Methusala

I was shocked when, on our recent trip to "the Outback", the roadside looked like an endless garbage tip. Plastic bottles, food containers, everything from discarded tyres to oil bottles, you name it. I had expected that Australians would be appreciative of the open native landscape and would want it preserved in as spotless a state as possible. Deeply disappointed.

OME, these areas are restricted in order to protect the water supply catchments from pollution. I'm sure that you are aware of this. Separate concept to "sacred sites". I have no spiritual "beliefs" but think that those who have cultural taboos need to have these protected from ignorant tourist's depredations. The climbers leave a destructive legacy - it's not as though their trespass is innocent nor harmless.

Poor Alexei Leonov. From Wiki pedia the following quote. "At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock.[1] He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off and was barely able to get back inside the capsule." Imagine the feelings of this bloke finding himself so on the outer.

Yenn, I'm talking about the 1% who own 100% of the media. They are so powerful that you may not even be aware of the overwhelming power they wield.

We were in the vicinity recently but, because of the crowds, elected not to travel the 250km off the track. I have never wanted to climb it and I respect the urging of 'locals' not to. Why are we so precious about our own cultural icons (think ANZAC, British majesty, Xmas etc) yet ridicule the thought of the world's oldest culture having similar sensitivity? Makes no sense to me.

Possible for Boris to stitch up a deal. After all, it is only the 1% that need to find it acceptable (the same 1% who pushed the whole Brexit barrow). An obvious narcissist, with Oxbridge quals, these people are so far from being concerned about how their actions affect the "great unwashed"(that's everyone else). Look at how well our own ,entitled, failed advertising executive is doing in the popularity polls. Marvellous how a tame media smooths out the bumps.

US PR has invented a new term, "full spectrum dominance'. Trump has jumped forward to re-frame American exceptionalism in these terms. My thoughts are that he reasons, why expend vast amounts of material basically making wars that no side can win when equally devastating use of trade sanctions can work? I heard that Adobe, creator of the most extensively used PDF system in the world, has cancelled all Venezuelan accounts. The US has a strangle hold on the world's commercial IT systems. Imagine the panic in Europe at the moment with Airbus in the US sights!

Plenty of trolley buses in Luzern, Switzerland. Smaller city than Canberra.

Don't hope for US chicken meat. Allowable limit for chlorine in Australian carcass wash is 10ppm, same as EU. In US is TWICE at 20ppm. Want some chicken with your chlorine?

Financial Services Industry Slowly Abandons Britain Ahead of Brexit The EU’s markets watchdog has ruled that under a no-deal Brexit, euro shares must be traded inside the bloc, a signal that Brussels may want to deepen its own capital markets union by being tougher in granting equivalence (whereby the EU deems Britain’s financial markets rules to be aligned closely enough to its own). The result – three UK-based pan-European platforms in London, Aquis, Turquoise and Cboe have already opened hubs in Amsterdam and Paris for EU customers to trade shares listed on other exchanges. And so it goes...

I think that GB have had a relatively favored passage as EU members. They maintained control of their currency and even retain the right to drive on their side of the road. Been in France lately and have seen road signs (in English) reminding drivers to stay left. I'm not, by any means, an expert. I simply think that leaving Europe now will carry many negative consequences. GB is relatively small and cannot exert much leverage in the wider world.

Those who wish to view the situation that Greece has been forced to endure due to the depredations of "The Gnomes of Brussels" may read Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis' excellent book, "And the Weak Suffer What They Must? Europe's crisis, America's economic future". Speaking on the question of the proposed Brexit he said, "My message is simple yet rich: those of us who disdain the democratic deficit in Brussels, those of us who detest the authoritarianism of a technocracy which is incompetent and contemptuous of democracy, those of us who are most critical of Europe have a moral duty to stay in Europe, fight for it, and democratise it." Yanis has excellent credentials in this field, having served as Greece's Finance Minister in the Tsipras government until he was forced to quit over his opposition to concessions made to Brussels on austerity. The UK can expect little mercy from the EU down the track if it exits Europe.

Ask Greece!!!

Tsk tsk Frank. You know what he meant to say. Hahaha...Don

Feral animals (horses) are protected from culling by the farmer led coalition in NSW. This allows wild horses almost unfettered reign ( no pun intended) over the Kosciusko NP. Note: not tree huggers who protect a damaging scourge of introduced pests to decimate a proclaimed wilderness.

I said, just prior to the 2013 election that Aussies see things in mirror image. The economy had been performing very well under Swanny (he had been nominated by OECD as best in the world). No worries, we just tossed that lot out and installed a trained chimp with cigar smokin' Joe and that's fixed that!

In a system where corruption was legitimately treated the corrupt donations would be forfeit to the government as revenue but don't hold your breath 'till corruption is punished properly.

Why in h*ll's name didn't the damn Mrs Majesty do her homework? Shows the arrogance of the ruling class.

Article on ABC this morning.For anyone in doubt please refer to "the precautionary principle". We are in clear and present danger of a catastrophe. Don https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-25/un-ipcc-climate-report-warns-oceans-at-tipping-point/11547454

G'day all, I'm a plumber in an earlier life and have been interested in composting toilets (but not so to have taken the "plunge", so to speak). The link below is to an interesting Scandinavian example. Would be interested in anyone's real experience. Regards Don. https://www.ecoethic.ca/products_wl.html

Tom (poor Tom) Letter said that he retired from satire when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize. (Couldn't top that with all of his wit!)

It is clear that being leader of the free world is not a licence to do what you please. The military industrial complex believe that they own you and dictate orders including who you will work with. Trump, however, is an aberration. He was never meant to win. So he does feel free to kick back and so he uninvited Bolton. This may have saved the world from another unwelcome war.

I think to the contrary. Donald Trump has taken decisions, on several occasions, to negate the war mongering actions of people like John Bolton. For example, the non-attack on Iran following downing of a US drone.

G'day OME, the flaw in your otherwise excellent argument is, that for a democracy to work, it requires a fully informed bloc of voters. The Brexit thing was a carefully manipulated scam, coming from Textor Crosby, designed to wedge the opposition and give the Conservatives another term. Another term was looking exceedingly unlikely before this. Textor Crosby are well known here for assisting Howard/Costello to remain in office when their policies were generally on the nose.

Th USA has a particularly severe geographical problem in attaining their hoped aim of world domination, being isolated from the rest of the 'rich' world by 2 oceans. This is why they have in excess of 200 foreign bases. The Russians have the largest gas reserves in the world and can supply customers through pipelines. China has the greatest industrial potential and can supply the largest percentage of their markets via the belt and road project. Projection of power by the USA requires total naval dominance and this is unlikely to be achieved because: a. The US does not have the industrial capacity to realise this. b. They probably aren't able to overcome the corruption inherent in their neocon capitalist system to deliver the defence hardware needed, and, c. As Keating colorfully put it , "Aircraft carriers go blub, blub, blub." The US 'freedom gas', is more expensive than the Russian and it must be delivered by (vulnerable) ships, not static pipelines. The Europeans are showing that they understand and are enthusiastically embracing Nord Stream 2. I understand that Trump wishes to de-escalate US military interference in the world so as to concentrate on re-powering the domestic productive economy. He has to face the reality that Commander in Chief does not carry as much power as Putin or Xi can exercise in their respective spheres. This may all become irrelevant if the globe becomes uninhabitable within a few years.