Punch on: Open thread 09/12/2010

Macca says:

07:41am | 09/12/10

I found it amusing yesterday that The Australian had a letter from Julian Assange, where he was defending his actions, published, and the ABC had an article denouncing JA’s actions.

Topsy-Turvy day

TimB says:

07:41am | 09/12/10

Show me where anyone has said that on the Punch T Chong.

Anyone.

TChong says:

09:22am | 09/12/10

TimB, why so defensive? I am paraphrasing, because to me its not an issue.
At this site the ALP is regularly accused of all types of pro soviet agendas,past , present and future, and secret deals to enslave us to china etc
Nil complaints from me, or anyone else,usually. No big deal, usual rants, nobody cares.
I cant quote,but I’m sure if you followed The Punch regularly, you would see this is a right of center site,but again , who cares ?
In fact , many regular Conservative contributors would be very dissapointed to know they have failed to reach you.

Macca says:

09:31am | 09/12/10

@TChong, I’m with TimB. I have never seen anyone argue The ALP is pro soviet.

Is it your poor comprehension that entices you to vote ALP?

TimB says:

09:50am | 09/12/10

Paraphrasing what exactly? Show me.

I’m not being defensive, I just think I should point it out when you out and out lie. Commentators here might have claimed that the likes of Gillard or the Greens have their own socialist agenda, but that’s very different from claiming they’re following orders from China or (formerly) the Soviet Union. Again, I challenge you to show where someone here has claimed that.

And clearly it is an issue for you if you’re resorting to hysterical exaggerations like this.

As for the Punch being right of centre, I’m thinking it’s pretty equal. We’ve got regular contributers and commentators from both sides of politics.

hot tub political machine says:

11:19am | 09/12/10

I have to agree with T.Chong here. One of the biggest laughs you will get is from people who quite honestly believe the communist party is live and well and pulling the ALP’s strings. Stuck a few decades before your birth much?

I once had a colleague who was a member of the communist party here in SA – there are 12 of them and 5 of them were in a band together. But I can remember to my shock (cuz back then I thought internet commentators would be somewhat representative of society) the number of people who came on here to remind us that a vote for the ALP was a vote for communism, especially in the last 2-3 days before the last election. Try the archives from that week its funny and weird and frigthening all in one…

Peter says:

12:10pm | 09/12/10

The commies are coming, mark my word on that! But they will LOSE again!!  I work have worked with people who have been enamoured by the lack of freedoms some have in China. They think it’s great..

And one more thing, be on guard for corporations who think they write the laws of the land on everyone else’s behalf.

iansand says:

02:07pm | 09/12/10

No Hot Tub etc.  The commies are pulling the Greens’ strings, and the Greens are running the ALP agenda.  We in conspiracy theory la la land call this plausible deniability.

Peter says:

03:20pm | 09/12/10

@ Ian,

Here you go. Yes we are in la la land alright… Glenn Beck, you, me and others it seems…

I encourage you to watch the whole 3 weeks after this episode and tell me if Glenn Beck is the right wing nut people claim he is..

iansand says:

03:58pm | 09/12/10

Peter - Do you want to have another go, this time with meaning?

Aitch B says:

08:13am | 09/12/10

Good work on health???

Please explain…....

JulesG says:

09:54am | 09/12/10

Aitch B
From July 1 this year, the Gillard Labor Government began delivering $7.3 billion in investments over the next five years to provide:

1,300 new sub-acute hospital beds
Emergency department waiting times capped at four hours;
Elective surgery delivered in clinically recommended times for 95 per cent of Australians;
Training for 6,000 more doctors, including doubling the number of GPs trained every year;
Better support for nurses working in GP and primary care, aged care and mental health;
A national after hours GP service – with a 24 hour hotline that provides GP advice and can arrange a follow-up visit in your local community;
Support to upgrade around 425 GP practices and health clinics across the country – so that GPs can expand their facilities and locate more services in a single community location.
Support for 2,500 additional aged care beds;
A personally controlled electronic health record for every Australian that wants one;
new investments in prevention, including tough new action to tackle smoking; and
new investments in mental health services, with 20,000 extra young people per year to get assistance.

The Government’s National Health and Hospitals Network will be funded nationally and run locally. It will mean that Australian working families are no longer shunted from one system funded by the State Government to another funded by the Australian Government. Under this reform, the Australian Government will:

become the dominant funder of public hospitals - funding 60 per cent of the nationally efficient price of public hospital services for public patients
fund 60 per cent of buildings, equipment, teaching and training costs in public hospitals
takeover funding for GP and primary care
takeover funding for aged care.

LNP Policy: They don’t seem to have one, check it out for yourself.

Aitch B says:

10:34am | 09/12/10

@JulesG

Hahahahahahahaha!!

Nice work!! Ripped word for word striaght from the ALP web site:

http://www.alp.org.au/agenda/health-reform/

Do you get an elephant stamp from the supervisor for that?

Yep….. that’s what they say they’ll do in their policy blurb but what has actually been achieved apart from taxing the living crap out of smokers and alcopop drinkers??

What is the “good work” that acotrel talks about?

JulesG says:

10:57am | 09/12/10

Aitch B again:

Nice work!! Ripped word for word striaght from the ALP web site:

So, what’s wrong with that? If you go to the LNP website they have a great big fat zilch on the matter! A part from a couple of articles why the ALP policy won’t work, they have nothing. Abbott’s stint as health minister was just cut, cut, cut! What a wonderful legacy he left us.

This is my point, they don’t have anything about anything, they are the nothing party. Show me where the LNP has a coherent policy about anything at all. Show me where they have any ideas other than attack, destroy and tear down.

At least the ALP is having a go, the LNP aren’t even doing that.

TRM says:

12:23pm | 09/12/10

Can anyone personally confirm that their health care has improved since labour came to power?

I don’t follow either side of politics, as neither represent me in any meaningful way. That being said, I have notice a steady decline in medical care, namely; doctors switching from bulk billing to PAYG, specialists charging way beyond the standard pricing structures and the three times I’ve been admitted to hospital I’ve had wait times of up to four hours in pain with a dislocated shoulder.

Sorry, but all these “great” things that have apparently been done are news to me.

Let’s step down from the 1000 foot viewpoint, and see if anyone can personally shed light on these improvements.

Aitch B says:

12:36pm | 09/12/10

@JulesG again

You didn’t read my post. I would like to know what the ‘good work in health’ actually is!

I’m not interested in policies and who’s got them and who doesn’t, I’m interested in the ‘good work on health’ that acotrel refers to. Policy is not action… it’s just words!

Give me some concrete ‘good work’ that’s been completed or is in progress other than the two increased taxes I referred to.

You appear to be a party hack so I’m sure you have access to that information.

TimB says:

12:42pm | 09/12/10

JulesG you ask “so what?”

“So what” is that all those things you’ve listed are promises. They havn’t actually done anything.
The NSW Labor government has been promising us stuff for years. We haven’t seen any of it. Should we give them credit for it just because they write it up on a website? Please.

Show us what Labor have actually done, not what they’ve promised to do.

Also Tony Abbott did not make cuts to health. Funding was actually increased. You’ve swallowed the ALP lie.

Finally as for LNP policies:

http://www.liberal.org.au/Policies.aspx

Have a look under the health section. Then try and tell me that they have no policies without lying.

Look forward to your no doubt insightful response.

JulesG says:

01:29pm | 09/12/10

Aitch B & TimB:  Ooh!, the fur’s flying today! I’m no more a party hack than you are a liberal stooge! No disrespect to either of you, I just have my point of view held as passionately as you no doubt hold yours. We can only agree to disagree and I for one look forward to the continued cut and thrust of this site. See you in court. Jules

TimB says:

01:36pm | 09/12/10

Difference between us and you Jules is we have facts to back up our points of view.

Surrender accepted .

Aitch B says:

01:51pm | 09/12/10

Yep… just as I suspected. All policy, no product.

As TRM has pointed out above, there is a decline in health care performance against standard criteria all around the country. Doesn’t make for ‘good work’ in my book.

JulesG, you haven’t given me anything concrete in defence of my criticism and acotrel seems to have lost interest after his initial statement - as he often does.

‘Agree to disagree’ is a bit of a cop out when you are helping push the ‘great work in health’ barrow and it’s totally empty!

acotrel says:

07:45am | 09/12/10

I don’t think Tony Abbott will age beautifully, his cynicism will show in his face and he’ll turn into a hobgoblin!

Brian B says:

09:15am | 09/12/10

Geez mate - same post, different day!!

You really are boring just shuffling words around to say the same thing each day. We got the message a long time ago that you don’t particularly like Tony Abbott. Get a new hobby.

JulesG says:

09:42am | 09/12/10

Brian B: Nosthow is perfectly correct and Abbott does not bode well for Australia and it is a very, very, serious matter indeed. It has ramifications for our nation and upcoming generations that just don’t bear thinking about.

As far as I’m concerned nosthow’s message should be trumpeted from the roof tops on the hour, every hour, lest we forget what damage this wrecking ball can do with his cynicism, lack of vision and his famine of ideas or anything useful to contribute.

It’s not a question of not liking Abbott , it’s a question of loving Australia and that can never be boring.

NicoleG says:

10:17am | 09/12/10

Aww, that’s the second time in two days JulesG has jumped to your defence nosthow. Maybe you could pencil her in for the 2nd May?

nosthow says:

11:59am | 09/12/10

@Brian B - hahaahhh Brian old buddy honestly it was like watching a fish out of water gasping for air - and made as much sense as well - even our dogs were cringing Brian! Easter come on Easter and goodbye Tony !

nosthow says:

12:02pm | 09/12/10

@NicoleG - heh heh - I might have that weekend off myself Nicole and give the lurve machine a well earned rest. Top girl that JulesG - very perceptive.

sneakers says:

12:41pm | 09/12/10

Or the 14th of March, NicoleG

NicoleG says:

01:05pm | 09/12/10

sneakers, that would be sooooooo romantic…..*Shudder*........

JulesG says:

01:13pm | 09/12/10

NicoleG & nosthow: Sorry to disappoint folks but I am a mere male. Perhaps Nicole thought that I was too erudite to be a guy. What do you think? Nosthow, thanks for the accolade but your perceptions are definitely off this time. Keep up the good work though. Jules

NicoleG says:

03:59pm | 09/12/10

No JulesG, it was purely because of your name.

acotrel says:

02:00am | 10/12/10

‘the stare queen’ - do you mean Fascist Barbie ?

Macca says:

09:22am | 09/12/10

Where’s Ant Sharwood? His Twit indicates he missed his train, or something. And he wrote a story about weather….

John Smythe says:

09:59am | 09/12/10

I hate to play gloating parent…ok I lie, I love to play gloating parent….but my second son, now 11, was completely distraught about Christmas now.

Why?

He was looking for his plastic baseball bat (so he can practice swinging and batting - there’s really soft balls you can use indoors), and during the search which extended to his little sister’s room, he found a Chrissy present of his I was hiding.

Normally kids would be so over the moon they were getting what they wanted….he was upset he lost the pleasure of “looking forward to Christmas (presents)”.

Kids can be so cute

Macca says:

10:25am | 09/12/10

@John Smythe, if only that innocence lasted forever

Macca says:

10:05am | 09/12/10

I think that satisfies most of it. Perhaps a little more research about how Mundine thought he was going to clock the lesser-chump (it’s good to be less of a chump) and was then going to go for a world title of some sort.

The look on his face was just delicious. How does that taste, to be beaten by a TV contestent winner? Na, na, you’re right, you’re The Man, Mundine, you’re the Man.

Oh, and you’re absolutely correct that after the Storm Salary cap Scandal the NRL has no business looking into Greg Inglis’ third party deals and is just trying to act like the big boss.

iansand says:

02:14pm | 09/12/10

They found this chump in a reality TV show.  I never expected one of them to be so useful.

James1 says:

10:59am | 09/12/10

MarK,

Perhaps there is a conspiracy involving Bolt after all:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/bolt-case-reflects-hollow-commitment-to-free-speech/story-e6frg6zo-1225967870360

Zeta says:

11:35am | 09/12/10

I’m still in that underwater bit. Sucks hard, should have gone to Mt. Hyjal instead. Played for an hour, got sick of it and ragequit.

Simple freaking game theory WoWtards - if everyone grouped up, we’d do the quests faster, instead of competing with 20 other people to kill the same crab 6 times.

Have ganked heaps of alliance noobs though. That was fun.

Macca says:

11:59am | 09/12/10

Only a complete nerd would understand what you are talking about MarK

Sara says:

12:08pm | 09/12/10

I ragequit Vashj’ir too, after an hour I still hadn’t really worked out what the point of it all was. Went back to Northrend, which is now blissfully empty.

Zeta says:

12:32pm | 09/12/10

@ Sara - You’re a bigger nerd for knowing what it’s called. It’s the underwater bit. As opposed to the snowing bit.

I really wanted to play a werewolf but the servers are all full. Green gnomes are made of fail.

Markus says:

04:02pm | 09/12/10

I haven’t managed to get onto my primary server yet. Last attempt had me at 2432 in queue. Where were all these bastards when I was trying to build a raid guild for the last 2 years!??

Markus says:

04:04pm | 09/12/10

Also @Zeta, in my frustration at being unable to access my 80s, I re-rolled wolfie on a Latin RP server.
The starting quests are fantastic, my highlight being sicking a pack of staffies onto an undead npc for a quest

MarK says:

04:28pm | 09/12/10

We actually just did to 83 in dumgeons then went to Uldam. Got ahead of the curve as such and had the place to ourselves (guild wise).

Now the obligatory gearing starts…....

Macca says:

12:00pm | 09/12/10

Speaking of Nerds, that bearded fellow… wow