Gnarly Gnu

That sort of country may well appeal to you, especially as you seem to come across as disliking democratic countries. I have a good friend who was in prison there, a somewhat different perspective to what you would enjoy as a tourist. This is true as they have the same culture. But other quite different cultures have also fitted in, just need a desire to work and to integrate. The Moslem religion forbids integration and despises all non-Moslems who are only to be converted or subjugated, not befriended.

Lefties just love themselves some fresh straw man in the morning. Did it make one scrap of difference to the undeniable fact that atheist leaders have murdered tens of millions of people, more than any other religious group? Obviously not. Did Octave or yourself offer one scrap of conflicing evidence? No. But it has to be from Fairfax or NYT apparently or it never happened. Pathetic. Octave: but never mind all that mass murder by atheists - look, shiny object over there!! On topic, someone earlier referred to containment; at this point it seems to be the only practical way forward. Open borders has been an utter failure.

As in Kim Jong-un now?

Oh my are you serious? The Atheist head count is way above the Moslems Jihad one - check Stalin, Castro, Che, Mao, Pol Pot etc. Atheist countries are the most dangerous, miserable and repressive on the planet. However within the framework of Atheism it is impossible to demonstrate that this mass killing is actually morally wrong behaviour. But this is for another thread so that's enough...

Iraqi born Faisal Saeed Al Mutar has a funny fb post about this: It must be incredibly frustrating as an Islamic terrorist not to have your views and motives taken seriously by the societies you terrorize, even after you have explicitly and repeatedly stated them. Even worse, those on the regressive left, in their endless capacity for masochism and self-loathing, have attempted to shift blame inwardly on themselves, denying the terrorists even the satisfaction of claiming responsibility. It's like a bad Monty Python sketch: "We did this because our holy texts exhort us to to do it." "No you didn't." "Wait, what? Yes we did..." "No, this has nothing to do with religion. You guys are just using religion as a front for social and geopolitical reasons." "WHAT!? Did you even read our official statement? We give explicit Quranic justification. This is jihad, a holy crusade against pagans, blasphemers, and disbelievers." "No, this is definitely not a Muslim thing. You guys are not true Muslims, and you defame a great religion by saying so." "Huh!? Who are you to tell us we're not true Muslims!? Islam is literally at the core of everything we do, and we have implemented the truest most literal and honest interpretation of its founding texts. It is our very reason for being." "Nope. We created you. We installed a social and economic system that alienates and disenfranchises you, and that's why you did this. We're sorry." "What? Why are you apologizing? We just slaughtered you mercilessly in the streets. We targeted unwitting civilians - disenfranchisement doesn't even enter into it!" "Listen, it's our fault. We don't blame you for feeling unwelcome and lashing out." "Seriously, stop taking credit for this! We worked really hard to pull this off, and we're not going to let you take it away from us." "No, we nourished your extremism. We accept full blame." "OMG, how many people do we have to kill around here to finally get our message across?"

The 'maniacs' are not maniacs at all, they are faithful followers of Mohammad and students of the Koran. Read it for yourself. Thankfully for us the great majority of Moslems aren't such faithful followers. Many of the terrorist leaders have impeccable Islamic credentials and have memorised the entire Koran eg ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has a BA, MA and PhD in Islamic studies, these are not ignorant goat herders - they know their faith and the 98% stay silent for this reason. That's why it is such a joke when weak western leaders bleat "this is not true Islam" after every attack.

I prefer to use the 'Koran' spelling. You can read many of the relevant verses here. Remember the rule of abrogation applies to the Koran - chronologically older verses cancel any conflicting earlier verses (the earlier ones generally being more peaceful); also note the book itself is not in chronological order.

You may be thinking of this verse: Qur'an (17:33) "And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right" But please note these are not suicide bombers (a media term) they are homicide bombers. Killing non-Moslems in jihad is not only endorsed in the Koran but is actually the only way a Moslem can be assured he will definitely go to paradise. Qur'an (9:111) - "Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth" And many others..... there are at least 190 verses calling for Moslems to kill non-Moslems. Here is another: Quran (4:74) - "Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward." There has been instances where the bomber accidentally blew themselves up without killing non-Moslems and Islamic leaders have ruled that this doesn't count and thus the bomber cannot be assured of paradise as he didn't kill anyone else. (I don't use the term infidel as Moslems themselves are infidels of course so this causes confusion; neither are these murderers martyrs as this word has the exact opposite meaning). This would be comical if it were not real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RufkwhdW6L4

What happens to Palestinian moderates? The west has apparently been 'enabling Moslem violence' for 1400 years according to lefties. Of course before the west it was the Quraysh - very peaceful, placid folk that lived in Saudi Arabia. You should read the Koran to find out how far they went to appease Mohammad and his followers.... and how he dealt with them. And for Kaz or anyone who is interested in learning about more recent history of Islamic terrorism here is an excellent article from the Smithsonian about Sayyid Qutb, a king-pin amongst jihadis & godfather of the Moslem Brotherhood: A lesson in Hate: how an Egyptian student came to study 1950's America and left determined to wage holy war.

Of course, it's a socialist peoples republic.

Personally I feel for the families that have lost innocent loved ones, butchered and torn in an instant and those that are left seriously injured and traumatized, many of whom may never fully recover. Can't find so much sympathy for the feelings of perpetrators, sympathisers and enablers. Except few of them say so. Notice how the leaders have never pronounced a fatwa against Islamic terrorism?

Glad you are OK Litespeed! A friend of mine has one of these older 7 series (not sure exactly which) sitting in her garage, in great condition but apparently some mechanical issue which is too expensive to repair. It used to belong to a foreign government official & was an import with full bullet proof glass etc.

When I was a kid the Bullens lion park had a sign "Poms on pushbikes admitted free". Can't post the photo here but a link, this is a different park to the ones I visited so it may have been a common joke at the various Bullen parks. Pretty funny unless you drink PC kool-aid.

Oh I'm sure you are more than reasonably educated, just not on the faith of Islam. I am painfully well aware of what jihad is and isn't, having read the Koran, several Hadith, and many articles by Moslem leaders and teachers. Actually this was shocking and humbling for me as I realised that if I believed this book I would be out there doing exactly what those terrorists are doing; I am now able to understand their motivation. Not claiming to be an expert at all but I've picked up quite a bit & would be happy to discuss Islamic doctrine with you. Absolutely, I know several and my family worked in Saudi Arabia for many years. I've eaten and talked with Iranian, Egyptian, Turkish, Moroccan and Afghan Moslems. Good for you, way to miss the point though. Look you and I both wish it wasn't so but covering our eyes and ears won't make the problem go away. Many bad Moslems (i.e. non Koran following) are indeed very nice, hospitable people. But all good Moslems (faithful followers of the Koran) are dreadful people. It is these, the faithful followers of Mohammad and his Koran that set about their violent work today in Paris. What we are seeing is Islams reformation, a return to the true teachings of the Koran.

Please Kaz get educated on this before you state such PC nonsense. Read the Koran. Read what the top Islamic scholars say about jihad and the Koran. Learn about Sayyid Qtub from the Moslem Brotherhood (who many regard as the father of Jihad) and his court case. These violent actions are in no way a perversion of the Koran, it is very clear in its teachings in this area and these people are true Koran believers and faithful followers of their 'prophet' Mohammad.

Pretty sure you're goofing about this right?

Well perhaps you have the best of both worlds now the Liberals are led by a Labor leader. Extra bonus just for you, he also happens to admire communist dictators.

You did catch up that Bill Shortens union has been negotiating deals to lower worker wages whilst the union gets a fanancial kickback? Oh well the whole union premise is to boost the wages of a small number at the expense of the most, so I guess that is what they were doing. Not sure if the dole is regarded as technically above the poverty line?

A few years back had a caller from Foxtel, was about to hang up but paused momentarily to be polite. Turned out wasn't a telemarketer but an engineer who wanted to buy stuff, ended up being several $100k's of business since then.

How is the lifespan of the SSD's stacking up in the real world Andy? Any issues?

Congrats on your new car! On this topic: Why diesel needs to die. Having driven a diesel SUV for the past six years I'm inclined to agree, be quite happy to go back to petrol.

VW are nice but have some insane parts prices. Like Hyundai, fine when they are newish, if older you might as well own a Porsche or Merc when it comes to repairs. Crooks really. And in VW's case literally. The OP didn't mention a price range - it probably boils down to newer vehicle ($$ to buy) or older ($$ to repair) as the brand choices will be different based on repair / running costs / parts availability.

You guys have figured out by now it never happened right? Or perhaps being duped is fun for some. You are right. If you wanted to do some research there is actually good health-based reasons for the distinction between unclean and clean animals particularly as it applied to the children of Israel living in the wilderness. Typically it was scavenging creatures versus plant eaters.

Well to your side they all deserve acceptance and 'equality'. This lame fabrication proves again the supply of gullible interwebs people is limitless - as is the nature of what they can be easily made to believe and become 'outraged' about. Tomorrow there will be another fresh outrage ready to go with your cereal.