cscotthendry

Classic FT!

And quite simply, Abbott was the worst PM this country ever had the misfortune to suffer by a very long margin.

Robbo: Quoting Andrew Bolt in any discussion is like equating someone with Hitler. As soon as you do it, you lose any credibility in the debate.

Phil: Tony Abbott was /is the most negative and toxic politician this country has ever experienced. He is ruthlessly destructive and took political discourse in this country to excruciating lows. His destructive style was successful in tearing down two previous PMs, but he continued in the same destructive mode once he became PM. He is an extreme right wing ideologue. Worst PM this country has ever elected by a long way, and I'm being conservative with my criticisms here.

Teck Really? I mean REALLY? Tones actually said that! It was reported in the papers and tv everywhere. Are you out of the country and missed the mass coverage of that statement?

Still using win7 64bit and will stay with that. The aggressive nature of the promotion of win10 really puts me off. I put it in the category of "if they market it on TV it's probably crap" and if they market it that aggressively, it's probably crap too. Edit: the same goes for celebrity spruikers.

Dutch; using facts to convince believers is like trying to teach pigs to sing; it's a waste of time and annoys the pigs. Trying to convince deniers that climate change exists is like trying to convince smokers that it is bad for them. They just selectively choose their "facts" (or invent them) to support their beliefs (in this case denial).

Those vested interests will be lobbying furiously to push those refugees back into the sea ... unless they can be co-opted for cheap labour.

Facts are a bit thin on the ground because of the secrecy surrounding the TPP. There have been some leaks, but the corporates pushing the TPP are doing their utmost to lock out any public scrutiny until it is fait accompli. That is what is really troubling. What is it that they don't want us to know and why? Secrecy is the first step down the road of tyranny. Bex: If you measure your life by material goods then yes we are better off than when we were kids. But I was the beneficiary of a free public education as were most of our politicians who now want to saddle our kids and grandkids with massive mortgages for tertiary education. Also, my son was born in a public hospital free of charge, but now we have to have "insurance" i.e. Make a profit for some company so that we can get health care. Want to see how that turns out? Have a look at the American health system. But why is all this "user pays" stuff necessary when we all still pay taxes? Because we've had 40 years of voodoo economics that says if we give the big corporates enough in tax breaks and corporate welfare, they might employ a few more people. They don't, but that's the ruse used to sell us all on reducing the corporate tax rates. So as the tax take dwindles, the government winds back the community services it provides or implements charges for those services. There are more important things than profits.

Alexander Graham Bell said it best; 5% of people think 10% of people think they think The other 85% would rather die than think. These things are allowed to go unchecked because we the people let the politicians get away with it. Big Business has the money and uses it to sway the politicians, but we the people have the numbers. The problem is getting enough people off their a***s to write their political rep to say "don't do this". To do that, you have to drag people away from their soapies and footy. Doing that is like teaching a pig to sing ... it's a waste of time and it annoys the pig.

The really sinister thing about the TPP is that it gives business primacy over elected governments. If business doesn't like the laws a country enacts, they can sue that country and get the laws thrown out. This is being pushed primarily by Big Pharma and Big Tobacco to get things like our PBS thrown out and the plain cigarette packaging laws thrown out. Obviously multinational profits are more important than peoples' lives. The TPP has been under negotiation for quite some time and the secrecy surrounding it is quite scary. The businesses in the US are lobbying hard to ram it through the government.

Umm, this may be too obvious, but have you looked in the white pages online? That would give maybe a few hits that you could follow up discreetly unless the person's name is John Smith. Then try the usual stuff like Facebook, linkedin or other social websites.

Internet axion "If it's free, YOU are the product."

OME: I worked for Bunnings for about two years. After a career as a software engineer, wages and conditions in the retail industry were a bit of a wakeup for me. I only went to work for them to keep from being bored after retiring. After about two years I had a gutful of being taken advantage of. What I couldn't get past, was the way the retail industry (and the hospitality industry too) exploit their workforce. The retailers are always bleating on about how much they have to pay in wages and that that's why their prices are so high. I'm here to tell you it's all Bulls__t! They pay peanuts and they employ fewer people in any given store than what is required to make the thing function properly. Want to know why retail staff are so rude? They cop enless abuse from customers and management because the stores are chronically and acutely understaffed, and they're paid a pittance for the privilege.

And don't forget to mention signing up Oz to the Iraq MkII fiasco. How many billions and how many lives (westerners and Iraqis) did that lay waste to? Now the current crop of indolents wants an RC into the pink batts scheme that killed 4 people due to the greed of some dodgy contractors and that is somehow Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard's personal responsibility. But if we have the RC into that, then we BETTER have an RC into Iraq MKII and those pesky missing WMDs that the governments here, in the UK and in Washington ALL knew didn't exist and let's DO lay the blame for that right at the feet of W's deputy, J.W.Howard.

Quite so. "Believers" are fact-proof.

GG- yeah thanks for the "lighten up" heads up, I probably take the politics a bit too seriously. But you're right, they do make my head explode.......

And it's touchy because the Coalition mercilessly played politics with the issue while in opposition and are now reaping the misinformation, bigotry and hatred that they sowed. They were awful as an opposition; incompetent, dishonest and almost completely inert in government.

Dazza: Couldn't agree more with you M8! What annoys me is when people don't proof read what they've posted before they press the button. Should that have read "Better than"? Moral of the story:Let him without sin cast the first stone......

Ooohhh, Mr Squiggle.... Now there's a story Did you know he had a large wooden pencil....

Brilliant. Thanks for sharing. I was born in Chicago.

Witness the power of an airbag

I think people underestimate the charge that's in an airbag. I saw a video once where a guy deliberately sat on one and his workmates set it off. It threw him in the air and when he got up you could see that he was really hurting. I suspect he suffered some spinal injury akin to being ejected from a fighter jet. I wouldn't want my tablet on top of one of those if I had a fender-bender hard enough to set it off. As the first comment on the article said, you'd have it embedded in your forehead.

Could not agree more! We live in a corporatocracy. If you think that ANY of the politicians are calling the shots as to how your life will pan out in the next 30 years, you haven't been paying attention. We are now ruled by the Rineharts, Forrests and Palmers and most of all the Murdochs.

Soo true, but the trolls always seem to find someone to rise to the bait.