Wednesday Forum: October 24, 2012 at Catallaxy Files

Wednesday Forum: October 24, 2012

1,163 comments

Written by Sinclair Davidson

October 24th, 2012 at 12:13 am

Posted in Open Forum

1,163 Responses to 'Wednesday Forum: October 24, 2012'

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Al hamdullilah!

Abu Chowdah

24 Oct 12 at 12:20 am
Lebanon may sue hit US TV show Homeland

“The drama stars Claire Danes as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative and a recent episode showed her character dodging bullets and fleeing from bad guys in Lebanon’s capital city.

The scenes, which were actually filmed in Israel, have angered officials in Lebanon, who claim Beirut has been portrayed in an unfairly negative light which could affect tourism.

Lebanon’s tourism minister, Fady Abboud, said he was consulting lawyers over the show.

“This kind of film damages the image of Lebanon – it is not fair to us and it’s not true, it is not portraying reality,” he told the country’s Executive magazine.”

Uh-ha. Sure, that’s going to keep tourists away.

Lebanon Explodes in Violence at Funeral for Slain Anti-Syrian Security Chief

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 12:22 am
Aww, man… the other one wasn’t even at a thousand comments yet

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 12:24 am
Yes but it was riddled with creepy-crawlies.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 12:25 am
99 Luftballons

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 12:27 am
More German: Rock Me Amadeus

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 12:42 am
Yeah Gab, I wonder where they got that idea from eh?

nic

24 Oct 12 at 12:43 am
Lebanon may sue hit US TV show Homeland

LOL. I’ve been watching that, and whilst I wouldn’t call it a “rightie” show, they seem to have a rightie working for them (director, stage-hand, whatever…)

They had once scene where the turncoat/terrorist was spontaneously invited into an “action” to kill the main villain (the terrorist who turned the traitor). The room was IDENTICAL to the Osama-strike war-room, and the traitor – clueless as to what was going on – was sitting in The Obama position.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I reckon someone on set did that deliberately.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 12:52 am
Channel 7′s Labor stooge Mark Riley, the poor mans Jabba, reduced to using The Guardian website as evidence of Abbott’s misogynist “gaffe” going international again on the six o’clock news. Nearly as bad as the ALPBC’s breathless reporting of Jezebel.com last week.

And mainstream media wonders why it is dying?

H B Bear

24 Oct 12 at 12:55 am
Well, if Mark Riley wants to go global for his opinions on local political leaders, perhaps he should report that the Indonesian President has refused to be in the same room with Gillard on at least one occasion – largely owing to the acute embarrassment of dealing with an unmarried woman and a hairdresser.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 1:17 am
Potemkin’s Village

Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned… here

Grigory Potemkin

24 Oct 12 at 1:20 am
And let’s face it. You’d have to go to the UK to garner any interest in Julia Gillard’s imaginary travails. For if television is any guide to a culture’s pathologies (and it is), Great Britain is the uppity skanke ho capital of the world.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 1:20 am
So Mcternan plants stuff in the UK press and then tells the Australian stenographers guild to use it as evidence? Tell me why it won’t be a joyous day when the MSM are all bankrupt?

Infidel tiger

24 Oct 12 at 1:23 am
Maniac police officers are electrocuting people with ray guns.

No shit Sherlock.

I have argued for at least two years that the normalised deployment of these weapons would result in casual torture as a compliance tool, the undermining of officers’ capacity and courage to make physical arrests and technical misuse on an epic scale. If you can’t arrest somebody – say a naked biscuit bandit already pepper-sprayed and hand-cuffed; if you’re that much of a Mary – become a florist. The police ‘service’ is not for you. Or shouldn’t be, at least.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 1:29 am
When, you know, the facts no longer matter…

Sky ‘News’: Abbott says sorry for child comment.

He made no comment about anybody’s child or children.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 1:46 am
Andy Warhol: devout Catholic.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 1:57 am
Drudge is making a heckuva lot of money from Romney banner ads this past week or so, and today they’re the largest I’ve ever seen on the site. Overkill, no? Singing to the choir? Or just getting out the vote?

Oh come on

24 Oct 12 at 2:13 am
Trump says that he’s got a story on Obama that would swing the election.

It’s about Obama selling Cocaine to somebody in High School.

Trump’s right. It would swing the election back toward Obama, especially considering the increasingly libertarian electorate.

Alex Pundit

24 Oct 12 at 3:15 am
It would swing the election back toward Obama, especially considering the increasingly libertarian electorate.

Not that anyone gives a flying fuck about Trump*, but no, it would just make Preezy Choom look like even more of a fascist hypocrite, considering the fact that he has been more brutal in his “war on drugs” enforcement than any President yet.

Read why Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, is disgusted with Obama and is voting Romney this time around, for just one example of discontent out in voter-land.

Nobody who has lived through the past four years in the States believes that Preezy Choom, quite the drug fan in his day, wants to do anything other than continue the paramilitarization of the DEA and the imprisonment (or worse) of any US citizen who dares to enjoy the exact same substances he himself openly brags about having enjoyed.

“Some animals are more equal than others…”

*“I’ll wait to hear what Donald Trump has to say before I decide how to vote”, said no-one, ever.

sdog

24 Oct 12 at 4:22 am
Comments from the 1960′s that are so relevant today …

Change cannot be brought about easily by leaders, except in those situations in which the changes advocated do not disturb the present relationships. In fact, it is the leaders who typically become the most bitter and the most effective foes of change.

The public must take the initiative and assume responsibility for progress in the affairs of man. The public must force change upon its leaders who command more respect today than perhaps they deserve. The leader is expert in his or her small world as it presently exists, not expert in the world as it might exist.

Although the leader plays an important part in modern society, it is not realistic to expect him or her to advocate change. This is the surest way for that leader to lose his or her status. The hope of the future rests with the citizen also known as, the customer.

To be effective the citizen/customer must be well-informed, and she or he must discover better ways of making better use of her own great capacities and those of her friends. Citizens or customers cannot expect their leaders to give them much help in their upward march.

Professor George Gallup – Princeton University
The Miracle Ahead (Harper & Row NY 1964):

Aussieute

24 Oct 12 at 6:16 am
An observation on the current USA electioneering with a business twist by Alan Weiss, This just nails it in respect to Australia and the Scottish puppeteer.

We’ve seen politicians from all parties simply ignore the question asked and respond with a prepared sound bite on another topic. Every day, prognosticators on finance or technology or society get it wrong and never return to apologize (though they trumpet their lucky “hits”). The social media are rife with people making absurd claims (and I regard any professional convention as an opportunity for people to lie to each other about how well they’re doing). I believe this happens because the perpetrators don’t really respect their audience, colleagues, or listeners. They don’t regard the rest of us as wise enough to see behind the green curtain. Someone complained to me recently that not enough people liked him, and wanted advice. I told him to try liking other people, to respect them, and to be honest with them. That’s the way you attract followers, votes, support, and even evangelists.

Aussieute

24 Oct 12 at 6:20 am
Congratulations to Winston Smith for his splendid survival. Winston, while you’re on the road to recovery, you must keep us informed that all is well.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 7:02 am
Nick Cater in The Australian draws back the curtain on the environmentalists camouflage cupboard, to reveal the awful truth about the overgrown band of lobbies:

Three decades after Franklin, it is surely time to recognise that the environmental movement now effectively controls Australia’s future. Unelected and unelectable, an eco-oligarchy sets the rules that governments and industrialists must follow.

Blogstrop

24 Oct 12 at 7:14 am
Sky ‘News’: Abbott says sorry for child comment.

He made no comment about anybody’s child or children.

CL, all the networks reported it like that; it was disgraceful.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 7:18 am
OBAMA VOTERS, EXPLAINED:

Let’s say that you have the ability to print your currency using your computer printer, and every merchant accepted your printouts as a valid exchange for goods and services. You need to pick up your dry cleaning? You printout a $20 bill and your cleaners hand over your garments without question. Same would be true for your mortgage, groceries, car note, etc. Your creditors even accept your printouts as payment on your debts.

Given this, how can you ever be broke? Answer, you cannot be broke. The U.S. government is not in debt simply because it can create currency to pay off the debt, and our creditors gladly accept our currency as payment on our debts. You see, the world needs our dollars because the world needs oil, and in order to buy oil, you need dollars, which means that the world needs to stockpile dollars, and that means that the U.S. can print all of the money that it wants without incurring massive hikes in interest rates to attract lenders.

I haven’t time for a debate on this revelation, busy fine tuning my printer.

Rudiau

24 Oct 12 at 7:35 am
Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood and the board face angry shareholders at today’s AGM with the company’s Australian media businesses combined valued by the market at a laughable $212 million:

The company’s market capitalisation at just $890m includes $680m from its 51 per cent stake in New Zealand-based online auction site TradeMe — valued across the Tasman at $NZ1.69 billion ($1.3bn).

That left just $212m ascribed by the market for the company’s Australian mastheads, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review as well as Fairfax Radio with its signature stations such as Sydney’s 2UE and Melbourne’s top rating 3AW.

On Fairfax’s current share price of 38c, the company’s value is less than the net debt listed in its 2012 annual report of $914m.

While the company is not in any danger of breaching its debt covenants, analysts say the market’s valuation makes it ripe for takeover or a break-up.

Mr Hywood refused to rule out a merger with other media companies, but dismissed the idea of a break-up despite some investors insisting asset sales might help unlock value in the company.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 7:38 am
They have a tourism industry in Lebanon?

nilk

24 Oct 12 at 7:42 am
Whatever’s happened to Homer? Or am I just missing that he has a new pseudonym?

Gareth Hamilton

24 Oct 12 at 7:53 am
Homer left his night job.. Stacking shelves at a supermarket and is now working at a bank.

No kidding. Why do you ask Kero?

JC

24 Oct 12 at 7:57 am
Sky ‘News’: Abbott says sorry for child comment.

He made no comment about anybody’s child or children.

He did comment about lack of expeience with families… families…children (get the connection now, C.L. It’s not really that difficult if you pay attention, son).

Gareth Hamilton

24 Oct 12 at 8:05 am
He did comment about lack of expeience with families…

Nope.

Try again.

But, as it happens, Julia Gillard does have no experience with families – except wrecking them.

No wonder her father died of shame.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 8:20 am
DRUDGE:

RASMUSSEN: R 50% O 46%.
GALLUP: R 51% O 46%.
POLLS: ROMNEY TAKES LEAD IN FAVORABILITY.

MSNBC crowd boos 9-year-old girl for supporting Romney.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 8:24 am
The AFR got quite a good news story out of the final presidential debate:

Mitt Romney strengthened his threat to declare China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency if he wins the November 6 US election as he accused Australia’s largest trading partner of stealing, hacking and counterfeiting.

In the last of three presidential debates, Mr Romney and President Barack Obama made it clear trade tensions between Washington and Beijing would continue and possibly escalate, regardless of who is in the White House in January. The prospect of heightened trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies is one that alarms trade experts at a time when the global economy is already struggling to maintain a healthy growth rate.

Australia is in a delicate position because of its alliance with the US and its heavy reliance on exports of coal, iron ore and natural gas to China.

The debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, was devoted to foreign policy, but there were far fewer of the heated moments that characterised last week’s fractious debate on Long Island.

But the AFR’s pictorial editor has made sure that Romney looks like a fire-breathing demon. On the front page, the AFR has doctored the large feature picture of Romney with a red backdrop instead of the debate’s blue background, portraying him – mouth open, thumb raised – looking like a shouting southern redneck, not a Boston conservative, and no hint of the “fewer heated moments” in the story.

In the book about Fairfax’s childish institutional leftwing bias, this picture will be used as an illustration.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 8:38 am
His quip was interpreted by Labor MPs as a potential reference to the prime minister’s childless status

(Sky news report)

That is really creepy. He’s in trouble for a potential reference? Interpreted by Labor MPs?

Ellen of Tasmania

24 Oct 12 at 8:38 am
That is really creepy. He’s in trouble for a potential reference? Interpreted by Labor MPs?

And other even more extreme leftist scum like d’Hamster.

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 8:43 am
Ditzy slip of a girl, Judith Ireland, in the SMH denounces words not used:

Baby remarks land on barren political ground.

The Opposition Leader did not use specific names… But…

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 8:43 am
Shagger Thomson’s house has been raided by the NSW police on behalf of the Vic police. Thomson not at home.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 8:44 am
Gab,
If they had of turned on the Red Light outside he would of come in.

Woolfe

24 Oct 12 at 8:51 am
True, Woolfe. One wonders if said Shagger was not at home where was he? Hmmm.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 8:55 am
Not only does the government have no experience with families, the government has no experience with business.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 8:59 am
Tom,

That fauxfacts AGM does indeed promise to be ‘interesting’.

Looking at some of hywood’s comments in that linked piece, it’s amazing just how stupid he actually is.

If these idiots have the gall to demand enhanced remuneration or performance bonuses, I hope Gina strides in and clobbers them.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 9:00 am
Baby remarks land on barren political ground.

That article is amazing. So Abbott responds to Swan’s glib remarks about the baby bonus and the cost of children but he is “really” responding to Gillard? Just amazing.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 9:01 am
Andrew Leigh spits the dummy.

THE deputy chairman of Labor’s special committee investigating migrant worker visas in the mining industry quit in protest last night after a dispute over its findings.

ACTMP Andrew Leigh is believed to have resigned over a draft report from the caucus committee, set up in the wake of the government’s special deal to allow billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart to bring in 1700 migrant workers.

We don’t know what the findings stated but it did upset Leigh. (No big deal there).

However,just like she said had no prior knowledge of Rudd’s sacking, gillard’s lie on the visa issue is mentioned further down the article.

Julia Gillard claimed she had found out about the deal after it was made.

This is believed to have sparked a confrontation with Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, who approved the deal and who claimed to have given the prime minister’s office several briefings before it was approved.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/mp-andrew-leigh-quits-over-mining-industry-migrant-visa-deal/story-e6freuy9-1226501876209

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:19 am
Good one, Barnaby.

“Let’s be honest, if you think nuclear energy is immoral, why on earth are you exporting uranium?” he said during a brief visit to Brisbane.

“If we are fair dinkum about reducing carbon emissions, and we want to have a minimum carbon emission form of power, then uranium is where it’s going to be.”

The GetUp geriatrics will be furiously hobbling their way to keyboards for next faux email campaign.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:26 am
Police raid MP Craig Thomson’s home
BY: LANAI VASEK From: The Australian October 24, 2012 8:48AM

He’s always there under the rock.

JC

24 Oct 12 at 9:29 am
Let’s see: Abbott in his “apology” said he was referencing his own experience in needing extra baby equipment when he had two daughters.

So he is explicitly confirming he was talking about baby stuff when he makes a crack about that “if the government was a bit more experienced in this area”.

Yet db and CL are busy tutting tutting about how shameful it is that the media is misreporting this?

Weird.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 9:30 am
Hurrah!

kae

24 Oct 12 at 9:30 am
This reeks of a bullshitography joint venture between Fairfax and the scaremongering amateur policians in the Australian Antarctic Division:

AUSTRALIA’S $46 million Antarctic airstrip is melting, leaving the government scrambling to find a new air link to the frozen continent.

The Wilkins runway — carved into ice near Casey station, about 3400 kilometres south-west of Hobart — was commissioned under the Howard government and hailed at its 2008 opening by then Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

But unexpected surface melt has sharply curtailed use of the summer-time airstrip.

Instead of the up to 20 chartered flights by an Airbus A-319 predicted by the Australian Antarctic Division before the runway opened, only four flights landed last season. In 2010-2011 there were two.

The division has confirmed it is examining creating a new airfield at the ice-free Vestfold Hills, with the likely — and costly — option of building a rock runway .

Division chief scientist Nick Gales recently told a parliamentary committee trends in Antarctic ice cap melt were faster than almost any records, but the pace was uneven. A University of Tasmania-led study published in ‘Nature’ yesterday showed a net loss of ice across Antarctica.

The division also disclosed there had been problems with ski-way access for two ski-equipped workhorse aircraft used to shuttle expeditioners between polar stations and field camps.

“So we are exploring a range of other possible options over the longer term,” the spokeswoman said. “No decision has been made to stop using Wilkins runway into the future.“

Definitely recommend bookmarking this story for future reference. File under: global warming – grant applications. It’s a follow-up of yesterday’s attempt to revive the climate scare by chief Fairfax zombie Ben Cubby:

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 9:32 am
Steve D
Did he manage to mention RWDB? Right Wing Death Bogan – our very own nilk?

kae

24 Oct 12 at 9:34 am
Kevin Rudd is in London where he’ll deliver a lecture on “China, Australia and the Asia-Pacific: new challenges in a changing environment”, at 5pm local time (3am Thursday AEDT)

Why is a backbencher in London lecturing on anything?

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:36 am
“Police raid MP Craig Thomson’s home”

Wonder what evidence the police think they will find in Thomson’s home after all this time.

candy

24 Oct 12 at 9:37 am
But the AFR’s pictorial editor has made sure that Romney looks like a fire-breathing demon.

I would have thought Mike Sutchbery would’ve stopped such moronic crap at a publication that is supposed to be a business journal for adults.

I’m coming to the conclusion he buys into this paiting the right as pantomine villians.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 9:40 am
Stevieliar QC clean the toilet

Tiny Dancer

24 Oct 12 at 9:47 am
kae 24 Oct 12 at 9:34 am

Did he manage to mention RWDB? Right Wing Death Bogan – our very own nilk?

I’ll have to get back to you, Kae.

(So what’s the record for posting on a stale open thread after the new one’s up?)

Steve D

24 Oct 12 at 9:47 am
sfb, from the article, Abbott is responding to Swan’s glib remarks, and yet it is being continually reported he’s responding to Gillard. Surreal.

BTW, the fact that you yesterday referred to his statement as a ‘dog-whistle’ assumed that one could not directly construe his statement as you and the media have construed them.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 9:49 am
Token, what you need to realise is that Stutch has his hands full. The AFR was thoroughly colonised by the left over two decades, so there is only so much influence a reformist can exert. Stutch has re-organised the AFR’s front window somewhat, but in the back of the shop the same old suspects keep ruining trade. The use of the Romney picture is an example.

Somewhere in the AFR, there is a picture editor/chief sub who doesn’t approve of the paper’s new direction. So, when selecting the pic, he uses a bad one. Unless Stutch stands over the subs with a big stick, they will keep slipping visual propaganda into the paper.

Fairfax needs a new owner and a thorough housecleaning — or, at the very least, a cadre of new, mid-level editors to knock heads.

Old journos (like me and commenter Tom) were hoping the recent Fairfax layoffs and buyouts would be targeted. Unfortunately, that exodus took some of the few decent journos left in the place while elevating the leftard children and ideologues. One infamous Fairfax greenie-weenie was promoted from the enviro beat to handling “society” as well.

Fairfax AGM is today. I hope someone goes to town about the ongoing editorial debacle that has stuffed the company.

areff

24 Oct 12 at 9:57 am
Jeff Kennett:

WHAT sort of country are we becoming, when our Prime Minister becomes so desperate that she uses her gender to deliberately and personally attack her opponent in the most unbecoming way in Parliament.

To accuse Tony Abbott of being a misogynist, a hater of women, is as irresponsible as one can get.

It is a charge without truth and an insult to Abbott’s wife, Margaret, and his daughters.

But clearly our Prime Minister has no respect for the truth or the office she holds. Life is all about Julia, her interests, her desire to survive…

Julia Gillard and the party she leads have failed every measure of good government.

She now has only personal invective left in her arsenal on which to base her argument for re-election….

Well said, that man.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:57 am
“Dog whistle” has no well defined meaning. It can, in my opinion, be used for any veiled reference to a matter, regardless of how transparent the veil actually is.

I know you will never admit it, but the issue is what does “experience in this area” refer to. Abbott confirms he was thinking about what his experience of having babies was.

The next issue why is he talking about “this government” needing a “bit more experience”.

I’m pretty sure that nearly all ministers in “this government” has had babies, including Swan, even the lesbian one.

The big exception, of course, is the PM. Or are you going to mount an argument that Bob Carr is relevant to this?

You’re so obtuse and stupid when you want to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if you will…

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 10:01 am
We’ll leave SFB to continue his rant in defense of his Dear Leader…in other news:

CONTROVERSIAL secret polling calculating the boost to Labor from Kevin Rudd returning to the leadership was commissioned by the Queensland branch of United Voice, sparking a bitter fight within the left-wing union.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/union-split-by-secret-polling-for-rudd-20121023-283iv.html#ixzz2A9QyMY2T

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:04 am
Stutch has re-organised the AFR’s front window somewhat, but in the back of the shop the same old suspects keep ruining trade. The use of the Romney picture is an example.

Thanks areff.

I would’ve hoped for more from the AFR.

I work in a large corporate and the childish antics of the Financial Review is noted by Execs who live in the real world of business. The AFR has a place in the organisation at the current time, but it is living on borrowed time.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:05 am
We’ll leave SFB to continue his rant in defense of his Dear Leader

It is any surprise SoB acts like a fruitcake?

That old dog hears all the whistles for bigots, mysogynists and homophobes.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:08 am
“Dog whistle” has no well defined meaning

I hear leaders of Animal Farm (i.e. the Macquarie Dictionary) will be painting their new definition of Dog Whistle on the barn wall soon.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:11 am
Swan, by the way, has 3 children.

Maybe he just didn’t have them at fast enough intervals for Abbott’s liking, hey d-b?

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 10:13 am
Token, you seem to be unable to avoid italics when you refer to me. A referral to a neurologist might be in order. JamesK probably knows a sweary, abusive one you can see.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 10:16 am
Oh dear, SFB is in his frantic mood today.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Quentin Bryce GG’ship has been extended to mid 2014. Hmmm, pieces on a chess board being moved into place?

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:19 am
Dog whistle” has no well defined meaning. It can, in my opinion, be used for any veiled reference to a matter, regardless of how transparent the veil actually is.

Wow. sfb’s gone Susan Butler.

I know you will never admit it, but the issue is what does “experience in this area” refer to.

I referred to the “costs of children” above.

The next issue why is he talking about “this government” needing a “bit more experience”.

He’s referring to births that are no that well-spaced, so that both toddlers can’t be using the same pram or cot, and thus to the difficulties of his own experience. Remember Swan’s glib remark and Abbott’s response give his own experience? Of course, you don’t, you dingbat.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 10:19 am
We got up to four on a pram at one stage. A double ‘jogger’ pram with a third centre seat and the eldest on one of those running board type things on the back.

Steve D

24 Oct 12 at 10:26 am
Remember the last election, Abbott was accused of ‘dog-whistling’ simply by appearing with his wife and/or daughter/s on the campaign trail.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 10:29 am
Register for Fairfax AGM starting at 10.30 here.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 10:30 am
Rudd’s had his wife and kids appearing with him on numerous occasions on whatever campaign trail he was on at the time.

But it’s different when they do it.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:31 am
Woops. I was in a hurry. It’s a webcast and you can watch live.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 10:31 am
Oh dear – barking mad, taxi driver loving, ex Ozdraylian Lobodomee Pardee leader leaps to the defence of the nation’s much beloved victim in chief, Ms Misogyny Slush-Fund:

It is part of the irrational right-wing obsession in this country with all things Lardarse. In the tens of thousands of words written on the subject, nothing has been produced which implicates the Prime Monster in the fraud itself.

So there you have it. Shut Up, or he’ll break your bloody arms…

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 10:33 am
Shagger Thomson’s house has been raided by the NSW police on behalf of the Vic police.

The Gillard ‘government.’

Aint she a beaut?

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 10:33 am
Oh, so Abbott’s comment is all about how Wayne Swan didn’t have his 3 children fast enough.

Of course, Tony knows all about [thinking you've had] a child at the age of 19, so I can see why he’s commenting about how it’s a sign of inexperience when other politicians haven’t pumped them out fast enough.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 10:33 am
Here’s the thing. Gillard has never flown a space shuttle, driven a b-double, worked on a farm, cut firewood for a living, or had children.

Why is the last one taboo? She hasn’t. It’s a fact. Therefore, and I say this fully advisedly from my own consistent experience, she has no fucking clue. If you don’t have kids, you have no idea. The science is settled.

wreckage

24 Oct 12 at 10:33 am
This really does have the smell of a Steve-fuckwit thread hijack.
Please people, dont engage with the liar, it has been shown time and again that he is an imbecilic attention whore who will go away if he is ignored.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

24 Oct 12 at 10:33 am
Keep at it, SFB. You go girl!

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:34 am
Hmmm, pieces on a chess board being moved into place?

Foiling a Double Dissolution eh Gab?

What rats they are. Well, Governors-General have been brought down before today, on very small issues.

Two can play at that game.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

24 Oct 12 at 10:34 am
BTW, the fact that you yesterday referred to his statement as a ‘dog-whistle’ assumed that one could not directly construe his statement as you and the media have construed them.

LOL.

Yes, yesterday only dogs (left-wingers) could hear it.

Today Abbott explicitly ‘said’ it.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 10:36 am
PM can sack the GG. I would. Immediately after being sworn in Abbott should replace the GG and, of course, every other ALP appointment.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 10:38 am
wreckage, you idiot.

Politicians come up with policies affecting space shuttles, trucks, farms, firewood and children all the time, and people don’t attack their qualifications for doing so on the basis they have never been an astronaut, truckie, farmer, lumberjack or ….

Oh yeah, wait a minute. Yes when it comes to children and how much money it costs to raise them, it’s absolutely friggin’ essential that you’ve had one before you can make credible policy on that matter. Because, as we all know, it is so friggin’ hard to have any idea on that issue compared to knowing what it’s like to be an astronaut, truckie, etc.

What a stupid blog this is.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 10:38 am
Get those pom poms moving, SFB. C’mon, gimme a ‘G’, gimme a ‘I’, gimme a “L’…..

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:39 am
PM can sack the GG. I would. Immediately after being sworn in Abbott should replace the GG and, of course, every other ALP appointment.

Axiomatic to the Fisk Doctrine, I would hope, Sinc.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

24 Oct 12 at 10:41 am
Steve is now comparing children to firewood.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 10:42 am
PM can sack the GG. I would. Immediately after being sworn in Abbott should replace the GG and, of course, every other ALP appointment.

Thus why the “NO” case in the 1999 referendum was a great big bloody lie.

The constitutional machinations were to be replicated, with an all Australian cast and no foreign monarch.

If the situation is unacceptable, we ought to change the constitution, regardless of our head of state’s nationality.

.

24 Oct 12 at 10:42 am
SoB @ 1038,

“98, 99, change hands, 101, …”

Mike of Marion

24 Oct 12 at 10:43 am
What a stupid blog this is.

Wrong, Stevie. But it does have very stupid trolls.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

24 Oct 12 at 10:43 am
What a stupid blog this is.

Arguably it is for putting up with trolls like liar-steve® but Sinc rightly puts principle before leftist parasite detritus.

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 10:46 am
What a stupid blog this is.

Unlike all other consumers, Dogshit shitcans a product he can’t get enough of. You know what you have to do. Fuck off.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 10:47 am
I have an issue that I need to divulge quietly…Catallaxy Files has become the first website I visit every morning…..

Help!

Lysander Spooner

24 Oct 12 at 10:48 am
James K posted this elsewhere

I don’t specifically Cato.

Sinc is probably the man.

But here’s a link to the costs of regulation in the US:

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/19/the-hidden-tax-report-estimates-regulation-costs-economy-1-75-trillion/

The ‘hidden tax’: Report estimates regulation costs economy $1.75 trillion

Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, combed through the 81,405 pages of the Federal Registry — which contains the nation’s regulations on businesses, and state and local governments — and cites a report showing that regulation cost the economy a whopping $1.75 trillion in 2008.

Fucking amazing. The OECD is over-regulated to the point of creating poverty in wealthy nations by destroying employment and pilfering wages.

Any party that is against deregulation has a policy of job destruction and lowering real wages.

.

24 Oct 12 at 10:50 am
PM can sack the GG. I would. Immediately after being sworn in Abbott should replace the GG and, of course, every other ALP appointment.

Abbott’s first 100 days should resemble kristallnacht on steroids. It won’t unfortunately.

H B Bear

24 Oct 12 at 10:50 am
What a stupid blog this is.

Well Dickhead, easy solution, fuck off & don’t come back. Don’t let the doorknob get stuck in your arse on the way out.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

24 Oct 12 at 10:50 am
Abbott’s first 100 days should resemble kristallnacht on steroids. It won’t unfortunately.

Is Homer Paxton an adviser?

.

24 Oct 12 at 10:51 am
You’ll be assured to know that chairman Roger Corbett thinks the group is suffering from a “cyclical” downturn and the 2012 writedown-driven $2.7 billion loss is acceptable in the circumstances.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 10:51 am
Sorry, that’s Fairfax group.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 10:52 am
Oh, so Abbott’s comment is all about how Wayne Swan didn’t have his 3 children fast enough.

Yes, Abbott was responding to Swan’s glib remarks. I suppose you’ll catch-up eventually.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 10:55 am
Fairfax management is another mob who should have died of shame long ago.

H B Bear

24 Oct 12 at 10:55 am
PM can sack the GG. I would. Immediately after being sworn in Abbott should replace the GG and, of course, every other ALP appointment.

Including all the ex-Liberal politicians the ALP has appointed?

m0nty

24 Oct 12 at 10:56 am
Politicians come up with policies affecting space shuttles, trucks, farms, firewood and children all the time, and people don’t attack their qualifications for doing so on the basis they have never been an astronaut, truckie, farmer, lumberjack or

Yes they do, actually, you dumb fuck. Have you ever been involved in industry lobbying of any kind?

wreckage

24 Oct 12 at 10:56 am
Including all the ex-Liberal politicians the ALP has appointed?

Yes, why not?

wreckage

24 Oct 12 at 10:57 am
Tom,

I think the Corbster meant to say, “the Fauxfacts group is suffering from an endless cyclcal downturn”…

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 10:57 am
Yes when it comes to children and how much money it costs to raise them, it’s absolutely friggin’ essential that you’ve had one before you can make credible policy on that matter.

Dunning-Kruger, you insufferably ignorant subnormal.

wreckage

24 Oct 12 at 10:58 am
Including all the ex-Liberal politicians the ALP has appointed?

Yes, including Malcolm Fraser.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:59 am
SfB, that’s a nasty case of butthurt you’ve developed.

wreckage

24 Oct 12 at 11:01 am
Oh lawdy, don’t mention ‘butt’ to SFB, he’ll be linking articles about butt plugs again.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 11:02 am
and people don’t attack their qualifications

Hang-on, whenever abortion comes up men are told by Emily’s Listers to shut-up because they’re men, even though moral arguments don’t have testicles. What gives?

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 11:03 am
I’m waiting for Hywood to express confidence in FXJ’s junk editorial content.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 11:04 am
Linky!

wreckage

24 Oct 12 at 11:05 am
Sinclair and Catallaxy get a mention in Cut&Paste again. Good stuff.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 11:06 am
wreckage,

Yes they do, actually, you dumb fuck. Have you ever been involved in industry lobbying of any kind?

The answer to that is obvious, the mendicant housefrau is an entirely unproductive member of society.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

24 Oct 12 at 11:08 am
Rabz @10.33am if ever Australia gets a Monster Raving Loony Party is there any doubt this man will be its first leader? It is a tribute to the ineptitude of the ALP that they put him up as a potential Prime Minister.

Good to see Mr Anne Summers maintaining the high editorial standards over on The Dumb.

H B Bear

24 Oct 12 at 11:11 am
THE Queen has extended Governor-General Quentin Bryce’s term in the role, on the advice of the Australian government.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/queen-extends-g-gs-term-until-2014/story-e6frfku9-1226502093064#ixzz2AAdAnE3q

LOL gillard therefore pretending to be Pontius Pilatus.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 11:12 am
Gab – again? We got a mention yesterday.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 11:12 am
Yesterday, Sinclair.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 11:13 am
Yes – it was good.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 11:27 am
Have you mopped the floors Stevieliar QC?

Ron out of doughnuts mOron?

Tiny Dancer

24 Oct 12 at 11:29 am
Politicians come up with policies affecting space shuttles…

Watch what you’re saying SoB, you’ll make the PM cry again.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 11:33 am
Rasmussen and Gallop…

Now:

Romney inches up, takes lead in ABC/WaPo tracking poll

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 11:39 am
d-b: who says I support the feminist line that men aren’t entitled to be involved in matters of abortion laws?

They are wrong, as are (obviously) people who crap on so much about the importance of any single politician having their own kids to come up with good policy affecting families.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 11:40 am
According to the Australian media, yesterday Abbott abused Gillard about having a barren womb and Obama smashed Romney in the debate.

I must have a drinking problem.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 11:42 am
One in 20 [Catholic] priests an abuser, inquiry told

AT LEAST one in 20 Catholic priests in Melbourne is a child sex abuser, although the real figure is probably one in 15, the state inquiry into the churches’ handling of sex abuse was told yesterday.

I typoed in the other thread, the lower figure was 15, not 12.

[I have no interest in this topic being pursued. If anyone has information relating to a crime having been committed by specific individuals be sure to notify the relevant authorities. Sinc]

m0nty

24 Oct 12 at 11:48 am
So, IT, you didn’t think it odd that Romney’s foreign policy stance came down to: “I agree with everything Obama has done, but I think he bows too much when meeting foreigners”?

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 11:48 am
d-b: who says I support the feminist line that men aren’t entitled to be involved in matters of abortion laws?

I was employing an analogy and referred to Emily’s Listers; why would you interpret this as suggesting that you held the above belief?

any single politician having their own kids to come up with good policy affecting families.

Abbott was referring to the glibness of Swan’s remarks, FFS. Just as, say, McGovern recalled his glib responses to business owners complaints about regulation once he had himself to confront those regulations as a business owner.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 11:49 am
d-b, your interpretation has as much self serving credibility as the one where CS Lewis wrote in his book “I’m not going to go into the issue of birth control,” and interpret what’s on the next page as showing he clearly agrees with you on the issue of birth control.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 11:57 am
…and you interpret….

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 11:57 am
“I agree with everything Obama has done, but I think he bows too much when meeting foreigners”?

In a more righteous time Obma would have been hanged from the Washington Monument for bowing to foreign leaders.

America fought a rather important war so that they don’t have to bow to anyone.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 12:03 pm
Prepare for an early election. Alan Kohler:

We knew the Government would have to cook the books to some extent to stay in surplus this year, but the scale of the culinary exertion in this week’s mini budget deserved three stars from Michelin.

The change to “large company” (that is, those with $20 million revenue or more) tax payments from quarterly to monthly has smacked gobs across the business world, although it won’t help this year’s balance. Its main effect is to provide a one off $6.2 billion pull forward of company tax for the 2013-14 budget and keeps the forward estimates in the black.

RTWT

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 12:04 pm
…you didn’t think it odd that Romney’s foreign policy stance came down to…

Of course it didn’t.

It obviously had way too much nuance for a lightweight like you Steve.

Enjoy your small dreams with your childish pantomine charactures.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 12:05 pm
Prepare for an early election. Alan Kohler:

No sh*t Sherlock.

That Kohler really is an A class talent, how much did News pay for this insight again?

When the love media finally verbalises what has been obvious since the budget was announced last May, you know even the thickest people in the community have figured out Labor’s game and that they’ll never deliver a surplus (i.e. rusted on Labor voters like Steve from Brisbane)

Token

24 Oct 12 at 12:08 pm
Yep, the ALP Government are just pulling forward income to pump up the figures in the short term. Nevermind that (or celebrate that) the Liberals shall have to endure a gap in funding if they restore the old way, and nevermind the collateral damage to businesses in the meantime!

Steve D

24 Oct 12 at 12:10 pm
Julia Gillard: “I have done nothing wrong.”

Richard Nixon: “I am not a crook.”

Bill Clinton “I did not have sex with that woman.”

Craig Thompson: “All of the above.”

Viva

24 Oct 12 at 12:12 pm
Steve D, you can bet that after the election we’ll discover unemployment jumps to 8-10% as all the people artificially classified as unable to work due to disability get reclassified as able bodied workers.

We’re going to need a truth & reconciliation commission to work through the shed load of lies.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 12:13 pm
Gold viva

Rousie

24 Oct 12 at 12:13 pm
That’s brilliant Viva.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 12:15 pm
d-b, your interpretation has as much self serving credibility as the one where CS Lewis wrote in his book

sfb waves the white flag. He said he wasn’t going to go into detail on birth control. Later, in his chapter on sexual morality he clearly makes a statement with implications for his position on birth control without going into detail. You wanted to deny the implications of his statement by mentioning his remark in the preface; I’ll let those reading decide who was being self-serving.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 12:17 pm
I’m stealing that as my fb status, Viva

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 12:17 pm
Viva, that needs to be made into an ad for the next election.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 12:18 pm
I’m stealing that as my fb status, Viva

Be my guest Fleeced lol.

Viva

24 Oct 12 at 12:19 pm
Wish it were true, Token, but I fear the coalition won’t be game enough to proceed with a full cleanout of the mess as far as redefining disability thresholds and many other things. Abbott’s killing, burying and then cremating of Workchoices at the last federal campaign sticks in my mind as the template for not touching things more than necessary for fear of backlash, whether real or imagined.

Perhaps only if they first get into a position of enviable strength may they see themselves as having the luxury of taking a marginally unpalatable policy to an election, a la the GST. And surely Industrial Relations has to be the first to be fixed?

Steve D

24 Oct 12 at 12:22 pm
Be my guest Fleeced lol

I did, and Sinc has already shared it – haha

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 12:22 pm
Odd that Monty and the Age didn’t mention that the inquiry “was told” that by Des Cahill – famously embittered former Catholic priest. He is now a left-wing ‘professor’ of ‘multicultural studies.’

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 12:23 pm
The other candidates chat amongst them selves.

Bit different to the main event

Driftforge

24 Oct 12 at 12:31 pm
[I have no interest in this topic being pursued. If anyone has information relating to a crime having been committed by specific individuals be sure to notify the relevant authorities. Sinc]

You forgot to mention that m0nty is a scuzzy lard-ball of leftist slime.

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 12:52 pm
C.L.,

What is more interesting is the ACTUAL rate of ALP Parliamentary members who have been convicted of such crimes.

[I have no interest in this topic being pursued. If anyone has information relating to a crime having been committed by specific individuals be sure to notify the relevant authorities. Sinc]

.

24 Oct 12 at 12:57 pm
Des Cahill – famously embittered former Catholic priest

As soon as I saw the recommendation, married clergy, I wondered if that was the case.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 1:00 pm
Sinclair,

In those cases the authorities were notified.

.

24 Oct 12 at 1:03 pm
Romney into $2.70.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 1:05 pm
That Kohler really is an A class talent, how much did News pay for this insight again?

Tokes, what frustrates me is that, since half of the media has abandoned the public interest to barrack for the ruling political party — unprecedented in Australia, but also happening in the US and the UK for the first time in history — they will not conduct any reporting or analysis that may prejudice the interest of the barrackee.

Everyone in Canberra knows the rabble will find it increasingly difficult to go full term because of the government’s collapsing fiscal competence as a result of uncontrolled spending. But a massive increase in spin-doctor and ministerial staff numbers is being used to hide discussions and preparations for an early election.

Phabulous Phil Coorey and Michelle Grattan are supposed to find out what’s going down. I suspect they’re well informed, but they’re telling us nothing and won’t until the rabble is ready to hold a fully orchestrated media event, at which Coorey and Grattan will kneel in the front row.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 1:09 pm
IT, have you seen the electoral college map on Rasmussen? Obama: 237 – Romney: 235 – Toss-up: 66. Wow. Florida is now in the leaning Romney column. It’s all about Ohio, now. JC, get your ass over there and start door-knocking.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 1:12 pm
[I have no interest in this topic being pursued. If anyone has information relating to a crime having been committed by specific individuals be sure to notify the relevant authorities. Sinc]

Help help, my freedom of speech is being trodden on! Nazis! Stalin! Pol Pot! Comical Ali! Big Bird!

Nah actually, I’m good. Carry on.

m0nty

24 Oct 12 at 1:17 pm
But Obama has Honey Boo Boo.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 1:18 pm
You idiot, Mont. Never been involved in a libel action? Most in the media have.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 1:19 pm
From the SMH:

Barack Obama dominated the third and final presidential debate in Florida, aggressively deploying detail and sarcasm to attack Mitt Romney

Why do the lyrics’suckin on my titties’ come to mind?

Nic

24 Oct 12 at 1:21 pm
It’s all about Ohio, now

.

The Obama campaign are now saying they can win without Ohio:

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/334167.php

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 1:21 pm
It’s not libel when you’re talking about the Catholic Church in general, Tom.

m0nty

24 Oct 12 at 1:24 pm
I’d suggest Sinc isn’t worried about “the Catholic Church in general”.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 1:27 pm
This what I heard this evening. The story that is supposed to be coming out is that the Kenyan had lots of male lovers in his younger days and in fact Chicago pols were shocked he was going into politics because this was supposed to be well known.

After David Marr tried to out Alan Jones, I suppose this is a free for all.

JC

24 Oct 12 at 1:33 pm
It’s amusing to see that Catallaxy’s assessment of presidential candidates matches that of only one country: Pakistan.

A BBC World Service opinion poll has found sharply higher overseas approval ratings for US President Barack Obama than Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

An average of 50% favoured Mr Obama, with 9% for Mr Romney, in the survey of 21,797 people in 21 countries.

Only Pakistan’s respondents said they would prefer to see Mr Romney win November’s election.

France was the most strongly pro-Obama (72%).

Tom: make me a lentil curry for lunch, ta. IT: a glass of lassi to go with it. And be quick about it…

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 1:33 pm
Michael Smith raises an interesting query regarding what is valuable in the internet era in terms of news.

Plenty of commentry there, but it is something that has changed, and yet hasn’t.

The same two things are of value. Opinion, and facts. The value of each is still greatest when you can tell distinctly which is which.

What he is doing is somewhat remarkable in that it is an attempt to gather and lay out the facts of a matter, and allow opinion to be formed from that basis.

Driftforge

24 Oct 12 at 1:34 pm
Intrade moving sharply in favour of Romney – including Ohio.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 1:41 pm
It’s amusing to see that Catallaxy’s assessment of presidential candidates matches that of only one country: Pakistan.

Hey arsewipe what’s Romney’s numbers in Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic?

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 1:44 pm
I’d suggest Sinc isn’t worried about “the Catholic Church in general”.

Then he needn’t have worried, since I certainly wasn’t going to name anyone, and I doubt anyone else was.

m0nty

24 Oct 12 at 1:44 pm
IT, the Obama Campaign need to put the smoke pipe away. If they can’t win Ohio, they won’t win Iowa, Colorado or New Hampshire.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 1:46 pm
Peter Costello:

Wayne Swan originally announced the 2012-13 budget surplus on May 11, 2010. He has heralded it in each budget and midyear review since. Which makes Monday the sixth time he’s announced it. It’s a forecast surplus of $1.1 billion. Never before in the history of budgeting has so little been promised so often.

Classic

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 1:48 pm
It’s amusing to see that Catallaxy’s assessment of presidential candidates matches that of only one country

It is matching the polls of the only country that matters in this instance.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 1:49 pm
A BBCCCP World Service opinion poll has found sharply higher overseas approval ratings for US President Bollocks Obongo than Republican challenger Mittens Romney.

What a pity the residents of those countries won’t be voting in the election.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 1:52 pm
I can imagine that this campaign is upsetting Les Majesty a great deal; I must confess, his early assessment of Romney as a robotic, soul-less character who will just “say anything” (with absolutely no regard to consistency) to get the job has appeared more and more accurate as the campaign has gone on.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 1:55 pm
After being bothered for a year or so by the ubiquitous “the cheap alternative to a facelift” internet ad featuring various older women pealing something off their wrinkled features, I see that an new ad “date older women” seems to be covering many, many, internet sites.

Can’t we get annoying massive internet ads for something better than these “products”?

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 2:03 pm
NBN death watch.

Just picked up my 4G Galaxy S3. Out here in bumfuck nowhere I was just downloading a file at 20Mb/s

Four times faster than my ADSL.

Three times faster than my two year old phone.

By time the NBN arrives here in ten years it’ll be all over.

What a waste of goddamned money.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 2:03 pm
Does saying Les M*jesty (with the “a”) shoot a comment off into moderation here?

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 2:04 pm
The Commonwealth does not even pay the full cost of its staff. It is not paying the superannuation component of public service entitlements. Nor does it count this as a cost in its budget. If a private employer tried to do this they would be prosecuted. It’s the kind of thing that drives the private sector wild. While the government is telling employers to lift superannuation contributions for staff, it is not funding its own superannuation schemes.

Scandalous.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 2:09 pm
Can’t we get annoying massive internet ads for something better than these “products”?

Dude, it’s probably just targeted advertising based on your browser history, as tracked through cookies… Stop clicking on the wrinklies and they’ll go away.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 2:12 pm
Barack Obama dominated the third and final presidential debate in Florida, aggressively deploying detail and sarcasm to attack Mitt Romney.

No no. He lost the debate. He lost all three.

And a President of the United States relying on “sarcasm”?

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 2:16 pm
My tracking history reveals I’m both a 60 year old woman in need of a facelift and a younger or middle aged man looking for lurve with an “older woman?”

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 2:18 pm
My tracking history reveals I’m both a 60 year old woman in need of a facelift and a younger or middle aged man looking for lurve with an “older woman?”

No, just that you keep clicking wrinklies.

Use Firefox. Install Ad Blocker plug-in.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 2:20 pm
Breaking big one from Reuters:

White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emails.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 2:22 pm
Dick Morris: Romney will win by 4 to 8 points.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 2:23 pm
My tracking history reveals I’m both a 60 year old woman in need of a facelift and a younger or middle aged man looking for lurve with an “older woman?”

Sounds accurate to me.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 2:27 pm
No, just that you keep clicking wrinklies.

I never click any internet ads. I have no idea how internet advertising makes any money whatsoever, as I don’t know anyone who does find it a useful source of information.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 2:31 pm
I’m guessing those emails re Libya were leaked by Team Hillary, by the way.

————————————————–

Wow. From Obama, the most depressing money plea ever:

I don’t want to lose this election.

Not because of what losing would mean for me — Michelle and I will be fine no matter what happens…

P.S. — I don’t know what Election Night will hold, but I’d like you to be a part of the event here in Chicago. Any donation you make today automatically enters you for a chance to meet me — airfare and hotel for you and a guest are covered.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 2:32 pm
I hope Bob Brown comes out of retirement, and joins his voice to Conroy’s, Swan’s and Gillard’s demanding an enquiry into the climate of sexual abuse at the ABC – on the strength of such goings on at the BBC!

Aqualung

24 Oct 12 at 2:33 pm
My tracking history reveals I’m both a 60 year old woman in need of a facelift and a younger or middle aged man looking for lurve with an “older woman?”

Google Ads certainly make money… You can pay up to $20/click for phrases like “web hosting”. Clicks can be worth more money than you realise, though it depends where they come from (actually it depends on conversion rate, but that in turn usually depends on where they’ve come from)

More surprising is that some of these dodgy products evidently sell.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 2:40 pm
… – on the strength of such goings on at the BBC!

And already one conviction of an ABC employee.

Keith

24 Oct 12 at 2:41 pm
Obama plummets on Intrade.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 2:44 pm
Family friendly:

Labor MP Kelvin Thomson: ‘Enough babies already.’

A LABOR backbencher today called for the abolition of the baby bonus to curb the birth rate and free up money for education spending…

“It was originally introduced on the claim that we need more people. I don’t subscribe to that,” he told The Australian.

“Births every year are twice the number of deaths, and furthermore, we have a massive migration program that is projected to bring in 200,000 people this year. That’s 4000 more arrivals than departures each week.”

Mr Thomson said the money allocated to the baby bonus should be used to cut the cost of tertiary education.

“I think there are better ways of spending public money,” he said.

Fewer babies, more arts degrees.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 2:50 pm
Baby bonus SHOULD be scrapped.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 2:52 pm
Not because we want fewer babies.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 2:53 pm
It was sickening to see how Gillard tried to play the victim card YET AGAIN with Abbott’s recent comments (“Oh, he’s now making fun of me for being childless!”), but seriously, the bonus needs to be scrapped.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 2:57 pm
Fewer babies, more ‘asylum seekers’.

Steve D

24 Oct 12 at 3:00 pm
Ahoy, Macquarie Dictionary.

New word: dangerosity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLIV45gG23g

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 3:04 pm
Scott Rasmussen says polling indicates no-one changed their vote as a result of yesterday’s debate.
Toe sucker Dick Morris says he is maintaining what he has been saying for eight months: Romney will win by 4-8 points and will get at least 300 electoral college votes – 30 more than needed for victory.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 3:04 pm
Obama plummets on Intrade.

Oh goodie. Like the Coles song; Down Down, Barry is Down…

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

24 Oct 12 at 3:09 pm
Must. Get. Song. Out. Of. Head…

Thanks, Lizzie!

Steve D

24 Oct 12 at 3:12 pm
It was sickening to see how Gillard tried to play the victim card YET AGAIN with Abbott’s recent comments (“Oh, he’s now making fun of me for being childless!”), but seriously, the bonus needs to be scrapped.

It’s weird how hysterical some people get over the measly baby bonus but have nothing to say about the massive, behemoth of a handout that is the Child Care Rebate where wealthy dual income families are given tens of thousands of dollars a year to pay government nannies.

Child Care Rebate:

Covers 50 per cent of your out-of-pocket expenses (total child care fees minus CCB) for approved child care up to a maximum of $7500 per child per year.
Is not currently means tested.
Paid directly into your bank account on a quarterly basis.

But yeah. It’s the means tested $3000 baby bonus that’s the problem.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 3:12 pm
We needs lots more babies to grow up and support our ageing population ‘cos they’ve living longer and to support our welfare population which is growing too apparently.

candy

24 Oct 12 at 3:13 pm
Well yes, the rebate should be scrapped too. Lets be honest, there’s a pretty long list.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 3:17 pm
It’s weird how hysterical some people get over the measly baby bonus but have nothing to say about the massive, behemoth of a handout that is the Child Care Rebate where wealthy dual income families are given tens of thousands of dollars a year to pay government nannies.

It’s a vanity thing too. If you are financially better off individually not working, then how does it aggregate that everyone is financially better off being subsidised?

We should also consider first causes of the high costs of a second parent working – tackle those before a subsidy is made.

.

24 Oct 12 at 3:18 pm
It’s a vanity thing too. If you are financially better off individually not working, then how does it aggregate that everyone is financially better off being subsidised?

We should also consider first causes of the high costs of a second parent working – tackle those before a subsidy is made.

According to Centrelink if my Mrs went back to work and we put our two boys in long term daycare five days a week (as many parents we know do) at a cost of $70 a day each we would receive from the government a total of…

$698.67 a fortnight in Child Care “Benefit” and Child Care Rebates.

That would be almost double what she would pay in tax.

That doesn’t include FTB which would be another $100+ per fortnight.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 3:54 pm
The New York Times and the Washington Post have failed to mention this newsagency story which was filed nearly three hours before the notional midnight deadline for Wednesday editions:

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:11pm EDT

(Reuters) – Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show.

The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.

The brief emails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials ultimately acknowledged was a “terrorist” attack carried out by militants with suspected links to al Qaeda affiliates or sympathizers.

Administration spokesmen, including White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film.

The US love media leaves itself even more open, if that were possible, to the charge that it is censoring bad news to save Obama’s ass.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 4:08 pm
According to Centrelink if my Mrs went back to work and we put our two boys in long term daycare five days a week (as many parents we know do) at a cost of $70 a day each we would receive from the government a total of…

$698.67 a fortnight in Child Care “Benefit” and Child Care Rebates.

That would be almost double what she would pay in tax.

That doesn’t include FTB which would be another $100+ per fortnight.

See! It doesn’t even work!

Of course, you should, as should the childless, get a tax cut equal to these benefits, scrap the benefits and reduce the regulatory burden on daycare. A cop can see my (clean) criminal history on seeing my licence, pretty much. What else do you REALLY need?

Is daycare expensive? It costs about as much to educate children in the primary and secondary school system. As usual, subsidies have just bidded up the price.

Get rid of the subsidies and raise the tax thresholds & lower the rates and everyone is better off.

.

24 Oct 12 at 4:17 pm
Maybe they should have just started carpet bombing? Would that have satisfied you chickenhawk?

Wishing to retaliate against a specific group justifies neither the “carpet bombing” nor the “chickenhawk” sledges. You are a numpty, Rex.

.

24 Oct 12 at 4:18 pm
The Reuters story was linked to by C.L. at 2.22pm.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 4:22 pm
We needs lots more babies to grow up and support our ageing population ‘cos they’ve living longer and to support our welfare population which is growing too apparently.

When my wife and I can no longer work, we plan to live with our son or daughter in some kind of granny flat/second house type arrangement, where we can help with child care and home and garden maintenance, and they can keep an eye on us.

My question is, if the childless say it’s unfair they have to subsidise those who choose to have children, why should I, or my children, subsidise the elder care of those who chose not to have children?

Eddystone

24 Oct 12 at 4:34 pm
My question is, if the childless say it’s unfair they have to subsidise those who choose to have children, why should I, or my children, subsidise the elder care of those who chose not to have children?

Apart from being cute, the main reason you have kids is to help you out when you are old and decrepit.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 4:37 pm
Rex, how dare you interrupt the fantasy that this is the biggest US security scandal since Pearl Harbour.

steve from brisbane

24 Oct 12 at 4:38 pm
Potemkin’s Village

You’re alive. Do something… here

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE

Spin that McTernan

Grigory Potemkin

24 Oct 12 at 4:38 pm
Apart from being cute,

I have to say, grandkids are way cuter!

Eddystone

24 Oct 12 at 4:43 pm
but also evidence that the attacks could have erupted spontaneously, they said, adding that government experts wanted to be cautious about pointing fingers prematurely.

This ‘caution’ was allayed quite soon by the sound of RPG and mortar fire. Also, the footage of the attack obtained by a drone in real-time also allayed any fear this might have been a ‘Reclaim the Night’ rally gone wrong.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 4:45 pm
Apart from being cute, the main reason you have kids is to help you out when you are old and decrepit.

Can’t I just hire a cute young nurse to seduce me and steal their inheritance, instead?

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 4:47 pm
That is an awful pic, Grigory. Absolutely awful.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 4:48 pm
They denied increased security despite repeated requests and intel telling them AQ was agitating. They had emails and footage showing it was no protest but still decided to play the youtube demonstration line for two weeks. Obama deserves to lose the election. Karma, baby.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 4:49 pm
My question is, if the childless say it’s unfair they have to subsidise those who choose to have children, why should I, or my children, subsidise the elder care of those who chose not to have children?

I’m not expecting state subsidies in my old age.

Having worked and accumulated wealth and assets, I’ll be quite happy to look after myself.

You know, it’s called self reliance and people used to take it very seriously.

However, you and your children will have received more in transfers, subsidies rebates, etc, than I will have across my life – that is, as well as making allowances for my own costs in old age, I’m taxed to subsidise the likes of you and your children.

That’s what ‘the childless’ object to.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 4:52 pm
My question is, if the childless say it’s unfair they have to subsidise those who choose to have children, why should I, or my children, subsidise the elder care of those who chose not to have children?

What makes you think that the kids won’t place their aged parents in a nursing home? Lots do.

Viva

24 Oct 12 at 4:55 pm
FFS, are we still arguing about that “spontaneous demonstration by less than gruntled glibyan village people” on that fateful night in Benghayzee?

Give it away.

Team obongo lied, American diplomatic staff died.

And the next day obongo jetted off to Vegas, thank you very much.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 4:56 pm
Excellent.

A Green millionaire buys a woodchip mill to close it. Despairing locals call for a boycott of her own stores so she can share their pain. Now her own stores are going broke, too.

Pity about the people employed in those stores but then that’s offset by many more who lost their jobs due to the filthy grubs in Big Green industry.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 4:57 pm
Since the dope-smoking, donut-munching zombies in Australia have no idea how the real world works, they don’t understand that Obama knew who did Benghazi two hours after it happened and the CIA isn’t going to let a politician they can’t stand try to trash its reputation to save a presidential election everyone in the military-intelligence community hopes he loses because he’s an incompetent irresponsible socialist downhill-skiing hippie. That’s why the story won’t go away and why the facts will keep leaking. In any case, it probably doesn’t matter. Odumbo looks as if he is G-O-R-N.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 4:58 pm
Toe sucker Dick Morris

Tom, who is this Dick Morris and why is he known as a toe sucker?

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:00 pm
According to Centrelink…

But if you want one parent to keep the home fires burning, you can’t even claim a tax deduction now.

Whatever you subsidise you get more of, and neither party wants one income families. Big victory for the feministas, big loss for families.

Ellen of Tasmania

24 Oct 12 at 5:05 pm
Apparently Craig Thomson’s lawyer criticised the police for tipping off the media and described the raid as “something out of a Kafka novel”.

Would that be the one where the protagonist wakes up to discover he has turned into a cockroach?

Viva

24 Oct 12 at 5:05 pm
Gab,

The greenfilth won’t be happy until there is absolutely no commercial activity in taxmania whatsoever and everyone is a vassal of the state.

Quite frankly, we should cut the useless hippie deadshits loose.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 5:06 pm
I wonder how many industries the greenfilth have shut down in Tasmania over the years?

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:07 pm
Apparently Craig Thomson’s lawyer criticised the police for tipping off the media and described the raid as “something out of a Kafka novel”.

Viva, I heard something on their ABC24 this morning about this. I wish i could remember what was said but it made me think that reporters were scanning the police channels and that’s how they got the information on the raid.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:09 pm
Gab, Dick Morris used to be the brains behind Bill Clinton. There’s a funny a story about his time with Clinton that led to the nickname. I can’t remember it. JC does.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 5:12 pm
Wasn’t morris busted sucking some prozzie’s toes – hence the nickname?

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 5:14 pm
Oh, thanks Tom. Quick check on Al Gore’s internet tells me Morris sucked the toes of a prostitute when he was working for Clinton.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:15 pm
Snap-o, Rabz-o.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:16 pm
Quick check on Al Gore’s internet tells me Morris sucked the toes of a prostitute when he was working for Clinton.

Wait… he sucked the toes of a prostitute, while said prostitute (he!) was “working for Clinton”?!

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 5:20 pm
Gab,

Nice to see you were far more proper in your description.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 5:20 pm
Well, this is going to disappoint the CAGWers
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201210/s3617515.htm

After dire predictions Australia was settling in for another El Nino weather pattern, and possibly drought, the Weather Bureau is now predicting an average summer for most of the country.

Can’t wait for the next headlines: Global cooling confirmed, anthropogenic carbon (dioxide) emissions to blame.

Biota

24 Oct 12 at 5:20 pm
I wonder how many industries the greenfilth have shut down in Tasmania over the years?

WAAAAY too many. They are a minority in the parliament, but they threaten investors/businesses with boycotts if they buy into pulp mills or buy products that the greens consider un-kosher. It’s bullying, IMHO, but it’s easy when you’re green.

(Both Libs & Labor supported the pulp mill – the greenies went after the investors. No pulp mill. Loss of jobs.) The apple industry is dying too, because we no longer get international shipping into our ports, and the cost of shipping first to the mainland means it’s too expensive. No more apple isle. And we should have had a dirty-big dam on the Franklin River.

I’m sounding shrill, sorry.

Ellen of Tasmania

24 Oct 12 at 5:20 pm
Hilarious, Fleeced but I’ve been suitably corrected. Ta.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:22 pm
…they threaten investors/businesses with boycotts if they buy into pulp mills or buy products that the greens consider un-kosher. It’s bullying, IMHO

As Gab says, it’s different when they do it.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 5:23 pm
How the New Yorker views Obamaworld:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/10/29/121029taco_talk_editors?printable=true#ixzz2A3U4cdA6

Viva

24 Oct 12 at 5:24 pm
However, you and your children will have received more in transfers, subsidies rebates, etc, than I will have across my life

Maybe, maybe not. Presumably you also received a taxpayer hand with your education at school. I can’t think of too many subsidies that we got other than that.

How much different is it to what your parents received when you were a kid? If it was alright for you to benefit as a kid, why shouldn’t today’s kids also benefit?

Personally I would rather the gov’t was not in the education or health markets, but if they are going to fund “society”, the first point of expenditure should be encouraging the production of the next lot of people.

Otherwise your investments won’t be worth very much if there’s no people to invest in.

Eddystone

24 Oct 12 at 5:25 pm
Perhaps the price of housing and rental of housing has something to do with the need for mothers to work, just to make that bit extra even after child care costs are deducted.

candy

24 Oct 12 at 5:25 pm
Not sounding shrill, Ellen, just sounding frustrated and I can’t blame you!

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:26 pm
Pity about the people employed in those stores…..

I was reading somewhere, that new stores have opened to fill the niche left by the greenie grub stores.
Some of that creative destruction happening, while the forestry industry is being destroyed without replacement.

Keith

24 Oct 12 at 5:26 pm
… the Weather Bureau is now predicting an average summer for most of the country.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 5:32 pm
Eddystone,

There’s a very key concept in my comment.

Self reliance.

You want to have to have kiddies, you look after them – as you’ve noted they can return the favour when you’re old.

The mentality of state dependence is now so ingrained, people don’t even realise it as they’re invoking it.

Not good enough.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 5:38 pm
From Viva’s link. Wow! You can sell anything in New York: Even communist doctrine dressed up as victimology and given the post-moderm graphics treatment in The New Yorker.

Obama succeeded George W. Bush, a two-term President whose misbegotten legacy, measured in the money it squandered and the misery it inflicted, has become only more evident with time. Bush left behind an America in dire condition and with a degraded reputation. On Inauguration Day, the United States was in a downward financial spiral brought on by predatory lending, legally sanctioned greed and pyramid schemes, an economic policy geared to the priorities and the comforts of what soon came to be called “the one per cent,” and deregulation that began before the Bush Presidency.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 5:41 pm
Mind you, the ridiculous welfare churn doesn’t help.

If the State must subsidise families, just cut the tax rates for married couples, FFS.

Welfare churn is inexcusably wasteful and creates resentment among taxpayers.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 5:43 pm
Far better than a a baby bonus would be a $5000 tax deduction for every kid you and the missus can pop out. That will at least ensure that those getting the night tools out for a bit of no TV merriment are worthy contributors to the system.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 5:44 pm
Tom

There’s an update in the Oz about the Faifax AGM that may be of interest.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 5:48 pm
legally sanctioned greed

I’d love to see the law outlawing greed. Followed by another forbidding Envy.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 5:56 pm
I’m too busy at them moment to find it but I remember seeing a reference, recently, to the enormous public benefit we receive from families having children that in whole or part justified the deductions or benefits offered to them. I’ll see if I can find it tomorrow afternoon/ evening.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 5:59 pm
Wow, I wonder why that fact was conveniently left out.

Wow. Rex is unaware of what ‘chatter’ is in the intelligence game and the known sources of such chatter – which have included the internet for the past decade.

Double wow. Steve from Brisbane – aged near 60 – isn’t either.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 6:04 pm
Far better than a a baby bonus would be a $5000 tax deduction for every kid you and the missus can pop out.

Too right.

Rabz, that reply seems a bit snarky. What gives?

Eddystone

24 Oct 12 at 6:05 pm
SFB is closer to 70 than 60.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 6:07 pm
Shagger sez he “div nuffink wronk”

Next news at 11

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 6:08 pm
I really can’t believe this government is still hanging on. Amazing.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 6:17 pm
db : the obvious benefit from families having children is that they are future taxpayers keeping all the elderly in society. Even the grouchy people who insist that paying for children is a waste of money.

Even at $5000 per child, for a lifetime of future taxable earnings, it’s a present value bargain, including the ones that never make it to taxpayer status. Costello knew that, and that’s why the baby bonus exists. It’s unpleasant to think of the government as tending to a taxpayer herd, but that’s the reality.

Say what you will about the baby bonus, it lifted the birth rate up from a dangerously low position. Not sure where it is now, but I still maintain natural population growth sure beats importing people as a way of maintaining the population.

brc

24 Oct 12 at 6:17 pm
For the record I would rather see the ability for parents to income split for taxation purposes than the payment of subsidies. So a husband on $100k can allocate 50k of that to the wife for staying home, but all the other subsidies and payments stop. That way you’re encouraged to have kids, encouraged to stay at home with the kids, and encouraged to have a job. Win, win and win.

brc

24 Oct 12 at 6:22 pm
Yes, brc, but this study actually attempted to quantify the economic benefit which I’d never seen before.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 6:22 pm
db : the obvious benefit from families having children is that they are future taxpayers keeping all the elderly in society. Even the grouchy people who insist that paying for children is a waste of money.

Not exactly a libertarian argument… in a nutshell, the argument made by Costello for the baby bonus was, “Look, our welfare system is basically a huge pyramid scheme, but with an aging population, we’re running out of new saps to foot the bill… so we’re gonna increase welfare for popping out new saps, and hope this props up the pyramid. That’s our solution. Grow the pyramid. Indefinitely.”

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 6:23 pm
Indeed, brc, but you know that makes us misogynists.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 6:23 pm
Finally shagger decides to hand over a sample of his handwriting to prove he did nuthink rong. How long has he had to practise a new style?

Biota

24 Oct 12 at 6:24 pm
Finally shagger decides to hand over a sample of his handwriting to prove he did nuthink rong. How long has he had to practise a new style?

Yeah… Agreed… He’s co-operating… Warrants weren’t even necessary.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 6:28 pm
I didn’t realise this would get a bit out of hand, but thanks everyone.
Discharge Friday, latest Xrays show marked reduction in heart size and improvement in cardiac function from 23% to 35% (ejection fraction)
In other words the heart is now working 50% more efficiently than before.
Thanks all…

Winston Smith

24 Oct 12 at 6:47 pm
Excellent news Winston!

Woolfe

24 Oct 12 at 6:51 pm
Winston, how did they reduce the heart size? (Layman’s terms, please).

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 6:52 pm
I didn’t realise this would get a bit out of hand, but thanks everyone.
Discharge Friday, latest Xrays show marked reduction in heart size and improvement in cardiac function from 23% to 35% (ejection fraction)
In other words the heart is now working 50% more efficiently than before.
Thanks all…

Jeez that is brilliant news Winston.

You should get drunk and smoke an habana.

I would and I don’t drink or smoke

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 6:58 pm
That’s great news, Winston, take care of yourself, I always like to read your comments so hope you’re back on board real soon.

candy

24 Oct 12 at 6:59 pm
Great news Winston.

Mike of Marion

24 Oct 12 at 7:03 pm
Not exactly a libertarian argument… in a nutshell, the argument made by Costello for the baby bonus was, “Look, our welfare system is basically a huge pyramid scheme, but with an aging population, we’re running out of new saps to foot the bill… so we’re gonna increase welfare for popping out new saps, and hope this props up the pyramid. That’s our solution. Grow the pyramid. Indefinitely.”

I’m in the realist camp on this one. Aged welfare isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so the options are cutting the welfare (never going to happen), borrowing to pay for it (most likely) or growing the taxpayer base (best option).

We’re not going to run out of room anytime soon in this country, but without taking care of it, we could easily run out of young taxpayers.

Besides, I think the chances of major technological breakthroughs are a mathematical function. The more young people born into first-world societies, the more breakthroughs will happen. Children are the future and they should be encouraged.

brc

24 Oct 12 at 7:06 pm
Ross Gittens ran a puff piece on socialism today. He managed dto find some bs study on your tax relationship with the government through various stages of life.

Young and singles are net payers, shocker! Couples with kids are net moochers, shocker!

He really has a contempt for the common sense of his readers, but I digress.

This para caught my eye:

We’ve reached the last two stages of life: couples 65 and over, then single people 65 and over. On average, largely retired couples pay next to nothing in income tax and a bit in indirect taxes, totalling $168 a week. Against that, they get cash benefits of $378 (mainly the age pension) and benefits in kind (mainly healthcare) of $481.

roughly $500 a week in healthcare? That’s $25k a year for the couple, each and every year till they pine for the fiords.

Even with the expensive end of life treatment I can’t see it. Even with nursing homes included I can’t see it.

Is the PBS THAT subsidised? Am I missing something or is it total bs?

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 7:06 pm
Children are the future and they should be encouraged.

And little babies just lovely too. Plus it is fun making them.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

24 Oct 12 at 7:09 pm
Great to hear, Winston.

improvement in cardiac function from 23% to 35% (ejection fraction)

From what you posted before, I think you had a cardiomyopathy?

Do they expect further improvement as time goes on?

Eddystone

24 Oct 12 at 7:11 pm
db : the obvious benefit from families having children is that they are future taxpayers keeping all the elderly in society. Even the grouchy people who insist that paying for children is a waste of money.

Not exactly a libertarian argument…

Ask the Japanese about the importance of demographics and the number working age people works. The decades long Japanese ponzi scheme of internally funding their giant government debt is about to start to unwind as more and more Japanese workers retire and rely on their “savings” held in the form of Japanese government bonds. Any idea where the cash for that is going to come from?

I’m not sure that having a supply of future taxpayers (either born or immigrants) is an argument in favour of the baby bonus but future taxpayers are important to the scheme of things.

H B Bear

24 Oct 12 at 7:13 pm
IT – a music video you’ll enjoy.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 7:14 pm
IT – a music video you’ll enjoy.

She’d convert every man to a big boob fan

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 7:19 pm
Wow! I love that ladies blouse… terrific song too!

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 7:20 pm
Ask the Japanese about the importance of demographics and the number working age people works. The decades long Japanese ponzi scheme of internally funding their giant government debt is about to start to unwind as more and more Japanese workers retire and rely on their “savings” held in the form of Japanese government bonds. Any idea where the cash for that is going to come from?

A while ago I posted a link to the Japanese MOF which showed that half of ALL taxes are used to pay interest. And that taxes of 44 units ( yen are big numbers and I forget, maybe 1,000s of trillion) covers half the budget, the other half (literally) is borrowed.

That really cannot go on.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 7:21 pm
IT – a music video you’ll enjoy.

Oh yeah that’s a babe alright. More than big lungs too.

Dead Soul

24 Oct 12 at 7:28 pm
Here we go.

The units are trillions of yen and my memory was pretty close to the numbers. And it is not pretty reading.

Previous budgets have not been dissimilar.

Demographic toast.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 7:28 pm
Their album “Promises” which was recorded by EMI Electrola record producer Steve Verroca became a flop in the USA and in the UK but their single “Baby It’s You” became a smash hit in Europe (especially in Germany where it reached number 4 in the charts) in February 1979 and Promises received a Gold album for more than 260,000 selling units. The song was also hugely popular in Australia, largely due to weekly programming of the original film clip on Sunday evening television music show Countdown.

What a surprise. Hundreds of Dads went out and bought that record I’ll bet.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 7:29 pm
Eddystone,

There are numerous reasons why I object to subsidising other people’s sprogs, pretty much indefinitely.

As noted earlier, I’m not opposed to income splitting for married couples for the reasons identified.

But I strongly object to subsidising feckless behaviour.

Welfare dependence in this country is now so thoroughly entrenched that we’ll soon be witnessing a fourth generation of ‘moochers’ that will be born into jobless, utterly dysfunctional, welfare dependent ‘households’.

Sorry, count me out. Some other sucker can pay for their stupid sprogs.

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 7:30 pm
Ask the Japanese about the importance of demographics

FFS, Japan is in a death spiral.

More people dying annually than being born
Terminal birth rate
No immigration

So long, suckers…

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 7:35 pm
IT – a music video you’ll enjoy.

I’m not even going to ask how you found that Sinc!

Eddystone

24 Oct 12 at 7:38 pm
The song was also hugely popular in Australia, largely due to weekly programming of the original film clip on Sunday evening television music show Countdown.

Ah yes – good ol’ countdown. Famous for wally meldrum’s desperate (and ultimately pointless) attempts to bury Punk.

Duuuhhhh, do yourself a favour – he’s some billy joel!

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 7:38 pm
So long, suckers…

If only they’d had a baby bonus!

Eddystone

24 Oct 12 at 7:39 pm
Interesting poll at the bottom of Gittins column linked by DaveF:
Poll: Do you supoort the government’s proposal to reduce the baby bonus for the second and subsequent children?

Yes 81%
No 14%
Not sure

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/stop-grumbling-about-tax-we-all-benefit-along-the-way-20121023-283ag.html#ixzz2AChX1w8N

SteveC

24 Oct 12 at 7:40 pm
IT – a music video you’ll enjoy.

Via that link’s sidebar, probably my all time favourite old video… The wonderful, the one, the only…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW3gKKiTvjs&feature=related

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 7:44 pm
Interesting poll at the bottom of Gittins column linked by DaveF:
Poll: Do you supoort the government’s proposal to reduce the baby bonus for the second and subsequent children?

It’s a Fairfax poll. The majority of their readers are homosexual, asexual or extreme greenists that feel all human life is best aborted.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 7:46 pm
That’s our solution. Grow the pyramid. Indefinitely.

Actually, I think the intention was more to soften the landing – so, keep the birth rate up, while slowing cutting back on aged welfare (by raising the age at which it is received).

Quentin George

24 Oct 12 at 7:47 pm
Poll: Do you supoort the government’s proposal to reduce the baby bonus for the second and subsequent children?

Yes 81%
No 14%

At Fairfax? Wow. Game on.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 7:48 pm
Ah yes CL and check out this wonderful rendition of Running up that Hill with Bush and Gilmour

She has such a beautiful face.

Dead Soul

24 Oct 12 at 7:49 pm
FFS, Japan is in a death spiral.

More people dying annually than being born
Terminal birth rate
No immigration

So long, suckers…

It’s a Fairfax poll. The majority of their readers are homosexual, asexual or extreme greenists that feel all human life is best aborted.

Man I’m too mellow for this joint tonight.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 7:53 pm
Poll at Catallaxy: Do you prefer to have a blog without the inane ramblings of SteveC and SfB?
99% Yes!
1%(2 x Steves) No!

blogstrop

24 Oct 12 at 7:56 pm
IT – a music video you’ll enjoy.

I remember that video from back when I was a wee boy….fondly.

Via that link’s sidebar, probably my all time favourite old video… The wonderful, the one, the only…

Sui generis.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 8:00 pm
Music videos from the 80s/70s are incomplete without Skyhooks Women in Uniform.

Showing my age here.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 8:10 pm
Running Up that Hill – FM, I’d forgotten how good that song is. Thank you, DS.

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 8:10 pm
Here we go. Their desperation is palpable.

Mitt Romney was heavily involved in the extremely messy divorce of one of his key supporters … and the Boston Globe is going to court first thing Wednesday morning in an attempt to unseal the court file as well as lift a gag order … TMZ has learned.The divorce was between Staples co-founder Tom Stemberg and his first wife Maureen. We’re told the divorce battle lasted for years and was extremely ugly.Sources tell us Romney gave both a deposition in the divorce and testified in the trial. According to our sources, the Boston Globe got a tip that there was “juicy information about Romney” in the sealed documents. Romney, Stemberg and Maureen were all served papers by the Globe notifying them that the paper was trying to unseal the case and lift the gag order enforced on all parties.According to an article in the Boston Globe in 2005, Maureen received nearly 500,000 shares of Staples stock in the divorce … but sold half her shares before the company went public.Stemberg and Romney’s business ties go deep. Bain Capital helped launch Staples … widely seen as the first big success for Romney’s venture capital company — and Romney sat on Staples’ board of directors for many years. Our sources say Tom has filed papers opposing the Globe’s motion. Romney’s lawyers have not responded.Tom has been a major Romney supporter, even speaking for five minutes at the Republican National Convention.We’re told Gloria Allred represents someone connected with the divorce and we believe — though we have not confirmed it — that is Maureen. If the gag order is lifted, Maureen and others could freely talk about the divorce … less than two weeks before the election.

And it’s not the first time a newspaper, David Axelrod and Obama have done this – mind you, no release of the Khalidi Tape by the La Times nor have we seen Obama’s university transcripts.

Let’s take a romp down memory lane and review the typical Obama campaign strategy. Obama became a U.S. senator only by virtue of David Axelrod’s former employer, the Chicago Tribune, ripping open the sealed divorce records of Obama’s two principal opponents.
One month before the 2004 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, Obama was down in the polls, about to lose to Blair Hull, a multimillionaire securities trader. But then the Chicago Tribune leaked the claim that Hull’s second ex-wife, Brenda Sexton, had sought an order of protection against him during their 1998 divorce proceedings.
Those records were under seal, but as The New York Times noted: “The Tribune reporter who wrote the original piece later acknowledged in print that the Obama camp had ‘worked aggressively behind the scenes’ to push the story.” Many people said Axelrod had “an even more significant role — that he leaked the initial story.”
Both Hull and his ex-wife opposed releasing their sealed divorce records, but they finally relented in response to the media’s hysteria — 18 days before the primary. Hull was forced to spend four minutes of a debate detailing the abuse allegation in his divorce papers, explaining that his ex-wife “kicked me in the leg and I hit her shin to try to get her to not continue to kick me.”
After having held a substantial lead just a month before the primary, Hull’s campaign collapsed with the chatter about his divorce. Obama sailed to the front of the pack and won the primary. Hull finished third with 10 percent of the vote.
As luck would have it, Obama’s opponent in the general election had also been divorced! Jack Ryan was tall, handsome, Catholic — and shared a name with one of Harrison Ford’s most popular onscreen characters! He went to Dartmouth, Harvard Law and Harvard Business School, made hundreds of millions of dollars as a partner at Goldman Sachs, and then, in his early 40s, left investment banking to teach at an inner city school on the South Side of Chicago.
Ryan would have walloped Obama in the Senate race. But at the request of — again — the Chicago Tribune, California Judge Robert Schnider unsealed the custody papers in Ryan’s divorce five years earlier from Hollywood starlet Jeri Lynn Ryan, the bombshell Borg on “Star Trek: Voyager.”
Jack Ryan had released his tax records. He had released his divorce records. But both he and his ex-wife sought to keep the custody records under seal to protect their son.
Amid the 400 pages of filings from the custody case, Jack Ryan claimed that his wife had had an affair, and she counterclaimed with the allegation that he had taken her to “sex clubs” in Paris, New York and New Orleans, which drove her to fall in love with another man.
(Republicans: If you plan a career in public office, please avoid marrying a wacko.)
Ryan had vehemently denied her allegations at the time, but it didn’t matter. The sex club allegations aired on “Entertainment Tonight,” “NBC Nightly News,” ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” and NBC’s “Today” show. CNN covered the story like it was the first moon landing.
(Interestingly, international papers also were ablaze with the story — the same newspapers that were supposed to be so bored with American sexual mores during Bill Clinton’s sex scandal.)
Four days after Judge Schnider unsealed the custody records, Ryan dropped out of the race for the horror of (allegedly) propositioning his own wife and then taking “no” for an answer.
Alan Keyes stepped in as a last-minute Republican candidate.
And that’s how Obama became a U.S. senator. He destroyed both his Democratic primary opponent and his Republican general election opponent with salacious allegations about their personal lives taken from “sealed” court records.
Obama’s team delved into Sarah Palin’s marriage and spread rumors of John McCain’s alleged affair in 2008 and they smeared Herman Cain in 2011 with hazy sexual harassment allegations all emanating from David Axelrod’s pals in Chicago.
It’s almost like a serial killer’s signature. Unsealed personal records have been released to the press. Obama must be running for office!
So you can see what a pickle the Obama campaign is in having to run against a Dudley Do-Right, non-drinking, non-smoking, God-fearing, happily married Mormon.
They’ve got to get their hands on thousands of pages of Romney’s tax filings so that the media can — as Romney says — lie about them. It will be interesting to see if Obama can pick the lock of the famously guarded IRS.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 8:19 pm
(H/T Instapundit)

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 8:20 pm
Here we go. Their desperation is palpable.

Ya reckon? Apparently Anna Wintour has forbidden designers from dressing Ann Romney.

These people are sick in the head.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 8:23 pm
I’m not even going to ask how you found that Sinc!

Heh!

Facebook friend posted it. Loved the song at the time. Don’t recall the clip. I would have remembered it.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 8:27 pm
Anna Wintour?

Who the hell dresses the wookie at the moment?

kae

24 Oct 12 at 8:28 pm
Obama’s people want to go into the whole divorce and sealed papers thing?

Have they no idea how he got into politics?

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 8:31 pm
The thing is, Romney only testified. It’s not his divorce. It’s shameful how “newspapers” like the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and the LA Times don’t report the news and instead create the news.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 8:34 pm
Rex, my dog has an erection. Can I send him over?

Tiny Dancer

24 Oct 12 at 8:35 pm
It’s too late so it doesn’t matter.

But Gloria Allred?

They want to go there?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRQjw4ycPTE

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 8:46 pm
Ross Gittens ran a puff piece on socialism today. He managed dto find some bs study on your tax relationship with the government through various stages of life.

His numbers are absurd.

$600 per week to send a kid to school and for healthcare?

For $2400 a month I could buy the family gold plated private insurance, send the kids to an independent school and pay off a yacht.

What a wanker.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 8:48 pm
But Gloria Allred?

LOL I’d forgotten about that!

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 8:52 pm
Don’t recall the clip.

Hiding in plain sight, Sinc?

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 8:53 pm
Romney/Ryan draw massive crowd in Colorado. Video.

Quite incredible scenes.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 8:54 pm
Remember the hubris displayed by the BBC over the NOTW Hacking Scandal?

Nemesis arrives in the UK:

Nine serving BBC employees are under investigation for ‘serious allegations’ of sexual abuse following the sickening revelations about the late Jimmy Savile. Some are being investigated by police while others have been reported to the corporation’s management. The revelation emerged during yesterday’s questioning of BBC director-general George Entwistle by MPs over the Savile affair. Pictured: File photo

Oh.

I think the ABC has some hard questions to answer.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 9:00 pm
Hiding in plain sight, Sinc?

It probably didn’t get a showing on South African TV – at that stage there was a 15-20 minute music show called Pop Shop and that was it.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 9:01 pm
If only it was called Peep Show, hey, it might have got a run?

dover_beach

24 Oct 12 at 9:05 pm
Anyone know where Peter Slipper is these days?

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:13 pm
Who?

kae

24 Oct 12 at 9:14 pm
Somebody seems to have hooked up the formerly baggy-suited Paul Ryan with a tailor.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 9:22 pm
The ABC spent so long “savilating” over the News Ltd phone hack thing, only to have it revealed that it’s a Brit disease generally, then here comes another one. This time a public broadcaster disease, or wider than that, a media, arts and entertainment disease? One of many leftist diseases?

blogstrop

24 Oct 12 at 9:24 pm
If only it was called Peep Show, hey, it might have got a run?

LoL. No the authorities were puritanical. no naughtiness or sauciness allowed.

Sinclair Davidson

24 Oct 12 at 9:27 pm
THE number of asylum-seekers to reach Australian waters this year has nearly surpassed the total arrivals during the 12-years of the Howard government.

Customs and Border Protection today confirmed the interception of three vessels north of Cocos Islands, carrying 90 passengers.

They bring the total arrivals this year to 205 boats carrying 13,109 asylum-seekers and 274 crew. The figure is just 435 people shy of the entire arrivals during John Howard’s almost 12-years in office which saw 241 boats arrive in Australian waters carrying 13,544 asylum-seekers.

And a fourth boat in 24 hours has just been “intercepted” with 50 on board.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:33 pm
Betfair: Obama 1.62, Romney 2.62 and closing.

Steve of Ferny Hills

24 Oct 12 at 9:35 pm
Abbott accuser sues Kroger and The Australian…

This should be fun:

BARBARA RAMJAN, the woman who accused Tony Abbott of intimidating her physically at Sydney University, is suing the Victorian Liberal Party powerbroker, Michael Kroger, and The Australian newspaper, over comments during the recent fallout from the saga.

The defamation action, lodged in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday, has the potential to reopen the debate over the alleged wall-punching incident.

It relates to comments Mr Kroger made about Ms Ramjan on the Bolt Report television show on September 23, two articles that appeared in The Australian the next day, and an interview Mr Kroger gave to Alan Jones, in which he called Ms Ramjan “a nutter” and “a nobody”…

In the ensuing ruckus, Mr Kroger, who was defending Mr Abbott, accused Ms Ramjan of lying about the alleged punching incident, and also another incident which happened on campus in 1978. On the Bolt Report, hosted by conservative pundit Andrew Bolt, and the next day for The Australian, Mr Kroger produced a Trotskyist student political newsletter which he said showed that Ms Ramjan had claimed that members of the rival far-left Spartacists on the University of Sydney campus had threatened to kill her.

The Spartacists rejected the claim.

Mr Kroger alleged Ms Ramjan, whose husband is a former Supreme Court judge, had a history of making false complaints against political opponents.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 9:39 pm
I am so enjoying these revelations about the BBCCCP!

It’s a laff a minute, guys and gals!

However, I think it raises the question about the role that Tonee Yabbott’s playing…

Rabz

24 Oct 12 at 9:40 pm
The American socialist left, which controls the broadsheet press and, to a lesser extent, the FTA network TV new agenda, likes to think it can be a kingmaker. Thankfully I think it has lost control of this election and Romney is cutting through with his commonsense and business experience.

But, with less than a fortnight to go, the frujitcakes are now desperate to smear Romney as a radical who must not be elected. The straw that broken the camel’s back was the democracy of the presidential debates, which allowed Romney to speak directly to the electorate without being swamped by counter-propaganda from the left.

The vitriol that’s coming now is astounding. Take this hate-filled spittle from Harold Meyerson in today’s Washington Post:

So what does all this mean for how Romney would govern, should he win? The longer he campaigns, and shifts shapes, the less we can be sure about what he actually believes. We tend, however, to put too much stock in what our elected leaders believe — and not nearly enough in the dominant ideology of their party and political base…

While Romney has become a general-election tabula rasa, he sits atop what may be the most radical major political party in American history. Regardless of Milquetoast Mitt’s positions, a government with a Republican president and Republicans in control of the House and Senate would use its budget-reconciliation powers (which enables a Senate majority to sidestep the 60-vote requirement so frequently used to stymie legislation) to defund or repeal not only the health-care guarantees and financial regulations that Obama signed into law but also much of the education funding and regulatory safeguards on which Americans have depended for decades.

The radicals who dominate the Republican Party have entertained Romney’s turn to the center as a necessary electoral expedient. The day after a Romney victory, their blitzkrieg will begin — leaving the moderate Mitt of the general election to historians specializing in short-lived phenomena.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 9:42 pm
This is really cleverly done.

“Misogyny (‘cos nothing else will work) – The Song”

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:43 pm
Heh, especially the last line.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:44 pm
“That’s what ‘the childless’ object to.”

Rabz
Seems to me that people without children are always disadvantaged when it comes to handouts/subsidy payments.
I tend to think the baby bonus is a great incentive for Australians to have more babies and populate the country.

I understand your point of view and it’s not fair at all to those who don’t have children, but how does it get reconciled.

candy

24 Oct 12 at 9:44 pm
Rumour is that Trump is going to release the Obamas divorce papers they had drawn up but never went through with.

What is so interesting about the divorce papers? They are old news, that news came out months ago.

Wait a minute, would it be the reasons Michelle state on the documents?

Token

24 Oct 12 at 9:51 pm
Ahahahahaha.

Great song, Gab. Deserves a wider audience.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 9:54 pm
Eddystone, the issue was a viral caused dilated cardiomyopathy – the vessels are all pretty good, no blockages. Just bad bloody luck.
Gab, as the hearts output rises per beat, the need for the heart to stay large to compensate reduces, so it does. It’s a bit like the Fairfax death spiral. The worse the problem gets, the worser(?) it makes things.
You had an ablation, didn’t you? Now that’s painful – I’d say my heart goes out to you, but it doesn’t seem right somehow.

Winston Smith

24 Oct 12 at 9:55 pm
Forward it to Tim Blair, CL.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:56 pm
No, I didn’t have an ablation – whatever that is – I think it was Kae.

Thanks for the explanation, Winston. See, I had visions of the docs doing a liposuction-type procedure on the heart, or slicing a bit off here and there. ‘S’why I asked.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 9:58 pm
Here comes a

It Begins… Bayonet Company Rips Obama: “He Should Get Educated”

According to the official U.S. Marine Corps website, every Marine is STILL required to complete a bayonet training program … because “the weapon becomes just as effective [as a rifle] in close combat situations.”

We spoke with Dan Riker from Bayonet Inc. — a leading military surplus outlet that specializes in bayonets — who tells us he believes Obama’s comment was “ignorant … because our soldiers still use bayonets.”

He adds, “[Bayonets] are still distributed to the military all the time — he should get educated on it.”

Its not just Obama:

Megyn Kelly: Press Room Erupted in Applause & Laughter at Obama’s Bayonet and Horses Line

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:00 pm
Good to hear you are ok Winston.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:01 pm
I hope the Misogyny Song goes viral.

Speaking of which, apaprently when Mrs Wilson & Mrs Emerson heard that Julia Gillard had gone viral last week, they demanded Craig and Bruce go and get a shot of penicillin.

Infidel Tiger

24 Oct 12 at 10:01 pm
Boom-Tish!

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:03 pm
I can’t wait for Kroger’s barristers to deal with Barbara Ramjet.

It will be brutal.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 10:05 pm
Abbott accuser sues Kroger

Be interesting is Sheridan is called. He was there, and I think is a bit more credible than Ms Ramjan.

Could be another occupational workplace injury for the left.

Bruce

24 Oct 12 at 10:09 pm
Token, I missed the divorce papers thing. Do you have a link? The bits I found were just about Trump tweeting, no detail.

Winston Smith

24 Oct 12 at 10:15 pm
Winston, Great to hear of your good health. You’re a good man and I like having you around. All the best.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 10:16 pm
Great Conrad Black Interview.

The man is certainly worked up!

Conrad Black is described in the article as “disgraced” but he was basically witchhunted. What happened to him was possibly the biggest over-reach of corporate bureaucrats in history.

dd

24 Oct 12 at 10:19 pm
I believe Trump is being deployed as a back channel surrogate, as a credible mad man willing to Go There and Go Nuclear if Allred or any other Obama surrogate does so first. If Trump does have Obama’s binned divorce papers, look for baseball bat wacko Gloria Allred to quietly disappear from dispatches.

They send one of yours to the hospital. You send one of theirs to the morgue. That’s the Chicago Way.

C.L.

24 Oct 12 at 10:20 pm
Cross Bench.

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:20 pm
I’ve referred to the book The Amateur quite a few times in the past as the title comes from what Bill Clinton called Obama

According to the new book, The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House, by Edward Klein, Michelle Obama was so angry in 2000 that her husband had run for a House seat and failed miserably that she prepared divorce papers against him. Obama had taken on Bobby Rush, a four-time incumbent on the South Side of Chicago, and lost by a margin of two to one.

16 May 2012

We’ll find that this story is like the race-baiting tape that was revealed before the 1st debate.

The media is going hard on an insignificant detail to deny the real story oxygen. JC noted at 1:33pm today one suggestion of what the real scandal may be.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:28 pm
I believe Trump is being deployed as a back channel surrogate, as a credible mad man willing to Go There and Go Nuclear

I think you’re right. Obama only has himself to blame for that, after mocking Trump at the Correspondent’s Dinner in 2011, including, if I recall, jokes about Trump’s age and his baldness. Well, karma’s a b*tch.

dd

24 Oct 12 at 10:28 pm
Watching the hamster wheel on ABC – it’s shocking how bad the chaser guys have become. Their shilling for the government is atrocious. And unfunny, which is the greater sin.

brc

24 Oct 12 at 10:33 pm
In honour of Sdawg who seems to be slack and not ponying up with a lot of cute animal stories of late:

Ten adorable animals that can give you rabies

I prefer mine with a twist.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:34 pm
More details from The Amateur about the Obama marriage:

In extracts which had already been made public Mr Klein claims that Mrs Obama is so jealous of her husband receiving female attention she orders women who are close to him in the White House to be watched.

The First Lady is supposedly paranoid Mr Obama will cheat on her as John F Kennedy did to his wife.

In the book he adds more detail and claims when Mr Obama was studying at Harvard as a law student she would fly into jealous rages when she saw him with other women.

She was supposedly so territorial that she ‘drove a lot of Barack’s friends away’, Mr Klein writes.

The only reason they got married at all was that Mrs Obama ‘insisted’ upon it – because she wanted to ‘remake him’ as she wanted and not let him have an easy life.

As you can see the divorce rumour is not news at all.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:37 pm
one suggestion of what the real scandal may be.

There are also rumours that he still does coke. I found it curious during the previous election and in the four years since that despite his admission of previous use, nobody ever asked him, “so when was the last time?”
It would be an interesting question, not to accuse him of addiction or abuse, but just out of sheer curiosity. You know, it would be interesting if the answer was “when I was twenty” versus “When I was thirty”. Or whatever. That tells you something about a man, about what sort of life he has lived.

But we don’t know because nobody ever asked.

dd

24 Oct 12 at 10:40 pm
One of the reasons Obama has given up on winning Virginia:

President Barack Obama ended up revealing an astonishing level of ignorance about the state of military technology during the presidential debate in Boca Raton, FL Monday night.

The U.S. Commander-in-Chief misspoke about bayonets. He misspoke about horses. He misspoke about the size of the U.S. Navy. He misspoke about the makeup of the Navy. And the whole time, he thought he was teaching his opponent Mitt Romney a lesson.

Token

24 Oct 12 at 10:45 pm
Is the media biased?

Gab

24 Oct 12 at 10:45 pm
In extracts which had already been made public Mr Klein claims that Mrs Obama is so jealous of her husband receiving female attention she orders women who are close to him in the White House to be watched.

Umm so what does she think of Gillard pawing and groping all over him then?

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 10:52 pm
He misspoke about horses. He misspoke about the size of the U.S. Navy. He misspoke about the makeup of the Navy.

Simple. He’s just not interested in that stuff because he’s an airhead.

Tom

24 Oct 12 at 10:55 pm
One of the reasons Obama has given up on winning Virginia

Obumma’s no genius but he’s not stupid.

He knows he’s already lost Virginia.

The city council level attack was for his base.

PBS’ Newshour had no idea Virginia is lost.

They did a whole long segment on how close the race in Virginia is, right after a segment which described how less than subtle Romney’s foreign policy was whilst they showed Obumma belittling the need for 300 plus ships and bayonets etc whilst educating Romney about aircraft-carriers etc..

The Quadrennial Review says the US should have 340. The have 287 and will have considerably less in the next 4 years especially if the sequestration goes through in January

JamesK

24 Oct 12 at 10:56 pm
Abbott accuser sues Kroger and The Australian…

This should be fun:

Note the lawyer:

On Tuesday, after the discussion Mr Kroger had with Jones on his 2GB radio show, Jones apologised after being contacted by Sydney lawyer, Chris Murphy, a mutual friend of both Jones and Ms Ramjan.

Same guy (celebrity lawyer extraordinaire) who “broke” the story on Twitter at the height of the Gillard / Wilson brouhaha claiming that he’d “interviewed” Ramjan twice.

The story was so shaky that even vexnews wouldn’t touch it.

Then two weeks later David Marr, Fairfax and the ABC found it.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 10:57 pm
His numbers are absurd.

$600 per week to send a kid to school and for healthcare?

For $2400 a month I could buy the family gold plated private insurance, send the kids to an independent school and pay off a yacht.

What a wanker.

Well of course he’s a wanker.

However I didn’t have a real beef about those numbers as I imagine they include the childcare lolly which is pretty solid and also its by family so you’re looking at 2 kids on average which is a fair bit on school – Myschool website shows most primary schools have a per child funding of $8k in NSW anyway.

I’m not sure about high school but it must surely be higher than that.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 11:02 pm
Is the media biased?

Please provide a warning Gab when you post a collage of offensive images with a red background like that. Its almost as bad as the stealth Roxon attacks…

Token

24 Oct 12 at 11:11 pm
Three greens gone now, according to Antony.
The despicable Hunter defeated.

Keith

24 Oct 12 at 11:13 pm
Well there have been a lot of rumours that Obama swings both ways and was close to several young men in his church, some of whom died in iffy circumstances.

And of course there is ‘body man’ Reggie Love who recently resigned as Obama’s companion.

That said I read them as pretty sketchy and less than convincing.

I much prefer the Vera Baker rumour.

Donald ‘Birther’ Trump is the best man to start those smears, certainly Mittens can appear an adult with “there is no room for these type of allegations in the campaign”.

Btw is it actually possible for a party in a Family Court action to ask for the docs to be unsealed? Isn’t it to protect the children.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 11:13 pm
However I didn’t have a real beef about those numbers as I imagine they include the childcare lolly which is pretty solid and also its by family so you’re looking at 2 kids on average which is a fair bit on school – Myschool website shows most primary schools have a per child funding of $8k in NSW anyway.

If they’re in school they’re not getting childcare funding.

$8000 a year is $166 a week which is a looong way from $600 per week.

twostix

24 Oct 12 at 11:16 pm
whenever you feel blue, check this link.

Infidel tiger

24 Oct 12 at 11:23 pm
http://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/politics/australian-federal-election/outrights?ev_oc_grp_id=565775

Infidel tiger

24 Oct 12 at 11:24 pm
If they’re in school they’re not getting childcare funding.

$8000 a year is $166 a week which is a looong way from $600 per week.

Hmm…well it’s for 2 so $320+ per week with dearer high school down the pike. And it may include some uni funding later on. Medicare is negligible.

Possibly the MySchool source includes only the direct payments to schools and not the overlaying beaurocracy which could add a lot to the final figure.

Perhaps all the numbers are misreported. Its Gitten’s paen to socialism so he needs to prove it’ss all fair and there’s no need to gripe about more tax.

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 11:31 pm
IT

You are kidding me!

Are there rumours Swan won’t contest it?

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 11:36 pm
whenever you feel blue, check this link.

I hate how when you miss the “:” in hyperlinks, wordpress can’t figure it out. It should be pretty easy to parse.

Fleeced

24 Oct 12 at 11:40 pm
The title “Craig Thompson Specials” is just a tease.

I was hoping for some juicy options. Sadly….

DaveF

24 Oct 12 at 11:46 pm
Potemkin’s Village

It’s a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses

… here

Grigory Potemkin

24 Oct 12 at 11:50 pm
kae 24 Oct 12 at 9:34 am

Did he manage to mention RWDB? Right Wing Death Bogan – our very own nilk?

RWDB is mentioned in The Rise of the Fifth Estate the appendix of Australian political blogs but I cannot recall if it gets a detailed mention in the text. The text does mention a ‘Lizzie’ who comments, but I’m not sure she’s our Lizzie. Could well be, though, given the book’s recent release and the author admits to popping over here on a regular basis, if only as a lurker (p 47).

Steve D

25 Oct 12 at 12:14 am
It’s long enough ago that not all will realise the source of Grigory’s poetry…

Steve D

25 Oct 12 at 12:17 am
Apologies Steve D. I thought the source would have been obvious, ie Dire Straits

Grigory Potemkin

25 Oct 12 at 12:20 am
How seriously do the Americans take security… for Mitt Romney the contender?

This seriously:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI-v22g40gE&feature=relmfu

Far out.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 12:24 am
New Yorker’s Johnathon Chait is as informing as usual.

Opening lede: straw man

In recent days, the vibe emanating from Mitt Romney’s campaign has grown downright giddy. Despite a lack of any evident positive momentum over the last week — indeed, in the face of a slight decline from its post-Denver high — the Romney camp is suddenly bursting with talk that it will not only win but win handily.

2nd para: best beat that straw man like a drunken stepfather on a truculent stepson

This is a bluff. Romney is carefully attempting to project an atmosphere of momentum, in the hopes of winning positive media coverage and, thus, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Supporting evidence follows….

I doubt he was part of Journolist as it wasn’t necessary.

DaveF

25 Oct 12 at 12:33 am
Is this real?

The UN is sending observors to the US Presidential election?

Most are from real countries, what the hell?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/110874123/United-Nations-Election-Observer-Deployment-2012

DaveF

25 Oct 12 at 12:35 am
Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump

All predictions re: my 12 o’clock release are totally incorrect. Stay tuned!

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 12:39 am
A vomitous lionisation of professional Labor stooge and gubernatorial anorexic, Quentin Bryce, by – you guessed it – Fairfax.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 12:43 am
Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump

All predictions re: my 12 o’clock release are totally incorrect. Stay tuned!

lol… so earlier? later? not at all?

Midday NY would be… 3AM Sydney? Think I’ll pass.

Fleeced

25 Oct 12 at 12:45 am
Perhaps you’re right. It is only 30 years old.

Steve D

25 Oct 12 at 12:50 am
AOSHQ seems to have the Gloria Allread litigation/shake down/really tacky divorce release/tenuous Romney connection.

http://minx.cc/?post=334186

If the MFM turn this into anything I’ll…..not be surprised.

Gee it’s a nothing.

DaveF

25 Oct 12 at 12:51 am
Well there have been a lot of rumours that Obama swings both ways and was close to several young men in his church, some of whom died in iffy circumstances.

There are more rumours about the Yeti. FFS why even bother with this type of bullshit?

But hey don’t worry, please keep posting such stupidities because it encourages me to stay away from the increasing number of fuckwits that comment here.

——

BTW James, good comments on that omega 3 and brain injury jazz. As you well know one case does not make an argument. One of the strangest studies I read was an animal study of MCAO to induce cerebral ischemia and they found a huge IV injection of monounsaturated fats massively reduced infarct size.(by 1/2 I think). I think the omega 3 has been somewhat over hyped and studies in recent weeks are repudiating many of the miraculous assertions that were being made on the basis of prior studies.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 12:53 am
Breaking exclusive in The Australian:

New mine tax fails to raise a cent.

WAYNE Swan’s $1.1 billion budget surplus projection has received an immediate body blow, with the government’s new mining tax raising zero revenue in its first three months.

None of Australia’s biggest miners – BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto or Xstrata – has any liability under the minerals resource rent tax so far in 2012-13 and the government did not receive any revenue by Monday’s payment deadline.

World’s Greatest Treasurer.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 12:58 am
Oh my.

Julia Gillard baulked at ETS ‘poison’ in climate showdown with Kevin Rudd.

JULIA Gillard warned Kevin Rudd in writing that under no circumstances would she support taking an emissions trading scheme, which insiders say she thought had become electoral poison, to the 2010 election.

In Tales from the Political Trenches, former Labor MP Maxine McKew says Ms Gillard met Mr Rudd at Kirribilli House, where the then deputy prime minister cited Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce’s campaign against the ETS, which the prime minister then dumped in April 2010.

Warned him in writing, hey?

Gee, I wonder how Maxine McKew got to read that missive.

The mind boggles.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:02 am
There goes that “$1.1 billion” surplus.

benson

25 Oct 12 at 1:02 am
Amateur hour continues.

H B Bear

25 Oct 12 at 1:06 am
In honour of Sdawg who seems to be slack and not ponying up with a lot of cute animal stories of late

Gimme a break! I got two states which stupidly and inexplicably went Blue in ’08 to turn around

sdog

25 Oct 12 at 1:06 am
Clint Eastwood: a great new ad for Romney.

They should saturate the country with this one.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:07 am
Take advantage of the wonders of the modern medicine. Still not that much progress in treating cancers EXCEPT if caught early.

Big drop in colon cancer.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 1:07 am
Ms Gillard met Mr Rudd at Kirribilli House

Another Kirribilli House deal comes a cropper.

DaveF

25 Oct 12 at 1:14 am
cute animal stories

You’ve got to start your terrifying charging career somehow…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf79qh5pmZY

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:15 am
Maybe John, but the latest intell on earliness re testing breast and prostate cancers is nebulous at best – indicative of damaging consequences at worst (especially for prostate testing).

Yes?

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:19 am
You’ve got to start your terrifying charging career somehow…

lol, just adorable. I think he thinks he’s a dog.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 1:23 am
Thomson’s lawyer blames Abbott.

ALP spokesman Phil Coorey passes on the (hilariously hollow) threat:

Mr McArdle rounded on Mr Abbott and the Coalition for continually implying guilt on behalf of Mr Thomson.

”If Mr Abbott has evidence of that he should come forward forthwith, or he should shut his mouth,” he said.

”We will not tolerate our client being condemned by innuendo or ageing student politicians mouthing off.”

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:33 am
or ageing student politicians mouthing off.”

for a second there I thought he was talking about Roxon and her slurs against Ashby.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 1:42 am
There goes that “$1.1 billion” surplus.

Any chance of a surplus went when they made the Goose Treasurer- he has trouble counting past 21…

Cold-Hands

25 Oct 12 at 1:48 am
Yes?

Prostate testing doesn’t appear to be worth the trouble, I certainly won’t bother with it. Breast cancer, hmmm I think there is value there and also with cervical cancer. There has been some good progress with these cancers but again early detection is vital. Skin cancer is definitely a big one, early detection there is a big life saver.

It gets very difficult CL because as you note the studies float about in the results so much it becomes a pain in the ass. Part of that is because there are so many really bad studies. For eg. last night I was reading a review paper which cited a study with 9 patients. With 9 subjects why even bother? Publish or perish that’s why.

BTW, heard in the news tonight about a strong association between sunlight exposure and breast cancer incidence, the implication being vitamin D levels. I think that is also being over hyped but yes Vit D. is important. There is also some data on breast cancer and melatonin levels, melatonin is strongly suppressed by bright light and even room light, it is known to have some significant anti-cancer value because it is a strong activator of natural killer cells which play a leading role in detecting pre-cancerous tumours. Women who do shift work take note, prior studies very much highlight this. If you sleep during the day wear an eye mask and keep the room very dark.

James K. can probably provide a better idea but his last comments suggested that current cancer treatment hasn’t improved much. I’m not that down on it but I have read just enough about cancers to realise that this is an incredibly difficult challenge and one not appreciated by most. At the cellular levels cancers are fascinating to study, I really enjoyed that little foray into the world of cancers and learnt enough to realise that those promising “miracle cures” don’t understand the problem. Progress will be slow and grinding but there will be progress. The crux of the problem is this: we still don’t understand cellular metabolism that well! I am awaiting the work of some mathematical biologists. That’s a big problem in biology, not enough mathematicians. I really regret not putting more effort into maths and I am far too old to start learning it but by golly I’m tempted to stretch this aging brain.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 2:59 am
Trump has come out and said that if the Kenyan releases his college transcripts and passport details by oct 31 trump will donate 5 million to any charity of the Kenyan’s choice.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 3:08 am
Trump has come out and said that if the Kenyan releases his college transcripts and passport details by oct 31 trump will donate 5 million to any charity of the Kenyan’s choice.

That’s it? *snooze*

Fleeced

25 Oct 12 at 3:20 am
Dead Soul @ 0259,

Three and a half years ago, I had Radical Prostatectomy. PSA Testing over the previous 10 years had been undertaken. Over the 2 years prior to the operation, my PSA Levels were climbing at a higher rate than for previous years (spiked). My Urologist said that, in general terms, that the numerical value of the PSA may not be an indicator but a sudden escalation in the levels should be examined. In my case the ensuing biopsy confirmed I had Ca.

Mike

Mike of Marion

25 Oct 12 at 6:15 am
Ordinarily it’s a big snooze, fleeced, but recall tha when trump first came out demanding the Kenyan’s birth certificate, it was also a big snooze.

Then trump began to fuck with head making a big sng and dance out of it and the Kenyan fronted up with his long form birth certificate.

I think this is the opening salvo with trump tormenting him about it.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 7:01 am
Dead Soul, good link thanks, Hubby has just been diagnosed with Colon Ca, very small lesion, found because of “routine” colonoscopy at 60. Two years ago he had a radical prostatectomy following a long watch of PSA levels over 7 yrs ( doc was having him do Choleterol levels and I insisted that since they were taking blood out of his arm, why not add a PSA test too, turned out to be sl. elevated. Started out at about 5 and when it got to 28 they operated). Since he is not at all ill, it is brilliant that we have early warning signals and knowledge of symptoms so CAN ACT EARLY.

hzhousewife

25 Oct 12 at 7:17 am
One for the TV addicts on here. Just watched last episode of season of The Newsroom on Foxtel this week.
Entirely enjoyable, you can Wiki it, Jeff Daniels was excellent.

hzhousewife

25 Oct 12 at 7:20 am
Quick! Everyone post a personal cancer story or at least making soothing noises about the value of John’s amazing posts lest by omission or non-participation you be labelled one of the “fuckwits” that ward him from the Cat like garlic to a vampire.

John, I had piles once. Any advice?

Abu Chowdah

25 Oct 12 at 7:32 am
Talking of fuckwits, I agree with fleeced. Wish that fuckwit Trump would stop queering things for Romney.

Abu Chowdah

25 Oct 12 at 7:36 am
I’m surprised by Thompson’s choice of lawyer.
McArdle’s practice is industrial law and mediation. Squealing at the media about potential criminal matters doesn’t really fit the profile. The outrage about the media knowing about the raid is really over-egging the ham acting. I think McArdle knew about the raid too – from the police, all pre-arranged. This feels like kabuki theatre.

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 7:40 am
Abu

Trump was great value getting the Kenyan to produce his long form certif.

This is also payback for the arsehole demanding Romney’s tax returns.

Let trump be trump.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 7:46 am
Every good yarn has a start point.

The fact that the AWUWR Association name was in her handwriting on the form required to accompany the application for incorporation, thereby knowingly breaching more provisions of that Act, absolutely nails her guilt!

It is easy to become bogged down and confused in all the documents and paperwork being released on the AWU scandal to then miss/forget the basics.

Rudiau

25 Oct 12 at 7:50 am
Trump makes no accusations in his press release, aside from Obama spending millions to keep his records sealed. It’s a proposition, made in the open, and the GOP can disavow the whole thing anyway.

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 7:51 am
press release

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 7:55 am
Labor holding a commanding 55 per cent to 45 per cent two-party-preferred lead on the back of a six-point surge in the ALP’s primary vote.

Bet that got your attention.

Liberals slump in Victoria

Rudiau

25 Oct 12 at 8:00 am
Eggsactly keith.

It’s a great deal. The kenyan directs 5 million to the charity of his choice and the punters get to see the transcripts along with his passport that would most likely show the Kenyan getting into the elite universities through minority status by claiming foreign birth, thereby becoming the very first birther.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 8:04 am
Deservedly too, rudiau.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 8:05 am
Baillieu is an old time patrician like Tory. They are equally as despicable as the left.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 8:06 am
An excellent candidate emerges to become the Gillard rabble’s monthly crisis for November:

ARREST warrants on charges of attempted murder and robbery have been issued for 14 asylum seekers on a pirated fishing boat which is thought to be headed for Australia.
Sri Lankan police have also called in Interpol in the hunt for the group that bound the hands of crew, cut one man’s throat and then tossed at least two deckhands into the sea south of Sri Lanka…
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare’s spokesman said last night that Australia does have an arrangement that makes extradition to Sri Lanka possible, following an extensive legal process.
“I can confirm that Australia is able to consider extradition requests from Sri Lanka under the Extradition (Commonwealth Countries) Regulations 1998,” the spokesman said.

First, the criminals appoint Julian Burnside to represent them, then demand rights under the XYZ convention and wheel out their sobs stories. A six-month court case ensues in Perth/Darwin/Sydney before they’re released into the community.

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 8:10 am
A six-month court case ensues in Perth/Darwin/Sydney before they’re released into the community.

At which point they sue for wrongful incarceration, pocket a poultice apiece and ship over 37 relatives each under family reunion provisions.

areff

25 Oct 12 at 8:17 am
The Greens escalate their campaign to make Tasmania an employment-free zone:

THE Australian Workers Union and the Greens will hold talks today in Sydney over the future of Tasmania’s Tarkine wilderness in a meeting that will spark hopes of a negotiated settlement to one of Australia’s most explosive environmental disputes.

Heading the delegations will be AWU national secretary Paul Howes and new Greens senator for Tasmania Peter Whish-Wilson, who are on the opposite sides of an increasingly bitter fight over the future of the northwest Tasmanian region, which is being considered for World Heritage listing.

Environmental groups have ramped up a campaign to protect what they say is world-class wilderness and have signalled a Franklin Dam-style stoush.

But the AWU has countered with its own campaign, arguing that locking the region up would cost thousands of jobs, harm Tasmania’s economic growth potential and ignore the fact that the environmental integrity of the area has been maintained despite mining dating back to the 1870s.

The time nears when we must consider revoking Tasmania’s statehood and put in administrators to protect the value of Commonwealth tax outlays.

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 8:20 am
Link

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 8:21 am
Two new RR ads.
One with Eastwood. “There’s Not Much Time Left”

Rudiau

25 Oct 12 at 8:27 am
And now, tax-eaters who are so useless not even the APS will hire them:

Government agencies are loath to hire retrenched public servants as they regard them as duds rejected by their previous workplaces.

Parts of the federal bureaucracy are also offering payouts to underperforming staff in a bid to get rid of them, in defiance of the government’s employment policies.

The practice could expose the government to lawsuits from redundant workers.

Prejudices against so-called ”excess staff” are detailed in documents obtained under freedom of information laws.

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 8:33 am
Take advantage of the wonders of the modern medicine.

There are some wonders. I picked up a bad stomach infection of Helicobacter Pylori in Africa (I think I can identify the exact fly-blown jam jar it came from but this may indeed be over-egging my capabilities). A course of antibiotics and I am cured of something (stomach eating ulcers) that could have had me a psychological and physical wreck for the rest of my life, so I’m thankful two Australian researchers sat down and had a think about it.

Nobel Prize stuff of course. Paradigm shifting and very daring in methodology (intrepid researcher swallowed a jam jar full of the bugs to prove his point, then used an anti-biotic flood to kill them).

Piles, Abu? How very uncomfortable for you.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

25 Oct 12 at 8:37 am
… an increasingly bitter fight over the future of the northwest Taxmanian region, which is being considered for World Heritage listing.

That’s just bloody great, you greenfilth dirtbags – why not just get the whole bloody island declared a “World Heritage Area” and be done with it?

As I said yesterday – time to cut the bludging, parasitic hippy deadshits loose.

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 8:38 am
Parts of the feral bureaucracy are also offering payouts to underperforming staff in a bid to get rid of them, in defiance of the gubberment’s employment policies.

WTF, so their ‘employment policy’ in this case is to keep the useless bludgers in the belly of the beast, at taxpayers’ expense?

Firehose and broom time, Yabbott!

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 8:41 am
Trump was great value getting the Kenyan to produce his long form certif.

He actually didn’t JC.

He produced a electronic copy of his supposed long form birth certificate in a manner, I think, designed to cause the issue to continue.

I’d be much more interested in his college transcripts

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:42 am
Keith,
This comment on another blog re Trump challenge.

Trump obviously has Obama’s college transcripts already and he will release them on Nov. 1, then give the $5 million to the charity of his choice.
Posted by: set you free at October 24, 2012 1:42 PM

Rudiau

25 Oct 12 at 8:46 am
Napalm, Firehose and broom time, Yabbott!

much better

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 8:48 am
I was recently in Hobart and we’ve toured Tassie a bit since moving down south, as it’s just a quick flight across the strait. It is truly a beautiful place. Sadly, its current problems stem from that. Too many well-off retirees are attracted to it, to the lifestyle and property bargains. They have money, influence and organising capacity. They selfishly want to impose their vision of a ‘green’ world on the local population, who it seems are pretty fed up with it. In the ‘green’ world, no-one has to work for a living.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

25 Oct 12 at 8:48 am
Rudiau.
I tend to think trump has something here and is really messing with his head before he releases this stuff himself.

And…

There’s now the Clintons leaking all sorts of shit about Benghazi. The idea that Hillary was going to take the fall for the Kenyan is hysterical.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 8:50 am
VICTORIAN Laybore has secured an election-winning lead for the first time since the 2010 poll, placing intense pressure on Premier Dud Flaillieu’s leadership and creating a headache for federal Gliberal strategists.

Do something about this utterly inexcusable shemozzle now, Kroger!

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 8:50 am
Some suggestions on why Stevens was targeted for assassination:

Glenn Beck explains with names and faces that Ambassador Stevens was the point man for Obama to funnel arms to the Libya rebels first to take out Gaddafi, and now from Libya to Syria – through Turkey – to take out Assad.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 8:57 am
I had piles once. Any advice?

HI Abu

Me too. Surgery.

I have a perfect arsehole now*.

(*I used to have two, but I divorced one.)

kae

25 Oct 12 at 8:59 am
During the debate I noted how Obama’s the 3 steps to respond to Benghazi did not include getting active troops to get to site ASAP.

Now more information is coming to light on this:

US Officials said they NEEDED PERMISSION From Libyan Government for Overflights During the 9-11 Attacks–
Former Assistant Defense Secretary Bing West told America Live:

“For the United States military to say that they were 480 miles away and they couldn’t do anything, and they couldn’t move one aircraft in 8 hours? I’d say it’s time to relieve a lot of people in the chain of command… If your ambassador has been either killed or captured, and is missing at the hands of terrorists, you do not ask any country for “Mother may I?” before you come across the border to save your own.’”

The US had troops in Sigonella, Italy – about an hour away.

The attack went on for at least four hours

This clusterf**k will not stay covered up for long.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 9:02 am
Lizzie,
You can see the same impact in Victoria at the local council level. There seems to be an unending supply of recently-arrived dropkick treechangers all trying to get elected to local councils. Just about all of them have a significant green tinge (anti CSG), and at least half are ex senior public servants. Horrendous mix of stupidity and pompous gittery.

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 9:06 am
“Big Bird, Binders, & Bayonets.”

New ad from the RNC

Good

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:07 am
This clusterf**k will not stay covered up for long

His media will do the job until some of them realise he’s gonna lose anyways and they’ll only then seek to protect their reputation as ‘journalists’ and ‘reporters’.

I think CBS are showing some signs that they know.

See if they pick this up

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:10 am
Drudge – national polls likely voters:

R 50% O 46%…
R 50% O 47%…
R 49% O 48%…
R 47% O 46%…

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:19 am
His media will do the job until some of them realise he’s gonna lose anyways and they’ll only then seek to protect their reputation as ‘journalists’ and ‘reporters’.

I think CBS are showing some signs that they know.

The link is great as it gives maps which make it clear how close US forces were.

It has been noted that the White House was watching the attack in real time. They could’ve acted and didn’t.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 9:27 am
Intrade market moving against Romney.

Sinclair Davidson

25 Oct 12 at 9:27 am
Sure, someone could manipulate online prediction market Intrade

What if, with just two weeks to go until the presidential election — and the media obsessively following and deconstructing every number in every poll and every other metric to determine who might win — someone decided to mess with the numbers?

Intrade is an online prediction market where people can bet on the likelihood of various outcomes by buying shares in that outcome. For instance, one could buy shares in “Barack Obama to be re-elected president in 2012.” If, on Nov. 6, Obama won, that person would make money. If Mitt Romney won that person would lose money, but other bettors who bought “Mitt Romney to be elected president in 2012″ would make money. As with the stock market, the more people buy shares in an outcome the more the price of those shares rises and, by Intrade’s metrics, so too the probability of that event happening.

Rigging the polls isn’t an option, but Intrade is more malleable. It may not be as closely watched as the polls, but it’s still a metric that reporters use, and someone with the time, money and inclination could push the numbers one way or the other to try to create a sense of momentum or a sense of failure.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:42 am
Mittens down to $2.50 on Sportsbet.

He was at $3 last week.

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 9:44 am
Didn’t the speculators see the crowd at Red Rocks? You don’t draw crowds like that when you’re losing.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 9:47 am
Prostate testing doesn’t appear to be worth the trouble, I certainly won’t bother with it. Breast cancer, hmmm I think there is value there and also with cervical cancer. There has been some good progress with these cancers but again early detection is vital. Skin cancer is definitely a big one, early detection there is a big life saver.

MRIs?

As for Anna Wintour. Romney don’t care. His wife is 63 and she looks like that. He’s got binders of hot old lady. WTF would Anna Wintour know about anything apart from how a fucking colour wheel works anyway?

.

25 Oct 12 at 10:03 am
Good one BBC, protect a creep…he’ll have no more weird predilections…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2221922/Jimmy-Savile-necrophiliac-says-colleague-Paul-Gambaccini.html?ICO=most_read_module

.

25 Oct 12 at 10:06 am
The time nears when we must consider revoking Tasmania’s statehood and put in administrators to protect the value of Commonwealth tax outlays.

Just as long as it’s remembered that it was the interference of the Federal Government that lost us our Franklin Dam.

Right now, our problem isn’t in the parliament, it’s in the green activist groups. They are never satisfied, it’s never enough.

Ellen of Tasmania

25 Oct 12 at 10:08 am
‘There Is No Voter Fraud’ Myth Takes a Torpedo

James O’Keefe does his thing again:

We are constantly told by liberals that there is no voter fraud — or at least not any that involves voting at the polls.

Well, the son of Representative Jim Moran, the Democrat who represents Virginia’s Washington suburbs, has just resigned as field director for his father’s campaign for essentially proving them wrong. Moran was caught by videographer James O’Keefe’s camera advising an undercover reporter on how to commit in-person voter fraud. The scheme involved forging utility bills that would satisfy Virginia’s voter-ID law and then rely on the assistance of Democratic lawyers stationed at the polls to make sure the votes were counted….

The 26-minute O’Keefe video begins with the undercover reporter approaching Moran at a Cosi restaurant in Arlington. The reporter tells Moran, whom he has never met, that he has a friend who has found a list of 100 Virginia residents who haven’t voted in the last three elections but are registered to vote.

After Moran finally understands that the goal is to use the list to cast fraudulent votes in the names of those non-voters, he explains how that could be done. He suggests creating fake utility bills, which would serve as a form of acceptable identification for voters. He warns that the state’s new voter-ID law will mean poll workers will be “cracking down” on possible voter fraud, but there is a way around the law.

“So, if they just have the utility bill or bank statement — bank statement would obviously be tough . . . but faking a utility bill would be easy enough,” Moran says. The two men then discuss how Microsoft Word can be used to manufacture a fake utility bill.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 10:15 am
I made the mistake of reading the Dumb this morning to see how the other half lives. And once agian I was struck by the fact that all the lefty commenters seem to have imbibed the zero-sum fallacy with their mothers’ milk.

But what give the pip the most is the inane refusal of lefties in general to misunderstand the difference between cutting tax rates and cutting tax revenue. My non-economist understanding has always been that a judicious cut in tax rates will actually lead to an increase in tax revenue, because of the growth in economic activity generated by the fact that people feel they can keep some more of their own money.

I seem to rember that Howard and Costello were constantly cutting tax rates and constantly getting more tax revenue.

Rococo Liberal

25 Oct 12 at 10:26 am
The Heard Island volcano has started erupting! Libs to announce a policy to build an asylum seeker processing centre there in three… two… one…

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/24/heard_island_eruption/

m0nty

25 Oct 12 at 10:26 am
Sorry, I menat to ask at the end of that last post, for the comments of the economists here.

Rococo Liberal

25 Oct 12 at 10:27 am
You are right Rococo. Kennedy saw the same thing happen.

.

25 Oct 12 at 10:33 am
The net effect of cutting rates on tax revenue may be positive or negative depending on where the economy is on the Laffer curve.

Sinclair Davidson

25 Oct 12 at 10:38 am
They are never satisfied, it’s never enough.

Amb. to the US is apparently gifting Obama some Tassie whiskey. I’m surprised the hactivists haven’t shut down the whiskey “farm” down there.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 10:38 am
“You’re fired!” means something a little different in North Korea.

A North Korean army minister was reportedly executed with a mortar round for drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after the death of Kim Jong-il.

Kim Chol, the vice-minister of the army, was taken into custody earlier this year on the orders of Kim Jong-un, who assumed the leadership after his father died in December. On the orders of Mr Kim to leave “no trace of him behind, down to his hair”, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and was “obliterated”, South Korean media reported.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 10:50 am
Good one BBC, protect a creep…he’ll have no more weird predilections…

The BBC are working through the cover up playbook – thereby magnifying the disaster.

I look forward to the Australian media, using the presendence of what occured during the phone hacking scandal/Leverson Enquiry, to start an investigation into ped0 activity at the ABC.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 10:53 am
Couldn’t they gift him the whole of Tassie…

max49

25 Oct 12 at 10:53 am
The Heard Island volcano has started erupting!

LOL, you do realise what that will do about global carbon dioxide emissions, don’t you?

Token

25 Oct 12 at 10:54 am
Couldn’t they gift him the whole of Tassie…

Always the problem-solver, max49.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 10:55 am
Dems begin the post-Obama blame game:

NYT: How Bill Clinton May Have Hurt the Obama Campaign

In these final weeks before the election, Mr. Clinton’s expert advice about how to beat Mitt Romney is starting to look suspect.

You may recall that last spring, just after Mr. Romney locked up the Republican nomination, Mr. Obama’s team abruptly switched its strategy for how to define him. Up to then, the White House had been portraying Mr. Romney much as George W. Bush had gone after John Kerry in 2004 – as inauthentic and inconstant, a soulless climber who would say anything to get the job.

But it was Mr. Clinton who forcefully argued to Mr. Obama’s aides that the campaign had it wrong. The best way to go after Mr. Romney, the former president said, was to publicly grant that he was the “severe conservative” he claimed to be, and then hang that unpopular ideology around his neck.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 10:57 am
FIRB fail on following up foreign real estate investors

Mother Hubbard's Dog

25 Oct 12 at 11:02 am
“You’re fired!” means something a little different in North Korea.

Arnie will be delighted. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Mother Hubbard's Dog

25 Oct 12 at 11:03 am
JULIA Gillard warned Kevin Rudd in writing that under no circumstances would she support taking an emissions trading scheme, which insiders say she thought had become electoral poison, to the 2010 election.

Say, wasn’t the justification for gillard’s carbon dioxide tax lie from lefties here always the ” but she was going to introduce an ETS anyway”? lol.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 11:06 am
John Bolton discusses the Benghazi cover up, this fire is smouldering…

Among many other things, Bolton said that if any of the administration officials thought they could cover this up with a paper trail like this, it’s gone from a cover up to an incredibly stupid cover up.

But I tell you these emails say to me that if anybody at the White House thought they could cover this story up by referring to the Muhammad video with this documentary evidence in real time, then it wasn’t just a cover up. It was an incredibly stupid cover up.

Fox looks like it is given the scoop by the other networks in the US.

The question is whether Newscorp take advantage of this globally?

Token

25 Oct 12 at 11:07 am
The Heard Island volcano has started erupting! Libs to announce a policy to build an asylum seeker processing centre there in three… two… one…

Really? You’re really going to give the liberals stick over asylum seeker poicies while 1000 dead bodies float of the WA coast and hundreds of people arrive by boat every single week thanks to Labors multitude of policy failures?

That’s pretty weird.

twostix

25 Oct 12 at 11:10 am
[Let's not make light or political capital out of what is a very serious issue. Sinc]

Ivan Denisovich

25 Oct 12 at 11:12 am
Senator Chambliss slams W.H. for Libya emails

Foxnews video posted in Politico (Obama’s online PR media outfit) with story.

A senior senator slammed the Obama administration on Wednesday and called for additional hearings on Libya after emails surfaced showing that White House officials knew within hours that an Islamic militant group was taking responsibility for the attacks on the Benghazi-based U.S. Consulate there.

“I don’t know what the White House’s problem has been through this whole thing,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, on Fox News Channel’s”Fox & Friends.” “Here’s what really concerns me: You’ve got four Americans dead, you’ve got an ambassador, a very important person in any administration, dead — and you don’t have the president out there getting briefed on a regular basis, you don’t have the president informing the public about what happened to four key Americans.”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 11:12 am
[Let's not make light or political capital out of what is a very serious issue. Sinc]

twostix

25 Oct 12 at 11:14 am
“These emails make clear that your Administration knew within two hours of the attack that it was a terrorist act and that Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan militant group with links to Al-Qaeda, had claimed responsibility for it,” wrote Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte. “This latest revelation only adds to the confusion surrounding what you and your Administration knew about the attacks in Benghazi, when you knew it, and why you responded to those tragic events in the ways that you did.”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 11:14 am
That’s pretty weird.

No it’s idiotic – slipped his moorings entirely.
Or hypoglycaemia – it can affect the brain.
Get a check-up monty.

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 11:20 am
Labor backbencher lecturing in London on foreign policy issues says:

KEVIN Rudd has told a British audience temperatures between Beijing and Washington “will rise considerably” if Mitt Romney is elected US president next month.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 11:22 am
Got my first pack of nanny roxon approved lungbusters today – they look like a rectangular dogturd with an eyeball in the middle.

I’m definitely going to buy a cigarette case.

Carpe Jugulum

25 Oct 12 at 11:24 am
Suggestion at Ace about what Trump was up to:

Trump Crafty? A couple of readers make this point:

Don’t know if anybody’s said this yet, but what you’re missing Ace is that this was Trump’s preemptive strike against Gloria Alred. That’s what this is about. Make her share the headlines with him. Bring her fully down to his level: P. T. Barnum.

Ah. Well then, well played.

I suppose it can’t be a coincidence that Trump’s Big Announcement just happened to come on the day Gloria Allred went to court.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 11:25 am
Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and was “obliterated”,

Then they took him away to be punished.

In rekated news, Anthony Mundine approved, saying Chol was rumoured to have ‘a white woman’ on the side

Nic

25 Oct 12 at 11:29 am
If Fairfax’s credibility was not badly damaged enough by yesterday’s comical AGM, it is now giving top-of-site prominence to a Fairfax radio producer’s vitriolic personal, factless attack on the group’s main commercial rival in Sydney. Justin Smith, you’re an idiot and you’ve identified yourself as a partisan hack who has alienated a significant slice of your own audience.

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 11:29 am
Thanks Sinc and Dot.

Rococo Liberal

25 Oct 12 at 11:30 am
Now the emails have been unearthed giving a document trail of when the White House & US security forces were made aware that the attack was not just “about a video” a review is occuring about the WH statements.

Last night a few hundred emails were released that prove beyond any doubt the White House knew — as the terror attack unfolded in real time — that the assault on our consulate in Libya was the work of an al-Qaeda affiliate. What this revelation really shines a light on are at least four declarative statements made by the White House — days after the attack — claiming there was absolutely no evidence that the murder of four Americans was the result of anything other than a spontaneous protest gone bad.

No evidence.

None.

And this claim was made as late as September 19 by no less than White House spokesman Jay Carney.

The way I read it, except for 2 lines on Bolta’s blog, the Cat is scooping the rest of Australia on this story.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 11:31 am
If Fairfax’s credibility was not badly damaged enough by yesterday’s comical AGM, it is now giving top-of-site prominence to a Fairfax radio producer’s vitriolic personal, factless attack on the group’s main commercial rival in Sydney. Justin Smith, you’re an idiot and you’ve identified yourself as a partisan hack who has alienated a significant slice of your own audience

Yep, amazing that what was regarded as being a serious newspaper is now given over to personal and immature rants about a competitor.

Nic

25 Oct 12 at 11:35 am
1. I’m not making light of it.
2. It goes to the double standards of ABC/Fairfax.

Commentators such as Gerard Henderson and Andrew Bolt have noted the irony in this new tolerance from politically correct media sources normally so keen to prove their squeaky-clean credentials by demonising anyone who can be labelled a sexual pervert. How different is their treatment of Roebuck from the glee with which they hound a Catholic priest caught with a straying hand on one of his flock?.

http://www.vexnews.com/2011/11/bettina-arndt-lays-bare-fairfaxs-double-standard-on-sex-abusers/

Dirty linen needs airing.

Ivan Denisovich

25 Oct 12 at 11:41 am
Labor’s quotas.

When all else fails for the quota girls of Labor, when their backs are to the wall, they begin screeching about sexism. Politics is a tough game. It’s still predominantly a man’s game. That’s why the ALP has quotas and Emily’s list.

We don’t use quotas in the Coalition. women are elected on merit. I know, I did it the hard way. Five pre-selections, 13 years of effort, an unsuccessful run in the senate in an un-winnable position, then I unseated a sitting senator.

Sadly, women are churned in and out of Labor pre-selections on quotas. They have obtained their seats through affirmative action. They have been conceded the right by their mostly male union heavyweights that they can occupy a seat. I have met some hard-working ALP women but sadly for them, they will never be afforded the same degree of respect that comes from getting there on merit, getting there on the same terms and under the same rules as the Coalition person I sit next to in the party room or the Senate.

Now we are seeing these quota girls preaching in unison, as if reading a script. In recent weeks there has been a carefully orchestrated assault on Tony Abbott’s character, led by Roxon, Plibersek and Macklin. Their self-serving protests are cheap and tawdry. They have been desperate to attack Abbott personally. Labor knows they are on the ropes, their carbon tax is toxic, their prime minister is one of the most distrusted leaders ever in Australian politics, and most of the public appear to have stopped listening.

The prime minister has a serious credibility problem. Her defence of the indefensible in supporting Peter Slipper has been justifiably condemned for what it was – political survival at all costs. Slipper’s vile texts were the worst manifestations of the sexism and misogyny that she has been railing against, so this woman’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. Instead of confronting the issue she embarked on another all-out personal attack on Abbott.

Well Prime Minister, you may rage in convenient indignation about having had enough but the majority of the public has had enough of you. A lot of people, men and women, simply want you to put the minority government and the country out of its misery and call an election.

As for the sexism-chanting quota girls, if they can’t win the argument on merit they should get out of the battlefield and take their handbags with them.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/quota-filled-by-the-shrill-labor-women/story-e6frezz0-1226502583029

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 11:53 am
Roebuck, Saville, Muirhead, Finnigan

vs the claims that monty brought up about some made up statistic about abuse in the Church.

.

25 Oct 12 at 11:56 am
Let us all remember the song and dance over News of the World. A political star chamber was created here with the intent on “cracking down” on the News Ltd. So intimidated were they that at least one journalist was fired for daring to report on the Prime Ministers past when she rang up and “went nuclear” on his boss for doing so with the “inquiry” hanging in the air.

All the while Fairfax and the left engaged in the usual faux-outrage and hypocrisy.

Back here in reality the only Newspaper to actually engage in NOTW type behviour in Australia was a Fairfax paper – hacking into, trolling through and attempting to copy the ALP constituent database.

Today:

CAN THEY HACK IT? Victoria Police refer Age hacking evidence to federal prosecutors

http://www.vexnews.com/2012/10/can-they-hack-it-victoria-police-refer-age-hacking-evidence-to-federal-prosecutors/

Nemesis is getting busy again.

twostix

25 Oct 12 at 12:19 pm
Let us all remember the song and dance over News of the World. A political star chamber was created here with the intent on “cracking down” on the News Ltd.

That furor was started based upon an article in the Guardian about journalists from NoTW deleting text from Milli Dowler’s phone.

But yesterday a barrister for the Metropolitan Police said the most likely explanation was that the messages were removed automatically by the phone company.

Lord Justice Leveson described the new information as “significant” and called for all parties to consider where the inquiry should now go.

A reasonable person would question whether the motives that drove the story in the Guardian & the BBC was all about commercial advantage:

But the role of the Guardian, which broke the story, was under intense scrutiny last night after Neil Garnham QC, representing the Metropolitan Police Service at the inquiry, said the original information had not been accurate.

Mr Garnham said: “The MPS do not know where The Guardian got this information although that matter is the subject of further investigation.”

He said that Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective who allegedly hacked phones for the News of the World, had not been tasked with listening to Milly’s voicemail until after the date her parents thought she was still alive.

The fact the ABC & the left in Australia exploited this situation for political/commercial advantage.

That is they exploited the tragedy over the disappearance and death of a child.

This will never be reviewed by anyone in a position of responsibilty, but it is clear when you review the fact it truly is sick.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 12:31 pm
But yesterday a barrasite for the Metropolitan Police said the most likely explanation was that the messages were removed automatically by the phone company.

Oh dear – they obviously never anticipated that inconvenient factlet emerging…

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 1:08 pm
Oh dear – they obviously never anticipated that inconvenient factlet emerging…

That was December 2011 it emerged. The crusade continues to this day.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 1:10 pm
Breaking technology news…

NBN now obsolete.

Oops-a-daisy.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:11 pm
The crusade continues to this day.

So, laybore/greenfilth totalitarian dullards, no chance of binning the finko and rickety review?

No, I didn’t think so, either…

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 1:12 pm
See if you can believe this:

The New York Times reveals today–in a classic buried lede–that Harvey Weinstein’s film about the killing of Osama bin Laden, set to air on the National Geographic Channel two days before the election, originally included a scene showing Gov. Mitt Romney “appearing to oppose the raid,” a complete fabrication of history.

The film, SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden, grants President Barack Obama a “starring role,” and was edited–apparently at Weinstein’s suggestion–to embellish Obama’s involvement: “the film has been recut, using news and documentary footage to strengthen Mr. Obama’s role and provide a window into decision-making in the White House.” The director claims, in his defense, that the edits reduce Obama’s on-screen time.

The Romney scene was cut at the insistence of National Geographic Channel CEO Howard T. Owens, who told the Times: “We wouldn’t air this if it were propaganda.” He explains the choice of the film’s release date as merely the best chance to exploit its commercial potential.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:22 pm
Rabz (or other Canberrans), can you explain this curious psephology?:

ACT election results show the division between Canberra’s north and south is more than geographic, says Katy Gallagher.

The Chief Minister said the vote count from Saturday’s territory elections showed a growing political gap between conservative voters to the south of Lake Burley Griffin and progressives who were inhabiting the north.

Ms Gallagher’s rival Zed Seselja said the 7.3 per cent swing to the Canberra Liberals had been driven by voters in the Tuggeranong Valley, where the Opposition Leader’s personal vote alone was sitting at nearly 30 per cent.

The gap between ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals first preference votes has narrowed to just 22 votes, with only 4000 postal, declaration and interstate ballots left to be counted.

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 1:34 pm
Obama Lied, Letterman Cried.

Fleeced

25 Oct 12 at 1:41 pm
A rare double: race and gender card flipped on to the table. Subtext: further criticism will be racist racism and sexist sexism.

Carr’s wife travels at taxpayers’ expense.

Bob Carr’s wife Helena has accompanied him on almost every overseas trip he has made as foreign minister, costing taxpayers about $120,000 in mostly business class airfares in just six months.

Documents released under Freedom of Information laws show Mrs Carr travelled with her husband on eight of the nine trips he took in the months between late March and early September.

The arrangement is highly unusual for a foreign minister. AAP understands Senator Carr’s Labor predecessors Stephen Smith and Kevin Rudd rarely if ever took their wives on official overseas trips.

But Senator Carr has defended the arrangement, saying the cost is “absolutely justified” because his wife is an “asset to Australia“.

“I’m proud that Helena has accompanied me on every trip I’ve done. Because while I’m talking to the foreign minister, she’s inspecting aid projects, or talking to groups of women,” he told reporters.

“It’s very, very good that Helena has been there with me.”

Senator Carr said it had also been an “advantage” to be accompanied by a Malaysian wife of Indian and Chinese descent as he lobbied for Australia’s spot on the United Nations Security Council.

WTF?

The uxorious leech.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 1:49 pm
can you explain this curious psephology?

Tom, funnily enough I read that piece this morning (online) as I was celebrating the likely defeat of that vile greenfilth dragon in my electorate.

There’s some interesting hypotheses in the comments, but I haven’t been living here in Zombie Parrotville long enough to make an informed judgement…

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 1:55 pm
The front of Bob Carr is hilarious.

“I’m swindling the tax payer and what’s more I’m proud of it!!”

tbh

25 Oct 12 at 1:56 pm
CL – there’s another subtext to the boob and hellena marriage, which makes it a trifecta.

If you had the misfortune of knowing as much about NSW politics as I do, you’d get the connection.

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 1:59 pm
Rabz,

I find this comment by the NSW ALP (Michael Daley actually) regarding property development charges/environmental rules in NSW “not” affecting housing prices rather bizzare and offensive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0&feature=relmfu

.

25 Oct 12 at 1:59 pm
“I’m swindling the tax payer and what’s more I’m proud of it!!”

Yes, in his case it’s the continuation of a long and proud tradition…

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 2:01 pm
Dot,

Thanks for that, I’ll view it a bit later and the “foam flecked rantings” can recommence…

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 2:03 pm
Leno on Iranian Sanctions: ‘If Anyone Knows How To Cripple an Economy It’s Obama’

JAY LENO: One of President Obama’s winning points last night was about how sanctions against Iran are crippling their economy. And believe me, if anyone knows how to cripple an economy it’s President Obama.

This was by no means the first joke Leno has made about Obama in recent weeks.

His counterpart at CBS has even gotten into the act.

Prior to expressing his anger and discouragement with the President lying about Mitt Romney’s position on the auto bailout during Monday’s debate, David Letterman made a joke about people claiming Obama won on substance.

“Big deal,” said Letterman. “Lance Armstrong won on several substances.”

Makes you wonder if the late night hosts are beginning to recognize the President’s shortcomings like much of the nation.

This comes in stark contrast to years of comedians refusing to satirize the current White House resident.

In fact, the President was so protected that Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld commented in April, “Asking a comedian to make fun of Obama is like asking a priest to mock Christ.”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 2:03 pm
Tom,

I think the north-south narrative in the ACT is pretty ridiculous, and the results don’t really support it. Gallagher is trying to be divisive on what most Canberra people treat as light-hearted banter. She’s attempting to type cast people depending on where they live.
The Ginninderra (which is traditionally considered ‘north’) result has the highest polling liberal out-polling the highest polling labor rep. And Ginninderra is now green free, so I don’t see how Ginninderra is “more progressive” than Brindabella in any substantial way, and both Ginninderra and Brindabella had negative swings against labor. I tend to think that the Ginninderra liberals could have done a bit better if their candidates had worked a bit harder.

What Gallagher is really worried about is that Molonglo encompasses a major chunk of Gungahlin which is the newest mortgage belt in Canberra and newest town centre. Development of similar voting patterns can be expected over the next couple of cycles. What Tuggeranong is to Brindabella, Gungahlin will be to Molonglo, but just lagging a few years. Gallagher wants to type cast people into thinking “I’m a northerner, must vote progressive”. Won’t work.

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 2:16 pm
Jonah Goldberg: A Vote for Election Day
Early voting doesn’t decrease partisanship or give us a “better” electorate.

I think mandatory voting is an abomination, and I don’t lose any sleep over the influence partisans have on U.S. elections. But early voting still strikes me as a terrible idea.

Everyone laments the decline in civic commitment in America. “Government is the word we use for the things we all do together,” is a common refrain from liberal reformers in particular. Well, Election Day used to be one of the few things we did do together as a nation. It was a hugely important civic ritual. But the cult of convenience and a knee-jerk faith that voting at home will mean higher voter “turnout” (a somewhat misleading term under the circumstances) led us to downgrade Election Day and replace it with “Last Chance to Vote Day.”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 2:17 pm
Carr’s chutzpah is amazing. is he saying that an anglo-saxon partner would be of less worth on a foreign trip?

I wonder what happened to the rumours that at one time abounded around the Eastern suburbs of Sydney about Carr’s rumoured proclivities?

Nic

25 Oct 12 at 2:20 pm
Shock! Government considers sacking public servants for under performance: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/blogs/public-sector-informant/rewarding-duds-or-just-good-planning-20121025-286sk.html

Econocrat

25 Oct 12 at 2:31 pm
Ah yes Rabz, Nic -

I do recall the ‘progressive’ nature of the NSW right during those heady days that were the Sydney Olympics.

Most hetronormative games ever…

Rousie

25 Oct 12 at 2:58 pm
Ah yes Rabz, Nic -

I do recall the ‘progressive’ nature of the NSW right during those heady days that were the Sydney Olympics.

Most hetronormative games ever…

Hey Rousie, for those of us that are not from NSW or were too young to give a shit (or both), can you please expand a little?

Huckleberry Chunkwot

25 Oct 12 at 3:23 pm
A bit late to the party… Scrolling up, I see that Winston’s hale and hearty. Congrats.

Cold-Hands

25 Oct 12 at 3:39 pm
Huck
You can Google NSW Labour MP David Campbell for some nuance

Rousie

25 Oct 12 at 3:48 pm
Ha! Just saw this because someone on another forum prompted me to discuss a recent research piece on colon cancer. As I stated early this morning, slow and grinding progress is being made …

2010 saw 157,275 cancer deaths in the UK alone – 170 in every 100,000 people died from cancer. However, experts believe that by 2030, this number will drop from 170 to 142. According to the report, this is partly because there are now better rates of survival, due to earlier diagnosis and treatment improvements.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 3:50 pm
Thanks, Keith. I should have known it was a subversive reaction from the left to the electoral swing to conservatives. It’s also a crude attempt to wedge Liberal voters that’s destined backfire on Labor. With the split now 8-8-1 Lib-Lab-Grn, this Labor-Green alliance is going to be very unpopular when the Libs have outpolled Labor. The federal Libs will be able to use it as an example of high-cost Green-Left big government, particularly if government charges rise as the Libs campaigned on.

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 4:04 pm
Thanks Rousie.
I was going to ask if the inference was that Boob swung both ways, but I suppose it wouldn’t be right to ask that, would it?

Huckleberry Chunkwot

25 Oct 12 at 4:20 pm
What the fuck is happening to this country? Ted Ballieu to hold enquiry into use of the word “wankers” and wanker hand gesture.

Wanker.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 4:21 pm
CARNEY: ‘EVERYONE’ KNEW ABOUT TERRORIST CLAIMS ‘INSTANTANEOUSLY’

Today, at the White House press gaggle, Jay Carney was asked one – really, just one – question about the emails regarding the terrorist attack in Benghazi. Those emails, to refresh, showed that within two hours of the attacks, the White House had been informed that the action on the ground was a terrorist attack. There was no mention of a YouTube video or a spontaneous demonstration in the emails.
Carney acknowledged today not only that the White House knew, but that it knew “instantaneously”:
The email you’re referring to was an open-source, unclassified email referring to an assertion made on a social media site that everyone in this room had access to and knew about instantaneously.
Instantaneously.

Yet the Obama administration claimed for weeks that they were giving Americans the best available information

FFS

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 4:22 pm
Potemkin’s village

FOR ALL CANBERRANS: Some truth in advertising… here

Grigory Potemkin

25 Oct 12 at 4:22 pm
Catherine Deveny is hosting the Emily’s List Victoria Trivia Night

Grigory Potemkin

25 Oct 12 at 4:26 pm
Thanks Kae. Don’t actually have piles but just wanted to get with the arse cancer zeitgeist lest I be classified as not kissing up to John H.

Glad you got rid of the oxygen thief too!

Abu Chowdah

25 Oct 12 at 4:26 pm
Guardian sub-editors win the headline of the year:

Nazi buddha from space might be fake

T

he narrative was, perhaps, just a little too good to be true. When news broke last month of the so-called “buddha from space” – a swastika-emblazoned statue, apparently 1,000 years old, that had been carved out of a meteorite and looted by a Nazi ethnologist – the world was enthralled…….

If you leftist loons say so.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 4:27 pm
Catherine Deveny is hosting the Emily’s List Victoria Trivia Night

I’d bet my left goog that if you secretly taped that you might hear some misogynist digs at Peta Credlin and other conservative women…

Abu Chowdah

25 Oct 12 at 4:29 pm
C.L. was correct early diagnosis benefits in breast and prostate cancers by screening are controversial not least economically but with colon cancer screening the problem is really only cost as the only screening tool with low false negatives and low false positives is colonoscopy.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 4:31 pm
LOL
Abu.
The object was to raise a laugh. Hope that worked.

The one I got rid of wasn’t perfect, not by a long chalk. Oxygen thief has it in one.

kae

25 Oct 12 at 4:31 pm
As I stated early this morning, slow and grinding progress is being made …

That’s rather insensitive of you, making jokes about piles…

Abu Chowdah

25 Oct 12 at 4:31 pm
Yet the Obama administration claimed for weeks that they were giving Americans the best available information

So the WH knew on Sep 11, yet on Sep 19 this is what Carney stated to the same press pack:

September 19: Jay Carney to CBS News’ Bill Plante:

PLANTE: You are still maintaining that there was no evidence of a pre-planned attack–

CARNEY: Bill, let me just repeat now–

PLANTE: But how is it that the attackers had RPGs, automatic weapons, mortars…

CARNEY: Bill, I know you’ve done a little bit of reading about Libya since the unrest that began with Gaddafi. The place has an abundance of weapons.

PLANTE: But you expect a street mob to come armed that way?

CARNEY: There are unfortunately many bad actors throughout the region and they’re very armed. ….

PLANTE: But they planned to do it, don’t you think?

CARNEY: They might, or they might not. All I can tell you is that based on the information that we had then and have now we do not yet have indication that it was pre-planned or pre-meditated. There’s an active investigation. If that active investigation produces facts that lead to a different conclusion, we will make clear that that is where the investigation has led. Our interest is in finding out the facts of what happened, not taking what we’ve read in the newspaper and making bold assertions that we know what happened.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 4:32 pm
James K
I’ve been having bum-cam regularly since I turned 40. A necessary evil!

It’s the draino that’s the problem.

kae

25 Oct 12 at 4:32 pm
Thanks for the reminder Grigory, not.
I hope Simon Sheikh runs for the Senate, and succeeds in splitting the pwogwessive vote, allowing us to have two liberal Senators instead of one.

Keith

25 Oct 12 at 4:33 pm
It’s the draino that’s the problem.

LOL

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 4:36 pm
No, no, Token, we want none of that conspiracy business.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 4:38 pm
The other advantage of colonoscopy is cancer prevention as small polyps can easily be excised during the same procedure.

These polyps are either early cancers or the precursors of cancer.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 4:38 pm
Catherine Deveny is hosting the Emily’s List Victoria Trivia Night

Thanks, Grigory. I wondered why the ACT chief minister sounded so second-rate last Saturday night. She’s actually a member of the second-raters club, I see!

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 4:43 pm
I suspect Katy Gallagher is trading in old stereotypes about Canberra. The kernel of truth is that the more socially desirable parts of Canberra are mostly south of the Lake. This probably explains why the Liberals have sometimes won in the seat of Canberra, which is mostly south of the Lake; but never in Fraser, which is north of the Lake.

There are pockets of wealthier people north of the Lake. Aranda for one. But Aranda tends to vote Labor, perhaps because of the number of academics and journalists who live here. In the 1972 election, the Aranda booth got national attention, with comments about how even such a wealthy area had voted Labor. But the reason was “rich academics”.

All these analyses are a bit unreal really, because Canberra runs the “gamut” from lower middle class to upper middle class. There are few identifiable working class areas. Even Narrabundah and Griffith are gentrifying. Charnwood has a bad reputation. But my daughter lives there, and there are some very nice places and it is a very lovely setting with the Brindabella Mountains as a backdrop.

It is amazing that the Liberals get any traction in Canberra, and I suspect it is only because local Labor are so Left, especially on social issues.

Julian O'Dea

25 Oct 12 at 4:53 pm
Catherine ‘arse cancer’ Dementveny is hosting the Emily’s List Victoria Trivia Night

OK guys – who’s willing to chuck on a burqa and infiltrate this fabulous fun filled shindig?

JC?

Fisky?

Tom?

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 4:59 pm
Send all thre, Rabz. I’d pay to see them heckle Deveny.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 5:01 pm
Julian, what are your thoughts on how popular a Labor-Greens alliance will be when the Assembly split is 8-8-1?

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 5:07 pm
I’m happy to go in a burqa.

Saw the funniest thing on a NYC street today.
Coming opposite me was a burqa clad woman wearing a pair of specs that hung right out of the stupid thing. It was like a walking sack with a small slit and a pair of specs hanging off.

I think it was a woman as you can’t tell.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:10 pm
Gab, Rabz, it’d be like compulsory attendance at an all-sheila Q&A. I’d rather be dragged hogtied and naked behind a ute on the Hume Highway.

Tom

25 Oct 12 at 5:11 pm
I’ll attend wearing a penis suit and sign that says “Suck It”.

Infidel Tiger

25 Oct 12 at 5:15 pm
IT

Fashion tip please. Need to stock up on jeans. 7 for mankind? No moisteriser though although wifey had the cheek to suggest she wanted to buy some le prairie shit or whatever it’s called that costs the price of an ounce of gold. It got the cabosh.

She would never discuss this crap with me… Obviously it must have been guilt.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:21 pm
Go Hugo Boss for jeans.

Abu Chowdah

25 Oct 12 at 5:24 pm
Obviously it must have been pre guilt.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:24 pm
Need to stock up on jeans.

Why would you consider anything other than a pair of good ol’ 501s?

I wouldn’t be caught dead in anything else…

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 5:24 pm
Too right, JC. Tell Mrs JC she ought to buy Creme De La Mer brand instead.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 5:25 pm
Really …. Hugo’s ?

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:25 pm
Don’t get fashion tips from IT Joe for God’s sake

Tal

25 Oct 12 at 5:26 pm
Fashion tip please. Need to stock up on jeans.

I’m not hip to fashion these days, but I’d imagine anything with a crease down the front of each leg still ain’t cool.

I always liked Diesel Jeans back in the day, but for all I know they could be the calling card of the homosexual looking to invite strangers to a steam room party.

Infidel Tiger

25 Oct 12 at 5:27 pm
Tom

I am no expert. I suspect there will be a Greens-Labor alliance. I also suspect that the Liberals’ “Your rates will triple” campaign did the trick. It is just possible that some values voters might have helped. Labor (especially Andrew Barr) has been pushing the gay rights thing pretty hard, and we do have ethnic groups who might not be especially on board with that (e.g. Sudanese in Ginninderra).

I imagine that the Labor and Greens will cool it a bit, try to look more fiscally responsible, and maybe turn down the dial on the progressive rhetoric.

As I recall, The Greens did best in Molonglo, with the remark that they did especially well in Inner North, not coincidentally near the University, and our tiny bunyip version of the Latin Quarter.

Julian O'Dea

25 Oct 12 at 5:28 pm
Gab

I never would have believed that anyone would try and sell that shit for the price it goes for.

Are you women out of your freakng minds?

That stuff is basically water and oil of some sort.

She tried the old curve ball that it was like saving money because it’s more expensive in oz. sounds like Shane wand taught her finance and economics.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:30 pm
Tal

I don’t have any dark jeans and wifey is embarrassed to walk or go anywhere with me because I don’t have any dark pairs. Just blue ones. FFS

So tomorrow I think I’ll invest in a couple of 7s.

My kid told me that oldies wear them anyway.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:34 pm
She tried the old curve ball that it was like saving money because it’s more expensive in oz. sounds like Shane wand taught her finance and economics.

Mrs JC’s a lefty? Shame.

Still, La Prairie is cheaper than Creme de la Mer and if you loved her you’d buy her what she wants. It’s not like she she’ll be buying it every week. That stuff is superb , I kid you not, and you don’t have to use as much of it as the cheaper stuff. So you really do end up saving.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 5:34 pm
So you went to Shane’s finance classes too gab.. I see.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:37 pm
You like that she looks nice, yeah? Then maintenance is worth the cost.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 5:38 pm
501s used to be great, in the 80s. But if you want jeans that fit and look and feel great, the dark blue button up Hugo’s are the go.

Abu Chowdah

25 Oct 12 at 5:38 pm
because I don’t have any dark pairs. Just blue ones.

What? Like the ones Romney wears? Dude.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 5:40 pm
Man I love this place. Should never have left.

Yesterday I went to this Italian lunch place that must have opened this year.

I had their lunch special which were these four exquisite small sangas filled with italian ham, prosciutto and melt in your mouth light cheese.

Washed down with a coke zero and a terrific latte.

The lunch desert was to kill for.

Today .. New England chowder at an oyster bar.

You can just pig out and die happy.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 5:44 pm
No mussel’s Joe?

Tal

25 Oct 12 at 5:49 pm
Err mussels

Tal

25 Oct 12 at 5:50 pm
Mark Steyn: When Nobel Fantasists Attack…

Just one more word on Nobel Peace Fauxreate Michael Mann’s suit against NR for mocking his hockey stick (I’m plowing through the charge sheet in between a sick kid and other more pressing matters). As we have established, Dr Mann enjoys passing himself off as a Nobel Peace Prize winner. That’s all harmless fun until you make the mistake of believing your own sad fantasy. Paragraph Five of the official complaint against me and NR reads:

It is one thing to engage in discussion about debatable topics. It is quite another to attempt to discredit consistently validated scientific research through the professional and personal defamation of a Nobel prize recipient.

Accepting for the purposes of argument that there is such a crime in US law as “defamation of a Nobel prize recipient”, don’t you have to be a Nobel prize recipient to be the victim of it?

LOL

Mann is a parody of leftism

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 5:53 pm
CBS has released a clip from the 60 minutes interview of Obumma on Sept 12 which completely contradicts his own press secretary and subsequently himself on many occasions, Susan Rice and Carney subsequently again:

CBS BUSTS OBAMA–AND ITSELF–IN BENGHAZI COVER-UP

CBS News has released a clip of an interview by Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes on Sep. 12 with President Barack Obama that indicates Obama knew the assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was a premeditated terror attack–and suggests the White House later deceived the public by blaming protests against an anti-Islam video. CBS chose not to air the clip for over a month–but did air Obama’s attack on Romney that same night.
Obama told Kroft that the attack in Benghazi was different from the violent protest at the U.S. embassy in Cairo: “You’re right that this is not a situation that was exactly the same as what happened in Egypt, and my suspicion is, is that there are folks involved in this who were looking to target Americans from the start.”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 6:09 pm
OBAMA: ‘ABSOLUTELY’ NO REGRETS FOR IGNORING ECONOMY FOR FIRST TWO YEARS

The Obama campaign has finally released the transcript of his endorsement interview with the Des Moines Register–and it is clear why they were reluctant to do so: the President says he has “absolutely” no regrets about ignoring the economy during the first two years of his term, when Democrats controlled Congress.
Here is the key part of the exchange:

Q: Yes, that begs a question from us, Mr. President. Some say you had a super majority in your first two years and had this incredible opportunity, but because of what you were talking about, as you were running, you had to go to get Obamacare done. Do you have any regrets taking on some of the economic issues, some of the issues that we’re talking about for your second term, that when you had the chance, so to speak, during your first — do you have any regrets that you didn’t do that at that time?
THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely not, Laura. Remember the context. First of all, Mitch McConnell has imposed an ironclad filibuster from the first day I was in office. And that’s not speculation. I mean, this is — it’s amply recorded. He gave a speech saying, my task is to defeat the President.
So we were able to pass emergency action with the stimulus, but we had to get two votes from Republicans…
Obama’s response is misleading. Republicans made no such filibuster threat at the outset of his first term. He refers to remarks made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in late 2010, not in late 2008 or early 2009. Republicans in fact attempted to work together with the then-popular Obama before being rebuffed (“I won”).
In addition, as journalist Bob Woodward points out in The Price of Politics, McConnell’s remark about his “top priority” being to deny Obama a second term was taken out of context (McConnell had stressed a desire to work with Obama if he changed his approach).

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 6:12 pm
It is one thing to engage in discussion about debatable topics. It is quite another to attempt to discredit consistently validated scientific research through the professional and personal defamation of a Nobel prize recipient.

Hahahahahahahaha

Fleeced

25 Oct 12 at 6:15 pm
I know QLDs books aren’t very flash at all, but how does Tasmania have the same S&P rating (AA+) as us ?
And Victoria better!!
I didn’t realise it was that bad.

jumpnmcar

25 Oct 12 at 6:18 pm
No wonder Obama and Gillard seemed to get on so well together… they’re basically the same person.

Fleeced

25 Oct 12 at 6:19 pm
Glenn Beck and a separate Foxnews clip explains how Obama used Ambassador Stevens to funnel arms to Libya and Syria

Glenn Beck explains with names and faces that Ambassador Stevens was the point man for Obama to funnel arms to the Libya rebels first to take out Gaddafi, and now from Libya to Syria – through Turkey – to take out Assad.

Curiouser and curiouser

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 6:35 pm
They bring the total arrivals this year to 205 boats carrying 13,109 asylum-seekers and 274 crew. The figure is just 435 people shy of the entire arrivals during John Howard’s almost 12-years in office which saw 241 boats arrive in Australian waters carrying 13,544 asylum-seekers.

I reckon it might be time for everyone to dust off their copy of The Camp of the Saints. It’s supposed to be fiction, but looking at those figures…..

nilk

25 Oct 12 at 6:36 pm
And Winston, congrats on your better health!

Huzzah!

nilk

25 Oct 12 at 6:37 pm
Santorum defends Mourdock: You’d have to contort his words beyond meaning to say God intends rape

Santorum is all class in this CNN interview.

As sensitive a defense of life and elucidation of the hypocrisy of SCOTUS as you’re ever likely to hear in a short clip.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 6:43 pm
I know QLDs books aren’t very flash at all, but how does Tasmania have the same S&P rating (AA+) as us ?

Ultimately the states are backstopped by the Feds. So maybe there is a point where they can’t drop below the Federal rating?

Last time I checked the debt clock, however, Tasmania was the only one going in the right direction. I have no idea how or why, but there you are.

brc

25 Oct 12 at 6:43 pm
RWDB is mentioned in The Rise of the Fifth Estate

That wouldn’t be me. That would more likely be JF Beck.

My blog’s too small and too unfocussed to be called ‘political’ lol. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though, Kae.

nilk

25 Oct 12 at 6:53 pm
can anyone tell me the current betfair odds on romney v obama
sorry, I’ve been to the betfair site and buggered around but can’t find any info but one of you gambling types must know how to get it (pulease)

and welcome back to Winston!

val majkus

25 Oct 12 at 6:54 pm
Obama at 1.51
Romney at 2.92

Sinclair Davidson

25 Oct 12 at 7:00 pm
Go to Betfair, then sports, then politics, then US election.

Sinclair Davidson

25 Oct 12 at 7:03 pm
Santorum defends Mourdock

Well knock me over and call me Padraic!

I’m shocked, SHOCKED to hear Santorum has defended Mourdock.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 7:07 pm
thanks so much Sinc, never would have thought of going to sports first

val majkus

25 Oct 12 at 7:08 pm
James

It’s stupid to go there. These days there’s little to no possibility that a woman would conceive in a case of the sort of rape that idiot was suggesting.

As you know any woman that is the victim of rape goes to hospital ER and is administered a curette as a standard procedure.

Yes, I know that this doesn’t happen all the time, but the incidence of rape these GOP idiots are referring to could easily be answered with that argument. They simply don’t have to go into these philosophical discussions.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 7:08 pm
James

It’s stupid to go there.

James loves it. In fact, his only regret is that the candidate didn’t go further and endorse the position that God always intends rapes to occur so as to maximise the chance of conception.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 7:11 pm
Need to stock up on jeans.

Wranglers or Nauticas are the go JC. Cheap too in the good ol’ US of A. Stocked up at Sawgrass Mills near Fort Lauderdale in April (bit far from Noo York for you tho’ )

Septimus

25 Oct 12 at 7:15 pm
Thanks sept. Will look around.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 7:18 pm
Not everyone investing in Fairfax is losing money.

Quentin George

25 Oct 12 at 7:27 pm
JC have you actually viewed the clip?

(No point in asking Fisky-perennial-moron that question)

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 7:29 pm
Wow, New Yorkers are strange when it comes to fashion.
JC, don’t let the Wife get addicted to Jimmy Choo shoes.

jumpnmcar

25 Oct 12 at 7:30 pm
I’m shocked, SHOCKED to hear Santorum has defended Mourdock.

He is good, isn’t he? Doesn’t fold under pressure. Defends his fellow Republican. Not like Boehner and McConnell who hid under the beds following Romney’s so-called gaffe regarding the attack on Benghazi?

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 7:31 pm
JC have you actually viewed the clip?

I have! He might not believe that God endorses acts of rape, but once rape has occurred, He does intend that the rapist’s conquest be successful (although you would think that God would be powerful enough to “intend” away acts of rape in the first place).

Just your kind of guy, JamesK.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 7:38 pm
He does intend that the rapist’s conquest be successful

Fascinating interpretation of Santorum’s interview you utterly inane fuckwit

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 7:40 pm
Not Santorum, doofus, Mourdock. You know, the guy who said that God intends rape victims to be forced to bear the child of the rapist.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 7:42 pm
I’d consider taking a hit and checking out the Emilys List trivia night, but not only do you pay for the privilege, you also have to bring your own food and drink.

I’m sorry, guys, but I don’t think I can do it.

nilk

25 Oct 12 at 7:43 pm
He does intend that the rapist’s conquest be successful

I very much doubt a rapist judges his success by conception.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 7:46 pm
Gawd, the testosterone stench here is overpowering.

Get your nose out of our jocks, weirdo.

Infidel Tiger

25 Oct 12 at 7:47 pm
I’m guessing it would be for someone with an estrogen imbalance like you dave S.

JC

25 Oct 12 at 7:47 pm
the guy who said that God intends rape victims to be forced to bear the child of the rapist.

So my post of a Santorum interview is actually about Murdock forcing a raped woman to bear the child of said rape?

Fisky’s idiocy knows no bounds.

Typically (for Fisky) this is a totally fucked interpretation of Mourdock’s comments.

The twit can’t help but demonstrate himself to be what he is: an utterly inane fuckwit

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 7:48 pm
Utterly inane Fuckwit

You need to vary your terms of abuse.

For a small fee I can supply a few.

Infidel Tiger

25 Oct 12 at 7:52 pm
From the clip:

“even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen”

So God intends life to begin in rape, and Mourdock wants to force rape victims to deliver the child of their attacker. Todd Akin talked about “legitimate rape”, but now Mourdock is invoking divinely-inspired rape.

JamesK really digs that kind of stuff.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 7:53 pm
It’s been reported that Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is knowingly accepting donations from non-U.S. citizens, and PJ Media can confirm that it’s not only possible, but very easy, for foreign citizens to make contributions. I’ve been able to donate $25 to the Obama campaign in three separate transactions, despite being a lifelong British citizen resident in the UK. What’s more, two of my donations were processed despite the Obama campaign noting that I had provided a non-U.S. address, and despite my failure to provide proof of American citizenship when asked to do so.

Why is Obama getting away with this? Isn’t this illegal?

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 7:53 pm
Sorry, that should be:

So God intends life to begin including in rape

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 7:54 pm
Police arrested the drivers, who are accused of altering Cabcharge receipts to scam about $230,000 from the company in less than a year

The drivers told passengers the electronic Cabcharge machine was not working and they would need to complete a handwritten receipt.

They have been accused of later changing the final destination to outer metropolitan areas including Kinglake and Geelong, charging a far greater fare.

The directorate spokesman said that the capacity for fraud to be committed was obviously greater with manual dockets than electronic terminals.
“We want to make sure we’re monitoring how often people are asking for these dockets, because if there is a pattern of behaviour being shown or there seems to be some sort of recurring issue with their terminal, then that might be an indication to us that we need to examine their taxi a bit more closely or their trip data a bit more closely,” he said.

From my reading it looks like the Taxi Directorate were the people who noticed too many manual charges from the cabbies. Maybe The Age didn’t notice.

Sounds like a wildly sloppy accounts department.

DaveF

25 Oct 12 at 7:55 pm
Catherine Deveny is hosting the Emily’s List Victoria Trivia Night

This is why satire is dying.

The only thing funnier would be Joan Kirner and Christine Nixon having a meat tray raffle at the same time. Actually it is not funnier.

H B Bear

25 Oct 12 at 7:56 pm
So God intends life to begin including in rape

What a thoroughly dishonest piece of shit you are when cornered Fisky.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:02 pm
No women on this blog eh. Pity.

We have you dave.

Some betas like yourself are more femme than a real woman

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:03 pm
You’re being unnecessarily ridiculous here, Fisky. The unborn child is a human being no matter how it is conceived.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 8:04 pm
Gawd, the testosterone stench here is overpowering.

well, “dave”, if you hate men so much, how about you just run off and find a feminist blog where you can complain about testosterone to your hearts content.

dd

25 Oct 12 at 8:07 pm
No women on this blog eh. Pity.

Quite a few, actually. You’re certainly not the only woman, although admittedly there are more guys.

dd

25 Oct 12 at 8:08 pm
Lightening the mood folks. Talk of purchasing jeans in the US of A and my own reference to Sawgrass Mills has made me less inclined to brew a coffee here in Oz. I miss the strong and delicious Cuban coffee in Little Havana in Miami. Maybe it’s time to find a reason to go there again soon.

Septimus

25 Oct 12 at 8:08 pm
LOL Poor dave s. I’d put him in the omega bucket, not the beta.

nilk

25 Oct 12 at 8:09 pm
Potemkin’s Village

Buyer’s Remorse is a real bitch… here

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE

Spin that McTernan

Grigory Potemkin

25 Oct 12 at 8:11 pm
No women on this blog eh. Pity.

You are not very bright.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 8:11 pm
I’d put him back in the trash can where he crawled out.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:12 pm
What a thoroughly dishonest piece of shit you are when cornered Fisky.

Let’s go over this again!

“even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen”

Pretty clear to me. God intended life to begin in rape. Not all life of course, just some of it.

Not much room for wriggling there I’m afraid.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 8:13 pm
Traditionally, rapists – and incest rapists particularly – love abortion.

Keeps them out of jail.

But no, nothing Mourdock said is morally wrong or even slightly unorthodox. God ‘allows’ lots of bad things to happen and this mystery has been with us always.

What is important is pastoral sensitivity and that means it is usually imprudent to go around discussing rape and pregnancy as if it’s nothing more than a ho-hom conundrum one declarative utterance away from resolution. However, in almost every single instance of politically exploitable controversy on these questions, it was a set-up by some moral scumbag journalist looking to take advantage of a relugiously committed Christian politician unschooled in New York Times stings.

There is only one big controversy in town when it comes to abortion in the United States. Barack Obama is a passionate supporter of child murder and has been for 20 years. He believes it’s not only permissible but morally uplifting to kill children.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 8:13 pm
the strong and delicious Cuban coffee in Little Havana in Miami.

Septimus, that will be added to my bucket list

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:14 pm
No women.

QED

A. Not very bright
B. Prone to repeating the same statement no matter how wrong it is.

I think we’ve found us another daft beta-male Lefty.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 8:14 pm
No women.
QED

For starters, Gab’s a woman.
If you’re going to criticise it’s best to get your facts straight

dd

25 Oct 12 at 8:15 pm
“even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen”

Right.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 8:15 pm
CL/JamesK, what is the correct way of addressing that trap the Lefties love to play with abortion?

Murdouch and Aikin were not prepared and both face an uphill climb to make up ground.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 8:16 pm
Stuff that “God intended life to begin even in a rape”

If I didnt intend it and some bogfan raped me I wouldnt stand by and just luve with the unwanted preganncy of a rapist or bogan.

I bet God intended me not to put up with that inemination as well\.

Get over it whoever said God intended life even in a rape.

God also gave me the right to exercise my free will and liberty from being forced to raise the child of a rapist so he must have intended that as well.

God is on my side not the rapists.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 8:17 pm
What is it with these moronic trolls, like this “dave s” character, that they crave so much attention here?

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:18 pm
Oh, we have a fan of the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Hey DaveS, what is the definition of government “savings” and “subsidies”?

Token

25 Oct 12 at 8:18 pm
Sinclair, seriously, it’s time to take out the trash. ta.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:20 pm
Looks like Phil the Nil has re-sporned as Dave S.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 8:20 pm
Fisky is damn right. Even those conservative woemn in here would agree with him and me.
Not one of them of course might admit to an abortion after being raped (happy accident maybe) but you know and I know men are stupid and no woman would put up with that if she didnt want to…

Get over it – thats real life – not Gods choice for life – its ours and we make it daily.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 8:23 pm
Pretty clear to me. God intended life to begin in rape. Not all life of course, just some of it.

Not much room for wriggling there I’m afraid.

Clarity over agreement.

You’re proudly demonstrating yourself to be a fuckwit.

I asked earlier if you’d viewed Santorum’s interview.

If you did you looked but did not see.

My comment was :

Santorum is all class in this CNN interview.

As sensitive a defense of life and elucidation of the hypocrisy of SCOTUS as you’re ever likely to hear in a short clip.

The title was the title on the clip given on the website that hosted it.

You are quite apparently incapable of being rational on the topic of abortion.

And by the way to preempt more infantilism from you, “being rational” does not mean you have to agree with me or Santorum.

Or Mourdock.

It really means grow up.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:23 pm
Fisky is damn right. Even those conservative woemn in here would agree with him and me.

Damn!

Alice is already into the second cask

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:24 pm
It’s been here before Token with exactly the same “there aren’t any women here” schtick. I think last time though it was a febr0.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:25 pm
It’s been here before Token with exactly the same “there aren’t any women here” schtick. I think last time though it was a febr0.

It put the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:26 pm
yeah Dave S

A woman at last and ill weigh intoi this debate because men are stupid and may be full of ideas about what god wants and empty of ideas on the reality of what really happens.
Women, instinctively I dare say, will reject the insemination of their own bodies by a male they wouldnt accept under normal conditions (and that includes unknown rapists).

This is darwinian, survival of th3e fittest, the right to reject the sperm of a creature you dont think is a good partner (strong, able, desirable).

This has nothing to do with God and everything to do with life and how procreation happens – in the real world.

So all those god botherers who think God has the right to decide what pregnancy should survive and what shouldnt – need to get the real pricture and that is that women decide and nature decides and that is just the way it is and Im sure thats what God designed us to do.

Not to put the words opf man in God’s mouth. God already designed us how we are.

Fools in here (a man’s view? a narrow controlling man?) suggesting women need to carry and raise the seed of rapists.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 8:30 pm
Alice, why do you comment on this otherwise womenless blog?

She drops by when she’s drunk, davina s.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:30 pm
dave s,
You’ve been told numerous times that there are in fact women on this blog, and yet you keep repeating the claim that it’s womanless.

You know what that is called?

It’s called trolling.

You’re not here for a conversation.

dd

25 Oct 12 at 8:30 pm
CL/JamesK, what is the correct way of addressing that trap the Lefties love to play with abortion?

Something along the lines of “While it is my personally held belief that every life should be cherished, even those that arise tragically through the circumstances of rape, I do not feel that I have the right to impose my beliefs on victims of such a crime.”

Cold-Hands

25 Oct 12 at 8:31 pm
This is darwinian, survival of th3e fittest, the right to reject the sperm of a creature you dont think is a good partner (strong, able, desirable).

This has nothing to do with God and everything to do with life and how procreation happens – in the real world.

So all those god botherers who think God has the right to decide what pregnancy should survive and what shouldnt – need to get the real pricture and that is that women decide and nature decides and that is just the way it is and Im sure thats what God designed us to do.

Not to put the words opf man in God’s mouth. God already designed us how we are.

Attaboy Alice

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:31 pm
[Okay - you're out of here. Sinc]

dave s

25 Oct 12 at 8:31 pm
yeah Dave S A woman at last and ill weigh intoi this debate because men are stupid

Dear God, Alice.

You just weigh intoi this.

kae

25 Oct 12 at 8:32 pm
CL/JamesK, what is the correct way of addressing that trap the Lefties love to play with abortion?

See Santorum’s interview I linked to above.

He’s first class in it.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:32 pm
Clarity over agreement.

You’re proudly demonstrating yourself to be a fuckwit.

I saw a video of some guy claiming that God intends life to begin in rape. You seem to think that Santorum’s views are important to the discussion, but they really aren’t. Nobody cares about him. What we do care about is an unelectable crank throwing seats to the Democrats.

You are quite apparently incapable of being rational on the topic of abortion.

And by the way to preempt more infantilism from you, “being rational” does not mean you have to agree with me or Santorum.

Or Mourdock.

My views are right in the mainstream – which is that abortion should be allowed in some circumstances, but not others. That’s where about 50% of the electorate are at, and I think the moderate position is the most sensible one.

What’s not sensible is “legitimate rape” or divinely-endorsed rape conception. That’s just nasty extremism that turns off women voters.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 8:34 pm
Obama: Banks Are In To Make Money And That’s Why We Need To Regulate Them

“We passed Wall Street reform, which they fought tooth and nail. But what it did was is it made sure that they can’t make some of these same reckless bets, they’ve got to keep more capital so that if they make a bad bet, taxpayers don’t pick up the tab. We put in place this consumer advocate that will work with families all across the country on things like mortgages, credit cards, payday loan operations, so that people have more information and they don’t get tricked into bad financial deals,” President Obama said on the Wednesday broadcast of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.

“Look, these financial institutions are in to make money and that’s why we need some smart regulations and this is an example of the difference in this campaign because my opponent says he wants to roll back all those regulations. These folks are not going to do it just out of a sense of guilt of what happened previously or because suddenly they feel charitable,” Obama told Leno.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:36 pm
CL/JamesK, what is the correct way of addressing that trap the Lefties love to play with abortion?

This:

“Look, I don’t think voters want philosophical advice from me. I’m just a politician. Let’s talk about President Obama’s tragic record of failure regarding unemployment and the deficit.”

But you’re right to call it a trap. The pro child-killing lobby loves rape and they love incest. That’s because these are now the only saleable justifications for abortion. Polls show the US public no longer supports abortion for ‘lifestyle’ reasons. Scientific developments in premmy care and ultrasound have destroyed the old arguments about morally neutral ‘clumps of cells,’ and the most cherished old slogan of all – ABORTION ON DEMAND!! – is now considered akin to Nazism by most people.

C.L.

25 Oct 12 at 8:37 pm
ill weigh intoi this debate because men are stupid

Not only are you illiterate, Alice, you’re verging on misandrist.

Please pull your head in, or go try that over at The Spearhead or even better,Roissy’s place.

Your kind and inclusive rhetoric will go down a treat with the blokes there.

nilk

25 Oct 12 at 8:38 pm
James K – I comment here because it seems like idiots like you think the choice whether to raise the seed of a rapist is part of god’s grand design.

Oh what a fool you are and have shown yourself to be James K on numerous occasions and all you have in your petty defence is to call me a drunk without any evidence or substance?

How old are you James K? Let me suggest your age range is between 20 and 30 because your arguments are totally unsophisticated and it shows.

You comment on my presence, you child, in a blog for what ….men? On the subject of pregnancy and the right to life?
Really? How interesting and fascinating your arguments are… (if I actually read any arguments of yours) but pardon me for saying

“What the fuck would you (clown) really know except you think in your testosterone fuelled insanity and desire to dominate women you have the right to dictate women’s decisions and women’s business about what progeny they will gestate and raise?”

LOL. This is funny.

You dont know half of it and life and you are a total child, James K.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 8:40 pm
“Look, I don’t think voters want philosophical advice from me. I’m just a politician. Let’s talk about President Obama’s tragic record of failure regarding unemployment and the deficit.”

Or:

“I think voters and their representatives should decide what abortion restrictions in law should be applied at the state level and not by a group of unelected justices in black robes in Washington who don’t answer to the people and whose sole role is to ensure all laws comport with our plainly written but glorious Constitution.”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:42 pm
Oh look what happens when people start invoking God. People fight. No surprises there. Fuck God, fuck God to the depths of Hell.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 8:43 pm
I thought you an atheist, DS.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:44 pm
James K – I comment here because it seems like idiots like you think the choice whether to raise the seed of a rapist is part of god’s grand design

That sentence is meaningless.

You’re drunk Alice as usual.

Try again.

Or better still, don’t.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:44 pm
Women, instinctively I dare say, will reject the insemination of their own bodies by a male they wouldnt accept under normal conditions (and that includes unknown rapists).

What the rape-conception enforcers are actually doing is advocating the Law of the Jungle, or more accurately, the Law of the Steppe. Which is that Genghis Khan’s victims (and there were probably thousands of women who were raped by him) had a moral obligation to bear his children whether they consented to it or not.

Even worse, the correct procedure in this scenario would be to charge Genghis Khan with rape, but to charge his victims with murder should they decline to go ahead with bearing his children. And that carries a stiffer penalty I would presume.

That is the moral position of the Akin-Mourdock alliance.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 8:46 pm
Well, this thread looks like a barrell ‘o’ laffs…

Not.

Real Madrid and Dortmund awaits…

Rabz

25 Oct 12 at 8:47 pm
Oh look what happens when people start invoking God

I think that was Mourdock’s mistake.

It’s quite unnecessary.

Paul Ryan gave another defence of his prolife position in the VP debate which was brilliant and he didn’t need to invoke God.

Christopher Hitches (easily found on You-Tube) gave another brilliant defense of the pro-life position and he was famously an atheist

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:48 pm
Real Madrid and Dortmund awaits…

Don’t bother.

Dortmund won.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:49 pm
What the rape-conception enforcers are actually doing is advocating the Law of the Jungle, or more accurately, the Law of the Steppe. Which is that Genghis Khan’s victims (and there were probably thousands of women who were raped by him) had a moral obligation to bear his children whether they consented to it or not.

You are off your trolley Fisky.

Get back on or its the strait-jacket

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:51 pm
I thought you an atheist, DS.,/i>

I’m agnostic, I knew long ago that there is no rational way to approach those questions. I don’t even know why intelligent people bother with that stuff. Just arm waving. The best arguments I have seen relate to Cantor’s infinities of varying degrees combined with a multiverse model which means realities are “infinitely infinite” but some infinite objects are less infinite than other infinite objects. The very implication of this model is that what we can perceive is so hopelessly constrained that we should even assume that QM is an adequate explanation for realities because it may only apply to this reality. Hence as one physicist recently suggested: god created QM to save us from all the potential terrible realities. Go figure!

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 8:52 pm
test

Sinclair Davidson

25 Oct 12 at 8:53 pm
I knew long ago that there is no rational way to approach those questions.

You are quite wrong.

But I suspect you mean you couldn’t prove the existence of God abstractly.

*yawn*

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:53 pm
Hence as one physicist recently suggested: god created QM to save us from all the potential terrible realities.

Hilarious! Excellent cop-out for some.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:53 pm
James K – another child….

How old are you again James K?

Do tell?

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 8:54 pm
But I suspect you mean you couldn’t prove the existence of God abstractly.

So show me then. What you got? Personal experience? Is that it? Tell me what is your precious method?

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 8:55 pm
Sinc just proved he exists.

Why can’t God give us a sign?!!!!!!

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:55 pm
test

You get an A+.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:56 pm
So show me then. What you got? Personal experience? Is that it? Tell me what is your precious method?

John, you have to ask me nicely.

Otherwise, I shall refuse to show you The Way , The Truth or for that matter The Light.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 8:58 pm
yeah, yeah. That’s what all the girls say.

Sinclair Davidson

25 Oct 12 at 8:58 pm
DS, there are rational ways of approaching this stuff and that is why intelligent people engage with it. BTW, the multiverse model was developed to avoid the philosophical implications of a beginning.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 8:58 pm
Fisky says

“What the rape-conception enforcers are actually doing is advocating the Law of the Jungle, or more accurately, the Law of the Steppe. Which is that Genghis Khan’s victims (and there were probably thousands of women who were raped by him) had a moral obligation to bear his children whether they consented to it or not.”

They dont understand women at all. The raoe enforcers seek to advocate a law of the jungle from a male point of view but cannot even comprehend the female view of the law of the jungle and most women I know might go to extremes to get rid of the effects of a rape by a man they dont want.

That is the real law of the jungle and one the rape-enforcers cant quite face.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 8:59 pm
Well, you can’t blame them really. We’re only human.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 8:59 pm
test

Hello Sinc.

Did you get to Istanbul and see a real Whirling Dervish on your recent sojourn?

Septimus

25 Oct 12 at 9:01 pm
Answer the question. I still look at these issues but rarely discuss them. I know science does not disprove God but that is no great matter. If anything, the best science can do is provide us with a boring pantheism because there are arguments to suggest intelligence does not arise from sentience but is embedded in the universe however there are other ways to interpret the findings. I want something new James, not the same old stuff because I know that don’t cut it.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 9:01 pm
DS, there are rational ways of approaching this stuff and that is why intelligent people engage with it. BTW, the multiverse model was developed to avoid the philosophical implications of a beginning.

Not convincing ways, too little substance. The multiverse is an extrapolation from superimposition, it is driven by that issue.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 9:03 pm
The raoe enforcers seek to advocate a law of the jungle from a male point of view but cannot even comprehend the female view of the law of the jungle and most women I know might go to extremes to get rid of the effects of a rape by a man they dont want.

That is the real law of the jungle and one the rape-enforcers cant quite face.

Could someone translate this into english.

I got lost at jungle rape enforcers comprehending extreme females.

Seriously,have a debate but don’t do it in wimmins studies language.

Carpe Jugulum

25 Oct 12 at 9:06 pm
Didn’t see Istanbul. But did get see heaps of other stuff.

Sinclair Davidson

25 Oct 12 at 9:06 pm
most women I know might go to extremes to get rid of the effects of a rape by a man they dont want.

I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to carry their rapist’s child to term. Shocking, isn’t it? These women obviously need to meet more autistic, celibate, religious fundamentalist men so they can be lectured on the life-affirming goodness of being raped and then forced to carry the foetus to term (not doing so is worse than rape, remember).

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 9:07 pm
I find agnosticism fine John.

I have no problem with polite atheists either.

Here’s Einstein a proud Jew but proudly not religious:

“I’m not an atheist and I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangements of the books, but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God.”

I think he sound rational.

One of the pathways common to many different mystical traditions to realisation is the ‘via negativa’ of rigorous rational self-examination.

But you have to be open, willing and sincere.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:09 pm
Could someone translate this into english.

That’s Alice-speak for ‘I’m pissed”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:11 pm
Ok Carpe – we will do it in men’s studies language of the law of the jungle. Women have babies of rapists because rapists are stronger, they overpower women and impregnate them and then women jhave no choiuce and thats the law of the jungle

Yeah, right – in a male fantasy that has their testosterone overpowering every weak female they come across proving the “almighty god given strength of their seed and the divine right to reproduce and bring forth life from it (even if they had to commit assualt and battery to get that seed home) which cannot be interfered with because life, once formed, is god given”

Yeah yeah yeah sure

whatever you subscribe to…

I dont do men’s studies language that well

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 9:11 pm
Ok Carpe – we will do it in men’s studies language of the law of the jungle. Women have babies of rapists because rapists are stronger, they overpower women and impregnate them and then women jhave no choiuce and thats the law of the jungle

And if the woman does abort, she’ll be charged with murder and go to prison longer than the rapist.

It’s a sick, sick world that the Akinites live in. Luckily, they are never going to be in a position to enforce their perverted values.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 9:14 pm
James is just saying

Im a baby and cant follow the argument so I will insult instead.

How old are you James?

Do you smoke dope a lot? Is that what interferes with your intellectual capabilities?

OR do you just hang out on facebook with no real friends of any intellectual calibre and not much sharp conversation to hone your skills?

Crude insults do not an argument make my young friend.

I extend my sympathies to you either way. You need to sharpen up.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 9:17 pm
Luckily, they are never going to be in a position to enforce their perverted values

Tell us all how a stupid man like Todd Akin could in your sad terminology “enforce” his “perverted values”.

Tell us firstly what are the “perverted values” you are talking about and then precisely how could Aiken “force” them on the electorate

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:18 pm
Not convincing ways, too little substance.

Not at all. I would simply start with Haldane and Smart’s Atheism and Theism.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 9:18 pm
Even Fisky cant keep track of what or who he is arguing what with.

Its pretty bad in here tonight. Not the sharpest tools in the tool shed.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 9:19 pm
Crude insults do not an argument make my young friend.

Awww… Alice is occasionally sweet when pissed.

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:20 pm
As someone who was recently in istanbul and did see a dervish ceremony Septimus, what is your interest?

dismissive

25 Oct 12 at 9:23 pm
Bob Carr on the six o’clock news defending taxpayers flying his wife around because Australia is a multi-cultural country and well, she is yellow.

I think the last person who tried this argument on was Governor Phillip when he took Bennelong back to England.

H B Bear

25 Oct 12 at 9:24 pm
Bob Carr thinks he’s Labor royalty and as such the serfs will pay for whatever he deems is necessary.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 9:26 pm
Wow – and he had the hide to demand Brogden’s resignation over a similar comment. What an arsewipe.

.

25 Oct 12 at 9:26 pm
Thanks JamesK, I’ll see what Santorum says.

CL, you are correct that the candidate needs to show respect and pivot, and you nailed exactly what I’ve noticed about this topic:

But you’re right to call it a trap. The pro child-killing lobby loves rape and they love incest. That’s because these are now the only saleable justifications for abortion.

Pitch perfect, they are working on the extreme.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 9:27 pm
James – what can I say? I have akready fended off one young brash male here with an unsubstantive arguing style.

Would you like to be next to test my sweetness?

It doesnt extend to naive arguments.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 9:27 pm
So show me then. What you got? Personal experience? Is that it? Tell me what is your precious method?

If someone is trying to beat an addiction DS, how would you get them to let go and yield to a higher power?

Token

25 Oct 12 at 9:30 pm
I even agree with Dot here for once (even though he is another brash young hot head who needs to be more subtle).

Bob Carr is a bloody disgrace and his wife is not an asset as he so blithely expressed it. She is nothing but a bludge on tacxpayers money (my money) accompanying him on all his foreign trips at taxpayers expense and its this attitude in politicians we need to kill stone dead.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 9:30 pm
“Bob Carr on the six o’clock news defending taxpayers flying his wife around because Australia is a multi-cultural country and well, she is yellow. ”

I can’t help but think Mr Carr sounds a little condenscending to his wife in some way, that she’s just good for being Asian and female on his trips, that’s the way it comes across to me anyway.

candy

25 Oct 12 at 9:31 pm
Erick Erickson: The Extremists Who Report the News

According to Gallup polling, roughly a quarter of the population supports Richard Mourdock’s position on abortion — that the only exception in support of abortion should be the life of the mother.

According to Gallup polling, roughly a quarter of the population supports Barack Obama’s position on abortion — any time during pregnancy until the moment of delivery. And of course, we all know that Barack Obama actually supports infanticide too in cases when a baby survives an abortion attempt….

When you see the anchor on the news broadcast or read the reporter’s story in print, understand that they more likely than not are perfectly and fully fine with killing kids — it’s a choice, not murder to them. More than that, many of them are perfectly fine killing the children until the moment of delivery.

The contrast in media coverage between the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention was striking. The GOP maintained its long held position on abortion and the media went into overdrive discussing it and the so called “war on women.” The Democrats, on the other hand, abandoned their “safe, legal, and rare” position on abortion from the Clinton era and moved back to abortion on demand. The media barely made a sound about it, even though it is well outside the mainstream of American opinion on abortion

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:33 pm
Grigory, yesterday, provided a representative example of our current “perverted values” here.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 9:34 pm
And Brogden’s comment, in bad taste as it may have been, was made in a situation where “off the record” should have applied. I’m sure many of us make outrageous statements when we feel we’re shooting the breeze in a jocular fashion.

blogstrop

25 Oct 12 at 9:35 pm
Bob Carr thinks he’s Labor royalty and as such the serfs will pay for whatever he deems is necessary.

I was sitting in traffic on my way home tonight when I heard that on the news. This is like the Shagger & Slipper rorts, the average punter who have to pay back the boss if they buy a Mars bar when they fuel the company car gets angry with the pollies get away with hundreds of thousands.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 9:35 pm
According to Gallup polling, roughly a quarter of the population supports Richard Mourdock’s position on abortion — that the only exception in support of abortion should be the life of the mother.

According to Gallup polling, roughly a quarter of the population supports Barack Obama’s position on abortion — any time during pregnancy until the moment of delivery. And of course, we all know that Barack Obama actually supports infanticide too in cases when a baby survives an abortion attempt….

You see? The moderate position, endorsed by 50% of the population, is the sensible one – women should be allowed to abort in some circumstances but not others.

Only extremists advocate that either the interests of the woman or the child should be completely negated by the other. It is unfortunate that one set of extremists have been more successful in policy than the other, but that in no way implies that we should be sympathetic to any extremists. In fact, we should be as rude as ever.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 9:37 pm
Candy

It doesnt matter how Bob Carr puts it. He is flying his wife around on taxpayers money quite a lot of times as if he is entitled to do it.
He is not. He has the job. She is not employed. He is just milking the public purse and trying pathetically to excuse his treatment of his work as holidays for his wife and himeslf at taxpayers expense but worse

Sees no wrong in it?????. Feels “entitled” because of his position???.

No basis for this entitlement at all.
No rights, no perks. There is enough perks in his wage for one. Let him pay for his wife’s air tickets and accomm. Why should I or you???. She didnt get the job and he gets paid well enough to afford it.

Another bludger on the public purse. Thats all he is.

Alice

25 Oct 12 at 9:37 pm
Tell us firstly what are the “perverted values” you are talking about and then precisely how could Aiken “force” them on the electorate

Told you already – forcing rape victims to bear the children of their rapist is morally abhorrent and extreme. I don’t know how Akin would be able to pass a law to effect this, and luckily, we will never need to find out.

Fisky

25 Oct 12 at 9:39 pm
I’m sure many of us make outrageous statements when we feel we’re shooting the breeze in a jocular fashion.

I think every conservative must remember the the Liberal Club/CFMEU standard when it comes to tasteless jokes in public.

Forget it and the lefty media with Brodgen the person out of politics.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 9:48 pm
As a matter of principle, it is clear that the ‘moderate’ position is incoherent and indefensible. But as a matter of politics, given the current situation, I’d accept a no abortion except in cases of rape, or a clear and present threat to the life of the mother.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 9:48 pm
I don’t know how Akin would be able to pass a law to effect this

LOL

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:51 pm
I’d accept a no abortion except in cases of rape, or a clear and present threat to the life of the mother.

Just wait and see how rape stats would jump.

Infidel Tiger

25 Oct 12 at 9:53 pm
Since you can’t actually vote for Claire McCaskill but you want her in the Senate for another 6 years, I’m pretty sure as a Dem her website will accept foreign donations Fisky

Fuckwit

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 9:54 pm
Thanks JamesK, I’ll see what Santorum says.

I see what you mean JamesK, Santorum did walk the line well. Admittedly he chose the correct show to discuss it as Erin is not a hell-cat interviewer trying to twist his words.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 9:54 pm
IT, yes, I thought about that. There would have to be a police report. They couldn’t just turn up 6-12 weeks later to a doctor and offer that exemption without some corroboration.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 9:58 pm
how weird is this?

Treasurer Wayne Swan linked to Democrat charity donation
http://www.news.com.au/national/swans-attack-on-us-republican-party-labelled-hateful/story-fndo4eg9-1226478700065
First part.
TREASURER Wayne Swan, who today said US Republicans are economic “crazies”, has been linked to a Government gift of $550,000 to a foundation run by former US President, Democrat Bill Clinton.
The taxpayers’ money four days ago went to the former president’s Clinton Foundation to pay for carbon accounting in Kenya.

Liberal environment spokesman Greg Hunt today said the Treasurer was “playing in partisan politics” by attacking the Republicans and helping a leading Democrat figure during the US election campaign.

“It’s completely inappropriate for the Treasurer to be playing in partisan US politics and that is not in Australia’s interests,” Mr Hunt told news.com.au.

“Against that background, it seems even odder that they are giving money to one of the world’s richest foundations.”

The Government approved $550,000 for the design of a “National Carbon Accounting System in Kenya”, according to a tender document from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.
The Government is expected to be asked why it was sending the design work to Boston when it boasts of creating so-called green jobs here in Australia.

https://www.tenders.gov.au/?event=public.cn.view&CNUUID=D1A6B387-E86B-B6BB-75D075AAAF6B33F9

val majkus

25 Oct 12 at 10:00 pm
Do we even know the stats of the number of rape victims who actually fell pregnant? Compare this with the total number of abortions performed.
You are focusing on minutiae. I do not condone abortion btw but expending energy on a small percentage of ” potential rape pregnancies” is very tiresome.

Splatacrobat

25 Oct 12 at 10:05 pm
I do not condone abortion btw but expending energy on a small percentage of ” potential rape pregnancies” is very tiresome.

It’s how the media try to keep abortion for the many on demand

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 10:09 pm
Splat, Steve Kellmeyer looked into the statistical likelihood of a rape victim falling pregnant.

It’s interesting reading.

nilk

25 Oct 12 at 10:15 pm
Thanks nilk I’llread it

Splatacrobat

25 Oct 12 at 10:25 pm
It is fine and dandy that Bob Carr is still enraptured with his inamorata, although I did assume, that as an official ALP-appointed intellekshual, he would be too cerebral and ascetic to feel warm and gooey about Helena’s gorgeous attributes.

But he is just goddam projecting if he thinks that she impresses anyone in foreign capitals, let alone his condescending belief that Asiatics must out of some racial fellow feeling prostrate themselves in front of the goddess Helena, and seek to make her every wish real.

What erudite babes did Rwanda and Azerbaijan and Morocco and Pakistan and Togo wheel out to impress their way on to the Security Council?

Pay for her yourself, you desiccated tax-eating poseur.

Spare a thought for our long-suffering Embassy staff, forced to kowtow to another megalo-nutball FM. At least Rudd didn’t parade Thérèse around the diplomatic traps as an, um, asset to Australia.

James in Melbourne

25 Oct 12 at 10:27 pm
I do not condone abortion btw but expending energy on a small percentage of ” potential rape pregnancies” is very tiresome.

They focus on it as it is the tiny wedge where there is any social acceptability.

They then use it following Alinsky rules 3, 4 & 13:

…The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

…the fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 10:29 pm
If someone is trying to beat an addiction DS, how would you get them to let go and yield to a higher power?

I can cite you many studies on addiction but there is no point because this is the wrong forum to discuss receptors etc etc. Your question is irrelevant to the discussion. For the record: contrary to popular opinion addiction is not necessarily solved by yielding to a higher power. As James K. may be aware numerous studies point to profound changes to the CNS arising from sustained drug addiction. Two specific studies come to mind: sustained CRH(promotes stress response) at the NACC(midbrain nuclei) initially induces dopamine output then over time collapses with dopamine tone taking 3 months to recover. Study on metha found it took several months to restore corticostriatal dopaminergic tone. Sorry I don’t have time to reduce this to more basic language. But what it highlights is that recovery from addiction can take a very long time, requires extremely careful management, and once again I express my sympathy towards psychiatrists and psychologists because treating addiction is not just “psychological” but involves profound CNS changes that represents huge clinical challenges. Hence as James K. stated the other day: it destroys their drive, the capacity to change their behavior.

Yes James I am well aware of what many people like Einstein think. That is why I am agnostic because while Einstein certainly entertained notions of God he was never that specific about. Moreover as I previously stated I regard these as limit questions, qtns that take us beyond what we can know rationally. Hence I consider it irrational to continue discussing these questions unless someone can produce new evidence or new relational structures to investigate the existing evidence. I do not consider myself capable of meeting those criteria.

BTW, I love mysticism but the history of the Church and Islam suggests those institutions are not so enamoured by it. Bohr had the Yin and Yang symbols on his coat of arms, physicists and neuroscientists have a certain liking for Buddhist ideas about perception etc. not its religious themes. Recently I have read a book arguing that some examples of psychosis are “spiritual crises”, an idea I find interesting but I am not suggesting psychosis is just that, it is typically a crippling condition that until the emergence of antipsychotics left many people completely disabled. Nonetheless I think psychiatrists are sometimes too anxious to treat all unusual beliefs or experiences as psychotic.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 10:45 pm
Mark Steyn is unfazed by Mann’s legal case:

As I said below, I’ve fended off various legal challenges around the world, but this is a first for me: A man who has declared himself a Nobel laureate is suing NR for refusing to respect him as one.

Token

25 Oct 12 at 10:49 pm
Mark Steyn is unfazed by Mann’s legal case:

Yes, the discovery phase is going to be fabulous.

Lazlo

25 Oct 12 at 10:52 pm
For the record:

Dear Mr Parker,

Thank you for your email regarding Mr Blewitt’s statements. The ABC is aware of
these statements but we do not at this stage believe it warrants the attention
of our news coverage.

To the extent that it may touch tangentially on a former role of the Prime
Minister, we know The Australian newspaper maintains an abiding interest in
events 17 years ago at the law firm Slater and Gordon, but the ABC is unaware
of any allegation in the public domain which goes to the Prime Minister’s
integrity. If indeed Ms Gillard has had questions to answer, ABC News reported
those answers from her lengthy media conference of 24/8/12 in which she
exhausted all questions on the issue.

However, if any allegation is ever raised which might go to the Prime
Minister’s integrity, the ABC would of course make inquiries into it and seek
to report it. As for matters concerning Mr Bruce Wilson, ABC News will cover
the case against him as it proceeds.

Once again thank you for your query.

Best regards,

John Mulhall
News Editor, ABC News

Of course, if the circumstances were exactly the same except that it was Abbott instead of Gillard, then it would be game on! ABC News would be all over it, every day.

ABC News is an ALP promotion machine. Now we have the identity of the Chief Commissar.

We’ll be watching out for you in the years to come, John Mulhall.

Lazlo

25 Oct 12 at 10:58 pm
beyond what we can know rationally. Hence I consider it irrational to continue discussing these questions unless someone can produce new evidence or new relational structures to investigate the existing evidence

I think you’re mistaking the rational for the empirical there.

I love mysticism but the history of the Church…

The Catholic Church is full of mystics, historically, for crying out load. Do you know what stopped Aquinas from finishing the Summa Theologiae?

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 10:59 pm
Correction: loud, not load.

It’s been too long.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 11:01 pm
I think you’re mistaking the rational for the empirical there.

More correctly, I’m mistaking rational for analytic utility. Once the conceptual space has been fully explored I can’t see the point unless I think I’m so bloody clever I am going to find something that people much smarter than me have not found over the last 1,000 plus years.

I said not enamoured by it, not that they were opposed to it. They may talk of mystical experiences but mysticism is widespread throughout the world. I certainly doubt they are not favourable to Buddhist mystical ideas, or that of certain American Indian tribes. The Church likes Its mysticism, as if somehow its mystics, even though emulating mystical ideas expressed in many other realms, are somehow the true mystics.

Dead Soul

25 Oct 12 at 11:07 pm
I’m confused. I came here this morning unsuccessfully (to discover if there’d been a welcome political assassination overnight), rewarded only by a “we’re busted and fixing it” message plus a wide brown land photo (I think).

I look up at the top of the page and see you lot have been at it since midnight last night.

Was there a Catalaxy connection problem or not?

Mick Gold Coast QLD

25 Oct 12 at 11:10 pm
Of course, if the circumstances were exactly the same except that it was Abbott instead of Gillard, then it would be game on! ABC News would be all over it, every day.

You don’t need to theorise, they covered the 33 year old no-evidence smear of Abbott’s university political enemy for weeks.

They are such utter scum.

twostix

25 Oct 12 at 11:15 pm
Speaking of RWDB and JF Beck, what happened there?

No disrespect to Dan Lewis, but RWDB is just not the same blog since Beck sort of slipped away and Lewis took over.

Meh.

sdog

25 Oct 12 at 11:23 pm
Parrot loves his new bunny.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 11:25 pm
They are such utter scum.

Paid for by you and me…

Lazlo

25 Oct 12 at 11:25 pm
BTW, I love mysticism but the history of the Church and Islam suggests those institutions are not so enamoured by it

lol

What you’re demanding of Einstein or any one else is childish.

Essentially a version of prove to me God exists or else I’ll refuse to believe!

Nobody cares whether you believe one way or another, John

Islam: Whirling Dervishes, Sufism?

Catholic mysticism is a special grace of God usually requiring discipline, asceticism, fasting and most especially contemplative prayer.

Many traditions and religious orders eg Franciscans champion spiritual disciplines to attain this special grace

It’s pretty well the history of the Church

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 11:31 pm
Once the conceptual space has been fully explored

How would you know it has been fully explored?

I said not enamoured by it

And as evidence of its amour I provided the example of its most famous philosopher, who gave up writing the Summa because of a vision, and a religion which sees a human’s final end in mystic terms, in what is called the Beatific vision.

The Church likes Its mysticism, as if somehow its mystics, even though emulating mystical ideas expressed in many other realms, are somehow the true mystics.

I really don’t know the point of this.

dover_beach

25 Oct 12 at 11:33 pm
rewarded only by a “we’re busted and fixing it” message plus a wide brown land photo

When that happens, it’s worth trying again typing the address into the address bar rather than using a bookmark. I find that the Cat can be very quirky now and then.

Cold-Hands

25 Oct 12 at 11:35 pm
Disturbing to watch this evening how Syria is spilling over into Lebanon – shi’ite vs sunni. The sunni guy with the big beard was at least completely up front: the agenda is to establish an islamic ‘republic’ in Lebanon. Great!

Lazlo

25 Oct 12 at 11:36 pm
Krauthammer: Lack of Benghazi media coverage ‘a journalistic scandal’

This is really a journalistic scandal,” Krauthammer said. “I mean, the fact there was not a word about any of this in the Times or the Post today.”

Krauthammer pointed out that recently released emails proved the White House, contrary to its assertions, was aware of terrorists’ connection to the attack almost immediately.

“And there is one thing that was very new and very interesting — you know, the White House has been trying to insulate itself on this the whole time,” Krauthammer said. “You get Joe Biden saying in his debate ‘we didn’t know.’ And of course, everybody knew. They say, ‘Well the White House didn’t know.’ These emails went to the situation room. What this story does is it punctures the myth that everybody might have known — the intelligence guys, the State Department, but the White House did not. It was in the situation room.”

“The last email speaks of the mortar attack,” he continued. “Now, there are people in the situation room who know about how operations are conducted in the field — and the mortar attack is not a bunch of guys who hop off the back of a truck and start attacking with AK-47s. This has to be planned. You have to have a lot of skill. You have to be trained. And when you do it at night, you got to have a spotter — I mean, there are all kinds of stuff that goes into this. And that’s on the first day. This is the fourth email at midnight essentially of that day.”

Krauthammer compared the significance of the Benghazi situation to the Watergate scandal.

“This all has echoes of Watergate,” Krauthammer said. “It wasn’t as sort of complex and long-term as the Watergate scandal. However, the timeline is the same — election year, basically ignored by most of the news outlets. The president is re-elected, and then the scandal erupts. And I think that’s what the administration is hoping will happen, and they expect it will be tamped down afterwards. That’s all they want to do, is get past the finish line.”

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 11:41 pm
the agenda is to establish an islamic ‘republic’ in Lebanon.

That’s the general idea all over the globe. Lebanon has around 40% of Christians, no doubt these will be slaughtered as Christians have been elsewhere. The lucky ones will emigrate.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 11:42 pm
What the fuck is happening to this country? Ted Ballieu to hold enquiry into use of the word “wankers” and wanker hand gesture.

Wanker.

Ted should apply to Macquarie dictionary to have “Wanker” redefined as an owner operator.

The army silent hand signal for hurry up is very similar to a wanker hand gesture. No need for an enquiry.

Splatacrobat

25 Oct 12 at 11:42 pm
Was there a Catalaxy connection problem or not?

Not that I’m aware of for the times I’ve popped in, Mick.

Along with what Cold-hands said, also clear your cache.

Gab

25 Oct 12 at 11:44 pm
Alice, what have you got against us younger guys?

Ah, I know. You pass us on the street all the time and go, “if only…”.

Alex Pundit

25 Oct 12 at 11:48 pm
“it’s worth trying again typing the address into the address bar rather than using a bookmark”

Aha! problem likely solved. Thanks for responding Cold-Hands.

I do need to visit here each day to find a summary of what’s happening. TV and newspaper reports are worthless and now both Tim Blair’s and Andrew Bolt’s blogs have been virtually shut down (overrun then shut down in Bolt’s case) – you’ve got to wonder which high office demanded that.

I discovered in the past 24 hours both Michael Smith’s and Larry Pickering’s blogs are useful.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

25 Oct 12 at 11:52 pm
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tells Reporters they are Trying to Understand the “Complex” Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya – Video 10/24/12

Unbelievable!

Despite the revelation today that the White House and State Department were notified of emails received from Libya detailing the terrorist attack underway on September 11, 2012, here is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton still unwilling to acknowledge it as a terrorist attack, and talking as if they still don’t know what happened!

JamesK

25 Oct 12 at 11:53 pm
This all has echoes of Watergate

Alfonso, care to comment?

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 12:00 am
AP poll: Romney erases Obama advantage among women

As the election nears, Romney has been playing down social issues and trying to project a more moderate stance on matters such as abortion in an effort to court female voters. The AP-GfK poll, taken Friday through Tuesday, shows Romney pulling even with Obama among women at 47-47 after lagging by 16 points a month earlier.

But now his campaign is grappling with the fallout from a comment by a Romney-endorsed Senate candidate in Indiana, who said that when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape “that’s something God intended.”

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:01 am
That’s the general idea all over the globe. Lebanon has around 40% of Christians, no doubt these will be slaughtered as Christians have been elsewhere. The lucky ones will emigrate.

And yet Western govts do not address this. The situation of coptic christians in Egypt is appalling. Western govts should be in front of the cameras every time these tragedies occur. Can anyone offer me insight into why there isn’t more govt action on this front?

Dead Soul

26 Oct 12 at 12:05 am
That’s the general idea all over the globe.

Yes, the literal translation of the word ‘islam’ is ‘submission’.

Lazlo

26 Oct 12 at 12:05 am
Obama: ‘I Need You To Keep Believing In Me’

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Barack Obama wrapped up a long day of cross-country campaigning in Las Vegas late Wednesday, telling a cheering crowd during a short campaign rally that they could help tilt Nevada in his favor in the Nov. 6 election and shaking hands with workers at a Las Vegas Strip resort.

“I believe in you. I need you to keep believing in me,” Obama said during an outdoor rally featuring a free concert by pop singer Katy Perry at a park in a historically minority neighborhood just northwest of downtown Las Vegas.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:06 am
Can anyone offer me insight into why there isn’t more govt action on this front?

It’s simple.

Most western governments are leftist

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:07 am
MSNBC Guest: Obama Not Afraid Of Government Because ‘He Comes From A People Who Were Owned’

Dyson said that the president’s defense of social welfare programs is broadly more preferable than the austerity advocated by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

“What is Paul Ryan’s plan? It’s to hack the at the social programs, it’s to whack the poor and it’s to sack the American dream for them. So, it’s a hack, whack, sack thing for them – I hate to be jingoistic there, but there it is,” Dyson said.

He went on to identify what he believes is the provenance of Obama’s positive views towards the public sector:

The reason Obama knows that the government is not the enemy is because he comes from a people who were owned, and it was a government-sponsored project. If the government sponsored your ownership, the government has to step in. Now, that’s 100, 200 years ago, but we’ve seen the legacy of slavery, economic inequality, Jim Crow laws, all of that stuff operates in our own time.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:11 am
And now for something completely different:

I was asked to address this earlier today but just more arm waving on my past. Nonetheless some studies do suggest good protection against lung cancer with regular aspirin, circa 300mg per day. Not other NSAIDs, which target COX 2, aspiring targets LOX5. Note one study found ibuprofen markedly increased cancer incidence.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/could-aspirin-become-a-targeted-therapy-for-colon-cancer

Dead Soul

26 Oct 12 at 12:13 am
Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president

(CBS News) Former Secretary of State Colin Powell broke with the Republican party during the 2008 election, to endorse then-candidate Barack Obama for president, calling Obama a “transformational figure.”

With 12 days to go before the presidential election, Powell publicly endorsed President Obama for re-election on “CBS This Morning” Thursday

“I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I’ll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month.”

*yawn*

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:18 am
Romney has the comb-over for support

Scapula

26 Oct 12 at 12:24 am
Absolutely despicable.

MEDIA MALPRACTICE – WaPo Scrubs Positive “Hating Breitbart” Reviews From Website

The Washington Post recently published a “review” of the film Hating Breitbart. Review is in quotations because it was a clumsy and banal attack on the man himself not a movie review. Truth be told, those who appreciated Andrew and understood what he fought against wouldn’t expect any kind of journalistic integrity from the very people that he spent a career exposing for the biased agenda driven tools of the institutionalized left that they are.

What is surprising is the lengths that outlets like the Washington Post will go to stop the voices of the everyman, average citizens, and the very people Andrew fought for so hard to be heard. But that is preciously what they have done.

Within hours of the biased review, average movie-goers did what WaPo apparently falsely offers as an opportunity to be heard and 7 citizen reviews were posted. In theory, viewer generated reviews provide a balance to what could be a biased or unprofessional official review written with an axe to grind.

But this morning, those positive reviews were nowhere to be found. They were flushed down the WaPo memory hole!

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 12:25 am
fuck of wingbone you pathetically stupid leftist git.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:26 am
WSJ: The President Sends His Non-Regrets
A revealing interview about his priorities in 2009—and 2013.

President Obama doesn’t give many interviews these days outside Comedy Central, so it caused a stir Wednesday when editors at the Des Moines Register managed to pin him down and even elicit some news. Specifically, Mr. Obama said he wants to pursue immigration reform in a second term, as well as a budget “grand bargain” with Republicans that includes tax reform.

This will come as a surprise to voters reading the President’s just-released 20-page brochure on his second-term agenda, which makes little or no mention of these priorities. Perhaps that’s why the White House first demanded that the interview be off the record, making the transcript public only after the Register editor objected in a public blog post.

But the larger reason to be skeptical concerns Mr. Obama’s answer to another Register question: Whether he regrets pursuing ObamaCare and other liberal social priorities in his first two years rather than focusing on the economy.

“Absolutely not,” Mr. Obama told the Iowa journalists. “Remember the context. First of all, Mitch McConnell has imposed an ironclad filibuster from the first day I was in office. And that’s not speculation.”

Whoaaaa there, big fella. Mr. McConnell was then and still is the Senate Minority Leader, and in 2009 he had all of 40 votes. Mr. Obama could have pursued any agenda he wanted, and the Des Moines editors wanted to know why he didn’t focus on the economy first. Yet Mr. Obama’s instinctive reaction is to blame Republican obstructionism that never happened.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:27 am
That “aspirin prevents bowel cancer” story has been floating around for at least 5 years, John. You’d think that in that time they might have something more than anecdotal “evidence” one way or the other?

Oh but then again, aspirin CAUSES cancer.

Jeez louise, it’s as bad as global warming.

Everything causes cancer; everything prevents cancer; everything cures cancer.

Kill or cure: making sense of the media’s ongoing effort to classify every inanimate object into those that cause cancer and those that prevent it. Paul Battley uses automation and crowd-sourcing in the war against bad science reporting.

sdog

26 Oct 12 at 12:31 am
Karl Rove,WSJ: Strategies for the Stretch Run to Nov. 6
Over the last 40 national surveys, Mr. Romney is at or above 50% in 11, with Mr. Obama at or above 50% in one

So what are each candidate’s strategies for the stretch run?

New television spots reveal the Romney campaign’s closing message. One says another four years for Mr. Obama would mean more debt, up to 20 million people losing their employer-provided health insurance, higher taxes, rising energy prices and Medicare cuts. Other ads emphasize Mr. Romney has a plan for jobs and showcase his success as a Republican governor in a Democratic state.

The Obama campaign strategy also has three elements. The first was embodied in a glossy 20-page pamphlet issued Tuesday, entitled “The New Economic Patriotism: A Plan for Jobs & Middle-Class Security.” Mr. Obama is distributing 3.5 million copies of it nationwide but it is too late: Voters concluded months ago that he lacks a forward-looking program. The pamphlet itself is a second-rate repackaging of Mr. Obama’s lackluster convention speech and has been rightly dismissed by many in the press as a PR ploy. Even an accompanying TV ad swing won’t rescue Mr. Obama.

The second strategic thrust of the Obama message was exemplified in three TV ads released on Tuesday. They warn that Mr. Romney would end all abortion, gut Medicare, and undermine education. But this repeats months of similar messaging, so it is hard to believe that it will undo Mr. Romney’s current momentum.

The final element of Mr. Obama’s strategy is to constantly question Mr. Romney’s truthfulness. The president says his opponent suffers from “stage-three Romnesia,” as if the GOP challenger were a disease. While calling his opponent a liar thrills partisans, Mr. Obama risks turning off swing voters, especially since Mr. Romney’s favorability rating is now higher than his own.

In an Oct. 21 Monmouth/SurveyUSA/Braun poll of registered voters, Mr. Romney was viewed favorably by 49% and unfavorably by 39%, up from 41% favorable and 40% unfavorable on Sept. 16.

The president’s problem remains the economy.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:32 am
Hey, Spot!

I have the answer, the cure for everything.
Someone sent it to me in an email this week.

It’s, wait for it…

None of the drug companies want you to know it. And of course all the doctors are hand in glove with Big Pharma….

It’s…

cinnamon and honey.

Yep.

Everyone knows that honey cures everything, coughs, colds and sore hol… er, everything. Even diabetics can eat honey without karking it.

I know. I read it in an email.

kae

26 Oct 12 at 12:35 am
Or maybe they cause cancer.

kae

26 Oct 12 at 12:36 am
Steyn will lose that case.

The legal system isn’t geared to decide scientific questions and for a charge of fraud to be proved, Steyn has to establish that Mann wilfilly structured his entire research with holistic deception aforethought. Mann’s dishonesty and Mickey Mouse methodology will be aired – damagingly – but I expect Steyn will be taken to the cleaners.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 12:37 am
You’d think that in that time they might have something more than anecdotal “evidence” one way or the other?

Thanks sdog. Mesometimes think there should be a blanket ban on all research news until at least 5 years after a novel finding. Over the last few months a flurry of articles repudiating earlier studies on omega 3′s. On and on it goes. There are even a number of studies claiming that shizophrenics or a subgroup thereof benefit from marijuana. There is a certain sense to that.

The link you gave is only for pancreatic cancer, which is very low incidence, and the data shakes around too much and recent studies do not support that finding.

Dead Soul

26 Oct 12 at 12:38 am
Time for your massage, Spot.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 12:39 am
Ah yes – the old “cinnamon & honey” cure…

It is found that a mixture of honey and cinnamon cures most diseases.

Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.

They PROVED!!!111!! it could cure cancer DECADES AGO!!!1111!!! but the BIG PHARMA!!11!! shyster-doctor-shills WON’T TELL YOU that!!11!!!eleventy-one!!!!!

sdog

26 Oct 12 at 12:44 am
Oh, really, Spot.
I didn’t read it.
I can’t believe these people send me those emails.

Usually I give them a link to Snopes or something.
This week I couldn’t be bothered.

kae

26 Oct 12 at 12:46 am
Time for your massage, Spot.

Awesomeness.

Massage both prevents and cures cancer, I’ve heard

sdog

26 Oct 12 at 12:46 am
Steyn will lose that case.

I don’t know why you confidently assert that

NR and Steyn seemed to very much keep on adding insult to injury in the hope Mann would sue.

So this is apparently what they wanted.

Presumably they got advice before needling Mann to sue.

The justice will have scientific evidence from both defence and plaintiff.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:47 am
Is Scapula an anatomy freak or a devoted son of Our Lady of Mt Carmel?

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 12:48 am
“sacpula” posts the in the same manner as febr0. The same one liner style of totally unrelated crap. Coincidence, eh?

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 12:50 am
The Beginning of the End of the Abortion Industry.

Thank you, science.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 12:52 am
The hype that surrounds each new “discovery” that household product X either causes or cures cancer is just one of my bugbears, John.

As anyone who’s ever had a serious illness has probably experienced, the mere fact of your illness tends to bring out every well-meaning but terminally-gullible and scientifically-illiterate kook in the vicinity to inform you as to what you did to cause your illness, what you should have done to prevent your illness, and what you need to do to cure your illness. All based on random shit they read on the internet.

It gets old, is all.

sdog

26 Oct 12 at 12:52 am
Shane wand, a duplicitous mussel
Surely you jest?

Skuter

26 Oct 12 at 12:53 am
As someone who was recently in istanbul and did see a dervish ceremony Septimus, what is your interest?

Hello dismissive. It was my very good fortune to see the Dervishes during a visit to Istanbul in October 2008.

The context for my above question to Sinc is as follows:

A couple or more months ago (July/August 2012?), Catallaxy was out of service as Ozblogistan was being transitioned to new servers. In the no-service period, those accessing the website were entertained by, among other things, a spinning Dalek-like figure. When Catallaxy was back in service Sinc, who was in the middle of his Europe trip at the time, commented that he had missed seeing the Dalek. In response, I responded that it was a bit like a Whirling Dervish and that if he visited Istanbul on his trip he might see the real thing. My above question was simply a follow-up.

Septimus

26 Oct 12 at 12:56 am
BTW, I love mysticism

Me too, DS. The idea of it, anyway. Quantum Mechanics in one reality is a pretty mystical thing, although supposedly conceptually able to be tied down (it is, after all, mechanics we are talking of here not just theoretical physics), let alone what might ‘exist/be’ in any unknown and probably unknowable ‘incipient’ (or not) other realities – and how limiting is the idea of a ‘reality’ beyond our puny understanding of our own universe of reality; we can’t even conceptualise this to first base because we are completely unable to formulate whatever ‘it’ (the unknown/unknowable) might be.

Language absolutely fails us. Metaphors – like The Word, Light, Sound, Being, Magic, Soul, Spirit – or God – are the best we can do. Perhaps thought and mind can take us beyond language; I do not know (I suspect not). Mystics think they do know.

The Ancient Egyptian all-seeing eye is such a frail and human thing. So are our gods. That is what we are. Frail and human. Only poetry satisfies.

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing for me”.

Quantum Mechanics? It’s a gravy train, says Da Hairy Ape.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

26 Oct 12 at 12:58 am
Ha, “in response, I responded”

It’s 1.00am.

Septimus

26 Oct 12 at 1:01 am
God just loves this stock.

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3ADDD&ei=pUeJULixIcm00AGAyQE

JC

26 Oct 12 at 1:09 am
I expect Maxine McKew may no longer be on the ALP (or the ALPBC) Christmas card list.

H B Bear

26 Oct 12 at 1:11 am
Is Scapula an anatomy freak or a devoted son of Our Lady of Mt Carmel?

Scapula is Latin for shoulder, thus it refers to shoulder bone, I get that. It is also the chosen title of a fairly tough Roman soldier/administrator sent to Britain in the early years of the Roman conquest by the Emperor Claudius. But what is the reference to Mt. Carmel in this, CL? I have a particular interest.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

26 Oct 12 at 1:12 am
Maxine McKew fallout: a remarkable report about lying Gillard’s coup d’etat against Rudd. Many interesting gems, including this from Paul Keating:

In her book, McKew interviews Paul Keating and asks him if Labor could have “regained the moral high ground and altered the national conversation” on refugees. The former Labor prime minister replies, “It’s the job of leaders to protect the country from its prejudice” in a veiled criticism of Ms Gillard.

From the man who pioneered the detention camps, simply stunning.

Many other revelations – including Gillard’s use of racism.

RTWT.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 1:17 am
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing for me.

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock is my favourite TS Eliot poem. Thanks for reminding me, Lizzie.

Septimus

26 Oct 12 at 1:23 am
Grishkin is nice uncorseted her friendly bust gives promise of pneumatic bliss.

Scapula

26 Oct 12 at 1:25 am
Lizzie:

http://www.sistersofcarmel.com/brown-scapular-information.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 1:25 am
ut what is the reference to Mt. Carmel in thi

The wearing of a scapular is a particular form of Roman Catholic devotion, Lizzie. The brown scapular is particularly associated with Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Cold-Hands

26 Oct 12 at 1:29 am
“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing for me”.

Love that poem. Four Quartets is also stunning. My favourite lines from that:

TS Eliot, East Coker

And the wisdom of age? Had they deceived us,
Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,
Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?
The serenity only a deliberate hebetude,
The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets
Useless in the darkness into which they peered
Or from which they turned their eyes. There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been.

The multiverse is tautologically true as a result of taking QM as the final model of 42, which raises the qtn as to whether or not it needs empirical verification. To do that one must also accept mathematical platonism, which I have problems with but cannot decide one way or the other. Have some qtns in that regard but too stupid to explore those questions. Recently though some fascinating online discussions re emergent properties which raises some fascinating qtns about causality. Most mathematicians and physicists take MP as a given. QM certainly is a gravy train, so much of our technology these days is based upon QM and has made many very rich, though not the physicists.

Dead Soul

26 Oct 12 at 1:54 am
Bowen rewards bad behaviour, encouraging future riots.

ASYLUM seekers convicted of participating in riots that caused more than $5 million damage to the Christmas Island detention centre have been handed protection visas to stay in the country.

Gillard government rewards queue-jumping and rioting the formula to obtain visas to stay in Australia.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 1:55 am
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous –

Almost, at times, the Fool.

sdog

26 Oct 12 at 1:57 am
Thomson’s lawyer, McArdle of

”If Mr Abbott has evidence of that he should come forward forthwith, or he should shut his mouth,” he said.

”We will not tolerate our client being condemned by innuendo or ageing student politicians mouthing off.”

fame, started out life as student priest and then – wait for it – a union organiser for the AWU. (Surprising, huh?)

Chris McArdle, the no-nonsense Sydney lawyer who has taken to the airwaves in recent days to defend his “celebrity” client Craig Thomson, also has a long pedigree with the labour movement, starting his working life as federal industrial organiser with the Australian Workers Union in the 1970s.

But Mr McArdle, a former NSW industrial commissioner, suggested his links with the Labor Party were not as close as they were.

LOL.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:03 am
Bob, you fat piece of lard, you’re back again, hey?

JC

26 Oct 12 at 2:04 am
The Beginning of the End of the Abortion Industry.

Thank you, science.

Thank you, CL

Grigory Potemkin

26 Oct 12 at 2:05 am
BBC cover up:

300 potential Jimmy Savile victims: police

AS many as 300 potential child abuse victims of the late BBC entertainer Jimmy Savile have been identified, British police have announced.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:13 am
“It’s the job of leaders to protect the country from its prejudice” in a veiled criticism of Ms Gillard.

The constant refrain of the central planner: the government knows what the electorate should think.

Abu Chowdah

26 Oct 12 at 2:14 am
Is that Peter Patton, the scourge of Catholicism and all around arsehole?

Abu Chowdah

26 Oct 12 at 2:17 am
Utterly bizarre and tragic…

On Leno:

“Welcome back. We are talking to the President of the United States…”

And what did he tell Jay?

These Banks Are In to Make Money and That’s Why We Need Regulations (Video).

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:32 am
300 potential Jimmy Savile victims: police

AS many as 300 potential child abuse victims of the late BBC entertainer Jimmy Savile have been identified, British police have announced.

I’m confused. Wasn’t he free to marry?

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:38 am
Obama will lose many thousands of votes after his latest embittered gaffe.

DRUDGE leads: “He’s a bullshitter.”

Stay classy, Kenyan.

————————————————–

Meanwhile… the Des Moines Register’s front page: BLAM!!

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:46 am
Nauru has announced a new visa category for “asylum seekers” costing $3000/3 months. At $1000 per asylum seeker per month, the Nauraun government is looking to reap millions of dollars from the Labor-Green failures in Border protection… and further plunge the Goose’s budget into the red. The Red Dalek may be forced to re-introduce TPV’s just through budgetry pressures (although it’s only our money, so maybe not).

Cold-Hands

26 Oct 12 at 4:09 am
Potemkin’s Village

Mum, will you help me please… here

Grigory Potemkin

26 Oct 12 at 4:26 am
Fatty O’Barrell is still streeting Labor in New South Wales, according to Newspoll, at 59% to 41% 2PP, but, as an indication of how obsessed we’ve become with polling, is about as popular as Tony Abbott:

It shows dissatisfaction with Mr O’Farrell’s performance has spiked five points to 42 per cent since the July-August Newspoll. Satisfaction is marginally down, from 37 per cent to 36 per cent.

It is Mr O’Farrell’s first dip into negative territory since a poll taken in April 2009.

The news is just as bad for Opposition Leader John Robertson, whose net satisfaction has blown out from minus eight points two months ago to minus 14 points now. Only a quarter of voters are satisfied with his performance, while 39 per cent are dissatisfied.

Meanwhile, Abbott is being flayed for ratings that are typical for opposition leaders, while Gillard’s are in the toilet for a PM:

Voter satisfaction with Mr Abbott came up from an equal record low of 30 per cent in mid-September to 33 per cent and dissatisfaction with the way he is doing his job fell five points from 60 to 55 per cent.

Personal support for Ms Gillard was virtually unchanged, with satisfaction at 36 per cent, the same as it was three weeks ago, and dissatisfaction falling from 52 to 50 per cent.

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 5:58 am
The worse illegal immigrants behave, the more they are rewarded:

ASYLUM seekers convicted of participating in riots that caused more than $5 million damage to the Christmas Island detention centre have been handed protection visas to stay in the country.

Just one of seven offenders convicted over the riots had his visa application rejected by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on character grounds.

Three men found guilty of offences relating to the March 2011 riots – in which accommodation and administration facilities were burned down and rocks thrown at police – have been granted protection visas to remain in Australia.

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 6:04 am
As polling catches up with Obama’s resounding win in Monday’s final presidential debate, it’s just a matter of time before the Black Jesus comes from behind and wins, yeah?:

In the 11 swing states, Mitt Romney earns 50% of the vote to Obama’s 46%. Two percent (2%) like another candidate in the race, and another two percent (2%) are undecided.

This is now the third day in a row – and the fifth time in the past six days – that Romney has hit the 50% mark in the combined swing states. This survey is conducted on a rolling seven-day basis, and most of the interviews for today’s update were completed before the end of Monday night’s presidential debate. Romney has now held a modest lead for 14 of the last 17 days; Obama was ahead twice, and the candidates ran even once.

In 2008, Obama won these states by a combined margin of 53% to 46%, virtually identical to his national margin.

Nationally, Romney remains at the 50% level of support in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 6:40 am
Don’t you love the spin from the zombie chattering classes: “it was always going to be impossible for the Greens to maintain high levels of public support”, yada yada yada. Truth is, wherever and whenever their economic recklessness has been exposed in government, the electorate is telling them to fuck off:

The ACT Greens slipped into deeper electoral trouble last night with updated vote counting showing for the second night running that their leader Meredith Hunter is heading for defeat.

And history is against Ms Hunter in her Ginninderra electorate, where no independent or minor party MLA has ever lasted more than one term.

Last night’s updated interim preference figures show the Greens heading for a near wipeout, losing three of the four seats they won in their historic 2008 showing.

With the ACT Assembly now split 8-8-1 Liberal-Labor-Greens, the threatened Greens-Labor government will be on a knife edge after a 7.3% swing to the Libs at the expense of the Greens (-4.9%).

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 6:55 am
I second the Prufrock. Closely followed by Preludes.

You tossed a blanket from the bed,
You lay upon your back, and waited;
You dozed, and watched the night revealing
The thousand sordid images
Of which your soul was constituted;
They flickered against the ceiling.

nilk

26 Oct 12 at 7:11 am
“CL/JamesK, what is the correct way of addressing that trap the Lefties love to play with abortion?”

What crime did the child commit that requires you to take its life?

CC

26 Oct 12 at 7:45 am
“The Mayor of London – Boris Johnson was very worried about a plague of pigeons in the City Centre.

He could not remove the pigeons from the city. All of London was full of pigeon poop, the people of London could not walk on the pavements, or drive on the roads.

It was costing a fortune to keep the streets and pavements clean.

One day a man came to the Town Hall and offered the Mayor a proposition.

‘I can rid your beautiful city of its plague of pigeons without any cost to the city. But, you must promise not to ask me any questions.

Or, you can pay me one million pounds to ask one question.’

Boris considered the offer briefly and accepted the free proposition. The next day the man climbed to the top of Nelson’s Column, opened his coat, and released a blue pigeon. The blue pigeon circled in the air and flew up into the bright blue London sky.

All the pigeons in London saw the blue pigeon and gathered up in the air behind the bird. The London pigeons followed the blue pigeon as she flew eastwards out of the city.

The next day the blue pigeon returned completely alone to the man on top of Nelson’s Column.

Boris was very impressed. He felt the man and the blue pigeon had performed a wonderful miraculous service to rid London of the plague of pigeons. Even though the man with the pigeon had charged nothing, Boris presented him with a cheque for 1 million pounds and told the man that, indeed, he did have a question to ask and even though they had agreed to no fee and the man had rid the city of pigeons, he decided to pay the 1 million just to get to ask ONE question.

The man accepted the money and told the mayor to ask his ONE question.

Then Boris asked: “Got any blue Muslims?”

Ellen of Tasmania

26 Oct 12 at 8:06 am
Another day, another ABC RN gushing climate change story, on Frabjous Fran’s Breakfast Beanfest. They had a long segment with Christiana Figueres, out here to urge the government to (a) sign Kyoto 2, (b)do even more to remain in the lead on climate change policy. She met with Combet yesterdet.

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 8:07 am
Texas: F.U. UN:

Texas sparks international row with election observers

Texas authorities have threatened to arrest international election observers, prompting a furious response from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“The threat of criminal sanctions against [international] observers is unacceptable,” Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said in a statement. “The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections.”…..

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott further fueled the controversy on Tuesday when he sent a letter to the OSCE warning the organization that its representatives “are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place” and that it “may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance.”

LOL

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 8:14 am
This is going to be interesting. NYC is going to be hit with a hurricane over the next 48 hours.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 8:17 am
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott

Coincidence? I think not!

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 8:19 am
The Governor should arrest the fuckers. No ifs no buts, arrest and charge them.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 8:20 am
Of course the douchebags are not authorized under Texan law and state law prevails I would think.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 8:21 am
FLASHBACK: Obama broke with colleagues, voted against protecting rape victims in ’99 state senate vote

In a 1999 legislative vote, then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama was the sole state senator to not vote for for a bill that would protect sexual assault victims from having the details of their cases revealed publicly.

On May 11 of that year, Obama voted “present” on a bill, ultimately made law, that allows victims of sex crimes to request that their cases be sealed from public view following a criminal conviction. Illinois Senate voting records show that Obama was the only senator who did not vote in favor of the bill.

Obama’s unique objection to voting for a bill meant to protect victims of sex crimes is a substantial departure from the picture he has attempted to paint for women voters.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 8:28 am
I suspect the Trump $5 million for Obumma’s college records will have a significant sleeper effect.

That was smart of Trump and Gloria Alred’s publicity got drowned as a result.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 8:34 am
Linda Mottram on ABC 702: have you encountered racism in Sydney? Moslems are encountering hostility, she says.
News Flash: Islam is not a race, Linda.
It is a political control (submission) system under cover as a religion.

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 8:34 am
JC, duck out and get a rubber dinghy. Hurricane Sandy is going to dump plenty. Quack quack.

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 8:36 am
Rich Lowry, Politico Op-Ed: Obama’s pathetic picture book

As an artifact of the diminishment of President Barack Obama, it is hard to top his newly released pamphlet, “A Plan for Jobs & Middle-Class Security.”
The plan purports, first, to be a plan, and second, to outline a second-term agenda distinct from his first-term agenda. It fails on both counts. It cobbles together his current policies with some ill-defined new bullet points to barely cover 20 pages largely devoted to nice pictures of the president.

Make no mistake: What the Obama agenda lacks in substance, it makes up in graphic design. The pamphlet has as much gloss and as many soft-focus photos as a copy of Playboy. The seriously besotted Obama fan might have to assure friends, “No, really — I only read the Obama second-term plan for the policy details.”

LOL

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 8:38 am
moslems are encountering hostility

So what?

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 8:42 am
The Beginning of the End of the Abortion Industry.

Thank you, science.

Considering the attitude of most people is to side with the deer which is being hunted by a wolf, the footage she talks about if screened will change attitudes.

Still images don’t have the same impact.

Token

26 Oct 12 at 8:43 am
James Taranto, WSJ: In Defense of Richard Mourdock
It is his Democratic opponent who is engaging in Akin-style sophistry.

But it does Mourdock an injustice to lump his thoughtful response to the question in with Akin’s specious one. And it would be a shame if Donnelly made it to the Senate by making an argument that is as unsound as Akin’s and demagogic to boot.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 8:48 am
This is going to be interesting. NYC is going to be hit with a hurricane over the next 48 hours.

I’m on a fucking barrier island in fucking Florida. Every time I come to fucking Florida they have a fucking hurricane.

May it pass us by quickly, form into a frankenstorm, and go torment those who deserve it.

sdog

26 Oct 12 at 8:50 am
Daniel Henninger, WSJ: Suddenly, a Credibility Gap
Benghazi has damaged voters’ willingness to believe in Barack Obama.

It is conventional wisdom that incumbency breeds advantages. But incumbency also brings burdens, and the Obama candidacy looks like it’s buckling beneath one: Of the two candidates, the president is held to a higher standard of behavior.

There have been only two events that could be said to have caused significant movement by voters in the campaign. One was the Oct. 3 Denver debate in which Mitt Romney disinterred political skills that stunned the incumbent and woke up a sleeping electorate. Race on.

The other is Benghazi. The damage done to the Obama campaign by the Sept. 11 death in Benghazi of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three American colleagues has been more gradual than the sensation of the Denver debate, but its effect may have been deeper.

The incumbent president has a credibility gap.

The phenomenon of a credibility gap dates to the Vietnam War and the presidency of Lyndon Johnson.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 8:51 am
NYC is going to be hit with a hurricane over the next 48 hours.

Catastrophic human induced climate change strikes again…

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 8:54 am
And so the transformation begins.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-24/nazi-technology-turns-cheap-shale-gas-into-sub-2-diesel-energy.html

JC

26 Oct 12 at 8:55 am
The worse illegal immigrants behave, the more they are rewarded:

I’ve noticed the Stenographers are “bored” with the issue and don’t cover the issue any more.

The parrot said this morning the total immigrants over the past five years totals over 28,000!

Token

26 Oct 12 at 8:55 am
TED TURNER: I THINK IT’S GOOD US TROOPS ARE COMMITING SUICIDE

On CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, Ted Turner said he thinks it’s “good” that American soldiers are committing suicide in large numbers because it shows an aversion to war.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 8:56 am
But it does Mourdock an injustice to lump his thoughtful response to the question in with Akin’s specious one. And it would be a shame if Donnelly made it to the Senate by making an argument that is as unsound as Akin’s and demagogic to boot.

We know that facts are not important when an election is at stake. Look at Benghazi or the whoppers the Sun King told during the debates.

Token

26 Oct 12 at 8:57 am
Texas authorities have threatened to arrest international election observers

God bless Texas.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 8:59 am
I suspect the Trump $5 million for Obumma’s college records will have a significant sleeper effect.

That was smart of Trump and Gloria Alred’s publicity got drowned as a result.

Yes indeed James, and it also make Alred’s tactics look really grubby in comparison.

Keith

26 Oct 12 at 8:59 am
good luck dog.

I will be well ensconced 30 floors up waching intently with what’s going on below.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 9:04 am
God bless Texas

Boy, do I miss Perry.

Alex Pundit

26 Oct 12 at 9:19 am
How long today before professional dweeb, abortion and Emilys List obsessive turns up today, I wonder?

As I have complained before to CL, the gigantic political carry on about Labor women politicians being pro choice makes no sense at all when you have a Catholic (yes, Catholic) Opposition Leader who promises to not make any changes to the Federal position on abortion, and recites the “legal, safe, and rare” Clintonian formula.

Grigory should get a girlfriend, or become a monk, both of which would be more useful than linking to his obsessive postering.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 9:28 am
On the G2L front – why on earth is this technology not being employed in Australia? This continent has an abundance of gas and a dearth of oil. You would think that a company could make a go of refining gas into liquid fuels.

I suppose this would require 20+ year time horizons, and any 20 year stretch in Australia is likely to include a tax-grabbing, industry-destroying Labor government.

Oh well.

brc

26 Oct 12 at 9:34 am
The adults are waiting for you to fuck off, you deadshit troll.

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 9:35 am
How long today before professional dweeb, ~~abortion and Emilys List obsessive turns up today~~ conservative, Catholic,left-wing,AGW harpie,mendicant house husband, green, liar Steve turns up here, I wonder?

There, fixed that for the rest of us.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

26 Oct 12 at 9:36 am
Tony ABbott doesn’t support late term abortion right up until normal delivery time, like the female Labor ministers (Emily’s list supporters). That’s ‘cos it’s murder.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 9:39 am
Ah, the anger management twins have weighed in.

I am sure that there are people who share the view that Grigory is nuttily obsessive and seems strangely proud of displaying the fact at least daily.

It’s a public service that he be told.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 9:42 am
candy: until Tony Abbott says he is going to push for legal changes to ensure late term abortion cannot happen (even if it is simply a matter of stopping Medicare contribution to such abortions) what he thinks about it makes no practical or political difference at all.

So just shut up about it. Or, alternatively, start criticising your beloved Abbott for not taking a brave stance on proposing at least funding changes for abortion.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 9:47 am
So just shut up about it.

Steve shows his membership badge of the handbag brigade of the ALP.

.

26 Oct 12 at 9:50 am
You are nuttily obsessive about AGW, Tony Abbott, butt plugs and Catholicism and you turn up here every day displaying these facts.
Unfortunately, you do not give us the option of ignoring your position because you are constantly posting your irrelevant opinions here.
The difference b/w you and Grigory is that he provides a link and does not just post his obsessions. If you choose to access the link and do not agree with what is espoused at his site, simply don’t go there again.
You are a conceited ignorant troll of the highest order.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

26 Oct 12 at 9:51 am
“andy: until Tony Abbott says he is going to push for legal changes to ensure late term abortion cannot happen (even if it is simply a matter of stopping Medicare contribution to such abortions) what he thinks about it makes no practical or political difference at all.”

Steven, he will when’s PM.

He’s in opposition at the moment.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 9:52 am
Jacques/Sinc, could we compromise? Instead of banning trolls, could we charge them a pixelage fee according to a monthly/weekly/daily nuisance-measuring poll? That way, communist parasites like Dogshit would have to pay for the priviledge of telling us we owe him a living.

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 9:55 am
candy: there is no indication at all that your assumption is correct. Or are you on some secret Abbott mailing list that let’s you in on what he really intends to do once PM?

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:00 am
Don’t be so crusty Steve, and I’ve just been admiring your latest possum pic too. The baby has grown some.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 10:04 am
Yes, I very much like the latest pic of the baby, candy. (People who don’t find it cute need therapy, I think.)

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:07 am
JC

It’s interesting that they call it “Nazi technology”don’t you think?

Jet engines were also developed by the Nazi regime (in parallel with Frank Whittle) but they don’t say “Oh I’m flying to Europe using Nazi technology”, do they?

Smear time.

Cato the Elder

26 Oct 12 at 10:19 am
JC

It’s interesting that they call it “Nazi technology”don’t you think?

Jet engines were also developed by the Nazi regime (in parallel with Frank Whittle) but they don’t say “Oh I’m flying to Europe using Nazi technology”, do they?

Smear time.

Cato the Elder

26 Oct 12 at 10:19 am
Whoops, Whoops. Don’t know how I did did it it twice twice

sorry sorry

Cato the Elder

26 Oct 12 at 10:20 am
Cato

Yea, i thought that revelation was a bit strange, but I don’t think it was an attempt to smear. It was just an idiot journalist trying to show how smart s/he is by adding that useless crap in there.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 10:23 am
Candy

Just tell the househubby to fuck right off.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 10:25 am
… interesting that they call it “Nayzee technology”

Yes, innit.

BTW, has there ever been one piece of “commie technology” that’s been of any benefit to humanity ever?

P.S. Gulags, sports performance enhancing drugs and neo-brutalist apartment blocks don’t count…

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 10:26 am
As I have complained before to CL, the gigantic political carry on about Labor women politicians being pro choice makes no sense at all when you have a Catholic (yes, Catholic) Opposition Leader who promises to not make any changes to the Federal position on abortion, and recites the “legal, safe, and rare” Clintonian formula.

You are a piece of work, sfb. Abbott does not promote abortion, Emily’s Listers do; can you not recognise the difference?

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 10:26 am
So just shut up about it.

LOL you’re a winner.

Bombing close to target people.

The ALP “handbag hitsquad” many of who are childless by idealogical choice demand abortion “on demand” be available to women up until the day before the baby is born.

So they desire a country where on the day before a baby is due, it be legal for an 9 month along pregnant woman to lumber unquestioned into a clinic, be induced into labor then as the baby is being born have an abortionist ram a stainless steel implement inside its skull destroying its brain and killing it.

This is the official ALP “feminist” faction’s position on Abortion.

SfB’s response?

“Shut up”.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 10:29 am
brc, what is G2L?

Dangph

26 Oct 12 at 10:30 am
As I have complained before to CL, the gigantic political carry on about Labor women politicians being pro choice makes no sense at all when you have a Catholic (yes, Catholic) Opposition Leader who promises to not make any changes to the Federal position on abortion, and recites the “legal, safe, and rare” Clintonian formula.

Steve still wheeling out this 1970s talking point.

1. Yes, it does make a moral difference to be a supporter of child murder (like Barack Obama and Steve from Brisbane) rather than an opponent of it. A massive moral difference.

2. Abbott cannot change state abortion laws anyway.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:30 am
All the more reason to vote or the Kenyan. There’s now a general sales slump.

Firings Reach Highest Since 2010 as Ford to Dow Face Sales Slump

Ford Motor Co. and Dow Chemical Co. joined a growing number of companies firing thousands of workers as sluggish U.S. growth and Europe’s deepening recession lead to a persisting slump in sales.

Read more: Firings Reach Highest Since 2010 as Ford to Dow Face Sales Slump

Go Romnster.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 10:30 am
Yes.

10 Questions a Pro-Choice Candidate Is Never Asked by the Media.

“Mr Obama. Do you support a woman’s ‘right’ to kill her unborn girl child? Because this has become a huge problem – including in the United States. Yes or no?”

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:33 am
So just shut up about it

well said stupid. Have you done the washing up?

Tiny Dancer

26 Oct 12 at 10:34 am
Gillard’s people have stolen the slush fund documents from the WA archive.

This is a serious crime.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:35 am
Great work by Dennis Shanahan in The Australian today.

The Treasurer, wearing a yellow fluoro vest, twice referred to the projected revenue from the mining tax in 2012-13 as $9 billion and said there had been a writedown of $4.7bn in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook last Monday. The correct projected revenue for 2012-13 is just $2bn and the $4.7bn writedown, like the $9bn figure, is across four years, not one.

It was a potential disaster for Swan. In the dying days of the Hawke years, then Labor treasurer John Kerin was unable to name a reasonably obscure economic term and resigned just before Paul Keating’s successful challenge to lead the party. Swan also harassed Barnaby Joyce from the role of opposition finance spokesman, in part because he said millions instead of billions.

Yes, the Stenographers worked with Goose to bring down Joyce for a gramatical error, where as everyone expects Goose to screw up.

Oh yes, don’t forget Labor has already spent the money it will not collect:

The quarterly MRRT payment is meant to be a calculation of the annual impost divided by four.

A sudden recovery in profits through unexpected coal and iron ore price rises may mean the miners will pay the projected full-year tax of $2bn, but it seems likelier the final three quarters will yield the same or only marginally better revenue for the government. Nor should it be forgotten that the government has spent large chunks of this projected revenue or dedicated it as the source of funds before it was earned.

Just this week Regional Australia Minister Simon Crean was on South Australian radio denying the money he was announcing for local schemes such as sporting facilities had come from the cuts to the baby bonus – it was coming from the “min- ing tax”.

The people of Australia so used to Gillard/Swan clusterf**ks that this monumental blunder (which was used as cover to knife Krudd) is not getting the coverage it deserves.

Token

26 Oct 12 at 10:36 am
You’re a dimwit like Grigory and CL for whom mental attitude triumphs practical effects, d-b.

And besides, the great majority of pro-choice politicians would deny that this means they actually encourage women to have more abortions.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:37 am
For those joining us late, Steve is ‘Catholic’ who supports abortion on demand.

A Nancy Pelosi ‘Catholic.’

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:41 am
……the great majority of pro-choice politicians would deny that this means they actually encourage women to have more abortions.

Househubby, if the appalling Emily Lister skunks and ghouls are advocating yanking a kid out head first and ripping its brain apart even one day before it naturally drops out, would you define that position as encouragement or discouragement?

So you’re saying that incentives don’t matter?

JC

26 Oct 12 at 10:42 am
The literally fascist ABC has dobbed on British American Tobacco Australia.

Their ‘crime’ is to have three letters on the base of the individual cigarette.

British American Tobacco Australia is being investigated over possible breaches of the Federal Government’s new plain packaging laws.

From October it became illegal to manufacture cigarettes for Australian consumption in breach of the new rules, but six brands are already being examined for potential violations.

The investigation began after the ABC alerted the department to the possible breach.

The cigarettes feature three-letter words at the top of each, which the department is investigating to see if they are a form of advertising, which would be banned under the legislation.

In one instance, Benson & Hedges cigarettes are labelled with “LDN”; in another case Winfield cigarettes are stamped with “AUS”.

Tobacco firm may have breached packaging laws.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:45 am
So just shut up about it

You know why your nickname’s Dogshit, don’t you, Dogshit? I’m going to have to give you a new one because you’re actually getting dumber. And you actually come here to defend your Labor child-killers and attack the Cat women who actually have principles you were born without.

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 10:48 am
The literally fascist ABC has dobbed on British American Tobacco Australia.

You know, Fisk is right about the Fisk Doctrine. Leftism and all it’s tentacles ought to be banned.

The scumbag who did that ought to be sent to fucking Nauru.

JC

26 Oct 12 at 10:49 am
Father of Navy SEAL killed in Libya:

On meeting Obama: “Could not look me in the eye … like shaking hands with a dead fish.”

And Hillary:

“Well, this is what Hillary did,” Woods continues. “She came over and, you know, did the same thing—separately came over and talked with me. I gave her a hug, shook her hand. And she did not appear to be one bit sincere—at all. And you know, she mentioned that the thing about, we’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted that did the video. That was the first time I had even heard about anything like that.”

What a revolting pair of human beings. Utterly revolting, amoral scum.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:50 am
Decent and civilised people are unfortunately labouring under the inccorect assumption that the ALP’s abortion stance is “moderate” – that is abortion only in rare cases, before the baby looks like a baby.

Unfortunately they are wrong, as the Victorian abortion fight in parliament showed the ALP is utterly dominated by unhinged extremists:

It was Emily List’s, Candy Broad, that initially tabled an abortion Bill that would legalise abortion up until birth – but it was put aside until after a federal election.
Emily List’s Maxine Morand then retabled it.
It was her Emily’s List colleagues, Joan Kirner, Jacinta Allan (Bendigo East) and others that argued passionately in support of the Bill.

But Emily’s List MPs remained determined.
Peter Kavanagh, former Member of the Democratic Labour Party, described how he was told by some ALP MPs that although they did not want to support the Bill, they were told (by the ALP) that they would not be endorsed for reselection if they did not – so much for a conscience vote!

Former ALP Member for Bendigo West, Bob Cameron, voted against the Bill. He has since been replaced by Emily List’s Maree Edwards.

The legislation was passed and numerous amendments were put forward – some 60, in fact. It was the rejection of these amendments that gives us a look into what Emily’s List really stands for.

[They rejected] Parental consent for girls under 18 years (parental consent is required for piercings); mandatory reporting of suspected sexual abuse

Emily Listers also opposed: The banning of partial birth abortions (banned in the U.S); provision of medical care for aborted babies born alive; anaesthetic for babies aborted late term; and limitting abortion availability to 20 or 24 weeks (babies can survive outside the womb at this stage)

.

This is a position more extreme than that espoused by the US Republican.

Julia Gillard is a proud Emily’s Lister, it is registered in her name she helped create it.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 10:53 am
It’s neither encouragement or discouragement, JC.

They think there are some situations in which late term abortion is justified.

It is entirely legitimate to argue that this is wrong. It is entirely legitimate to want to see restrictions on late term abortions. They actually have this debate amongst politicians in Britain and the US.

But – you loudmouth moron – the people you need to convince to take up the fight and not simply say “I’m not touching that with a bargepole” is Abbott and other politicians who you suspect are on side.

Australian pro lifers, as with (many of them) being against contraception, just prefer to bitch about the ideological views rather than worry about practical results.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:53 am
You’re a dimwit like Grigory and CL for whom mental attitude triumphs practical effects, d-b.

What is the “practical effect” of the position of the “great majority of pro-choice politicians”? Roughly eighty-five thousand abortions in Australia, and 1 million in the US. Yes, yes, I can see how this doesn’t mean they are promoting abortion.

the great majority of pro-choice politicians would deny that this means they actually encourage women to have more abortions.

I really don’t care what they think this means themselves; if you are out there promoting organisations that provide abortions, promoting and passing legislation that secures and extends its provision, promoting candidates that are explicitly pro-abortion as opposed to those against it, and so on, you are objectively promoting abortion as an alternative to bearing and raising the child in certain situations (that you construed promoting as “actually encourage women to have more abortions” shows how disingenuous and desperate your position is). And employing the euphemism ‘pro-choice’ cannot hide this simple fact.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 10:54 am
Abortion rules should be as follows: you pay for it yourself unless you are a victim of rape or incest and victims of crime compensation pays for it. You cannot have an abortion if the child can survive outside the womb, even with intensive care for premature babies.

.

26 Oct 12 at 10:58 am
brc, what is G2L?

Oh, gas-to-liquids. I missed JC’s link. That is pretty amazing. They even make aviation fuel. Wow. You can’t fly planes on renew balls because they don’t have enough energy density.

Dangph

26 Oct 12 at 11:00 am
dot, why the exclusion for incest outside of instances where this has involved rape?

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 11:00 am
Abortion rules should be as follows: you pay for it yourself unless you are a victim of rape or incest and victims of crime compensation pays for it. You cannot have an abortion if the child can survive outside the womb, even with intensive care for premature babies.

A distinct improvement dot.

The first position is easily defended

But do you have an ethical basis or rational argument for that latter position?

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 11:05 am
Australian pro lifers, as with (many of them) being against contraception, just prefer to bitch about the ideological views rather than worry about practical results.

Tell me ALP supporting SfB, what are the “practical results” of opposing:

Parental consent for girls under 18 years (parental consent is required for piercings);
Mandatory reporting of suspected sexual abuse
Partial birth abortions (banned in the U.S);
Provision of medical care for aborted babies born alive;
Anaesthetic for babies aborted late term;
Limiting abortion availability to 20 or 24 weeks

As the ALP did in Victoria?

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 11:08 am
James I’v always basically thought that (for a couple of years anyway).

I can’t justify either position really. It is just a reasonable middle ground. I can justify it ethically if you find utilitarianism a sound ethical basis unless you find utility in very late term abortions or see it as a valid form of birth control.

At best it reduces unnecessary abortions, protects infants capable of being born alive (to which “abortion” is a misnomer) and reduces the number of black market abortions. It also reduces the moral hazard of state funded abortions.

It is (may be) moral for pro lifers in that it may lead to the best outcome.

.

26 Oct 12 at 11:13 am
Thanks CL and Cold Hands for the elucidation to me of Mt. Carmel’s scapula. I will add it to my ‘shoulder’ collection (she says cryptically).

I had occasion to go into the interesting little Church of Mt. Carmel hidden away in Elizabeth Street, Redfern not so long ago. It was apparently the first Roman Catholic church in Australia. The site is in a classically religious position – up high, looking out, well chosen. It is a lovely place, not much known about in Sydney perhaps. Didn’t notice any scapulas, but I guess they are there. Although after Vatican 2, maybe not? Perhaps I was distracted, as I had other things on my mind at the time.

Went into the RC church in Richmond, Tasmania, on a trip there earlier this year. Got myself a protective golden angel pin, ‘cos of my bad driving. It could help, who knows? My companion, Roger the Temporary Lodger (and art historian), was quite surprised at me, even though I’d terrified him getting us there. He’s supposed to be the religious one with all his delving into gloomy old paintings. The RC church in Richmond looks over to the early Anglican church on the neighbouring hill. Both ready to do the battle for souls, nineteenth century style. Even though their congregations were likely fairly ‘fixed’ in social class and ethnic origins.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

26 Oct 12 at 11:14 am
Australian pro lifers, as with (many of them) being against contraception

This only has “practical effects” for those pro-lifers, themselves.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 11:14 am
Unfortunately they are wrong, as the Victorian abortion fight in parliament showed the ALP is utterly dominated by unhinged extremists

http://www.newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=3627

Ivan Denisovich

26 Oct 12 at 11:15 am
Awesomeness.

Massage both prevents and cures cancer, I’ve heard

That’s a real ‘happy ending’

Nic

26 Oct 12 at 11:28 am
The abortion fight in Victoria: well, there you go.

According to that last link, some Liberal and National Party MP’s supported the bill.

And now you have a Liberal government which (I assume) is unwilling to re-visit the issues.

So what do professional dweebs spend all their time concentrating on – Labor and Emily’s List for being so bad, bad, bad for introducing it and getting it passed (ssh – with some Coalition support.)

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:31 am
The abortion fight in Victoria: well, there you go.

Pay attention you horrible leftist dweeb, Victoria’s abortion legislation is one of the most morally disgusting and despicable in the western world.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 11:35 am
News Flash: indefatigable thread pollutant made human, SoB, finds someone to be “nuttily obsessive”.

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 11:36 am
I’m quite happy to criticise Coalition MPs that supported that bill. I condemn them. Good, now we can move on. sfb, do you believe that Emily’s Listers, specifically, promote abortion or are they neither encouraging nor discouraging abortion? I think your answer here should be instructive.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 11:38 am
According to that last link, some Liberal and National Party MP’s supported the bill

Step forward Ted Baillieu. Labor Government, Labor bill, Labor & Greens majority support, Coalition majority oppose.

Ivan Denisovich

26 Oct 12 at 11:39 am
So what do professional dweebs spend all their time concentrating on – Labor and Emily’s List for being so bad, bad, bad for introducing it and getting it passed (ssh – with some Coalition support.)

Steve you “conservative catholic” next time you’re in confession make sure you confess that you support the “abortion” of full term babies.

The terror of the left is that the general population will find out the reality of the political stance of the ALP on abortion is far, far, far from the fabricated narrative of “safe , legal and rare”. Which is why they lie about it constantly and always, always refer to “lumps of cells”, “fetuses”, and create childish “emergency” scenarios as though they’re only arguing for abortion in the first couple of weeks of pregnancy or in the rarest of extreme cases.

You’ll never ever hear an ALP abortion supporter leading the charge of the “right” of an 6 month pregnant woman to get an abortion because she’s changed her mind about being pregnant yet in Victoria:

From a total of 410 post 20 week abortions, 210 were performed on physically healthy babies, with 10 of these undertaken after 28 weeks, a time when these babies could have been safely delivered alive and the “psychosocial” concerns of their mothers addressed

“Psycosocial” concerns are: economic, social, relational, and mental health problems.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 11:50 am
Haven’t I already answered that, d-b?

They think it should be available; they think it should be a medical decision as to when and how it is performed.

I presume if a woman rang an Emilys Lister and said “do you think I should have an abortion?” the likely answer would be “that is a decision for you to make.”

Many of them would also probably be uncomfortable with late term abortion being sought for trivial reasons.

I am also sure that all Emilys Lister would say “it is much, much better for women to avoid unwanted pregnancies than have an abortion” and support moves that increase the availability of contraception.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:55 am
Many of them would also probably be uncomfortable with late term abortion being sought for trivial reasons.

No they wouldn’t nor should they. If you’re cool with abortion, you should be cool with at any stage. It’s just a clump of cells that miraculously turns into a baby when it leaves the mum.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 11:58 am
Many of them would also probably be uncomfortable with late term abortion being sought for trivial reasons.

I am also sure that all Emilys Lister would say “it is much, much better for women to avoid unwanted pregnancies than have an abortion” and support moves that increase the availability of contraception.

bwhahahaha

Steve the “conservative catholic” is putting words into the mouths of radical feminists to reform their views to be more palatable with his, somebody call Gillard we have a misogynist on hand.

“This is what I would like to think they would think despite reams of evidence to the contrary”.

Back here in reality Emilys List MP’s in Victoria formally opposed:

Parental consent for girls under 18 years (parental consent is required for piercings);
Mandatory reporting of suspected sexual abuse
The banning of partial birth abortions (banned in the U.S);
Provision of medical care for aborted babies born alive;
Anaesthetic for babies aborted late term;
Limiting abortion availability to 20 or 24 weeks

And argued furiously for (and mostly secured) the “right” of women at any stage of pregnancy to have access to abortion for any reason.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 12:04 pm
I presume if a woman rang an Emilys Lister and said “do you think I should have an abortion?” the likely answer would be “that is a decision for you to make.”

Offer them a choice?

Informed consent?

The potential personal anguish of a lifetime versus convenience?

Yeah I’m sure a feminazi would encourage ‘choice’.

You are a lazily immoral piece of excrement, liar-steve®

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 12:04 pm
“Can anyone offer me insight into why there isn’t more govt action on this front?”

Dead Soul, it’s because they want to think the problem will go away.
Very disturbing parallels with the European Jew situation pre 1940.

Winston Smith

26 Oct 12 at 12:06 pm
Anyhoo I have made my point: you are boringly targetting the wrong party if you want anything done about reform of abortion laws in Australia, both at the State level and (with respect to funding) at the Federal level.

Until you can show me some Coaltion leaders who are willing to put their electoral popularity on the line by arguing for such changes, your whining about Labor and Emilys Listers is irrelevant for all practical purposes and tedious.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 12:11 pm
Alice unmaksed.

sdog

26 Oct 12 at 12:12 pm
Your answer is very instructive, sfb. Simply put, there is no difference between sfb and Emily’s List.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 12:13 pm
Simply put, there is no difference between sfb and Emily’s List.

Yes, it’s SFB’s very own apology tour.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 12:17 pm
Anyhoo I have made my point:

Yes, you proved once again you are a Labor shill who is in favour of abortion in all cases dictated by the dear leader.

Got it…

Token

26 Oct 12 at 12:17 pm
Your problem is not me, d-b. Your problem is a Catholic Opposition Leader who will not touch the issue with a barge pole (and he could, if he wanted to, make a real difference by arguing for no Medicare funding for abortion, or no funding except for abortion in certain circumstances.)

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 12:18 pm
Hey Winston,how ya feeling?

Tal

26 Oct 12 at 12:23 pm
LOL. Steve is now arguing Abbott is renowned for ambiguity on moral questions – the exact opposite of the usual lefty talking point, which inists he’s actually notorious for opposing abortion (inter alia).

You really are a lightweight, Steve.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 12:24 pm
I’m on a fucking barrier island in fucking Florida. Every time I come to fucking Florida they have a fucking hurricane.

Headline: Spot causes hurricanes in Florida!!!!

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 12:27 pm
They think there are some situations in which late term abortion is justified.

SfB could you please outline a couple of things so I can better understand your argument?

Firstly what do you consider late term?

Secondly what sort of things, in your mind justify late term abortion?

I would personally consider anything after 24 weeks to be late term.

Old Fridgie

26 Oct 12 at 12:28 pm
there is no difference between sfb and Emily’s List

When did Emily’s List begin accepting shemales as members?

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 12:28 pm
Thanks for the info, twostix.

So the ALP and the affirmative action sisters support murdering children.

Is anyone surprised?

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 12:30 pm
Headline: Spot causes hurricanes in Florida!!!!

The ~~Gore~~ spot effect !

Keith

26 Oct 12 at 12:35 pm
Plibersek and Roxon both think abortion is tops and that you should be able to abort at any stage. Try having a smoke around a pregnant woman in front of them…

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 12:35 pm
Lizzie, Sydney’s Shrine & Parish of Our Lady Mt Carmel is in Waterloo, I believe. The stained glass centerpiece depicts Christ and Mary holding the scapular.

Many Catholics still wear them. (Apart from Mel).

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 12:38 pm
Alice is a cat-lady? Who’d have thunk it?

Cold-Hands

26 Oct 12 at 12:40 pm
Plibersek and Roxon both think abortion is tops and that you should be able to abort at any stage. Try having a smoke around a pregnant woman in front of them…

This is what makes me become a little bewildered.

.

26 Oct 12 at 12:41 pm
>You can’t fly planes on renew balls because they don’t have enough energy density.

The article JC linked notes that the Luftwaffe flew their planes on G2L fuel. A hydrocarbon is a hydrocarbon, after all.

Biofuels can power airplanes – Virgin has been experimenting with it. But if you do the calculations on how much cropland would be required to power the words airline fleet, it becomes pretty obvious that either the Amazon has to go, Lots of poor people have to starve, or the only people that will fly are the Bob Carrs (+wife) of the world.

Biofuels for aviation is pretty much a complete non-starter.

As for the Nazi technology – well, so many things from all of NASA to half of aeronautical and automotive developments spring from work that happened under Nazi rule. The Germans just make good engineers no matter who is running the German government.

But the whole G2L thing is a good rejoinder for those running around with their peak oil underpants on fire. An entire nation, largely cut off from reliable oil supplies, still managed to fight a multi-fronted war based on a very sharp downward leg of their own peak oil. Sure, there were privations for the citizenry because of it, but they found a way to keep the tanks, boats and planes moving.

brc

26 Oct 12 at 12:41 pm
SfB,

your whining about Labor and Emilys Listers is irrelevant for all practical purposes and tedious

should read,

~~your~~My whining ~~about Labor and Emilys Listers~~ is irrelevant for all practical purposes and tedious

Huckleberry Chunkwot

26 Oct 12 at 12:41 pm
Spectacular collapse of Banksia financial group. Accouts frozen, receivers appointed. Seems too early for people to be saying they’ve lost the lot, though it’s possible. Pretty dreadful – and the ASIC’s role and prior knowledge of difficulties needs good hard look.
And why oh why would this company need 100 ‘workers’ to look after 3000 investors – weird.

Keith

26 Oct 12 at 12:43 pm
“Back here in reality Emilys List MP’s in Victoria formally opposed … Anaesthetic for babies aborted late term …”

Good God, really?!

Julian O'Dea

26 Oct 12 at 12:45 pm
Biofuels can power airplanes – Virgin has been experimenting with it. But if you do the calculations on how much cropland would be required to power the words airline fleet, it becomes pretty obvious that either the Amazon has to go, Lots of poor people have to starve, or the only people that will fly are the Bob Carrs (+wife) of the world.

Gold, brc. But just remember, Carr is what passes for an “intellectual” in the ALP – apparently he once finished a book.

James in Melbourne

26 Oct 12 at 12:47 pm
Another day, another ABC RN gushing climate change story, on Frabjous Fran’s Breakfast Beanfest. They had a long segment with Christiana Figueres, out here to urge the government to (a) sign Kyoto 2, (b)do even more to remain in the lead on climate change policy. She met with Combet yesterdet.

The line: what fresh hell is this, comes to mind.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 12:48 pm
… Emilys List MP’s in Victoria formally opposed … Anaesthetic for babies aborted late term …

Of course.

To do otherwise would be to concede that unborn babies ‘feel’ anything; are anything. This they will not concede under any circumstances, regardless of the science they so viscerally hate.

They are evil, sick people. And that’s why I compare them – with exact comparative precision – to Joseph Mengele.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 12:49 pm
Tal, Ejection Fraction is up to 44% now that both sides of the heart are in synchrony. Feel better, and stronger, than I’ve felt in the last three years.
Got day leave yesterday and today, and discharge Sunday.
The downside? Bloody Cardiologist has put me on the dry.
Oh well…

Winston Smith

26 Oct 12 at 12:50 pm
… Emilys List MP’s in Victoria formally opposed … Anaesthetic for babies aborted late term …

I believe there was one female Labor MP in Victoria that stood up and opposed the bill. She was not treated kindly by her “colleagues” afterwards.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 12:51 pm
C.L.

There is something seriously wrong with those women. That they are in our ruling class is deeply disturbing.

By the way, Steve, Abbott, as Health Minister, tried to do something about RU486.

Julian O'Dea

26 Oct 12 at 12:54 pm
Biofuels for aviation is pretty much a complete non-starter.

This has important political consequences I think. Luvvies love to fly. In fact they look down their noses at people who don’t have passports. If they want to continue flying, they they will need oil or natural gas. There is no other viable fuel I think. That will need to support oil or natural gas exploitation if they want to continue to fly.

Dangph

26 Oct 12 at 12:58 pm
Tal, Ejection Fraction is up to 44% now that both sides of the heart are in synchrony. Feel better, and stronger, than I’ve felt in the last three years.
Got day leave yesterday and today, and discharge Sunday.
The downside? Bloody Cardiologist has put me on the dry.
Oh well…

Biventricular pacing as well Winston?

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 1:00 pm
The leading hand of News Limited sheltered workshop brings the stupid:

If abortion is murder then logic meets a dead end

I mean, apart from the fact Tardy’s rationale is embarrassingly juvenile, is that really the best headline she could come up with?

Oh come on

26 Oct 12 at 1:01 pm
By the way, Steve, Abbott, as Health Minister, tried to do something about RU486.

Julian, please don’t tell sfb that he’s failed to pack his parachute correctly.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 1:02 pm
Medicare funded abortion is an issue that needs a national debate.

Abbott would likely shy away because of the fear of national divisiveness as the freminazis go into full banshee high duNgeon.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 1:04 pm
I mean, that headline is one step above “People who oppose abortion are dum dums! Hahahahahaha! I win, I win!”

Oh come on

26 Oct 12 at 1:04 pm
Good work Winston. Better work cardio who obviously knows a bloke who’s a menace on the piss when he sees one.

Pickles

26 Oct 12 at 1:05 pm
I think the name’s a con. I’d say it’s more likely such a person as Steve comes from Canberra.

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 1:05 pm
And why oh why would this company need 100 ‘workers’ to look after 3000 investors – weird.

It’s like the NBN’s 1 worker per 15 connected customers. It’s the new economic model of the left’s crony capitalism.

Cold-Hands

26 Oct 12 at 1:07 pm
It’s just a clump of cells that miraculously turns into a baby when it leaves the mum.

I’ve actually been told this, although not in those words.

It’s only a baby if the mum wants it. If the dad wants it, too bad – it’s her choice. Her body.

nilk

26 Oct 12 at 1:11 pm
If abortion is murder then logic meets a dead end

I mean, that headline is one step above “People who oppose abortion are dum dums! Hahahahahaha! I win, I win!”

Apart from that, OCO, the problem with the headline is that is, to use one of their juvenile phrases, a logic FAIL. Logic always meets a dead end, it’s called a conclusion.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 1:12 pm
Would the free market give you an abortion?

Why would they unless you had a medical complication, or an unborn child was somehow a contingent liability for them? Your premiums would simply go up. There is risk in the procedure as well. Think of informed consent and the potential for doctors to be sued later on.

At least people who don’t want to pay for that wouldn’t. Changing Medicare so it is either a voucher or HECS style system to buy private health insurance would solve any entangled moral objections. There would be choice as well.

Victims of rape or incest would likely be cross subsidised by everyone else with or without Government transfer payments. The firms would do it to maintain their reputation.

The justification for state funded abortions is weak except for rape or incest. If it is a woman’s body that she has full ownership over (agreed), then we have a right not to go near her as well.

.

26 Oct 12 at 1:13 pm
Logic always meets a dead end, it’s called a conclusion.

LOL

.

26 Oct 12 at 1:13 pm
It’s just a clump of cells

also referrred to by some as a “non-person” thus it’s okay to get rid of it like a disposable nappy.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 1:14 pm
If it is a woman’s body that she has full ownership over…

Then why can’t she smoke branded cigarettes, ride a bike sans helmet and drive without a seatbelt? In fact, today’s lefties utterly reject the idea that we own our own bodies and can be justly lectured about them.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 1:16 pm
Labor has already spent the money it will not collect:

Liberty Quote.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 1:17 pm
The leading hand of News Limited sheltered workshop brings the stupid

I just knew you were talkinga bout The Punch. Newscorp contribution to public discourse by providing a space for the mentally handicapped.

Token

26 Oct 12 at 1:22 pm
JamesK – yes biventricular pacing.
Good stuff.

Winston Smith

26 Oct 12 at 1:25 pm
Gordon Brown’s secret army could defeat the Coalition’s welfare and education reforms as Britain’s charities and quangos are now stuffed to the gunwales with Labour placemen

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9633379/Gordon-Browns-secret-army-could-defeat-the-Coalitions-welfare-and-education-reforms.html

Viva

26 Oct 12 at 1:29 pm
Lizzie

Church of Mt. Carmel hidden away in Elizabeth Street, Redfern not so long ago. It was apparently the first Roman Catholic church in Australia.

Slight edit, if I may, the first Catholic church was St Patrick’s at Church Hill, bounded by Gloucester and Grosvenor Streets in Sydney (now) CBD. Opened in 1844, some fifteen years before Mt Carmel.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 1:44 pm
Why is Obama getting away with this?

Why is Gillard getting away with this?

The question of the ages – something like “why are we here and what is the meaning of it all”?

Many volumes and much pondering may produce some answers …

Perhaps Windsor and Oakshott can shed some light on this.

Viva

26 Oct 12 at 1:44 pm
Harry Nowicki, a Melbourne lawyer who is researching AWU history and Ms Gillard’s role in the slush fund, said yesterday it was “very troubling that two files about the same fraud have disappeared—one from Slater & Gordon, and now the other from a State’s official archives”…

Just amazing the lengths people will go to protect the lying slapper. Incredible.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 1:50 pm
Stop Press:

Ruff’s cat is dead!

Dead, Baby, DEAD!

Perhaps alice can flick one of hers kevni’s way?

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 1:55 pm
No, no, Gab, it’s just a coincidence. Always go for the stuff-up rather than a conspiracy.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 1:56 pm
Get a second opinion on drink Winston,that don’t sound right

Tal

26 Oct 12 at 1:57 pm
“Stop Press”

It is sad about Kevni’s cat, wonder how old pussycat was. kevni seems to genuinely care.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 2:03 pm
If there was nothing to hide, Dover, those files would still be there today, as are all the other files unrelated to gillard’s ~~illegal~~ activities..

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:03 pm
Perhaps alice can flick one of hers kevni’s way?

Alice’s kittens suffer Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Like mum they’re psychologically disturbed.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 2:04 pm
I’m pulling your leg, Gab.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 2:06 pm
“Just amazing the lengths people will go to protect the lying slapper. Incredible.”

She must charm men, Gab. Can’t see it myself but who’s to tell.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 2:07 pm
It is sad about Kevni’s cat

candy, I’m presuming the poor li’l thing topped itself.

Cause of death: Shame.

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 2:07 pm
Could we possibly stop the personal denigration of Alice? It really brings the Cat down, resembling more and more a Crikey blog. Sad.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:07 pm
Yes, I know, Dover. I’m just appalled by the people who have shielded the old bullying harridan.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:09 pm
Could we possibly stop the personal denigration of Alice?

Yes – there are other far more deserving targets, such as the semenblogger…

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 2:11 pm
She does it to herself, Gab.

.

26 Oct 12 at 2:16 pm
She’s not even here! Besides, I’m thinking about the Cat, not Alice (no offense, Alice).

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:17 pm
On CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, Ted Turner said he thinks it’s “good” that American soldiers are committing suicide in large numbers because it shows an aversion to war.

JamesK, sorry I haven’t responded to this; quite an amazing statement isn’t it. Do you think it will be mentioned breathlessly on ABC radio or 24 anytime soon? I know, silly question.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 2:20 pm
They are evil, sick people. And that’s why I compare them – with exact comparative precision – to Joseph Mengele.

Using CL’s “comparitive precision”, then, Tony Abbott’s policy stand on this must be “I believe the Joseph Mengele equivalents in our society – that is, abortion providers – should continue to be able to provide their services legally, for the safety of women, and with Medicare funding. I hope they don’t do it often, though.”

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 2:20 pm
Stealing documents from a state archive is a very serious thing. Having conducted some QSL research myself, I can say that you usually have to book to be given files and boxes. You don’t just walk in grab them. It’s quite a business. The WA archive must be required to investigate the disappearance of the slush fund file now.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:22 pm
There are more deserved exceptions, however, Dot.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:22 pm
The WA archive must be required to investigate the disappearance of the slush fund file now.

It will never happen. gillard’s done a deal with the devil. Stupid Satan has no idea what he’s got himself into!

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:24 pm
JamesK, sorry I haven’t responded to this; quite an amazing statement isn’t it. Do you think it will be mentioned breathlessly on ABC radio or 24 anytime soon? I know, silly question.

The Left are flipping out about a man who says we all should value the life of a child who through not fault of his/her own is conceived through rape, yet Ted Turner says somethign so crass.

…it’s “good” that American soldiers are committing suicide in large numbers because it shows an aversion to war

Token

26 Oct 12 at 2:28 pm
The Gillard Government promises a national disability insurance scheme it can’t afford – but pushes it out to 2018, at least two elections away.

The Government promises a Gonski education “reform” it can’t afford – but pushes that out, too, to the undefined never never.

Now the Government promises a strip farmers of more water to “save” the Murray at a $1.7 billion price it again can’t afford – so pushes that out to 2019, conveniently out of the forward estimates

gillard the great cunctator.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:28 pm
Stealing docs from a state archive is now know( in the Mac Dic) as shut up nothing to see here go about your business

Tal

26 Oct 12 at 2:28 pm
Speaking of evil, sick people – Steve’s back.

Why no, Steve. Because our several parliaments – for all their faults – are democratically elected and legally accountable, Abbott can’t overthrow all of them to re-make Australia as he would like it to be.

But he is famous for opposing abortion (just ask Nicola Roxon) – unlike the ALP which regards killing children as wonderful.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:30 pm
JamesK, sorry I haven’t responded to this; quite an amazing statement isn’t it. Do you think it will be mentioned breathlessly on ABC radio or 24 anytime soon? I know, silly question.

lol

The part where is says make love not war might get a spin or where he quotes Dickens for the suicidal soldier: It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known killing radical Islamists or somesuch.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 2:30 pm
Gab, Gillard’s power doesn’t extend to the WA State Archive.

Barnett can and must order an investigation.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:33 pm
Gillard’s power doesn’t extend to the WA State Archive.

Yes, I realise that. It’s the unofficial power gillard has that has me disgusted,

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:35 pm
Bolt on the Gillard ‘government’:

On the show on Channel 10 on Sunday: Peter Costello, Michael Costa and Judith Sloan try to figure how this government managed to run out of money in a mining boom, create a tax that raises no cash and implement a carbon tax that doesn’t change the climate.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:36 pm
Bolt, Costello, Costa and Sloan want Labor to revise its mining tax to raise more revenue?

Scapula

26 Oct 12 at 2:43 pm
candy, I’m presuming the poor li’l thing topped itself.

Cause of death: Shame.

LOL.

Fleeced

26 Oct 12 at 2:44 pm
ARMY chief David Morrison will sound the alarm today on Defence budget cuts, saying he wants to ensure troops are not sent to war poorly equipped because of “misconceived strategy or economic stringency”.

A polite way of saying “because of this stuttering clusterf**k of a government”.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:48 pm
Hey JC, give this bloke a tip:

The Naked Cowboy Announces Support For Romney.

While Barack Obama has cornered the market on support from rappers and the hip-hop community, Mitt Romney has nabbed an endorsement of one of New York’s iconic figures. The Naked Cowboy, the most recognized of all Times Square street performers, has hit the “campaign tail” for the Republican nominee.

Robert Burck, aka the Naked Cowboy, took to his Times Square post on Tuesday (October 23) with politics on his mind, and the name “Romney” inked across his tighty-whities.

“I believe in a small, decentralized, fiscally responsible federal government,” he told CBS Local. ”I believe in an economy with free market principals, and I believe in the strongest national defense on earth. And those are the antithesis of all the things Obama is doing.”

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 2:52 pm
Bolt, Costello, Costa and Sloan want Labor to revise its mining tax to raise more revenue?

Wingone proves he is a twit again.

“Bolt, Costello, Costa and Sloan” haven’t called for that.

They are rightly derisory of Shane Wand and the Lying Slapper on the matter of the MRRT and the supposed reason for knifing Kevin07 over the matter of Wand’s RSPT.

Wingbone’s comments are always meaninglessly inane because he is an unintelligent leftist drone who is even more idiotic than or usual low rent regulars.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 2:55 pm
Scrapula, they “managed to run out of money” despite having plenty coming in by (wait for it) Overspending.
You are just another piece of detritus that the moderators haven’t got the will to sweep off the board.

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 2:56 pm
Shoulder blade doesn’t deserve the reward of a response.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 2:57 pm
CL, in NYC, that’s as dangerous as writing your PIN on your forehead.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 3:00 pm
Actually, given the pic in your link, I’d love to see the reaction if he walked through the Meatpacking District. I’d imagine some people would be torn between ridicule and asking for his number.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 3:09 pm
Media Watchdog has just updated

● News Flash: Macquarie Dictionary’s Big Secret

● Nancy’s Picks-of-the-Week: The Age Bags Tony Abbott Yet Again – this time on Craig Thomson and the Gender Wars

● The Thought of Mark Latham (contd); The AFR’s One-Topic-Only Columnist

● Can You Bear It? Mark Riley, Bob Ellis & Greg O’Mahoney

● Fran (I’m-an-Activist) Kelly’s Convenient U-Turn

● Five Paws Award: Tom Switzer Remembers the Skanky-Ho Moment

● Nancy Talks to Inky About A New Media Career & Billy Bragg’s Bad Teeth

● Correspondence: With a Little Help from Sue Butler on Misogyny and Dan Nolan on Sandals

Cold-Hands

26 Oct 12 at 3:11 pm
Then why can’t she smoke branded cigarettes, ride a bike sans helmet and drive without a seatbelt? In fact, today’s lefties utterly reject the idea that we own our own bodies and can be justly lectured about them.

This is why I have no objection in executing leftists in ever more elaborate and ostentatious ways.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 3:13 pm
At Hendo’s MW:

As one of MWD’s Melbourne-based reader has pointed out: “This story fits a pattern of The Age’s role reversal. The Gillard Government stuffs up in some way. The Opposition naturally points this out. But The Age, instead of concentrating on the stuff up – which is the real story – focuses on a critique of Tony Abbott’s position.”

Sound like anyone here – today?

Mmm?

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 3:14 pm
you usually have to book to be given files and boxes. You don’t just walk in grab them.

Unless you work there . . .

Septimus

26 Oct 12 at 3:20 pm
U.N. Human Rights Council Calls for Boycott of global Companies

The Washington Free Beacon has obtained a report soon to be released by the United Nations that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.

http://freebeacon.com/u-n-human-rights-council-calls-for-boycott-of-u-s-companies/

Maybe we can use our brand spanking new seat on the Security Council to bring some sanity into the world? /sarc

Arnost

26 Oct 12 at 3:20 pm
The revised mining tax was a Labor/Mining Industry invention so it was always a method of burying the tax, rather than implementing one.

A bad headline or two is better than years of multi-million dollar mining industry advertising campaigns, is that not so?

Scapula

26 Oct 12 at 3:24 pm
Sound like anyone here – today?

Mmm?

No where near as difficult a task as finding ~~Wally~~ sfb at an Emily’s List Trivia Night.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 3:25 pm
Potemkin’s Village

There are three constants in life… here

Grigory Potemkin

26 Oct 12 at 3:26 pm
Gillard’s power doesn’t extend to the WA State Archive

But the ALP is heavily entrenched throughout all State and Federal Government bodies.

Septimus

26 Oct 12 at 3:29 pm
Top Contributors by Candidate

UCLA $900k for Obama nearly outstrips Goldman Sachs $965k for Romney. MSFT and GOOGL $680k and $660k a piece.

Note these are aggregated individual donations, not organisational donations.

brc

26 Oct 12 at 3:37 pm
A bad headline or two is better than years of multi-million dollar mining industry advertising campaigns, is that not so?

A fine theory until you look at how much of the budget was underpinned by the imaginary money.

Sure, the miners stitched up Wayne like a poker patsy, but suggesting the ALP was in on it is giving them credit well beyond their deserve.

brc

26 Oct 12 at 3:38 pm
you usually have to book to be given files and boxes. You don’t just walk in grab them.

Unless you work there . . .

They wouldn’t be unionised state public servants, would they?

Token

26 Oct 12 at 3:39 pm
I think Grigory is Candy’s long lost twin, in the same way Gab is CL’s.

What teenage adulation of Abbott we see from both. You get a sense of irony sometimes from candy, though. Not Grigory – he’s just a useless, annoying dweeb who needs a life.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 3:43 pm
he’s just a useless, annoying dweeb who needs a life.

Maybe he should start a blog no one reads and annoy people 24/7 on another blog with political views the antithesis of his own.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 3:46 pm
Has anyone else noticed sfb’s prolific use of dweeb today? I’ve never noticed this before; sometime in this decade he will discover ‘groovy’.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 3:48 pm
Then why can’t she smoke branded cigarettes, ride a bike sans helmet and drive without a seatbelt? In fact, today’s lefties utterly reject the idea that we own our own bodies and can be justly lectured about them.

I’d urge anyone who’s interested to go and read the Victorian Hansard of the debate over the amendments to the abortion bill.

Immerse onself in psychopathic nature of the “arguments ” against the amendments to ban partial birth abortions.

Even an ALP minister was sickened:

Mr MERLINO (Minister for Sport, Recreation and Youth Affairs)

This is a most horrific and barbaric procedure that one could ever imagine. Partial-birth abortion is exactly that — the child is partially delivered and then is intentionally killed. Yesterday the member for Kororoit related an interview of which I will remind members. David Grundmann, who operates the private clinic in Croydon, was asked this question:

Do you pierce the baby’s head with a sharp instrument?

… As I said, I’m not going to discuss details or specifics about procedures because I don’t think that you or the public needs to know specifics about a very small number of procedures. If I’m talking to a medical audience I’ll have no problem discussing procedures because they understand it.

… Is that because the procedure is so bad and so explicit and destructive?

… It’s because the anti-choice people like to create hysteria about certain aspects of late abortion which I don’t think that the public really needs to debate.

You read that correctly, an abortionist refused point blank to answer the Victorian Parliament on the nature of his work because it is so gruesome and declared that “the public” has no business knowing what goes on in his medical clinic.

Then the ALP voted against the amendment to ban it.

Incidentally Croydon abortion clinic was in the news last year for infecting 50 women with hepatitis C during abortions then for nearly killing a woman.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 3:48 pm
I don’t come here to link to to my own blog, IT.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 3:49 pm
he’s just a useless, annoying dweeb who needs a life.

Yes, you do, SFB. That description of your really does apply to you. For a “man” who has two small kids, you really do spend an awful lot of time here.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 3:51 pm
“Maybe he should start a blog no one reads and annoy people 24/7 ..;.”

Steve’s ok, if you sat down and had a capuccino with him i reckon he’d be a really good conversationalist, as long as he didn’t start in on the Tony Abbott rumours and global warming stuff, then you’ve have to pay the bill and politely take your leave.

he’s a bit of a cross bunny today but

candy

26 Oct 12 at 3:52 pm
“Your problem is not me, d-b. Your problem is a Catholic Opposition Leader who will not touch the issue with a barge pole”

Actually Steve from B the problem is you and people like you. But first, let me be the umpteenth person to remind you that whether Catholic or not, or Opposition Leader or not, no federal politician can do anything about abortion because it is a state issue.

The states however, won’t touch it because the luvvies and the Emily Lister Sistas (or Gal Qaeda as Spot so aptly calls them) and every mini Mengele in the media will scream blue murder (irony) should they try. But the group most responsible for stopping any action towards reducing abortion is the pretend Catholics like you. Pretenders who want the name Catholic yet spit on everything the Catholic church teaches. Pretend Catholics like you who use ‘Catholic’ as a weapon because you have no argument. Pretend Catholics like you who call yourself Catholic so that it might grant you the moral authority you so lack yourself. Pretend Catholics like you who take what is good and twist it and use it in order to promote evil. It was pretend Catholics like you too, who covered up the paedophilia and child abuse in the Catholic church for so many years. One long trail of destruction.

I am not a Catholic, but there are few people I despise more than vicious, manipulative, treacherous, destructive, pretend Catholics like you.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 3:52 pm
Do you pierce the baby’s head with a sharp instrument?

… As I said, I’m not going to discuss details or specifics about procedures because I don’t think that you or the public needs to know…

These people need to be arrested and jailed.

As I said, my comparison with Mengele and the Nazis is comparatively exact.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 3:53 pm
Steve’s ok, if you sat down and had a capuccino with him i reckon he’d be a really good conversationalist, as long as he didn’t start in on the Tony Abbott rumours and global warming stuff, then you’ve have to pay the bill and politely take your leave.

I’m not sure he’d have much else to offer Candy. Maybe some weird internet sites he found?

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 3:56 pm
It was pretend Catholics like you too, who covered up the paedophilia and child abuse in the Catholic church for so many years. One long trail of destruction.

I am not a Catholic, but there are few people I despise more than vicious, manipulative, treacherous, destructive, pretend Catholics like you.

All good points.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 3:56 pm
A very prestigious award for Alexander Downer.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 3:57 pm
But the group most responsible for stopping any action towards reducing abortion is the pretend Catholics like you. Pretenders who want the name Catholic yet spit on everything the Catholic church teaches. Pretend Catholics like you who use ‘Catholic’ as a weapon because you have no argument. Pretend Catholics like you who call yourself Catholic so that it might grant you the moral authority you so lack yourself.

Also, all good points.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 3:58 pm
So the same Victorian Parliament that yesterday broke down in hysterics about forced adoptions is cool with partial birth abortions?

We need some muzzies to do the right thing.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 3:59 pm
That’s a very nutty comment by CC, especially when it gets to the off the planet bit:

It was pretend Catholics like you too, who covered up the paedophilia and child abuse in the Catholic church for so many years.

That’s so stupid it’s breathtaking.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 4:03 pm
Maybe some weird internet sites he found?

Actually, that reminds me. I drive past a flying fox colony nearly every day. Yesterday, perhaps for the first time when looking at the hundreds of upside down bats, I thought “I wonder if they have sex upside down”.

Turns out, an ABC website tells me all I ever needed to know about flying fox sex; and it’s much kinkier than I expected.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 4:09 pm
Steve do ever have the neighbours over for slide nights?

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 4:11 pm
Go Hugo Boss for jeans.
Abu Chowdah 25 Oct 12 at 5:24 pm

JC

It’s interesting that they call it “Nazi technology”don’t you think?

Jet engines were also developed by the Nazi regime (in parallel with Frank Whittle) but they don’t say “Oh I’m flying to Europe using Nazi technology”, do they?

Abu likes wearing Hugo Boss Nazi technology inspired jeans.

Sorry only making a similar analogy. I wonder if Bob Brown wore Hugo Boss suits?

Spatacrobat

26 Oct 12 at 4:12 pm
Slide nights used to be good fun.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 4:14 pm
I wonder if Bob Brown wore Hugo Boss suits?

Monday to Friday he would wear hair suits. The weekend was strictly PVC.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 4:14 pm
Speaking of “Forget Merit. All you need are ovaries” (Thanks, Grigory)…

EUROPEAN MPs have snubbed the bloc’s top leadership, voting down the appointment of Luxembourg’s Yves Mersch to a key European Central Bank (ECB) post in protest against a lack of women candidates for the job.

Perhaps there were no female candidates that applied for the job? Perhaps there were no suitably qualified female candidates? Oh, right, I forgot, that doesn’t matter. The only prerequisite for the job now is to have a vagina.

Past and present board members.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 4:32 pm
If you aren’t shilling for your own blog remove the link in your name to prove it.

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 4:37 pm
“That’s so stupid it’s breathtaking.”

Steve from Brisbane, the man who justifies the killing of the innocent and defenseless, the man who justifies their bodies being ripped apart, limbs torn while they’re alive, Steve, the man who justifies poison being injected into their beating hearts, the man who justifies a child being cooked in saline, the man who justifies their skulls being pierced and brains sucked out, this man, Steve from Brisbane, is now going to tell us he cares that children are violated.

And he’s also going to tell us about stupid.

You’re a pretender Steve. A fake. A suphurous stench. A disgrace to the Catholic church to whom you profess to belong. You and your ilk disgust me.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 4:39 pm
These people need to be arrested and jailed.

As I said, my comparison with Mengele and the Nazis is comparatively exact.

Dr Grundman in his own words:

“There is no stage of pregnancy at which I regard the fetus as my patient,” Dr. Grundmann told the panel.

When Dr. Grundmann told the panel that just that month he had aborted a baby at 23 weeks for severe cleft palate. When it was pointed out that this condition can be corrected by surgery, Dr. Grundmann replied that this depends on whether the woman wants to put “her fetus” through all that surgery.

Dr. van Gend said that in an interview with Dr. Grundmann, “I asked him if there was not something cold and premeditated, even grotesque, about setting out to dilate the birth canal to 75% of the fetal skull diameter, in order to ensure the head will lodge in the cervix [the opening to the womb], in order to have leisure to push a puncturing instrument through that head, in order to ensure ‘no chance of delivering a live fetus’– when by dilating the canal one more centimetre he would enable the baby to slip out and be given to the care of a pediatrician. His response was to the effect that he was there to terminate that pregnancy, not to put the woman’s fetus in an incubator.”

Asked by a radio interviewer, “At what point do you believe the fetus becomes a sentient being?,” Dr. Grundmann responded, “When it is born.”

So there’s the answer to the question by an emminent “womens health” expert and abortion practitioner.

Life begins at birth, according to the emminent abortionist Dr. David Grundmann.

http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/grundman.html

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 4:43 pm
bodies being ripped apart, limbs torn while they’re alive, Steve, the man who justifies poison being injected into their beating hearts, the man who justifies a child being cooked in saline, the man who justifies their skulls being pierced and brains sucked out

Barbarism.

Ivan Denisovich

26 Oct 12 at 4:45 pm
I, uh… What?

Abu Chowdah

26 Oct 12 at 4:46 pm
CC – I would be perfectly happy to see modification to abortion law regarding late term abortion.

Your criticism are completely ill-founded, perhaps because you are one of the idiots who thinks CL is truthful when he makes up stuff about other people’s positions.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 4:47 pm
Glad to see someone improved the formatting at Hendo’s blog. That tiny bit of white space at the left is long overdue.

Abu Chowdah

26 Oct 12 at 4:48 pm
Barbarism.

Quite. It makes the 7th century religion of peace and shari’a look humane.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 4:51 pm
CC – I would be perfectly happy to see modification to abortion law regarding late term abortion.

You’re such an extraordinary liar.

Two hours ago you were holding up Emilys Listers as the pinnacle of reason on Abortion and now you say you’d be perfectly happy to go to war with them on a pillar of their abortion beliefs?

You just say whatever you need to say at the moment.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 5:01 pm
A very prestigious award for Alexander Downer.

Back in the good old days when we weren’t constantly being embarassed by our Foreign Affairs Minister.

He was excellent. Congratulations to him.

Ellen of Tasmania

26 Oct 12 at 5:02 pm
Abortion. Murder. herestheblood.com

Ellen of Tasmania

26 Oct 12 at 5:06 pm
KRUDD all upset about his bloody cat dying. Remember it was this so-and-so was responsible as PM for a lot people drowning!!

Mike of Marion

26 Oct 12 at 5:07 pm
SfB, today you have outdone yourself in fuckwittery and hypocrisy. You condemn a poster to this site who provides links to his own site in order that he does not force his views onto anyone that does not want to hear them, all the while you continue to post opinion and views that you know are contrary to the opinions and views of the majority of people that would visit a libertarian/economics website.
You do this for no other reason other than to derail threads and to garner attention for yourself, you being the attention whore that you are.
You then proceed to actually criticize Grigory for providing links while tacitly inviting people to click on your avatar to link to the mind numbingly boring blog that you have created.
Candy, I think that you are so wrong about having coffee with this tool. He is an attention whore and the whole conversation would revolve around him.
I mean seriously, Steve has never to my knowledge intimated what his occupation or field of expertise is. Therefore, on what basis does the conceited prick think that his opinions, or his stupid fucking dominions for that matter, should carry any weight or that anyone would really give a flying fuck at the moon what he thinks.

Steve, you are a detestable, lying piece of dogshit who has overstayed your welcome.To borrow another person’s work, you are an unflushable turd.
Fuck off and leave the adults to converse amongst themselves.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

26 Oct 12 at 5:09 pm
Um, no twostix. You’re just not bright enough to follow an argument.

I argued for precision in saying what Emily’s List position is. I specifically said it is perfectly legitimate to argue that they are wrong in their approach to late term abortion (that is, leaving it just up to the doctors/mother.)

What makes no sense, if you want to achieve something politically is to ignore the fact that you can’t even get your own side of politics to put up the reforms you want.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 5:11 pm
Huck,

I think you spend too much time here and devote too much time to trolls like SFB.

.

26 Oct 12 at 5:12 pm
I heard a great story about Swan last night. Apparently before ruining the Country in politics he was ruining education as a lecturer. The story from the V-C at the time (told to my friend) is that Swan was so crap he is one of the very few, less than ten, lecturers ever sacked by that uni.

Pedro

26 Oct 12 at 5:13 pm
“CC – I would be perfectly happy to see modification to abortion law regarding late term abortion.”

Well Twostix, Steve from Brisbane is now telling us he is perfectly happy for a child to be dismembered alive, to be cooked in saline, to have poison injected into its beating heart, he just gets a bit queasy at the sucking out the brains part but only if the child is a bit older mind. Still, he cares that children are violated don’t you know? Just not when they end up dead.

I have no idea who CL is Steve, but I’ve lurked on this blog long enough to see for myself that you are a fake, a pretender, a snake.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 5:13 pm
Ohio for Romney – a few people gather.

Front page of the New York Post. Excellent!

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 5:15 pm
A couple of people turn up to hear Romney, in Ohio.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 5:17 pm
This must be one of the rarest photos in history.

A Prius in California with… a Romney bumper sticker.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 5:20 pm
I find the term ” birth control ” repulsive.
I have no problem with ” conception control ” though.
Huge difference that Sick pervert from Brisbane can’t see.

jumpnmcar

26 Oct 12 at 5:21 pm
Blather away, CC.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 5:21 pm
To get sacked by a university you’d have to either

1. Make repeated passes at students while on probation for the same thing.

2. Corroboration of assault or otherwise intimidation of other staff or students.

3. Be convicted of another serious indictable offence.

4. Peculate from the university.

5. Literally be so stupid you cannot get any students to pass.

I am choosing 5. for DPM DC Swan.

.

26 Oct 12 at 5:22 pm
Hey wasssamatter man? We gonna come around at twelve with some Puerto Rican girls that’s just dyin’ ta meechoo!

Yeah baby, getting my Friday morning Stones freak on.

Abu Chowdah

26 Oct 12 at 5:26 pm
Hey Dot, you are probably right about spending too much time on trolls.
As to spending too much time here, I don’t think so.
I probably visit the site twice a day, it just seems that every time I visit Steve is trying to derail an interesting discussion between people who seem to be very intelligent and articulate in the main. It just does my head in that due to the fact that my time here is limited, an inordinate amount of time is taken up by Steve’s inane ramblings.
I understand that due to the libertarian nature of the moderators, they are loathe to ban people. I have no issue with that. I just wish that somehow this blog could put in place an “ignore” function so that I could apply a bit of self censorship to what I read here.
There are other blogs around that have this feature, and I for one would welcome its inclusion at the Cat.

Huckleberry Chunkwot

26 Oct 12 at 5:26 pm
I can ignore Steve except when he puts something up about economics, it is so bad it creates a rip in the fabric of space-time.

.

26 Oct 12 at 5:30 pm
You’re a pretender Steve. A fake. A suphurous stench. A disgrace to the Catholic church to whom you profess to belong. You and your ilk disgust me.

Tough but fair.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 5:32 pm
Is that all you’ve got Steve? Can’t defend the indefensible can you? Just as long as the child ends up dead you’re happy, because then they won’t be around to complain about being violated , right? And you can then feel so good about yourself for being such a caring type.

You make me sick.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 5:35 pm
I argued for precision…

Forgive me, I now have to change my underpants.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 5:35 pm
A few people gather to see Sandra Fluke at a Democrat contraception rally…

No, really – a few.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 5:38 pm
Seriously, CC is an absolute nutjob.

Why does this blog attract such numbers of non Catholic nutty Catholics?

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 5:41 pm
Obama leads Romney 62 to 38 on Intrade.

Uh-huh.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 5:42 pm
Here’s the blood

I couldn’t watch it all, Ellen. I defy anyone to watch the video all the way through (looks to be about 3 minutes, I think) and then tell me, as steve from brisbane has, that abortions are not killing human beings and they are fine about it all.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 5:43 pm
Obama leads Romney 62 to 38 on Intrade.

Romney’s blown out in the betting too.

He’s still got a massive fight on his hand with the electoral college and the Democrat’s on the ground machine.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 5:44 pm
Steve, I do think the questions asked of you are justified. Do you support partial-birth and late term abortion or not?

Fisky

26 Oct 12 at 5:44 pm
I’m still recommending crate loads of tissues for Catallaxy for (what still appears) the likely Obama win.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 5:46 pm
Some interesting markets here:

http://centrebet.com/#Sports/1965067

They reckon New Hampshire is more chance to go Republican than Ohio.

I don’t know what the hell is going on.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 5:47 pm
You’re a pretender Steve. A fake. A suphurous stench. A disgrace to the Catholic church to whom you profess to belong. You and your ilk disgust me.

Thee was a typo with ‘sulphurous’ but otherwise precisely correct, CC.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 5:48 pm
I don’t know what the hell is going on.

Romney is winning.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 5:50 pm
Old Slushy wheels out the ‘I’ve already answered that’ trick…

Gillard dismisses claims of Maxine McKew.

She told reporters on Friday that it was history.

“I’ve actually dealt with all of these issues before on the public record, and I’d just refer you to that,” Ms Gillard said.

“I haven’t got anything to add.”

Status of McKew’s claims: confirmed.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 5:50 pm
LOL JamesK I am notorious for my typos.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 5:54 pm
I do not “support” partial birth or late term abortion.

I do think a legitimate debate about whether leaving it alone to doctors to decide when it is appropriate could be had.

But pro-lifers of the Catholic ilk (or nutty wannabe Catholics, as this blog attracts) are exactly the wrong people to be involved, because their absolutism in matters of reproductive morals extends back to ridiculous lengths (such as being against all forms of contraception) such that:

a. they have no credibility with the public at large and
b. they encourage absolutism in the feminist response.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 5:58 pm
For the political tragics – Antony Green is about to start covering the Sydney by-election results.

boy on a bike

26 Oct 12 at 5:58 pm
“Seriously, CC is an absolute nutjob”

Steve from Brisbane now wishes to inform us that it’s perfectly acceptable to dismember a child, inject poison into its heart, cook it in saline, suck its brains out, whatever, as long as it’s dead, dead, dead and can’t complain that he doesn’t really care about children being violated. That way, he can pretend to be a Catholic.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 6:00 pm
I do not “support” partial birth or late term abortion.

I do think a legitimate debate about whether leaving it alone to doctors to decide when it is appropriate could be had.

But pro-lifers of the Catholic ilk (or nutty wannabe Catholics, as this blog attracts) are exactly the wrong people to be involved, because their absolutism in matters of reproductive morals extends back to ridiculous lengths (such as being against all forms of contraception) such that:

a. they have no credibility with the public at large and
b. they encourage absolutism in the feminist response.

It’s not your views per se but your attitude (in this instance on a profound matter of conscience) and your routine dishonesty that disgusts self-respecting people, liar

No regular here gives a fuck what your opinion is liar, as you well know.

Your primary purpose, quite apparently, is to get your jollies by upsetting people and derailing threads using as many inanities and lies as possible

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 6:04 pm
But pro-lifers of the Catholic ilk (or nutty wannabe Catholics, as this blog attracts) are exactly the wrong people to be involved, because their absolutism…

sfb doesn’t like men and women of principle. It makes him uncomfortable.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 6:06 pm
A few days ago, Steve said it looked like Romney would win but consoled himself that Gillard hadn’t been arrested yet.

For those joining us late, Steve is a lifelong ‘conservative,’ ‘Liberal voter’ and (pro abortion) ‘Catholic.’

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 6:15 pm
James Freeman, WSJ: Richard Mourdock, Meet Liam Neeson

So rather than stumbling their way through science or theology, perhaps pro-life candidates should simply refer to a scene in the 1995 film, “Rob Roy.”

Jessica Lange’s character reveals to her husband, played by Liam Neeson, that she has become pregnant after being raped by his enemy. “I could not kill it, husband,” she says, almost apologetically.

Responds Mr. Neeson, “It’s not the child that needs killing.”

In just a few words, Mr. Neeson’s character from 18th century Scotland eloquently argues for the child’s innocence. Such an answer is still bound to displease pro-choice voters, but it might at least clarify the argument.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 6:19 pm
I do not “support” partial birth or late term abortion.

I do think a legitimate debate about whether leaving it alone to doctors to decide when it is appropriate could be had.

Steve from Brisbane now wants to remind us – again- that he’s perfectly happy for a child to be dismembered, be cooked in saline, have poison injected into its heart, have its brains sucked out, as long as he doesn’t have to make the decision, count the body parts or watch herestheblood.com/ As long as the child is dead, dead, dead and can’t complain, he can promote his ideology while pretending to be a Catholic.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 6:19 pm
There’s a remarkable similar nuttiness on display here between CC, CL and Grigory. All repetitious obsessives.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 6:24 pm
“It’s not the child that needs killing.”

Correct. What crime did the child commit that requires anyone to take its life? You can’t administer justice for a rape by committing a greater injustice and killing an innocent.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 6:25 pm
Jacques Barzun just died, according the NYT.

Scapula

26 Oct 12 at 6:27 pm
There’s a remarkable similar nuttiness on display here between CC, CL and Grigory. All repetitious obsessives.

And there’s a remarkable repetitive evasion on your part. Let’s hear you say clearly it’s perfectly acceptable for someone, anyone, whoever of your choice, to dismember a child herestheblood.com , cook it in saline, inject poison into its heart, suck its brains out.

Let’s see you out and proud Mr pretend Catholic. Own it pantywaist.

CC

26 Oct 12 at 6:32 pm
I heard a great story about Swan last night. Apparently before ruining the Country in politics he was ruining education as a lecturer. The story from the V-C at the time (told to my friend) is that Swan was so crap he is one of the very few, less than ten, lecturers ever sacked by that uni.

From his wikipedia entry:

a lecturer in the Department of Management at the Queensland Institute of Technology.

Department of Management. LOL

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 6:33 pm
U.N. Human Rights Council Calls for Boycott of U.S. Companies
U.N.’s war on Israel puts American economy in crosshairs

The Washington Free Beacon has obtained a report soon to be released by the United Nations that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.

The Human Rights Council (HRC), a body dominated by Islamic countries and known for its hostility to, and heavy focus on, the Jewish State, issued the report. The George W. Bush administration refused to participate in the HRC, but President Barack Obama joined it soon after taking office. Members of the HRC include infamous human rights abusers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Libya, China, and Cuba.

The Obama-approved body maintains a “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories [sic].” The current rapporteur is American college professor Richard Falk, a 9/11 “truther” who once posted an anti-Semitic cartoon on his personal blog.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 6:39 pm
repetitious obsessives.

The macquarie dictionary (revised) illustrates this with a picture of SFB.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 6:40 pm
Members of the HRC include infamous human rights abusers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Libya, China, and Cuba.

Rather than spending billions in bribes for a seat on the security council, we could save heaps and be a moral leader by leaving this corrupt cesspit.

jupes

26 Oct 12 at 6:54 pm
repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb repetitive obsessive nutjob dweeb

Monkey with a typewriter

Tom

26 Oct 12 at 7:09 pm
I’m still recommending crate loads of tissues for Catallaxy for (what still appears) the likely Obama win.

Another one to wheel out during Romney’s victory speech.

Oh come on

26 Oct 12 at 7:11 pm
I don’t know what the hell is going on.

I do. The people who are putting money on Obama (ie. non-Americans) mainly think like SoB. See the international polls. In my line of work in the country I’m in, I meet non-Americans of all nations constantly and they almost exclusively

a) support Obama
b) have not considered the possibility that he might lose

I suspect a lot of people placing bets on Obama feel similarly.

Oh come on

26 Oct 12 at 7:19 pm
Potemkin’s Village

A man can’t be too careful… here

Grigory Potemkin

26 Oct 12 at 7:21 pm
The people who are putting money on Obama

I should have written the above more clearly

A large group of the people who are putting money on Obama (ie. non-Americans)…

Oh come on

26 Oct 12 at 7:21 pm
A large group of the people who are putting money on Obama (ie. non-Americans)…

Actually it should be all as it’s against the law in the US.

But depressing opposition vote is a key strategy of the Dems – the party of skulduggery

Putting money to bend the odds can be more productive than donating for advertisements.

If your side wins the added benefit is that you have a profit rather than inevitably losing what you put in with donations

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 7:28 pm
Toe sucked, jive shucked, Obama’s…Screwed!*

*which you can buy on Amazon, along with the kiddy book about how his dog was elected President; you know, the one that looks like it was illustrated by a 7 year old

Oh come on

26 Oct 12 at 7:30 pm
Ha! Hilarious Grigory. I love the subtlety of how you’ve put childless, living in sin Julie Bishop (gee, I wonder what her views on abortion are*) behind saintly “abortion should be safe, legal and rare” Tony Abbott.

Most of your readers would not understand the way you’re undermining the credibility of Tony Abbott’s anti abortion and pro family credentials, but I get it. *Wink*

* we do know they are “different” from Tony Abbott’s, and this:

She supported lifting the current ban on aid going to organisations which give abortion advice, but said leader Brendan Nelson backed the ban.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 7:34 pm
Has anyone ever heard Fairfax Radio’s US Correspondent reporting on the election?

He just breathlessly reported that Obama is storming home in the polls. He’s perhaps the most biased journo I’ve ever heard.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 7:36 pm
Putting money to bend the odds can be more productive than donating for advertisements.

Y’reckon? If true, they’re desperate – what percentage of Americans would be aware of the betting odds on the candidates, let alone consider them an electoral barometer? 1%? Less?

If skewing global betting odds in Obama’s favour is a Dem tactic, it’s an extraordinarily stupid and costly one.

Oh come on

26 Oct 12 at 7:38 pm
Ughh

I feel the need for a shower so often after reading liar-steve™ and his ignorant but smug condescending slime.

And again….

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 7:38 pm
He’s perhaps the most biased journo I’ve ever heard.

I’m pulling the bullshit card on this one.

jupes

26 Oct 12 at 7:40 pm
He just breathlessly reported that Obama is storming home in the polls. He’s perhaps the most biased journo I’ve ever heard.

You obviously didn’t watch this evening’s 6pm SBS television news

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 7:41 pm
Alex says

”

Alice, what have you got against us younger guys?

Ah, I know. You pass us on the street all the time and go, “if only…”.

Hello Alex – I may well pass you on the street but I can assure you my feelings are strictly maternal and add a generation to that. No dount about it you are cute and gorgeous but not in the way you think I look at you.
I seek only that you tome down perhaps your natural aggression (it comes with your ag I’m afraid) and learn the true art of clever argument (Dot, James K and perhaps yourself?)

I do not have anything against males of a younger age. I only like to see you make the most of your intelligence without letting testosterone cloud the waters?

Am I not correct? Am I not a good source of advice to you?
I say only what I see. The general idea is to mellow the agggression and strike hard with the english language in a clever way rather than respond to immediate impulses.

If you think I see you younger men pass me by and I wish for sex, you are mistaken. Ive had my share in life and even now get enough (that I need) from more satisfying sources.

I am not secually frustrated Alex as you may think. That is more a problem with your age demographic, I suspect, than mine.

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 7:48 pm
6.30

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 7:48 pm
7.51

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 7:51 pm
I am not secually frustrated Alex as you may think

Alice owns a push bike and lives in an area with cobblestone lanes. She’s perfectly happy after a brisk ride.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 7:52 pm
Alice owns a push bike and lives in an area with cobblestone lanes. She’s perfectly happy after a brisk ride.

Champage Comedy

Carpe Jugulum

26 Oct 12 at 7:54 pm
1,055 posts!!

15 minutes to access the most recent comment on my Vaio

Only 10 seconds to get there on my Kindle Fire

Septimus

26 Oct 12 at 8:08 pm
Only 10 seconds to get there on my Kindle Fire

About 2seconds on my Dell

Carpe Jugulum

26 Oct 12 at 8:11 pm
Australian Construction Conditions Now Worse Than During GFC
The ACI is bleeding out in Australia and is ignored in the MSM, government and economists blogs alike.
When did Gillard take charge of my country ?
It’s a fucken disgrace.

jumpnmcar

26 Oct 12 at 8:12 pm
About 2seconds on my Dell

Still 10 seconds on my Kindle Fire.

Maybe it’s time to replace the Vaio with a Dell Ultrabook

Septimus

26 Oct 12 at 8:20 pm
I am not secually frustrated Alex as you may think. That is more a problem with your age demographic, I suspect, than mine.

Hi philomena.

.

26 Oct 12 at 8:22 pm
Indigenous MP’s call for choice on grog ($)

Some strong words, there. Real loss, real grief, not talked about but experienced. Promising beginning.

Helen Armstrong

26 Oct 12 at 8:40 pm
Methusalice?

kae

26 Oct 12 at 8:40 pm
Hello Dotty

How nice to see you.

( Relax – Im just softening you up for the kill!!)

Philo is younger than me and I am surprised you would mistake us. I like Philo – she has a bit of fire and isnt easily frightened away by the tough youngsters in here
(much like myself I might add) but you are wrong Dotty.

I dont hold Philos staunch views on the right or wrong party to belong to.

These days they all disappoint me.

I dont like either parties (liberal, Labor or Greens or any other minors) and I dont like the level of corruption of both parties (all parties) and nor do I like the government of Australia that I see today.

All your political heroes chase the almighty buck $$$$ at the expense of the average citizen.

How do you think James Packer is going to build his Casino in the sky with an extra 50 storeys with prime harbour views …. but wait for it???? No pokies???
What no pokies?

Apparently this Casino in the clouds is only being built for high roller top notch gamblers (not for the 50 more storeys of prime harbour views …. ohhhhh noooo dont mention that….

and Packer isnt stumping up the money so he makes nothing on a Casino with no pokies

… and no Barry’s Governmentparty isn’t benefitting by way of donations for this eyesore on the harbour

The grand eyesore that Keating would have us all believe is or should be a Brancusi sculpture (what a fucking wanker is Keating – and a super slime that he would crawl up the arse of anyone with money in this Town) in the sky and we should all bow down before high art per Paul Keating (wank wank)??”

Fuck. Where is the vomit bowl?

No I am not Philo you stupid boy.

I hate them all. Both parties. All parties in Australian politics. They all stink and Im not going to join your club or anyone elses political club until I see decent politics and decent governance in this country.

I dont see it.

Philo will be disappointed. You will be disappointed.

What do I care?

I think both of you are fools in different ways.

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 8:41 pm
You are off your head you stupid bitch, wherever have I said that I admire James Packer?

.

26 Oct 12 at 8:51 pm
I hate them all. Both parties. All parties in Australian politics. They all stink and Im not going to join your club or anyone elses political club until I see decent politics and decent governance in this country.

So do I. I think the political process has become thoroughly corrupted by doublespeak and bullshit that until such time as we demand more honesty and much greater intellectual rigour from our politicians that isn’t going to change. But the masses generally want to be on a winning side so will happily compromise their own political position to announce “we were right”. I see no solution to this problem but I love this quote from Nietzsche …

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Go on, look about Alice, look at the tribalism that dominates politics. Silly. So I stay away from politics with the exception of looking for those people and places where they are not emulating same the old tribalism. This is not the place for that. One of the few original ideas I have heard here is from DOT(HECs style medical fee payment).

Dead Soul

26 Oct 12 at 8:55 pm
It is Terje Petersen’s idea, and from an IT guru and “volunteer economist”, I think it is a bloody good idea.

.

26 Oct 12 at 8:57 pm
How eloquent and well expressed Dot – the whole single line of your most recent post punctuated with “you stupid bitch”?

Surely you can do better than this – er using english?

I thought I’d made my point about the response quality of youngsters in here earlier.

Hmmmm – Apparently not.

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 8:58 pm
Dead Soul – you have more soul than most and I hear what you say but what better place than here?

There is nowhere else better. It is all the same.
There is nothing politically on offer to any of us from anyone.

It doesnt hurt me to be here (or any other political blog) any more than it hurts me to contemplate the widespread problems of our politics and governance in general.

We have almost reached the point where its a case for ghostbusters or Batman now.

All sides of politics (political parties) and governemnts are feeding on a gravy train of our taxes to our detriment and doig what they damn well please nwith impunity.

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 9:05 pm
Ok Dot – Ill bite.

Dead Soul has recommended your ideas.

You are a phd student of economics.
Can you explain the idea of yours that Dead Soul thinks so original?

Your hecs style medical payment idea.

Pros and cons in your view ??
(preferably without calling me atupid bitch this time)

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 9:11 pm
Do you put ‘rub the lotion on it’s skin’ like phil, Alice?

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 9:12 pm
“Alice owns a push bike and lives in an area with cobblestone lanes. She’s perfectly happy after a brisk ride.”

Wicked, Infidel Tiger, just wicked. Splendidly so.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

26 Oct 12 at 9:14 pm
James
so you fantasize about older ladies on bikes?
How very youthful and male….are you sure you are getting enough?

You sound more than a bit amused by slightly bizarre fantasies

You need to get off this blog James K and get out more.

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 9:20 pm
Still glad you enjoyed the ride James even if it only happened in yours and Infidels fetid imaginations…

Go out to a nightclub both of you…

Alice

26 Oct 12 at 9:23 pm
“Alice owns a push bike and lives in an area with cobblestone lanes. She’s perfectly happy after a brisk ride.”You sure shes happy..

max49

26 Oct 12 at 9:27 pm
I love the subtlety of how you’ve put childless, living in sin Julie Bishop …

News Flash: SfB suddenly regards unmarried couple as “living in sin”. Nice try, you thread pollutant.

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 9:30 pm
“There is nothing politically on offer to any of us from anyone.”

We can believe in Tony Abbott to do the right thing by us Alice. I have full confidence in him.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 9:35 pm
James
so you fantasize about older ladies on bikes?
How very youthful and male….are you sure you are getting enough?

You sound more than a bit amused by slightly bizarre fantasies

You need to get off this blog James K and get out more.

You’re now on the second aluminum bag aren’t you Alice?

I suspect you meant to smear dot

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 9:40 pm
Agree Candy..I’m hoping he gets such a mandate that he has the nuts to launch an all out clean up of the socialist lefties..

max49

26 Oct 12 at 9:40 pm
Yes the HECS style medical fee thing is interesting.

A couple of problems I see:

So chronically ill people would hit their pay level limit then have no real incentive to control costs as it is an ongoing problem.

Likewise sudden catastrophic illnesses, heart attacks perhaps, the $200k (say) is unlikely to be looked at as something to seriously pay off – its too much.

Moral hazard for babies born too premmie, they can cost a more than serious amount of money, possibly $200-300k in some cases, so parents may be more inclined to pull the plug early – however this may be the case in the US so perhaps its not too much of a problem.

As mentioned above the expensive care is when they’re coming but also when they’re going. End of life care with no chance of paying it sounds attractive for MY parents however I’m not sure the rest of you want to stump up.

With Medicare there is explicit rationing so it contains costs, with a HECS style system the costs would be horrific in an expensive minority of cases. Has that been considered?

I’d love if you had more details.

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 9:41 pm
Is there a shrine to Tony in your house, candy? With fruit offerings, candles and incense?

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 9:41 pm
I suspect you meant to smear IT not dot.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 9:42 pm
I fantasise about Alice getting a Federal court order stopping her using the internet.

James
so you fantasize about older ladies on bikes?
How very youthful and male….are you sure you are getting enough?

Hi phil.

.

26 Oct 12 at 9:44 pm
Not everyone is weird sfb..

max49

26 Oct 12 at 9:46 pm
“Agree Candy..I’m hoping he gets such a mandate that he has the nuts to launch an all out clean up of the socialist lefties..”

He’ll be kind though, Max49, firm, but kind, like a good parent.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 9:46 pm
Once again, total disrespect for regulars, coupled to the inability to stay away.
Moderators, who will rid us of this person of no value, a purely vexatious anti-conservative? You’re allowing this place to be perennially in need of fumigation and it’s a disincentive to rational discussion. If you want the place to be an unceasing flow of distractions from the troll herd, you’ve got it right. Otherwise …

blogstrop

26 Oct 12 at 9:48 pm
Andrew Bolt reports:

A nation’s thoughts are with the former Prime Minister.

because …. because Comrade Dear Leader (in exile)’s bloody dog or cat died. “A nation’s thoughts”???

How does Bolt or anyone know it carked it? – because the feeble idiot seized the opportunity to milk it by tweeting to the world and the galah fell for it. It beggars belief.

Bolt goes on:

Be sensitive in comments. The death of a much-loved pet is no small thing.

A brief look through the comments reveal a lot of obvious and deserved mirth, plus some lovely old ladies who put aside their lovely knitting to make lovely compliments about lovely Andrew’s lovely compassion – blergggggh!

This bloke touts his credentials as a serious minded journalist! What’s he likely to come up with when his much lauded first choice Gillard gets one in the guts?

Mick Gold Coast QLD

26 Oct 12 at 9:49 pm
Yes the HECS style medical fee thing is interesting.

A couple of problems I see:

No. They fund you to buy insurance.

.

26 Oct 12 at 9:50 pm
I have little faith in Tony doing the right thing. He is DLP to the core. But to do right by me he only has to do one thing: annihilate, with prejudice, the current government of total incompetents at the ballot box.

That’ll do.

entropy

26 Oct 12 at 9:52 pm
I have little faith in Tony doing the right thing.

He’ll be one of our worst PM’s and also one of our most beloved because of what he saved us from.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 9:56 pm
Here’s another job vacancy. This one’s from the Vic Public Service, and for a Project Manager, Closing The Aboriginal Health Gap, and is a 12 month position.

The thing that I find curious is that the pay range is $96,787 – $129,520, yet there’s also this tidbit:

The department encourages and welcomes interest from Aboriginal Australians for this role. Please contact our Aboriginal employment information and support line (phone: 1300 092 406 or email: [email protected]) should you wish to access assistance with your application.

Isn’t that a bit racist? If you’ve got the wherewithal to fill the position you shouldn’t need any help – regardless of your colour.

The actual job description can be downloaded from the link and is two pages of yet more PS gobbledygook.

nilk

26 Oct 12 at 9:56 pm
nilk – just mailed you.

Sinclair Davidson

26 Oct 12 at 9:59 pm
Right. This is my spin on Terje’s idea.

You get a voucher of 3000 AUD which is means tested to buy insurance (and other things, but there would not be anymore Medicare rebates etc so unless you bought insurance, you’d be lining yourself up for large tax liabilites). If you have no income it is part of the HECS system where 3000 per annum of expenses made that year is written off.

You can defer medical expenses once the limit is reached with HECS.

Hospitals would need mass privatisation, the restrictions on medical training lifted and the health insurance market fully deregulated.

There is rationing with HECS, and there are also some unrecoverable debt. There are also catastrophic claims on the Medicare system, non price rationing and some very costly policies for little actual benefit (but a large perceived benefit), such as the PBS (which requires subsidies equal to the “savings”, given as compensation to the firms affected).

The problem with this is that I think we should do away with income tax and replace our tax mist with a LVT on unimproved land values, a royalty tax system and a VAT/GST.

.

26 Oct 12 at 10:02 pm
He’ll be one of our worst PM’s and also one of our most beloved because of what he saved us from.

Aint that the truth..

max49

26 Oct 12 at 10:02 pm
“Is there a shrine to Tony in your house, candy? With fruit offerings, candles and incense?”

Hey Steve, what is it actually you don’t like about Tony Abbott – his being Catholic, a conservative, his particular policies, or just what exactly?

or just you don’t feel sympatico with him in any way?

candy

26 Oct 12 at 10:05 pm
No. They fund you to buy insurance.

Oh ok. In lean times you run up a tab buying the same insurance then pay it back in happier times at an income capped rate..

OK I can see the idea behind that.

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 10:08 pm
Be sensitive in comments. The death of a much-loved pet is no small thing.

Neither is the death of a disabled teenager in an overheated ceiling a small thing but Rudd didn’t feel compelled to even acknowledge it.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:08 pm
Dave see my fuller response at 10.02.

.

26 Oct 12 at 10:12 pm
or thousands of drowning people C.L

max49

26 Oct 12 at 10:13 pm
Thanks, Sinc. Got it.

And if anyone wants fun viewing tonight, Lateline has a piece on the ‘mysterious’ Q Society.

I was going to go to bed early, but this could be fun.

nilk

26 Oct 12 at 10:17 pm
Oh ok. In lean times you run up a tab buying the same insurance then pay it back in happier times at an income capped rate..

OK I can see the idea behind that.

Oops, hadn’t seen your update. I’ll have a ponder about it now.

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 10:19 pm
Whatever the cat died of I hope its contagious..

max49

26 Oct 12 at 10:22 pm
candy, I don’t trust any politician who exercises too much.

But in more detail: he got the job by sucking up to Andrew Bolt/Alan Jones ignorant populist campaign on AGW – yet he tries to straddle the fence on the issue in a completely unconvincing way. (He is smart enough to know his direct action alternative is not endorsed by any economist and is a worse policy: he only came up with it to be able to say he was different.) His parental leave plan is similarly convincing no one, except his daughters, perhaps. Mainstream economic judgement is that the economic performance of the Labor government has not jeopardized the nation (if anything, I think a large majority of economists think it would be better for Labor to not go all out for a surplus next year.) Yet Abbott has to continually play up a scare campaign on it, promising large cuts with no detail where they would come from.

He has never looked comfortable in interviews; he says weirdly out of place things all the time, particularly on matters of sex and sexuality. (Gay people make him feel uncomfortable, when he’s been good friends with Christopher Pearson for years, and has a lesbian sister? Virginity is a “gift” that women give?) He admitted on a TV interview that you can’t always expect him to be truthful.

He has a unmarried, childless woman deputy, yet loves to point out how he understands families (hint – so much better than unmarried childless Gillard.) He’s been a hypocritical smartarse about that for a long time.

He was OK as health minister but has been promoted beyond his abilities. He needs to be replaced.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:31 pm
Whatever the cat died of I hope its contagious…

Max – it is – the cause of death was diagnosed at 2:07pm above…

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 10:33 pm
candy, I don’t trust any politician who exercises too much.

Fuckwit.

He has a unmarried, childless woman deputy, yet loves to point out how he understands families

He is not Julie Bishop, nor do they, at their will, form a dualistic god. Has Julie Bishop crapped on like Gillard?

He was OK as health minister but has been promoted beyond his abilities. He needs to be replaced.

He got promoted out of Government?

.

26 Oct 12 at 10:35 pm
Julie Bishop is step mum to five kids Stefan. The rest of your rant paints you as the economically illiterate far left screwball we all know you to be.

Infidel tiger

26 Oct 12 at 10:39 pm
Don’t be too hard on Bolt. He’s the Lollie Pop Man of political journalism. As long as drivers stop when he holds up his Stop sign, he’s viewed as influential.

He seems to have missed the point that dangerous drivers like Gillard and co are driving right past him and hitting the kiddies as they try to cross the road.

Toughen up, Princess

Grigory Potemkin

26 Oct 12 at 10:39 pm
I don’t think this will go down very well in voterland.

Father of Slain SEAL: Who Made the Decision Not to Save My Son?
On meeting Obama: “Could not look me in the eye … like shaking hands with a dead fish.”

Link

How appalled must the families of the Benghazi 911 slain feel right now ?

Keith

26 Oct 12 at 10:40 pm
Well Rabz how long do you Rudds got.

max49

26 Oct 12 at 10:40 pm
candy, I don’t trust any politician who exercises too much.

And that’s because teh semenblogger’s a fat, sclerotic, prematurely aged eunuch who hasn’t done a day’s productive labour in his entire life.

However, keep wasting your valuable time reading his rantings – you know they may contain the odd kernel of truth or piece of wisdom or wit.

Except when they don’t, which is all the f*cking time.

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 10:41 pm
Okay, fair enough Steve, agree to disagree and all that.

but “He needs to be replaced”

by who?

candy

26 Oct 12 at 10:42 pm
Julie Bishop is step mum to five kids Stefan.

She is not married. Do they live with her and her de facto? How old are they?

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:42 pm
SfB

He has never looked comfortable in interviews;

I agree he does come across as hard to like.

In his defence the MFM absolutely loathe him and either tear into him or smirk and sneer – Tony Jones take a bow – whereas labour pols get the freest of rides.

How much criticism have you seen over The World’s Best Treasurer’s 2 day billion dollar revenus from the mining tax? Seriously he included it when he knew it didn’t exist.

Over to you ABC/Fairfax: *crickets*

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 10:43 pm
… how long do you think Rudd’s got.

Who knows? The twat’s obviously impervious to shame…

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 10:43 pm
lol Ive heard some people die of shame so things may turn out OK

max49

26 Oct 12 at 10:45 pm
You know, candy!

I don’t think Joe Hockey is up to the job – he seems a nice enough fellow (I find him more likeable than Abbott) but I think he is more governed by the heart than the brain, and that doesn’t always work out well in politics.

Apart from him, and you know who, the Coalition is not exactly oozing with obvious leadership potential.

It has to be Malcolm, and a purge of the party who won’t back him on leaving the carbon “tax” in place.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:46 pm
She is not married. Do they live with her and her de facto? How old are they?

That’s really none of your business. With your reputation you probably shouldn’t be asking.

Infidel tiger

26 Oct 12 at 10:47 pm
He admitted on a TV interview (sic) that you can’t always expect him to be truthful.

No he didn’t.

You’re not well placed to discuss weird, Steve, by the way.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 10:49 pm
Wonder how gillard’s defacto is traveling? Don’t hear much about him at all. Do you think gillard has moved onto Danby?

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 10:50 pm
I kinda/semi met Tony Abbott once.

It was a local beach to beach swim. He was an entrant and prior to the race he was strolling around with Bronnie (he in ‘smugglers, she, thank god, shirt and sarong) and came up to my group.

Just a couple of jokes about how he’d place and such. He seemed a bit awkward.

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 10:52 pm
“It has to be Malcolm, and a purge of the party who won’t back him on leaving the carbon “tax” in place.”

Malcolm T. does not have charisma Steve. It’s not there. It won’t ever be. Also he had a affair some years ago, it won’t do, the ALP would pull him to shreds over that just for starters.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 10:53 pm
Matthias Cormann clobbering dingbat David Bradbury on Laeline.

Good fun

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 10:55 pm
I can’t see Turnbull being given another shot. It was polling that brought him down, wasn’t it?

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 10:56 pm
Abbott’s response was: ”I know politicians are going to be judged on everything they say, but sometimes, in the heat of discussion, you go a little bit further than you would if it was an absolutely calm, considered, prepared, scripted remark, which is one of the reasons why the statements that need to be taken absolutely as gospel truth is those carefully prepared scripted remarks.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/compared-to-labouring-rudd-abbotts-a-notricks-phoney-20100519-vf4f.html#ixzz2APCNC1Bp

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 10:57 pm
“It has to be squire turnbull, and a purge of the party who won’t back him on leaving the carbon dioxide “tax” in place.”

FFS, shitfer’s trying to outdo the hammster…

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 10:58 pm
Something any honest person would admit.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 11:00 pm
I suspect Malcolm is less popular with his fellow Liberals than Kruddy is within Liebore

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 11:00 pm
“to be taken absolutely as gospel truth is those carefully prepared scripted remarks.””

exactly. Just like Ms Gillard’s no carbon tax prepared scripted response. She was definitive and convincing. No equivocation at all.

I believed her.

candy

26 Oct 12 at 11:01 pm
At least he is honest about the situation that we can all see…outright lying day in and day out..that I cant stand

max49

26 Oct 12 at 11:01 pm
And that statement SfB was ramped up into 2 weeks of media outrage.

Whereas an outright lie by Wayne Swan was shrugged off with 2 para AAP filler.

C’mon man.

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 11:01 pm
Also he had a affair some years ago, it won’t do, the ALP would pull him to shreds over that just for starters.

Um, that is hardly likely candy (not that he might have had an affair – not that I have ever heard that before – but that even if true it would be used against him by Labor.)

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:03 pm
He admitted on a TV interview (sic) that you can’t always expect him to be truthful.

liar-steve®, telling porkies is ~~like~~ a pig rolling in sh1t.

JamesK

26 Oct 12 at 11:04 pm
She was definitive and convincing. No equivocation at all.

I believed her.

Yes, well, Rudd believed her too when she said she had more chance of flying to mars than take Rudd’s job.

She has a long history of being a pathological liar.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 11:05 pm
Turnbull will never get another chance. The base rioted last time he was boss.

Token

26 Oct 12 at 11:06 pm
Guy Rundle on Malcolm Turnbull and Utegate…

That Malcolm Turnbull didn’t see this is possibly a more damning indictment of his judgement than his increasingly obvious lack of political skills — the most recent being to have an ABC Australian Story crew follow him round with apparent carte blanche, at a time when he was pursuing a complex gotcha attack on the government. Most post-adolescents develop some basic inner sense of how far is too far with someone like Grech, some allowance for human vulnerability, and some sense of responsibility for it.

That Turnbull didn’t and couldn’t may have been his own undoing — the lack of moral insight was the flipside of a lack of psychological insight that would have rung alarm bells in a more astute person – but it also contributed to the ruination of a man whose one hope for a meaningful and rounded life, for a life that made sense, was to have been, and been remembered as, a dutiful and effective public servant. Turnbull was the stronger man. It was his fault.

The Australian Story footage caught that perfectly — Turnbull bouncing around like a manic Mr Punch, with his bizarre boiler-room of wife, daughter and gormless second-rate staff (“what’s concocted mean?”), a bunch of Bellevue Hillbillies who make the Kardashians look like Lincoln’s Civil war cabinet. Grech’s fate makes the whole thing look more tragedy than farce — a bunch of Sydney sybarites sitting around quietly dismembering someone.

Turnbull is dead. The prime bull is now a side of beef hanging from a hook. His political skills are laughable — witness his ad-hoc announcement of campaign finance reform to cut out corporate donations, a move which would destroy the Liberal Party and make the Greens the best funded party in Australia. The party organisation would rather lose half a dozen elections than corporate funding. So Turnbull has made enemies of both the inner party, and the general public, the latter regarding him as not only a dill, but as “not much of a bloke”.

That was blockquoted by Mark Bahnisch at LP in August 2009.

One expert commenter disagreed with this crazy talk of Turnbull’s ouster:

steve from brisbane

What hypocrites. Mark especially likes to get all high minded about what passes for political analysis, but when a piece gets all excited about an alleged coming political death on the “right” side of politics (and totally imaginary in terms of how it envisages a meeting the writer never saw) it becomes an “excellent” bit of writing.

Always on the money is Steve.

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 11:06 pm
Mark especially likes to get all high minded about what passes for political analysis,

Oh my, that’s the pot calling the kettle black.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 11:08 pm
Same with Rudd token..

max49

26 Oct 12 at 11:09 pm
Always on the money is steve.

The wrongologists’ wrongologist…

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 11:16 pm
Rundle’s writing there was completely hyperbolic, yet you and Mark B approved of it because it was about Turnbull.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:17 pm
By the way, I have never said I understand or can predict politics perfectly.

CL is the one who is chronically unable to admit error.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:23 pm
i know sfb that this is the latest line of attack re turnbull replacing abbott.Wont happen because turnbull is politically stupid and in addition believes in global warming..

max49

26 Oct 12 at 11:23 pm
By the way, I have never said I understand or can predict politics perfectly.

How modest of you, sfb. A lesson to us all.

dover_beach

26 Oct 12 at 11:25 pm
It is, indeed, a lesson to CL, d-b.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:26 pm
semenblogger – if you weren’t as Q as F, chundle would be one of your heroes.

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 11:27 pm
One expert commenter disagreed with this crazy talk of Turnbull’s ouster:

steve from brisbane

What hypocrites. Mark especially likes to get all high minded about what passes for political analysis, but when a piece gets all excited about an alleged coming political death on the “right” side of politics (and totally imaginary in terms of how it envisages a meeting the writer never saw) it becomes an “excellent” bit of writing.

Always on the money is Steve.

And that is how it’s done.

Excellent delivery.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 11:27 pm
Max, SoB is transparently campaigning for the removal of the effective conservative that has nobbled what is undoubtably his gravy train – government AGW waste.

Token

26 Oct 12 at 11:28 pm
Obvious as his stupidity Token

max49

26 Oct 12 at 11:30 pm
And that statement SfB was ramped up into 2 weeks of media outrage.

Whereas an outright lie by Wayne Swan was shrugged off with 2 para AAP filler.

C’mon man.

DaveF you’re new but seem ok. Here’s a hint: SfB is the resident wrongologist. Everything he says, any prediction he makes is 100% guaranteed to be wrong.

In fact he just said that Joe Hockey wouldn’t be up to the task of leading, which in fact means that Joe Hockey will probably be our own Ronald Reagan, nah, our own Washington at some point in the future.

Other than that he lies, about everything. On every issue for the last 2.5 years that I’ve been here he’s been on completely the wrong side of history or spent his time lying about what he’s previously said.

He’s in actual fact a rabid green leftist.

Was he always? Perhaps not. But he is now and in true green left form he spends his time lying about it.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 11:35 pm
All sides of politics (political parties) and governemnts are feeding on a gravy train of our taxes to our detriment and doig what they damn well please nwith impunity.

Of course but there are ways to solve that, first being get rid of all the post holding office benefits, second, aim for demographic democracy than the trend we see where our politicians are increasingly from narrow demographics, increase the number of politicians who are trained in disciplines like engineering, mathematics, economics, agriculture, medicine, and research. Get rid of so many lawyers and accountants, and encourage more iconoclasts into office.

It is a wish list because the general public still thinks about politics in terms of personality and party affiliation, instead of cognitive styles and professional backgrounds.

One reason I start some comments here with … now for something completely different, is to see how often it breaks up the flow of discussion. No luck really. I am increasingly ill suited to the discussion here but I have benefited from debates with the likes of Dover Beach and few others.

Dead Soul

26 Oct 12 at 11:38 pm
Oh I just thought I’d engage is all.

Good to know he is a (reverse) weather vane though, saves time.

DaveF

26 Oct 12 at 11:39 pm
BREAKING TRAGIC NEWS FROM BRISBANE…

Man, 60, dies after 24 continuous hours online condemning Abbott, claiming Catholic credentials on abortion… Neighbours say he kept to himself…

Developing…

C.L.

26 Oct 12 at 11:42 pm
Cause of death?

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 11:44 pm
Boy, if you think I don’t like Abbott, wait til you read what Bruce Haigh wrote about him today.

Including this:

Abbott appears to believe that women should play a secondary and subservient role to men. He is apparently sitting on an agenda to ban abortion, when, and if, he has the numbers in parliament. This proposed legislation, supported by Pell, would be a fundamental denial of rights and an unacceptable level of control by the state over Australian women of child bearing age.

Is this true CL? You have your ear to the ground to all things “Pell”.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:46 pm
It’s interesting having a quick read through LP. SFB had a different stance then on abortion and Catholics. It’s almost as if SFB doesn’t really have an opinion and just prefers to be the contrarian. An attention-seeking tactic.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 11:46 pm
Was he always? Perhaps not. But he is now and in true green left form he spends his time lying about it.

You can see how deep Steve is in left wing/Marxist dogma every time writes about economics.

Token

26 Oct 12 at 11:47 pm
By the way, I think it has been only 3 hours on Abbott in any substantial sense, brought on by the ridiculous Grigory’s beatification of him.

steve from brisbane

26 Oct 12 at 11:49 pm
Yabbott appears to believe that women should play a secondary and subservient role to men.

Once more, for the lobotmised greenfilth fake catholic conservatives:

Which is why Yabbott’s Chief of Staff is (cue spooky music…) a Woman!

Rabz

26 Oct 12 at 11:50 pm
heh. I’d paid money to see SFB tell Peta Credlin she’s subservient to Abbott becuase he’s a man. Good money.

Gab

26 Oct 12 at 11:53 pm
Oh I just thought I’d engage is all.

Good to know he is a (reverse) weather vane though, saves time.

All good.

Just understand that he’s not in any way shape or form “reasonable” or “moderate” or a “liberal voting conservative catholic” as he sometimes likes to potray himself as on the days he’s not advocating for late term abortion and linking to jezebel.com.

twostix

26 Oct 12 at 11:54 pm
Man, 60, dies after 24 continuous hours online condemning Abbott, claiming Catholic credentials on abortion… Neighbours say he kept to himself…

His laptop was removed by by a HAZMAT team.

Infidel Tiger

26 Oct 12 at 11:55 pm
Bruce Haigh on Julia Gillard:

The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, belted the last nail into her coffin with her ill considered criticism of the High Court and the Chief Justice, Robert French. She claimed the judgement was inconsistent with an earlier ruling by the Chief Justice when serving on another court.

Gillard was very unwise to refer to inconsistencies when one of the main criticisms directed against her is the inconsistency of her position on a carbon tax: a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Gillard’s outburst provided insight into her character. She is weak, not so bright and with respect to asylum seekers, a bully. Not qualities we want to see in a leader.

At the moment the Labor Party is on a hiding to nowhere under her leadership at the next election. The Party has absolutely nothing to lose by dumping her and if they choose wisely (for once) they might just give the Coalition a run for their money.

Communist wacko Haigh – an olive rancher, by the way – then outlines his vision for a Soviet Australia:

My notion of a Left agenda would include the state providing a framework to deliver the greatest good to the greatest number of people, including the empowerment of Aborigines and asylum seekers. It would embrace the abolition of water licences and state ownership of water for the benefit of all Australians. It would encompass a greatly increased state contribution to public schools and concomitant decrease in funding to private schools. It would see state regulation of banks as a better tool for managing the economy than the crude instrument of Reserve Bank controlled interest rates.

It would see support for innovation, research and local manufacturing and a return to apprenticeships across a range of skills, increased state support for higher education and the CSIRO and the bonding of medical students for service in rural and regional Australia. It would also see a greatly enhanced program of public infrastructure, financed if necessary by borrowings against future productivity gains.

My left wing agenda would also see a withdrawal from Afghanistan and a parliamentary inquiry into why and how Australia was taken to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On the basis of the above the Greens can hardly be called Left, leftish perhaps in a bourgeois sort of way, but on key issues within their platform, such as management of water and land use they have squibbed it…

I have had enough of the radical Right, of the abusive Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard, who suck up to our big and powerful friends and kick down the most vulnerable and those most in need. They are weak and they are bullies and we don’t need them.

Haigh is a misogynist loony.

C.L.

27 Oct 12 at 12:01 am
OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott was described as “bordering on superhuman” today by his fellow Davidson Rural Fire Brigade volunteers.

Mr Abbott swapped the suit and tie for full firefighting gear when he participated in the Toughest Firefighter relay for the World Firefighter Games held at Olympic Park.

Mr Abbott completed the third leg of the four-person challenge, which saw him do everything from dragging two ladders at the same time to carrying a full water container up a tower.

“He is an exceptionally fit bloke for 54 years old and is bordering on superhuman,” Davidson captain and fellow relay participant Trent Dowling said.

I prefer my politicians to be thinking rather than doing wanky fitness tests to impress the boys (and candy).

steve from brisbane

27 Oct 12 at 12:03 am
“Abbott appears to believe that women should play a secondary and subservient role to men.”

soon as someone says something like that you know it’s a Ms gillard supporter talking – they have no finesse

candy

27 Oct 12 at 12:04 am
I prefer my politicians to be thinking rather than doing wanky fitness tests to impress the boys (and candy).

Albanese, Swan and Gillard are thinking really, really hard this weekend.

twostix

27 Oct 12 at 12:12 am
The trouble is SfB Abbott does. Gillard doesn’t.

Abbott: volunteer RFS (on sabbatical), swimmer, raises money for women’s shelters in Manly.

Gillard: gala dinner parties for Emily’s List?

I’ve shot an email to the Macquarie Dictionary for the definition of ‘selfless’.

DaveF

27 Oct 12 at 12:23 am
ONE of 10 asylum-seekers suspected to be heading for Australia on a hijacked trawler had voluntarily flown back to Sri Lanka last month.

oh gee gosh never saw that coming. /sarc

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pirates-second-bid-for-asylum/story-fn59niix-1226504269446

Gab

27 Oct 12 at 12:26 am
Everything is sexist.

Julia Gillard has single-handedly ruined political discourse in Australia. Well done, ma’am.

Feral Abacus

27 Oct 12 at 12:26 am
ONE of 10 asylum-seekers suspected to be heading for Australia on a fishing trawler they violently hijacked off Sri Lanka had voluntarily flown back from Australia last month on the promise of a $3300 government resettlement package he was later denied.

Gab

27 Oct 12 at 12:26 am
Could we just bribe to Nauru govt to accept everyone we send there as a refugee in Nauru.

Bang, they can’t apply anywhere else. Why how they’d scream.

DaveF

27 Oct 12 at 12:54 am
Albanese, Swan and Gillard are thinking really, really hard this weekend.

They’ll be thinking furiously hard about how to ridicule McKew without sounding sexist.

Dead Soul

27 Oct 12 at 1:03 am
I’m glad I didn’t stay up late to read yet another SfB shitfest.

Blogstrop

27 Oct 12 at 7:22 am

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