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Filed under: Open Thread, Weekend Punch

23 comments

Finish this sentence: the thing I most look forward to every weekend is…

So, do you come here often? Photo: The Daily Telegraph

While you’re thinking about that, take a wander through some of the best Punch posts from this week.

Luke McIlveen on cops, cars, guns and justice

Tory Maguire questioned why it’s just the likeable that should be paid for their stories.

Malcolm Farr comes to an erudite conclusion on the Peter Slipper saga.

Ms T Shepherd on the wacky world of modern day funerals.

Julie Lee taught us how to make the BEST Anzac biscuit.

Ant Sharwood fished around LA to find Matt Newtown a job.

Dan called b*llshit on political gaffes that aren’t worth mouthing off about.

Lucy looked for a reason behind our love for booze.

And Helen Parker led us gently through the changes in public attitude towards Anzac Day.

Here’s some other stuff, not written by us, that is also very good.

- Jemima Kahn on the noisy and deadly American drones

- Paul Sheehan on why Anthony Mundine’s comments on cops missed the mark

- And Adam Ferrier on Kony 2012.“The biggest social media experiement to end in failure”.

Don’t miss it: Get Weekend Punch in your inbox every Sunday

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23 comments

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- Richard says:
  
  07:20am | 28/04/12
  
  Right now it’s monday morning so the kids go back to school. Infinite energy wears you down after a while.
  
  Reply
- nossy says:
  
  08:09am | 28/04/12
  
  “the thing I most look forward to every weekend is…” going boating but its pissing down here on the Gold Coast so its indoor activities today - going out for coffees etc. Have a pleasant weekend Punchers. Heres a blast from the past for all you hippies out there past and presen t- Scott MacKenzie and “San Francisco”.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_WG3d3GL8&feature=related
  
  Reply
StandBand says:

10:02am | 28/04/12

And I thought Dick Clark had died.
But here he is alive and living on the gold coast pining for Rosie errrr times.
nossy says:

11:25am | 28/04/12

@StandBand thank you Badger! hahaha Heres another great one - Procul Harem and “Whiter Shade of Pale” - very big around the late 60’s. P.S. loved Dick Clark Badger!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3iPP-tHdA
- AdamC says:
  
  09:03am | 28/04/12
  
  So, Juliar and the gang are jacking up the taxes on super contributions for high earners.
  
  http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/top-earners-super-break-slashed-20120427-1xqkz.html
  
  There is some merit to this idea. Whilst I think Australian tax rates are too high, and any tax increases - explicit or implicit - cannot be justified, this is probably one of the least damaging and fairest ways to go about squeezing more out of the Australian people. But then Bill Shorten, who is establishing himself as another big Labor disappointment, has to go ahead and spoil it all with another class warfare rant. Here’s a quote:
  
  ‘‘If Mr Abbott goes into bat for the top 1 per cent of income earners to protect their massively higher tax breaks, it’ll be the final proof he’s betrayed the ordinary working families’‘.
  
  Now, I know the most compliantly credulous Labor drones will buy into this nonsense by default, but aren’t the other Laborites here embarrassed by this bunch of clowns? Is this really all they’ve got left? Why not call an election so the public can put down this flea-ridden dog of an administration?
  
  Reply
acotrel says:

10:00am | 28/04/12

No there is no class war except Abbott is creating it !
Even Abbott’s ‘Family First’ type Paid Parental Leave scheme is biassed towards the top end of town. His opposition to the Clean Energy Bills is about currying favour with those in the top end of town who fund his party. His opposition to means testing the rebate on private health care cover, was about helping the top end of town to the disadvantage of the wood ducks !
The political motive is to grab the middle ground - those amongst us who believe they are that little bit better than everyone else. The votes are not in the top end , but that’swhere the social climbers aspire to be.
ZSRenn says:

10:36am | 28/04/12

Have you ever done the Ctrl + F thing on “Abbott’ in any story. it’s an easy way to find who the Abbott bashers, sorry basher is.
simonfromLakemba says:

11:00am | 28/04/12

Well i wouldn’t be crowing about being a Liberal supporter at the moment either, nothing too flash at the present.

Bit rich talking about drones when the Libs on here are just as bad, Mr Abbott and his 3 word slogans, and you yourself aren’t a drone?

Juliar, did you get bolts or Akermans permission to use that?
AdamC says:

01:23pm | 28/04/12

Simon, I know it makes you feel better to think I am some sort of amateur spokesperson for the Coalition. I am certainly a Liberal voter, supporter and erstwhile member, but I am not an uncritical fanboy like acotrel, whom I see has basically restated Bill Shorten’s silly rhetoric in a less coherent fashion above. (As an aside, Acotrel, you know I am one of your biggest fans, but you really need to discover paragraphs!)

You read enough of my comments, Simon, to know that I am no great fan of Tony Abbott, and am frequently critical of Coalition policies with which I disagree. But you like to ignore that whenever I point out the failures of this abysmal government.

So, I put it to you again - aren’t you embarrassed by this government constantly playing lowest common denominator games? Do you really think this is a functional, effective government?

Because, despite Gillard et al constantly acting like he is, Tony Abbott is not the Prime Minister of this country. Juliar is.

And I call her Juliar because she lied, simple as that.
- acotrel says:
  
  10:41am | 28/04/12
  
  If Jeff Kennett hadn’t closed our large mental hospitals in Victoria and sold them, perhaps Ted Baillieu would not need to now spend on building larger prisons ?
  Between them they have taken us back to the dark ages !
  
  Reply
Jeremy says:

09:27am | 29/04/12

Acotrel, your hyperbole doesn’t make your argument more convincing or coherent. For sure we need more money in hospitals to prevent prisons filling up with people who need mental care, not detention. But likening it to the dark ages makes it sound like you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, and people switch off.
- simonfromLakemba says:
  
  10:56am | 28/04/12
  
  Good article on Abbott, think it sums up the non rusted on peoples opinion of him.
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/small-target-big-letdown-20120427-1xqco.html
  
  Reply
AdamC says:

01:25pm | 28/04/12

Yawn, more tired Abbott-bashing by a Gallery journo. I think we’ve seen it all before, Simon.
Gem says:

02:51pm | 28/04/12

Perhaps you should read it Adam
It is an accurate analysis of the current state of politics and the lack of anything other than negative messages the opposition is spouting.
It’s an attempt by a political party to gain power with no clear agenda other than to be a wrecking ball.
It reflects the electorates distaste for both Gillard and Abbott.

Come election time, a coalition without a clear and positive agenda may find themselves defeated ... better the devil you know (than the devil you don’t)
acotrel says:

04:14pm | 28/04/12

The idiot conservative voters deserve a dose of Abbott a s PM, but what about the rest of us - we’ve done nothing which would justify such a fate ? I note that Abbot is sayin that the first thing he would do, is go to Indonesia to get the boats turned back. Surely the diplomats in DFAT would head the ratbag off before he preciptated the fight that’s been pending for 70 years ? Biggest Muslim nation on the planet ! !
marley says:

04:55pm | 28/04/12

@acotrel - well, you see, here’s the thing. Maybe we, the non-aligned voters, don’t deserve Abbott, but we don’t deserve the ALP either.

And if you think that the ALP hasn’t been doing its damnedest to get the Indonesians to deal, you’d be sadly mistaken. Howard had a deal in place with them, after all, which is part of the reason the boat arrivals dropped off (along with other factors, of course).

I strongly suspect that one K. Rudd, with his focus on China to the exclusion of nearer neighbours (Indonesia) and older friends (Japan) screwed up our foreign relations royally and the Indonesians have been letting the boats through as a not too subtle reminder that they cannot be just taken for granted. If Abbott wants to sit down with the Indonesians and talk to them about turning the boats back, well, why do you see that as a problem, exactly? It’s just part of the process of diplomacy.
john says:

09:32am | 29/04/12

hahahahaha
marley a non-aligned voter

Of course you are.
marley says:

11:30am | 29/04/12

@john - as a matter of fact, I’m your classic non-aligned voter. Just because I’m critical of one party, doesn’t mean I support the other. I’ve been a swing voter all my life, and I don’t think that’s going to change. That’s part of the problem with rusted-ons of one persuasion or the other: they can’t get their minds wrapped around the possibility that there are plenty of us who keep fairly open minds on matters political rather than toe a party line.
john says:

01:03pm | 29/04/12

Of course you are!!

nudge, nudge, wink, wink,

Say no more!
- Lyla says:
  
  11:51am | 28/04/12
  
  Ahhh, the weekend! I get up for work at the ungodly hour of 4:45am on weekdays, so on Saturdays the thing I look forward to most is sleeping in till 9:00am - strange because a few years ago I never would have considered 9:00am a ‘sleep-in’, but there you have it. Anyhow, I drag myself out of bed and head to the gym for a delightful Zumba class after my sleep-in. One hour of shimmying, shaking and dancing like a maniac to wake myself up! The rest of today, I will most likely spend lying on the couch watching back-to-back episodes of The Walking Dead, drinking coffee and inhaling Double Stuff Oreos.
  
  Reply
- TheRealDave says:
  
  01:38pm | 28/04/12
  
  I was having a think about this ‘Bikey crap’ thats going on and a weird thought occurred to me…well…several of them….well, maybe not wierd but simple…maybe we are going about this the wrong way. Maybe instead of going after the big crimes and making ‘major busts’ why don’t we try ‘nickel and diming’ the bastards to death?? After all, they got Capone on Tax charges why not think outside the square??
  
  I’m thinking simple stuff like bringing in in new nationwide laws in regards to safety attire if riding a motorbike. We have nation wide helmet laws - lets add to it and make EVERY motorbike rider, and passenger, wear long highly visible flouro pants, long sleeves highly visible flouro shorts/tops. All from the choice of three highly visible colours - flouro pink, flouro orange and flouro yellow. Sure they can wear their leathers underneath…but its going to get a tad warm….might help some of them shed a few pounds - so its win-win….anyone out and about riding without approved safety gear gets fined, loss of points, license etc
  
  Secondly, are bikes exempt from noise pollution laws?? Police seem to have no dramas pulling young kids over in their cars they’ve made louder with the help of dads drill and their exhaust pipes, or their big doof doof stereos. Why not pull these wankers over every 5 minutes and test their bikes for noise. Anyone who has had one of these clowns beside them at the lights knows how noisy they are when they take off. Keep pulling them over and fining them. Take their bikes off them, suspend their licenses etc
  
  And bring in new local council laws to effectively push their clubhouses out of the suburbs and suburban industrial estates. Surely it can’t be that hard to bring in a few new regulations to assist with that?
  
  Small simple stuff that will make their lives difficult for them every time they poke their heads out.
  
  Then we can move onto big ticket items like a mandatory 10 years gaol for ANYONE found with a firearm who is not licensed. Add another 10 years if the firearm is unregistered/reported stolen previously etc Mandatory repossession of house/club house or heavy fines for lease holders if unregistered firearms are found on a premises/bike/house/boat etc Mandatory 10 years gaol on top of regular punishment for conviction of an offence with a firearm.
  
  Reply
Elizabeth1 says:

07:47am | 30/04/12

I love the fluro vests! Ha ha it would definitely destroy the ” look” . Imagine passing a stream of mean tough bikes all dressed in their safety Sam outfits. If nothing else it would really funny. Yes the least they can do is amuse the rest of us. Ha ha
- nostradamus says:
  
  05:50pm | 28/04/12
  
  Channel 7 wants to televise both Aussie Rules Football and Rugby League Football.
  If Channel 7 gets Rugby League Football from Channel 9 , Then Channel 7 wants to put Rugby League on Digital YV Channel SEVEN MATE in all Australian States except New South Wales and Queensland where Rugby League would be telecast on Channel Seven proper!
  
  Reply