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Salvaged from Archive: These posts were salvaged from the web archive of the original FileCabi forum (2007–2008). Usernames are as they were then and aren’t linked to today’s accounts.

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MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 18 May 2010, 17:08 · [Salvaged from Archive] Looks like Tony Abbott (leader of the opposition, conservative Liberal party) has his foot well and truly stuffed in his own gob. This is from Monday's 7:30 Report (http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2901996.htm): [my emphasis] KERRY O'BRIEN: OK, so you are prepared, having promised one month no new tax whatever, no increased tax to pay for policies, one month later you find a rationale that says we're gonna have to find a new tax for this. Yet when the Government says it wants to impose a new tax on mining companies in order to pay for, in part, a cut in company tax, a cut in - an introduction on - an extension on the compulsory super and various other measures, you say that's not justified. So your tax is justified, theirs isn't. TONY ABBOTT: But what I'm saying, Kerry, is that this $9 billion-a-year hit on our most successful industry is fundamental economic vandalism. I think that a decent paid parental leave scheme is not only long overdue, is not only socially visionary, but I think it is a fair dinkum productivity measure. I think it will help the economy in a way that this $9 billion hit on the mining industry won't. KERRY O'BRIEN: But what you haven't explained is how you can make one promise in one month and then completely change it the next. What happened in that month where you had this sudden explosion of vision? TONY ABBOTT: Well, again, Kerry, people will make their own judgments about me and if they ... KERRY O'BRIEN: No, but I'd like you to explain it. Tony Abbott feels with conviction we will not have a new tax in any way, shape or form, we won't have a new tax; a month later, you do. TONY ABBOTT: Well, again Kerry, I know politicians are gonna be judged on everything they say, but sometimes, in the heat of discussion, you go a little bit further than you would if it was an absolutely calm, considered, prepared, scripted remark, which is one of the reasons why the statements that need to be taken absolutely as gospel truth is those carefully prepared scripted remarks. KERRY O'BRIEN: So every time you make a statement, we have to ask you whether it's carefully prepared and scripted or whether it's just something on the fly? No, seriously; this is a very serious question. TONY ABBOTT: But all of us, Kerry, all of us when we're in the heat of verbal combat, so to speak, will sometimes say things that go a little bit further. KERRY O'BRIEN: Mr Abbott, we're not all leaders of major political parties who are either Prime Minister or aspiring to be. TONY ABBOTT: True, true, true.Video here (http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201005/r567974_3483400.asx), low bandwidth video here (http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201005/r567974_3483401.asx). Quoted section starts at 4:59. Fantastic. No, seriously- this is great: Anything that hurts Abbott's election prospects is fine in my book. :thumb: Here's a blog piece on the interview. Some of the comments are spot on: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/18/2902564.htm…
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 18 May 2010, 17:38 · [Salvaged from Archive] On Labor's drift to the right; the context being that Labor's historical socially democratic, pro-union, pro-nationalisation stance enshrined in its own constitution is now well overdue for revision: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2900758.htm Application to deregister the ALP Kellie Tranter (http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2485888.htm) Dear Australian Electoral Commissioner, On behalf of many concerned citizens of Australia I would like to make an application for the deregistration of the Australian Labor Party. Section 137 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 says that a political party can be deregistered if the Commission is satisfied on reasonable grounds that a political party has ceased to exist. Although the Act doesn't say whether "ceased to exist" relates to the party's physical, philosophical or spiritual condition, it's a pretty safe bet in the Labor Party's case that it qualifies on all grounds. Finding "reasonable grounds" is easy: all you need do is compare Labor's constitution and objectives with recent Australian history. Please consider some of the ALP's stated objectives as outlined in the Australian Labor Party Constitution 2009 (http://www.alp.org.au/sites/default/files/downloads/natio… Start with the general: The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields. At the moment a lot of mining companies are complaining about the undemocratic socialisation of industry, but apart from that I can't remember any Australian Labor government at Federal or State level socialising anything. Privatising, yes; socialising, no. Now let's turn to specifics: To achieve the political and social values of equality, democracy, liberty and social cooperation inherent in this objective, the Australian Labor Party stands for: 1. establishment and development of public enterprises, based upon federal, State and other forms of social ownership, in appropriate sectors of the economy. Do they mean the AFP? Otherwise, Labor has been as aggressive as the Liberals in selling off public enterprises and privatising rather than socialising anything remotely "economic" in character. If it is possible to commoditise something (like our water) it's commoditised (step1), a market is set (step 2), "free market" trading begins (step 3), the gamblers come in with derivatives (step 4) and away we go! 2. democratic control and strategic social ownership of Australian natural resources for the benefit of all Australians; Mr Rudd would say he's having a crack at this with the mining companies, but whether he has the backbone to resist their PR onslaught remains to be seen. Apart from that "privatise", "license" or "royalty" seem to be the only concepts applied to Australian natural resources, and they aren't synonymous with "democratic control" in my lexicon. 3. maintenance of and support for a competitive non-monopolistic private sector, including small business and farming, controlled and owned by Australians, operating with clear social guidelines and objectives; First, you should ask, "Who really opened the Australian economy to foreign "investment", ie. ownership?" Then you might please tell me what "social guidelines and objectives" other than profit maximisation govern the private sector. 4. the right to own private property; Yes, that's why we have farmers living in trees for months on end, coal miners uprooting our farms and undermining our natural heritage, and "infrastructure" going through our backyards whether we like it or not. You can own everything underneath the land as long as there is nothing of value. 5. recognition and encouragement of the right of labour to organise for the protection and advancement of its interests; Isn't that describing the executive? They must have slipped this one in. Well I guess some rights to organise are there, but what good are they if organised labour can only operate or act permissively "within the system"? 6. the application of democracy in industry to increase the opportunities for people to work in satisfying, healthy and humane conditions; and to participate in and to increase their control over the decision making processes affecting them; Isn't industrial democracy an anachronistic concept that disappeared back in the 1970s? Neoliberalism (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/1665645… put paid to that. And they can't mean ordinary citizens: look at the Intervention. Maybe "in industry" means "to retired politicians"? 7. the promotion of socially appropriate technology and the monitoring of its introduction to ensure the needs and interests of labour, as well as the requirements of competitive industry and consumer demand, are taken into consideration; Transfer manufacturing to China, services to India and promote the rubble economy. No elaborately transformed manufactures (http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Budget… shall soil our door! 8. the restoration and maintenance of full employment; Well I don't think the Labor Party founding fathers would be impressed with the way the ideal has been abandoned -- having a permanent pool of unemployed is a fundamental tenet of neoliberalism -- and debate obfuscated by dodgy definitions and fudged statistics. Bill Mitchell (http://e1.newcastle.edu.au/coffee/pubs/oped/nh_11_07_02_c… is the expert on this. 9. the abolition of poverty, and the achievement of greater equality in the distribution of income, wealth and opportunity; If children living in poverty (http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/homeless… made Bob Hawke cry in the 1980s he should be weeping now! As in most open "free-market" economies, Australian income and wealth distribution is now more skewed (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nations-ric… than ever before. Opportunity is still there, of course, but only if you can afford it. 10. reform of the Australian Constitution and other political institutions to ensure that they reflect the will of the majority of Australian citizens and the existence of Australia as an independent republic; Reform the Constitution? Good luck. The republican push seems to have gone to ground. I guess we could change the flag: take out the union jack and replace it with a rocking chair, and in place of the stars of the southern cross we could have a stubby holder. 11. recognition and protection of fundamental political and civil rights, including freedom of expression, the press, assembly, association, conscience and religion; the right to privacy; the protection of the individual from oppression by the state; and democratic reform of the Australian legal system; The promise to protect these "freedoms" doesn't gel with the rafts of "anti-terrorism" and anti-sedition laws, with the AFP raiding art galleries to seize what turns out not to be pornography, or with our illustrious "detention centres". And with Labor in power federally and in most States, how many Bills of Rights (http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/human-ri… does Australia have? 12. the development of a democratic communications system as an integral part of a free society, to which all citizens have opportunities for free access; Is this consistent with Labor being hell-bent on trying to censor (http://www.efa.org.au/) the internet?
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 18 May 2010, 17:39 · [Salvaged from Archive] Continued: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2900758.htm 13. elimination of discrimination and exploitation on the grounds of class, race, sex, sexuality, religion, political affiliation, national origin, citizenship, age disability, regional location, economic or household status; Well, Labor's probably done that, as long as you're not Aboriginal (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/24/2828959.htm), Afghani (http://inside.org.au/the-asylum-freeze-and-international-… Sri Lankan etc, female (http://www.apo.org.au/research/impact-sustained-gender-wa… homosexual (http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1202552/Gay-marriage-b… or any gender but classically assigned male or female, atheist or Moslem, any political persuasion other than Liberal or Labor, disabled, mentally ill (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/06/2892542.htm), from a rural area, poor etc etc etc (Isn't there a saying about the exception proving the rule...?) But if you omit "elimination of" you're getting closer to the truth... 14. recognition of prior ownership of Australian land by Aborigines and Islanders; recognition of their special and essential relationship with the land as the basis of their culture; and a commitment to the return of established traditional lands to the ownership of Aboriginal and Islander communities; The suspension (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/24/2828959.htm) of the Racial Discrimination Act to permit the Northern Territory Intervention says it all. Unbelievable. 15. the use, conservation and enhancement of Australia's natural resources and environment so that the community's total quality of life, both now and into the future, is maintained and improved; The Gold Rush is over...so back to rubble! Remember the "pre-emptive approval" of the Gorgon gas project? Well we're certainly exploiting Australia's natural resources and environment for the community's quality of (economic) life now, but we are selling off our natural resources and destroying our environment with flagrant disregard for communities of the future. 16. recognition of the need to work towards achieving ecologically sustainable development; They're getting this one half right: they're certainly working towards "development", but the "ecologically sustainable" part seems to have been forgotten. I guess it'll be determined by water levels. Can you hear bubbles (http://www.climatechange.gov.au/publications/coastline/cl… 17. maintenance of world peace; an independent Australian position in world affairs; the recognition of the right of all nations to self determination and independence; regional and international agreement for arms control and disarmament; the provision of economic and social aid to developing nations; a commitment to resolve international conflicts through the UN; and a recognition of the inalienable right of all people to liberty, equality, democracy and social justice; We have a bit of a problem with this one: Australia answered George Bush's call to invade first Afghanistan and then Iraq without UN authorisation for the use of force. It's also a bit hard to say we have an independent Australian position in world affairs when we are in America's pocket or that we give social aid to developing nations when our economic aid is invariably tied to specific purposes and dubious objectives. 18. commitment to and participation in the international democratic socialist movement as represented by the Socialist International; I can't remember ever hearing any Labor politician proclaim his or her adherence to anything overtly "socialist". When was the last time any of our jet setting Labor pollies went to any Socialist International meeting or function? Every respectable Labor apparatchik (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/rudd-rejects-socia… long ago renounced this. Is that enough to indicate that the real Australian Labor Party has ceased to exist? At least at a prima facie level, does it warrant issuing the ALP with a "show cause" notice? Please let me know if not, as there are a lot more examples where they came from, and new ones keep emerging almost daily! An application to deregister the Liberal Party (http://www.liberal.org.au/The-Party/Our-Beliefs.aspx) will be forwarded under separate cover. Yours faithfully Kellie Tranter (http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2485888.htm) is a lawyer and writer.
JooX Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 19 May 2010, 00:36 · [Salvaged from Archive] If only it had the support... Keeping enough bait dangled to ensure people are looking at the purdy shiney things lets them carry on as usual. The reason they work so hard to keep unemployment low... VIVA LA REVOLUTION! An angry mob is an angry mob. An educated angry mob is a change of regime.
Josh85 Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 11 Jun 2010, 22:51 · [Salvaged from Archive] Why can't we have any good politicians? I mean Kevin Rudd is a complete fuckup. The other guy's just as fucked up.
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 16 Jun 2010, 11:57 · [Salvaged from Archive] Why can't we have any good politicians? I mean Kevin Rudd is a complete fuckup. The other guy's just as fucked up.The difference: Tony Abbot is a complete fuckup without ever having actually fucked anything up. Rudd's turning out to be a disappointment, but at least he stuck to his guns on industrial relations. There are some good pollies out there, but the back room horse trading that determines who rises to the top will almost inevitably thwart a true idealist: The very pinnacle of politics seems mostly about ambition and who has the most allies.
JooX Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 17 Jun 2010, 03:04 · [Salvaged from Archive] NICK XENAPHON FTW!
rubicks Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 17 Jun 2010, 05:04 · [Salvaged from Archive] NICK XENAPHON FTW! word/
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 21 Jun 2010, 17:45 · [Salvaged from Archive] NICK XENAPHON FTW!Word x 2. And Steve Fielding can go fuck himself with a barbed wire dildo. :mad:
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 07:04 · [Salvaged from Archive] http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/23/2935224.htm… Summary and background: Rudd has faced criticism over not consulting the Labor party room over policy; a while back environment minister Peter Garrett learned of the axing of the emissions trading scheme from the newspaper (!). Over the past week or so, there have been idle rumblings of a leadership change to put deputy PM Julia Gillard in charge. Gillard has vehemently denied any ambition to usurp Kevin Rudd. Just a couple of hours ago, Rudd's chief of staff started ringing Labour MPs to gauge their loyalty to Rudd. There also has been a heated argument between Rudd and Gillard, instigated by Rudd- these last two points are from a 7:30 Report live interview (transcript and video here (http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2935282.htm)). Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's leadership is under siege tonight from some of the Labor Party's most influential factional warlords. The ABC has learned that powerful party figures have been secretly canvassing numbers for a move to dump the Prime Minister and replace him with his deputy, Julia Gillard. Television cameras captured Ms Gillard and Defence Minister John Faulkner going into Mr Rudd's office. They have since been joined by Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, Anthony Albanese and Senator Joe Ludwig. Factional support for Mr Rudd has collapsed around the country and the Australian Workers Union (AWU) is now supporting Ms Gillard. The ABC understands that senior ministers are in shock at how quickly all this has unfolded. One senior minister told ABC "this is madness". Earlier, Senator Faulkner was being interviewed by the 7.30 Report's Kerry O'Brien when he was told of the news. "I don't know what's on ABC news all I know is I've been sitting here talking to you. It might be on the ABC news and it's also news to me," Senator Faulkner said. Ministers and party members have been lining up all week to voice their support for Mr Rudd but behind the scenes, party leaders have been contemplating a leadership change. Although Mr Rudd looks likely to survive the challenge, news of the attempted coup will undoubtedly weaken him. It is understood that the only thing holding the Prime Minister up is that his deputy refuses to join in a bid to bring him down. A series of bad poll results have seen the ALP's primary vote tracking as low as 33 per cent. The polls dived after a series of policy bungles and backflips made by the Government, including shelving the emissions trading scheme. Any serious talk of a challenge is the last thing Mr Rudd needs as the Government prepares for the election. However, if MPs want to act they will have to do so quickly. Tomorrow will be the last sitting day before Federal Parliament breaks over winter. This means that if a challenge was to be made against Mr Rudd to install Ms Gillard before the next election, it would have to be done tomorrow before MPs leave to go back to their electorate. Earlier today it was revealed that the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Alistair Jordan, had been contacting Labor MPs to discuss the Government's performance. On Friday Mr Rudd will travel to Canada for the Group of 20 leaders' meeting. Looks like it's going to be a long night for the Canberra bigwigs and backroom power brokers.
JooX Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 08:22 · [Salvaged from Archive] You want to ensure someones political career is over... ; "We are behind the minister one-hundred percent" Bitch is gonna swing!
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 08:48 · [Salvaged from Archive] Julia Gillard as a swinger... ugh. :omg:
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 08:56 · [Salvaged from Archive] This just in: The labour caucus will hold a leadership ballot at nine tomorrow morning. So, there's a very real possibility we'll have our first female PM in less than twelve hours. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/23/2935356.htm… Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, backed by factional Labor Party warlords, has made a tilt at Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's leadership. Mr Rudd has told a press conference that earlier this evening Ms Gillard visited him to request a leadership ballot. Mr Rudd says the Labor caucus will vote on the party and Federal Government leadership tomorrow at 9:00am AEST.
JooX Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 10:45 · [Salvaged from Archive] Awww MAN. Bloody THATCHER!!!!!!!
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 11:01 · [Salvaged from Archive] http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/24/2935413.htm Gillard poised to defeat Rudd By political editor Chris Uhlmann Kevin Rudd is spending one last long night as Prime Minister. Shortly after 10:15pm yesteday he announced that he had acceded to a request from his deputy Julia Gillard to spill the leadership at a ballot to be held at 9:00am AEST today. "It's important I believe, in the interests of the Party and the Government, for these matters to be resolved as a matter of urgency," he said. His supporters say the party vote is evenly poised. The Gillard camp says she had the numbers before making a single call. He is unlikely to survive the ballot, which should install Ms Gillard as Australia's 27th prime minister and its first female leader. Mr Rudd called a late night press conference after a long meeting with Ms Gillard and party elder statesman, John Faulkner. The moves against Mr Rudd began several weeks ago when one of Mr Rudd's supporters, New South Wales right powerbroker Mark Arbib, approached his Victorian counterpart David Feeney to sound out the possibility of a leadership change. That was prompted by a series of disastrous polls which showed the Prime Minister's approval plummeting and taking the party's primary vote with it. Yesterday morning the two powerbrokers met with Ms Gillard. They returned at noon saying that they could guarantee the support of the majority of right wing Caucus members in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. They told the Deputy Prime Minister that the party would lose the election if Mr Rudd continued to lead it. They said they believe the party will win under Ms Gillard. Party sources tell the ABC that Ms Gillard agreed that the party faced electoral annihilation with Mr Rudd at the helm. As a series of secretive meetings were held around Parliament House the ABC became aware of the moves against the Prime Minister and broke the story on air and online at 7:00pm AEST. That accelerated events as the conspirators were hoping to finalise their plans without the media catching on. As it played out it became clear that even senior ministers were unaware of the power play. One Cabinet minister told the ABC: "I am sitting in my office watching all this unfold on TV. I have no part in this and no idea what's going on. This is madness."Nope, http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2195/2220600670_c5c3eda191… :D Rudd's pitch Announcing the party room spill, Mr Rudd listed his achievements and unfinished plans. "I was elected by the people of Australia as Prime Minister of Australia. I was elected to do a job," he said. "I intend to continue doing that job. I intend to continue doing it to the absolute best of my ability. Part of that job has been to steer this country through the worst economic crisis the world has ever seen in 75 years. I believe the Government has acquitted itself well to that task. "Part of the reason the Government was elected was to deliver fundamental reforms in the health and hospital system. I believe the Government has acquitted itself well to that task as well. "Part of what the Government was elected to do was also to deliver fair outcomes for pensioners in Australia, and I believe we've done that well by increasing the pension to the extent that we have. "These are important reforms; infrastructure, education, health, hospitals, closing the gap with Indigenous Australians, also the apology to the first Australians. As Prime Minister of the country I'm proud of each and every one of these achievements. There is much more to be done and we intend to get on with the job of doing it." And after weeks of denying the internal disquiet at his leadership style he admitted that he knew some in his ranks were out to get him. "It's become apparent to me in the course of the last period of time, the last several weeks, that a number of factional leaders within the Labor Party no longer support my leadership," he said. "That is why it is imperative that this matter be resolved". "I was elected by the people of Australia to do a job. I was not elected by the factional leaders of the Australian Labor Party to do a job, though they may be seeking to do a job on me, that's a separate matter." Never popular Mr Rudd never enjoyed the popular support of his party and his autocratic style has further soured the relationship. His centralisation of decisions and the narrowness of the group of ministers he consulted is being blamed for many of the party's woes. The feeling against him is visceral. One powerbroker said: "This crypto-fascist made no effort to build a base in the party. Now that his only faction, Newspoll, has deserted him he is gone." The collapse in the polls followed hard on the heels of the decision to suspend the Government's push to set up an emissions trading system. Having declared climate change the greatest moral and ethical challenge of our time, the electorate reacted viciously and polling on both sides showed many voters lost faith in the Prime Minister. Others in the party say it is the steady flow of asylum seekers that is killing the Government in marginal seats. Last night Mr Rudd suggested he was not behind those decisions and suggested that, if he was removed, the party would lurch to the right chasing votes. "I believe it is absolutely wrong for this country and absolutely wrong in terms of the values which we hold dear, to get engaged in some sort of race to the right in this country on the question of asylum seekers, I don't think that's the right thing to do," he said. "That's the direction the Liberal Party would like to take us, under my leadership we will not be going in that direction. "Furthermore, can I say this, on the question of emissions trading which you have raised and obviously is a matter of great controversy in the community. "Let me be very clear. Action on climate change cannot be achieved in the absence of an emissions trading scheme. We need a price on carbon. And that price on carbon needs to be put on it within a reasonable timeframe. That would be the decision of the government, assuming I am re-elected as Prime Minister." This Prime Minister usually doesn't sleep much. He won't sleep at all tonight. This is unprecedented. These are historic times. And should he fall today, history will not be kind to Mr Rudd. Actually, it could be Lesbos: Gillard is a spinster, you never know... ;)
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 11:05 · [Salvaged from Archive] http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/06/23/2935382.htm Looks like this could be a fait accompli... One way or another, we'll know in a few hours.
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 16:06 · [Salvaged from Archive] Another update: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/24/2935413.htm Gillard has the numbers to beat Rudd Of 112 votes, it is believed that more than 70 will go to Ms Gillard and only about 30 to Mr Rudd. People counting the numbers for Mr Rudd dispute the margin is so large but have acknowledged Ms Gillard will win. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4654159935_38492925d1… http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/DXkid45/cartman.jpg Red Power! Huzzah! Huzzah!
Cymru am byth Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 17:58 · [Salvaged from Archive] So, you Aussies are going to have a Welsh Prime Minister then?
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 18:24 · [Salvaged from Archive] So, you Aussies are going to have a Welsh Prime Minister then?Yep, looks like it. Gillard's family immigrated when she was five. Gillard am byth! :D [edit] Any minute now, the Labor members have started to leave the meeting room... [edit 2] Rudd has folded, Julia Gillard is Prime Minister. Whew, that was interesting. Time for me to hit the shower and scoot off to work. Later Filecabi. :D
Cymru am byth Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 18:34 · [Salvaged from Archive] Yep, looks like it. Gillard's family immigrated when she was five. Gillard am byth! :D [edit] Any minute now, the Labor members have started to leave the meeting room... [edit 2] Rudd has folded, Julia Gillard is Prime Minister. Whew, that was interesting. Time for me to hit the shower and scoot off to work. Later Filecabi. :D I'm going to youtube her, see if she's still got a hint of a Barry accent. Nah, full blown Aussie accent. Edit: Your first female PM and she's a Ginger, hope she doesn't turn into an Aussie Thatcher!!!
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 23 Jun 2010, 18:56 · [Salvaged from Archive] I'm going to youtube her, see if she's still got a hint of a Barry accent. Nah, full blown Aussie accent. Edit: Your first female PM and she's a Ginger, hope she doesn't turn into an Aussie Thatcher!!! Aussie Thatcher? No chance. I guess you could say she's a southern Left from Wales. Probably not the best thing for our relations with Japan. :D OK, Filecabi hater crew; this is what you have to work with besides the obvious ginger angle: She's a foreigner, single, childless, has a funny looking nose and is therefore quite obviously a dyke. Have fun. :D
JooX Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 00:16 · [Salvaged from Archive] Don't be so uncouth, Monty. This is a discusion section for politics. This is not some forum of hate fueled stupidity.
Josh85 Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 05:06 · [Salvaged from Archive] To all you fuckheads who voted for kevin rudd.. .don't you feel stupid now? The person you voted for isn't even prime minister anymore. I miss the days of John Howard. That man was a legend compared to the shit we have to deal with today... Kevin Rudd.. .Tony Abbott.. Julia Gillard (union puppet, female, ginger)... -sigh-
Josh85 Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 05:12 · [Salvaged from Archive] God help us all...
Josh85 Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 05:13 · [Salvaged from Archive] To all you fuckheads who voted for kevin rudd.. .don't you feel stupid now? The person you voted for isn't even prime minister anymore. I miss the days of John Howard. That man was a legend compared to the shit we have to deal with today... Kevin Rudd.. .Tony Abbott.. Julia Gillard (union puppet, female, ginger)... -sigh-
Cymru am byth Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 05:32 · [Salvaged from Archive] To all you fuckheads who voted for kevin rudd.. .don't you feel stupid now? The person you voted for isn't even prime minister anymore. I miss the days of John Howard. That man was a legend compared to the shit we have to deal with today... Kevin Rudd.. .Tony Abbott.. Julia Gillard (union puppet, female, ginger)... -sigh- We know that feeling in the UK, no fucker voted for Brown, he wasn't even Deputy PM, Blair quit and just handed power to him, not really democratic, there wasn't even a leadership battle. Now, because Brown, who was a good Chancellor, was a shit PM we've got a Tory/Liberal coallition that is going to screw us all.
Josh85 Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 06:14 · [Salvaged from Archive] We know that feeling in the UK, no fucker voted for Brown, he wasn't even Deputy PM, Blair quit and just handed power to him, not really democratic, there wasn't even a leadership battle. Now, because Brown, who was a good Chancellor, was a shit PM we've got a Tory/Liberal coallition that is going to screw us all. obviously democracy doesn't work. lol. :/
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 06:38 · [Salvaged from Archive] Don't be so uncouth, Monty. This is a discusion section for politics. This is not some forum of hate fueled stupidity.Meh, it was just a bit of levity... To all you fuckheads who voted for kevin rudd.. .don't you feel stupid now?Stupid? No. Betrayed? Sort of. I was pretty pissed off after Rudd canned the CPRS; but that was ages ago. The person you voted for isn't even prime minister anymore.... and if an election was held tomorrow, I'd vote for Gillard over Abbott. I miss the days of John Howard. That man was a legend compared to the shit we have to deal with today... Kevin Rudd.. .Tony Abbott.. Julia Gillard (union puppet, female, ginger)... -sigh-LMFAO... you're kidding, right? You miss the days of Workchoices? The only choice available to employees was Hobson's: Take it or leave it. The days of lying about refugees and playing the crescent menace card? The days of head-in-the-sand batshit insane denialism of both climate change (not even ratifying the paltry Kyoto protocol) and letting irrigators -growing rice and cotton- drain the Murray-Darling to the point where at one stage the entire flow of the Murray went through a twenty-four inch pipe? Howard was a spineless worm who never had the guts to speak his own mind until the public opinion was well and truly felt out; and he was a puppet of corporate interests. I'm no fan of fat union bullyboys' ridiculous demands either, but the corporate sector having its own, unfettered way can do way more damage than the worst excesses of unionism. Case in point: Self-regulation, or overly permissive environmental protection laws. These are pretty much universally advocated by business interests, and Liberal governments tend to play ball. What happens when government oversight is toothless to enforce best practice engineering standards for drilling rigs? Ask a Louisiana fisherman or 30 000 Sidoarjo villagers in Indonesia (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/mudvolcano/)... top work there Xstrata. :omg:
Josh85 Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 07:06 · [Salvaged from Archive] Meh, it was just a bit of levity... Stupid? No. Betrayed? Sort of. I was pretty pissed off after Rudd canned the CPRS; but that was ages ago. ... and if an election was held tomorrow, I'd vote for Gillard over Abbott. LMFAO... you're kidding, right? You miss the days of Workchoices? The only choice available to employees was Hobson's: Take it or leave it. The days of lying about refugees and playing the crescent menace card? The days of head-in-the-sand batshit insane denialism of both climate change (not even ratifying the paltry Kyoto protocol) and letting irrigators -growing rice and cotton- drain the Murray-Darling to the point where at one stage the entire flow of the Murray went through a twenty-four inch pipe? Howard was a spineless worm who never had the guts to speak his own mind until the public opinion was well and truly felt out; and he was a puppet of corporate interests. I'm no fan of fat union bullyboys' ridiculous demands either, but the corporate sector having its own, unfettered way can do way more damage than the worst excesses of unionism. Case in point: Self-regulation, or overly permissive environmental protection laws. These are pretty much universally advocated by business interests, and Liberal governments tend to play ball. What happens when government oversight is toothless to enforce best practice engineering standards for drilling rigs? Ask a Louisiana fisherman or 30 000 Sidoarjo villagers in Indonesia (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/mudvolcano/)... top work there Xstrata. :omg: lol. I love you man. If you disagree with me, then maybe i was wrong. Because i know you have a better understanding of things then i do... and yet i also know you are of the same working class that i am. So tell me... what is to become of our country? What do we want?
JooX Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 07:19 · [Salvaged from Archive] No white text, Monty? Doth thou taketh me seriously?
MontysDouble Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 08:24 · [Salvaged from Archive] No white text, Monty? Doth thou taketh me seriously?Err... yes? But I thought that you were taking my Gillard-bulldyke post seriously. Sarchasm detector fail... :D lol. I love you man. If you disagree with me, then maybe i was wrong. Because i know you have a better understanding of things then i do... and yet i also know you are of the same working class that i am. So tell me... what is to become of our country? What do we want?What do we want... hmm... a do over would be nice. <Scooby Doo time warp music> After Rudd's vehement stance at COP09, Australia's emission trading scheme was implemented. On the Resources Super Profit tax, everyone realised that the mining bigwigs screaming "sovereign risk" at the top of their lungs was just a posture, we have both near-full employment at the same time as high levels of population growth, too many chiefs and not enough Indians; except behind the counters of servos at 3:00AM which is a good thing, because who else wants to work there? People realised that a business that typically pays $100 000 plus for easily trained blue collar workers, feeds them with lobster and filet mignon and flies them 2 000 kilometres home every fortnight probably needs to be taken down a peg, as we need nurses and teachers more than we need a FI-FO doing nothing except lining the pockets of the execs and shareholders. Unwilling to forgo their morbidly obese profits for merely slightly chubby profits, twenty percent of the large miners boards of directors went on exploratory junkets to Africa, and chartered the cheapest aircraft they could find only to be never heard from again. With the rash of mine closures here, the newly unemployed mine workers found that jobs were easy to come by thanks to the extended Building Education Revolution scheme; doubled in size after the resignation in disgrace of several top education department beauracrats and prosecution for fraud of two construction management companies who were "overseeing" projects led to a drastic re-calculation of just how far the money could go: Without these incompetents and leeches twice as many school buildings were built for the same money. Ah, if only... :D
JooX Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 24 Jun 2010, 09:25 · [Salvaged from Archive] Dream the life, Monty. Because you'll never live that dream. The problem with having a world like that... it would require people who could't live in it to ensure it stayed that way. (Obviously just MY way of thinking..) Short of a world populated with genetically engineered humans*, and who really want's that, we will need people who can kick some serious arse to keep the inevitable "bad" people from screwing over the rest. These people would be as "bad" if not worse than the ones we want to keep out of our little utopia. Their drive is to protect the utopian society at the cost of their inclusion in it. Making, doing and living with the pitiless task of removing those who chose to cross that magical line. Then comes the problem of what limits conclude the magical line of accepted society. Who gets to make those calls and exclude those outside of it's rainbow glowy goodness. We can draw some fairly easy lines with murder, rape, paedophilia, beastiality etc. Then it gets even harder to make a squiggle, let alone a line, where other peoples freedom to carry out things unliked by others - even if they are not in any way actually subjected to them - are deemed innapropriate. This big arse can of worms has been debated, posturised, tried, failed, mused on and generally though by many brighter than myself over the centuries... we are still where we are today. I'm truly with you, Monty. But I see our similar path has an almost world-wide tangent on how to get to the same place.
rubicks Salvaged from Archive	Posted: 25 Jun 2010, 04:47 · [Salvaged from Archive] Err... yes? But I thought that you were taking my Gillard-bulldyke post seriously. Sarchasm detector fail... :D What do we want... hmm... a do over would be nice. <Scooby Doo time warp music> After Rudd's vehement stance at COP09, Australia's emission trading scheme was implemented. On the Resources Super Profit tax, everyone realised that the mining bigwigs screaming "sovereign risk" at the top of their lungs was just a posture, we have both near-full employment at the same time as high levels of population growth, too many chiefs and not enough Indians; except behind the counters of servos at 3:00AM which is a good thing, because who else wants to work there? People realised that a business that typically pays $100 000 plus for easily trained blue collar workers, feeds them with lobster and filet mignon and flies them 2 000 kilometres home every fortnight probably needs to be taken down a peg, as we need nurses and teachers more than we need a FI-FO doing nothing except lining the pockets of the execs and shareholders. Unwilling to forgo their morbidly obese profits for merely slightly chubby profits, twenty percent of the large miners boards of directors went on exploratory junkets to Africa, and chartered the cheapest aircraft they could find only to be never heard from again. With the rash of mine closures here, the newly unemployed mine workers found that jobs were easy to come by thanks to the extended Building Education Revolution scheme; doubled in size after the resignation in disgrace of several top education department beauracrats and prosecution for fraud of two construction management companies who were "overseeing" projects led to a drastic re-calculation of just how far the money could go: Without these incompetents and leeches twice as many school buildings were built for the same money. Ah, if only... :D simply put "absolute power corrupts,absolutely"