Punch on: Friday review 28/10/2011

Ghost says:

05:38am | 28/10/11

@Shane

Are you volunteering to leave?

Tim says:

05:55am | 28/10/11

Soylent Green.

Elphaba says:

08:19am | 28/10/11

I know there’s a whole topic on it, but I prefer the Open Thread.

The one-child policy is going to have to start being implemented in all countries, for a start.

Tim says:

08:54am | 28/10/11

Elphaba,
I would actually prefer a two child policy.
ie. The state will support your first two children fully. All services provided by the government.
But if you want to have more children then you have to be able to afford them yourself. Once you have more than two children, the government assistance stops.

Elphaba says:

09:19am | 28/10/11

@Tim, that’s fair.

I guess at some point they will need to discuss IVF as well…

neo says:

10:02am | 28/10/11

2 child policy would reduce the population over time, due to people dying from unnatural causes, and it would be fair - 2 parents, 2 kids. Something the world leaders definitely should think about.

IVF, I think in the context of overpopulation, allow a couple to have 2 kids through IVF (only to couples who cannot conceive for medical reasons), and maybe limit the age of IVF to, say, 30 max, or even 25, if we really are serious about reducing the population.

ausspud says:

12:13pm | 28/10/11

Like everything else on this planet overpopulation isnt our problem.
So the only thing we have to worry about is immigration,if we can cut it from say Asia & the middle east well be fine.

acotrel says:

07:15am | 28/10/11

@TimB
Is the capitalist system/free market ideology really so fragile that it is threatened by a few protestors, who have no clear picture about what is really being done to them ?

Adam Diver says:

07:31am | 28/10/11

Weak. Why generally are conservatives happy to debate, and progressives so often not?

Going out on a limb here, but personally I find, conservatives reach thier positions on a matter of logic, whilst progressives seem to reach thier position on a matter of emotion. (excludes anyone who reaches a position then tries to find evidence to substantiate it)

iansand says:

07:48am | 28/10/11

Adam Diver would say that, wouldn’t he?

TimB says:

07:50am | 28/10/11

Who said it was threatened Acotrel? Sounds like you’re projecting.

acotrel says:

07:58am | 28/10/11

@Adam Diver
How can you confuse flawed ideology, with logic that way ?
Are you one of those people who is so conditioned, that he doesn’t know when he’s be ing sold a bill of goods ?

Erick says:

08:04am | 28/10/11

In other “Occupy” news, protesters are refusing to share their wealth with the poor.

Oh, the irony.

Jet says:

08:09am | 28/10/11

acrotrel | “Is the capitalist system/free market ideology really so fragile that it is threatened by a few protestors, who have no clear picture about what is really being done to them ?”

Capitalist hasn’t been threaten by these protestors. They haven’t made an impact on anything.

Adam Driver | You only have to look at this blog to know your assumptions are correct. Ask any left leaning poster for a framework to institute their socialist views and you get nothing. Or you ask them how they would fix specific problems inherent in the socialist system and they don’t answer. They post about something else and ignore the issues.

Shane From Melbourne says:

08:14am | 28/10/11

@Adam Diver- Are these the same conservatives that like to describe all the protesters as smelly, stinky, unemployed hippies? Sure, that seems like emotion to me….

Tim says:

08:17am | 28/10/11

WOW,
blogger and on-line journalist Tim Blair writes an article that makes him look better than an unwashed vegan hippie.
Shock horror.

I like the way he calls them protestor Authorities?
Please, as if these unwashed hippies have a leader.

This is the equivalent of a teacher picking on a retarded kid at school. Move along, nothing to see here.

Tim says:

08:19am | 28/10/11

“describe all the protesters as smelly, stinky, unemployed hippies”

Factual descriptions contain no emotion.

Jet says:

08:20am | 28/10/11

Erick says:09:04am | 28/10/11 “In other “Occupy” news, protesters are refusing to share their wealth with the poor. Oh, the irony.”

Isn’t it great how they want to tell us how to run an economy and our lives when they can’t even run a protest properly.

AdamC says:

08:22am | 28/10/11

“Is the capitalist system/free market ideology really so fragile that it is threatened by a few protestors, who have no clear picture about what is really being done to them ?”

Well, Acotrel, it seems the socialist/un-free market (or whatever it is that the occupiers favour) is pretty fragile if they won’t even debate a lone News Limited columnist.  That blog post was uproarious. It really showed up the arrogance and intellectual cowardice of what is being exposed as an entirely vapid movement.

Jet says:

08:22am | 28/10/11

Shane From Melbourne says:09:14am | 28/10/11 “@Adam Diver- Are these the same conservatives that like to describe all the protesters as smelly, stinky, unemployed hippies? Sure, that seems like emotion to me…. “

I walked past the Melbourne protest everyday while it was on. Believe me it’s fact, not emotion.

Elphaba says:

08:23am | 28/10/11

@TimB: “Occuwuss”.  That was my favourite bit.

Ahh, I don’t think I’ve been this entertained by the news in a long time.  It’s the story that keeps on giving Giving the mirth.  I love it.

TimB says:

08:33am | 28/10/11

“@Adam Diver- Are these the same conservatives that like to describe all the protesters as smelly, stinky, unemployed hippies? Sure, that seems like emotion to me…. “

No Shane, that’s just an observation

fairsfair says:

08:42am | 28/10/11

@Erick

This is my favourite paragraph:

“For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.”

What utter wankers. I’m sorry, but that is just too much pmsl

acotrel says:

09:27am | 28/10/11

@Jet
‘Believe me it’s fact, not emotion. ‘

Have you been taking lessons from Tony Abbott ?

Elphaba says:

09:52am | 28/10/11

@fairs, no wonder the professional homeless are hanging around!

Economist says:

10:05am | 28/10/11

Gee you far righties like to blow smoke up your backsides We’re the only one’s who use logic lol.

As for Blair, well good on him. He goes from a leftie to a rightie, because he’s seem the error of his ways. lol. No I see right wing journalists making more money then left wing journalists, that’s a good enough incentive. Blair’s just joined the ranks of Bolt, and Windshuttle.

neo says:

10:07am | 28/10/11

Erick, I don’t think it’s as simple as them refusing to share food:

“Overall security at the park had deteriorated to the point where many frightened female protesters had abandoned the increasingly out-of-control occupation, security- team members said.
Rumors swirled that one homeless man had pulled a knife in a dispute the night before—and that there had been yet another case of groping.”

I wouldn’t be too happy either if some alcoholic pulled a knife on me and “groped” me. Definitely wouldn’t share food with him, anyway.

Erick says:

10:26am | 28/10/11

@neo - And in response to the decline in security, the protesters have created a security force that will suppress unwanted activities with the threat of violence. In other words, they’ve recreated the police.

Far from producing an alternative to the social structures of exclusion and coercion that they oppose, the occupiers are recreating them.

Erick says:

10:29am | 28/10/11

@Economist - As you have so aptly demonstrated, you far lefties cannot counter the points made by reasonable people, and so you must resort to personal attacks.

hot tub political machine says:

10:52am | 28/10/11

Tim Blair’s article is entirely predictable. I encourage anyone to do their own research on how the media reports civil disorder. You can pretty much write the script before it happens - it gets reported the same way every time and has for at least 3 decades by now.

Often it can be as simple as departments like Police/Government Minister/Private Company handing out nice easy to paraphrase press releases whilst a journalist trying to get the on the ground story has to hold their nose and actually speak to people. Not too easy to do with todays strict deadlines. Its all so predictable.

Jet says:

12:31pm | 28/10/11

no acotrel - I went down and had a look for myself like I said. I saw it with my own eyes. Smart arse comments are all you’ve got? Acotrel, when I think of you waste of space comes to mind.

Jet says:

12:35pm | 28/10/11

neo | “Overall security at the park had deteriorated to the point where many frightened female protesters had abandoned the increasingly out-of-control occupation, security- team members said.
Rumors swirled that one homeless man had pulled a knife in a dispute the night before—and that there had been yet another case of groping.”

All you’ve shown is an example of how these protestors can’t organise themselves. If they want to taken seriously they need to show that they can actually achieve something - like stage a protest. So far they are failing miserably.

ausspud says:

12:41pm | 28/10/11

They Wouldnt be French would they.
Im still trying to figure out what their protesting about.

neo says:

01:11pm | 28/10/11

I’d say they are pretty well organised, there are protests all around the world, the US and London ones obviously being the most organised. Involvement of homeless people and petty criminals is not something the protesters have to deal with. It might just be a job for the police, when they are not busy bashing the people they swore to protect.

Erick says:

01:25pm | 28/10/11

@neo - “Involvement of homeless people and petty criminals is not something the protesters have to deal with. It might just be a job for the police”

The problem with that theory is the fact that the protesters reject the presence and involvement of the police. Therefore, it is in fact their job.

And so they will have to create their own police ... as they have begun to do.

Jet says:

01:29pm | 28/10/11

And also to add to Ericks comment - neo - if the protesters are handing out food how is it a crime to take it - so no the police can’t get involved in that -

“I’d say they are pretty well organised, there are protests all around the world, the US and London ones obviously being the most organised”

They are not organised - they don’t have a clear message. They are just crowds of people camped out around the world - that isn’t organisation.

gobsmack says:

01:42pm | 28/10/11

Let me get this straight.  Unless the protesters are capable of creating a perfect utopian society themselves within the short time they have been together, any criticisms they have of society as a whole are completely invalid?
Sounds like a complete logic fail to me. 
I do recognise, however, that it gives people a nice fuzzy feeling of self-righteousness to sneer and belittle.

neo says:

01:56pm | 28/10/11

I don’t think they reject the presence and involvement of police, I think they just reject the police brutality that has occurred.

marley says:

02:04pm | 28/10/11

I would have thought the homeless have as much right to be there as the protesters.  Why should the police be expected to remove one group and not the other?

TimB says:

02:19pm | 28/10/11

Because Marley, the homeless are annoying the protesters and trying to take their stuff and…

Oh wait.

neo says:

03:00pm | 28/10/11

Look, if you just comment back without reading the comment you are responding to, there really is no point to this whole debate. Please re-read the parts about sexual assaults and knife wielding by some of the homeless, and maybe you will understand why one group should be removed by the police while the other group shouldn’t.

Blind Freddy says:

03:04pm | 28/10/11

@Erick

It must be true- Rupert (Mr 1%) told you so.

hot tub political machine says:

03:10pm | 28/10/11

Spot on Gobsmack. Its an undergraudate level logical fallacy.

Jet says:

03:41pm | 28/10/11

gobsmack | “Sounds like a complete logic fail to me. I do recognise, however, that it gives people a nice fuzzy feeling of self-righteousness to sneer and belittle”

No its not a complete logic fail - the protestors want things changed but to what ?? The complete logic fail is to whinge and have no alternative ideas.

acotrel says:

06:03am | 29/10/11

@ausspud
‘They Wouldnt be French would they.
Im still trying to figure out what their protesting about. ‘

And you wouldn’t be thick would you ?

iansand says:

07:15am | 28/10/11

Did he predict that they don’t judge them by the same standards or say it?

“Predict” is his new weasel word.  It will be his way out of the abyss of the impossibility of bringing his manic promises to fruition.  We can run a sweepstakes on how soon after he is elected he says something like “Well I only predicted that might happen.  I didn’t say it would.  Looks like my prediction was wrong”.  My entry is 4 days, a day after he first says “Labor’s budget black hole”.

Adam Diver says:

07:26am | 28/10/11

“they didn’t judge the treatment of asylum seekers by the same standards as Australians”

Are you seriously suggesting they have the same level of treatment for asylum seekers?

As for the rest of your post, you are simply embarrassing yourself.

Eric The Red says:

07:30am | 28/10/11

Love it, More please acotrel.

Anubis says:

07:34am | 28/10/11

@ acotrel - as opposed to PM Gillard who manages to insult almost 80% of Australians every time she opens her mouth or gets in front of a camera?

There is a joke of a Prime Minister if ever there was one.

acotrel says:

08:03am | 28/10/11

@iansand
I did hear him say ‘predict’ a lot of times the other day.  I’m a bit deaf to his bullshit, so I didn’t take much notice.  But I think you are right, it’s his latest way of telling more lies !

acotrel says:

08:06am | 28/10/11

@Iansand
’ predict’ - Tony Abbott has got crystal balls ?

acotrel says:

08:11am | 28/10/11

@anubis
Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed.  If Abbott ever gets up, it will be very serious for every single one of us !  I can still remember what politics was like in the 50s !

Dash says:

08:33am | 28/10/11

Today on the eve of the 2010 election, I announce the East Timor Solution! - lol

Anyone remember that weasel worded lie to the nation. Reality was, the policy never existed and the PM never even had the decency to discuss it with the East Timor government! Yet that didn’t stop Gillard telling lies for political gain on election eve. And she did it again with the no carbon tax speech and the committment to establish a Citizens assembly. Acotrel you want to talk about insulting nations, how about the East Timorese? What was it Rudd called the Chinese again?

Remember Gillard’s excuse for not opening Naru? Yep, it was because at that time they were not a signatory to the UN treaty. Guess what, Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN treaty. Hypocrite much?

If the ALP had not dismantled the previous governments border protection laws, we would not be having this discussion. No matter how much the ALP or their members (read acotrel) spin, the ALP are completely and soely to blame for this shambles.

The Malaysian deal has cost Autsralia 4,000 people that the Malaysians have decided should come here and the full relocation cost is at least $200m to the Auysralian tax payer! All the talk about this deal being the answer, when after 800 it ceased to exist anyway, is the biggest load of ALP bullshit we’ve heard since the last time Swan tried to tell us he saved us from the GFC!

We are still waiting for the coast guard the ALP promised us! Still waiting for the 260 childcare centres the ALP promised us along with the root and branch tax reform, the cheaper groceries, the cheaper fuel, the education revolution, the more afforable housing, the cheaper better childcare and a balanced budget.

The dickheads are those that not only continue to support an ineffective, incompetent government lead by a raving socialist, but also those who actively get on here and campaign for this crap to continue!

Why people are prepared to support a pack of deceitful cowards who have inflicted the biggest fraud on the Australian people since federation, is beyond me. The 24% still voting for the ALP would do so even if Joseph Stalin lead the party. And with Gillard and Howes socialist backgrounds very well documented (not to mention the communists in their Green coalition (read Rhiannon)), that’s not far from the situation we find ourselves in.

Insulation fiasco - Joke
Green loans shambles - Joke
Cash for clunkers - Joke
East Timor announcement- Joke
Malaysian deal - Joke
Fuelwatch - Joke
Grocerychoice - Joke
260 childcare centres - joke
no onshore detention centres - Joke
The Henry review - Joke
The Tax Summit - Joke
The 2020 Summit - Joke
Peter Garrett - Joke
I’m a fiscal conservative - Joke
I fully support PM Rudd - Joke
Cheaper better childcare - Joke
Citizens assembly - Joke
Surplus budget - Joke
$150m borrowed a day - Joke
$900 to dead people - Joke
There will be no carbon tax - Joke
We wont touch the private health tax rebate - Joke
The climate institute - Joke
The carbon tax propaganda unit - Joke
Craig Thompson - Joke
Paul Howes (resistence and Democratic Socialist member) - Joke
Handling of Qantas strikes - Joke
I’m a fiscal conservative - Joke
Stabbing of Rudd - Joke
Bribes to independents - Joke
Secret deal with Greens - Joke
Increased consultancy costs - promise broken - Joke
$2billion stripped from Aust families - Joke
Superannuation tax concessions abolished - joke
Public ownership of hospitals by July 2009 - Joke

Who do these idiots appeal too then acotrel?

nossy says:

09:01am | 28/10/11

@acotrel - I think many people are becoming aware of just how many “special talents” Abbott has and slowly he is digging himself a political grave. Malcolm Turnbull 3 days ago came out and said “Tony Abbott is doing a magnificient job even though the polls show a few points lost 2PP”. Oh dear - not good when Turnbull turns on the “charm offensive” - bit like swimming with a shark who says “I am not going to eat you fella” hahah I dont know about you but I just have a gut feeling someone will topple Abbott - whether it is Turnbull or Rudd only time will tell - my only advice to Tony is “its way too early fella to be worrying about furnishing the Lodge”. As for Gillard - well she needs a bloody miracle of close to Biblical proportions to cling to power I feel.

Anubis says:

11:05am | 28/10/11

@ acotrel - Yes the idea of Tony Abbott holding the keys to the lodge is an undesirable outcome of the incompetence of the Gillard Government. I neither like nor respect the man or his bunch of rabble called the Liberal Party. However, I like the current Government even less. Liars, thieves and scumbags. Gillard and Swan wouldn’t know a truth if it bit them on the arse, Craig Thomson is a thieving weasel of aman and as for the Albanese (The Minister of No Consequence) words fail me.

Honestly, Abbott and his mob surely could not be Worse than the Australian Fabian Socialist collective currently leading the Government. At the least he may rein in some of the profligate waste of the current mob. I quite frankly don’t see either party doing anything for the good of the country.

Labor is Toxic says:

01:19pm | 28/10/11

@ Dash ..... at the risk of sounding like my father, “I do remember the good old days.”

Love the list .... but you forgot -

Failed 2010-11 Budget
Over $180B Decrease in Australia’s Net Finacial Worth
Mining Tax
Bookburning of the Murray/Darling Plan

Anyone who thinks that we are better off because Labor won the election in 2007 has got rocks in their head. The Howard/Costello Government was the best that I have witnessed.  Despite all its flaws, I would rather have the Hawke/Keating Government back .... at least they stood for something, and that something was Australians.

The current Government, backed by two worthless independents, is garbage that will do everything possible to stay in power.

Dash says:

02:19pm | 28/10/11

@Labor is toxic - you are right. I have been saying for a long time on this site that this is not a Hawke/Keating styled ALP by any stretch of the imagination. This government is a disaster. I hate to think what damage we will have to suffer if they do last another two years. My fear is that they promise the earth like they did in 07 and 10 and people fall for it for a third time! Surely that can’t happen again can it?

Aussie Battler says:

04:04pm | 28/10/11

Here’s another one for your list Dash - http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/clean-coal-shambles-as-zerogen-project-collapses/story-e6freuzr-1226178889341
& http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/clean-coal-plan-goes-to-zero/story-e6freoof-1226178916182
Another great waste of money by Labor that could have been put to better use :-(

iansand says:

05:09pm | 28/10/11

Aussie Battler - “Clean coal” has been a bi-partisan bit of pie in the sky for quite a while.  In fact it might even be part of Mr Abbott’s direct action fantasy.  Unfortunately it is quite hard to find out what direct action actually is.

Aussie Battler says:

05:36pm | 28/10/11

@ iansand -    06:09pm | 28/10/11
  Aussie Battler - “Clean coal” has been a bi-partisan bit of pie in the sky for quite a while.  In fact it might even be part of Mr Abbott’s direct action fantasy.  Unfortunately it is quite hard to find out what direct action actually is.

Last time I looked, Abbott is not in power, nor is his Direct Action Plan currently being instigated.
Labor are in Government Federally and to lose in excess or $40mil and Labor Queensland are out $116mil is just another total waste of taxpayer funds.

acotrel says:

08:38am | 28/10/11

@Jet
‘So what - Abbot’s telling the truth.’
Very unusual for him to do that !
I suggest you should get Paul Kelly’s book ‘The March of Patriots’, and read up on Australia’s diplomatic relationship with Indonesia during the Keating, and Howard eras.  What amazes me is that you guys don’t recognise the risk in letting a person with a mouth like that loose in our local environment.

Jet says:

09:22am | 28/10/11

acrotrel | The ALP’s megaphone diplomacy hasn’t done much better. It’s because of their policies that Malaysia’s human rights record is being debated now. The ALP have bought it front and centre.

iansand says:

09:14am | 28/10/11

I just had a flash of the agile and alert Queen as a contestant in Wipeout.

acotrel says:

08:46am | 28/10/11

@AdamC
Bring out the troops !  They don’t like it up ‘em !

Dash says:

08:54am | 28/10/11

I agree, the silent majority is way too silent in this country. That’s how we end up getting a carbon tax railroaded through our parliament on the back of an election eve lie.

You have the situation where the “cavalcade to Canberra” as organised by Combet becomes violent with public property damaged, shops looted and security staff hospitalised. Yet a bus load of retired people on the lawns of parliament are called extremists!

We have the most socialist parliament since federation. We have members of the Senate with family connection to the communit party and ASIO files. Who actively backed the USSRs invasion of Czechoslovakia. We have Paul Howes who was a member of Resistence and the Democratic Socialist Party putting Gillard, secretary of the Socialist Forum, into power!

We have the uinion movement actively destroying members jobs through the Qantas dispute as the government stands by and lets it happen. We have wealth redistribution dressed up as environmentalism passing parliament. We have a state owned and state censored internet put in place.

We have the union movement handing $1.3m in member subs to fund GetUp propaganda campaigns on the carbon tax. We have the ALP accused of Fraud cover ups. We have the government setting up a carbon tax propaganda unit. We have media inquiries aimed at bullying anyone who disagrees with Gillard and the ALP and we have a government that used bully boy threats of punitive legislation to force Telstra (a private company) to hand over it’s assets to NBN Co. Socialism gone mad. Yet mention any of that here and people howl you down!

And now we have idiots in the street with an entitlement mentality suggesting money that others have worked hard for be allocated to them for absolutely nothing!

I’m sick to death of the lefty morons running this place. Things must change because if this continues we will end up like Greece!

We do let the lefty minority get away with rubbish too easily.

James1 says:

09:01am | 28/10/11

Different frames of reference, I guess Adam.  The position that profits are evil is so obviously wrong, that we laid back Australians see little need to respond to the noisy minority that would seek to do away with profitable companies.  In my experience, Americans are much more highly strung about their politics than we are, and seem to take such challenges to the orthodoxy more seriously.

Knemon says:

09:26am | 28/10/11

@ Dash - “the silent majority is way too silent in this country. That’s how we end up getting a carbon tax railroaded through our parliament”

Railroaded though our parliament - Really? A majority of our democratically elected MP’s (not silent) voted for action on climate change, get over it Dash, the coalition lost the election, they don’t have the numbers in the house, this is how our fine Westminster system of democracy works, and has worked well since federation.

“I’m sick to death of the lefty morons running this place. Things must change because if this continues we will end up like Greece”

LOL, like Greece? Yeah right, and who exactly are these ‘lefty morons’ that are running the place Dash? - Are they the ‘suits’ I see strolling down Pitt Street, perhaps they’re the ‘suits’ lounging like lizards in Martin Place at lunch time?

Our system ain’t broke, so there’s no need to fix it!

acotrel says:

09:32am | 28/10/11

@Dash
The ‘silent majority’ you refer to has a big mouth in the media, led by Rupert Murdoch !

TimB says:

09:49am | 28/10/11

“A majority of our democratically elected MP’s (not silent) voted for action on climate change….”

Democratically elected on the basis that they *wouldn’t* do exactly that.

You left that bit out Knemon.

“Our system ain’t broke, so there’s no need to fix it! “

Excellent. Go tell those annoying protesters that please.

AdamC says:

09:51am | 28/10/11

@Acotrel, do you talk like that, too?

@Dash, you’re not exactly the upbeat one, are you! Unfortunately, many of your criticisisms are accurate.

@James1, maybe, but I do take Dash’s point that Australians seem to put up with a lot more nonsense than they should.

@Knemon:

“Railroaded though our parliament - Really? A majority of our democratically elected MP’s (not silent) voted for action on climate change ...”

Yeah, in Labor MPs’ cases, after strenuously insisting that they would do no such thing. Aint (Labor-style) democracy grand? Talk about defending the indefensible!

Dash says:

10:01am | 28/10/11

@ Knemon our little Green Comrade - just lets remind ourselves of what happened here:

On election eve Gillard lied to the nation about there not being a carbon tax. As did Wayne Swan. They also lied about the intention to establish a citizens assembly. instead they put in place a committee of yes men with all members aligned to the ALP green coalition and over 50% of the population without representation. Then they established the Climate Institute and in fact used $10m of taxpayers money to have their hand picked members produce reports that told us what the ALP wanted us to hear. They did deals with the indepedents and the greens to get this deceitful lie through parliament.

In addition, the Australian public was given just one week to read over 1000 pages of legislation and make a submission to the committee. Over 4,500 Australians made a submission. Yet those submissions were ignored. They were not responded too. They were not debated in parliament. They had no impact on the vote or the 1000 pages presented. They in fact have been wiped from the public record. that my friend is a disgrace!

The mining profits tax is still up for debate. Yet the carbon tax was forced through under the deals struck after last election. Clearly without the submissions being reviewed. Without the concerns of the business community being debated. Without the will of the peopkle given over 70% public opposition.

That is railroaded. It’s a fraud. And it’s the socialist way. If you think legislation by deceit is democracy, it’s no wonder you vote Green!

The lefty morons running the place are Gillard (socialist Forum member and secretary right up until 2002)
Bob Brown - leader of the Green party which includes Rhiannon who was a member of the Australian Socialist Party and who’s parents were members of the Australian Communist Party complete with ASIO files.
Greg Combet - member of the ALP socialist faction
Anthony Albanese - member of the ALP socialist faction and prior research officer for raving socialist Tom Uren
Paul Howes - member of both Resistence and the Democratic Socialist Party
Doug Cameron, Jenny Maklin, Martin Furgeson, Harry Jenkins etc - go and take a look at the people in power and where they sit within the ALP.

Greece and it’s economy are the product of years of socialist government. Go and take a look for yourself. Years of Socialist government will slowly send us in the same direction.

@acotrel - you have finally admitted that News Limited does nothing but present the majority view. Thank you. And Gillard and her lefty cronies want an inquiry to shut down the voice of the silent majority. No suprises there given the fact that she ignores the will of the majority and rules only on behalf of the Socialist minority and the union movement.

GregE says:

10:25am | 28/10/11

@acotrel - so News Limited presents the views of the silent majority. Sounds reasonable to me! What’s the excuse at Fairfax and the ABC then?

Blind Freddy says:

10:55am | 28/10/11

Interesting how people like yourself build up a straw man so that you can then beat it up in public on sites such as this one. You started by saying that the person handing out pamphlets was saying ‘End corporate greed’ and then complain about people who say ‘profit is evil’. The two statements are completely different. I have heard many people (left and right) say the former and only one person say the latter- you.

The critical term is “greed” and less of it, at the top, would be a good thing. All profits being made at the present are being made in a regulated economy they are not a result of natural forces or divine intervention.

AdamC says:

11:58am | 28/10/11

Blind Freddy, referring to coporate greed to essentially the same as asserting that profit is evil. (Or, if you prefer, we can settle on ‘bad’). After all, profit is exactly what business is greedy for. And I don’t believe there is any great dispute that the anti-‘corporate greed’ set are against profit or, in the case of the more moderate ones, would like to see much higher taxes on company profits.

You seem to be the one doing the straw man thing here.

Blind Freddy says:

12:57pm | 28/10/11

@AdamC

Oh, so . . .

Premise 1: Greedily seeking profits = seeking profits

Premise 2: Seeking profits is good

Conclusion:  Greedily seeking profits is good and/or “greed is good”.

P.S. People against greedy eaters are not against eating.

AdamC says:

02:58pm | 28/10/11

Blind Freddy, so when does seeking profits become ‘greedily’ seeking profits? Obviously, management of a company are seeking to maximise profit. The higher the profit, the better. That is their job. It is also good for society, so long as the company is not breaching any laws or regulations, or cheating people, to make their profits. Profit-making is not like eating. You don’t get full after making a certain amount of profit.

And, besides, you are talking in the abstract. The reality is that many of the occupy everywhere movement are, indeed against profit, or at least against the prevailing liberal democratic, mixed capitalist economic system we have which encourages profit-seeking. The ‘greed’ aspect is just a rhetorical flourish - to them, all profit is greed and all corporations are greedy.

Knemon says:

05:15pm | 28/10/11

@ Dash - You really have no idea of who is ‘running the place’...do you?

Your list of candidates is far removed from reality…refer TimB. 

My late response is in relation to some really good gear that just appeared at the bottom of my garden! Bob provied the sparklers, Christine the make-up.

acotrel says:

09:36am | 28/10/11

There’s a good job waiting for him in Australian politics, leading the conservatives !
OH NO ! I’ve done it ! (Godwin’s Law !)

Elphaba says:

10:16am | 28/10/11

@nossy, when I first read this story a while back, the name of one their other children is ‘AryanNation’.

Sure.  They’re not racists!

nossy says:

11:37am | 28/10/11

@Elphaba   hahahah yes a family of nutters Elphaba.

nossy says:

11:49am | 28/10/11

@acotrel   ohh dear I think you have overstepped the mark now acotrel - you are in for a flogging from TimB!  hahahah Say what ever happened to that MarK chap?

Anubis says:

11:53am | 28/10/11

I wonder if they have stick figure “My Family” stickers on the back of their Volks Wagon Kombie Van?

Dash says:

12:06pm | 28/10/11

@acotrel - is that to balance the fact that Joseph Stalin is running the ALP?

nossy says:

09:37am | 28/10/11

@fairsfair   why are you “sleep deprived” FF? I must have missed that.

Kirsty says:

11:34am | 28/10/11

Ohhh no fairs, a Rebecca Black reference.

fairsfair says:

01:03pm | 28/10/11

I’m sorry Kirsty. I could kick my own arse for that.

Tony Abbott Has Crystal Balls says:

10:01am | 28/10/11

Tony Abbott is a Gypsy, “Now you know Labor is Toxic” I feel so very sorry for you Miss J Bishop.aka Labor is toxic.

Blind Freddy says:

11:21am | 28/10/11

The computer scam sounds like a Queensland scam- the program has not had the same issue in other states. Please explain.

nossy says:

11:46am | 28/10/11

@Blind Freddy   that will be enough of the “Queensland Scam” rubbish thank you BF hahah mate we all play by the rules up here fella - yairs ever since Bejelke Peterson departed the scene.

Anubis says:

11:46am | 28/10/11

@ Blind Freddy - Here in Victoria we are expected to pay an annual “rent” for our children’s computer that was provided under this program. So - not just in Queensland.

NicoleG says:

10:12am | 28/10/11

So, what’s your excuse Knemon?

Shane From Melbourne says:

10:19am | 28/10/11

But Skyrim is coming out soon…..
Not too sure about Blizzard’s next World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Panderia. Panda Monks seriously???

TimB says:

12:56pm | 28/10/11

@ Nicole, Knemon’s excuse would be mind-altering pharmaceuticals

Meanwhile a small group of warriors will form a Party (Liberal) in a quest to scour the country and collect 76 (or more) vote crystals. With their combined power, they can finally vanquish the Dark Queen Julia- If her underlings don’t do it first .

Possible post-game quests include taking down the puppet master of the shadows, Bobbrownius, and battling the resurrected demon of Krudd.

LJ Dots says:

03:38pm | 28/10/11

@TimB - I skipped ahead and read the game cheats. Apparently the Krudd cannot be defeated by normal means and will perpetually resurrect. I’ve logged it as a bug with the developer.

TimB says:

04:49pm | 28/10/11

Dammit LJD. I was going to suggest CHEAT IDKNIFEINBACK.

But that didn’t work last time. Bastard developers.

Knemon says:

05:34pm | 28/10/11

TimB @ 1.56 - without doubt in my small drug corrupted mind….one of your better efforts…disregard what crap I spoke earlier…keep on gamin’ Reality is but one person’s perception of life, 7 billion lives is the planet’s reality.

fairsfair says:

10:23am | 28/10/11

How exciting! Oh how I love that country.

I hope those striking gobshytes don’t throw a spanner in your works.

AdamC says:

10:42am | 28/10/11

Good quote.

And I hope you have a fanatstic holiday!

Ben C says:

10:45am | 28/10/11

Have a safe trip James1, just remember to not be too liberal with the Guinness!

Erick says:

10:47am | 28/10/11

Have a good time, and a safe return!

Seanr says:

10:58am | 28/10/11

Enjoy yourself in the Old Country. Are you doing the grand tour or just visiting one particular area?

Elphaba says:

11:01am | 28/10/11

Have a great trip James1! 

marley says:

11:16am | 28/10/11

Ireland in November? Hmm.  Hope you’ve got a good umbrella!

Seriously, have a great trip.

Blind Freddy says:

11:17am | 28/10/11

With the reference to speaking for the majority I thought he was talking about AtM- the punches resident Bolshevik.

James1 says:

11:32am | 28/10/11

Thanks all. 

Seanr, we are doing a small tour, heading from Dublin to County Wexford, then heading west to visit relatives and show my daughter where her grandmother comes from (outside a village called Headford in Galway).  We will finish with more visiting relatives in Belfast for the last few days.

ausspud says:

12:29pm | 28/10/11

Have a top trip James1.
I think they can really use your $ right now.

TimB says:

02:38pm | 28/10/11

Have fun dude. Bring us back a leprechaun.

I’ll figure out what to do with it when I get it .

nossy says:

02:46pm | 28/10/11

@James1 have a great trip James!

Anubis says:

11:57am | 28/10/11

@ Nossy - Could you please ensure that a copy of link is forwarded to the Ranga Fabian that heads the Government? It appears she may be in need of some training in the basic social skills.

And just a quick question for you Nossy. The ad currently running on TV featuring the Budgie Smuggler wearers at the beach - wouldn’t be you and Gavin would it?

nossy says:

12:07pm | 28/10/11

@Anubis cheeky stuff there Anubis - but funny. Yes I DO believe Gillard should have curtsied - of course she should have and it wouldnt have hurt her one bit to do so - shameful behavour. And no Gav and I do NOT wear budgies I can assure.

ausspud says:

12:37pm | 28/10/11

@Nossy-It would of been nice for her to curtsy our Queen.
I guess she didnt want to do it without asking the independants first.

nossy says:

12:11pm | 28/10/11

Her Majesty just made an elegant entrance closely followed by our PM Gillard - big moment for the gal from Altona - see people anyone can rise to the top if you try! P.S. Daniel - for these two comments on CHOGM I will be sending an invoice for remittance -  hahaha

Anubis says:

12:29pm | 28/10/11

@ Nossy - Ever seen a sewerage Treatment plant Nossy? Do you really understand what rises to the top? Obviously the Labor Party understands it.

nossy says:

12:20pm | 28/10/11

@ausspud - fairsfair raised that matter a few days ago ausspud - honestly who would bother to buy Playboy these days - as a pimply faced youth I did, for the articles of course,  but now hot bods are everywhere - Lindsay honey all I can say is “you have pulled off the big one”!

AdamC says:

03:17pm | 28/10/11

Seriously, who moons the Queen? What an absolute tool!

We're full says:

02:40pm | 28/10/11

He won’t probably because he is a member of One Nation clinging to hope that “his” redhead will one day return.

Dash says:

03:05pm | 28/10/11

@MattyC - given I don’t work for the LNP, have no connection with them whatsoever, and am not a member of any political party and never have been, I don’t think legally I can do that.

My comments are my own. They are not written or authorised by anyone but myself. Good try though.

acotrel and persephone on the other hand are both paid up members of the ALP. Perhaps your post is better directed at them?

GregE says:

03:18pm | 28/10/11

You guys clearly have nothing so you are trying to taint Dash with bullshit. Seems to be the left’s way when they are caught out.

nossy says:

04:13pm | 28/10/11

In defence of Dash’s comments he writes a very readable blog and I believe him to be an honest chap and when he says he has no connection to the LNP I for one believe him - good stuff Dash as we want ALL opinions canvassed here - keep it coming fella!

The reality of liberals in office says:

06:49pm | 28/10/11

Already the rot is evident in the Liberal Victorian government.
Back to the trough for the conservatives in WA, NSW and VIC.

and this is what you want at a federal level? Get a grip.