What's what?
sypko, mate i am inviting you to focus on not what they have done, but what they could be. i like your perspective, you can be what old mate gandhi was on about, if you choose. i am not concentrating on labels, only on potentials. it's people like you and me that has the opportunity to change the way these limiting ideologies are perpepuated {sp}, or evolved. i for one am not going to get a sore arse for sitting on the fence.whether they listen or not is not the be all and end all, it's whether we took the opportunity to assist change for the better for the all that really matters. but each to their own, may you feel authentic in your choice.
@facto, just saw Kerryn Phelps on tv being interviewed. Very convincing with real integrity. Her decision to preference the Libs (which confused me) is purely a political strategy that when all votes are counted provides the best possible chance for her to be elected.
The Libs must be (rightly) concerned about their increasingly tenuous grip on power as it was revealed that they are spending $1million on attack ads, pamphet drops denigrating her character, and negative social media propaganda.
Apart from Dr Phelp's word I have no proof that this is occurring, but it sounds like the real Coalition in action. They are looking defeat in the eyes and wont go down without a fight using all options on the table....Or is that under the table.
Re the secret release of the religious discrimination recommendations.
Apparently only 4 people have ever seen the report. The Attorney General Ruddock, someone who I don't recall who lives in Perth, ScoMo, and Turnball.
Is Turnball channeling Abbott whilst being safely out of range?
What goes around.....
Woo boy, but ain't there some ill-informed dribble on here?!
Hot damn, and this thread is also up to 100 pages!
And yes, West Of The Lake, Wentworth could be very, very interesting.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-10/religious-freedom-ruddock-schools-...
Phelps has no credibility selling her soul for a preference deal.
"The Greens policy on refugees is for Australia to abide by the UN Refugee Convention to which it is a signatory. Offshore detention as currently practised is an underhand way to avoid the responsibilities we signed up for. Taking refugees does not oblige a country to give them citizenship or permanent residency though in Australia's case, when we have done this it has usually worked out well."
Problem is Blindboy the refugee convention was signed about 70 years ago in a completely different world the reality is it's a completely outdated document that needs some serious updating, if we had true leaders they would part from it until it is updated. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parlia...
As pointed out Rudd bowed to the Green vote and trialled what they want, but then did a complete 360 backflip when numbers quickly snowballed because the reality is he had no choice.
What was he to do when numbers of refugees arriving by boat outstrip out intake quota?
And what was he to do with our resettlement programs that resettle refugees that don't have the resources to travel and pay smugglers?
As these programs would become pointless when there is no places left for these refugees.
(BTW. i did vote for Rudd)
Per capita Australia leads the world in resettling refuges with only Canada resettling more per capita, in the past year we have resettled 24,000 plus refugees most fairly thought resettlement programs open to ALL refugees.
To put this in perspective in the last two years we have resettled more refugees than New Zealand has since world war 2 (about 70 years) they recently raised their yearly quota from 800 per year to 1,000 per year.
VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
Resettling and recognising refugees/asylum seekers in a country is two very different things and refugee advocates often try to mislead people by cherry picking figures and not differentiating between the two.
Resettling refugees: is what we generally do where we provide permanent residency and a new life in Australia.
Recognising refugees: is more providing temporary refuge or just recognising refugees in your country, we also do this but to a much lesser extent, asylum seekers that arrive by plane on visas such as a tourist visa then apply for a temporary protection visa, for exactly that temporary protection which can not lead to permeant residency.
Obviously countries that border or are close to areas refugees flee from are going to have the highest number of recognition of refugees because most refugees can't afford to flee further and many want to return home in the future anyway.
While countries like Australia and Canada are the furthest from these areas unlike areas like Europe border crossing is also harder and we have stricter controls on immigration, customs, and especially quarantine. (I should note there is about 50 countries signed to the refugee convention closer to the areas most refugees come from Middle east, North Africa)
The reality is it wouldn't be realistic to encourage or increase our intake of "recognised/temporary protection type asylum seekers or refugees" not only because it would be troublesome to our border control measures and go against all the reasons we have official entry points and controlled imigration and customs, and quarantine etc but also because the reality is once here for 5, 10, 15, 20 years it's extremely unlikely they would want to return after setting up a new life, jobs, friends, lifestyle etc especially in a developed country, and all it would create is more problems with people overstaying visas.
The current system is not broken, the only issue is we have is we made mistakes in the past by accepting and encouraging boat arrivals especially in the Rudd era, once these refugees are resettled elsewhere the issue will be much more manageable and the need for offshore facility's will be minimal.
(BTW as we know over 80% of refugees on Nauru live in the community, many have jobs some even run business )
@Guy - I thought the same regarding Phelps, but I believe she is playing the preferential voting political game that will give her the best chance of success.
I don't believe she has sold her soul, but perhaps just leased it out temporarily.
Time will tell.
nah, if you can't be true to yourself how on earth can you be true to others? She has sold the fire in her guts to do good I'm afraid.
Hot off the presses:
https://www.betootaadvocate.com/headlines/catholic-schools-to-deal-with-...
The bit I've found amusing about the greens is the only seat in the Fed lower house they have is central Melbourne which has more concrete per capita and more concrete per square kilometre than almost all of the rest of the nation :)
Ive always found that funny too Velocity i did question a Greens voter about this once and apparently because they live in a high density area their Green footprint is smaller, but i still think the Greens party should be renamed the "inner city hipster party" :P
Maybe that explains why they've given up on the environment for more and more, and more and more identity politics
Perhaps the LBTG RFUG party is a more fitting name...
You really do bloviate about identity politics, sypkan. Few years ago it wasn't even a thing and now it's the reason for the fall of Western civilization.
I can appreciate their logical dead end, however identity politics was the cause of great gains for minorities: civil rights movement, gay rights etc. The positives are still miles in front of any negatives. On the ledger, the world is a better place FOR identity politics. And the fact is, they still have very little bearing on Australian political outcomes.
Pretty sure that Hillary would have been the biggest self inflicted wound in history.
One aspect of the refugee debate that tends to swept quietly under the carpet is our direct responsibility for their situation. We invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, destabilised the entire region and produced the current huge flow of refugees.
So yes Indo, the Refugee Convention needs updating so that countries like the US, UK and Australia who caused the problem are forced to take a larger role in dealing with its tragic consequences.
Great words that I’ve learnt at Swellnet- Bloviate , hagiography.
Great words I can remember right at this moment, anyway.
Blowin/bloviate
Fungible?
I must admit that my time on these forums has been more than matched with me spending more time on Google.
And a fair proportion of that time is simply used to find out what some of the words actually mean! :)
...and that's how we can learn, West Of The Lake! Bravo!
Thankyou.
I tell you facto if these forums were around when I did uni I would not have bothered with uni! Ha!
Speaking of bloviate, has anyone heard from Blob, aka Blobernator the bloviator?
Not that I miss him or anything.
Just curious.
Great speech / essay by Sanders.
Shame he’s 200 years old.
PS welcome back Shatner.
Better than watching Round 3 of the Wozzle in shifty French beachies?
Serious decisions...
I don’t do that Wozzle shit anymore , Stu.
Relevant lyric :
And another thing
I've been wondering lately
Am I crazy
To believe in ideals?
I'm a better man
But it's getting damn lonely.
Oh, honey, if only
I could show what I feel.
Gotta admire someone sticking by their ideals.
Me, the Wozzle is one part job requirement and one part dirty secret.
And if we're pasting lyrics here's another dirty secret:
Everybody's doing a brand-new dance, now
(Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now
(Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
My little baby sister can do it with me
It's easier than learning your A-B-Cs
So come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me
You gotta swing your hips, now
Your secret IS very dirty.
One things led to another and now I’m thinking about gold hot pants.
Oh well , I’ll just have to go purify myself of those evil thoughts ...
No secret at all. I heard 50,000 sing it in perfect unison last week
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver sound of the lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone.
They're singing all right blinder!!!! I hope I'm not interrupting the royal ceremony!
Coooooooor blimey!!!! More front page headline act after headline act in the motherland!!!
Stunned mullets are schooling again!!! The endless mullet run!!! Great timing blinder!!!
'Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s October 12 wedding is set to cost an estimated £2 million (almost AU$3 million) but the bill is being footed by British taxpayers rather than her father Prince Andrew – so why is that?
The royal nuptials were initially expected to cost half of the total amount, but according to the Daily Mirror, security measures have sent the price skyrocketing.
The extra fees will reportedly fund increased police presence due to heightened safety fears and Princess Eugenie’s planned carriage ride.'
'According to wedding planning website and app Bridebook.co.uk, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s May 19 wedding reportedly cost over $59 million.
Security measures weighed in at $55 million alone while catering for their 600-strong guest list set them back $528,000. Although it is rumoured that Meghan paid for her Givenchy dress, taxpayers covered the security bill.
But some argue that the pomp and pageantry was to be expected at Prince Harry’s wedding, as his brother’s 2011 nuptials reportedly cost $43.7 million.'
'As for those further down the royal pecking order, Zara and Mike Tindall’s 2011 wedding cost taxpayers $740,000 in security fees.
The decision was met with uproar, as members of the public were not allowed to attend the private nuptials nor was the service televised.
‘also interesting to note that unlike Princess Eugenie, Zara does not have a royal title yet her wedding was still funded by the public'
https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/isnt-prince-andrew-covering-cost-daughter...
Wait a minute... very cunning blinder!!!! Wedding Crashers 3!!!! Sing along with blinder!!!! In a nutshell!!!! Again!!!
There will be some more 'radical' headlines today blinder!!! The 'loopy' swillnut explorer team have just 'discovered' gearbox fin systems!!!! The flag is well and truly up and... Plus, stupe' is about to unleash some totally 'rad' surfing on the unsuspecting 'stuck' cunt brigade!!! Again!!! in a nutshell!!! 'Fuel up me troopy ya 'stuck' cunt'... 'deliver me discount dribbleton camera bits pronto ya 'stuck' cunt!!!'
Meanwhile sykply poppins is consoling the poor pope!!! He's been accused of being a pedophile, child raping protecting and hiding sleezy piece of shit... again... and again... and again... and again... in a nutshell!!!
Its all we got blinder!!!! Its advanced but!!!! In a nutshell!!!
The swillnut klan cry is still ringing out, loud and clear blinder!!!!
'Stuck cunts forever!!! Fuck 'em!!! Just move orn aaaayyee maaaaytee'
Drink up blinder!!!! The taxpayers are shoutin' this one... again... and again... and again... in a nutshell... with a difference but... we lurv ya amesy!!!! 'Radical' shit!!!!!!
Sorry I do carry on a bit, but it's only because a heap of people seem to have no concept of what has happened over the last few decades ie. the left basically giving up on nearly all its traditional political endeavours to focus wholly on identity politics.
Yes identity politics has had some wins, but I think we're at a place now where it's having profound negative effects. Also, possibly even developing into a dangerous line of thinking that needs nipping in the bud real quick. But you wouldn't know it reading the guardian, salon, and the likes.
You might think dangerous is over stating it...but I don't...
"...It’s difficult to know whether the correct response here is to laugh or cry. Either way, we believe we’ve uncovered evidence that points to a significant cultural problem that starts with scholarship and extends far beyond the academy. This is because what’s taking place within certain university disciplines is a kind of idea laundering. Under these circumstances, aggrieved academics can put broken, biased, and even openly racist and sexist ideas through the peer-review process, and have them come out the other side legitimized as though they are established knowledge."
They've raising generations of kids on this crap that peddles pure hate - ironically, whilst waving a 'love trumps hate' sign.
This self obsesssed academic waffle also influences a lot of government policy, and has done for some time. It filters through every strata of society, through our work, socialising, education, and play. And while some of it is well meaning, well...some is just nasty, negative and well beyond unbalanced.
"...Concepts like “toxic masculinity,” “white fragility,” “cultural appropriation,” and “microaggressions” are now familiar to many of us. Most people, however, don’t realize that these concepts originated within academic journals just like those that accepted our papers. Those journals laundered them through a broken system, leading them to be picked up by journalists, activists, HR departments, and policy makers as though they’re some kind of established truth."
" The positives are still miles in front of any negatives".
Not sure about that. Ask someone dealing with a HR department. Or someone dealing with the ridiculousness of the education department, or various other social services and government offices and you might just get a bit of resistance.
Real resistance.
Identity politics hasn't just put people in silos. Its facilitied and encouraged open warfare between those silos, as they all try to out do each other in a battle of worthyness. A battle fuelled by grevience and righteousness, justitfied by a broken academic system.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2018/10/10/grievance-studi...
" .... ie. the left basically giving up on nearly all its traditional political endeavours to focus wholly in identity politics".
Sypkan, genuine question. Can you provide specific AU examples, the more precise the better, I'm intrigued.
The labor party giving up on workers and 'equality' whilst it busies itself working on it's new found middle class inequalities.
Same with the democrats in the US. And old 'new labor' in the UK.
The greens barely representing the environment anymore, whilst they obsess over their little idealised rainbow coalition.
The left gave up on economic inequality to fight for corporate inequalities. Good on them, whatever floats ya boat, but I think they may have overestimated the woes, and the numbers...just a little...
Yeah that's well and good Sypkan, but what does any of that mean?
"The labor party giving up on workers and 'equality' whilst it busies itself working on it's new found inequalities".
"The left gave up on economic inequality to fight for corporate inequalities".
Wishy washy motherhood statements, specifics please.
My theory: politics is like standing in shit, only the depth changes depending on your view of the world and the side in power at the time .... so for me a Labor government it might be knee deep, the LNP chest deep and Divided Nation over your head. Politics isn't clean or pure, its a dirty game, so what level are you prepared to stand in sypkan?
"The labor party gave up on workers."
And all that you're missing is context...
I've had this discussion a few times, but anyway....Labor didn't give up on workers, in the 1990s, 'workers', now upwardly mobile, gave up on Labor. Go and look at who voted for Howard, break it down by constituencies and tell me again Labor gave up on them.
Even after saying that I prefer not to blame the people but see it as a product of the 80s changes. The great Labor experiment was over. The party was a victim of their own great success. Both you and Blowin talk about workers and class like it's the 70s, but take a quick trip back to the 90s and NO-ONE was talking that way. It was a different age. Labor would've been viewed as a dinosaur if it went back to the very structure it helped dispose of.
Things are coming full circle. Globalisation hasn't been the panacea it was promoted as. Wages are stagnant, and inequality is pushing us into pre-global camps, but it's incorrect to think there's always been this dormant, receptive left that a major political party could tap into.
What does it mean?
It means the left pushed workers away for 30 odd years whilst they pursued more important agendas (for themsrlves).
They took workers for granted, counted them as 'rusted on' supporters because, you know...."where else can they go?"
Well, people tend to tire of being taken for granted, especially if you're abusing them in the process.
And, we've now seen where else they can go. And the only real surprising thing is...that it took so long to actually happen. Commendable lotalty those salt of the earth labrador types.
Take it from someone who's squandered some pretty good girlfriends - people don't like being taken for granted, eventually they walk away.
And then, it's bloody hard to get them back.
If this isn’t a scam , then an Australian company may be on the path to a cure for HIV http://www.biotron.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Significant-Immunol...
But you never know with the ASX !
For sure , Stu .
If you weren’t t there it didn’t happen.
You think the class war died and went away because the Sydney / Illawarra / Newcastle blue collar workers found themselves rich due to rising property prices and wage rates / conditions attained elsewhere, by others doing the hard bargaining yards ? Wage rates / conditions which had already peaked and were being assiduously undermined by Capital.
Tell that to the fella that got his jaw broken in the work camp laundry at Karratha because he didn’t support the picket line. Tell that to the crew that we’re getting spat on and couldn’t walk safely around the streets cause they didn’t attend union meetings.
Tell that to the workers that were replaced enmass by foreign workers employed by labour hire companies. Tell that to the people that found that they’d suddenly realised they were to be eternally employed as casual despite working 84 hours weeks for years at a time with the same company etc etc
All this occurred during the noughties .
The class war never went away , it was just being fought on a remote front and the media was complicit in keeping it hidden.
PS People voted for Howard cause he fooled them into thinking he could keep interest rates down . Had fuck all to do with anything else including boat people.
"It means the left pushed workers away for 30 odd years whilst they pursued more important agendas (for themsrlves)."
Oh bollocks upon bollocks!
Why did Howard keep getting in? Why did union membership decline? Why did downwards envy become a thing?
Sorry mate, for all your left bashing that's simply incorrect. Yes, voters abandoned Labor, you're correct in that, however they didn't move towards a party that was more left, more worker friendly, which, if it happened, would give your theory some credibility. The 'workers' moved to the right, to the Liberals. AWAY from worker issues.
They did this up till WorkChoices, when the Howard govt bit off more than it could chew. And who was there to stop it..?
One more thing: For mine the greatest political movement of the 90s was anti-globalisation, as expressed at Seattle '99 etc.
These days people elevate those protests as noble crusades against worker inequality, which is true, however they were concerned with workers, not here, but workers in the Third World.
Imagine it! The left thinking thinking about universal rights. Laugh at it now.
But that's where the left's energy and focus was in the 90s. Human rights. Not just the parties, but the people who would vote for those parties.
Wonder how long it will be till someone rewrites the Accord as being a net loss for workers.
Rate this is going I'll say a few months tops.
As some more astute articles pointed out post trump. There is no sexual equality while there is economic inequality.
And, there's no racial equality either. As the blackfellas have realised also.
YNWA!
Blind Boy, you have gone up in my estimation by this fact alone, comrade.
I heard Corbyn quoted the great man the other day too.
As for you, Sypkan, where do you even start to unpack your - what? - gish-galloping, regurgitated observations/conflations/discombobulations?
Why even bother?
I thought you were a US citizen (like Blob) on account of the US-informed guff in the Trump thread. You're not?
Anyway, here you go...again:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/10/hillary-clinton-brexit-b...
Just for you! Enjoy!
That may well be true turkeyman. I have never really defended brexit. I stll have all sorts of reservations re. brexit.
But I've gotta agree with blowin.
Clinton would most definitely have been the biggest self inflicted wound in history.
Most fucking definitely!
The world dodge a bullet. In many ways. No two ways about it.
Stu "'workers', now upwardly mobile, gave up on Labor"
Good point totally agree witnessed it 1st hand also the lying little rodent was pretty adept at buying election wins.
Unions also fought hard on workplace safety which forced government to legislate police and prosecute offenders a win for unions you never hear about but also did unions out of a job to some degree..
Ha ha, Sypkan. Did you read that? I didn't.
I just decided to take a leaf out of some on here's book, and not bother to read, just post.
It just looked like it would tick all your boxes. Clinton. Guardian. Brexit. Did it mention Trump?
You aside, Sypkan, there are some really interesting and informed/informative comments flying about. And that includes you, Blowin!
Class war!
It ebbs and flows in the public consciousness...but it never goes away. It can't. Capitalism in all its iterations and historical twists and turns needs that inequality to work. Marx skewered that way back when. That's why he's still around.
Feeling kinda classy?
Things are afoot!
Haha I didn't read it either. The headline was enuf.
And it's the guardian. I tend to only read certain articles at the guardian. And its purely for comic effect.
They really should realise what a joke they have become...even for leftys.
Stu - You’re right that a majority of people did abandon ALP because they thought they were set.
I was wrong.
But that’s not the perspective I had at the time . I was amongst people embroiled in the ongoing class war and I watched the ALP walk away from us.
They knew what was going on but chose to look the other way because of the ill touted narrative that the class war was over.
They ditched their fundamental ideology and chased an altogether different tangent to politically represent. Fashionable or not , they represented something and they should not have abandoned it.
They represented SOMEONE and they abandoned them. The unions knew what was going on , therefore the labor party knew what was going on . They chose to ignore the sparks that were precedeeding the wildfire that were being ignited in the next IR battle ground because there wasn’t votes in it and that’s how we’ve found ourselves in the position we’re in : Dropping standards of living , ever worsening wages/ conditions, gig economy, permanent casual eating at social fabric , exploited, underpaid and oppressed labour force .
Myself and everyone I knew was well aware of the direction that the class war was heading . ALP knew and they weren’t just useless they were complicit. Yes , a lot of it had to to with political expediency.
Tells me all I need to know about the ALP.
You go for a long beach walk in the sun and .... stu you're on fire this morning. Howard, the sewer rat, replaced the workers Accord with his "aspirational Australian" and the electorate swallowed it, that and the vote buying tax cuts at every election.
The wheel is turning ...... Labor will fight the next election with a full policy agenda and will rightly command a mandate if any of the fucktards are still sitting in the Senate. That policy agenda includes reducing middle class welfare, increased education and health spending and labour market reforms ... gee, that sounds like traditional a Labor Party (sarcasm). Contrast that to the LNP government, after 5.5 years we all know what they are against but what do they stand for, apart from tax cuts to multi-national companies.
Don't even know why I'm posting here, I'm on holidays after all. Cant surf though, rolled my ankle while taking evasive action to avoid an out of control fat kid at an over-patronised indoor trampoline centre. In hindsight I should've followed through, I had a good bounce going, not just up and down but off the side walls too, and allowed the collision to happen.
Take age out of it, height and weight too, and I imagine it would've been quite satisfying.
AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING KALEIDOSCOPIC JOIN-THE-DOTS/ADULT COLOURING BOOK EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT IN NARCISSISTIC/ONANISTIC BIG PICTURE PARASITIC FORUM BLEEDING.
LIKE POLITICAL LIFE, PARTICIPATION IS WELCOME, ENCOURAGED EVEN, BUT NOT NECESSARY.