Bethesda's epic sci-fi RPG is here, and it's a big one. From shipbuilding to exploring the surface of Mars, our thoughts so far.
Starfield Review... In Progress
The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 is finally here.
Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer
We take an in-depth look at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and tell you why it should be heavily on your radar!
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - a Deep-Dive into its Potential
Range-wise, the ROG Rapture GT6 is phenomenal, and it's ideal for all gaming and non-gaming-related tasks.
ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 WiFi 6 Mesh System Review
Political Thread 2.5 (Because we really haven't made any progre...
WirlWind
Central Coast, New South Wales
1660 posts
I got sick of the over 100 pages URL bug, so figured I'd just remake the thread.

A link to the last page of the thread is here:http://http://www.ausgamers.com/forums/general/thread.php/3444246?p=0112


So, those politicians, eh?

Pretty dumb and stuff, right?

(You may continue the discussion now :P )
06:36pm 11/12/14 Permalink
system
Internet
--
06:36pm 11/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8352 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
10:42pm 13/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24744 posts
Mate, infi lives in the real world. Hashtags are good only if you're some sort of ivory tower latte sipping intelligentsia. I treat muslims with respect too. Remember that time I called them savages? And remember the time I condoned the indefinite imprisonment, torture and refoulement of them for uhhh reasons? That's respect mate. Respect from the real world.

infi is a dyed in the wool dumb, racist patient zero lolbertarian. Nothing he says is worth even considering except to make a mental note of it so you know in the future you're dealing with a complete moron. Someone so stupid that he was given every opportunity to succeed in life by his precious daddy yet still f***ed it up. That's why Russell Egan Sr. has him hidden away in a little office pushing papers around so he can get paid his allowance without becoming too much of an embarrassment. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when the staff and lower management talk about him openly. People laugh at you everyday infi.
08:13pm 18/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24745 posts
The thing with extreme lolbertarians is that they're always

a) dumb
b) racist
c) so obviously coddled their whole life by their mummy, daddy or whatever.

Whenever the absurdity of their drivel is pointed out, they'll always respond with some sort of I live in the real world type bulls***. Which is hilarious, because if they were anymore detached from the real world they'd be on Mars.
01:25am 21/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24746 posts
The s*** you prattle on about is pointless and dumb. Whenever anybody says something that refutes it you just ignore it . This is a behavioural pattern that has been going on for years. Discussing anything with you is a waste of time because you're incapable of taking on any new information. All you can think and say is what you've been told to think and say.
03:15am 21/12/14 Permalink
Jim
UK
13585 posts
chris berg, on that topic, from 4 years ago no less
do you have a signed copy of "Defence of Freedom of Speech: from Ancient Greece to Andrew Bolt" faceman?

and then david***e.com in your sig to round off

headdesk x 1000
07:57pm 21/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24747 posts
Known torture apologist places sociopath in charge of social services. Just another day in the LNP.
08:17pm 21/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24748 posts
infi has two little cheerleaders. How cute.
02:27pm 22/12/14 Permalink
Jim
UK
13588 posts
faceman and infi: unlike chaplains, offshore detention and f-35's, paying a tax for power generation (which is a debatable claim in the first place) to assist transitioning to renewable energy is worthwhile if you'd like to keep living on this planet

you're both probably still denying the science though so your position is no surprise
11:05pm 22/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24749 posts
Poor people don't live in houses.
03:12pm 23/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24750 posts
If you take away their homes, it will incentivise them to bootstrap their way to success so they can afford a home to live in. It's basic economics.
05:59pm 23/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8370 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
08:14pm 23/12/14 Permalink
Jim
UK
13592 posts
the 1950's called
04:57am 27/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24757 posts
Are you clutching at straws so badly that you're actually doing the whole communism thing? Usually I'd suspect this to be someone's end game before they finally stop embarrassing themselves and stop posting but there's a lot more space between now and rock bottom for you isn't there you little boy? This must be a hard time of year for you. Watching everyone getting together and having a fun time. Laughing, drinking, socialising. Meanwhile you're still holed up in your dark little windowless room wishing you could be a part of it but knowing you never will be. Your mum's basement must be the saddest room in the whole entire world at the moment :(
02:14pm 27/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24759 posts
hurr hurr communists, hur hur hur

Geez you're a dummy.
01:04am 28/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24760 posts
It's just beyond parody at this point. If it wasn't for brool and infi there'd be nothing left to laugh about.
02:55pm 28/12/14 Permalink
Jim
UK
13593 posts
for whatever it's worth... that's pretty anecdotal fade =]
04:13am 29/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8377 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
05:01pm 29/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24765 posts
I'd totally be happy with being the guy who sits in the office issues orders to the coal miners who have to go get dirty and do hefty work. We all get paid the same after all!
At the moment, wouldn't the office person probably be paid more?
07:05pm 31/12/14 Permalink
Jim
UK
13594 posts
pigs can't climb ladders and paint sentences on walls, which renders your point moot
08:39pm 31/12/14 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24766 posts
heh nice meme. But mate, I live in the real world, and in the real world if everyone looked after themselves and just showed some responsibility there wouldn't be any need to look after other people. Bootstraps mate.
03:55pm 01/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24767 posts
There's other places on the internet where it certainly is possible to have a meaningful debate about politics where people from both sides of the fence are willing and able to calmly put their points forward and then discuss them. It certainly isn't here though. Here we have the absolute dumbest of the dumb sitting on the right hand side. There's no point spending any time reasoning with them. You can't reason people out of positions they haven't reasoned themselves into in the first place.

You ask how is it helpful to engage in such puerile garbage and I say it isn't. But any sort of helpful or worthwhile discussion between both sides of politics here is simply impossible. There once was a time where I tried. I'd provide links and stuff to back up my claims, but it would simply be ignored and replied to with the same circular argument bulls*** every single time. So now I just make fun of them without using swear words (I was getting nuked when I used swear words).

You've come a long way from your Bill and Melinda Gates are part of a worldwide vaccination conspiracy to poison the third world thing though, which is good.* Maybe you can help me. Is there a political commentator on the right side of politics out there who isn't absolutely bats*** insane ala Bolt, O'Reilly, Glenn Beck etc etc? Because I'd really like to hear from one who manages to put forward their views while also addressing what I can only see are massive flaws with them. It seems just about every tenant of right-wing politics is provably wrong in some way, either by real-world examples or academically.

*actually maybe that wasn't you.
06:54pm 01/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24773 posts
Hey but I heard there were some guys in unions who did some illegal stuff. This means that all unions and everything to do with unions is terrible forever. The free market and job creators should be ruling freely because I am pretty sure no business leaders have ever done anything illegal or unethical and we should all leave it to them.

Another reason I hate unions is that I am completely inept as a manager and don't know how to manage or train my staff and have all these pesky unfair dismissal laws that I have to follow. It really exposes me as a completely useless mook which is terrible.
08:08pm 02/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24775 posts
Unions exist as a business disguised as a movement that cares about workers but in reality are only paid to care.
Another brilliant insight from the mewling little unemployable child. Tell me, what other nuggets of wisdom can you share with us? You must learn all sorts of things in your basement.
05:34am 03/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24776 posts
You call it exploitation but free people can marry who they want and work for who they want.
heh peak lolbertarian right here.
07:55pm 03/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24777 posts
02:26pm 05/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24778 posts
Only basement dwelling Victorians
You certainly called that one nicely.
06:00pm 05/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24779 posts
Looks to be a lot of clone tool markings surrounding the text.
08:37pm 05/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24788 posts
You're pretty dumb mate.
10:14pm 07/01/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13597 posts
happy little miners for gina
02:54pm 08/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24794 posts
newsdotcomdotau, providing confirmation bias to dumb people with terrible opinions since... whenever.
10:12am 11/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24799 posts
One moron who doesn't know how to manage and one clueless shut in who has never worked in his life. They both don't like unions. Colour me surprised.
07:38pm 14/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24800 posts
The problem with asking brool a question like that is he's a compulsive narcissistic liar who will come up with some bogus bootstrap bulls*** that makes him seem like a working class hero.

The truth is he is a full spectrum loser who has given up on life. His sole purpose and only reason for living is to try and make other people as lonely and miserable as he is. Oh, and the occasional trip to SE Asia where he pays children to have sex with him.
12:57am 15/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24804 posts
I really don't know a whole lot about that IPA thing. Some libertarian magazine or something. I still know it's a worthless pile of s*** though. infi likes it.

Trying to claim some sort of unfounded Murdoch media conspiracy is peak level dumb, though. It's documented clearly, the motive for them is there and the results of it are clearly at work with the two posters before me. The sole reason it exists, and also the sole reason it succeeds, is that it provides confirmation bias to people with s***** opinions. I think when morons see something written in print or even published on a what they believe to be classy website it helps reinforce their really terrible views to a point where they're actually confident enough to utter them out loud. Perhaps even to angrily defend them in their own special impotent way. I'm not sure if it's breeding new garbage, or simply allowing pre-existing garbage to come out of the woodwork. Someone go find that out for me.
08:49pm 18/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24805 posts
Yeah not really interested in your opinion on anything basement boy so perhaps you should just save your breath.
12:46pm 19/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24809 posts
> wants the government involved in regulating everything
strawman argument.
04:14pm 20/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24810 posts
I like the way you'll just selectively ignore posts so you can continue prattling away undisturbed with your inane bulls***.
11:03pm 20/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24812 posts
trickle down does work, just ask any economy that has embraced capitalism
Holy s***.
05:04pm 21/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8425 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
12:30am 22/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24829 posts
So judging by infi and brool's alarmist frothing I'm guessing whatever happened in Greece is a good thing?
09:37am 27/01/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13613 posts
Tell us something we dont know.

wow, where to begin with that. it's tricky to work out exactly what you don't know and what you're just lying to yourself about to deal with the dissonance

as far as the article you linked though...

png was rated one of the most corrupt countries in the world in 2012. peter o'neill comes along claiming his party will fix that and appoints an anti-corruption watchdog. 2 years later that very watchdog accuses *him* of fraud, so he shuts it down and sacks the police chief and several commissioners. this is an ongoing issue

this is the guy who's comments you're latching onto

he 'believes that most of the refugees are not genuine'. except it's not defined by one's belief, it's defined in international law. what he claims to believe is not relevant in a fair and fact-based decision

he says that immigration officials were liaising with the governments of asylum seekers' home countries such as Iraq and Iran. yep, you're going to get some legit info there, cos those countries are bastions of rationality and fairness when it comes to dealing with their subjects

"How can you trust the government of Iran to tell you truthfully if somebody is likely to face persecution when they return home?" Sales asked.

Mr O'Neill said he was "hopeful" that other governments cared about their citizens and would "try and do what is best".

yep, sounds legit


Tensions boiled over on Manus Island earlier this month when as many as 600 detainees launched a hunger strike.

Almost 60 asylum seekers from Somalia, Iran and Sudan were arrested by PNG police during the unrest. The PNG government also confirmed that a number of men had swallowed razor blades, stitched their lips together and had swallowed washing powder.

yep, sounds like the behaviour of people who led a decent life in their homeland and just want to live large in australia without any good reason
05:10am 28/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24831 posts
An absolute classic example of an impressionable moron seeing something resembling his warped views in print and thinking that vindicates them in some way.
07:26am 28/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24832 posts
anyone engaged in self-harm instantly loses credibility. it is behaviour intended to trigger media and political coverage to their situation. these refugees acting out are not interested in refuge from danger in their exit country, they are interested in arriving at their DESTINATION country and pissed off that they haven't gotten what they paid people smugglers for.
You're a worthless c***.
09:02am 28/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24834 posts
I was going to say that as usual everything you posted brool is either a bald-faced lie or at best a distortion of the truth and that I'm sure someone else will be more specific about it but I was beaten.
01:42pm 28/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24837 posts
It amazes me that even after years of discussion on this topic how wrong you still get it. You still spout the same bulls*** that was bulls*** over a year ago. And then I look at all your other dumb posts, and how you get things wrong all the time due to general dumbness and a complete lack of critical thinking skills and I think to myself, well, I guess that's how he lives his life. In a nice protective little bubble where it doesn't matter how dumb you are, or how wrong you are, or how big of a worthless pile of garbage you are. You even have the nerve to lie about how you got there yourself, no help from your family no siree. But that's bulls*** as well. You've obviously been coddled your whole life and if you hadn't you'd be what brool is. A useless failure who does nothing every day but hate life. You're a real piece of s*** infi.
04:40pm 28/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24838 posts
To be fair I don't think we have. We've simply created a lesser version of the torture that they face in their home countries so we can bravely offer them the option to either put up with it or go home.
06:14pm 28/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24839 posts
it must infuriate fpot and the rest of the easy-entry-full-benefits brigade no-end that they are so sure with their superiority complex of enlightenment that they are right and this policy is horrible and a serious violation of conventions etc. yet is is so popular with australian voters.
I stopped reading there. I might read the rest later if my stomach can handle it.

Dude, you're a parody. You advocate, or act as an apologist for, state sanctioned torture. They've had two deaths in custody. One was a murder shrouded in mystery and doubt about the validity of the arrests of the alleged perpetrators. The other guy died of an infection. Why is it that people in a first-world detention centre (so-called) die of third world diseases? You have a basic understanding of how antibiotics work don't you? So you realise just how preventable his death was, surely. The only way this guy could have died is if his pleas were ignored for an extended period of time. It's madness. Some guy who has killed his whole family and raped their corpses should be entitled to the medical treatment that this person was denied. That sounds like hyperbole, but it isn't.

Whatever happened to those stories about child sex being filmed that Morrison was cross about? Never heard much about that. Or any of the other horror stories that came out. But of course, they're only allegations aren't they? They'll remain that way because they'll never be investigated. Until some sort of royal commission or something happens, but it never will, because who gives a f*** about those reffos? I'm referring mainly to our two major parties, because let's remember it was Labor who first proposed this offshore plan. I actually think the public are becoming more aware about it, which is good.
09:44pm 28/01/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4346 posts
by and large these people running from persecution aren't stopping once they reach the endzone so to speak - they want the best country they can think of

but whatever, we ought to welcome our fair share anyway. and I've never been sure what the advantage of offshore processing even is
08:24am 29/01/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13616 posts
02:48pm 29/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24840 posts
Keeping people locked away indefinitely in inhumane conditions is torture. Denying people access to medical treatment and allowing them to die of an infection is torture. These are only the things we know about, because everything else is kept a secret. Now call me paranoid, but after the cavalcade of lies the government has been telling the public, I find them to be less than trustworthy when it comes to keeping asylum seekers safe, and I feel personally that there might be some weight to the allegations that are flying around.

Saying they are free to leave at anytime is really f*****g dumb. But hey it's you so what else can I expect? Having a choice between indefinite detention in an inhumane detention centre or going back to the threat of imprisonment, torture and murder is not a choice. Free will doesn't exist when the person making the choice is under duress, which is exactly the situation these people are in. You mention that they're given food and shelter, like that is some kind of salient point. Do you want to know what other regimes have given their prisoners food and shelter in the past? I bet even you're capable of thinking of the answer to that one.

however the right to enter a country of which you are not a citizen is not one of those rights.
As Pete pointed out, it is a human right to enter a country without a visa for the purposes of gaining asylum. You still cannot grasp this concept, or you are simply continuing to ignore it. That's what you do - ignore the things that legitimately contradict the lies you constantly repeat and harp on about. The nice protective little bubble that I previously mentioned.

Now after you either ignore this post, or do another one of your braindead, simpering, torture apologist replies full of your usual bulls*** I am going to stop replying to you, because conversing with you is pointless. You're a waste of time.
02:54pm 29/01/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4350 posts
technically possible, but the governor would sack him
09:04pm 29/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24842 posts
When you get a job basement boy (I'd say family as well, but I think you are firmly in the forever alone category) and don't just have your mummy paying for everything and driving you around everywhere you may just understand how tight money can get.

Thing is though, you'll never understand, because you're an unemployable cretin who will never be employed by anybody :(
10:30pm 29/01/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24844 posts
rofll labor just won queensland lmao!!!! Omg this is comedy gold
heh. Does it get any sadder than this guy?
03:21am 01/02/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4353 posts
^ my money is on Turnbull because he lost the leadership challenge by a bee's d*** last time and he leads most "preferred opposition leader" polls last time I checked (which admittedly was not recently)
06:41am 01/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24850 posts
I can't wait to watch the "OMG DA LEADER" brigade scratch their when tony is rolled, a new leader is installed and the parties policy remains the same.

People emphasize the leader too much and despite being told that the leader doesn't formulate the whole parties policy, they still focus on it.
Where to begin?
01:47pm 04/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24851 posts
It's a Golden Age.
02:02pm 04/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24852 posts
Imagine a world where you can speak something that isn't brain-dead empty rhetoric.
03:07pm 04/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24854 posts
Do you honestly envisage a world in which lolbertarianism works as intended?

Who leads this world?

Who decides who gets to be the leader?

Does the leader get all the spoils of being a head of state or just has a basic workers' salary, no leader's residence, no security etc. No Air Force private jet?

Are there even elections in the lolbertarian world? Can an alternative party get elected on a non-lolbertarian platform or is lolbertarianism compulsory?

How is the flat living wage calculated?

How is each person's output valued?

You have no comprehension of how many functions a free market performs automagically and you expect a Corporate elite to calculate all this without disaster and corruption occurring.

Spoiler:
lolbertarianism sucks and communism also sucks. Don't really think there is much room for discussion on that. The difference is that Vash is supporting an ideology that aims to help people that aren't him. infi is supporting one that will only help people like him. At worst Vash is naive, at best infi is a complete c***
10:03pm 04/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24855 posts
Star Wars KOTOR, KOTOR2 and Star Wars Dark Forces for non-gronks pm me or I am just going to throw them in the gifting thread bin on SA.
12:53pm 06/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24856 posts
One of those spill things might be happening.

For those of us on the sane side of politics it's good times. We will either drink the delicious schadenfreude flavoured tears as the LNP switches leaders now, or the potentially sweeter tears from the absolute bollocking the LNP will get if Abbott remains leader. Scotchgard those boots.
01:41pm 06/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24857 posts
fpot, you should go and find some choice quotes from infi during the Labor Leader shenanigans.
I had a look and it's pretty much infi getting every one of his predictions wrong interspersed with brool (then known as petethepossumman) frothing away in an uncontrollable frenzy. So pretty much the same thing we have now except substitute the ill-deserved smugness of that time with the sweet and salty tears of this time.
02:48pm 06/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8461 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
03:11pm 06/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24859 posts
They also need to stop the torture and refoulement of children for the crime of being brown.

edit: and adults
09:47pm 06/02/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4356 posts
They also need to stop the torture and refoulement of children for the crime of being brown.

edit: and adults

what we need is a 'control group' of white boat people to test this theory

I nominate poms
10:31pm 06/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24860 posts
So the reserve bank lowered its rates, which apparently means the economy is slowing. I thought axing the carbon tax was meant to make the economy better?
12:47am 07/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24861 posts
You do realise how absurd it is for a perpetually unemployed basement boy to whinge about a welfare state strawman don't you? Of course you don't.
08:42pm 07/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24862 posts
What makes paper money worthless, yet gold valuable? Honest question.

My guess is because gold is finite and naturally limited by it's rarity. Reason I ask is that they seem equally worthless to me in a practical sense.
09:05pm 07/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24863 posts
Still not really getting it. Say you have a vault full of cash and a vault full of gold roughly the same value as the cash. What makes the gold more tangibly valuable than the cash? You did mention rarity, but if controls are in place regulating how much money is printed shouldn't that take care of that problem? Steel is more durable (except against tarnishing but it makes up for that in strength imo) than gold and you can just paint it a gold colour to get the beauty. Just personally I see gold as arbitrarily valuable as cash and I've never really seen a compelling argument otherwise.

I do get that if you go nuts printing money you're going to f*** yourself with inflation.
10:02pm 07/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24864 posts
Nothing quite like watching infi fret and flounder (and lie) when his hypocrisy is pointed out. Except maybe for watching brool pretend that he has actually left his basement.
05:48pm 08/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24865 posts
I don't talk down people who use welfare.
That's a recent lie. A historical lie is where you spent months maybe even a year denying you called the middle-eastern culture savage even when it was typed out in blue and white on this very forum. You're a liar and a bad one at that.
06:29pm 08/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24867 posts
i have never made reference to the middle east being cultural savages
hehe, man you're pathetic. I'm not even going to bother posting the quote. Everyone knows you're a liar now I don't need to prove anything.
06:56pm 08/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24870 posts
Fpot its time to come clean man. Brool is a sock puppet isn't he. I won't be angry, just impressed.
Nah but sometimes I find myself on my knees thanking god we have access to him and his dementia. We should all be thankful really. He's a true one of a kind gronk.
02:37pm 09/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24871 posts
There's also that time infi was gifted an extremely lucrative deal that benefited his dad's aged care business while his known to be corrupt mate Santo Santoro was aged care minister. I still bemoan the fact I'll never get to hear the angry phone call your corrupt mate Santo gave you after you said you'd 'hit the jackpot' on social media.

edit: of course I only keep bringing this up because there aren't any articles floating around out there about me being a morally bankrupt, corrupt, government handout accepting s***bird. That's a thing infi has actually proposed.
05:58pm 09/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24872 posts
I don't even know what you are suggesting the alternative conduct should be... just don't claim it... to be honourable?
Isn't this one of the basic tenants of your lolbertarianism? That government rules and regulations can practically be abolished and that taxes can be drastically cut because in a free market system people will act honourably and safely and will make up the tax shortfall through voluntary donations?
06:30pm 09/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24873 posts
lolbertarian.txt. Old skool.

p.s. falsely accusing an individual by name of illegal behaviour is defamatory and could get you sued. luckily you're a nobody with no money and not worth suing.
You know who isn't a nobody and does have money? The news organisations that accused you. The reason you didn't take any action against them is because you want as little attention as possible because the allegations are true. You're a slimy, dishonest piece of s*** and you're capable of much worse than what the newspapers printed about you.

edit:
p.s. falsely accusing an individual by name of illegal behaviour is defamatory
Also in writing isn't it libel?
07:06pm 09/02/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4361 posts
There will be quite a few people that will be very upset to have ethanol in their fuel.

f*** it let's just put wine in the car
06:12pm 12/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24886 posts
"The only issue"

But hang on, you actively support corporate welfare for the renewable energy sector. Also corporate welfare barely makes up any of our huge deficit so no, it isn't the only issue.

You are a Hypocrite. Everything you stand for has completely been debunked and deemed a failure in history and your desperate attempts at promoting it as some sort of utopian "it will fix everything" is a joke.

Why hasn't the mods nuked his "communism is awesome" posts as "dumb" yet?
froth harder bro.
07:39pm 15/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24888 posts
Not really, he should have said haven't, not hasn't.

Watching you two cheerlead for each other is something quite special, though.
10:38pm 15/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8492 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
04:03pm 16/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8493 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
04:19pm 16/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24894 posts
HurricaneJim has described scenarios that already exist that would only be further exacerbated by welfare cuts and you describe it as hyperbole? The thing is, people didn't survive perfectly well before the introduction of welfare. That's why it was introduced. Hell, if you didn't have the support of your mum you'd be homeless yourself. That's what amazes me about you. You're so steeped in your own self-loathing that you seem to actively campaign against your own interests.

The mistake frothing at the mouth lolbertarians always make is to accuse the non-believers of being dependent on welfare themselves and therefore desperate to preserve it. They just can't fathom thinking about things that don't at least indirectly serve their own interests. Yet they're always the ones most reliant on welfare themselves, be it brool who is dependent on the government to keep him paid and his mother to keep him fed, or infi who would pretty much be brool if it wasn't for being in possession of an impossible to fail doesn't matter how much of f*** up you are parachute into his father's family business.
10:43pm 17/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8498 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
01:48pm 18/02/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
2105 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
03:26pm 18/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8500 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
05:23pm 18/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24899 posts
David Hicks = innocent. Good thing they kept him locked up and tortured for so long.
01:39pm 19/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24900 posts
There was no law against what the Nazis did
There is no law against murder genocide.
10:12am 21/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24901 posts
Is there anything else to do right now in this thread except laugh at the hilarious incompetence of the current government and to make fun of the complete idiots who voted them in?
12:09pm 21/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24902 posts



pfffft. come back when there is some evidence. i heard a report pave guzzles alien semen.
When you post one of your infi-isms and someone asks for evidence - rargle gargle it's a well known fact you're an idiot for not knowing it froth froth froth.

When someone posts something completely credible that hurts your ridiculously extreme right wing ideals - where's the evidence? I need to see it! Which in itself is fair enough - except that when it's posted you'll either completely ignore it or come up with some asinine bulls*** that in your mind dismisses it.

You're a joke.
07:37pm 21/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24903 posts
Either it's true, or it isn't and there people within the party willing to make up sensational lies because *reasons*. Kind of reminds me of the time you said the adults are back in charge and predicted a new golden age. You dummy.
08:06pm 21/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24908 posts
Is it the worst democratically elected government ever?
07:19pm 23/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24909 posts
I'm pretty happy with Feds - boats are stopped, carbon tax gone, plan to stop the debt (which was blocked by Labor). They could have cut harder on welfare but you can't win em all.

Here's hoping they start addressing workplace regulation, privatise the ABC and Australia Post, and shut down the Human Rights Commission next. Repeal section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act would be a bonus.

No more Anti-terror or snooping laws thanks.
Poe's law.

Spoiler:
As in, if someone wanted to be funny and do a really good impersonation of a dumb racist who is completely devoid of a clue they would write exactly what you did
08:05pm 23/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24912 posts


I think the Feds have done pretty s***, but for real reasons not "omg Tony abbott has multiple flags behind him WORST PRIME NINISTER EVER"

They have increased spending, increased taxes, back down on 18C, planning data retention and various other privacy breaking and authoritarian laws all in the name of terrorism.

They have been a let down so far. I won't be voting for them again, a new party will have to save us from the debt and deficit disaster.
This is a metaphor for your life isn't it? The amount of frothing you subjected us to with the LNP and then their inevitable failure which in turn is your failure too. Then instead of learning from your mistakes you just double down with even more failure. You've been doing this your whole life haven't you?
12:11am 24/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24913 posts
No no no, you are suppose to write your usual tired old "you live in a basement" etc etc troll. I personally preferred the "OMG DOORRR" trolling.
What makes the whole basement thing tired? As long as you keep making your absurd posts that only a basement dwelling misanthrope could make they'll continue to stay fresh. I know they get to you because you're starting to make up lies about attending conferences and bumping into people on the street and I think you may have even mentioned your made up job again recently.

Which brings me to another point. Well a question really. Why do you post? Do you actually think anything you ever say has any merit? I guess you do. But if you're being honest with yourself, do you think it might be your narcissistic personality disorder fooling you into thinking that way? Because I'm here to tell you with the utmost certainty that you speak nothing but total garbage. Every single post you make just makes you look dumber and dumber. More and more worthless. All you're doing is delivering schadenfreude. It's gotten to the stage where I'll see you as the last poster and I know I'll have some stupid s*** I can laugh at. So thanks.
12:52am 24/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24914 posts
See trying to make fun of me for being gainfully employed when you're not is tired.

I've never claimed to be any sort of expert. I just comment on what I see in your posts. I don't think I'm that far off base personally. Again I'll ask - why do you post? It hurts your position and it hurts you. Want to know why I think you post? Because you are in fact a basement dwelling loser, and no one ever pays any attention to you in real life. People pay attention here though. Only because you are so extraordinarily f***ed up that it's impossible not to. You're willing to settle for negative attention because you know it's the only attention you'll ever receive from now until you die alone without a single person giving a f*** let alone noticing.
01:48am 24/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8519 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
08:51pm 25/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8520 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
09:27pm 25/02/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24938 posts
Maybe they should have put comedy or something in the url to make it more obvious.
06:17pm 06/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24943 posts
Wow, a you've got too much time on your hands style comeback. That's pretty lame even for you infi.

So what's the deal here. With Brool gone are you the last insane babbling idiot left or what?
07:53pm 17/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24948 posts
spook is quite happy to let poor little children go hungry and unclothed. why do you care so little about the children spook?

the card control will be very effective. two things i know from being an approved childcare provider:
- the government systems that can be implemented with control of funding are very sophisticated;
- the number of adults misusing cash benefits are phenomenal.

I laugh that welfare is now supposed to be a booze and tobacco self-medication fund. This is awesome, keep the mental faceplants coming.

very relevant lyrics Toll. Children should be given every chance to escape the poverty trap of selfish negligent parents.
There is no place on the internet where this would be said unironically except for the deepest and darkest of lolbertarian reddit echo chambers and this forum.
04:25pm 23/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24964 posts
It's a shame no-one warned you about how s*** this government was going to be in the three years you were endlessly frothing about them.
09:22pm 29/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24965 posts
if the party was true to their values this government would have been way better. abbott is too scared to cut the budget hard and instead has to resort to piss weak tax grabs like a deposit tax.
They tried to stick to their true values but their true values were blocked in the senate because they're completely insane. If you weren't a teet-suckling LNP supporter you would have been able to see that they're a pack of incompetent boobs who when thrust into the limelight weren't able to hide it like they did while in opposition. Everyone pre-election knew this would happen - everyone that isn't as dumb as a sack of bricks that is.
09:43pm 29/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24966 posts
Yeah but fpot, Labor aren't that much better.
They're so much better and were so much better it isn't funny. You can't even point at that phantom debt bulls*** anymore because the LNP have done so much worse even in that regard.
09:59pm 29/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24967 posts
Five year old attempts suicide in fear of going to Nauru

As she has now attempted self-harm she has lost all credibility and should be sent to Nauru for state sanctioned torture immediately.
03:26pm 31/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24968 posts
There is strong evidence that the coaching you speak of is occurring Toll (Scott Morrison said so).
04:29pm 31/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24969 posts
How did our country get to this point? The libs are as nutty as the tea party. Such a disconnect from reality in the confines of their comfy wealthy electorates.
Think of a prissy little private school kid. The kind who constantly f**** things up yet never faces any criticism or consequences for their actions. Daddy's special little boy.

Now daddy's special little boy is going to copy the traits of daddy, so he's dumb, racist - a real one dimensional thinker. This person doesn't think for themselves, they're told how to think. This training doesn't happen overnight. It's a lifetime thing, so by the time it's fully engrained it's impossible to remove like a tick with titanium jaws, forever trapped in the mind of this well trained little doggy.

They've managed to bluff their way through private school. Pay To Win. Their prize a golden ticket to the TC Beirne School of Law. Congratulations Junior, daddy says, you made it all by yourself.

More bluffing, they pass. Into the real world they go. All of a sudden things are different. Criticism, attention - cruel mistresses of the limelight suddenly cast upon them showing every flaw like a black light on a cheap motel mattress. It's the classic hothouse flower. Able to flourish within the safe confines of daddy's bosom but shown hopelessly wanting when pulled screaming away from it.

So what does prissy little Junior do? Screams so loud he is brought back in. Into daddy's office safe from the realities and confusions of the real world. In daddy's office it's impossible to fail. No-one says any mean things. Except of course for daddy's staff, who on one hand enjoy the endless font of hilarious incompetence to make fun of, on the other suffer greatly working for a complete and utter boob.

The person I described is the personification of the LNP. A sheltered little miscreant. A dumb racist piece of garbage who is only interested in serving themselves. An incompetent yes-man surrounded rose petal who wilts in even the dimmest of sunlight. Both belong at the bottom of a drop toilet.
05:53pm 31/03/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24970 posts
Watching our precious little basement boy come back from his one month shame break with a renewed vigour is kind of inspiring to me. Looking forward to listening to his desperate flailings until his father figure is booted out of parliament and then we have three years of brool tears to look forward to. Gonna be awesome.
02:43pm 03/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24976 posts
It really sucks that nothing is open on public holidays like Good Friday because businesses simply can't afford to open due to over the top penalty rates...
When you get a job you'll find out why penalty rates exist bro. Public holidays are a good chance to catch up with mates and socialise.... oh wait, you've never done that and never will because you're a pathetic little cretin whiling away his days till he dies cold and alone.
01:04am 04/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24977 posts
Holy s***, literally nothing but bulls*** comes out of your mouth you know that?

edit: like, you contradict yourself really badly because you're just so dumb

It really sucks that nothing is open on public holidays like Good Friday because businesses simply can't afford to open due to over the top penalty rates...


and then

I drove all the way to Carnegie today in inner-city Melbourne and there were a lot of shops open


These are the sort of mistakes a really dumb and ineffective liar makes. It also reminds me of the time you proudly proclaimed you don't have a license or a car but I guess you got your s*** together and obtained both because you just have so many places to go don't you?
01:18am 04/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24978 posts
Watching infi and brool bumble through their own lies and cheerlead for each other is a particularly tasty vintage of schadenfreude.
05:13pm 04/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24980 posts
The problem with this is that the conservative side of politics on this forum don't bring anything to the table. It's true, I personally don't either but that's because about two or so years ago I realised that I'm pretty much dealing with children here. They don't know how to think critically, they don't know how to think independently, they don't understand what constitutes credible evidence when presenting an argument, they don't know how to argue against credible evidence when confronted with it. Their entire thought process when presented with any sort of information is - does this conform with my predetermined world view, or does it go against it? If it's the former it is gospel and anyone who goes against it is a fool. If it's the latter then it's propaganda and part of some sort of left-wing conspiracy.

When someone finally arrives on this olde forum with conservative views who can actually form an argument and think for themselves a bit we might have something. For now we have nothing but a couple of insult pinatas who are dumb beyond belief.
04:54am 05/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24990 posts

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/07/nauru-staff-call-for-closure-of-asylum-centre-and-royal-commission-into-abuse

The federal government has been aware of physical and sexual abuse of asylum seekers on Nauru for more than a year but failed to take appropriate action, workers from the detention centre have alleged.


Scott Morrison belongs in jail. Really.
06:16pm 07/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24992 posts
I support a Royal Commission into the rampant physical/sexual abuse in detention. I would love to know why large numbers of detainees who are apparently just "poor" "innocent" and "desperate" people looking for a break are engaging in such activities
A normal person would feel shame after saying something this dumb but you're well beyond shame aren't you brool?
10:50am 08/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24995 posts
Hey brool, it's almost as though you're universally dumb. There doesn't seem to be one thing or one area where you show any kind of aptitude at all. Yet, you suffer from a disorder that fools you into thinking you are in fact competent if not skilled at things and to also say this as loudly as possible. Creates some pretty interesting little scenarios which I didn't think were possible.
02:32pm 08/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24996 posts
Look at the clever little doggy, saying what he's been trained to say.
02:46pm 08/04/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13648 posts
it's mind-boggling that you consider anyone to have gotten smashed in that article, and that you would even consider sourcing your point of view with the daily mail

rational wiki sums it up nicely:

The Daily Mail (aka, Hate Mail, Daily Fail, Daily Heil, Daily Moan and so on), is a reactionary tabloid rag masquerading as a "traditional values," middle-class newspaper that is, in many ways, the worst of the British gutter press (only Rupert Murdoch's Sun is worse). Its weighty Sunday counterpart is the Mail on Sunday.
The Daily Mail is to the U.K. what the New York Post is to the United States, and what the Drudge Report is to the Internet: to wit, gossipy tabloid "journalism" for those who cannot digest serious news, with a flippantly wingnut editorial stance. The Daily Mail is notable among British tabloids for rejecting the standard red-top banner in order to try to appear more upmarket and respectable, although it does sometimes go in for the full front-page picture or headline characteristic of the populist rags. It is also notorious for its frequent harassment of individuals, campaigns of hate directed at various minorities, and willfully deceiving and lying to its readers.



and http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong
12:57am 09/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24997 posts
Remember the brool and infi thought process policy though Jim

Their entire thought process when presented with any sort of information is - does this conform with my predetermined world view, or does it go against it? If it's the former it is gospel and anyone who goes against it is a fool. If it's the latter then it's propaganda and part of some sort of left-wing conspiracy.
04:31am 09/04/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13649 posts
yah

I thought it was a bit dopey of christine milne to get drawn into that level of back and forth where she'd take a swipe at the number of sales without apparently knowing the figures, but that hardly constitutes getting smashed - it was a minor back-pedal to bring things back on topic again. I thought more relevant to anyone getting 'smashed' was the amount of stammering and hesitation throughout the process from julian clarke, as he tried walking the tightrope between justifying continuing to run at a loss for reasons other than tax avoidance, and acting as a propaganda outlet
05:49am 09/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24998 posts
So your tactic brool is to keep saying and doing really dumb things, have people call you out on it again and again and instead of adjusting your behaviour you just keep on doing the dumb things and start saying that it's sad and old when people point it out. The LNP were able to train you like a little doggy how come you can't learn other things?
12:44pm 09/04/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13650 posts
I linked to the dailymail because it had the video of it that i wanted, but i watched it live on TV. She definitely got smashed. Lets not play the "oh, you posted a link from this news organization, therefore its wrong" game. It's sad and old.


it would've made sense to used a video that actually showed her getting smashed then, or mention prior to being called out that you saw it happen elsewhere and that your link doesn't actually demonstrate what you're talking about

the fact you used daily mail is just additional amusement and clearly wasn't suggested as the basis of your being wrong as demonstrated by the use of the conjunction 'and'
12:54pm 09/04/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13651 posts
My link does demonstrate her being smashed though.
nah there's nothing in the text to even suggest that nor in the video

P.S Jim, are you ever going to nuke Fpot's off topic person personal attacks/s***posts, or is nuking only reserved for when i post something you dont agree with?
another worthless troll, it's pretty clear I don't agree with you here for example yet your posts haven't been nuked
03:35pm 09/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
24999 posts

The only person being smashed is you brool.

I linked to the dailymail because it had the video of it that i wanted, but i watched it live on TV.
You watched it live on TV? Interesting that you'd wait till 12:09am to post about it. I guess you saw it happen, waited at least eight hours, and then put your excited post about it up on the internet for all to see.

I think you're lying brool and didn't watch it live on TV.

Today's LNP hilarity

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/09/tony-abbott-declares-only-the-coalition-strong-enough-to-stop-the-boats?CMP=soc_567

Tony Abbott has said that only the Coalition could stem the flow of asylum seeker boats because other governments would “succumb to the cries of the human rights lawyers”.

The prime minister admitted that vessels continue to depart for Australia, saying that the government has “largely stopped the boats”, a step back from previous comments indicating they have been stopped altogether.

“I’m also confident that only this government can keep them stopped because any other government, I suspect, would quickly succumb to the cries of the human rights lawyers and others and what that would mean, very quickly, is that the people smugglers would be back in business,” Abbott told reporters in Gympie in Queensland.
Anyone still falling for their bulls***?


06:45pm 09/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25001 posts
I'm sure you're aware, but the whole people smugglers angle is a red herring racist people use so they don't have to say "I don't want dem browns coming here because I am a dumb racist". They use the people smugglers red herring to make people think their views are somewhat sensible, noble and borne out of a respect for law and order. A few people smugglers exploiting the situation to make a bit of money out of extreme human misery is a drop in the boat compared to the LNP which exploits the human misery to help themselves stay in power. Labor did it too, or tried. This is why I can't fight off the somewhat hyperbolic notion that our nation is a slobbering joke.
07:24pm 09/04/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13652 posts
there's no reason to be surprised, claiming that you are is just another s***heel troll - I've never removed your posts on the grounds I don't agree with them
03:51am 10/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8590 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Abusive
Send Private Message
09:33pm 10/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25007 posts
It's paywalled for me.
06:40pm 11/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25008 posts
Ahh thanks.
06:58pm 11/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25009 posts
I would be earning more by staying in government yet that is honorable? I dunno....
Too bad you're really dumb and can't make it there in the real world hey? Instead you've parachuted into the impossible to fail confines of daddy's office. Yet you still have the audacity to falsely portray yourself as a tenacious businessman.
07:14pm 12/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25014 posts
Problem I see with this is that parents who refuse to vaccinate their children do so because they believe they're doing the right thing. They think that vaccinations cause autism, or have a high chance of bad side effects, or that they're implanting government tracking devices or any of the other myriad of reasons. How is taking money away from these people going to help? There may be some who'd change their stance but aren't they essentially being bribed to (from their point of view) put their children in harm's way?

The answer, as always, is more education and for it to be delivered in the right way. Getting through to anti-vaxxers is kind of like getting through to 9/11 truthers though. It's impossible to reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into in the first place. Is there some sort of phase 2 to this plan? Once the phone calls start coming in about the missing money the staffers say sure your money is gone, but if you attend this seminar we can start you on the process of earning it back. That seminar would be a good and proper 'Why Vaccination is a Good A Thing' session designed for an audience of complete numbskulls taking them through all the bulls*** they've been fed and answering all questions they might have. That's the only way I can see this plan actually helping people and not just being some cost-cutting exercise wrapped up in a faux save the children bow and ribbon.
02:23pm 15/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25015 posts
Arguing from analogy requires the proposed requires the proposed objects of comparison to be relevantly similar.
what

An extra the proposed and that was meant to say relatively right? :)
02:58pm 15/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25016 posts
Good thing prison is the only way a government could coerce a person otherwise we'd have a problem here.
04:34pm 15/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25019 posts
Jesus you're dumb.
07:02pm 15/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25020 posts
Low income families don't "need" the childcare benefit.
I sure am glad we have a man inside daddy's impossible to fail office who is qualified to make statements on behalf of low income families like this.
11:13am 16/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25021 posts
That's an obvious parody account made by a dumb racist that hasn't been active since christmas time. You've really blown the lid open on this while refugee thing brool. Thanks for that.

Also when you lock people up indefinitely for no crime in s***** conditions these sort of things happen brool. Imagine if they locked up a bunch of white people for no reason. How long do you think it would be before they rioted? At soonest hours, at latest days. I know you've been locked in your basement a long time now so confinement seems normal to you, but actual people enjoy their freedom to go outside and stuff. It can send them kind of crazy when that's taken away for no reason.
12:45pm 16/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25022 posts
So without childcare benefit which has only been in 25 years, society as we know it collapses?
Strawman argument. It's like you have some sort of pathological need to use strawman arguments. You use them literally 100% of the time. I know self-reflection and honesty are not really your thing, but you should ask yourself why whenever you're trying to make one of your 'points' you use logical fallacies.

Spoiler:
It's because you can't argue your thoughts rationally because they're all dumb and wrong
02:26pm 16/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8611 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Disruptive
Send Private Message
01:08pm 20/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25031 posts
Being told by a little basement boy still completely dependent on his mother that the spoon-fed easy times will soon be over and we're all going to have to toughen up will never stop being hilarious. Here's some steps to you can take brool to stop being so hilarious -

1) get a job
2) read a book that hasn't been authored by Ayn Rand
3) go get laid by someone over the age of 10.
01:57pm 20/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8613 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
02:20pm 20/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8614 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Not Relevant
Send Private Message
02:47pm 20/04/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25054 posts
It's basically child abuse.
You're an expert in that field.
05:40pm 01/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25057 posts
07:30pm 03/05/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13655 posts
pyne's first comment in that screengrab is an example of the balance fallacy
it's not a case of silencing a dissenting voice, it's a case of not supporting pseudoscience - which is the correct course of action for an educational institution
03:57pm 11/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25060 posts
People who are vocally against violence against women, even overwhelmingly so, are also against violence in general. To suggest they aren't is absurd. You're creating things in your mind to get angry and indignant about.

I got banned for attacking people in this thread. That's a damn shame because holy hell making fun of the human excrement that post in here and then watching their feeble attempts to fight back was amusing. I know it's childish and maybe even a bit mean, but I think when you're as bad as they are you've pretty much got a license to say whatever you want. Kind of like Marv feeling free to kill hitmen in Sin City. Guess I'll have to tone it down a bit but why ruin my fun? It's not like I'm impeding any sort of worthwhile discussion or anything.

Those newspaper covers are amazing in the most terrible way possible. That 'Australia Needs Tony' with the Australian flag in the background is a real highlight. Looking forward to seeing what they produce next year.
08:08pm 12/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25061 posts
So because in your esteemed opinion this thread is worthless you deem it practical to post attacks against people.
Well you have to admit it's pretty damn funny. Watching yourself and brool completely sell yourselves out to the LNP leading up to the election, completely ignoring every piece of advice and warning given to you was hilarious because anyone with a brain knew what was going to happen. Then we had the honeymoon period. The six months or so of you two repeating their slogans and statements verbatim and both of you becoming snivelling little apologists.

The best bit though was when it finally dawned on you. When they hit rock bottom and all of a sudden you both changed your tune, hoping and praying that people would forget the events I described. However instead of learning from your mistakes you just doubled down saying we actually need a more extreme version of the LNP to succeed.

And here we are again. The LNP have thrown you another little doggy treat, and like a good little doggy you've gobbled it up and have begun to prime yourself into election mode and the whole process is about to repeat itself. The reason I post is because I've never seen behaviour like you two anywhere - in real life or the internet. The pathological lying, the pathological denial. It's quite something.
02:31pm 13/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25062 posts
No it's what I said. Seeing someone who has been insulated from reality their whole life speak their mind freely is really funny and I get a whole lotta enjoyment from provoking you and seeing just how low you will sink to keep the little bubble that surrounds you intact.
03:51pm 13/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25064 posts
What was wrong with how that was handled?
12:54pm 17/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25065 posts
I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it. Depp brought some dogs over, some guy said bugger off back to the states and then the dogs buggered back off. Seems like a pretty minor blip when we have concentration camps running. Are we angry with the government or media here?
01:39pm 17/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25066 posts
so politicians can have every little sordid detail of their lives splayed in the media but mega-millionaire celebrities breaking the law are entitled to privacy? pull the other one.
Can you once, just f*****g once, present an argument that isn't a strawman? Please.

It is blindingly obvious that he was against invasion of privacy in general.
02:31pm 17/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25067 posts
lol what the f***? What the f*****g f***? What in the actual f***?

I think you may have said the dumbest ever thing on the internet, and that's quite a thing.
02:55pm 17/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25068 posts
You know what this thread is also not against? Setting koalas on fire and then selling their ashes on the chinese medicine black market. Don't believe me? Then show me in this thread where someone has spoken against it. Just shut up and stop embarrassing yourself.
03:33pm 17/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25069 posts
In my opinion it was the right move. Depp is a rich man and hence a powerful man. If this was kept behind closed doors then he may have been able to use his power and wealth to have the issue hushed and the dogs may have stayed. This is an unacceptable risk - rabies is very very bad. By making the public aware of the situation it made it impossible for Depp to wrangle his way out of the situation. I was also amazed (in a bad way) at that shot of inside Mick Doohan's house, but it's our pathetic excuse for news organisations that are to blame in this situation imo.
03:43pm 17/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25070 posts
I'm against invading the privacy of anyone. Looking forward to seeing the cunning trap you think you've set for me here.

It was the right move to disclose Depp's infringement to the media... But it's still the media's fault. LOL
Yep and I explained why. As usual you're just having a little tanty froth and not pointing out any flaws with what I said. You're a joke mate.
04:29pm 17/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25079 posts
Lolbertarians - always advocating other people bootstrapping themselves to success from the safety of their daddy's impossible to fail office.

Lolbertarians - always complaining about those pesky laws and government intervention exposing their incompetence. But when it comes to grinding those into the dirt that they've been doggy trained to believe are irredeemably evil? They can't be big or powerful enough.

The difference between these people wanting to come back and infi is that there is hope they'll be rehabilitated and become normal human beings one day. There's no hope for you infi.
04:31pm 24/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25080 posts
You do support the torture and imprisonment of those who are illegally brown though.

Also I'm not supporting terrorist scum. I'm supporting their right to a fair trial before they're punished for their crimes. The way you've worded it is a ridiculous exaggeration of my position in a failed attempt to legitimise yours. Known as a strawman argument. Maybe tomorrow you'll stop using them.
05:26pm 24/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25081 posts
If you didn't support any form of torture then you'd stop posting because reading your posts is... well...

You can't support the indefinite detention of people in inhumane conditions, the refoulement of asylum seekers back to genocidal regimes and the punishment of those without trial and say you don't support torture. Now I know about your little defense mechanism where you'll deny facts and reality to keep your precious fantasy world alive but there are some people out there who are able to accept them. You should try it some time.
05:54pm 24/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25082 posts
It's like we have our very own boltcomments generator in here.
06:07pm 24/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25083 posts
So now not only do people face punishment without trial, they now also face it without even receiving a charge. What a brave new world we live in. By the way, what's with the random capitalisation on they? That's a thing crazy people do.
08:17pm 24/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25084 posts
I find your position completely absurd to be honest. For starters they're wanting to come back because they regret their decision. Surely that means they aren't going to try and suggest they were there on holiday. If they were planning that story they'd just come back. I think they know they will be wearing handcuffs on their flight back.

Maybe I've watched too many courtroom shows, but couldn't a plea deal be offered where if they plead guilty to whatever terrorism charges they end up facing they can get out of jail one day? Plus if they come back and face trial, doesn't that also remove some terrorists from the pool and also act as an encouragement for anyone else who is willing to defect back? Less terrorists is a real no brainer, but if other people are over there feeling the same way see people's citizenship revoked it's going to encourage them to stay there right? Sure they'll probably end up KIA, but they might kill a few people before that happens.

It just seems like an overwhelming positive. A disillusioned enemy willing to come back and sing like a canary. It would be a shame if it was squandered due to stupidity.
09:01pm 24/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25085 posts
That comic is great. Sums up infi brilliantly. The guy on the left needs to be a hateful bigot for it to really be him though.

It really deserves to be embedded. oh it's multiple images I cbf
01:19pm 25/05/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25099 posts
"The institution of marriage came from religion, it was adopted by the state and I have always been a firm believer in the separation of church and state and the main reason for that is it protects the church and I think the church’s institutions do need to be protected."

- Scott Morrison
Surely this quote isn't real. Surely. I am too scared to check.
04:59pm 01/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25101 posts
if God's law is not the driving force now for marriage policy why cannot marriage be between multiple partners....
Why is this an interesting point?
07:37pm 01/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25102 posts
I'd have no problem whatsoever with polygamists being allowed to legally marry with multiple partners. I see this issue brought up often as a type of slippery-slope argument by those who are resistant to the idea of homosexual marriage being legalised.
08:11pm 01/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25118 posts
04:40pm 05/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25123 posts

We must stop the flow of cash to these evil people smugglers!!!!!!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/10/peter-dutton-invokes-on-water-secrecy-over-claim-of-payments-to-boat-crew?CMP=soc_567

"On-water matters": Petter Dutton has invoked the controversial secrecy rule to defend not comprehensively answering claims that Australian officials paid $30,000 – in cash – to the crew of an intercepted asylum-seeker boat to return to Indonesia.


edit: and while I'm here I guess...

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/09/scott-morrison-knew-of-nauru-abuse-a-year-before-government-acted-inquiry-told

Scott Morrison was made aware in December 2013 of serious allegations of sexual abuse at Australia’s detention centre on Nauru, almost a year before a full review into allegations was commissioned, a Senate inquiry has heard.

09:37pm 10/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25124 posts
Both articles report unverified one sided evidence. Hear say and rumor. Just the usual Guardian dross.
Such a well trained little doggy.
09:59pm 10/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25125 posts
Are you suggesting it isn't one sided unverified evidence in both reports?
Are you seriously strawmanning, again?

The Guardian are reporting on first hand accounts of people who have actually spent time on Nauru Island and from someone who witnessed the cash trading hands. They have sought comment from the LNP, but instead of the truth they've been handed operational secrecy bulls***. You see it's okay to dismiss allegations if they're isolated and bizarre, but when there is an overwhelming torrent of them flooding in about truly disgusting criminal behaviour being almost commonplace then it's time to exit your safety bubble and stop mindlessly dismissing them. Also remember the two who have died in custody? One murdered in very murky circumstances, and one dying from an infection because he was denied medical treatment. What does that say about the safety of the conditions there?
10:54pm 10/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25126 posts
If asylum seekers and people smugglers could in any way damage the funding or rigor of the border security program it would be good for their business. They are witnesses with a vested interest.
Ahh yes. It's all a big coordinated conspiracy between doctors, asylum seekers, social workers, charity workers and whistle blowing guards to undermine the sanctity of Australia's benevolent border protection program which is truly the most poignant and pure display of altruism of our time. How dare they damage it with their allegations.

I would love for these allegations to be tested because I know some if not most of them are going to stick. You know who doesn't want them tested? Scott Morrison, who kept the details of serious sexual assault allegations under wraps for a year instead of investigating them immediately. You know who else doesn't want them tested? You, because you get all indignant and frothy about the allegations simply being printed, which is the first step to them ever seeing a courtroom. Instead of accepting them and welcoming an investigation you'll instead paint the victims as the perpetrators, calling them liars. This is the mark of a truly despicable piece of s***, so indoctrinated with the smell of their own farts that they're willing to forgo rationality, logic, empathy and just plain old common sense so they can live in their fantasy world a little bit longer. You're a child trying to play adult dress up and you're failing badly at it.
12:42pm 11/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25127 posts
05:07pm 11/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25129 posts
The government must clarify what has occurred here.
Their track record of honesty and transparency so far has been unparalleled so I have complete confidence this will happen. I mean, it's not like they started lying even before they got elected and up to this point in time now is it?
07:00pm 12/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25130 posts
You're a weirdo.
06:28pm 13/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25131 posts
I tried to google just how much the unnecessary added expense was and I really couldn't find anything. Surely you've come across it in your travels. How much more am I paying for a steak roundabouts?
10:34pm 13/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25132 posts
Calling it now, once the claims that the government paid asylum seeker boat captains to turn around are undeniable they will say that it was all part of a larger operation. Kind of like purchasing from a low-end drug dealer to gain trust so you can meet/get to the high-end drug dealer.

Also slaps_forehead you forgot to say how much these unnecessary halal expenses are adding per steak that I buy.
01:32pm 14/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25133 posts
Any chance he could be booted for this? He deserves to be.
06:43pm 14/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25135 posts

“In many cases law enforcement agencies will know an Australian has been fighting with terrorist groups but will be unable to present sufficient eligible evidence to secure a conviction.
Utterly f***ed up.
08:32pm 15/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25136 posts
F*****g lol. Labor has been screaming about the Liberals apparently paying people smugglers and not denying it due to "operational matters" now its been exposed Labor did pay people smugglers and are now refusing to deny it citing "operational matters"
This is actually a good post.

I reckon Labor have done this. I'd like to hear their motives though. The LNP are all the way in on their stop the boats campaign so I guess they would try literally anything. What amazes me about them doing it is they were too stupid to realise this would have the potential to piss off everyone. Even torture apologists will get on board the hate train because of the muh taxdollers!!! aspect of this latest stunt.

Labor were never spewing stop the boats rhetoric, except right at the end of their term in a desperate attempt to win the election. Is this when the payments took place?
06:53pm 16/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25142 posts
Sorry I don't have a uni paper on who buys off the plan investment developments. I just talk to real estate agents and telemarketers every week. I know I know, anecdotal evidence ain't worth s*** on an internet forum. I guess you're right.
lol
02:22pm 18/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25143 posts
Abbott government pledges to appoint a windfarm commissioner in leaked letter

The Abbott government will appoint a “windfarm commissioner” to handle complaints about turbine noise and a new scientific committee to investigate, again, their alleged impacts on human health, in a late-night deal with anti-wind senators over amendments to renewable energy legislation.


Pretty sure they'll be placing a witch doctor in the position of minister for health very shortly.
03:39pm 18/06/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13658 posts
top contenders for abbot govt scientific committee to investigate wind farms: carl phillips, andrew wakefield, stephanie seneff, judy carman, gilles-eric seralini, mark and david geier, russell blaylock, laura hewitson, deepak chopra and shiva vandana. overseen by prince charles
05:17pm 18/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25144 posts
Dr Oz would also have to be in the running.
05:20pm 18/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25149 posts
That speech in front of the Australian flags he gave was absurd.
10:47am 21/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25151 posts


LMAO, we are a fascist regime?
Nice strawman.

You really do need everything explained very carefully don't you?

He's not saying we're a fascist regime. He's saying that the government are using the same tactics a fascist regime uses because they work very well on dumb people. Like yourself. You're the poster child for gullibility.
11:35am 21/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25154 posts
You're such a dumb ass.
10:55pm 23/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38113 posts
It doesnt represent the views of Australians it represents the views of inner Sydney Leftys that make up the majority of the ABC staff.

This Country needs a Right Wing Fox News.
don't we basically get that from Tony Abbott
12:54pm 24/06/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13660 posts
is there any reason to expect that the ABC should be exhibiting balance fallacy?
05:49pm 24/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25156 posts
That 'Australia Needs Tony' one... amazing.
06:50pm 24/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25157 posts
I can't believe ABC transported a known terrorist sympathiser and convicted criminal to QANDA, THEN shortlisted his question, THEN didn't brief any of the guests he would be asking a question. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!
It's a bit like giving a convicted racist his own TV show.

convicted criminal to QANDA
This is Zaky Mallah we're talking about right? What was he convicted of?
07:27pm 24/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38114 posts
I can't believe ABC transported a known terrorist sympathiser and convicted criminal to QANDA
Presumably, having terrorist sympathisers on the show gives a more balanced viewpoint than not having them. Isn't that what you were arguing for?
07:49pm 24/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25158 posts
We should also get on pedophiles and holocaust deniers to get a balanced view I guess...
This but unironically.
08:08pm 24/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38115 posts

We should also get on pedophiles and holocaust deniers to get a balanced view I guess...
what is your definition of balanced, exactly?

The ABC just published this which is a good read and I think nicely sums it up: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-25/green-zaky-mallah-qa-and-the-media-at-its-worst/6571576
10:16am 25/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25160 posts
Is this the part where you pretend to be ignorant of how David Hicks got off despite having clear evidence against him despite us having a 2 page discussion about it previously?
I remember that thread. That's the one where people took the time to carefully explain things to you and instead of listening you frothed hard and had aa little tanty right? Oh wait that's every thread.
02:27pm 25/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38117 posts
if you end up in court their is always a ruling or another law that cancels out the law you have supposedly broken
wat
05:03pm 25/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25162 posts
12:57pm 26/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38118 posts
Someone just posted this to Facebook and it GREAT!

tldr: it is David Hicks asking a question of John Howard on Q&A. Before he responds to the question, Howard's first comment is "isn't it a great country that allows this kind of exchange to occur?" and "it ought to make all of us very proud that we live in a country that allows that sort of exchange". (The rest of it is kind of boring though.)

12:59pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25164 posts
If it is and it's so obvious how come you can't argue your point by identifying a pattern of bias but instead post s***** logical fallacies? See that's a pattern with you. There will be all these things that you say are just totally obvious, yet you're never able to adequately explain why. This is puzzling because obvious things are usually easily explainable by even the dimmest of individuals. This is how I know you're really dumb.
01:57pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25165 posts
The pattern of bias is there every week when two (usually one) "right leaning" guest faces off against 3 left-leaning guests plus tony jones (does he even pretend to be balanced?). You are entitled to hold your opinion that QANDA is balanced.
So again you're saying you're unable to produce anything substantial to back up your opinion and instead will just continue to drone on with your usual whiney dross?

By the way I don't have an opinion on QANDA because I don't watch it.
02:22pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25166 posts
Politics have changed dramatically since then so it's possible. The problems Labor experienced seem almost quaint compared to the absolute nonsense that is going on now.

Kind of reminds me of the start of Breaking Bad compared to what happens in the final seasons. When the drama is happening in season one you're thinking to yourself this is pretty nasty. When you're into the later seasons you look back and almost laugh at how inconsequential it all was. School halls and pink batts compared to torturing asylum seekers in concentration camps (Labor started this I know but the LNP escalated it) and rampant science denialism.
02:33pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25167 posts
Then uhhh, how do you know all these things you're saying? What the f***?
02:54pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25170 posts
So you've established that the show is a joke and rubbish and that the host is bias and froth froth froth just by reading the guest lineup? What a virile and robust critical thinker you are.
03:26pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25171 posts
Hey, they wouldn't happen to be media reports produced by News Corp where a pattern of bias and utterly terrible journalism has been solidly established, would it?
03:37pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25172 posts
There is absolutely no evidence of any bias or unbalanced discussion on QANDA in that article. Care to point it out to me?
03:53pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25173 posts
I guess you're right - reading second hand accounts will give you a basic overview of what happened in the show. You have an incredibly strong opinion of the show and have accused the host of bias. For a reasonable person to develop such an opinion one would think they'd have to watch the show plenty to gather the evidence for such an opinion.

This is another example of you caught out being dumb, and as always, very entertaining to watch you fret and flounder for your last five or so posts where you make up some weak bulls*** as you go along to try and get out of it.
04:05pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25174 posts
The Bolt Report is far more balanced
Yeah, just be quiet and sit down you wretched little clown.

I honestly don't know what to think about helmet laws. For children I guess it is a no brainer. I remember Ha posted some pretty solid evidence against the effectiveness of helmets preventing death in bicycle accidents.
04:19pm 26/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38119 posts
not the hated-filled vitriol you get from leftist guests on QANDA
is there an example of some of this "hate-filled vitriol" from "leftist" guests I can see somewhere?
04:59pm 26/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38120 posts
"It's my head and I'm not hurting anyone else."
spoken like someone who doesn't understand who pays for his healthcare
05:07pm 26/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38121 posts


To be fair, I'm pretty Mr Leyonhjlm would have private health care with hospital cover, so he kind of does pay for his healthcare.
oh was it that guy that said it? the bloke that hates wind farms because reasons?
05:49pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25176 posts
I thought you were talking about the guy who proposed a budget with a $250 million shortfall and said because of the measures he has taken people will simply give that money away to fill the gap.
06:09pm 26/06/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4396 posts
"reality has a well-known left bias"
08:10pm 26/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38122 posts
Abbott called a "tit": Link
not sure if I think calling someone a 'tit' is hate filled vitriol (the rest of the article appears to be about her wishing people didn't hate jews or muslims)
09:23pm 26/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25177 posts
How is the protest their fault?
09:50pm 26/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38123 posts

Why do I need a helmet to go to the shops at 10kph on quiet streets?
here's my rationale - putting on a helmet is such a tiny, tiny effort and has the potential to save you from serious injury or possibly even death. I think while other taxpayers are responsible for paying for your healthcare, citizens have a duty to try to act in a way as to minimise their burden on the system. I think putting on a helmet is a low cost, low effort, low stress mechanism for reducing risk (yes, I'm aware there is research that it may or may not reduce it a lot, but all the evidence says it does provide some benefit; how much is an argument for academics).

I just see it as the same kind of thing as seatbelts.

In the US I'm happy for people to not wear helmets (where I am even motorcyclists don't wear helmets) because they pay for their own healthcare (I wear a helmet when I ride) and assume the burden of financial risk (largely) themselves.

I would add that in other countries I have been in where bike riding is a bigger deal (i.e., european ones) there is a MASSIVELY different culture towards bikes. In the Netherlands bike riders can never be at fault, which makes drivers a lot more careful. (Interestingly this came up in Melbourne recently but it looks like it's unlikely to get adopted in similar form: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-25/laws-drivers-responsible-cyclist-crashes-unlikely-vicroads/6571766 ).

That kind of culture - bikes as first class citizens - is significantly different than the climate here in Australia (and in the US) where bikes seem to be seen largely as an annoyance. (edit: by drivers)

I'm not going to lose my s*** about it because I do see the civil liberties argument. But it's just such an easy thing to do.
10:09am 27/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25178 posts
I like the way infi still hasn't produced any evidence of bias or hateful vitriol yet is still prattling away about like an idiot.
03:40pm 27/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25179 posts
I wonder if Q&A will invite their terrorist friend back?
You know what's funny? That man has never been convicted of a terrorist offence. Which means not only can you produce no evidence to back up your whiney rants, you're also resorting to hyperbole and dishonesty to compensate. You have no integrity, no critical thinking skills. You're dumb, you're racist. Nothing more than a sheltered little daddy's boy who has no idea how the real world works. A complete and utter failure as a human being. F*** it must suck to be you.
04:10pm 27/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25180 posts
Pope is pretty much right on the money most of the time.
08:59pm 27/06/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25181 posts
The bias is every week. Every week left wing guests outnumber right wings guests. Every week.
I had a quick look at the figures. Out of the most frequent guests in the show there have been 157 who you could reasonably identify as right-wing, and there have been 149 you could reasonably identify as being left-wing. Germaine Greer has been on there nine times compared to Pyne and Turnbull's 21 each.

source

Have you got anything compelling to contend that instead of froth froth froth?
09:09pm 27/06/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38129 posts
I love this excuse. Why don't you wear a helmet when you're in a car or at cricket?
because the risk profile is completely different. It is worth noting that when you're in a car there exists a safety mechanism which you are required by law to partake of - seat belts. Wearing a seatbelt is one of the more effective methods of stopping a bunch of common injuries in cars.

At cricket, if you're a player there are any number of safety devices that many of the players wear. I suspect they don't need to legislate wearing a box while facing a fast bowler these days. (If you mean as a spectator the risk profile is so staggeringly low - you're probably way more likely to get punched in the head by a drunk idiot or fall off the stands trying to get to a beach ball than hit by the ball in the stands.)
11:41am 01/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38139 posts
OK so Greece! How about that no vote! AUD dropped like a cent overnight on the news. I will be interested to see what impact it has on the local markets.
09:46am 06/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25195 posts
http://i.imgur.com/VE8ZUy3.png

This is what happens when you ask dumb people hard questions.
06:00pm 07/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25196 posts
The apologist is strong in this one.

He couldn't have possibly anticipated that he was going to be asked that question and therefore it is completely okay that he just rambled on for a bit instead of answering it properly.

edit: just to expand a bit on that. What you said is probably true. Even if it is he is showing such a complete lack of guile and tact with his response. It's just a bunch of nonsensical garbage that means absolutely nothing. Hence the 'this is what happens when you ask dumb people hard questions'.
07:18pm 07/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25197 posts
ftr, he was at some sort of grocery conference thing. Gives some context to his answer but it still makes no sense.
11:17pm 07/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25209 posts
QANDA is a flawed concept if it vets audience members, knows about their terrorist and misogynist tendencies, and allows them on to speak in any case.
How do Zaky's misogynist tweets compare to to the misogynist comments made by Tony Abbott the Prime Minister of Australia?

Also I see you're still prattling away with no evidence to back up your claims.
01:11pm 09/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25212 posts


You compare any of Abbott's foot in mouth comments with a guy who condones gang rape and refuses to retract his statements. Right....
More apologist comments. Will they ever stop.

I think the disparity in the severity of the comments is pretty comparable to the status of the two people in question. One a worthless dumb ass and the other a worthless dumb ass who is the Prime Minister of Australia. The point was that you seemed to object to misogynist comments from one person yet will fall over yourself to apologise for the other. I was just wondering if you could please explain that.
08:00pm 09/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25213 posts
I pretty clearly explained how the comments are different and gave my reasoning for why I am comparing them. You're doing that thing where something is too hard for you to answer so instead you'll keep repeating dumb things in an effort to bore me out. The true mark of a dumb coward.

You don't think Abbott has made misogynist comments? Interesting, because he quite clearly has and I think any reasonable person would agree with me.

I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons.

Abortion is the easy way out. It’s hardly surprising that people should choose the most convenient exit from awkward situations.

The problem with the Australian practice of abortion is that an objectively grave matter has been reduced to a question of the mother’s convenience

I want to make it clear that I do not judge or condemn any woman who has had an abortion, but every abortion is a tragedy and up to 100,000 abortions a year is this generation's legacy of unutterable shame.

I think there does need to be give and take on both sides, and this idea that sex is kind of a woman’s right to absolutely withhold, just as the idea that sex is a man’s right to demand I think they are both they both need to be moderated, so to speak.


There are heaps more. Check out his wikiquote page - it's also full of science denying and other nuttery. I didn't post them all as I'm on my phone and copy pasting is a pain. I know you're easily confused so I'll just let you know each quote is a stand alone quote, they're separated by linebreaks.

Are you going to go to the next level in apologist posts and try to tell me those quotes are not of a misogynist nature? Or is this the bit where you check out of the thread for a while for just long enough so you can continue on with your rehashed bulls***?

edit: they're in the same league because some comments are coming from a nobody and the others are coming from Minister for Women Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott. I'd expect a child to understand this.
08:47pm 09/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25214 posts
It's actually your denials that are absurd. Every single position you take is absurd. From your support of asylum seeker torture, your rabid opposable to QANDA, your climate change denialism, your support for the government to be an autocratic powerhouse when it comes to squashing people you feel are beneath you compared to your infantile whinging when it comes to how they deal with you. You're never able to back up a single thing you say. Ever. The reason for that is you allow yourself to be lead by people who are able to tap into your racist, bigoted personality. I weep for your child. Being raised by you, they're destined to fail as a human being.

edit: they're obviously not comparable in isolation. Do you not understand how Minister for Women Tony Abbott should be held to a much higher standard than random mouthy d******* though?
09:03pm 09/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25215 posts


fpot: What are your issues with that quote of Abbott's? Is it the word large? Or something else?
What areas will women never be able to match males in due to physiological reasons?

Sport that requires strength and endurance played at the highest level is one I can think of. What else can you think of? Ethics in game journalism perhaps? (lol)

fpot you are entitled to your view of the world. it's always amusing to read/see how the other half think - it gives me an insight into the leftist superior mindset. and i thank you for that.
The funny thing is not being a dumb racist s*** heel with no ability to think critically does make me superior to you and does actually make me feel good about myself. And I thank you for that.
09:28pm 09/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25216 posts
That sure was a lot of words that amount to nothing more than men work the jobs and women raise the babies because history says so. I saw a lot of sciency sounding words but not a lot of science. About 80% of it needs a citation required tag on it.

I found your historical argument to be particularly on the nose. Do I need to go through the literally countless examples of things that have changed throughout the course of time that were once regarded as unalienable fact? I don't think I do, but perhaps you should ponder on some of the more obvious examples.

One question about your logic. I've observed you literally raging about how violence against women is given so much focus compared to violence against men. The obvious reason women gain more attention is because they are more physically at risk. How come your so willing to ignore that fact when you're raging against the white ribboned machine, yet willing to hang it from the highest mast when you're trying to make your point up there?
02:06am 10/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25218 posts
fpot and Viper: No, sorry, but there's research done by actual scientists not gender studies ideologues, that shows a difference in interests in even newborns
Then post it.

By the way, you're sounding a lot like brool atm. He's a very rational brain.

edit:
To be fair fpot the military is another one cant match males although only in certain branches.
Yep I'd pay that one too.

So that's sport and military, and only in specific areas of sport and military.

edit2: sorry for all the edits but I just woke up and haven't coffeed yet. Where in my post did I attack you Rukh? I attacked you're argument and the way you presented it only. Ironically, you're the one who attacked me, accusing me of abandoning logic and science and instead resorting to feels and authoritarian leftism or some nonsense.
03:44pm 10/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25228 posts
Seeing as though Paul Keating's opinion holds so much weight around here.

http://i.imgur.com/4KGy4cH.jpg
04:22pm 12/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25229 posts
Abbott was elected on a platform of lies and dishonesty that appealed to dumb racist people, such as yourself.

In case it isn't obvious, these are infi's tactics to keep his little fantasy bubble intact -

1) hold utterly reprehensible and indefensible views and be very vocal about them
2) when these views are proven to be wrong with evidence, resort to an endless stream of logical fallacies (strawmen are his favourite)
3) when this is pointed out and the argument has gone full circle he simply starts repeating the same dumb things like nothing ever happened
4) finally when there is nothing to say to him except "holy f*** I can't believe how dumb you are" he will play the victim card and have a bloo bloo bloo about all the abuse he is copping

So what do you do in real life when you're face to face with someone with your stupidity laid on the table and nowhere to hide? Oh I know, you leave your high paying job in the public sector and instead go and work for daddy. When you're in daddy's office and you're the owner's son it doesn't matter how dumb you are does it?

See this is why you're a complete piece of s***, and why I have no qualms about giving you the abuse you deserve. People bring it up like it's a negative, and the option to simply ignore you is a valid one I suppose. I'm not going to lie and pretend I am doing this for some noble reason. It's because I actually do get pleasure from doing it. If you were dumb in some sort of harmless way I'd be a prick, but you're a malicious hateful piece of garbage, and you'd be doing nothing but eating s*** your whole life if you weren't so well protected.
07:56pm 12/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25230 posts
In other gronk related news the LNP acting on advice from its team of witch doctors have cut funding to wind power. I read a comment that it was actually a smart move because other countries have found that wind isn't the way to go and this will allow them to focus on solar.

Abbott government extends renewable energy investment ban to solar power

Utterly bizarre. What could be the reason for this?

http://i.imgur.com/F8AgBI5.png

oh
09:07pm 12/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38154 posts
The entire Q&A "debate" is utterly bizarre. It hinges on the notion that radicals, extremists, f***wits and criminals shouldn't be allowed to have a voice in a debate. This is stupid.

Sure, you want to minimise exposure to those kind of elements. Radical and/or extreme views are often completely useless. But, and here's the important thing, sometimes they are not, and radical views are important and need to be heard. There are many examples of views and ideas that are radical completely reshaping our society.

Of course, many of them (probably even most of them) are useless, counter-productive, antagonistic, or just plain dumb. Arguably clownshoes that was on Q&A fits into one of these categories. However, it's important that even ridiculous opinions are brought into the discussion from side to side, just in case.

If they turn out to be good (e.g., "we should maybe think differently about slavery", or "maybe we should wash our hands before delivering babies", or "maybe gay people should be allowed to get married", or (coming soon) "maybe all religions should be tax exempt because they're useless woo"), then those crazy opinions could turn out to be the first step in sweeping social changes which will improve the quality of life of everyone.

Sure, many of them will turn out to be bad. But only letting people that you agree with into the conversation is just creating another filter bubble. Having people with contrary ideas - even if they're dumb ideas from anti-social clownshoes jerks - is an important part of the process, if only so the spotlight can be shone on them to really highlight how big a trainwreck of a human they are, or whatever.
11:18am 13/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25231 posts
Loving the irony of infi's misinformed tirade against Keating coupled with the extra irony of infi putting him on a pedestal just a few posts ago when he was talking about his QANDA stuff.

Keep delivering infi.
01:08pm 13/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38158 posts
So many of those memes are made by people who have no idea how to get their point across. So much of the gamergate s*** was like this. I have no idea what side that meme is pushing. Are they agreeing that the Pope is dangerous? I know people who probably would agree with that who are not rabid Fox watchers; as the head of an insidious organisation that is based on fiction, has squillions of dollars and is responsible for all sorts of nefarious activiities it's not exactly a hard sell.

Or are they saying that the Pope is not dangerous and it's ridiculous of Fox to call him that?

The second last line is an attack on some Christian group (the "phone conservatives"). But then it ends with a call to action against Fox news? IT IS A SMORGASBOARD OF FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
04:43pm 13/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25232 posts
Hey infi what does esoteric persona mean?
07:55pm 13/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38160 posts
I can, it isn't cheap and in fact costs a lot of taxpayer money.
hahah unlike coal?!

One argument that I heard that I do think justifies the cut to wind and solar that has just been announced is that private industry is already massively investing in solar technologies. This does seem to be true - there are commercial entities now building sustainable businesses based on the current generation of wind and solar tech.

Of course if our state-run power companies didn't have their head up their asses they'd have been deploying solar en masse in Qld, at least in the last few years. I've seen they're starting to try to do it - there's those (pretty good!) ads from Origin or whoever about the guys stealing electricity off other rooves. I think they see the writing on the wall - if they don't own the solar infrastructure, someone else is going to.
09:44am 14/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38161 posts
That would be a fair comment to make if they weren't already giving massive subsidies to the well-established coal, oil and gas industries.
I don't think they're talking about stopping subsidies for solar/wind/etc. They're just talking about specific investments into certain aspects of renewables (e.g., "let's build a wind farm"). I believe (but am not sure) that subsidies are arranged differently.

I would like to see some investment in different areas - e.g., let's build a solar tower thingy, let's try a new novel type of wind turbine to see if it's more efficient, lets test this new kind of solar cell.

This is all based on the fact that I think the mandate of the CEFC is to invest in new and emerging clean energy technologies. Wind and solar are established and proven - you could say it's actually a feather in the cap of wind/solar that they're already so awesome we can just start deploying them now!

(Arguably it is a stupid thing to do by the Liberal party at this point when they seem to have a clear anti-anything-but-coal agenda - it goes without saying that it just makes them look more bumpkin than ever and they definitely should have approached it differently. )
11:11am 14/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38163 posts
The subsidies given to coal industry are based on the diesel tax paid for use on private roads. Farmers get it too. Why should diesel tax be paid for travel on roads constructed by private operators on private property? Diesel tax is for road maintenance and development - a user pays tax. So it is not "costing" taxpayers because the tax should never have been levied on those taxpayers. To the best of my knowledge, this is the primary source of alleged taxpayer support.
I would have thought you'd be against any form of subsidies as a general policy...?
if solar and wind was viable then excluding them from CEFC investment wouldn't matter.
Yeh - that is my point, and (I believe) the point of the government.
weird observation to make when they specifically said they want the CEFC to be used for emerging technology.
I mean purely from a political point of view. Just gives people more dirt to flick at them.
12:59pm 14/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25233 posts
Nah the adults are back in charge and it's a new golden age. Open for business!

Remember when people were actually seriously saying this?
07:19pm 14/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38164 posts
This very simple concept confuses you Obes and for that I am sad.
It is /not/ a very simple concept at all!

Taxes on fossil fuels are, or should be, about dealing with externalities (amongst other things). The answer to the question "Why should diesel tax be paid for travel on roads constructed by private operators on private property?" is completely and utterly obvious to anyone that knows what an externality is. If you don't believe in externalities then fair enough - you can assign subsidies at random or to whoever you care to assign them to at your discretion.

Even in the situation where the diesel was manufactured by those private operators on their private property by their own privately owned equipment, it still would be a ludicrous position to take, because (amongst other reasons) CO2 goes into the atmosphere which we all share.
10:39pm 14/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38168 posts
Except that fuel taxes have always been about road maintenance and development. If you want to rewrite the narrative now and tell the voters these taxes will not be spent on roads anymore feel free...
Yes! Because now we are quite confident that burning fuel is bad for the planet, so adding more tax to help deal with that and shift us to alternative energy sources makes sense (to me). At least we've fixed the fuel index pricing thingy which is a start.
03:56pm 15/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25234 posts
So when our highways fall into disrepair you will just propose nothing be done (or do you suppose the money will be taken from elsewhere??)
What sort of argument is this called again?
06:42pm 15/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25235 posts
it is a question. trog has suggested removing all fuel tax from funding roads. what is the alternative?
heh, wow.

So infi, just so we're clear - would you still describe climate science as religious dogma and do you still believe it to be a left-wing wealth distribution conspiracy?
07:16pm 15/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25236 posts
Hey infi. There was some text following that Yes! and it had some pretty important stuff in it. Maybe you should read it because to not to would be obtuse.

climate change to me is an uncertain proposition and i don't believe it should be a basis for raising the cost of living. there are plenty of economic incentives already for people to reduce waste and save power because doing this lowers costs.
Well congratulations, you're an idiot, because it is not an uncertain proposition.
07:45pm 15/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25237 posts
Here's the reality that is too hard for you accept.

Climate change is a real thing. It is happening now. When the full effects of it hit we are going to look back at this time and in particular people like you and curse the fact that you ever slithered from your mother's filth. You know those big events in history, that when looked back in hindsight seem so avoidable if only there weren't people with their heads up their arses pretending they weren't going to happen because they might have to sacrifice something to stop it? This has the potential to be one of the biggest. The right-wing knows it's most rabid supporters are pretty much dumb across the board. They knew a disinformation campaign would be very effective. They were right (no pun intended!)

Even if it was uncertain. Even if it was 50/50, it would still be worth taking drastic action. We're only playing with one dollar here. Once we lose that dollar we're f***ed. It's amazing the standard of proof (ie. tabloid Murdoch bulls***) you'll accept when it comes to believing all your dumb s*** compared to the absolute abundance of highly credible evidence you'll ignore when it doesn't conform to your dumb little world.

What is actually wrong with you? How did you get like this? I started posting all that daddy's boy s*** as a half-joke. Just something to rile you up. But it's true isn't it? You live in a cosy little world where you've been spoon fed life by heinous pieces of s***, haven't you? What is it with people like that. Reminds me of the Bob Dylan line... helpless like a rich man's child.

i guess the voters will be the judge of that.
Well no, voters don't judge reality. They will give a pretty accurate summary of how dumb we are as a nation and how effective the LNP et al disinformation campaign was.
08:03pm 15/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38169 posts
yes, in addition trog, supported adding more taxes. we shall be all taxed to s***.
Options are: a) be taxed to s*** b) let everyone do whatever they want regardless of the cost to anyone else.

Failure to tax the utilisation of limited resources (that pollute) is basically how tragedy of the commons occurs.

(As a slightly related aside: from what I've read, the majority of road upkeep is needed because of the larger trucks and transports, which do a disproportionate amount of damage (based on the fuel they consume) to the roads, simply because they are massively heavier than regular civilian vehicles. I have read convincing arguments that indicate that there should be significantly higher taxes or rego or whatever on these vehicles because without them road maintenance costs would be significantly lower, and the fuel tax does not scale appropriately. I haven't looked into this in great detail though but it seems reasonable on the surface.)
09:41pm 15/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38170 posts
So when our highways fall into disrepair you will just propose nothing be done (or do you suppose the money will be taken from elsewhere??). We do know that the fuel taxes collected will be funding Clean Energy bureaucracy. I enjoy seeing where these fantasies lead, inside people's heads. A continued degradation of our highways would surely end in civil disturbance (rioting).
and
trog has suggested removing all fuel tax from funding roads. what is the alternative?
I have no idea where you got this from. What made you think I said anything about stopping road maintenance? In any case, I said "adding more tax".

But see my above post (which I wrote before seeing these comments). It's not clear to me at the moment that a fuel tax is fair in the sense that at the moment many civilian motorists are subsidising the roads for shipping companies. (It's almost like this is an extremely complicated situation and there are a billion variables.)

To be clear, I never said, nor am advocating, removing taxes on fuel. Quite the opposite. I'm saying we should tax it more, and taxes on fuel should be considered to be funding for dealing with the externalities. (FWIW the fact that the tax on fuel goes to road maintenance is something that was done a billion years ago; it is possible to change how specific revenue generated from specific taxes is spent. )
09:49pm 15/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38172 posts
01:14pm 16/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38175 posts
i read from this that you were in favour or rewriting the rationale using fuel tax to fund roads. And furthermore adding to the Australian taxpayer burden (and thus the overall size of govt, unless you are proposing tax reductions elsewhere).
Yes, but I do not believe that increasing tax requires an increase in "the size of government"; that seems to be a popular libertarian meme in the USA particularly. I can see why it is seductive but it's just typical anti-big-government bulls*** (I am not pro big government)
one thing fuel and road haters (typically mass transit high speed rail types) fail to remember is that we will always need roads. when we invent hover cars maybe not so much but while rubber hits the ground we will always need roads. and well-funded roads reduce fatalities and increase productivity. so if we are not funding roads with fuel excise, or we in fact stop using fuel, have a think about how roads will be funded.
This has nothing to do with anything but I can see why you'd drop the strawman that high speed rail is bad because it aligns so neatly with the Liberal party's message. No idea why you'd do it in a conversation with people that actually are in the habit of tearing terrible positions apart for sport though.
11:23pm 18/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25240 posts
Holy f*** you're dumb.
12:28am 19/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38176 posts
so what happens with the more taxes collected? why collect them if not to spend them?
I am not saying not to spend them - you're putting words in my mouth to make it seem like I'm advocating a massive pork barrel project at the expense of the taxpayer. Contrary to popular small government groupthink, it is possible for government to collect revenue and spend it wisely, on (for example) things that are not helicopter rides to party fundraisers.

There is a direct analogy that can be made to the private sector - a company that has a good year and increases their revenue does not need to then go and blow it on randomly increasing headcount or whatever. They can return it to the shareholders. Similarly, government can spend money on things that improve the quality of life of citizens without necessarily becoming a huge bloated monstrosity. Of course there are examples of profligate waste (see: helicopter rides). The size of the entity may wax or wane but it doesn't really matter - what matters is outcomes.

Anyway, let's just stipulate that the above is true. I'm basically just saying extra more taxes collected on those that burn more petrol could go into any number of projects that help reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. It could go to the Clean Energy Finance Corp where it could be used to directly fund more energy research, carbon sequestration plants, funding for electric charging stations to help build out our charging network... whatever. What matters though is that we accept that burning fossil fuels has these externalities and we start dealing with them.
if you are suggesting that fuel taxes not be spent on roads then how should roads be maintained?
the bit you quoted literally says "adding more tax"; I am not proposing we suddenly stop maintaining roads.
it is no strawman because it is your direct quote.
the strawman is bringing up high speed rail and saying I'm making the conversation about letting the roads generate into a Mad Max-esque unmaintained desert wasteland
03:55pm 19/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25242 posts
Transfield: Nauru detention centre operator receives dozens of sexual and other abuse allegations/

The company responsible for running the Nauru detention centre has revealed it has received dozens of allegations of sexual and other abuse at the facility.

Transfield Services told a Senate inquiry it received 67 allegations of child abuse up until May this year and 30 of them were against detention centre staff.

Thirty-three asylum seekers allege they have been raped or sexually assaulted at the centre and another five claim they have been asked for sexual favours in exchange for contraband.

Transfield said all allegations had been referred to the Immigration Department.

The answers were provided "on notice" to the Senate Select Committee on the Recent Allegations relating to Conditions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru which held its hearing in Canberra in May.

The inquiry's first witnesses were from Transfield, but many questions from senators failed to elicit direct responses, with Transfield managers taking them "on notice" to be answered later.

The company won a 20-month $1.2 billion tender from the Australian Government to manage the facility in February 2014.


I haven't seen it mentioned here, but everyone knows about the Border Force Act right? It makes it punishable by imprisonment for people to report on sexual abuse allegations. Here's a link to an article about it.

clicky

How can this be considered to be anything but 100% evil? Not only is the government turning a blind eye towards abuse allegations, they're now actively trying to suppress them from coming out by threatening people with prison. How is this not the worst thing ever done by an Australian government since they attempted genocide against indigenous Australians? How is it not one of the worst things done by any modern western government?
06:34pm 19/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25250 posts
The scary thing is it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they'll be re-elected. Can you imagine another term with these muppets at the helm?
11:44am 21/07/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4400 posts
apparently Abbott has told Bishop to stay out of trouble from now on

it's got to be against some kind of convention for a prime minister to discipline a speaker publicly

put Malcolm in already
10:51pm 21/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25256 posts
RE: the LNP both major parties asylum seeker policy.

http://i.imgur.com/GCoqbK6.png
06:19pm 28/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25263 posts
a criminal and rape supporter, not interested in genuine comment but grandstanding. LOL
I too found Scott Morrison's appearance distasteful.
07:26pm 29/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38199 posts
At least in America every second term, they get a leader (President can't get a 3rd term ... FDR is the only exception!)
Doesn't make any difference though; they are still just figureheads of the party and everything they want to do is stymied by the fact that the political system here has been reduced to a completely ineffective two party system. There is no subtelty to politics.

I thought this recent slashdot comment summarised things well:
I think the biggest problem is that a two party system completely dumbs down the whole process of government and removes nuance. If you're pro-gun, you pretty much have to be a Republican and if you're pro-gay, you pretty much have to be a Democrat.

Remove the winner-take-all election contents and rather divide districts such that they elect several representatives from each district. This eventually leads to choices that don't exist along party lines and you can find a candidate that more closely represents your views (e.g., pro-gun, pro-gay, anti-abortion, pro-immigration, etc.) that has a reasonable chance at election.
The scariest fate I can imagine for Australia is one where there's just the Liberals and Labor. Fortunately our political system seems more innately resistant to the effects of the two party system. But it's one of the reasons why I built that voting thing a while back.

I just hope Australians turn out to be better than Americans at democracy and we see more people voting independents and smaller parties.

At least Bernie Sanders looks like the goods for the US. Dude needs a haircut advisor though.
01:18am 30/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38208 posts

This article about Uber is pretty interesting: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/lack-of-taxi-competition-costing-40-million-a-year-report-says/6659610

I thought this bit is worth highlighting:

The 69-year-old bought a taxi licence with her husband 20 years ago in the hope of funding a comfortable retirement, but that now looks unlikely.

"This time last year we could have sold it for $560,000 and now nobody is interested in buying them," she said.

"We've advertised it for sale and got nothing. No response whatsoever."

Ms Hall said she blamed Uber for disrupting the industry and frightening potential investors.

"Why would anybody buy into something that has such an uncertainty to it? Every business has risk but this is ridiculous risk," she said.
It is an interesting side of the Uber debate. I don't think the government owes people a guarantee that their investment is going to pay off but certainly by failing to enforce a fair playing field - which is entirely 100% their obligation while the laws are as they are in Qld - is not appropriate.

I was recently in BNE and got Ubers basically everywhere. I was in town one night and saw a taxi rank near the Vic that was as long as I've ever seen it. Then I walked around the corner and got an Uber, and felt a lot of guilt until I got home and realised it cost me probably half of what a cab would have paid. I did get a couple taxis while I was there too to try to balance things out but it's clear that as long as Uber is tolerated, the value of the taxi license is pretty close to zero.

I am not sure how they can transition these licenses over in a fair way, short of having the government pay these people off, which does not seem particularly appropriate. I haven't seen any transition plans; wondering if anyone else has?


11:27pm 30/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38209 posts
What an odd observation 'the government paying them off" coming from the land of free enterprise
that is not an observation, nor something I said, so not sure why it's in quotes
The only reason Uber is a thorn in the Governments side is that Taxis have to pay a license fee of $20,000 +/- and uber basically do as they please at half the price.
"As of October 2014, standard Taxi Licences are selling at around $525,000.00 plus Stamp Duty (approximately $17,700.00 based on a purchase price of $525,000.00) plus GST if applicable" (source). It is not a mere $20,000 license fee; as noted in the article I quoted these are massive major life investments for many people that probably came at the expense of buying property.
12:05am 31/07/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38213 posts
If you protect taxi licenses because they are considered investments, does that mean you have to protect every other possible investment?
The investment was sold based on the knowledge that the government was going to regulate the industry. They have been able to do this relatively easily in the pre-Uber days, so it's never been an issue before. Now there is a new entrant in the market that is not operating according to the rules that the government promised when those licenses were sold.
11:04am 31/07/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25270 posts
But infi I thought the adults were back in charge and the age of entitlement was over?
06:55pm 02/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25271 posts
Yes, after Abbott used every weasel tactic in the book to evade the truth he did eventually accept her resignation. Point was that it happened and the adults were meant to be back in charge and the age of entitlement was meant to be over.

What about Abbott's daughter getting the scholarship in extremely shady circumstances which would have had you drowning in your own froth had it happened under Labor? Nothing was done about that apart from prosecuting the whistle-blower. And then later on she was able to enter her painting of Abbott late in an art competition after he intervened. Or are you just going to cherry pick what entitlement means in your own little truth evading endeavour?
08:42pm 02/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38214 posts
They are operating according to the rules, the rules as they are don't apply to their service.
Uber is considered a disruptive strategy, by it's very nature governments generally don't have the foresight to pre-regulate these technologies/strategies.
The rules 100% should apply! It sounds like you've been drinking the Uber kool-aid - it is a taxi company. You request a car, they come to get you and take you to your destination. All that s*** about "ride sharing" is bulls*** (although some cities do have a "share" option in Uber; I noticed it in LA recently).
Again, I bought my Stocks in X business because it was a solid business that has never had an issue before, operating within government regulations. Why should I be allowed to lose money on that if another Business comes along that simply destroys X's market share if Taxi's are given that same treatment?
because Other Business is breaking the law

That's all it comes down to - Uber is breaking the laws in almost every region it is running. Where it has not been explicitly granted a method to operate (like it has here where I am currently in Columbus), it is typically violating a number of city laws about unlicensed car services.

This is not really up for debate; it's a simple matter of fact. I don't want to sound like I'm pro-taxi/anti-Uber, but I think there is a valid case for those people complaining who made an investment when the government guaranteed they'd protect it by stopping other actors from breaking the laws.
Those people should have a) not hedged their bets on a taxi license investment or at the very least b) monitored the market of their investment, noted any changes/trends and adjusted their investments accordingly. That's the risk management innit.
I don't disagree, but the state of affairs AS THEY STAND RIGHT NOW, is that Uber is an unlicensed taxi company and they are operating illegally. The compact taxi license owners have with the government basically says we'll play by the rules as long as you make sure everyone else plays by the rules. The market has to be fair otherwise it will degenerate into chaos.

Again I do think the industry needs to be changed. I think a p2p license like we have here in Columbus is a perfectly valid solution, although I think Australian p2p drivers should have to have more insurance. S***, Uber prices in Brisbane could go up by 50% and it'd still be significantly cheaper than a taxi.
11:27pm 03/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38215 posts
Bishop should be getting investigated for criminal misuse of taxpayer funds. You can argue "oh it was within the rules" all you want, but at the end of the day these people are not children. They are entrusted with high powers and strong discretionary spending so they can serve the citizens of Australia. There should not need to be a 30,000 page document that details how and when their funding can be used.

I am 100% in support of government officials being able to charter a helicopter if they need to. But it must be a dire need.

I've also read comments indicating that Bishop will now get some ridiculously high government pension as well as, most ironically, an ongoing travel allowance?
11:35pm 03/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38217 posts
And in what universe would a politician have a dire need that isn't covered by proper planning?
War, is the obvious one that comes to mind. A natural disaster.
12:30am 04/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38218 posts
Turns out they are indeed breaking the law. Uber drivers seem to be getting fined for it, however Uber is picking up the tab. So, the laws are being followed, they are just either inadequate to prevent Uber from operating or they should be scrapped to allow companies like uber to operate free of fines.
Yeh. They are cherry picking people to fine. Last I checked we (govt of Qld) had fined Uber like $1.4m. I love the idea of taking all that phat US VC money and bringing it into the country via fines.

Clearly they can stop it more or less instantly - a handful of cops with phones would be enough to shut down Uber and hand out punishing fines for a few days until they get the message. Hell, every transgressor is not only listed on a map, but they'll come to you if you press a button. So I don't buy that it's hard to enforce the laws, which is something I think taxi drivers also have a fair claim to be whining about.
09:28am 04/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38220 posts
They are needed in their offices cutting through the inertia that can occur.
Yes, I agree. Sadly, not all emergencies occur when they're already in their offices!
11:55am 04/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38222 posts
I'm going to take my lecturer's opinion on what constitutes entrapment over yours.
It's an interesting point and not one I considered. I guess though you could argue that by running the Uber app in driver mode you might've already committed the crime?

it should be noted in France they just arrested the Uber execs, which I thought was a pretty funny way of shutting down the service.
The point still stands though, the laws are supposed to be a reflection on the will of the community. If it is the communities will that Uber be allowed, perhaps the laws should be changed to allow it.

It means cheaper transport for everyone and better efficiency of moving people around. It allows for a lower barrier of entry for competing services, keeping downward pressure on prices. Each driver should be responsible for paying their taxes and collecting GST from passengers.
The argument against that is that back in the bad old days of unregulated taxis, they were much less safe. Maybe society has matured so this is less of a concern. Certainly I've been to countries where you are strongly warned not to get in an unlicensed cab.

As you note I think whether or not Uber is safer than a taxi is an interesting point - when I was in BNE I was surprised to see many taxis had an entire thing painted on the side now basically claiming that unlicensed cabs are unsafe (thought I had a photo but don't seem to - maybe someone could get one? They were yellow cabs). Which I thought was a bit of a stretch with no data.
11:57pm 04/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38224 posts
The Platform owners however have no excuse, last I checked Uber was valued at $17b or something insane.
That valuation is only so high because - so far - it seems that legislators will cave before Uber does and find ways of legitimising their operations. It will rapidly spiral downwards if a few more cities take a Parisian-esque hardline approach to it. Plenty of cities are pushing back though it seems not very hard because the reality of the situation is that most people think taxis suck and are relieved beyond words to have a better option.
08:40am 05/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38225 posts
The valuation point was only to show that they have the resources to be compliant if they wanted to be.
weerrlll, being compliant to the old way of doing things is against everything they're claiming to be - a middleman provider that is "disruptive" and doesn't have to comply with these old crusty regulations.

Further, it is explicitly by NOT being compliant that they can justify their lower prices and so on. They don't want to lose any of their VC war chest paying for things that they're telling the VCs they don't have to pay for which is why they'll make so much money. (Also as an aside, their valuation has very little to do with how much money they actually have - you want to look at their capital raising figures, which are probably on TechCrunch or something; the valuation is just a function of that.)

But yeh, to get back to your point, maybe enforcement is a little more difficult than I think it is, but it's certainly not impossible and as evidenced by the $1m+ fines Qld has already handed out, it's clearly highly lucrative. The Qld government needs to stop pussyd***ing around and make up their minds - step up their game on enforcement, or rejig the legislation (which I think is going to be the long term outcome, and those with existing taxi licenses are basically boned). Either way the current uncertainty is bad for everyone.
09:19am 05/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25274 posts
Bronwyn Bishop would retire on a taxpayer-funded salary of $225,000 plus 10 free domestic return flights per year, if she were to take the Prime Minister's hint and quit Parliament at the next election.
The age of entitlement is over.
04:43pm 05/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25275 posts
08:49pm 05/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25276 posts
http://i.imgur.com/SYjU4fx.jpg

Achievements of the Abbott Government To Date

There's literally too much stuff in there to quote.

Adults Back In Charge. New Golden Age.
02:38pm 06/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25277 posts
As someone who doesn't know a single thing about Linux, why is it a bad idea?
03:49pm 06/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38226 posts
As someone who doesn't know a single thing about Linux, why is it a bad idea?
The only reason it is bad is because they can't run Office, around which much of the world turns. It's kind of a chicken and egg problem - need more people to switch to open document formats so more people are comfortable switching.

Google Docs has done a lot to help break that up. LibreOffice/OpenOffice are pretty good but aren't yet compatible enough for all purposes.

I think it's too hard to tell if it's more expensive or not; certainly it's easier now than it ever has been. The entire city of Munich, Germany switched over to Linux over a decade ago; they've actually got their own Linux distribution called LiMux. They claim to have saved EUR10m as a result (though MS have published a "study" which claims they've lost money, though there's a lot of criticism about their methodology and assumptions).

Basically avoiding to have to continue to pay windows licensing fees etc and keeping hardware longer will probably save a lot of money. But it has to be a long term project; if you try it for a year it'll probably cost more in the short term.

The cost savings are only part of it though - in the wake of the NSA stuff I expect to see more countries move away from Windows, especially given the hella invasive default Windows 10 settings.
I can't see how using Linux is more expensive than paying Microsoft $14 mill for XP, red-hat does cost but if the Government had a single server (man im pullin this out of my arse) one server to rule them all so to speak that would be about $3000 then again normal Linux is free.
It should be noted that there are very few Linux distributions that are supported for as long as XP. Even the LTS (long term support) releases of Ubuntu are only supported for (iirc) 3 years. Sure, it's open source so you can just "fix it all yourself" right?!

edit: disclaimer: I think our governments should switch to open source as a simple matter of principle, but I also fully support them paying to keep older versions of software running. The cost of large scale enterprise migration to new Windows versions - especially from XP - will be huge. But if you don't break the chain at some point you're vendor-locked forever.
11:59pm 06/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38228 posts
Not sure why you think Linux has such short support lifecycles.
I just meant compared to Windows. Imagine trying to get a modern Linux application to run on a five year old version of Debian that has only had security patches. I don't have mad lunix sysadmin skillz but I know my way around and I often struggle to get new software to run on a VPS that's only a couple years old because it turns into a dependency mess as the developers assume you're running the latest version because why wouldn't you!

Say what you want about Microsoft, they bring new meaning to the words long term support. Almost every application written for any version of Windows you can simply just run and it will work. It is a staggering achievement and viewed in this light the idea of the government spending a few more million dollars on what is already no doubt a multi-million dollar investment makes total sense to me.

Of course this is much less of a problem in the enterprise anyway especially if you're fixing your application platform early on. I don't know if I agree if GDocs is "better" but I certainly think it's more than adequate for the vast vast majority of users.
11:55pm 07/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38231 posts
I really don't get why alcohol fuelled violence is such a big deal. If it's that common surely the police can just stand around after 1am in a few hotspots and just start arresting people and throwing them in jail to get them off the streets.

Trying to think how many actual fights I've ever seen while out boozing and pretty sure I could count them on one hand with fingers to spare, but that's probably selection bias based on where I go.
12:28am 09/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25291 posts
ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE ALERT

I worked in pubs as security for years at many different venues. In my opinion alcohol fuelled violence is pretty rampant. The thing is though it usually seems to come from the same people. We'd be forcefully evicting the same people over and over. What really causes it is the disconnect between the security teams, whose objective is to keep the place as safe as possible and assist in RSA, and management who are interested in short term profits and the appearance of looking cool. On one hand we'd be evicting and refusing entry, on the other bartenders (under the instruction of management) would be getting people absolutely blind. To be fair, most of the time, even in cases of when we kicked out their mates, management would have our back. But it was their overall philosophy in how they dealt out the service.

Have you seen the alcohol related death statistics trog? It's pretty compelling.
12:34am 09/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38232 posts
I have not, but I have seen stories like yours above. I just don't get why if it's the same people getting evicted over and over these people are not in jail? Like, assault is assault, right? Why are the police not dragged in immediately? I guess it's not security's job to hold these guys, just to get them out of the establishment.
12:48am 09/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25292 posts
Because it is not a good thing to have police attend your club/pub. In the eyes of management it gives the venue a bad reputation because of the police attention.

The main reason it is the same people getting evicted is because of their friendship with management or money. This is only speculation, but I think management's objective was to have them in, empty their wallets and then rely on the security team to get them out should they need to. We had a very physically good team (not me) and they weren't kicked out literally 100% of the time so I guess it seemed the economically viable option for them.

You're foolish or faced with an extreme situation (witnessed rape,murder) if you hold someone as a security guard. When someone is in your custody they're your responsibility. If they get attacked, or hit by a car, or struck by lightning your entire life is f***ed so you'd be crazy to hold someone for something like assault. It's only very seldom that we'd hold someone for the police. I think it may have only happened once and we stalled him rather then held him really.

In my experience, there are people who simply aren't compatible with being in licensed venues. It's not strictly the alcoholics. Some just sit and be quiet and drink till they're asked to leave, which they do peacefully. There are just some violent, anti-social people who don't know how to party, who don't know how to control themselves. Because of $$$$$ management don't manage them properly and they create a massive problem which has demanded the sort of draconian action we see today.
01:01am 09/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38234 posts
Yeh fair enough; totally take the point about security holding people & agree it's not a good idea or their responsibility. I do think places that regularly have problems should have access to some sort of police liaison that they can call on.

I would imagine that it would be a short-term hit to their reputation though - once it becomes clear that it's not a place you can go without actually getting arrested for being a f***wit maybe it'd bounce back. Compared to the reputation that they'd get if they became known as being a place where people punch on regularly and THEN someone gets killed in a brawl, that would be much worse.

I certainly saw a few people get carted out of the RE into police cars and it didn't seem to impact the RE's business!
01:29am 09/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38239 posts
haahha that is epic
05:45am 10/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25296 posts
unless it's a bushfire or flood. or breaking up. then its ok.
Bushfire and flood is broadcasting an emergency situation to as many people as possible efficiently as possible so it's okay. Breaking up via SMS is just as sucky as firing someone over SMS.

I know toll already addressed this but holy f*** you just said another really dumb thing infi.
02:34pm 12/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25297 posts
haha, now you're doubling down on the dumb like you always do. Gonna triple down?
02:59pm 12/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25298 posts
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
Our wonderful offshore concentration camps accommodate this one quite nicely.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
We have this one covered with a rampant misogynist naming himself Minister for Women, one woman in the cabinet and the LNP bravely saving the family institution from the perils of same-sex marriage.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed
to the government's policies or actions.
http://i.imgur.com/RdN26nK.jpg
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
Fossil fuels anyone?

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
https://newmatilda.com/2015/06/02/art-being-george-brandis-how-destroy-sector-without-even-really-trying. Amongst other things like disinformation campaigns against the work climate scientists are performing.
03:25pm 13/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25299 posts
Ready for some Australian journalism?

WHEN SHARKS ARE EATING PEOPLE, IT'S TIME TO CULL

HUMAN cullers. Leg maulers. Life destroyers. Great white sharks. This year, the NSW north coast has had six gut-wrenching attacks, one which saw much-loved local Tadashi Nakahara lose his life at just 41 following an attack at Shelly Beach.

Former boxer Craig Ison, 51, an affable larrikin, would have died if his fighting instincts didn’t kick in at Evans Head two weeks ago, and Matt Lee, 32, is fighting infection in the Gold Coast University Hospital after both his legs were mauled in an attack at Lighthouse Beach, Ballina last month.

These surfers were doing nothing more than enjoying the beauty and tranquillity of the ocean. Why should they be punished for that? These men did not enter the water with spears, nor did they paddle out with the intention of harming marine life. They wanted to enjoy the peacefulness of the ocean but instead they were given a life sentence.

What if you were at the beach with your son or daughter, your partner or your mother, and one of these sharks thought your loved one looked a tasty morsel and took them down in a murderous attack? Would that be OK? How would you feel then?

Would you still be keen to cuddle up to a great white at night?

These surfers were doing nothing more than enjoying the beauty and tranquillity of the ocean. Why should they be punished for that?

At least five great whites — some more than 5m long — have made their home along the north coast and are routinely stalking the surf break.

These predators have been spotted within 50m of the shore, lurking, ready to say hello and take you as an afternoon snack, if you so happen to be in the water.

The ocean is our domain and sharks have no place destroying lives and livelihoods; these predators are lurking out there ready to cull humans and we as a community must find a permanent solution.

Tourism is slowing. The people are not coming. Surfers are not surfing. If this continues into summer, the seaside towns of Lennox Head and Evans Head, even Ballina, will be no more.

We won’t have to worry about sharks because there will be no one living on the coast. The shark will have won.

We are not all the size, nor do we have the adeptness of the revered Mick Fanning, who could fight off his attacker in South Africa.

We don’t all have a lifetime of boxing prowess like Craig Ison. Most of us couldn’t fight our way out of a paper bag. It’s time to act.

Great whites should no longer be a protective species; sharks do not treat humans as a protected species.

We must legalise the killing of the sharks that kill us.
04:37pm 13/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38244 posts
Keating knew it, the government must know it. The only conclusion I can bring is that the current government is being corrupt and taking money too keep coal going, OR they are simply incompetent and think that supporting and expanding the coal industry whilst shunning renewables is the way forward for Australia. Either way, it's a s*** government.
Never attribute to malice, etc. I mean, except for Bishop, and all the others that have been abusing the spirit of the entitlements.
Ready for some Australian journalism?
that is just clickbait s***, written entirely to be outrageous so people will share. What piece of s*** wrote that and what pieces of s*** published it.
12:26am 14/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38245 posts
Look at David Leyonhjelm, he is pretty much the definition of what Liberals should be. He has some crappy policies and some I agree with, they all genuinely come down to his true Liberal political position.
Except for his crazy anti-windfarm weirdness and his willingness to take money from tobacco companies and then push their agenda, I agree that one or two of the things he has said in the past have not been terrible.
07:35am 14/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25300 posts
An Australian doctor has been brought to tears by the abuse and trauma he witnessed in Nauru's immigration detention centre.

Paediatrician Dr David Isaacs is one of several doctors, workers and guards turned whistleblowers exposing what they say is a culture of cover up, rape, self harm and abuse on Nauru, in defiance of laws that could land them in prison.

Our Government is abusing children in our name

"I saw a six-year-old girl who tried to hang herself with a fence tie and had marks around her neck. I've never seen a child self-harm of that age before," Dr Isaacs told ABC's 7.30.

'These are people, ordinary people and we're treating them with with incredible cruelty' : Paediatrician Dr David Isaacs spoke publicly of the trauma suffered by Nauru detainees on 7.30.

"After five days, I went home and had nightmares. I didn't expect that.

"I didn't expect to be so, um, traumatised by these people's trauma. These are people, ordinary people and we're treating them with, um - sorry, we're treating them with incredible cruelty," he said, clearly shaken and upset.

"It's child abuse. Putting children in detention is child abuse. So, our Government is abusing children in our name," he said.

Asylum seekers on their first day in the compound in Nauru.

Alanna Myc***, a nurse who worked with Dr Isaacs on Nauru recounted the confronting ordeal of a mother in detention.

"We'd seen that she'd been raped there. She was offered more time in the showers for sexual favours," she said.

7.30 also aired hidden camera footage of detention centre guards joking about shooting a detainee.

Detention centre operators Transfield and Wilson Security have told the Senate inquiry investigating allegations of abuse that staff are trained to report abuse, including through a special hotline.

But a whistleblower told the program that he was never told about the hotline.

The Senate inquiry is expected to demand children be removed from detention as part of its key recommendations, according to 7.30.

The inquiry is also expected to recommend mandatory reporting of sexual abuse, and for the Immigration Department and Federal Police to conduct a full audit of all allegations.
No doubt some kind of left-wing conspiracy to discredit Operation Sovereign Borders.
02:49pm 14/08/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13662 posts
the position of a strict atheist is arguably questionable in the context of our current body of knowledge. agnosticism is probably more sensible, at least for now :)
07:56pm 15/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25303 posts
I also could win the lottery... but right now the odds are pretty stacked against me, and everyone else who will play it.
It's still worthwhile buying a ticket though.
02:31pm 17/08/15 Permalink
Jim
UK
13663 posts
Agnosticism is just hedging your bets despite all available evidence. I also could win the lottery... but right now the odds are pretty stacked against me, and everyone else who will play it.

You're not describing agnosticism - you're maybe describing the way some people incorrectly use the claim of being agnostic

The key is belief vs knowledge
02:33pm 17/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25304 posts
Dyson Heydon, the royal commissioner under mounting pressure to quit over his links to the Liberal Party, was on a panel that awarded a young Tony Abbott a life-changing scholarship to Oxford University.

Mr Heydon was part of the seven-member Rhodes Trust selection committee in NSW that in 1980 handed the prestigious Rhodes scholarship to the future prime minister, then a 23 year-old student politician at Sydney University.
According to documents seen by Fairfax Media at the NSW state archives on Monday, the selection committee was chaired by former NSW Governor, Sir Roden Cutler and "Professor JD Heydon" was a member.

The emergence of the Rhodes scholarship connection sets the personal relationship between Mr Abbott and his hand-picked judge to lead the trade union royal commission back decades.
Mr Abbott is under pressure to sack the commissioner after it was revealed he had been lined up to speak at a Liberal fundraiser before abruptly cancelling his appearance last week.

The Labor Party claims the royal commission is now fatally compromised and the union movement is considering legal action amid claims of "political bias" towards the government by Mr Heydon.
Fairfax Media submitted detailed questions about his involvement on the Rhodes selection committee in 1980 and whether he personally backed Mr Abbott, but a spokesman for the royal commissioner did not answer any of them, saying only that Mr Heydon had "no comment".
Mr Abbott was asked about his scholarship selection on Monday but said he could not recall whether Mr Heydon was on the committee. "That's a long time ago and the idea that I gather is being peddled that somehow he and I cooked up a conspiracy 34 years ago against the Labor Party is absurd," he said.

In his book Battlelines, Mr Abbott wrote: "As much, I'm sure, through my role in student politics as through academic or sporting prowess, I was chosen as a NSW Rhodes Scholar at the end of 1980."
It is possible that Mr Abbott had a personal relationship with Mr Heydon who became the youngest ever dean of the university's law school in 1978, at age 34. Mr Abbott studied law.
According to a source familiar with the selection process going back decades, there are "multiple interviews" with the committee before a Rhodes scholar is chosen.
Mr Heydon was the Rhodes scholar for NSW in 1964 when he was 21.

He was appointed to the High Court by the Howard government in 2003.
According to Battlelines, Mr Abbott joined the Sydney University Liberal Club in 1977 before becoming president of the Sydney University Representative Council.
His Rhodes selection, three years after Malcolm Turnbull had been bestowed the honour in 1977-78, was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on November 22, 1980.
"A leading Sydney University student politician who wants to see student bodies scrapped has been named Rhodes Scholar for 1981. Mr Abbott, 23, a law student, has taken a strong line against such bodies using money on 'extreme causes'," the paper reported.

In his 2012 essay Political Animal, journalist David Marr, recounts how Mr Abbott "impressed a panel of worthies chaired by the governor of NSW, Sir Roden Cutler".

"For Anglophiles and rugby players, the Rho­des was died-and-gone-to-heaven time. Winners must be scholars fond of sport who display "moral force of character and instincts to lead". The award to Abbott came as a surprise, particularly to those who had seen him up close on the SRC. One jibe at the time was, 'second-grade footballer, third-rate academic and fourth-class politician.'," Marr wrote.

According to the list, the 1980 panel included Michael Birt, a former vice-chancellor of the University of NSW, war veteran Harold "Jack" D***inson, who was appointed chair the NSW Public Service Board in 1971. Academic Alice Erh-Soon Tay was also a member.
03:15pm 17/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25305 posts
I don't think so at all. As the article says, it sets a personal relationship between the two. Surely after everything we've seen it's now been established that the LNP are capable of literally anything when it comes to dishonesty and corruption and the subsequent concealment.

Bringing down Bill Shorten you'd assume would be Abbott's #1 priority. His only hope is that the Labor dump him so he can use that to win the next election. Why wouldn't he use every underhanded trick in the book to achieve that goal? Also, remember that Heydon himself said this -

It is fundamental to the administration of justice that the judge be neutral. It is for this reason that the appearance of departure from neutrality is a ground of disqualification because the rule is concerned with the appearance of bias, and not the actuality, it is the perception of the hypothetical observer that provides the yardstick.
04:14pm 17/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25306 posts


to me it sound like the ultimate long con. it's a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. i recommend buying the movie rights.
So are you just resorting to stumbling in with the occasional apologist post now or can we look forward to seeing some more full time dumb in the near future?
06:43pm 18/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8847 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Off-Topic
Send Private Message
08:21pm 18/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38251 posts

GST to be applied to international purchases above $1000: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/gst-to-be-applied-to-all-products-services-sold-by-vendors/6715582?section=business

"What it effectively means is that we're going to have taxation officials travel around the world and visiting these companies and asking them to register for GST purposes."
this is dumb as f***


12:16am 22/08/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38253 posts
f*****g retarded yet all premiers agreed. more bureaucracy
My favourite part is how I assume this decision was made because we had that period of the really strong Aussie dollar, which motivated a lot more people to shop overseas. Now thanks to the unceasing assault on the value of the dollar by the Reserve Bank, the dollar sucks and buying overseas is no longer an attractive proposition.
11:42pm 22/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25314 posts
“We all know back in the 60s Aboriginal people didn’t have much money, they didn’t always receive the respect they deserve but they were in the real economy and they did have pride.

Then of course the welfare economy came in and that has done untold damage to a couple of generations to Aboriginal people. All the serious leaders of Indigenous Australia know that sit-down money has been poison, all of them know that chronic welfare dependency can lead to very serious personal dysfunction."
08:05pm 24/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25319 posts
lol 'Border Force' officers are performing brown people checks in Melbourne today. I feel much safer already!
12:01pm 28/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25320 posts
yeah nice niave comment mate. guess youve never heard of a thing called a death cult before? there here mate and there on the streets. our white boys in blue are just keeping us safe you on team australia or what?
12:45pm 28/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25321 posts
12:57pm 28/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25322 posts
02:14pm 28/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25323 posts
The operation has been cancelled.

What an absolute s****torm of a f*** up.
02:56pm 28/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25324 posts
heh, the LDP.
04:33pm 28/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25325 posts
I have to ask a question. At one point I was naive. I thought Labor was the social government and the Liberals were the fiscally responsible government. From what I can see, Labor are from from socially progressive, and the LNP are far from fiscally responsible. Has it always been this way? Were the LNP always like this? At the moment the LNP are almost comic book evil. Everything they do seems to hurt someone or arguably everyone. Labor are also a f*****g joke and playing the role of LNP lite.

I never became politically active until I saw what was happening to asylum seekers. Has that issue alone thrown politics into turmoil or has the bulls*** always run this thick?
02:01am 29/08/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4404 posts
like the protestors, I'm not sure what operation fortitude even is, but I'm against it
12:42pm 30/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25326 posts
Those stupid protestors.
02:39pm 30/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25327 posts
Australia's $55 million operation to resettle hundreds of refugees from the tiny Pacific island of Nauru to Cambodia appears to have collapsed in a diplomatic embarrassment for the Abbott Government.

A senior Cambodian official says the impoverished nation has no plans to receive any more than four refugees who arrived in Phnom Penh in June, and indicated it did not want any.

"We don't have any plans to import more refugees from Nauru to Cambodia," Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told the Cambodia Daily.

Refugees at Kuala Lumpur airport on their way to Cambodia from Nauru.
Refugees at Kuala Lumpur airport on their way to Cambodia from Nauru. Photo: Kevin Ponniah
"I think the less we receive the better," he said.

Under a controversial agreement with Australia the Cambodian regime has the right to decide how many refugees are resettled from Nauru.

The regime will pocket an additional $40 million in development aid from Australian taxpayers, no matter how many arrive in the country.

Additional operational costs, including providing health and education training for the first arrivals, has already topped a staggering $15 million, a Senate committee in Canberra has been told.

The Abbott government has a policy not to comment publicly on the Cambodian operation that has been condemned by Cambodian opposition parties, human rights and refugee advocate groups.

The first group of an Iranian couple, Iranian man and Rohingya man from Myanmar have been living in an Australian-funded luxury villa in a Phnom Penh suburb since they were on June 4 whisked through Phnom Penh airport to one of the world's poorest nations, where about 18 percent of the country's 15 million people survive on less than $1.22 a day.

Mr Khieu Sopheak told the Cambodia Daily the four were "enjoying their life" in Cambodia.

But they have not spoken publicly since their arrival, shielded by officials from the International Organisation for Migration which received an undisclosed amount of money from Australia for taking care of the group.

The four are receiving benefits that millions of Cambodians can only dream about, including their own "case manager", accommodation, training, help finding work, language tuition and health insurance.

Some had their applications for refugee status fast-tracked when they agreed to take a one-way flight to Cambodia.

However, refugee advocates say attempts to convince hundreds more refugees on Nauru to take-up the offer in June, July and August failed to obtain any more applicants.

A shipping container on the island was set-up as a "Cambodian Information Hub" and refugees and asylum seekers were told they should take-up the offer because they would not be allowed to live in Australia.

Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop said in Malaysia earlier in August that Australia expected more refugees to resettle in Cambodia under the agreement.

Since Australia's then Immigration Minister Scott Morrison signed the deal with Cambodia in a champagne-sipping ceremony in September last year the Abbott government has moved closer to the regime of strongman prime minister Hun Sen, despite his crackdown on opposition figures, dissidents and non-government-organisations in the country.

Cambodia's foreign minister Hor Namhong is scheduled to be welcomed in Canberra in September ahead of a scheduled visit by Mr Hun Sen in December.

For more than 30 years Mr Hun Sen, a former commander of the murderous Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, has used persecution, violence, repression and corruption to remain in power, human rights groups say.

Mr Hun Sen and about 20 of his closest associates have amassed billions of dollars in personal wealth, prompting Cambodia to be ranked near the bottom of Transparency International's index of 175 nations.

Billions of dollars in foreign development has rarely trickled down poor Cambodians, observers in the country say.

Groups including the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights and Cambodian League for Promotion of Defence and Human Rights have told the United Nations they are "deeply concerned" about systematic human rights violations in Cambodia as the regime in Phnom Penh has restricted freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and limited the political opposition's ability to meaningful engage in policy making.

"There has been an increase in the use of lethal and other excessive force against peaceful protests and occasionally violent social unrest, as well as instances of judicial harassment and unwarranted legal attacks against human rights defenders, community activists, trade unionist and political opposition members and their supporters," the groups told the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council on August 20.

The UN refugee agency has refused to play any role in the resettlement scheme, saying it was "deeply concerned" at the precedent set by Cambodia's agreement with Australia.
04:58pm 30/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25329 posts
Get a load of this pile of apologist drivel from convicted racist and champion of the people Andrew Bolt.

MY God, how can Prime Minister Tony Abbott survive against this crazed army of professional hysterics shrieking over fake “scandals”?

Take the latest example — this lunatic outrage on Friday over an operation in Melbourne by the Australian Border Force.

Note from the start: this operation against illegal immigrants never took place. And was never going to take place as the media described.

Yet there was Labor leader Bill Shorten warning that Abbott planned to make us “live in a police state”, with his ABF allegedly “acting like a drag net on the streets”, demanding people produce their papers.

Then there was independent MP Andrew Wilkie, claiming “Joseph Stalin would be proud of Tony Abbott”.

Buffoon MP Clive Palmer warned, “we saw what Gestapo powers did in Germany in 1930s”, so the ABF should be scrapped before it “destroys Australia’s way of life”.

The Greens shouted “racist”, of course, suggesting our border authority could be “stopping people with certain skin colours”.

And sickest of all, former independent MP Tony Windsor claimed the ABF was part of a plot by a government secretly hoping to provoke Muslims into murdering fellow Australians.

“I’ve got no doubt that some of these people in Abbott’s Government hope that something goes wrong domestically, so that they can fool the Muslims into doing something so that they can say that we’re the only ones that can protect you,” ranted Windsor, unchallenged by his ABC interviewer.

“Well, I think that’s an extraordinary agenda to go to an election with,” Windsor said.

Well, it would be extraordinary were it true, but the only extraordinary thing is that the ABC reports these bat-crazy hallucinations about government terrorism plots, gulags and swastikas without question.

But nothing now is too mad for such people if it helps destroy the AbbottAbbottAbbott monster.

And so Fairfax writers frothed over the “police-state theatrics” of “stormtroopers” and “paramilitary types” wanting to “randomly intercept citizens in Melbourne for visa checks” in their “uniformed insanity”.

Excuse me, but are paranoiacs now running the ABC? Are fantasists editing the Fairfax newspapers?

Are liars leading Labor?

Oops, scratch that last question. I know the answer.

No, the ABF was never going to have a “drag net on the streets”, stopping strangers to demand their papers. Who carries visa papers, anyway?

It, instead, planned to tag along with a Victoria Police operation against anti-social behaviour at public transport hubs in Melbourne. The deal was if police happened across, say, some visa overstayer or foreign student working illegally as a cabbie, they would ask the ADF to take over.

And there’s plenty of such checking to do, with an estimated 60,000 people here without a valid visa, and more working when they shouldn’t.

Isn’t this cracking down on illegal workers exactly what Labor says it wants, now it’s running its slimy scare campaign about Chinese workers stealing your job?


But the trouble is the ABF regional commander for Victoria and Tasmania this time approved a gung-ho press release, warning his officers would speak with “any individual we cross paths with”.

Bang. The usual few dozen socialist protesters, who loaf around Melbourne when most taxpayers are working, rushed to Flinders St station to holler abuse, call Abbott a Nazi and — in their usual jackboot way — block innocent motorists.

Social media activists took up the bogus scandal, and the ABC even promoted this Social Alternative rabble as the authentic voice of middle Melbourne, defending our liberties rather than just sabotaging a standard policing operation, which was promptly cancelled.

Fact is, as the red-faced ABF admitted, the press release was “poorly worded” and there was never going to be a papers-please dragnet.

The bemused Prime Minister, who’d actually known nothing of this operation he allegedly masterminded to goad Muslims into killing, added: “We will never be in the business of stopping people randomly in the street to check on their visa details.

“That’s just not something that would ever happen in this country.”


MP Andrew Wilkie said “Joseph Stalin would be proud of Tony Abbott”.
Yet so many politicians and journalists of the Left seem hungry to believe we indeed have a Kirribilli Hitler, presiding over stormtroopers.

Take Peter Hartcher, political correspondent of Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald, who in May falsely claimed Abbott had a possible “homophobic moment” when he allegedly snubbed the gay partner of our ambassador to France. (In fact, far from snubbing him, Abbott took him to dinner.)

Hartcher was at it again on Friday, falsely claiming “the Prime Minister, without consulting his Cabinet, decided to launch Friday’s ham-fisted assault on Australians’ freedom of movement” — until his paper issued a grovelling correction admitting Abbott had known nothing about this “assault” Hartcher claimed he’d personally ordered.

What is it with these people?

Is Australia so boringly decent they must invent monsters to slay? Is that why they invent a global warming apocalypse that refuses to come, “stolen generations” no one can properly name, and an Aboriginal genocide that never happened?

Is that why so many Abbott “scandals” — like the latest few — are pure inventions?

Just a week ago, Fairfax journalists turned the Liberal candidate for next month’s by-election in Canning, former SAS captain Andrew Hastie, into a suspected war criminal despite him having been nowhere near the scene of a (non) crime over which he was completely cleared.

Then journalists such as Ray Martin claimed Abbott probably tricked the US into asking Australia to fight in Syria, not because Islamic State is a genuine threat but because more war was “important for the Canning by-election”.

Yet this confected fury actually flatters Abbott.

Labor and the media wouldn’t need to invent these scandals if the Financial Review’s Laura Tingle were right — Abbott really did lead a team of such “sheer stupidity” and “craven” decision making that “the Coalition’s reputation for good government (could) become likened in history to that of Whitlam’s”.

These haters wouldn’t need to invent fake scandals if Abbott had real scandals of the kind the Rudd and Gillard governments routinely produced, and which his critics have wiped from their memory.

But that’s the Left’s problem, isn’t it? Abbott has not actually let in 50,000 undocumented illegal immigrants as Labor did.

He has not wasted untold billions on trash such as free insulation, an insanely expensive broadband scheme, a dud Grocery Watch stunt or overpriced school halls.

Nor has he killed overnight a major export such as cattle to Indonesia.

He has not hit Australia with a damaging carbon tax or a mining tax that raised almost no money.

He has not protected corrupt union officials as Labor does to this shameful day.

And he sure hasn’t tried to intimidate media critics by proposing a state-appointed supercop to police all private media outlets and even blogs.

Now that was a true mark of the totalitarian, but where were Abbott’s critics when Labor tried that stunt?

Where were the Shortens and the Greens?

Yes, forgiving in themselves the sinister traits they only invent in Abbott.
ughhhhhhh. So dumb it's painful.
07:41am 31/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25330 posts
So apparently Transfield have been retained as security providers at our concentration camps and they're also taking over the welfare role Save the Children were providing.

I guess that's one way to stop the child rape allegations.
04:21pm 31/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25331 posts
how on earth does Bolt have his own show?
Because providing confirmation bias to people with terrible opinions is a very lucrative business.

The whole reason Bolt and Murdoch media exist is so dumb racists can see their views put up in lights. To them it legitimises their racism. I doubt anyone remembers, but infi once let slip that he believes the middle-eastern culture is savage, and that the savage treatment they received at Gitmo was justified for that reason. He spent literally years lying about it. Denying it ever happened when it was all online in black and white. Some racists out there are proud of it and will be completely open. Most are cowardly little men and women who instead instead speak in dog whistles and innuendo (except for when they occasionally f*** up). This is the target audience of Bolt et al. It is the only reason he exists in a public sense.

Imagine how else they could have spent that $50 million. They could have used it to upgrade their concentration camps to something that isn't a living hell. Instead they put it in the hands of a violent and corrupt regime.
07:12pm 31/08/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25332 posts
'AUSTRALIA NEEDS TONY' front page is still the winner.
10:57am 01/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25333 posts
The Australian Border Force removed about 30 detainees from the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in a raid early on Friday that a witness described as "brutal and intimidating".

A refugee advocate speculated the raid was undertaken to make way for any visa defaulters nabbed in the Melbourne CBD in the infamously cancelled Operation Fortitude.

But that claim was emphatically denied by an Immigration Department spokesman who said the operation was a routine search for unauthorised and illicit contraband.

"The Department can confirm a number of detainees were recently transferred within the detention network, as part of a pre-planned move," said the spokesman.

"The searches conducted at the MIDC on Friday were not linked to the transfers. For operational and security reasons we cannot comment further."

According to one source, a team of up to 70 officers from the ABF, its dog squad and Serco Emergency Response Team swooped on the centre at 2.30am.

They are believed to have woken the detainees, handcuffed them and put them on buses bound for chartered flights.

The men, some of whom are asylum seekers, were then taken to an undisclosed location.

Fairfax Media understands they were en route to Yongah Hill Detention Centre, north-east of Perth, and Christmas Island Detention Centre.

The ABF officers and Serco ERT team then continued to search each of the remaining 90 detainees –including 10 women – and their rooms until 5.30pm on Friday.

The source, who did not want to be named, said there were "distressing scenes" at the centre, with the men "screaming" while being forcibly removed.

The detainees were "terrified" of being taken to Christmas Island as they would be cut off from their friends and family, he said.

"There is an atmosphere of fear and intimidation at the centre now," he said.

"One of the detainees said 'we are treated like dogs'."

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre detention rights advocate Pamela Curr said the families and friends of the detainees had been unable to find out where the men were taken.
"We have got people contacting us now, asking us to find their loved ones who have been moved effectively to a secret prison," Ms Curr said.

"We have gone from secret on-board matters to secret in-detention centre matters where people are being moved from detention centre to detention centre in the middle of the night and their family members are not allowed to know where they are going."

She believed the government removed the detainees in a bid to "make room" ahead of the cancelled Operation Fortitude, she said.

"This was the day they announced the visa inspection program in Melbourne," Ms Curr said. "What they would have been doing is clearing out the Maribyrnong Detention Centre with hopes that they could pick up visa anomalies and whack them into detention.

"We don't know that [for sure] but it is the most logical explanation."

However, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the raid was conducted to ensure the safety of the centre and "stamp out criminal behaviour".

Similar operations would continue on an ongoing basis, he said.

"The key message is we have a zero tolerance to illegal behaviour in our centres," the spokesman said.

"A variety of contraband items were seized during the operation, including drug paraphernalia and a homemade tattoo gun."

When asked if any criminal charges had been laid, the spokesman said "detainees found in possession of illegal contraband may face criminal charges".

The raid followed "success of Operation Safe Centres in March earlier this year" and was conducted to ensure the "safety and good order of our Immigration Detention facilities centres, while identifying detainees who are doing the wrong thing", he said.

However, a source told Fairfax Media the officers found only "two glass smoking pipes", "Iphones" and "trolleys upon trolleys of extra linen" and extra mattresses that the detainees had amassed during their stay at the centre.

"No drugs were found," he said.

"In a search lasting all day, almost 80 officers searching 90 detainees and all they find is a tattoo gun and a couple of glass bongs?"

"It was an overkill."
12:43pm 02/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38255 posts
only if interest rates go up
ahah what are the chances of that happening EVER though!?!? basically nothing.
11:30pm 02/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38258 posts
Which means high savings interest rates too 12-14%. Which would make our Aussie dollar the carry trade of choice for the entire world. Which would make it shoot way above parity with USD, which would destroy our tourism, education and exports sector.
Well, our economy didn't collapse when the Australian dollar was super high a few years back, right? We had stuff that people wanted at the time.

On the tourism topic - after being in the US for a while and talking to a s***load of Americans about Australia, I don't think the value of the dollar impacts their decisions too much. I mean I'm sure it has some effect but many Americans seem to have never even left the country - or if they have, it's to places like Mexico or the Bahamas or the Caribbean where the US dollar is accepted anyway - so the concept that their money is not all that matters is totally foreign to them. The biggest common obstacle for Americans to come to Australia seems to be that it is just so so so far away.

The FED has been pumping monopoly money into America for seven years with virtually nil inflation. This shows how weak the US has been. Similar strategies in EU and Japan have also not resulted in inflation.
My uncle (who has been a magic finance dude his whole life) was talking about this recently and how he can't see how the US dollar is going to stay as high as it is.

I've been watching "the economys" much more closely while I've been overseas and have been fascinated by its movements and spasms. But it seems making predictions is a suckers game because there's just too many variables.
12:26am 04/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25335 posts
07:51am 04/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25337 posts
Imagine that. Instead of a years long fear and disinformation campaign efforts were instead focussed on

a) taking in as many refugees as possible
b) ensuring their journey here is safe
c) setting them up so they can benefit from our prosperous society

Instead vast amounts of money were spent on a campaign of lies to make people believe asylum seekers are an economic threat. Then even more money was spent on concentration camps where they're held indefinitely in inhumane conditions. More people have died at Manus Island than have been resettled. Maybe Abbott should be looking at himself when he makes Nazi comparisons.
04:50pm 06/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25338 posts
dem wimmin been annoying yer by speakin too loudly?
06:59pm 06/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25339 posts
Because of this buggy forum I can't actually bring up your old posts. But you do remember the last time you posted in this thread don't you? It was a bizarre little rant about how women were naturally nurturing and gravitated towards those roles and how men were the opposite. This is obvious bulls*** and you were called out on it. You started accusing people of succumbing to their feels and abandoning science and logic. You said there were actual studies done by actual scientists that proved you right. Myself and viper both asked you to post them but you mysteriously stopped posting. Funny that. There's also the thing where you actually think gamersgate was about ethics in games journalism (I chuckle when I write that) which is almost descending into Poe's Law territory. Basically you acted exactly like infi and brool do when their beliefs are questioned - giant rants with heaps of scare quotes with no evidence to back it up.

But please. Do point out the problems with what Larissa Waters and wimmin of her ilk have said. It will make for good reading I reckon.
07:20pm 06/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25340 posts
Unless I see some blue underlined text I am not reading your giant walls of yawn.
09:17pm 06/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38262 posts
And again with GamerGate...it has ALWAYS been about a lack of ethics in gaming journalism.
everyone says this but 99.9% of stuff I've read about gamergate has had nothing at all to do with games journalism. I still don't know what it means to be "pro gamergate" or "anti gamergate" because as a movement, it has failed miserably
11:33pm 07/09/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4408 posts
as I understood it, the "pro" camp is the one that believes gamergate (i.e. collusion in games journalism) is a real thing

the "anti" side is the one about sexism in gaming culture - it does seem that this side has managed to co-opt and define the term more successfully, however it may have started
01:06am 08/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38264 posts
At a certain point when you have all these refugees flooding across borders, perhaps it's time to say "You know what, Syria? We're taking this land from your country - forcibly. These people are going to get their own state, which they control."

I mean seriously, when you've got somewhere around 1 million + refugees - that's enough people to build a city state on.
It's kind of ironic people now are all like "wtf are all these refugees? we need to do something about Syria?!?!" but back in the day when they were civil warring and citizens were getting blown up by their douchebag government everyone was all like "nah f*** those guys we don't need another Iraq". Pity you can't A/B test reality!
08:53am 09/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25343 posts
Why can't we build these things now?
07:51pm 09/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25344 posts
08:43pm 09/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25345 posts
I like that poem because it shows there have been so many Abbott f*** ups that you can rhyme them.
07:20am 11/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25346 posts

Wow.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-11/dutton-overheard-joking-about-sea-levels-in-pacific-islands/6768324

I thought they didn't believe in climate change? Now they're making jokes and laughing about other pacific nations who will cop the brunt of rising sea levels.
Easy there dude it's just a joke. Not like they're building they've built concentration camps where government sanctioned torture and government ignored child rape is occurring or anything!
04:23pm 11/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25347 posts


closing them actually.
link?

Even if they're closed tomorrow it doesn't make what I said wrong - they were still built in the first place.
05:32pm 11/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25348 posts
Nope nothing in that article whatsoever about Manus and Nauru being closed. You're lying again.
05:58pm 11/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25349 posts
Blah blah blah. The same s*** you've been saying for years because you're a well trained LNP doggy. Good boy.
06:23pm 11/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25350 posts
Holy s***. I actually remember when I took the time to respond to your rabid dishonest frothfests. It's because once upon a time I thought you were just a regular dumb person who had been misled.

Now I know you're really nothing more than a drone. A worthless little shill trained how to think and what to say. Nothing anyone says to you will ever make a difference. You don't know how to process new information. All that resides in your brain cavity is a festering pile of s*** that occasionally escapes out your mouth.

Gonna complain about how you're being abused again princess? Here's how to make it stop. Learn how to think critically. Strive to be more than a well trained little doggy. Don't be a dumb racist coward. Good luck.
09:14pm 11/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25351 posts
bolt comments.txt
09:42pm 11/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25352 posts
I think I've answered the questions in your last post a dozen times now.

So I've noticed you've been pretty tame in this thread for a while now but wow you're back with a vengeance today aren't you? Bringing back all your years old lies and dumbisms with renewed vigour. Good for you.
10:08pm 11/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1799 posts
If you say so. wanna bet 20 bucks? Lets call it 10 years. If Turnbull hasn't led the liberal party between now and 2025 you owe me 20 bucks.
09:01am 14/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25353 posts
There's a doings a transpiring.
03:57pm 14/09/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4409 posts
oh yeah it's on

if "the c***roach" is making a move too then there's definitely something substantial there
04:01pm 14/09/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4410 posts

The Media can just keep making up rumours till some fat-head thinks he has the numbers. is this going to happen all the time now ?


i agree with all of this in principle, however in this case tony is s*** and malcolm isn't, so go malcolm
07:50pm 14/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1800 posts
The Party selects a Leader before Elections
not after them


No it doesn't

For Abbott:
Andrews
Fryberg
Hockey
Dutton
Corban
Hunt
and prolly most important Scott Morrison


The only person in that list who isn't an outright failure in their portfolio is Morrison and he is hardly a success.

If that is who you are saying is abbotts camp, then good riddance to bad rubbish.

Is not loyal to his leader. Speaks out publicly against Cabinet policy.

Abbott's cabinet produced policy?
08:44pm 14/09/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4411 posts
Turnbull camp:
Turnbull and Bishop and nervous backbenchers

don't forget Wyatt Boy
09:08pm 14/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1801 posts
haha the Turnbull for Leader media masturbation has started again.

Turnbull will never lead the Liberal Party.
Not today, not next week, not ever.


So about that 20 bucks Faceman...

Turnbull isnt a Conservative hes a Turnbull.


Turnbull is a conservative. He wants to occupy the center which is about as conservative as it gets. Abbott is the fringe dweller by a societal standard, not Turnbull. If Abbott is representative of the LNP then the LNP needs a f*****g reality check.

Pretty funny really. Abbott must be getting a look in for the shortest ever term.
10:17pm 14/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25354 posts
So they did eventually hit rock bottom.
12:52am 15/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25355 posts
why would you want to sack morrison? he stopped the boats and saved lives!
Poe's law.
12:53pm 15/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25356 posts
^ this guy likes kids washed up on australian shores. :(
Ahhh vintage infi. Where he will descend into his own personal vacuum and simply repeat verbatim slogans he has heard his leaders say.
01:16pm 15/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25357 posts
Speaking of quadruple levels of dumb, Bolt -

MALCOLM Turnbull has replaced Tony Abbott as Prime Minister because the Liberals let his bull weaken their nerve and bury their judgment.

Here’s Turnbull’s challenge in a nutshell: he stole the prime ministership he could not have won in an election.

He stole it by boasting of superior communication skills he does not have.

He will now campaign on successes by Abbott he could not have achieved himself.

And he will now be the leader of a party he cannot unite.

What have the Liberals done? Many of their members will be distraught and disgusted.

Whether Turnbull wins the next election or loses, conservative Liberals will feel they have lost already, now that a man of such “progressive” views has snatched the leadership of their party.

They may as well vote Labor next time, because only if Labor wins could they again have a party for conservatives.

Sure, Turnbull has one big advantage over Abbott.

The media and the Twittersphere have been absolutely feral in savaging Abbott, a man awkward in his own defence, but have been kind to Turnbull.

But the media always favours Labor in any contest, and what the media gives Turnbull today it could withdraw tomorrow.

True, Turnbull also has a gravitas that Abbott does not, and is undeniably clever.

Yet everything about his challenge rang false, including the timing — just four days before a by-election in the Perth seat of Canning.

And that timing says it all about Turnbull. He put his own interests above his party’s, sabotaging not just the Government with his leaks and digs, but now also sabotaging a by-election campaign by a great Liberal candidate, former SAS captain Andrew Hastie.

The latest two polls show Canning would have been won comfortably by the Liberals, despite weeks of destabilising leaks by supporters of Turnbull and his partner in assassination, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop.

I suspect that is why Turnbull called the challenge, in case the Canning result was good and his case for immediate change wrecked.

So let’s analyse Turnbull’s laughable claims on Monday to be the man to take over the Government.

At his press conference, he claimed Abbott had “not been successful in providing the economic leadership our nation needs”.

Really? Under Abbott there was no mad Labor-style Budget blowout or pink batts disaster. His failings have not been in administering but in selling; not in doing, but in seeming.

True, the Senate, thanks to Labor and the Greens, has blocked the deeper Budget cuts we need, but would Turnbull have any more success in cutting handouts?

No, Abbott’s economic record is as good as could be hoped, given the Senate and a media determined to see every cut as cruel.

The truth is that Turnbull singled out only one Abbott economic measure: Abbott’s free trade deal with China — but not to condemn it.

It was the opposite: Turnbull signalled it would be his main weapon against Labor, just as Abbott himself had intended.

Turnbull claimed that if Abbott had stayed, Bill Shorten would have won the next election, and he was “utterly unfit to be prime minister” because of his “catastrophically reckless” opposition to Abbott’s China deal.

Pardon? That was Abbott’s deal and Abbott’s plan of attack, yet Turnbull now announces it’s his big weapon for showing the economic leadership Abbott never did?

Give me a break.

No, Turnbull’s pitch lay in one thing only — his claim to be a better communicator than Abbott.

Turnbull repeated all the Labor lines against Abbott.

“We need a different style of leadership,” he said, one which “explains those (economic) changes ... and the course of action we should take” and “respects the people’s intelligence”.

In short, “we need advocacy, not slogans”.

And Turnbull, we’re invited to believe, is just the man to give us an impressive lecture about the economy, not a slogan.

But wait. Wasn’t this exactly what crippled Turnbull when he was Opposition Leader? Remember him then, wanting to explain in 15 minutes what the TV news needed condensed into 15 seconds?

So where is the evidence that Turnbull really is a better communicator? That wasn’t his record as Opposition Leader and it hasn’t been his record as Communications Minister.

What has he said that makes you understand what he’s doing with the National Broadband Network? What glove has he landed on anyone, other than Abbott?

But if Turnbull is no great communicator, is he a cannier political strategist? The answer again is no.

Check his record. Turnbull as Opposition Leader backed Labor’s emissions trading scheme, the issue that split his party and cost him his job.

Abbott took over and turned Labor’s carbon tax into a deadly political weapon, first against Kevin Rudd and then Julia Gillard..

Labor is still promising a form of carbon tax — the one Turnbull once supported in principle and has never disavowed.

For Abbott this would have been a great weapon again in the next election. Under Turnbull it will become an embarrassment at best and potentially another party-splitter.

Abbott had also neatly defused the same-sex marriage debate that could also have split his party, letting the people decide the issue in a vote after the election — a compromise backed by the public but which Turnbull, a gay marriage crusader, again opposed.

And would Turnbull, a darling of the Left, ever have the uncompromising determination that saw Abbott deliver on his “stop the boats” slogan — another election winner? Would he have given lectures instead?

So count them. Turnbull called it wrong on global warming. He called it wrong on a public vote on same-sex marriage. He lacks the clarity of Abbott’s “stop the boats” message.

So what else has he got? Oh, yes, he promised he would be more consultative than Abbott, but that, too, was not his record as leader, and it is still curiously difficult to tell him a fact that does not fit his theories.

That leaves Turnbull boasting of just one thing: his smooth tongue, and (unsaid) a friendlier media.

He’d better start talking fast.
01:30pm 15/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1802 posts
In short, “we need advocacy, not slogans”.

And Turnbull, we’re invited to believe, is just the man to give us an impressive lecture about the economy, not a slogan.

But wait. Wasn’t this exactly what crippled Turnbull when he was Opposition Leader? Remember him then, wanting to explain in 15 minutes what the TV news needed condensed into 15 seconds?


That's pretty funny, for that analysis to have purchase you have ignore the last 8 years of sloganeering that people have routinely polled they are fed up with. So even if Turnbull could be accused of being overly verbose, which I don't think he can (or at least I haven't heard any programmatic specificity awkwardly balanced by shaking sauce bottles fairly or otherwise), The electorates attitude toward it has changed.

Anyway I quietly observe faceman doesn't want to talk about 20 bucks anymore.
01:48pm 15/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1803 posts
i honestly dont know how fpot and nerf and the greens can support the people smuggling industry.


Take a day off mate. Your troll is hanging out.
01:50pm 15/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25358 posts
Well we didn't get a public Abbott meltdown. I guess we'll just have to settle for infi's meltdown instead.

Please continue melting down, infi.
02:01pm 15/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25359 posts
The best meltdowns are the ones where the meltdowner isn't aware what's going on. They think they're being all cool calm and collected.

MORE MELTDOWN INFI. MORE.
02:11pm 15/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1804 posts
infi wanting to close manus island and naru is not, nor able to be considered, the same as endorsing people smuggling.

However I would give you what you think you want, and suggest that often the people who own the boats are caught up in something they don't fully understand either.

I would suggest that the number of actual "vile pure evil mustache twirling people smugglers" that exist in real life is close to zero.

The reality is that the problem is complex so its solution will be complex too. By offering an obscene false dichotomy the Libs (and by extension people like you) have attempted to make torture camps seem like the only reasonable solution.

You are living on bulls*** mountain exactly as Jon Stewart described, where our problems are amplified and the solutions simplified and bear only a tangential relationship with reality.

02:17pm 15/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
8898 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Off-Topic
Send Private Message
02:28pm 15/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1805 posts
that has to be the most naive poppyc*** i think i have ever heard.


This is another little LNP trope, you are plugged into brutal reality where you have to go all jack bauer to get s*** done. Have you ever even been to the south of Java? How do you know? The only evil people smugglers the government has been able to turn up so far are illiterate 16 year old fishermen.

The reality is you don't know what you're talking about.

on the current trajectory all camps will inevitably close because the boats have stopped arriving.


Not without severe damage to thousands of people. And it hasn't stopped boats.

Anyway troll is troll.
02:36pm 15/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1806 posts
I love how the article is so directly referable to actual people and not abstract "people smugglers"

It's ok to admit you backed the wrong horse infi.
02:46pm 15/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1807 posts
GIVE ME MY MONEY
03:20pm 15/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1808 posts
Also from this his turnbull site

SpyCatcher Case – Turnbull teams with Communists

The SpyCatcher case saw Turnbull come to prominence as a critic of, and litigant against, the Conservative British Government of Margaret Thatcher. In the process he allied himself with communists, the far-left, and the British Labour Party.


LOOOOOOOOLLLL. I've read spy catcher. The idea that fighting to get it published helped communists is beyond dumb. Peter Wright was literally exposing the communist ring of five and thatcher was trying to cover up the fact that russia had infiltrated at the highest level the palace, MI5 and MI6.

Get a job man. here is an actual conspiracy theory and you let it through to the keeper?
03:23pm 15/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38266 posts
What I don't understand is why it's so hard to catch people smugglers (who are scum, taking advantage of peoples misery). Is it that hard to plant a "refugee" in Malaysia/Indo and arrest everyone involved? I really don't think their operations are too complex for governments to track and monitor.
Presumably there's little incentive for these countries to bother, otherwise they're stuck with the refugees
11:31pm 15/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38267 posts
While the Abbott thing is kind of entertaining, I remain unconvinced that Turnbull will be the golden boy that everyone wants him to be. If he just carries on with the Liberal party policies and it's just business as usual, possibly nothing of interest will change (ABC already reporting "Turnbull keeps same-sex marriage, climate change policies") other than we have someone less objectionable as PM.

The most exciting thing, to me, is that it again highlights the general unwillingness of Australians to put up with bulls***. Hopefully it further encourages people to look outside the two large parties for candidates that better reflect their views - if you're going to be voting for a dysfunctional large party that is unable to keep pace with the varying agendas of its large constituency, you might as well vote for a smaller party that is prepared to focus on the few things you really care about.
11:38pm 15/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38268 posts
Here's my idea for the "immigration" problem (although I hope that the current crisis in Europe has put our problem into perspective):

We establish an entirely new town for "onshore processing". I call it Gateway.

Gateway would optimally be positioned somewhere on the northern coast of Australia. Close to Darwin, but far enough away so that it's not possible to get there by walking.

Any refugees, asylum seekers, "illegals" or whatever emotionally charged word you prefer (I'm going to use the term PNA - Potential New Australian) are sent to Gateway (optimally, they'll be aiming for it themselves). Before the PNAs are allowed to go through to the rest of Australia, they are required to spend some period of time (e.g., several months?) in Gateway, living, working, and acclimatising to the country.

Unlike offshore processing centres, which as far as I can tell are basically worse than actual prisons, Gateway will be basically set up like any small Australian town. It will have pubs and post offices and hospitals. PNAs will be housed in modest but liveable accommodations. It will be the sort of place where newcomers to Australia will have their first experience being a little bit more realistic.

Gateway, however, will be too remote for PNAs to easily leave. So it one sense it will still remain a closed and isolated environment where their statuses as asylum seekers can be determined. This will be immigration authorities and opportunity to filter out truly undesirables (e.g., actual criminals, people who can't behave in an Australian environment, etc).

Gateway will not exclusively be a town for immigrants. Australians will be incentivised to live there - for example, by tax incentives to go there and start small businesses. They will have the opportunity to pay below market rates to hire PNAs to work in their businesses. This will only be useful to some types of businesses, but hopefully the incentives can be tweaked to create an productive environment for employers.

The official language of Gateway will be English. I would like to imagine a Gateway in which there are no churches, mosques, etc, but instead centres of shared faith so that the lesson of tolerance of others is one of the first things that happens.

The requirements to leave Gateway would probably be complicated. I think being able to pass the citizenship test should be part of it (though I'm not saying that leaving Gateway should be enough to confer citizenship). A reasonable command of English should be required. A "clean" history of your time in Gateway - no criminal record, etc.

Here are a few of the advantages:

- instead of exporting vast vast sums of money to other countries to run crappy detention centres, all the money we spend on immigration will stay in Australia, to the benefit of Australians and the PNAs.
- instead of having to create laws to prevent people from talking out about how s*** our offshore processing centres are, we can try to create a nice environment where these people from shattered s***** third world countries can feel comfortable and safe and hopefully actually start developing the love of Australia that the rest of us share.
- PNAs will have the opportunity to learn what it's like to live in Australia. They will be exposed to our culture in a controlled and managed manner which will hopefully improve their chances of integration, removing the isolation.
- In addition to being, like, a better and more humane thing to do for the immigrants, hopefully this would go some way to mitigating the terrible terrible fear that Australians seem to have of immigrants, by providing some confidence that they have come through something of a naturalisation process.
- if it works we might never have to hear "stop the boats" rhetoric again (note: recent events mean this advantage may be outdated)

Disadvantages:

- might cost more up front? Does building a town cost more than $1B/year? What if a significant amount of the labour is provided by PNAs?
- maybe it won't work

Please tear this idea apart so I can improve it!
12:37am 16/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1809 posts
yeah could be the liberal party is wrong and you are right, but I doubt it.

Turnbull can't change those things overnight and be consultative. failure to really listen to the party is a key reason tone has been shown the door. gay marriage can really only be reset by taking it to an election.

As for Trog's idea I don't see any reason, if you're willing to bring them the mainland, why you wouldn't just bring them to a city or existing rural town. Everything about the plan sounds needlessly expensive in an attempt to physically isolate people. Unless there is a compelling reason isolate them, the fastest possible way to get them used to Australian culture is to immerse them directly in it. Not to provide a sanitized government simulation of it.

Also the idea of denying specific religious sites to people who are literally fleeing religious wars isn't likely to go well. I doubt there is much Australia can teach the average Afghani or Syrian about sectarian violence.
06:58pm 16/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38269 posts
Unless there is a compelling reason isolate them, the fastest possible way to get them used to Australian culture is to immerse them directly in it. Not to provide a sanitized government simulation of it.
I don't think history backs up that working that well. What has happened in the past is that when groups of people are dropped into a new culture they tend to stick together geographically. This is most noticable in the US in areas where they had a lot of sudden immigration when the country was welcoming immigrants with arms wide open. e.g., there are Italian parts of town, German parts, Croatian, Greek, etc.

I take the point about immersing them in it right from the get go but there are some specific bits of evidence that shows that it doesn't work in some cases (e.g., the many stories about students from non-western cultures not understanding how to use our toilets, or various other things). I think some training wheels should be provided and doing it in a controlled environment away from the stress of regular society would help there.

The physical isolation part though is partially that I do think there needs to be some intake control on immigrants. I do think that people who come to this country illegally should be subject to different processes than those that come legally. While our border security stuff often gets a bad rap there are actually good reasons for many of the rules. I'm ultimately pro-immigration but I think there needs to be processes around it. We want to encourage the best and the brightest to come here and stay here.
Also the idea of denying specific religious sites to people who are literally fleeing religious wars isn't likely to go well. I doubt there is much Australia can teach the average Afghani or Syrian about sectarian violence.,
Yeh, I don't know. It's quite specifically not denying them, but rather requiring that they all learn to get along right from the outset. It seems like a nice simple low-budget filter to exclude people that are likely to be f***wits (although as a raging atheist of course I'd think that :P ).
05:22am 17/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1810 posts
there are Italian parts of town, German parts, Croatian, Greek, etc.


It happens here in Australia as well Footscray in Melbourne is a prime example, very Vietnamese. I remain unconvinced that it is to be explained solely by reference to immigrants. Footscray is mostly a heavy Vietnamese area because they were largely refugees and at the time of mass immigration Footscray was a slum. So I would assume cheap housing was an important part of that.

But then that serves as time to pause. Because they were allowed to setup and bring their culture, Footscray, I would argue, was flat out improved. If you want a bowl of Pho it's the place to go. It's now getting gentrified because the Vietnamese came and built something out of a slum. The price of entry was a culture shock in the 80's.

I am suspicious of the idea of training wheels for integration, sticking with the metaphor, training wheels aren't a substitute for riding a bike. You could do what your suggesting and I would *still expect* to see trouble with integration in mainstream society. Gateway is going to be light on dudes wearing "I grew here, you flew here" tee-shirts. That is the s*** they need to learn to deal with.

It's quite specifically not denying them


It might not be requiring that they convert or die, but part of the problem they are fleeing is not being able to express their religious identity. Sacred sites are a prominent feature of any religion you care to name from Aboriginal culture through to Islam. Demanding they give that up isn't reasonable.

What happens when Muslim prayer time clashes with Christian etc. It sounds like a recipe disaster which you would then say "oh look what religion did". In reality however allowing people fleeing savage sectarian violence a break from "integration" is a reasonable request. In essence you are demanding people from groups who are literally crucifying each other to share a public space and just let by gones be by gones. It is totally understandable if you have just fled 20,000 kms from Muslims stringing your children up, you might not be that keen to be forced to spend time with a bunch more of them. (not all Muslims etc)

I suppose what I'm concerned about is the distinction between integration and assimilation. I think your plan sits right on the line, though I'll freely admit its a fuzzy line.

Expecting people to just let the past go when the past is so violent and so extreme sounds more like assimilation to me. finally I would direct you to article 4 of the refugee convention.

a final quick point:

I do think that people who come to this country illegally should be subject to different processes than those that come legally.


This statement needs work, because irregular maritime arrivals are exerting rights guaranteed to them under the 51 convention. We have bound ourselves at international law to extend protection to those asking, and specifically said that they will receive no prejudice for failure to observe immigration formalities. see specifically article 31.

If you want to "incentivise" a particular method of arrival you are flirting with breach of article 31.
09:19am 17/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38271 posts
All good points!
It might not be requiring that they convert or die, but part of the problem they are fleeing is not being able to express their religious identity.
Yeh but they are also from a society where tolerance for other religions is basically a completely foreign concept (note: obviously just referring to middle easterners that are from s***** zones where this is a problem; this is not a general immigration issue).
It might not be requiring that they convert or die, but part of the problem they are fleeing is not being able to express their religious identity. Sacred sites are a prominent feature of any religion you care to name from Aboriginal culture through to Islam. Demanding they give that up isn't reasonable.
I feel like you are massively putting words in my mouth or at least misunderstanding me. This is not a new concept; I've seen multi-faith centres are scattered all over the world (e.g., I mostly see them at airports but have seen them at unis and a few other places).
What happens when Muslim prayer time clashes with Christian etc. It sounds like a recipe disaster which you would then say "oh look what religion did". In reality however allowing people fleeing savage sectarian violence a break from "integration" is a reasonable request.
Well, maybe they don't all need to be in the same building. I've heard that in Jerusalem there are areas where there are mosques, churches, and synagogues all in the same area and everyone happily gets along - I don't know what the deal is, it seems really unlikely but apparently it's legit!

(In any case - I'm not sure I agree. This is, to me, an EXTREMELY low bar.)

I suppose what I'm concerned about is the distinction between integration and assimilation. I think your plan sits right on the line, though I'll freely admit its a fuzzy line.
Oh yeh I'm not really interested in assimilation (... except as it pertains to people casting off 2000 year old stupid religous beliefs anyway). Your example about pho is precisely why. I think having different cultures is awesome.
If you want to "incentivise" a particular method of arrival you are flirting with breach of article 31.
I don't know the articles or particularly care about them - clearly we're already incentivising one method over another; any legal distinction is spurious. Whatever system we have now based on whatever laws exist is broken. I'm not exclusively talking about people that arrive by boat anyway (iirc the majority of "illegals" didn't even arrive by boat?)
10:42am 17/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38272 posts
I have seen those signs and I have been wondering if they work
11:17am 17/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1811 posts
Thank you for your response.

I feel like you are massively putting words in my mouth or at least misunderstanding me

I don't think I'm putting words in your mouth, though It's certainly possible I misunderstand. You appear to be advocating that all religion be conducted in a building that must be shared by all religions and they aren't free to create their own. This is in an attempt to foster cross faith tolerance and integration. I put it to you that forcing tolerance is an oxymoron.

I've seen multi-faith centres are scattered all over the world (e.g., I mostly see them at airports but have seen them at unis and a few other places).

But prayer rooms in an airport or university is subtly different from dealing with extremely traumatized people trying to start a new life in enforced isolation from the population at large.

You may consider it an extremely low bar, but you don't have your identity tied up in your faith and you have never been threatened with death over it (I assume). It is perfectly understandable that people who have been persecuted for this exact element of their identity are going to be more sensitive than most about slights against them real or imagined. And lets not mistake for a second that the Abrahamic religions have sharp points of the theological disagreement. We are free here to have these discussion in the abstract because people are better able to separate their identity from the requirements of theology. This is a critical first step, which I would argue can't be skipped.

To give an example: The church down the road from me actively helps people integrate by giving examples of how to get along, and this is critical, in a place where they feel safe. They help people disentangle theology and identity and allow for more dispassionate abstract analysis of differences between faiths. All I'm saying is that it is a situation where expecting anything more than baby steps is probably fanciful.

I don't know the articles or particularly care about them

That doesn't make any sense. They specifically articulate a framework for dealing with people fleeing war and ethic violence. Why you wouldn't want the received wisdom of the leaders of the world dealing (including Harry Truman, Churchill, Charles De Gaulle etc) with this exact problem is beyond me (in the wake of ww2).

The system we have at the moment is broken as you say, and in no small part because Australia doesn't even try to uphold its obligations.

clearly we're already incentivising one method over another; any legal distinction is spurious


If the legal distinction is spurious then

I do think that people who come to this country illegally should be subject to different processes than those that come legally.


is a non sequitur. Spurious distinctions are usually poor reasons to distinguish people. *edit* To clarify; When we classify people illegal, in breach of the convention, to justify treating people differently based on method of arrival (with respect to immigration requirements), then it is the classification not the convention that is spurious.

You can't hold out that you will not classify convention refugees as illegal and then validly claim that their (improper) illegal status justifies discriminatory treatment.

I'm not exclusively talking about people that arrive by boat anyway


I'm not either, the point is that, regardless of how they arrive, if they are convention refugees, failure to observe formalities doesn't make them illegal.

Successive governments have explicitly removed "illegal" from the migration act precisely because its an ambiguous term that carries strongly negative connotations. The overwhelming majority of people read "illegal" as "criminal" and this is a cause of a great deal of misinformation. I understand you have rather strong views on the proliferation of misinformation.
11:32am 17/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38273 posts
But prayer rooms in an airport or university is subtly different from dealing with extremely traumatized people trying to start a new life in enforced isolation from the population at large.
Sure. I don't know which one is better. I guess the gist of what I'm hoping to achieve is to basically strip everyone of stone age notions of religious-inspired intolerance against other sects before they enter Australian society.
This is a critical first step, which I would argue can't be skipped.
Well I agree with this and it's why I thought it was worth mentioning as effectively a cornerstone of the whole plan.
That doesn't make any sense. They specifically articulate a framework for dealing with people fleeing war and ethic violence. Why you wouldn't want the received wisdom of the leaders of the world dealing (including Harry Truman, Churchill, Charles De Gaulle etc) with this exact problem is beyond me (in the wake of ww2).
Are they working anywhere in the world at the moment? Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're putting out but it seems that whatever way of doing things we have now, is broken and in need of change basically everywhere.
Successive governments have explicitly removed "illegal" from the migration act precisely because its an ambiguous term that carries strongly negative connotations. The overwhelming majority of people read "illegal" as "criminal" and this is a cause of a great deal of misinformation. I understand you have rather strong views on the proliferation of misinformation.
Yeh I am trying to use "illegal" in quotes mostly because I don't know what the terminology is. Maybe "conventional" and "unconventional" are better terms.

Anyway what we have now sucks and I hate hearing about it. I'm embarrassed and want to see our government trying something else.
12:19pm 17/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1812 posts
Are they working anywhere in the world at the moment? Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're putting out but it seems that whatever way of doing things we have now, is broken and in need of change basically everywhere.


I agree that the refugee convention could be updated to reflect more modern issues. But if the issue is "borders trump human lives", that isn't a modern issue. The refugee convention would work a lot better if governments attempted bona fide implementations.

Take for example the European drownings. You would think that the med is dangerous passage of water listening to the headlines. But the truth is millions safely traverse it each month. Refugees are denied access to safe transport by European countries refusing to allow irregular travel. Even when irregular travel is perfectly reasonable. People don't tend to hang around to make sure their visas are in order when madmen are coming to crucify you.

The problem to be addressed is the mass migration of people running away war zones, something you might argue the great power leaders of world war two were more than a little acquainted with. How they elected to deal with it may well be helpful in informing our response. Just sayin.
12:35pm 17/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38274 posts
The problem to be addressed is the mass migration of people running away war zones, something you might argue the great power leaders of world war two were more than a little acquainted with. How they elected to deal with it may well be helpful in informing our response. Just sayin.
e.g., the creation of the state of Israel? :)
12:38pm 17/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1813 posts
E.g The Marshall plan :)
12:40pm 17/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38275 posts
As long as those countries are (basically) theocracies or dictatorships I do not see that as fundamentally workable. All the billions of aid dollars that have been plunged into the Middle East have not borne fruit. I think the conditions in which the Marshall plan was executed were staggeringly different to what we see now in the Middle East. Certainly I would have preferred to see a variant of that plan executed in the Middle East vs our previous plan (one way export of high explosives and shrapnel) but I suspect most of it would have been soaked up by the tin pot dictators and theocratic leaders.

Stupid world politics! Fix your countries people! Really makes you appreciate how trivial most of our problems in Australia are.
12:53pm 17/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1814 posts
The point was simply that because they didn't get everything right, doesn't mean they don't have valuable insight to be distilled. Our problems are not so foreign to human knowledge that we need entirely original solutions.

Anyway thank you for a nice conversation.
01:40pm 17/09/15 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4412 posts
goodbye Joe, goodbye Joe, Joe, goodbye, goodbye Joe
08:20am 21/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1815 posts
It needs to keep going so we can see Facey writhe around in agony with a commie pinko at the helm of the liberal party.


Brool is also conspicuously absent
09:04pm 23/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38283 posts
This thread will die off now, Turnbull will be having far less stuff ups thats for sure.
I think that is a risky claim; a lot of Tony's bad moves weren't (just) because he's intrinsically a terrible person - it's because the politics of the Liberal party are too wide spectrum and, fortunately, it seems Australians aren't going to put up with that s***. Whether Turnbull can make our lives better will be largely dependent on his ability to convince the rest of the party to start ditching some more of their bats*** crazy policies.
12:44am 24/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1816 posts
He banned.


really? Can anyone confirm this?
08:20am 24/09/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25369 posts
If he's not posting then he is banned. He'll try starting a new account pretty soon.
09:30am 24/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1817 posts
well he probably is banned (or autoblocked I didn't know that was a thing on QGL omg have I been autoblocked?) but, if facemans wailing was any indication Brool's response would have been special.

A heady mixture of denying he even likes the liberals, while at the same time blasting Turnbull as zombie stalin christ reborn (but totally doesn't care, like at all.). the allcaps phrase "comedy gold" would have likely had a run. "butthurt" may even have been dropped. C'est la vie.
09:45am 24/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38285 posts
On the surface it sounds kind of silly - they talk about a $5.5m "plan" (not clear if that is $5.5m of loans) but I feel the costs of administering such a system would be insane compared to the value people would get out of it. You can only get $10k a year out of the scheme - that amount of money is not hard to find.

I would rather see them just give money directly to existing university-attached accelerators and let them deal with it.
11:49pm 24/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1819 posts
really?

I'm genuinely interested Scooter, I had to work with survey gear, a total station and an RTK kit cost my old firm about 250k all up.

Would you just need the jigger to get goin?
03:02pm 25/09/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38288 posts
10k would buy me about 1/15th of the Equipment I would require to start my own Surveying Firm.
Well the plan is targeted towards people in the 'softer' industries, hoping that they can turn ideas into money. Anyone that has a business that has more serious infrastructure requirements isn't really on the radar.
01:55am 26/09/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1826 posts
The fact that a rational empathetic conversation considering real world factors is seen as a bad thing by faceman is disturbing.


Not really the guy runs his own conspiracy theory website.

I could give a f*** what hard right lib tards think of Turnbull.
05:36pm 10/10/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1827 posts
Turnbull is another Kevin Rudd.


Maybe, maybe not. Abbott certainly was. The centralized chaos that was Rudd's hallmark was Abbott's as well. Except Abbott couldn't do the talky talk.

Turnbull's approach to the latest teenage d******* with a gun, is a marked and welcome change from Abbott practically masturbating with the Australian flag while repeating "Death cult" three times.

Turnbull has also appointed a civil servant as his chief of staff. There is also already signs that portfolios are being properly delegated.

So not really very Ruddy when you look at the evidence. But carry on infi. Maybe you can get an aussie flag and have a wank using your sweet Abbott tears as lube.
07:38pm 10/10/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38302 posts
I dislike Turnbull because he is not a true Liberal, just a guy who wanted to be PM (just like Rudd).
I don't know enough about what makes a 'true liberal' to comment (I'd be interested to know what makes him not a true liberal, if you feel like explaining it?) but it's hard to disagree with the last part. I'm certainly skeptical of him and even more skeptical of how many Australians suddenly think all their problems are over because he's now in the top job.

However, I do feel like the Liberal party ultimately had little choice because it was clear that Abbott was just so, so, so unlike-able, to the point that his politics or general "worthiness" as PM became a back-seat issue. I've mentioned before I think that this highlights the growing dissent with the two big parties in Australia and their influence in politcs, which I think is great, and I hope it leads to more people voting for smaller parties and we end up more like Norway and less like the USA.
10:27am 14/10/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25374 posts
Someone who joins the party once they decide they have made enough millions to become Prime Minister to cross it off their bucket list - is not a true liberal.
How about answering the question of what makes a real liberal you dummy.
06:26pm 14/10/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1828 posts
How many walls did you build at your minimum security elderly facility infi?

somewhere between zero and f*** all?

I luuuuurv how someone who should be exactly what the libs aspire to, if the rhetoric is taken seriously, doesn't measure up to the true beliebers.

Respect for dynastic wealth is what most actual LNP supporters seem to mean by reward for hard work.
01:43pm 16/10/15 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38305 posts
The polls are amazing. I am guessing it is still short term euphoria from having not-Tony Abbott as PM. I eagerly await the transition to the new rational Liberal party. They are talking some talk so far, but whether or not they walk the walk is another question.

I think more interestingly it shows how completely boned Labor are because of Shorten. Tanya Plibersek seems to be the only other contender in the party but I confess I don't know many of the others very well.
11:35am 20/10/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1830 posts
Is anyone else confused by Obes rant?

I think he doesn't like Abbott, but maybe also is luke warm on Turnbull and Hockey?
08:16am 21/10/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1831 posts
If you say so Viper.

I don't really see how you get to "Australia is on a path to destruction" from "Abbott's first budget was extremely politically damaging", but that's just me.
10:04am 21/10/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1832 posts
I sometimes wonder if facey is an elaborate troll account.
01:23pm 26/10/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1836 posts
Yet that have zero actual clue about what it takes to get by from day to day. Hell most 18 yr olds have no clue, but I guess you have to start somewhere.


This may well be true, but if they pay tax particularly income tax, then it falls to those that would deny the vote to demonstrate a good reason.

"wasting" their vote doesn't really cut it. Everyone here will have done an informal or donkey vote at one point or another.

F*** the senate tickets with 200 people on them, some of whom make you email them to get their policies, mean that the vast majority of Australians vote with at least some degree of ignorance.

there is probably a degree of cynicism on behalf of shorten, pollies rarely act outside their self interest.
10:34am 01/11/15 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1837 posts
Welfare counts as taxable income faceman...
12:40pm 01/11/15 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25403 posts
Well considering who is in charge of immigration laws I'm more than willing to accept them as an alternative.

A domestic violence victim is at the hospital. A doctor treats their injuries and assesses them as physically okay. The domestic violence victim, as is often the case due to emotional abuse that is also occurring, insists on going home. How does the doctor then compel them to stay?
07:48pm 21/02/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25404 posts
Because they're legally compelled to and could be charged with deprivation of liberty if they don't.

I'm thinking you're going to be dancing around your rather stupid comment for a few more posts so perhaps I'll just try to explain in the simplest terms why it's not a very good point. It's because you're comparing the legal rights and required level of care of a baby and an adult. I guess you're also comparing a rather large and powerful entity like the government to a single abusive spouse, but which one of those can cause more harm is arguable.

I'm actually kind of curious about exactly what you're accusing doctors of here. Do you mean doctors in general or just the doctors involved in the Asha case? Do you actually know of any contentious domestic violence cases they've dealt with or are you just making stuff up? Are you saying that they may actually hold disdain towards domestic violence victims but see this Asha case as some way to boost their moral credibility?

Honest question, did you read that comment somewhere and agree with it or was it just one of your own thoughts? I'd be curious to see who it was and read the whole thing if it's the former. Smells like Bolt to me.
08:02pm 21/02/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1888 posts
Shut the f*** up toll
01:52pm 29/02/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1889 posts
Also, shortages is what happens when it's a socialist country


Fixed.

Every communist country in the history of communism has had perennial issues with essential item shortages. It's what happens when you attempt to centralize national distribution of everything.

It happened in Russia and China. You can't credibly argue that Russia was a boot lick of the US in the 40's and 50's.

It currently happens in Venezuela and Bolivia, neither of which have significant sanctions. Venezuela received some in the wake of violent crack downs on protesters, (socialists love to wail about true democracy while they have no power. they are authoritarian without exception when they gain power.) but shortages of essentials predate the 2014 US act.
01:08pm 06/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1890 posts
Toll on what planet is the great leap forward not classic communist thinking?
01:11pm 06/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1891 posts
Heh? Tell that to Cuba


You mean like their dysfunctional agricultural sector?

The evidence showing the inability to centrally distribute essential commodities is overwhelming dude. You're currently in denial of plate tectonics/gravity territory.
01:17pm 06/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1892 posts
They're feeding their people, and looks like they're taking extra steps to improve that.


No they aren't, they are heavily reliant on imports.

Where as, in Africa, many countries are starved by the private sector, with the profit sent overseas


Find me an example of this.

More specifically find an example of this where the functions of the state haven't totally broken down.

More over people have tried socialism in Africa, Muammar Gaddafi was a Marxist revolutionary. Libya under his rule was a total disaster.

Robert Mugabe was also a Marxist revolutionary, pretty hard to put a cogent defense of Zimbabwe's current state of affairs.

Meanwhile in Kenya, where they adopted free market capitalism they have among the highest living standards in Africa.
01:52pm 06/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1893 posts
Gaddafi & Mugabe are in the same box as Kim Jong, pulling money out of the powerful government to give themselves ridiculous wealth.


you can add chavez and Evo Morales to that list. Important to note though that Lybia under Gaddafi experienced poverty relief in the early years. But once all the caplitalist pig dogs had been robbed and there was no useful economy it became authortarian to hold on to power.

I wonder if now that the oil price has tanked something similar might happen in Venezula. Now there is no "fat cats" left to steal from, the hard work of creating productive economy begins, oh and would you look at that. Now the "democratic socialists" are accused of human rights abuses of their critics. That train is never late. here is a chart of oil prices, and guess which year they tanked? 2014. Coincidence, I think not!

Dude you need to face it. Socialism in the sense of nationalize everything is a defunct economic system. It has never been successfully implemented in the history of the world.
11:35am 07/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1894 posts
Yeah Tonez can't really look back and say "nailed it". He f***ed up about as bad as its possible to do. Too many vanity projects. Too little consultation.

Abbott has delusions of grandeur like Kevin Rudd.


The last horse crosses the line. Everyone who wasn't a rusted on lib could see Abbott was Rudd 2.0.
08:10am 09/03/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25406 posts
I'm in favour of social capitalism, or whatever you want to call it, essentially capitalism with the added regulations needed to ensure it's fair, people are protected and no-one is hurt.
Which begs the question, what is an acceptable level of regulatory control the government should have over private markets? Who knows... but it isn't none or practically none. For me the answer to that question is something still being decided. It's why an open mind is essential. Something like a super tax in France having a negative effect and failing isn't something to be celebrated by one side and treated like some sort of defeat by the other. It should be something learned from.
07:32pm 09/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1895 posts
The fact that we aren't 100% renewable by now is evident of that.


The fact you haven't gotten your way is evidence of a broken democracy? Yes wel,l you keep using that word democracy but I don't think it means what you think it means.

It's important to remember that all of the failed socialist/communist states offered up as ruinous examples, say Venezuela, Soviet Russia and Cuba, didn't actually implement real socialist models. Rather they were half-baked, ill thought out and poorly implemented attempts, generally as a guise for basically authoritarian (and very kleptocratic) dictatorships.


Dude saying that soviet russia didn't implement "real socialism" is roughly the same as not eating meat isn't a "real vegetarian" diet.

the USSR was absolutely the end game of hard socialists. How else do you explain Jeremy Corbyn employing seamus milne? the guardian columnist who always says "oh but soviet russia wasn't that bad". Total government control of production is socialism, everything else is socialism lite IE the perversion of real socialism.

Corbyn is happy little socialist (lite) that I'm sure Vash would queue for hours to fellate.
08:55am 10/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1896 posts
That article is a bunch of gobbledyg*** Vash.

to build socialism it is essential, along with building new material foundations, to build new human beings.


It's not the theory that's wrong, it's just the people it rules over. Fix them and all will be well. What could possibly go wrong there?

It holds up Chavez the gold standard and less than two posts ago I demonstrated Chavez's project is suffering the same fate as the soviets.

It was real socialism, and the reason clowns like you like to try and distance yourselves from it was its unmitigated failure.

Anyway, I'll let you think about what needs to be true for your opinion to be correct.

Every attempt by people to set up a Marxist socialist state has ended in total disaster, but all these people never got it quite right. they never implemented "real socialism"

so the list of people who have f***ed it up so far
Lenin,
Tito,
Castro,
Chavez,
Morales,
Mao,
Qaddafi,
Stalin,
Guevara,

but no you know better. All these people who were waaaay smarter than you tried and failed, but its not a problem with the theory.

It also has to be true that in Australia, where we just turfed out a first term government in QLD for savage attacks on social welfare, isn't a 'real democracy' but rather a pretend one with all the key characteristics of one. again just because you have an anti fossil fuel hobby horse that isn't reflected in the current polity doesn't provide evidence for a broken democracy. it's evidence that most people disagree with you.
11:30am 10/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1897 posts
What do you do when even the most menial of tasks is not viable and entire professions that currently employ millions of people are destroyed faster than new work can be invented? What happens when even 30% of the work force is just utterly unemployable in any meaningful way within the timeline of a single generation?


In that scenario, if it actually comes to pass, I'll concede you're almost certainly looking down the barrel of revolution.

But the argument that technological progress is bad for overall employment tends to turn out to be false. Hence the Luddite fallacy.

Being on the cusp of massive economic change calls for cool heads, not revolution and romantic appeals to thoroughly debunked systems.

For example you can cut a decent living from being a talking head on youtube these days.

This guy has a whole production team behind him now. His job was literally unthinkable less than ten years ago. I read an interview with him saying (and just pause to soak this in) he didn't want to go to TV because the audiences weren't big enough.

*Edit* It's enough already Vash,

You refuse to provide hard argument or data and instead supply platitude after platitude. You fiat insistence that capitalism is doomed and the sky is falling is starting to become persuasive evidence against socialism in and of itself.
04:17pm 10/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1898 posts
The point of the Youtube guy was to point out new opportunities are coming out of this which didn't exist, not that we can all be artists.

I've been working on legal form automation at the moment, and while true that it could minimize labour it can't remove it altogether.

A person somewhere still has to fill out the form. part of the solution will be revaluing what we consider to be labour.

I'm not sure I agree that there is a finite number of productive things a human can do.

again less than 10 years ago who would have considered this productive?

I am not saying that the economy isn't on the brink of some big changes, that we probably aren't well prepared for. I am saying that socialism *will not* be the answer.
04:55pm 10/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1899 posts
The more I read of Chomsky the less time I have for him. He is all to willing to engage in pseudo intellectual babble. His only major contribution the so called "universal grammar" has been debunked.

If you read a historian like john lewis gaddis, you find out that actually Stalin wanted to build the workers paradise. In particular now we know: rethinking cold war history is an excellent resource on the matter.

I couldn't give a toss what a wanker like Chomsky wrote about the USSR in 1986. Anything written prior to 1992 needs to be controlled against the fact the soviet union was the single greatest information management system ever created. Doubly so for Chomsky who has been preaching the US media's self censorship for the last 40 years.

You say none of the examples I provide are really real socialism either. Well allow me to retort.

Vash posted to this article

It claims, as you do, that soviet russia wasn't really the really real dope socialism we all be craving.

He charts this path by drawing on Hugo Chávez’s conception of the “triangle of socialism,” whose three elements are:

Social ownership of the means of production, in which people, as producers and as members of society, determine the use of their social labour.
Social production democratically organized by workers through cooperation and solidarity.
Satisfaction of communal needs and communal purposes – our needs as members of the human family.
The mature Soviet model failed to achieve any of these three goals.


Would you look at that. It's not really real socialism because it doesn't measure up to Hugo f*****g Chavez's conception of socialism. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela (also not real socialism according to you and vash). On the Chavez and Venezuela point, If you don't think that is real socialism then you don't know what you are talking about. I've a close friend who was a branch manager of Socialist Alliance in Queensland and he won't shut up about how awesome Chavez was. He is a nearly full time socialist activist, you don't know more about the topic than he does.

it also says that it doesn't measure by Che Guevara standards, but frankly the standards of a racist homophobic war criminal are a matter of supreme indifference to me.

The point is that in over 100 years people smarter than either viper or vash working with the same source material you guys have have failed to construct a proper really real socialist state.

if you've been trying and failing at something for a century most sane reasonable people would stop and say "hey maybe its time to try something else".

If, after a century, its never been successfully implemented the smart money is going to be on it can't be implemented.


Heck, The Chinese Government is still called The Communist party. There is absolutely zilch that is Communist about China, and yet we still call them Communists.


Spoken like someone who doesn't know what the f*** they are talking about.

Bankruptcy laws were only introduced in china in 2012 because of the implications of having private debt. IE they were opposed politically because Communists find the idea of insolvency to be a construct of capitalism (which it is).

people were only allowed to start making contracts (ie legally binding promises between private citizens) in 2000, and even then the state retains the ability to rewrite contracts that are socially unacceptable.

They have adopted markets but they haven't ditched communism. not by any stretch of the imagination.

You are fundamentally ignorant of the s*** you preach about Vash, and you have the hide to call others "illogical".
08:49am 11/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1900 posts
I think we might be arguing past each other here a bit hoggy.

As I said, I'm not disputing that the gap between human and robot capability is shrinking, that is certain.

I remain to be convinced that we have entered an abandon all hope ye who enter here phase.

I said reconsidering what we are willing to call productive is something that will have to happen. What people are willing to pay money for changes a great deal over time.

Where we might find a bit of disagreement is in the solution.

Politicizing the means of production has a long well demonstrated history of failure. Why is there any reason to suggest that even if the worst possible technological unemployment scenario comes to pass adopting socialism will help?
09:36am 11/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1901 posts
Yeah Pete, I don't agree with your views of what socialism is in theory, or the notion that any of those dictatorships have actually been legitimately attempting to implement real socialist models, so by no stretch are they some kind of benchmark or example of socialism. I can't be bothered arguing about it with you though. I'm not even pro socialism really.


Fine Viper. You don't have to argue. But we don't have a difference of opinion. You are factually wrong.

If you think the Soviet Union and current Venezuela aren't socialist(proper) then you don't know what the word means. Just as Vash has proved repeatedly.

Enjoy your ignorance guy, Hear its bliss.
10:20pm 13/03/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25407 posts
You really shouldn't be.
01:47pm 15/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1902 posts
Does this help raven?

"the soviet union is an example of a socialist state".
08:08am 16/03/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25408 posts
I highly doubt they'll lose the next election. If they do it might be Scott Morrison which since the departure of Abbott is a classic example of a worst case scenario.
11:40pm 16/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1903 posts
Just for you viper.

Why Chomsky is an AssHat.

At 0:38 he literally claims that the weight of evidence is in favour of Neanderthal life being less violent than modern urban life.

Wonder what else he could be wrong about? With an attitude like that probably a lot.
10:46am 17/03/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25410 posts
What does the evidence actually say? Seems kind of believable to me. Higher population density, readily available weapons ranging from knives and firearms to less available but have actually been used nuclear weapons that can instantly destroy cities. We've had wars that killed 70 million. We have African genocides that kill a million that some westerners when asked in the street may not even know about.

I guess maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by modern urban life.
04:37pm 17/03/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38399 posts
Minimum wage is destroying the labor market in Seattle and Portland.
[citation needed]

I mean you don't really need a citation any more than you need to look around Australia and wonder where the labor market has vanished to because of our minimum wage

I'm not actually even 100% convinced a minimum wage is a good thing but (sigh as usual) you are spreading fud

good luck finding one that isn't by a conservative scaremonger based on no or incomplete data though, just FYI. Here is someone looking at the data. There are a lot of people saying "OMG $15/hr min wage is killing Seattle" but ignoring the fact that $15 is the final step-up amount and it won't hit that for a few years.
There is a growing welfare element to America which creates ghettos just like in Australia.
Admittedly I haven't spent much time in Australia recently (just got back from a month in BNE) but I haven't seen any 'ghettos' recently that I would say are anywhere near a match to the free market libertarian dream that is, say, San Jose. The 'welfare element' you are referring to is a symptom of the problems of having an oligarchy; people are dropping out of the middle class.

After two years in the US having a lot more first-hand experience of the reality of the poverty line there - particularly in some of the richest cities in the richest state - trying to draw a comparison between .au is too weird for words. We live in a utopia

edit: well, I don't :(
07:04pm 17/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1904 posts
In raw numbers we may be killing more but as a mortality rate (which is the figure that matters) it is not even close.

You are Massively less likely to meet a violent end at the hands of another human then at any other time in history.

I might add that Pinker includes both world wars in that.

even with the brutality of ww1 in mind a solider was more likely to be killed in the crimean war than ww1

The raw facts are that war, even when conducted on a global scale, is becoming less lethal to soldiers, and far far less lethal to non-combatants.

The reason that is a particularly good touch stone for Chomsky is that the premise that underpins his point of view (anarchism) supports a lot of his other bollocks.

For example hunter gathers not having wars is just flat out factually false. Australian Aboriginals had wars. There is overwhelming evidence in support of this.

But more to Chomsky. His anti Americanism often reaches absurd levels, and the basis of his objection is seated directly in his left leaning anarchism. He doesn't believe in rule of law, so his anti-americanism is truly about as base reactionary as its possible to get. If the US wasn't top dog he'd be barking ineffectually at who ever was.

Here is an exchange with sam harris in which he refuses to accept the possibility that the Clinton administration bombing a pharma plant in 1998 was the result of bad intelligence.

Rather he would have us believe that the ensuing medicine shortage and associated deaths were not only intentional but the actual point of the attack.

IE a crime on a greater scale than 9/11 perpetrated as an act of personal vengence by clinton for al-quedas early embassy bombings.

But lets do a quick fact check. Here is the wiki page. As we can clearly see there wasn't a complete lack of evidence. There was certainly enough evidence to justify looking more closely, and in the context, probably to act (the strike happened in August, in December of that year operation desert fox began, there was a justified concern at the time Iraq was developing and seeking WMD, because Hussein had refused to allow weapons inspectors to examine properly). An ingredient of VX gas found in a soil sample taken from beside the factory that produces no products that require the ingredient. He also massively over-egged the consequences of bombing. But no his reading of the facts is:

Clinton bombed al-Shifa in reaction to the Embassy bombings, having discovered no credible evidence in the brief interim of course, and knowing full well that there would be enormous casualties


He attempts, prior to making this blatantly false and frankly absurd statement, to suggest that intention has no moral significance. Therefore even if he didn't tip his moronic hand in the above quote, he sees accidentally killing 20 people as morally equivalent to intentionally killing 20 people.

Harris correctly points out that is a breakdown of moral reasoning so catastrophic it defies description.

The central importance of intention to moral reasoning shouldn't need to be explained to someone as distinguished as chomsky. Intention is so important, it is legally enshrined in almost every legal system on earth.

He might know a bit about linguistics, though as I said his major contribution has been debunked. There is no evidence of an abstract grammar that applies to all human languages.

Politically, he might wow runny nosed undergrads, but to anyone who takes even a second to review the facts of his claims, he is a base shallow reactionary who should shut his asshat mouth.

*final edit*

It should follow uncontroversially, I have solid reason not to give a f*** about Chomsky's opinion of the USSR.
07:45am 18/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1905 posts
Yeah I don't know about that slaps.

I was talking to the tax partner at major law firm a few weeks ago and he was non-plussed about labors plan.

For a start the stuff about crowding out new home buyers, wasn't really a cogent rebuttal.

Foreign investment can be seen as distinct from domestic seeking to capitalize on negative gearing for the obvious reason that foreign investors aren't going to be able to claim deductions against all the losses from over seas.

Moreover creating a run on new properties, doesn't mean old properties will suddenly start turning over like crazy.

The crowd out he seemed to be alluding to would be a driving up of new dwelling prices, while at the same time not seeing any significant reduction in existing dwellings.

The tax partner also pointed out that if you structure your ownership model correctly claiming losses against existing dwellings through a new dwelling vehicle would still be possible [edit] under labor's plan [edit].

I'm not claiming to be an expert on negative gearing, but I will say this. Speaking with the partner, who had earlier that day gave an interview to fin review, had to explain to the journalist the difference between revenue and capital accounts for tax purposes. I'd treat most commentary on the subject with a high degree of skepticism. It's a highly technical field which even dedicated finance journos still screw up.

I am also not claiming there isn't scope for reforming negative gearing.

Only that after talking about it with a highly qualified expert on the matter, the situation is complicated.
11:16am 22/03/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38402 posts
I have a few friends who are hardcore Liberal and they are preparing to vote against the Party because of Turnbull.
even infi seems to have lost enthusiasm!!
09:30pm 22/03/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25411 posts
Even with the clarity of 20/20 hindsight you can't see how dangerously incompetent Abbott was/is. It's really quite astounding. And the way you'll lend weight to your opinion with your story about how you were talking to some Liberal voters and they like totally agree with you.
10:03pm 22/03/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38403 posts
Even with the clarity of 20/20 hindsight you can't see how dangerously incompetent Abbott was/is. It's really quite astounding. And the way you'll lend weight to your opinion with your story about how you were talking to some Liberal voters and they like totally agree with you.
I actually think Turnbull is turning out to be almost more dangerous. As infi notes he seems to be able to talk the talk but there's little evidence of anything else. At least Abbott was visibly and obviously terrible in almost all aspects. If he makes the Liberal supporters think everything is all OK and fine as is just because he's smooth then we're still in the same s*** position we were before - we have a crappy government making terrible policies with a clueless opposition.

tldr: vote Greens.
09:53pm 23/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1906 posts
I voted greens last time, but their actions over the carbon tax with Gillard made it difficult to justify. The price isn't high enough so we will try and force no carbon price at all... Maybe under de natalie that kind of BS will stop, but who knows. I think I'll vote independent if there is a decent candidate in my electorate next time.

I don't have a huge problem with the slow pace of change though, The art of good government is to make change while preventing excessive unintended consequences. Often the best way to achieve this is to do nothing, and let people change on their own. Frankly I'm a bit surprised a staunch conservative like infi would find that unappealing, but hey what would I know.

Turnbull has announced a 1 billion AUD innovation fund.

He has also dramatically change rhetoric about terrorism which I view as extremely important to dealing with the problem.

Blindsiding his treasurer with an early budget was probably pretty ill advised.

But more over Abbott's "achievements" where what exactly?

Sign some FTA's that had been negotiated and finalized by the previous government (taking credit for the China FTA is beyond laughable, that thing had been in the works for 10 years Abbott's government had nothing to do with its successful conclusion.). Last I heard turning up and sticking your John Hanc*** on a bit of paper is low bar for achievement.

He stopped the boats (though they don't discuss "on water matters" so we don't really know that). My views on considering this an achievement are well known here.

Ditching the carbon tax was nothing but putting of the inevitable.

and he did all this while reducing spending as a percentage of GPD from 26% to 25.9%.

Frankly Turnbull could turn up to parliament covered in children's blood and still be doing a marginally better job.
10:31am 24/03/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1907 posts
But 1 billion more than Abbott. The defense contracting stuff is also heavily focused around innovation and research and touted to be in the billions.

The point is that he is making policy. The senate voting reform was all him, and its a big improvement.

People seemed to expect Turnbull was going to be a messiah or something. He ran specifically on a platform of a traditional consultative Westminster cabinet. That means finding compromises and that takes time. He never promised to be all things to all people all the time. That alone makes him electable in my view. Rudd, Gillard and Abbott all told everyone they could have everything. When candidates start talking like that you need to stop listening.

Anyway 15 weeks of campaigning. Everyone will have ample opportunity to s*** all over him.
11:16am 24/03/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38404 posts
You'd think after 72 pages of jibberish and bulls*** you dimwits would've come to some sort of conclusion, or do most of you just sneakily enjoy acting like the 2 year olds you constantly bicker about.

I should add its nice to see this forum is still a mass graveyard/dying ground for former gamers turned politcal analysts.
you are literally what is wrong with the Internet
11:05am 25/03/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4445 posts
What is Turnbull doing with income tax?

most likely nothing, as his state-based income tax idea will die quickly and in the ass at COAG, they need to put GST back on the table
08:27pm 30/03/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25412 posts
What a fine state of affairs it is when the argument is about which government wastes money slightly less than the other wasteful government.
Always has been and always will be the argument.
09:03pm 02/04/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25413 posts
http://i.imgur.com/DWgr7cM.jpg

So yeah, those Panama Papers certainly are a thing.
04:32pm 09/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38417 posts
Hes going to draw on the benefit(land value increases) to all the areas that will get Train Stations along the way. So the Very Fast Train will have to stop often in-between the Very Fast bits.
Can't figure out what your point is here. This is true of every form of travel over any sort of distance.

The advantage with rail (as seen in Europe) is that having those stopping points provides amazing benefits at those points - towns that were just dots on a map become tourist destinations and viable cities in their own right when suddenly they're not just s***holes in the boonies, but commute points to the big cities.

Arguably France/Europe is different to Australia but I tell ya, if we're running up national debt anyway we might as well get some decent infrastructure out of it.
08:20pm 25/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38418 posts
^ I can't believe I am disagreeing with you infi over the LNP winning.

The LNP have won, gg.

Joe Sixpack knows deep down that NG is a rort but when his own home and Investment Property values are threatened he will side with the LNP.

Maybe if Labor had decent leader (no one likes Shorten) they might have had a chance.
I dunno, I think I am on infi's side here. Completely anecdotally there are a s***load of people that want to enter the property market (or move in the property market) but are unable to do so because of the stupid ass high prices.

People are sicker than ever of things they perceive as being "advantages for the rich" and it doesn't help that Turnbull is a 1%er from way back.

I have to wonder if Labor are on to something here; they may have picked the right time to make this a major focus of their platform.

But I agree that Shorten is not an inspiring leader and they need to find someone else.
08:23pm 25/04/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1910 posts
I don't really think you can analogise from Europe to Australia RE fast trains.

I'm sure cooma is the tourist hub time forgot and could boom again if we drop 100 billion dollars connecting it to a world class rail network.

I think the issue around the fast train stopping everywhere is that if you want to get to say Sydney from say Melbourne, the train can travel at 1000km per hour and it won't get to Sydney before a plane if it has to stop for 30 minutes every 100kms.

But perhaps the major issue, which might explain why have been talking about high speed rail for the last 20 years and haven't gotten it (an explanation that doesn't involve a vashesque capitalism is f***ed and the LNP irrationally wants to kill us all with global warming and so hates rail) is this.

One perhaps rather obvious finding is that whatever type of high-speed line is envisaged, the corridor must serve a large and dense population base as this provides for an attractive train frequency which will generate the revenue to justify the investment. High-speed rail is most competitive with road and air between 500 and 800km as this is where the highest elasticities of demand are observed. The ability to charge higher fares because of shorter journey times coupled with a high-quality service, such as Germany's ICE, helps to boost revenue still further.


My emphasis. The conditions where it's most competitive don't exist in Australia.

Western Europe can fit in Queensland and has a population an order of magnitude higher than all of Australia. That factor heavily stacks the economics in favour of cars and planes. The money could be spent much more intelligently on metro rail in major capitals.


Here is another article saying more or less the same thing. HSR in Australia has all the hall marks of a white whale. If you service regional Australia it can't compete with air travel. If you don't, it won't produce the supposed economic benefits.

Australia is too large and too sparse to make HSR a worthwhile investment.
09:01am 26/04/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1911 posts
Yes I can see people being willing to commute from Albury because of the amenities and climate Albury proudly boasts :P.

Maybe there is a combination that could be made to work. But consider that the only consistently profitable run on the western Europe HSR network, according to that article, is paris-lyon.

two cities in excess of 2 million in population about 500 km from each other. Or striking the exact characteristics I articulated above. coincidence? I think not.

If there was a workable combo I suspect it would have been found by now. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of HSR. The shanghai maglev is on my bucket list, but I'm not kidding about HSR being on the talking points for two decades. I seriously doubt there is a sweet spot to be found in Australia for it.
11:18am 26/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38419 posts
My emphasis. The conditions where it's most competitive don't exist in Australia.
Australia's population is only going to go up. If we're all complaining about property prices one solution is to shift the supply model to where property is cheaper by making it more attractive in other areas. We can do what the US has done and basically complete f*** up their transport network (i.e., it's roads or expensive flights and those are your two options), or we can do what Europe did, plan in advance and put down some good infrastructure which will benefit business and citizens alike.

I mean it's probably already too late; I think the logistical challenges are probably insurmountable even for one leg
But consider that the only consistently profitable run on the western Europe HSR network, according to that article, is paris-lyon.
Well, that's not what I got out of it at all - it just says that line generates 'significant' revenue. It still talks about the other things being profitable, just "profitability of new lines is lower than forecast". FWIW Eurostar is popular and profitable (London-Paris and London-Brussels) last time I checked.

I still am not convinced they have the model right here anyway; tickets are surprisingly expensive in a lot of cases and there are always plenty of spare seats. I suspect that, like many giant bureaucracies, there's a lot of inflated salaries in the pointy end of the org chart that are not earning their keep.

I have a socialist approach about this (and I just hate cars and roads) and don't care about the profitability that much anyway, I just think it's something necessary to have a smoothly running civilisation. Seriously after 2 years in the US I can't figure out how they get anything done because their transports networks seem so stone age compared to Europe. (I got the train from London to Paris last weekend to go to a friend's birthday. It is so nice.)



and yeh, if it's the difference HSR between $59b on another porkbarrel military industrial complex project building machines that are obsolete literally before they've even put pen to paper on the drawing board
08:00pm 26/04/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1914 posts
Australia's population is only going to go up.


Yes but everyone freaked out about 50 million. Western Europe has more like 200 million. Australia's population categorically will not see that before 2100.

Well, that's not what I got out of it at all

While the benefits of HSR are promoted with great enthusiasm, many projects experience significant problems down the line. Today, HSR carves a network across Europe – but only the line connecting Paris and Lyon sees a profit and its margins are being increasingly squeezed by competition from low-cost airlines.


Hope that helps.

I have a socialist approach about this (and I just hate cars and roads) and don't care about the profitability that much anyway, I just think it's something necessary to have a smoothly running civilisation. Seriously after 2 years in the US I can't figure out how they get anything done because their transports networks seem so stone age compared to Europe. (I got the train from London to Paris last weekend to go to a friend's birthday. It is so nice.)


Your medium hatred not withstanding, neither the willingness to be socialist about it, what evidence do you present that random HSR is worth having regardless of cost. Including metro rail opportunity cost I might add. Moreover if your willing to hang the cost, what becomes of the airline workers you make redundant? They move to albury and work the railway. I doubt it somehow.

I like the eurostar too. but government funded vanity projects don't tend to end well. Look at the snowy mountain scheme. We currently pay them not to make electricity because of the environmental damage done by restricting flow on the Murray.

HSR for the sake of HSR is a ridiculous proposition.

HSR isn't particularly economic, it isn't particularly environmentally friendly. If it doesn't serve some greater social need what is the point? If you want to make satellite cities why not just spend the 114b it'll take on making a satellite city? Running train tracks through a dead town and hoping it'll come back to life seems like a silly gamble to me.
09:41pm 26/04/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25415 posts
Manus Island.... gonnneee.

Now only two concentration happy camps to go and we're not literally evil.
06:47pm 27/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38420 posts
Moreover if your willing to hang the cost, what becomes of the airline workers you make redundant? They move to albury and work the railway. I doubt it somehow.
That argument keeps coming up but then Europe has the best selection of airlines anywhere in the world, and it's not all budget carriers making no money either

all your other comments are valid, if you ignore the fact that HSR exists and is pretty successful in Europe and Japan :) I'm not saying it'll be useful tomorrow (nor am I saying build it for the sake of building it), just that if you start planning for it today maybe we'll be ready in 30-50 years when we actually need it. my entire point is that it /does/ serve a great social need
07:21pm 27/04/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25416 posts
I say build it just for the sake of building it because f*** the horrors we've faced over the last few years... I need a nice new shiny thing to make it better.
07:24pm 27/04/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25417 posts
Imagine another 5m people between Melbourne and Sydney...
Assuming these people aren't just springing out of the ground, where would they be living otherwise?
07:34pm 27/04/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1915 posts
That argument keeps coming up but then Europe has the best selection of airlines anywhere in the world, and it's not all budget carriers making no money either

all your other comments are valid, if you ignore the fact that HSR exists and is pretty successful in Europe and Japan :)


So you take the only example I can think of that has a higher density population than western europe and say hey look it works here and here.

T
H
E

R
E
A
S
O
N

I
T

W
O
R
K
S

I
N

T
H
O
S
E

C
O
U
N
T
R
I
E
S

I
S

B
E
C
A
U
S
E

O
F

P
O
P
U
L
A
T
I
O
N

D
E
N
S
I
T
Y

T
H
A
T

H
A
S

N
O

P
A
R
A
L
L
E
L

I
N

A
U
S
T
R
A
L
I
A

You could subsidize a fast train if you wanted to I suppose, but you have to pick between a competitor with air travel or white elephant regional development arguments. I might point out that often the experience of HSR to regional centers is an even bigger drain on the economy as their workers go to the major centers to work.

As I said, the only *consistently* profitable run in western Europe is paris-lyon.

The eurostar achieved profitability after 20 years of handouts, and it's operating on pretty pathetic margins. 59 million profit from ticket sales totaling 850 million.
The main reason eurostar is profitable now is that they had 4.1 billion GBP of debt forgiven two years ago.

HSR operates so far as I can see on razor thin margins in countries where conditions are nearly perfect. The idea that it wouldn't be an epic drain on the public purse here is absurd.

As I said. it's a project in Australia that has been suggested on and off for the last 20 years and no one has found a model that is profitable. Pointing to countries which have *fundamentally* different logistical markets and needs and saying look it works there is ridiculous.

keep in mind here profitable is exactly equal to sustainable. How long do you think it would politically tenable to sink billions of dollars annually into a project if it doesn't deliver on its economic promise?
07:49pm 27/04/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25418 posts
Immigration and relocation due to real estate and lifestyle availability.


I'd say it's baffling how you never seem to be able to answer even the simplest of questions but it's just one of your defense mechanisms isn't it?

What you gave an answer to is 'where would these people be coming from?'. I guess in a roundabout way you did answer my question because the answer to it is somewhere else. If they're living in these new train station cities and not elsewhere wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the reduction of population strain in that area would offset the strain they put in this new one? Because if these cities are planned well and the required infrastructure put in place everything should be hunky dory right? Or are there unintended consequences I'm not thinking of? It seems to me, contingent on it being done properly, that the scenario of HSR being built with new towns popping up is pretty much a universal positive. The only downside is of course the astronomical cost and very good chance it might not actually work out that way (yet).
07:52pm 27/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38421 posts
We're going around in circles; I understand population density isn't a thing and I've said repeatedly I'm not talking about building it for today, but for tomorrow. Please explain to me once again in a more condescending manner how few people live in the outback?

As I said, the only *consistently* profitable run in western Europe is paris-lyon.
How long do you think it would politically tenable to sink billions of dollars annually into a project if it doesn't deliver on its economic promise?
Literally forever because it's become de rigueur? How long is it going to be tenable in Europe where they continue to sink billions of dollars into it in further expansions despite all these apparently non-profitable lines (which btw is dispelled by the same article you're referring to which says many of them are profitable, just not that profitable?!?) ? (Before you say it again, yes I know the population densities are different and I'm not literally saying we should drop everything and run a line from Brisbane to Perth tomorrow, just that we should maybe start thinking about lining up some routes and preparing some corridors and preparing some funds to do an experimental track somewhere to see how it goes)
08:04pm 27/04/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1916 posts
Please say why it will be helpful tomorrow?

Other than just a fiat insistence it would be good you haven't articulated that. At all. Name a European city that was saved by connecting HSR.

The article I posted was quite clear the opposite happened in regional Japan and in France.

High-speed rail projects often run into trouble when they’re sold on a promise of promoting regional equity and fostering regional development. Evidence suggests the opposite is true. The Shinkansen network delivers much of Japan’s workforce to Tokyo. When the Paris to Rhone-Alps line was introduced to France’s TGV network, train travel increased to Paris by 144 per cent, while travel in the opposite direction grew by only 54 per cent.


So why have it?

also

which btw is dispelled by the same article you're referring to which says many of them are profitable, just not that profitable?!?


It absolutely did not say that.

just that we should maybe start thinking about lining up some routes and preparing some corridors and preparing some funds to do an experimental track somewhere to see how it goes


We have literally been doing that for twenty years and haven't found a viable corridor.
08:24pm 27/04/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1917 posts
To make my position crystal clear.

Europe has to subsidize its HSR network. It is able to do this through other non-HSR rail assets, as well as redirecting profits such as they are from the good line to the bad ones.

Eurostar was built as a PPP and is a poster child for how not to do that. The subsidies in Europe are tenable because while not profitable, their lines aren't total economic disasters. This is because they have dozens of cities with more than 1 million people spaced less than 800km apart (Australia has zero). However when one looks to Spain for example they are disasters. Spain is hardly a model to emulate for economic management.

Even the "pro" article I posted said this:

Finally, the report warns that because the array of parameters is so complex, each potential corridor must be analysed individually to determine the best solution. Nevertheless the case for investing in 300km/h lines is very sound.


So in Europe where they can service upward of 200 million people who all sit right in the sweet spot for HSR viability (in terms of population density and distance) they still have to be extremely careful not to create lines that bleed cash and have no prospect of ever repaying their initial construction costs.

I am the first to say st pancras to gare du nord is flat out better then gatwick to Charles de Gualle.

But you don't have to tinker with that recipe much for it to lose its appeal. Getting the train from london to berlin, for example, is worse then getting a plane.

So far as I can see there are two arguments in favour HSR in Australia

1. A good competitor with air travel for melbourne/sydney and sydney/brisbane.
2. stimulation of regional economies.

In response the first one it can only compete with air if city center to city center is about three hours. Beyond that nobody is going to choose it unless it is significantly cheaper. Now the Chinese currently charge 10 us cents per km per person. They are building their HSR for about 20 million usd per km. Keep in mind that the 2013 labor plan priced melbourne sydney at about 50 billion AUD, so around 60 million AUD per km (or around 45USD or about double the cost the Chinese can achieve). We would have to charge a good deal more than 10 us cents per km per person.

Melbourne to Sydney is about 850 km That works out to $85 USD (about 111AUD) one way from melbourne to sydney, you can get flights for that. City center to city center melbourne to sydney is not likely to be under three hours with current 300kph technology. For it to be a better deal the train will need to under cut airtravel. Again Europe's airtravel sector isn't in the toilet because there are well over 200 million people living there. demand far out strips overall supply. That is not the case in australia. Moreover melbourne sydney, brisbane sydney subsidise QANTAS's international operation. They really do need that run to be profitable to be viable as a company. Now the idea that we undercut private industry, on one of their critical routes, at massive public expense for a marginally comparable service, to me, is insane.

As for the second one in australia because of population density and distance, if you pursue it you rule out the the first option. Now, there is mixed evidence at best that connecting regional towns to HSR actually improves their economy. I've given clear evidence of the opposite. Given that, why should the government be gambling the epic amounts of money it would take to build when there is a very clear risk you'll end up with a perverse result and actually weaken regional economies? You could just dump the 50 billion straight into those economies.

Given the utter fiasco that has been the NBN, you'd think people would be willing to rethink this attitude:
Literally forever because it's become de rigueur?


HSR in Australia even on the melbourne sydney corridor is very likely to bleed billions in operational costs, much less construction. There is no supporting low speed rail infrastructure which Europe has coming out the ass. the 2013 labor plan envisaged profitability at 89 million annual passengers (given eurostar services 12 million people and achieves 10 million annual passengers, that would require brisbane sydney melbourne have a combined population in excess of 100 million people, which is totally happening this century) sometime after 2050. so in other words subsidies to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars every year for nearly 40 years. On what planet is there a social need in Australia HSR can service that justifies that kind of cash? Cash which can't get spent on other much more urgent projects.

So if you want to know why I talk about the population density point, its because it is the clear governing factor determining viability for an HSR project. Australia doesn't have it, and isn't likely to have it for at least the next century. You aren't talking about infrastructure that will be useful "tomorrow", you're talking about infrastructure that will be useful after everyone on this forum is dead.
08:43am 28/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38422 posts
You aren't talking about infrastructure that will be useful "tomorrow", you're talking about infrastructure that will be useful after everyone on this forum is dead.
Yeh, I am not using tomorrow in the literal sense. I'm using it in the massively large scale infrastructure sense, which, like geological timescales, is much longer than people typically think about things.

I just can't see a future in which we don't end up like the USA without HSR, barring some great technological revolution. By "like the USA" I mean with giant road networks everywhere and cities and states designed for and around cars, rather than people. It's an investment in the future. I can't think of a sadder future for Brisbane than it turning into something like an American city.

There are a zillion technical and financial reasons not to do it; I just think it'll make life better for Australians down the track, and I'd rather my tax dollars (well not that I'm paying any lately) got spent on something like that instead of $50b of submarines and however many $b on broken jet fighters.

Maybe Australian population growth will hover at zero because of the usual social factors in well off countries and the massive opposition to immigration amongst seemingly everyone. In which case I would agree there's no point in doing it. I'd have no problems with this outcome.
04:07am 29/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38423 posts
City center to city center melbourne to sydney is not likely to be under three hours with current 300kph technology. For it to be a better deal the train will need to under cut airtravel.
I mean I'd say if it was the same price, or even a little more, it'd still be a better deal to get the train. Melbourne airport is in the middle of nowhere and air travel sucks; you're not going to be much less than 3 hours from MEL to SYD via plane! maybe we could build those 600km/h trains and get there in 1.5 hours :D
04:12am 29/04/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38424 posts
If we are looking that far into the future then why not consider the possibility that all cars will be automated by that time, drastically cutting down on traffic and improving travel times? All without a massive 100 billion dollar spend and peoples houses being resumed by the government to build a HSR.
Well, I actually suggested that same thing above. Maybe with automated cars it'll make up for it; with a properly automated system you can get rid of speed limits and probably significantly reduce travel times, increase traffic density, and of course massively improve safety. I'm not sure if that would be enough to prevent requirement to build zillions of more horrible roads.

It's just hard for me to imagine a future for a big populous country that doesn't include multiple mass transit options, is all I'm saying. I'd love for there to be a better option
I also seem to remember you being pretty set against FTTH NBN back in the day yet apparently now you are all into infrastructure for the future.
My reasons for being against the NBN weren't because I don't want the government spending money on infrastructure. One of my main objections was that the government already opted out of the telecoms industry by privatising Telstra. If the government want to do NBN they should have just split it into an infrastructure company and service company. But I think it's too late for that now, and of course am completely unsurprised by the staggeringly huge clusterf*** that it has turned into. (FWIW I am ideologically opposed to selling government assets if those assets perform a task that I would loosely describe as "providing civilisation", like power, communications, water, healthcare, education, etc).
06:45pm 29/04/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25419 posts
For someone who has trouble understanding economic stuff at times and only just found out exactly what negative gearing is, how was that Walled video not a comprehensive takedown of the LNP policy from which there is no recovery?
08:48am 30/04/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1918 posts
Waleed always on point. this guy should enter politics, but then again the corporate media would shut him down with some nice propaganda.


Just sayin'.
01:18pm 02/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1919 posts
Yeh, I am not using tomorrow in the literal sense. I'm using it in the massively large scale infrastructure sense


I know you didn't mean this decade. But you are talking far enough off into the future that you can't reasonably plan for it.

Who knows what transportation technology is going to look like in 100 years. Wind the clock back 100 years from today and people were arguing if cars really were a replacement for horses, and powered flight was still insanely dangerous.

Imagine spending 1 billion dollars on a zepplin landing field in 1916, because it may or may not be 'critical' infrastructure in 80 years time. You'd look a bit of tit now.

I'm all for the government creating infrastructure. I am also suspicious of ppp's because they tend to produce infrastructure of questionable utility. The Melbourne eastlink being a prime example. The clem7 tunnel also seems to have had mixed results at best.

But creating useless white elephants which cost huge amounts of money is a real problem. I have no problem paying tax, but I do have a problem with money being coerced out of my back pocket and then being gambled.

That long term geological period thinking lead to the snow mountain scheme. It was definitely going to solve all our electric and irrigation woes. And while it remains a most impressive engineering feat, its environmental record is best not spoken about, and is currently developing is natural gas power plan portfolio. It would be better if that didn't happen again.

I say also the price tag for the rail system would fully cover the education and health funding the abbott's got rid of. You can't really argue those aren't essential and needed today, not 2 to 15 decades from now.

The point is, I like the idea of infrastructure that is built with the future in mind. But the government needs to be careful with its money and plan for the reasonably forseeable future. Speculating on the infrastructure needs of the 2070's is a mugs game.
01:40pm 02/05/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38426 posts
But creating useless white elephants which cost huge amounts of money is a real problem. I have no problem paying tax, but I do have a problem with money being coerced out of my back pocket and then being gambled.
I don't disagree; I just think it's the kind of thing you can do in stages that won't cost that much (I mean still a s***load, but I'm not saying roll it out everywhere all at the same time) and each stage will be really useful of its own accord (e.g., Syd->Melb would be a good starting point, or even better, BNE to the Gold Coast!).

One of my big problems with the execution of the NBN was how it was deployed. Instead of rolling it out to major population centres first - especially areas where businesses were who could really use it - they just randomly splashed it all over the map. That's great if you're trying to deploy a service equitably but if you're doing something that you're claiming is going to be the economic wonder of the next century, it is totally totally stupid.
Who knows what transportation technology is going to look like in 100 years. Wind the clock back 100 years from today and people were arguing if cars really were a replacement for horses, and powered flight was still insanely dangerous.
I would note that if they'd laid down rail 100 years ago we'd still be using it today :D
07:43pm 07/05/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38427 posts

Too brown.

(sad but true)
Here in London we just voted in the first Muslim mayor of a major western city (I can say "we" because somehow I'm eligible to vote here!)
07:43pm 07/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1920 posts
I would note that if they'd laid down rail 100 years ago we'd still be using it today :D


Well then you should be satisfied to know there is a 100 year old rail link between Melbourne and Sydney.

No need for any money to be spent. Job done eyes on the future dog.

One of my big problems with the execution of the NBN was how it was deployed. Instead of rolling it out to major population centres first - especially areas where businesses were who could really use it - they just randomly splashed it all over the map. That's great if you're trying to deploy a service equitably but if you're doing something that you're claiming is going to be the economic wonder of the next century, it is totally totally stupid.


Oh you mean by ignoring the economics of the project, and instead building according to political expedience they f***ed the whole thing up :).

/cheapshot.
11:01am 08/05/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38428 posts
I agree it does something

ruins the country
07:49pm 12/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1921 posts
Not withstanding Duncan couldn't actually be given a tax cut because he pays no tax, I feel spraying down the nation with his criminal record is a bit rough.

He asked a perfectly valid question. Which has a perfectly reasonable answer, his daughters desire to go to the "pictures" notwithstanding.

The income tax cut for the super rich can easily be explained as addressing bracket creep, which is exactly what it was.

It isn't possible to address bracket creep and not give the wealthiest the biggest overall benefit.

That seems a complete response to me. No need to nationally address thug life.

But then again Australian national heroes tend to have shady pasts.
09:33am 13/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1922 posts
Sure why not? putting aside the LNP's idiotic response to the zaky mallah affair, I don't really see how him asking about tax is giving a convicted criminal a podium in any relevant sense.

If he has served his sentence he has every right to have a say in the political functioning of our country. He isn't a hero or a villain, just a guy, who is entitled to answers from pollies just like everyone else.

As for Ned Kelly being a hero I'll stand by the statement. The fact his execution attracted a petition for clemency that garnered somewhere between 30k and 60k signatures in 1880 seems to say to me he attracted considerable public sympathy.

Aside from you being wrong about Kelly not driving public policy (following his execution there was a royal commission which directly lead to changes in policing technique), I don't see why national heroes particularly have to dictate public policy.

I know you will probably disagree, but I think you'll find few people who consider Howard a 'Hero'
10:05am 13/05/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4454 posts
large corporations aren't paying their share of tax, so we must crack down on... backpackers, because they've been on the public tit for far too long!
04:25pm 14/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1923 posts
lol conservatives. so dumb.


I wouldn't tug that thread if I were you.
08:12am 19/05/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25421 posts
It is hard to find decent local workers who aren't obsessed with watching the clock and using up all their sick leave.
I know heaps of places (my work for example) where the employees are really happy and will stay back and cover shifts on the very rare occasion they're needed to and won't take excessive sick days. Our workplace is run by a competent team of managers who I have great respect for.

I wonder what is wrong with your workplace?

edit: and another thing. Wealthy people exploiting loopholes to avoid tax: good. Employees exploiting sick days to have the occasional day off: bad.
06:29pm 19/05/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25422 posts
It seems you fall for your own lies just as easily as you fall for other people's lies.
07:42pm 19/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1926 posts
classy. I've often wondered if you misspelt your handle.
05:20pm 23/05/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4458 posts
if even our cuzzy bro's across the ditch couldn't bring themselves to change their flag then it doesn't look great for us
12:28pm 29/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1928 posts
All right wingers need to watch this, some of it applies to Australia too.


Reading your posts really is like looking directly at the sun.

People at a trump rally aren't pure evil. Well thanks for that insight. the real problem is, wait for it...

WAIT FOR IT.....

WAIT FOR IT



is the corporations and the wealthiest 400 Americans.

I like how that rhetoric has changed since it turned out the 1% actually encompasses people earning $400k pa.

the top 5% are like $200k pa. well off but hardly buying politicians mover shaker billionaire Illuminati.

Here's a little sumthin sumthin from vash's proposed alternative.

source: tradingeconomics.com

Nobody is poor because they have *millions* of dollars that can't buy s***.

Market forces are real, and they can't be forced to go away just because you don't like them.

the latest figures I could be bothered finding have inflation at 720% and pegged to go over 1000% later this year.

But those rascally billionaires. If we just have a revolution, kill them, and give everyone their money our problems will be solved for ever!


Andrew Bolt is a d******* who can't tell the difference between socialism and communism.


To be fair Roz Ward is a card carrying member of Socialist Alternative. Here is their manifesto.

If you can find a meaningful distinction between them and communism, I'm all ears (saying Stalin was naughty doesn't count for the record). The safe schools program from what I read of it was a language policing exercise. Which I might add virtually everyone on this forum has contravened at some point, so don't forget you comment from a position of unending slavering homophobia, you hateful bigot you. Language policing is the stock in trade of socialists and communists.

So to make this extremely clear. Preventing bullying of marginalised youths is great, and undoubtedly lgbt youth get a hard time of it. Serious doubt can be cast over the ability, and moreover the desirability of, policing the development of English as a valid means of doing it. Calling anyone who sees issues with the program homophobic, to my mind, is a tacit admission the programs fundamentals aren't great.

I take Bill Shorten and Daniel Andrews concern for LGBT folks to run exactly as deep as the photo ops it garners.
09:01am 30/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1929 posts
Only Socialism can deliver true democracy

yeah and on the merry go round goes.

The totalitarian hell hole I carve a living out in seems better in every way then any place socialism has been tried ever.

Every country that has tried socialism has categorically failed to deliver anything even remotely resembling democracy.

you continue to ramble on about the horrible corporate media, and talk about opening eyes and 'educating' yourself. Then you post to activist websites. activists categorically don't peddle truth. They peddle propaganda, period.

You are worse then infi for dogma peddling.


Only Socialism can deliver true democracy, Business run by coops instead of private individuals. Murdoch type people couldn't exist to influence democracy with it's propaganda.


those "coops" are called the party where private individuals do not exist. If you don't work for the good of the coop, typically determined by one person and not the body, the coop "democratically" tells you to visit a gulag. murdochs get replaced by putins. I'm willing to accept murdochs thanks.

Moreover if you think uncle ho didn't understand communism as well as mao and deng and hugo chavez, fidel castro, I say you are racist.

Everytime someone brings up a non-european version of communism you always say they didn't get it right. Is that because they lack the whiteman's purity in your estimation?

An unlimited growth model is illogical and the only reason its continuing is the voices of alternatives are drowned out by the establishment.


Why is that illogical? The potential for growth is unlimited.
05:09pm 30/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1930 posts
I also love the fact that you are pro refugee, and pro socialist.

The largest refugee population Australia has ever accepted was Vietnamese, all running from...... altogether now..

Socialism.

You call other people retarded.
06:01pm 30/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1931 posts
They were escaping War & It's government, not Socialism.

er wrong. like delusional laughably wrong.

Fraser came to power after then end of the Vietnam war and he set up the major transfer. So they weren't running away from war. They were running away from the government which was socialist. the Vietcong was a socialist guerilla organisation. Only a fundamentally ignorant ideologue would attempt to exonerate socialism as a cause for Vietnamese refugees.

Again. I think you are actually racist. Those Asians just can't get your precious socialism right no matter how hard they try.

It isn't that the exact same thing that happened in Europe happened in Asia to because socialism as a political system is fundamentally f***ed, its because those Asians didn't do it right.

Again, you're confused.

No I'm really not.

Socialism, the means of production is owned by the people, not the government.

How is "the people" not the government? Idiot socialists always argue that stalinism is something super distinct from your socialist utopia. It isn't. If it was you'd find an implementation somewhere that doesn't end in it. Then you like to engage in the following.

There have been democratically elected socialists, but they've been removed by Americans.


Ok facevash. Where.

Classic socialist delusional thinking. When Opec decided to keep oil prices at record lows to retain market share and push US shale producers out the Venezuelans said it was an american conspiracy to undermine their economy.

It's not like the US has a fundamental interest in achieving energy independence. No actively pursuing policies to reduce dependence on middle east oil, so they don't get dragged into wars all the time (which unthinking morons such as yourself endlessly wail is proof of the capitalist need for the military industrial complex), is actually a deliberate attempt to undermine a nothing economy with virtually no significance to the US other than its repeated and gross human rights violations. So the US being in the middle east is evil evil capitalism done by the 400 wealthiest Americans, but attempting to leave the middle east is also capitalism attempting to undermine the glorious socialist revolution.

If everything they do undermines socialism in your view, you are a conspiracy theorist. End of discussion.

If only we Nationalised the mines before all the wealth went to Rinehart & Co.

Rinehart has lost more money in the last two years then most Australian's will ever own. Imagine how awesome it would have been if the government's finances had been tied exclusively to the value of commodities rather than a private individual.

I guess Hayek was peddling dogma too then.


I like Hayek too, but consider this
07:54am 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1932 posts
Vash you're dumb.

they Vietnamese were escaping Socialism? Really? Could it be maybe they were escaping a Totalitarian government style?


No they were escaping socialism which you erroneously distinguish from totalitarianism. Ho Chi Minh was a french educated socialist. He was completely immersed in the ideology you espouse. now you disavow him as a yellow totalitarian.

I repeat you are racist.

Your wiki article doesn't establish your assertion that socialist democratic government have been squeezed by the US in the name of capitalism.

The article says that US *influence* not control, was established in 1811, or 56 years before the publication of Das Kapital in 1867. Or to someone who can read, half a century before the invention of socialism. woops.

you're funny. do you need help getting piss of the toilet cover? Or perhaps the front of your trousers?

*edit*

Oh and if you want to refer to the Pinochet affair here is a graph of real wages under Allende.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Chile-the-real-wage-1967-1977_with_lines.png/400px-Chile-the-real-wage-1967-1977_with_lines.png

Nixon was absolutely correct to be concerned that Allende would be as inept as Castro. Because he was. socialism has one outcome, proven by multiple experiments all over the world. It is a fundamentally failed institution, directly responsible for the worst human rights abuses of the 20th century. To espouse it now is final proof that you are an idiot. As Taggs said, just you Dunning–Kruger along little guy.
03:38pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1933 posts
You are racist.

You keep saying he didn't do socialism right.

You're saying that someone educated in paris in the 1920's which spawned Satre and all the other french communists, didn't understand and got it wrong.

I don't think you can sustain that with out appealing to racism.

I used to love Capitalism until i actually started empathising with people.


So there was a time you couldn't empathise with people?
03:59pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1934 posts
I think you're confused on what racism is. Stalin didn't do it right either. So apparently im racist towards Russians for that? If i disagree with anything anyone has done in a foreign country im a racist? You're funny.


The intellectual arbiters of communism resided in Paris in the '20s. To suggest that Ho Chi Minh didn't operate on the same intellectual plain as them is racist. pure. simple. racism.

You say Stalin was a singularity in the otherwise good idea of socialism. Every implementation according to you, which you have stated repeatedly in this thread, has been a perversion of true socialism.

Explain to me how a Vietnamese man didn't understand properly. and a Chinese man, and a Cuban man, and a south american man, and an Arab man, and an African man.

Explain how those WHITE FRENCH guys understood but none of the others did. without being racist mind.

There was a time i didn't care to look at our political system and its effects on others.


So there was a time you couldn't empathise with others then.
04:14pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1935 posts
that simply doesn't answer the question vash.

explain how all those non-whites didn't understand socialism in a way you do (*edit* or those french guys).

spewing cliche all over my monitor is more rude than an argument.

explain further how socialism, specifically, enabled you to empathise with people, in a way you were incapable of before.

Then explain how socialism didn't cure you of psychopathy.
04:25pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1936 posts
How did you explain vash?

I don't think you did. I don't think anyone reading would equate soviet farmer dispossession with an explanation of why the same principles failed world wide, but are nonetheless attributable to a "misunderstanding" of the true principles.

Time has told. Socialism fails.

*edit*

Also why aren't you a self admitted psychopath.
04:34pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1937 posts
No one is asking for an essay Vash. Just a coherent response.

Your utter failure to deliver one is your capitulation.

So far you have

Socialism is good.

Socialism as implemented in Russia under Stalin was bad, but not true socialism.

Socialism as implemented under literally every other race on earth has failed in the same way it did in Russia.

This is because the respective leaders didn't understand properly. (which is properly understood by a select group, of entirely white, french writers, vash is totally not being racist, its just a fact. like seriously you guys).

therefore, despite massive death and impoverishment and environmental degradation (in short, in spite of all evidence to the contrary), socialism is still good.
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/38/7938-004-ABC872A5.jpg yeah N****.

Plus you didn't used to be able to empathise with people, and now you can thanks to socialism. but capitalists are the true sociopaths.
04:48pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1938 posts
So have you read Das Kapital darling?

I think you have not. I've not heard a peep about LVT.

You are an ignorant buffoon. Refusing to type on a forum doesn't change that.
04:55pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1939 posts
So still no coherent response then sweetheart?

Don't appeal to caring about people when the political ideology you espouse is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people. you painted yourself into that corner. Now you get to live with it darling.

You are a quintessential champagne socialist.

Besides all of which I never said endorsing socialism equates with psychopathy. You said you couldn't empathise with people.

That is item number 1 on the psychopathy checklist.
05:08pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1940 posts
Nothing vash?

Didn't think so. Didn't want to engage LVT or allende's precipitous drop in real wages? All issues to be hashed out under socialism.

I think this is an argument more your speed darling:

06:56pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1941 posts
You haven't raised arguments beyond "i care about people".
This is undermined immediately by the fact you self-disclosed you needed an ideology to empathise. Regardless, you haven't addressed the objective ways socialism has been utterly catastrophic for the societies that have adopted it. Which is a comprehensive rebuttal to your non-argument.

dropping buzzwords now is a last pathetic attempt of legitimacy.

I've heard of Gross Domestic Product and that "capitalism" chases it at the expense of all else


That isn't an argument's a******.

Janet Yellen seems to care about rather a great deal more then raw GDP.

But ignoring the fact that is an economic straw-man, you have no argument to counter the fact that government spending beyond around 25% of GDP has a measurable effect on the overall economy.

This is something every Australian treasurer since keating (this is over three decades now) has acknowledged and you reject with out evidence or principle.

you haven't redeemed either an intellectual or moral high ground here you utter twat. You've been an embarrassment to those who would argue for a socialist society.

other than some knuckle dragging nonsense about "socialism is good" what have you actually argued?
07:41pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1942 posts
doesn't address arguments, after complaining arguments(which were comprehensively addressed) weren't addressed.

I think you now occupy a similar space to petethepossumman or what ever the f*** that guys name was.
08:01pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1943 posts
No I read, a great deal more than you I suspect.

Now you degenerate to baseless ad hominem.

Please continue, you cover yourself with glory.
08:17pm 31/05/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1944 posts
Ah typical 2GB callers. The result of reading Murdoch papers all your life.


Typical Vash, dripping with radically unwarranted self importance. The result of professing but actually knowing virtually nothing about socialism.
02:01pm 01/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1945 posts
Oh good the lead investigative reporter for occupy says trickle down economics is wrong.

Glad that debate is over.

Love how the article compares overall job creation during the tenure of a governor who presided over the GFC to the tenure of someone who came to power after the recovery was in full swing. That's a totally valid comparison.

Gee you are landing heavy body blows there little guy.

Probably also worth mentioning Minnesota's top corporate tax rate is 9.8% so keep that in mind when you talk about cutting our corporate tax rate from 30% to 25%.
03:58pm 01/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1946 posts
Yeah funny that during the GFC unemployment was lower under Labor, eh?


No it wasn't.

The current unemployment rate is 5.7% and unemployment during the GFC peaked at 6%.

Maybe there is some new socialist meaning of "lower than" I'm unaware of. If you really want to compare some numbers though why don't you look at the years of Howard prior to labor? that is if including the GFC is a totally fair comparison.

You'd be stupid or blind to not see that is a result of Reagan's policies, and the republican congress blocking any possibility of changing it.


So why did Bill Clinton's administration enjoy strong growth?

I'm not a particularly big fan on trickle down but you're not providing persuasive evidence (as per usual) that it is a fundamentally flawed idea.
04:31pm 01/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1947 posts
Australia ABS Stats have GFC job losses peaking at 5.8% in Jul 2009. The current figure is 5.7% and trending down.

So yeah the official stats don't agree with your story.

Unemployment has been higher, but that coincides with the commodity price collapse. So again to Rhinehart. Imagine if we had of had our economy even more closely aligned with commodity production by having a nationalized sector. That would have been dreamy.

The long term result is of importance. There will always be ups & downs due to markets. boom & busts.


What counts as long term? Currently in the US there is decent jobs growth and wage growth is picking up? That's longer term than anything you've presented, does that mean Reaganomics works now?

You have not presented any facts or arguments *again*. Just stating markets move in cycles isn't an argument. We all know this. The idea that socialism has some silver bullet for that is laughable.

I'm not going to watch an activist video with slick graphics. Those videos are invariably beating straw-men.

Anyway I'm over it. Enjoy being wrong again. You've got a talent for it.
05:15pm 01/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1948 posts
Yeah but some fat bastard, wealth inequality I find to be a largely banal discussion.

this article describes the annual *household* (not individual) income you need to be in the top 1% in 13 of the US's cities. Keep in mind it'll be lower probably in Australia.

The average figure seems to fall somewhere between 400k and 600k *household* income. top 5% for household income is 200k

In order to crack it you need two incomes of about 200k or 100k respectively for 1% and 5%.

Is that really an impossible dream? two professional incomes can probably push that. does a family that achieves that *insane* level of wealth really have an addiction to assets? Have they definitely ruthlessly exploited the poor to get there?

What people are really talking about are the 1% of the 1% of the 1%. But those people, gates, buffet, zuckerberg, page all get their income globally not from the US. why would their income be tethered to, or bear some meaningful relationship with, average US households? Moreover gates and buffet seem to spend most of their time giving their money away these days. Zuckerberg has pledged to do something similar. How evil is that s***? the guillotine for those c****.

The important figure, is median income and how that relates to median house prices and cost of living. If most people can carve out a comfortable living who gives toss what gates owns?

It's the one occupy and neo marxists never talk about because actually tinkering with those prices is unsexy boring work focused on adjusting key metrics in increments, while attempting to avoid bubble inflation or bursting.

Vash et al love to point how the extremely wealth are in fact extremely wealthy. But nothing of substance ever follows that. pointing out Gates has a s*** tonne of money when discussing social equity is close to being not even wrong.
09:00am 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1949 posts
It certainly seems to be an impossible dream if only 1% of the population is able to get that level of wealth..

So all lotto winners must have cheated? If it's impossible how do people attain it? you heard it hear first. A combined house hold income of $400k is impossible to attain, oh and if you have it, you're the reason society is crumbling. (society isn't crumbling, that level of wealth is totally attainable).

For a single person to gain billions is an exploitation of others

So remember that conflation I mentioned in the directly proceeding post?

Way to prove my point perfectly.

Thankfully the problem isn't as drastic here thanks to Labor policy

which totally explains this
04:27pm 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1950 posts
Not impossible, but going by the 1% figure, extremely difficult.


Why? seems more reasonable to suggest that the outcome is not common, nothing more nothing less, people dying from drowning in a toilet bowl is probably pretty uncommon, but not difficult. People prioritize all sorts of s***. I have a bunch of friends who's salaries are in that ball park.

They have had to work hard, but it wasn't anything like impossible. More importantly they aren't significantly undermining democracy so far as I'm aware.

And again, if it doesn't effect the average person's ability to get by why care?

You immediately conflate pretty well off with master of the universe, because its a sexy stat you can wave under peoples nose. But are you going to sit here and tell me that an annual household income of $400k is impermissibly high? So any two people earning $200k are by definition, exploiting the workers in a way that must be stopped?
04:40pm 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1951 posts
So then why link to a video about it and say this is an outcome that needs to be addressed?

And why talk about the 1% which you now seem to conceded isn't an inherently exploitative category of people?

*edit*

one obvious explanation is that it's a politically convenient boogie man.
04:59pm 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1952 posts
oh so it is *exactly* a politically convenient boogie man.

doesn't discount the reality that there is a huge wealth gap issue going on worldwide.


Yeah but everyone accepts rich people are rich. This is your insight? The question of how rich people being rich impacts my daily life is the actual question, and the answer seems to be not that much.
05:09pm 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1953 posts
Love how you don't provide any evidence for those claims at all.

The wealthy are trying to f*** me by inflating housing prices? Is this the mega corporations or the 1% Vash? Or people of moderate means acting in their self interest.

Given the detail on literally every other subject you talk about I am willing to bet you have not even a surface understanding of what is driving property prices in this country.

You certainly would be well f***ed if noone stood up against the Rich in the past, and up until this day


What does this even mean? Who is doing all the standing up?

Why would I be, in some vague sense, f***ed if noone had stood up to an ill defined foe at some point in the past?

This is the politically convenient boogie man narrative that you are utterly incapable of fleshing out. More specifically into a set of actions done by a set of people that require specific policy intervention.

Just everything bad in life is because bill gates has a few billion dollars, and everything good in life is because some commie said something to him once.
05:36pm 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1954 posts
You sound pretty naive atm


Yes the advocate of Marxist socialism accusing someone of historical naivety.

Have you read Das Kapital vash, yes or no?
06:44pm 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1955 posts
No i haven't as yet. On my big list of books to read.


So as per your 1% nonsense you have no firm grasp of the principles and are tied to any empirical analysis of how communism has actually played out, like the rest of us.

Moreover who the f*** do you you think you are to say mao or minh or any other communist leaders got it wrong?

I've read the communist manifesto. And it is a well written document but you don't have to pick it apart much to find real problems.

Yeah the threshold to be considered in the 1% (of everyone) is surprisingly low I thought


Moreover that graph flattens really quickly. You don't need to much to get to totally unexceptional incomes. the top 10% in Australia would be probably in the vicinity of $140k.
07:17pm 02/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1956 posts
Though I think you could forgive millionaires and focus on the multi-millionaires and billionaires. I was partial to Piketty's views on this, that in a capitalist system wealth just inevitably accumulates with the few (capital begets capital), so you need some reasonable redistribution to keep it balanced. I'd be interested in your thoughts on his books PornoPete.


Is Piketty the french economist with the best seller recently? I've not read his material.

No capitalist society argues that government shouldn't exist, the debate tends to be on what the legitimate purview of government should be. If you accept government has some legitimate role, you accept some wealth redistribution will be required to pay for it. Capitalism doesn't entail zero wealth redistribution. Nor does any wealth redistribution equate to "socialism lite".

I have no particular issue with some level of redistribution.

I have no problem with the progressive tax system. And super in Australia certainly needs attention.

When you enter super transition, you are able to salary sacrifice you super contributions and then withdraw your actual income from super, effectively giving you a tax free income stream while still working.

These sorts of things are wrong. But the idea there is some upper limit on wealth beyond which it can only be explained by exploitation and therefore must be taken off people is dumb (and I'm sure not an argument Piketty is making). Microsoft for example have been guilty of anti-competitive behavior, but so far as I'm aware they treat their workers pretty well. S*** I'd work there. So the narrative that Gates *must* have f***ed his workers to get his wealth doesn't really stack up. Same with google, and facebook. Certainly workers have been exploited in the past, but it doesn't follow large accumulations of wealth are exclusively explicable by mass worker exploitation.

However, if the argument then proceeds that the distribution curve is the wrong shape therefore we need to act, I think that is dumb, and not really justifiable beyond wealth envy.

Here is were I fall. If I (and the median income earner) can have a reasonable shot at home ownership and a comfortable life style, with some luxuries, and bill gates can have $60b, why not live at let live?

If I can get what I want, him having 600x my income doesn't matter, period.

If however, the wealthy begin to subvert democracy then we have a problem. But very little evidence of that has been provided here.

For example you talk about millionaires. My Aunt probably qualifies. She is a school teacher and her husband is a carer for disabled folks. Their home has massively appreciated since they got it. Are they now ruthless exploiters of the poor, who according to vash should give away half their s*** because judged globally they'd still be comfortable? Or would you dismiss that argument correctly as completely f*****g retarded. Don't forget, judged globally everyone here could give away half their s*** and still be comfortable compared to the global poverty line. What's the number beyond which, categorically your a rich c*** who should be forced to give up their s***?

It doesn't take rocket science to tell they got it wrong. They failed to bring about Socialism in a working manner. Cuba has done well, but its suffering problems that come with Government run business. It needs to apply coops that are in use today.


Yeah we know something went wrong. But when it is the same empirical results each time, any sane person would reach the conclusion something has to be wrong with the fundamentals, not intelligent leaders repeatedly getting wrong. But even if you accept that moronic argument, how doesn't it demonstrate socialism doesn't have institutions which are robust in the face of a determined despot?

Cuba suffers from all the problems that socialism has always brought about. If you are hitching your wagon to them you're a moron. We have already been over Cuba's dysfunctional agricultural sector in this thread. You can go back and read.

I doubt you will. But will still feel qualified to talk about a system who's key texts you're fundamentally ignorant of.

91 out of 1810 billionaires isn't many. Also 50% isn't much considering their immense wealth


They give away more than multiple generations of your family's life time tax bill, and its still not enough. You're an idiot.
08:31am 03/06/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25428 posts
A lot of right-wing politics to me at the moment seems to be about fostering an underclass. Making sure one exists and that it moves upwards as slowly as possible. The message in Toll's post was abundantly clear - tough measures in regards to employment benefits don't work. Much the same way that extra harsh penalties for crime don't work and actually increase incidents of recidivism while not acting as a deterrent. This has been proven practically as well as academically.
08:36pm 07/06/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25429 posts
The owner makes sure the lights are on, the wages and PAYG get paid, and the product is relevant to the customer. Workers are not interested in such complexities.
You're literally suggesting that workers are so stupid that they have no regard for their own survival. What has made you this way?

Well I'm glad you get the nature of the gripe. That's something at least. Care responding to it? You seem pretty eager to avoid doing so.
09:04pm 07/06/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25430 posts
That's one of the more classic examples of you saying the same dumb wrong thing but with more words.

Why are you asking me if Google would run better as a commune? The answer is obviously no because it's a huge corporation involving thousands of people worth billions of dollars. How come you didn't ask 'would a store in a town that sells everyday household goods run better as a commune?'
09:28pm 07/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1957 posts
It must be some Freudian slip thing going on with Vash.

Maybe Pavlovian? some instinctive response to hard evidence of socialism abject failure, or his own manifest lack of knowledge of how capital and business are actually conducted. I don't know.

But for someone who can only ever have engaged with socialism's propaganda, (because he freely admits not reading the actual texts) he is obsessed with saying Murdoch tells everyone who doesn't believe marx is god what to do and when to do it.

Anyway, well done Vash this last 200 posts or so prove that political ineptitude really is circular. You are the left's answer to brool/faceman.
08:32am 14/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1958 posts
The reason socialism fails is because of the wealthy.


It just isn't. The idea that capitalism hasn't expunged all corruption therefore socialism's corruption is ok, is a false equivalence of epic proportions.

Pointing to the Nordic countries as examples of "socialism" is equally as dumb.

For a start the largest investor in the world is the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund. You'll find exactly zero Marxists among their fund managers. funny story Norway's national oil producer isn't run as a workers coop, it's a publicly listed company. Here is the ticker. Why don't you do Norway a favor and buy some stock? even though your not a worker there, they don't seem to care.

The Nordic system is predicated on roughing out the edges of the market. Not some delusional adherence to a defunct system of governance. Allocating capital in the market remains the primary mover of wealth generation for those countries.

And even then, their social safety net is predicated on very low population growth.

Sweden had to back track from its refugee policy because it couldn't take the hit to its social programs. So the idea that the Nordic model could just be replicated is extremely naive.

Anywho, It's time to start treating your posts as the white noise they are.

you have two statements.
that wasn't really socialism and
newscorp print propaganda in support of (insert poorly conceived scapegoat here).
01:18pm 14/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1959 posts
yap yap yap.

I can read. You point to Norway as a model to adopt, yet it uses the tools you say create corruption and shuns the tools you say solves it. Can you even abstract thought?

Socialism's link with corruption is flatly undeniable.

oh look. Wasn't really socialism.

Must have been newscorp filling my head with (insert capitalist pig dog here).

yappity yap yap yap
04:07pm 14/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1960 posts
why don't you explain sweet cheeks.

I'm sure you understanding runs as deep on this as everything else you talk about.
04:25pm 14/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1961 posts
you read that cover to cover?

that wasn't really socialism and
newscorp print propaganda in support of (insert poorly conceived scapegoat here).
05:01pm 14/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1962 posts
Doesn't explain social democracy, quotes chomksy.

Let me take a wild guess. Number of books written by chomsky and read by vash == 0

Humans are compassionate when you take away all systems, and Capitalism pits ourselves against each other, every man for himself.


Where is there even a shred of evidence for such a moronic view.

oh ps the article shows social democracy as ending in a wholesale rejection of marx.

Just sayin.
08:17am 15/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1963 posts
it's the most moral system you can have within a Capitalist economy.


So would you say social democracy as described in the wiki article you linked is the most moral system?

Just wonderin' vash.
09:39am 16/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1964 posts
Good old vash.

Its a murdoch conspiracy.

literally highlighted his name and right click -> google search and the first result is...

This age we live in where fact checking is a literal impossibility.

You know its funny. It would be good if you read some times.

I take it you stand by your comment
it's the most moral system you can have within a Capitalist economy


and you are happy with the definition in the wiki article.

But I'm not convinced you read it. Because you see social democratic systems accepted and have all endorsed Keynesian economics.

Its all right there in the article. Most recently it has been criticized by actual Marxists as just being neo-liberalism.

But what is most hysterical of all, is Vash the mighty reader and understander of things, who rails against the big banks supports a system which is based on Keynesian theory.

But when you stop to think TARP is a straightforward application of Keynesian theory, you get the result that, vash is committed to bailing out the big banks.

That is interesting isn't it. According to Vash bailing out Goldman Sachs is quote:
it's the most moral system you can have within a Capitalist economy


You have exactly zero right to look down your nose at anyone.

You are easily the dumbest person posting on this forum, and frankly i don't find it surprising you luuurv Marx. People who do are frequently poorly read in their own tradition and unread in others. As has been repeatedly and neatly demonstrated with everything that spews from your keyboard.
08:40am 17/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1965 posts
Sure.

But it mandates bailing out the banks you have endlessly derided. TARP was required to secure liquidity and stimulate aggregate demand perfectly consistently with Keynesian doctrine. The *most* moral system requires giving trillions of dollars to the root cause of immorality in your view.

That, is so astonishingly, dumbfoundingly inconsistent, one might validly question if you even understand what the word morality means.
05:02pm 17/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1966 posts
yeah so again, you didn't read your article did you.

modern social democracy asserts socialism without capitalism has no purpose.

Bernie isn't a social democrat, Obama is, Tony Blair was. Bernie is, like Jerermy Corban an outright socialist.

Both of them have extensive records of support for the USSR. Bernie visited in the 70's or 80's.

I expect to learn how to tell workers to their face he protects their rights while undermining them at every opportunity.

So right on queue you demonstrate zero understanding of social democracy, as you have zero understanding of socialism.

I'm not rehashing the argument "that wasn't real socialism", because we have already established you don't know what the f*** socialism is.
07:29pm 17/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1967 posts
Raven Socialism as touted by marx and neo-marxists is a bad thing.

Bernie Sanders, Visited the USSR in '89. *edit* the comment was obvious hyperbole, but see below.

His sympathies with marxist thinking is a fact that is beyond debate. He was a member of the Young People's Socialist League which was the youth group for the the american socialist party. Which is shockingly, wait for it, a marxist party. *edit* well was. And one of the originators of the "it wasn't really socialism" cliche.

More over he has over the years called himself a socialist.

Bernie Sanders is just trump populism for wingnut (sorry moonbat) twats. Nothing more Nothing less.

Anyone who dug even remotely into his past will be able to see that.

He earned himself a rebuke from Obama's economic advisers earlier this year, the gist of which his projected savings from the single payer health system have no basis in fact. link.

Finally when you go here and look at what he seems to accept as democratic socialism you find this


Sanders’ campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But we found many examples of Sanders describing himself as a democratic socialist, a specific type of socialist who wants public ownership of the means of production (which means the tools and money to make things) and a democratic political system.


Now if you can find me an important difference between that and what ended up being the case in Soviet Russia I'm all ears. But I doubt you'll be able to.

That model is precisely what led to Venezuela's current troubles.

I'd be interested to know if anyone here can, without looking it up, describe what a soviet actually was.

Armed with that knowledge, then explain why we don't have 120 years of data teaching us to be extremely f*****g cautious around the conditions in which we make public ownership a priority.

*final edit*. I am assuming you haven't read the last 200 odd posts, where the benefits of socialism have been discussed in nauseating detail for the benefit of vash.

Vash I wouldn't expect someone as stupid as you to be able to comprehend pointing out far left marxist lunacy doesn't mean someone loves tony abbott.
08:28pm 17/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1968 posts
Yes Vash. Is Cuba really that bad?

Yeah my mind was *blown* by the myth busting.

myth 1 Chavez led a coup.
Chavez led a coup but the western media didn't report the full context.

Devastating analysis. Truly.

Chavez the great "democratic" leader's career goes:

failed coup -> election.

a totally reasonable order for someone who really cares about the voice of the people, I'm sure we can all agree.

http://replygif.net/i/586.gif
09:35am 19/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1969 posts
Pretty silly to have your economy reliant on resources, Australia learnt that too (though the LNP keeps subsidising it)


And yet you advocate for nationalization, or the largest possible subsidy. Oh and incidentally the way to have the biggest possible impact of commodity fluctuations on government cash flow.

Mind blowing ignorance.

Don't see us blaming Capitalism for the GFC and massive poverty in Latin America, Africa & Asia now, do we?


Poverty levels are categorically falling in Asia and only started falling once they took on socialism with "asian" characteristics.

@raven

Do you read the stuff you type before you hit send, and realise just how little credibility it gives you?


I'm yet to hear a response.
07:33am 21/06/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1970 posts
yes vash.

I have addressed both Africa and south america ad nauseam. Your inability to remember two minutes ago isn't my problem.

I have no desire to discuss the GFC with you because I know you don't even begin to comprehend what happened. You will spout nothing even approaching insight, and rely totally on "wall street is bad emkay" platitudes.
12:49pm 21/06/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4474 posts
Vote early and often.
04:25pm 02/07/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4475 posts
what did he do wrong? save the coalition's ass?
11:31pm 02/07/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4476 posts
So this is a new Senate everyone faced the Election ?
What happens at the next Election ?
half the Senate face an Election ?

How do they choose who has to run ?

there's a couple of ways they can do it
02:51pm 03/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25444 posts
His head would be on a pike by now.
08:25pm 04/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25445 posts
tonez needs to come back and do this right.
I'm having trouble understanding this whole Abbott should come back thing I am hearing. Is it a pride thing? Leading up to his election you were warned many times about how awful he'd be. He turned out more awful than anyone could have possibly imagined so you're forced to continue on supporting him because you're incapable of saying oops I was wrong that guy I spent years advocating is actually quite awful? Maybe you should try it. Admitting you're wrong just once. I guess the first time will be hard for you but just think to the future when you're wrong again about how you can actually learn from your mistakes. Update your knowledge with some new information. You're currently running some real 0.1 alpha level s*** in that brain of yours.
08:51pm 04/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25446 posts
So... you're a delcon then?
09:02pm 04/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25447 posts
On what basis was he doing a better job than Turnbull? Abbott was an unmitigated disaster. The fake budget emergency, the complete botching of OSB, reneging on many so called election promises, the destruction of the NBN, the diplomatic blunders etc. Turnbull has the luxury of not being bats*** insane so has managed to be more of e benign type failure so far.
09:29pm 04/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25448 posts
This one was also quite a thing

09:41pm 04/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1983 posts
http://time.com/3934980/right-wing-extremists-white-terrorism-islamist-jihadi-dangerous/

Study Says White Extremists Have Killed More Americans in the U.S. Than Jihadists Since 9/11


I wouldn't place a lot of stock in time. The methodology excludes the 9/11 attacks for some incomprehensible reason. They are focused on "homegrown" terrorism, but the war on terror is decidedly focused on international terrorism. In terms of public policy its not a great figure to focus on, particularly when they want to talk about NSA stuff.

Further when you go to the site, and look at the figures, while there have been less fatalities (until orlando happened), the number of people caught up in indictable plots is roughly double in favour of jihadists.

but either way Orlando totally f***ed up the kumbaya story. Now you're nearly twice as likely to be killed by a jihadi than a white supremacist. that's if we want to take the banal time analysis at face value.

I'd say you probably shouldn't.
11:19am 05/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25449 posts
Hey infi, what does a major corporation pay for halal? What does a small sole trader pay?
11:36pm 05/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1985 posts
jordies gets real fired up here. Good on him. F*** the LNP.


Er Jordies, implied Hawke introduced medicare. Which I guess is true if by "introduced" you mean renamed from medibank, which Whitlam introduced in '75.

And the libs were so hostile to the plan they supplemented the medibank program with medibank private.

Then he conflates state hospital funding over four years with the potential revenue impact of tax cuts over 10 years, and more importantly two elections.

He certainly does get shouty though. I think you are confusing the intensity of saying something with the validity of what is being said.

Nobody that shouty could be wrong, right?

The AMA called shortens medicare schlock a scare campaign. The same people who said it was short sighted to remove pathology from bulk billing.
02:58pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1986 posts
Are you saying fear campaigns work because there is an element of truth to them?
05:12pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1987 posts
So then because there is some truth to tinkering with medicare, an outright lie becomes a legitimate campaign technique?

Surely you can see where this is going?
05:45pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1988 posts
The AMA disagree Vash.

Jordies can muster all the undergrad rage he wants. He is still factually wrong.

f*** me enough with the giving corporations s*** is evil routine.

I would be utterly unsurprised to find out jordies have an incorporated production company which will benefit from the first round of tax cuts. The big four banks *will not get a tax cut under turnbull until after 2020*. Sort of shoots a big. Fatal. Game over hole in the f*****g argument.
05:56pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1989 posts
The medicare freeze is a labor policy Vash.
06:15pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1990 posts
From the article you linked to vash.
In 2013, the then Labor government introduced an eight-month cap on the amount of money it paid doctors who provided services under Medicare.


and from the second article

However GPs said their practices had been largely absorbing the cost of the indexation freeze, and if the freeze continued services would be affected.


I suppose Labor weren't trying to take apart medicare piece by piece when they did it right?

I know reading isn't your strong suit. But really, you should at least try.
06:39pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1991 posts
They temporarily introduced a freeze which went beyond an election they were almost certainly going to lose?

The LNP dismantling goes far beyond a temporary rebate freeze.


so is there some reason you chose to focus on a freeze introduced by labor?

certainly the money jordies is talking about is centred on the savings from the freeze.

So why is freeze introduced by labor the centre piece of an argument for liberal privatisation?

That makes, literally, no sense.
06:46pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1992 posts
So 4 years of rebate freeze == privatising medicare?

But 8 months, over which you'll definitely lose government is....

yeah straws is what im clasping at.
07:07pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1993 posts
Wasn't it a short term fix while they tried to move Medicare rebate off the CPI? Labor places it on eight months freeze, coalition belittled them about that freeze yet when in power they change it to four years instead and also try to introduce GP co-payments.

Seems like Liberals are looking far worse for Medicare than Labor was.


I'm sorry but the claim isn't that you can reasonably freeze the medicare rebate. It's that freezing the medicare rebate represents privatising medicare.

The policy was introduced by labor. Merely continued by liberal.

If the argument is that freezing the rebate is the same as privatising medicare then privatising medicare is labor's policy.
08:17pm 06/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1994 posts
What else does Medicare DO other than back end payments to doctors?! Its literally the system's job description...


I'd have thought the job was to fund medical assistance. It doesn't follow the means by which those fund are delivered must also be government owned. Doctors surgeries tend to be private businesses after all.

I expect its a bit like myki or go cards in Brisbane.
02:35pm 07/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25454 posts
Malcolm repulses me. Hiding in his waterfront mansion on election night till 11.30pm. What a creep.
Remember that time you said a dumb racist thing on here and spent months and hundreds of words trying to make believe that it didn't actually happen? My point is you're a complete coward yourself, and it's really funny watching you accuse people of being cowardly.
03:36pm 14/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1997 posts
Unfortunately you should see how popular he is within his own electorate.


Does he enjoy high personal popularity or does he just sit in an ultra safe liberal seat?

That former Australian idol twat polled like 11% in Warringah

Even after two party swing of 3.7% he holds the seat by a margin of 11% or so.

David Feeney held Batman, but I doubt its due to his magnetic personality.
05:06pm 14/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1998 posts
Yeah a parliament of individuals sounds good in theory.

I think it practise it would be very difficult for a leadership vision form under those circumstances.

And as anti-democratic as it sounds I'm fine with the ALA or rise up being crowded out by brand recognition. It follows, I can't be too miffed when the science party or the pirate party or the greens get f***ed by the same system.

the two party system has its obvious flaws. Literally the only value David Feeney provides is party discipline, he is an objectively terrible candidate. Much like Abbott in my view.

But lets not mince words, does anyone really think Glenn Lazarus or Ricky Muir or Jackie Lambie or Pauline Hanson have the requisite legal and economic knowledge to be making country shaping decisions? Ricky Muir bemoaned making hard decisions early in the set. What the f*** did he think he was signing up for?

David Feeney has the redeeming quality he'll do what he is told by Penny Wong et al.

A parliament of individuals will ensure people like Hanson have a louder voice, not just the micro parties you agree with.

TL;DR I agree in principle, but think in practice it would be a fiasco.
11:19am 15/07/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
1999 posts
Yes I understand that, but I didn't say they weren't lawyers and economists therefore they can't be legislators.

I said they didn't have the required legal and economic knowledge to make for good ultimate legal and economic decision makers (which are the primary functions of legislators). I'd agree that multi-disciplinary folks would make for great parliamentarians. But are you really going to sit there and say what we really need in parliament is more jackie lambies?

Parliament's job is writing laws. Seems like a grasp of legal knowledge and concepts is going to come up.

Abolishing the party system would all almost certainly remove experts of any ilk, and see the rise of small minded and small concerned local populists.

I direct your attention to hanson and xenophon doing so well. Or an australian idol host in Warringah.

People don't seem to vote by and large perfectly rationally, largely because on most issues they can't, I know I don't. A brand allows boring experts to get past while being poor campaigners.

Clearly party politics comes with the downside that people who can play the internal game well get ahead.

But there is strong reason to believe that game would be stacked even more in favour of those types in a party-less system.
11:57am 15/07/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25464 posts
01:57pm 04/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38438 posts
Hmmm... I wonder how things are going in the Socialist Utopia of Venezuela ?


https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/venezuela-new-regime-effectively-amounts-to-forced-labour/

Just imagine The Greens in charge of the Economy
Nothing that comes out of that freak show benefits this country.
If you want to wreck Australia Vote Greens

I get the feeling The Greens hate Australia.
It makes you wonder the same about those who vote for them.
Senate results will be out Thursday
It will be a bad day for The Greens.
can you really compare third world economic outcomes based on their system of government though? like, is it productive or meaningful in any way? wouldn't it make more sense to look at socialist first world countries where corruption and general s***tiness are not in the same order of magnitude?

I voted Greens because I sincerely believe the best outcome for Australia is to have more than two parties. I don't agree with all their policies (e.g., nuclear) but I agree with most of them. Like most Australians who do various voting tests I scored very high for Greens on policy-base polling.

Your - and everyone elses - whining about the Greens is just the most strawman thing ever. Their presence in politics is, in practical terms, largely insignificant, but when you throw the SOCIALIST! scareword around it sure does make a nice talking point to distract everyone about the complete ineffectiveness and fecklessness of the two major parties!
08:23pm 04/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2015 posts
I don't understand your first paragraph.
09:47pm 04/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38439 posts
there are no socialist first world countries. socialism sends any potentially wealthy countries broke/into poverty.
there are no capitalist first world countries either though, right? they all have some form of "socialism" about them.
11:40pm 04/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2016 posts
Vash you are a f*****g moron.

Capitalist socieites haven't eliminated all corruption, therefore I can equivicate between that and forced labour camps in Venezuela.

Trog. You can absolutely draw conclusions about socialism from Venezuela. Every Marxist thought it was the best thing since sliced bread three years ago. 1 year ago they were suppressing news of commodity shortages. What happened in Venezuela has all been according to a very well defined playbook of consequences of socialism. Socialism isn't any and all wealth redistribution. Socialism is a philosophy that says that wealth isn't created by allocating capital in the market. I'll highlight the important bit for RE denmark.

Social democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a capitalist economy, and a policy regime involving collective bargaining arrangements, a commitment to representative democracy, measures for income redistribution, regulation of the economy in the general interest and welfare state provisions. Social democracy thus aims to create the conditions for capitalism to lead to greater democratic, egalitarian and solidaristic outcomes; and is often associated with the set of socioeconomic policies that became prominent in Northern and Western Europe—particularly the Nordic model in the Nordic countries—during the latter half of the 20th century.


If you think socialism is so great how about you and term reorganise mammoth media as a workers coop. Until then you are a hypocritical labour rapist.
06:55am 05/08/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25465 posts
I think the point he was trying to illustrate was that by using Venezuela as some sort of example of what may happen should the Greens achieve any real power is incredibly silly. Yet it's the sort of brain dead fear mongering the slow witted deal in regularly which then spreads to more even slower witted people.
07:43am 05/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2017 posts
Yet it's the sort of brain dead fear mongering the slow witted deal in regularly which then spreads to more even slower witted people.


Well then why do people like to use that exact strawman when referring to all the "benefits" socialism brings.

As I said, any and all wealth redistribution isn't socialism.

Socialism is a very particular philosophy about where wealth is generated and the inherently oppressive nature of capital, (not capitalists or capitalism, all capital is oppressive therefore if you have some you're evil by definition nothing you can do, just evil).

If it is fear mongering to refer to social welfare programs as socialism, equally it is cherry picking to say social welfare is a benefit of socialism. different spins on the same strawman. So seeing as we want to play the rhetorical fallacy game I thought I'd throw in hyperbole for s**** and gigs.

As for the greens. We probably wouldn't end up like Venezula, but I suspect they would be utterly incompetent boobs.

Trog talks about agreeing with their policies, but the policies I read are wiffle. Their Tax paper is ten pages of nothing. Just fashionable puffery about banks are evil and corporations take profits offshore. They close non-descript loop holes to recover unknown lost tax revenue.

It's certainly not a policy with any clear guidance on how to it should be implemented. The benefits of knowing you'll never wield executive power I guess.

Anyway, be the change you want to see in the world trog.

*edit* On a side note it's great to see Rudd out there doing the hard yards to justify Turnbull's decision. How people ever thought he was anything other than a ruthless narcissist really is quite beyond me.
08:26am 05/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2018 posts
protectionist/crony capitalism


Oh good so you should fine with the tpp then right. I mean protectionism is so bad and all.
11:52am 05/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38440 posts
Well then why do people like to use that exact strawman when referring to all the "benefits" socialism brings.

As I said, any and all wealth redistribution isn't socialism.
I completely agree. The problem is the word socialism has become hopelessly confused thanks to people using it to describe (say) completely normal western style social programmes that they hate because they're captialist extremists. So they use it as a boogeyman to hark back unto the days of THE REDS and emotionally charge it in a black/white context.

I consider myself a capitalist socialist: I believe in a regulated free market where people can strive to make as much money as they want while simultaneously paying lots of tax to provide the best civilisation and society possible for them and their countrymen!

The problem is the rest of us norms then use it casually to describe the success of "socialist" policies (like building roads, public healthcare, NASA, social security etc, for which it is not really an appropriate term.
As for the greens. We probably wouldn't end up like Venezula, but I suspect they would be utterly incompetent boobs.
I would not surprise me at all if this was the case - but as it's the situation we're ALREADY IN I at least think it would be an interesting experiment!
Anyway, be the change you want to see in the world trog.
When I return to Australia I hope to get a little more involved. At the moment I'm still recovering from two years of living in fear in the US - and the perpetual world-destruction that might result from a Trump presidency - and now am dealing with the trainwreck that is the UK politics!
05:24pm 05/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2019 posts
so you don't consider yourself a socialist at all really.

I also think you need a new "T" key on your keyboard.

I would not surprise me at all if this was the case - but as it's the situation we're ALREADY IN I at least think it would be an interesting experiment!


A fascinating experiment for certain. but what if the experiment is a failure?

How many millions of lives are you willing to bet against proven improved living standards? The system as it stands allowed for this conversation in this form. Do you think a change would allow for it? I remain to be convinced.

*edit*The current "situation" allows me to live my life more or less as I see fit. I've no reason to rock the boat.

I suspect you've little reason to as well.

*/edit*
05:35pm 05/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38441 posts
so you don't consider yourself a socialist at all really.
no, but that's kind of my point - when people in western societies these days describe themselves as "socialists", they mean in the Bernie Sanders sense - not in the Venezuela sense.
I also think you need a new "T" key on your keyboard.
I missed this reference..?
A fascinating experiment for certain. but what if the experiment is a failure?

How many millions of lives are you willing to bet against proven improved living standards? The system as it stands allowed for this conversation in this form. Do you think a change would allow for it? I remain to be convinced.
I guess I am not imagine some sort of apocalypse happening if the Greens get in (or even if they just win a few more seats), which is what many people seem to think will happen, I guess because reasons?

I don't imagine Labor or Liberal or their supporters going anywhere; I just see a more moderate government that better represents the views of the electorate - not some Green Fourth Reich that decides to mulch the bodies of all the titans of industry and use it to fertilise their marijuana fields or whatever.

edit: to be clear I just see it as an extension of what happened in the last few years as Greens & independents have had their various impacts on the governmental process - just more so. I don't imagine them getting into power and then having an unrestricted free hand to do whatever they want; that's not how our political system works, right?!
I suspect you've little reason to as well.
and yet, here were are! I'm quite comfortable too (living on the other side of the planet) but I want to rock the living s*** out of the boat! I want to sink the boat and replace it with an electric boat made of hemp and powered by solar!!
06:09pm 05/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38442 posts
What's the general feeling about Trump v Clinton where you are trog? It seems like Clinton's going to win in a majority, but then you never know!
I'm in London now, not the US. But where I was in the US (Columbus, OH) it was a bit of a liberal bastion in an otherwise fairly red area so it was kind of hard to tell. I know a few Republicans who are horrified by Trump but more horrified by Clinton/Democrats.

As if often said these days, each of the candidates happens to be running against the only candidate they could hope to beat. It's a weird situation.
06:27pm 05/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38443 posts
the prevailing sentiment i can gather about trump vs clinton is that the republicans could have picked pretty much anyone else and beaten her.
well it speaks volumes about the rest of the Republican candidates that Trump was more or less easily able to get the nomination. It was a clown car show from the get go.
Now Bill leak is being hounded by the Social Justice Warriors who are carpet bombing advertisers who use The Australian.
I guess Suncorp and I are about to part ways.
Reading Leak's comments about it, I kind of get where he's coming from. Australians, sadly, seem pretty good (myself included) at turning a blind eye to most of the stuff that happens in those kind of communities. (Comments like this are made non-stop about black populations in the US, fwiw, though maybe not in the newspaper)
03:37am 06/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2020 posts
I guess I am not imagine some sort of apocalypse happening if the Greens get in (or even if they just win a few more seats), which is what many people seem to think will happen, I guess because reasons?


The greens have demonstrated themselves repeatedly to be unable to compromise on key policy points. Their voting against the carbon tax comes to mind.

That kind of mentality is exceedingly dangerous to have in power.

Anyway, I was more referring the the idea that the current system is a total failure. On any objective measure it clearly provides the best living standards human kind has ever known.

The idea that we should seek change for changes sake has always been a curious one to me. and I don't think you really mean it.

Lets not forget one nation are now a party likely to be able to have their say as well. I doubt you'll sign up for their change just for changes sake.
11:15am 06/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38444 posts
That kind of mentality is exceedingly dangerous to have in power.
I mean you keep saying this kind of stuff like it only applies to the Greens, when the track record of the other parties, especially the Liberals (because they've been in power most recently) is littered with failures to compromise (e.g., NBN, almost anything ole "stop the boats" Tony ever said, gay marriage).

The Greens, like all the parties, compromise when it suits their political goals.
Anyway, I was more referring the the idea that the current system is a total failure. On any objective measure it clearly provides the best living standards human kind has ever known.
I don't think it's a total failure, just that the current political climate of A vs B means almost nothing productive can ever get done because everyone is always at loggerheads with each other. Every issue is boiled down to a black-vs-white false dichotomy. This is way more of a problem in the US - there is a growing independents movement but it's pushing against all the money in the world trying to stop them. Seeing it happen more and more in Australia is really depressing.

The idea that we should seek change for changes sake has always been a curious one to me. and I don't think you really mean it.
a) that's not what I'm saying b) yes I do. Of course I do. Who wouldn't?! Change happens regardless of whether or not you want it and if our society does not display adaptability we will fail.

Of course we should be seeking change to make things better. You want to keep living in an Australia where our political elite is sitting on its hands trying to pretend that whether or not gay people can get married is some huge massive conundrum?!#
07:40pm 06/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38445 posts
i thought Trump was going to win up until the last week but when he paid that Muslim military family out that was like his Mark Latham handshake moment. I don't know if he can recover from the last week.
I saw a poll that showed a staggering drop for his ratings but i can't find it now. Be interesting to see if he can bluster his way out
07:43pm 06/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2021 posts
You want to keep living in an Australia where our political elite is sitting on its hands trying to pretend that whether or not gay people can get married is some huge massive conundrum?!#


*edit* to be clear I an not making the case for liberal government. I'm making the case against the greens being large enough to wield executive power.*/edit*
Well do you really want to suggest that this is a problem that needs to be addressed lest society as we know fall apart?

I've no problem with it, but as a policy framework your going to have to work a bit harder.

The major parties between the two of them have continued to see economic growth for nearly the longest period on record. Oh and they don't seem to be opposed to gay marriage in principle. The plebiscite is a compromise position. I don't particularly like the compromise, they should just legislate it, but the issue is if you accept government has the ability to legislate it, then they are perfectly within their rights to say no gay marriage. The Libs could have adopted that and probably would have gotten elected anyway.

Things like gay marriage being something people want to have a high faluten argument over is a sign of how well society is travelling not the other way around. I can tell you right now barry from south sudan doesn't give a f***.

Important policy for example like Tax is a vacuum over in greens land.

in an election being fought over tax rates for corporations their policy document didn't articulate one rate, either for the GST the Corporate Tax rate or the PAYG scale.

also would you care to explain how the NBN is a comparable policy failure to voting against the carbon tax?

You've stated you're against the NBN so a compromised cheaper system seems like it should be up your ally.

but lets compare with the carbon tax. Their reasoning was literally that the tax wasn't set high enough so they voted to have nothing at all.

Quite a different situation.

But if the best you can muster is the current major parties have the same faults the greens do why the f*** would I want increased power for a new party with all the same faults?

a) that's not what I'm saying b) yes I do. Of course I do. Who wouldn't?! Change happens regardless of whether or not you want it and if our society does not display adaptability we will fail.


a) Seems like its exactly what your saying because b) how the f*** could you possible mean it if you weren't?

Evolutionary change happens with out political input. There is no particular reason to seek out people with vague ideas on how to change s***. S*** will change vaguely on its own just fine.


i guess that means there's something seriously wrong with society.
Cognitive dissonance, fact ignorance, fascism & racism.


You have raised lack of self awareness to Olympian levels, you really have.
07:57am 07/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38446 posts
I've no problem with it, but as a policy framework your going to have to work a bit harder.
I think you're confused about what I'm saying, or I'm not saying it well. I'm not really interested in debating how good or bad the Greens are or nitpicking their policies.

My hypothesis is simple: I think Australians will be better off with more than two major parties. Who the third is doesn't really matter (well, obviously with some exceptions). I don't want the Greens to be the sole party in power; I want them there to bring Balance To The Force.

If you don't believe that (I can only guess you don't as you appear to be very angry about it for some reason) then that's fine - I don't know if it's true which is why it's just a hypothesis that I'd like to test. But after two years in the US and seeing what real two party politics looks like, I'll be doing what I can to avoid it.

The Greens most closely match the broad wishful thinking I do - if you're just irritated at me because I'm using the Greens as an example I'd be just as happy to replace them with the Sex Party or the Pirate Party or the Grow All The Marijuana Party or whatever you prefer - because by the time they get to the point that they're a big enough force to be at the same level as the current two parties, their policies and processes will have matured, by necessity, to be less radical and smoother around the edges.
Evolutionary change happens with out political input. There is no particular reason to seek out people with vague ideas on how to change s***. S*** will change vaguely on its own just fine.
It is precisely /because/ of evolutionary change that you need to have political change. If your political and legal frameworks are not keeping up with the pace of evolution then they'll (at best) fall apart and become useless and (at worst) actually obstruct citizens and the economy.

There are several examples I can think of where change has happened without political input but the fact that our political systems are dragging behind is causing no end of drama. Gay marriage is one (it's obvious and inevitable that it's going to be a thing but the knuckledraggers are just making this painful for everyone). Uber I think is another - it's obvious that the re-centralisation of certain services has caused havoc amongst service provides (arguably this is a local issue and not a federal one but it's just an example of the political machinery not keeping up with technological change). Healthcare and education are getting better but there is still an odd acceptance at government level for woo that should not be tolerated.
07:30pm 08/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38447 posts
I'm not sure trog or I are arguing for an overthrow of the existing capitalist system (though perhaps Vash is! ;)), or rejecting the good it's done and that it's basically the best system so far. I think we're arguing that there's genuine issues with unbridled capitalism around the 'social good' aspect that need to be resolved through reasonable socialistic regulation. Examples being climate change, poverty, immigration, exploitation, etc.
I most definitely am not. I think capitalism is the worst form of building an economy except for all the other ones that have been tried.

But it's just seems blindingly obvious that the amazing part of Western society isn't the capitalist part - it's the "socialist" part that has allowed people to build these awesome capitalist structures. It's the taxes that paid for the road networks and the communications and power grids. It's the healthcare and the social services. It's clean water that literally comes out of a magic fountain in your house. It's sewage systems that keep cities clean and reduce disease. It's having a reliable financial system that create a solid and regulated base to keep the playing field fair for commerce.

I don't believe in pure capitalism any more than I believe in pure socialism. Neither of them are workable. As with almost anything else in life (except for maths and evidence-backed science of course :) the right answer is moderation.
07:38pm 08/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2022 posts
Well if you don't want to discuss their policies that's really your deal.

However, I would point out that

it's the "socialist" part that has allowed people to build these awesome capitalist structures

Yes and no, and the "socialist" structures were uniformly implemented by Labor, so you're not making a particularly strong case for another party. Seems like there is a party on it.

and secondly, looking at their policies and how they attempt to go about implementing them gives insight in the hypothetical you want me to entertain. And I'm saying to you, they provide solid evidence that a third party would be likely to slow down reform rather than speed it up.

Anyway I'm happy to leave it at that.
08:16pm 08/08/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25466 posts
The Nauru Files Australia runs concentration camps where we send people declared by the government as undesirable. In these concentration camps they are tortured and sexually abused by the people who are meant to be caring for them. Many members of the Australian public don't care and will actually act as apologists for this behaviour because these people have brown skin. Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton facilitated these conditions but will never face justice, again, because these people have brown skin.

I've been talking about this for years and years now. To be fair I think it is only the hardcore racists on this board who will still turn a blind eye to it, so that's something. I just can't really see how you can give what is going on even a cursory glance and not be outraged about it. Infact unless you are at least slightly outraged by this then you're pretty much a complete c***.
06:50pm 10/08/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25467 posts
Concentration camp conditions must be improved! Only then can we find the right torture/appearing not to condone torture balance required to make it a success in stopping some boats for some reason!
09:43pm 10/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38452 posts
The offshore processing policy is necessary to deter boat arrivals and the loss of life at sea, as can be seen by the stark reduction in numbers of arrivals since it has been re-introduced.
literally anyone can stop immigration by basically torturing people that arrive on your shores trying to immigrate

is the tiny fraction of illegal immigration that occurs when people actually make it to shore by boat worth it? I'm embarrassed to be Australian as a result of it so I'll say no
04:55am 11/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2024 posts
Ohhh we can agree trog, we can agree. What fun!
09:33am 11/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38453 posts
Ohhh we can agree trog, we can agree. What fun!
THE GREENS WOULD FIX IT!@! (did I ruin it?! :)
05:44pm 11/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2025 posts
MAYBE!
05:53pm 11/08/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25469 posts
The only way to have full transparency is with Government running it.
Not this government.
06:44pm 11/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2026 posts
That strikes me as a long bow to draw viper.
07:29pm 11/08/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25471 posts
I don't think so. Anyone who has been following these events from the start have known it is dodgy as f***. Credible allegations of sexual assault have been around for ages now. No one really cares.

But this census bungle? It's exploded everywhere. It's all I've seen on the news lately, easily eclipsing the Olympics and the latest from Nauru.

What I find rather telling is how child sexual abuse is a thing universally maligned by pretty much everyone except the perpetrators of it. It seems we can add the LNP and white supremacists to that list.
08:16pm 11/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2027 posts
Yeah but this

Credible allegations of sexual assault have been around for ages now


Is why drawing an inference of people's concern based on the disparate responses is at least unreliable and probably faulty. The fact that nobody is surprised about *more* evidence, but are shocked that there is a real risk deeply personal information has been stolen doesn't really convey any deeper knowledge of how people are ranking the importance of the events.

One is new the other is old. I think is about as powerful an explanation you can find in it.

Given the author of the piece hasn't written anything else about asylum seeker abuse, I guess, using that logic, I can conclude he doesn't care about the issue. After all child abuse is the worst crime there is, his failure to write on exclusively on the topic, or at least a single other article on the issue, I read as his psychopathic apathy toward it.

Anyway, I've volunteered in the area and studied the law surrounding it in detail. I wasn't particularly shocked by the Guardian revelations and was quite surprised by the census. I guess I must implicitly condone it then.
08:53pm 11/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2028 posts
I guess my circles differ (obviously so I guess).

I have seen the guardian stuff all over my facebook.

public inquiries getting setup immediately.

We did, Gillian Triggs reported on this last year. You can read it here.

If the leaks merely confirm the content of the report, which appears it is the case, I'm not sure its a valid criticism to judge people for not being up in arms for stuff they already knew about.

Dutton is already out about suggesting they cynically self-harm. It's a very well worn script at this stage.

Therefore I don't think the Guardian confirming what a government report already stated failing to spark a fresh round of outrage is a particularly damning outcome.

I mean the census thread is trucking along ok. Are you particularly willing to ascribe the casual racism to everyone posting in that thread rather than this one?
09:21pm 11/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2029 posts
The fact that the policy is still in place is certainly puzzling. However before talking about what Australia thinks, it's worth considering that the policy needs a surprisingly low approval rating to make it into law. Turnbull held on to government by the skin of his teeth, and lets not forget how rarely a first term government gets the flick in Australian politics (I think you have to go back to Chifley). I have my doubts Shorten could have prosecuted the policy without significant rumblings from his back bench.

So the facts are the LNP had a primary vote of just under 42%. Of the people who voted LNP I doubt you'd find 80% approval of the policy as it currently stands, particularly in light of the ongoing concerns about institutional child abuse. I would refer you to the NT child prisoner abuse two weeks ago that had a royal commission set up later that day.

The fact that Dutton is out doing a 'well-worn' script with no further indignation or action from anyone kind of attests to that.

The point would follow if Dutton could appeal to some high level of personal approval, but I don't think he can. In fact he gets roundly criticised every time he makes these comments.

The LNP government has largely ignored the AHRC's, and other institutions, reports about this. They've not changed their policy.


Surely that sort of means you should leave your criticism at the LNP's door. Australia's human rights commissioner delivered a scathing assessment of the policy. Last I heard Professor Triggs has the final word on Australia's human rights commitments. The LNP's obscene response to her, did result in a political cost. So when gauging Australia's feelings about the issue, it might be a bit more complex then displaying equal outrage about the issue of the week.

I might point out in addition that the Australian Bar Association and the Law Council of Australia (Australia's peak legal bodies) are ongoing vocal critics of the policy, and the Australian Barrister John Griffin QC acted for the applicants in the PNG manus island constitutional case (ie fought to have the centre found unconstitutional).

If the author wishes to cast churlish aspersions about Australia's collective conscience based on a facile equivocation that is his right. I'll exercise mine to call him a pompous, inconsistent buffoon.

*edit* an addendum regarding calling the census issue "an IT bungle"
The census screwing up isn't just any other IT crash is it? The census is a critical policy planning instrument. It's findings will have wide ranging policy implications for the entire Australian population.

There are serious concerns of data being stolen, in the first year it was made identifiable. That isn't a small deal. But additionally, part of the point is to get as many people to complete the form in as smaller time frame as possible. That's impossible now.

The census being screwed up isn't trivial.

let me make the point another way. Spared of the author's pontifications was Senator Hanson Young. She is the Greens immigration spokeswoman and yet she found time on Tuesday to advertise her civil disobedience. By the author's logic she callously prioritised political grandstanding with the census over the known troubles on Nauru. Or his logic is faulty, could be that too.

Acknowledging the one doesn't entail denying the other.
10:04am 12/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2042 posts

If worker coops were common, that would drastically reduce the amount of people able to get rich off the fruit of other people.


Looking forward to some metal gymnastics about this coop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Goulburn_Co-operative

It's almost like Vash is a dumbf*** ideologue who has his reflection in faceman.
Worker's coops are going to save us from exploitation. Just give control to the workers, exploitation will be a thing of the past. Hurrah 1917. Or maybe not.
07:02pm 16/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2044 posts
Oh fun look at it squirm.

corporations are evil, works coops will prevent exploitation.

workers coop is exploitative.

Oh its a capitalist workers coop. need to get me some of them Scottish workers coops, it'll work then.

The ownership structure didn't eradicate, it didn't even reduce Vash. Your argument was that structure will have some fundamental impact on the ability to exploit. Turns out that's false. Because obviously it's false.

You're a dopey little twerp, who spouts s*** he knows nothing about.
08:27am 17/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2045 posts
Conservatives think greed is inherently human, it actually isn't.


What utter tosh. A scientific basis for solidarity. F*** you people live in a fantasy land.

Putting aside you don't understand what happened in the GFC, Greed is why food shortages happen in Venezuela.

Government's thinking they can boss market prices around is the real problem. Something socialists such as yourself are simply incapable of grasping.

And lets look some more commie science while we're at it.

The market proves it's unable to accommodate the increasing need to cut back on consuming & emissions. Because both those things are what fuel the market.


How? Just saying it doesn't make it so. An introduction of a price on carbon is a market solution to climate change.

Such an a grade dummy.
12:42pm 17/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2046 posts
No it hasn't, I love how we are now talking about climate change because your theory about workers coops is clearly false.

Pathologically incapable of staying on topic.
01:04pm 17/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38461 posts
The market, a free market, is totally responsive to the demands of the people.
It is in theory, but it sure doesn't work like that in practice (just like extreme communism/socialism). There are various things that get in the way; tragedy of the commons is probably the worst but collusion between businesses is also a problem. (i.e., greed, which I agree is definitely an inherent human trait).

There are things that regulations simply need to exist for and be enforced for. Sometimes the market cannot or will not solve problems that they need to solve. My favourite example of this is the lead-in-petrol debacle; Bill Bryson's book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" covers this story and it is fascinating (the whole book is highly recommended), but basically we all nearly ended up in a world where everyone had epic and constant lead poisoning because of the amazing efforts of a handful of individuals and their corporations to deny evidence in the interests of profits.

The problem with emissions is that it is a massive externality and is not capture by anything in the market. ; I do not believe an introduction on a carbon price is market-driven because the market wasn't the one that introduced it as a cost. I am not convinced carbon trading is a good idea yet but neither am I even remotely certain it's a bad one.

One thing the market IS doing to respond to people's concerns about emissions is introducing emissions-free vehicles; given everyone I talk to about cars (admittedly not many) wants a Tesla I think this strategy is working better.
06:29pm 17/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38462 posts
Orwellian developments in London:
I'd like to hear your comments on the recent decision here in London to imprison Anjem Choudary? Because I feel like your attempts to resolve that cognitive dissonance would be worth watching.
06:30pm 17/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2047 posts
The problem with emissions is that it is a massive externality and is not capture by anything in the market. ; I do not believe an introduction on a carbon price is market-driven because the market wasn't the one that introduced it as a cost. I am not convinced carbon trading is a good idea yet but neither am I even remotely certain it's a bad one.


Can you explain this further?

An externality by definition sits in a relationship with market price.

An externality is something that is a cost of production but not incorporated in the market price. It seems by definition the market introduced the cost, because the cost is bought about by the market transaction. It just isn't borne by the parties to the transaction. I don't really see how the market didn't introduce the cost, its more a question of who's paying it.

So far as I'm aware the major obstacle to emissions trading has been securing china's involvement. But the good news is they are launching an ETS next year.
06:58pm 17/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38463 posts
An externality by definition sits in a relationship with market price.
This is true but I think it hides the most important part, which (to me) is that in many cases the externality has no /monetary/ relationship whatsoever with the market price. So while what you're saying is completely true (e.g., in the case of gas prices, the externality is carbon emissions and they're clearly in a relationship), it is almost impossible to come up with a price relationship (e.g., there is no practical way to measure the true cost of 1m^3 of carbon emissions).
I don't really see how the market didn't introduce the cost, its more a question of who's paying it.

So far as I'm aware the major obstacle to emissions trading has been securing china's involvement. But the good news is they are launching an ETS next year.
I would argue that one of the entire points of a true "free market economy" is that those costs and who pays them evolves naturally as the market finds a way to make money off it. It's been a zillion years since we had cars and noone has figured out a way to make money buying their emissions.

It's going to take a worldwide effort spearheaded by governments and international agreements to make it happen. The only thing that has actually /introduced/ the cost is this effort - otherwise we would have persisted for years in dumping emissions into the atmosphere like we have done since the first time we burned coal for warmth.

If there was a real, natural market to be had in emissions trading China's involvement wouldn't need to be "secured" - they would have been all over it (and, presumably, perfected it long ago).

This is, incidentally, exactly what happened with something that truly was a free market thing: BitCoin. China is now well-known amongst the BitCoin community (as I understand it) for having a huge amount of miners and traders. In fact I can point you towards several interesting stories written by "free market" BitCoin people whining about Chinese miners taking over the scene and f*****g it up for the rest of them, in the absolute classic sort of way you'd expect from one of those free market people who actually really don't want a free market :)

FWIW: I believe in the "freeish market". I think it should be mostly free with as few regulations as possible to keep an even playing field for everyone. I think there needs to be a constant back-and-forth between the market and the regulators with both sides pushing back at each other to find the best middle ground so the interests of the citizens are respected but there's enough competition to create sound market prices. Regulations need to constantly evolve with technology and social change.

belated edit: I don't think what I'm saying is particularly radical or outlandish. It basically is the situation we have now that has worked pretty successfully to create the bulk of western society. I don't think there's much evidence to support the claim that a "free-er" market is better - OR that a more tightly regulated market is better. As with basically everything it's about moderation.
07:28pm 17/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38465 posts
Speaking of interesting free market thingies - is anyone keeping up with what is going on with milk in Australia? I've seen a few reports about milk processors raising prices which is causing grief to dairy farmers. I know there's weird stuff in this industry but it sounds like dairy farmers are being strongarmed on price somehow but I don't really understand the mechanism (i.e., why can't they just sell to someone else, or refuse to sell at prices that are too low). Are there just too many dairy farmers or what?
09:26pm 17/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2048 posts
I think the broad strokes are the coop I linked to struck a deal with dairy farmers.

It allowed them to retroactively adjust the price they were paying for the year. In essence it shifted the commodity price risk from the coop to the farmers themselves.

Apparently there is a global downturn in dairy prices. So the farmers now have to repay the additional money.

It's a d*** move. We moved to Great Ocean Road milk to help out.

Would you mind linking the bit coin stuff? Sounds interesting.

It's been a zillion years since we had cars and noone has figured out a way to make money buying their emissions.

I think this sort of misses the point of an externality. We've had cotton mills for gillion years and nobody has found a use for the soot in the chimney. It's just a cost of doing business.

The way to make money from emissions is to sell cars that properly reflect their cost of operation.
09:33pm 17/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38466 posts
The way to make money from emissions is to sell cars that properly reflect their cost of operation
yeh but my point is, this is not possible with this type of externality - unlike soot in the chimney, which can be easily priced to get rid of it (s*** you could sell it as fertilizer!) there's no way to reflect the cost of the emissions. (I don't think soot is an externality though - the emissions are, but I'd argue the soot has no outside impact on anyone else.)

If you believe climate scientists (and why wouldn't you!) the true cost of them is, like, infinity. It is spread over the entire world over decades/centuries. This is what happened with the tetraethyllead thing though: vested interests tried very hard to rely on this exact same externality effect to hide the costs of their product. They almost got away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling scientists and their annoying efforts to save the human race.

There was no way to price this externality in. You can't put a price on the cost of ever-so-slightly lead poisoning the entire population of the planet. There /are/ some things that are just fundamentally unsolvable by the market and this is where regulations have to step in.

(I'm actually fkn amazed that a) this only happened ~50 years ago and b) 50 years ago a scientist was able to convince the government that some dumb thing a corporation wanted to do was dangerous for humanity and should be stopped.)

Maybe an emissions trading market will help here; I'm not sure. But it's not a market solution; it's a market-based regulatory solution.

I'll have to dig around for the BitCoin things; several of them were just comments from jaded speculators on Slashdot but they were really interesting. A lot of them were based on this article from one of the BitCoin devs from a few months ago where he highlighted that China was taking control of the network. It only gets a cursory mention but IIRC it was one of the first times this was really brought to the attention of a lot of people so it caused some wailing and gnashing of teeth. (There are technical arguments that this is not a fault of decentralised currencies and a limitation of BitCoin specifically - one that was identified in the first release paper about it.)
10:29pm 17/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2049 posts
I don't think soot is an externality though - the emissions are, but I'd argue the soot has no outside impact on anyone else.


You can find 18th century English legal cases which say different. The common law concept of nuisance is the relevant law.

yeh but my point is, this is not possible with this type of externality


Well one way you might do it, is come to agreement on how many parts per million the atmosphere can safely hold, and then divide that up into a series of permits....

I think we might have to agree to disagree.

Thanks for the article I'll take a look.
07:00am 18/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38467 posts
Well one way you might do it, is come to agreement on how many parts per million the atmosphere can safely hold, and then divide that up into a series of permits....
Right but this is regulatory!! It hasn't evolved out of the market because someone has seen it as a potential profit centre. It is being /made/ a profit centre by the massive cooperation of giant regulatory authorities. The corporations are only on board because they're being coerced into it, but in some cases they'll be happy to do it because it /will/ be a profit centre for them.

So I'm not sure what we're disagreeing on unless you think that an emissions market is the free market in action - I am claiming it is not because it is driven by regulators.
07:31pm 18/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2050 posts
It's been done largely contractually until now...
08:07pm 18/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38468 posts
You can be sure such that such a regulatory regime (like superannuation) will make banks and other parasites very rich.
Yup. And brokers. This is a big concern I think; all the f*****g middlemen that will find a way to insert them into the process to leech value.

BUT, maybe it doesn't matter, right? If the net result is decreasing carbon emissions by increasing their cost a little bit, then that is the result that they want - a market-driven economy to drive down emissions. What happens internally is almost irrelevant if emissions go down.
08:09pm 18/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2051 posts
Well not really if you feel the market is inherently incapable of responding.

The argument I'm responding to is that the market can't deal with carbon pricing.

I think that is fundamentally false.

I think the largest barrier to that has been a refusal to deal in carbon from the worlds largest economies. ie government has been a big show stopper rather then enabler.

You can buy offsets for plane tickets, but they all dabble in the EUETS. You're not allowed to trade in carbon in China (though this is about to change). While that has been the case large corporate emitters have been unwilling to take on the risk the carbon has been worthless.

But that is changing. So I reject the analysis that it can only be responded to by regulation (at least in the sense of government regulation). You can't blame a market for failing when it isn't allowed to form.

On top of this despite regulatory road blocks the market is responding.

You mentioned Telsa cars. A big selling point of theirs is, they don't need to deal in this market. Musk points it out at every launch.

How is that the market not responding to demand to reduce carbon?
08:17pm 18/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38469 posts
The argument I'm responding to is that the market can't deal with carbon pricing.

I think that is fundamentally false.
OK, well that's not the argument I'm making, so I'm happy to agree with you on that point. The market will be forced through regulation to deal with market pricing; if they can't deal with it they will collapse, so presumably they're working with regulators to make sure that won't happen.
On top of this despite regulatory road blocks the market is responding.
This market exists because it was created by regulation. It's not allowed to form in one corner of the world because of a different type of regulation that apparently is about to change. So I don't see what problem the free market is solving here.
You mentioned Telsa cars. A big selling point of theirs is they don't need to deal in this market. Musk point's it out at every launch.

How is that the market not responding to demand to reduce carbon?
That is the market responding but it's not clear yet by any stretch of the imagine to know if it will solve the problem. If it does it might be in part due to the subsidies being provided to the electric car industry anyway so does that still count as the free market if the hand of the government is on the scales?!@#
08:41pm 18/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2052 posts
Well I suppose we can agree after all.

but not quite.

It's not allowed to form in one corner of the world because of a different type of regulation that apparently is about to change. So I don't see what problem the free market is solving here.


It's not allowed where fully a quarter of overall emissions come from is not a fly in the ointment it's a show stopper.

But about to change.

Telsa cars by themselves aren't going to solve the problem, nor did I suggest they would. The point I was making, which I suppose isn't rebutting you were making but Vash was, is that market is in some sense fundamentally rejecting the idea of dealing in carbon.

Carbon trading does have a proven effect on overall emissions. Pretty much the only things you need to get trading going is and agreed cap and for governments a) to allow trading and b) to enforce trading contracts. Then it becomes a commodity like any other and demand will set the price.

This has been a major sticking point until now, precisely because one (very large) corner of the world refused to be involved.
09:07pm 18/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38471 posts
Now this is some pretty amazing news: the US to phase out the use of for-profit prisons.
05:02am 19/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38472 posts
As usual I will bring up Norway whose prisons are the envy of the world! Well at least the prisoners not in Norweigan prisons. Here is a great deep dive. I suspect it's like anything else though; in some places private facilities will beat public and vice versa.
05:33pm 19/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2053 posts
Probably still useful to look at a successful prison system to see areas we could improve on, short of outright replication obes.

Reckon you'll find house price to income ratios in Norway are comparable to Australia Redhat.
04:55pm 21/08/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4495 posts
oh yeah fade that West End protest is total bollocks

I'm all for keeping certain character areas like Boundary St itself largely untouched but this is an example of commercial and light industrial property in the area that will come up for renewal, what do they expect, a park?
12:59am 22/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2054 posts
Luckily there's data! http://www.imf.org/external/research/housing/ Norway is not comparable at all.


You're kidding right?

Here is the graph for income:house price ratio from your source.

http://www.imf.org/external/research/housing/images/pricetoincome.jpg

Unless I'm much mistaken Norway and Australia are literally beside each other. Seems at least a little bit comparable. You might even say virtually identical.

Confusing Austria with Australia certainly is a trap for young players.
08:15am 22/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2056 posts
Well fair enough.

Melbourne and Sydney are certainly expensive to buy.
10:11am 22/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2057 posts
Good point but if you look at the RBA data, they seem to suggest its comparable as well. So six year growth moving in tandem is probably in keeping with the underlying data.

Here is the RBA report and if you look at the graph Norway has an disposable income to house price ratio of around 3.7 and Australia is about 4. page 19 has the relevant data.

edit the data in that bulletin is old but the ABS seems to think we are still tracking around 4.

If the ratio was comparable in 2010, and growth since then is comparable, it would seem to follow they are still comparable in raw figures.
10:50am 22/08/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2058 posts
Those figures are quite different from the ABS for the same period.

I'd be interested to know why.

Either way I think your claim that the ratio between the two countries is incomparable is unfounded and on any figures Australia's ratio isn't 8.
04:43pm 22/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38479 posts
That's exactly what the Christian lobby groups are hoping for.

Liberal politicians are too gutless to actually make their own decision on this because they know their voters will harass them.

$180m what a waste.
agree completely, the whole thing seems ludicrous
06:38pm 26/08/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4500 posts
Having said that I think marriage should be a matter of contract law between consenting adults and the government should have no part in it. Seems like that would keep most people happy and we could abolish a bunch of useless legislation.

well yeah, ultimately the reason we're even having this marriage equality debate is that there are laws discriminating against people based upon whether they are married

if marriage were disestablished and restored to a purely ceremonial status, and its legal function replaced with a contract between adults of any gender (or number), then presumably religious and other groups would not have to feel that an objectionable definition of marriage is being "imposed" upon them in any meaningful sense

it might make immigration matters a bit tricky
06:36am 27/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38482 posts
well yeah, ultimately the reason we're even having this marriage equality debate is that there are laws discriminating against people based upon whether they are married

if marriage were disestablished and restored to a purely ceremonial status, and its legal function replaced with a contract between adults of any gender (or number), then presumably religious and other groups would not have to feel that an objectionable definition of marriage is being "imposed" upon them in any meaningful sense
this x100000
it might make immigration matters a bit tricky
Marriage seems like a totally arbitrary way to deal with immigration issues to me.

In the last 2.5 years I've applied for visas in the US and UK. In the US being married would have made my life a billion times easier as I would have been able to latch on to my partner's visa - which only worked if I was married.

In the UK though, all I had to do was provide proof that we'd been in a "real" relationship for (at least) two years. If we'd been married, the process would have been basically the same - maybe a little bit easier but I'm basically on the same kind of visa.

Either way, these days marriage is considered more or less a disposable event, so when they're testing for your immigration eligibility based on relationship status, they're still going to want to verify the marriage is "real", so they might as well just open it to any sort of relationship.

I think the future is going to be limited-term marriage contracts but it depends on there still being some benefit to being married at all, which depends on what government perks they leave on being married. Filing a single tax return or whatever doesn't seem like a big enough deal to me though. What other government-created benefits are there?
07:27pm 28/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38483 posts
Congratulations, my love. I've decided to renew your contract.
Well, presumably you are not opposed to the idea of getting government out of the way when it comes to marriages, right?

In which case - if any formal recognition of the relationship is required at all - it would be a contract between two (or more) consenting adults. In which case the framework to govern these will be standard contract law. In which case the free market will evolve the best workable solution, and given almost every other contract between two parties is limited term, it seems like a fairly obvious end result, assuming we can convince humans to be open and honest about relationships (which I concede may not be possible but it's got to be better than making unrealistic promises to be with someone forever at the altar).

Again though, my question is: what actual tangible benefits do you get from the government by being married? I only know about filing joint tax returns, and the immigration things I noted above. I'd be (genuinely) interested to know what other things there are.
07:58pm 28/08/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4501 posts
Congratulations, my love. I've decided to renew your contract.

until death do us part, subject to a 30-day cooling-off period

to my mind - joint tax returns and the like aren't so much an inducement for people to get married as a reflection of reality - household finances are often merged

as for the other sweeteners, come on, it's the current year - and people are still going to get married and/or breed as much as they ever have if they don't get paid to do it

Immigration seems trickier to me, or rather emigration to some other country where a spousal-type visa does indeed require some official documentary evidence. And it can be a somewhat politicised issue - in Canada (where I left after getting PR but keep up with immigration matters) they have recently stopped recognising marriage ceremonies conducted over phone - oh yes, this is an actual thing
09:17pm 28/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38484 posts
Marriage is a cultural institution. it is like asking what's the legal benefit to having a 21st birthday party. People do it because they have always done it.
Cool, well I'm glad I'm in the position of being able to challenge the status quo!!! But in this case there /are/ specific legal benefits to being married so that's what I'm asking about :)

The succession/family law points are good, I'd forgotten about them.
Do we really want more single mothers and absent fathers (or whatever of the 33 genders you associate with)? No fault divorce obviously enables people to leave unsatisfactory marriage but will society shift its expectation to it being inevitable or expected, not merely a temporary commercial partnership during which people have children and cohabit. Even with feminism since the 60s, romance and marriage forever has been non-negotiable in the Western world.
I'd argue society has /already/ shifted to thinking more of marriage being a disposable construct. A quick look for stats in Australia shows something like 120,000 marriages / year and 46,000 divorces!!! That is even more than I would have guessed.

If we're speculating about what would happen, we also need to consider that having contracts in place at the start of a relationship could actually lower the single mother/absent father rate. If your obligations are made clear up-front when you enter a relationship (e.g., if any children are the result of the relationship the father must provide financial support in the order of $y annually for a period of no less than x years), instead of being something that is only resolved after it's too late and the child already exists, involving long and bitter court disputes and further enriching lawyers. Prevention is better than cure!
Marriage previously was a commercial/status partnership and there was no requirement for love, romance or everlasting commitment. Just watch the Borgias. But the notions of union forever and love are now infused into this institution.
Right but it /is/ a legal and contractual arrangement, right? Something that many people only find out after things collapse and they discover they're on the hook for alimony. Qld's go get married information page is not exactly crammed with information that explains your rights and obligations once you're married.

I'm not saying tear down the institution of marriage or that people who get married are doomed. I just think we've moved on from Ye Olde Dayes and it'd be nice to have more options and more choices and more flexibility - more freedom - for those wanting to get into relationships that can be formally recognised by governments.
09:18pm 28/08/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38485 posts
Immigration seems trickier to me, or rather emigration to some other country where a spousal-type visa does indeed require some official documentary evidence. And it can be a somewhat politicised issue - in Canada (where I left after getting PR but keep up with immigration matters) they have recently stopped recognising marriage ceremonies conducted over phone - oh yes, this is an actual thing
In the UK, the process I had to go through meant showing evidence like shared expenses, photos of us together, lease with our names on it, etc. I probably went overboard and ending up handing over a wad of documents about two inches thick. (It was stressful as f***.)

If we'd been married, I would have had to do the exact same thing, but also provide a copy of the marriage certificate and presumably would include wedding photos. So the differences are minimal, at least in the UK.

For the US the marriage certificate seems to hold way more weight; you can be married for a very short period but they still seem to accept it (IIRC you still have to show some evidence of relationship).

(TBH I think the fundamental problem is letting people into the country based on who they're married or in a relationship with. I think many countries are revisiting their immigration policies and moving to frameworks that will make it easier for individuals to come in to the country based on their own merits; I think in the future as long you're from a first world country, don't have a criminal history and look remotely like you'll be a productive member of society it'll be much easier to move between first world countries and the marriage/relationship requirement might slowly fade away or at least become less of a driver for people getting married to move overseas.)
09:28pm 28/08/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25483 posts
I think you'll find you receive scorn not because the things you say insult or offend but because they're incredibly dumb and poorly thought out. Also what you say never really seems to make much sense when you reconcile it with reality. Then when it's explained to you you'll usually double down on the dumbness and/or respond with mindless rhetoric much like your latest post.

Basically the things you say are utterly worthless yet you're so earnest about it all and say it with such conviction, yet sometimes it is so bizarre if it wasn't coming from you I'd think it would have to be some sort of parody attempt.. The hardest thing about responding to you is deciding whether to call you dumb or simply laugh. hth.
01:22pm 01/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25484 posts
Have you ever noticed how the only people to positively assess the merit of your statements are lonely, maladjusted misanthropes? There's a reason for that.
02:54pm 01/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25485 posts
03:57pm 01/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2063 posts
What's the photo about fpot?
05:18pm 01/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25487 posts
It's a North Korean and a Cameroon flag on public display for Mediterranean theme day. It reminded me of
that video.
05:24pm 01/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2064 posts
oh ok. the Imgur title was "where woolies get their food from".

It's got multiple angles.
05:31pm 01/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38490 posts
i don't want to silence fpot because the community can assess the merit of his statements. SJWs are eventually smoked out with their constant victim searching, and complaints about government inaction.

Part of the standard SJW arsenal is to make accusatory and value-laden statements against those they disagree with. 'dumbness, worthless"

In the marketplace of ideas the cream rises to the top and there is no need to force your agenda, because if it has merit it will gain acceptance. SJW's force their agenda through screaming down peaceful meetings, personal insults, damaging property and injury of others (often they injure themselves in the process in order to garner footage that can be used to demonstrate "brutality"). SJWs act with a sense of moral superiority which thus gives them license to ignore civil expectations.

fpot if you find it hard deciding how to respond try going for the option that doesn't involve using value laden judgements of others, and demeaning the right to freedom of speech. if you truly believe the comment is worthless then why invest your energy in it? everyone is free to have their say.
As per my other comments, the use of that three letter acronym is a sign that rational debate has left the building and it has now turned into logical fallacy ad hominem territory in which someone attempts to cast an entire encyclopaedia of liberal thought into oblivion

The cream of ideas /has/ risen to the top; it's pretty clearly a last-ditch gasp to try to silence dissenting though and it just highlights the sheer desperation of conservatives.

This comment popped on Slashdot yesterday; I think it's really interesting because it's one of the places that has historically used "SJW" as a negative term - but it seems that it is already burning out and people are sick of "arguments" in which it is used.

I really like arguing/debating these kinds of topics but there's nowhere to go when you use easily destroyed logical fallacies (e.g., one of the rallying points around which the anti-sjw crowd gather is, for whatever dumb reason, Anita Sarkeesian. You can't talk about liberal types "forcing their agenda" without mentioning how conservative types have tried to silence her opinion through death threats, in at least one cases threatening a mass shooting at a university that she was going to talk at.

There are nutbag f***wit extremists on both sides and trying to pretend otherwise is disingenuous.

I don't think fpot's comments are particuarly helpful; I think his tolerance for trying to debate things in the face of obviously conflicting comments and inconsistencies is much lower than mine which probably makes him much cleverer than me. But I think yours are equally bad (if not worse), because you're doing the exact same thing you're accusing him of, by trying to paint an entire segment of the population with a single brush (erroneously, imo).
06:54pm 01/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38491 posts
Btw this "free speech" post from Popehat (btw, this post from yesterday is really good; even though it is mostly on the conservative side it ends with a very clear reminder to that same side that free speech is a double-edged sword.
07:12pm 01/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2065 posts
even though it is mostly on the conservative side it


I really didn't read that. In what sense was popehat's view conservative?

Good article though. It's a great blog for those issues.
07:35pm 01/09/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4503 posts
I'd agree that the usage of SJW is a signpost for possible s***lordery ahead

There is a kernel of some social justice movements that seems more concerned with ruining the careers or impugning the reputations of those they feel have wronged them, than effecting any real change for their communities - this is where the "social justice warrior" term applies and not to the whole group.

And there are equally nasty elements on the other side. Anita Sarkeesian is at best an amateur pop culture critic but her ideas deserve to be either upheld or rebutted on their own merits. The torrent of sexist abuse directed at her is completely out of proportion - sometimes I think teenage boys should have to get a licence to send anything on the net
08:07pm 01/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25488 posts
Just remember trog there are those who wish to silence other using the force of government and guns, and then there are those who wish for freedom
False dilemma logical fallacy.
Slander and defamation laws have existed for a long time. Being sued and fined for speaking your mind is not a precedent being set here. The only precedent being set is that being racist is now included. And that's what you're scared of. Because you're racist.
09:15pm 01/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38492 posts
There is a kernel of some social justice movements that seems more concerned with ruining the careers or impugning the reputations of those they feel have wronged them, than effecting any real change for their communities - this is where the "social justice warrior" term applies and not to the whole group.
Yeh. They are the tiniest fringe part of the movement (if they're even real and not just from a Russian troll factory). They just make such great clickbait for terrible news sites that don't do elementary journalism or statistics to measure impact. Hence my comment in the other thread that they're only relevant on Twitter because of the stupid echo chamber that Twitter is.
Should people be sued and fined for speaking their mind?
This is a question that's hard to answer in a few words. I recommend the rest of the Popehat blog for interesting discussion on free speech. Because even in America where their right to free speech is enshrined in the constitution, it's not that simple a question.

I don't know if I have a personal opinion on this yet. I want to favour the Popehat free speech thing, because I want to believe in it.

Earlier in the thread I asked Faceman the question about that Muslim preacher in London that was recently locked up for non-stop recruitment for ISIS. I would be very interested to know what you think about that. Should his speech be tolerated?
Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it an offense to offend or insult others which is arbitrary and impossible to define. Relying on 18C means the government crushes debate instead of airing it. (One side gets aired - the one which is in fashion with SJWs).
I haven't followed 18C but it sounds dumb on the surface.
alsoo trog: "trigger warnings"?! lmfao gimme a break. trigger warnings are not a thing. trigger warnings are an invention, they exist in universities and public service agencies.
Lots of things are an invention that only live in universities or public service agencies. Doesn't mean they're bad ideas.

Trigger warnings sound dumb to me but I'm fortunate to not have had any massive trauma in my life. I can easily imagine a scenario in which they might be a big deal to some people. How many times have trigger warnings caused me grief though? I mean, zero, obviously, like for most people in the world. Are film classification things trigger warnings? Game classifications? They're just a quick message describing the type of content. Why would you lose sleep over it?
01:21am 02/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2066 posts
Yeh. They are the tiniest fringe part of the movement (if they're even real and not just from a Russian troll factory). They just make such great clickbait for terrible news sites that don't do elementary journalism or statistics to measure impact. Hence my comment in the other thread that they're only relevant on Twitter because of the stupid echo chamber that Twitter is.


But they aren't are they Trog.

You can look into shirt gate, or the Tim Hunt affair (Tim Hunt was vilified by such "terrible news sites" as the f*****g BBC) or the rotherham sex gang, or the forced child marriage which David Cameron spoke out against here. Further commentary here I draw your attention to allowing cultural sensitivity to get in the way of policy in the second last paragraph.

To make it clear I am not and have never suggested you support any of those outcomes, but it is simply not the case that PC Culture and the attendant censoriousness is confined to twitter.

And to revisit rotherham, to call a systematic refusal by multiple police departments to refuse to investigate, in multiple cities for fear of being called racists cherry picking is beyond absurd. That's like saying oh you're just cherry picking when you say the catholic church in Ballarat systematically failed to deal with paedophile priests for 25 years. Multiple cities, Multiple senior police officers and over a thousand victims. It's a big cherry.

PC Culture is a normative moral framework (much like the church claims for itself). It's ability to be particularly easily abused by cynics should be a cause for concern if you want to say trite truisms like "some political correctness is a good thing". Anything which claims moral normative status should have conceptual stops in place to prevent excess. It's safe to say that didn't happen.
07:43am 02/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2067 posts
In terms of social/cultural norms, I would love to see an example that exists only in a university or public agency, that is a good idea


In theory at least the pursuit of pure blue sky thinking is something Universities bring uniquely to the table.

CERN is another example. They have produced enormously profound knowledge that won't have an obvious commercial application for years to come.

And sometimes they have unintended useful spinoffs. CERN for example produced Protonmail.
01:30pm 02/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2068 posts
and for trog again



Proof of his final claim

PC Culture is a censorious ass wipe claiming the most superficial morality.
02:00pm 02/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2069 posts
Have you read any of his books vash?

And consider if he thinks its bulls*** what understanding do you have? Less than zero.
06:11pm 02/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25489 posts
You have been caught by your own hyperlinking unfortunately.
How so?
06:53pm 02/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38493 posts
And to revisit rotherham, to call a systematic refusal by multiple police departments to refuse to investigate, in multiple cities for fear of being called racists cherry picking is beyond absurd. That's like saying oh you're just cherry picking when you say the catholic church in Ballarat systematically failed to deal with paedophile priests for 25 years. Multiple cities, Multiple senior police officers and over a thousand victims. It's a big cherry.
I can see what you're saying but I don't think that one particular incident is an example of "political correctness" breaking things. It's not evidence of a systemic widespread failure in our society that is the direct result of political correctness. From the casual reading I've done (maybe when I have plenty of spare time and want to read something that makes me want to kill myself and everyone around me, I'll read the full report) PC is cited as a factor . The first analysis I can find on the BBC (my go-to resource for s***-that-happens-in-the-UK now that I live here states: "[the police] .. either didn't believe what they were being told, played it down, or were too nervous to act. The failures, the report says, are blatant." It sounds like fear of racism was a factor (certain up-played in the press) but was it the main cause in this instance?

Even if it was, even if it was 100% the result of people not wanting to say bad things about people of different race (and I'm not sure what evidence it would take to convince me that the entire tragedy was based solely on that problem) - it's clearly not "systemic" in the context that you're trying to use it, because the same problem isn't happening in other areas. It was systemic within the localised system of Rotherham, maybe? But that problem is not happening all over. Well outside of the Catholic Church (which is a great example of something with a systemic failure though amirite :)

Proof of his final claim

PC Culture is a censorious ass wipe claiming the most superficial morality.
When you paint with that broad a brush you're going to include a lot of dumb s***.

Btw, I think that is dumb. You realise I agree with you that a bunch of this s*** is dumb, right? Why are you so angry with me? Because I'm not filled with vitriol and frothy rage about how dumb it is? Surely you can see the counterpoint that sometimes it's not dumb and that it's bad form to be an obnoxious "non-politically correct" jerk.
PC Culture is a normative moral framework
Yeh like libertarianism and capitalism and socialism and communism. i.e., "it's a great idea in theory"
07:13am 03/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38494 posts
Yes, the problems with these Hate Preachers is they are never "taken on" in public. Its the same problem with the Internet, where these Preachers can talk directly to young Men in their bedrooms.
This is arguably false; this happens quite regularly - have you not seen the photos of the rallies where there ends up being two sides (e.g., skinheads vs hippies) coming to blows and then the police come in and teargas everyone?
Bad Ideas are defeated by better Ideas.
This is arguably false as well, because at some point you end up talking to someone who won't believe in a better idea, because their magic book tells them what ideas are good and bad.

I note you didn't answer my question though. Do you support extremist preachers being taken out of public circulation? i.e., do you support silencing extremist viewpoints when there is strong evidence to show that they are literally being used to kill people?
If someone tells you that you can only read one book, get your information from one source, demand you dont listen to alternative views, these are signs you are being manipulated, Lied to, someones Ideology may be doing the thinking for you.
Yeh! Right! But what happens when you end up with groups of people that force others in their community to read their One Book and take it as, if you'll pardon the pun, gospel? And that book says,
go forth and kill those that disagree with these words"? Or "don't let gays marry because they're too fabulous and it will make your boring hetero wedding look lame". Or "here, child of mine, take this pill made of water and it will cure your cancer". Memes that basically leverage fundamental weaknesses literally wired into our brain to spread virally?!

Do you just throw your hands in the air and go "well free speech"? Or do you carefully consider it and put limits around certain kinds of speech and have regulatory authorities to try to help manage the ebb and flow of the constantly changing universe?!!

The latter is obviously the situation we are in now. I don't know if it's all that bad.

In an attempt to forestall these comments as me being some sort of massive political correctness warrior and the inevitable example from 1964 where once a Catholic was converted to atheism through a cunningly worded argument and thus I am an idiot (nothing shows how politically correct I am like my historical comments about religion), I'll point out that a) I've said I think 18C is dumb b) I've said I tend to favour US-style 1A free speech, though I'm not convinced it's perfect and c) I want more than anything to live in a society of ideas and critical thinking.
08:07am 03/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38495 posts
Once again, the marketplace of ideas dictates that if a university/government agency had a good idea it would go mainstream, so of which have (e.g. diversity officers, workplace childcare).
Well, this might blow your mind but I am not at all convinced that diversity quotas (assuming that is what you mean?) are a good thing. People should be hired on their merits and their appropriateness for the job.

On one hand I think removing gender/race/etc from the hiring process is OK though because it helps remove biases that might otherwise sway opinion. On the other hand as a business owner I think there are many things that are important to know about who you're hiring to make sure they're a good fit for your team.
I hope to never see a trigger warning in mainstream workplaces.
Me too. But here's a thought experiment for you:

Small company of, say, 20 people. A new hire comes up on the radar. It is revealed during the hiring process that they has suffered some form of trauma, possibly sexual abuse. They are still edgy and distraught from it and raise it during their interview, saying that they are often profoundly affected by certain types of comments and they'd prefer it if their coworkers knew about it so they could avoid that kind of discussion in their presence.

Is it staggeringly wrong or stupid of the HR person then to maybe take the team aside before this new hire comes in and explain the situation and maybe encourage them to try to be careful about what they say? Is it literally the dumbest thing they could do try to try encourage some empathy from their teammates about this person's fragile state?

Is that a trigger warning? I don't think it's that big an ask. Certainly if that happened in a workplace I was part of I would take it on board, try to moderate my behaviour where possible, and not feel like I was being browbeaten into becoming some sort of tolerance weirdo. I think most people would be the same, IRL.
08:22am 03/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2070 posts
Lets try another tack.

Would you or would you not accept that Ballarat and Ballarat alone would constitute systematic behaviour?

Because I fail to see how repeated behaviour over a sustained period isn't systematic. It strikes me as the definition.

from the BBC on the Jay report.

Professor Alexis Jay's report, commissioned by Rotherham Borough Council, said: "Several councillors interviewed believed that by opening up these issues they could be 'giving oxygen' to racist perspectives that might in turn attract extremist political groups and threaten community cohesion.


The ones that didn't say that just denied there was a problem at all. Which as far as I'm concerned is a tacit admission they did the same. It went on from 1997 to 2016. That's 19 years trog.

I'd like you to articulate the relevant difference that makes ballarat systematic and Rotherham not.

And if a single city doesn't count, here is more light reading.

Derby sex gang
Oxford sex gang
Bristol sex gang
Telford sex gang
Peterborough sex abuse case
Banbury sex gang
Aylesbury sex gang
Keighley sex gang

You realise I agree with you that a bunch of this s*** is dumb, right? Why are you so angry with me?


The final point is an exercise in demonstrating it's manifest inability to deal with its own excesses. Surely you saw and understood the main thrust of the video. PC is inherently authoritarian. It's authoritarian because it demands respect, and that to my mind stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept.

You have repeated claimed that it is confined to twitter. not a real issue, can't be taken seriously. At least you admit it must have been a factor now. Progress of a kind.
08:22am 03/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38496 posts
Would you or would you not accept that Ballarat and Ballarat alone would constitute systematic behaviour?
I actually just wrote a whole response about this and then finally realised you're writing "systematic" and not "systemic". Woops!
The final point is an exercise in demonstrating it's manifest inability to deal with its own excesses. Surely you saw and understood the main thrust of the video.
Sorry I don't generally watch videos; they are too slow and boring. I'll happily read anything you want though.
PC is inherently authoritarian. It's authoritarian because it demands respect, and that to my mind stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept.
Well, I disagree. I think PC /can/ be authoritarian. In my world though it's just a suggested framework for not going out of your way to offend people just for the sake of being a d***, even if I agree with your right to do so because I believe in freedom of speech and the right to offend. Nothing I've said implies or even remotely suggests that I think we should have PC laws or require SJWs to enforce them (indeed I think extremist SJWs are just as douchenozzley as f***wits like that Milo guy, and are probably responsible for this whole anti-SJW pushback which has gone way over the top and lead to bulls*** like Gamergate and, well, this conversation).
You have repeated claimed that it is confined to twitter. not a real issue, can't be taken seriously. At least you admit it must have been a factor now. Progress of a kind.
Not sure where I admitted anything but if you're just in this to score points off me, boo. I stand by my comments that the PC debate on the Twittersphere is massively out of proportion with its impact IRL.

I cannot imagine you will ever convince me that "political correctness" it is the underlying cause of criminal sexual abuse. I could possibly concede it as a small factor in failure to investigate abuse, but I would note that the report (sigh, I read a bunch of it) they actually include measures to ensure to attempt to mitigate the risk of people being scared of being abused of racial profiling (which is not really even listed as a major factor, especially amongst all the other significant issues).

FWIW reading those reports and some of the other cases just makes me more convinced that their is an underlying systemic problem - because there's one common thread weaving through them all that is way more obvious, and it's a stone-age religion that has a strong history of treating women and children (and people) like property. Maybe we should concentrate on that problem first. Oops, that's not very PC of me!
08:19pm 03/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38497 posts
The Idea of silencing him is worse than anything he could say.
I want to stop Hate Preachers brainwashing people inside Mosques.
Wat? So people should be allowed to say whatever they want. Except when it's inside a mosque?
The only defense we have against that is Freedom of Speech.
What you are describing is Totalitarianism.
The absolute opposite of a Liberal Democracy.
What I am describing is literally the situation we have been living in for centuries. Even the USA, the last bastion of "true" free speech, places a lot of limits around speech. Is it really working out that badly?

You have just slippery sloped what I'm saying by comparing our modern western democratic society to the Third Reich (or those s***** third world middle eastern countries where you get thrown in jail for expressing an opinion about whether or not god exists).

Besides, I'm not really advocating an opinion here, I'm asking whether or not you think that preacher should have been thrown in jail.

So far I can only extrapolate from your responses. I guess the answer is "no, unless he was brainwashing people in a mosque", which is not particularly consistent.
Freedom of Speech requires no extra rules.
If someones voice is not being heard others will step up and defend them.
Well the unwritten addition you're missing here is "others will step up and defend them if their idea is good". I would note that, even in the US where Freedom of Speech is (etc etc), they still have a lot of extra rules about it. There are regularly court cases to decide whether things are protected speech or not. Again I would refer you to the Popehat blog if you're interested in the cutting edge of free speech law (I don't really bother reading about it in other countries because nowhere else has the same kind of amazing protections the US has on speech).
Freedom of Speech is not something you demand for yourself
It is something your demand for all, for everyone.
Well, I've been somewhat involved in running this forum since about 1999, which has enabled many people to express a variety of interesting opinions publicly without fear of recrimination (aside from being yelled at by fpot :) . So take from that what you will about how I feel about giving people the opportunity to have a voice.
08:30pm 03/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2071 posts
I stand by my comments that the PC debate on the Twittersphere is massively out of proportion with its impact IRL.


I didn't say it wasn't. But the PC debate informs real policy. Perhaps not by twitter extremists directly but you don't have to move the position that far from the extreme.

To give you another example.
here is fpot

The only precedent being set is that being racist is now included. And that's what you're scared of. Because you're racist.

Perhaps infi is racist, perhaps he isn't. I've never seen anything you'd call a slam dunk in favour of the proposition. But that sentiment is exactly what is expressed by folks in favour of 18C. You could only have an issue with it if your racist. The argument infi put forward say that the words "insult" and "offend" are too broad and as such will inevitably come down to the idiosyncrasies of the judge hearing the complaint, to make for good law. In a fascinating turn of events, the Australia Law Reform Commission said that the law should be reviewed for *exactly* this reason. Maybe the ALRC are racist to but I think its going to be an up hill battle to establish that.

fwiw I also think insult or offend is a bridge too far. I'm more comfortable with humiliate attracting legal sanction but even then its not hard to imagine situations ripe for abuse of process.

Returning to the Rotherham situation. Again I never said PC was a first order cause. However one might validly say the fact it contributed to in going for the length of time it did, it is strongly implicated in the later assaults.

Section 11 of the report deals with ethnicity. I'll quote the summary in full. It is a total catastrophe that was allowed to fester for 19 years.

Here is the summary
Issues of ethnicity related to child sexual exploitation have been discussed in other
reports, including the Home Affairs Select Committee report, and the report of the
Children’s Commissioner. Within the Council, we found no evidence of children’s
social care staff being influenced by concerns about the ethnic origins of suspected
perpetrators when dealing with individual child protection cases, including CSE. In
the broader organisational context, however, there was a widespread perception that
messages conveyed by some senior people in the Council and also the Police, were
to 'downplay' the ethnic dimensions of CSE. Unsurprisingly, frontline staff appeared
to be confused as to what they were supposed to say and do and what would be
interpreted as 'racist'. From a political perspective, the approach of avoiding public
discussion of the issues was ill judged.
There was too much reliance by agencies on traditional community leaders such as
elected members and imams as being the primary conduit of communication with the
Pakistani-heritage community. The Inquiry spoke to several Pakistani-heritage
women who felt disenfranchised by this and thought it was a barrier to people coming
forward to talk about CSE. Others believed there was wholesale denial of the problem
in the Pakistani-heritage community in the same way that other forms of abuse were
ignored. Representatives of women's groups were frustrated that interpretations of
the Borough's problems with CSE were often based on an assumption that similar
abuse did not take place in their own community and therefore concentrated mainly
on young white girls.
Both women and men from the community voiced strong concern that other than two
meetings in 2011, there had been no direct engagement with them about CSE over the
past 15 years, and this needed to be addressed urgently, rather than 'tiptoeing'
around the issue.


They insisted on deal with "traditional leaders" who also helped to sweep the information under the rug. Tell me everything there isn't a total predictable and straightforward application of PC.

because there's one common thread weaving through them all that is way more obvious, and it's a stone-age religion that has a strong history of treating women and children (and people) like property. Maybe we should concentrate on that problem first.


Well no kidding. Tell me how you propose to deal with that with out kicking political correctness to the kurb? I don't see any obvious way. You are going to straight up have to say of a minority group this part of your culture sucks and you can't have it anymore.

In my world though it's just a suggested framework for not going out of your way to offend people just for the sake of being a d***

Of course there is room for civility, but I don't really see what this has to do with PC. PC culture is balls deep in oppression narrative.
one working definition might be:
the avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.


That changes it from just being polite in my view. Radically. And in terms of insulting people, ridicule can be an extremely effective rhetorical technique. One might even say critical in fights against ISIS type folks.

Edit: and as the rotherham example shows, insisting on behaving that way is counter productive. Everything about it achieved the exact opposite outcome that was intended.

The marginalised group was denied access to justice, further marginalising them. The racists over at EDL were given ammo they couldn't have hoped for in a 1000 years.
10:05pm 03/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38501 posts
Eurozone unemployment is 10% #justsayin
FWIW Euro unemployment is falling pretty quickly ; if it continues it'll be back to 2008 levels (below 7%) within a year or two. The trainwrecks that are Spain & Greece are also responsible for a big chunk of the high percentage but they're falling even rapidly than the average, too, so maybe they are even sorting their s*** out?!? (source: this awesome google chart
08:52pm 08/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25491 posts
racist says you? or fpot?
Says people who aren't racist.
10:25pm 08/09/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4505 posts
The moment Hillary lost the Presidency

to be fair she only insulted the car on the lawn people who weren't voting for her anyway
06:37pm 11/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2073 posts
Never a good idea to slag off the voters. Even in a low risk way
07:06am 12/09/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4506 posts
lol sorry, there's no way that bloviating ignoramus is going to win by default

Hilldog 2016
07:23pm 12/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38505 posts
not really, America's unemployemnt rate fell AGES ago. maybe because they have a much less regulated labor market...
yeh but it peaked far earlier and FAR faster than in Europe - maybe because they have a much less regulated labor market?!?
07:48pm 12/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2074 posts
Hilldog will crush him in the debates as well.

A handle on the facts help in the presidential debates more than in the primaries.

It's Hilliary's to lose.
08:53pm 12/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38506 posts
Because their market was the epicenter of the GFC.....
.... because of their near-total lack of regulations :D
05:43am 13/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25493 posts
It is basic. The sun warms the earth’s surface. The surface, by contact, warms the moving, circulating atmosphere. That means the atmosphere cools the surface. How then can the atmosphere warm it? It cannot. That is why their computer models are wrong.
An actual thing an elected official said in Australia.

edit:

Government has completely corrupted the moral hazard; if you are too important or too big to fail you get a bailout. It is preferable to let failing companies die so new ones can sprout up. There will be some scratches and bruises but it is better than the cringeworthy economic policy applied by all major eocnomies. Printing money (helicopter money) and negative interest rates will not fix anything.
KInd of reminds me of this guy I know. Had a fairly privledged life. Went to fancy schools and was put through a prestigious law school. After he graduated he made it into the public sector in some sort of consultancy role or something. Problem is he is dumb as s***, and as soon as he left the comfy confines of the education system and into the real world he was exposed as such. Left that high paying job to go work for his father or something. Personally I reckon it would be fairer if instead of having that safety net to fall into that he actually be made to pay for his failures. Guess some people are too coddled to fail.
03:11pm 14/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2075 posts
That the government bailed out Freddie Mac to the tune of over $15b


They sort of had to with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They were created by government to make risky loans. It's not the poor people's fault they were offered loans they couldn't properly afford. Those to institutions were designed to take larger risks. There is a broader question about the wisdom of making securities out of the assets they created. That seems more a failing of Lehman Bros types to me.
09:46pm 14/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25494 posts
That could become a nice little earner for the people smugglers. We have just stopped people dying on the rocks at Christmas Island and you want to start it up again. Shame.
Pretending for a second that people smugglers are an actual issue and not a giant red herring no it wouldn't be. Remove the multibillion dollar costs of running concentration camps and the multimillion dollar costs of that absurb Cambodia deal and we can afford to provide safe passage. Yes yes, you're about to bleat away about being swamped by the brown migrant hordes but for those of us with basic understandings of push and pull factors and logistics this isn't a great concern.

You like the concentration camps because you enjoy seeing brown people suffer. I know this because you'll readily believe the web of flimsy lies the government has created for you despite the fact they make no sense and don't stand up to scrutiny. Because you're racist.
02:22pm 15/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25495 posts
i don't enjoy seeing people suffer
Yeah you do, because they're a savage people, and savage treatment is all they understand.

edit:
You are always banging on about 'brown people' migrants and how we should be taking more of them. Well what about all of the 'black', 'yellow' and 'white' migrants who are trying to find refuge in Australia from war and tyranny. Why do you only want brown people here you racist f***?
Heh the 'it is you who is the real racist' routine. Very cute.
07:33pm 15/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25496 posts
Here's a real joke -

http://i.imgur.com/rWwqKAH.jpg
03:07pm 16/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38508 posts
I'm not sure saving people from drowning at sea to torture them in taxpayer funded detention centres is really a win.
this is a simply f*****g excellent sentence
If your primary objective is border security and integrity it's a big win to also stop people dying in the process.
Yes but let's not create a false dichotomy where we pretend our two options are a) have people drown b) torture people in detention centres (and that one of those crappy piece of s*** options is better than the other).

It's not "stop the boats or Australia dies" as much as Abbott wanted us to believe that with his agonising and embarrassing catchphrase
07:00pm 16/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38509 posts
The problem for me was the bailouts and the ensuing stimulus.

I still love the analogy that the GFC was the massive hangover resulting from a booze-fueled party. The people who threw the party and trashed the house get no punishment. And the government prescribes more alcohol!

Government has completely corrupted the moral hazard; if you are too important or too big to fail you get a bailout. It is preferable to let failing companies die so new ones can sprout up. There will be some scratches and bruises but it is better than the cringeworthy economic policy applied by all major eocnomies. Printing money (helicopter money) and negative interest rates will not fix anything.
I agree with this but it's tough to argue that what they did was actually "bad", except from an internally consistent principled standpoint of course.

I find myself struggling to get too annoyed at what they did as much as I would have preferred for there to be no bailout because I think what they did probably forestalled a much bigger crisis. Not only that as far as I can tell the US government cleaned up from an ROI point of view, in terms of sheer dollars but also to demonstrate to their creditors that their economy is sound and will you please keep lending us more trillions.

I would like to think future bailouts will be much harder to get but I haven't seen much evidence of new regulation in the US stopping things from getting to that "too big to fail" point.

New idea: if your company becomes too big to fail, it is declared a national security risk and is nationalised.
07:04pm 16/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25498 posts
Discounting all the absolute bulls*** that just spewed from your mouth, to actually see someone defending the concentration camps by uttering these words

They have food clothing and shelter


defies belief. It requires a special kind of focussed ignorance to speak those words earnestly.

Just because a large group of people say a terrible thing is okay doesn't make that thing not terrible. I learned that one when I was a child. Only someone blinded by wilful ignorance would put a single ounce of faith in what our immigration department says.

Watching you spiral down the rabbit hole using utterly bizarre logic to explain the government's action re asylum seekers is quite a treat. Would anyone else like to know why infi experiences a sudden crowding of the pants when he sees brown people suffer? It's because he's a spoiled racist brat.
08:42pm 16/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38513 posts
Well if you subscribe to the theory that if a government doesn't control It's borders then it's not really a government (a theory which Australians overwhelmingly support) then it becomes the primary objective.
Hmm I'm not sure what logical fallacy here to complain about first - the strawman or the nirvana fallacy
Indefinite detention is exacerbated by the sheer volume of arrivals and the often deliberate attempts by arrivals to obfuscate destroying or failing to bring suitable identifying documents.

Just yesterday the immigration department advised one third of current asylum seekers (10,000) would not meet the refugee test and now face indefinite uncertainty because there is no way to ascertain their home country.

This is what happens when Australia plays loose and fast border security policy.
Well given that most asylum seekers arrive perfectly legally in the country this has nothing to do with how we treat other asylum seekers. It is a massive strawman!

Unless you're literally proposing we turn basically everyone back at the border or essentially make it impossible for anyone at all to come to Australia.

It is crazy to pretend that it's possible for a country to "protect it's borders" with 100% reliability.! That is the nirvana fallacy - there is no way to stop every remotely dangerous person from entering the country. You can try to stop EVERYONE entering the country (but of course you will almost certainly fail) but the cost of doing that would be massive because it would destroy so many industries. We can't just build a Trump-esque wall around the country because we're scared of the vanishingly tiny amount of bad apples.

I say this as someone that loves Border Security and loves watching dangerous/risky/dodgy people get busted by our Customs & immigration people btw. I think they do a staggering job considering the challenges.
The detention centres are not torture. That is a lame SJW hyperbole. They have food clothing and shelter and just can't leave when they want to because they are unverified security risks.
TRIGGER WORD DETECTED IGNORING SENTENCE
As with any Public service system it is f*****g hopeless, corrupt and error ridden so we just have to expose the weaknesses in the contractors and keep them honest because the detainees deserve to be safe while they are detained.
wait who is hopeless and corrupt here? the public service or the private contractors in their employ!?
09:30pm 17/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38514 posts
since operation sovereign borders started all boats have been intercepted and re-directed. so yeah...
Right but the majority of "illegal" immigrants, or asylum seekers, or whatever, do not come by boat. So 'stopping the boats', while a no doubt a great achievement and one that will be sung in the halls of the Liberal Party for all eternity, hasn't really done anything to stop the problem you're talking about (i.e., protection of our sovereign borders).

I agree it's good that it is stopping deaths at the hands of unscrupulous people smuggling f***wits though!
that would be fine by me. proper border security means you don't come in until you are invited.
[pulls ejection handles]
12:10am 18/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2076 posts
Just yesterday the immigration department advised one third of current asylum seekers (10,000) would not meet the refugee test and now face indefinite uncertainty because there is no way to ascertain their home country.


I would need to research this more closely (and I can't be assed), but I would be wary of touting that stat. It almost certainly comes as a result of Australia tinkering with the real risk test for refugee status, in flagrant violation of the terms of the convention.

We adjusted the the real risk to some 50-50 test, which makes refugees only able to leave a situation when in it is a virtual certainty they are going to be killed, or in other words, probably until after it is too late. The reality of political persecution is that people want to leave, and more over should be entitled to leave, long before they *know* the men with guns are coming.

But even at that heightened standard more than 2/3rd qualify. Which is why this sentiment:

that would be fine by me. proper border security means you don't come in until you are invited


In relation to refugees is particularly wrong headed. And why the refugee convention specifically forbids punishing people for failure to conform with immigration regulation.
11:14am 18/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25499 posts
you would end up insulting millions of decent Australians
Here it is for you really simple.

Anyone who thinks that the current asylum seeker situation in Australia is even remotely a good thing is either -

a) a gullible fool who will believe anything they're told
b) a malignant racist c***

There is no option c.

edit: actually there is

c) a mixture of a and b
08:26pm 19/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2077 posts
While there is little doubt forum shopping takes place. This:

In an extremely large number of cases these people pass through Indonesia - which meets this criteria.


Is inaccurate. Indonesia isn't a signatory of the convention. Refugees can never resettle there as a right, and there is no path to citizenship effectively leaving them stateless.

A pool would be great, but Indonesia has steadfastly refused to be part of one.

Edit
Here is the High commission's thoughts on the matter of first safe country.

Clear is a strong word for that.
09:46pm 19/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2078 posts
No no, first we need to let folks cum on camera about how much they love gay relationships.

I also look forward to politicians who until literally the last election cycle opposed gay marriage talk about the damage it'll do to the children,

drowning at sea

suffering indescribable mental torture for a right exclusively exercised by adults.
02:05pm 21/09/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25500 posts
The Australian is paywalled dumbshoes. As a true bastion of journalistic integrity I am sure it was a worthwhile article and not just right-wing trash solely designed to fuel the confirmation bias of easily led numpties.
04:19pm 21/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2079 posts
Not sure I follow you infi.

International law is exclusively developed by appointees and not elected officials.

Australia entered a treaty which gave rise specific obligations, public opinion doesn't alter the nature of the commitment and therefore your criticism that the UNHCR is insufficiently democratic is invalid.
09:12pm 21/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2080 posts
and by countries entering into treaties.



The UNHCR is established by the refugee convention. Hence it is created by the treaty powers to determine the content of international law surrounding refugees.

I don't see how being unelected is particularly important to that work.

All treaties make inroads into sovereignty, it is in their inherent nature to do that. In fact I'd say most treaties make deeper inroads into our sovereignty.

I understand border control is something you endlessly talk about, but even at the height of the boats under Gillard we never went under around 95% regular arrivals. No serious person can argue that letting the refugees through is the same as no control over borders.
07:09pm 22/09/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38517 posts
I can only assume the irony of Bolt whining about a publisher choosing to exercise a right of freedom of speech is completely lost on Bolt and his supporters when it happens to be about gay marriage
07:12pm 23/09/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4507 posts
non-story, just get someone else to print it

better yet do it yourself at officeworks I think there's a price break at 50 copies
09:43pm 24/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2081 posts
I stopped watching after the 30 minute mark. Hillary crushed it IMHO, but I don't know what that means in the current context.

117 policy contradictions in 20 policy areas should be a show stopper. But somehow trump carries on.
04:51pm 29/09/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4508 posts
hillary did a serviceable job in the debate, as usual trump hemmed and hawed and gave a firehose of bulls*** non-answers that sounded like a fever dream

And I think Secretary Clinton and myself would agree very much, when you look at what ISIS is doing with the Internet, they're beating us at our own game. ISIS. So we have to get very, very tough on cyber and cyber warfare. It is -- it is a huge problem. I have a son.

He's 10 years old. He has computers. He is so good with these computers, it's unbelievable. The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough. And maybe it's hardly doable. But I will say, we are not doing the job we should be doing. But that's true throughout our whole governmental society. We have so many things that we have to do better, Lester, and certainly cyber is one of them.


of course he did nothing to put the trucker hat vote in jeopardy but there are plenty of Americans still on the fence, and Hilldog will get a modest bounce from the debate - but then there's bound to be an October surprise coming up
07:43pm 29/09/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4509 posts
he never had the chance
10:35am 30/09/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2082 posts
he didnt delete 30,000 government emails stored on a private server, so he's got that going for him.


Literally because he has never held public office before. Having a private server with a trump sticker on the side of it is totally the kind of thing he'd do.
08:22am 01/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38520 posts
It is somewhat a load of ironing that Global Warming is blamed for the Storm that destroyed the future of Renewable Energy in this Country.
haha I know right! "This is your future with reneweables people!@!#"

I thought this ABC article was particularly terribad.

I haven't read too much about it but it seems like a good rebuttal would be that even more renewables would help lead to an even more robust and decentralised grid. It sounds like the bulk of the problem was power lines going down in the storm (as usual).

Having solar and some batteries would make a staggering difference
01:05am 02/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4510 posts
article seems to conflate South Australia's price volatility with the event that happened on Wednesday

It is important to note that the Australian Energy Market Operator says the damage to the system was so catastrophic that it would have shut down no matter what the energy mix was in South Australia yesterday.

and there it is
10:43am 02/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38524 posts
Yeh, there was another followup article somewhere on the ABC (can't find it now unfortunately) basically highlighting that more renewables will actually lead to a more resilient distributed grid.

One thing interesting in that first article though was apparently the wind turbines don't work when it's too windy! I didn't know that. Anyone know what the deal is there?
09:27pm 02/10/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25504 posts
Search for 'wind turbine collapse' on youtube.
09:45pm 02/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2083 posts
I didn't know that. Anyone know what the deal is there?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqEccgR0q-o

Reads like a combination of things, but the tl;dr version I think is that the fins can only take so much mechanical stress and spinning super fast can push them beyond their limit and they just fall apart.

So they all have breaks in them to prevent that happening. *edit* or they rotate them so the wind can't push them to dangerous speeds.
08:52pm 03/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38526 posts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqEccgR0q-o

Reads like a combination of things, but the tl;dr version I think is that the fins can only take so much mechanical stress and spinning super fast can push them beyond their limit and they just fall apart.

So they all have breaks in them to prevent that happening. *edit* or they rotate them so the wind can't push them to dangerous speeds.
Right, I guess that makes sense. I know f*** all about mechanical engineering but I guess I imagined they'd have gears or something that would allow them to simply increase and generate even more power in huge winds.

Trog earlier this year when SA ran out of Electricity the Wind Turbines were drawing more power than they were producing.
That article is a bit light on details. "While all wind farms in South Australia were producing about 189.72MW between 6am and 7am, by early afternoon the energy generation was in deficit as the turbines consumed more power than they created. By 2.20pm, energy generation by all wind farms was minus-2 MW." What happened after 2.20pm?! I'm no mathematician but even if it was running at -2MW for the next 24 hours (which seems unlikely) they'd still have a massive energy surplus.
09:30pm 05/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4511 posts
somewhat interestingly, if you look at the energy demand graph for South Australia you'll notice the demand in the middle of the day actually dips below that of about 4am in the morning, when usage is at its lowest - that's solar for you

of course the ideal would be renewables that can provide consistent load (tidal power?)
07:08pm 06/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38527 posts
I was reading about the hipster Solar deal for the Sunshine Coast Council.
You missed the best part - they built it in a flood plain?!


That's not really how it works with electricity generation and distribution. Most transmission and distribution grids have veey little or no storage capacity because it's quite expensive. So having a surplus in one period doesn't really carry forward. So losing the generation from those wind farms without a seperate source to make up the lost supply is a material shock to the system.
Actually one of the very very few things I know [an extremely tiny bit] about economics is about power generation & distribution (one of my best mates is an economist who used to work in precisely that industry in Australia!) But most renewables aren't really used for baseload generation so I don't know if I see this as a big problem. (Maybe it is in SA because they're over-dependent on renewables but that doesn't seeeeeem to be the case from what I've read.) So I'm talking really just from a TCO point of view - it just seems like complaining that during the night solar cells produce no power so therefore they're worthless.
08:01pm 06/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2084 posts
I know f*** all about mechanical engineering but I guess I imagined they'd have gears or something that would allow them to simply increase and generate even more power in huge winds.


They do, that video has a reddit about it somewhere, and it was gearbox failure that actually was the root cause, it actually wasn't particularly high windspeeds. But even with a gearbox there is going to be an upper limit. SA had some pretty big winds go through.

I'm hardly an expert on mechanical engineering, but I did used to work for a transmission design consultancy. While I was there a storm in QLD knocked out something similar up near moura. There were gusts recorded about 180km/h in a microcell or somesuch.

The point is blowing over 275kV transmission lines is serious wind, and I'd be surprised if wind turbines are designed to produce at those conditions.

The report is interesting. It doesn't say wind power was the cause but it does seem to suggest that such a high dependency on it delayed re-connection. But it also said that definitive cause was yet to be determined.

It's all speculation until the report is finalised.
08:55pm 06/10/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25509 posts
Nah he's just dumb.
10:11pm 07/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4513 posts
republicans are disendorsing Trump in droves over those lewd comments secretly recorded a decade ago

really guys? the last straw is this?

whatever, he's toast, Hilldog's only real threat now is if Trump steps down in favour of Mike Pence (unlikely) or there is a widespread campaign to "write in" Pence (extremely unlikely), or Wikileaks reveals Hillary did 9/11
07:28pm 09/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4515 posts
The Heimlich Maneuver from Barny Frank.

yeah because Barney Frank is gay... hur hur hur amirite????
09:55pm 09/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2089 posts
and his 'method acting' inspired John Belushi to inject the drugs which killed him Read more:


Oh yeah cause thats a thing. next you'll be saying kids who play video games kill people.
09:57pm 09/10/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25510 posts
Hey guys, check out what this guy who puts wordy bumper stickers on the back of his pick up truck has to say.
11:16pm 09/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4516 posts
The look on her face when he was talking about her laughing about how she got that pedophile off - she had a blank look.

because it's a load of crap
Same with the talk about her husband.

probably best not to get worked up about it - the election is now hers to lose but she needs to stay on message and let Trump get these kinds of attacks over quickly
10:19pm 10/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2090 posts
Yeah but he is running as a republican. And its not like Hillary, whom I would support if I could vote and have from the outset, doesn't have serious flaws.

There isn't really anyone else to vote for. The third candidate doesn't appear to know much about the issues facing america so who are you left with?

The other thing that it is misleading that 43% of the vote, is less, often substantially so, than 43% of the population because voting is voluntary.
10:44am 12/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2092 posts
He has a point about the greens. They love a good moral grandstand.
11:48am 15/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4517 posts
clearly shopped, where's the illuminati triangle?
02:40pm 16/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4518 posts
that would be a great twofer, first female and first lesbian in the white house
09:07pm 17/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2093 posts
Is it the Festival of Ideas or the Festival of Groupthink?


Groupthink and has been for years. You can tell because the most dangerous thing anyone ever says is that Marxism is a good idea. That person isn't a revolutionary thinker. They have a learning disability.

With that said I'm getting mixed signals from you Facey. Is Turnbull an evil Goldman Sachs shyster or mao reborn?
08:05pm 18/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2094 posts
I was rather clearly not asking that. I feel the question was clearly demarcated by the use of the "question mark".

As far as I can see Turnbull stands for a multicultural Australia with some free-marketeering thrown in and a general small l liberal attitude. Frankly it is refreshing to have a polly STFU about what they stand for.
09:07pm 18/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2095 posts
read any marx yet vash?
10:21pm 18/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2096 posts
And infi there is a laaarge gap between the vast majority of politicians professed principles and the ones they live by.
10:23pm 18/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38539 posts
yeah principles in politics? Whats the point...
deeds > words
11:17pm 18/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4519 posts
well he did promise a traditional cabinet government and an end to captain's calls, although he probably didn't realise just how true that would be

thanks to his DD election brain fart, he's about a captain's call away from pissing off the Nationals and losing his majority, and ironically even more fringe party nutters in the Senate than before
12:49am 19/10/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25512 posts
Right wing politics is entirely emotional & "i feel this is bad" in their guts. Or, will this make me more money? Not the kind of people you want in Government.
This is without a doubt true for some of the more vocal right-wing pundits on this board. But you forgot 'does it cause pain and unhappiness to people I feel are beneath me'.
04:10am 19/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2097 posts
Left wing politics is all about evidence, scientific based policy.


Oh my my word shut the f*** up. It just isn't. Leaving aside the number of lefties such as yourself who *still* think marxism might be a good idea (which in itself is categorical proof left wing politics has the same relationship with evidence as right wing), The Anti-vax and general natural medicine woo is allllll Left wing.

The big antivax towns all elect greens or labor. Or the greens scare campaign about CSG when Di Natalie set a methane seep on fire on the Condamine. Fire on water isn't natural, oh well how "evidenced" based of you senator.

That statement betrays nothing but moral tribalism. Which isn't moral.
07:20am 19/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2099 posts
He got the savings. But more importantly seems to me demanding is inline with conviction.
10:01am 19/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2100 posts
They were spending measures that were on the books and he got them off.

Seems to me it is entirely appropriate to go to the press if Labor is opposing measures they previously supported. They can't make a resonable claim to "goodwill"

He also found $6B or so from the super changes. Which was negotiated.

Maybe he should try the tactics from the 2014 budget, that went swimmingly.
10:30am 19/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2101 posts
Labor already passed the omnibus bill but these are not measures they have previously said they support.


They did though infi. Labor indicated support for about 6b of saving most of which were in the omnibus bill. That was the point of it.

Hence the time for closed door negotiation was over.

Anyway you are confusing me now.

Do you want someone who is a good negotiator or someone who has conviction and will do what they say they will do

because I don't see a significant difference between
I want conviction politicians who do what they say they were gonna do

and this
do what I ask cos I said so


Maybe it is in eyebrows.
11:02am 19/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2102 posts
Ok sure but would consider abbott to be a conviction politician? because he had a notable scarcity on policy wins, and indeed his convictions seemed to lead him directly into dramatic policy blunders Knighthoods for sitting royals for example.

I think the criticism that someone just wants the job needs to be better fleshed out because there is no one in the game who wouldn't want it. My issue from the campaign was not the lack of a message I got the bizarre notion that they were focused on jobs and growth from somewhere. The issue was the inability to have a signature policy that would deliver the slogan, however there is a live question as to that even being possible in a complex modern economy.

Other than scrap the tax Abbott was always rather light on economic policy detail, and oppositions have been comically poor for detail as a matter of course since 1993, so it is a criticism that applies fairly broadly.

If Gillard wasn't so reviled, rightly or wrongly, do you think Abbott's 2013 platform would have won? Because I doubt it.
11:51am 19/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2103 posts
That article is based for america and is focused exclusively on anti-vax. If you open it up to general natural medicine bulls*** I'll bet you it changes.

In australia for example the capital of all that nonsense is Byron and the Surrounding area. Are you really going to tell me Byron a hotbed of mercenary capitalism?

At least though, on the left side, you generally see a much higher concentration of pro science policy.

That is utterly unsubstantiated.

I take you've read as much about trickle down economics as you have Marx.
07:27am 20/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2104 posts
On what grounds Raven?

The fact that Richmond has the lowest Vaccination rate of any electorate in Australia and is overwhelming left leaning?
10:20am 20/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2105 posts
Manly is Tonez seat and Paddington is Turnbulls. Annandale is Allbo I think.
Mullumbimby is more like 50%.


have a vaccination rate here in Mullumbimby that equals that of the developing country of South Sudan, which is: under 50 per cent of kids aged five are fully vaccinated.
Turns out idiots are everywhere.


Yep, but there are more of them in the Richmond Electorate. They are the gold standard of vaccine denialism. Either way it supports the thesis that the left wing isn't inherently more respectful of science. Which is my claim.

If you want to go and see a real science love in, based on totally rational concerns go take a look at the Greens GMO policy page. To his credit, Di Natalie has since said the safety concerns are unjustified, but he is alone in the greens on that front.


Give tax cuts to small business & low to middle income earners, this will stimulate the economy *far* more.


The current corporate tax cut is structured to deliver to small business first.
06:37pm 20/10/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25513 posts
If you want to go and see a real science love in, based on totally rational concerns go take a look at the Greens GMO policy page.
Not sure if sarcastic but I just read that page and it seems fine to me. What's your problem with it?

I guess 2) is kind of s*****. I am of the belief there is very limited risk if any to human health from GMOs. However there is a real possibility of f*****g with ecosystems in a major way if something were to go wrong.
08:19pm 20/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2106 posts
So aside from the Human Health concerns being more or less baseless:

Living organisms such as plants, animals and micro-organisms are not inventions. Patents on life are unethical and against the public interest.


Patents on life already exist and have since at least the 80's, so if we were going to see some massive ethical fallout from it, I expect we would have seen it by now. But it also betrays they don't know about plant breeders rights, which are effectively the same thing and have existed since the '40s. Here is an interesting article on the benefit of giving people the ability to exert IP rights over life forms in the form of PBR's. the one about terminator technology and saving seed also demonstrates they don't understand agricultural business. Farmers have been breeding and refining plants separately from their crops for at least 150 years. *edit* sorry to make this crystal clear, most farmers don't save seed because of the genetic impact of cross pollination from less productive varieties. Most farmers buy entirely new seed every year because you can guarantee your planting the good stuff. See also Golden Rice. The patent on that specifically allows for it to be given for free to developing countries and to prevent imitators selling snake oil.


The Australian government must prohibit the use of 'terminator' technologies (Gene Use Restriction) that prevent seeds from germinating when planted.


This would be one of the most effective ways to address your concern about bio-diversity. Nobody is denying there are bio-diversity risks associated with GMO's but a blanket ban which is agenda item number one is totally inappropriate. There are horror stories of grossly irresponsible experimentation in mexico from the '90's, but the '90's called they want their risk management concerns back. But also see Farmers saving seed nonsense above.

Scientific evidence produced independently from the developers and proponents of the GMO must be undertaken and form the basis for assessing and licensing of GMOs. GMO assessments must be broad, independent and scientifically robust.


Independent scientific research does get conducted all the time.

Farmers and consumers have a right to grow and consume non-GMO foods.

Given virtually all crops are refined breeds of plants, which entails genetic modification, this is close to nonsensical. But more importantly there is exactly zero risk of GMO crops becoming mandatory.

and finally the enforced labeling only makes sense if you buy into the safety concerns which are bunkum.

All in all the whole document reeks of the naturalistic fallacy. *edit* sorry the appeal to nature fallacy.
08:43pm 20/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2108 posts
Oh I disagree Vash.

RE Climate change, if it is the immediate impending disaster you say it is, the Greens nuclear policy also becomes difficult to justify. It certainly isn't particularly well supported by science.

As for climate change vs GMO's I'm of the opinion that the GMO situation is the more pressing issue. GMO's can deliver tangible results, and indeed can help mitigate the crop failure associated with climate change, now. The scare mongering around them is dangerous and denies developing nations access to nutrient rich hardy crops baselessly.

Climate change is just important to you, and for what its worth I support the switch to renewables, but GMO and Vaccine denial require refusing science that is at least as well supported as climate science. In fact the science backing up the efficacy of vaccines and GMO I'd wager is better supported than climate change, certainly both allow for practical technology based on accurate predictions.

The point is, as I stated rather clearly, the left's relationship with science is just as troubled as the right's. They just have their own stupid bugbears.
07:15am 21/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2109 posts
Where do you take that from?

I know plenty of engineers and doctors who are life time liberal voters.

What ever the reason it isn't for the scientific literacy displayed in their GMO and Nuclear policies.
07:21pm 21/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2110 posts
I used to play soccer with 22 (Medical Doctors) of them while I was at uni. I'd say a solid 40% were libs.

Besides which when you exclude academics which clearly includes a lot of non-scientists the graph you showed me gets real centrist. for example Pharma (which is about making life saving drugs which also happen to be valuable) rates 2.8L on a scale of 10.

What ever the case might be the policies are right there for you to look at. a cursory investigation of the science surrounding GMO's blows the greens policy out of the water. Their nuclear rhetoric is equally absurd. Scott Ludlam talks about visiting F**ushima as visiting "the end of the world", where there wasn't a single human casualty mind. And the plant was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami.

If you want to deny left wing politics has a problem with science denial I think you'd need to address those policies rather then show some but not all science and tech industries are left leaning.

faceman I've no interest in discussing climate change with you.
09:40pm 21/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4520 posts
huh

isn't the science denialism, "climate change is absolute crap", fluoride is poison, pollution doesn't matter because jebus is returning in our lifetime, kind of thing squarely in the right wing camp?
10:39pm 21/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38546 posts
What ever the case might be the policies are right there for you to look at. a cursory investigation of the science surrounding GMO's blows the greens policy out of the water.
I just read their policy page and it actually seems kinda mild to me. I don't think I'd say it's science-denialism really, almost the opposite. With the exception of principle #2 ("GMOs have not been proven safe to human health.") it all seems to be fairly reasonable and science-based and possibly #8 (mandatory labeling; I don't see this as a big deal one way or the other but we already address food contents & I think more info about the provenance of food in general is good and applicable even to non-GMO food - e.g., free range eggs, etc).

I disagree with them on nuclear but they are taking a principled stand, not a science-denying stand. I find it hard to nitpick on that one because it aligns cleanly with their overall vision of using more renewables which I think is pretty good.

But in general I agree with you that science denialism crosses all sorts of borders. People believe what they want to believe & will leap on any justification, rational or not, to support their viewpoint.
11:21pm 21/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38547 posts
Given virtually all crops are refined breeds of plants, which entails genetic modification, this is close to nonsensical. But more importantly there is exactly zero risk of GMO crops becoming mandatory.
Somewhat related aside: the Hugo-award winning science fiction novel "The Windup Girl" is a scary look at a possible future in which agritech companies have taken over the world and this exact scenario takes place!@#
11:24pm 21/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2111 posts
When presented with evidence, it seems the Greens are able to change their position. Unlike the right wingers.


I want you to go and read my post with both eyes vash. Di Natalie and only Di Natalie believes that.

making sure we don't use this technology simply to drive up the use of more herbicides and pesticides, which is not which is not good land management," he said.


That's retarded. GMOs are designed to use less herbicides and pesticides its one of their best known and strongest selling points. They're are also designed to require less water so you can release more flow back into rivers from irrigation. so even in the adjustment to human health he manages to be wrong.

from the same article
Federal Greens leader Richard Di Natale has partially broken with his party's policy, saying that he does not believe genetically modified crops pose a significant risk to human health.

The Greens oppose the use of genetically modified crops, arguing they pose significant risks to agricultural ecosystems and human health.



The greens operate by consensus decision making so Di Natale saying that doesn't entail a policy change, its been 10 months since he said that s***. If they didn't update it for the election they aren't going to, it's a website not stone tablets. So no the greens haven't changed their position.

Then you got Chernobyl.
Chernobyl is literally the science-deniers wet dream.

Keep in mind you can now grow crops safe for human consumption in F**ushima.

There have been three accidents in the history of nuclear power. And one them involved hitting the plant with an earthquake and tsunami. The risks around nuclear are well understood and well able to be managed as evidence by the fact that getting hit by multiple natural disasters didn't kill anyone.

If i could be bothered bringing up all the crazy anti science stuff from the right, im sure you'd be inundated.

Probably and it wouldn't undermine my point.

I don't think I'd say it's science-denialism really, almost the opposite


I linked to over 600 studies verifying bio-diversity risk management and human safety risks.

Scientific evidence produced independently from the developers and proponents of the GMO must be undertaken and form the basis for assessing and licensing of GMOs. GMO assessments must be broad, independent and scientifically robust.


I don't really understand how you could call that principle anything other than science denial. When they get to 700 will it count?

As I said in my post it is unserious to bleat about the bio-diversity risk and then outlaw terminator technology which was developed specifically to address the issue. and I would say science denying. You can't say there is a bio-diversity risk and then outlaw the scientific solution to it.

and keep in mind that on the strength of their principles (uniformed by the science) their solution is a total ban on GMO crops and to rip up existing crops until there is enough science, the 600 studies I linked to must not count.

A moratorium on the release of GMOs into the environment until there is an adequate scientific understanding of their long term impact on the environment, human and animal health. This includes the removal as far as possible of all GMOs from the Australian environment and food supply while the moratorium is in place.


I don't have a huge issue with the labeling either, but lets not mince words. They want it because they want people to be (mis)informed of the risks.

nuclear but they are taking a principled stand, not a science-denying stand.


a Principled stand that ignores the science is a principled science-denying stand. Christians have a principled stand on the miracles of Jesus trog.
The world should be free of nuclear weapons and the nuclear fuel chain.


That's the science denying bit. Reactors have a multitude of peaceful purposes and we can't have them without the fuel chain. As stated above the risks around storing Nuclear waste are well understood and absolutely capable of management. And lets not also forget that the vast majority of nuclear medicine doses are produced in reactors. So unless we plan on giving up nuclear medicine (which isn't going to happen) we are going to be participating in the nuclear fuel chain somewhere.

The use of nuclear weapons, nuclear accidents or attacks on reactors pose unacceptable risk of catastrophic consequences.

You have to deny the ability of engineers to manage those risks in order to hold that as a true statement. There have been three(3) accidents in 15,000 years of combined reactor operation. Again the discussion of weapons is just a straight appeal to emotion. Australia so far as I'm aware has zero intention of acquiring the weapons and so using them is a flat non-sequitur.

There is a strong link between the mining and export of uranium and nuclear weapons proliferation.

That is asserted with out any supporting evidence. The only potential case for this was the deal with India, and have you read anything about India exporting or losing control of weapons or weapons technology? I haven't.

Australia's reliance on the United States nuclear weapons 'umbrella' lends our bases, ports and infrastructure to the US nuclear war fighting apparatus, and is in conflict with our national sovereignty.

That just isn't even relevant. You might as well say nuclear arms, the billion dollar corporations and american imperialism are bad mmkay.

A principled, as distinct from hysterical, nuclear policy would have to draw a distinction between mining uranium, generating electricity and nuclear weapons, and not mention foreign policy at all. Mixing them like that is a confused mess and it is either because greens thinking on nuclear is a confused mess or because they are trying the muddy the waters, which is neither scientific nor principled.

Anyway:

But in general I agree with you that science denialism crosses all sorts of borders. People believe what they want to believe & will leap on any justification, rational or not, to support their viewpoint.


We are in perfect agreement here.
10:03am 22/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38548 posts
I don't really understand how you could call that principle anything other than science denial. When they get to 700 will it count?
That principle itself as written is (obviously?) the opposite of science denialism; it is specifcally about making evidence-based policy.

Whether or not they adhere to their principle is a different matter! ditto for the nuclear stuff.

I already said I disagree with their GMO & nuclear stances - probably for the same reasons you do

people take principled science-denying stands all the time for reasons I don't get or agree with (like vegans!) but I can still appreciate their stance and the reasons they want to take it
10:28pm 22/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2113 posts
That principle itself as written is (obviously?) the opposite of science denialism; it is specifcally about making evidence-based policy.


It is a corollary of that principle and principles one and two that broad based, scientifically robust research hasn't been undertaken, and that current policy isn't evidence based. They must be denying the existence, robustness or independence of the research I linked to.

people take principled science-denying stands all the time for reasons I don't get or agree with (like vegans!) but I can still appreciate their stance and the reasons they want to take it

I have not stated nor implied anything that that contradicts that statement.

The issue I was addressing was that left wing politics is purely evidenced based or acts as a salve to superstition. I think I have provided ample evidence that isn't the case.

However I would point out that a principled stance on something like nuclear policy which isn't rooted in scientific evidence is almost certainly dangerous. So the idea that some praise should follow from the fact their shambles is a principled shambles strikes me as odd.
09:31am 23/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4522 posts
10:13pm 23/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4523 posts
holy crap, have you visited the website on that sign?

unpolished
07:50pm 26/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2115 posts
Emma is a bad ass.
09:23am 28/10/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2116 posts
That was about the dumbest post I expect to read today. And it's not even 2pm. And I haven't checked Reddit yet.
01:26pm 28/10/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38549 posts
Climate Change the #1 concern at The ABC/greens/Labor Alliance ?
Wonder what the rest of the World really thinks about it all ?
Asking people what they think is important is different to knowing what is actually important

people didn't give a s*** about leaded gasoline either. this is kind of exactly why it's important to elect wise leaders and not populist a******* (in case we didn't learn that lesson in ww2)
08:10pm 28/10/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4525 posts
I thought her sign telling "motherf*****s" to vote Trump and "f*** Mexico" was completely reasonable
01:53pm 30/10/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25527 posts
disgraceful

disgraceful

disgraceful
07:33pm 05/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25528 posts
You idiot, he is actually creating these fine and insightful comics because he cares so much about the plight of the aboriginal people. It is in fact you who is the real racist for getting in the way of all the caring that he's doing.
08:01pm 05/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25529 posts
Except indigenous folks have had countless billions thrown at their communities and this has resulted in amplification of the cartoonist's scenario, child rape, domestic violence, petrol, ice, weed and alcoholism all worse than before.
It's almost as though money is not the solution to every problem in the world. But what is though? I know, shaming them in the country's worst right-wing rag!

This is where Leak's argument that he's trying to contribute to the debate in a positive manner fails . Even the most dimwitted of individuals realise that racist caricatures and stereotypes will instead make things worse. He has just drawn the cartoons to appeal to the dumb stooges who actually read the australian. They think it's 'deep'.
08:57pm 05/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25530 posts
You can talk about it all you want. You know what though champ? You're really not very bright, and it seems when you're faced with something even remotely complex you quickly recede into dumb strawmans and all sorts of logical fallacies. It kind of suggests to a reasonable observer that you don't really have much basis for all of your loathing of non-white people and that you're actually just a spoilt racist little brat.

I remember the first time we discussed indigenous issues, YEARS AGO, and you claimed their problems were borne from a culture of violence and posted some pamphlet about some leg spearing thing. You're literally seconds away from bringing up that same bulls*** again aren't you?
09:17pm 05/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25531 posts
Remember it was only 49 years ago that indigenous people were recognised as Australian citizens. infi would have voted no in that referendum.
09:36pm 05/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2118 posts
Remember it was only 49 years ago that indigenous people were recognised as Australian citizens.


This is inaccurate. If you are referring to the 1967 referendum they were not voting on citizenship. That referendum specifically addressed the issue of the federal parliament being able to make laws for aboriginal people and for aboriginal people being included in the census figures.
04:45pm 06/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2119 posts
Actually I might also add fpot, if the Bill leak cartoon is so offensive why are you and vash the only people to have posted it?

Surely propagating the pure evil in the cartoon is itself an act of racism.
07:51pm 06/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25532 posts
This is inaccurate. If you are referring to the 1967 referendum they were not voting on citizenship. That referendum specifically addressed the issue of the federal parliament being able to make laws for aboriginal people and for aboriginal people being included in the census figures.
Point taken. My point was though that institutionalised racism against indigenous people didn't end all that long ago.

Not sure what you mean about posting the cartoon. You do understand context right? The reason I posted it was because I believe it exhibits an absurd level of racism and the fact that it is okay for it to be posted in a national publication is quite a telling statement on where we are as a nation when it comes to addressing and recognising racism. Posting it on some backwater forum to a bunch of people who have likely already seen it doesn't seem like propagating it to me.
09:36pm 06/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2120 posts
I don't read the Australian so you posting it here was literally the first time I saw it. Regardless posting here means it is viewable in more rather than less places.

If it was as ubiquitous as you say, surely you could have just referred to the cartoon by name, it didn't need to be posted.

But if you are suggesting the context of the conversation makes it not racist why doesn't that work for leaks?
09:53pm 06/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25533 posts
Well I didn't see it at first in the australian either. I saw it on twitter or facebook or something. Who the f*** reads newspapers?

I reckon simply posting the cartoon is much easier than saying 'hey did everyone see that cartoon published in the australian with the 1950s caricatures in it?' someone going no and then me or someone else posting it anyway.

It's different because our motives are different. That cartoon is not an isolated thing. Bill Leak has done many more using the exact same style and carrying the exact same shallow message as the one I posted. His motives are to produce cartoons he thinks are edgy and that his readership think are deep and meaningful when all they're really doing is acting as confirmation bias. They're safe to post - people aren't ever going to view one and think you know what, I didn't think about this before but Bill Leak has changed my mind and those indigenous people sure are s***. However racist people will see them in a major newspaper and take it as some sort of vindication of their beliefs. It's the reason newspapers like the australian exist in the first place.
10:55pm 06/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2121 posts
It sounds like a naked double standard based on motivation knowledge you don't really have to me.

He drew it just after the NT youth detention thing on four corners. Seems like a comment on the broader context of that investigation to me.

I don't think it supposed to talk about aboriginal people as a class. Just those that are having issues with law enforcement in the NT.

It's certainly a jarring style but I think it is a stretch to say it is a hark back to master race eugenics.
07:01am 07/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25534 posts
It sounds like a naked double standard based on motivation knowledge you don't really have to me.
I dunno. I've actually viewed many of his cartoons. Apparently you haven't?

I'm aware of the timing of its publication. In my view it was drawing attention to an obvious and long going problem (alcoholism and neglect in indigenous communities) while distracting from the less obvious problem (a culture of mistreatment and apathy of guards towards prisoners in youth detention facilities). Another reason I found it disingenuous.

See you're not interpreting it as speaking about indigenous people as a class because you're not a racist twat. However many people out there are, and many of those people read the australian because it's a safe space for them where their views are mainstreamed. In my opinion Bill Leak is completely aware of this and knows exactly what he is doing when he pens his dumb s*** and gets it published.
02:41pm 07/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2122 posts
She did say the bar for invoking an investigation is too low in the interview faceman.

However many people out there are, and many of those people read the australian because it's a safe space for them where their views are mainstreamed. In my opinion Bill Leak is completely aware of this and knows exactly what he is doing when he pens his dumb s*** and gets it published.


Ok sure, but here is where I think this reasoning breaks down.

You state
They're safe to post - people aren't ever going to view one and think you know what, I didn't think about this before but Bill Leak has changed my mind and those indigenous people sure are s***. However racist people will see them in a major newspaper and take it as some sort of vindication of their beliefs. It's the reason newspapers like the australian exist in the first place.


To me that says that you think people will come at it with their preconceived notions and it is bad that racists have theirs validated.

What I don't understand is how posting it here is any different. I also don't understand, given the lack of effect, how the author's (or poster's) motivation has much of anything to do with it.

You clearly think infi falls into that particular category of Australian reader. Why does posting it here not validate while in the Australian it does? I think the only real difference is audience size. You could make the argument the Australian lends authority, but then I'd direct your attention to the arab spring. And indeed the US election generally.

A large part of the US issue is people not trusting outlets like the Australian.

Put simply, if you think people won't change their minds, and it is a forgone conclusion a racist will find the image validating no matter what you say, why haven't you vicariously validated racism?
07:17am 08/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2123 posts
well who knows. But I'm willing to cop a bit of egg.

I'm saying Hillary with at least 290 electoral votes and beats trump by 3 points in the popular vote.

Nate Silver, three for three I reckon.
07:19pm 08/11/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4527 posts
He has so much energy. Makes Hillary look like a pensioner.

who, Hitler? bazinga

nah, but the polls seem to have the hilldog by a nose, just depends which of the swing states she gets, if Florida is called early then it's OVAR
08:02pm 08/11/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4528 posts
Clinton needs a decisive victory though, ideally a good popular vote margin to show a public mandate of sorts

nay, to prevent Trump from throwing his toys out of the pram and saying it was rigged

it'd be nice for her to have a senate that actually lets her do anything but after the FBI shenanigans we'll have to see
02:36am 09/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25536 posts
Put simply, if you think people won't change their minds, and it is a forgone conclusion a racist will find the image validating no matter what you say, why haven't you vicariously validated racism?
Yeaaahhh I feel I am just going to be repeating myself if I respond to this. The reason I posted it was simply to say 'holy s*** look at how terrible this is and look at how terrible the australian must be for publishing it'. There was no real deep meaning or purpose to it.

Me posting it for those purposes is completely different from the idea popping into Leak's head, drawing it, and then the australian posting it. They did it for the reason I have already mentioned. To appeal to the knuckle draggers. I felt that was something that needed to be mentioned and the only way to really do that was to post the cartoon. I guess I could have written some words about how the australian is really nothing more than right-wing propaganda but that is a pretty hackneyed point. And you know what they say about pictures and words.
05:39am 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2124 posts
fpot you explicitly stated people's minds won't be changed by the cartoon.

If the cartoon is inherently racist which you again appear to believe, why does this forum, as opposed to the Australian, magically remove its hatefulness. <-you have never addressed this point except to say you motive was different. But motive is not as clear cut as you might like to make out.

The image is ambiguous in its meaning. You've already placed more than one interpretation on it. In those circumstances knowledge to true motivation is going to be difficult and probably impossible to establish. Only Leak knows for certain, and he is not likely to give a damning account of himself is he?

But lets examine the purity of your motivation for a second.

If you really believe that the image validates racist views already held and that the validation is a problem, I simply do not see how posting it here doesn't have the same or similar effect.

The broader point is the act of you posting it is probably enough to trigger HRC 18C jurisdiction. You could probably defend yourself as commenting, though the actual post is pretty thin on commentary, but you'd still have to go and run the argument. Given you state your belief that racists will be validated by the image it could be argued you have shown a callous indifference to the harm caused by racist imagery. This claim would be bolstered by the point that you now claim it isn't really necessary to point out the Australian is a racist publication, which adds a degree of vulgar wantonness to positing it.

And lets not forget Vash Posted this little gem

This assumes that Aboriginal communities are alcoholics, and that they don't care about their children enough to remember their names.
Yes this happens.


A valid reading of that sentence is that the assumption is true. *Entire* Aboriginal communities.
07:58am 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2125 posts
he was posting it to amplify his outrage, white self-loathing and support of minority victimhood. he wear these qualities like a badge. you should know that by now.


That's my point. If the image is inherently racist and therefore offensive to aboriginal folks, prioritising your right to display your (non-aboriginal) outrage by posting over the harm done by propagating it is racist.

Given that he has repeatedly stated the image is reasonably likely to be offensive to someone on the basis of their race, he has probably crossed the line set by 18C.

Gillain Triggs was kindly reported by Dais as saying the bar is currently too low.

Meanwhile Vash said the racist assumption of the cartoon was true. What he likes 18C so much he thought he'd show us how to break it?
10:37am 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2126 posts
That's more a question for fpot and vash.

My point is that if you accept an image is racist (particularly against a race you don't belong to) and then post it to show how outraged you are you are minimising the harm which by your own reasoning it does.

You minimise by demonstrating you care more about your opinion then the harm caused. Which in my view is a racist act.

For reasons stated above I'm not convinced that Leak's cartoon is. I see plausible non-racist interpretations and on the strength of that I think any knowledge claimed to Leak's actual intention is unlikely to be accurate.

Art generally is supposed to engage an audience and be filled in with the audience's interpretation. Therefore assuming the worst possible intention of the artist is disingenuous.

However, if you elect to go down that road, which fpot and vash clearly have, you need a plausible storey as to why your outrage trumps the victims of a racist cartoon. I haven't read one.

Also given their acceptance that the cartoon is racist, I don't see a good reason why 18C hasn't been satisfied by posting it.
11:20am 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2127 posts
12:18pm 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2128 posts
If she takes Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and flips new hampshire she is still gets there.
04:00pm 09/11/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4529 posts
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

hold on tight Trump voters, this presidency is gonna knock your house off its wheels
04:27pm 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2129 posts
remarkable!
04:29pm 09/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25537 posts
I think you're kinda pretty desperate to achieve your 'gotcha' moment against me Pete to the point where you'll just try to bore me out. We'll you've bored me out at least. I am perfectly comfortable with re-posting racist material in order to shine a light on it. You yourself said you hadn't seen it until Vash and myself posted it. Let's say a publication does post racist material, if it isn't replicated outside of that publication, how will people ever know about it?

Here I'll make you a deal - as soon as the australian stops posting flagrantly racist bulls***, I'll stop re-posting it.

Trump getting elected... what's the worst thing to happen before this? I honestly can't think of anything bar WW2 and surely I am wrong about that.

edit: Cultural Revolution? Rwandan genocide?
05:32pm 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2130 posts
Here is a better deal for you fpot.

Whining about and reposting racist cartoons is about as base level slacktivism as is possible to achieve.

There is no gotcha moment. You're just intellectually lazy with your moral compass. Which is fine. Just don't confuse in-group bias with actual moral clarity.
05:43pm 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2131 posts
edit: Cultural Revolution? Rwandan genocide?


Case in point.
05:45pm 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2132 posts
This "lol he's racist cos he posted a racist thing, but wait, the guy who made the racist thing aint racist" is pretty funny tho.


Gee you're good at not understanding things.
05:52pm 09/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25538 posts
Yeah okay. You know there used to be a time when I'd put a bit of effort into posting on this here forum but those days are well and truly over. I am really only interested in non-effort posts and the lowest hanging fruit so yeah I guess that does make me intellectually lazy as you say. I can easily live with internet forum people thinking that.

And for the record, I think this nomination easily has the potential to trum... overcome those two things I mentioned. Maybe not in body count (at least when it comes to the Cultural Revolution) but as far as long lasting irreparable harm goes to the integrity of a country that once actually was great.
05:57pm 09/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2133 posts
Only way it could be understood.


The way you understood it, because of the publication source. Which doesn't even begin to pass for thought.

Your ability to "identify" racism doesn't imply you're not.
06:21pm 09/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38564 posts
The Republican House and Senate will support his great ideas (tax cuts, repeal Obamacare, border security) and block his bad ideas (building a wall, increasing tarrifs).
Heh, only an Australian libertarian that has never lived in the United States and has (edit: I assume) been fortunate enough to not have any major health problems would think repealing Obamacare is one of his great ideas!

While I haven't met all the Americans, all the ones I have met think Obamacare is uniformly a good thing, with the exception of one or two people (one of them is a young Army guy who thinks he is invincible and has all his healthcare paid for by the federal government; the irony is of course lost on him completely).

I actually think keeping the tariffs would be better for America than ditching Obamacare. Maybe not in the dumb extremist way he proposed but certainly putting some pressure on Chinese manufacturing would be in the interests of the manufacturing capacity of the US. But I think Americans would literally lose their s*** if their $2 toaster from Walmart suddenly became $4.
06:36pm 09/11/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4530 posts
hey buddy, I've been goofing off at work on 538 for months now

speaking of, they must be feeling a right bunch of nitwits
10:53pm 09/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38566 posts
because the premiums are increasing at phenomenal rates. people can't plan their family budgets. and there is dwindling choice, as insurers stop offering plans.
Yeh you know there sure seem to be a lot of people saying that but in my experience at least (in Ohio) it is not true. Maybe some states are deliberately trying to sabotage the ACA by massively jacking up the rates (or they just have f***ed exchanges because their whole system is hosed, which is probably way more likely) but the reality (in a state that is not at all a hippy blue state) is quite different.

When I arrived in the US, ACA was just signed in to law. I had more options at the time; the slightly cheaper non-ACA plan (which had a 100 page policy and was impossible to understand) or the ACA plan which was dead simple to understand but (IIRC) about $50 more per month.

By the time I left the US (2 years later) my premiums (remember this is for a non-ACA plan) had gone up from about $180/mo to $230/mo (IIRC). Looking now (1 year later) the equivalent plan on ACA I think is about $300 (I say I think because it's very hard to compare plans directly to non-ACA plans because of the simply staggering number of variables).

So it is more expensive but hardly gone up at a phenomenal rate. When I look at the increases for my private cover back in Australia it had gone up a fairly similar amount year on year.
11:23pm 09/11/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4531 posts
When do american women start being imprisoned for having an abortion?

on this and other civil rights matters I think they're safe for the time being, as he would have to get enough of his "pro-life justices" on the bench to roll back any existing precedents

mercifully he (probably) hasn't gained a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (that is 60/100) so any attempt to appoint Ted Nugent or whoever to the vacancy will be met with resistance, and so on each time one of the old farts on the current bench makes way for a new nominee

then in two years time if the American people have any sense they take the Senate off him

at any rate it's one of many empty promises he made for his fundamentalist base
11:39pm 09/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38567 posts


Haha!

Thoughto be fair iirc Nate Silver has been one of the few consistently saying that this one was going to be closer than most people thought and that the dems shouldn't get complacent.
there seems to be a lot of nerd rage about Nate Silver/538; my overwhelming memory is that they said it was going to be close, not that it was going to be a clinton romp in (unlike say NYT!)
11:10am 10/11/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4532 posts
old mate Nate was very cautious indeed

he was likely chastened by predicting Jeb Bush would be nominated and thinking Trump had practically no chance, although that theory was based upon party endorsements rather than polling
11:44am 10/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38569 posts



The problem is that people assumed that this = clinton win:
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo

28% is like rolling 7 or higher on 1d10, its hardly an amazingly outside shot!
yeh interesting, I hadn't seen that, but you're spot on
04:32pm 10/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38570 posts
Thats exactly what I said would happen with Clinton, low turnout but look at the Republican turnout - that is the opposite of what I said would happen for Trump.
Yeh. This graph is a bit misleanding because it doesn't start at zero but it's still interesting to see the bad democratic turnout numbers (although from a quick vetting of the numbers it looks like 2008 was a bumper year for Dem turnout).
04:43pm 10/11/16 Permalink
Insom
Brisbane, Queensland
4533 posts
it seems a lot of complacent dems simply stayed home
05:26pm 10/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2134 posts
Viper I think this is the more compelling narative

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Apart_(book)

The trouble with Chomsky (gee for an intellectual to go to Hitler.) is that Trump is taking about the kind of s*** he wants. It is anti free trade and is selling an isolationist foreign policy.

On top of that unlike germany I think the US is war weary.
11:13pm 10/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25539 posts
Hmm pretty sure you guys are overreacting. infi said everything would be fine.
07:35pm 11/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25540 posts
No because there was no reason to riot.
09:55pm 11/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25541 posts
Trump never insulted people who didn't vote for him.
Yeah but he did advocate sexual assault, staunchly deny climate change despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, claimed Mexican immigrants were rapists, flagrantly lied the same way a toddler would lie (9/11 cheering), suggest banning all Muslims from the US and I could literally go on forever.

Obama was black.
11:27pm 11/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25543 posts
This takes being a sore loser to the next level.
Fabricating a story about a ripped hijab... bad!
Fabricating (apparently and hopefully) your entire election platform... good! Get a load of this high fashion analogy I read somewhere and will mindlessly repeat for you.

infi, how do you reconcile your earlier comments about protesting democrats being sore losers when the very man who was just elected engaged in the exact same sort of behaviour? I guess the reason Trump was so riled up was because he thought Obama's birth certificate was fake right?

Here we'll leave it at just one reason why people should be protesting Trump - he is an advocate for sexual assault. We'll ignore everything else for now to keep things nice and simple for you. How do you defend a person being made the most powerful person in the world when they're an advocate for sexual assault?
04:36pm 12/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25544 posts
if you plan to hold everything a politician says as gospel you are going to be a persistently disappointed little snowflake.
You seem to be confused here. I am not talking about the outlandish promises he lied about to get elected, I am talking about him advocating sexual assault. The President of the United States of America advocates sexual assault - you are okay with this how?

It is okay to riot against this guy, because hs is the President, and he advocates sexual assault. Please note again that I am limiting myself to one thing here so I don't confuse you further. If this one is too hard for you and you'd like me to switch to another indefensible thing he has done that gives people a valid reason to riot, please just ask.
05:17pm 12/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25546 posts
So you defend Trump advocating sexual assault by -

a) denying it despite there being proof. You do realise an audio recording of him advocating sexual assault is proof of him advocating sexual assault, right? How is it being off the record in any way a mitigating factor? I think that makes it even more damning. When you're off the record and not under any duress you say what you really think and what you really feel. And most guys talk about 'grabbing women by their pussies' do they? Perhaps you and your father might, but myself and the people I hang out with would never say anything like that. What the f*** is wrong with you? Grubby guys down at the pub probably speak that way, in fact I know they do. Want to know what doesn't happen to grubby guys down at the pub? They don't get elected President. And if they did, there'd be riots.

b) you defend Trump advocating sexual assault by saying that once some guy went to a strip club

c) and that Hillary's husband is a rapist. Bill Clinton was a rapist now was he? He was an adulterer that's for sure. What evidence do you have that he raped someone?

Seems you're in full apologist mode, just like you were and still are for Abbott. Abbott's failure was spectacular and even with hindsight you still defend him. Are you going to learn from your mistake when Trump fails in the exact same way?

Nope.
05:50pm 12/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25549 posts
Hey infi, what would happen if A Current Affair went to a remote aboriginal community (or for simplicity's sake a place where most people aren't white) and interviewed people and they started saying that they like to grab women by their pussies? Disgraceful! Repulsive! Finally my views are vindicated!

A rich white guy says it? Pah no problem. May as well make him President while we're at it.
10:13pm 12/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25550 posts
^ yep no problem with that.
08:39am 13/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25551 posts
Phew that was a close one. For a second there I thought a crazy religious zealot had been elected as VC.
04:56pm 13/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25552 posts
I bet there are millions of people who don't have the inclination to research how credible their information sources are.
Like you?
08:07pm 13/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38571 posts
This is a great example of how today's media works I guess.
Yeh a great example of how... the media.. .works...?

It's actually a great example of how people seek out information to support their own biases and put literally zero effort into verifying facts. It's why I agree with Zuckerberg when he says FB is not to blame for "fake news". People believe what they want to believe.
12:04am 14/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38572 posts
Has anyone debunked the Trump statement from 4 years ago that "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy." ? That is a good one.
12:12am 14/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38573 posts
I have to say tho that I am not as emotionally invested in the whole Trump issue and I really have no business being in the Political thread but I do enjoy trying to contribute occasionally. I appreciate your thoughts.
:) Me either actually.
Dont support Mass Immigration or Brexit ?
The Lefty Cyber-Stormtroopers will destroy your business.
This reminds me of the time you claimed to be a free market libertarian
07:37pm 14/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25553 posts
This reminds me of the time you claimed to be a free market libertarian
Only when it suits them.
09:23pm 14/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38574 posts
no idea what you mean there.

Do you support those attacks on the Daily Mail and Companies that advertise with them ?
If big companies like LEGO fold to the bullies what hope is there for small business ?
This is "free speech" for companies. Do you not support free speech?!
06:22pm 15/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38576 posts
sheesh
09:59pm 15/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38578 posts
It is the Left suggesting Trump should be assassinated. It is the Left referring to people they disagree with as Deplorable.
I am not defending f***wits calling for assassination but it's disingenuous to pretend this is a left vs right problem. This is an extremist f***wit problem. Someone probably can crunch the stats and figure out which "side" has more f***wits but that is staggeringly boring. Cherry picking choice comments from f***wits is what got us into this mess.
07:15pm 17/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25555 posts
The reason people dominate and abuse you infi is because you don't argue in good faith. When someone does try to have a legitimate discussion with you, you'll ignore evidence they post, misrepresent what they say, invent positions to argue against. Do you really expect people to put up with that? It's really obnoxious behaviour.

If you actually took on board evidence instead of ignoring it and learnt to think critically one of two things would happen. You'd either be swayed to the other side, or you'd actually give your right-wing beliefs some sort of solid foundation. At the moment all you're really capable of is spouting mindless rhetoric you've heard other people say. When it's challenged you're really exposed. You don't know how to expand on it at all, and you're left looking like a lost little child in the woods. Either of those outcomes is a favourable one so why not... you know... stop being dumb?
08:00pm 17/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38579 posts
Trog the concept of dominating and abusing those you do not agree with goes to the very core of Leftist ideology. Disagree with someone? Brand them a sexist, or racist. Don't dare discuss the issue - claim victim status!
you are confusing intolerance of intolerance (e.g., "branding" someone a racist because they say we should keep brown people out of the country) with intolerance of dumb s*** (e.g., "branding" someone as an affront to god because they like members of their own sex)

Getting all worked up about the intolerance of liberals sounds like a fun game but I can only assume so many conservatives do it because it helps them resolve their cognitive dissonance and ignore some of the trainwrecks of humanity that exist in their own camp.

Left wing extremists are f***wits too but they're such a tiny insignificant boring faction that I can't help but mistake them for satirists most of the time anyway. (I suspect the reality is more like they're sockpuppets or paid Russian trolls)
10:29pm 17/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38580 posts
again I'm not convinced they're a problem outside of Twitter - but then again I also don't blame fake news for the election result

if it's not cherry picking to point them out though, then it's probably not cherry picking to note that an Alpha Conversative D*** has been elected into high office despite all the horribly blustery things he said. I don't know of any extremist leftist f***wits that even have a public face, let alone are in contention for the political leadership of a reasonably important country
10:40pm 17/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25556 posts
While I am an atheist I am frustrated that some businesses and people feel they can no longer say Merry Christmas or Happy Easter to appease the minority in that land.
Outside of facebook jpegs filled with angry pitchfork comments have you any evidence that this is even remotely widespread? What other examples do you have of western governments being overly pandering to minority groups? Do you really think we'll ultimately end up as 'one people'? Because that would be a terrible outcome for mankind.

Do you really think Trump, a man who has never paid taxes and has headed several failed business ventures but declared that was okay because he himself did alright on them is the right person to curb government corruption? Do you really think that an openly racist POTUS is what we need to ease tensions between different cultural groups?

Trump is the quintessential bully. He has just been elected President.
04:05pm 18/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25557 posts
People are no longer able to be themselves but are bullied into conforming with an expected range of thoughts and opinions.
In other words, my decades old racist ideals are no longer acceptable and I am unable to change because I am too dumb.
04:24pm 18/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25558 posts
It's pretty cool that a racist man who actually enjoys being called racist has been elected as POTUS.
05:08pm 18/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25560 posts
I see the value in strong borders to protect those within while using well thought out screening procedures to ensure dangers are recognised and able to restrict entry if required
Well that's good. Then you must disagree with simply locking asylum seekers away in inhumane remote camps under the care of under trained and incompetent guards.

Just for the record, the only people I've ever called racist on here have been infi and that brool muppet. Both are clear cut examples.

People are always claiming we can't discuss this or we can't discuss that. The thing is we can. It just needs to be done in an intelligent and constructive manner. Trump doesn't do this. He suggests things like banning all muslims from entering the country, or some sort of national registration scheme where if you're a muslim you need to register with the government. Again, these are just two examples. I could easily google a massive list of terrible things he has suggested.

Keeping in mind those two things I mentioned - how can you possibly support this man? Even if the economic future of the USA was an ironclad guarantee (which it isn't) I would not support someone who said those things. I question the moral integrity of those who would.

Interesting on the whole happy holidays thing in the corporate world. Christmas still seems rather ubiquitous outside of it. Still on TV, still all over the walls in the retail world etc. I am just kind of wondering how it came about. Were there complaints and pressure that caused Christmas related terms to be eradicated from the corporate lexicon, or was it a pragmatic move done preemptively to show courtesy to non-western clients/business partners? I suspect it was the latter.
06:02pm 19/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
9060 posts
This post has been removed.
Reason: Abusive
Send Private Message
06:41pm 19/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25562 posts
I'm not racist.
Guess short answers aren't okay which is fair enough.

You are racist. The way I know you're racist is the amount of cognitive dissonance you're willing to display when it comes to issues surrounding a certain race. You're afraid of big government when it comes to your own personal business ventures, yet applaud big government spending billions to lock up brown people who have done nothing illegal.

If you're not racist, then explain why it is okay for asylum seekers to be locked up in inhumane conditions, with guards who have no regard for their safety, with no adequate medical care, when these people have done nothing wrong except to flee persecution?

I wouldn't care if I was the last person on Earth who thought it wasn't okay to imprison someone because of where they're from. That's what Australian values is now? Count me the f*** out.

You're an employer of dog-whistle racism. Remember that time you accidentally said what you really think - that middle-eastern culture is savage and that locking them up in Gitmo is okay because savage treatment is all they understand? Of course you do, because you're about to trip over yourself denying it happened again, when it is all there in whatever two colours you have this forum displaying as. You're *just* smart enough to realise that actually saying you despise people from the middle-east and you don't want them here is going to get you some unfavourable reactions, so you'll just wrap your prejudices up in your half-baked political ideology that doesn't hold any logical sense whatsoever. Such a champion of personal freedoms you are, except when it applies to this group, and to that group.
08:59pm 19/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38581 posts
If you're not racist, then explain why it is okay for asylum seekers to be locked up in inhumane conditions, with guards who have no regard for their safety, with no adequate medical care, when these people have done nothing wrong except to flee persecution?
I would add, in my book it is 10000% OK to be against illegal immigration, or even immigration of any kind like totally closed-borders. If that is your perspective that is fine with me.

But it is possible to hold that viewpoint and still be AGAINST the cruel, inhumane and abhorrent practices that have been shown to be against those accused of entering this country illegally. I don't feel there is much of an excuse to treat sad desperate people like animals. Even if on staggeringly rare occasions this means treating an actual criminal well.

(Note: the usual response to this is "oh well, why don't we just put them up in the Four Seasons or whatever luxury hotel brands exist, but maybe we can forestall that whole stupid logical fallacy before it begins by saying that is not at all what is being proposed by anyone. It's just about not being d****.)
05:31am 20/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38582 posts
I'm with an engineering firm (one of the larger ones) and we've had to refer to it as "seasons greetings" and "end of year shutdown" for probably the last 8 years now... I know from speaking to colleagues at other firms its the same form.
Engineers sound like pussies then!

My anecdata is that I've only ever been at places that has sent out Xmas cards. I can't recall in detail but I think most of the cards we received (e.g., lots of them from games companies) were all about the Xmas.

I agree wholeheartedly with fpot that there is no evidence of this being a problem in general society. F*** me, the Xmas decorations come out in November. Someone on my Facebook actually put up his own personal family tree on Nov 1 and made a whole post about it (at which point I followed him). I'm as hardcore an atheist as they come and I literally could not give a f***. I'd love to meet one of these people who are actually carrying out the war on Xmas that the conservatives are so sure exists though so I can talk to them about their motives but alas, they are elusive.
05:40am 20/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38583 posts
How can we address extremists if we cannot even discuss a group from which a large number of the worlds extremists identify with?
How is being concerned with the patterns involving this group racist?
I genuinely do not think this is a problem. I think it is a bit of a strawman, actually.

Generally speaking, noone likes extremists. Whether they are Muslim or Christian or open source or vegans or whatever.

Outside of a tiny group, I don't think people are saying "we need to let everyone into the country because we're all humans amirite?" Even the kind of leftist pinko liberal commies that Liberal voters can't stand generally don't believe in an open border policy (somewhat ironically only nutbag libertarians think that).

What seems to happen though in these kinds of conversations is:

REASONABLE PERSON A: Well I don't think we should let Muslims into the country because the risk of getting terrorists is increased which will affect the security of our citizens.

REASONABLE PERSON B: Actually only a vanishingly tiny proportion of Muslims are extremists that pose a terrorism risk. You're more likely to die from [list of things that will definitely kill you sooner than a terrorist].

REASONABLE PERSON A: Sure, but if we control immigration to Muslim countries, we reduce that risk in such a way that it moves closer to zero. That seems like a good thing, right?

REASONABLE PERSON B: Well, I mean, I guess, but it seems kind of silly to focus on a really broad measure that is statistically totally insignificant-

UNREASONABLE PERSON C: OH, YEH, RIGHT, JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK IT'S /RACIST/ WE ALL DESERVE TO DIE IN OUR BEDS WITH OUR THROATS CUT BY PEOPEL FROM ISLAM!!!! THERE IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER FROM THESE PEOPEL!

REASONABLE PERSON A: Well I'm not saying you're being a racist. I'm just saying there's a base reality in which statistics and maths proves that there's no real actual impact to our-

UNREASONABLE PERSON C: UH HAVE YOU HEARD OF NINE ELEVEN

REASONABLE PERSON B: Look I think we should have stronger immigration controls, like perhaps lower the number of legal immigrations we accept from certain countries that are predominantly Muslim - but just as a simple precaution to lower our risk. I don't think they're all terrorists but-

UNREASONABLE PERSON C: THEY ARE ACTUALLY ALL TERRORIST. HAVE U NOT SEEN THEIR BEARDS.

i.e., there's a lot of s*** thrown around about racism from people who want to jerk the conversation around in different directions.

Contrary to fpot I don't think infi is racist. I actually don't think Donald Trump is racist. I don't think most Australians are racist, generally speaking.

I think a lot of Australians (and Americans) are scared though. They're scared of being blown up or shot in a terrorist attack for the same reason they buy lotto tickets - they have no understanding about statistics but their brain creates these vivid narratives for them in these scenarios.

The reality is we're much more likely to get immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries that are massively beneficial to our country. I have been fortunate enough to meet several, including the father of an ex-girlfriend of mine, who was a renowned heart surgeon in Townsville. His work undoubtedly saved the lives of probably thousands of Australians. He was a beer drinking, bacon eating dude that 99.999% of Australians would have had no f*****g idea he was from another country until he opened his mouth and people heard his accent.

I agree that the "racism" claim is thrown around a lot. But I think it's mostly thrown around by people whining about it derailing discussions or those using it as a strawman (intentionally or unintentionally) to derail conversations.

It is rare to see a substantiated claim about racism based on someone's ACTUAL ACTIONS.

I believe the US economy will be stronger under Trump than it will be under Clinton, that is the crux of my preference of the two.
I do not know any Americans who share this opinion IF Trump carries out his election promises. I agree it might be slightly better with Trump but I think his idea for tariffs and the Mexico wall are economy-destroying.
06:00am 20/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38584 posts
Merry Christmas is Christians enjoying their Privilege = Oppressor
Muslims who dont celebrate Christmas are forced to endure it = Oppressed
Heterosexuals oppress Trans/Gay people by being Heterosexual
This is the stupid s*** being taught in our Education system.
What to Think.
What a coincidence that all of these lines fit into 140 characters
06:01am 20/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38585 posts
You can be a proud Asian, a proud Black man, a proud whatever; but you are labelled a racist if you say you are a proud white man. You are labelled a neo nazi or a white supremacist by leftists and SJW's alike.
probably because noone other than a white supremacist has ever actually said that with any level of seriousness I guess though right?
09:55am 20/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2135 posts
I genuinely do not think this is a problem. I think it is a bit of a strawman, actually.

Generally speaking, noone likes extremists. Whether they are Muslim or Christian or open source or vegans or whatever.


I think this second sentence is a bit of a false equivocation to be frank trog.

True ISIS represent a small minority in overall Islam, but pew polls routinely reveal attitudes held by large numbers of muslims which you should find deeply troubling.

and take a look at this.

Please take special notice of one Maajid Nawaz being included on that list.

His most recent book is entitled "Islam and the future of Tolerance". According the southern poverty law center he is an anti-muslim extremist. You may consider the SPLC extremist but you cannot deny its political influence in the democratic party.

If you don't believe that the mainstream left wing of politics doesn't have a deeply confused and ultimately masochistic relationship with Islam you haven't been paying attention.

I wouldn't move to control Islamic immigration particularly as ISIS types will be covered by existing laws. However, an honest reflection of Islamic values and their compatibility to with a modern liberal democracy is conspicuous in its absence in left wing talk of it. I say that as we generally agree in Australia that Christians have a political opinion of abortion, guided by their religious belief. I think, if you want to take Muslims seriously, and not in a neo-orientalist quasi-racist kind of a way, you owe to them to understand their political leanings and the reasons for them. And this distinction is why lumping Christian and Muslims extremists together is a false equivocation. We accept that many non-extremist Christians hold political views heavily or even determined by their religious scruples, and mock them for it, often ruthlessly (take piss christ for example), but Muslims get a pass for the most part.

I am largely unconcerned by the machinations of ISIS and much more concerned by the machinations of Erdoğan (who until very recently was held out as an Islamic "moderate").
10:23am 20/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2136 posts
Also good to see Shorten on the Trump train RE 457 visas. That didn't take long.
11:36am 20/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2137 posts
Literally said no ban on Muslims and provided concrete example of mainstream left wing thinking on Islam.

But don't worry Vash. One day you'll write post approaching coherent logic.
01:05pm 20/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2138 posts
That link, while i didn't read the whole thing, seems to reference democrats. They aren't left wing, they're centrists, just like Labor.
i think we both know what mainstream thinking is on the right. BAN THE MUSLIMS!*@*@# THEY'RE TAKING OVER AUSTRALIA!& RECLAIM RECLAIM

Logic would be, not throwing all Muslims into a basket for the actions of the few. Just like we don't put all the Christians into a basket for the actions of the KKK or what Westboro church says.
And that, is the left mainstream view. Tackle extremism, while protecting peaceful Muslims from the conservative hate crew.



You didn't read any of it apparently, there isn't a single reference to the democratic party except as a plot. The southern poverty law centre is world famous left leaning legal aid outfit. Your ignorance of who they are doesn't constitute a rebuttal. until recently, they were advisers to the FBI on hate crimes, though they have since been removed. Their founder is a life long democrat.

Talking about the KKK and the Westboro baptists church in the same breath as ISIS is a facile equivocation for any number of reasons not least of which include:

The combined membership of both is less than one 10th of credible estimates of ISIS's head count. so thank for putting you concerns in an easy mathematical relationship. If it is irrational to be worried about ISIS it is 10x more irrational to be worried about the KKK.

Meanwhile the right are a bunch of patriots, who enjoy peaceful debate and the contest of ideas.


Gee, the false equivocations are just flying like cotton candy.
08:07pm 20/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38587 posts
but Muslims get a pass for the most part
I was with you up until this point (although I don't get the bit about the SPLC)

FWIW I actually don't really care that much about immigration controls on Muslims as long as they're applied equally and for the same reasons to other religions! Of course the idea that they would be at all workable is laughable
The combined membership of both is less than one 10th of credible estimates of ISIS's head count. so thank for putting you concerns in an easy mathematical relationship. If it is irrational to be worried about ISIS it is 10x more irrational to be worried about the KKK.
Hmm, so the way to decide how to respond to things should be based on the number of people that do those things?

Also on the topic of equivocation, Muslims != ISIS right?
08:53pm 20/11/16 Permalink
Jim
UK
13664 posts
Was going to reply on green anti-GE policy a bit further back but Pete already spoke my mind perfectly. Same again on this topic.
Completely agree with Slaps too

Many on the far left are terribly confused, to the point of being so regressive in their thinking that they have much in common with the far right in that regard. They continually conflate criticism of Islam with bigotry against Muslims, or fail to see why Islam in particular deserves specific attention at this point in time. This is actually *Illiberal* behaviour.

Does that mean Muslims should be banned, or any action taken against Muslims? No.

Should we be openly discussing and challenging the claims made by Islam, and empowering Muslims to push for reform in their religion so it's more compatible with human rights - instead of shutting down all conversation about it and branding such discussion as bigoted or racist? Yes, definitely.

Note the distinction - somewhere between the left and right is sensible ground that respects free speech and thought while catering to human rights.


left wing politics are about maintaining a level of logic about a situation
Vash: If you replace 'left wing' with 'Liberalism' I would say that generally speaking this is true - however it seems to me that most of the things you post are far, far left of this description. I don't think you're actually describing your own politics when you use the phrase 'maintaining a level of logic'
09:08pm 20/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2139 posts
Also on the topic of equivocation, Muslims != ISIS right?


Let me direct you to:

True ISIS represent a small minority in overall Islam
Hmm, so the way to decide how to respond to things should be based on the number of people that do those things?


In a democracy is probably a reasonable way to judge a particular groups influence. But it's not the argument I'm making.

I was with you up until this point (although I don't get the bit about the SPLC)

The SPLC, is a left leaning legal aid center. They have had the ear of democratic party policy makers for decades now.

The reason they are relevant is they included in their list a person who's consistent message has been that Islam must reform for the modern time. It must do this by placing the Koran in it historical context and accept that it is a largely allegorical book, not to be taken literally. The other key prong of his message is that Islam generally has been moving in the other direction, getting more conservative generally.

Calling that anti-muslim extremism does nothing but cede the intellectual ground to ISIS. It allows the most extreme elements to set the agenda from within Islam, I might also add it places Maajid himself in considerable danger. It makes rational reasonable conversations about absolutely standard conservative muslim values impossible.

Hence the left wing of politics is making the process of liberalising Islam harder for moderate muslims who genuinely believe it can be interpreted consistently with more modern moral values. My view on it is that it stems from a general good intention to be inclusive, but with out actually taking Islam as a moral system seriously, which is to be frank patronising.

Let me give you an example of a pass. Do you have the slightest comprehension of what Sharia entails?

Because I'm largely ignorant of it, but the more I read and hear about the more I'm finding genuine reason to be worried that so many people would like it to be the primary form of legal redress. Speaking with an Indian Lawyer recently, you can choose your jurisdiction in India for civil law, and so Islamic Sharia has the force of the common law there (though they aren't a common law jurisdiction). So he ran through a hypothetical Sharia Tort. If a woman is drowning and a man saves her, under Sharia the man has committed a property tort against the woman's father or husband. I'd call that the perfection of objectification, and it has force of law in the world in 2016.

Now when Lambie got a roasting from Barrie Cassidy(which I enjoyed for the record, she clearly had no idea what she was talking about) he suggested that Sharia is "just them practising their religion". Ok sure, but Religions make ethical claims, and it is morally derelict not to interrogate those ethical claims seriously. The conversation continually gets crowed out by people of Vash's ilk talking about Muslims' need for protection and being against Islamophobia.

I am not and have never been talking about ISIS. I am taking about the effect of Conservative Islamic Doctrine on ethics and political leanings.

The peaceful Muslims we always hear about generally have views at least as conservative as Tony Abbott if not more so (and keep in mind how he was pilloried here). So where is the challenge of that? We hear about the crazies, and how they are perverting Islam, but we hear very little about the actual ethical content of Islam, which makes talk of perversion nonsensical for most people as they have no idea what the true message actually is.

If Erdoğan is anything to go by, we have strong grounds to be deeply concerned. Reza Aslan was touting Turkey as a marvel of modern Islamic secularism less than 12 months ago. What a sham that turned out to be.

Not really just putting it in the same pretense as "the left" must answer for all the crap like some kid calling for trump to be killed.


Yes but I didn't say that, and they should answer for the crap that their mainstream views support.
09:34pm 20/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38588 posts
OK now I understand what you're saying about SPLC. I wasn't clear if you were saying they were good or bad. But it's not clear to me how that relates to the conversation, unless you're just saying that a bunch of people are calling a bunch of other people anti-Muslim extremists. I can happily admit to having no idea about "its political influence in the democratic party"
I am not and have never been talking about ISIS. I am taking about the effect of Conservative Islamic Doctrine on ethics and political leanings.
Cool, maybe don't write ISIS then when you're not talking about ISIS?
Do you have the slightest comprehension of what Sharia entails?
Who cares, it's not like it's going to become law in Australia or any other western society. The real risk of Sharia is (like almost everything involving Islam) to other Muslims

To me it is a complete no-brainer that what is happening in Turkey is way scarier than basically anything else going on in the Middle East/Isis/Islan. I don't know how much it makes the news in Aus.
So where is the challenge of that? We hear about the crazies, and how they are perverting Islam, but we hear very little about the actual ethical content of Islam, which makes talk of perversion nonsensical for most people as they have no idea what the true message actually is.
well we really also hear very little about the actual ethical content of Christianity too (unless you hang out with annoying athiest-types that delight in pointing them out).

All I want is, if we're going to sit around and say how bats*** crazy Islam is as a religion, let's do it for the other religions too, right? Don't you find it annoying that we have /actual/ laws from "our" religions that are actually in place in our society today that are actually affecting Australians?

Don't we, in short, have more important things to worry about?!
11:26pm 20/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38591 posts
Can we go back to arguing about how dumb the NBN is?
06:20am 21/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2140 posts
Cool, maybe don't write ISIS then when you're not talking about ISIS?


Maybe don't accuse me of talking about ISIS the second I talk about Islam. But thank you for demonstrating my point repeatedly. It isn't possible to have a discussion about Islam without have a not all throat clearing exercise first.

But it's not clear to me how that relates to the conversation, unless you're just saying that a bunch of people are calling a bunch of other people anti-Muslim extremists. I can happily admit to having no idea about "its political influence in the democratic party"


The SPLC are an organisation that can legitimately claim to be representative of Democratic Party thinking on Islam. So yes its a bunch of left wing people, representative of left wing thinking, calling other people (in this case a left wing moderate muslim) and anti-muslim extremist. OR demonstrative of

If you don't believe that the mainstream left wing of politics doesn't have a deeply confused and ultimately masochistic relationship with Islam you haven't been paying attention.


But as you are unaware who they are, and again ignorance isn't a rebuttal, I guess you haven't been paying attention.


well we really also hear very little about the actual ethical content of Christianity too (unless you hang out with annoying athiest-types that delight in pointing them out).


Oh yes, I was forced to sit through Christian RE, Ill bet you were too, so stop with that. The point is do the annoying athiest-types get called christianophobes when they do? And does it represent an irrational fear of Christianity to discuss its ethical content critically.

All I want is, if we're going to sit around and say how bats*** crazy Islam is as a religion, let's do it for the other religions too, right?


Any time your willing to get serious let me know. Literally called atheists annoying for doing it to christians in the preceding sentence. and Cough Cough.

Who cares, it's not like it's going to become law in Australia or any other western society. The real risk of Sharia is (like almost everything involving Islam) to other Muslims


Well actually, do I need to point out the rotherham sex gang again. Or the sharia marriage arbitration courts in England. Or the thirteen year old girls asking for spousal reunionl visas. In a globalised world the laws of other countries impact ours, so yeah it matters.

To me it is a complete no-brainer that what is happening in Turkey is way scarier than basically anything else going on in the Middle East/Isis/Islan.


Yet you'll only mention it when prompted and to tell me it isn't actually a problem.
07:30am 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38592 posts
Maybe don't accuse me of talking about ISIS the second I talk about Islam. But thank you for demonstrating my point repeatedly. It isn't possible to have a discussion about Islam without have a not all throat clearing exercise first.
You LITERALLY wrote ISIS. I can't think of a more appropriate use of the word literally!
Yet you'll only mention it when prompted and to tell me it isn't actually a problem.
aren't we talking about the scawy scawy threat of immigration of Muslims in Australia? You're the one that segued the topic into the world threat of Islam. Also I literally (again) said it was a big problem.

You seem to be degenerating the conversation into angry defensive point scoring so I will stop talking about it now as it just seems to upset you for some reason. I actually don't think we differ to fundamentally on our viewpoints, fwiw; I just don't agree on the severity of the problem and don't think it's worth Australians worrying about
07:54pm 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38593 posts
Who cares what some Actors think about anything ?
Trump, apparently. Taking to Twitter like a child to call for them to apologise.
How about the views of the hard working Americans doing s***** jobs to pay for the failed Obamacare ?
where is the Liberal outrage over that ?
haha "Liberal outrage" over a social program is like saying "where's the conservative rage over these harsher immigration policies?!?!" You know before Obamacare though they were working the same s***** jobs for no healthcare though right?
Freedom of Speech is about the free exchange of Ideas, its not about lecturing or having a big sook or bullying and intimidating those that do not share your point of view. Freedom of Speech is designed to protect us from those very things.
Yes freedom of speech is important, I mean obviously except when citizens are booing politicians at a theatre in which case it should be banned and they should all apologise...?
07:58pm 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38594 posts
One of the few (only?) economists who writes stuff I understand wrote this interesting summary of Steve Bannon (Trump appointee)
07:59pm 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38595 posts
Can we not agree there are issues with some who identify with this faith? I believe in stronger screening for everyone including myself as a New Zealander.
This is Australia, are Australian people not allowed to protect their identity and way of life for their kids and their kids after that.
Patterns are in everything, why can we not observe patterns and use those observations to better predict outcomes if it happens to involve the word muslim?
Everyone else we can(which i believe should be the case) but Muslims are untouchable.
I don't think anyone is arguing that (I am not). I actually think we already have those screening processes in place (even PornoPete acknowledged above that he thinks most ISIS types will be caught by our current immigration controls).

Most of this discussion stems from the fact that we have s***** processes for dealing with people who enter the country illegally by boat or by plane. They end up in crappy mandatory detention facilities which seem to be really terrible places and horrible things happen.

I, and I think most Australians (except for the real a******* who basically think those people can go f*** themselves), would prefer if we dealt with these people as if they were actual humans and not sub-human trash.

We can have strong borders (we already do, really) but still treat people that come here a little better than we do. I am not necessarily opposed to mandatory detention or stronger filtering on source countries, but it needs to be done quickly and humanely and for reasons that are consistent and manageable.
08:06pm 21/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25563 posts
I have to say, Vash and fpot, are you not becoming somewhat like the caricatures of extreme opinion you so despise? I'd ease up a bit and try to have some more reasoned debate. Democracy requires consensus, consensus requires compromise, and compromise requires discussion with common ground init.
Democracy also requires its participants to show some responsibility when voting. To employ some critical thinking skills in an effort to decide what will be best for the country and themselves when casting their vote.

For someone to vote for Trump, Abbott or Hanson shows a flagrant disregard for those responsibilities. If you're willing to live up to those responsibilities and you're being truly honest with yourselves you'd never vote for those three people and the parties they lead. That's why I can't help but chuckle when people say the democrats are disrespecting democracy by rioting/protesting.

Now I feel I am saying this a lot lately but... I did used to post differently. I would see someone post something I know to be untrue, I would then go and find solid evidence indicating so and I'd post it for them. I guess I was a bit naive. I thought to myself 'well surely after seeing this fairly convincing evidence they will change their mind because who actually wants to be wrong? Who wants to be misinformed and fall for really obvious ploys by those in charge?'. Seems plenty of people do. Why though?

The conclusion I came to was because they are racist. But there seems to be a fair bit of opposition to that so perhaps it is something more benign. Susceptible to fear mongering tactics, accepting of easy answers with no substance, eagerness to blame various social problems on something else rather than greed. Either way, those are not good traits to possess. If you're not willing to even try to overcome them then you're a worthless piece of s*** imo.

And so years pass by and I can only really be bothered being a bit of a prick about things to be honest. The other option of course is not to post but where's the fun in that?

That's what you meant when you said caricature of extreme opinions right? That I can be a d*** about things? Because I honestly don't think any of my opinions are even close to extreme.
08:14pm 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38596 posts
And so years pass by and I can only really be bothered being a bit of a prick about things to be honest. The other option of course is not to post but where's the fun in that?
We need new techniques to communicate evidence-based information to people that have pre-defined biases against what it shows. I have no idea how to do this, but I know how you feel - it is wearying to the extreme.
Is Society healthier today than it was 20 years ago ?
I would suggest Universal Healthcare encourages people to not care about their Health because if they get sick someone else will pay for it.
This is why America, the western country with the most expensive healthcare per capita & (until very recently) no real availability of insurance for most of the population, is renowned for their fit, athletic and health populace that goes out of their way to look after themselves
Is Society healthier today than it was 20 years ago ?
well. yes. yes it is. Life expectancy is longer, generally (except in the US, right?)
08:37pm 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38597 posts
Just as many unhealthy people in America as here.
We have a better Health System thats delivering similar outcomes.
That has to change.
How do you want it to change? Are you saying you want it to become more like America where it's a) more expensive b) harder to get covered c) more confusing and d) ultimately results in a lower life expectancy?

I am interesting in how you & infi would like to see healthcare change. I agree there is a lot of waste in the current system (several of my immediate family are in healthcare and also agree with this). Somewhat ironically much of the waste in healthcare seems to be in failed IT programmes (from what my dad says everything done by Qld Health is a total trainwreck).

edit: I agree healthcare needs to have profit in there somewhere, especially if the govt is paying for it - providers should be competing actively to provide services at better prices. I think it's tough though as a big part of healthcare is about location.
10:37pm 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38598 posts
everytime you spend someone else's money there is waste. people spend there own money more wisely. medicare should be means tested and available only for the poorest people. health insurance pricing should be deregulated and the medicare surcharge removed. (with higher participation inn health insurance there would be more competition and no need for a govt rebate).
The very obviously unsaid implication here is that people above a certain income line should be paying a compulsory health insurance figure (if they want health insurance). Is that what you are advocating?
10:53pm 21/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38599 posts
they may wish to pay cash for their operations, that's their choice. it may be that every operation over the means tested limit carries an excess. there needs to be a price signal in healthcare.
Outside of the US, do you know any other nations that have implemented such a system successfully (and I guess by "successful" I mean with generally first world quality healthcare outcomes, respectable longevity figures, low price per capita?
11:22pm 21/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25564 posts
So how about that Dutton guy? I'd quote him but I don't want to reproduce racism so hopefully you all know what I am talking about.
09:55pm 22/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38601 posts
i don't support removing support for anyone from the health system but i think if they can pay for it they should.
FWIW, I pay for my health care in Australia. I don't know how to use Medicare to get rebates and my health care needs have, fortunately, been infrequent enough that it's never bugged me to pay for it myself. (Outside of a few things my private cover has taken care of.)
i actually agree with the smoking one because smoking is so ridiculously stupid it isn't funny.
cigarette taxes are huge ; I don't know if it pays for itself but I'm happy to tax those things and have the money go into health care. I also think a tax on sugary stuff is probably not a terrible thing considering how much new info has shown the health risks of it
11:56pm 22/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2141 posts
Glad to see you're thinking about what you post fpot. Good for you.
12:02am 23/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25565 posts
a garbage post filled with keynesian helicopter-money nonsense. the taxpayer is entitled to thrifty value-for-money spending decisions. i honestly wonder at people who think throwing money onto the street is sensible economics. building infrastructure, education and productivity is how to grow an economy.
Another Reason You Are Dumb is whenever someone posts something rather substantial that runs against your pre-existing world view is that all you can ever manage is a one line rebuttal. If it is nonsense as you say surely you're able to use your great intellect to pick it apart really easily?
02:01pm 23/11/16 Permalink
fpot
Gold Coast, Queensland
25566 posts
I would prefer to send them back ASAP after looking into why they are fleeing their home in the first place and helping them help themselves perhaps by providing short term security with long term plan for defensive training(perhaps weapons), farm supplies, to help them secure their own village. Ultimately help them stand on their own two feet and regaining their self respect from doing so. Obviously this isn't as easy as it sounds regarding working with local governing/military bodies but those in the neccessary positions need to research and plan to do so. Anything else i believe is hugely inefficient and only benefits those brave and lucky enough to attempt the boat journey and what appears on the other side. I think giving people a very generous ongoing package(more so than vets who fought for our way of life) hurts the hosts financial situation and encourages more to do so without fixing the cause of the issue in the first place.
So you think it is more efficient to arm, train and feed a large group of people in a hostile enemy controlled environment than it is to resettle them here?

You do realise not all asylum seekers come from little mud hut villages right? Many come from metropolitan centres. They're fleeing from corrupt regimes that have armies consisting of trained armed soldiers, tanks, aircraft even. It would be a massive cost and a massive time investment that may even be an impossibility.

Have you even considered the possibility that maybe these people don't want to 'secure their own village'? That they just want to be somewhere peaceful where they can live normal lives?

I'm starting to think you might be a bit dumb.
02:18pm 23/11/16 Permalink
PornoPete
Melbourne, Victoria
2142 posts
So very flawed that it worked wonders in 2008.


You mean during an emergency and so probably not a viable basis for general policy? You mean like that?

whenever someone posts something rather substantial that runs against your pre-existing world view


Yeah but its an obscure blog post by someone who doesn't offer credentials in their profile and there could be trouble in paradise:

Now imagine that I put an extra $1000 in Malcolm Turnbull's bank account. Malcolm Turnbull is one of our country's richest men. Does he spend any of it? How much of that $1000 does he save? My guess is that he will save more of that $1000 than you, perhaps keeping it in a Mossack Fonseca bank account for future investment in a speculative Russian mining venture.


Not sure that's "substantial" some much as childish and banal.
05:25pm 23/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38602 posts
providing short term security with long term plan for defensive training(perhaps weapons)
Sending arms to the mid east - what could possibly go wrong!

edit:
Settling those who arrive and will then continue to arrive is such a inefficient way to deal with the real issues at hand, bringing financial strain on the host both short and long term with no bigger picture results.
It sounds like you are proposing another trillion dollar war in the Middle East. I agree it would be nice if we could waltz into Syria and make it a paradise but we tried that s*** in Afghanistan and Iraq with results that I will describe euphemistically as "mixed".

A quick Google tells me it cost between $10b and $15b for our military adventures in the Middle East. I would rather spend twice that on a humanitarian solution (i.e., housing, educating, integrating) than on a programme to export shrapnel and high explosive to the Middle East yet again. I'd rather take the people that think their s***** countries suck so badly they're prepared to risk life and limb to leave them in search for a better life.

But! I totally appreciate that we can't take everyone. I also appreciate we simply don't WANT to take just anyone. There needs to be some sort of controls on who is allowed in. Our existing Border Security guys seem to do a pretty good job of this.
07:39pm 23/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38604 posts
They are trying to trigger more stimulus by constantly lowering interest rates. Which seems to me to have had one effect: create a massive pricing bubble in housing and (if what I'm seeing in the news is true) a huge oversupply of apartments as the market has attempted to respond to this ham-fisted finger on the scales.

I don't quite get "economics" but I agree with infi that stimulus seems like a bad idea because it f**** up the ability of the market to respond.
09:26pm 23/11/16 Permalink
trog
AGN Admin
USA
38606 posts
like, say, human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia? or Pakistan? I would like to stop doing business with those places but I fear we make too much money out of it
07:38pm 24/11/16 Permalink
AusGamers Forums
Show: per page
1 2 ... 8 9 10 11 12 13