Is our 2 party system just a con?

[pmccarthy]

I don't mind their views on the environment; it's a free world. I despise their politics on race and gender, particularly the antisemitisim.

[old man emu]

Statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. 

 

Have you ever noticed that journalists aren't mathematicians? And they definittely are biased. They publish a statement like this: "Party A tops the poll as the most hated party, with 25.6 per cent of respondents reporting a strong dislike of the party compared to Party B at 24.2 per cent." That is clearly showing a bias in a number of ways. What were the valuse for people who disliked each of the other Parties in tne mix? I hate the Conservatives, but I know someone here hates Labor. How do our opinions affect the percentages? Also Party A might be the ideological opposite of Party B. That's got to affect the result.

 

As with all statement of that format, what does it tell us about the other 75% of respondents. It is comminsense to realise that their responses could range from slight dislike to absolutely adore. What if 70% of respondents's opinions ranged from "They're OK" to "God's gift to Humanity". The reported comparative responses would not mean much.

 

 

[facthunter]

There are LIES, DAMNED LIES and STASTISTICS an old saying that someone will know the Author of. Polling can be Loaded any way you want but then Your Polls are considered by those in the Know as NOT reliable.  We need more people Prepared to look a little deeper. Most People find Politics a bit obnoxious so just don't bother to think about it a lot. The operators/advisors then reduce the Message to Slogans Like "IF you don't Understand it don't vote for it" AND it Works.  Who's fault is that? Every vote counts. Some People aren't allowed to. Nev

[Marty_d]

Prime minister Pauline Hanson?! Is this the inevitable conclusion of our beleaguered democracy? | First Dog on the Moon https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/may/11/prime-minister-pauline-hanson-is-this-the-inevitable-conclusion-of-our-beleaguered-democracy?CMP=share_btn_url

[nomadpete]

6 hours ago, Marty_d said:

Prime minister Pauline Hanson?! Is this the inevitable conclusion of our beleaguered democracy? | First Dog on the Moon https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/may/11/prime-minister-pauline-hanson-is-this-the-inevitable-conclusion-of-our-beleaguered-democracy?CMP=share_btn_url

Damn you Marty.

Now I'm destined for nightmares.

[Marty_d]

She draws Barnaby so well. That shade of purple is reserved for him.

[nomadpete]

14 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

She draws Barnaby so well. That shade of purple is reserved for him.

I sometimes think that bananaby's face is a reminder to take my hypertension medicine......

 

 

 

or put on more sunscreen. Anyone else wanting to Slip, slop, slap?

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 09:50 PM by nomadpete
Afterthought

[facthunter]

Lately, His skin looks really terrible. Not just the Colour.. One Person in the Lower house is a long way from Having Pauline as the PM.   Nev

[Litespeed]

5 hours ago, nomadpete said:

I sometimes think that bananaby's face is a reminder to take my hypertension medicine......

 

 

 

or put on more sunscreen. Anyone else wanting to Slip, slop, slap?

 

 

 

Yes,

I would love to slap, slap, slap Barnaby.

 

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, Litespeed said:

Yes,

I would love to slap, slap, slap Barnaby.

 

Lighty, I didn't realise you were that kinky. Does Barnaby know about this?

[willedoo]

Angus Taylor's budget reply speech on Thursday night will have reduced viewer numbers in Queensland and NSW. It's on at the same time as the NRLW Origin 2 at Lang Park. I know which one I'll be watching.

[Marty_d]

If it came down to a choice between those 2 shows, I'd read a book.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

If it came down to a choice between those 2 shows, I'd read a book.

That's right I forgot you're in aerial ping pong territory.

[facthunter]

You'll need to enlighten Me there.  Nev

[Marty_d]

43 minutes ago, willedoo said:

That's right I forgot you're in aerial ping pong territory.

I haven't watched free to air TV in years. Everything is available on demand anyway.

[willedoo]

36 minutes ago, facthunter said:

You'll need to enlighten Me there.  Nev

Nev, it's a derogatory term used by NRL states for AFL football. On the other side of the coin they use names like kissy bums and catch me, f**k me for NRL.

[facthunter]

Another reason to not follow football then. Thanks for the Info.  Nev

[Marty_d]

12 hours ago, willedoo said:

 ...kissy bums and catch me, f**k me for NRL.

Surely they wait until they're in the locker room.

[facthunter]

It's the Prayer room in Canberra.. Nev

[onetrack]

With regard to the pressing immigration problem that's on everyone lips, and which PHON is making a killing out of, by promising to address it with an anti-immigration stance - I was quite surprised when surfing the 'net (looking for something completely different, of course), to come across this vicious American anti-immigration electoral poster from 1920 (link below).

 

I knew the Americans were frightened of a Chinese invasion in the mid-1800's, and passed a law banning them from entering the country - specifically, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1892.

This Act was as a result of enduring hostility towards the Chinese, and the Americans fear of cheap Chinese labour. So, little has changed in over 175 years.

 

Key Aspects of the Anti-Chinese Movement & Legislation:

 

Initial Acceptance Turns to Hostility: Chinese immigrants arrived in large numbers during the 1850s California Gold Rush and played a critical role in building the western portion of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.

However, as numbers grew (exceeding 105,000 by 1880), they faced severe animosity.

 

The "Invasion" Narrative & Violence:

White workers, particularly in California, feared losing jobs to "cheap" Chinese labor. This led to organized violence, including the 1871 Los Angeles Chinese massacre, the 1877 San Francisco riot, and the 1885 Rock Springs massacre.

 

The Page Act of 1875: Before the 1882 act, the Page Act was passed, which technically banned forced labor and prostitution but was broadly applied to restrict the immigration of Chinese women.

 

The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): Signed by President Chester A. Arthur, this act prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the country for 10 years and denied those already in the U.S. the ability to become citizens. It allowed exemptions for teachers, students, merchants, and diplomats, but these were difficult to obtain.

 

Permanent Exclusion: The exclusion was extended in 1892 by the Geary Act and made permanent in 1902. These restrictions remained in place until 1943.

 

The laws were justified by politicians who described the Chinese as undesirable, arguing they could not be assimilated, and threatened the "American Anglo-Saxon civilization".

 

 

But by 1920, it was a different race that the Americans feared - it was the Japanese, this time. Anti-Japanese sentiment was riding high when James D. Phelan was up for election in 1920, and anti-Japanese posters abounded.

Phelan wasn't elected, but continued his anti-Japanese immigration activities until the new Immigration Act of 1924 banned Japanese from entering America. So, the seeds of WW2 were planted early.

 

The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, severely restricted U.S. immigration by establishing strict national origins quotas based on the 1890 census.

It heavily favored Northern/Western Europeans, dramatically reduced immigration from Southern/Eastern Europe, and effectively banned immigration from Asia, setting an exclusionary policy that was in place for decades.

 

https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:19343554

 

 

 

Edited 19 hours ago by onetrack

[nomadpete]

11 hours ago, onetrack said:

Chinese immigrants arrived in large numbers during the 1850s California Gold Rush

We had similar animosity on the Australian goldfields.

Reportedly 10,000 Chinese miners on each of several goldrushes.

Oddly, I don't recall much fuss over the multitudes os other nationalities.

 

Nothing new there.

[old man emu]

That's because the other nationalities were mainly European, or Americans who had come from the Californian gold fields. 

[pmccarthy]

I like this quote. It is from Victorian member of the legislative assembly WC Smith MLA in an 1874 speech. Talk about prejudice!

 

In such cases, where through the poverty of the ground mines could not be profitably worked with European labour, the European population had no objection to Chinese exercising their proper function-namely, that of gold-field Scavengers. But all this time the Chinese were being educated underground by European miners. They were rapidly acquiring knowledge as to underground work. Chinese carpenters could now put timber together almost like cabinetwork. They did not work so rapidly as Europeans, but they worked for a price at which Europeans must give up competition with them. The Chinese had taken the outposts. They were at Haddon, Creswick, and Scottsdale, and were gradually extending their operations, and unless some reasonable arrangement was arrived at, they would gradually oust the Europeans altogether. They had no responsibilities in the form of wives and children, and all they looked for was rice, with a stolen fowl occasionally to flavour it, and some opium; and the amount they contributed to the general or local revenue was insignificant. As soon as they had mastered the underground work, which, as he had said, was being taught to them by Europeans, it would be impossible for the latter to compete successfully with them. They were allowed to work in poor mines, and he did not see how they were to be prevented by-and-bye from being introduced into mines paying dividends. That would be the inevitable conclusion, and this difficulty must be fairly looked in the face by Ballarat and every other gold-field. There were 350,000,000 of Chinese in China, and that fact alone demanded serious consideration.

 

[facthunter]

Just seems like a summation of the facts at the time, to Me. Nev

[willedoo]

I seem to remember reading something about the Chinese doing a lot of crevicing in the old days.