The Dump is:
For posting comments that don’t get up at the Drum, and for having a pleasant, mirthful or enlightening off-topic discussion.
It’s not for personal abuse of other commenters.
Please do that somewhere else if you must.
Play nicely or piss off.
However, why doesn’t a poster add a link for us to read and comment on here, much quicker. Maybe we can do a bit more bagging here, not that I speak for the moderators, yet.
NB: Being tiresome and boring, racist, sexist or just plain creepy is not playing nicely.
———-
The Pig’s Arms exists because a dozen or so years ago our other favourite playpen – the ABC’s Unleashed blogsphere started to go off. Like a sack of prawn heads in the sun. Something had to be done.
Moderation was taking forever. Comments seemed to be rejected randomly – outrageous ones appeared and reasoned ones were pinged. When they released the Drum / Unleashed ….. things actually got worse !
So many pieces from professional writers appear with no obvious merit. And the moderation has become, to put it frankly, appalling.
As a former contributor and a commenter, I was deeply disappointed at the plummeting quality from our pre-eminent media empire. And I resented so many challenging or dare I say, witty or funny posts in which we’ve invested seconds of our precious time – getting the chop.
So here, for all our benefit – is an open slather blog. Copy and paste your best rejected comments here for posterity. Does not matter whether you’re posting on the Guardian, First Dog on the Moon or wherever else.
And sprinkle pointers to the Pig’s Arms amongst your comments. Let’s try to rescue some of the old faithful.
Cheers,
Emm.
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
The Drum must be about to close – Mungo’s piece is closed. Berg’s will be gone soon, I’m sure. Haven’t bothered with the religious one.
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at 5 pm, Vivienne. Better hurry up…
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well its gone to sleep nothing updated for a while.
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It means that there is a chance until 6 pm…
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The subjects are a bit dull today. They’ll be shut till Friday or Monday no doubt. More worthwhile on offer here I’ll bet.
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I’m not buying into the Jesus/God stuff. Berg’s gone. Spud the moron replied to me on Mungo and it had closed when I had a peek. I’d loved to have swiped him back.
Had a good day tomorrow. Bye for now.
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Hung have you noticed that Swann’s granny thinks the Australians are nasty and how Graeme loves his cricket. Perhaps the surgery he had earlier in the year may have had something to do with his demise??
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-24/grandmother-blames-nasty-aussies-for-swann-exit/5173420
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Seems funny Algy, two gun English players in Trott and Swann wish to end their careers due to one nasty Australian player. Doesn’t granny realise by now that when it comes to English cricketers all of us Australians are nasty. 🙂
PS: Any idea who that nasty Australian is?
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I don’t think Warner’s comments to Trott had much to do with is return to England, I suspect he’s been managing whatever the issue is for a long time. Now Swann’s gone, I suspect the England camp might not be a very happy bunch of campers and hasn’t been all summer really. I suspect Flowers will quit after the tour as will the likes of Prior and and Pieterson. Methinks his granny might be a little senile.
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The captaincy has ruined Cook. Get rid of these expats, once the chips are down they go to water. Bell to three and Root to six, Anderson fire up or f off. Prior cost them big time in Perth and must be axed. Sometimes I get the feeling that when England visit Australia they treat it like a holiday, Flintoff was the same, too busy getting pissed to play.
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Prior may well be dropped for Melbourne anyway. Why not Root at three, at least he’s got a spine. The poms problem here is that the series in England flattered them, Australia was hell bent on revenge. Boof was the bloke to have them believing in themselves.
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Commentary in the pommy media is so often just about nasty Aussie players – it’s all rot of course. They’re piss poor sports. Can’t even field a cricket team with poms !
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Pretty much on the ball there vivenne.
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So true Viv. The joke doing the rounds when Strauss was captain was , Q: Where do the English cricket team stay when touring South Africa? A: With their parents.
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Rolf ‘arris is in the shit, or, the Dock: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-23/rolf-harris-facing-new-sex-assault-charges/5172432
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He’s a man from Berkshire isn’t he. He moved to England in 1952 and has lived there for all but two of the years since that time. Google him and a list of nonces accompany him. Safe to say the only thing Australian about him was that he was born here. He’s chosen to live in the UK, pretty safe to call him a pom nowadays.
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His parents were Agnes Margaret Harris (née Robbins) and Cromwell (“Crom”) Harris, who had both emigrated from Cardiff, Wales….
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And I’d suspect he travels on an EU passport as well.
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It was always good knowing that Rolf Harris was over there, felt like pay back.
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Must be the tunes HOO, Two little boys and Jake the peg.
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I always worried about that extra leg, diddle iddle iddle ump.
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Ever wondered why he wanted to tie his kangaroo down? Filthy beggar.
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Something to do with six white boomers perhaps.
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When you see the photo of Hockey and Abbott on Barrie Cassidy’s piece you could almost think two Canberra boys off to the altar to exchange vows.
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🙂 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed that one 🙂
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Hung, I enlarged the photo and had a closer look at it. The expressions on their faces are fitting to what you described..
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The Drum is open.
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I suppose it’s only lunch time. I see Mungo got a story up.
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Mmmm, the two comments there at 1:25 have disappeared!
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They go and come back again, Big M. The Moderator works on more than one copy of the same page with different number of comments. Sometimes, when he switches one page with another, an old version is replaced..
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It’s like being in Spain, in the 1930’s (Atomou will know what I mean!).
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hmmmm … now you got me thinking!
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So it’s another techy problem. I thought Chips had that sorted.
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Yep noticed that, got one up already.
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And got first up on Ben’s blog.
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Ben’s “rigths” & “wrongs” are funny.
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They were good I thought.
Mind you It looks like it’s almost go home time a the Drum,nothings happening again.
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The usual story, Algernon. Mondays are always slow! The Drum will be active between 5 and 6:30 pm, but since we are in a holiday season they will post few more comments and shut it down by 4 or 5 pm. I think!
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You’re right hph. From my view it seems early morning and early evening its open. The rest of the time it is asleep.
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Okay – here’s a discussion point re latest increases approved by Dutton – 6.5 under Medibank and similar elsewhere. Dutton said “Mr Dutton says the increases would have been lower had it not been for “the pressures placed on the sector by Labor”.” Now – just WTF is he talking about. The huge subsidy for private health was supposed to keep prices down and of course they never ever did.
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6.5% seems bigger than they ever were under Labor. Of course the costs bolt along well in front of inflation. Of course dishonest back up of an argument will always be the case with the Liberals.
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They have put one up from Mungo.
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Anyone know why the Dumb is closed?
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I wondered that HOO, suspect it’s skeleton staff being Christmas week. About all that’s open is that news item on Lurch Andrews and Disability Support Pension cut backs, however, you have to log on for that.
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Sounds reasonable. I was thinking it may have been a public holiday. I’m working Xmas and Boxing day, big bucks and with the kids gone it’s not too bad.
Lets hope Clarke can win the toss again. Swann retiring, what a shame, they’ll have to belt Monty now.
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Yep Monty throwing pies and having a slash behind the sight screen. Perhaps another 500 to chase in the last innings for the poms.
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They are a bit rude – no explanation. Wouldn’t hurt to put something up for their fans.
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Some of us only have limited weeks here.
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Just wanted to note that I’ve been getting Bracks and Cassidy mixed up in some posts. It was of course Cassidy who lost his non-salaried post to the Museum thingy.
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The temperature has dropped in a big way and we are having rain right now. It’s a relief.
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I’m looking forward to that tomorrow. Yesterday we had 38 degrees with humidity and cloud cover. Awful felt about 5 degrees warmer and felt like you could eat the air. It’s 31 now and humid as well with the cloud cover. It feels warmer and the air just as heavy, looks like a change this afternoon. 23 tomorrow that will be relief
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It’s overcast here, but no rain…yet, send some here please, yesterday was awful. The neighbourhood Christmas party was good, too much food, GO’s chicken wings a great success, someone’s teenage son sent a text from home and asked his dad to bring some of them to him… met the two new neighbours, very nice…
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Well after a week of 38-42 degrees and hot winds on and off and 2 millions flies and blowies trying to get cool at the windows and back door (evap air conditioning) today is a big relief but what rain we are getting is not heading your way Algy and Helvi – it never does. We don’t get any of your excess either. It usually comes from a different direction and half the time it slips away to the south of us.
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Your right Vivenne, wrong side of the hill for that and a bit too far north. I’d be happy with a cool wind or a working sea breeze. Its all that tropical humidity that hits us just about now for the next couple of months. The heat doesn’t worry me 38 and dry heat I can get around all day and not be worried. It’s the humidity knocks you around. Outside its warmer than when I walked the dog yet far less draining as the humidity has dropped.
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Humidity knocks me around and always has. 3.5 years in Sydney and I never got used to it – often came out in hives and had to cover myself with calomine lotion. We get some humidity here, more than we used to but not enough to be bothersome. It is still raining lightly and is really quite blissful.
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Temp was around 19 when I got up. It has dropped to 16.
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I’ve had a bloody disaster here, today. The expensive bottle of Belgian beer, that I had purchased for Christmas day, exploded in the pantry, covering everything with beer. Spring cleaning in the middle of Summer!
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Cripes, I can imagine the mess.
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So I assume it’s a beer for laying down and avoiding, BigM.
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Geez, did you have any spare ones in the fridge?
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Yes, Mrs M was not impressed!! Now the pantry smells sublime (if vanilla essence is sublime).
Other beers were quickly accessed.
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“Other beers were quickly accessed.” In other words guzzled is that right?
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Yes, good old reliable Cooper’s Vintage and Sparkling, why, I’m slightly pissed now, in readines for pre-Christmas drinks.
Where’s me driver??
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Well, his partner is named Ryan. Human rights? The bloke is a serious A.Bolt lover. He sees the issue of human rights fighting for ‘free trade’. Gee, Australia where are you going? I don’t want to go and rave about Sweden or Norway, Holland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany but it is hard when people like Tim Wilson being nominated, with no qualifications, and $ 340.000 salary for HUMAN RIGHTS. Then there are Morrison, Pyne, Brandis… ahhh. gggrkkk.
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http://www.timwilson.com.au/photos.htm
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All a bit cheesy really. Surprised he was allowed into Malaysia being openly gay.
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and this Gerard,
Tim Wilson:
“We shouldn’t be turning our backs on free trade!”
“Since Kevin Rudd’s absurd attack on neo-liberalism every nutbag has thought it acceptable to attack free trade. And it is my job to defend it. So I have had two articles in the Business Section of The Age. And they are available here and here. “
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“Here and here” links are right at the bottom of his “home” page in the above link.
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Interesting to note that he used to be tubby.
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I don’t know what that means Vivienne!
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He’s slimmed down a lot. He actually looks a bit like a slob in a couple of his pics in his photo album. I find it interesting how some people can change when they set themselves on a particular course (e.g. Barry O’Farrell). But I don’t think he ever imagined that the reward for his IPA work would be a gig as a Commissioner on the HRC.
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chubby – tubby, now I get it 🙂
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Liberals are using his “gayness” as a smoke screen in this appointment to push their right wing ideology further into the communities. They think that they will collect more sympathy votes from gay community which has a powerful and influential voice in politics.
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They may well think that. I didn’t know he was gay until today. Never occurred to me to see if he had his own website where it was there for all to see. I thought any gay Liberals were staying well and truly in the closet.
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That’s funny, I thought that most of them were gay…I guess they just don’t realise it!
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I have my suspicions about a number of them!
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That’s funny, Big M. 🙂
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His gayness is irrelevant as to whether he’s able to do the job or not. He’s a cheerleader for Andrew Bolt. If you get the chance here’s a description of Andrew Bolt in the SMH here by Mike Carlton
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-dont-we-just-sell-the-great-barrier-reef-then-20131220-2zqif.html
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His gayness is irrelevant… I agree, Algernon.
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Even so, don’t drop the soap while taking a shower. (That goes for both sexes)
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Anybody’s ‘gayness’ is irrelevant, but when one party openly attacks a particular group because of their sexual preference, then it does become relevant.
As an example, a beautiful young gay girl at work has just announced that she is pregnant. Most of us are ecstatic for her, and her partner…all except one catholic, who thinks it is just not right. EEEerrrrrr!!!!
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Have just been advised from an impeccable source of news readings that Tim Wilson is gay.
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That’s why he is the only Victorian Liberal endorsed by Rodney Croome, hmm.
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On the Tim Wilson blog I said that he was not good for any human rights position, as I have seen him hogging the show on the Drum, constantly interrupting, not believing that other guests have rights too….
I put it a bit better than that, but GO said that I were asking to be rejected.. 🙂
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And that’s the issue H. Right wingers are poor listeners and are only interested in their own opinion. Abbott, Bishop, Morrison and Hunt all exactly the same. I read today on Sky news that Hunt will introduce the Direct Action Plan that allows polluters to keep polluting if they so choose with out penalty, ridiculous.
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Hunt’s a bit isolated in the tory party. He’s been found to make things up for his DAP. His quoting of Wikipedia as a reliable source was pure gold for mine.
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I did a bit of a read of the Green Paper for Direct Action. It is appalling. 67 pages of repetitive combination of the bleeding obvious, badly written and complete with anti Labor bits. I can’t believe the Department of Environment had anything to do with it as per the cover. It tries to look scholarly but it isn’t. Of course they fired all the scientists and intelligent people. The PDF itself comes up looking like a lot of cut and paste, difference fonts and sizes. The Emissions Reduction Fund has $300M for first year of operation. The green loans which they are trying to dismantle was already doing direct action and making money.
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Well in the mystery which is this the Billy McMahonesque government would it be a surprise that there isn’t any transparency. Just wait till they start using public phone boxes because they don’t trust anyone.
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Yep I noticed that when questioning what qualifications he had for the job. Of course all the loony right wing donkeys carried on. If he was suitably qualified for the position I wouldn’t be fussed. Of course they’d carry in about Tim Soutphommasane’s appointment, forgetting that he had a series of degrees, written three books sat on two boards and was eminently qualified. But he had been a member of the Labor party. F%*king idiots just didn’t get that Wilson’s appointment was a job for the boy who represented an organisation bent on destroying the organisation he’d been appointed to.
Plus ça change!
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Yep – Labor make blatant political appointments like Steve Bracks (salary=nothing at all) and Liberals make superb appointments from eminently qualified people. They say this with a straight face.
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Yes, he’s the only gay in village of Vic.
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The Lion in Winter on in a couple of minutes. Can’t get more excellent a filum than that. Stunning script, brilliant acting, unbelievable plot! Hepburn vs O’Toole, vs Hopkins!
Record it or watch it!
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ABC 1
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And what, miss lingerie gridiron? You have to be joking. 🙂
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It’s a sublime filum, HOO and Vivie! SUB-bloody-lime!
I’ve got it on CD somewhere and I’ll drag it out again soon to watch it. Couldn’t watch it today because our next door neighbours were auctioning their house and we had to go and watch.
$840k!!!!!!
Geez, I reckon even Zeus would be angry at this! Admittedly it was some 15 years ago we bought ours for $185k, but from $185k to $840???? In fifteen years?
Bugger all of a house really and the land is the same as ours, 600sq.
How the flaming cows are the kids going to ever manage to buy a house of their own?
Methinks there might well be a plot to plot us out of our plot as we speak…
Bloody hell! I mean we are very happy for them, the man is a lovely bloke and his elderly mum is fantastic. Keeps bringing us stuff from her garden and sometimes stuff from her kitchen, like dumplings of all sorts. Asian. We’re very happy for them but $840k? They want to shift near his sister in Hawthorn. Far more expensive that area.
Oh, and get this: he told our Heley, in front of a crowd of about fifty or so, “marry me and I won’t move!” You should have seen her face, the poor sweetheart!!!! So very forward that boy… about fifteen years older!
Anyhoooo, the people who bought it have a son, I think, just down from us, in the same street and they came over and said hi… They seem pretty good guys too.
Eight hundred and forty thousand dollars! That’s four bzillion drachmas!
Dear me!
The Lion in Winter is unsurpassable in everything! Gob smacking script that I’d give my right nipple to be able to come up with. Astonishingly complex plot to handle as a film script! And the acting all around is masterly!
Lots of cookering this weekend! Bloody lots!
But I think the lady will be helping this time! (I can’t escape her help, I’m afraid!)
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I look out for it ato, good actors back then.
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This is the read the paper time and check out news websites Ato. I saw the film many years ago – it was good but not good enough for me to want to see it again, sorry to say.
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You were very lucky this week, Algernon. I read a lot of your messages.
On average, I was able to post 2 out of 10 this week. Looks like Vivienne suffered as well.
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My first two got in, as I did not see the third one up, so I thought eff you ABC, I’m too good for you and did not bother sending any more; I enjoy the intelligent posts by Labor, but the rest is just absolute rubbish…
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I did suffer but overall not so bad as I didn’t try to post much – the arguments were tedious and I hate that continuous format they use half the time. The Lib supporters there are in a very strange state of denial which often includes changing the subject. They haven’t a leg to stand on and I think some of them know it. And they think they are balanced ! They are all morons.
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Hi everyone. I’m Werdan Blot for the next few weeks. Got some thru. Tried having a go at Julie and his fake concern for asylum seekers and didn’t get thru.
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You’d be wasting your time with the economic reffo, HOO water off a ducks back then get more pedantic.
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There were a lot that didn’t get up, though hph, some I tried three times. More active due to holidays. Gee there are some nut jobs there nowadays.
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Thank Gordon that you and I are sane Algy, well sort of…
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Indeed HOO, indeed… 🙂
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Indeedy yes HOO. There are more nut cases than usual on the Drum. I assume you have all noticed that they use phrases and sentences which I used to describe Liberal actions but they throw this at Labor. And so much of the ‘they need time’ and blah blah blah. They actual want constructive opposition, not mindless – just like their own actions. I mean, it’s all being turned inside out and upside down, do as I say, not as I do. Bonkers, the lot of them.
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So true Viv, pardon the pun, you just get sick of them. Sometimes I get fired up and reply and other times I just can’t be bothered.
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Again – yes, Hoo. Sometimes I do feel, oh really WTF and I say nothing. Other times I get stuck in. But, and this is the problem, the Drum is so slow to put up comments so the moment is sometimes lost – or the comment just doesn’t get put up and in the meantime some other Lib git writes more shit on the same little thread.
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Some are just so repetitive, parroting the same line over and over. There are some that are just parrot the party tweet of the day, over and over. Others defend the indefensible or suggest the certain things didn’t happen. Like the wall punching for example. Still I don’t get many weeks like the last so I’ll put up with the donkeys.
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Algy – you did well !
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27 degree here with a lovely sea breeze blowing! (41 tomorrow though).
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42 here Ace, hot as. The washing dries quick 🙂
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That’s why we’ll do ours tomorrow HOO. The lawn can wait though.
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Our grass (for want of a better word) is not growing. No mowing required now. Plenty of seeds for the birds – all the various parrots love it and my bird baths (drinking and bathing).
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Friday now and it is 41. Yesterday evening we also got a lightning show – quite a big one and 4 seconds of rain. It lit a bush in the Eskdale area in forests. Water bombing it now. This is the spooky weather we do not need.
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It was 41 here too but has dropped back to 39. Juniors still in Melbourne where I see it’s 19 now after 41 yesterday.
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Lucky buggers. You’re in Sydney aren’t you Algy – can you expect that sea breeze to return soon?
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Well its cooled a bit and the wind appears to have swung around a little however there isn’t much of it. Suspect it won’t be as good as the last couple of days. Only 30 tomorrow should be Ok.
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We actually hit 42.
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Not too bad today only 27 at the moment, bit humid though. 40 tomorrow. I find anything over 40 you move a tad slower for every degree it increases.
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It’s all ABC tonight:
9.30 The Hour
11.30 Criminal Justice
12.35 Summerfield (old Aussie movie with Bud Tingwell
2.10 One minute to zero. With Rob Mitchum (Korean War love tale)
3.50 Here comes Mr Jordan
What’s so special about tonight, I wonder?
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The Hour, top British drama, worth seeing it the second time…
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Pity it’s the final of the Hour, normally asleep but not working tonight, will look out for it next time.
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My tv recorder is in full use these weeks – search for good stuff to record – some is on too late. I hit the sack most nights between 10.30 and 11 pm. Think I’ll go add Bud Tingwell to the list.
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I’m dreaming of Christmas in Tasmanian wilderness with Eric Abetz, and if he’s not available, then a Boxing Day in Byron Bay with Brandis…he looks divine in boxer shorts…( I bet)….
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Too much egg nog helvi
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I want some of that egg nog, Algernon.
🙂
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hmmmmm – I’ll have what Helvi’s having.
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Have you been smoking those strange cigarettes H? 🙂
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Just a little Christmas cheer, my dear boy…. 🙂
I have never smoked anything, I don’t even like any smoked foods…Ok, smoked Salmon ,but only with Wasabi and not too much…
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I love smoked salmon with smoked salmon and a bit of smoked salmon on the side topped with a bit of caviar. Love smoked chicken and smoked trout. You know we have a specialist smokehouse in Albury. It’s smoking ! Great stuff – not cheap but it is the best. The trout is good value especially when you buy it as boneless fillets and have it with my pickled water melon rind.
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Bit partial to smoked salmon myself. Always hunt them out at the lunches are on.
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Tutu and I have smoked salmon pancakes with a dill and yoghurt sauce for Christmas day breakfast, yum. You are supposed to put a dollop of caviare on but I hate the stuff, Norwegian I think H.
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I have never smoked salmon. Can you put it in a little glass pipe?
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Anything with Dill and yogurt for me…must ask my chef for Salmon pancakes Christmas morning….
GO of course loves smoked Salmon…he buys a kilo for a twenty dollars…I have it on German Pumpernickel bread for two nights, after that it’s all his…he’s already got some for the neighbours’ Chrissie party and some to take to Daughter’s place Christmas Eve…
Viv, it looks like three of my Dill seedlings are surviving….the best present for me…
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Having you here Hungie is a bit of an early Chrissie present : ) Our regards for Tutu too.
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Well done Helvi – this weather, here anyway, has been a real test of survival for some young plants. Where on earth does Gerard get smoked salmon for $20 a kilo ? Amazing. Costs more than that per kilo for fresh salmon.
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Thanks H, a lovely thing to say and I know from you it is also real. Tell Gez smoking salmon takes a lot of matches. Merry Christmas all and yes Tutu is still incredibly beautiful.
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Yes In was thinking that $20kg seems a bit cheap.
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Gerard, I usually roll my salmon before I smoke it.
🙂
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A smoked salmon bong; far out. Peace to you man.
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Being Xmas and all, I must confess my sin:
I have kissed Natasha thousands of times!
In my often very naughty fantasies and even naughtier dreams. I simply dissolve before women with brains! And if they’re also good looking, then you’d have to look for me in some hospital that treats ecstatics!
Don’t know about now, though. She’s been out of focus for quite a while and I’ve no idea where her ideas want to take us.
I’m now into Borgen. She’s cool… and so is that other try-hard lefty journo chick!
That final scene had me trying to control tears. I saw a lot of that abuse among my students over the years.
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Natasha has been a regular celebrity (!) guess panel member on The Project.
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Borgen is picking up a bit of pace.
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Again, I missed the beginning and didn’t bother watching the rest. Do you recommend it Atomou?
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Absolutely, hph! It’d be worth it if you could get to watch the whole series from the beginning. Political intrigue, love’s twists and turns, marriage, divorce… kids, it’s all there.
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Thanks, Atomou. I will download the whole series.
Did you watch Lilyhammer? A Mafia guy who is forced to flee America goes to Norway and sets up a legal business.
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I missed the last night’s episode, bummer. They are all good, but I think The Killing has been the best..on the other hand Brugge (The Bridge) was excellent…the Danes are shining when it comes to TV series…maybe their government is more Arts friendly…
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Few years ago there was this fantastic Swedish series The Eagle….I think I saw it twice, still good….
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All of this Danish stuff is brilliant. Very real and distinct parallels with Australia politically – in the show anyway.
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Thanks, Vivienne..
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Sometimes it can scare the shit out of you too ! 🙂
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It’s only 39 degrees C here. Gotta go to the tip and then to the auto electrical guy who has new part to fix my driver door which won’t lock with the clicky thingy. So I’ll walk up to the butchers and buy some meat and wait in his cool shop. Got the bottle of bubbly for my tip guy – chose sparkling rose this year !
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It says 35 here in Adelaide Viv, feels like 40 plus
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A barmy 27 degrees here.Lovely sea breeze blowing…
Over 30 though for the next week.
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Sea breeze – lovely. Still 39 here.
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Looks like around 35 tomorrow and about 40 on Friday, I’ll enjoy the breeze while I can.
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38 now Algy and I have to work tonight. Thank Gordon for air conditioning. And look if you don’t stop bragging about how good your weather is, I’m moving next door and you will have to take me to the cricket, on the roof racks 🙂
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Well we’re off to the first two days of the Sydney Test Junior and I, up itn the Brewongle and Churchill Stands, Nice Breeze about lunchtime….. 🙂
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Thursday 1.11 pm – a mere 40 degrees – too bloody hot. Doing nothing but fiddle on the puter. Got to go to town tomorrow. Must try to get up and ready early.
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That’s coming our way tomorrow. Juniors in Melbourne at the moment and coming home tonight. Can see the wheels falling off the transport system as a result.
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http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/federal_reserve-qe3/money_printing-2012-2013.html
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“Try putting together a constructive argument instead of trying to argue about economics. Something you don’t seem to understand…”
Classic Algy, simply classic. Had to put me stubbie down and go for the tissues. Well done young fella.
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“Too much information for Alfie there Alpo. I suspect the only BBQ they attend is the Liberal party one and they wouldn’t have to pay for it.”
Just beautiful, poetry in motion.
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Thanks HOO, two I did not think would get up. Then again its Alfie the village parrot.
Happy with the cricket old fella?
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Re cricket – got this from a pommy friend this morning (clearly a rehash of an old joke) :
An Australian father goes into his daughter’s bedroom and sees a letter addressed to “Mum and Dad” on the bed . With a heavy heart he opens it and reads:
Dear Mum & Dad,
It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m telling you that I’ve eloped with my new boyfriend . I’ve found real love and he is so nice . Especially with all his piercings, scars, tattoos and his big motorcycle .
But it’s not only that, I’m pregnant, and Ahmed said that we will be very happy in his caravan in the bush . He wants to have many more children with me and that’s one of my dreams too .
I’ve learned that marijuana does not hurt anyone and we’ll be growing it for us and Ahmed’s friends . They’re the ones providing us with all the cocaine and ecstasy we could ever want .
In the meantime we’ll pray for science to find a cure for AIDS, so Ahmed can get better . He deserves it .
Don’t worry about money . Ahmed has arranged for me to be in films that his friends Leroy and Jamal make in their basement . Apparently I can earn $200 per scene . I get a $200 bonus if there are more than three men in the scene and an extra $100 for the kangaroo .
Don’t worry Mum . Now I’m 15 I know how to take care of myself . Someday we’ll visit you and Dad so that you can meet your grandchildren
.
Your loving daughter,
Sarah
P.S. Dad, it’s not true . I’m watching TV at the neighbours. I just wanted to show you that there really are worse things in life than England retaining the Ashes .
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Boom Boom!
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Love it, the joke and the cricket. Normality has been restored.
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Ato – get a brown paper bag before reading this
The Abbott government has appointed former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella to the board of the government-owned naval shipbuilding firm ASC …
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No Job for the Girls then.
I notice Stott-Despoja got a gig from the Liberals dressed up as an appointment from outside the tent. That is until you realise she’s married to a former Liberal party advisor. I like her though Yes meant Yes and No meant No.
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Old Democrats: They bend whichever way the wind blows.
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She didn’t. Meg Lees did and it lead to the parties downfall.
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But .. but ..she kissed Bishop. I saw it on TV 🙂
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Julie and Natasha are going to lecture our neighbours about gender equality…they could start at home, with Abbott and his ONE woman cabinet….
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Which one hph, the stare or the voice of the 1920’s
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Julie Bishop… in the news last night…
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Did she stick the tongue in?(Just joking)
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Hung I was going to say that though thought it best not to.
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If I had to kiss Bishop or Alien, I would kiss Alien 🙂
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hph, every pollie named Bill must be shaking in their boots 🙂 Thanks Bronnie
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Its the hairdo and the high heals. She’s about 4’9″.
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Ooooo ..I’m getting kinky now…black latex, swastika, whips and handcuffs
😉
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I saw it too hph – she’s got guts doing that.
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Actually I don’t think I’d want a kiss from any of them.
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Vivienne, I met her on few occasions when I used to visit a friend who was sharing a house with her in student days. (Her grandmother’s house.) I can’t remember whether her granny was living in the old folks’ village or had passed away. Anyway, my friend was involved in the overseas student union, was a president and left of centre- now a successful lawyer dealing in industrial relations. On those few occasions when I had conversations with her, I noticed that she was ambitious and politically always followed a straight line. I could see in her eyes that she knew definitely what she wanted for the future and never revealed it. I was never able to work it out until she got married. 🙂
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Natasha is married to the ex-advisor to Alexander Downer, hmm…I always got the feeling that she was extremely ambitious…
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Yes, Helvi.
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Somewhere along the line some confusion crept in. Natasha kissed Julie Bishop, not Bronnie. So who did hph meet ? Julie Bishop never married. Did hph know Natasha? or Julie?
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Natasha, Viv, no one would marry Julie…
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🙂
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I know, Vivie. I nearly choked on a rising flood of puke when I saw that on telly!
Well, if pollies don’t look after their own who will look after them, ey?
What utterly sickening corruption!
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Their list of party politcal/jobs for the boys and all that stuff is growing by the day. After ditching Steve Bracks they replaced him with three old Libs farts (and I mean OLD). Now we have Tim Wilson on Human Rights !!!
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Old being the operative word vivnene, Menzies daughter is 86 and the youngest was 79. Not that I’m being ageist here, however you do need to get the Liberal lie oops I mean view of history don’t you. Tim Wilson on Human rights is a strange appointment.
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I see Peter Costello is now been made head of the Future Fund albeit acting
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All a bit sick making but I don’t expect Costello to stuff it up as he gave birth to it !!!
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Where there’s a will there’s a way.
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Tim, bloody Wilson doesn’t know anything about Human Rights, few times I have seen him on The Drum, he shouts and interrupts; only his views matter….
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$325k should focus his mind a bit H.
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WHAT THE ..!!!!
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And all this is why I have said what the f..k was Rudd doing giving jobs to Tim dickhead Fischer and Brendan Nelson etc. Being nice to Libs gets you nowhere. They won’t return the favour/nicety and at first chance they’ll boot out anyone who doesn’t fit their jobs for the boys agenda. First off the rank being Bracks for a job for which he was not even going to be paid.
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Viv, well ,Sophie looks a bit like a boat, a battleship, not like those flimsy old asylum seeker boats…
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Yeah..but..she’ll never sink.
🙂
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Submarines I understand, they mightn’t go down as they should.
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$70 odd thousand for sitting on the board. Nice.
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What will she offer them, how to ignore your lover, sneering 101, bugger the electorate I’ll do what I like, how to write rubbish, sounds a natural to warm a seat.
Gee you’ve got to love these political appointments to government boards, useless as one legged people in arse kicking contests.
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Oops that should be as useful as not useless
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“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.
Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.
A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.
A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.
When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.
A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one’s suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother.
So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.”
— Hermann Hesse (Bäume. Betrachtungen und Gedichte)
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I love trees, I have lost count how many of them I have planted; in the inner city of Balmain, on our country property, even here I have managed a couple of Manchurian Pears and one Birch tree…
Love Hermann Hesse too, a beautiful extract from his writing….
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News: Fans spread ashes of loved ones on MCG turf.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-15/mcg-warns-fans-not-to-spread-ashes-of-loved-ones-on-turf/5157672
We need a tributary of Yarra River passing thru the centre of the MCG.
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Some people ! Ashes of cremated people are not actually ash. It is crushed up bone. It doesn’t blow in the wind, or easily spread. It is nothing like what people think. More like white gravel. I kept my Dad’s ‘ashes’ in the pantry for 4 years before I could ‘spread’ them. Well it took a hacksaw to get the box open and I discovered why it was so heavy (I thought it was just the box). I put them at the base of a tree which he had given me.
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Yes, it’s more like ‘dumping’ the ashes, isn’t it? Essentially calcined bone. At least human ashes are able to release their minerals into the environment. A fitting monument!
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There is dignity and respect in what you did, Vivienne.
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hph – because of my mother’s horridness I was alienated from my father for some years. It’s a long story. We had barely two short years together before his second wife took him way up north. I was able to get his ashes sent to me (I went to the funeral) and I felt the need to keep his company close – it was natural. He did get to see his granddaughters during one lovely visit. It’s all a bit sad.
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Watched Lantana on SBS last night, seen it before, but still liked it, excellent acting all the way to the minor characters…I believe it was filmed in Glebe?
I also saw The Chopper a couple weeks ago, Eric Bana was brilliant in it, thought it very funny..
What happened to our movie making, the politicians don’t talk about arts anymore, we need Keating and Whitlam back, those were the days when Art mattered…
No we have Nasty Brandis as our Minister for Arts…how sad.
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Believe it or not it was John Gorton (a Lib) who was persuaded by Phillip Adams to fund Australian Films. I’ve recorded Lantana for later. I agree Bana was brilliant as Chopper. There have been a few new Aussie films made recently. Hill 39 or something like that was great.
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You are right it was Gorton, I always remember him as a nice Liberal…they don’t even make Liberals like they used to…
Perhaps movie making has moved to TV series, there as been some quite good shows lately on ABC, they all seem to be made in Victoria.
It’s raining here, so going to movies might save the day…American Hustle seems to the best one on offer at our local Cinema.
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It was called Beneath Hill 60.
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Helvi – I did a Yahoo search – there are many Australian films – some probably just don’t get the coverage or open in enough cinemas to become famous enough. It remains very American even though many are made here.
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Viv, we have plenty of talent, good actors, good directors…we don’t want to lose them.
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