Methusala

There is a lot of occult activity taking place regarding culture wars. Saudis are that main exporters of "extreme Islamic" interpretations of the Muslim religion. They are a dynastic "royal family", ruling with the grace of god (where have we heard this before?

The ABC who are supposed to be left all the way with the ALP always refer to the "pink bats scandal". Never refer to the NBN as Turnbull's trouble plagued NBN scandal. What happened to "direct action"? This scam cost over $5bn and what did it acheive in carbon reduction? Didley squat. Answer that one please Mr Niel. Don

Just sit back and watch them grow a donkey's head and tail before they finish their days wearing their body out for a labor hire company.

Great post Nev. Rather than give you a "like" I think that you deserve one of Phil Adam's Koala stamps for this.

Police seem to soft pedal in the case of L(ying)NP members ie: Michaelia Cash but take the knives out to Labor figures .

You mean like Jordan, Lebanon etc?

I think that the media, enthusiastically assisted by others who are captivated by their own privileged position of power and money, make up a lot of these stories. The constant meme regarding 3d printing of guns seems to me to be overblown hyperbole. Truth is that a plastic gun would be as useful as one fabbed out of wood. The simple fact is that guns don't work without ammo. Try 3d printing a nato round! (Sales of ammunition are at least as tightly controlled in the world that I inhabit as the guns needed to project them)

The World Trade Centre was full of the bloody stuff. Hell's Bells, don't anybody do any research these days? No wunda we end up with PM scummy. Sheesh!!!

I suggest Sputnik or R(ussian) T(imes).

I think that nearer 0.01% may be an over estimate of the number of lunatics likely to present a threat. Meanwhile there are many others, not Muslim, that also present a real threat. See today's news about the informant granted refugee status for his work as an undercover investigator embedded in the Banditoes gang. As I gathered from the reports, following this work he had done, the Aussie authorities could not or would not grant him protection following an unsuccessful attempt on his life by the same gang. He now lives in Canada.

The world's current problem with the hyper savages of "extreme Mohammedanism" is another bait and switch game led by the elites who seek hegemony or the chance to rule without opposition. Just as the Spanish Inquisition was a strategy to enlist common folk in a religious push to supplant the Moors' rule with the Roman version. Extreme violence was employed harnessing mass fear to aid the conversion from one elite to another. This violence was not described in the Christian Bible as it is not in the Quran. Saudi Arabia, wield enormous power due to the oil revenues which accrue, not to the common folk, but to the royal family which happen to rule with an iron grip. Research on the web will quickly reveal how intimately involved were the Saudi Arabian power elite in the events of 9/11. The Muslim religion, as practiced for millinia, is a largely peaceful philosophy and both sides, Shia and Sunni, existed in close proximity with one another for centuries. Some theories argue that it was the CIA who planned and executed the extreme divisions between members of the two groups. Nevertherless it is obvious that this division has helped the people in charge of oil revenues to maintain their ascendancy and keep the people trapped in poverty and violence.

This morning, via RT, I found this link to a Sky interview. Labor's 'lies' contributed to Longman loss: PM Labor's 'lies' contributed to Longman loss: PM | Sky News Australia In it Turnbull backtracked from his earlier claims that the Super Saturday by-election was a referendum on leadership. This has not been commented on by the ABC.

Following yesterday's announcement of the takeover of Faifax by 9 News, Paul Keating, who's govt introduced the cross media ownership restrictions slammed the development. He referred to the lows of cheque book and "foot-in-the-door" journalism being likely to infect what remains of Fairfax culture. For those interested here is a link to the ABC report. Nine's 'pus' will leak into Fairfax journalism, Keating warns

I have the feeling that Bill Shorten will fail to displace Turnbull in an election. The situation is similar in feel to the Kim Beasley days where an impressive intellect failed to project personal charisma. The voters seem to prefer "Flim Flam" to substance and, again, a compliant media are all too prepared to accommodate their bias. The latest storm in a teacup hyped into a cause celebre is the decision to call it quits on business tax cuts at $10m turnover. It has been widely known that the Labor Party was opposed to such largesse since before the last budget. All that was not known was whether the line would be drawn at $10m or $2m. All MSM outlets (even The Guardian) have feasted on portraying this as a surprise and an indicator of an opposition leader out of his depth. This response drowned out any reporting of Shorten's justification for the move. But he said the ALP had other options for those businesses that would face a tax increase. "I am saying to them that what will happen is we will make sure that you've got highly skilled apprentices, we'll make sure that when your workers are sick they can get to see the doctor quickly so they can return to work more effectively," Mr Shorten said. He said a Labor Government would offer better broadband, training and infrastructure, as well as lower power prices. The media is muzzling any fair debate on the real political choices to be made, both in the upcoming by-elections and, I'll bet, in the next Federal election

As my graph, published in post#32 shows, the current Oz gumint is no better than Trump's admin. Trump gave the top % of US a huge tax cut about 6 months ago and has now cut spending on Medicair and Medicaid drastically to pay for it. He also dropped the Obama care scheme which (although weak) was the US people's attempt at medical support for the masses. Turncoat has dropped $144bn (soon to escalate to $200bn) of tax receipts and wants to add another $65bn ( soon to creep to $70bn) to the deficit. He is supported every step of the way in denouncing the ALP's warnings about Medicair as "Mediscare" by the media, but I will bet my house that if re-elected they will push on with a death of 1000 cuts to universal healthcare in this country. Trump or Turnbull, same rich privileged narcissists installed by the media and doing everything in their power to transfer wealth to the top few %. Turnbull was right alongside with Abbott in warning of the "Debt & Deficit Disaster", a theme lovingly echoed by the megaphone political commentariat at the time. The deficit has more than doubled in 4 years but silence now on that front. Who muzzles our "proud, independent and strong" free press?

Below is a graph illustrating the effect of the Turnbull govt's recently passed "Tax-cut" legislation. It is courtesy of Get-Up, a lobby group which is being targeted by so-called "foreign interference in national affairs" laws which will expose journalists and others to jail terms for publishing information capable of harming Australia's interests. When charged under these laws the subject will be forced to defend themselves against the bottomless pockets of govt legal teams. [ATTACH]49422._xfImport[/ATTACH]

Essentially, 2 party democracies fail in creating a successful nation because they are in competition to satisfy the media scrum. When one side announces a progressive idea, such as doing away with the gift of unearned cash to share holders, it is immediately presented as a way of "cheating retirees" of entitlements. This is an obvious misrepresentation of the facts but it gives a jaded electorate the idea that politicians are trying to pull a swifty. The people have been encouraged to be cynical and so any attempt made subsequently to present the truth is then discounted as a convenient lie. The result is that the well off have their rorts protected by their media friends.

The BIG factor that is given little recognition in discussion of Australian domestic politics is the overwhelming effect of the media. Representing themselves mendaciously as "impartial observers", they distort the issues wildly in many ways. Selective reporting, character assassination and biassed allocation of time or "column inches" to their own preferred side are some of the methods in use. In another thread, I have asked the question,"Why is Bill Shorten so unpopular with voters?" I have seen long interviews where he has shown good communication skills and well developed policies and remember thinking, as he maintained a vigil at the Beaconsfield mine head, that he would make a good PM. Media appearances seldom give this impression. We are lumbered here with a shockingly corrupt and very limited news source selection.

G'day OME, I don't expect (a responsible) media to conduct any superficial role, especially not by prematurely jumping to ill considered coclusions. I want journalists to be given resources to do their job properly. That is to conduct a thorough analysis of what information is available and REPORT it. In this way the people (demos) can do their democratic duty and make fully informed decisions on really important matters. These don't include, for example, whether the bridal frock is appropriate or do feral horses look good in photos of KNP. The jury system is used to good effect in the legal system. It is not beyond the capability of yr 10 level minds to make important decisions IF they are well informed. This is the area in which the media is undeperforming by substituting news/entertainment for news/information. Even the ABC is very guilty in this regard and I would like to know who has decided to substitute the "entertainment" role for the far more important "information" one

A few weeks ago an extremely privileged white couple were married in England. This event was afforded blanket coverage by the world's media, so much so that like a huge earthquake, the media still rings with the aftershocks. Thinking about the cost of this coverage makes me cringe, surely the effect of this event on the lives of the population must be negligible. Last night, in a rare display of journalists ability to expose issues of high value, ABC's 7.30 aired a story about the possibility that members of Australian special forces may have committed actions that constitute war crimes. It was a hard hitting article that should cause reflection on Australia's presence in the Middle East. It illustrated the extreme difficulty of maintaining effective control of military operations in remote areas. This morning, I could locate no mention of the issues raised by the 7.30 story in Australian media on the web. Plenty of sports reports, coverage of the ex-deputy PM's travails and Trump's imminent meeting with Kim Jon Un. This could be that story of the year, given that the Defence department is actively investigating this and other similar affairs. Why aren't the media doing their job. Is the role of the media simply to maintain the population in a state of dumbed down complacency? Can democracy survive in a state of general ignorance or do I just worry too much? Thanks for your time. Don

Mystery to me why Bill has such a poor public acceptance. I have listened to him and met him once and he does not strike me as either incompetent nor ingenuous. I suspect that the mass media has a subliminal effect on its audience that affects their perceptions without alerting any defence mechanisms. I'm not saying that I am in love with him but that he is no worse than many others in public life.

G'day Phil, we know that the human power of imagination is practically boundless. There were US war games centred on Diego Garcia at the time of MH 370's vanishing. Also that the Malaysian authorities had, alone in the world, issued arrest warrants for leaders of the criminal invasion of Iraq, an unpopular move no doubt among the exceptionals. It has even been commented that MH 370 and MH17 flights were both Boeing-777's, could the one airliner be responsible for both mysteries. I'm only "puttin' it out there". Don't blame me. This forum has been expressly created for the wharehousing of us cranky old b***tards. Notional hug back to your esteemed better 'alf. Don

Nev, I like your style, mate. The other night, while propped up in front of "The Drum", a discussion on what to do with banksters responsible for the CBA assist to criminals laundering "ill gotten" cash. I was screaming at the screen,"Put them in the clink! Hoover up their cash through the Proceeds of Crime legislation". Only language that these ultra criminals understand. The predominantly female commentariat did not seem to understand this method of dealing with "banking executives". Ironically, the next topic to come up was Harvey "the Ratfink" Weinstein. No ambiguity here! "Put him in jail for the term of his natural..." was the unanimous cry. Double standards anyone?

Here is a link to an article that should interest us as aviation observers/possible passengers. ‘Catastrophic disaster’: Aircraft hack only matter of time, US agencies warn Could this point to a (conspiracy) theory to the fate of MH370?

Dear Phil, how DARE YOU impugn my motives when you took up my challenge with the alacrity of a Russian ballet dancer by posting a flagrantly political tale mere hours after mine. If hypocrisy were the only qualification required for public office then perhaps we would be cursing the name "Perry" as the root of all ills rather than Thatcher. My regards to the Missus, Don