Old Koreelah

…and listen to howl of those exhaust augmenters!

 

 

Now that's dedication for you. A farmer who plants his crop on paddocks subject to flooding and leaves his only high and dry bit of land for the airstrip.

 

 

Crikey Frank, you've got rising damp! An amphibious Drifter? Take a tip from the Dutch: build everything on floating platforms.

 

 

The link is correct! Cyclone Ita has been upgraded to category 5, with tidal surge of 2 to 3 meters. Even at category 4 it will be as devistating as cyclone Yasi. Cooktown is in for a bad time. We will most likely cop some wind here at Deeral also. At the moment, just a waite and see situation here.

Frank.

How much above high tide is your place Frank?

 

 

...the ord river was damed, created lake argyle, near cunnanarra WA, holds about 20 Sydney harbours, only a pittance is used locally, the rest just pours into northern oceans. Top half of oz, has limitless fresh water, and during the wet seasons countless amounts heads to the sea...

Interesting, Rus. Why isn't more of the Ord water used?

 

 

...The school spending spree was a complete joke!!!

 

Schools didn't get to choose what they wanted - they just got a hall whether they wanted it or not...

Perhaps true, but many struggling schools, after asking for generations, finally got an assembly hall.

 

In my case, the design and construction ignored local input; we received a building with colossal design flaws and a lot of money was wasted. That's what government (and big business) does. At least a lot of people were kept in employment.

 

 

...I have lost my faith in legal process in this country, which is a pretty sad state of affairs Nev

I too have come to this sad conclusion, Nev.

 

After challenging management, I was accused, found guilty and punished without being told all the charges, let alone being given any chance to defend myself. All my attempts to have the allegations against me investigated have been ignored.

 

Silence reigns. The more complex a legal system, the more loopholes there are to manipulate. People are so easily silenced when their job or chances of promotion are at stake.

 

 

[

 

The jobs for whatever reason (especially when you get into my age bracket) are simply not there...

If the jobs are not there, maybe we should create our own work. There is so much that needs to be done. As Turboplanner said, "...My advice is to look for the off beat jobs."

 

So often I see younger people making the same stuff-ups we did long ago. What we need is a mechanism for age and experience to be able to assist youth and enthusiasm. Other cultures have that built-in; we discard our aged workers and all their accumulated expertise. Our generation has so much accumulated expertise that we should not be tossed on the scrapheap. All we lack is the energy and good health to work full time.

 

 

Er didn't John Laws retire Years ago?

Hear him regularly in certain workplaces. Must have been bored with retirement.

 

 

Yes this is because of political correctness, a foundational pillar of the left with its origins in Marxism....

...so the labelling continues. You blame the electorate's difficulty grasping the need for unpopular government policies on the left. Does this mean all right-leaning politicians have always "told it like it is"?

 

I grant you the point about Howard's second term GST. (Have you conceded anything during this discussion?)

 

Despite your concerns that I depend too much on "the extreme leftwing ABC / Fairfax" media (which says perhaps more about your perspective than the facts) I do actually gather my news from a wide range of sources every day- including Murdock's stable.

 

 

So we need re-education for the masses who currently don't realise how ignorant they are?

No GG, we need better education of everyone. The strength of any democracy is in the quality of the electorate's decision-making. It's an unfortunate fact that no politician can afford to be really honest with the voters. John Hewson told the truth about his plans to introduce a GST before an election and was crucified. Howard denied planning a GST and was swept to power- then introduced the tax. I won't bore you with the most recent examples of this subterfuge.

 

We have seen how easily many voters are manipulated by the headlines. Rupert Murdock is king maker; that's why our leaders make pilgrimage to the great man.

 

...Somewhere I've heard this stuff before. ABC maybe?

…so if I got an idea from the ABC it's suspect and lefty?

 

...BTW you don't think the 'educated class' has caused any sort of ah... problems over the last decade or so?

Who do you include in this "educated class"? Make a list of Australia's most pressing problems and who you think is to blame.

 

Obesity and diabetes, extinctions, climate change, drug and alcohol addiction, water shortages, housing shortages, urban sprawl, soil erosion and loss of farmland, weeds, feral animals, education and training for a rapidly changing economy, family disfunction, child abuse, gambling addiction, ageing, mental health … (I'd better sneak CASA into the list!)

 

Perhaps it's the "educated" who are more aware of these problems and are doing something about them.

 

 

^ yet another lefty free speech champion. All radio should be first processed through the ministry of truth to avoid naive proletariat listeners being manipulated eh.

(and no I don't listen to either of the ones you mention.)

No, GG. we need less bureacracy and more education, so people have the skills to rationally evaluate what they hear (and see).

 

Sad. Tossing labels instead of debating with facts. Lefty? I'm actually very right wing on some issues, left on others. Comes from thinking.

 

 

Australia has made quite a few objectionable people wealthy, I'm not sure what your obsession with Alan Jones is, but I can assure you that I don't listen to talkback radio, most of them seem to have the same method, where they ask loaded questions and if they don't like the answer the interviewee gets conveniently cut off...

I totally agree. It riles me to hear the likes of Jones and Laws piped into workplaces and waiting rooms- as if they are the font of all wisdom. Their influence permeates the lives of far too many people who do not realise how much they are being manipulated. There are so many better radio stations to listen to.

 

 

...I don't watch a lot of telly these days.

Perhaps you're missing out on some very educational shows. The ABC creams the commercials for quality, despite an abysmally small budget for drama production.

 

We need to have a good hard look at what we'd lose if Murdock had his way and the ABC was privatised or downsized.

 

 

...A lot of the so called " journalism" , from the ABC, is downright and obviously selective and subjective in the extreme. A publicly owned station has no right to be that way.

If you have well-founded concerns, then report them to the Broadcasting Control Board. The Howard Government made a number of appointments to the ABC and controlling authorities, so I'm sure they'll respond to your concerns.

 

 

Realistically, the ABC leans a long way left, as the Murdoch press leans to the right, finding a balanced and accurate view is rather difficult.Which is why, in issues like this one, I base most of my view point from personal experience and the experience of others that I trust. Our media in this country has their own agendas, and is often not reliable for an objective viewpoint.

I agree, M61A1, but perhaps the degree of bias is in the eye of the beholder. Given the rampant right wing slant of most commercial media, particularly the Murdock press, perhaps it is vital for the ABC to ensure at times that an alternate perspective is available. The fact that they are on the current government's hit list is a good indication of fair and fearless reporting.

 

 

The IRA was actively fund raising in any country that had irish immigrants sympathetic to the cause. The IRA ultimately ended up buying weapons from gaddafi. The very essence of a terrorist organisation.

All true, but did they ever present a threat to this country?

 

 

So, let's get this straight.1.People who think that human rights apply to all= red ragger

 

2. People who support a govt which got us through the GFC in better shape than virtually any other country in the known world = red ragger

 

3. People who don't like politicians claiming that we misheard them in the election campaign = red ragger

 

4. People who think that calling a prime minister a ranger (short for orangutan) is an affront = red ragger

 

5. People who call the present mob (quite correctly) tossers and lairs = red ragger

 

on..& on...ad infinitum yeah well you made your point

It seems this debate has polarised along political lines. Sad, because each side has something valid to say. I agree with you, Methusala, especially your concerns over human rights. The world is awash with refugees, and it's likely to get far worse. I'd just like us to be able to pick and choose who we let in.

 

 

Did anyone bat an eyelid when the Irish and English where coming to Australia in the latter half of the 20c when the IRA was actively bombing England.

If the IRA had, as part of its manifesto, the objective of spreading their creed to replace our own, then yep. We would have.

 

 

Racism masked as national security

Okey, FT. I'll bite. Call me racist. A word so overused and misused that it has become meaningless.

 

We should be quite discriminatory (another word whose true meaning has been lost by misuse) in the people we accept as new residents. I would love to invite tens of thousands of Japanese displaced by their tsumani/nuclear disaster to live here. They'd sure improve the place. Plenty of other ethnic groups would and have also made positive contributions to our country.

 

The big test, that we haven't yet had the guts and wisdom to apply, is whether they are likely to fit in and not become a future security concern. Some groups may well have difficulties with that test, and there is plenty of evidence that several ethic groups are over-represented in crime figures. Perhaps I'm dead wrong, but should we be playing fast and loose with our children's future?

 

 

One would be too many.

 

 

...the VIEWSPAPERS (thanks Facthunter***)

We're nudging 600 posts, we're still playing nice, and still nobody agrees. The real Never-Ending-Story!

 

At least we could start using FH's word...

 

 

(The point I was trying to make is that we're all undesirable to the original owners, so what right have we got trying to keep out people we consider undesirable in a different way.) Looks like we should be importing more asylum seekers who really want to be here, and export bogans. Not sure which country would want them though. Maybe England... they sent their convicts here, maybe it's time to return the favour?

One of the great, (but hardly noticed) moments in Australian history was when the great Birnum Birnum ceremonially planted the Aboriginal flag on the shore at Dover. Perhaps he should have gone on to deport the undesirables back to Blighty. But that was never the Aboriginal way; they were a bit too tolerant and welcoming.

 

A short clip from another great Aussie movie:

 

 

...In the City of Greater Dandenong we have 153 Nationalities, so not too many countries have been excluded.All have worked out well except for two ethnic groups which aren't necessary to discuss on this thread.

 

... they can quickly be seen in nice new clothes, looking clean, neat and tidy, and living in normal homes which they also keep neat clean and tidy, something I can't say for fourth generation Australians sucking on pot with hair down to their asses and body odour which kills the fleas, living in houses with peeling paint and grass up to your waist.

 

They are also able to get a reasonable car quickly, and get their kids into the local schools, and armed with all of this infrastructure they seem to be quickly getting jobs and contributing to the country.

We have little to complain about...as long as their kids don't grow up intent on destroying our way of life.

 

 

Costello told ABC-TV’s 7.30 Report on February 26 2004: “I guess my message is ... there is going to be no such thing as full-time retirement. There’s going to be part-time retirement and part-time work”.

I can't see much wrong with that, FT. I sure miss my job. For many of us, work is life. I am involved with our local Rural Heritage Village, run by a bunch of old f*rts. It's amazing what they design and build; they put many younger and "highly qualified" people to shame. There is so much wasted experience and expertise in this country.