Methusala

I believe that behind every large fortune is an equally large and heinous crime.

I don't agree that it is difficult to repair things these days. I just replaced a pair of potentiometers in my intercom. I sent to the manuf'rer in the US asking for a schematic. They replied that they didn't keep such details as the item was over 10 years old and out of date. Offered me a new one for the "special price" of $US100. I tried Jacar for a couple of 10k dual gang pots. The items they had in stock were twice the size and $4.50 ea. I ended up getting the ones that I wanted off the net (direct from China). The price? $2.67 for 5, delivery free. I also built my house in '75 while a 2nd year apprentice. Now it would be impossible for such a thing as the land would cost at least $.25m.

I think that Turkey might end up threatening the US in Syria if it gets the Russian jets. Another headache for Bolton and Net-an-yahoo.

This is the plane that Russia is offering to Turkey in place of the F-35: A very smart piece of high-tech

Whatever your inclination on any particular issue, you have little choice in a 2 party dictatorship. One example: Morrison govt decides, 'All the way with LBJ'; lets hoist the flag and send a gunship to a remote corner of our world...Straits of Hormuz. Labor immediately, through their spokesperson, Richard Marles. "Great idea, let's go!' Where is the choice in that for people who have been schooled in society to believe that problems cannot be solved through naked aggression?

And just today, Johnson & Johnson (manufacturers of Fentanyl, in Australia sold as Endone) have suffered an adverse judgement in the USA, to the tune of over $844m. as, " A judge dubs a pharmaceutical company's marketing campaign as "misleading and aggressive" and responsible for an "epidemic" of addiction in the US state of Oklahoma." (ABC News) Meanwhile, on SBS news, another story on overuse of prescription medicines reportedly resulting in thousands of deaths through inadvertent overdose. Again, NO MENTION of codeine products. In fact a packet of Endone is displayed. Yet the Government continues to deny patients the use of codeine. Where is the statistical evidence. I have no quarrel with legitimate prescribing of Endone, Oxycontin or other drugs but why make codeine, which has been available for years, the focus of publicity. Reminds me of another case where Pethadine was also removed from the lists because it was considered "dangerous". Do they care that removal of codeine could very easily lead to suicide as intractable pain is left untreated.

Excuse me, came late to this thread. Just want to say that I saw one of these at Canberra years ago. Agree fully that the Bristol engine sounded wonderful.Don.

I wonder why the Federal govt is using a slanted argument to phase out codeine based analgesics. ABC's 730 last night ran a piece reporting on the withdrawal of doctor's freedom to prescribe codeine based analgesics that trade as Panadeine Forte etc. A federal bureaucrat, Prof. Brendan Murphy, claimed, against widely accepted anecdotal evidence, that codeine was ineffective in pain control. He said that opioid related overdoses were killing thousands of Australians each year. What was not spelled out was the percentage of opioid related overdoses due to codeine based medications. I know of a case of death related to overdose of prescribed Endone, a drug which in the US is sold as Fentanyl. I've heard of people having Endone parties and I was recently handed a swatch of 10 Oxycontin tablets following a tooth extraction. Meanwhile, people are suffering un-endurable pain after being dumped off their regular codeine medication. My GP has "drunk the cool-aid", on this subject, believing that codeine is the culprit. Why aren't these other synthetic opioids receiving similar bad press to codeine?

"It was many other things in nomenclature terms but we made it a carbon tax. We made it a fight about the hip pocket and not about the environment". Peta Credlin. Just for those who ain't got the message yet. This is straight from the "horse's mouth". Just refer to my previous post. This is a post truth era. A lie will trump truth when it gets enough publicity. I mourn for this country.

I agree with New. Once one lies no further statements are trustworthy.

I say that we are now in the "Post truth era".

Macca's have replaced them with touch screens!

I don’t know exactly what’s going on with Washington’s plans for Iran, but what I do know is that 30 million people marched worldwide against the war in Iraq and it didn’t make a whit of difference. The same dangerously evil people who bullied, lied and cheated their way into getting their war with Iraq are pretty much the same bunch of assholes who are attempting to do the same with Iran today. Not only did none of them go to jail for that diabolical crime against humanity, most of them are still in positions of influence, and most of them are using that influence to push the world again into another war that nobody wants. How long do we put up with this crap? By Caitlin Johnstone .info/51798.htmReport: US Planning “Massive” Airstrike On An Iranian Facility Included in this cohort of "dangerously evil people", are Israel and Saudi Arabia. The chaotic mess that is Middle East politics is made infinitely worse due to the influence of these side players on US politics. Trump, readying for the 2020 re-election contest, is resisting moves towards war because of the risk that his pledge to remove US from overseas wars will be overwhelmed. In this case I am backing Trump against Bolton and Pompeo.

People don't protest in Oz anymore because the politicians don't give a stuff. I and many thouisands protested against Howard's joining the illegal cabal (AKA The coalition of the {k}willing) invading Iraq on a blatantly false excuse that the leaders (Bush, Howard and Blair) KNEW was false. Howard famously retorted,"I'm not being dictated to by the MOB!!!". So much for our feted democracy. Following the just past "election" which Morrison and co stole through all sorts of false statements I am prepared to leave the good fight to those who believe our system is not fully caput.

Now that it is proven that all adverse political effects are the Labor party's fault it is surely time that opposition parties were dispensed with. This would save time and money and be even more successful than Queensland's unicameral system (sorry Ms Pile o'shit)! Don't worry about the lack of arguments in parliament, the LNP can be trusted to generate plenty of that $@## internally. We may even turn the economic corner and produce similar results to PRC, N Korea and Vietnam. How good is That?

Boycott all Merd-ock media. Tell your LNP mhr that lies about carbon reduction schemes will result in picketing of their electoral offices. Tell your priest that you support women's rights over their bodies.

Laser guided bombs into hospitals and schools take the edge off one's appetite. Could be that those images are not really from Gaza???

Too much truthy detail for Aussie voters Nev. Haven't you learnt the lesson from the past few weeks? (meant to be light hearted joke, Don)

I think that it is entirely legitimate to claim that Morrison's "victory" was fraudulently obtained. The great majority of information published by the media (including the ABC) featured LNP and other right wing groups. This included representatives of IPA, BCA, Mining Industry Council, as well as many other right wingers on the panel of The Drum, Insiders and Q & A. Clive Palmer has admitted that he spent huge amounts of money to de-rail the Labor agenda. Pauline Hanson was given loads of free publicity even as her candidates where proven to have scurrilous motives. Posters misrepresented as from the AEC gave false information to Cantonese speaking voters. Social media posts, lacking the required source accreditation, were also pushing the right wing agendas. The list of false electoral material is almost endless. The USA is tying itself in knots about whether a foreign power distorted their electoral process but it is ok for Murdoch, a US citizen, to publish the most slanted material condemning one side of the game. Makes this citizen very skeptical when I see the ABC claim that the coalition is "pressuring" the opposition to back their threadbare climate strategy. I think that I will devote the rest of my retirement to enjoying myself and not thinking about the generations down the track. Politics in Oz is just too hard.

The LNP have succeeded with the greatest scare campaign that I have witnessed in 50 years' active observation of Aussie politics. The hapless voters, informed as usual by the corporate owned media, have scored an own goal and sentenced Australia to 3 more lost years. Scummo has "won" the election with a policy vacuum and backed by a useless dog's body of cross purposed followers - scarcely cool from his triumph he resorts to battlefield aims such as repealing the "medivac" law. Voters must be educated and they seem to prefer self-inflicted torture to any exercise of thinking.

I think that the sensible side of politics are going to have to learn from the most successful practitioners of politics in Australia. As the Libs have their partners, the Nationals, to take care of a less "sophisticated" rural mob, so the Labor party must align with the Greens. Labor can truly represent the industrial wing while the Greens can pursue the inner city voters. It cannot be denied that the conservatives play politics with ruthless efficiency.

To prevent people paying tax TWICE on company dividends, Keating introduced "Franked Dividends". These are dividends on which the company has paid 30% company tax. If I have these shares and earn income from my labor I would be at risk of being taxed twice when earned income and share dividends were added together as a total. So the company tax (30%) is subtracted from my declared income. No double taxation. You don't pay income tax on super payouts but the dividends from super fund assets is taxed. Some people can avoid this tax through Tax Office payments called credits. This is not the way it was intended to be and no other country in the world pays these credits out. This is very difficult to understand, particularly if you are being told by politicians that you are entitled. This is why I say that this policy has been most responsible for Labor falling short. As Hewson found in the 90's with his "Fightback" election, there are huge problems when trying to explain difficult truths during an election campaign. I doubt that it will ever be attempted again. BTW I was so convinced that Labor would lose this that I was tempted to invest $100 at 4.50 to one betting on Scummo. I didn't need the money and am not a gambler.

"My money was earned fair and square and no I will not share it with lesser people who don't think ahead." I'm in the same boat as you and don't see where in Labor policy I was required to share any more of it with "lesser people". I think that tax due on all forms of income needs to be paid according to the individual's ability to pay a fair share.. Many "self-funded retirees" have clever accountants who can structure their fund to give them a refund or gift when they are not paying tax. This occurs when their income is in the form of tax free payments on their super. They are not "self funded" because they are being paid by the tax office. Simply not fair and not hard to get your head around unless you don't want.

PS. We "lefties" are really in the middle. Just want to see people treated fairly.

Don't try to peddle the same lies as Scummo. Nobody earned the lump of money that you receive as an "imputation credit". This was was paid in TAX by the company paying the dividend. This was paid by the company as income tax and, through a scam devised by Howard and Costello, gifted to you as a shareholder. Nobody, and especially not a comfortable retiree, should expect to obtain dividends from a listed company, completely free of tax. FULL STOP- stop your rot!!!