It is fair to say the Right has been feeling the ideological pinch lately. While the fussing and feuding has been going on, the Hard Left in Australia continues its moral decay at an impressive clip with hardly a mention.
Take the animal liberationist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Usually PETA spends the bulk of its energy and time routinely supplying the ABC’s Four Corners with free footage, allowing the current affairs program to work within its budget. It’s a win-win, provided you’re a card-carrying member of PETA or a journo with an insatiable thirst for a gold Walkley.
Yesterday it surfaced PETA had written to the management of Hunters and Collectors urging the band to change its name to something less violent and antagonistic. The thought being the band, first formed in 1981, might now be inadvertently encouraging young kiddies to load up the shotties, the pig dogs and several cartons of Emu Bitter and go out blasting away at ecosystems various in a frivolous manner.
Full column here.
Dang! Completely forgot. Better late than never.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/83682.Dale_Spender
We wonder where POTUS Trump will go for his first overseas visit, Mr Insider? Possibly to England as UK Prime Minister May was quick out of the box to visit Trump in Washington. Of course some very interesting World Leader meetings await such as Vladimir Putin of Russia and of course Xi Jinping of China. Maybe if he swings to the South Pacific he may just call on PM Turnbull. Of course the Australian Greens will be aghast at this prospect. Interesting times ahead and always the wild card of Krazy Kimmy of North Korea going “ballistic” throwing a big spanner in the works.
Of late, Ive found that although I have been here a long time, I am enjoying my blog experience less and less. In fact the more I engage, the less I like it. That’s not good. Im tired. Like, old warrior tired. Going to take my own advice, and not just not reading irritating fools like Yvonne and Swantoon, (I didnt speak to him for so long, it was perfect) but if it doesnt feel good, dont do it.
.
So Im off, maybe for a bit, but I cant see anything here that would pull me back. The endless dullards have killed it for me. There’s just too many. And it never changes.
JtI will be fine, with or without me.
.
cheers all.
ps. not just changing my name and coming back to cause more shit. I dont care anymore. Good luck to the lot of you.
Wraithy! Hope you feel better in the morning. You’re the best thing on the blog. Your work here is not finished.
Give ’em heaps girl!.
That’s a big hissy fit honey do you want to tell Kathy all about your problems sweetie?
C’mon Wraith please don’t go, I always took you as a fighter!
I know you’re not well mate, so do what’s best for you, just know that your posts have been appreciated for years by this gal.
Kia Kaha, Bella x
Don’t let them beat you down Wraith. Nasty, shallow people should always be called out. But do understand your thoughts. Come back soon. Take Care.
Wraith, I would be sorry to see you go, you have been here a long time and people like you. Tracy has disappeared and so too have quite a few others. Don’t take things so personally.
We need people like you on this blog to give an honest, no bullshit perspective on things.
Maybe take a bit of a break, but don’t leave permanently….you’re not alone in seeing through the hypocrisy of some on this blog, but don’t let the dullards win
Well i’m back , happy now…..
Welcome back Bill.
I thought we had lost you for ever.
What are you doing with yourself these days
Yeah I’m doing ok, been awhile since I was on here , well I’ve mellowed a lot in that time and I’ve become a person of moderate views , I should fit in quite nicely here if I come back full time , what do you reckon ? .. I’m 67 now and I’ve been spending all my time looking for a rich widow , without success …
Don’t know about the footy tipping , will have to think about it …
Yes , hello Jack , hope all is well , thanks for the pm on f/b that brought me to your blog..
G’day Bill. Are you back in Gryzly’s tipping comp?
G’day Bill.
Where ya been Bill? Fancy the Lions this year?
Hey Bill, welcome back old buddy!!
Maybe those who fling the word ‘hypocrisy’ around with such gay abandon should look inwards and ask themselves if they are not perhaps flinging stones in glasshouses.
Everyone here has a right to express an opinion – that’s what the blog is for Christ’s sake.
Aw:- U make a positive contribution. We don’t wanna lose the people with brains. Hang around. Although it gets a bit hot in the kitchen we all love each other…we really do. Its only a game you know. Not as cerebral as chess…something like draughts. Think of Jack….he has put up with the lot of us and still holds onto his sanity. If he sticks it out we all should give it a go….and remember…we don’t read ALL of the comments…he reads molst of them!
Good news Wraith, as of late, and a bit earlier than that, all you’ve been typing in is vituperative bile. Extremely rude comments to all and sundry; yet you come over all sensitive if people opine, in an opinion blog, about the dim, dark and dismal state of SA. And you have the temerity to take the moral high ground on depression, more severe mental illnesses etc, and other physical maladies. You’re not Robinson Crusoe wraith in the tough life, love, And the people and family I know who do it tough don’t wallow in the mire, elicit sympathy, nor use their “whatever” as gutless protection to say whatever they like and in the process try to censor others.
Of late you’ve been a rude dullard and self absorbed, callous contributor, wraith. and oh so sensitive, whilst dissing out the worst shit. harden up sister. envelope empathy. abandon ego.
take pleasure in simple pleasures and hope to Christ that post our death, heaven, hell or nirvana, there’s a scheme in which miserable, self absorbed, lazy dullards get provided for in the afterlife.
Milton, you pompous smug ignorant twerp.
I see Milton you are so courageous you have waited until Wraith has left the building to unload further bile on her. Coward. You call yourself a “Christian” you show just how hypocritical you group think sheep are.
Jesus Wraith are you still playing these silly games , what’s this the 100th time …
Welcome back Bill. Still driving a cab?
No , mate i’m an old aged pensioner now , couldn’t be on a better wicket , haven’t driven cabs in years , just taking life as it comes …. Cheers.. …. Hello Dismayed , nice to see you’re still around , hope life is treating you good.
He has arisen?
And in breaking news, Greek is now a race: SA Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis accuses Liberals of racism
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/sa-treasurer-tom-koutsantonis-accuses-liberals-of-racism/news-story/eedadd0b6d3f10e23d656af93e5ac175
I have known a few Greeks in my time. Many have been well balanced with a chip on both shoulders.
I put in down to a couple of things.
Firstly the shit that they had to put up with when they first arrived.
Secondly they think they are kind of special because of what happened 2000 years ago but have trouble reconciling what has happened in the intervening period.
Other than that they have contributed immensely to this country.
I am watching with interest a first generation father, who according to his mother is more Greek than Greek, reconcile his daughter’s dating a second generation person of Italian heritage.
Old habits die hard.
Recommended reading on partisanship and its impact:
http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/the-thing-that-divides-us-could-be-our-downfall/news-story/da6ff9c7fd2aa6448aa54070bfe96d09
Just some naif yearning for a past that never was and a future that never will be.
Great, there goes a big chunk of my first year physics forty years ago: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/isaac-newtons-law-sunk-by-time-crystals/news-story/628103c577e821d69cbbe739668d2151
Take heart Dwight! I think Stephen Hawkings disproved his own theories several times!
I wonder what the equivalent of Quantum Physics is in economics.
Newton was for the Macro world and Quantum is in the Micro.
Maybe we can start off with the premise that “All consumers are rational”?
Quantum physics is cool, JS. From what I gather they just accept what they cannot prove, stick it into an equation of some sort and move on!! I just love this from Richard Feynman: ” It has not yet become obvious to me that there’s no real problem, I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem”. Crikey ……………. it’s like infinity for me – I will never, ever get my head around infinity!
Here’s one for Dwight.
ABC online today reported that the Turnbull government was not prepared for the election of Donald Trump. You could certainly say the same about the Democrats, who are still having daily convulsions over it.
I turned up an article from 2013 that the pundits and punters should have read before last year’s election. It talks about the struggles the Democrats have had trying to win a presidential election after its candidate (or his legal successor) won two prior elections.
It’s only happened twice since 1828, once in 1836 by VP Martin Van Buren, and in 1940 by Franklin D Roosevelt who succeeded in running for an unprecedented 3rd term. They have failed in four of the last five attempts (Roosevelt the exception) with the latest being Al Gore in 2000.
The Republicans have fared better, with the third election in a row won for the party by Ulysses S Grant (1868), Rutherford B Hayes (1876), Theodore Roosevelt (1904) and George H W Bush in 1988. Those who lost in similar circumstances were Richard Nixon (1960), Gerald Ford (1976) and John McCain (2008).
In seven of the last nine elections, voters have decided to switch the party controlling the White House when a candidate (or his successor) had won two prior elections.
The 22nd Amendment, limiting a president to two terms, came as a direct result of the FDR era when Roosevelt and Truman as Democrats held office for a combined 20 years.
The distrust of people in power also dates back to the age of the American Revolution and the mistrust of hereditary rulers with no curbs on their powers.
In a nutshell, Hilary had no show without going into the merits of the candidates.
Sorry for the length JTI, but I can’t give a link to the article I extracted the above from. Anyone interested can go to .
oops, it didn’t like my link attempt. Try blog.constitutioncentre.org.
Excellent research!
The losses since 2009 have put the nation’s oldest political party in its worst shape since about 1928.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/10/the-decimation-of-the-democratic-party-visualized/?utm_term=.f912bcb940a7
Largely thanks to Bill and Hill and Barack.
Largely thanks to Fox News actually.
Good to see something counteracts the institutional brain washing of the last 20 years
I think the entire world was not prepared for the election of the Don, Lou! But here he is – and the world has to deal with it.
Very interesting, and more evidence that there is little basis for claims that Trump’s election represents some tectonic shift in the political landscape.
Of the slightly under 60% of eligible US voters who turned up, slightly under half voted for Trump. Given that in most US elections, each party gets about half the turnout give or take a couple of points, it’s a safe bet that the bulk of those did so simply because he was the Republican candidate, because they always do, or in some cases for the reasons cited in Lou’s article. That leaves a low-single-digit percentage of the population who voted for Trump expressly because he is Trump. Those people have probably always been there in one form or another, but on this occasion they were enough to swing the election.
Whether Trump’s becoming the Republican nominee in the first place represents a tectonic shift in internal Republican Party politics is a very different question and remains to be seen.
So Mal Turncoat wont reduce the amount of gas going overseas, to ease a future supply crisis of our own, just because, …………..wait for it….. he doesnt want to discourage future investment in new gas projects. WTF? Then he cant help himself, and starts bagging renewables.
Turncoat is a dead man walking.
.
Why? Because the fools will only swallow your nonsense for so long, because the truth will always out.
Dead man walking.
We agree again Wraith, Turnbull a goner!
I don’t think Turnbull can overturn contracts already signed by private companies. It is my feeling the Government don’t have enough to brains to project ahead.
Future investment is the APPEA line. If we allow domestic reservation, then there are smaller gas fields which won’t get developed…shock, horror. It doesn’t matter what the price is, there will always be uneconomic fields. The argument is bullshit.
I thought that WA had reserved 20% of its gas production for domestic usage.
The oil companies screamed blue murder and I do not know if it was overturned.
The gas shortage is typical of the decisions made in this country at the moment – ever ever think it through and never plan for the future.
Build a bloody pipeline from the NW and reserve some for the locals.
We should be building a huge petro-chemical industry based on our expertise and raw materials but the political class can never get past that we are a price taking exporter of unprocessed raw materials with no value add.
TV, I do not give a hoot whether small expensive fields get developed – I just want to be warm during winter.
For goodness sake we will be short of electric and short of gas. The press will have a field day with stories of old people going to bed at sundown because they cannot heat their homes.
I am pretty sure that the last 10 years of stupid government from both sides has finally gotten us third world status where the only way to make money is via housing speculation.
JS get some solar panels and batteries. I would have thought a sovcit, libertarian like you would have been all over that years ago. Off the grid and all. WA still has some gas preserved for domestic use. Their is plenty of gas there is a problem with the cartel and the management of third party gas contracts. The supply shortfall is very small about 2% very easily rectified if there was a federal government prepared to act. But the non Agile, no Innovative noalition will not act. the noalition or COALition if you like need to save the seats in QLD to stay in government.
Have had panels for yonks Dismayed along with the Solar hot water and the Prius.
I am waiting to see what my electricity bills will be before I go anywhere near batteries. I suspect the payback period will be beyond the life of the battery and possibly mine.
As to heating – not contemplated – gas is a wonderful primary source of heating.
Reason for the wait is that we are about to switch from gross feed in to net feed in.
Goodbye that wonderful Labor 60c a kwh feed in tariff.
The $2500 per year you are saving on petrol will pay for your investment in batteries within 5 years. The higher the power prices go the quicker your investment is returned. Most of the batteries have 10 yr warranties. We will get 15/20 years battery life without issue. By then we will be running domestic hydrogen units in our backyards or something similar which will only require a top up of a couple of litres of water once a week. Just as well some states have Desal plants.
JS that’s precisely what I meant re the small expensive fields. I see my dad (who turns 94 today btw) sitting in his lounge in July with a blanket over his knees and the gas heater off because he can’t afford to run it and it pisses me off (and yes, I give him some money to turn it on). Domestic reservation is a no-brainer – the APPEA argument is simply the dreaded economic rationalism.
IWD annoyed me as I listen to Classic FM and the old 2MBS (now “Fine Music”).
It is one thing to determine to play only female artists, but the rank decision to play only female composers backfired badly reminding almost everyone that with the notable exceptions of Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn and Australian Tamara Anna-Cislowska, female composers thus far should have been conigned to the dustbin (or footnotes) of musical history!
ABC Jazz did much better with female artists….
When will people grow up and take gender as just one trait instead of demanding quotas etc?
Surely we have passed the need for role models in Oz: if you can’t find one, you really must be vacant….adn please resist the infantile suggestions of gender memory for the past privations…. we are more than halfway through the second decade of the 21st century and the dinosaurs have largely died off or in their death throes.
The pertinent issues of sex slavery, female genital mutilation, underage marriage (cannot be consensual by definition), forced marriage of those who are not minors, discriminatory evidentiary practices and penalties (in certain Middle Eastern countries)…. wherever they occur are far more important than the posturing which more closely resembles pleas for affirmative discriminatory treatment for particular women!
After all if 15% of the population is criminal, another 15% moronic – do you really think that they should have representation by quota (and no, I am not suggesting that either such grouping is dominant female). Where does it end: eye colour, hair colour (or lack thereof in the case of many men)….what about just judging by merit for the relevant position?
Still, it appears that pretty much all our politicians would rather symbolic postures than actually engage real issues that might force anyone to be disadvantaged from the current myopia….
Oh and we sprung a major roofing leak which could have something to do with my mood…
cheers
Talk about getting your jocks in a strop over nothing. Such a huge rant, do you know how to change the station?
Not getting sex right?
Pointless gesture politics from Auntie. Worthy, but dull; even Wendy Harmer sent me to sleep. As the Americans used to say, “if your want to send a message, call Western Union”. Isn’t Aunty (indeed all broadcasters) supposed to inform and entertain. If you ain’t going to entertain, nobodies going to stick around to be informed.
What, no Hildegard of Bingen?
As for jazz, check this out: https://youtu.be/e_e1TLfmq2M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQtXo4tiZxs&list=RDTQtXo4tiZxs#t=14
Yes, the IWD priority seems to have been overtaken with panel discussions about the hottest trends in face masks, scrubs and body butter, while IMD focuses on who can grow the most facial hair for charity. It was inevitable that these events would be reduced to our Google Doodle is better than yours.
Sounds like you might be a dinosaur in it’s death throes.
Haven’t quite reached the opisthotonic posture JB. However, some of your recent posts indicate you may not be far off.
But I hasten to add that I sincerely hope not me old mate.
So you say. I have my doubts.
In any case I was talking to Voltaire.
Power prices double since the removal of the ETS. No Surprises. Where is my $550 cons?
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/energy-crisis-wholesale-power-prices-have-doubled-since-the-carbon-tax-was-axed-20170308-gutf8t.html
From what we see here in NSW you chappies in SA are lucky to have Power any day dear Dismayed! SA the State of darkness. Bring back those Coal Fired Power Stations chappy and soon!
That’s quite a serious point though HB. Thank goodness we have hydro here. Just hope it keeps raining – ……….on the West coast
You cons are still running backwards. You will leave this country stranded out of fear of moving forwards. More research and data out this weak again showing out of touch and ideologically broken the cons are.
So what percentage of time is SA without power? You’re a Drama Queen Blofeld.