TheMostFrench posted:

I wrote to some Liberal MPs about their opposition to gay marriage a couple of weeks ago and one wrote back to me - this was my email.






It is comforting to know that some of them read this stuff.

i got banned posted:

Libs trying to reverse the onus of proof of innocence on anyone that has been to Syria or Iraq
Innocent until proven guilty was OK for the first couple of thousand years but lets try reversing it like they did in Salem and see what happens guys

i got banned posted:

Oh yeah forgot about that

Les Affaires posted:

In the face of mounting allegations against the LNP in ICAC, perhaps the Greens and other parties might try a strategy of pointing out that they've never been investigated for corruption in their entire history.

BlitzkriegOfColour posted:

I'm hoping the threat of having actual indigenous people show up for job interviews will be enough to deter such people. You could even rate workplaces through the website. Higher scores for actually having indigenous people in your workplace, for being recommended by your employees, for being recommended by your indigenous employees, etc, etc. Trip reports from applicants could be a thing also.

I think the main challenges are in moderation, assessment, and administration. Also funding, lawyering, recruitment and retention. But it should be easy to steer clear of defamation and such by submit not publicly posting anything negative.

e: Seriously, Auspol, tear my idea to shreds already. You're all like the ultimate black hat, and I need your input.

xutech posted:

I'm hoping I can recruit a few for my friend's local roleplaying game on sundays.

Contra Duck posted:

Former RAAF officer and deputy commander of Australian forces in Afghanistan and Iraq Tim Owen turns out to be a corrupt piece of poo poo who lies under oath. What a shock. Makes the outrage about Stephen Conroy daring to question the integrity of our brave men and women in uniform look pretty loving stupid doesn't it.

Quantum Mechanic posted:

Seriously Anidav did you disturb a mummy's tomb or something? Run over an old Roma woman? Kill a witch's cat?

What did you do

Tokamak posted:

Your honour, this couldn't possibly be a bribe. You see, the money didn't come in a sack with dollar signs on it.

BCR posted:

Earlier this year, the annual Lowy Institute poll of Australian attitudes found 40 per cent no longer believed democracy is the best form of government.

The main reasons given were that democracy was serving vested interests rather than those of the majority, and that there was no real difference between the two major parties.

Link.

thatbastardken posted:

i may not be a fancy rooters and shooters legal theorist but I'm not sure how it can possibly be legal to give corporate entities the vote.

BlitzkriegOfColour posted:

I would ask "What happened to the Liberals to make them this way? What forces of otherisation are preventing them from integrating?"

Laserface posted:

Hey guys, all religion is actually terrible, hth.

Fruity Gordo posted:

But like yeah, I have to respond to soag and TOML because this poo poo really pisses me off. Do we seriously have to go through some bullshit Ditchkins poo poo again about how religion is regressive and atheism is the light and agnosticism is cowardice explicitly progress iteration of an ancient religion because... what? Give a reason. Science? Science and religion are separate, that is the entire point of the scientific method, to break from the authority of tased on empirical analysis, one is based in belief systems. Atheism rned with god or fahe work they do about the begthe universe? They are not saying it for the benefit of the fundamentally religious. They are saying shut the gently caress up to the smug aho jump on any discovery of the universe to say 'lol where's . God is still everywhere, dipshits. God is in everything because I can't explain how anything exists without it, nor can scand nor caible by virt it and something caused it all to happen and I call that god.

quote:

Fire destroys links to Nimbin's hippie past


A HUGE part of Nimbin's history and many iconic artworks were lost forever when the village's much-loved museum went up in flames yesterday morning.

The museum was a tribute to Nimbin's colourful history, and told stories of Aboriginal culture, white settlement, the hippie beginnings, and the Aquarius Festival.

It was home to irreplaceable items, including the yellow Kombi which former Prime Minister Bob Hawke's daughter, Rosslyn, lived in while she was in Nimbin.

After visiting Nimbin numerous times in the 1970s, Michael Balderstone moved to the village in 1985, and opened the Nimbin Museum as a second-hand shop in the front room of the building.

"I first rented the front room for $35 a week, while people still lived in rooms in the rear of the building," he said.

"I kept renting more rooms and filling them with second-hand stuff until I was renting out the whole building."

Mr Balderstone said the Nimbin Museum was officially opened on Boxing Day, 1992.

Leaseholder Elspeth Jones said she got a phone call about the fire at 4am.

"We drove straight here, but 10km out I could see the glow in the sky and I knew it was bad," she said.

"It was an inferno. It's just old wood, but it's also Nimbin's history.

"I've been coming to this museum every day for 22 years.

"It has been in my constant care. I am in shock."

Mr Balderstone, who has spent the past 30 years working and building the Nimbin Museum, said the fire was a "kick in the guts" for Nimbin, but could have been much worse.

He said Nimbin's fire crew had gotten to the scene quickly and had been working to stop it leaping across the narrow gap to the neighbouring Nimbin Lifestyle Real Estate when instead it leapt the laneway between the cafe and the museum.

For Mr Balderstone, the loss of the museum means the destruction of a work that has dominated the last three decades of his life.

Mr Balderstone said Nimbin was a resilient community and would rebuild, but the museum was gone forever.

quote:

Ebola virus: Researchers hunting deadly virus cure scrapped under federal budget cuts

Australian research into a vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus will suffer as a result of federal budget cuts, CSIRO staff say.

The Federal Government has cut more than $110 million from the research organisation's budget and as a result up to eight researchers will lose their jobs at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong, Victoria.

Scientists at the facility are trying to find a vaccine for Ebola, that has killed hundreds of people in West Africa since an outbreak began in February.

The researchers at the AAHL had recently acquired a live strain of the virus that had swept through the region.

CSIRO Staff Association secretary Sam Popovski said the decision to cut funding to the laboratory was short-sighted.

"This is terrible news for hardworking researchers who are dedicated to keeping Australians, indeed the world's population safe from illness." he said.

The high-containment facility also conducts research into Avian Influenza, SARS and Hendra virus.

"The Australian Animal Health Laboratory is particularly funded to be Australia's national facility in this area," Mr Popovski said.

"It's recognised as the national facility for this work and therefore is at the frontline of protecting Australia from these viruses."

quote:

Let's look at some of Lilley's other stuff to see if claims of his work being racist are unfou-

Konomex posted:

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, is anyone else seeing this? If Pynes looking to Hockey for inspiration then they're all walking around with blindfolds on. How do so many people get it so monumentally wrong, just making up facts and thinking millions of people with 5 seconds can fact check them won't go ahead and do that.

quote:

Wayne Swan,

I'd like to take the time to tell you I support you and feel you were a better treasurer, MP and human being than our current malicious idiot Smokin' Joe Hockey who ingloriously holds the position you once did. I quake a the thought of what rampant bastardry and economic vandalism the sitting Federal LNP will conduct over the next two painful years.
I have lived in your electorate for a year now having moved from Macgregor and I had the sharp displeasure of meeting Rob McGarvie while moving in right before the election. As I was moving furniture a blue shirted goon going house to house caught my attention and tried to ask me to vote LNP. I quizzed him on his partys stance on the NBN and whether my new residence will have speedy internet. Unable to provide a response he called Rob over from doorknocking the other side of the road to answer my questions. Rob gave me a firm handshake and proceeded to deflect and declare my questions about NBN, uncosted policies, cronyism, 'boat people', hostility towards science and climate change to be unfounded and unimportant. On the topic of refugees he regaled me with a tale of his work in africa and their refugees.
When I pointed out that our refugees are coming largely from the Middle east and SE asia, were genuine refugees and not illegal, he told me I was wrong, I didnt know what i was talking about, and his posse of three blue shirted goons scowled at me. We continued to discuss these topics and i was told i was wrong again, until finally my girlfriend called me away to continue unpacking the house.

I'm a scientist, and the lack of a science ministry that might stop the continued slashing of the CSIRO budget concerns me greatly. I'm also very concerned about the inhuman treatment of a paltry amount of refugees being incarcerated offshore including children, on this both major parties are in the wrong here with the Pacific Solution being instigated by the Rudd Government and not being improved by subsequent ones. And the systematic destruction of the FTTH NBN by the LNP is something that fills me with bile.
I met a project officer for Cloud Sigma while in Geneva and he told me of the middleware work they were doing to join numerous vast databases together to provide comparative analysis to benefit health, education, disease tracking and outbreak management and linking other Big Data projects like social mapping and town planning. These lofty Big Data projects require speedy backbones like the NBN, and I feel we will miss out on this.

Rod McGarvie showed that he was unfit to represent my interests, choosing instead to dictate them to me.

I dont know how to end this, but I feel I have few avenues to take action so I'm choosing to write to my MP and express my views and concerns. Please take them under advisement and make a stand in parliament for me.
Thanks [Kommando] BSc. (Chem)

quote:

Dear [Kommando],

Wayne thanks you for your email regarding Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey’s short-sighted Government and has asked me to thank you also for your support.

Your encounter during the 2013 campaign with Mr McGarvie was unfortunate – however his unwillingness to listen to your perspectives and properly answer your questions was a precursor to the style of Government that we have seen unfold since Tony Abbott took government.

As you note, Tony Abbott’s priorities do not rest with allowing Australia to fulfil its potential in science and research (compounded by cuts to higher education more broadly) , nor with a properly constructed NBN to meet our future needs. Additionally, this Government’s attacks on the vulnerable are too numerous to detail here, but please note that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Labor’s spokesperson for Immigration and Border Protection Richard Marles have repeatedly called on the Government for greater transparency in relation to their treatment of people seeking refuge in Australia.

Wayne is appreciative of the time you have taken to share your thoughts with him.

While in government Labor pursued an ambitious social and economic reform agenda that included, among other things: the rollout of the NBN to support the inevitable requirements of business, households and our healthcare and education systems; the progression of carbon pricing for a clean energy future; once in a generation reform of disability support services with the introduction of Australia’s first ever national disability insurance scheme; Australia’s first national paid parental leave scheme; superannuation reform to ensure those on lower incomes would be better supported in retirement; reform of financial services to protect the best interests of clients; an historic increase to the pension and improved indexation arrangements; Australia’s largest ever mental health package to improve access to support, prevention, and early intervention; improved targeting of the private health insurance rebate; historic investments in schools and education; as well as the repeal of Work Choices legislation – all this while keeping interest rates at record lows and containing inflation and unemployment despite the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath.

Joe Hockey’s budget is a recipe for growing social inequality. Wayne, along with the rest of the Labor Opposition, continues to advocate for policies which will support Australia’s potential for economic growth but not at the expense of a fairer society.

Once more, thank you for your email to Wayne.

Kind regards,

Angela

Zedsdeadbaby posted:

Your prime minister is loving retarded. He just gave us in the UK a lecture on how Scotland's independence is against freedom and justice, as if the Scottish were a bunch of a terrorists or something. He literally said those who voted for independence 'were not the friends of freedom and justice'. Christ.

quote:

One of the benefits of renewable energy is that it pushes down the price of electricity when the wind blows or the sun shines. Besides lowering energy bills, that kills the profitability of traditional “baseload” power plants – i.e. those burning coal or splitting atoms – and forces them to close, to the rejoicing of all.

Or so we’ve been told. But can there be too much of a good thing?

This is a problem where I would value your input, my dear reader. Please share your thoughts on whether I’ve made any mistake or overly simplified the situation, and what could be done to correct this problem. But first, let me explain.

quote:

My school was supposed to have Tim Owen to come to a school breakfast. Deputy joked today that after him they asked Andrew Cornwell, then the mayor. There's no one left to come to school to represent state government.

Gough Suppressant posted:

gently caress, if only energy didn't dissipate immediately upon generation and we had some way of storing it. oh well

posted from my phone not currently plugged into the mains

Bifauxnen posted:

Jesus gently caress, so that's how they're spinning it? I just heard on my drive up how they were releasing those children... but only ones that arrived during the previous government.

Sorry any kids that arrived since then, you're hosed! But isn't this government so nice and wonderful, to choose to continue keeping you locked up, right now in the present, while releasing those other kids that the other government was ~~soooo eeevil~~ to have locked up, just like they're locking you up, gfrabrledsfkjdslfd

Shadeoses posted:

What if more than 10 goons show, or are collectively larger than 10 people?

hooman posted:

The ADF has a crazy poo poo culture. Any recruit is beaten down until they tow the line on good and bad and right and wrong. It's all us and them and mere civilians who "don't get it". It's hosed beyond all belief. A good friend of mine has finally escaped it (despite their every attempt to sabotage her ability to leave) and in the 6 months since leaving has gone from staunch "only the liberal party forever" to "voting greens next election" just from being away from the toxic loving culture of it. The ADF is hosed, most members of the ADF are hosed, not because they're bad people necessarily, but because of the loving indoctrinating loving ADF.

gently caress the ADF. It desperately needs a huge overhaul and Australia really needs to take better care of the people it's trained to be murderers and then dumped into the streets once their murderin' years are over.

Doctor Spaceman posted:

Neat visualisation from the ABC summarising the characters and interactions in the previous seasons of ICAC.

Vladimir Poutine posted:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/private-health-insurers-set-to-manage-patients-gp-care/story-fni0xqrc-1227031109206

Mad Katter posted:

Who the hell names their kid Bartholomew Bassett.

Milky Moor posted:

Mithranderp posted:

We found foundry! Then we had to get the train home.

Edit: THANKS KOMMANDO you organised a great night out for antisocial goons. A+++ would eat more chickens.