Get the inside track on the media and government

Bacchus

15/12/2013The advantage of coding pieces for [i]TPS[/i] is that you get first dibs on the first comment. :D First of all I'd like to acknowledge the honour it's been to work with all of the amazingly talented people who make up the [i]TPS[/i] Team. I am in awe of the writers 2353 & Ken + guest authors - how [i]do[/i] you put words together like that? A special thanks to 2353 for taking on some of the coding load as well as writing - your blood's worth bottlin' ;-) Casablanca - probably the hardest working of the team, prolifically providing links to everything that's important every day. Enjoy your break and come back with renewed vigour next year. Catching Up - your wise words quickly cutting through issues. Talk Turkey - your sharp wit and wicked sense of humour - I really enjoyed the chats on the phone when we could "get it together". :) Papinbarra Fox - a very busy man who still manages to find the time to review articles for publication and assist with editing. Janet (j4gypsy)- probably the most important reason that [i]TPS[/i] is still running. Your tireless work and drive in bringing together and getting the team organised is the stuff of legend. Sitting in the background, ready to help with the technical aspects of the TPS 'engine', is Web Monkey who has been an invaluable resource for the team. And then there's the calm, solid influence of Ad Astra running along beneath the surface, providing the very soul of [i]The Political Sword[/i]. Thank you all for the amazing ride! Also, I'd like to thank the regular contributors to [i]TPS[/i] - like many others, I don't comment much, but I believe there are a large number of readers out on the InterWebs who appreciate your thoughts and ideas! A Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, Happy Summertime - whatever takes your fancy - from my family to yours :D For my choice of [i]visual[/i] moments, I'll share this link from the facebook site, '[i]Tony Abbott - Worst PM in Australian History[/i]' just because it tickled my 'funny bone' :D https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=237856893046570&set=a.208584555973804.1073741828.151576228341304&type=1&theater And for the amazing ♫ musicality ♫, this piece sung a cappella by Pentatonix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_MGWio-vc Cheers :D

Ad astra

15/12/2013[i]TPS[/i] Team This is an appropriate time to express my gratitude to the [i]TPS[/i] Team for taking over so proficiently since Lyn and I decided to step back from day to day [i]TPS[/i] activities. First, to you Lyn I send my heartfelt thanks for your many years of devotion to [i]TPS[/i] with your thousands upon thousands of links that attracted such a lot of traffic to the site. I know you are enjoying your ‘retirement’; I wish you and your family every joy for the Festive Season. To all members of the [i]TPS[/i] Team, who are listed in the piece above, I extend my gratitude for taking over the day-to-day management of [i]TPS[/i] so effectively and efficiently. It is a tribute to you all that the transition has been so successful. Casablanca, you have ably stepped into Lyn’s shoes in providing an abundance of links six days a week. Thank you for taking on this responsibility so competently. The new authors have given [i]TPS[/i] a brilliant new perspective, and the reviewers, editors and HTML coders have completed the process of posting on [i]TPS[/i]. I thank you all for taking on this responsibility. Web Monkey has continued with his diligent monitoring and trouble-shooting. Thank you. [i]TPS[/i] continues apace and promises to take off again in 2014. You, the the [i]TPS[/i] Team, have made an enormous difference to my lifestyle. Instead of being continually tied to the site, I can now attend to family and domestic matters in a more relaxed way, and can read some of the books that lack of time has prevented me from enjoying. I shall always be grateful to you all. Finally, may I wish the [i]TPS[/i] Team and all who comment here, Seasons Greetings, and a joyful and relaxing end-of-year break. I hope to see you all commenting again during 2014.

woodypear

15/12/2013I too would like to pass on my gratitude to all at TPS for providing me with many hours of enjoyable and insightful reading. I particularly liked Ad Astra's last piece and have circulated it widely, with many favourable comments. Looking forward to 2014. Thanks

Ad astra

16/12/2013woodypear Thank you for your kind comments and greetings, which I reciprocate. I'm glad your friends enjoyed the last piece. We march on to 2014.

Michael

16/12/2013Abbott used to mock Kevin Rudd for his 'selfies'. What else was his ridiculously self-laudatory First 100 Days of Government press conference than selfie onanism with an audience? This 'man' has no distance on anything. Self, political policies, diplomacy. "Distance" to assess (or even have awareness of) the impact of his odd and egocentric behaviour that the rest of us have to live with as the results of government edict. As living through the Howard years was being forced to participate in an old man's fantasies of a disappeared-by-decades Australia, now we are being dragged along in a bully's self-mythifying of himself as 'the man who will bring a nation to embracing his apotheosis as its finest leader'. Abbott is delusional - his list of 100 days' achievements was hollow, half-baked, and essentially of no contribution at all to the nation's good. The list he didn't mention, the sacked boards and commissions and statutory authorities, almost all of which did have roles in serving the nation's good, that is the true record of the Abbott gumnint's first 100 days. Bastardy, ideological narrowness, carpetbagging for old mates (hello, Malcolm), sly redrafting of promises (hello Christopher), international stumblebumming (hello Julie) and sheer incompetence (hello Bronwyn), those are the hallmarks of the Abbott Error. And there is nothing, not a jot of a hint of a possibility of a likelihood, that Abbott and his crew even have the nous to recognise what national governing beyond ticking off party political platforms requires. He was never up to the job of PM, his cabinet and fellow government members are incompetents or so ideologically mind-hobbled it amounts to incompetence, and we, citizens of Australia, are at their mercy. There is no-one less 'merciful' than a thwarted bully.

TalkTurkey

16/12/2013Greetings All, Yep keep the comments coming, even if it's only like a pilot light on a gas hot water system, let the flame not falter. Here's some interesting commentary debunking the notion that Cannabis use causes schizophrenia as claimed by Jonica Newby on the ABC's "science show" Catalyst. IACM [info@cannabis-med.org] Meanwhile alcohol, freely available everywhere, is killing and maiming thousands in road accidents and domestic violence and street fights. Cannabis has never killed or maimed anyone.

TalkTurkey

16/12/2013Link no work, try this one:- http://www.cannabis-med.org/english/bulletin/ww_en_db_cannabis_artikel.php?id=414#1

TalkTurkey

16/12/2013Is this yours? Paddy says to Mick "I found this pen, is it yours?" Mick replies "Don't know, give it here." He then tries it and says, "Yes it is" Paddy asks "How do you know?" Mick replies, "That's my handwriting"

Pappinbarra Fox

16/12/2013I have no doubt that soem blog somewhere is doing this already - if so can someone direct the TPSters to the site: Making a list of the Boards/Agencies/Teams that Abbott has abolished or foreshadowed abolition of since talking offcie. Sujch a list could include a column indicating whether the specific abolition was indicated prior to the election or not. Anyone?

Bacchus

16/12/2013TT, That reminds me of the two Aussie builders, Patrick & Seamus ;) As they were nailing weatherboards onto the side of the house, Patrick noticed that Seamus was hammering in some nails, but throwing others over his shoulder. "What are ya throwing them nails away for Seamus?" yelled Patrick. "They've got the points on the wrong end" replies Seamus. "Arrrr ya dopey bastard Seamus - they're for the other side of the house!" :D Sorry - I'll go away now :$

Ken

16/12/2013Happy Saturnalia and seasons greetings to all Saturnalia, the old depraved Roman festival begins tomorrow (or Wednesday – not sure which) and runs until 25 December. This was another pagan festival the early christians took over in an effort to win over converts. That connection was one of the reasons the Puritans under Cromwell banned celebrating Christmas during the ‘commonwealth’ in England. Enough of that! A few Youtube clips of one of my favourite political song writers. He is English, so the songs lean that way but I like his politics! The first is to help keep our spirits up. Don’t play ‘Anarchy in Hackney’ if you are offended by the ‘f’ word. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdkFKDy5uos ‘Win, lose or draw (unbeaten)’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjsU8zp644 ‘Tottenham burned’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdieCCKBBvs ‘Picking up the pieces’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSDhHTs76jw ‘Anarchy in Hackney’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLkO7cAtrkI ‘Winter turns to Spring’ A Robb Johnson song performed by Roy Bailey. Another about pursuing the cause and being patient. (I did post this one previously.) And on the lighter side, two jokes for those among us on the wrong side of 60. [i]Why old people don’t get jobs[/i] Old bloke goes in for a job interview. After a few opening questions, the interviewer asks: ‘What do you think is your main weakness?’ ‘Honesty,’ the old bloke replies. Interviewer: ‘I really don’t think honesty is a weakness.’ Old bloke: ‘I don’t give a shit what you think!’ [i]Retired couple planning their day[/i] Wife: What are you doing today? Husband: Nothing. Wife: You did nothing yesterday! Husband: But I didn’t finish. As to today’s politics. I know of a traditional little room out the back under the choko vines where Abbott’s booklet on his first hundred days would be quite useful. And that’s the most useful thing that can be done with it!!

Ken

16/12/2013A big thank you to the TPS team and thank you Bacchus for your words about the writers. I am in awe of the technical people like you who know how to make these things work. Without you, my words would be just words on my computer at home (or a scrambled mess if I tried to post them myself!) And a special thank you to j4gypsy (who may at last be settling down, at least for now) and Ad Astra. It was j4gypsy's project management and editorial skills that helped drive the team and meld it and Ad has been our 'spiritual' adviser and mentor. I wish all a happy and relaxed time over the rest period. Time to rejuvenate the fight for 2014 when I think we will have plenty to say, much to talk about and many nails to drive into the Abbott coffin,

Ken

16/12/2013Sorry all, only me again. I thought of one other song I should put up here, partly to celebrate the departure of Australian troops from Uruzgan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SjelOnGWoU Fred smith is a regular on the folk scene in Canberra and works with the Department of Foreign Affairs as some sort of community 're-builder' in trouble spots - he has worked in (and written songs about) Bougainville, the Solomons and now Afghanistan.

DoodlePoodle

16/12/2013Thanks all - I don't post often but visit regularly. As jokes seem to be the order of the day I thought I would give you a Christmas joke. Three fellows died on Christmas Eve and met St Peter at the Pearly Gates. St Peter said before you come in you have to give me something to celebrate Christmas. The first guy pulls out his lighter and says this is a candle. St Peter says OK you can come in. The second guy pulls out his keys and says these make a noise like bells. St Peter says OK you can come in. The third guy fumbles in his pocket and pulls out a pair of panties. St Peter frowns and says what are they? The guy says these are Carol's!! Happy Christmas! Good Health! Good Cheer for 2014.

TalkTurkey

16/12/2013Bacchus DAM! I was just about to write that story about the roofing nails... Truly. Only [i]you got it wrong![/i] It was the HEADS that were at the wrong end! :) Anyway I'll have to turn to Blonde Jokes. ... (As a Ranga I am entitled ...)... Tearful, sobbing, pretty young blonde lass comes to a doctor with the tip of her [i]left-hand middle finger missing![/i] A really nasty injury! Doctor is shocked: [i]How did this happen?[/i] Lass: [i]Oh Doctor, I got so depressed and upset about people calling me a stupid dumb blonde bimbo... I got my boyfriend's.38 magnum and put the barrel against my breast ... ... I was just about to pull the trigger when I thought, NO! I've just had breast implants, I'm not going to spoil that ... So I put the barrel in my mouth instead ... And I was just about to pull the trigger when I thought, NO! I've had my teeth straightened, it took so much work, my teeth look so good now, I'm not going to spoil that either ... So Doctor, I put the barrel into my [i]right ear [/i]... And I was just about to pull the trigger when I thought - [/i] [i]THIS IS GOING TO BE [b]REALLY LOUD![/b] [/i] :)

Patriciawa

17/12/2013Talk Turkey! You are incorrigible! But always lovable! Seasons greetings to everyone. I visit often, and enjoy reading all your comments. Since JULIA departed the scene, however, I haven't had the same urge to join the debate. Casablanca, have a really good rest. You deserve it. Your overabundant cache of leads must surely take all your waking hours to gather. Happy Christmas, Lyn, wherever you are and whatever you are doing! You too, Ad Astra!

jaycee

17/12/2013Here is a discussion piece I put up on "The Pub"...I have decided to cross-post it here so that those interested can, if they want, join in the discussion from the TPS. perspective and to join forces for next year's effort! Hello!...muy afficionados!...sit back and relax...it being Xmas, ol' jaycee is going give you a bit of a fireside chat! BB. I see you have posted on the latest Andrew Elder piece..I posted there under "anoymous"(haven't quite worked out the identity thingo yet!)..; that last post on the accusation of Treason against the forth estate...and I see as an aside "Cat Momma" under the alter alias of "Hillbilly Skeleton" has also resurfaced!... On that subject of treason, I recently wrote a piece called ; "The Meaning of Treason"...I gave it to Fiona, here, who accepted it and sat on it for a couple of weeks, while BB. put up a couple of pieces and I could see it was going to sit a while longer and I feared the 'moment' for such a piece's impact would be lost as Abbott and the LNP. regained it's footing...so I withdrew it intending to extrapolate and represent it to another site...it was eventually accepted and edited slightly and put up for three days on the Political Sword. As it was, Abbott predictably made another massive gaffe (who'd a thunk it!) and it went up at the right time. But the piece is not the subject of this little discourse...The subject is the presentation of a subject!..BB., you wrote a post a couple of weeks back on the memory of a Brother at your Alma Mater "coaching" you in English essaying..and you stated ;(wtte) that even though you had previously won prizes in writing, you feared the upcoming exams would be a challenge..and so you sought the 'coaching" of this brother..and all went well !... I had a similar moment when learning Latin at Adelaide Uni (mature entry)..(THAT, sounds salacious!)..I remember coming out from a tutorial, absolutely weary at the constructed complexity of the latin grammar...I remember I counted one verb alone had 35 (I think) variations..and that probably DIDN"T include a future "shifting tense"....I remember standing in the sunlight outside the Wells Building and softly exclaiming to myself ; "Who and why, in effing hell thought up such a complex gramatical labyrinth ?"...(of course, the Romans themselves had a much simpler system, relying, I suspect, more on sound inflection and gesticulation...the Latin we learn is really Medieval Latin..constructed in the Catholic Monastries)....and as I was spewing on this thought, I looked up and followed the line of the buildings and the road-edges going away, away to a converging point right across the (then) open courtyard dead straight to the front doors of the "University Of Adelaide Club". An accidental metaphor?...perhaps...but then it dawned on me...like, I suspect, it dawned on yourself with your essays...this entire "education sceme" is a structure that is not necessarily about "learning"...but more about "training"....Thorsten Veblen wrote that the whole idea of higher education was really to filter out those who would be pliable and usefull to the ruling class ...the "leisure class" as he succinctly put it! Your "Brother" did not teach you anything you did not already know, BB. but he did "train" you how to frame your writing to pass those exams....you were the more fortunate than I in that you were already part of an institution..; St Johns...(I believe)...and were taken under wing (however reluctantly) and "skilled up". I was from the "wasteland"...working-class / middle-aged male...I had only the enthusiasm..NOT the grammar!...but I scraped through it all....just! But here's the rub...Having got that piece "The Meaning of Treason" up, it was not cross-linked to ANY other site that usually links The Political Sword..I see one usual place has even linked TPS's Xmas Cheer message!....sure, I would have liked to see the piece spread around, for it's message rather than my vanity...christ!..if futile vanity was all I had to boost me in my fading years, I'd rather "bare my bum in Bangalore"...but I do wonder why it was ommitted...it was no more irrational or silly than any of the mutitude of articles that make their way to the web...but there is one thing...and AA. touched upon it when he first posted it..he said the charge of treason might make some "bristle"....and THAT is, I believe, where I crossed the line...and you can see it in Andrew Elders reply to my post there.... I had accused what could best be described as "The Fraternity" of higher education journalists and academia of a henieous crime...because there is seemingly a "common ground" understanding that is "trained" into select university graduates that (to put it simply) "one does not peach on a fellow"...one does not cross such a boundry of accusation as cannot be retracted.... To close..I remember sitting in a shell of a new building having smoko with another contractor there...the only one on this day..a tiler..an Italian...and being half-Italian myself, the conversation got around to children..."...and how many children do you have?" I asked....he was shelling a boiled egg...tilers have very short fingernails..and his short thick, calloused fingers were making a job of it...he sat silent across from me, the action in itself was an education , his fingers working on the egg and his tounge wetting his bottom lip..I thought he had not heard my question and I was about to repeat it, when he replied in a tired, fatalistic way..; "I do not have any children....I have movie stars."....and he bit on the egg and stared at me....he didn't have to explain, I knew, as I am sure YOU know, just what he meant.. And (bad grammar that!) I now use that metaphor to say that we, of the fifth estate, have few, real, Left-wing intellectual commentators, we have Grammatical Stylists... #2. Like many of us here and elsewhere on "progressive" sites, since the 2010 elections, I must have read thousands!...literally THOUSANDS of posts and articles, both encouraging the Left-side of politics and villifying the LNP. mob....So..taking the 2010 election result as ending in a roughly 50 / 50 Labor / LNP. and the fact that the 2013 election ended in a LNP. win, we have to conclude the intervening years and thousands of articles not only failed to deliver ONE extra vote to our side, but in fact we LOST many.......so whatever we argued for in those essays and articles, it was somewhat of a duffer!....the arguement didn't reach the intended ears nor touched the intended minds....our direction was all wrong, it would seem. I am suggesting we give a degree of consideration as to how we can reframe the discussion to draw in more readers. I have an idea, but will hold off while we, I hope, give some thought on the subject. I am going to cross-post this discussion (at least MY part) to the Political Sword to see what they think.

TalkTurkey

17/12/2013Patriciawa What a delight to see Tacker's thoughtful face again! Hope he and you are both well. Yes it's harder to get the motivation these days, but it seems to me that Abborrrrtt and his no-hoper cronies are giving us plenty, even if it is all even more negative than we feared. Remember Folks, what happens in the next 3 years has a lot to do with how the new Senate votes, and we must focus on WHO the new Senators are, individually, and lobby them for all we are worth to frustrate this wrecking-ball mob's agenda. In the meantime, keep the JOKES coming! Harry M Miller the entrepreneur hears a Dog barking just outside his door, he opens it to find a Dobermann Pinscher, a Dachshund and a fluffy Parisian Persian Pussycat standing there. [i]Garn SCAT![/i] he says, but the Dobermann speaks up boldly, [i]Look Harry [/i]he says, [i]We're an a capella group, we're after some gigs ... [/i] Harry interrupts rudely, [i]Arrr Bullshit Dogs and Cats can't sing![/i] [i]Please, Just give us a go Harry [/i]says the Dobermann, and Harry despite his disbelief decides that OK he'll see what they can do. To his amazement they prove very competent indeed, Dobermann woofing in basso profundo, Dachshund yapping continuously and the Cat yowling the high notes ... Harry lets them go through their paces, they sing excerpts from Wagner's Ring Cycle and songs by the Beatles, plus anything Harry asks them to do, they are really adaptable and highly skilled vocalists. Harry is uncharacteristically apologetic for his earlier rudeness and he says, [i]Gee you are really talented, such an unusual act too, sure, I can get you gigs anywhere, but first we have to agree on a contract ... Now, what are your names? [/i] The Dobermann says, [i]Well Harry, I Bark, der Dachshund's Often Bark, und dis is Der Pussy! [/i]

Catching up

17/12/2013Abbott on ABC thanking the super market chains for what they do. All about deficits. Nothing about three AAA ratings and an economy that the rest of the world was envious of. No longer applies.

2353

17/12/2013jaycee, I'm all for sharing and I noticed that PNCAU is picking up new TPS posts already - not sure if it does "The Pub" as well. Whirlpool has a wiki system on some of it's general interest forums that lists other relevant sources - for example there is a listing of special interest car forums in the Automotive section (see here -> http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=663012). Maybe there could be a similar list on some of the progressive forums - but it would require agreement from Minglo, Ad Astra, The Pub, PNCAU etc to make it happen. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * And in punishment for the previous jokes . . . Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine. A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking. Dijon vu - the same mustard as before. Practice safe eating - always use condiments. Shotgun wedding - A case of wife or death. A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy. A hangover is the wrath of grapes. Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play. Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion. Reading while sunbathing makes you well red. When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I. A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two tired. In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes. She was engaged to a boyfriend with a wooden leg but broke it off. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion. If you don't pay your exorcist, You get repossessed With her marriage, She got a new name and a dress. The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered. You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it. Local Area Network in Australia - the LAN down under. Every calendar's days are numbered. A lot of money is tainted - Taint yours and taint mine. A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat. He had a photographic memory that was never developed. Once you've seen one shopping centre, You've seen a mall. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses. Acupuncture is a jab well done.

Ken

17/12/2013jaycee You raise a lot of interesting points which will take more than one comment to address. So, first, the issue of education. Way back I posted about education as part of the 'socialisation' process and the way it supports capitalism. Western societies have an 'incomplete' socialisation process which leaves the way for people to question. To explain that, consider traditional Aboriginal society in which the socialisation was complete - when people went through 'the law' they learned all there was to know and understood their place in the cosmos. There was no room, and no need, to question. Change in such societies occur very slowly. But capitalism thrives on change. An incomplete spcialisation allows people to question - the intent being to improve production, create new products, etc etc. But [u]they[/u] know that some will use that questioning not to question and improve economic production (as intended) but to question social structures. Hence the system has built into it means to allow for that. When I first read this at university, I was involved in anti-Vietnam protests and was somehwat disheartened to realise that even my protests were a product of the system!! And don't be too hard on the 'grammarians'. Look at 'Revolution in the Revolution' by Regis Debray; 'Black Power: the politics of liberation in America' by Stokely Carmmichael and Charles Hamilton, 'Seize the Time' by Bobby Seale, etc etc. And my classic, "History will absolve me" - Fidel Castro's speech from the dock at his trial after the first failed attempted revolution in Cuba (obviously translated and a speech but such a long one I have little doubt much of it was pre-written). There is much classic revolutionary literature from the Left. Perhaps less in recent times but don't despair. It is still there to guide us. More to come (perhaps a bit later)

Catching up

17/12/2013Senate hearing in NBN now on Parliament site

Bacchus

17/12/2013"[quote]Having got that piece "The Meaning of Treason" up, it was not cross-linked to ANY other site that usually links The Political Sword.[/quote]" I'd like to flesh this one out a bit more if I could jaycee. How does this "cross-linking" normally occur? Is it the owners of the other sites deciding a piece should be linked to, or is there some sort of notification given to these other sites that a new piece has been posted? This is an area that the [i]TPS[/i] Team may look more closely into next year. We currently post on twitter when a new piece is posted and when Casablanca's Cache is posted. The [i]TPS[/i] Team twitter account now has nearly 600 followers, and I know Casablanca posts to twitter as well, picking up the thousands of followers of Lyn and others. I know Michael Taylor does a lot of cross-promotion of the AIMN & Cafe Whispers on facebook & twitter. Perhaps we need to get smarter about how we promote [i]The Political Sword[/i]. Something else to ponder over the next couple of months...

Ad astra

17/12/2013Patriciawa How good to see you back. I can understand your feelings, even more so when comparing what the Rudd/Gillard governments were able to achieve against the odds, with what our bumbling new government is doing. Maybe, come 2014, you will feel like commenting again. Abbott and Co will give us all plenty to comment about. All the best for the Festive Season.

Ad astra

17/12/2013jaycee I enjoyed reading your comment, cross-posted from [i]The Pub[/i]. Your comment “[i]I am suggesting we give a degree of consideration as to how we can reframe the discussion to draw in more readers”[/i], is one to which I resonate. If Lakoff is right, the superior framing of the conservatives overshadows that of the progressives. As progressives we need to do better, to choose familiar and agreeable metaphors to encapsulate our ideas and plans. Maybe our writings in the Fifth Estate could point to a more productive language for progressives.

Ad astra

17/12/2013Bacchus I agree that cross posting is an aspect we ought to explore. [i]TPS[/i] has facilitated cross posting via Lyn's links and now Casablanca's Cache.

Casablanca

17/12/2013Bacchus, I like the linking system on Grog's website.(left panel) http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com.au/ It appears to update automatically when a piece is posted to a handful of nominated sites. Its greatest time saving value is that it shows how many hours and days since a piece was updated. It saves me time when doing the Cache.

Catching up

17/12/2013I think, when it comes to the New Year, we will see a growth in these blogs. You only have to travel on public transport, to realize how many gather information and communicate with each other. A book,radio or newspaper is now a rarity. A big majority have earplugs in the ears, connected with to a tablet or smart phone. Even within the home, one does not see many young sitting in front of the TV. No most are to be found at the computer, or even more likely now, Ipad or tablet. Many of the sites, do complete in standard with the main steam media.

Catching up

17/12/2013Hockey now on.

jaycee

17/12/2013Ken...I am not "hard on the grammarians"...it's just that I suspect with so many progressive sites using such familiar "formulae" in style and structure of commentry, the right-wing has been able to "read" our modus operandi and in some cases pre-empt our outrage so that we are perhaps being caught too much "on the back foot". I am not proposing anything too litigious or crazy...but these following words of wisdom from the great Clarence Darrow, written in his octogenarian years gave me a clue to where we may be able to move the discussion. "The audience that storms the box-office of the theatre to gain entrance to a sensational show is small and sleepy compared with the throng that crashes the court-house door when something concerning real life and death is being laid bare to the public."

Bacchus

17/12/2013Thanks for that Casablanca. It appears BlogEngine.NET sites (like [i]TPS[/i]) and Blogger sites (like [i]Grog's Gamut[/i]) provide you with the feature of automatically retrieving the latest posts from the blogs on the blogroll "out of the box". WordPress sites need a Plugin to have this functionality... It's great to see [i]TPS[/i] included on Grog's blogroll! Yes Ad, Casablanca's Cache (and previously Lyn's Links) is doing a wonderful job of attracting readers to [i]TPS[/i]. Perhaps a facebook site similar to Michael's AIMN page (https://www.facebook.com/TheAustralianIndependentMediaNetwork?ref=br_tf) might be worth thinking about. It would need someone to look after it though...

jaycee

17/12/2013What I am proposing is that we set up a "parrell thread" much like the "little blog of gloats", or perhaps combine with other blogs to start a specific site and we call it something like ; "The Court Of Public Opinion"...and we bring to trial many of those seditious / treasonous journalists (using recognisable nom de plumes of course)...and we accuse them, we put them in the dock, we present evidence against them (gathered from their own words on the internet), we call for witnesses and evidence from the general public and we then try them, with all the accoutrements of a courtroom, incl' legal representation...a public theatre of the forth estate on trial! If found guilty, we call for public "thumbs up or down" to sentence them! I think it could be good fun over the summer.

Ken

17/12/2013jaycee Continuing my response, now to your main point at the end about ‘where to from here?’ for the Left on the Fifth Estate. I agree with you that all the blogs between the 2010 and 2013 elections appear to have had little influence. First a couple of negatives. With so many blogs, from around the world, available on the net, there is a tendency for people to settle on blogs that are in accord with their existing views. So blogs, whether Left or Right, are usually preaching to the converted. Second problem is that the world has changed. The 60’s (into the 70’s) was dominated by revolutionary and liberation movements around the world – an era when Africa was completing its decolonisation. It was no coincidence that the feminist movement in those days was called the ‘women’s liberation movement’. While most of the radical groups of the time did not achieve all they wanted, they did have an influence. The Black Panthers, for example, were too radical for most but the empowerment they represented for black Americans helped change the black American mindset and helped Martin Luther King. Since then, thanks largely (in my humble opinion) to Thatcher and Regan, economics has come to dominate political discourse. The old idea of an equal society has been subsumed, even by centre-left political parties, by the idea that equality cannot be achieved without a strong economy. There is some validity to that but the debate has moved too far in that direction. Those espousing social change are drowned out by the economists. This will not be changed in the short term. We also suffer from the fact that the strongest revolutionary movements these days are in the Middle East among Islamic societies and they tend to be right-wing, especially with the fervour of Muslim fundamentalists – so that does not provide any sustenance to the Left in the West. In this time, we are on our own. So where does that lead me? Left blogs can continue to attack Abbott and point out his mistakes but that is unlikely to have much influence on those who are not already leaning to Labor or the Left. But sell a positive message and it may attract new readers who are sitting on the fence. There is a major difference between taking a Left political stance and a more general, more radical left philosophical stance. There is room for both. At the moment the Left blogs tend to be reactive to political events. They rarely come out and say this is what the Left stands for or what the Left proposes should be done to improve the future. The book I reviewed, Pushing our luck, provides progressive policies for the future. There is scope for more radical prescriptions that my not succeed but, like the Black Panthers, add to the depth of the debate. Attacking Abbott’s mistakes is still a valid approach but it needs to be interspersed with more positive messages. [can expand on this another time]

Catching up

17/12/2013I am not sure, when connected to twitter and Facebook, we do not have some influence. Why are we saying we do not. There are increasing hits on all left wing sites. They must come for something. After women, the biggest shift from Abbott are the young. Try saying to some young person in your vicinity, that Abbott is mad. You may get a surprise, they just might quickly agree with you. Growing numbers of hits means something. We should stop selling ourselves short. Yes, it is time to move to the next step. I find it exciting.

jaycee

17/12/2013Can I try my hand at a bit of Black humour? "If this govt' doesn't start killing people soon, no-one's gonna take them seriously!"

Pappinbarra Fox

17/12/2013Education ..... ? Should have only aim - to teach people to think. More specifically to teach people to think analytically and creatively (the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive). Reading, writing maths and science are all just tools to learn to think better. Treason....? I am ambivalent about it. Once it was pretty clear - anyone trying to overthrow the Crown, but nowadays that clarity has been lost. Which portion of a community or society decides what is treason (against its core beliefs)? Communities are no longer (were they ever?) homogenous entities with homogenous core values or beliefs, so how do we decide if one set prevails over another's? Cheers

Catching up

17/12/2013"[quote][/quote]"If this govt' doesn't start killing people soon, no-one's gonna take them seriously!" Do not worry Jaycee, this will happen when this government manages to weaken the power of the unions, and rescind health and safety regulations, as they plan. Might even come sooner in the mining industry, with all the projects that Hunt is busily approving. Yes, will lead to deaths and damage to the environment we live in much irreversible.

Catching up

17/12/2013treason, anyone that undermines the society we live in, and takes power from the majority.

Ken

17/12/2013Catching up Agree there is some influence but how much is the key question. On past evidence it does not appear great outside those already leaning to Labor and the left. Perhaps now, given the performance of the government, there are more people looking at alternatives. I also recall looking at some polling figures and those between 18 and 40 were around 55% Labor. It was the older age groups that were a similar figure to the LNP. Obviously they didn't all vote that way in the last election. But I agree that some young people who may have voted LNP are now looking the other way.

Ken

17/12/2013jaycee @1:57 I think it is the 'outrage' that is predictable. In the Larkoff quotes that Ad used in his last article, there was reference to the progressive (left) think-tanks being reactive and issues focused, whereas the Right has a long term economic rationalist vision. We need to promulgate the Left vision, not just be 'outraged' and reactive. I have thoughts on this that I will pursue another time.

Bacchus

17/12/2013Sounds like you've got another article almost "written" in your head Ken... ;-)

Bacchus

17/12/2013"[i]Why are we saying we do not.[/i]" I don't think anyone is saying that Cu - it's more about how we can do better; reach a wider audience...

Catching up

17/12/2013treason, anyone that undermines the society we live in, and takes power from the majority. Jaycee, I am not sure we are not just be 'outraged' and reactive. Yes, we are disappointed, and worry about the harm this government can do. We, in my HO, stick to what they are doing and saying, giving reasons for our concern. Being outraged, gets one nowhere. In fact, we do not have to be. All we have to do, is ensure we get as much of this government, out into the public domain, that we can. People can make up their own minds.

Michael

17/12/2013Lord George Brandis appoints Tim Wilson as our nation's Human Rights Commissioner. 'Dracula running the blood bank....???' Might be a case of the Libs being way too smart just like they were in the Howard era-rah-rah-rah. The Howard government got more than it planned for when it appointed Donald McDonald as ABC Chairman. I don't actually think Timmy's in the same cojone-league as D McD, but it would be a delicious turn-around if even 50% of the McDonald Factor came into play with Wilson suddenly confronted with coal-face human rights issues every day, issues he has to address from some place other than pat-on-the-back knee-jerk ideology.

jaycee

17/12/2013C U. Treason doesn't HAVE to be the taking up of arms against the state...a simple "Judas kiss" will do it...and all Lord Haw Haw did was media broadcasts to undermine the morale of the nation...and isn't that just what certain shock-jocks do? As for assessing the charge..I would say it could be judged as : "The measurable damage done to national infrastructure and social programs in place to heal and assist a majority of citizens"....particularly if those programs are deliberately dismantled to enrich a foreign national....AND such vandalism promoted by those IN THE PAY of that same foreign national...someone tell me THAT isn't treason of the first order!

Casablanca

17/12/2013 The ABC lives for another day: The Abbott government has appointed former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella to the board of the government-owned naval shipbuilding firm ASC Pty Ltd. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-appoints-sophie-mirabella-to-board-of-governmentowned-shipbuilding-firm-20131217-2zj2n.html

Ken

17/12/2013Bacchus @ 4:13PM Yes, perhaps three, or one in three parts!

jaycee

17/12/2013The Abbott government has appointed former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella to the board of the government-owned naval shipbuilding firm ASC Pty Ltd. Well!...that's gonna supply the company with a ready made "Tugboat Annie".

Catching up

17/12/2013Well Maybe her little girls can relax. Care can go back to daddy.

Casablanca

18/12/2013 [b]ANOTHER VAMPIRE APPOINTED TO THE BLOOD BANK[/b] Tim Wilson's appointment to Human Rights Commission 'dubious' Date: December 17, 2013 - 11:53PM Tony Wright and Dan Harrison The Abbott government has sent shockwaves through the anti-discrimination and political establishments by appointing one of the nation's most vociferous critics of the Human Rights Commission as its new chief. Tim Wilson, for the past seven years a policy director of the Institute of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank that early this year called for the abolition of the Human Rights Commission, will be known informally as the "Freedom Commissioner". In his words ... Tim Wilson's views [b]On discrimination:[/b] "You have a human right of freedom of association, you have a right of speech; I am not sure I am convinced there is a human right against discrimination, as abhorrent as it is." [b]On hate speech:[/b] "People have a right to free speech. They do not have a right not to be offended or insulted." [b]On free speech:[/b] "Understandably, we all go squeamish when we are called to defend the principle of free speech. We are never called to defend it when people say 'please' and 'thank you', only when individuals say something that at least someone doesn’t like ... But the solution is more speech, not less. We should preserve the right to speak out, mock them and ridicule them for the stupidity of their comments or the hate in their heart." [b]On the 'Bolt law':[/b] "Irrespective of what any individual thinks about how 18C [of the Racial Discrimination Act] has been used in the past, it should be repealed ... it fundamentally undermines the human right to free speech." [b]On the Human Rights Commission:[/b] "When there was a giant attack on [freedom of speech] the Human Rights Commission was completely missing in action and needs to be held to account for that." [b]On same-sex marriage:[/b] "Same-sex couples are far more likely to be positive contributors to the tax and transfer system because they are less likely to have children. Similarly, people in relationships are less likely to draw from the social welfare system. But despite paying a disproportionately higher contribution, they don’t get extended the same civil rights. It’s an extension of the 'no taxation without representation' argument. The same civil obligations should be matched with the same civil rights." http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tim-wilsons-appointment-to-human-rights-commission-dubious-20131217-2zj6j.html Stand by for the appointment of Cori Bernardi to take over as Director of the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Pty Ltd and Andrew Bolt to become Chairman of the ABC. Oh! and how about Fiona Scott, the sexy Member for Lindsay, to head up the Refugee Review Tribunal so that refugees will no longer cause traffic gridlock in Western Sydney.

TalkTurkey

18/12/2013Tim Wilson as Human Rights Commissioner (after demanding its abolition in September) Sophie Mirabella a job helping make submarines (after getting rolled for helping no-one but herself) Bridget Abborrrrrtt gets plum BMW promotional post (after Dad's Government rejected Holden security cars in favour of .. ?) . . ? . . (Betcha can't guess!) Rudd rehired ex-LNP staffer Mark Scott - originally the Lying Rodent's appointment- to head the ABC. And a number of other ex-Liars-Party operatives including Brendan Nelson to desirable positions. I can't help thinking the LNP is a lot smarter than Rudd. Well a whole lot cunninger anyway.

Michael

18/12/2013Abbott and Hockey promised there would be no hits on the health or education sectors by a Coalition government (and put special focus on improving indigenous lives). "Education cuts of more than $1.5 billion include dumping the trades training centre program and slashing before- and after-school care by $450 million. Indigenous Legal Aid faces a cut of $43 million. There are also cuts of $10 million from the Children's Medical Research Institute; $12 million from the Millennium Institute, one of the largest medical research institutes in Australia working on cancer and leukaemia research; and $15.1 million from the cancer care co-ordinators program. Hundreds of millions allocated for hospital redevelopments are also identified and $150 million has been cut from health services, including Westmead Hospital which will lose $100 million over three years. But the budget outlook measures are just the beginning." The above quoted from this article in The Canberra Times: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/joe-hockey-swings-the-axe-20131217-2zjbq.html?skin=text-only On the same day Tim Wilson is made the rebadged 'Freedom Commissioner', which, logically must mean that the Human Rights Commission is to be renamed the Freedom Commission (you hearing George Orwell in there? I am); and Sophie Mirabella, the 1 million dollars heiress to an estate ripped off from a dementia struck ex-lover, is parachuted into a plum job with taxpayers' holy dollars dripping into her ever-open purse. The Abbott gumnint is a synonym for cynicism, and at every point of the compass it touches, the very thesauric embodiment of "lie".

Ken

18/12/2013As expected it is jobs for the boys and girls of the LNP and its supporters. A bigger worry in this regard is that two High Court vacancies come up in 2015. If Abbott is still there you can imagine what type of judge will be appointed.

Michael

18/12/2013Hanging judges!

Ken

18/12/2013Hockey's approach to the budget is to cut expenditure. What ever happened to raising revenue? They are abandoning Labor revenue raising measures worth about $10 billion, and they gave $8.8 billion to the RBA (which it didn't ask for). The deficit in the current Budget is supposed to have grown from $30 billion to $47 billion. Does that mean it would only have been $28 billion if Hockey and Abbott hadn't taken the measures they have???? Of course not - it is Labor's fault!

42long

18/12/2013Anyhow they are not very subtle. Clear as Crystal as Tiny says. The truth is not in them...

Pappinbarra Fox

18/12/2013The National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC) was informed today of a series of cuts to the legal assistance sector as part of the Commonwealth Government’s MYEFO budget statement released today.Community Legal Centres assist disadvantaged people with legal problems. They are rights based organisations who assist tens of thousands of disadvantaged people each year across Australia.People who woul dhave no access to justice without CLC help. In short, the government will reduce funding across the legal assistance sector (CLCs, ATSILS, Aboriginal Family Prevention Legal Services and Legal Aid Commissions) by [b]$43.1million [/b]over the next 4 years. Funding to CLCs will be [b]reduced by $19.61million [/b]over the next four years. At this stage, the only details we have are that: • The only cuts in 2013/14 will be to the Environment Defenders’ Offices across Australia (about $1.2m in 2013/14). AGD: “This means that we will be canceling the direct agreements for additional funding allocated earlier this year with the EDOs, and will not be extending their service agreements under the Community Legal Services Program beyond 30 June 2014.” • Funding to PIAC (in NSW) not be extended (under the Community Legal Services Program) beyond 30 June 2014. • These two measures will mean a cut of about $3.5million in 2014/15. It is not currently expected that any further cuts in the CLSP (ie CLC funding program) will occur before July 2015, but there are about $4 million per annum of further cuts in the CLSP from July 2015 foreshadowed in today’s MYEFO statement. Cuts to ATSILS and FVPLS are also expected but we don’t have details of these.

Ad astra

18/12/2013Folks We are now getting on the road to the south coast. I'll be back tomorrow.

Pappinbarra Fox

18/12/2013From Crikey: Well let’s apply Joe’s test to himself. Yesterday’s documents show that, even after a revenue writedown of nearly $5 billion this year between PEFO and MYEFO, Hockey will still have revenue of nearly $14 billion more than in 2012-13, or an increase of 4%, well ahead of inflation. Yet despite this surge in revenue, somehow Joe is still on track to double Labor’s 2012-13 deficit of $19 billion. [quote]http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/12/18/can-hockey-use-his-myefo-con-for-real-reform/[/quote]

TalkTurkey

18/12/2013Waleed Aly taking the piss out of puffed-up sneering RW creep Tim Wilson the new "FREEDOM COMMISSIONER" Listen to the bit about 5.45 - 6.15 in the interview. Waleed is OK by me! http://www.abc.net.au/radio/player/rnmodplayer.html?pgm=RN%20Drive&pgmurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fradionational%2Fprograms%2Fdrive%2F&w=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fradionational%2Fmedia%2F5162504.asx&r=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fradionational%2Fmedia%2F5162504.ram&t=Australia%27s%20new%20%27Freedom%20Commissioner%27&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fradionational%2Fprograms%2Fdrive%2Faustralia27s-new-27freedom-commissioner27%2F5162504&p=1#

jaycee

18/12/2013The LNP. / IPA. /Murdoch / Mining interests are not in the least interested in “stable” govt’ or society..they are bringing about a type of “controlled anarchy”, where it will be dog-eat-dog scramble for employment, there-by keeping wages down to a minimum with communities divided to the maximum.. Their method to control such a society will be with the usual brutality…. “Wars and panics on the stock exchange, machinegun fire and arson, bankruptcies and warloans, starvation, lice, cholera and typhus: good growing weather for the House of Morgan”……………..John Dos Passos (USA.

Pappinbarra Fox

18/12/2013Ian MacAuley at [i]New Matilda [/i]said: [quote]There is no economic logic in the Government's microeconomic decisions. It’s OK to let Holden go to the wall — in fact, to encourage its demise — but it’s important to support a chocolate factory with a $16 million grant, to sustain a tax rort supporting the German luxury car industry, and to keep on spending $4 billion a year subsidising private health insurers. Graincorp must be protected from foreigners, but Qantas, even though it is in intense competition with subsidised airlines, needs no help. States should be free to allocate their education funding as they wish, but the Commonwealth will make sure it gets its way in road funding.[/quote] https://newmatilda.com/2013/12/17/you-cant-run-nation-tricks-and-groupthink

42long

18/12/2013The only consistent with them is their inconsistency. The only truth left for Pnoney to utter is. "You can't believe a word I say". ALL the faults he points out in others he has in abundance. This is just projection. Govern for ALL Australians, but like Toad Hall some are more entitled than others. From those who have not more shall be taken and bestowed on the already well off. It's CLASS WARFARE when they complain of being ripped off, like with super contributions where the lower paid actually pay more than they would have paid in straight tax to put it into a super fund. Income tax levied when you hit $120 a week. Tony's pollie pedal was more than that each day. Private education the only one doing well because that is where the privileged go. This is clear as crystal. Sure ... It's clear we are heading for a much more UNFAIR society here. This IS a MEAN NASTY GOVERNMENT. Showing it's true colours. You got there by deception ABBOTT and I hope the people wake up to you and you get the treatment you deserve. The quicker the better because you cause damage. It's in your DNA.

Catching Up

18/12/2013Once every three months, I buy the Telegraph, for the crosswords when I am traveling. There was page after page, of a positive front on what Hockey had to say, putting Labor in a unbelievable bad light. Nothing about world events, that have impact on the economy. We have Abbott now saying, one cannot subsidize industry out of trouble. We now seeing, for the first time, what this PM and his cronies are about. They believe fully in the free market. One can ask, free who for. If one bought the Telegraph, on their way out shopping, they would have put the wallet back into the pocket, and return home quickly.

Catching Up

18/12/2013Some good news, in the seas of gloom that we have at this time. [quote]The High Court’s decision to strike down Premier Barry O’Farrell’s political finance reforms comes as no surprise. The writing was on the wall after they received a hostile reception at a hearing in November. What was unexpected was how the court reached this result. It was argued by Unions NSW that the law breached the implied freedom of political communication in the Australian Constitution. This freedom was first recognised in 1992, when the High Court struck down a law banning electronic advertising during election periods. The freedom means that laws can only restrict political communication if they are proportionate to achieving a legitimate purpose, such as public safety or preventing corruption. Where no adequate justification exists, laws are struck down as being inconsistent with the Constitution. The implied freedom appears to have a broad reach, but in fact has been a weak protector of freedom of speech. Repeated attempts to invoke the protection have failed. The High Court has only applied the freedom to strike down two laws in the past 21 years, the first being in 1992, and the second toda........... Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/writing-was-on-the-wall-for-political-donations-law-20131218-2zkk0.html#ixzz2no1dJjui[/quote]

jaycee

18/12/2013What this bunch of fools do not realise is that our international neighbours are watching them...watching US...we are a very big land mass with very few people in comparison to other nearby nations..with the callous disregard this govt' is showing as a "caring" nation, a "global responsible" nation, a "cooperative member" of Asian nations, we lose, little by little, mistake by mistake, arrogance by arrogance, our legitimacy to remain in posession of this land as a "soverign nation" and not just seen as another illigitimate colony of plundering opportunists...lacking concern and fraternity with our neighbours..themselves needing little encouragement by our example of despised colonial behaviour. History records most objectively in gory detail, the ugly end results of such ugly, recalcitrant colonies.

Catching Up

18/12/2013I see that Abbott believes, losing ones job at GMH. liberates one. Suggest he follow his own belief, liberate himself, by moving aside from being PM. Time to let someone with ability to have a go.

Curi-Oz

18/12/2013TT, it strikes me that Mr Aly is not overly impressed with Mr Wilson. I've rarely heard him snipe so heartily!

Catching Up

18/12/2013I believe the deficit is about the norm over the last few years, including GFC, at less than 3% of GDP. What is of greater concern, is the growing gap between rich and poor. We have seen over the Howard and beginning of the Rudd years, tax cuts, that gave more to higher income earners. Added to this, was the breakout of rebates, that further increase the inequality when it comes to taxes, or as I see it, paying ones way.

TalkTurkey

19/12/2013Carly ‏@msradiograph 18m Latham on PM: On the policy front, nothing – a vacuous malaise as the electorate waits for something to happen. http://m.afr.com/p/opinion/abbott_appears_to_be_out_of_ideas_HNUBlzo3N2SXoApK0iqT5L …

Casablanca

19/12/2013 [b]Who's less free: Andrew Bolt, or children in detention?[/b] Rachel Ball [quote]Over 1,000 children are still locked up. They are more in need of the attention of the Australian Human Rights Commission than a powerful commentator[/quote] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/19/whos-less-free-andrew-bolt-or-children-in-detention?CMP=soc_568 To our eternal shame, it appears that the answer is that Andrew Bolt's 'freedom' is more important to Senator Brandis & Abbott than that of the children (and adults) in detention.

Catching Up

19/12/2013International court of justice has ordered Australia to return all the material they stole from that solicitor in Canberra. Hard for Abbott to ignore. ABC 24 news

Casablanca

19/12/2013 [b]Showing your colours: the good and bad of academics joining political parties [/b] Inger Mewburn [quote]While academics on the whole tend to be left-leaning, the sciences and engineering disciplines are more likely to lean to the right. However recent cuts to higher education research funding, from both the right and the left of politics, might have left academics of both stripes feeling disenchanted.[/quote] https://theconversation.com/showing-your-colours-the-good-and-bad-of-academics-joining-political-parties-20464

Casablanca

19/12/2013 [b]A Thought Leader's life[/b] David Brooks. The New York Times [quote]Little boys and girls in ancient Athens grew up wanting to be philosophers. In Renaissance Florence, they dreamt of becoming humanists. But now a new phrase and a new intellectual paragon has emerged to command our admiration: the Thought Leader....Many people wonder how they, too, can become Thought Leaders and what the life cycle of one looks like. The tragedy of middle-aged fame is that the fullest glare of attention comes just when a person is most acutely aware of his own mediocrity. By his late 50s, the Thought Leader is a lion of his industry, but he is bruised by snarky comments from new versions of his formerly jerkish self. Of course, this is when he utters his cries for civility and good manners, which are really just pleas for mercy to spare his tender spots...[/quote] http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/a-thought-leaders-life-20131218-2zlj7.html#ixzz2nt10D8Do

Casablanca

19/12/2013 [b]Scott Morrison nominated as Australian of the Year[/b] [quote]Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has been named as one of the nominees for Australian of the Year, to be decided on Australia Day next year. It is believed the nomination came as a ‘captain’s pick’ from the Office of the Prime Minister. The Herald’s inside sources have claimed that the nomination was for the Minister’s exemplary service to the Commonwealth and an undying drive to “stop the boats” and “protect Australia’s freedom from the invading force”. The source claimed that the nomination was “in the works for months” and because the nomination is handpicked by the Prime Minister, Morrison is favourite to be 2014 Australian of the Year.[/quote] http://burdekinherald.com/2013/12/13/scott-morrison-nominated-as-australian-of-the-year/

Casablanca

19/12/2013 'Operation Sovereign Borders not only steals our humanity... it steals our joy, hope, expectations..Anglican Gosford Church Billboard https://twitter.com/peibbed/status/412768861306376192/photo/1

Casablanca

19/12/2013 [b]My $4000 drug habit[/b] John Birmingham [quote]I wasn’t always like this, you know. I didn’t shake so much when I was hanging out for it. My head didn’t hurt when I went a day without a taste. I wasn’t always looking down back of the couch cushions for coins to pay for my next hit. There was a time, a long time ago now, when I didn’t even touch the stuff. Didn’t understand people who did. Thought they were weak. Thought they were losers. But I spent over $4000 on store bought coffees this year, so who’s the loser now?[/quote] http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/blogs/blunt-instrument/my-4000-drug-habit-20131218-2zlmv.html#ixzz2ntXBGtRw

TalkTurkey

19/12/2013Salutations Comrades, S'posed to be the bare 43 in Adelaide today, I'm sitting in my RV, glad I'm not a Koala or other Aussie species out there in the heat. Well The Polls(ters) tell us that Labor is doing fairly well ... Fed me Duck! Surely the fact is that Abborrrttians are making such a fly-blown stinking pig's breakfast of everything - Yes EVERYTHING, surely? - that Labor would have to be advocating forced sterilization for all at puberty to be [i]losing[/i] support from where we were in September. But I can't think Labor is doing much that's go-getter positive since the election ... I wonder if Dear Readers can make the same [i]segue[/i]as I did to this old drinking-song verse (which I can't find online sadly): When the calf died, then they gave us veal; When the pig died, pork for every meal; The Farmer's wife was sick today - [i]We might have meat for tea![/i] As in: Gonski's gone, that gained us 2 percent! 2 points more when our MSM went! When all our golden eggs are sold, We'll own the whole dead goose!

Casablanca

19/12/2013 [b]Whitlam, the 1960s and the program[/b] [quote]The cyclones of the late 1960s and early 1970s didn’t shape the Whitlam government as much as gentler breezes that began blowing in the 1950s and early 1960s, writes Frank Bongiorno in this extract from The Whitlam Legacy[/quote] http://inside.org.au/whitlam-the-1960s-and-the-program/#sthash.kmSTnBEb.dpuf

N'ellie May

19/12/2013Hi everyone, just dropped in to wish you all the best of the season and for next year. Unfortunately I have been challenged for time due to grand-kids and volunteering at my local school in the library. Like Patriciawa, my light went out with Julia, but I'm still able to drop in from time to time and just love to know thar you're still here. What great efforts you all put in and it's always like coming back to a caring community each time. Thank you all and please keep up your big hearted writing and fighting spirits.

Catching Up

19/12/2013Julie Bishop visits Nauru but does not bother to visit the camps.

Michael

19/12/2013Hugh Jackman and Deborah-Lee Furness fell right into an Abbott-trap today. He does no more than what he used to excoriate Kevin Rudd for doing... announces a review: "Overseas adoption could become easier after prime minister Tony Abbott set in train a review to report in early 2014." www.theguardian.com/ society/ 2013/ dec/ 19/ ,,,and they're falling all over themselves in a giddy photo-op to applaud the 'caring PM'. Reviews and celebs at Kirribilli House. Two 'signatures' of Kevin Rudd. And now Tony Abbott. Vacuous, arrogant, self-centred, rolled. Oh come on, history, repeat yourself, and don't hang about doing it!

khtagh

19/12/2013Merry Xmas to all Swordies. This is very sobering reading, something we cant help but act on, or grow rubber necks. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dahr-jamail/climate-change-science_b_4459037.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Science

Casablanca

19/12/2013 An Abbott Christmas Carol (02:52) Ebenezer Abbott has learnt a lot about saving money this year and he wishes a financially advantageous yuletide for all. With Anthony Scrooge Ackroyd. http://media.canberratimes.com.au/featured/an-abbott-christmas-carol-5018449.html

TalkTurkey

19/12/2013IACM emails me its Bulletin monthly. Every month come several new pieces of research which almost all promise medical benefits to our species. I've republished it here in its entirety IACM-Bulletin 15.12.2013 Newsletter Studies Database of Clinical Studies Law and Politics Medical Possibilities Frequently asked Questions Top-News Science/Human [b]Cannabis does not cause schizophrenia, a study of Harvard University finds [/b]A new study from Harvard University may help dismiss concerns about the link between cannabis use and schizophrenia. While many still debate the potential for cannabis to cause schizophrenia, researchers at Harvard Medical School say there has “yet to be conclusive evidence that cannabis use may cause psychosis.” Their latest study, published last week in the journal Schizophrenia Research, adds ... more [b]Uruguay The country becomes the first to legalize cannabis trade[/b] Uruguay became the first country to legalize the growing, sale and use of cannabis on 10 December. A government-sponsored bill approved by 16-13 votes in the Senate is aimed at wresting the business from criminals in the small South American nation. Cannabis consumers will be able to buy a maximum of 40 grams each month from licensed pharmacies as long as they are Uruguayan residents over the age ... more USA American Herbal Pharmacopoeia announces finalization of historic cannabis monograph On 10 December the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) announced the finalization of a monograph on Cannabis. Like all AHP monographs, the publication provides standards of identity, purity, analysis, and quality, as well as information on the cultivation and storage of the botanical and its preparations. [b]According to AHP President Roy Upton; “Cannabis has been used medicinally pretty much ... more[/b] Science/Human Cannabis is used as a substitute for alcohol and other drugs by many patients [b]A large number of Canadian citizens, who use cannabis for medical reasons, use it as a substitute for alcohol, illegal substances and medicinal drugs.[/b] This is the result of a survey conducted by researchers of the Centre for Addictions Research in Victoria, Canada, and other institutes conducted at four medical cannabis dispensaries located in British Columbia. A 44-question survey was used to ... more News in brief [b]Morocco Political party holds hearing for legalizing cannabis[/b] One of Morocco's main political parties has started the process of legalizing cannabis cultivation with an informational hearing in parliament over its industrial and medical uses. The hearing held by the Party for Authenticity and Modernity, or PAM, is the first step in eventually introducing a draft law to legalize the widely grown cannabis plant - an economic staple in the mountainous north of the country. Associated Press of 4 December 2013 Jamaica The country launches its first company for medical cannabis [b]Jamaica announced the launch of its first medical cannabis company.[/b] Jamaican Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton participated in a ceremony in the capital, Kingston, on 3 December where the opening of the company known as MediCanja was formally announced. The company will focus initially on research and product development involving cannabidiol (CBD), company officials said. Reuters of 4 December 2013 [b]Economy Patent for use of cannabinoids in treating brain tumours[/b] GW Pharmaceuticals announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for a patent which covers the use of cannabinoids for treating glioma. Glioma describes any tumour that arises from the glial tissue of the brain. The subject patent specifically covers a method for treating glioma in a human using a combination of cannabidiol (CBD) and THC wherein the cannabinoids are in a ratio of from 1:1 to 1:20. Press Release by GW Pharmaceuticals of 11 December 2013 [b]Europe Drug policy advocacy organisations in Europe[/b] The EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction) issued a 24-page paper on organisations involved in drug reform. They identified 218 organisations in 30 countries actively seeking to influence drug policy. EMCDDA Paper Science/Cells A new mechanism on the actions of CBD Scientists investigated the mechanisms of CBD’s action in microglial cells of the brain. They found out that CBD changed the function of mitochondria and reduced the action of a certain protein on the outer mitochondrial membrane, the so called VDAC1. The mitochondria are the power plants of the cells. [b]Authors wrote that “the inhibition of VDAC1 by CBD may be responsible for the immunosuppressive and anticancer effects of CBD.” [/b]Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel. Rimmerman N, et al. Cell Death Dis. 2013 Dec 5;4:e949 Science/Animal [b]Amino acids in hemp seed protein may reduce blood pressure [/b]A new study with spontaneously hypertensive rats suggests that hemp seed meal protein hydrolysate “could be used as a therapeutic agent for both the prevention and treatment of hypertension.” Protein hydrolysates are enzymatically pre-digested for maximal speed of absorption of the amino acids. The hemp seed protein hydrolysate both prevented hypertension in young rats and reduced hypertension in older animals. Department of Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. Girgih AT, et al. Eur J Nutr. 2013 Nov 29. [in press] Science/Cells Cannabinoids could increase the effectiveness of radiotherapy in breast cancer [b]In a study with human breast cancer cells a synthetic cannabinoid (WIN55,212-2) increased the efficacy of radiotherapy.[/b] It promoted autophagy, which is degradation of the cancer cells. Authors also wrote that “the present study suggests that THC and nabilone are unlikely to interfere with the effectiveness of radiation therapy, which is of particular relevance to patients using cannabinoid-based drugs to ameliorate the toxicity of cancer therapies.” Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA. Emery SM, et al. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2013 Nov 20. [in press] Science/Animal Anandamide may increase vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaques [b]Inhibition of the endocannabinoid-degrading enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) was shown to increase atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability in mice. [/b] [Oh yeah right. ??! TT] This inhibition causes an increase in the concentration of the endocannabinoid anandamide. Inhibition of FAAH had no effect on plaque size. Klinik II für Innere Medizin, Universität Bonn, Germany. Hoyer FF, et al. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2013 Nov 25. [in press] [b]USA Bill Clinton says attitudes toward legalizing cannabis loosening up.[/b] Former U.S. President Bill Clinton says attitudes toward legalization of cannabis are loosening up. "The drug issue should be decided by people in each country, based on what they think is right," Clinton said during an interview. "We have a process in America for doing it that's being revisited state-by-state. And Latin America is free to do the same thing." UPI of 4 December 2013 Follow us on twitter @IACM_Bulletin where you can send us inquiries and receive updates on research studies and news articles © International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines

TalkTurkey

20/12/2013KHTAGH I cannot remember a time when the vision of a planet bereft of all life did not haunt me. Bereft of life only because of the behaviour of our own species. I suspect that similar thoughts are nothing new to yourself. I am always astounded that the awareness of the situation, as outlined in that piece you link to, isn't at saturation level, but the very people you'd think would care the most, the ones who have had children, focus all their thoughts on the [i]minutiae[/i] of their kids' future, buying them everything-plus the Joneses have, educating them, defending them fiercely against all short-term threats, never spending much time worrying about the future of the planet those kids will inherit. Many seem to live in denial, with an uncomprehending look and attitude that basically says, That can't be right, I've got kids! Religious people believe in Armageddon, vaguely, but God's got all that in order so they don't worry at all. And anyway we can always colonise Mars ... and some other planets ... She'll be right Mate, hey and how about how we creamed the Poms this time eh! What can I say now? Well ... as with the election, [i]I tried[/i]. I know you have too Little Grasshopper. And we are far from alone I know, but I fear we are far from enough. N'ellie May The foregoing notwithstanding, [i]billets doux [/i]such as yours are still uplifting! Thank you, and don't let your light go out completely ... (it hasn't, see) ... just keep your pilot light going at least, we'll need all of us as soon as the new parliamentary year begins, because then we must RALLY to fight the mad Abborrrtt.

Michael

20/12/2013Coalition 'government' removes safeguards for consumers seeking and following the recommendations of investment advisers. Another free pass for the carpetbaggers. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-20/coalition-makes-changes-to-future-of-financial-advice-reforms/5168742?section=act

Catching Up

20/12/2013If Abbott is so concerned about overseas adoptions, why did he disband the advisory committee, set up by Bronwyn Bishop, under Howard. They would like to know as well.

Ken

20/12/2013Michael Yes this is all part of removing the red tape that 'hinders' business. Ideally, they would like a standard wage of $3 an hour (a la Gina). As Catching Up mentioned earlier, I fear that this drive to reduce regulation will spread to workplace safety with fatal consequences.

42long

20/12/2013Watching so many achievement being swept away by a scheming Fraudman is devastating. The abbott has no sense of the worthwhile. People and the environment are there to be used (exploited) Respect!!! What's that? I demand it because I'm the PM. Not like that red headed Sheila that pinched it from ME last time. She didn't deserve any. No one I know voted for HER. Anyhow. Winners are Grinners. That's what it is all about, and I have a lot of mates who helped me fool the voters I have to pay back, to keep on side. Not what you know it's who you know and money talks. Remember how 20 million of advertising by the mining Industry buggered it for Ruddy?. I've got all the connections in all the right places, and setting it up better every day.

Michael

20/12/2013According to Michelle Grattan Abbott and family are off to Europe for a holiday. Wonder how much of the cost of this jaunt will be picked up by taxpayers?

Catching Up

20/12/2013Yes, off to Paris, but coming back to holiday at their normal abode.

Catching Up

20/12/2013One regulation that is being rescinded, is that Financial advisers must act in the best interest of the client. It seems that is too onerous for the industry. Too hard.

Catching Up

20/12/2013Yep Australia is indeed open for business. [quote]The Federal Government is planning a major shakeup of the Future of Financial Advice rules introduced by Labor. Many of the changes would overturn reforms introduced in the wake of the Storm Financial collapse, in which some investors lost their life savings because of conflicted financial advice. One of the proposed changes would water down a key provision to obliges financial advisors to always act in the best interests of their clients. The Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos says that is just one area where Labor's reforms went too far. AUDIO: Govt to overhaul Labor's financial advice reforms (AM) "Having a catch-all creates uncertainty, certainly in the minds of advisors, about whether they've done everything they can in the provision of advice," he said. "When you create that uncertainty, you don't know how that will distort the behaviour and you don't know whether that actually inhibits advisors from giving the best possible advice because they become particularly risk-averse." The Government also wants to remove the "opt-in" requirement, which forces financial advisors to contact fee-paying clients every two years to renew their contacts. It would also scrap rules requiring financial advisors to disclose how much they charge clients in annual fees. Senator Sinodinos says the reforms will save $90 million in implementation costs and cut compliance burdens by $190 million per year. While admitting the overhaul will be challenging, he says consumers will be better protected. "Nobody can ever guarantee in all circumstances that there will never be another financial collapse of any kind, or that advisors will in all circumstances give good advice," he said. "But what we need to do is have a system that maximises to prospects of good advice at an affordable price."[/quote] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-20/coalition-makes-changes-to-future-of-financial-advice-reforms/5168742 The business of rorting, that is.

42long

20/12/2013Trillions of dollars out there in superfunds just waiting for your mates to swindle it from the people who cannot run their race again Arthur. TOO MUCH TO RESIST. Here's a wild thought Create a Bank that acts in the interests of it's customers ( Not the CEO's and investors) Investors are those who coma along after the bank is established and gamble. CEO's write a pay package where the money is related to share price growth. Come in and shed capital and staff and when the share price goes up (as it does when you do those things) get Out. For this sort of genius behaviour you get something like $15 million. Live in another world.

Pappinbarra Fox

20/12/2013Those banks exist now They are called Mutual Banks I am a member of one

Curi-Oz

20/12/2013Why do I feel like laughing cynically? I've just received the following from one Nick Paine ... <quote>I would like to extend my thanks to you for your continued support with the petition and throughout the campaign arranged by the ‘Save the NBN’ team. With the release of the strategic review this past week, unfortunately the government’s now current NBN plan falls short of what we are all striving for. However in saying this, due to overwhelming support from yourself, countless Australians and media, for the nations preferred FTTP/FTTH NBN model, the onus is now well and truly on the government and NBN Co. to not drop the ball going forward after an already questionable and shaky beginning since the election. It has been a much longer than anticipated road so I would like to thank you again for your ongoing support these past several months. While this marks the end of our petition, Alex and the ‘Save the NBN’ team will remain active and continue the fight. They can be followed via Facebook at facebook.com/SavingTheNBN or via Twitter at twitter.com/savingthenbn Thank you again for your involvement, Nick, Alex and the Save the NBN team.</quote> I really hope this young person has learned that believing the propaganda does not necessarily lead to the "promised" outcomes!

jaycee

20/12/2013Jeezus, that Bazz Cazz is a crawling sop!....what a wet-nose!..I wonder what they have got on him??

khtagh

20/12/2013Hi TT Thanks, I have the very real worry that the powers to be just don't know how to tackle the problem, Nero Rome springs to mind. Why this is not running as #1 news story just leaves me flabbergasted. Well we all know who is to blame controlling information he just wants to make sure the rest of us don't live much longer than him when he shuffles off the perch. Like you say we [i]tried[/i] now we can sit back & watch the slow train wreck of the country over the next 3 yrs. Knowing in all clear conscience [i]'well we did tell you'[/i].

Michael Taylor

20/12/2013Merry Christmas to all the team here at TPS and to all its wonderful commenters. What a great job you've done. Ad Astra set the bar very high but I must admit that the new team has had no trouble leaping over it. Enjoy your Christmas break. Rest well. We will be busy in 2014.

TalkTurkey

20/12/2013Miglo You are a wonderful [b]encourager[/b], there is no more valuable role in any situation. Thank you for your kind words. You're wrong about our ability to leap Ad astra's bar though. His bar is THE Bar as far as I'm concerned, his writings and attitudes are pure sanity and good sense. No-one has Ad's gravitas... The rest of us just do our best. And you are doing a great job yourself on your blogs Michael. You always have done. Fight on Comrade.

TalkTurkey

20/12/2013Adelaide has baked for the last two days. Now there's a cool dusty gusty gale threatening to lift roofs! Or rooves.

TalkTurkey

20/12/2013KHTAGH I've said it since the 70's: The world is going to hell in the too-hard basket. Deepest sadness.

TalkTurkey

20/12/2013This is interesting, from the author of Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Cannery Row and much more. Letters of Note ‏@LettersOfNote 1h John Steinbeck died on this day in 1968. Here's a letter he wrote in 1959 on morality, greed, and Christmas: http://bit.ly/ZlDjst

2353

21/12/2013Thanks Migs for the greetings and praise, it is appreciated. I hope CW, AIMN and you personally continue to gain in strength throughout 2014. P.S. I still lurk over there - I just don't get much opportunity to post.

TalkTurkey

21/12/2013David Marr can barely control his anger at @ScottMorrisonMP after today’s asylum seeker press conference http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/dec/20/david-marr-scott-morrison-video?CMP=soc_568 … #auspol #LNP

Michael Taylor

21/12/2013You're correct, TT. Ad Astra is in a class of his own.

Michael

21/12/2013The French have a word, con, that sums up the Abbott gumnint. A case of bilingualism that serves up a precise definition. A noun in French, a verb in English.

Janet (j4gypsy)

21/12/2013Very late I am to the Summertime [i]TPS[/i] party – but a spec of free time to play, at last. (Because if you can’t play in summertime, when can you :-).) Bacchus at December 15. 2013 03:39 PM: your acknowledgement of the members of the [i]TPS[/i] team was indeed lovely. Thank you, and don’t forget … YOU! Without you, nothing in text would appear on the [i]TPS[/i] web pages – and that’s just for starters. And by the way, you happen to write beautifully. Maybe you should think about a short piece as a discussion starter – for some time in 2014? No, seriously. Ken, at December 16. 2013 12:51 PM. Thank you for your kind words. Just let me say that it has really been the most superb team effort to ‘reset’ how [i]TPS[/i] functioned in these last three months, and each member has been so accommodating and generous – I think I’ve learned a good deal more than I ever knew about how teams can build and work. I’ve loved the bits and pieces of ‘visuals’ other Swordsters have offered this week. Although late, I wanted to add to the pile some video clips on [i]YouTube[/i] that were produced by NormanK, over the years a stalwart and profoundly insightful contributor to [i]TPS[/i], though not with us so much in this last year or so. NormanK turned his prodigious talents to some of the best original videos circulating during this election year and campaign, some satiric but not all. They deserve to be circulating still. One for ‘remembering’: ‘Thank you Julia’ : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moVXQzU0pOM Some for Tony: ‘Tony Abbott - Feeding in the Wild’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s552vFtUMI ‘A Love Song for Tony’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK5xDjT-jRU And one for the #msm: ‘ABC 7.30 Running With the Pack’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh2spRvIY30 Enjoy :-)

Janet (j4gypsy)

21/12/2013Pappinbarra Fox December 16. 2013 09:41 AM You wrote: [i]I have no doubt that soem blog somewhere is doing this already - if so can someone direct the TPSters to the site: Making a list of the Boards/Agencies/Teams that Abbott has abolished or foreshadowed abolition of since talking offcie. Sujch a list could include a column indicating whether the specific abolition was indicated prior to the election or not. Anyone?[/i] Have turned up several articles/comments that partly do this but not in the neat comparative way you are looking for: A comment on Crikey's Poll Bludger at http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2013/12/15/seat-of-the-week-grey/?comment_page=13/#comment-1870866 From The Vine: 'A hundred days of Abbott': http://www.thevine.com.au/life/news/100-days-of-abbott-reasons-to-be-hopeful-20131218-269954/

Catching Up

21/12/2013Has Abbott left the country yet?

Jason

21/12/2013Some hilarity from Denis Shanahan at the OZ! Yet, as we approach the first 100 days of the Abbott government since the swearing-in, which falls on Boxing Day, a sense of calm, competence or serenity in the Prime Minister's suite in Parliament House is the last image presented to the public. Instead, there is continual talk of chaos, a "chaotic government", a blundering Prime Minister damaging foreign relations, a "rocky start", a cruel and uncaring government, a Liberal leadership that wants to "destroy jobs" and hates workers. It's a government that keeps changing its mind and breaks its election promises, led by a foreign-policy klutz and an economic troglodyte who harks back to the social and economic policies and theories of BA Santamaria and the 1950s. This is a profound misreading of Abbott and his government and a grossly distorted exaggeration of where Australia is right now. Of course, Abbott, his advisers and colleagues have made some big mistakes in their early days and there are signs that the clunky nature of the machinery of Coalition government will continue for some time yet. But to suggest Australia is in the hands of a chaotic government bent on destroying the economy by chasing away investment and killing jobs to pursue its purely ideological ends is, once again, to underestimate and misread Abbott and rely on a false narrative. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/tony-abbott-model-of-a-cool-calm-and-collected-pm/story-e6frg75f-1226787770334#

Catching Up

21/12/2013" underestimate and misread Abbott and rely on a false narrative." Yes, to say they are chaotic is not true. Dangerous for one to think that. Abbott and Co, are working strictly, in a methodical manner to their set agenda. Nothing is going to get in their way. Never under estimate this mob. What us amazing, is the inability of any of them, to see the where their actions, ideology and beliefs is leading the country. They are blind to the consequences of their actions.

Pappinbarra Fox

21/12/2013Thanks Gypsy I'll check them out if this link lasts - what I wouldn't give for a FTTH broadband network. Oh well very much a pipe dream now I guess.

TalkTurkey

21/12/2013Direct quote from Dennis Shanahan: [i](...as we approach the first 100 days of the Abbott government ...) there is continual talk of chaos, a "chaotic government", a blundering Prime Minister damaging foreign relations, a "rocky start", a cruel and uncaring government, a Liberal leadership that wants to "destroy jobs" and hates workers. It's a government that keeps changing its mind and breaks its election promises, led by a foreign-policy klutz and an economic troglodyte who harks back to the social and economic policies and theories of BA Santamaria and the 1950s.[/i] Never thought I'd hear you say that Dennis. We'll be friends yet. With all the disappointment and discouragement of the recent disaster it's hard not to think a pox on all one's countrymen, and it's true there seem to be lots of dumb &/or nasty people Out There. But gee there's also a lot of wonderful lovely ones too. Ones like here on TPS - like most of the Fighting 5th Estate. Don't know what I'd do without you-all now. Keep talking Comrades.

Casablanca

22/12/2013 [b]Scrapping super for those who need it most? [/b] Work part-time? Earn less than $37k? Know anyone who does? Today, the Federal Government announced plans to take from the retirement savings of those who need them most, while giving tax cuts to big mining – by scrapping the low-income super concession. Up until now, the Government would contribute $500 a year to those earning $37,000 or less, as a way of helping low-income earners save for retirement - a measure that makes superannuation far more equitable. The Coalition plans to repeal that. This move will see 3.5 million Australians worse off in retirement, and disproportionately hurt women, young people and rural Australians. We're not making this up. But the Abbott government has been good at keeping it quiet and right now, few people even know it's happening. If we work together to get the truth out there, there's a real chance we can stop these changes and protect the retirement savings of millions of Australians. Can you spread the word and share this infographic? https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/superannuation/lisc/scrapping-super-for-those-who-need-it-most

Casablanca

22/12/2013 [b]Why Rupert hates unions and Gina loves 457 visas[/b] Kaye Lee on December 22, 2013 The current political debate surrounding the power of unions, work choices, and the importation of workers on 457 visas, could be regarded as an attempt to disempower employees thus maintaining a compliant workforce. It is difficult for an individual to risk complaining about wages or working conditions, so removing the collective voice and protection of unions means people are unlikely to make waves if, by so doing, they risk unemployment or deportation. http://ozhouse.org/2013/12/22/why-rupert-hates-unions-and-gina-loves-457-visas/

Catching Up

22/12/2013Yes, the list like Pinocchio's nose, just keep growing. They seem to be working through all legislation, in a methodical, steady, calm.......manner. Nothing is diverting their focus from the task. It seems to be more now, than dismantling what Labor has achieved. It seems to be about removing any regulations and laws, that protect the community and small business from the excess of big business. Regulations, put in place by the Howard government are now going. It seems that this government does not believe in a fair and civil society. All laws that protect the people are going. All advisory bodies, and access to legal aid, have been disbanded. I suspect that there will be no aid, no matter how much it is warranted, to any company that cooperated with unions. I suspect this is the main reason GMH went. I believe they will assist Qantas, if the little man takes on the unions. What gets one, they show no concern of what the people think, or even what polling is telling them. They are so sure, in their belief in pure capitalism and the free market, they believe they are the only ones in step. They are marching to a band, only they can hear. Marching to a band, that many believe has been discredit, and will not deliver the golden age, they have put so much faith in. They care not what the public or even what the media think. They believe they are impervious to any backlash that may arise. Most of what they are dismantling will save very little money. They believe they are a law unto themselves. Does not make for a merry Christmas.

jaycee

22/12/2013To all the team and posters of TPS. I wish you a happy Xmas and a positive new year.

Catching Up

22/12/2013Jaycee, the same to you and all others that visit the site. Best wishes for the Christmas period and coming year.

Catching Up

23/12/2013Another day, another inquiry. RC into decision making process of the Labor government. Another say, another broken promise. No boat available Lovely precedent Abbott is setting. Suspect future Coalition Oppositions will curse him.

42long

23/12/2013Pathetic government. Gutless waffling vindictive mean spirited, undiplomatic, can't get to for answers, incompetent to the point of embarrassment expense account junkies. I'm finding it quite difficult to locate people who voted for them, or trolls who will tell good things of them.

Ad astra

23/12/2013Folks I've been absent for a few days busy with property maintenance, family gatherings, visitors, Christmas shopping, and preparing for the Festive Season and the kids that will arrive with their offspring. First, thank you for the Season's Greetings that many of you have left in your comments, which show how close-knit a family [i]TPS[/i] has become. To all of you who have supported [i]TPS[/i] so strongly over the years and who have commented so thoughtfully, and to Lyn and Casablanca, who have fed us a gourmet diet of links, I extend my heartfelt thanks. I wish you all a relaxing and peaceful Festive Season among your family, loved ones and friends. May the New Year bring happiness and satisfaction. We will resume normal activities in early February, when I expect the electorate will realise what it has done in electing an Abbott government. There will be plenty to write about.

john o'callaghan

23/12/2013I hope Malcom''' Let them eat copper''' Turnbull ends up the same way that Marie '' Let them eat cake'' Antoinette did.

BSA Bob

23/12/2013Merry Christmas to the TPS team & those who congregate here.

Curi-Oz

23/12/2013*falls about laughing* Have just been warned by the nephew that his dad thinks Mr Abbott is wonderful and that I should be aware of it as I am not likely to keep my mouth shut on Christmas Day. How well the youth knows me *laughs some more* Now to go compile lists of facts about how woeful Mr Abbott actually is for small businesses *evil grin*

Catching Up

23/12/2013Curi-Oz, offer no opinion, sit back and wait for him to tell all why Abbott is his hero. Encourage him to reveal what many fail to see. Going to be a quiet lunch, I would say.

khtagh

23/12/2013I have given Abbott a new description:- Abbott, the cane toad of Australian politics, all puffed full of venom, just as ugly too.

Ken

23/12/2013khtagh Like the description. The other thing I found with cane toads is that they are extremely stupid. I recall throwing a thong at one sitting on a log. I hit it. It fell off. I went to the log to pick my thong up and there was the cane toad still sitting on the other side. Most animals would have run off. Abbott doesn't know when he's been hit. As an ex-boxer he should know something about being punch-drunk. Or as stupid as a cane toad!!

2353

23/12/2013Ken, maybe Abbott's getting like Mohammad Ali was at the end. Michael Parkinson tells a story about interviewing him 3 or 4 times over a decade and noting the mental deterioration in that period. Apparently the first time, Ali was as smart as a tack - the last time he was flat out stringing two words together. Pretty sad really.

Catching Up

23/12/2013Neither the industry spokesman or Dutton available for comment on the biggest Health Fund rises since 2005. Funny, no mention of that big toxic tax fro this one. Did not seem to be any negotiation, as usual. Just ask, and Dutton obliges.

Catching Up

23/12/2013What does the nephew think?

khtagh

23/12/2013Ken we can add that in too, I'm probably happy to say I have never seen or lived with the buggers (cane toads) so I would not know this ironically apt trait. I wish I had kept up the Photoshop & flash tutorials I see a good meme.

Ken

23/12/20132353 And sad for Australia that we are stuck with him. My wife, not exactly a rabid lefty, can't stand him. He totally lacks any dignity as a Prime Minister. She particularly cannot stand the way he walks - his pugilistic style. Even I was embarrassed by it when I saw that he still walks that way even going into meetings with overseas Presidents. Someone should have marked his card early on - not Prime Ministerial material! He makes the whole country look worse than it is.

khtagh

23/12/2013Ken where you say [i]there was the cane toad still sitting on the other side. Most animals would have run off.[/i] This really is a lot like Abbott too, its [u]arrogance[/u]! the toad is saying [i]go on bite me see what happens[/i] Allot like Abbott with his media & rich backers.

Curi-Oz

23/12/2013Catching Up, as far as I can tell the nephew could not really give a stuff either way, but tends to sing Greens though I think he probably behaves "small L liberal" (the old fashioned kind) when he does give a stuff. I sometimes feel bad for seducing his uncle to the 'red side' *dry grins*

TalkTurkey

24/12/2013Greetings Comrades, "A ?nation ?country ?people gets the Government it deserves." http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_de_Maistre Or as my bro used to say in table tennis, [i]The ball only goes where you put it.[/i] All very well but individuals are not nations nor countries nor peoples, and it's not my fault nor anybody's who voted Left last September. But we are the ones who wear it hardest. Set your jaws friends, and when you hear of good initiatives by GetUp or any like that, rallies or community fights, help where you can. It'll take a while but we'll be a better nation for it. http://unlooker.com/airline-pulls-amazing-christmas-stunt-passengers/

jaycee

24/12/2013One can RARELY find anyone who would admit to voting for the LNP....especially after their "hit-squad" sweeps through the community. A cowardly principle that demonstrates they were voted in, NOT on policy that would benefit the community, but on a foolish, vindictive motive sold to the gullible by the bastard MSM.!...now it is going to take years to get back some of the decent programs that were in place before "Mr. Shit hit his fan-base".

Ken

24/12/2013jaycee People won't admit voting [u]for[/u] the LNP because they didn't. They voted [u]against[/u] the ALP (as you also say). The high informal vote and the 20% for the Greens and other minor parties indicates that people were pissed off with both major parties and politics generally. I think that, if we didn't have compulsory voting, it was an election that would have been lucky to get a 30% turn out.

jaycee

24/12/2013I do know of a few LNP. voters, who bragged before the election they were voting "bastard 1"..even though they were to be disadvantaged by it and had small children going to primary school...one has a small business that caters for the locals and I have heard him recently lament that business was not so good now..."Hello!..ding, ding!..hello!"....I avoid spending at his premises BECAUSE he gave me the shits voting like an idiot and I suspect many others felt likewise...dumb-bastards...I suppose in the future if his "very-small-business" goes to the wall, he will be on welfare or some support. When ever I hear these types go on about 'free enterprise" I feel like reaching for the horsewhip!

2353`

24/12/2013Here is a link that tells a wonderful story for Christmas 2013. http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/life-style/family-home/mums-christmas-wish-granted-two-years-after-her-death-20131223-2ztfv.html Have a safe, happy and peaceful Christmas all.

Ken

24/12/2013Happy christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Saturnalia! Happy holidays. Whichever is your choice, to everyone out there have a relaxed and joy filled time with family and friends over the next few days.

TalkTurkey

24/12/2013Esteemed Swordsters, On this date last year I posted this! So in the same tradition that people sing carols every year, here's a repeat of a repeat that I'll probably repeat again next year. (I do wish us all well at this time of year, yes indeed, and you know what, that's just the same as any other time of year. I'm no more a Crispmess Goodwillian than I am a Sunday Christian like the likes of Rudd and Abborrrtt for whom I feel little goodwill anyway, how could I.) So here's what I posted last year ... I posted this last year on Crispmess Day. I think we've made a tiny dent in the reputation of religion, Pell at least made a choking-on-it apology yesterday. The Spirit of Crispmess And so this is Crispmess, and all round the Earth The “Christians” are fighting for all they are worth, And so are the Moslems, and so are Hindus, And so are the Buddhists, and so are the Jews. The works of the holy are everywhere seen: In Ireland there’s hatred ’twixt Orange and Green; While “Christians” bomb Afghans (with help from above), And Jews shower Arabs with napalm and love. Each other religion is always at odds With anyone worshipping different gods; They all reckon their god’s the one god that’s right, So for permanent peace, they eternally fight! Some folks say of Evil that Money’s the root But Religion’s its seed, and Blind Hatred’s its fruit And as for that Evil, it’s religion’s own word! And the “Christians” claim Love’s what they spread! How absurd! [Please observe that I only use “parentheseses” Around those who claim to be followers of Jesus, For as he observed truly, as plain as can be, The worst of transgressions is Hypocrisy.] You can’t blame folks for ignorance, if they’ve had no teaching Of the brotherly love that was Jesus’ main preaching; But find me true Christians so gentle and meek That genuinely do turn their own other cheek . . ? . . O sure, Jesus’ teachings would be very good If anyone practised them – if anyone could! But here in the real world, where saints don’t exist, A slap on the cheek’s mostly met with a fist. The parable of the good neighbour was Jesus’s, (’Course, he wasn’t “Christian” in parentheseseses!) You don’t need religion to be a good neighbour: Good Samaritanism's just [i]Labor behaviour! Stay safe Folks. And remember the true spirit of Crispmess, (Schnappes, Santa's favourite tipple.) TalkTurkey

Catching Up

24/12/2013Why do many see psychological illness, less incapacitating than physical injuries.

Catching Up

24/12/2013I believe the truth lies with a inconvenient fact, that many voted to get rid of Labor not for Abbot.

TalkTurkey

25/12/2013[i]Organize and win![/i] [Apologies to Hair for this parody of the beautiful song [i]Let the Sunshine In [/i]To which in Sydney I with many others once danced on the stage!] When Mad Abborrrtt rules the Lower House And Bishops both align with Pell Then Spite will rule the Government And Australia can go to Hell! This is the flowering of the Age of Hypocrisy! Age of Hypocrisy! Hypocrisy! Disharmony, misunderstanding Antipathy, distrust abounding No more truthful wise decisions No more golden dreams or visions Make the poor pay more taxation Privilege in Education Hypocrisy! Hypocrisy! When Mad Abborrrtt rules the Lower House And Bishops both align with Pell Then Spite will rule the Government And Australia can go to Hell! [i]Organize and win! Organize and win! Arise and win! [/i] Repeat many times. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are the original words from the rock musical Hair. What a travesty Abborrrttianism makes of those beautiful lines! Let the Sunshine In. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxonNvuCFRY When the moon is in the Seventh House And Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius The Age of Aquarius Aquarius! Aquarius! Harmony and understanding Sympathy and trust abounding No more falsehoods or derisions Golden living dreams of visions Mystic crystal revelation And the mind's true liberation Aquarius! Aquarius! When the moon is in the Seventh House And Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in The sun shine in

Catching Up

25/12/2013http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-times/an-abbott-christmas-carol-5018449.html

Jason

25/12/2013Merry Christmas to all on the Sword thankyou for all your efforts! I dogged it after Julia was done over, however I've sulked grieved and now I'm over it so I look forward to putting in a greater effort in the new year. Thanks and all the best. Jason

TalkTurkey

25/12/2013Happy Times to All, and to Jason, Onya Comrade, That's the sort of talk I love to hear!

Janet (j4gypsy)

25/12/2013Thank you TT for leading us into Crispmess with such a fab. song. To you (and J) and all Swordsters: have a happy time, however you spend these next few days. May they be ones of rest and renewal.

Pappinbarra Fox

25/12/2013Merri Xmas, holidays etc everyone. Let us gird our loins for the year ahead.

Curi-Oz

25/12/2013May your feasting today be with those you care most about. Thanks to all for the inspiration and thought provocation this past year, and here's to the same for the year ahead!

Ad astra

25/12/2013TT Thank you for your verse and your words - 'Let the Sun shine in'. To all Swordsters - [b]Happy Christmas Day[/b]. Enjoy, and come back refreshed for the year ahead.

Casablanca

25/12/2013 To Ad Astra & all Swordsters Have a happy Christmas Day and thanks for the articles, comments, discussions and compliments during the year.

Janet (@j4gypsy)

25/12/2013This is really something, in terms of new ways of 'doing' 'governance' ... [b]Cathy McGowan's independent advice puts party politics in perspective[/b] The MP's success flies in the face of predictions people would never vote for another independent after Labor's last term Gabrielle Chan theguardian.com, Tuesday 24 December 2013 1 There is something revolutionary about Cathy McGowan. She presents like the next evolutionary step for our political representatives – a new form to add to a scientific diagram for development of the modern politician out of the primordial sludge. Another chapter in the ascent of “political man”. Amusingly, she is woman. The new independent member for Indi talks about subversive concepts such as getting the community closer to the parliament. She is writing a training manual for locals to engage in politics and she will open her parliamentary office on a permanent basis as part of the process. Her local community groups will be rostered on to learn about government and part of the deal is that they take that knowledge back to their towns, suburbs and local halls to teach other people how to achieve change. And this is the revolutionary bit. McGowan doesn’t care much for the numbers on the floor of the House. She is about getting people engaged on their own behalf. Got a problem? Here is the way to find your way through the political maze and solve it. This is not about the “Cathy Show”, she says. For her maiden speech, she invited her local community into the public galleries and 270 actually showed up wearing her campaign orange T-shirts. McGowan had not been in Canberra for two weeks when she was inviting politicians of all shades along to her office for muscat and Indi-baked Christmas cake. In her electorate, she used her profile to invite the Australian Rail Track Corporation to the area to hear and answer community concerns at a forum. Other local political party MPs and their staff were asked to take part. Her success flies in the face of predictions that Australians would never vote for another independent after the minority Labor government ruled with the support of rural independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott. During the election campaign, Tony Abbott regularly reminded voters not to waste their vote on an independent in a parliament unlikely to be hung – the subtext being, in a majority government, your electorate will get nothing. McGowan has confounded everyone by sidestepping that issue altogether. It’s not the balance of power that interests her. “Our whole campaign was about how parliament and politics has become too distant, so how do we bring it up [to the people]?” she says. “Getting 270 people up for the first speech was the beginning of that. “Community groups will come back regularly but not just anyone, we’ll do the training, we’ll do the explaining, we’ll look after you and we will empower you so you can do the place well.” McGowan uses the example of her recent invitation to her eight community radio stations in her electorate. They came to parliament, watched it in action and learned how to access information. In the process, she says it fulfilled three agendas for the group: they learned how to broadcast parliament, they learned how to lobby for community radio funding and they will produce shows to educate Indi voters on how the parliament works. “Once they have been here, the community radio in Mansfield will mentor their next group down and say, to a group like nursing mums, you need to get to Canberra. My hope is that when they come up, they will be able to use their community radio to talk so it won’t always be the Cathy Show. That way over the next three years, there will be a deep penetration into the community about how all this happens,” she says. McGowan’s potential power lies in refusing to play the political game we have all come to know and hate. The numbers dance, the pat answers, the robotic slogans and Dorothy Dixer questions. “Listening to the first speeches, I thought we’re all the same, regardless of where you sit, we are all here for public service. The speeches are the same, here’s a personal story about people wanting to do good things, here’s a bit of a philosophy. I had no idea how impressive I would find those speeches, the quality of the people and the skills they bring. This is a tribe to belong to. “But then we get to question time and I think, woah, this is not us at our best. All those government people who have PhDs and masters’ reading out Dorothy Dixers. That’s my sense of argh! I think we can do much better than that.” Australia has had anti-politician politicians before. Her predecessors, Windsor and Oakeshott, were very good at “breaking the mould” rhetoric. Ted Mack was another for those with longer memories. But McGowan’s point of difference appears to be her ability to organise and involve. With a long history in community agricultural engagement, her campaign broke down every region and town in her electorate to get people interested in the political debate and then create discussion through whatever forum was necessary – from stock saleyards to social media. McGowan hit the ground running due to the organisation behind the genesis of her election. “Voice for Indi” started because locals were sick of the lack of political engagement in modern politics – a condition considered exacerbated by the local member Sophie Mirabella. Voice was already connecting with the community well before the September election was called. These people had been talking over kitchen tables for a long time. So far, the former farmer has spent the first three months getting her staff in place and working on issues raised during the election, such as national railway services and mobile blackspots. Parliament, though, is a whole different game. McGowan was a member of the group Women in Agriculture so she had spent time lobbying in Canberra, “camping” in Liberal Jeannie Ferris’ office. The experience formed the idea for a community group training program to provide local people with similar access to that already afforded to business, local governments and corporations who pay professional lobbyists. “This needs to be a grassroots community thing,” she says. “I know I’m the figurehead but the community needs to see themselves in it. I hope other communities can also read this.” In spite of these ideas, McGowan admits she still struggles with the role of the independent. She sits with four other crossbenchers, whom she describes as representing the whole political spectrum in Australia from Clive Palmer and Bob Katter on the right, Andrew Wilkie and McGowan in the centre (her own label) and the Greens MP Adam Bandt on the left. “When I go into the parliament, it’s like two ferocious football teams, they have their captains, their coaches, their support paraphernalia and they go into battle to win, which is what it’s designed and set up to do. So rather than having a battle out there [on the streets], you have those two teams so we have codified it. It’s all about tactics. “If you have these teams, what’s the role of the independent? I haven’t quite worked it out, there’s Andrew, Adam, Bob and Clive so we represent the full spectrum of political views in Australia but we are not [major] parties. When we ask our questions, when we do our stuff, there’s a real validity to that, a grounding for something happening.” As to what that will be – particularly for future independents and the likelihood of more hung parliaments – McGowan says she is not really interested and will not be writing a textbook for other independents. “The truth of the matter is I haven’t solved it. It’s a collaborative model. It’s not about politics, it’s about how we deliver services. “The thing about Indi is we were so unique, we had Sophie, no one else has got her. Other communities have to make their own story. It’s not about Cathy, it’s about getting the community organised and here’s some ways you can do it. That’s the task, you have to learn it, you can’t just make a recipe with it. “My journey to that place in my community has been a long one. You have to learn to be open and trust your community. I am what I am, which is really different to the party people because they are not, they’ve got to be something. It feels like a really good place to be.”

jaycee

26/12/2013Very interesting slant on the member for Indi. Her mission is an imperitive if we want o get the slugs up and running....though I have fears for her future reputation once "The Bastard Murdoch" gets wind of her intentions!

TalkTurkey

26/12/2013AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH! I hope you-all had a happy Crispmess, Because I have had/am having the worst by far. I'm in hospital again, with a catheter again, and APPALLING pain this time. The original TURP (trans-urethral resection of the prostate) worked fine, after a terrible time for three weeks as a result of the inadvertent rupture of my bladder - which condemned me to a catheter all that time, and it was very sore, but when it was done at last I could pee for yards. That's been so for the last year and a half. But something happened on Crispmess Eve and suddenly I was passing a few millilitres and it felt like peeing razor wire. Terrible gut pain and a bad headache too. So here I am back in CALVARY (Catholic) Hospital, and God is getting His own back on me for things I've said about religion! All night long (and still) my urethra is spasming and it's bloody killing me! A thousand bloody spasms, I mean it. I have no idea what is wrong, hopefully find out when they do a scan of my innards this AM. You never miss the water until you can't pee. I'll keep you posted if I don't jump out the window first.

Catching Up

26/12/2013I fail to see why many think that majority governments are superior. I believe we have been well served by the Independents this country have had over the years. It is a fact, that when it comes to the Federal government, the norm is for any government not to have control of the upper house. This means that all legalization has to pass proper scrutiny, and often negotiation, that ensures superior bills being passed. For good governance, one needs checks and balances. Yes, more Independents will lead to better government. Each MP is given a mandate to sit in parliament by their electorate. Each MP's vote should carry equal value. We get poor results, when there is a majority in both houses.

Ken

26/12/2013TT wishing you well. I understand what you are going through, as I also have prostate problems - I've had an SPC (supra pubic catheter) for almost twelve months and have had a number of agonising problems. There seem to be so many ways the prostate and associated parts can cause quite severe pain. Sincerely hope the doc's and nurses can sort it out quickly.

Catching Up

26/12/2013TT, hooping you are feeling better this morning.

Patriciawa

26/12/2013Talk Turkey! Please don't jump out of the window! Get well soon. Keep us posted. Here's a nice article for you someone over at the Pub has found and I came here specially to pass it on to you before I knew you were in hospital. http://realnewsone.com/2013/12/23/report-julia-gillard-one-of-the-best-prime-ministers-in-australian-history/ "Real News One" says it believes [i]the media should have accurate, fair and reliable information.[/i] It's a new link for me, but I think I'll be checking it out regularly from now on.

Khtagh

26/12/2013TT I hope you get better mate, remember look before you walk. Before the election I posted on several sites that Abbott would be the first PM that would set out to punish anyone he perceived not to vote for him, lots of trolls objected to it. Just look at what he has done & will do soon. Anything to do with renewable energy, greens policy or fact delivering science services, destroyed. Now destroying any industry with majority union work force, car industry, Qantas, taking aim at building industry in the new yr, then will be teachers & nurses in public institutions. Now its the disabled peoples turn(I'm sure a vast majority would have voted ALP/Green) So I don't think I was far off the mark.

TalkTurkey

26/12/2013Thank you kindly to my well-wishers Catching up Patricia KHTAGH And Gypsy Janet per landline too and Ken! Ken I feel for you, poor devil, and that SPC sounds like it might be WORSE than the up-the-doodle one that I've had. May it soon become unnecessary if that is possible, if not may the worst aspects of it fade to insignificance. My Christmas Catheter ( :) ) only went in late yesterday, it's already been removed, and the extreme pain of the spasms has stopped, and I can pee a little now, I only have a headache and a gutache now, and I'm somewhat nauseous, but those combined don't hold candle to the pain I've had over the last couple of days. So it feels almost luxurious, I can sit up and write, and it's amazing how writing, on TPS in particular, helps to take my mind off my pain. Patricia That is a great article on *J*U*L*I*A ... ...except! where it says ... [i]One of the most remarkable attributes of the former Prime Minister is the fact that after having endured the nastiness from the press, the opposition and white anting from within her own party [b]she has turn bitter and spiteful[/b] of all those around her.[/i] I think there was a 'not' left out, eh! *J*U*L*I*A* will remain an icon for all fairminded Australians, a role model for girls and women, which is something she always wanted. Abborrrrtt by contradiction will be gladly consigned the garbage bin of history. Thanks again Friends. Oh and especially to Jason who made the trip to see me. I really feel that TPS is a wonderful family.

Patriciawa

26/12/2013Yes, TT, perhaps I should have warned you that article about Julia was written by a less than perfect English writer, but the sentiments are so clear, sincere and heartfelt, aren't they? I was just focussing on making sure it gets read as widely as possible which I am sure is now happening. http://realnewsone.com/2013/12/23/report-julia-gillard-one-of-the-best-prime-ministers-in-australian-history/ Glad to hear you are on the mend. I daily give thanks for the blessing of good health which has stayed with me throughout my long life. I half expected and had reconciled myself to that accident to my knee a while back slowing me down at last, but I have made a full recovery from that and I'm enjoying my daily walks with Tacker as much as ever. Perhaps more so now, being truly appreciative of how precious they are. I agree with you that TPS is a wonderful family and I wish them all well for the coming New Year

jaycee

26/12/2013Thinking of you ;TT. Yes, the stent....well, that discomfort came later, with the removal...but let me tell you first about my stay in hospital... It was only overnight after the operation...I have never liked to associate myself with hospitals...there are so many sick people there. But after the operation to remove a kidney stone, I was shuffled into a ward there..not the common ward, because they were short of beds..so I was relegated to the critical-care ward. I was slipped between the sheets, appropriately inspected, injected and fitted with a catheter bag and tube inserted in the usual location. Crit-care wards are not conducive to a good nights sleep...the peace of the night was frequently interrupred with wails and groans and there was one emergency to which I was innocently dragged...this emergency, in the wee hours,was preceded by an eerie quiet then a sudden flurry of movement by the nurses all sychronised in quick-step fashion...I was awake watching this when suddenly a nurse hustled to my bedside to rummage in the small cabinet there, for something...having achieved her goal she swiftly and fleetly spun around and leapt away......unfortunately, in that deft movement, she had caught her foot in the catheter tube, one end secured into the bottle at my bedside, the other secured up my "old-fellow"...she leapt away..I followed in swift pursuit!...I can't imagine the picture I created except to remember, perhaps, that brave, stalwart english chap a few winter olympics ago, who skiied the high-jump under the frightfully ambitious name of "Eddy the Eagle"....HE had never skiied the high-jump before and I suspect the "arms and legs akimbo" look would do justice to my sudden "leap of faith"! But all's well that ends well and I was out of that place the next day....Funny though, I overheard the nurses at their station at change of shift discussing the patients...one was heard to remark..; "I don't think Mr. "jaycee" slept too well last night". But it's very interesting how one gains an education even in adversity....I would like to report to those interested in such data that it proved the truth of the old maxim, frequently stated in the lore of hotel front bars, in regard to certain genitalia...."It WILL stretch a yard and a half before it'll tear an inch!"

Editor - Real News One

26/12/2013Friends, We have made a correction to our article “Report: Julia Gillard One of The Best Prime Ministers In Australian History” mentioned here. The paragraph that read as [i] ”One of the most remarkable attributes of the former Prime Minister is the fact that after having endured the nastiness from the press, the opposition and white anting from within her own party she has turn bitter and spiteful of all those around her.”[/i] Has been corrected to read as[i] ”One of the most remarkable attributes of the former Prime Minister is the fact that after having endured the nastiness from the press, the opposition and white anting from within her own party [b]she has not turned bitter and spiteful[/b] of all those around her.”[/i] The Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard is not bitter and spiteful about those around her. She has shown the outmost dignity and respect in her dealings with her former colleagues. As Editor of Real News One I have apologised on behalf of Real News One and its writer to The Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and wish her all the best with her new chapter in life. We are sorry for an distress that might have been caused by the admission of the word not. We have great respect for Julia Gillard. Thank you for sharing the article and drawing attention to www.realnewsone.com Please keep coming back Real News One Editor

2353

26/12/2013TT - Get better soon. Although a air conditioned hospital does have benefits at this time of the year :-)

Patriciawa

26/12/2013There you are, TT. Even from your hospital bed you are making a difference!

TalkTurkey

27/12/2013Jaycee I had a similar experience last year only 'twas I who forgot I had the damn thing in. AAARRRGGGHHHH! Reminds me of the "painful experiences" joke. Bunch of blokes sitting around in the pub, talking of painful experiences they've had. One bloke tells of how he had most of his hair ripped out in a mangle! [i]OOOOOHHH![/i] the others say, and buy him a drink. One bloke tells of how he swam into a whole school of box jellyfish, great agony and nearly died. [i]JeeZUZZ![/i] the fellers say and buy him a double. Everyone has a horrible story, and of course they each try to top the last one. Only one, Chilla, hasn't said anything, just looks sour and unimpressed. The others turn to him, [i]Haven't you ever had anything painful happen to you? [/i] Chilla just snarls, [i]Huh you blokes don't know nothing about painful experiences, I've had two that leave all yours for dead. But I don't want to talk about them, it's too painful even to think about. [/i] Between their desire to know what Chilla's talking about and the fact they are not all that impressed about him belittling their own experiences, the blokes challenge him, and buy him a double just to tell them. [i]OK OK[/i] says Chilla, [i]well I'll tell you the first one, that'll be enough to convince you! [/i][Now Dear Reader you need to know what a rabbit trap looks like. Strong spring-loaded steel jaws that grab the poor rabbit's leg when it treads on a trigger-plate, and a short chain, pegged with a steel spike into the ground, so it can't drag the trap away. And the trigger-plate is camouflaged by leaves so the rabbit doesn't see it. The spring is so strong that the trap can jump a foot into the air when it is sprung. 'Course all the blokes have used rabbit traps, they know all this.] Chilla takes a deep breath and regretfully begins his story. [i]Well I was trapping rabbits, going my rounds checking the traps, when I was caught short. So I drops me dacks and takes a dump right there but I'd forgotten that the trap was exactly below my bum! Bloody trap went off, jumped up and grabbed me by the goolies! [/i] [b]FED ME DUCK![/b] the fellers exclaim, and they have to admit, that story tops all theirs by far. Chilla moodily returns to his drinking. But Bazz says, [i]You said you had two experiences ... Tell us the other one! [/i] [i]Naaahh Naaahh[/i], says Chilla, [i]it's just too painful to tell! [/i][i]Ar, come on Chilla [/i]the fellers chorus, [i]you've got this far, tell us your other painful experience please please please! [/i]Only the offer of a whole bottle of Bundy convinces Chilla to tell of his second painful experience. His voice cracks and tears come to his eyes, and ever so reluctantly he says, [i]My second painful experience? Well ... [b]that was when I ran out of chain![/b][/i] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2 am and I'm feeling MUCH better, catheter removed, and I'm peeing nearly normally. Hope to go home today!

jaycee

27/12/2013Not to be relegated by a joke!! Ahh!. .TT....yes, when you feel better...I know that feeling....I was waiting for the opportunity to relate the story of "the stent." My OH, being a Reg' nurse, has little sympathy for my experience with ; "The Stent"..she say's that if men had to go through HALF the medical "experiences" that a woman has to...well, let me tell you how many times I've smacked my thumb with the hammer and not complained at all......or very little anyway...but the stent...that was uncomfortable...not much deep sleep with that little device in place. But after a couple of weeks, it was time to come out and the specialist, who's name, by the way, was the same as a village famous in England for it's china (now, I ask you ; what parent would inflict THAT on a child?...I suppose it could've been worse..: French..after the town of Bidet) took control of the situation and directed me to "drop your daks"..or wtte. It was then that my foolish idea that the stent would be removed via some keyhole spot in my back where they did the operation collapsed....but no..it was to be removed via that most improbable of organs!.... Is it just me, or is it the way medical people "snap" on those rubber gloves?...anyway, I lay feeling very vulnerable on a plastic covered table (?) while he and the nurse adjusted this combination thin grabbing/television flexible device w/tv. monitor...and when I had finally resigned myself to the inevitable and closed my eyes, he suddenly grabbed my ol' fellow plunged that device into my urinary tract and fossiked for a split-second while watching the proceedings on the tele-screen (thank GOD it wasn't time for "The Bold and The Beautiful!) and swiftly withdrew : IT,stent and my heart in one swift movement!.....if I told you it was a jaw-dropping relief, I would not be doing the moment justice!....Now I know what it is like to have a platonic relationship with electronic media. When I related the experience to my OH. she told me not to exaggerate things so much.....I did indeed thank the specialist and in a moment of perhaps too gushing relief called him a "master craftsman!"....perhaps THAT was going a tad too far.

TalkTurkey

27/12/2013Home again. Pretty flat. But we shall prevail! Onward to the destruction of this Abborrttian of a Government!

Curi-Oz

27/12/2013Sorry to hear of your misadventure TalkTurkey, and I'm very glad you're home safe again... Good to see you back 'in form' *snortles*

TalkTurkey

27/12/2013This is so-o-o-o typical of the attitude of this corrupt Government. The bigger they grow the more they rort. http://imputeation.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/julie-bishop-what-coincidence.html?spref=tw

Khtagh

27/12/2013TT Snouts in the trough, sounds so inadequate, why don't they just book the tickets straight to us. I'm so sick of it all, oh & where are our so called journalists, oh that right we don't have any worth their wages.

TalkTurkey

28/12/2013Jaycee I love your writing, and your stories. Just so you know. Editor - Real News One: Don't you worry Friend we knew what was meant, if anything I am now more interested than before in following Real News One. The article was superb, not spoiled by one tiny absence of a negative. So that's a positive! At least you know I read it! Curi-Oz Thanks, hospital is a great place for realising the depthof truth in the saying No Place Like Home. and KHTAGH Yeah! Although I think Mike Carlton may be the exception to prove the rule. What a lily-livered bunch of failures, to have sold out the brilliant future Labor so nearly achieved. Focus. Let us prevail on the new Senators, not all in identical PUP uniforms, we need to convince a few of them to serve their country and their people instead of the demands of the super-rich few.

jaycee

28/12/2013To be honest, you have to wonder where that silvertail turncoat Turnbull lost his cajones to join that plethora of pissweak pansies that calls itself the govt' of this nation! Consider it..; A born in the UK. mongrel, married to a Kiwi Labor rat trying to bugger-up the nation for Aussies!...and we all know that a Englishman's loyalty to Queen and country is inculcated in his mother's milk and there lies the real loyalty...put THAT together in a mix with Popism and the Jesuit doctrine injected up the wrong way and you got a recipe for sheer, unadulterated, non-viscous, plug-ugly bastardry of the worst kind....! This is the LNP. that we are experiencing today. This reek of indecency, this pustulance of moral terpitude, this low bred bastard mongrel mob , so foul and mutant a breed that a "bitza's bitch" would spurn them from it's teat and drive them in a cowering whine, wimpering from even it's humble, disgraceful, flea-ridden den!......What low scum of human ingenuity could mould sewer clay into such a festered lump?....only a sperm spawned from infected loins and cultured in the most hideous tomb of a womb could squirt such foul an inhale of fetid swamp-gas-breath to bring form to a Howardian beast!...breast-fed on the thinnest, sourest pap that only a howling demon could spoil, to nurture such insidious malevolence toward anything good in humanity....These are the members of that cringing congregation of ghouls that deprive the poor, desert the broken spirited, break the back of the hard worker and tear the living heart from the breast of the working mother and they clamour over the corpse of decency to dare call this good governance. And that "epitome of Republicanism" ...Turnbull, will throw his lot in with such excremental smear.....talk to us no more dear Malcolm, of your "love of country" ..your " fellowship of national fortune"....you are now but dirt beneath our feet...join ye the scrapings on the shoe-blade outside the cow-byre gate....go on!..join in "hearty fellowship" and drink their toasts from the chalice of poisoned fidelity. Forget your call for a republic, take heed of your new regal monarchs...obey and bend your neck to the yoke of Murdochracy and hitch your crappy-wagon to their star of gross largesse and opportunistic barbary.....the betrayal of duty to one's birth-country, whilst enjoying the protection due and expected under it's passport has to be the lowest...THE LOWEST act of bastardry...."you'd have to be a real dingo to run out on your mates"...you'd have to be a member of the LNP. LNP. .....: "Lowest Negative Possible.".....The filth of humanity!

Catching Up

28/12/2013I wonder if Abbott found it hard to renounced his British Citizenship. As for the NZ in-laws, If one followed his story, they have seen little of him over the years.

Catching Up

28/12/2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=O9Fb0KAjDwc

jaycee

28/12/2013That is a nice vid, catch-up. But I couldn't watch it all through..it makes me so angry to think we could have gone on to acomplish so many greater things. But it's always the same!..just when we get a good head-start, along come the bastards and ruin, wreck and tear down all and anything constructive out of sheer malevolence and spite...this dark side of our nature will destroy our planet now....there will come a time when they will have to be cast out of our societies for the damage they do to the community. They are a pestilence, a plague.

Catching Up

28/12/2013Worth a read. Abbott, and it seems, his mate is out of step with the Pope. Seems we could even end up with a woman Cardinal. It appears that endanger or being of the laity does not bar one. Pope Francis hits reset and it's Tony Abbott and George Pell who must adjust Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/pope-francis-hits-reset-and-its-tony-abbott-and-george-pell-who-must-adjust-20131227-2zz8t.html#ixzz2ok9bcorRPope Francis hits reset and it's Tony Abbott and George Pell who must adjust [quote]In stark contrast to Abbott's puerile ''Stop the Boats'' sloganeering, Pope Francis spoke of ''immigrants'' rather than ''illegal boat people'', describing how their boats ''which were vehicles of hope … became vehicles of death''. His visit and his words made Lampedusa, and asylum seekers, an issue that Europeans could no longer turn a blind eye to. Abbott, on the other hand, asserted with breathtaking insouciance in his Christmas email: ''We are a good and generous people and I hope this Christmas we will remember everyone who is doing it tough and lend a hand where we can.'' His idea of lending a hand evidently does not extend to providing adequate medical assistance for Australia's asylum seekers, or even basic shelter on Nauru or Manus Island. Those former detainees who are permitted to live in society but not to work and who, therefore, must crowd together in accommodation now risk being returned to detention if callous neighbours find these living arrangements offensive Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/pope-francis-hits-reset-and-its-tony-abbott-and-george-pell-who-must-adjust-20131227-2zz8t.html#ixzz2okABlgGd[/quote] Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/pope-francis-hits-reset-and-its-tony-abbott-and-george-pell-who-must-adjust-20131227-2zz8t.html#ixzz2ok9bcorR

Catching Up

28/12/2013Jaycee. I suspect they would have problems, making a similar one of Abbott. Especially when it comes to his meetings with overseas leaders. History might be written by the victors in the short term, but generally gets it right in the long run. I have a feeling, the voters are going to keep kicking them all out, until one gets it right. Yes, one term governments to become the norm. The electorate of Indi have shown us, how it is done. The emergence of serious journalist setting up their open sites is a welcome development. What gets me, it is being done by the ladies. When one thinks of it, in democracy, governments and parties are always in the state of flux. There always rises new policies from the ashes of previous governments. Abbott has to fail, as he and his mob are fixed in the past. Not a new idea among the lot of them. I noticed, all those shots of Gillard, seem to have her glazing into the future, not behind her. It has been the same since she left parliament. Yes, commenting on recent past, but looking forwarded as well. I get the feeling, that this woman feels she is now in a wonderful position, not many of us are lucky to achieve. Yes, she has been a lawyer, a PM, now is in the position, to do all she desires, without having to worry about having income to do so. Yes, she took up that position at the University, but it came without pay. If they keep up with their allegations of past crimes, the woman might even yet add to her wealth. Jaycee, and others, it is time to be positive. Nothing lasts forever. not even Abbott and his cronies.

jaycee

28/12/2013Catch'...I AM positive!...I positively despise the mongrels!

Catching Up

28/12/2013Some of my childhood was spent in the Central West. Yes back in the 1940 and 50s. there where many dry times. As a little one, I can remember the dusty land around our home. Can recall the big storms that came, with thunder, lighting, and sometime a little rain, that was scary, to say the least. What I remember most, was the lovely smell that rosed from the earth, after the sun came out again. I can rememberer the miracle of greening that appeared like magic. I wish some one could bottle that scent. The only time one gets a comparable experience, in the city or town, is when one mows the lawn on a hot day. Not as good though. What I am saying bad things often produce good.

Catching Up

28/12/2013I find I do not and cannot hate them. Now, when it comes to their actions and policies, or lack of them, things are different. Reality will quickly catch up in the parallel world they all seems to reside. Focused that hate, if that is how you wish to describe it, back on what they do, not who they are. None are worth wasting any emotions on. PS. Never under estimate the bastards.

TalkTurkey

28/12/2013Hate them? Despise them? Pretty fine line. If I could press a button and vaporise all to the Right of Petro Georgio, would I? H'mmm. Well you can't go to gaol for what you're thinking. Yet. I posted on Twitter earlier today: [i]As soon as Abborrrtt loses our 3XAAA credit rating, Australians will HATE the bastard as I hate him now. Shyster gangster bully dumb yob. [/i] Yeah I hate the bastard. That's fair and proper because he's deliberately doing what he's doing to the many individual disadvantaged minorities, who whilst the Right can keep them divided are powerless. Jeez that's so simple! And so is its corollary! COMRADES, UNITE! There is a MILLION MEN MARCH coming up in March-I-forget-the-date and WHY it's called that is, OK a million MEN, we expect TWO MILLION WOMEN! because everybody knows women have to do twice as well as men to get half the recognition. No actually I think *J*U*L*I*A* changed those odds. Do twice as well, [i]get[/i] the recognition! (But do do twice as well!) I said all through the campaign, [i]women hold the key[/i]. It was when *S*H*E* got rolled that that key was lost forever. Yet due to the disproportionate disadvantages to non-rich women this Government has already inflicted &/or flagged, I predict that you women are going to forge a new one, that will not be denied again. There's a lot more of you, you are more likely than men to be close to all manner of community services, and if Aussie girls haven't worked out by now that Abborrrtt beyond all else is a parody of a Minister for Women, well I'll leave that sentence hang. Social media give women the power to intercommunicate, for good ol' Dog's sake use it. We-all must make the Million Men March the biggest shout NO! this nation has ever seen. Because it must be a [i]THREE[/i] Million PEOPLE March! Jeez as I write Cathy McGowan of Indi's story has just started being told, it was exactly social media that got her up. But also the unpopularity of the two major parties of course. Labor must become as popular as it should be in a fairly-reported society, and the best way, in the short term, is to [i]make yourself one of the Million Men March.[/i] Come on Girls, make us blokes ashamed by 'way outnumbering us! Imagine this chant being BELLOWED in every capital! - Men Yell: [b]ONE MILLION MEN![/b] Women ROAR in reply: [b][i]TWO[/i] MILLION WOMEN[/b] AM I THE ONLY ONE ON THE WHOLE DAMN FIGHTING 5TH ESTATE WHO IS SCREAMING- [i]FOCUS ON THE NEW SENATORS![/i] *J*U*L*I*A* hjust in a ABC 24 ad flash saying - it will be easier for the next woman, and the woman after that ... So if it's easier, it must also be taken further. Onward and upward Comrades!

TalkTurkey

28/12/2013The Environmental movement has suffered serious cutbacks and the whole environment about to be ravaged - Barrier Reef included. I wrote this on the Environmental Defenders Office site a minute ago: Into battle Brothers and Sisters! Be part of the MILLION MEN MARCH in March. (TWO Million WOMEN see ?! :) (That's total of all cities, not one march.) And I'm serious. ROAR the bastards out like they've never heard before! We will not be like Abborrrrtt's Convoy of Inconsequence We will be MASSIVE! Parents and Teachers and Students Workers in Manufacturing Disadvantaged people and their carers! [b]Environmental Defenders Office SA[/b] Humanists and other Humanitarians Sensible Australians ALL We will stop these BASTARDS! Scenario: 3 million people - a majority of whom MUST be Women btw, very important to sting the blokes! - marching in March in every capital city, and we will scare the entire Right out of their tiny wits and bring them to their knees! Chanting WE WILL WE WILL BLOCK YOU! STOMP! Clap-clap STOMP! Repeat a la Freddy Mercury eh! It will be hilarious - And POWERFUL! The NEW SENATORS hold the key to the Left's road forward. Some may be more sensible than you think! A demonstration of popular revulsion against Abborrrt's regressive antipolicies is exactly what is needed to make them think very hard before giving Abborrrtt supreme power. We the People must do this.

TalkTurkey

29/12/2013http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlFZ2w0RV-8 Here's the original lyrics to "We Will Rock You" Patricia, Truth Seeker, there's some room to have some fun with these don't you think? Buddy you're a boy make a big noise Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day You got mud on yo' face You big disgrace Kickin' your can all over the place Singin' We will we will rock you We will we will rock you Buddy you're a young man hard man Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day You got blood on yo' face You big disgrace Wavin' your banner all over the place We will we will rock you (Sing it!) We will we will rock you Buddy you're an old man poor man Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day You got mud on your face You big disgrace Somebody better put you back into your place We will we will rock you (Sing it!) We will we will rock you (Everybody) We will we will rock you We will we will rock you (Alright)

Ken

29/12/2013This is slightly old news but interesting for what it says about the hypocrisy of a number of world leaders in attending Mandela's funeral. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Gerry-Adams-applauded-as-he-joins-ANC-Guard-of-Honour-at-Mandela-funeral-235925801.html The genuine links Mandela and the ANC had was with the world's freedom fighters while most Western governments considered them terrorists. But now they say he was a hero!!!! He was always a hero of mine.

Catching Up

29/12/2013http://sallymcmanus.net/?p=29 What Abbott has achieved.

Patriciawa

29/12/2013Thanks for the compliment, Talk Turkey, but somehow I just can't bring myself to waste my wits on Tony Abbott and Company. What a disgrace - even worse than we ever anticipated. And I'm waiting for Bill Shorten and the ALP to give value as an Opposition. I still come here to read you and I admire your tenacity and creativity. Well done.

Truth Seeker

30/12/2013TPS team and all Swordsters, stay safe and well over the new year period, as we need you all back and at your best for the year ahead. :-) TT, hope you're feeling better now? Patricia, I know how you feel, as I was also pretty flat, and finding it hard to put words together after Julia went, and now that Shorten appears to be Abbott's bestie, when they're seen together out of parliament , I am just waiting for him to stop trying to be the nice guy and give them some real opposition. I did persevere, and start writing again, but it's harder now :( My last poem for the year is "Tony Abbott's end of year bash: http://truthseekersmusings.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/the-abbotts-end-of-year-bash/ Cheers :-)

Ken

30/12/2013A 75% tax on incomes overa million euros in France. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-30/france-approves-75-per-cent-tax-on-high-incomes/5177916 Would love to see it here. But no Abbott is reducing taxes for our filthy rich!!!

Pikiranku

30/12/2013Hello Swordsters. Sorry I've been such a wuss and retreated so completely since Julia left town. This is the first time I've had a really thorough read at TPS for ages and it was great to hear all your voices again. But the thing that's prompted me into action is the news here of TT. I'm really, really sorry you've been suffering, TT, and I hope you're on the improve. You're one of the special people I've got to know through TPS. But you're all special and I wish you all a very happy and satisfying 2014.

Khtagh

30/12/2013Now we see the truth about Abbott & his daughters in the election. They were there one either side to stop him strutting!! like he was on the news last night. He reminds me of an arrogant rooster in the hen house, mine mine, they are all mine. What a disgusting lurch he has when reverts to the true person he is. At least Howard had to wait till his eyebrows grew back before we saw the true rodent. At least we now hear he might not get any senate seats in WA now, won't that be a poke in the eye with a blunt stick. Now we wait to see if he will actually call a DD, if he does he is likely to be the shortest serving PM/government ever!! we can only hope.

Catching Up

30/12/2013http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9Ckw3z4DuuI

Catching Up

30/12/2013Khtagh, I suspect that this mob have been taken in by their own spin, that they believe they will win a DD. What else could explain their attitude at this time. They appear impervious to all the negativity towards their actions, by all around them. They do not seem to have any sense, that actions always have consequences.

Catching up

30/12/2013Wonder what has happened to the wife and girls?

2353

30/12/2013CU - maybe they have been told to go and do "womenly" things now that they have served their purpose. Credlin seems to be quiet as well. Welcome to the 50's - the 1950's that is.

Catching up

30/12/20132353 I did not like the 1950's the first time round.

jaycee

30/12/2013You know…I’ll just bet Abbott went overseas this Christmas so he wouldn’t have to witness the poms getting done over at the cricket. I’ll bet th’ bastard went to commisserate where his true loyalties lay…with his “countrymen”…after all, an Englishman’s loyalty to Queen and country is inculcated in his mother’s milk! Abbott’s no Aussie….that’s why he’s destroying the joint…no skin of his nose, he’ll just go back to the “mother Country”..like his bastard mentor ; Menzies!

Bacchus

30/12/2013One for TT in memory of his recent hospital visit: "[quote]A male patient (TT?) is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. A young student nurse appears and gives him a partial sponge bath. "Nurse,"' he mumbles from behind the mask, "are my testicles black?" Embarrassed, the young nurse replies, "I don't know, Sir. I'm only here to wash your upper body and feet." He struggles to ask again, "Nurse, please check for me. Are my testicles black?" Concerned that he might elevate his blood pressure and heart rate from worrying about his testicles, she overcomes her embarrassment and pulls back the covers. She raises his gown, holds his manhood in one hand and his testicles gently in the other. She looks very closely and says, "There's nothing wrong with them, Sir. They look fine." The man slowly pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her, and says very slowly, "Thank you very much. That was wonderful. Now listen very, very closely: Are - my - test - results - back?" GOOD NITE FOLKS![/quote]"

Catching up

30/12/2013One more day of this year left. I wonder what bomb this government will drop tomorrow.

Khtagh

31/12/2013A note of hope, we only have 2 more Sydney to Hobart races left & we get to kick these pricks out of the big house.

Catching up

31/12/2013I suspect we will have our chance long before that. Then, maybe many on the back bench of government might get enough backbone to take this mob on. All cannot be of similar mind. There must be some decent ones, that care, among them. We will have to keep pestering them, in their electorates, to help build up their strength to fight back.

2353

31/12/2013CU - I can't say I was here for the '50's the first time round, but from what I've read and heard they weren't the most appealing of times. The good thing about the 2010's (whatever they end up being called) is the ability for communication. Those that successfully "managed" the information that got into the public domain in the '50s would find it very difficult to do today. Those that try to keep information secret are also usually found out; examples being the USA's spy agency and the UK tabloid press sagas. As we all know - knowledge is power.

42long

31/12/2013Control of the media is POWER, otherwise people wouldn't go to so much effort to get it, or suppress it. The senate have the power to expose this government and should use it to the full. That is the job of the senate and that is why there is none in Queensland, where things are arguably more extremely out of whack than the rest of Australia. Passing laws for a specific political purpose is a sign of an out of control government, more belonging to the past experiences in AFRICA than a mature democracy like Australia. We currently are providing the best examples of corrupted democracy out there. What a discrace.

Paul of Berwick

31/12/2013Speaking of control & power - in addition to keeping the TPS focus on the politicians, how about we add journalists to the list. The obvious ones would be Dennis Shannahan, Piers Akerman & Chris Kenny - but surely there are others. By highlighting, directly, to these "gatekeepers" & "opinion makers" how their writing is "short of balance" we may be able to adjust the tone & content of the political debate. Any thoughts?

TalkTurkey

31/12/2013 Gee I feel Heaven-blessed by not believing in Hell! http://theaimn.com/2013/12/31/tin-foil-mitre/

Bacchus

31/12/2013Sounds like an idea Paul. :D How would you like to write something on that topic for [i]TPS[/i]? Keep an eye out for the New Year's article to be published tomorrow. ;-)

Curi-Oz

31/12/2013To all you Eastern States Swordsters ... Enjoy the New Year when it arrives early for you To those of us on the correct side of the Nullaboring Plain ... Happy New Year when it gets here And for those of us elsewhere in the world ... We'll try not to mess it up too much before you get to join the party! There are going to be tears before it's all over, but hopefully with the passion and desire for forward thinking that I read here daily, we will make our country a better one for all of us. Happy New Year to all!

jaycee

31/12/2013Oh well....all the best for next year..hope it is prosperous and successful and we rid our nation of the ghouls!...HNY.

TalkTurkey

1/01/2014Wrote on Twitter This short letter: Last year bitter - This year better! Happy 2014 to All Goodwillians

Ad astra

1/01/2014[b]A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all Swordsters. And a productive 2014 putting our so-called government under the microscope to expose those Coalition microorganisms. They can no longer hide.[/b]

jaycee

1/01/2014Just posted this on the thread of a climate change deniers site.. Hi, guys!….Say!…great news that “climate change” is no longer happening..saves me trying to find new places around the house to place my next garden…the sun and hot wind doing so much damage in the last few years…I thought it was a fact of climate change over the last couple of decades that seemed to shift Goyder’s Line sth. west a couple of kilometres!…but you guys now tell me it’s just “weather change”…That’s great!!….I can now pass on the news to the local cockys that it was just the weather that has marginalised their farming land and not to go broke or diversify or walk off the land as “jennifermarohasy.com” et all, assures me that all is well!…a return to regularity is just around the corner…quick!…go tell the bank manager and the crop insurers! Jeez!…it’s good to have you blokes around to give help and assurance when the stock goes hungry, the aquifers go dry and the wind lifts the top-soil to Sydney…oh, sorry, I’m being misleading…the top-soil really migrated years ago…that’s why the crops are failing, the banks are skeptical and the farmers are getting out and the towns are falling into rack and ruin and we here, far away from you sour-milk sipping make-over queens , are making plans for future-proofing our districts against the rising temps’….Oh shit!…MY MISTAKE!…falling temps’…ie; falling from 50 deg’+ to 49 deg’+…god! I nearly fell into the “warmist” trap! Oh well!..Happy new year..watch out for those snow drifts (I certainly will here!) and stock up on those rubber feeding nipples you can put on the end of your “pacifier bottles”…but then..you probably already have such!

Ken

1/01/2014jaycee like your comment to the climate change deniers. One interesting thing I found out recently is that some of the solar scientists think we may be heading for a 'grand minimum' in the next few years. Solar activity runs an 11 year cycle but they are now thinking there are other longer cycles where the sun's activity declines. The only details in recorded history are for a 'grand minimum' of 70 years back in the 1600s into the early 1700s - in Europe it is referred to as the mini Ice Age because temperatures dropped and the Thames would often freeze solid in winter as far as London. I am not a 'denier' but if this comes to pass it, it may ameliorate global warming, and may buy us a bit more time to respond to longer term man-made climate change. Although the deniers, and no doubt the polticians, are more likely to claim it is proof that global warming is not happening, leaving us even more exposed when the 'grand minimum' comes to an end.

Khtagh

1/01/2014Ken & Jaycee This is worth a read too. http://theaimn.com/2013/12/31/tin-foil-mitre/ Within the next yr or so the southern oscillation will swing back negative, then we are really going to know about it, if you live in places which are currently hot, just imagine it 2 or 3 maybe even more degrees warmer still! It is currently heading negative at a rapid pace, when that happened recently 2003-6 that caused the last major drought in Oz, which broke in 2007, most meteorologist say it is a 7yr weather cycle. We will see the worst one in history this time 2014-15? my guess would be yes. Remember when the rodent was still crapping on us all, nearly all the dams were dry on the mainland, the river Murry just about died. With Abbott destroying the Murry Darling agreement SA can forget about any water from the rivers in coming yrs. Just like with Tassies forest agreement, it is all about destroying any Labor states. Remember the saying 'total power corrupts totally'. Can you imagine the nightmare that awaits us if he gets his wish & we are coast to coast under the Lieberal whip.

jaycee

1/01/2014don't know if I have posted this before...but... Completely and totally at the mercy of the environment. The recent typhoon (read ; cyclone) in the phillipines, "Typhoon Haiyan", gives cause for us to reflect how dangerous the weather can become. I will not debate here the ludicrous denial of climate change connection...THAT is "fiddling while Rome burns". We have a more pressing concern...: What are we to do in the event of such a serious weather event in our district? While I'd admit the likelyhood of a typhoon striking the Murray-Mallee is remote, other storms and heatwaves most certainly will...and if we trust the science (as we do in a multitude of other catogries), such storms and heatwaves will increase in size and intensity. The death toll in the Phillipines shows that regardless of preparation, the sheer depth and ferocity of the storm was underestimated. It is always too late once the disaster has hit!....I have worked in locations where the temperature can go to over 50 degrees C. ....nothing of consequence functions for long above ground at that temp' !....here, in the mallee, we have come close to and in some places exceeded that temp. If it was to become a regular thing over summer, it will be catastrophic for the very young and the aged. It is time we admitted, both to ourselves and to the world out there that we humans are completely and totally at the mercy of the natural environment....and we can no longer afford to ride roughshod over it's existance. We have said all that we can say in defence of sustainability, we have lamented all we can lament on environmental destruction...it is time now to act. We count on the Govt' to implement policies that reflect concern on a national scale, while we implement actions on a local plan. We need our local govt' to design and deliver to the community a plan, a timetable and a costing drawn up and printed out on display in every town in the council area, showing step by step proceedures to respond to dangerous weather systems. The cruel visuals of the suffering and the dead of the people of the Phillipines shows it is too late and too useless to have wisdom in hindsight...and I doubt among those throngs of injured, hungry, thirsty, homeless masses, there were too many of the wealthy and well-connected persons...THEY would've been long-gone before the typhoon hit!....We have been warned with this tragedy to others..there is no doubt ferocious storms and severe drought will come our way....the last decade has been the hottest on record...the rising intensity of the storms and temperatures are what the science said they would be....all very well to wish it would go away..don't we all wish such things would...but it isn't, it won't and it is here, it is now and it will only, with time, get worse. We have reached that 'blind freddy" moment where we have to concede that we, as any mammalian species, are completely and totally at the mercy of the environment!......time to acknowledge it..respect it!

Catching up

1/01/2014I see the debate has moved from big toxic tax on electricity to man made climate change. A completely new ball game. Video on this site worth a peep. http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/dec/26/2013-in-australian-politics-video?CMP=ema_792 A happy New Year and I hope a prosperous New Year to all.

Ken

1/01/2014khtagh and jaycee The dinosaurs ruled the planet for 200-300 million years. Humans as a species will be lucky to last 20,000 (leaving aside austrilo pathicus (??) and our very early ancestors). Personally, I don't see that as an issue. In the long term history of the planet species come and go, as we will - it's just that we may be shorter term than most. I often think that humans are very vain believing we can control our environment. Perhaps we can't! 'Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, all is vanity. There is nothing new under the sun.'

Catching up

1/01/2014When it comes to Maurice Newman, I am more concern re his views on the economy. It is a worry, when he sees the only problem being that great big toxic tax. He ignores the GFC, high dollar and mining boom as having any effect on our economy. He ignores middle/upper earners' welfare. All he sees, is a nonexistent effect of the GEF scheme. He ignores the other factors that have sent the cost of electricty through the roof. If they cannot identify the problem, how can they provide solutions.

jaycee

1/01/2014Ken...as much as I admire Ecclesiastes 2/3....I don't sympathise with the idea of 'here today, gone tomorrow"...while it does give one a bit of philosophical cred in a fatalistic way, I like to believe we ought to at least try to manage, as much as ANY living creature tries to manage, our environment to aim to sustain human life for as long as possible.. I for one see little future in a short life!

Ken

1/01/2014jaycee Agree but we're not doing a very good job! Hence my fatalism.

jaycee

1/01/2014On that measure, Ken...I have to agree!

TalkTurkey

1/01/2014Hate Tony Abborrrrtt? I mean really HATE him? You've got company! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeaan1PPOVU&feature=youtu.be

jaycee

1/01/2014Catch-up....I see us as having moved from the "Age of Aquarius" to the age of economic rationalists, where every waking moment is subjected to a "bottom-line" accreditation!

42long

1/01/2014When the economy is not spoken of the earth will get on fine. The economy is a concept (an incomplete one at that) which doesn't take account of limitations of supply and damage RESTORATION OR EVEN SURVIVAL OF PEOPLE. Like many constructs that are offered as worthy of blind adherence it will be found inadequate. We ALL share this planet and do have the ability to destroy it as a place for life as we know it to exist. To simply regard the ability to profit from something as an excuse for doing it regardless of the consequences is folly in the extreme, utterly simplistic and serving only the greedy. Nothing of substance ever trickles down. The RICH don't believe in paying any taxes. Funny That! and logically you wouldn't tax those who you would have to provide with a benefit so perhaps the "deliberately" POOR are in for a bad time. What a SCOURGE on humanity this Lieberal mob are.

Khtagh

2/01/2014Time to send this to everyone you know, while we still can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAlSLXNpwlU If you are not totally shit scared after watching this your a log of wood.

Michael

2/01/2014Abbott's starting 2014 (and continuing the Abbott Error) with the same smoke and mirrors BS he ended 2013. Then it was a bogus commitment (and huge smiling, fawning celebs photo opportunity) to easing overseas adoption, when all he 'promised' was another Ruddian review. In his New Year's address to the nation, with all the snake oil shoulder-shifting of dissembling sanctimony, he offered us the opportunity to participate in "a conversation" about recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution. Both fluffy wish-fulfilment motherhood stuff, designed to soften us all with 'policies' Australians already widely support (and consider apolitical, by the by) while his crew get on behind the scenes gutting the nation's social cohesiveness with ongoing 'repeal, rescind, reverse' enactments that will change Australia for the worse. Incredibly transparent, of course, no lessons learned at all. The polls have/will show that. The Credlin tactics have no currency beyond being in Opposition, and every day in government the Coalition prove they have no capacity at all to meaningfully lead a nation forward. "Backward" they can do in their sleep.

Bacchus

4/01/2014New thread - 'So that was … 2013' now open... http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/post/2014/01/01/So-that-was-%E2%80%A6-2013.aspx