In the continuing absence of new polling, enjoy the following news snippets:
• Amid lingering rumours of a late February state election in Queensland, Lawrence Springborg has floated the possibility of Mal Brough entering state politics by contesting a Labor-held seat. Such would be the only option available to him given the Liberal National Party merger arrangement which guaranteed all sitting members uncontested preselections. Party sources quoted by Mark Bahnisch in Crikey “rule out any possibility that the Borg has seriously approached Brough. It would appear instead that the LNP’s polling suggests continued weakness and scepticism among urban and outer suburban Liberal voters – whose support the opposition desperately needs to be within even a mile of toppling Bligh.”
• The new Electoral Commissioner, Ed Killesteyn, began his five-year term on Monday. Killesteyn has almost swapped roles with his predecessor Ian Campbell, who is now secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs – of which Killesteyn was previously a deputy secretary.
• UMR Research has published one of its occasional surveys on attitudes to republicanism, which shows both support and opposition losing ground to “don’t know” over the past six months. Other findings are that “men and younger Australians (are) more in favour of a republic”, and that support for an elected president remains overwhelming.
• Only one week to go until South Australia’s Frome by-election, which you can read about and comment on here. Despite a preference swap between independent Port Pirie mayor Geoff Brock and Nationals candidate Neville Watson, there seems little reason not to think Terry Boylan will easily retain the seat for the Liberals.
• Dig Wikipedia’s animation showing the evolution of Australia’s state and territory borders (hat tip to VexNews).
NOTE: No further discussion on the situation in the Middle East, please. There are plenty of more appropriate places for it elsewhere.
204 Comments
Note: No further discussion on the situation in the Middle East, please. There are plenty of more appropriate places where it can be discussed elsewhere.
That will reduce the amount of posts
But seriously, Who saw those poor self-funded retirees being “Forced” to rey on the age pension because of the Financial Crisis, and the meeja trying to blame Rudd for it.
Isn’t this a case of having too many eggs in one basket ?
One by one they do go. It used to be the BIG 5 accounting and auditing firms: Arthur Andersen, PriceWC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche and KPMG. AA was Enron’s auditor and now is kaput. PWC took over a lot of AA business when it went bust. Now PWC is Satyam auditor, will it go the way of AA and the Wall St Investment Banks? Yes, it is Global Fraud and Financial Crisis.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Stocks_in_News/Satyam_fiasco_led_stockbrokers_panic_selling_shares/articleshow/3956175.cms
This here gives a good indication that the GFC may just turn out to be the most diabolical financial crisis ever faced.
http://news.theage.com.au/world/british-interest-rate-hits-lowest-point-since-late-17th-century-20090109-7d1r.html
1694 is sure a long time ago and the forecast is for the UK to reach a zero interest rate early this year. This has got to compound KR’s headache somewhat.
Here’s an interesting graph on the “Rise and fall of Bush” from start to almost finish.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7814441.stm
Possum would like this one, it’s interactive.
I GOT IT
I know how to solve the problems of the Middle Eas..
oh…no more posts.
Oh well carry on fighting.
Scorpio @ 4
Looking messier and messier in the poundzone und der eurozone… euromanufacturing has the staggers.
However, ill winds and all that… It is not all doom and gloom. Apparently, in an effort to gain market share, some mortgage lenders in the UK (pre-Crisis, natch) offered interest rates at 1% less than the official base rate. So, if the UK interest rate falls just another one per cent, which is very likely, borrowers may be receiving a monthly cheque from the lenders *very broad grin*.
As usual, those appropriately-valued contributors to the welfare of the human race, viz: legal persons, smelling other people’s blood, are beginning to line up.
The Courier Mail continues its push for an early election. Dennis Atkins weighs in with the News Ltd tub thump with stories of planets in alignment with the West Australian result being a good one for Queensland Labor.
Bligh needs to hold her nerve against these urgers and go at a time more suited to her own agenda than those of the Courier Mail and the Liberal National Party for which the Courier Mail is their major mouthpiece.
Once the Labor Primary vote has been confirmed by Newspoll at 50% would be a saner option.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24891355-5016424,00.html
Frank @ 2
And that is not all. I am still waiting for the Rudd Government to ensure that when I fish for trout, I catch them. Far too many uncertainties remain in the angling sport for my liking. Neither Howard nor Rudd did anything about it. Yet another example of the dreaded HowRudd Convergence. But, I digress.
You raise the interesting issue of risk. Apparently we are all to live in a risk-free world. This will be excellent for everybody from self-funded retirees, readers of The Australian, pensioners of every sort, middle class welfare rorters, the mad, the bad and the sad, rent-seeking company CEOs, enterpreneurs, capitalists, the workers, social parasites, criminals and all those who want neither to experience climate change nor the consequences of actually doing anything about it.
It will be the Rudd Government’s proudest boast:
‘We came, we saw and we saved everybody from everything.’
Once the Irish Government was first to guarantee bank deposits, the risk rot simply went global. Ireland used to contribute literary excellence and pathos to the world. It has now has had a pernicious seminal role in global risk rot.
Anyway, now that governments are going to protect everybody from every risk, I am relishing the thought of the arrival of the first Australian Five Year GOSPlan.
No child will live with risk by 2020.
Ave magic pudding.
Steve @ 9
Agreed.
Imagine the CM if she ‘goes early’. She will get hammered for forcing voters to the polls when it is not necessary. The Conservatives are just barely holding it together now. Another few months will merely increase the pressures – particularly if they get to the point of realizing that they co-inhabit a turkey *grin*.
Ooo
I do hope William doesn’t mind me calling a party a t*rk*y…
zombie mao @ 6
lol, actually, rotflmao.
Boerwar, I can’t see that there would be any great loss to Bligh in waiting for the March Newspoll to come out. I also thought it was very unfair of the Australian to hang onto Malcolm MacKerras’ article about his predictions for so long when they were clearly based on the September Newspoll. Things have changed so significantly since then. I think he should have been given the option to update his predictions based on later information since he actually wrote is article before the change had become obvious.
Steve
Wouldn’t she be getting some internal polling?
Steve
I also hope she stitches up the Green preferences on broad scale clearing early. She should get the trade-offs in place early, and get some Green assurances a decent percentage split on the preferences. The Greens need to get rid of all this grass-roots democracy stuff, and deliver some power through party discipline.
In any case, I hope she wins it, whenever it happens. Springborg is what you would call a genuine worry, and he is by far not the worst of his crowd.
Perhaps William could get an update from Mackerras on what his current thinking is.
Boerwar, I’m not convinced about secret internal polling alone. Unless it is confirmed by public polling, I don’t think it is worth a cupful of cold water.
When Ronan Lee defected to the Greens my initial thoughts were that Indooroopilly would be won by the Liberal National Party. Given the collapse of their vote since and with Lee obviously snapping at their heels over tree clearing, it might end up being a decent bunfight.
Nor would I be surprised if the Courier Mail is carrying out a Galaxy Poll this weekend. Take no notice of Galaxy until after an election is called is the lesson from the last Queensland election.
As we’ve said before, the most important measure of Rudd’s success or otherwise in 2009 will probably be unemployment. The US job figures are out, as those who watched Wall St tank again will know, and they’re not good. Unemployment is up to 7.2% (it’s 4.3% here)
And those with jobs are being made casual or are working less hours so the figures are even worse than they appear.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/09/unemployment-report-rate-_n_156512.html
If Anna Bligh has any sense at all she will take absolutely NO notice whatsoever of the prognostications of the Courier Mail and especially Atkins who is a longtime Coalition mouthpiece.
The LNP received a modest boost after amalgamation but nowhere near what the Galaxy and Newspoll figures soon after tried to show. I never believed those figures for a minute because there was nothing whatsoever happening here to produce such a dramatic lift in their support.
Anna Bligh should just ignore the CM’s LNP cheer squad and carry on with providing Queenslanders with good government and go later in the year as she has said she would on numerous occasions. Further divisions in the LNP rabble during the year will only ensure a comfortable return of an experienced, competent Labor Government.
It looks as though John Howard, not content to leave the liberal party in disarray after the last election, is trying to destablise Turnbull’s effort now.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24893563-601,00.html
This should only result in tears all round and should be a lot of fun. Look forward to a concerted media campaign to see this eventuate. Destablisation such as is likely to be a product of a switch and leadership challenge by Joice, will be endless fodder to fill countless pages of newsprint.
I ommitted the first bit.
This has to be one of the most hypocritical story ever:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24893752-601,00.html
OMG, what have they been doing at Gitmo? Enjoying the sunshine and the hospitality of the US Govt. No, they were tortured and mis-treated by the same Govt that is now worrying that they might be “tortured and possible execution” and try to pin the blame on the Chinese and Australian Govts.
I’m suffering poll withdrawals so went looking for some. All I came up with was Roy Morgan saying Consumer confidence is up for the 6th week in a row to 104.1 and he’s also got one saying Real unemployment is 6.4%.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/polls.cfm
Also found one saying Gordon Brown is falling behind (that’ll make Glen happy) Tories have a 7 pt lead.
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/legal-and-constitutional/legal-and-constitutional/brown-bounce-looking-shaky-$1259592.htm
here’s an oldie about polls from Yes Minister (sorry if it’s already been posted here )
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhN1IDLQjo
Finns
Get with the program. In Gitmo, they were only subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” and there were a few “unfortunate losses of life”. I don’t know where you got the idea that they were tortured or faced possible execution.
Scorpio @ 12 – Joh for Canberra all over again. And this bunch want us to forget 12 years of Howardism and trust them with running the country again
Tom
Scorpio @21
that article brings back memories of the Joh for PM push.
Joyce has as much appeal to “battlers” as my little finger. A first class buffoon who hasn’t even figured out his political allegiance.
Bring it on for the entertainment value.
ps wonder if brough was part of the blancmange
First Home buyers are queuing up to get the grants announced in the economic stimulus package according to the Queensland Treasurer.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/firsthome-buyers-to-the-rescue/2009/01/10/1231004335158.html
Diog, i did a new hairdo for Amigo Vera and she ’s looking sensational. I notice that you also need a new hairdo.
It’s a bit of a slap in the face to Springborg by Howard. Springborg has always had one eye on the Federal seat of Maranoa should he never win a Queensland election as perpetual Opposition Leader and now the turf is being cut out from under him. No wonder he has been reduced to staring at trail blkes as he contemplates retirement.
I just wish that Howard continues to interfere in the Coalitions business. After all he was lauded numerious times last year with the reward by Bushjuniour as icing on the cake. Why, Howard could forever be ruler of the Libs and guide them to further defeats.
William
ar you suggesting there be no more posts about non domestic oz politics maters , or only no more posts about one georapgical part of th world th M/E , why is USA able to be discussed or th EU but not th M/E ….fairer to ban th lot , th non oz World
But allowing discusion on th US does by definition include th M/E…its th US’s biggest FA problam and domonates ALL US Media
Even restricitng discussion to oz politcs means oz FA still includes th M/E , unles we allow oz politcs FA but exclkluding oz FA M/E subjects
Also M/E icludes Iraq , well alot of people here (rightly) wish to continue to critisise US FA presence there in M/E Iraq and its motives , and that wuld be banned
Now if we were to ban talking about just one little secton of th M/E , th Israeli Palestinien area of M/E only , that happens to be critical part of australian politcal discussion , also of US FA discussion , also of affect on oil proces , and lastly leaves Israeli Palestinien area of M/E only to JUST th MSN….an organ that has not been even handed
As “events’ world wide ocur th posts spike on that subject …curent news IS Israel and Palestiniens invasion and it is world wide news front pages so curse its dominates posts,…..and as an other world evennt ocurs like then probably spikeof posts drop abit … when Georgia got invaded th posts spiked …and then later get posted on less frequentley…ditto hapenings with Pakistan threat recently to US ..ditto CC …ditto right now with India th Satyam IT fraud spiked in posts ..but will dimiish as event dies in news but later may get less frequent referenses
Now for moment cann’t think of mor arguments for thought except even a twinkling of unintended “restraint of discussion of a subject” especialy of especialy israel of all countrys & subjects is not what one wants unintended , it potentialy gives inocently wrong impressions because blog sites intend to discuss what th MSN dare not to discuss , and blog sites intend alos discuss what th MSN choose to discuss in only uneven handd way…or telingly th MSN discuss what they in there sole discretions of opinion control want to discuss and on;ly selectively to what depth or selectave data published
So blog Sites should be a brood Church allowing a ron to go against traditional views in western society criticising israel on my principals & I don’t apologise one bit for thems Balanse counts , someting th MSN does not hav , and a view not to over blog a subject should apply WHEN th ‘event” is not front page news
and also now i think about it another reeson to throws up here , people reely do not hav to read my well ritten stuff anywat as there’s a skip button on a keyboard if people do not like a subject blogged on , so perhaps restraint is word , rather than a nice please thats sort of a reely ban
Finns
I think I’m going to change to a new gravatar of one of my heroes who is less cynical than Diogenes but keep the old name. Let’s call it a New Year’s resolution.
Jeez Ron. I don’t come here to see oz politics threads get hijacked by middle-east discussion. There are MANY other places to discuss it. And don’t worry, with your spelling, I tend to skip your posts anyway.
/angry mini-rant
Only to this extent IMHO – We all know unemployment will go up around the world and it will go up here. No government will prevent that. I believe most Australians are resigned to that and understand that it is a world problem, not a Rudd Labor government problem caused by the Rudd Labor government.
Rudd will be judged on what he TRIES to do rather than whether he succeeds or not. If he is seen to be doing nothing, he will pay. If he is seen to be doing everything he can, he won’t. I bet the latter is firmly in Rudd’s sights.
I think William has been more than generous letting the ME issue run for as long as it has. It really is time to move on and deal with political matters. You can argue that war is all about politics etc. but I think we all know what this site is all about and war doesn’t really ‘fit the bill’ (so to speak).
Gary
I think that’s only partly true. If he tries and his policies don’t work, he will still suffer although not as badly as if he said that market forces should purge jobs. The public is smart enough to know that unemployment will get worse no matter what. The bar won’t be set very high on him succeeding and he’ll be compared with the US, UK etc.
If unemployment goes up less than in the US, UK etc (which will probably be the case looking at the shocking figures from the US), he will be judged to have tried and succeeded and be rewarded with the title “responsible economic manager” and walk into another term, especially as there doesn’t seem to be an Opposition ATM.
So Gary Bruce
there will be no further blogs on th Iraq war or Iraq
so Bob 1234
You say you do not read my posts….then how th hell do you know what i say in them
Yes, but Diogenes you forget about the opposition. What would they have done differently? Nothing? Everything? Who knows?
People tend to shirk that off for a decisive government.
Ron, your english is poor so i’ll forgive you for not reading that I say i “tend” to skip your posts.
Just wondering how the industry funds got in Cbus ect in the fallout from the GFC,I tend to think a lot of the self funded retires may have been in private funds, or insurance co funds the ones it takes 5 yrs to pay the fees and you still pay for them till you retire.
Is this correct or not anyone have an idea thanks
bob1234
#40
“Ron, your english is poor so i’ll forgive you for not reading that I say i “tend” to skip your posts.”
so i’ll forgive you ?
well that makes me feel alot lot beter……like almost redeemed to …..
I actualy do not mind if you skip ALL my posts , that way if M/E is mentioned in my posts by chanse you’ll never know and you will never ever be anoyed again at all
Which was my point to William ..freedom to critisise th normative MSN’s uncritisisable , and freedom for peoples to skip my criticising posts My principals proivise for all , not selective peoples selectively deciding subjects for me
I just want you to be happy bob1234 , so skip me and be happy , and why not bob 123456789
For just a moment I thought we were going to have a break from unreadable Ron posts.
bob1234
As I said in my post, there doesn’t seem to be an Opposition. There’s a few lazy gits sitting opposite the Government but they certainly aren’t an Opposition.
I honestly think that the Liberal pollies in SA PREFER being in Opposition. If you’re lazy and incompetent, there’s no better job. You just turn up in the office for a few hours, get a staffer to read you the highlights of the paper, whinge a bit about something trivial to the media so the voters know you’re still alive and go home early. I’m beginning to think the Federal Libs have discovered the new relaxed pace of a few terms in Opposition.
Hey i got an idea. why dont Israel just nuke Gaza into ether and then we dont have to debate about ME anymore.
The Finnigans, that is very borderline. Please don’t encourage ME discussion.
bob123456789,
i try to effing kill it off
“why dont Israel just nuke Gaza into ether”
Seems rather incendiary to me.
That’s up to William to decide Ron but if he is consistent he will allow a bit of discussion and then put a stop to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this hasn’t happened in the past by the way.
William asked for no further comments on “the situation in the Middle East”. He was clearly referring to the latest hostilities between Israel and Palestine, not the Iraq War etc.
John Ryan
#41 Is this correct or not anyone have an idea thanks”
John there is no reely short answer to your queston because they ar a lot of factors involved in supplying a full answer There ar two main issues , th fees & there tiers method calculated and level of ones superanuaton asset value
Fees much much lower in Industry supa funds with admin whereas in non industry ones one tier fee is charged on th total of your annual supa funds whatever they ar so that if they’ve dropped as has occurred under GFC then th fees add to your effective theoretical paper loss …except it’s a reel deduction in money out of your asset , and wuld not be if that tier fee level was based on “gains’ or annual suppa profits they earned for a supa annuant
Actual level of supa assets in industry supa funds has dropped due to GFC because there ar different categories of investment you can select to invest in from “conservative” to ‘high growth” and many categorys in between representing different ratios of your funds in cash secarities , interest , property , shares….so different funds will hav varying degrees of losses , those with higher ratio of shares will hav suffered th biggest losses , eg all ords was about 600 earlier now is about 3600 being 46% if all funds were in shares , and again within that duferent oz and overseas share industry groups hav suffered varying % losses
So th fees whatever tier method calced will still get charged anualy & whatever amount is charged , and reduce th supa asset value more in a GFC decreasing value market Good news is that over 100 years th market has outperformed cash , interest , property etc returns …but providing you cash out when market is on an up or at top , in meantime with decreased values th self funded pension taken even at medien % of allowable limits effectively reduces th asset base…guess one has to live long enough for shares to recover but before asset is reduced beyond repairable
John one can create peronalised formuli’s of varying fees applying , varying returns and different return levels plus discretionary % pension withdrawals to create time and income level comparative grapghs to then choose from I always wonder Not sure if I misinterpretated your quston there I often wonder does one run out of time bfore they run out of money……..so that th kids hav nothing to party on
Gary Bruce
I feel William will at least consider my #32 multiple points , before desiding However Gary Bruce you miss th contradicton in your post….
Is your queston banning a subject becuaser its allegedly been over blogged DESPITE that subject CONTINUING to be front page News in oz and worldwide (which means th blog Site withdraws from th whole worlds front page news and lives in denial of breaking top News affecting oz FA)….OR is it you’re unintersted in it and o by definition no one else should discuss it …. OR is it alternativly some restraint is reasonable but bloggers uninterested can skip th blogs if they choose …OR is it argued its non “PURE” oz politics in which case USA poilitcs ar not oz politics either , nor is Obama’s actions , nor Afghanistan , nor m/e oil prices , Habbib , Haneef & terrism origins , EU actions blah blah and ar now non discussable…well then we’ll be down to what…..what is in hansard …no th m/e ar in there ….what Rudd & smith say , well thet’vetalked about m/e recently …or because pro israeli supporters wuld love no further discussion …when its shown 2 sides ar wrong rather than th MSN myth there is only one side that’s wrong then they may get unconmfortable & its unpopular to put a contrary view
“Events” spike quantity of blogs , as event becomes yesterdays news th new event is blog spiked…your view Gary Bruce of selective posting blog subjects is riddled with inconsistenys as per abov , gray areas of world events spike oz FA politcs and th issue IS an oz politcs FA issue , insensitive as it may be for some…allowing discussion on rst of world except one subject is illogical ….use th skip button , it’s a free country…you do not hav to read anyones blog at all , although i read everyones even on subjects I’m not over intersted in Your potential censorship argument may sone dy bite back on you , and silly ting is I’d
be viggorously defending your right to talk as much as you want even though I didn’t like th subject orr your opinion on it
free to good home: Amy McGrath, HS Chapman society book Frauding of Elections. Will only need cost of postage if outside Melbourne
Ron, there is no inconsistency. Firstly, it’s William’s blog and he decides, not me. Secondly, having observed William’s moderation for sometime I believe he gives an issue that he deems “off the beaten track” as it were, a run and then halts discussion if it goes on and on. I consider this more than fair. He could have halted it a lot sooner.
Just one last point, there is only so much that can be said for or against an issue. After a while you get the feeling you’ve written or read a post before. The same points get churned over time and time again. I recall William putting us out of our collective misery for this very reason even on some party political issues.
Bottom line Ron is that William runs the show and I’m very happy with that no matter what the decision.
“…or because pro israili supporters wuld love no further discussion…”
Who?
William?
Noooaaahhh
This is an election blog and war internal power struggles and diplomacy (abundant in Middle East) are competitors to elections as means of decision making.
If there is a DD in 2009 then I think that the Greens would get one six year term senator in each mainland state with a far outside chance of a three year term senator scraping in on preferences in Victoria and Western Australia. In Tasmania they may get two six year term senators which would require 15.4% which would mean that they would be likely to get a third senator from Tasmania in the election after the DD.
Gary Bruce
“Bottom line Ron is that William runs the show”
Gary Bruce you’ve now ditched all attempts to rebutals to my #32 and #52 arguments , and ar down to “Bottom line Ron is that William runs the show” Well he does not , William and i do …you see whilst William moderates , he does not act a s a dicctator and does listens to his “users of his site” opinions & to there opposing views put ……not that necessarilt takes notise , but does listen first and he has my 332 to consider , thats why he said “please” to see what contary views may come , not that he thought I’d giv a contary view of course
So far th anti M/E discussion people hav had a say BUT I know from actual blogs made there ar alot posters who think subject is important an said so but i won’t name thems
But suffice to say as i said I’m trying to re- interpreting Williams “please” seeing its still front page news world wide and also in oz , into let giv some air to other subjects as well , some balanse
…as do not think he reely wishs to ban a subject , and of Israel of all subjects , when everyone in world thinks its News , aand big News Now IF BECOMES old news then over blogging th subkject THEN has a logical base to it
(actualy baning something thats front page news may make th baning itself news , which wuld be contrary to th obkjectiv sought) Gary Bruce one should always be careful what you wish for , as that becomes a presedent later with all sorts of unwiting unknown at th time consequenses
and also do you not hav a skip button because william could simply say that as well , and ask for some restrain in quantity from unashamed Israeli critisisers like me (who also suport Israel’s right to safe security borders)
and Gary Bruce , you seem to forgot I alone defended Generic Person against williams thoughts of banning him , and defended Generic person on many other occasions against unfair treatment here…yet he and i sit on opposite idealigical sides and hav had numerous “debates” , its principal of views & GP had a right to them i thought
I saw Senator Xenophon in an electronics store yesterday. He was buying a Sony video camera so he and his son can shoot vodcasts of salient issues for all South Australians.
Ron, I’m not sure if you’re arguing that William should let all issues be discussed here or not. If you are then that defeats the purpose of this blog doesn’t it?
Gary Bruce , simplicitly extracting my #57 coments out of context with a 2 liner
Hav a look at words front page news , oz FA issue , world FA etc and put them very fairly back into th context of my #57 where they belong , not left hags on a rock
I never suggested any issue Gary Bruce at all , like your posible interest in th curent very divisive dispute over th world crossword championships scoring system
Well if that #52 /#57 argument is too hot to rebut , how about trying to deefnd
Gunns now today , not top news at all by th way , unlike th gazza invasion , Gunns announse they will sue “triabunna13″ who snarled up its business at woodchip mill last month Th writ wants damags for business disruption plus quote actions likely to ” publisise th politcal beliefs of th group 13 ands so gain media publicity”
Bobby Brown says quote this is not bully boy , this is outragous police state thinking I agree with Bob Brown completely Th first part of damages claim is corporate thuggery to squash legit envir protest and 2nd part is infringe democracy to be able to publisise your politcal views so public opinion may or may not be moved by it , that’s democracy Mr rotten wood chip Gunns
As a Labor guy , and not a Greens , I can credibly suggest Bob Brown & protestors lack of Media outrage on this and th other ‘20” unresolved case by Gunns suing for damages , hav stood on some uncomfortable sensitive toes , despite Guunns blatant misuse of th law & big co corporate moneys warranting massive condemnation , but where is it I don’t like th mill , but even if I did , two separate rights of environmentel protestors ar being trampled on by Gunns a big co
William would have a perfect right to snip a post on this blog if, for example, it appeared to be the product of a toddler typing randomly on his parents’ computer, or of an infinite number of monkeys. Think yourself lucky, Ron, that any of your “English” gets through.
Does anyone know some good sites to discuss the ME?
Ron
There is an element of “Green” politics (not necessarily connected to the Green Party) who are happy to engage in civil disobedience to make their point.
This has always been the case – but it rarely achieves anything. Except maybe negative media coverage.
What do you expect nasty Gunn’s to do? Say OK guys protest away we will ignore you?
Riccardo at 53: “free to good home: Amy McGrath, HS Chapman society book Frauding of Elections. Will only need cost of postage if outside Melbourne”
That book is junk, not worth the price of postage. Put it under the short leg of your pool table, or use it as Barnaby Joyce implied the Costello memoirs should be used.
Ron, so you think any issue that is on the front page of newspapers can be discussed here. Is that your contention?
I’m just trying to establish what you think the ground rules should be for this blog. You obviously don’t agree with some of William’s ground rules.
Pedant @ 63
I couldn’t agree more. Not only can’t you read his blogs but he hogs the site with expansive unreadable ramblings.
enjaybee @ 68:
Of course, an infinite number of monkeys will, with probability 1, eventually, type something in textbook correct English, which may be more than can be said of Ron. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borel-Cantelli_lemma, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
I think what we have been trying to read could be called (w)Ronglish.
Geez
Ignore Ron or engage him, puerile debates about grammar say more about the person posting than the person they denigrate.
ruawake @ 71: Would that it were just the grammar! Throw in spelling, punctuation and proofreading.
Readings ron’s posts are like having bucketbongs, though without the bucket
Finns
the proverbial has hit the fan
“Indian ministry dissolves Satyam board after fraud”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hy4N7l16_T4o4fLKYCPcQK6zwNuQD95K5K2G0
Does Australian law have the same powers? anyone know?
Gusface, here’s the 2004 version of India’s Accounting and auditing standards. Looks like they still have a way to go in getting the system to work.
http://www.worldbank.org/ifa/rosc_aa_ind.pdf
Boerwar, Larvatus Prodeo has had numerous discussions on the Middle-East over the past couple of weeks. Here’s the latest:
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2009/01/09/eyeless-in-gaza-v-propaganda-20/#comments
Boerwar, seriously, as Oz suggested Larvatus Prodeo has had much to offer on the ME., which was one of the things really annoying me about Ron just going on and on and on.
BTW, I think your stated position re: the ETS is probably about what I think.
i see Amigo Ronnie bashing is still a fav sport here at PB. Anyway, who is afraid of Virginia Wolf? Many it seems.
Finn – Ron deals with them the best way possible, he ignores them. Just what they deserve.
Finns
name names!!!
ruawake
Posted Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 7:27 pm | Permalink
#65
“Ron There is an element of “Green” politics (not necessarily connected to the Green Party) who are happy to engage in civil disobedience to make their point.”
Ruawake sorry for delay , been to a family party , my obligaton was to stay till drink ran out
I think you hav a point there also I was abit concerned first writ against “th 20″ was for 6.4 million started 4 years ago , has been thru alot of court action costing protesters money since , and still is in Courts yet to be determind Next may be against a Union ban/protest or ordinary parents & folks protesting a Nuke plant nearby…BUT now aditional but very inusual damages claim ruawake , being for my summary ‘actions intended to publisise there politcal beliefs & to get media coverage of them’….which i feel is crosing th line of right to protest
Have a family member ( a farmer) on opposite side of debate to me on NS pipeline in vic , he’s been on tv one of principal protesters and farmers hav been civily disobedient and cann’t imagine govt suing them for damages or pushing there protest to get there politcal beliefs publicity ….so do see your point on civil diisobedience but feel balanse lines hav been crossed by Gunns seeing thats why th Frnaklin is not dammed Been up Franklin there its magnificent
Thanks FINNS
Oz
thanks for the tip.
HSO
Thanks for the feedback.
Those who don’t like what Ron writes: Don’t whinge about it, just don’t read it.
Ron
Vive la differance!
i’m the first to admit my spelling and punctuation isnt the best, in my day education wasnt a priority for women and i left school in grade 7, {i made sure my daughters had the opportunity of uni} now having said that i must admit i find Ron’s posts unreadable and i have to just skip on to the next blog, thats mainly for self defence, they give me a headache trying to decipher them, i read just about everything printed here, BB i wouldnt miss for worlds.
things are hotting up with Alan’s case and i’m relying more and more on this site to keep my mind busy and keep me sane, friends in America have kept me up to date on the Howard/Blair House fiasco, it’s not dying down over there, the rumour is that Howard wasnt asked, nor accepted till after the Obama’s had been knocked back, dunno that i credit that though.
Gus, It’s not my habit to stoop down as low as that. So i wont break my habit.
anyway (not address to you Gus), Amigo wRONg bashing is like the immigrants bashing. there is always a new wave of people who like to bash the immigrants at the time that suit their whatever purposes.
I can remember Amigo wRONg bashing as far back as 18months ago when i first started bloggin here at PB. It reached its climax with the Hillary/Obama debate that led to the banishment of the Cat people to the G island.
It also led to the forming of the Amigo Club between myself, GG and Ron, lately amigo Vera. Boerwar said: “Vive la differance!”. Exactly, we ride, laugh, love and sing.
If you dont like and cannot stand Amigo wRONg posts, just ignore them like i ignore many of the other PB posts here because they are not very INTERESTING. Amigo wRONg posts are a challenge, but they are INTERESTING.
So stop Amigo wRONg bashing and enjoy your beautiful Sunday.
http://business.theage.com.au/business/satyam-aims-to-keep-going-here-20090109-7dq6.html
Gus, i am going to claim that i broke the Satyam story here at PB well before it was picked up by the MSM.
Not all of them. There’s still one to remind the Amigos who will be POTUS on the 20th January and who will be his side-kick.
BTW Did Obama choose anyone for his Cabinet who wasn’t a Bill Clinton appointee? Except for his Environment/Science team, he’s recycled all the centrist Bill hacks. And if Sanjay Gupta gets the job of Surgeon General, there’s going to be hell to pay from the progressives. He hates universal health care.
Diog, we knew that you were perennially auditioning to be an amigo anyway, or was it Mrs. D?
Finns
Definitely Mrs D. I couldn’t subject myself to any form of Party discipline.
Paul Krugman has a series of fascinating articles explaining why Obama’s stimulus package is not going to be enough. He uses the GDP Gap as a measure of stimulus needed and its success.
The Obama plan looks like only ameliorating the probable rise in unemployment by about 1/3. Instead to maxing at 9% in 2010, it will max at 8% in 2009. He also says there’s a “very large risk of getting into a deflationary trap”.
Are there any equivalent Oz economist figures available on the Ruddsters plan
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
Diogenes this is one of the better articles on the GFC written by economists so far.
http://economics.com.au/?p=2039
Oh dear, the embattled Liberal National Party is now crowing that the candidate for Anna Bligh’s seat of South Brisbane and State Secretary of the Liberal National Party was an Office Manager for the CFMEU for three years. Where’s the nearest meeting of Turncoats Anonymous in Brisbane?
The Link is here:
http://www.lnp.org.au/lnp-article/our-team/candidate-for-south-brisbane/300.html
87 – Dio, does Paul have the answer to the problem?
Gary
Far be it for an economic ignoramus like me to speak for a Nobel Prize winning economist but my reading is that he agrees with the idea of capital spending rather than “handouts”. He sets a lot of store in the “GDP Gap”, which is the difference between real GDP (adjusted for inflation) and potential GDP (which corresponds to a high level of resource use).
The CBO graphs at his site show the gap dropping to 8% soon and only returning to 0% by 2015. He says the Obama plan will only close the gap by 3%. He seems to be advocating tailoring the economic stimulus to smoothing the gap out as close to zero % as possible. Thus the package needs to be at least double in size.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/stimulus-arithmetic-wonkish-but-important/#more-1229
Gary
With relevance to Oz, if you click on the link in the middle of that article after “How much do tax cuts and spending raise GDP?”, there is a table of what fiscal interventions by the Government do to GDP. Lump sum payments and temporary tax cuts (a la Rudd/Swan) are about three times as effective as permanent tax cuts (a la Turnbull/Bishop).
Increasing infrastructure spending is the best method (in Bang for your buck) of increasing GDP (after increasing unemployment benefits). So the Ruddster seems to be doing the right things. Amazingly, Turnbull and Bishop have it wrong. What a surprise!!
Thanks Dio. He seems to know what he is talking about, although, like you I’m also an “economic ignoramus”. The problem is that for everyone of the Paul Krugman’s around the place there’s an equal and opposite reaction from another “renowned” economist.
The problem for Obama also is that he is already dealing with people (Republicans and some Democrats) who are hell bent on going with ideology and insisting that individuals should have “money in the pocket” or “handouts” and are complaining about the size of the package as it is. Imagine if Obama went with Krugman’s approach. The package would never see the light of day.
More comedy from Sarah Palin as she lashes the Meeja.
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=1ad964d3-17fe-46d3-a879-89b01b71a5cc
Please don’t be cruel to Ron, skip his posts if he bothers you. I started skipping over GP when he was posting 300 posts a thread there for a while but would never complain as he has as much right to speak his mind as I do, and I’d never be so disrespectful to suggest otherwise.
As Finns says be happy and have a lovely Sunday
A song for Ron
are simple the best
to me you (and Hillary
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=cCG5Tp4ZwZI
Arr the memories, I’m sure Hillary and Obama will end up being a fine team
Absolutely. Unless there were permanent tax cuts for the rich. Then the Repugs would be falling over themselves to pass it. That “trickle down” economics worked really well didn’t it.
OO at it again trying for a beat up over Rudd’s staff losses. things must be bad if this is the best they can do to.
And I hope they aren’t blaming Ruddie for this!
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24896077-5006784,00.html
Maternity leave! What will they think of next!
Dio, as an economist i’m dammed good at balancing the household budget, it starts and ends there, but Bishop, who has no qualifications either and yet set herself up as shadow treasurer, well, that was always going to be a disaster, Turnbull is an ex merchant banker that says it all, it’s no use looking for any economical wisdom from him, my understanding is that merchant bankers swoop on their hapless prey and tear it apart to be sold off at a profit, that doesnt seem to take much deep economical nous for the fine points.
Vera, they wouldnt want to dig too deep, theres talk about the turnover and unrest in Turnbull’s office, he seems to have a revolving door, theres definately reports he explodes and gets abusive, hmmm, pot—kettle?
Judith the OO would make sure they kept any rumblings at Turnbulls office under wraps. That is unless they could turn it into a positive for Talcum, you know like he found out his staff had been undercover ALP union thugs and Talcum exposed them and kicked them out in the knick of time before they could infiltrate the glorious Liberal party.
Obama’s already making his mark as a man of the people, if he can keep this up even with the security they’ll load him with he’ll be a much loved president, blind freddy knows he wont be able to cure the economical woes overnight but if he can keep in touch with the common voter and they can see him doing his best he’ll do ok.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24898184-2703,00.html
“you know like he found out his staff had been undercover ALP union thugs”
Vera how does Talcum know they arent union thugs?
Muhahaha
gusface
sniffer dogs?
Judith Obama seems to be saying the same sort of things as Rudd and that can’t be bad. There are similarities in the stimulus packages to create jobs, and repairing infrastructure (Rudd gave money to Mayors for same sorta thing) and more money for health (Rudd extra funds for more nursing training) the building of more fuel efficient cars etc. I wonder if Rudd has been giving obi a few tips?
http://news.smh.com.au/world/obama-touts-stimulus-plan-20090111-7e8q.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/11/2463164.htm
So joyce IS considering a move to the House.
Which seat would he contest though?
Take on mad Bob Katter ?
Maybe Flynn. More likely I reckon.
Just saw on BBC the Intelligence2 debate on:
“Is GWB the worst President for the Last 50 years?”
GWB was defended by William Kristol and Karl Rove. The opposition was British journalist Simon Jenkins, a columnist for the Guardian and the Sunday Times and Jacob Weisberg, chairman and editor-in-chief of The Slate Group, an online publishing group owned by The Washington Post Co.
Before the debate it was: Yes – 65% No – 17% and Undecided – 18%
After the debate it was: Yes – 68% No – 27% and Undecided – 5%
Audio can be downloaded here at NPR.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97752303
with at least two heads of state that think alike maybe theres reason for hope, the last two like thinkers {Bush and Howard} managed to screw our countries up thoroughly, with the changing of the guard i’m praying some of those draconian policies will gradually be changed back to more humane treatment of the weakest.
i know it sounds a bit weird, but Bush and Howard together reminds me of some of the murderous duos in the past, those who egged each other on to even more and more sadistic practices, there was no conciences in the way as they went further and further into their treatment of some helpless people, gitmo bay, children overboard, Haneef, refugees forced back to torture or death, Iraq, work choices used against the lowest paid workers, that just skims the surface, maybe thats a bit overboard but i cant help thinking and comparing
I reckon Truss will be given the Tap on the shoulder”, and to gracefully “retire for the good of the party”.
I wonder if Barnaby has been influenced by Brendan Grylls success here in WA to make the switch ? Though Rorts For The Wheatbelt is starting to bite him on the bum.
Talking of Guantanamo bay, I caught part of an interview on ABC or SBS the other night with a former guard who was saying that most working there were sadistic types who loved it there as they were able to break all the rules and treat the prisioners however they liked. He said the others guards were slackers who saw the posting as a bit of a bludge.
Is Harry “the boofhead” the new Princess Diana? that will keep the tabloids and hot goss magazines forever happy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7822574.stm
Finns @ 110 – it was 3 years ago. Bit of a beat-up. I think he’s moved on since then.
Finns
GWB is easily going to win the “Worst President Since WWII Medal of Freedom”. Nixon doesn’t even come close. He did a few good things. Look back at GWB and name a few decent things he’s done in 8 years (apart from destroying the Republican Party and diminishing the US’s potential to affect the world). AIDS funding in Africa gets a mention. It’s almost Howardesque how he’s just pissed a lot of money and goodwill up against the wall.
I found a ranking of our PMs. I really can’t comment pre-Fraser but I’ll list them in order for those who know more than me.
1. Curtin
2. Menzies
3. Hawke
4. Chifley
5. Howard
6. Whitlam
7. Keating
8. Fraser
9. Gorton
10. Holt
11. McMahon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_ranking_of_Australian_Prime_Ministers
yes Roxanne, into a NAZI uniform.
That was in 2005.
As in..
http://unpopulartruths.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/prince_harry_nazi.jpg
Dio
nearly finished curtins autobio, and I must say that menzies does not seem to be as impressive as I previously thought.Curtin was a rare quantity indeed and his legacy is sadly understated in our nations history .
gough at 6 is a surprise as I thought he would be in the top 3
gusface as a strong labor man myself i could cop criticism but you cant get sacked and only be in for three years and be one of the best, my best since ww2 would be as follows not including holt, gorton, mcwen and mcmahon
1. hawke easily loved him
2. Menzies by default really longest serving pm, big immigration intake good economy
3. howard 2 of his terms weren’t bad 2 awful (first and last)
4.Whitman best socially worst economically
5. keating great treasurer prick of a person good at reconcillation though
6. fraser absoltely hopeless along with treasurer
atm Rudd would probably sit 2 for me. I would describe my self as centrist.
p.s yes bush is easily the worst in 50 years don’t actuelly mind Nixon if it wasn’t for his ending he wouldn’t be to bad.
Curtin at No 1 spot is right. Menzies & Howard should be moved down and Keating up. Chifley was a clown who lost the 1949 election!
I was a bit surprised to see Curtin as number 1, not because of anything I know about him but because of what I DON’T know about him. He hardly ever gets mentioned except by political historians.
The US absolutely deify their great President’s. Lincoln has had more biographies written about him than any person in history. FDR, Washington and Jefferson are practically saints. We don’t seem to do that in Australia. I suppose it’s our cultural cringe or something like that.
2. Menzies by default really longest serving pm, big immigration intake good economy
But it was Curtin who started planning for that big post-war immigration intake and the Snowy scheme etc
Except for winning elections I cant remember anything Menzies’ governments did for Australia. At the time from the mid 50s till Gough W the ALP were split and a rabble. He also gave us conscription.
jovial i didn’t rate curtin but for the record i completely agree with him being number 1 I’m not talking anything away from curtin, i agree Menzies didn’t do much for 17 years but he started the liberal party when they where halve decent he did preside over a good economy whether that was him or not doesn’t entirely matter and he did handle foreign affairs well so good there where rumored he might get Churchill’s job plus the people mustn’t of minded him keeping him for 17 years, though negatives where vietnam war, contripton, reasonably do nothing govement and like howard used fear tactics him and howard where quite similer
Detroit Auto show swings towards electric cars. Some of the new technologies are about to be mainstreamed now we are in an era of political and economic change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11electric.html?_r=1
heres the story about Howard taking over Blair House after the Obama’s were refused occupancy, why do i have to keep signing in today to comment?
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1pOdrl62NzY
So Roxanne, you are happy for the 3rd in line for the Pommy throne to:
1. Wear Nazi uniform
2. Call “our little Paki friend”
3. Mock gays: “How do you feel? Gay? Queer on the side?”
4. Mock his own Grandmother: “Harry is filmed pretending to finish a call to the Queen. “I’ve got to go, got to go. Send my love to the corgis. Send my love to the corgis and Grandpa. God Save You… yeah, that’s great.”
5. had a punch up with photographer
It’s just a lad thing, la di la, a ha ha ha. It’s another meeja beatup.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/11/monarchy-race
Vera
Posted Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 1:26 pm | Permalink
#97
“A song for Ron
to me you (and Hillary) are simple the best
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=cCG5Tp4ZwZI ”
Vera you ar wonderful
Ron, your repeat comments on my stop order on discussion of Gaza are not being cleared from moderation for a reason.
William
ar you banning any discusion or post here on th current gaza hostilities ? and
ar you banning any discusion or post here on th Israel/palestinien dispute completely ?
Ron, I’m not going to waste time elucidating what I have said. Its meaning is crystal clear.
William
#1
“No further discussion on the SITUATION in the Middle East, please”
Thaks for your reply William , obviously discusion or post here on th current gaza hostilities is th current “SITUATION” and is obviously now banned
However your #1 William does not specify banning any post here on th overall Israel/palestinien dispute completely , just th cureent ” situation”
So can you clarify whether th overall Israel/palestinien dispute is completely banned from posting from now on please because they ar entirely separate matters ?
No.
Comments about my stop order on the situation in the Middle East, and stupid questions concerning the precise dimensions of the ban, are being deleted without warning.
Did anyone happen to watch the situation in Victoria this evening?
A nice 62 run win for the Aussies and how about that young batsman from NSW eh?
“52″ runs, sorry. David Warner is his name. I think we are going to see a lot more of this 22 year old.
William
Thank you for replying in #134 , your answer in #134 is unambigous to my #133 overall Israel/palestinien dispute query
Ar you aware of any Sites that discuss th gazza situation please
With hindsight, the last three Galaxy Polls have also shown the Liberal National Party struggling on a 2PP basis.
Aug 3 2008, ALP 53,LNP 47
Sep 30 2008, ALP 52, LNP 48
Dec1 2008, ALP 51, LNP 49
While the gap superficially narrows from 6 to 4 to 1. It is just a treading of water rather than a sign of any real progress being made.
OOPS, 6 to 4 to 2 even. One day I might learn to count.
“One day I might learn to count.”
well with my literacy and counting skills you hav a template to aim for Would love to agree with you on q’ld situataion , however unless you ar relying on our MOE , it doesn’t loom like treading water , more heading to close electon IF reliant solely on Gallaxy
BTW Scorpio , feel NSW youngster Phil hughes will be future absolute star , timing from bat is amazing
Nobody would or could rely solely on Galaxy, Ron. They are far too scarce and ad hoc for that.
Ron, here is a good site on the Gazza situation.
Agree Steve , although there record is fairly good , certainly better than Morgan
Only problam I hav with Newspoll 57/43 i saw was it was a quarterly Oct to Dec , possibly taking th queensland figures cum out of th national Newspolls , so trends ar hard to find
George W Bush has taken his last ride in Airforce 1 and brought his daddy along for the ride so that he could name a ship after him. He’s apparently tidying up his last minute favours before he rides off into the Texas desert.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/11/2463225.htm
William Bowe
Posted Monday, January 12, 2009 at 12:35 am | Permalink
#143
“Ron, here is a good site on the Gazza situation.”
Your affection for me knows no bounds ….now you flick pass me to a pommie socer player to debate …like how would he understand reel english , I’d win in a canter
Hal Colebatch in today’s Australian attempts to mount an exceedingly high horse over Katherine Wilson’s expose of Quadrant as the standard bearer of right wing lunacy.
Hal is a big wheel in Arty circles, and by his own revelation is a perennial contributor to Quadrant, the value of whose contributions I am sure is tremendously significant. Significant enough, apparently ,for him to leap to Windschuttle’s defence.
Anyway, in Hal’s view, Wilson’s expose was “squalid and nasty in a Smeagol like way” (whoever Smeagol was, but you get the drift, obscure references make you more superior to your reader) and that Quadrant should be forgiven its transgression because is small, depends on trust, cannot employ fact checkers, and its submitted articles are not subject to “peer review” before publication.
Curiously, Hal makes no reference to Windschuttle’s political bigotry, his refusal to publish anything remotely critical of the far right of politics, and that Quadrant is a political, substantially publicly funded, rag, masquerading as a literary publication to give itself an importance and stature which is belied by most of what is published within.
The very fact that Wilson’s article was published at all is of itself a testament to Quadrant’s shoddy and perverse editorial standards.
It has nothing to do with the size of the publication, its pious naivety, its inability to access Wikipedia or the Internet, its unwillingness to admit it is too stupid to recognise nonsense when it is rammed up its backside with a barge pole, or its refusal seek a qualified opinion before publication when it is out of its depth.
The fact demonstrably is, fact checker or not, that Quadrant will publish anything, without the most cursory of content verification, so long as it supports the bias of its editorial policy.
For Windshuttle, Colebach, et al to cry foul and seek to shift blame to others who merely played Quadrant by its own rules and won, is humbug and hypocrisy of the most obvious kind
And Hal of course once stood for the Libs in Federal Seat of Perth against Ric Charlesworth in the 80’s, and lost
Sums it up really
Tautology alert. “Superior”, not “more superior”.
I do not think th alleged hoax was either clever or proved anything According to th Age’s detailed investigation most of th names & organizations were generaly valid , and alot of th alleged hoax listed ‘research’ had been/was being carried out So i didn’t find its publication all that surprising or inconsistent with supposed quatrant publishers views
Principal non facts was th CSDIRO itself hadn’t done so , and reasons giving for not doing , and person didn’t exist , as opposed to most of actual data Thats shoddy verifications of sourse nad allegd user of that ‘research’ BUT had that been true , it still wuld hav been published consistent with there views , so big deel , th elelged hoxer is skiting over nothing , a informed people know that NON hoax stuff gets published by Quadrant with that slant anyway and contrary data does not
What wuld hav been a hoax is had contrary stuff , fully verified had been consistently sent to quadrant and proved sent to quadrant , andf they refused to publish it , that wuld be then MORE of a story of selective publishing , than them publishing what you’d expect them to publish if it had been authenic Regarding influensing th non rusted on people’s views of Quadrant , think hoaxer hoaxed themselves with delusion…seeing quadrant readers will still believe th data itself was generaly fine anyway for there selectiv minds
hmmm this Lib Senator is all class
“Shortly after the Mumbai terrorist incident in late November last year, former Howard government minister for justice and customs, now Opposition spokesman for defence, Senator David Johnston, told a journalist “educated bigotry” was a useful method for targeting suspected terrorists at Australian airports.”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24892928-7583,00.html
Ohhh David Johnston.
Why am I not surprised.
twat.
Seems Joyce could swap states. Seesm a bit far fetched. or is it…
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24899315-2702,00.html
The seat of New England. I don’t think so.
Fulvio @ 144
Educated bigotry works. Think of the voters of asian descent who received all that educated bigotry during the Howard Government and who turfed the little blighter out of his seat.
This is the true lunacy of David Johnston. Bigotry of any sort does not live in a vacuum. It creates reactions on the part of those who are discriminated against.
Boerwar, under the current political climate, this is sailing very close to the wind.
Damn that beauty sleep again.
Is there any Federal seat in Australia that is not going to be named as a great seat for Barnaby Joyce in the Liberal National Party’s latest burst of insanity. Add Dawson to the daily rantings.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24899280-3102,00.html
Fulvio, it’s a pity your post at 144 couldn’t be published somewhere where it could be read by a wider audience so that these frauds could beb exposed for what they really are.
IMHO, “SNAP”. Great post.
Good to see Tony Moore, Political writer of the Brisbane Times back at his desk and catching up with news from last week.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/billionaires-son-seeks-office/2009/01/12/1231608564513.html
Very interesting article on the climate debate
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8383
Read the article Dovif but failed to find the very interesting bit.
Have a read of this:
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24899049-5006301,00.html
Alexander Downer is scum on so many levels.
Bob thanks for that link.
It confirms dolly as not just an airhead,but a bitter twisted and definitely sour little cross dresser.
Perhaps the Cyprus thingy is getting up his nose,I mean no-one to polish his ego or take out his inferiority complex on
diddums smackedbum
No mention of any change in Cyprus either funnily enough. I thought that was what Downer is paid to focus on.
bob, I couldn’t resist. I posted a comment to his article which most cirtainly won’t be published. I said “Alexander is a racist nincompoop. But only slightly.”.
Sen Johnstone is basically a buffoon, but not only that, he supposes the rest of the world is equally dim….typical of WA Liberals in general.
No, it won’t get published. I can present the most reasoned argument, making sure I don’t insult anyone, it won’t get published. The Advertiser are pro-Liberal and will continue to post pro-Liberal comments, and allow the occasional pro-Labor comment through, but only as long as it’s basic and isn’t too piercing, or has it’s facts wrong.
Well, bob, my facts are wrong with the “only slightly”.
Bob, i make a point of never reading Downers rubbish but i just broke that for the first and last time, i also left a reply, i said i needed to go and have a hot shower to wash off the slime the article left all over me, of course that wont be published neither, i guess the only plus with that rag is that Kenny wont be writing any more rubbish for them–that is until he becomes one of the turnovers from Turnbull’s office, hmmm i wonder how ACA took it when Kenny resigned after just signing on to their shiny new program.
Fulvio, you’re right, comments have been published and ours are definately not among them lol.
What I love most is this shifty comment:
And what about Iraq? Up until November 2007, many of you chanted, “Troops out of Iraq”. You went on marches down King William St and held up banners outside my office. We still have troops in Iraq but now you say nothing; no demonstrations, no letters to the editor, no claims that Kevin Rudd and his foreign minister are war criminals. So it’s as simple as this: It’s okay for Labor to have troops in Iraq but not the Liberals.
—
He fails to make any mention that it was the Liberals, not Labor, who got our personnel stuck between a rock and a hard place, and further fails to make mention of the fact that it was Rudd Labor who HAS REMOVED ALL COMBAT TROOPS from Iraq, not the Liberals. He’s fudging facts just to write a sensationalist opinion piece. I’m so glad sleazy trash like him is out of our parliament, it just makes us all look bad.
Fulvio, I’m not sure a Lord of the Rings reference counts as hi-falutin’ intellectual snobbery.
well Heath won a golden globe
Bugger the theatre, when will Barnett announce a statue of Heath in Kings Park ?
Billbo
not all of us would know that gollums real name was smeagol.
except of course if one was an hi-falutin’ intellectual who liked reading kids books
Gusface
Lord of the rings is not a “kids book” !
Wash your mouth out with soap.
Wilsons aleged hoax on quadrant was a feather duster , for 95% of th community quadrant probably means how many slices to cut up a choclate cake
Only hoax i can see is some bloger got air play hoaxing th converted anti quadrant set into hoxedly feeling a ‘blow’ has been struck for liberty & fratternity , and now no one will ever read quadrant Suggest it will still get published and continue to receive deserved credibility by all ‘informed’ …informed ie with a quadrant tink slant
Remeber editor here JG made a big blue on obama puppy name contest , trig & MD etc …errors do happen under pressure of publicaton Now Bolts site apparently per JG went into meltdown with delights …but over what , an error I did query th later apology should hav been only on those ofended rather than worrying about th bolt-ites but still thought errors can be made & do Perhaps thats what happened at quadrant an error in verifying some sourses seeing aloyt of data WAS valid , perhaps an error there ala JG (not htat quadrant like jg will apologise) but certainly also sloppy editorial sourse auditing
So what , if it had of been 100% legit then Quatrant would HAVE published also , as you’d expect…ditto th communist rag (tribune or whatever they publish only there slanted stuff) Now whilst Fulvio (with total justication by way) is annoyed at what they writ and its slant , it is quadrant , like that slant then thats quadrant so fr min it was a hoax of non hoax , simply indication poor editorial governance but not demolishing there slant
Now if one wanted to reely hoax quadrant , i’d do “a chasers”…i’d pick out one of there say cloning ing articles , then get all this irafutable science based data undermining ‘..scuttles’ clone slants , then roll up one day TV camera’s behind , in a say Roman Chariot and a cloned 1/2 cow/1/2 human roman gladiator with alleged ‘dead sea scrolls” on cloning ..demolishing quadrant view …seeif they publish damning contary views …even if they do , next week , turn up in a cloned future man outfit , with luke Skywalkers dark forse’ secret on cloning of th perfect man (combination of Adam possum william and …) Problam is that way everyone wuld know quadrant ar selective publishers AND better just th few ‘informed’ on ‘left’ know it , but then they already knew that already didnot they so who is th hoaxer
Serously anyone can pull off such an alleged hoax , of what they’d normaly print anyway…thats gices Fulvio a few days of satisfacton and am not begrudging him that ….but to hav satisfacton that just just keeps on giving then catch thems out oin what they do NOT want to publish , ie contry views , and show they do not want to publish that contary view & better on tv satircals…there’s one tink people like more than being angry at a w.anker & thats forever laughing at th w.anker-ee (Downer-ee)…so lord of th rings was appropriate words after all reely
Gus & Mao, William has banned the current debate over ME. If i am not wrong Lord of the Rings is about ME.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
Frank 145
//And Hal of course once stood for the Libs in Federal Seat of Perth against Ric Charlesworth in the 80’s, and lost //
…and Hal of course is a direct descendent of former WA Premier Colebatch who is the only Australian politician to ever order the army to kill striking unionists. Many believe him to be directly responsible for the deaths of several workers.
…and Hal of course is a prolific contributor to the fascist Institute of Public Affairs.
I wonder why the OO never discloses these little snippets about their tribe of reichtwing dribblers?
http://news.smh.com.au/national/turnbull-pleads-for-droughthit-farmers-20090112-7f4o.html
No, Malcolm isn’t going to make it rain for them, despite his “championing” a $10 million grant to a lib party donor for a rain making scheme. Malcolm is going to
What a champion.
Polling Season is back!
Essential Report has primaries 49/35 to the ALP washing into a TPP of 59/41 – plus a big bag of other questions.
Pah!. Xmas. New Year, people still plissed after Ruddy’s handouts.
Essential Report also has a question on Paul John Gascoigne.
This could be a way around Williams ban on the subject, discuss the polling attitudes to it!
I wonder how Mr Downer’s boss in the UN system feels about his Special Adviser on Cyprus asserting in public that African-Americans who voted for the incoming US President because the latter is black are practitioners of racism? Usually diplomats trying to broker peace processes which will, presumably, benefit from the support of the Permanent Members of the Security Council think it wise not to tweak the noses of the P-5’s leaders.
Rundle writing on somebody or other in today’s Crikey…
‘The man … was advocating the revolutionary potential of LSD in the 60s, media studies as “radical pedagogy” in the early 70s, was enthusiastic for Pol Pot peasant-style revolts in the late 70s (”the oil is almost gone — soon the Aborigines and poor whites will rise up” he wrote in Nation Review in the late 70s) and re-emerged in the 90s, after the global collapse of the left, as a man who thought there was no Tasmanian genocide, that the White Australia policy was a left-wing plot, that John Steinbeck made up the Great Depression and that the British Empire could not have been cruel because its officers were Christians.
Like a mendicant Pope, he’s spent his life wandering from one state of certainty to the next, in the search for godknowswhat.’
“Pah!. Xmas. New Year, people still plissed after Ruddy’s handouts.”
Yeah, we’ll just ignore the exact same polling that’s existed since Rudd became Labor leader in December 2006 shall we, and put this current one down to “handouts”.
2006-2009 polls, all wrong, the people were tricked in 2007, and will come flooding back to the coalition in droves in 2010.
What I can’t believe is that there are people out there that actually BELIEVE this dribble. How amusing!
On other news, 5-15% carbon reduction too much? Not enough? Do we need to do more ourselves?
“While millions of people tap into Google without a thought for the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2. Boiling a kettle generates about 15g.”
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,24900147-5014239,00.html
Report today from multiple US intell & FA oficials now believe Iran has 4-5k centrifugres enough for 1 nuke producton every 8 months by uranium need , and were so close to weapons capacity they were unlikely to be stoped Further that Israel had asked US for spec bunjker buster bombs in 2007 for there then planned 2007 surpise attack on Iran , and part of that attack needed US ok to fly over Iraq
Reports Bush refused both israeli requests , must hav been his only correct decision Nothing wuld hav united th sunni and shia m/e world more than such an unprovoked attack on th sovereign land of another 1500 knm away and especialy from Israel , just look at US alone popularity sitting in Iraq as a deeemed Western outsider , or don’t UN borders count anymore , at all
Obama’s alternative approach , to engage th Iranians & bring them inside th tent , rather than a war mongering attack mentality of some , seems option ala Lybia & Gadafi , and yet some peoples never learn or , perhaps not in there intersts to never want to learn
‘Reports Bush refused both israeli requests , must hav been his only correct decision’
Ron I heard the BBC report this and they quoted some General as saying they didnt want to start a third front (Iraq and Afgahnistan being the others). I think GWB would have loved a stoush but was held back only by logistics as opposed to commonsense
The 24% of people who think they will be better off in 2009 (according to EMC), must send shivers down Malcolm’s spine.
Ah well, I suppose “Interest Rates will always be lower under the Libs” has been well and truely shafted.
India’s IT is showing sign of sailing into troubled water.
The Satyam saga has been described as India’s Enron. In fact, in money term, it is bigger than Enron. In addition, the World Bank was banning Satyam as its IT service provider before the fraud was beautifully annouced by its founder Mr. Raju. One of the newspapers in India has said the Satyam scandal is the economic terrorism committed against India not unlike the recent terrorism committed against India at Mumbai.
Now the World Bank has announced two more Indian IT companies to be banned as its IT service provider, they are Wipro and Megasoft. Wipro is one of the big 4 of Indian IT (Satyam, Wipro, Infosys and Tata).
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200901121222.htm
This has global implication on the IT outsourcing industry. It is interesting that these brands are badly damaged at the moment:
1. Financial products – Made in USA
2. Consumer products – Made in China
3. IT products – Made in India
“I think GWB would have loved a stoush but was held back only by logistics as opposed to commonsense”
Gusface that makes more sense what you said re not allowing an attack on Iran You’ve put me back at ease , was feeling quite uncomfortable that Busgh potentialy had made a corect decision (his only) , but military command non suport due to logistics restraints (as you quoted a General) means Bush had no reel decision to make anyway
Frightening how detached some Leaders ar from inflicting massive deaths on innocent civilians , just ordinary folks & familys like us
I don’t think I am the only one to have this problem. Is there a tool that can decipher Ron’s posts? I try to read everyone’s posts in a sitting to be fair but I can’t get past the first line with Ron.
I suspect he thinks the hoax issue last week was dirty pool. But who can tell? I don’t think it was – it was just the right wing (this time – it could easily have been the left) being caught out publishing what they want to believe. QED.
Sorry, William, this is too good to waste.
Joe the Plumber has a new job.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/joe-the-plumber-turns-rookie-war-correspondent-20090112-7en1.html?page=-1
Around the middle of August 2007 I did a couple of posts with links about Bush trying to sneak 2 Carrier Battle Groups across to the Persian Gulf. there was only one reason to have 3 Battle Groups there.
A couple of navy insiders leaked that Bush had been planning an assualt on Iran between the 3rd and the 10th of September. It never happened of course, but I have always wondered why?
I think cooler heads prevailed at that time and have been able to keep him restrained since. If the “surge” had of been more successful then I feel he would have gone ahead. He was certainly dumb enough to.
“Is there a tool that can decipher Ron’s posts? ”
copious amounts of your favourite drop -preferably on a drip
Warning: may cause damge to your grammatical cortex but the challenge is worth it.
yes, there is, it’s called your BRAIN.
Even if you read nothing else today, you should read this one.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/joe-the-plumber-turns-rookie-war-correspondent-20090112-7en1.html?page=-1
Roy
No, i don’t think th hoax issue was dirty pool as a main issue , although journos knowingly knowing something is a hoax after its accepted for publicaton but before publishing , should not claim journalistic ethics either Principal issue I hav is I feel there is a hoax that there was a hoax
Quadrant were not hoaxed onto publiishing something they hav not previously published or something thats inconsistent with there slant Quadrant were simply tricked (with SOME valid names , institutions and “research” data from a bogus professor claiming bogus th CSIORO were involved) into publishing what Quadrant would hav been HAPPY to print had th CSIRO had been involved
So content of Quadrant article was not ususual at all to be seen in print gibven Quadrants biased slant , all thats been shown is th Editor etc were biased and sloppy checking there origin sourse & th alleged user , not th research or other institutions doing this stuff
Well sloppy biased editors ar not just at Quadrant , how about th australian , Herald sun , Daily Tele etc for sloppy biased editors So now we can add Quadrant , but surely “informed” people ALREADY knew that , so how did this hoax add to there already informed knowledge ?
What would hav been a hox was getting to publish something they did NOT want to publish , or failing which making it obvious Quadrant did NOT want to publish something contary to there cloning slanted biased views
A hoax is chaser standard and objective to get them to do reverse of what they want , not what they’d naturaly do anyway but in any event Roy if people ar happy that quadrant look foolish then I’m happy to also drink along as to me there’re just a rag from timber
I agree with Ron on this one. The “hoax” just showed that Quadrant has poor resources, is lazy and publishes without checking facts if something looks reasonable. We knew that already.
The most famous publishing hoax recently was the Sokal hoax, which showed postmodernism to be a vacuous load of crap with almost no intellectual merit but a lot of meaningless intellectual BS, ie fashionable nonsense.
Sokal is a physicist who sent a an article “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity” which was total load of wank.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair
Joe the Plummer a war correspondent, eh. Our postmodern world gets stranger and stranger!
Actually, I suspect he’s fulfilling some kind of deal he signed up to at the height of his fame. Originally, his commitment might have involved writing a book or some kind of serialised account of his emergence during the campaign.
But with a bit of pressure* he baulked (despite his straight-shootin’ pick-up-drivin’ persona), explaining to his agent that “I can’t write a book. I fix taps.”
* Due mostly to the fact that he’ll be forgotten in a year or two.
“Joe the Plumber has a new job” (as a reporter)
Well that wuld be for ‘name recognition’ , like better than John smith , Reporter
but this Reporter has Michael Willessie invetigative skills :
“The people of …. “can’t do normal things day to day” like get soap in their eyes in the shower , …”
Why would you put soap in your eyes for having a shower , how can you tell where to clean your dirty toes if you cann’t see them
Is this the way to treat your local pollie?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/12/2463424.htm
Lucky Kev gave all the oldies a Xmas bonus.
Amigo FINNS
Another story today about Satyam in Age paper , and ‘authorativly this time saying there were 1700 existing australian jobs , but no attribution to you as oz news breaker on Satyam having oz employees and right here as a news exclusive
Intersting they hav 53, 000 worldwide staff in this outsoursing bit with 2/3 in India but what caught my eye is 1/3 of Fortune top 500 companies use them , so lots of local jobs in local Countrys got out soursed to India , retenched by multi nats as a number And if its later cheaper to outsouse it in Greenland then retranchments then in India , but will that going to happen now anyway without a takover
The Curious Snail is getting twitchy.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24903409-3102,00.html
All the seats mentioned in the above article happen to be marginal Tory seats too.
Scorpio
I speed read earlier your Joe th plumber , now I’ve read th lot and feel he is as “balansed” in his reporting as he is smart quote “I have thousands of questions but I can’t think of the right one.”
Diog
Reading that Sokal guys effort , geez that was a class hoax And i liked your definition “to be a vacuous load of crap with almost no intellectual merit but a lot of meaningless intellectual BS, ie fashionable nonsense.” So now I know there is just plain ordinary nonsense and “fashionable nonsense” (like sort of upper class nonsense reely
Seems th courier Mail had trouble filling space and so throw this in (uinwinnable for LCP) as a filler instead of having a blank para
“Meanwhile, LNP candidate Michael Palmer has booked three billboards in a row along Sandgate Rd in the seat of Nudgee, which Labor holds by a margin of 18 per cent.”
Windschuttle himself admitted that about 10-15% of the article was crap. He then appeared to realize that those figures made him look stupid. So the counter-attack changed lines. It was not a hoax, we were informed, it was fraud. A few cultural warriors on both sides rose from their summer torpor and flashed the cudgels around a bit but their hearts did not seem to be in it. With Howard gone, and Windscuttle now basically ideological detritus left marooned at the high water mark of a tide of discredited tory social destroyers, who really cares too much? Ironically, the hoax may have rescued Windschuttle himself from being history
On top of that, whatever reputation Quadrant may once have had, it is now a rather squalid sandpit for tory wannabes and ratbag deniers of various ilks. In quality and content it is showing a certain level of convergence with a certain blog.
I haven’t got my mind around the ethics of the hoax, but I have got my mind around a couple of things:
1. Windschuttle built a reputation on examining the accuracy of other peoples’ footnotes and making absolutely scathing judgements on the footnotes and on the historians who used them.
2. While I will put this as delicately and as fairly as I can, the gist of Windscuttle’s views about Tasmanian Aborigines was that they more or less deserved what they got because of their primitive morality, and that they were fortunate to be colonized by the British, because the British were the best colonizers. (I think I have that about right – happy to be corrected.) Imagine today’s Tasmanian Aborigines reading Windschuttles’ attacks?
This sort of stuff became part of the warp and weft of the OO headlines leading up to the HowBroughian NT Intervention. Indigenous people, men in particular, were just about bricked for being the most evil people on earth. The states and territories were similary smacked around. (Remember that Textor had told Howard that he needed to create a bit of tension with the states?) Howard also needed an explanation for why he had done nothing for Indigenous people in ten years of so-called ‘practical reconciliation’. (Don’t you just love ‘practical’ and ‘balanced’ policies?)
Howard’s chosen explanation: the states were useless and Indigenous people in remote communities were more or less evil incarnate. They had to be saved from themselves and from the territories and states. Enter the very white knights, Howard and Brough. You start seeing the reasons why Howard was a vocal supporter of Windschuttle.
So, for me, the debating points around the hoax are interesting, but not at the heart of the issue. It doesn’t overmuch bother me what people call the article – hoax or fraud, whether it was 5% or 15% rubbish, whether Windschuttle published it uncritically because it fit his ideological bent, or even whether the central point of the article, the so-called ‘decision’ by CSIRO not to proceed with human/cross species GMOs, is a total crock.
To me the central issue is this. Howard received his richly-deserved humiliation at the last election and Windschuttle has now also received just a very little taste of the humiliations formerly meted out to Indigenous people by the Howard Government, by the British colonizers (excellent though they were) and by a certain historian.
New thread.