of giving athletes real gold?

mebbe because pure gold is really soft and would deform easily?

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 1:24 pm
The fact that Blanch has not publicly aligned himself with the Greens is a fundamental dishonesty on his behalf and he should be punished by the electorate and sent packing back to the NT Environment Centre and / or the Roma Bar if either of those fetid organisations still exist after the election.

The era of green left parasites feeding off and riding on the backs of the blacks is over.

Pickles

6 Aug 12 at 1:24 pm
Born To Run…

No Labor figures going too?

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:28 pm
The green/left (via indigenous “right”) and a whole lot of other interested parties all had their say and the decision was made to go ahead with the project, so in what way does that show a “carte blance rights to prevent all development” ?

Great question, its fun playing rope-a-dope with you

THE Kimberley’s peak indigenous body has attacked the “disgusting” tactics of green groups and out-of-town celebrities opposed to industrial development near Broome, accusing them of fundamental dishonesty and abusive, dirty politics.

The Kimberley Land Council also said the Wilderness Society and Save the Kimberley environmental groups were “pitting family groups against each other” in a bid to undermine traditional owners, who have made the tough decision to back a job-creating multi-billion-dollar gas hub at James Price Point on the Dampier Peninsular, 60km north of Broome.

As I said, I’m confident I know which side of this issue middle Australia sit and can see how this fight will be continued if the rights continue to the limits of Australia’s territorial watrs.

Token

6 Aug 12 at 1:28 pm
Gold! Silver! Medals! Pah! What a bunch of pandered to sissys.

Bring back wreaths of laurel leaves!!

And chariot races.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 1:30 pm
LOL ‘electorates environmental concerns’ and you link to some unknown activists website.

Newsflash, green lover : nobody cares about some little website with a whale on the front.

In 2008 the Greens got 4.2% of the vote.

I’ll repeat my assertion : the ‘electorate’ doesn’t give two hoots about ‘environmental concerns’ when it comes to parking their vote.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 1:30 pm
The fact that Blanch has not publicly aligned himself with the Greens is a fundamental dishonesty on his behalf and he should be punished by the electorate and sent packing back to the NT Environment Centre and / or the Roma Bar if either of those fetid organisations still exist after the election.
The era of green left parasites feeding off and riding on the backs of the blacks is over.

S Blanch is on the record as of 7.30 report on Friday, saying that he could not align himself with the Greens as he disagreed with their policy on Gay marriage. So he has fundamentally and honestly explained why he cant or wont align with them. So evidentially Pickles you are mistaken.
LOL on the ‘fetid Roma bar’, they have moved now and a whole lot less fetid.

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:33 pm
@papchango: they used to be real gold before the first world war.

A gold medal is a treasured item. I don’t think they’re going to use them to hammer in picture frames. I doubt many get taken out of the box very often.

Besides, more than half the population goes around with real gold on their fingers. I don’t think post-award damage would really be a concern.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 1:33 pm
Gab, you just want the return of nude athletes.

Admit it.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:33 pm
Only the males, CL.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 1:35 pm
LOL on Rope a dope… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mYXyO4qh0M

Great question:The green/left (via indigenous “right”) and a whole lot of other interested parties all had their say and the decision was made to go ahead with the project, so in what way does that show a “carte blance rights to prevent all development” ?

Is there a ‘great answer’?

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:36 pm
Of course as you know BRC we do actually have a lot of mangrove areas in and around the Darwin harbour.

So what? Get rid of them. There are heaps of them elsewhere if you care much.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

6 Aug 12 at 1:37 pm
Newsflash, green lover : nobody cares about some little website with a whale on the front.

In 2008 the Greens got 4.2% of the vote.
Except perhaps 4.2% of the electorate.

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:37 pm
Only the males, CL.

You should campaign to have the mens’ beach volley ball players wear as skimpy a costume as the women are forced to wear in that sport Gab.

The blokes show from mid thigh to feet all else is pretty well covered.

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 1:38 pm
Newsflash, green lover : nobody cares about some little website with a whale on the front.
In 2008 the Greens got 4.2% of the vote.

So you are saying that perhaps perhaps 4.2% of the electorate do care?

Xevram

6 Aug 12 at 1:38 pm
Nice catch with the Abbott story, CL. Doubt it will receive much press. Of course if it had been Gillard then all the papers would carry the story, in extensive detail, amping it up and calling her a hero. As it is, Gillard has hardly seen – or spoken to – real outback Aborigines; save for a meet’n'greet two years ago, let alone volunteer to assist them.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will join a small group of business chiefs on a working bee in a remote Aboriginal community this weekend.

Mr Abbott, along with Fortescue Metals boss Andrew Forrest, National Australian Bank chairman Michael Chaney, retailer Gerry Harvey and Rio Tinto Australia managing director David Peever, will help refurbish the school library at Aurukun in far north Queensland.

For several years the federal Liberal leader has allocated at least a week of his time each year to volunteer work in indigenous communities and says he will continue this if elected prime minister.

In 2009 Mr Abbott spent 10 days in the Aurukun community as an assistant truancy officer.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 1:39 pm
You should campaign to have the mens’ beach volley ball players wear as skimpy a costume as the women are forced to wear in that sport Gab.

Actually, bikinis are optional.

The teams choose to wear them.

I think it’s a very womanly psych-out thing.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:40 pm
Tony Abbott is helping Aborigines build a library.

Gillard helped them organise a riot.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:44 pm
as skimpy a costume as the women are forced to wear in that sport Gab.

No longer the case. The IOC has changed the rulz so the bikini-clad volley chicks can now wear more attire. It’s a choice now, in deference to and encouragement of Muslim women participation in the Olympic games in general. Give it say three more Olympic games in future and covering up all areas of the skin of female competitors in the lipmix will be compulsory.

Luckily, this won’t apply to the men.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 1:44 pm
mebbe because pure gold is really soft and would deform easily?

So it’s safe for the kiddies? (lol)

Actually silver is not much harder, and rigidity modulii are similar (silver 10% higher).

Not a persuasive reason to replace gold with silver.

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 1:44 pm
more than half the population goes around with real gold on their fingers

actually wedding bands are usually 18-carat gold, not 24, as the pure stuff would deform too easily.

but maybe it’s more about athletes from poorer countries melting them down?

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 1:46 pm
18k gold is 75% – which would be a large improvement on 1.5%.

But they should just mint proper 24k medals and give them to the athletes. They could also throw in a fake plated one for display purposes.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 1:49 pm
Actually, bikinis are optional.

The teams choose to wear them.

The option to cover up is new rules I see CL.

I’m grateful the US babes decided to resist the temptation to wear rashies at dalimpics

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 1:52 pm
I’ve always preferred silver to gold.

Love silver.

Keef says it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAj2eIEcDzc

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 1:52 pm
fellas

We ‘re talking about Olympic medals. How does the conversation morph into what females are or should be wearing on the track and field?

JC

6 Aug 12 at 1:54 pm
So you are saying that perhaps perhaps 4.2% of the electorate do care?

4.2% of voters vote green, which may or may not be due to ‘environmental concerns’. Most likely more than half of those are socialists who would vote for anyone with an angry expression and a line in ‘the rich are all to blame for everything’.

4.2% of voters is definitely not the electorate. Ergo, ‘the electorate’ is not ‘concerned about environmental matters’. A tiny (and inconsequential, so far as results) number of voters are.

And I bet that 4.2% for the greens is even lower this time around.

A very reliable spectral signature for detection of the naive green is that they think everyone cares about their little hobgoblins. When the electorate clearly do not.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 1:56 pm
The latter is a far more interesting topic JC.

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 1:56 pm
You really are a Stones tragic aren’t you, CL?

dover_beach

6 Aug 12 at 1:59 pm
Heartbreak for LaRouchite.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 2:01 pm
I wear two wedding rings. Seems fair. Two marriages. Mum was a bit of a hoarder too, so perhaps it’s genetic. There’s something just so nice about gold. Call me Snow White, but I’m with the seven dwarves on that one.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

6 Aug 12 at 2:01 pm
but maybe it’s more about athletes from poorer countries melting them down?

I would have thought that olympic medals would always trade above their intrinsic value (if they were real gold, that is). If some poor guy from a 3rd world country won a gold and decided a house would be a better reward, I’m sure he’d get a better price than the metal content on ebay. I’m sure there are people out there who collect olympic medals just as they collect anything else. Minting them in pure gold would not only enhance the prestige of winning, it would also create much more valuable heirlooms.

I just don’t get why they have to be fake. There’s no valid reason.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 2:01 pm
The bodies on the female Marathon runners made me feel ill. It was like watching escapees flee a prison camp.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 2:01 pm
A ‘boxing’ bout was stopped last night to fix the bra strap of one of the women.

This hasn’t been seen since Aussie Joe Bugner.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 2:04 pm
The latter is a far more interesting topic JC.

We shouldn’t be objectifying women. It’s just so, so wrong to be doing so.

It’s like people are stripping away their , their humanity.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 2:04 pm
A ‘boxing’ bout was stopped last night to fix the bra strap of one of the women.

lol.. did it fall off by chance. That’s what they call a wardrobe malfunction.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 2:05 pm
Female boxing is really good. It’s rare in the pros when there isn’t a knock out.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 2:06 pm
in deference to and encouragement of Muslim women participation in the Olympic games in general

..just how many Muslim beach volleyballers has there ever been?

on the subject of female Muslim athletes, I love the Age’s naive optimism. Just because the IOC forced Saudi Arabia to send a token female competitor (who got quickly thrashed in Judo), Pravda on the Yarra seems to think this is the start of a new era of women’s equality in that country!

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 2:06 pm
The winner from Ethiopia was not that skinny. the Russian chick had a fair bit to her as well and she came third. The Chinese girl 5th? was also on the larger size. But yeah, most of the rest were stick thin and slightly built.

I know a Snow White joke but am scared of the Doomlord – is something risky likely to get one banned?

pete m

6 Aug 12 at 2:07 pm
The Seven Dwarves, in Latin:

Fatuus
Dopey
Medicullus
Doc
Severus
Grumpy
Beatus
Happy
Somniculosus
Sleepy
Verecundus
Bashful
Sternuens
Sneezy

No reason. Just so’s you know.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

6 Aug 12 at 2:08 pm
An interesting article on alcohol restrictions in NZ.

History provides plenty of examples of government repression of drinking having terrible unintended consequences.

Prohibition in the United States gave us moonshine.

Six-o’clock closing turned drinking into a kind of government-enforced sculling race that would leave modern university students under the table.

The ultimate example of government control, the Soviet Union, produced a drinking culture so bland and voluminous Mr Gorbachev had to reduce vodka production as an economic growth initiative.

Free people, on the other hand, will build a better drinking culture over time.

Perhaps Nanny Roxon should read it …

Matt

6 Aug 12 at 2:09 pm
The sheila who came 2nd in the Marathon was so knocked kneed she could have been entered into the Special Olympics. A credit to her that she could even run.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 2:09 pm
We shouldn’t be objectifying women. It’s just so, so wrong to be doing so.

I look forward to burqa-clad synchronized swimming.
Might be quite lethal though.

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 2:10 pm
I wear two wedding rings. Seems fair. Two marriages.

Geez Lizzie – what does hubbie #2 think of hubbie #1′s ring still being there?

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 2:11 pm
Running is the worst thing to do of you’re knocked kneed. It’s a sure bet to having an artificial implant at a later stage.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 2:11 pm
That’s what they call a wardrobe malfunction.

No JC, that’s what they call a terrible sports bra. Who designs these things? It is so hard to get a good one, where the straps stay upright but that don’t flatten one’s assets or give them ridges under a t-shirt. But sorry – this is girl talk.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

6 Aug 12 at 2:12 pm
But sorry – this is girl talk.

I hear ya.

Perhaps gals weren’t really meant to run in evolutionary lingo. Perhaps they weren’t supposed to do much sport.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 2:14 pm
We shouldn’t be objectifying women. It’s just so, so wrong to be doing so.

It’s like people are stripping away their , their humanity.

Okay…okay…

They can wear the rashies as long as they are form fitting but they must still wear the skimpy bikini bottom that delineates both globes accurately.

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 2:16 pm
Forbes writer rips the Kenyan a new one for saying, ” youse didn’t build that”.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimpowell/2012/07/29/no-president-obama-it-was-private-business-that-made-our-roads-and-bridges-possible/

JC

6 Aug 12 at 2:17 pm
But sorry – this is girl talk.

lol – I remember reading something by one of the tabloid TV producers about doing a segment on bras. he said it was the ultimate ratings winner – all the chicks watch attentively because it’s sooo hard to get a good bra.

All the blokes also watch attentively because…

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 2:18 pm
…..but they must still wear the skimpy bikini bottom that delineates both globes accurately.

of course.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 2:18 pm
The Kenyans have been performing below expectations at these Olympics. Coincidence? I think not.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 2:23 pm
Err, letting a trapped bat go? Isn’t that a route to getting scratched?

Brc, I have to put that in because it is a felony to kill or injure, or to encourage others to blah blah blah.
Do what you will with the disease ridden pests…

Winston SMITH

6 Aug 12 at 2:26 pm
what does hubbie #2 think of hubbie #1′s ring still being there?

Da Hairy Ape is cool with it. He says he doesn’t wear a tag this time round, so I can wear two if I like. Mostly, he fails to notice. He’s very, very, secure as to where my heart is these days; me likewise for him. We all have our own little ways.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

6 Aug 12 at 2:27 pm
lol good for you Lizzie

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 2:29 pm
he doesn’t wear a [ring]

Good man.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 2:32 pm
Very true:

The 5 most useless plastic army men.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 2:37 pm
The 5 most useless plastic army men.

Priceless!

Grigory Potemkin

6 Aug 12 at 2:40 pm
because it is a felony to kill or injure [bats]

if they’re a real problem you can always apply for a permit to cull them legally. But be prepared to have your name made public if the Greens get their way

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 2:40 pm
Watching NASA TV – they’ve broken out the good luck peanuts…. WHAT?

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 3:02 pm
Sacred tradition, Keith. It’s been proven: no peanuts results in mission failure.

NASA – at the forefront of science.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 3:08 pm
What if a geek had a peanut allergy?
Are they screened for this prior to recruitment?

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 3:11 pm
lol but they’re obviously not screened for shitty looking hair styles.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 3:12 pm
Or double earrings on men.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 3:25 pm
I’m just going to put this here, from the SBS “Living Black” show’s Facebook comments.

I look forward to the show, recently I resigned from a position at a NFP Indigenous organization due to the fact that I cannot obtain a Certificate if Aboriginality.
I am adopted, I have no connection. to an Aboriginal Land Council, nor do I have family information.
Though a Certificate of Aborigibality was no a prerequisite of the job, I was told that I was expected to present one.
The Link-Up officer was abusive towards me, even though I’ve had an ongoing case for over years now.
Although my entire lifes experience had been from an Indigenous Aboriginal perspective,without prescribed family information I can not advance in the Indigenous Arts sector.
Also the discrimination and lateral violence I experienced from Aboriginal people working in sectors was more intense than the discrimination I experienced as a child from ignorant Anglo Celtic Aussies.

Comment if you dare.

http://www.facebook.com/livingblacksbs/posts/427683950608636?comment_id=4749321&offset=2&total_comments=52

twostix

6 Aug 12 at 3:27 pm
Why are the geeks crying about s small robot landing of freaking mars?

JC

6 Aug 12 at 3:41 pm
Still great to see it happen though.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 3:42 pm
Still great to see it happen though.

What? How can you support NASA but not the Olympics? At least one provides a modicum of joy for the viewer.

Mucking around in space is wicked waste of taxpayers money.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 3:45 pm
Oh come on, it was good at least that it wasn’t a failure. But yes, it is a waste of money.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 3:48 pm
Milton Friedman once said that he enjoyed living in a rent controlled building although he knew it was wrong economics. Same thing here.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 3:49 pm
Please. This is a fake. A Hollywood stunt.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 3:49 pm
Watching Usain Bolt run or Alison Stokke vault has advanced the human condition far more than any of that space garbage.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 3:51 pm
Oh yea, it’s all faked. I forgot.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 3:51 pm
fair comment, IT. Fair point.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 3:54 pm
Mucking around in space is wicked waste of taxpayers money.

If it’s in the interests of colonisation, a space colony or series of colonies would be the next place that the free minded could escape to.

Otherwise going by history we’ve all got hundreds of years of varying degrees of unescapable, suffocating, statist dominated existence to look forward to.

twostix

6 Aug 12 at 4:03 pm
If it’s in the interests of colonisation, a space colony or series of colonies would be the next place that the free minded could escape to.

Far easier just to execute all our enemies than shoot them into space, but I like your thinking.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 4:05 pm
Why are the geeks crying about s small robot landing of freaking mars?

890kg and the size of a Kombi van. It wasn’t small.

m0nty

6 Aug 12 at 4:07 pm
Really, is it that freaking big? I thought it was one of those toy cars things they often send up there. Wow, that’s big. Why thanks for telling me Monst.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 4:09 pm
So JC are you up for the bet or what?

Why would he take 1:1 odds when betting agencies are offering more?

Fleeced

6 Aug 12 at 4:19 pm
Pennsylvania could be in play because it has the most stringent voter ID in the country reducing the chances for the Dems to cheat. Of course the Demolition party is contesting that in the state supreme court. No shock there.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/08/06/despite_polls_romney_camp_sees_opportunity_in_pa_115010.html

JC

6 Aug 12 at 4:21 pm
We can all look forward to many new pictures of rocks.

Great investment.

Here’s the more or less identical Gibber Plains.

Note the exploratory buggy. Money better spent.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 4:21 pm
Why would he take 1:1 odds when betting agencies are offering more?

‘sactly my point and doesn’t show she’s really thinking the Kenyan is a hot fav with them odds.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 4:24 pm
Bruce Springsteen fails.

Essential: Abbott 12 points in front.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 4:24 pm
Republican odds at 3:2 on Centrebet.

Fleeced

6 Aug 12 at 4:35 pm
Please. This is a fake. A Hollywood stunt.

Oh yea, it’s all faked. I forgot.

Capricorn One

Septimus

6 Aug 12 at 4:35 pm
That Essential poll says a clear majority of people (58%) think taxpayers are forking out too much money on the Olympic team.

It also shows support for the Greens is down nearly 2% on 2010 (10% vs 11.8%). I maintain the Greens will not get more than 8% when we next vote and will therefore lose a Senator in WA, SA and Tas and, hopefully, that little shit in Melbourne who surfed into the House of Reps on Lib preferences.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 5:03 pm
@tom don’t you say that going from 12% to 10% is a 20% reduction in Green votes? (2% overall but 20% of voters)

What’s your bet for Green primary votes in the NT election? 4.2% last time – same, higher or lower?

brc

6 Aug 12 at 5:10 pm
Success!

NASA has just published the first pictures from Curiosity

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 5:13 pm
Please. This is a fake. A Hollywood stunt.

Geeks group hugging in a basement? That just can’t be faked.

IT, I got a lot of joy out of the mars landing.
Olympics Aussie cryathon – not so much.

How about NASA cuts Hansen’s rubbish before it touches the space probes. Deal?

Keith

6 Aug 12 at 5:15 pm
Im not a betting man – what do you expect?. 1:1 keep it clean.

Alice

6 Aug 12 at 5:18 pm
Rumsfeld: Israel shouldn’t tell the US before striking Iran

Former U.S. defense secretary tells Fox News that international sanctions have had no impact on the Iranian regime • Given leaks at White House, Rumsfeld says he would not notify U.S. of Iran plans if he were in the Israeli government.

h/t Insta and PJ

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 5:18 pm
I thought I’d been the victim of Troll Delay over at Tim Blair’s thread on Roxon giving permission (or not) concerning the language used about our political leaders.
But it was just Tim kindly editing my comment before publication, so it wouldn’t be seen to refer to gay marriage as part of the “anything goes” lineup. Are they getting a little over-sensitive about even references to gay marriage at News Ltd?
Another edit downsized “prostitution of all flavours” to “prostitution”. And that was in a tiny three line comment.
But it’s good of them to take the time and to care about how my comments look.
I may have to keep it down to “quite so” eventually.

blogstrop

6 Aug 12 at 5:21 pm
James: Rumsfeld’s book is worth reading.

blogstrop

6 Aug 12 at 5:23 pm
Republican odds at 3:2 on Centrebet.

so that’s what 2 to 5 = 40%. Centrebet is saying Romney’s chances are 40%.

Okay.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 5:26 pm
GetUp say No Finks

Lazlo

6 Aug 12 at 5:39 pm
GetUp say No Finks

Well better late than never – good on them I suppose. I thought they were pro media censorship (despite being anti internet censorship) – didn’t they have a campaign to ‘do something’ about supposed ‘right wing bias’ (!) at the ABC?

papachango

6 Aug 12 at 5:46 pm
I wonder if that position has something to do with Simon Sheikh quitting GetUp?

I mean I’d be genuinely surprised if Sheikh supported liberty in any form

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 5:46 pm
Yes blogstop Known and Unknown is now out in paperback.

It’s had rave reviews and is very detailed and with a detailed website of references

JamesK

6 Aug 12 at 5:50 pm
I wonder if that position has something to do with Simon Sheikh quitting GetUp?

GetUp can read the polls as well. They don’t want to hand their mortal enemy a giant GetUp-thumping baton.

brc

6 Aug 12 at 5:52 pm
Good speech from Abbott.

Polite, snarky and thoughtful.

DavidJ

6 Aug 12 at 6:06 pm
GetUp say No Finks

Don’t trust the fucking arseholes for a second. They’re just aware that these laws etc could easily be turn on them once the right gets into power, that’s all. They haven’t just discovered liberty and the pursuit of happiness or stuff like that. This is just a sign of them smelling a dirty great big rat, that’s all.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 6:15 pm
Most Autralians have no idea who or what GetUp is. perhaps they’ve trying to get more relevant in Australia for reasons known to themselves.

candy

6 Aug 12 at 6:27 pm
What’s your bet for Green primary votes in the NT election? 4.2% last time – same, higher or lower?

brc, 4% is almost what you normally get in informal votes. I think it reflects the number of green Greens in the NT, as opposed to the watermelon plague of communist radicals in Melbourne and Sydney. So I think it will probably be static in the NT, where the Greens (like our new troll) tend to be relatively harmless green Greens.

I think the troll’s fantasy that the electorate will fragment with the emergence of independents is unlikely; in an increasingly polarised electorate, the opposite is likely with voters gathering around the two main political philosophies.

So I’m predicting that Labor will be left with a small minority in the 25-seat NT Assembly.

Tom

6 Aug 12 at 6:31 pm
Anti-freedom campaigner Andrew Leigh attacks Abbott, claims that his legal action against Bob Ellis – who suggested Costello’s wife was a morally loose party girl – makes his views on freedom of speech “pretty selective.”

NOTE: Fairfax uses old “pointed out” trick…

Leigh slams Abbott’s comment on ‘hurt feelings’ test.

Canberra Labor MP Andrew Leigh has hit back at Tony Abbott for promising to repeal a section of the Racial Discrimination Act.

In a major speech today, the Opposition Leader recommitted a Coalition Government to dumping Section 18C which prohibits statements that “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” another person or group of persons on the grounds of race or ethnicity.

“A ‘hurt feelings’ test is impossible to comply with while maintaining the fearless pursuit of truth which should be the hallmark of a society such as ours,” Mr Abbott told the Institute of Public Affairs.

Dr Leigh pointed out that Mr Abbott has benefited from a court case about hurt feelings.

“In 1999, Tony Abbott sued for defamation, and received $66,000 for damage to his hurt feelings,” Dr Leigh said.

“But when it comes to racial minorities, he wants to repeal their right to sue for hate crime, because he says: ‘a “hurt feelings” test is impossible to comply with while maintaining the fearless pursuit of truth’.

“I can’t help feeling that Mr Abbott’s views on freedom of speech are pretty selective.”

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 6:39 pm
They don’t want to hand their mortal enemy a giant GetUp-thumping baton.

The Coalition would never have the sack to actually use the Fink against the left.

This is why the left is pushing for it – they know it’s a one-way gamble.

So there must be some other reason why Getup is opposed to it. Possibly because it’s so transparently bad that any support of Fink’s recommendations would make it too obvious that Getup is just an organ of the public-sector wing of the ALP.

So, staging a pretend fight over media regulation is probably good politics for Getup.

benson

6 Aug 12 at 6:39 pm
“In 1999, Tony Abbott sued for defamation, and received $66,000 for damage to his hurt feelings,” Dr Leigh said.

No, he received $66,000 in damages for defamation.

benson

6 Aug 12 at 6:42 pm
Meanwhile – a few days ahead of Tony Abbott’s annual Aboriginal service trip – overweight morals campaigner and Methodist Ladies College Old Gel, Nicola Roxon, joined the attack:

“Says a lot that Tony Abbott’s priority is not victims of racial insults, humiliation and intimidation, but those engaging in such behaviours,” Senator Wong posted on Twitter.

Same link.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 6:44 pm
That Bob Ellis sounds like a creepy one. Does he make a living out of spreading salacious rumours? should get a real job.

candy

6 Aug 12 at 6:46 pm
So let me get this right, ABC is rightwing reseracher, Andrew Leigh is equating a case of slander and libel with controlling the free press.

What a nasty, dishonest little beta douchebag he is.

He’s a terrible politician as he appears to be frightened of his own shadow.

Hey Andrew, you little twerp, Abbott has said nothing about changing the libel laws.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 6:49 pm
That Bob Ellis sounds like a creepy one. Does he make a living out of spreading salacious rumours? should get a real job.

Bob gets handouts from pals like Bob Carr by the sounds of things.. all paid for by the taxpayer of course

JC

6 Aug 12 at 6:50 pm
Senator Wong, she’s not a real deep thinker.

Keep tweeting away, pet.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 7:02 pm
““Says a lot that Tony Abbott’s priority is not victims of racial insults, humiliation..” etc

by putting that on Twitter N. Roxon herself is engaging in intimdiation and humiliation and slander of Mr Abbott.

candy

6 Aug 12 at 7:07 pm
But when it comes to racial minorities, he wants to repeal their right to sue for hate crime, because he says: ‘a “hurt feelings” test is impossible to comply with while maintaining the fearless pursuit of truth’.

Someone ought to point out to the hapless Leigh that people can still sue for defamation. Just like the White Nine could have sued Bolt for defamation.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 7:07 pm
But when it comes to racial minorities, he wants to repeal their right to sue for hate crime,,

Please. If by “hate crime” Leigh means name-calling, then why is it limited only to “racial minorities”?

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 7:11 pm
“In 1999, Tony Abbott sued for defamation, and received $66,000 for damage to his hurt feelings,” Dr Leigh said.

So? Just shows section 18C is unnecessary. Thanks for making Abbott’s point, Leigh.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 7:14 pm
Please. If by “hate crime” Leigh means name-calling, then why is it limited only to “racial minorities”?

Attacking rich people the way the Liar’s Party has engaged in particularly that vermin Shane Wand ought to seriously be considered as a hate crime too.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 7:14 pm
It’s interesting how the left consider it fair game to attack wealthy people while others are a protected species.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 7:16 pm
Don’t worry Joe,Fisky is taking names,and I’m organizing an extension of The War Room

Tal

6 Aug 12 at 7:20 pm
Hi Tal

It would be easy to change the law and add in attacks on wealthy as a hate crime. You would basically destroy the lefts class warfare attacks in one fell swoop.

Just add to the description of a hate crime attack to also include class.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 7:22 pm
Ellis, Costello, Abbott

Prominent federal politicians Peter Costello & Tony Abbott subsequently sued publisher Random House over Bob Ellis’s memoir Goodbye Jerusalem, which featured gossip falsely claiming that they had been ‘lured to the Liberal Party’ by a sexual liaison. Negotiations about damages and an apology were apparently unsuccessful, with the dispute proceeding to a judgement by ACT Supreme Court Justice Higgins.

The Court, reflecting the differentiation between public and private lives, awarded the two politicians and their wives some $277,000. The publisher pulped copies retrieved from retailers, although many copies had been sold by that time and remain accessible through second-hand dealers.

What did the nutcase Ellis say was the truth:

The story is false

13. It is important to record, at the outset, that the defendant did not attempt to assert the truth of the facts asserted in this passage. The plaintiffs’ evidence that it was false, so far as it referred to them, or, in the case of Mrs Abbott, might be believed to refer to her, was not challenged.

14. Accordingly, although I will later refer in more detail to the evidence given, the following findings should be firmly stated:

1. Neither Mr Abbott nor Mr Costello were ever members of the Labor Party, whether in the Right Wing or otherwise.

2. Mr Abbott has, at no time, had any kind of sexual relationship with Mrs Costello (nee Coleman).

3. Mrs Costello did not induce either Mr Abbott or Mr Costello to join the Young Liberals or, indeed, the Liberal Party, whether by means of sexual favours, expectation of sexual favours or even friendship.

4. Mr Cavalier did not recount to the author the statements attributed to him, nor does he support in any way the truth of the apocryphal story.

15. In other words, the story about Mr Abbott, Mr Costello and Mrs Costello (or Mrs Abbott if she is taken to be referred to), is untrue, has no foundation in fact, and should be totally deleted from the annals of Australian political mythology if, indeed, it still lingers there.

Ellis – a sick and twisted f*ck.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 7:23 pm
“Ellis – a sick and twisted f*ck.”

He really must be, Gab. also i remember Steve of Brisbane going on about rumours about Mr Abbott that he picked up from this Ellis site. Steve is too easily influenced by rubbishy rumours like that.

candy

6 Aug 12 at 7:27 pm
gentlepeople – I have opened a thread on the case.

Sinclair Davidson

6 Aug 12 at 7:30 pm
So that grub, Andrew Leigh is suggesting that having sued for libel and slander in that case makes Abbott hypocritical for supporting press freedom.

Note this is the sludge being uttered by the douchebag who hit the taxpayer to fund research suggesting the ABC was rightwing. What a grubby transparent little clown he is.

He was never a good researcher, in my opinion. As someone suggested it was basically pop economics.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 7:35 pm
The Minister for Tony Abbott, Penny Wong tweets:

The RDA section that Tony wants to repeal protected an Aboriginal woman who was repeatedly called ‘nigger’ & ‘black bastard’. Free speech?

LOL what a blinking fool. Even Wong doesn’t understand the free speech concept. Seriously, I never though she was this clueless.

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 7:39 pm
‘sea bed mining’, ‘harbour dredging’, ‘sea rights’ – these are things the average voter couldn’t care less about.
Sorry BRC but I disagree, these are real concerns and entirely real to the NT electorate, they are events going on right now.

The concern, Xervam, is you see yourself as their spiritual better who made them in your image, and you think you have a right to pick and choose what industries exist and which ones don’t even if it’s not your land, just under common jurisdiction.

.

6 Aug 12 at 7:41 pm
LOL what a blinking fool. Even Wong doesn’t understand the free speech concept. Seriously, I never though she was this clueless.

She is a brainless fembot with a sub post high school IQ. She is possibly a white boned devil.

.

6 Aug 12 at 7:49 pm
Don’t trust the fucking arseholes for a second. They’re just aware that these laws etc could easily be turn on them once the right gets into power, that’s all. They haven’t just discovered liberty and the pursuit of happiness or stuff like that. This is just a sign of them smelling a dirty great big rat, that’s all.

Never forget that Getup international front groups Avaaz and NewStand were responsible for 90% of the pro censorship views to the inquiry.

In fact the call to arms that they made specifically and urgently stated that it was their only chance to shutdown Rupert Murdoch. I.e they weren’t even playing the coy “we just want better regulation”, they were specifically saying they wanted to close down News Ltd.

This about face is fucking bullshit, they live in sheer terror now that maybe, just maybe, Abbott might be a Newman lite, and if that was the case they’d be handing him the rope to hang them with.

twostix

6 Aug 12 at 8:02 pm
cartoons on gillard, Bolt (U and A)

The Moronic Lodge

6 Aug 12 at 8:04 pm
The RDA section that Tony wants to repeal protected an Aboriginal woman who was repeatedly called ‘nigger’ & ‘black bastard’. Free speech?

“Protected”? Umm WTF clearly it didn’t.

twostix

6 Aug 12 at 8:08 pm
Pickering and Bolt!!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-Pickering/236991276355038?ref=stream

Mike

Mike of Marion

6 Aug 12 at 8:26 pm
Q&A this evening in QLD.

Bashing Campbell Newman and of course gay marriage.

According the Fatty Jones’ show Newman is the most unpopular ever.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 10:07 pm
According the Fatty Jones’ show Newman is the most unpopular ever.

They really are dummkopfs. Have they learned nothing from the results of the election?

Gab

6 Aug 12 at 10:09 pm
Channel-surfed onto Q&A and was flabbergasted to see a woman captioned as a ‘women prisoners advocate’ commenting on Newman’s fiscal policy.

She said that cutting debt created debt.

C.L.

6 Aug 12 at 10:26 pm
She said that cutting debt created debt.

I was going to get the transcript tomorrow and post it here. That was a zinger.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 10:28 pm
ALP primary up 5% to 33%.

Sinclair Davidson

6 Aug 12 at 10:32 pm
Where’s that Sinc?

JC

6 Aug 12 at 10:37 pm
There is a transcript for Q&A?

Surely no-one deserves that kind of suffering.

H B Bear

6 Aug 12 at 11:03 pm
There is always a bounce in Newspoll when Gillard is out of the country or on holidays.

H B Bear

6 Aug 12 at 11:07 pm
ALP primary up 5% to 33%.

Told Da Hairy Ape. He says it just shows Gillard does better when she doesn’t do anything; she should stay on holiday. No she shouldn’t, I yelp.

Really though, we both console each other, it’s just margin for error stuff.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

6 Aug 12 at 11:10 pm
Actually I really think the Alliance has had a better coupla weeks as there’s been no real monumental fuckups like there is normally. So this could be their top most ceiling.

JC

6 Aug 12 at 11:12 pm
Debbie Kilroy had a very rough life and ended up doing a fair stretch in Boggo for trafficking. She finished a law degree, got admitted and since has done great work with SistersInside a women prisoners advocacy group.
But on many issues she should just shut up, lest people think she is an idiot. Economics would be one, dairy farming would be another.

Pickles

6 Aug 12 at 11:13 pm
ALP primary up 5% to 33%.

Now that’s a rogue poll.

Infidel Tiger

6 Aug 12 at 11:15 pm
How do you get admitted tom practice law in this country if you have done time?

JC

6 Aug 12 at 11:16 pm
The singing redhead when asked, couldn’t even nominate a significant musical influence. Even though she was rendered mute/inarticulate most of the time. I thought at least she could answer that one.

Viva

6 Aug 12 at 11:23 pm
If no one objects after you advertise your intention and the Court of Appeal admits you then you’re in. There were some raised eyebrows at the time but she’s quite capable.

Pickles

6 Aug 12 at 11:25 pm
Da Hairy Ape is cool with it. He says he doesn’t wear a tag this time round, so I can wear two if I like. Mostly, he fails to notice.

Ye Gods! I just mentioned my little comment today (2.27) about my wearing two wedding rings to Da Ape, waving my left hand at him. Very nice, he said, admiring again his chosen Celtic design. Then he seriously asked: where’d you get that other one?

He actually, really, truly, HAD forgotten!!

He is busy writing a gee-up speech for his troops.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

6 Aug 12 at 11:47 pm
Who was the singer?

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 12:23 am
well lookee here. The NBN is doing fine. All those naysayers.. you’re all just pessimists.

So for the first time in 25 years, there are waiting lists for new telephone services. In many estates, homeowners are being provided with an interim mobile service by Telstra. Without a hint of irony, Quigley told the May estimates that NBN Co was “advising Telstra that they may receive requests for interim telephone services while the (NBN) network is being completed”. Many new homeowners will have a long wait.

Fair dinkum, these blundering morons are going to leave us without communications.

Dot is right. It will end up costing $150 billion.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/nbn-co-fails-on-target-rollout/story-e6frgd0x-1226444256903

JC

7 Aug 12 at 12:47 am
Dot is right. It will end up costing $150 billion.

That detaileed op-ed linked by JC was by Kevin Morgan who was the ACTU member of Kim Beazley’s advisory committee on telecommunications.

It’s devastating and by one of their own.

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 12:54 am
So, according to Newspoll, in the last fortnight thousands of Australians have said, ‘y’know, this government sure is doing a great job; I’m switching back to Gillard!’

Yeah.

No.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 12:59 am
Mentally unbalanced drunk, Nancy Pelosi, on Harry Reid’s tax smear:

‘It Is A Fact’ … That Somebody Told Harry Reid About Romney Not Paying Taxes.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 1:01 am
Seems like a message is being sent that Labor is better off without Gillard.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 1:03 am
Wa-Po: Romney outraised Obama in July, $101.3 million to $75 million

Romney’s campaign announced it raised $101.3 million, while Obama’s team said in a tweet that it brought in $75 million.

The gap is slightly smaller than it was in June, when Romney raised $106 million and Obama brought in $71 million, but it’s the second-straight month that Romney has pulled in nine figures and the third-straight month he has outraised the incumbent president.

The fundraising numbers are split between the candidates’ campaign committees, their respective national party committees and joint fundraising committees that raise money for both entities.

Romney’s campaign said the three combined had $185.9 million in the bank at the end of July; Obama’s team did not announce a cash on hand figure.

At the start of July, Romney had $170 million on hand, compared to $144 million for Obama, whose campaign has spent heavily on ads early in the general election campaign. Just three months before, Obama had a $90 million edge in cash on hand.

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 1:04 am
The Dutch Bid an Unfond Farewell to Multiculti, the Poison Pill That’s Killing ‘Em

A new integration bill (covering letter and 15-page action plan), which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: “The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.”

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 1:18 am
I’m not sure whether congratulations are in order for the Dutch – not after so many years of idiocy. Let’s just say this is a positive first step away from national suicide.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 1:23 am
Interesting move by the dutch.

JC

7 Aug 12 at 1:30 am
Wade Michael Page Is A Former Soldier, May Have Been White Supremacist, CNN Reports

On Monday, CNN’s Starting Point offered some additional information on suspected Sikh temple shooter Wade Michael Page.

Here’s what they shared: Two officials have said that Page had served in the army, but then left. An official said he legally owned the gun allegedly used in the weekend’s mass shooting. As of this morning, seven people are dead, including the shooter, and investigators are looking to determine a possible motive, spending last night examining the suspect’s home.

“And there is word,” Ali Velshi added, “that he may have been a white supremacist.” In addition, Page had a tattoo commemorating 9/11, “and some significance seems to be being made of this.”

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 1:37 am
I’m guessing the anger is fear more than anything else.

A forthcoming e-book discusses how personal the presidential race has become.

When President Obama talked about Mitt Romney in recent months, “aides picked up a level of anger he never had for (Hillary) Clinton or (John) McCain,” writes Politico’s Glenn Thrush in Obama’s Last Stand, which will be out on Aug. 20.

The unfortunately named:

Thrush notes that Obama “began campaign preparations feeling neutral about Romney, but like the former governor’s GOP opponents in 2008 and 2012, he quickly developed a genuine disdain for the man,” according to excerpts released by Politico.

Of course, we suspect that Romney’s views of Obama may be somewhat similar.

Obama’s Last Stand is the latest in a series of e-books on the campaign produced by Politico.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/08/book-details-obamas-dislike-of-romney/1#.UB_kNETM_zc

JC

7 Aug 12 at 1:38 am
Whitefella slurs black woman:

Founder of the National Indigenous Times, Chris Graham, SBS Living Black’s Facebook page:

… WHEN grubs like Bess Price sit there on national television and say “Sorry, I didn’t think you were Aboriginal. You look like a whitefella to me“. How you can sit and pretend that that’s not hurtful, or won’t evoke a reaction is staggering.

Smart blackfella points out the bleedin’ obvious to dumb whitefella:

Responses on same Facebook page:

ABORIGINAL artist Dallas Scott: Chris – So Bess Price’s honest thoughts make her a grub? Well count me in the legion of grubs because they were my first thoughts too …

And another writes:

“Our Nanna”: Chris … I saw Bess Price tell a european loking (sic) girl that she looked like a whitefella. Where is the issue there? The girl does look like a whitefella, regardless of how she identifies. All the wishing in the world can’t change your genetic make-up and what was Ms Price supposed to say – yes you really look like a blackfella? How do you think the term blackfella came into being? Certainly not from having white skin. My issue with you is the way you spoke about a respected bonefide (sic) traditional elder who happened to have a different opinion to you. Seems to be a common thread here … I would have thought educated people would have a higher level of debate.

Educated people are not necessarily intelligent.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 2:10 am
Chris Graham is particularly nasty piece of work.

He used to write pieces in Crikey when he was editor at NIT.

His viciousness was evident during the original Howard government intervention.

I remember it well.

He is filled with venomous hate

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 2:33 am
Of course he’s a white fella.

The left is now literally trying to say black is white and white is black.

Do we need any more evidence that contemporary leftism is, in actual fact, a mental illness?

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 2:36 am
Do we need any more evidence that contemporary leftism is, in actual fact, a mental illness?

That has to be a trick question.

Of course not!

JC

7 Aug 12 at 2:43 am
Interesting piece on the medical system in the US. There’s no freaking standardization and therefore limited economies of scale.

Question. Should medicine be more like chain restaurants? Yep!

That’s the sort of thing I’ve been saying for a while now.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/08/13/120813fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=1

good read

JC

7 Aug 12 at 2:45 am
Good and bad news fore Mitt Romney:

WSJ: RomneyCare 2.0
With costs rising fast, Massachusetts moves to dictate medical care.

Sure enough, 79% of the newly insured are on public programs. Health costs—Medicaid, RomneyCare’s subsidies, public-employee compensation—will consume some 54% of the state budget in 2012, up from about 24% in 2001. Over the same period state health spending in real terms has jumped by 59%, while education has fallen 15%, police and firemen by 11% and roads and bridges by 23%.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts spends more per capita on health care than any other state and therefore more than anywhere else in the industrialized world. Costs are 27% higher than the U.S. average, 15% higher when adjusted for the state’s higher wages and its concentration of academic medical centers and specialists.

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 2:59 am
Hey James, you ought to read that New Yorker piece. US hospitals are putting in command centres to overseas treatment in ICU’s. Wow!

JC

7 Aug 12 at 3:02 am
Where have I heard that before?

Mired in negativity, the American presidential campaign is devoid of ideas and policy.

It’s only the most important election for a generation, such are the ideological opposites available to electors, so Fairfax recycles a New York Times liberal. These people really are a caricature of themselves.

Tom

7 Aug 12 at 3:29 am
Potemkin’s Village

Most people are other people… here

Grigory Potemkin

7 Aug 12 at 5:45 am
Lame.

Abu Chowdah

7 Aug 12 at 5:58 am
I wish they’d stop referring to the Sikh temple gunman as a ‘military veteran’. I got the impression of someonre shellshocked from a tour of duty in Afghanistan who went crazy.

Turns out he’s a bald fat fuck who worked as a satellite repairman at Fort Bragg.

jtfsoon

7 Aug 12 at 6:49 am
ALP primary up 5% to 33%.

But an identical two-party preferred to the Essential poll, which means the Greens lost a huge amount of support, or its just a rogue poll.

Quentin George

7 Aug 12 at 7:03 am
It coincides with Gillard being away and the Goose being in charge. I’ts more likely the 3% is the closet Springsteen demographic being outed.

Splatacrobat

7 Aug 12 at 7:12 am
What’s this crap I’m hearing now on ABC about Newman turning his back on the first violinist at some soiree?

The person speaking is saying as well as a personal affront and being rude, it’s a slight on the arts, etc.

Moron.

kae

7 Aug 12 at 7:21 am
Q&A last night was held at Brisbane’s Power House. Why didn’t they have Qld LNP pollies there to defend against the obvious conga line of welfare rent seekers and public servants?

One question only from the audience defending conservative views.
One leftie arts person whinging about cuts to arts.
One leftie social worker whinging about cuts to her prison program.
One leftie politician who beclowned himself with every answer.
One mad politician only bought in for leftist humiliation.

The Coalition should just boycott going on the ABC until the next election.

Splatacrobat

7 Aug 12 at 7:34 am
And now for New Scientist’s latest rational, sensible, dont-let-the-blood-go-to-your-head take on climate change.

Climate change: The great civilisation destroyer?
War and unrest, and the collapse of many mighty empires, often followed changes in local climes. Is this more than a coincidence, asks Michael Marshall.

dd

7 Aug 12 at 7:37 am
What’s this crap I’m hearing now on ABC about Newman turning his back on the first violinist at some soiree?

So who verified that claim with Newman’s office.

From the Lefty playbook, you will hear an endless drip, drip, drip of unsubstantiated claims of insults and gaffes in their marketing campaign to change the public mood.

It is why the ALPBC needs to be de-funded. I don’t like paying for the megaphone the rent-seekers are using to demand more taxes.

Token

7 Aug 12 at 8:18 am
Glen Reynolds has a bit of fund and channels Breitbart by suggesting tax hikes the Democrats will naturally oppose and many Republicans could rally around:

They should head into the next budget battle with a list of proposals for tax increases that will sting Democratic constituency groups, but which will seem eminently fair to voters.

The first such proposal would be to restore the 20 percent excise tax on motion picture theater gross revenues that existed between the end of World War II and its repeal in the mid-1950s. The campaign to end the excise tax had studio executives and movie stars talking like Art Laffer, as they noted that high taxes reduced business income, hurt investment and cost jobs.

The movie excise tax was imposed in response to the high deficits after World War Two. Deficits are high again, and there’s already historical precedent. Of course, to keep up with technology, the tax should now apply to DVDs, downloadable movies, pay-per-view and the like. But in these financially perilous times, why should movie stars and studio moguls, with their yachts, swimming pools and private jets, not at least shoulder the burden they carried back in Harry Truman’s day — when, to be honest, movies were better anyway.

For extra fun, they could show pictures of David Geffen’s yacht and John Travolta’s personal Boeing 707 on the Senate floor. You want to tax fat cats? I gotcher “fat cats” right here! Repeal the Hollywood Tax Cuts!

He has a number of other amusing suggestions that would hit the Rockefellar Foundation which that Greenpeace document noted is helping fund their campaign against Coal Seam Gas.

Token

7 Aug 12 at 8:25 am
GINA Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has opened a new front in its battle for Fauxfacts Meeja board seats, by appealing directly to retail shareholders with a letter outlining the mining magnate’s complaints against the struggling publishing business.

“Struggling publishing business”, loony bin, more like.

Deathwatch…

Rabz

7 Aug 12 at 9:01 am
Hey James, you ought to read that New Yorker piece. US hospitals are putting in command centres to overseas treatment in ICU’s. Wow!

Yeah. Actually in the expensive surgeries that require high dependency and ICU, hospitals all over the western world largely standardise therapy in each institution.

Many operations even including gall bladder are o’night or even day only in a very regimented standardised fashion.

Each ICU is protocol driven. I’ve never seen one that isn’t.

The article is a puff piece and not terribly significant.

I think it’s probably subtle Obamavare boosterism.

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 9:07 am
People forget that Campbell Newman hadn’t even sat in Parliament 6 months ago.

The left have had trouble all along getting a bead on him. They haven’t been able to craft the message about Newman.

They tried the corruption thing but it backfired. They’ve tried the liar thing, but everything he is doing he said he would do.

I suspect now they’re going to go the un-yartsy oaf line.

The meme that the crybabies have been pushing has been ‘a lot of people are turning away now that they are finding out what he is really like’.

But I don’t think that’s getting any traction either. They really are scrabbling around trying to find some way of confecting outrage, for the entire model of the state being the most important element is being unwound. What will they say when the public service is reduced heavily, yet, by the end of the LNP first term, state unemployment will actually be lower?

High time for another opinion poll to come out and find that he is more popular than ever.

That’s when the attacks will turn on QLDers as a whole, calling them all un-yartsy slobbering redneck bogan oafs.

brc

7 Aug 12 at 9:17 am
Bear with me if this one has been posted already – too many distractions from Catallaxyfiles:

And You Thought the Housing Crisis Was Over!

Highlights ( sarc )

believe it or not, the federal government is now starting another initiative to force banks to lend to low-credit-rated blacks and Hispanics — not just anybody but specifically blacks and Hispanics — and is threatening — and already imposing — huge punitive fines if they don’t.

Moreover, this time they’re going even further. They’re going to take over the credit rating agencies and force them to change their standards to accommodate blacks and Hispanics so that nobody will have any idea who is a bad credit risk and who is not.

Fines ?

( Wells Fargo )was also ordered to pay $125 million to as yet unnamed victims of previous discrimination. But get this! If those past victims don’t show up, the money must be handed over to community organizing groups.

Oh – so U$125 mill gets handed over from Wells Fargo to ACORN, who presumably take their cut and plow the rest of the dosh back in to the Obama re-election campaign.

and as the writer says, with the added benefit of:

I think what we are witnessing is the looting of America on behalf of minorities in a way that better end soon or we are going to bring the whole system down upon our heads.

Well, yeah – isn’t the Obama administration stacked with people who have spent their whole adult lives trying to undermine the market economy ?

Myrrdin Seren

7 Aug 12 at 10:02 am
I wish they’d stop referring to the Sikh temple gunman as a ‘military veteran’. I got the impression of someonre shellshocked from a tour of duty in Afghanistan who went crazy.

It has also been noted he played guitar in a band. Perhaps we should ban music, too?

Wayne Swan likes rocking and rolling music. Hide the guns!

Abu Chowdah

7 Aug 12 at 10:04 am
They really are scrabbling around trying to find some way of confecting outrage.

What we’re seeing in Queensland is a carbon copy of what we will see under an Abbott government. For the ABC to be used to stage a “Get Newman” night is disgraceful. The ABC will never be anything other than a staff collective barracking for leftwing causes against the interests of the people paying the bills. The only question is about how we sell it. Do we retain rural? Do we retain SBS as a government TV channel? The sale of TV and radio frequencies as commercial licences would raise several billions – small recompense for the contempt they have heaped on their taxpayer owners.

That would leave only academia and the public service as the major taxpayer-funded leftwing oppositionist ghettos. Unfortunately, the culture wars will be neverending.

Tom

7 Aug 12 at 10:08 am
Do we retain SBS as a government TV channel?

Absolutely not.

Rabz

7 Aug 12 at 10:17 am
The only question is about how we sell it. Do we retain rural? Do we retain SBS as a government TV channel?

Liquidate it.

Make the companies who buy the spectrum promise to run a few hours of ad free BBC re-runs a day to quell the blue haired brigade.

The rural problem: Disperse then hand command of ABC stations over to elected local citizen board control – money from the sale of the TV spectrum can be used to fund local rural community radio using the old ABC infrastructure.

twostix

7 Aug 12 at 10:19 am
Kae, I believe the ‘artist’ was Katie Noonan – a singer rather than a violinist. Newman was only dropping in to the get-together for ten minutes for a meet and greet. When he got there, people lined up to say a few words to him. He didn’t “turn his back” on the alleged victim. She was employed as an ambience provider. That looked like her on Q&A last night, though she used to be a lot chubbier when I lived across the street from her. She is a fantastic snob. A conservatorium luvvie masquerading as a streety muso. I think her parents were also con luvvies. You can imagine how much these intergenerational tax-eaters hate Newman.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 10:20 am
Dr Watchirs, who was asked by the government to investigate the pamphlet…

These people need to be prosecuted. I’m quite serious. We need to jail these people for their attacks on democracy. At the very least, they should be sacked and thrown on to the street.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 10:23 am
An Olympic walking contestant was disqualified for testing positive.

I mean WTF??? Walking??

jtfsoon

7 Aug 12 at 10:35 am
though she used to be a lot chubbier when I lived across the street from her.

You know that’s what I thought, CL. I thought that if she lost say 15 kilos, she would be quite hot. Honestly she really had nothing to say and was quite shallow.

JC

7 Aug 12 at 10:42 am
MILITANT unionists and political groups prosecuting the anti-Israel boycott campaign are using official union facilities and resources to encourage anti-business protests and to sell the pro-Palestinian message.

Senior Victorian union figures have admitted growing support from some affiliates and some fringe political groups for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

It has emerged that along with key union backing, Victorian Trades Hall Council resources have been used for fundraising for the BDS campaign and to aid protesters arrested while backing the Palestinian cause.

VTHC secretary Brian Boyd would not comment on the BDS campaign yesterday.

The Baillieu government called for Labor to distance itself from the BDS campaign being waged from within sections of its industrial wing.

A Labor spokesman said yesterday the BDS campaign had “no role in a respectful and harmonious multicultural Victoria”.

“Playing politics with this issue puts at risk the diversity that all Victorians value and cherish,” the spokesman said.

But Maritime Union of Australia Victorian secretary Kevin Bracken, a former Trades Hall president, said the campaign was justified as it was a way of defending the Palestinian people.

“We support them because it’s a non-violent way of ending the oppression of the Palestinian people, the persecution by Israel,” he told The Australian.

Mr Bracken was photographed at a recent BDS protest outside the Max Brenner coffee shop in Melbourne, where the protesters accused the company of links with the Israeli defence forces. A large banner at the protest declared “Israel is a terrorist state”.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/unions-fuelling-israel-protests/story-fn59noo3-1226443429647

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 10:48 am
“We support them because it’s a non-violent way of ending the oppression of the Palestinian people, the persecution by Israel,”

How, by disrupting Australian businesses?

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 10:50 am
You know that’s what I thought, CL. I thought that if she lost say 15 kilos, she would be quite hot. Honestly she really had nothing to say and was quite shallow.

The Yarts luvvies who get a seat on Q&A rarely do.

Token

7 Aug 12 at 10:51 am
Poll porn by the toe sucker. Hope he’s right.

Romney is currently leading in every state McCain carried plus: Indiana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina, and Colorado. If he carries these states, he’ll have 228 electoral votes of the 270 he needs to win.

To win the election, Romney would then have to carry Florida where he trails by two points, and either Virginia (behind by two) or Ohio where he’s down by only one.

If he carries all three of these states and also wins all the others where Obama is now at 50% or less – Iowa, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey — he will get 351 electoral votes, a landslide about equal to Obama’s 363 vote tally in 2008.

The strong probability is that Romney does, in fact, carry Florida, Ohio, and Virginia and a share of the other states where Obama is below 50% of the vote.

So don’t believe the garbage being put out by the media. The attempt to portray Romney as not catching on and as dropping in the polls is ludicrous. It is, at best, the product of incompetent polling and, at worst, the result of deliberate media bias. But Romney is winning and expanding his lead each week. That’s the real story.

http://www.dickmorris.com/the-real-poll-numbers/

JC

7 Aug 12 at 10:53 am
when I lived across the street from her.

This is a little disturbing CL. It implies you’re an inner city luvvie.

JC

7 Aug 12 at 10:54 am
You know, I have a soft-spot for Katie Noonan. A lovely voice and easy on the eye. Why couldn’t she just leave me with that impression. No, she has to give us her opinions on current affairs, and destroy the spell. Why can’t artists just be artists? Their plane is the world of appearance; why can’t they please just leave it at that?

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 10:55 am
lol, Dover: Katie was lovely until she opened her mouth to speak.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 10:56 am
when I lived across the street from her.

sfb is adding this to his dossier and attempting to triangulate your location.

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 10:57 am
I’m tipping he’s already checked the white pages for “Currency Lad”. Just in case.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 10:58 am
JC – intrade has Obama to win at 58%.

Sinclair Davidson

7 Aug 12 at 11:01 am
I know Sinc.

Last election here the betting consistently had labor well head until the last few days.

You might say the markets were right technically, but you’d be really pushing it though, no?

JC

7 Aug 12 at 11:03 am
I’m tipping he’s already checked the white pages for “Currency Lad”. Just in case.

Cl would end up having to take a restraining order on him, DB.

You know he once announced here that he was looking through the electoral roles to figure out where I lived. He’s the creepiest individual since Mel was blown out of here.

JC

7 Aug 12 at 11:07 am
Kae, I believe the ‘artist’ was Katie Noonan – a singer rather than a violinist. Newman was

Even the Fairfaxistas aren’t necessarily impressed, the top comments aren’t kind:

She says stuff like that often about her audiences, even when Premier Newman is not in attendance. Be silent! Don’t you know who I AM??!!

No publicity for a while to an artist touted as the next big thing 10 years ago – hard to take. Lose the attitude.

I can’t stand Campbell Newman and he is supremely arrogant. But Noonan’s comments are, true to form, rather narcissistic.

Apparently for some reason they hate her more than Newman.

twostix

7 Aug 12 at 11:09 am
Harry Reid and the Dems are seriously deranged.

“We feel comfortable in the Senate,” he said. “Where the problem is, is this: Because of the Citizens United decision, Karl Rove and the Republicans are looking forward to a breakfast the day after the election. They are going to assemble 17 angry old white men for breakfast, some of them will slobber in their food, some will have scrambled eggs, some will have oatmeal, their teeth are gone. But these 17 angry old white men will say, ‘Hey, we just bought America. Wasn’t so bad. We still have a whole lot of money left.’”

Maybe Harry’s Dem private polling shows what the Toe-Sucker knows?

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 11:10 am
I’ve got the boobs and legs on display and still I’m overlooked. Tough crowd.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 11:11 am
JC – intrade has Obama to win at 58%.

Until Romney actually gets polls that move the stats Morris noted into his column, a percentage of victory for Obama makes sense.

The maps that show the Advertising $$$ spent indicate the Obama campaign has been flooding those stats with endless attack ads, noting no president has gone that negative for that long pre Labor Day.

Token

7 Aug 12 at 11:16 am
Huff Post:

If television ad spending is any guide, the White House race will come down to nine states that have absorbed an eye-popping $350 million in commercials so far.

Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida, the largest and most diverse of these highly contested states, are where the ad dollars have been concentrated, and that’s been consistent this election season.

…No state has been flooded with more campaign advertising than Ohio, where an average viewer in the Cleveland television market is seeing about 87 presidential campaign spots a week. Florida is the second most heavily saturated, with viewers in the Orlando media market seeing about 70 campaign ads a week. Iowa is third.

New York-based political ad buyer Joseph Mercurio called the figures “unprecedented and astonishing.” He noted that a heavy advertising presence in a competitive statewide race normally would mean about 20 spots a week for an average viewer.

Mercurio said such heavy advertising in a state typically would cause polling numbers to shift. That hasn’t happened this time, suggesting voters have tuned them out or only a few remain undecided.

Token

7 Aug 12 at 11:19 am
I’ve got the boobs and legs on display and still I’m overlooked. Tough crowd.

JC does that a lot. Multiple screens, Gab.

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 11:20 am
Amazing.

LABOR’S review of its staggering Queensland election loss is a whitewash that ignores Anna Bligh’s failings, a political analyst says.

The review, reported in The Courier-Mail, spared the former premier any personal criticism and found Labor’s campaign strategy had a “sound basis in research and in fact”.

Not our fault we lost, says QLD Labor, we ran a good honest campaign.

“It was Anna Bligh’s government, it was her campaign. It was well known if they lost it would be on her head.

“They haven’t got to the crux of the issues, the spending, the lies about privatising. It’s clear they didn’t want to upset mates.”

The review, penned by Labor national secretary George Wright, NSW MP Carmel Tebbutt and former MP Michael Lee, also backed the negative campaign Labor ran against now Premier Campbell Newman.

Labor spent months engaged in an unrelenting personal attack centred on his personal financial interests and time as Brisbane lord mayor.

While the review backed the attack strategy, it conceded Labor had nowhere to go after the Crime and Misconduct Commission dismissed allegations against Mr Newman soon before the poll, the Courier-Mail reports.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/bligh-escapes-wrath-in-labor-poll-review/story-fn3dxiwe-1226444454816

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 11:21 am
So now I know of someone who might be able to give me a physical description of CL. Interesting.

As for her being a snob, she probably wasn’t impressed with the way he sat on his front porch polishing that firearm he shouldn’t have.

steve from brisbane

7 Aug 12 at 11:25 am
The Obama campaign has spent a full $100M more than the Romney campaing at this point in the race.

Token

7 Aug 12 at 11:26 am
So now I know of someone who might be able to give me a physical description of CL. Interesting.

He’s panting at the moment… with his tongue sticking out like a dog.

JC

7 Aug 12 at 11:29 am
The review… found Labor’s campaign strategy had a “sound basis in research and in fact”

What else would you expect from the ‘reality-based community’ using ‘evidence-based research’?

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 11:29 am
So now I know of someone who might be able to give me a physical description of CL.

Creepy.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 11:33 am
Robert Hughes dead.

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 11:34 am
RIP.

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 11:35 am
The review… found Labor’s campaign strategy had a “sound basis in research and in fact”

What else would you expect from the ‘reality-based community’ using ‘evidence-based research’?

That article just reinforces what JC a while back that the ALP is like the Bourbons “they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing”.

Let’s hope they keep ignoring what the voters think of such tactics.

Token

7 Aug 12 at 11:38 am
What else would you expect from the ‘reality-based community’ using ‘evidence-based research’?

Well as all thoughtful educated people already knew it was only possible that: 2+2=4.

A ‘study’ in from a prestigious university department was needed to demonstrate it.

Funding was sought.

But the ‘study’ subsequently published in the peer reviewed Journal of Bolshie Mathematics confirmed what many ‘progressive’ mathematicians have long suspected: 2+2=5.

“In time it may be the case that further research may show the exciting possibility that: 2+2=6″, the lead commentating editorial said in the same issue of the journal.

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 11:42 am
Wow, Katie Noonan’s career is going gangbusters. She’s now playing background music at the opening of buildings.

Infidel Tiger

7 Aug 12 at 11:45 am
RIP Robert Hughes.

American Visions was the greatest art documentary ever made.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 12:08 pm
A poll out today says Newman would lose his seat if an election were held today.

This really is a problem for him. That seat could easily go back to Labor even if his government kicks on successfully for another ten years.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 12:11 pm
Ex-ministers face ICAC

ALLEGATIONS of corruption involving three former NSW Labor ministers will feature in potentially the most sensational public inquiry held by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Kate McClymont remains one of FXJ’s best journalistic assets. Barry is boiling these frogs slowly in an ICAC pot. Just keep raising the temperature slowly Barry.

Conversely, in terms of FXJ human assets –

Tim Colebatch not so much

Swan has quietly put income equality back on Australia’s political agenda.

But if you believe in equality of opportunity, it is a step forward.

Myrrdin Seren

7 Aug 12 at 12:14 pm
So now I know of someone who might be able to give me a physical description of CL.

Amazing he keeps showing up here when he knows everyone here know he has the intellect of a six-year-old.

Tom

7 Aug 12 at 12:18 pm
“A poll out today says Newman would lose his seat if an election were held today”

it’s a ReachTel poll which did the State poll one day before the election I think, and got it completely wrong, completely overestimating how many seats Labor would win,
whether that makes any difference or not.

candy

7 Aug 12 at 12:22 pm
A poll out today says Newman would lose his seat if an election were held today.

I doubt that very much.

Endless polling showed he was in trouble to win the seat, in the end he romped home. Next time Labor won’t have incumbency in the seat to work from.

The election isn’t for years. They’re smashing through all the unpleasant stuff now so by the time the next election rolls around, it will be mostly forgotten except for the bitter public service types.

Ashgrove originally was a safe Liberal seat, it can become so again.

brc

7 Aug 12 at 12:27 pm
Thanks for the link Myrrdin.
Something to titillate the ones who may not click on it:

The Herald has previously revealed that several licences were awarded to a $1 company run by a 36-year-old Bankstown mortgage broker, Andrew Kaidbay, who had no experience in the resources industry.

Mr Kaidbay is an associate of the Obeid family and was the director of three resource companies in which the Obeids’ majority shareholding was hidden via a nominee company.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/exministers-face-icac-20120806-23qe2.html#ixzz22pNF1ioJ

Winston SMITH

7 Aug 12 at 1:32 pm
Ahahahahaha.

A RUDD supporter has attributed Labor’s five point bounce in today’s Newspoll to the “Bruce Springsteen effect”, saying Wayne Swan struck the right note in his Boss-inspired speech last week.

The MP, who asked not to be named, said Julia Gillard could learn from the Treasurer and his ability to construct a political narrative.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 1:35 pm
It’s Benny Hill theme song time!!!

Tal

7 Aug 12 at 1:38 pm
Hmmm. You discover your parents rooting so you demand they make you pasta:

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/331693.php

Advertising sure has changed.

Infidel Tiger

7 Aug 12 at 1:39 pm
I hope they make an ad depicting gay “parents” just so the company is not labelled as anti-gay.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 1:41 pm
perhaps Wayne Swan is their preferred leader now instead of Ms Gillard. he might actually be trying to usurp her.

candy

7 Aug 12 at 1:52 pm
Yuk. Now it’s a bedroom latchkey kid. Erk.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Aug 12 at 2:03 pm
Wow – this comment is definitely a keeper:

While ( Zambian ) opposition leader in 2007, Sata said: “We want the Chinese to leave and the old colonial rulers to return. They exploited our natural resources too, but at least they took good care of us. They built schools, taught us their language and brought us the British civilisation. At least Western capitalism has a human face; the Chinese are only out to exploit us.”

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidblair/100175001/zambian-miners-crush-a-chinese-manager-to-death-remember-that-when-beijing-boasts-about-its-win-win-african-parternships/

Myrrdin Seren

7 Aug 12 at 2:07 pm
Oh wow. That explains a lot.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 2:11 pm
American Visions was the greatest art documentary ever made.

I bought the Hairy Ape the beautiful book of this for his birthday. Some fantastic revolutionary art and a grand panorama of America.

The Fatal Shore was a good read too; if overdrawn.

Vale Robert Hughes.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Aug 12 at 2:35 pm
The Courier Mail goes full retard:

The shame of a very public dis-service

JUST when did “public service” become a pejorative term?

To read some of the things that have been said in recent weeks about those men and women who toil to deliver the services that you and I not only take for granted but, truth be told, often don’t even notice, is just extraordinary.

I think they’re just trolling for the excess public servant page views at the moment.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/comment-shame-of-a-very-public-dis-service/comments-e6freon6-1226444160822

twostix

7 Aug 12 at 2:41 pm
Kenneth Clark’s 1969 series ‘Civilisation’ had its merits too, CL. These older shows were often so good: for example, I Claudius. I know that series backwards on DVD and it impelled me to read Robert Graves’ book on the same title, plus the follow on Claudius, the God.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Aug 12 at 2:41 pm
oops. .. of the same title

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

7 Aug 12 at 2:42 pm
I’ve read all his major works.

He’s my favourite writer.

New York Times obit.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 2:42 pm
…those men and women who toil to deliver the services that you and I not only take for granted but, truth be told, often don’t even notice…

LOL.

It finishes with…

These are people trying to do their best, not statistics or ideological pawns.

Show some respect.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 2:47 pm
Don’t think I’ve seen ‘Civilisation,’ Lizzie.

Must keep a DVD eye-out for it.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 2:49 pm
I am a Springsteen fan despite what Juliar and Swan are doing to his music, I was just walking the dog listening to some of my favourites when Springsteen’s Backstreets came on.

I found one verse of this particular song to be more appropriate, and it is perhaps the one Swanny should have been talking about last week…

Running into the darkness, some hurt bad, some really dying
At night sometimes it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying
Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down
You can blame it all on me, Terry (Swanny), it don’t matter to me now

Perhaps it could be even more appropriate…

Governing in the darkness, polls hurt bad, see we’re really dying
At night sometimes it seemed you could hear the whole damn country crying
Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down
You can blame it all on me, Swanny, it don’t matter to me now

Old Fridgie

7 Aug 12 at 2:52 pm
Hughes and James on Beatnicks 1959

Pickles

7 Aug 12 at 2:53 pm
These are people trying to do their best, not statistics or ideological pawns.

Show some respect.

Public Servants: The “special” people of Australia.

And to answer the question: “JUST when did “public service” become a pejorative term?”

About two hundred years ago. It’s unaustralian to not pour shit on public servants. Just who is this Courier Mail wanker demanding we change hundreds of years great Public Servant loathing tradition?.

twostix

7 Aug 12 at 3:09 pm
I loved his book, Culture of Complaint.

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 3:38 pm
Lizzie, in part, the series Civilisation was the beginning of my conservative journey.

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 3:39 pm
twostix, did you notice to whom that Courier Mail hysteric was directing his ire and bile?

Have a look.

Yes, readers of the Courier Mail.

Smart.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 3:46 pm
Gillard: ‘My goodness electricity is expensive. So I’ve decided to teach the states a lesson if they don’t fix this dreadful problem they caused.’

PM threatens states with regulation if they don’t help cut power prices.

JULIA Gillard has warned she will hit the states with the “big stick of regulation” if they fail to work with the federal government to ease the pressure on power prices…

“We won’t lightly use the big stick of regulation, of stronger powers for the Energy Regulator and the ACCC.

“But it’s a stick we hold and which we’ll use if required. One way or another, we’re going to get this done.”

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 3:50 pm
One way or another, we’re going to get this done.”

So the Bilious One is taken to threats. How Old Commie 1956 of her.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 3:53 pm
twostix, did you notice to whom that Courier Mail hysteric was directing his ire and bile?

Have a look.

Yes, readers of the Courier Mail.

Smart.

I took a look at his bio:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/spike/columnists/paul-syvret

He’s obviously the resident QLD based News Ltd raging red-flag-to-a-bull leftist troll. When the Courier Mail quickly needs some page views for the month: “Roll out The Troll!” management cries.

Guaranteed 10,000 views from irritated readers.

twostix

7 Aug 12 at 3:56 pm
Property rights abolished.

Sex worker wins right to work from motel.

A SEX worker has won an anti-discrimination case against motel owners in a Queensland mining town who refused to rent her a room…

The Queensland Civil and Administration Tribunal has ruled the owners of Moranbah’s Drovers Rest Motel, southwest of Mackay, contravened the Anti-Discrimination Act.

The Gold Coast-based sex worker, who can only be identified as GK, had stayed at the motel 17 times in two years until owners Evan and Joan Hartley discovered in 2010 she was bringing clients to her room.

They then banned her from staying at the motel…

A hearing date is yet to be set to decide on compensation for GK, who sought $30,000 last year.

C.L.

7 Aug 12 at 3:59 pm
Isn’t prostitution illegal in QLD? (Except in licensed brothels).

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 4:02 pm
Progress.

dover_beach

7 Aug 12 at 4:03 pm
Gillard: ‘My goodness electricity is expensive. So I’ve decided to teach the states a lesson if they don’t fix this dreadful problem they caused.’

PM threatens states with regulation if they don’t help cut power prices.

I absolutely love this shit, just wonderful.

The decaying, rotting carcass of the ALP openly threatening the newly elected ascendant Liberal state governments on the matter of power prices being too high.

I swear she’s just phoning it in now, not even trying.

twostix

7 Aug 12 at 4:06 pm
if they fail to work with the feral gubberment to ease the pressure on power prices

Don’t tell me the morons have finally realised how livid people are about this matter?

That didn’t take long, did it now?

Rabz

7 Aug 12 at 4:08 pm
A SEX worker has won an anti-discrimination case against motel owners in a Queensland mining town who refused to rent her a room…

This is why arguments like “if you don’t like gay marriage, then don’t have one” carry little weight.

The same stories were told when prostitution was legalised – “no one is forcing you to go to a brothel” etc. etc. Now it seems, the law says you are not allowed to prevent your premises being used as a brothel!

Similarly, reassuring churches they won’t be forced to permit same-sex weddings on their premises isn’t very convincing. Once same-sex marriage is legalised, the first anti-discrimination case against a Catholic church for not permitting a same sex marriage will follow within months. A breach of human rights, don’t you know …

I would support a lot more of these socially liberal issues like same sex marriage etc. if I had more confidence that dissenters were to be allowed to dissent without being dragged in front of compulsory “tolerance” tribunals.

Matt

7 Aug 12 at 4:18 pm
While opposition leader in 2007, Sata said: “We want the Chinese to leave and the old colonial rulers to return. They exploited our natural resources too, but at least they took good care of us. They built schools, taught us their language and brought us the British civilisation. At least Western capitalism has a human face; the Chinese are only out to exploit us.” In Zambia, at least, that seems to be the popular view.

Nice find Myrrdin! It just happens to back my feeling that the communist inspired ousting of many “colonial powers” was a backward step, certainly for quite a few African countries. Encouraging places like Fiji and PNG to go it alone hasn’t worked out too well either.

Interesting to note how Indonesia, having thrown off the yoke of Dutch colonialism, became a colonial power itself – annexing West Papua (West Irian as they like to call it) despite there being no ethnic connection at all. It was an arbitrary line on the map that had the eastern part of PNG under Germany (which became an Australian protectorate after WW1) while the western part had been a Dutch territory. On that thin and decidedly colonial era pretext has Indonesia taken over West Papua and sent in hordes of Indons, subsequently also crushing any local political movements. While the territory is not up to “independence” quality, it is a sad piece of geopolitical aggrandisement on Indons part.

blogstrop

7 Aug 12 at 4:24 pm
Don’t tell me the morons have finally realised how livid people are about this matter?

They’ve always known Rabz, this is just this weeks pathetic, clumsy, amateurish “media strategy”: Blame the State Governments.

Seriously, that’s the level of competence in the PM’s office “I know! Let’s blame the state governments! Nobody has ever done that before!”

But then I suppose she’s getting her advice from a career failure, haggis eating third world immigrant so shouldn’t be too surprised.

twostix

7 Aug 12 at 4:45 pm
The same stories were told when prostitution was legalised – “no one is forcing you to go to a brothel” etc. etc. Now it seems, the law says you are not allowed to prevent your premises being used as a brothel!

This is a bad decision, errs in law and it will be overturned.

No one is obliged to potentially compete against themselves/aid a potential competitor in commerce.

Not to mention the zoning/prostitution regs.

If anyone whinges about bad decisions, we still live with Ashington Piggeries in consumer law. Which is totally fucking bonkers considering how courts normally try to honour the spirit/intent of contracts.

What’s more it is ultra vires and thus void.

.

7 Aug 12 at 4:47 pm
It’s outrageous. The discrimination commission assumes it can regulate commercial and residential tenancies.

Um no.

.

7 Aug 12 at 4:49 pm
The motel owners should have claimed that the whore was allowing clients to smoke in the rooms after they boned her. She’d have been jailed instantly.

Infidel Tiger

7 Aug 12 at 4:50 pm
“Don’t tell me the morons have finally realised how livid people are about this matter?”

I think she’s getting scary.

candy

7 Aug 12 at 4:51 pm
Pickering lays it out on wilson

http://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=390864750967689&id=236991276355038

Mike of Marion

7 Aug 12 at 4:53 pm
I think she’s getting scary.

No, she’s getting desperate to sound like she’s totally in charge, because the executioner’s axe is poised over her head. Pathetic. Weak as piss. Doomed.

Tom

7 Aug 12 at 4:59 pm
“This is a bad decision, errs in law and it will be overturned.”

If they appeal, I agree.

Can just insert a no-prostitution clause into the contract?

Jarrah

7 Aug 12 at 5:22 pm
Can they…

Jarrah

7 Aug 12 at 5:25 pm
Pickering lays it out on wilson

I sit at Bob Kernohan’s bedside in an unnamed Melbourne hospital. How the Left downed daggers with the Unity Right long enough to assassinate Rudd and install Gillard. How Blewitt was shafted by Gillard and Wilson. Why he never received one cent of stolen funds.
The payoffs, the bribes the sackings. Who is behind the repatriation of Blewitt and what he will say. Those in the ALP now plotting Gillard’s demise. It is a gripping saga and we have the full story… a story that will cause a Government to fall.

I really hope so.

JamesK

7 Aug 12 at 5:40 pm
@twostix I knew that article was going to be Paul Syrvet before I even clicked on the header.

He’s just a paid troll. Best ignored. While even most lefty columnists occasionally write something worthwhile, that particular blind squirrel couldn’t find a nut in an abandoned chestnut roasting cart.

brc

7 Aug 12 at 5:49 pm
He instructed Gillard to hop on a plane and look after the “big boss”, Mr Bruce Wilson. Gillard certainly did that.

Gold.

brc

7 Aug 12 at 5:55 pm
Hi Token 8:18
They interviewed the conductor or someone who was complaining about Newman.
I think she was a bit full of herself.
It was a party or something where guests were circulating and chatting, and she got all uppitty about someone having their back to the “orchestra”, and not acknowledging them.

She should get over herself.

She made a point that he must have no interest in the arts the way that he turned his back, and that he couldn’t have any interest in the arts the way he’s defunding… blah, blah, blah.

kae

7 Aug 12 at 6:08 pm
Larry must be very sure of his sources and have big brass balls. The ALP will come after him and he appears not to be worried.

tbh

7 Aug 12 at 6:08 pm
CL 10:20
Ah, I only heard part of the whinge, er, interview.
She’s probably shrunk with the Newman cutbacks*.

*nah, she shrank a while back. I hardly recognised her so slim.

kae

7 Aug 12 at 6:14 pm
brc 9:17am
Yes, that’s a good summation! I agree.

kae

7 Aug 12 at 6:15 pm
I’m surprised Gillard hasn’t demanded the Australian pull their recent stories on the WilGil Affair. Perhaps she copped a lot of flak (from the union big boys running Labor) the last time she screeched and threatened News Ltd(when two media types also got the sack). Maybe Pickering’s gambit is ‘yeah, sure, so sue me but in that event all will be laid bare’. Imagine, the PM being embroiled in a past scandal that gets laid open to scrutiny in the courts and in public a la Clinton.

And I would offer that Pickering has employed some personal security protection measures as well. Just in case.

Gab

7 Aug 12 at 6:17 pm
And Tom, 10:08
Yep. Looking for things to generate hate. They’re charmers.

I wish Anastasia Pullet would shut up. She’s got a gob on her.

kae

7 Aug 12 at 6:20 pm
CL
If it was Noonan she was complaining that Newman had his back to her first violinist.

kae

7 Aug 12 at 6:21 pm
Well its my monthly whinge (No not that,in a man) regarding the HIA Performance of Construction Index (PCI).
Australia is in its 26 consecutive month of decline( below 50 is contraction )
Just a coincides i’m sure but since June 2010( the month she knifed Rudd), the Gillard Government hasn’t see any growth EVER in the construction industry.
Remarkable, must be the only PM in Australian history to do so.

Jumpnmcar

7 Aug 12 at 6:56 pm
The ALP will come after him and he appears not to be worried.

The lobodomy pardee went after Pickering when he ran as a Liberal candidate in the ACT in 1974.

The mongrels sabotaged the brakes in his car. He could have been killed.

The Ozdraylian lobodomy pardee – vile criminal dirtbags thieving your money, trashing your freedoms and destroying your country.

Maintain the Rage…

Rabz

7 Aug 12 at 6:59 pm
Chart only gets to Jan 2012 but ABC has this too
Can’t find a up to date graph, sorry.
But it’s out there, i’m sure.

Jumpnmcar

7 Aug 12 at 7:01 pm
I would offer that Pickering has employed some personal security protection measures as well. Just in case.

They can’t touch him, Gab, and he knows it. He’s very shrewd. He’s daring her to sue him, which she will never do. A court case, whether she wins or loses, would simply speed her demise. She knows that her political career will end either this year or next.

She is destined for the same page in Australian political history that Sir John Kerr is on — a laughing stock, a figure of fun, a failure.

Tom

7 Aug 12 at 7:05 pm
“The mongrels sabotaged the brakes in his car. He could have been killed.”

I wondered why L.Pickering would go to all this trouble at his age must be causing quite some stress,
has to be a reason for it (and not just for publicity for his cartoons? to be a bit cynical).

candy

7 Aug 12 at 7:18 pm
And I know that ” construction industry ” was the forth biggest contributor to GDP at the start of Queen Julias reign.
Anyone know what it is now ?

Jumpnmcar

7 Aug 12 at 7:23 pm
I wondered why L.Pickering would go to all this trouble at his age

Justice, Candy. The old-fashioned notion that criminals should get their right whack. Larry has principles, which are very out of fashion.

Tom

7 Aug 12 at 7:28 pm
@candy the guy has seen union corruption and vile ALP goings on his whole life. Anyone remotely involved has. And it stinks. You’ve only got to lightly skim the news to see evidence of union corruption oozing from every page.

He’s got plenty of cash, spare time, an axe to grind and an audience. He’s pretty much untouchable due to his profile, reach and lack of pressure points. No boss to intimidate, no business to close down. All they could do was get Facebook to ban him, which he circumvented by creating his own website, should they try it again.

Stress? I bet he sits down with each post published and belly laughs for minutes. I know I would.

‘Take that, union scum’ [click]

brc

7 Aug 12 at 8:03 pm
@jump must be time to start collecting property if they haven’t been building any more for years.

brc

7 Aug 12 at 8:07 pm
brc
Time to build commercial for sure, we’re cutting each others throats at the moment, You won’t see builder take good margins even here in the Mackay ” bubble ”
All build cost increase are council or material.
Trouble is, local builders are great local investors, their not doing much investing now.

Jumpnmcar

7 Aug 12 at 8:42 pm
How old are you feeble?

kae

7 Aug 12 at 8:43 pm
If it feels like a bone, it’s a bone!

blogstrop

7 Aug 12 at 8:45 pm
Not to be confused with firing. I recall reading that a TV executive (Eddie) asked when he could “bone” a certain female identity, and I initially misunderstood him to mean …

blogstrop

7 Aug 12 at 8:47 pm
Watching SBS right now. Oh.My. Goodness.

So we’ve got one lass who considers herself aboriginal (she’s 1/4 black), because her mother’s family have been here since the ‘white invasion’.

Then there’s the lass who wants to join the police force and is trying to get certified as aboriginal so that if she fails the application process, she gets assistance to get her up to speed and succeed the next time round.

And not 12 months later without assistance like everyone else.

nilk

7 Aug 12 at 8:48 pm
It’s wrong, isn’t it!

Racism is always wrong.

kae

7 Aug 12 at 8:50 pm
I need to do the grocery shopping, but this is a trainwreck.

All hail the grievance industry!

nilk

7 Aug 12 at 8:50 pm
And let’s all play “Spot the Mordy-Litijus” in the audience.

nilk

7 Aug 12 at 8:53 pm
“My colour is something that was imposed by colonisation.”

Holy cow, this is a goldmine.

“We shouldn’t judge each other by our colour, but by our aboriginality.”

nilk

7 Aug 12 at 9:00 pm
ha ha ha ha nilk, watching the same …..

you know, in the long run, might just be worth watching them work this all out amongst themselves.

Now, myself, I identify fully with a Scots/Viking background, and I’m preparing to get free entry to Edinburgh university to learn as a lawyer so I can
defend the rights of my brother Vikings, and also because of my color, I should get free melanoma
screening because my skin is white…. ish …..

yee haaa , it’s on for one and all !!!!!

somebunny

7 Aug 12 at 9:03 pm
It’s wrong, isn’t it!

Racism is always wrong.

Yes.

Jumpnmcar

7 Aug 12 at 9:08 pm
If there is background music it’s polite to turn your back on them and pretend they aren’t there until they finish a bit of music. Then you politely clap as the boss gives over to another. Then you ignore them until someone else takes over.

This “Look at Me! Look at Me!” bitch has a problem with tradition?
She can can fuck off, and take all her future contracts, which she has just pissed out the window, with her.

Winston Smith

7 Aug 12 at 9:18 pm
Boned her? Guys don’t have bones in their pricks or at least not ones from this planet.

Wanna make a bet Febro? .

Splatacrobat

7 Aug 12 at 11:03 pm
I’m almost speechless.

I honestly cannot believe we’re having this sort of thing going on in OZ in 2012.

It has to be a joke, right?

THE maritime union has threatened an international campaign to disrupt Patrick’s Port Botany operations, vowing to “fight to the death” controversial plans by owner Asciano to unilaterally replace employees with machines.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/threat-of-new-waterfront-war-over-automation-on-wharves/story-fn59noo3-1226445191857

JC

8 Aug 12 at 12:19 am
Andrew Leigh is a worthy representative of these people. They deserve each other. Pity we have to pay for it.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 12:23 am
JC,
I saw a bit of doco of a port in Germany. The container cranes, the carriers were all robots. Some slight human intervention is still required to align the cranes with the containers prior to lifting, but that’s it, and that’ll go soon too.
Crumlin might as well hold back the tide, but of course the sociopaths in government won’t lift a finger to stop him.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 12:33 am
Keith

I was talking to a mining guy. The future of mining is people sitting in a computer room watching things. The diggers do the digging remotely, the trucks get filled remotely and stick the stuff on a remote train. This then get dumped on a ship remotely and the ship may not have any crew on board.

That’s the future of mining. The decent number of the trucks are remote now and they’re around 40% more efficient and there’s no fucker accelerating at the wrong time and wearing the engine and breaks. The computer does a better job.

If you wanna be in mining in the future you better know how to operate a computer in an office.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 12:39 am
Dick Morris:

“Don’t believe the garbage being put out by the media. The attempt to portray Romney as not catching on and as dropping in the polls is ludicrous. It is, at best, the product of incompetent polling and, at worst, the result of deliberate media bias. But Romney is winning and expanding his lead each week. That’s the real story.”

http://www.dickmorris.com/the-real-poll-numbers/

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 12:42 am
I hope he’s right CL, but last evening when I posted that same story by the toe sucker, Sinclair cut me down to size by citing the current betting markets suggesting 58% prob of the Kenyan winning.

That’s hard to argue with, to be honest.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 12:45 am
SNB’s Franc Defense Swells Reserves to 71% of GDP:
The Swiss central bank’s foreign- currency reserves surged to a record in July as the euro region’s increasing turmoil forced policy makers to step up their defense of the franc ceiling.

hahahahahha this is funny. The Swiss pegged their Franc to the Euro at 1.200, which means they effectively buy Euros and sell francs at that rate. They’re now the proud owners of around Euros 400 billion which on a per cap basis is around E60,000 .

The position is now so big that that have to hold on. I bought some Euro/Swiss as there’s no way that that possibly let the exchange rate go.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 12:54 am
What a powerhouse.

Our Nanna:

?@Chris When 90% of your culture is european why can’t you connect with that. When you look european, speak english, live in a house, wear clothes, drive a car, use modern technology and wouldn’t survive one day in the bush why would you desperately want to identify with a culture that is essentially foreign to you unless it brought some form of reward. I am european, my husband was part aboriginal but to say my children are only indigenous is to deny not only my existance but the existance of all the other non aboriginal people who have genetic input into my children.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/a_dangerous_conversation_on_racial_identity/

Gab

8 Aug 12 at 12:56 am
JC, the betting markets were about 80% against Obamacare. Everybody “knew” that it was going down, and the obvious signs of Leftist maneuvers (such as Ginsburg being a smarmy cow and the constant delays in the verdict, plus the immigration decision) did not register with anyone.

So, the betting markets aren’t looking all that great at the moment.

Fisky

8 Aug 12 at 1:05 am
Fisk, can you please explain. What do you mean the betting markets were 80% against the Kenyan?

I also don’t get the point about Ginsburg.

Thanks.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 1:09 am
Isn’t Wall Street the ultimate betting market, JC?

They’re pouring money into Romney.

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 1:14 am
Isn’t Wall Street the ultimate betting market, JC?

They’re pouring money into Romney.

CL, don’t overestimate the average investor. The market is going up because there’s a strong expectation the bearded clam, Uncle Ben will do some QEing in Sept.

Wall street will start taking bets on the race middle of next month.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 1:19 am
JC, betting on the Supreme Court decision was about 80% against Obamacare. So much for that.

My reference to Ginsburg was she made a very smarmy, smirky speech about a week before the decision, and it was clear that the Leftist fix was in.

Fisky

8 Aug 12 at 1:21 am
Oh okay,fair point I guess.

The Toe sucker makes some good points but it’s also worth keeping your feet to the ground with the betting too I think.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 1:24 am
Very interesting…

A former classmate of Obama at Columbia University is encouraging Mitt Romney to call a press conference and say he’ll release his tax records, but only if Obama releases his college records. He thinks he knows why they’re being kept sealed.

I can only think of one answer that would explain this mystery.

Here’s my gut belief…

Yes. Read on. That’s it.

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 1:36 am
Scared much?

Business Insider: The Most Vicious Ad Of The 2012 Campaign Blames Mitt Romney For The Death Of A Steel Worker’s Wife.

Also:

A seemingly drunk Nancy Pelosi says…

Republicans want children to die from contaminated water.

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 1:44 am
Lol. Romney shoudm call his bluff, but there’s one problem with that CL.

Would you trust the people at these universities not to tamper with the records in any way?

I wouldn’t.

Romney’s campaign isn’t dumb. I’d bet money they’ve thought of this and I bet they reached the same conclusion I have.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 1:44 am
Leftist university officials have probably distorted the records already. Romney should stonewall, and say he is not releasing his tax returns ever. If Obama wants to waste three months talking about tax returns, let him go ahead.

Fisky

8 Aug 12 at 1:53 am
I note that Bolt has a link to the SBS Facebook page for a recent TV spot. Is the debate (on aboriginality) he quotes on his page from that link? Because I could not find it. Has it, too, been flushed down the memory hole?

Abu Chowdah

8 Aug 12 at 2:08 am
Fisky

I think it would be a good thing for the VP pick to keep asking for his college records and some surrogate to come out on TV and say they know what’s in them (like the abominable Reid) and suggest it’s because the Kenyan said he was in fact… a Kenyan. It would knock his jaw out of joint.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 2:10 am
DRUDGE: Romney looking at Petraus for Veep…

Obama confirms story, reportedly…

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashgp.htm

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 2:11 am
This who I want to for VEEP and to dress exactly like that at every event. Man she’s hot. Most likely up the male vote too, as it would be the first time the VEEP choice would be someone most men would really like to go to bed with. Being honest here.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 2:17 am
Went to see Batman. The bad guys were the the OWS crowd on steroids.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 2:20 am
Condi for VP
Palin for Secretary of State (eat shit, Teh Left)
Petraeus for Secretary of Defence

Abu Chowdah

8 Aug 12 at 2:20 am
Naaa Give her the environment job, so she dismantles the EPA.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 2:29 am
“Bill Shorten’s recent United States trip gave him an idea to encourage lending to those in need, but it may be ill-informed.” About so called redlining in Aus From yesterdays fin review.

This issue has probably already been covered here but lets just say Swan is correct, be warey of our politicians when they visit the US they can take very strange ideas away. Next step will be to suggest non-recourse loans so the poor can get back on their feet.

In the article it says there is scant evidence of redlining happening here using postcodes. I was told one time by a bank they do not accept land as security in a particular postcode. So what did I do I took my business elsewhere. The existing competition is good enough. Also high housing prices suggest that this can’t possibly be a problem otherwise house prices would face dramatic falls in the suburbs affected.

kelly liddle

8 Aug 12 at 3:42 am
Potemkin’s Village

Betrayal can only happen… here

Grigory Potemkin

8 Aug 12 at 3:58 am
Rupert’s Brisbane editors turn up the afterburners on their full-retard attack on one of the biggest political winners in Queensland political history. Bizarre:

The Newman Government has refused to say how much taxpayer money is being spent on Diner en Blanc – a phenomenon that has emerged out of Paris.

The decision to help bankroll the event while sacking public servants and withdrawing support for services will again pit the Newman Government against critics rallying against its concerted drive to repair the state’s bottom line.

Tom

8 Aug 12 at 6:22 am
The CRA and anti-redlining alinskyists led to a situation in the US where it became almost compulsory to make loans to people who couldn’t afford them, creating the bubble and lots of toxic stocks.
It was more the political activism and unwise changes to laws that created the GFC than the normal catchcry of greedy bankers. Players in the market are sharks and will indulge in a feeding frenzy given the chance, but how the circumstances came into being is the key to understanding the problem. Once created, the subprime mortgages had to be digested somehow, but they could not have been created without the banks being pressured to make bad loans by bleeding heart political considerations.
Shorten and many others have not learnt this and as usual ignorance of history may lead to a repeat unless wiser heads prevail.

Blogstrop

8 Aug 12 at 6:37 am
Labor ministerial staff are being asked to donate some of their salary to help fight an election Labor can’t win.

Tom

8 Aug 12 at 7:10 am
Great letter:

“Dear Dr Bob Brown,

I am writing to you because I have heard that you are coming to the Kimberley on a mission to our country and our culture from gas developments at James Price Point…

Our people have had to make a choice about allowing development on our lands. It hasn’t been easy, but we have made a decision – a majority decision -to face up to our own challenges, and to build a better future for our children, our people, our culture, and our country.

Dr Brown, it is hard for us to understand why you think it is necessary for you to speak on our behalf, about our country, our culture, and our futures.

The only thing We need saving from, is people who disrespect our decisions and want to see our people locked up in a wilderness and treated as museum pieces…

There are people, like you Dr Brown, who disagree with our vision for our future. And that’s a good thing in our democratic society. But please, don’t use us to push your view. We can speak for ourselves…

I am an old woman now and I have witnessed and lived the despair and hopelessness of many Kimberley Aboriginal people. Dr Brown, do you know what it is like to be taken away from your family, to not have money to buy food, to live in a house that is dilapidated and beyond repair? To see your children grow up in despair, die before they are 50, or even worse, take their own lives before they get to their 20s?

My people have lived this life, and we don’t Want it anymore…

But what saddens my people most is your complete disregard for Aboriginal people. I know you care about the whales and the dinosaur footprints, but what about people?…

Yours faithfully

Rita Augustine

On behalf of the Environmental and Cultural Heritage Team and Jabirrlabirr Traditional Owners.”

Gab

8 Aug 12 at 7:36 am
Tom, I doubt the money is significant fo r hat function, and the Curious Snail article is extremely pejorative, but you have to admit it is not good optics to provide any funding whatsoever to an invitation only event when you are cutting funding for kiddies concerts. And it would be chock full of luvvies anyway. the sort of idiot move Red Ted would do.

entropy

8 Aug 12 at 7:40 am
Blogstrop

See my link upthread @ 10:02 am yesterday.

The Obama administration is pushing CRA-type lending again, and shaking down the banks with fines and reparations to finance the re-election campaign.

Continuing efforts to topple the US economy in to ruin.

Myrddin Seren

8 Aug 12 at 7:49 am
Labor ministerial staff are being asked to donate some of their salary to help fight an election Labor can’t win.

Step by step, by gentle evolution, Team AGW is becoming a cult. Now they are forcing tithing upon the true believers.

Token

8 Aug 12 at 8:08 am
Looks like the 2014 series of Underbelly is being written and the question is who wants to play the starring role of Eddy Obeid?

A SPECTACULAR boat explosion, pointed guns, BRW rich listers and secret shareholdings in the British Virgin Islands are just some of the intriguing elements involving former government ministers, investors and controversial coalmining deals worth tens of millions of dollars.

The dramatic allegations of corruption against three former Labor ministers – Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald and Eric Roozendaal – are now part of an inquiry that will begin on November 1 and run at least until April.

The slow buring fire that is corruption in NSW Labor will continue through to next April. Not a lot of fresh air when such issues like those above keep being raised.

Token

8 Aug 12 at 8:41 am
Since the 1920′s the left has been able to demonise Warren Harding for the Tea-Pot Dome scandal as the most corrupt in US history.

The people who are bringing up these claims are not partisan Republican hacks, so many are career Democrats like Barofsky:

Neil Barofsky can be forgiven a little posturing. Early on in his short stint as Special Inspector General for TARP — the bank bailouts — he realized that he had no choice but to set aside bureaucratic caution and seize the mantle of whistleblower and reformer.

Barofsky, who before receiving an appointment from the Bush administration had spent his career prosecuting mortgage fraudsters and drug runners, makes it clear he didn’t set out to rock the boat. It was only after he realized how completely Wall Street had captured the regulatory system in Washington that he discerned that there would be no way for him to fulfill his oversight role without being harshly critical of the establishment.

…In telling his story, Barofsky bumps up against a few uncomfortable facts, ones he doesn’t fully acknowledge or pursue. One is that his best allies in government were Republicans, specifically Iowa senator Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, both of whom helped Barofsky expose mismanagement and abuse of bailout money. Although Republicans have every incentive to discredit the Obama administration, nevertheless their willingness to help when congressional Democrats wouldn’t cuts against the prevailing narrative concerning Republicans’ relationship to Wall Street.

…The most uncomfortable fact, though, is Barofsky’s portrayal of Tim Geithner as, simply, the bad guy — almost pathologically anti-accountability and pro-Wall Street. Barofsky’s treatment of the man who appointed Geithner, President Obama, is particularly awkward. Obama plays only a minor role in the story, but his presence is always looming behind each of Geithner’s many misdeeds.

Token

8 Aug 12 at 8:51 am
The slow buring fire that is corruption in NSW Labor will continue through to next April

Seriously, the anti-bikie gang laws could just about be used to proscribe the ALP as a criminal organisation.

Matt

8 Aug 12 at 8:54 am
Keep this in mind when you hear claims from the Obama proxies of Republicans trying to keep people from voting in elections:

When 1,099 felons vote in race won by 312 ballots

In the ’08 campaign, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman was running for re-election against Democrat Al Franken. It was impossibly close; on the morning after the election, after 2.9 million people had voted, Coleman led Franken by 725 votes.

Franken and his Democratic allies dispatched an army of lawyers to challenge the results. After the first canvass, Coleman’s lead was down to 206 votes. That was followed by months of wrangling and litigation. In the end, Franken was declared the winner by 312 votes. He was sworn into office in July 2009, eight months after the election.

During the controversy a conservative group called Minnesota Majority began to look into claims of voter fraud. Comparing criminal records with voting rolls, the group identified 1,099 felons — all ineligible to vote — who had voted in the Franken-Coleman race.

Minnesota Majority took the information to prosecutors across the state, many of whom showed no interest in pursuing it. But Minnesota law requires authorities to investigate such leads. And so far, Fund and von Spakovsky report, 177 people have been convicted — not just accused, but convicted — of voting fraudulently in the Senate race.

Al Frankan’s election took the the # of Democrats in the US Senate to 60, which was critical to get Obama care passed.

Token

8 Aug 12 at 8:56 am
Tom @ 6:22am

Good on Rup! The Liberals (sic) need to know they will have the afterburners and all cannon aimed directly to their gonads if they fail to fix the TUP’s mess. The Socialists don’t know any better but Can-Do, Red and O’Barrel DO know. The rich can pay for their own French food.

Forester

8 Aug 12 at 8:58 am
On the automated mining and shipping – when robots replace humans, everyone is better off, eventually even those who get replaced. Mines and Ports are still dangerous places with heavy machinery and payloads being moved around.

For every job lost steering a crane or a mining truck, another handful are created in a factory building the robots. More are created in robotic research. And the cost of mining and shipping falls, allowing everyone else to divert less of their income to those items, and have more disposable income. More disposable income means new jobs in other fields, jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

The march of robotics has already improved the lives of everyone. A modern car is cheaper, better built and has more stuff and costs around the same multiple of an average wage than a largely handbuilt car 40 years ago.

The only people who want handmade stuff are people with too much cash who are willing to fork out for a handmade watch or engine. Meanwhile, everyone else takes the higher quality and lower cost of robot produced items.

The ultimate economy is one in which robots produce the energy, do all the dirty jobs, work 24/7 and never go on strike. That would be a land of plenty the communists never even dreamed of.

brc

8 Aug 12 at 9:09 am
The Courier Mail is a terrible paper, but it’s made all the worse by having to effectively be the QLD opposition. The 7 no-hopers locked in a windowless room pretending to be the opposition are hardly going to be any good at it.

brc

8 Aug 12 at 9:16 am
Paddy Crumlin, the thug who runs the Maritime Union of Australia who’s threatening to shut down the docks, is a symbol of everything that’s wrong with Labor, the current government and the high-cost Australian economy.

Tom

8 Aug 12 at 9:22 am
“Bill Shorten’s recent United States trip gave him an idea to encourage lending to those in need, but it may be ill-informed.” About so called redlining in Aus From yesterdays fin review.

He really is clueless.

The same idiot would want banks charged for violating the uniform credit code if they did the same of their own volition.

I find this really upsetting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_results_for_the_Division_of_Maribyrnong#Elections_in_the_2010s

His electoral results basically are the mirror image of the rest of society.

Remind me never to live in that electorate.

Dumb turds like him ought to be ineligible to stand for office.

.

8 Aug 12 at 9:28 am
The Courier Mail is a terrible paper, but it’s made all the worse by having to effectively be the QLD opposition.

Quite correct, brc. Healthy newspapers — that is, all of them except Fairfax, the new home of post-modern media fascism, which just doesn’t cover what it doesn’t agree with — hold governments of the day to account. The Courier-Mail is doing what it has to do to sell as much product as possible.

Tom

8 Aug 12 at 9:32 am
The guy bullies and frightens ethnic Chinese pie-shop owners. He’s capable of anything, and the Liar’s party think so highly of him that he’s vice Treasurer.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 9:38 am
brc

Re robots.

Smelters and metalworks are dangerous places and will be part of the early push on this too.

This opens up some interesting possibilities in a world bound by litigation, compensation and OH&S/HR overhead ( which I am trying to wrestle with right now ).

Prisons can be dangerous – warderbot ?

Cops breaking up brawls or entering premises of offenders or even doing rescue work face danger – Robocop ? ( Why does that ring a bell ? )

Military forces face risk just driving or walking down roads anywhere in the Middle East/Central Asia now – better for robots to be out front ? A big yes – if they can be secured from being jammed and turned, like has apparently been demonstrated recently can be done to the US drone flotilla.

On a more benign note – the Japanese are putting a lot of work into robots; they face a demographic timebomb of plunging birth rates and high longevity; they will need a lot of aged carers and they are reluctant to import labour.

Not hard to envisage Japan leading the way on robot home help and carers.

And to infinity and beyond ? A personed mission to Mars is almost a one-way ticket. How about robot astronauts to establish a Martian base in the first instance, and get cracking on shelter, air, water etc ?

Myrrdin Seren

8 Aug 12 at 9:40 am
Our taxes at work.
Nationally televised play time with Lego.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 9:58 am
Keith, you appeared have missed the joke – that other networks are not allowed to broadcast olympics footage.

SteveC

8 Aug 12 at 10:08 am
Wow what a propaganda master stroke SteveC. Thanks for pointing that out.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 10:28 am
Keith, you appeared have missed the joke – that other networks are not allowed to broadcast olympics footage.

They should’ve done it on the Olympics approved play station game like they did with all the Euro 2012 goals.

Token

8 Aug 12 at 10:56 am
Houston Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat) visits Johnson Space Center during touch-down on Mars of Curiosity. She asked those present:

“Is it gonna go to where the astronauts planted the flag?”

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 10:58 am
“DRUDGE: Romney looking at Petraus for Veep”

This looked interesting.

The Romney campaign wants you to download its mobile app to be among the first to find out who Mitt is going to pick as his running mate, but if past history is any guide, you might want to instead be looking at Wikipedia — and whether any of the leading contenders’ entries are being suddenly brushed up.

Sarah Palin’s Wikipedia page was updated at least 68 times the day before John McCain announced her selection, with another 54 changes made in the five previous days previous. Tim Pawlenty, another leading contender for McCain’s favor, had 54 edits on August 28th, with just 12 in the five previous days. By contrast, the other likely picks — Romney, Kay Bailey Hutchison — saw far fewer changes. The same burst of last-minute editing appeared on Joe Biden’s Wikipedia page, Terry Gudaitis of Cyveillance, told the Washington Post.

http://techpresident.com/news/22680/how-spot-romneys-vice-president-pick-advance

Jarrah

8 Aug 12 at 10:58 am
Good old USA

http://www.wimp.com/surprisinglycalm/

Mike of Marion

8 Aug 12 at 11:02 am
Good old USA

What a cool guy.

Infidel Tiger

8 Aug 12 at 11:09 am
“Is it gonna go to where the astronauts planted the flag?”

But they didn’t plant that. Someone else did.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 11:38 am
Tim Blair calls it the media event of the century…

This will bring them back from the brink:

Subscribers of The Age can enter for the chance to win tickets to a special subscriber event with newly appointed Editor-in-Chief, Andrew Holden.

Winners will be invited to hear Andrew Holden outline his vision for The Age in a rapidly changing media landscape, and have the opportunity to ask their own questions.

Blair:

Suggested questions: “What am I doing here?” and “Who are you people?”

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 12:15 pm
JC it is on Mars, the flag is on the Moon – get it?

Or do you get it and are making a joke anyway

pete m

8 Aug 12 at 12:27 pm
Mars, moon same difference. I’m with Sheila Jackson on this one.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 12:32 pm
The Justice Department will not bring criminal charges against Gibson…

The US of A – the new home of over the top regulatory fascism.

Rabz

8 Aug 12 at 1:13 pm
The ongoing lacrimation marathon of the Olympic swimmers continues.
Solution : shut the whole thing down.
Talk about whiners. Looks like you need a union ticket just to compete in a swimming race.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 1:18 pm
Ahahahahaha.

Newman’s law requiring solid permission from members yields inconvenient result:

Public sector union fails to muster support for first job cut strikes.

The public sector union has failed to muster member support to stage its first strike action over the Queensland government’s cuts to jobs and services, and is also threatening to boycott a top-level meeting to discuss concerns…

Mr Scott said the ballot’s failure should not be taken as a sign members were not up for the industrial mayhem he’d promised, blaming confusion over a new ballot process introduced by the Newman government.

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 2:10 pm
Little while ago just got off the phone with a GOP friend on mine, who lives in the Mid West. Although far from the action he seems to have a good looksee into behind the door GOP Politics.

He told me a funny story that’s doing the traps of the GOP. The Romney campaign did some polling in Pennsylvania which came back showing the Romster well ahead of the Kenyan. It looked so good they campaign didn’t believe it, so they did a bigger poll in that state and it came back with the same sort of stats.

They then leaked to the Kenyan’s campaign and it’s rattled the hell outta them.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 2:15 pm
Courtesy of Glenn Reynolds

a very, very sobering IT security tale

How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking

Bit of a read, not necessarily across all the details myself being a lazy IT user – but the object lessons about IT security are very clear.

Myrrdin Seren

8 Aug 12 at 2:55 pm
They then leaked to the Kenyan’s campaign and it’s rattled the hell outta them.

That’s basically what Scott Conroy at RCP is saying.

Despite Polls, Romney Camp Sees Opportunity in Pa.

Whether or not that exists, it’s going to force The Joker’s campaign to burn fuel there. Something they never wanted to do.

Alex Pundit

8 Aug 12 at 3:21 pm
Alex

If it’s a Romney landslide I have a feeling he could even take NY. All you need is for NYC to stay home and Upstate will do the rest. It’s a real long shot but it’s possible.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 3:23 pm
JC, a big change in your outlook since last week!

What’s really telling is the behavior of the Dems these past two months.

We’ve had people in the campaign accuse Romney of being a felon because of the manner in which he left Bain, followed by Harry Reid calling him a tax dodger without any proof.

And now, the dodgiest yet with The Joker’s Super Pac accusing Romney of manslaughter…

Which CNN of all people have debunked

They’re cracking up. It’s obvious.

Alex Pundit

8 Aug 12 at 3:37 pm
Did someone mention recently new regs limiting the use of glass in housing or were they just talking about the impact of the carbon tax?

Inquirin’ minds wanna know.

.

8 Aug 12 at 4:27 pm
Mr Scott said the ballot’s failure should not be taken as a sign members were not up for the industrial mayhem he’d promised, blaming confusion over a new ballot process introduced by the Newman government.

Yeah it was so difficult it was like rocket science.

This whole unions attacking/threatening Newman etc etc reminds me of the Scott Walker affair.

Gab

8 Aug 12 at 4:33 pm
Last night’s Olympics triathlon race was truly gripping. One of the highlights of Olympic viewing,

jtfsoon

8 Aug 12 at 4:37 pm
I am so sick of telemarketing and other irritating calls. I get around three a day. Just got one, a male voice saying, Ms. Lane?

No, I replied, wrong number, and hung up.

Missed an opportunity there though. Always wanted to have a go at being Lois Lane.

Anything to relieve the tedium of some days. But da Ape would go into a security panic if he thought I was chatting to strange men ringing me on the phone.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

8 Aug 12 at 5:00 pm
heh I can always tell by the background noise when it’s a telemarketer, in which case I say nothing. They say ‘hello’ a few times and then hang up. Sweet.

Gab

8 Aug 12 at 5:04 pm
Yes Gab, there’s that little wait till the voice kicks in. I hit that moment with “I’m sorry, but I do not take telemarketing calls” in my best school m’am voice and I hang up. It seems so rude, but it is self-protection. Yet they keep on coming. Someone must be making a dime out of it somewhere.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

8 Aug 12 at 5:13 pm
Belt out a broadway turn at ‘em Lizzie,they always hang up

Tal

8 Aug 12 at 5:25 pm
The public sector union noise in Queensland really is a lot of noise over nothing.

They couldn’t even get enough members to vote and form a quorum. Funny how unions don’t see quite so powerful when they have secret ballots. Voluntary association and disallowing payroll deductions would complete the set. Then we’d see who really agrees with the unionists.

brc

8 Aug 12 at 5:39 pm
Drudge: FRANCE PLANS 75% TAX RATE ON RICH!

President François Hollande is vowing to impose a 75 percent tax on the portion of anyone’s income above a million euros ($1.24 million) a year.

JamesK

8 Aug 12 at 5:48 pm
Drudge: FRANCE PLANS 75% TAX RATE ON RICH!

Hardly news JamesK, he said he was going to do so before the election. The frogs still voted him in.

All it’s really achieved is to drive most of the high income earners to the UK, Belgium or Luxembourg. You can commute from Brussels to Paris in 2-3 hours.

papachango

8 Aug 12 at 5:54 pm
“The Netherlands to Abandon Multiculturalism”

http://www.eutimes.net/2011/06/the-netherlands-to-abandon-multiculturalism/

John Mc

8 Aug 12 at 5:59 pm
there’s that little wait till the voice kicks in. I hit that moment with “I’m sorry, but I do not take telemarketing calls

you can always have some fun with them. let them do their spiel, then say “Yes I’m really interested in that offer, but I don’t have time to discuss it now. can you please give me your home number so that I can contact you later to discuss?”

The dialog with then go something like this:

“um.. we don’t give out our personal numbers”
“Why is that – is is because you don’t wish to be disturbed at home?”
“Yes”
“well now you know how I feel…” (click)

Alternatively if they as for a specific person that they’ve obviously read from the phone book, say “yes I’ll just go get him/her. may I ask who’s calling?” then go and make a cup of tea, come back 2 or 3 minutes later and say “Yeah I spoke to Jenny, sorry she’s really pissed off with you about something and doesn’t want to talk to you. You must have done something to upset her”

papachango

8 Aug 12 at 6:04 pm
Indeed Papa.

It just that the election rhetoric looks as if it will be translated to reality next month.

It’s never been easier to relocate within Europe.

It’s the proverbial shoot yourself in the foot in the hope of hobbling the enemy.

JamesK

8 Aug 12 at 6:07 pm
Last night’s Olympics triathlon race was truly gripping. One of the highlights of Olympic viewing.

I watched it. The Brownlee brothers are awesome athletes. Alistair got heavy duty A-levels and an entrance to Cambridge medicine. He deferred to be an Olympian. So he’s a pretty talented bloke.

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 6:24 pm
If you missed weight-lifter Matthias Steiner dropping 196 kgs on his head, here it is.

C.L.

8 Aug 12 at 6:33 pm
tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock….

dd

8 Aug 12 at 6:47 pm
From Bolt, a story set to blow.
Tick tock. Tick tock.

dd

8 Aug 12 at 6:49 pm
From Bolt, a story set to blow.
Tick tock. Tick tock.

Do you know what exactly he’s referring to?

Alex Pundit

8 Aug 12 at 7:29 pm
From Bolt, a story set to blow.
Tick tock. Tick tock.

I was wondering the other day where Uhlmann had got to…

The media are closing ranks. Jools made one threat too many.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 7:32 pm
I’ve just switched off 7.30 after hearing toe stories to be covered seemingly for 3 weeks in arow.

Since Leigh Sales came back and took over from Uhlmann in the chair , we have hardly seen him and the programme has consistently been crap.

JamesK

8 Aug 12 at 7:36 pm
The ABC’s 7.00pm News coverage of the NBN might as well have been the Minister’s PR section. Uhlmann on 7.30 is getting a bit tougher.

blogstrop

8 Aug 12 at 7:44 pm
When I asked, some here suggested that Uhlmann was at retraining camp in Nth Korea.
Alternatively, he is investigating something and he’s not doing it from his ABC office to avoid leaks back to the Liar’s party.
Just an alternative, not hanging my hat on it yet.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 7:48 pm
They don’t call it lamestream media for nothing.

coz

8 Aug 12 at 7:49 pm
@dd/Alex

All the fun on the ‘she’s ready to blow’ story is on the ‘Freedom Wars’ thread.

brc

8 Aug 12 at 7:57 pm
@jamesk : what’s the bet that the high-income earner take will actually fall.

Time to invest in Monaco and Luxembourg, methinks.

How dumb has a president have to be when there are at least two tax havens on their borders, and both speak French as a native language?

I still maintain Australia should declare the Whitsundays a protectorate and allow it to become a tax haven. We miss out on a lot of business that goes to other tax havens.

brc

8 Aug 12 at 8:03 pm
Sacking public servants Italian style.

Some workers will be sent home for two years on 80% of their salary before losing their jobs or being retired.

Keith

8 Aug 12 at 8:06 pm
I still maintain Australia should declare the Whitsundays a protectorate and allow it to become a tax haven

I’d prefer they made Australia itself a tax haven with easy fast track residency for the highly skilled and the wealthy.

JamesK

8 Aug 12 at 8:08 pm
@jamesk yes, but it would be nice to have at least one Monaco-style precinct in the country. Why not some beautiful tropical islands?

brc

8 Aug 12 at 8:21 pm
the PM going to talk power prices tomorrow – live blog here
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/pm-julia-gillard-to-blog-with-readers-about-rising-power-prices/story-fndo20i0-1226446131046

Ms Gillard will be blogging through this website from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

You can ask a question during the hour or leave one earlier.

Ms Gillard has this week displayed a sudden interest in the price of electricity, even though it has been outpacing the broader rate of inflation for years.

In a speech delivered in Sydney earlier this week, she said: “Power bills have become the new petrol prices.

“Not just an essential of life that always seems to be going up, but a vital commodity, where what we consume each day, or pay every quarter, seems far beyond out control.”

While Ms Gillard laid the blame on the states in her speech, Australia has National Electricity Rules and a National Electricity Law.

What’s more her Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, sits atop the electricity bureaucracy.

val majkus

8 Aug 12 at 8:22 pm
JamesK thus declares himself a crypto-Nazi.

I’ll bank that with da Joos, febrile

JamesK

8 Aug 12 at 8:22 pm
jamesk yes, but it would be nice to have at least one Monaco-style precinct in the country.

I live on a nice beach 90 mins from Melbourne which would be an ideal site brc.

We could take over Sydney and Melbourne’s big finance districts in no time.

Still waitin’ Stevie Conroy. Still waitin!

JamesK

8 Aug 12 at 8:26 pm
Do you know what exactly he’s referring to?

Alex, here’s the lowdown.
Alan Jones interviews Michael Smith.
‘Cold Hands’ has helpfully provided a one-sentence summary at 3.50pm on the Freedom Wars thread.

dd

8 Aug 12 at 8:30 pm
“Ms Gillard will be blogging through this website from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. You can ask a question during the hour or leave one earlier.”

my impression is that Ms Gillard/ALP understand that power bills are the crux of the matter and if bills go up, and up, they are doomed. So hit on the states blame them for everything, and now this blogging.

Will it work?

candy

8 Aug 12 at 8:57 pm
Febro – JamesK thus declares himself a crypto-Nazi.

Couldn’t rule it out, but as an occasional poster my impression is that he’s ‘a candle in the wind, never knowing who to cling to when the rain sets in‘.

I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but the hive mind is strong in this one.

coz

8 Aug 12 at 8:58 pm
sorry address error. should read com.

coz

8 Aug 12 at 8:59 pm
Will it work?

Based on past experience, no. .

dd

8 Aug 12 at 9:08 pm
The further you go north in Australia, the rubbishier the beaches. Try anywhere between Gabo Island and Margaret River. Bring your own wetsuits; try not to get eaten by the wildlife. Exception: Cable Beach, Broome. Too far south for serious stingers; bodysurf on the afternoon seat breeze. A hundred people on a busy day over 20 kms.

Tom

8 Aug 12 at 9:30 pm
I still maintain Australia should declare the Whitsundays a protectorate and allow it to become a tax haven

nah. people want to live there. How about Kununara? No income or company tax, GST and royalties only.

entropy

8 Aug 12 at 9:32 pm
They then leaked to the Kenyan’s campaign and it’s rattled the hell outta them.

JC, over at Hillbuzz they tend to have lots of interesting links, and one of the recent ones was to just, that story.

nilk

8 Aug 12 at 10:03 pm
CL reference to that disgusting ad where some man accuses Romney of killing his wife.

Even CNN picks up the lie and investigates.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/08/did-mitt-romney-kill-mrs-soptic.php

JC

8 Aug 12 at 10:42 pm
@entropy of course people want to live there. Not only would it have no income tax, but no liquor or luxury car taxes. It would have no Medicare, no government schools and no nanny state rules. It would even have fireworks.

The plan would make money by being a better tax haven than any of the other alternatives. Just the fat alone would make up for it.

I have a friend with a house on guernsey – I have always been very jealous of this, and hankered for a down under equivalent.

It sounds outrageous to the average nanny-stated Aussie but even the EU approved the creation of Teneriffe in Portugal as a tax haven to stimulate investment.

Every country needs a tax haven. Even the Labor heavies would like it to stash their ill- gotten gains.

Brc

8 Aug 12 at 11:20 pm
Amercian stock trading Blogger explains the ins and outs of Maccas disappointing earnings announcement earlier this morning.

Fat faced Americans opted to shovel burritos into their pie holes instead of MCD “murder-burgers” and now you’re all bearish about the economy? You people, from the world of twitter, make me chuckle. I do not laugh, ever. However, I will chuckle every so often, when the occasion calls for it.

You’ve been taught some valuable lessons in recent weeks, yet have learned nothing. You see a little morning weakness and take that as your cue to jump into the FAZmobile, speeding recklessly down memory lane. You might as well douse your blouses with a fire accelerant and jump into a lit fireplace, wrapped in burlap.

BEHOLD: you’re all going to be fucked up in short order.

This market is about central banks, free money and corruption on a monumental scale. Since when do we, the people of the internet, care about the spending habits of the obese?

Weakness will be met with buying. Go eat a sandwich.

JC

8 Aug 12 at 11:49 pm
JC
So why hasn’t Mexican food taken off in Aus as we like our curries (Indian or Thai) and Mexican food is supposed to be a bit spicey right?

kelly liddle

9 Aug 12 at 12:00 am
Most Important Election Demographic May Be Single Women with Children

Their numbers are growing as per leftist policies and Dems love ‘em.

NYT: In Weak Economy, an Opening to Court Votes of Single Women

As much as Ms. Sheradin is up for grabs in this election, so too are the legions of unmarried women who helped lift Mr. Obama to victory in 2008. Single women are one of the country’s fastest-growing demographic groups — there are 1.8 million more now than just two years ago. They make up a quarter of the voting-age population nationally, and even more in several swing states, including Nevada.

And though they lean Democratic — in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, single women favored Mr. Obama over his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, by 29 points — they are also fickle about casting their ballots, preoccupied with making ends meet and alienated from a political system they say is increasingly deaf to their concerns.

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 12:02 am
So why hasn’t Mexican food taken off in Aus as we like our curries (Indian or Thai) and Mexican food is supposed to be a bit spicey right?

The simple reason that we’re a lot further from Mexico.

dd

9 Aug 12 at 12:05 am
Politico: Woman mentioned in Priorities ad died in ’06

The man speaking in the ad, Joe Soptic, says, “Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care and my family lost their health care. And a short time after that my wife became ill.” Soptic explains he’s not exactly sure when his wife became sick, but that when he took her to the hospital she had undetected, advanced cancer and died 22 days later.

The Romney campaign has pushed back on other GST Steel-related attacks by arguing that the plant in Kansas City closed after he stepped away from his management job at Bain. (Democrats counter that Romney was still listed as a top executive at Bain through 2002, and that he built up the private equity firm during the time it invested in GST Steel.)

In the case of this particularly jarring super PAC ad, it may also be relevant that Soptic’s wife died in 2006, years after the GST factory closed down.

Romney left Bain in 2002

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 12:08 am
Sorry!

Romney had left Bain Capital in February 1999 to lead preparations for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 12:09 am
Judicial Watch acquires documents that show the Obama White House ordering law enforcement to “stand down” and not interfere with Occupy terror and rape movement.

C.L.

9 Aug 12 at 12:10 am
19 killed in attack in Nigerian church

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) — Gunmen attacked a church in the central Nigerian state of Kogi, killing at least 19 people, a military official said Tuesday.

Among the dead was the pastor of the Deeper Life church in Okene, Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi said.

No one has claimed responsibility, but immediate suspicion fell on the militant Islamic group Boko Haram, which has carried out similar church attacks in the past.

An eyewitness told CNN that the attackers were carrying sophisticated firearms and shot randomly at the members of the congregation gathered for Bible study Monday night. Blood flowed through the church as bodies fell limp, the witness said.

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 12:11 am
Usain Bolt is a class act.

Tells reporter to shoosh as American national anthem begins.

He’s a Jamaican, remember.

C.L.

9 Aug 12 at 12:13 am
Life Term for Gunman After Guilty Plea in Tucson Killings

TUCSON — Jared L. Loughner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to killing six people and wounding 13 others last year during a meet-and-greet event here held by Gabrielle Giffords, then a member of the House of Representatives and the primary target of his rampage. The plea brought a sudden resolution to a case that seemed threatened by the fragility of Mr. Loughner’s mental state.

Mr. Loughner, 23, delivered his admission in a slurred monotone — “I plead guilty” — looking straight ahead from his seat at the defendant’s table, his back arched and his hands clasped in his lap. He repeated the words 19 times, one for each of the counts to which he had agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life.

He seemed subdued and resigned, telling Judge Larry A. Burns, who has presided over the case in Federal District Court, that he understood the consequences of his actions, as well as the implications of his plea, which offers him no chance of appeals.

At the hearing, Dr. Christina Pietz, a psychologist who treated Mr. Loughner at a federal hospital in Springfield, Mo., said his feelings had evolved — from regret for failing to kill Ms. Giffords, whom he had harbored a secret grudge against for several years, to remorse for wounding her and others and for taking people’s lives.

“I especially cried for the child” and “yelled a lot because it hurt so bad,” Mr. Loughner once told Dr. Pietz, she testified, reading from notes she had kept of their encounters.

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 12:13 am
WSJ: The Romney Hood Fairy Tale
The false, invented analysis behind Obama’s tax claims.

As he escalates his class war re-election campaign, President Obama has taken to calling Mitt Romney’s economic plan “Robin Hood in reverse” or “Romney Hood.” The charge is that even though Mr. Romney is proposing to cut tax rates for everybody across the board, Mr. Romney will finance this by imposing a tax increase on the middle class. His evidence is a single study by the Tax Policy Center, a liberal think tank that has long opposed cutting income tax rates.

The political left always says Daddy Warbucks gets all the tax-cut money. So this is hardly news, except that the media are treating this joint Brookings Institution and Urban Institute analysis as if it’s nonpartisan gospel. In fact, it’s a highly ideological tract based on false assumptions, incomplete data and dishonest analysis. In other words, it is custom made for the Obama campaign.

By the way, even the Tax Policy Center admits that “we do not score Governor Romney’s plan directly as certain components of his plan are not specified in sufficient detail.” But no matter, the study plows ahead to analyze features of the Romney plan that aren’t even in it.
***

The heart of Mr. Romney’s actual proposal is a 20% rate cut for anyone who pays income taxes. This means, for example, that the 10% rate would fall to 8%, the 35% rate would fall to 28% and all the brackets in between would fall as well. The corporate tax would fall to 25% from 35%.

The plan says these cuts would be financed in a revenue-neutral way. First, by “broadening the tax base,” which means reducing or eliminating tax deductions and loopholes as in the tax reform of 1986. The Romney campaign doesn’t specify which deductions—no campaign ever does—but it has been explicit in saying that the burden would fall most on higher tax brackets. So in return for paying lower rates, the wealthy get fewer deductions.

Second, the Romney campaign says it expects to increase revenues by increasing the rate of economic growth to 4%, up from less than 2% this year and in 2011. (Separately from tax reform, but clearly relevant to budget deficits, Mr. Romney says he’d gradually reduce spending to 20% of the economy from the Obama heights of 24%-25%.)

The class warriors at the Tax Policy Center add all of this up and issue the headline-grabbing opinion that it is “mathematically impossible” to reduce tax rates and close loopholes in a way that raises the same amount of revenue. They do so in part by arbitrarily claiming that Mr. Romney would never eliminate certain loopholes (such as for municipal bond interest), though the candidate has said no such thing.

Based on this invention, they then postulate that Mr. Romney would have to do something he also doesn’t propose—which is raise taxes on those earning less than $200,000. In the Obama campaign’s political alchemy, this becomes “Romney Hood” and a $2,000 tax increase.

The Tax Policy Center also ignores the history of tax cutting. Every major marginal rate income tax cut of the last 50 years—1964, 1981, 1986 and 2003—was followed by an unexpectedly large increase in tax revenues, a surge in taxes paid by the rich, and a more progressive tax code—i.e., the share of taxes paid by the richest 1% rose.

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 12:18 am
Ooops- longer than I intended but a very good article.

RTWT – though it’s quite a bit longer

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 12:20 am
JC
So why hasn’t Mexican food taken off in Aus as we like our curries (Indian or Thai) and Mexican food is supposed to be a bit spicey right?

Dunno. I like it more than the two you mentioned. In fact I can’t eat either of them for a medical reasons. We don’t have lots of Mexicans living here to introduce it like we do other nationalities with strong cuisine cred I would guess.

Wifey doesn’t like it much, but I could pig out of Mex food every other day if I could. Well not quite, but pretty often. There’s a place up the road from me where I get take out.

JC

9 Aug 12 at 12:42 am
So why hasn’t Mexican food taken off in Aus

here in Melbourne it’s very much in vogue among the hipster set. Mamasitas, the Taco truck, Fondas and other little hole in the wall places that don’t take booking and you have to queue for an hour for a fish taco.

The hipsters will abandon it eventually once it goets too ‘mainstream’ then it will really take off.

papachango

9 Aug 12 at 12:44 am
…..here in Melbourne it’s very much in vogue among the hipster set.

I noticed that with the place I go to, Papa. It’s disconcerting really.

JC

9 Aug 12 at 12:47 am
Maybe we should start advertising our minimum wage versus US to get a few Mexicans here so we can have more food diversity.

kelly liddle

9 Aug 12 at 1:04 am
Morning Jay: The Race Is Romney’s to Win

Alex Pundit

9 Aug 12 at 1:05 am
he made the Goldwater-Miller ticket out to be a threat to humanity itself.

From Pundit’s link. This is the method that will be used as Obama does not have the hope and change to run on anymore having a record. It is the same tactic the ALP is running against Tony Abbott at the moment. Scare tactics.

kelly liddle

9 Aug 12 at 1:13 am
Gregorivic Ivan Conroy:

Praises the Press Council ruling against the Daily Telegraph over negative coverage of the NBN. The Australian is apparently “doing a better job” but government regulator will still go ahead.

This “praise” from Conroy is just sickening.
Communist filth.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 1:14 am
This is the method that will be used as Obama does not have the hope and change to run on anymore having a record.

Wrong. He does have one accomplishment. He killed a guy whom since 2002, has sat in a secluded room watching porn and filming himself watching porn.

That totally, is the reason why we should annoint him as president for the second time.

Alex Pundit

9 Aug 12 at 1:15 am
Strange he praises the Australian after Hedley Thomas’ investigations of the Willard AWU fraud.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 1:16 am
So Alex assuming you are American are you going to vote Obama?

kelly liddle

9 Aug 12 at 1:18 am
Not American no. Definelty not if I were.

I think you misunderstood the joke. lol.

Alex Pundit

9 Aug 12 at 1:20 am
It is too cryptic for me.

kelly liddle

9 Aug 12 at 1:21 am
I refer to the killing of bin Laden. I think too much importance is placed on it. Yes, he was the head of Al Qaeda, but the man whom was actually responsible for 9/11 was KSM, and he’s been sitting in Guantanamo Bay for years now. Bin Laden was quite harmless at the end of the day and his killing, in my opinion, didn’t do squat in the War on Terror.

Alex Pundit

9 Aug 12 at 1:23 am
Potemkin’s Village

Pay no attention to the man… here

Grigory Potemkin

9 Aug 12 at 3:30 am
Lizzie – this is the greatest ever ass-kicking of a telemarketer EVER.

Trust me, this is a must listen.

Comedian Tom Mabe.

Abu Chowdah

9 Aug 12 at 4:43 am
Grigory kicks yet another goal for the Asperger’s Appreciation Society.

Abu Chowdah

9 Aug 12 at 4:47 am
Being an amateur activist newsletter these days, Pravda gives oxygen to a preppie undergrad trainee media and communications idiot, who was shocked to find that the Herald-Sun office wasn’t like GetUp or Greens headquarters:

She said the experience had been ”horrific” and described situations in which editors had patronised her by calling her names.

”Throughout the week, I was consistently subjected to patronising attitudes, being referred to as ‘Little Bud’, ‘Champ’ and ‘Kidlet’. Men were also continuously and unnecessarily sexist, waiting for me to walk through doors and leave the elevator before them.”

On the strength of this, you wouldn’t let a son or daughter anyway near the media and communications school at Melbourne.

Tom

9 Aug 12 at 5:57 am
Vexnews has the scoop on this pretentious brat.

Heteronormative dyke with a private school education has a large organic non old growth chip on its shoulder.
Thanks Tom…

Winston Smith

9 Aug 12 at 6:01 am
Labor’s favourite uncle shits in the nest:

FORMER ALP minister Barry Jones has labelled leading union leaders the ALP’s ”owners”, describing the party as increasingly unrepresentative of the community or even its voters.

In a scathing attack, Mr Jones said: ”Currently the party’s owners, people like Paul Howes, Tony Sheldon and, until recently, Michael Williamson, think that the highest priority is for them to keep control of their property.”

Tom

9 Aug 12 at 6:12 am
“Men were also continuously and unnecessarily sexist, waiting for me to walk through doors and leave the elevator before them.”

So sexism now encompasses courtesy and politeness?

FMD. No pleasing some people these days. Would she feel more comfortable if the men walked around scratching their balls and spitting on the ground? Where is the line these days?

Dan

9 Aug 12 at 6:24 am
Ms Burden has the potential to go on to be a young and naive lawyer.

Blogstrop

9 Aug 12 at 6:41 am
Usain’s shoosh video has been blocked by the limpic committee as it contains their copyright stuff.

I hate the limpics.

The sooner they’re not on, the better.

kae

9 Aug 12 at 7:30 am
Great Morning. Bess price names Amnesty international as ‘Racist‘.

Helen Armstrong

9 Aug 12 at 7:34 am
Damn, sorry, Bess – of course her surname is capitalised – Price.

Helen Armstrong

9 Aug 12 at 7:36 am
Wow, Helen. She gave those smug racist pricks a total caning.

Abu Chowdah

9 Aug 12 at 8:00 am
Obama and the Democratic machine hate ‘voter suppression’; the idea that asking voters to present some form of identification when voting to prevent the votes of the dead, pets, etc. being included they find risible. But in Ohio, they’re challenging an existing law that allows those that serve in the military an extra three days to get-in their early voting. The grounds of the challenge? ‘Fairness’; the practice, they argue, is discriminatory becaue it isn’t also available to civilians. Sounds familiar.

dover_beach

9 Aug 12 at 8:20 am
So everythang is going just swimmingly with the National Dinosaur Network, I see…

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 8:23 am
Good news story of the day…

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 8:28 am
A few pieces of information that weren’t included in the ad:

- Romney left Bain in 1999.
- The steel plant was closed in 2001.
- The man’s wife died in 2006.

obongo campaign hits bottom, keeps digging…

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 8:38 am
Ms Burden has the potential to go on to be a young and naive lawyer.

…just another entitled Lefty taking away future opportunities for others who aspire for greater things then she will ever achieve.

Token

9 Aug 12 at 8:45 am
Totally revolting Rabz.
I am particularly sickened by how, in spite of the pathetic rollout performance, the projected revenue barely budges. All Liar’s party parliamentary super schemes should be alocated 100% to the NBN. I mean, why would they object, it’s such a winnah.

Keith

9 Aug 12 at 8:46 am
All Liar’s party parliamentary super schemes should be alocated 100% to the NBN. I mean, why would they object, it’s such a winnah.

Keith, that is a fantastic idea.

Mr Rabbit?

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 8:58 am
Record weather/climate news alert, because I know you care:

WASHINGTON—This probably comes as no surprise: Federal scientists say July was the hottest month ever recorded in the Lower 48 states, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s….

For those who say “but what about cold records”, here’s a nice chart showing how hot records have been outpacing cold records in the US over the last few years. (This goes back over decade long periods as well since about the 1970′s.)

By the way, the Arctic ice extent is still tracking for a new record low.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 9:09 am
Hottest evah?

Weally liah?

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 9:15 am
I can think of few things more embarassing than testing positive for walking. Perhaps I should feel sorry for this guy but inside I’m laughing at him

http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/athletics-london-2012/i-only-walk-because-im-good-at-it-disgraced-italian-walker-sobs-over-drugs-scandal-20120809-23v2y.html

taly’s disgraced 50km walk champion Alex Schwazer, who was withdrawn from the Olympics for failing a drugs test, said he would be happy for the IOC to retest his Beijing doping sample.

“I could only be happy for all my past doping samples to be retested and the results published,” an emotional Schwazer said at a press conference, insisting that the London Olympics had been the first time that he had taken drugs.

“I’m sick of walking. I couldn’t take the training sessions any more,” he said, adding that while most athletes are driven by a passion for their sport, “I only walk because I’m good at it”.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/athletics-london-2012/i-only-walk-because-im-good-at-it-disgraced-italian-walker-sobs-over-drugs-scandal-20120809-23v2y.html#ixzz23028bJCj

jtfsoon

9 Aug 12 at 9:16 am
For those who say “but what about cold records”, here’s a nice chart showing….

RATFLMAO

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 9:20 am
New York Times!!!! :

“The main thing is just to look at the statistics and see that the change is too large to be natural,” Dr. Hansen said in an interview. The findings provoked an immediate split among his scientific colleagues, however.

Some experts said he had come up with a smart new way of understanding the magnitude of the heat extremes that people around the world are noticing. Others suggested that he had presented a weak statistical case for his boldest claims and that the rest of the paper contained little that had not been observed in the scientific literature for years.

The divide is characteristic of the strong reactions that Dr. Hansen has elicited playing dual roles in the debate over climate change and how to combat it. As the head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, he is one of NASA’s principal climate scientists and the primary custodian of its records of the earth’s temperature. Yet he has also become an activist who marches in protests to demand new government policies on energy and climate.

The latter role — he has been arrested four times at demonstrations, always while on leave from his government job — has made him a hero to the political left, and particularly to college students involved in climate activism. But it has discomfited some of his fellow researchers, who fear that his political activities may be sowing unnecessary doubts about his scientific findings and climate science in general.

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 9:25 am
Oh beautiful. Are they going to give Bess Price the Bolt treatment?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/amnesty-a-racist-organisation-says-bess-price/story-fn9hm1pm-1226446316271

WARLPIRI woman Bess Price has accused Amnesty International of being an undemocratic and racist organisation, while attacking its indigenous rights campaigner Rodney Dillon as a “white blackfella” and a “physically white English-speaking Tasmanian”.

The attack comes after her appearance on the SBS Insight program on Tuesday, where she told Aboriginal lawyer and academic Mark McMillan, “you totally look like a whitefella to me”.

Mr McMillan was one of nine pale-skinned Aborigines who successfully took racial discrimination action against News Limited columnist Andrew Bolt in the Federal Court last year

jtfsoon

9 Aug 12 at 9:25 am
Thanks for the warning, ShitFer. Just packing up the car now. Moving to Alice Springs; melting glaciers can’t get me there – at least not until 2035 or so. If only all climate scientists were as conscietious as you. I don’t know why everyone calls you a clown.

Tom

9 Aug 12 at 9:25 am
in the Lower 48 55 states…

FFS, get it right.

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 9:26 am
By the way, the Arctic ice extent is still tracking for a new record low.

And this is a problem… because?

And a carbon tax will change this…how?

brc

9 Aug 12 at 9:29 am
Mr McMillan was one of nine pale-skinned Aborigines

Well, that’s one way of putting it.

Don’t think I’d be so diplomatic however, in my description of him…

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 9:29 am
“By the way, the Arctic ice extent is still tracking for a new record low.”

The dams are full. I don’t care what’s happening in the Arctic whatever, it’s too far way to bother about.

candy

9 Aug 12 at 9:30 am
Another tidbit from that New York Times article:

Martin P. Hoerling, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who studies the causes of weather extremes, said he shared Dr. Hansen’s general concern about global warming. But he has in the past criticized Dr. Hansen for, in his view, exaggerating the connection between global warming and specific weather extremes. In an interview, he said he felt that Dr. Hansen had done so again.

Dr. Hoerling has published research suggesting that the 2010 Russian heat wave was largely a consequence of natural climate variability, and a forthcoming study he carried out on the Texas drought of 2011 also says natural factors were the main cause.

Dr. Hoerling contended that Dr. Hansen’s new paper confuses drought, caused primarily by a lack of rainfall, with heat waves.

“This isn’t a serious science paper,” Dr. Hoerling said. “It’s mainly about perception, as indicated by the paper’s title. Perception is not a science.”

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 9:32 am
Did John Quiggin really say this?

Prices are too low. Blame the NEM. PM’s newly appointed Climate Change Authority member, John Quiggin, 2001:

THE short-run impact of the National Electricity Market has been to reduce prices in periods of low demand . . . it is reasonable to conclude that the price . . . of electricity is below the socially optimal level, and therefore that the operation of the National Electricity Market has contributed to excessive consumption of electricity and fossil fuels.

Token

9 Aug 12 at 9:35 am
it is reasonable to conclude that the price . . . of electrickery is below the socially optimal level, and therefore that the operation of the National Electrickery Market has contributed to excessive consumption of electrickery and fossil fuels.

Misanthropic psychopaths.

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 9:38 am
Not sure that Arctic ice melt is likely to have direct consequences here, candy; but researchers seem more and more convinced that the lower Arctic ice is connected with changes to jet stream circulation which weird up the weather generally in the Northern Hemisphere.

Even Judith Curry believes so.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 9:38 am
By the way, the Arctic ice extent is still tracking for a new record low.

Never, ever, eh? A new record since which starting date?

Did they have trackers to measure the ice extent during the Medieval & Roman warming periods? Sorry, I remember now, the AGW-Cultists like SOB have chosen to slide that bit of history down the memory hole.

Token

9 Aug 12 at 9:39 am
“Not sure that Arctic ice melt is likely to have direct consequences here, candy; but researchers seem more and more convinced that…”

I don’t give a toss about it, Steve.

candy

9 Aug 12 at 9:42 am
Even Judith Curry believes so.

nice smear there.

Keith

9 Aug 12 at 9:46 am
Token, you’re making the big mistake of thinking you have to understand a system perfectly to understand anything about it at all. Limitations on what we can measure about the forcings during the bursts of warmer weather in the last few thousand years do not mean that you can’t look at radiative balances now and predict that the remarkable increase in CO2 will increase temperatures.

I can’t find this paper discussed much, but it sounds interesting:

Global-scale variations in the climate system over the last half of the 20th Century, including long-term increases in global-mean near-surface temperatures, are consistent with concurrent human-induced emissions of radiatively-active gases and aerosols. However, such consistency does not preclude the possible influence of other forcing agents, including internal modes of climate variability or unaccounted for aerosol effects. To test whether other unknown forcing agents may have contributed to multi-decadal increases in global-mean near-surface temperatures from 1950-2000, data pertaining to observed changes in global-scale sea-surface temperatures and observed changes in radiatively-active atmospheric constituents are incorporated into numerical global climate models. Results indicate that the radiative forcing needed to produce the observed long-term trends in sea-surface temperatures—and global-mean near-surface temperatures—is provided predominantly by known changes in greenhouse gases and aerosols. Further, results indicate that less than 10% of the long-term historical increase in global-mean near-surface temperatures over the last half of the 20th century could have been the result of internal climate variability. In addition they indicate that less than 25% of the total radiative forcing needed to produce the observed long-term trend in global-mean near-surface temperatures could have been provided by changes in net radiative forcing from unknown sources (either positive or negative). These results, which are derived from simple energy balance requirements, emphasize the important role humans have played in modifying the global climate over the last half of the 20th Century.

It’s a challenge trying to educate you lot, but someone has to do it.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 9:50 am
Rare snowfall in South Africa.

Keith

9 Aug 12 at 9:50 am
I don’t give a toss about it, Steve.

All it would take is for Tony Abbott to become passionate about it and your hormonal response would probably change your mind.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 9:53 am
Tom @ 0925

Have no fear – Alice Springs is about 300+ metres above sea level.

Mike of Marion

9 Aug 12 at 9:55 am
So why hasn’t Mexican food taken off in Aus

Mexican is the new cool food in Perth. Which probably means even Mexicans aren’t eating it any more.

Infidel Tiger

9 Aug 12 at 9:56 am
Snowfall on the Bushveldt?

Must be warming making that extra precipitation and cold weather!

.

9 Aug 12 at 9:56 am
Really IT?

Better than Stuff Bogans Like

http://theworstofperth.com/

.

9 Aug 12 at 9:58 am
All it would take is for Tony Abbott to become passionate about it and your hormonal response would probably change your mind.

And that, right there, is how we know you have absolutely no interest in “trying to educate you lot”

Keith

9 Aug 12 at 9:58 am
Drudge: Murdoch Reports Quarterly Loss After Writing Down Australian Businesses.

News Corp., billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s media company, reported a $1.55 billion fourth-quarter loss after writing down the value of publishing assets hurt by scandal and shrinking advertising revenue.

The net loss was 64 cents a share, compared with net income of $683 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Excluding the writedowns and other items, profit was 32 cents a share, in line with the average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg. ….

Annual publishing profit fell 31 percent to $597 million, partly because of shrinking advertising revenue at the Australian newspapers as well as the closure of the News of the World newspaper, the company said.

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 9:58 am
“All it would take is for Tony Abbott to become passionate about it and your hormonal response would probably change your mind.”

no, the climate is a dumb thing to go around thinking and worrying about. a bit of tree planting is nice but who really gives a stuff.

candy

9 Aug 12 at 9:59 am
You’re sounding very much the opposite of profound today, candy.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:02 am
All it would take is for Tony Abbott to become passionate about it and your hormonal response would probably change your mind.

Wow, seriously mate, you really have a big problem with woman criticising you. No wonder you don’t work, you are a HR department’s nightmare.

Though, it does not surprise me that of all the people to demean someone about gender, it is our resident left winger.

Token

9 Aug 12 at 10:06 am
Always with the insults sfb, but no time to spare to answer questions or rebut arguments.

Keith

9 Aug 12 at 10:08 am
As re-printed in the Guardian (I don’t actually go looking for this stuff, you know) a warning about over-enthusiastic shaving.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:08 am
Candy, Shitferbrains needs something to get hysterical about. All warmenists do.
It’s part of their nature, part of their DNA.
They get up every day and ask themselves “What can I get hysterical about today? I know – Gerbil Wormening!”
…and another day commences.

Winston SMITH

9 Aug 12 at 10:09 am
All it would take is for Tony Abbott to become passionate about it and your hormonal response would probably change your mind.

So says the butt plug and semen blogger.

.

9 Aug 12 at 10:10 am
Keith: what argument? What questions?

Token: candy constantly makes (what I take to be) somewhat self mocking over the top praise of Abbott as a virile man who she finds very attractive.

My comment about her hormonal response to him is hardly earth shattering.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:11 am
Keith: what argument? What questions?

Why the one’s you ignored only yesterday.

Keith

9 Aug 12 at 10:15 am
Keith: what argument? What questions?

And this is a problem… because?
And a carbon tax will change this…how?

brc

9 Aug 12 at 10:18 am
^ in reference to arctic melting

brc

9 Aug 12 at 10:18 am
So summing up :

mocking an abortive government – Bad, insulting to womankind

mocking a woman’s hormonal response – AOK go for it.

Keith

9 Aug 12 at 10:19 am
candy constantly makes (what I take to be) somewhat self mocking over the top praise of Abbott as a virile man who she finds very attractive.

My comment about her hormonal response to him is hardly earth shattering.

Heh, lucky Candy didn’t talk about shoes. That really sends SFB into a spin.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 10:25 am
Keith, I have never liked anyone (although it is usually a man) calling something bad an “abortion”. It’s just crass.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:29 am
Lol!

Liar’s got standards……

JamesK

9 Aug 12 at 10:30 am
“You’re sounding very much the opposite of profound today, candy.”

fair enough Steve, but don’t fret over climate okay? not worth it.

candy

9 Aug 12 at 10:31 am
Keith, I have never liked anyone

Rubbish. You swoon over Gillard her appearance, her clothes and wish she would marry Timbo. Get your hormones under control, buddy.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 10:31 am
That really sends SFB into a spin.

No, it just gives me something to mock you with.

Anyway, it seems you’ve occasionally been looking at Skeptical Science lately Gab. Keep that up and you’ll be better educated on the topic; more so than by listening to Rafe and his gold bug, secret Rothschild family influence worrying friends from WA.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:32 am
Steve smacks down Candy.

By the way, the Arctic ice extent is still tracking for a new record low.

Gillard on track for VIC-TO-RY!!!

C.L.

9 Aug 12 at 10:33 am
You swoon over Gillard her appearance, her clothes and wish she would marry Timbo.

No one praises her wardrobe, Gab.

Yes, she should marry Tim as an example to the nation.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:34 am
Anyway, it seems you’ve occasionally been looking at Skeptical Science lately Gab. Keep that up and you’ll be better educated on the topic; more so than by listening to Rafe and his gold bug, secret Rothschild family influence worrying friends from WA.

The only thing missing from your comment, SFB, is:

“I’m here all week. Try the schnitzel”.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 10:34 am
Why does SFB be an overtly feminine man (NTTAWWT) but then rips women for being feminine?

.

9 Aug 12 at 10:34 am
Hey, Dot. The ABC is towing your line, well almost. Heard this morning:

“Is the NBN a white elephant? It’s costing more and will take longer to finish”.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 10:37 am
CL still refuses to believe that heat waves and drought make people think more about climate change.

That’s what happens when as a matter of ideological conviction akin to religion, you believe nothing could ever convince reasonable people that AGW is real (and a problem deserving a response.)

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:40 am
calling something bad an “abortion”.

There are three definitions for abortion:
1. pregnancy termination
2. abnormal termination of a task due to fault (abort a rocket launch, abort a landing, abort a computer program)
3. badly made or poor quality item or procedure

Don’t blame us, blame the Romans. That’s where the word comes from.

brc

9 Aug 12 at 10:45 am
Sfb still ~~refuses to~~ believes that heat waves and drought make people think more about climate change.

That’s what happens when as a matter of ideological conviction akin to religion, you believe ~~nothing~~ anything could ~~ever~~ convince ~~reasonable~~ gullible people that AGW is real (and a problem deserving a response.)

Questions still not answered :
- how is arctic melting a problem?
- how will a carbon tax stop it?

Surely any religion has answers for these fundamental questions? Look it up in your climate bible!

brc

9 Aug 12 at 10:47 am
Kevin Rudd always wanted a monument to be remembered by. What better than the NBN, a massive turd.

Dangph

9 Aug 12 at 10:48 am
brc, you convince no one. Particularly when in yesterday’s thread where the topic was Julia Gillard.

Do you think people are that stupid?

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:49 am
- how is arctic melting a problem?

I thought I answered that in reference to the Northern Hemisphere, at least.

As for parts of Greenland in the Arctic circle, ice melt off its land is a long term problem for us all.

Carbon tax: too tedious to bother with answering that one. It won’t help if it was the only global effort being made to reduce CO2. It isn’t.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:51 am
“Is the NBN a white elephant? It’s costing more and will take longer to finish”.

We can expect full BER / Pink Batts level coverage from the ALPBC on this.

Remember how the Orgill report said cost over-runs on the BER were A-OK, coz they were within an arbitarily cooked up margin of error and the ALPBC dutifully reported it?

Watch and learn.

Token

9 Aug 12 at 10:52 am
Steve you turn all the threads you comment on into abortions. Piss off and seek professional help, you embittered old testicle challenged hausfrau.

Infidel Tiger

9 Aug 12 at 10:54 am
Easy there, Tiger, SFB is feeling a bit hormonal today.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 10:56 am
IT: I indicated it was disgusting that Pickering brought it up. You ended up trying to turn the subsequent support of Pickering into a joke about abortion.

I think you know that was crass, even for you.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 10:57 am
Our Prime Minister is a thief, a liar and harlot, Steve. She will most likely spend her dying days peeling spuds in a women’s prison. Deal with it.

Infidel Tiger

9 Aug 12 at 11:02 am
If sfb’s thesis has anything going for it, you can be sure no one in Melbourne, or SE Australia, is presently thinking of AGW; well, not without sniggering.

dover_beach

9 Aug 12 at 11:03 am
No, I reckon she ought to be put in a chaff bag and thrown out to sea, IT.

(Just trying to fit in with the air of reasoned analysis that befits here.)

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 11:05 am
She has certainly done some very un-biblical things with married men, twice and possibly thrice. Women voters find her repulsive, poisonous.

Fisky

9 Aug 12 at 11:06 am
Hey, Dot. The ABC is towing your line, well almost. Heard this morning:

“Is the NBN a white elephant? It’s costing more and will take longer to finish”.

The NBN will cost over 250 billion AUD and never be completed.

.

9 Aug 12 at 11:06 am
On the day before Tony Abbott leaves for an Aboriginal township to serve the poor, overweight morals campaigner and affirmative action appointee to the attorney-generalship, Nicola Roxon, accuses him of being a racist racist.

C.L.

9 Aug 12 at 11:07 am
Yeah, I know, Dot, but I did say almost. Hey, the news reader even sounded surprised.

baby steps.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 11:08 am
brc, you convince no one.

That’s because most people here aren’t stupid, and don’t need convincing. Unlike members of the gullible collective, they’re fully able to make up their own minds.

Do you think people are that stupid?

Stupid is as stupid does. I think wilfully ignorant would be a better description of some people. Those who might, say, argue that A isn’t really A, A can be B if the weather is a bit warmer.

brc

9 Aug 12 at 11:09 am
The NBN will cost over 250 billion AUD and never be completed.

Sounds like a design fault, but I believe that was always the plan.

It’s an ongoing payoff plan for the unions. Literally billions of dollars is being channeled to union members from the taxpayers pocket. This is the greatest swindle in Australian history.

Infidel Tiger

9 Aug 12 at 11:10 am
lol, Grigory.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 11:12 am
Then it gets funneled back into the ALP by compulsory super and subverted union run funds that are not regulated like private sector funds…as John Leard pointed out in 1985.

.

9 Aug 12 at 11:12 am
CL still refuses to believe that heat waves and drought make people think more about climate change.

No no.

You said a hot summer will next year deliver Gillard sweet sweet VIC-TO-RY!!!!

C.L.

9 Aug 12 at 11:13 am
Then it gets funneled back into the ALP by compulsory super and subverted union run funds that are not regulated like private sector funds…as John Leard pointed out in 1985.

…and like the white elephant defence work, Labor can count on the conservertives to manage it better than they can and in doing so repair the balance sheet they wrecked.

They love this process as when they get back in government they have full coffers so they start the cash to cronies patronage cycle once again.

Token

9 Aug 12 at 11:17 am
C.L.,

It will be the sweetest victory of all.

.

9 Aug 12 at 11:18 am
CL: It will likely make people more sympathetic to the need for an effective greenhouse gas policy.

We should also have more economists in the run up to the next election saying that the Coalition plan is definitely not economically sensible.

steve from brisbane

9 Aug 12 at 11:20 am
Wish this blog had an effective SFB gas policy.

Gab

9 Aug 12 at 11:21 am
It’s just like Tammany Hall.

.

9 Aug 12 at 11:22 am
It will likely make people more sympathetic to the need for an effective greenhouse gas policy.

Will you just listen to yourself?

FFS, you’re an idiot.

Rabz

9 Aug 12 at 11:24 am
They love this process as when they get back in government they have full coffers so they start the cash to cronies patronage cycle once again.

Exactly. I’ll never understand why the Coalition don’t just offer swingeing tax cuts in the start of the FY before every election to destroy the surplus. Why do they just give it to the monkeys in the ALP? Have some self-respect and stop being used.

The Hunted Mind

9 Aug 12 at 11:52 am
The 2007 budget could have been a ripper.

$1000 in the back pocket of everyone as a cash rebate and raise the TFT to about $12000, at least equal with the maximum rate on the dole/rent allowance (indexed too).

.

9 Aug 12 at 12:07 pm
So why hasn’t Mexican food taken off in Aus

Because most of the “Mexican” stuff in food courts is a bit dodgy.

The Mad Mex chain is pretty good though.

Fleeced

9 Aug 12 at 12:55 pm

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