Weekend Punch: Water under the bridge

Alfie says:

08:10am | 15/09/12

Interesting level of support for Abbott in The Australian today, particularly from the over 50’s Jurnos who were around the very same uni campuses back in the day.

These continued baseless personal attacks do nothing for the image of the Labor party. They should take note of how this tactic worked out for Bigh against Newman in Qld - It backfired spectacularly.

iansand says:

09:15am | 15/09/12

Do you know something the rest of us don’t?  He was charged with sexual assault (albeit acquitted).  Would that count?

craig2 says:

09:45am | 15/09/12

I’m waiting for the days of the school yard some 30 years ago behind the principles office where the boys used to meet and “pash” the girls, to come back and bite me. I know there is some dodgy sheila waiting to front the papers and make fallacious claims about how bad a kisser I was….........

Penn says:

09:47am | 15/09/12

Did Abbott lift his skirt in pre-school?
Tell us more.

Mouse says:

10:22am | 15/09/12

It seems that on a poll done on ninemsn yesterday,  78% (80,503 NO votes to 28% 22723 yes votes) of people don’t give a fig about the accusations. Something that may or may not have happened 35 years ago, where no was touched,  no marks where left, no-one else actually witnessed it and hasn’t been talked about until now, doesn’t appear to be the big deal with Joe Voter that some would like it to be. Whodathunkthat?  :o/

Alfie, Labor have learnt nothing in the 4 or so years they have been in, so why should they take note of what happened to bligh’s tactics against Newman in QLD or their wonderful efforts in NSW. I love it when swan is “acting” PM, he gets so vicious against anything Liberal! How’s that working for him I wonder.  I love it when gillard goes away and swan gets to play boss, if not just to hear what is going to be his diatribe this time!  gillard and the rest of her crew are pretty good at name calling too.  They definitely have it over the Libs on that one! Maybe, one day,  they will learn how to play sensibly, in the big world, when they grow up (or is that get-up? lol ) and become adults like the rest of us. Can’t wait for that!!  LOL :o)

Tim says:

11:03am | 15/09/12

It’s funny how the same people who thought Gillards behaviour was fair game for muckraking and personal attacks are now up in arms about it happening to Abbott.

Alfie says:

01:39pm | 15/09/12

@Tim

Difference is, the questions were around Gillard’s professional conduct, not about her personality or attitude. Besides, they were proven facts, not concocted smear.

Tim says:

12:14pm | 16/09/12

Alfie,
What proven facts? Was she charged?

Oh no its only smear if it happens to our side of politics right?

TChong says:

08:14am | 15/09/12

agree thatmosis.
The fawning media are called to be present whenever the royals need a bit of publicity, so they ( the royals) can hardly complain about being bitten by the very creature ( press coverage) , that they cynically nurture.

marley says:

08:34am | 15/09/12

@thatmosis - members of the Royal family only get public funding for undertaking official events on behalf of the government.  When they’re off on holiday, paid for out of the royal purse, not the taxpayer’s dollar, I reckon they’re entitled to as much privacy as you are when you take do the same.

Gratuitous Adviser says:

09:18am | 15/09/12

I would think that the Murdoch press in England would have grabbed these pictures with both hands except that they are rightfully on the nose in the UK and they do not need any more stress. 

Their role in the Hillsborough disaster cover-up was disgraceful, the latest of their sins and enough for this week.

GetRidOfCommies says:

09:25am | 15/09/12

Spot on thatmosis - the royal family is public property and anyone who is able to should have every right to look at Kate Middleton’s naked boobs. I know I had a nice long look. The idea that these people have a right to privacy is a joke. If they want privacy maybe they should give up there tax payer funded lifestyle.

Eda says:

09:33am | 15/09/12

Yea, yea,  just let the media/paparazzi hound Kate, just like they did Princess Diana, perhaps William is thinking/seeing ‘history repeating’.

Bill says:

10:31am | 15/09/12

Tchong - how would you like it if your wife was photographed topless while on private property, and those photos were published worldwide?

Do you really think that this is acceptable?

marley says:

11:18am | 15/09/12

@GetRidofCommies - they have got rid of their taxpayer-funded lifestyle.  But rant on.

colroe says:

01:00pm | 15/09/12

I will never understand this obsession with the Windsor mob.  They are human with breasts and penises, so whats the big deal?    Would the photos be less newsworthy if she had no boobs?    She might be a nice woman and Bill a nice bloke, but as thatmosis has described it, they are “privileged layabouts”, no more, no less.

Wilma J Craig says:

04:18pm | 15/09/12

Every Tourist Attraction, and for the UK there is no bigger tourist attraction than the royal family, needs to close down periodically for maintenance work. Be it the Tower of London, that Great Big Beautiful Giant Green Gherkin or it’s Cocktail Gherkin daughter, Westminster Abbey in London or any others anywhere else in the world. Britain’s answer to America’s Barbie & Ken dolls, Kate & Willy may well have been using taxpayer’s money to have a short break - after all they live off them as it is - but even they are entitled to a bit of routine maintenance and close down for a short time. That, according to reports is exactly what this particular British Tourist Attraction were doing. Like’em or loathe’em they are, unlike Barbie & Ken, actually human beings. The low-life who used a high-powered, sophisticated camera equipped with at telephoto lens a very long way away from Kate & Willy - one report has stated the low-life was more than a kilometre away- had, no matter how public, how tax-payer-dependant, how parasitic people may think them, no right to spy on them for that is exactly what she/he was doing and doing it for money.
Yes, they are celebrities and even the most insignificant of our own Australian celebrities are granted privacy at times. Excpet of course when they have suffered some tragedy, have asked for ‘their privacy to be respected’ and then at the very first opportunity arrange for photographers to be on hand when they are displaying their (feigned?) “grief”

Little is RIght says:

09:44am | 15/09/12

AA AAA?
Does this mean anything in the real world?

You sound like a parent who can’t believe their precious child just got an A- and blames the teacher.

If it means that much to you, why don’t you just go punch a wall or something?

craig2 says:

09:46am | 15/09/12

Little Joe: Settle down, it’s now the weekend, take a break and wait till Mon to yell and shout. I agree labor is piss.

thatmosis says:

03:18pm | 15/09/12

Little is RIght, yes there is a difference as on a AA rating its more expensive to borrow money and this can all be attributed to the Labor Party and its bungling of 20 years in power. Now i dont know about you but if i could borrow money with a AAA+ rating at say 5% against an AA rating at 7.5% then I would prefer to borrow at the lower rate as would every thinking person but then that excludes most Labor Supporters doesnt it..

Little Joe says:

12:00pm | 16/09/12

@ Thatmosis

Maybe all the Labor Supporters would allow LNP Supporters to pay a lower rate of taxation ..... and they could make up the differnce

TChong says:

08:46am | 15/09/12

GA
agree partly
The demos arent about a film
The demos are the result of decades of US self serving hyocrasy , backed up with lehal force.
The libyan attack was a result of US and other western nations ( in order to secure oil reserves) handing out weapons to religios fundamentalist mercenairies, and now having the same group bite them
( a parralel with afghanistan - by arming a group of “freedom fighters”  to combat the soviets, that eventually morphed into the alqueda and affiliates )

craig2 says:

09:50am | 15/09/12

Lets talk in 20 years time when our borders are still porous and our population becomes more multicultural and our politics becomes a religious battleground and the ordinary Australian will be long forgotten. The greens will be replaced by a religious party and that’s where all hell will break loose.

Achmed says:

09:52am | 15/09/12

The radicals and extremists have highjacked the “agenda”.  So much so that the moderates are attacked/killed because there view is not supportive of the extremists.  The Taliban are a case in point.  Afghanistan a Muslim country where the Taliban kill other Muslims because they are moderate.
Mind you Christianity cannot take any moral high ground.  The crusades, the Inquisition and the unyielding conversion of so-called heathens to Christianity without regard for their beliefs.

I agree we need to be wary and concerned when we see what is happening in other countries, particularly European ones.  Muslim enclaves where no-one but Muslims can enter, Sharia being imposed and replacing common law.  People leave their country as refugees because of religious or political reasons, then spend their time creating the same environment in their “adopted” country.
My family came here many years ago.  We are Australian - not for example Lebonese/Croatian/Irish/Australian - just simply Australians who have a different heritage.

Gratuitous Adviser says:

12:16pm | 15/09/12

Achmed.  Agree totally.  Christianity has just as much to answer for as Islam and that is why, in the modern and educated world, I can not fathom why the crusades continue (Israel is just as bad).  Surely only the foolish/simple consider that dying for your specific god (and there is no other, of course) on earth, will allow you to go to the nirvana that is available on this earth, if they try.

I was in Afghanistan/North Pakistan 30 years ago and it was the poorest of the poor then and has not progressed since.  By comparison I was in Singapore and a fair bit of East Asia generally, at the same time, and look at how they are progressing and what they have achieved since they backgrounded religion, reduced corruption, stopped blaming everyone else and just got on with it.

Countries, cultures and areas that produce religious fanaticism are always the poorest and the people are the most deprived.

P. Darvio says:

01:06pm | 15/09/12

Quote: How can you reason with a people (not all people, I know) that follow a religion that allows the philosophy “I will kill you if you do not believe in my God”?

Muslims, Christian and Jews religious texts say non-believers (of their particular faith) must be put to death or killed – the so-called Abrahamic faiths whose doctrine of death is responsible for most of the terrorism throughout human history – this is just another example of the dangers of religion

Luckily we live in a Country that has “freedom from religion” and not “freedom of religion” – because “freedom of religion” gives you states like Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Christian Vatican State – all religious theocratic States that are not democratic and give little or no rights to woman or children and no democratic vote.

Our Australian Schools are been overrun by militant religious zealots with programs like the Christian school chaplaincy program and Christian Lobby groups who have a hate agenda in this Country.

Look what Christians are doing in Russia – locking up for years pop bands for Impromptu concerts – clearly Christians don’t like Pussy….Riot.

Historically, according to one religion, the non-believers of that particular religion are called “Infidels” – and which religion is that you ask?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infidel#Christian

WTF !! – we can see where those Muslims got the phrase from.

Wake up Australia – Sharia and Bible law threatens our democratic secular way of life in Australia.

Gratuitous Adviser says:

05:48pm | 15/09/12

“Which Australian politicians (past and present) are going to take the blame for allowing it to happen by uncontrolled and politically correct immigration”. 

Dear overpaid (3rd highest in the world now and still going) Australian politicians.  It’s all happening in Sydney today (beginning outside the United States Consulate and spreading through the city’s streets to Hyde Park).  Let’s hear something for our money other than platitudes and political correctness.  I know what they will say.  Let’s have a Committee of Eminent Australians to decide the way forward”  which means to get them of the hook”.  Let’s wait and see.

By the by:  Where’s S.H.Y and why is she not over in Sydney protecting the policeman with a wee little tear and a gaze.  I foresee her position will be “Yes it’s terrible and I (and the Greens) do not support violence, buuuuuuuut, the film was disgusting and they came from such hardship etc etc etc”.  Let’s wait and see.

I’m being cynical but I 99% suspected that they would come out in Australia and use this to bash anyone they can under the guise of “Do not insult my god or I will kill you”.  Our pollies must do something about these people importing their troubles and strife into a country that does not have trouble and strife, or has the horse bolted??  Let’s wait and see what is said, and done, by the various parties/pollies and remember for the upcoming elections.

By the by:  Whatever happened to the Villawood detention centre rioters?

Bill says:

10:14am | 15/09/12

And in front of a MASSIVE crowd of 16,000!

If that number of people attended a game of Australian footy we’d all be hanging our heads in shame. Such a tiny crowd at a FINAL in the rugby heartland only proves that even Sydney people think that the game is a joke. The crowd in Adelaide was DOUBLE that, even though their population is 1/4 that of Sydney.

The NRL is dying while our national code is expanding and winning hearts and minds everywhere.

sunny says:

11:00am | 15/09/12

TChong - I don’t know how the video ref(s) gave that Taufau try. He planted it well in front of the line where it stopped (no momentum) and then spilled it as he tried to slide it forward. It looked like no try, smelt like no try, tasted like no try, the commentators were saying no try, and even the Manly supporters would have been content with no try. How the hell was it awarded a try? Do the video refs somehow talk each other into a bad decision? Decisions made by committee often turn out to be bad ones.

Tim says:

11:09am | 15/09/12

Cmon Chongy fair dinkum, cowboys were gypped.

The stripping incident is a simple ref mistake, it happens every game, they can’t see everything.
But the video ref?
Tafua’s first try I thought was a double movement but ill give the video ref the benefit of the doubt.
But there is no way in hell that second try should have been awarded. He touched it clearly, its a disgrace.

I’m just hoping that the same kind of thing doesn’t decide tonights game.

pa_kelvin says:

12:41pm | 15/09/12

They didn’t want a Queensland team to progress to the final….Bill ,Manly fans dont follow Manly unless they win the grand final….a bit like Collingwood fans…............

sunny says:

12:47pm | 15/09/12

Bill - it’s probably fair to say that the more popular that Aussie rules has got, the more the AFL has diluted the physicality of the game so as not to offend the mums who they’re trying to win over. Those AFL players can’t so much as slap anyone without getting a lengthy ban. So yeah I hope rugby league never gets that popular - already they’re trying to ban the shoulder charge which would be a joke if they do. Your code can have the hearts and minds, you’re welcome to them.

Tim says:

01:15pm | 15/09/12

Ah Bill,
It was Manly vs Nth Qld at Allianz, the small crowd was expected. I’ll wait to see what the tv ratings were.

The real story was the woeful crowd of 30k in Adelaide, part of the stronghold of AFL, a city that only has two teams. Fair dinkum where have all the crows fans gone?

In comparison Canberra filled the stadium last week 25k with a population one third that of Adelaide.

pa_kelvin says:

12:43pm | 15/09/12

Who won .

stephen says:

05:37pm | 15/09/12

Ron Barassi was Coach of NM, and they won with 56 points, I think.
Attendance was about 89,000, which was then about the entire population of Adelaide.
(Was at the ‘70 GF, and saw Jesu(s)ilenko take that mark. Best player I’ve ever seen in action ... and that includes G. Ablett Snr.

pa_kelvin says:

02:49pm | 15/09/12

Gotta hate that…When I see this I place the roll the correct way….

marley says:

04:20pm | 15/09/12

I’m told it’s a male/female thing.  Maybe the housemaids need better training from the butler.

thunderbox and lightening, very very frightening says:

06:17pm | 15/09/12

@pa_kelvin
Gadzooks….it never occured to me to take the corrective route! Thank you, I am now emboldened and cannot be stopped!

@ marley
So, generally speaking, you’re saying that females like it from the bottom, and males from the top…or is it the other way round?

Rocksteady says:

10:45am | 16/09/12

I won’t date a woman who doesn’t know how the right way up for a toilet roll.

stephen says:

03:43pm | 16/09/12

Toilet paper ?
What’s that ?

Inky says:

04:49pm | 16/09/12

Top/bottom?

I’m confused, I don’t get the exact meaning, which is resulting in me seeing toilet paper defying gravity in my head.

When we say the wrong way, how do we mean? Like the loose part of the roll being at the back, rather than at the front? Or am *I* doing it wrong?

marley says:

01:31pm | 16/09/12

One last time - the royal family doesn’t live off the taxpayers, they live off the proceeds of the Royal Estates.  The Queen provides for her dependents out of her income.  The Queen herself is reimbursed for expenditure in her role as head of state, but then so is our GG.  For the rest, she pays her own way, and her family’s way, and she pays income tax like everyone else.

pa_kelvin says:

01:51pm | 16/09/12

Abbott’s philandering, as apossed to Gillards affairs with married men..pot kettle ...Cant defend one and not the other vox…......

marley says:

02:25pm | 16/09/12

@vox - It’s interesting that you dislikes blokes who disrespect women.  I didn’t see a whole lot of respect in your own references to the ladies of the Windsor household, or to Tony Abbott’s ex girlfriend. 

By the way, even a cursory google would tell you that the junior members of the royal family are supported by the Queen and/or the Royal Estates, not by the taxpayer.

Ian1 says:

07:43pm | 16/09/12

Oh dear, Royal envy much?  Is it possible you don’t really understand the power structures of the world we live in?

I can’t imagine there being women anywhere who seek sexual freedom and the liberty to enjoy a love life whilst young and in the spring of life.  Women what,  should be stuck with the man they first wake up next to? Hang on, that’s such a regressive belief of yours I might just stop there.  Luckily this isn’t “your” Australia. 

Men have the right to love, and leave, just as women have, and do.

Meanwhile, did Mr Abbott just leave his wife and daughters or were you referring to the woman who had other lovers at the time he thought it best to leave?