Light holiday reading:
• “Carlton’s lone classical liberal”, Andrew Norton, weighs in on Liberal hyperbole over third party political campaigns. New Mayo MP Jamie Briggs reckons these to be a “cancer in our democracy” due to the efforts of GetUp! and the ACTU at the last election. Briggs argues that “Australians are entitled to know who is behind the campaigns, how much is being spent and where the money is coming from”, evidently having failed to notice that such groups are indeed required to provide annual disclosure of receipts, expenditure and debts. However, in an interesting discussion at Larvatus Prodeo, Norton also argues that lowering the donation disclosure threshold from $10,000 to $1000 (as proposed by a bill currently before a Senate committee due to report on June 30) could theoretically catch independent political blogs in a “massive compliance net” thanks to a loose definition of “persons or organisations expressing views by any means on candidates or election issues”. Elsewhere, The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen tugs at the heart strings by complaining the disclosure amendments are designed to cut donations to the Liberal Party (from which you can readily infer why the Howard government used its Senate majority to jack the threshold up from $1500 to $10,000 in the first place). More substantially, she argues that “the nature of third-party campaigns in Australia is such that if we ban or cap donations (except by individuals) and allow third-party campaigns by unions to continue unabated, the political field is skewed against one side: the conservatives” – particularly in light of government plans to scrap tax deductibility of party donations while maintaining it for union dues and levies.
• “Dotcom millionaire” Evan Thornley has made himself popular in Labor circles by pulling the plug on his political career on the eve of his anticipated promotion to the Victorian state cabinet. The talk around Thornley was that he viewed his state political career as a stepping stone to federal politics via Simon Crean’s seat of Hotham, beyond which his ambitions were apparently without limit. His entirely unheralded decision to “pursue opportunities outside of political life” has inevitably fuelled all manner of speculation, most of it involving his financial wellbeing. It has also created a vacancy for his upper house seat for the Southern Metropolitan region. The Age reports that the new upper house system instituted at the last election “has created an anomaly for Labor, as party rules do not specify how preselection for an upper house vacancy should be conducted”:
Party sources said the anomoly was expected to be tackled by rule makers in May 2009 before preselections began in earnest for the 2010 election. But Mr Thornley’s shock departure – which sources from both major factions of Victorian Labor described as the most bizarre incident they had ever witnessed in politics – could force the anomaly to be dealt with sooner. While some within Labor believe the rules offer no guidance over preselection, others say the spirit of preselection processes in the lower house should also be adopted for the upper house. Under that scenario, Mr Thornley’s replacement in the Southern Metropolitan electorate would be decided 50:50 by a ballot of ALP branch members and a central selection panel. Many expect Labor’s national executive to ultimately choose his replacement but all agreed it was too early to speculate on the names of likely candidates.
A commenter at Andrew Landeryou’s VexNews writes:
The Left were promised Thornley’s spot but they agreed not to insist as Thornley was then non aligned. Thornley then joined Labor Unity. They left will claim they are entitled to fill Thornley’s vacancy. Labor Unity will most likely want it and there will be an internal facional brawl like Kororoit. Then Mr Dearricott’s non-aligned group will claim their right to the vacancy. A strong tip tonight is that (former Brimbank mayor) Natalie Suleyman is a favourite for the position.
Another hopeful is said to be Dick Gross, former Municipal Association of Victoria president and Port Phillip councillor defeated in recent elections in a “resident revolt over his support for the St Kilda triangle development”. There is also the question of the political future of Theo Theophanous, charged on Christmas Eve with rape. An end to Theophanous’s political career would create another upper house vacancy in Northern Metropolitan. In lieu of Evan Thornley, Theophanous’s position as Industry and Trade Minister has been filled by Martin Pakula, previously best known for his failed preselection bid against Simon Crean in Hotham ahead of the last federal election.
• Michelle Grattan of The Age reports that the Victorian Liberals are “set to reluctantly give the Nationals the number two spot on a joint Senate ticket for the 2010 election”. This would continue an agreement initiated after the 1987 double dissolution election giving the Nationals the unwinnable fourth and safe second seats at alternating elections. The party’s seat in the Senate has been held since 1993 by Julian McGauran, who quit the party for the Liberals in January 2006. One possible explanation for the move was that he did not expect the Liberals would continue with the existing joint ticket arrangement, which as Grattan explains is widely opposed within the party. It had long been thought that the Nationals had been able to negotiate the joint ticket partly because the McGauran family helped delivered it preferences from the Democratic Labor Party, whom they had assisted in legal action to prevent its deregistration. The Nationals’ apparent success in keeping the arrangement going might suggest otherwise. However, another possibility is that McGauran thought his prospects of winning Liberal preselection less unlikely than those of keeping his place with the Nationals. McGauran had an uncomfortably narrow preselection win ahead of the 2004 election over Darren Chester, now the member for Gippsland, and his family’s clout might have been further weakened since by brother Peter’s departure from politics.
• Labor’s Mark Dreyfus, chairman of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, says he hopes the government will “soon” announce a non-binding plebiscite to test opinion on a republic before the federal election.
• Robert Taylor of The West Australian has an interesting overview of the new entrants to the WA state parliament.
UPDATE (3/1/09): Malcolm Mackerras reviews the Queensland state redistribution and offers his prediction for the election to be held some time this year, namely an 11 seat Labor majority from an even split on two-party preferred.
Co incidently th snide hubris coments against amigos from th bleachers almost always come from those whose intelectual arguments hav been previously been exposed as empty , sort of a continuous bitter & feline expecting no retort from th cultered Being uncultered there always will be a retort for mine to snobbery , whether others onlookers ar uncomfortable in silense
And Howards present curfufle with Obama over 5 star residences seems to hav smug overtones Truth is there probabley was a sloppy beaucratic booking error at either th Howard lower beaucratic staff end orr th Obama lower beaucratic staff end , or both , and instead of those staff fixing it quietly or next level u fixing it quietly they made it worse again , then publisised subsequentley as if it was an affront of one to other or vice versa ..probabley nNEITHER knew of double booking till it was too latte anyway , but Media beatup snub …National leaders , including howard and Obama do not think that small , and would n’t hav time to anyway Now it’s a snobbery issue of whose bed is in th most 5 star-ish place They’ll both get good nites sleep in thaere beds anyway
Gusface @ 538
The Vatican:
(a) has a CEO who appears to have lost a year of personal history (at a time when concentration camps really were the go);
(b) had a CEO who did sfa when concentration camps really were the go (at about the same time as (a), actually; and,
(c) has had a bit of form with respect to turning a blind eye (at best) to pogroms, mass expulsions, and fitting the jews for the ‘murder of Jesus’, and so on, and so forth.
So you would think that the Vatican would know what it is talking about when it comes to the use of the term ‘concentration camp’.
Here is a random definition of ‘concentration camp’ gleaned from the web.
‘n.
A camp where civilians, enemy aliens, political prisoners, and sometimes prisoners of war are detained and confined, typically under harsh conditions.
A place or situation characterized by extremely harsh conditions.’
Gaza fits all of this. But it has something more. It has more than 10,000 armed folk who have the capacity to deliver death and destruction beyond the boundaries of Gaza. IMHO, this means that Gaza is not simply a concentration camp.
The Vatican is a sovereign state which is entitled to criticize Israel for its actions.
Given the Vatican’s history in general, its supine (at best) history during the concentration camp rich Holocaust in particular, and the lost year in the personal history of the current CEO, it should take better care in choosing its terminology. Its failure to do so must painful for real concentration camp survivors and their families.
Beyond that, by creating a focus away from what is really happening in Gaza, the Vatican is also helping those who would rather not acknowledge the real evils inherent in the behaviour of Israel and of Hamas.
All-in-all, a curious lack of infallibility on the part of the Vatican.
Gusface in #538 quoted
“On Wednesday, Martino, president of the Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace, delivered the Vatican’s toughest criticism of Israel since its offensive in the Palestinian-ruled enclave, calling Gaza a “big concentration camp”.
Th Vatican ar completely correct in principal here Th Vatican is respected by th Worlds catholics , and thats th worlds LARGEST Christan religion and 1/6 of world population
Add that to th muslim outrage against israeli occupation , and th minority that support Israels illegal occupation and immoral current invasion , ar becoming rapidly irrelevant
Israeli suporters trying to justify why Israeli occupys arab lands for 42 years ar becoming more foolish looking by th day , and relying on ww2 guilt is well past its use by date for most curent israeli’s , except those that hate arabs , ar native or overseas zealots or most americans still 60 years “guilt converted’
Adelaidians (Adelaiders ?Adelaidents? Adelaiderrans? Adelaiduhs?), well, anyway, corvid munchers might have an interest in the following:
‘In March, South Australia experienced a record heat wave which brought scorching temperatures across the state. Adelaide, South Australia’s capital, experienced its longest running heat wave on record, with 15 consecutive days of maximum temperatures above 35°C (95°F). This broke the previous record of 8 consecutive days which was tied on numerous occasions, most recently in February 2004. Also, Adelaide set a new record as having the longest number of consecutive days exceeding 35°C (95°F) for all Australian state capital cities. The second longest such streak was 10 days, set in February 1988 in the city of Perth. Overall, South Australia had its third warmest March since records began with 2.35°C (4.23°F) above the 1961-1990 average (BoM).
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2008/ann/global.html#trends
BTW, Ron, is there any difference between the Howard and Rudd Government responses to the Middle East? Or is it yet another example of the HowRuddian Convergence?
I’m sure many australians wonder why th Israelis and Palestiniens , despite there mutual dislike , do NOT simply sign a peace agreement endorsed by th UN requiring
1/ th palestiniens promise NOT to attack israeli soil AND
2/ th israelis withdraw from all arab lands as required by unamanous UN 242
3/ th Israelis promise NOT to attack that arab (Palestinien) soil they withdrew from
4/ any breach of th peace deal results in savage UN econamic and military
sanctions for th one who breached it
Well th Palestiniens wuld sign such a peace deel tomorrow and hav been prepared to for at least 15 years
Israel th occupier will NOT sign such a peace deel because
A/ israeli’s publicly wants to annex some of that arab land in defiance of UN
resulutions , and
B/ Israel has publicly said it STILL wants to exercise onerous controls over another Country (th new Palestine State) per its cabinet docs , that wwuld make that allegedly independent new Country REELY a province of and subservent to Israel
Naturaly th Palestiniens will not agree to either A/ or B/ , resulting in israel continuing to illegaly occupy , and th Palestiniens legiimately resisting (despite questons on there methods including suiciders) …and to which then israel responds unproportioately ilegaly and brutualy …and then claims th right to illegaly occupy
This iraeli false circular argument is WHY there has never been peace , and why there never will be….unless Obama (th USA military & econamic Israeli provider forses Israel to accept 1/ to 4/ ….Israel will take no notise of anyone else
.
Anyone is welcome to chalenge 1/ to 4/ ( or with A/nd B/) , everyting else is a “secondary issue” (apart from ‘return’ that needs separate teatment)
BOERWAR , you ar also welcome to As to your “secondary issue” queston of Rudd and Howard , you wuld not even get 2% suport in oz for your wrong claim of similarity of Rudd & Howard CC policys (Israel is th only excepton of similarity but it always has been , its been always a shameful “price” of being a US “close ally”…but th eurpoeans hav a diferent view to th US/oz
So, there is no difference between Howard and Rudd on the ME?
Uh, Ron
Re: mine @ 557, I will withdraw it, not because it isn’t right, but because it is smartarse, and a bit of an insult to your passion on the subject.
I don’t entirely agree with your views on the ME, please see my the second last para of 552. There is rampant evil on both sides. But, also please note, I have previously said that I did not think it moral to take people’s land and then kill them for trying to do something about it.
Ron 556
Sadly I must agree. Even if you compare the requirements of proposed peace settlements over the years, they have consistently shifted in favor of Isreal. Since the end of the Cold War Isreal has overwhelming military superiority over its neighbors, who are no longer supplied by the former SU. Israel is still supported militarily by the US, even though it has a larger army than most of Nato. And it still keeps bringing people in from eastern Europe and Russia every year. So there is a process of creeping annexation of land going on, creating new palestinian refugees all the time. New settlers don’t want peace; they want the army to remain on site, and new settlements in the “occupied” (i.e. annexed/conquered) territory. Consider the options for a jew in Russia or a former Soviet republic – either remain in an economic basketcase where you may be discriminated against (though no worse than any ethnic minority in most cases) or migrate to Israel where you get a higher standard of living and may be given a house by the state.
In the cold war the west turned a blind eye to Israel’s aggression and territorial expansion because of WWII guilt and the fact that it was “our” client state versus Soviet backed enemies. But with the Cold War over, and the last genuine holocaust survivors dying of old age (and safely resettled anyway – there are no Jewish refugees these days) there is no justification for it. Time to end the farce.
Boerewar 554
Last February/March was a shocker here in Adelaide. Not only did the maximums remain above 35 C for the fifteen days, on many of the nights the minimum remained above 30 C. There was no breeze and no relief.
Ron
Just regarding our earlier dicusion about debt, sure enough it seems the Chinese are becmoing more reluctant to loan the US money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/business/worldbusiness/08yuan.html?em
That is not necessarily aweful for us – if the Chinese keep their money at home to boost their local economy they will still want our iron ore. But its certainly bad for the US hopes of recovery.
Socrates @ 561
Looks like the US is about to get into the ‘Pay Later’ bit of the ‘Fly Now Pay Later’ plan.
To all Hamas supporters out there, Hamas are the ones who wants the killing to continue.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/01/08/2009-01-08_gaza_truce_for_humanitarian_aid_collapse.html
No Fulvio this TV is on me not PM Rudd and my old one is 12 years old it’s about time!
Does anybody think America can become debt free???
And why are the Dems seating Blago’s Senate pick when Blago is corrupt??
It has proven to be a textbook case of ‘magical thinking’ for those Queensland conservatives who tried to convince us last year that the factional brawling and feuding between the Nationals and Liberals would be lesser post merger than their pre merger bloodbaths.
There are however a couple of major differences this year. One is that the National Party won’t get away with just blaming the Liberals this time for their September election failure and secondly, they have fired their big gun of a merger and it has been an unmitigated failure according to all the serious graph’s I have seen over the last quarter of last year so what other stunts have they got left?
Today’s Oz seems to be heading towards recommending a leadership change but it would be difficult to see that one with more fuel being added to the factional warring working too well either. It looks like all they can do is limp on to the September election with their support evaporating as the brawling intensifies. They really are not fit for Opposition let alone government.
[Queensland Greens MP Ronan Lee said the Coalition would miss out on potentially crucial Greens preferences unless Mr Springborg made it clear he would not reverse Labor’s tree-clearing ban.
“The LNP strategy is to keep a low profile and hope it goes away, but that won’t do,” Mr Lee said. “If they fail to give an unequivocal commitment, it will be a very black mark against them as far as the Greens are concerned.”]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24888618-5006786,00.html
What does it matter what Ronan Lee thinks he’ll lose his seat and the Greens hardly get any vote up in QLD anyway and what vote they do get goes to the ALP…
Dovif @563
from the article you linked to.
“The United Nations halted all aid deliveries to the besieged Palestinians, after its staff came under fire from the Israel Defense Forces. The driver of a marked UN truck was killed by tank fire ”
I think the IDF would disagree with your assesment.
Hamas started this Gusface…without them breaking the ceasefire the Israelis wouldnt be taking out UN trucks….
Dovif
Do you blindly pick up EVERY right wing cause as a talking point? If I can admit that NSW Labor are hopelessly incompetent at managaing their economy, can’t you acknowledge that maybe, when the casualty count is running at worse than 700 to 5 against, that the Israeli’s might be in the wrong?
For that matter, why do you assume/imply that anyone criticising Israel is a supporter of Hamas. That is like saying that you had to be either a Stalin supporter or a Hitler supporter in WWII. Thinking adults might prefer to say that both sides were evil, though one was clearly the aggressor.
Glen we could also ask what does it matter what the Tories do as they are on track to lose the September election? But some people who write on political forums are actually interested in politics on various levels. I have seen someone who looks like you and writing under the name of Glen arguing in the past that a merge is a good thing for conservative politics but in the case of Queensland it is a failure.
Dovif, I sincerely doubt there is anyone on this site who is a “Hamas supporter”.
It’s sad when one can’t condemn the actions of one terrorist organisation without being labelled the supporter of another.
Anyway that article is full of inaccuracies – for example, Hamas wasn’t even invited to the peace talks so I’m not sure how they could have rejected then. And every other news site, including American sources like CNN are reporting that Israel broke the 3 hour truce by shelling an aid convoy killing two aid workers. That’s from Ban Ki Moon.
Of course, he must be a Hamas supporter.
#508
[BTW, why do the people identifying as the Amigos on this site always think they are right?]
Harry,
The Amigos’ creed has always been:
We RIDE, LAUGH, LOVE AND SING
If that is not RIGHT at all times, then why bother living, let alone bloggin, because there is nothing LEFT. There is nothing wRONg with that, especially with the RONettes doing the doo-wap.
btw: are u auditioning to be an Amigo?
Damn that beauty sleep.
Glen
The UN is a NEUTRAL player!
It was delivering aid under an Israeli Supervised 3 hour truce.
What am I missing here?
One merger pehaps, but we are yet to see if it works electorally but a federal merger is a needed…if the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance can merge in Canada and then win an election after a couple of years as the Tories in Canada then the Liberals and Nationals can merge to become Tories and could repeat that success…
The UN shouldnt be delivering aid, because it is a war zone and accidents like this could happen…
Glen the merger is just a symptom of a superficial quick fix by an opposition too lazy to be effective. You are not going to try to tell me that a merger Federally would be any more a success than the Queensland shambles are you? Federally the Liberal Party thinks it is just a Government in exile waiting for Labor to slip and them to win. That is exactly what Springborg has been waiting for for donkeys years and he will still be waiting at Christmas next year.
[Hamas started this Gusface…without them breaking the ceasefire the Israelis wouldnt be taking out UN trucks….]
Glen, please detail when Hamas actually broke the ceasefire?
I have a reputable Western news outlets claiming Israel broke the ceasefire:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=KntmpoRXFX4
The Guardian and CNN must be Hamas supporters.
The second part of your post is disturbing. You’re saying that if Hamas broke the ceasefire (which they didn’t) that gives Israel the right to attack UN aid workers?
[The UN shouldnt be delivering aid, because it is a war zone and accidents like this could happen…]
So Israel says “Ok we’re declaring this a three hour truce, and we’ve established a corridor explicitly for the purpose of delivering aid and we won’t fire on you” and when they do fire it’s somehow the UN’s fault?
The world’s gone mad. Not only because women, children and aidworkers are being deliberately targeted and killed but because people around the world are defending it.
Another thing Glen, even before the Queensland Liberal National Party began its slide into bitter faction fighting and oblivion post merger all the polls which had them doing well had the rider that they could win with Green preferences.
Now they are in the position of 37% in the last Newspoll and falling, no green preferences and a major wound to the foot from brawling.
[the Liberals and Nationals can merge to become Tories and could repeat that success…]
Oh yes, I’m sure Aussies want the next aggressive instalment of SerfChoices, with pay cuts and loss of conditions and job security of our kids / grandkids in the workforce (serf-force)
Glen 575!!
All aid agencies who are assisting civilans are permitted and protected under the International Law of War. Glen if a building is clearly marked and you attack that facility without warning then that is a war crime regardless if you did it on purpose or not.
Glen I understand in the heat of battle things will happen but at the same time you as an attacking army need to be mindful in the planning stage that certain buildings belong to certain aid agencies.
Glen, I don’t know where you are going with this crazy line of thinking…
Gus, it’s getting very serious:
[Just enough cash for Dec salaries, says Satyam – Satyam Computer Services Ltd today said it had just enough cash to give December salaries to its 51,000 employees, but was not sure the money could be paid in January.
In his first press conference after taking charge as the outsourcing company’s interim CEO, Ram Mynampati said: “Salaries for December will be covered, but the liquidity position is not encouraging at all. We are looking at options on how to improve liquidity.” ]
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/just-enough-cash-for-dec-salaries-says-satyam/408604/
It looks like it will go under and hundreds in OZ will be affected if not thousands.
[It looks like it will go under and hundreds in OZ will be affected if not thousands.]
I admit up front that I have scant knowledge of this issue but I heard this morning that Australian dealings with this company were in the very early stages and that the “2000 jobs lost” referred to were in fact “potential jobs” rather than actual jobs. Is this so?
GB
Satyam was only in the early stages of expansion here but still has 1700 local staff, mainly in Sydney and Melbourne. Their corporate clients will not be pleased either:
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24890644-462,00.html
Catching up on Pollbludgers I see last night I missed out on calls for the Amigos to be bannished and Glen telling us of his Uncle Howie’s one night stand at Blair House (dirty ole man!) Boy it ain’t safe to go to bed anymore, don’t know what you’re missing =)
By the way , now Obama and the cash strapped USA is going to be up for more expense, having to get the fumigators into Blair House after the “Aussie guest” move out. The last thing the Yanks need now is the Black Death.
Steve,
I wouldn’t believe the latest Queensland Newspoll showing the new look LNP on 37 per cent support. You’ve always opposed this merger in Queensland but I do agree with you against Glen that Federally it will never happen. I can’t imagine the four other state National Party branches giving up there fight for Rural and Regional and Country and Coastal areas. Queensland was different as the National Party was strong in both metropolitan and Regional so it made sense for a merger. Labor is looking tired after almost 11 years ruling Queensland probably due to the rise of One Nation which really was the cause of the Borbidge National Party Governments demise.
Satyam as a service provider or outsourcer has been in Australia since the late 90s. I have had some business dealing with them back in 1998. It was one of the first India IT companies to come to the Australian market.
But only the last few years, it has been more aggressive in pursuing IT projects of their own as principal.
What happened is really shocking for a company that has enjoyed an excellent reputation. Who else can you trust in business?
[ Queensland was different as the National Party was strong in both metropolitan and Regional so it made sense for a merger ]
Paul – metropolitan = “In Australia, Statistical Divisions (SDs) are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as areas under the unifying influence of one or more major towns or cities. Each capital city forms its own Statistical Division, and the population of the SD is the most-often quoted figure for that city’s population. Statistical Districts are defined as non-capital but predominantly urban areas. The statistical divisions that encompass the capital cities are commonly though unofficially called ‘metropolitan areas’ ”
How many seats did the National Party hold in Brisbane????? 😛
[I wouldn’t believe the latest Queensland Newspoll showing the new look LNP on 37 per cent support.]
You’re probably right there Paul. Seeing it was a major shift in an historical trendline and not just a one off rogue poll, the figures are sure to be much lower now and lower again by the time of the March Newspoll. I like the concept of the ‘new look LNP’ with the Shadow Ministers, Horan born in 1944, Malone 1943, Hobbs 1950 and the young Shadow Minister Menkens born in 1946.
dovif
#563
“To all Hamas supporters out there, Hamas are the ones who wants the killing to continue.”
dovif , for th theoretical purposes ONLY of getting from you and Glen a thoughtful response , I will freely admit to being a Hamas suporter
…..now that i’ve theoreticaly admitted that red herring of name tainting me which i don’t object to …….but which crucuialy avoids facng/addressing th fundamentel issues to stop th total conflict , I wuld like you to thoughtdfuly adress HOW to solve th total I mean total conflct between th Partys …specificaly addressing my #552 points 1/ to 4/ and A/ & B/ (but sugest you also read Socrates #559 concise geo politcal historical vs curent context to those points
If thereafter you feel you ar w ron g , in emphasis , then just say so …seeing i as a Ruddy suporter hav unabigously diagreeed with Rudd without hesitaton on this issue blogging earlier his policy like all oz govt predecssors is a shameful “price” And suggest just just ignore all th uneven handded politcans and MSN and look at cause and efect of th core conflict issues in our posts …and then look at th sugested equitable solution four both th Palestinien & israeli Countrys and there peoples
corecton , my post was #556 NOT #552
Scorpio @534
That link from slate was great.My fave
“And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That’s what I asked—4,000 hours.”
Boerwar
#558 “Uh, Ron
Re: mine @ 557, I will withdraw it, not because it isn’t right, but because it is smartarse, and a bit of an insult to your passion on the subject.”
Boerwar , this may giv you a smile
.
“And so the fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there’s jobs at the machine-making place.” quote 27/5/08
As you can see , th World was in safe hands wwith not only a genius political & kind humanitarien , but also an expert on engineering
Vera
#586
“Catching up on Pollbludgers I see last night I missed out on calls for the Amigos to be bannished and Glen telling us of his Uncle Howie’s one night stand at Blair House (dirty ole man!) Boy it ain’t safe to go to bed anymore, don’t know what you’re missing =) ”
Well Vera if howie has been “missing” out , then getting that Medal of Freedom has given him belated courage…..loaned by Peter th brave Guess if one can not occasionaly “RIDE,LAUGH, LOVE AND SING” ireventantly , you miss out on smiling reely …test no 4 .) or if that failed XXXX
or as “Howie th gentle” said , we will decide who enters this Site , and th manner of there deportation ….incl getting Cossie’s personaly signed biogragphy book
“we will decide who enters this Site , and th manner of there deportation ”
Confirmation of what I have suspected for a while … William and Ron are the same person!
It will be denied by William It will be denied by Ron , and not in th one blog
only in the USA
Larry Flynt wants a $5 billion bailout (I wont say stimulus package 🙂 ) for the adult entertainment industry.
[Mr Flynt said people were “too depressed to be sexually active.”
“This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such, but they cannot do without sex.”]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/08/2461638.htm
Ron here’s a site that shows you how to do smileys
http://sarahcherim.com/info/#smileys
Love this re: Howards slumber party
Mr Howard’s stay at Blair House was also the subject of an on-air chat between the veteran political columnist Margaret Carlson and MSNBC presenter Keith Olbermann.
“It would have been a small thing for the Bushes to say yes. They still have control over Blair House and they decided to say no,” Ms Carlson said.
Mr Olbermann responded: “There’s one caveat here. Given how unpopular John Howard is in Australia at the moment, it’s possible that he’s coming here to seek political asylum so he might need the whole place.”
“Right, and that no hotel would take him,” Ms Carlson added.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/08/2461544.htm
Vera, back at wherever, no one called for the banishment of the amigos. My point is a simple one, that simply repeating the same line over and over, with cheers from the sidelines, is hardly conducive to debate.
Ron, you can dismiss me if you wish to do so, as a light weight. I have a job which requires my attention, and only have time to catch up on the Pollbludgers intermittently. I also have a life. I attempt to inform myself from a number of disparate sources, about a range of issues, and the Pollbludger is one of them. I often do not have time to formulate a detailed response.