coljones

A rather presumptuous statement.

I remember the flying penguins with some trepidation. I remember when women wore hats in church and sometimes out in the streets c/w false veils I remember when men wore ties and coats and long trousers and stood around outside in 100 degree heat complaining about rain and lack thereof and how Hanrahan was just a left wing stirrer. I wouldn't regard Waleed as a left winger. Just because he is not a screaming rightwing nutter doesn't mean he is left wing - it just means he is reasonable, measured and respectful.

with that weaponry it is more likely that Bronny and the team are arriving at a Labor fundraiser. Or arriving at a local NLP branch meeting to keep the troops under control and claquing on.

His wife has never struck me as a shrinking violet. I don't believe that she would were the scarf if she was in the slightest anti. The nuns of my childhood scared me much more than even the fiercest birka.

half of us don't believe the bernoulli effect of lift - the other half think it is majick - sometimes it is all down to blind faith and trust.

I haven't heard anyone claim that there is a CO2 drought. The trees and the environment currently take all the CO2 they need out of the air and there will be a CO2 residual. As this residual grows through manmade CO2 production it acts like a big thermal blanket and traps the radiant heat or is absorbed into water resulting in increasing acidification of the oceans. Expecting the environment to sop up the increasing residual CO2 is a bit fanciful and only by planting big fast growing forests will achieve it. Growing more crops will, for a short period of time, before the extra food ets consumed in the body and gets converted back to CO2 again or burned as rubbish,producing more CO2. Expecting the environment to sop up the increased heat mass trapped by the CO2 blanket is also fanciful because an environment loaded up with excess energy is a pretty nasty place with some really wild weather and temp extremes. The absorption of CO2 into the megaforests and the forest's conversion to coal a few millions of years ago reduced CO2 in the atmosphere (sequestration) and with the reduction in CO2 allowed the earth's atmosphere to stabilise and for the world to produce the great polluter, 'umans. I find myself a little torn as the average third world citizen is a low source of poluution. If they were to commence polltion on the per capia scale of Australians then the world would be in for a really big shock. We would be far better off to moderate our own behavior, engage in our own route to CO2 reduction than to sling off at the 3rd world who are nowhere near us in pollution (percapita) - They just have a lot more people trying to live a simple life.

Nah, nah. I'm OK with "So" In the quoted context it is a pause filler, like, you know, "um" or "OooohKaaay" - OK?

The tax office is legislation driven. I suggest that the first port of call for your dunny cart is your local politician - they are the ones who approve the rules and thus the behaviours of all public servants. And the fewer public servants the greater the tendency for them to chuck the rule book at infractors rather than giving full and due consideration to genuine requests.

"an historical event" - since forever. And why do people insist on putting an "h" into "BHP"?

We are still waiting for the HIC travelogue.

It may well be that our new fighters and submarines will be leased out to the superfunds rather than to asian and middle eastern money men. The next step could be to outsource the defence of Australia to Bangalor - just like your paypacket.

Apparently not quite correct. The money that was moved was largely in accounts that didn't pay any interest (or a low rate) but may have charged fees. The money moved is not kept permanently but can be reclaimed. The interest rate paid appears to be the current inflation rate. There are no fees. If the banks hang on to the money the bank benefits. If the government hangs onto the money the customers benefit as well as the government (us the owners of the government) who get cheaper loans. In some ways, it seems, the government, unlike the banks, is doing us a favour.

There are trillions (and trillions) of water in the ocean but you couldn't water your garden with it unless you were to spend huge amounts of money desalinating it. Just because something exists doesn't mean it is accessible at a cheap enough price or legally to make economic or social sense. Is it cheap enough for the buyer or dear enough for the producer/owner? Green cheese on the moon? - probably not in my lifetime - but some entrepreneur or politician is out there now selling shares in the "Lunar Cheese Mining Company NL" and there will be suckers buying.

Or walking or riding a push bike on short journeys (or even on longer ones) - support your local RailTrail. That will fix our over dependence on foreign oil, reduce the number of chronic disease sufferers in hospital and drive the oil barons in US and Middle East crazy.

And Abbott added insult to injury by de-funding secular welfare workers in schools but increased funding for chaplains - whose only qualification was to be anointed by religious organisations. By the way Peter Garrett - I think you are a complete tosser.

Another useless industry - horses along with ultralights add very little to the growth of Australia and are pure local non productive consumption. I am sure you can find many industries like this. Football, cricket, swimming, some form of education, cards, parades, surf life savers, iPads - I could go on and on (and on and on and on). Then again horse hamburgers would go over well in France and camelburgers in the middle east.

You are correct Kyle, food in Sydney is excellent - Sydney has the best Laksa in the world @ Sayong Curry and Laksa, Lower Ground Food Court 303 Pitt Street, Sydney. http://reviewclue.com.au/chicken-laksa-sayong-curry-laksa/ Woolworths at Town Hall, out the back door and down the stairs to the food court. A bit of a mad house between 12 and 1.30 but Sayong is open from about 11am til 3pm for a very relaxed and refreshing lunch. Does anyone know a Laksa joint in Copenhagen (other than Nam Nam and Wogamamas). To go without Laksa for too long is a cruel and unusual punishment

Sydney is a harbour city (even if the big boats have been kicked out by greedy governments and their developer mates) A wander around Circular Quay, including the Opera House and Botanical Gardens. In addition to the Ferry and walk to Manly Beach the Ferry to Watsons Bay for lunch at the pub or up to Parramatta also via ferry. Circular Quay is a bit of a node between buses, trains and ferries and provides a vantage point to wave to Tones at Kirribilli House and Sir Pete at Admiralty House. You could also walk across the Harbour Bridge and have a beer in the Kirribilli Hotel At the North West corner there is an Aviation Museum. You will need a car to get there. Enjoy

Australia is a world champion at giving tax breaks. JWH and Costello gave them out like father christmas and the easter bunny all the while flogging off the family gold and silver to shore up the budget. Once you have given out all that glitters it is difficult to get it back. Abbott and Hockey's solution is to beggar the poor. can't upset the big end of town.

Welfare can come in many forms not just cash or kind handouts to the poor. Paying farmers not to plant crops Government subsidising exports Waiving of rights to follow environmental laws Perversion of strategic military sales controls to benefit US firms. USA is guilty of all of these welfare slights of hand. Rupert had to become a US citizen yet US firms can plunder Australia from afar. In the case of the poor, no, it is probably not a welfare state.

Well, yes HN and the bottleos did get some money but the recipients of the bonus did get something when they handed the money over. It is a bit like government debt - the government actually got lots of assets when it borrows money - things like roads, hospitals, schools, airports etc. Wouldn't it be a crap joint if we waited till we had all the money in the bank before you bought anything. That would be as silly as renting a squat till you had all the money and then you died before you could spend it - why should the adult kids get the benefit of all the hard work of the parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc. Now is actually a good time for the government to go into debt for infrastructure - debt is very cheap and is almost as cheap as inflation. The return on investment would pay off the debt. Mines don't get built out of the owners piggy banks, they get built out of borrowings. (and the owners still live very high on the hog)

It is a sad history of you lot failing to hold the line, the Romans, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, the Vikings, and your greatest failure, those Francophone Normans in 1066. Absolutely no bottle at all. More recently a conga line of Australians, South Africans, Rhodesians and Kiwis, although this probably increased the IQ of both the Colonies and the old dart. And then there was Phil the Greek. If nothing else perhaps you could blme Robert Maxwell, Dodie and Rupert Murdoch. It seems as though it is everyone else's birthright to invade England

You were around in the mid 19th century?

The city fuel price cycle is also a mystery to me - on Wed night it jumped by about 12c/l near Ashfield for no apparent reason and it occurred at a fair number of outlets. I managed to get it for 6c less but I am not sure driving all over Sydney looking for a bargain is actually economical. For me 'ealth I have started to ride the pushbike again - you too will have to get the Rand to Henty Railtrail up and get fit and save some money

The city folk should thank you Peter because you live next to where you work and you don't get much out of all the business, GST and income tax you pay that goes towards the city roads that transport people for long distances because they have decided that living next door to where they work doesn't suit them.