A Christmas Rostrum

T’was the night before Christmas and I couldn’t give a rat’s arse.

Season’s Greetings to you too!

I’m working, so would like to take this opportunity to wish one and all the very best of seasons greetings, hope you have good company, good food, good drink and good cheer.
Thanks for being our host and indulging us throughout the year reb!

Chinese very fast rail to open up the country with ‘city clusters’.

http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-12/25/content_16049201.htm

Merry Christmas to all the TDT sparring partners and lurkers!!
——-
Did I happen to mention during the past year that I think Gillard is dishonest and Swan is a bombastic dill?

Happy Boxing Day, TB and etcetera.

‘mocking gender inequality only makes you look like a fool, egg …’

I’m not mocking anyone.

Sometimes I have to socialise with left leaning public servant types. I have no idea what they do, but it all sounds terribly important.

One woman recently commented to another left leaning woman that ‘our girl’ did well in her misogyny speech.

*Is it common for public servants to call the Prime Minister ‘our girl’?
*Or is the term limited to other ‘girls’
*Would it be appropriate to call Abbott ‘our boy’?
========
I think egg’s rhyming slang in funny (I presume that’s what it is).

I don’t own a boat T B

Its too hard…… Ridiculously hard to manufacture a tax loss out of one these days so I don’t bother. I only get invited for my good humour , conversation and fishing knowledge.

We caught a 2 metre grey nurse last week. It took 3 of us 40 minutes to get her completely free of the line and free again.

But as a consolation we caught 14 flatheads between 500mm and 650mm.

Plus various jewfish and bream ( around 25) in one night.
All 16 miles out.

It is cringeworthy, but I also think it is indicative of the sense of possession some feel over her. Gillard is a symbol that even mediocre bogans can be successful.

She is a rallying point for the easily inspired.
========
One of the benefits of summer on the Victorian coast is the abundance of good byos. I’m always more interested in wine than in food.

This evening I tried a 2004 bin 407, which I consider a great night out in a bottle. The food was quite edible.

I used ‘scathing’ Tom and apologise to the blogmaster. It should have been ‘razor sharp wit’.

I certainly don’t. Tom’s the authority.

This place is dead without the sock puppets.

Definition: Retirement (part time workers and VSBs) work without pay or holidays …

On the blogosphere its not uncommon to find sock puppets, although to be fair nobody is ever sure if they really are sock puppets.

Some of these cowardly pricks may in fact be women.

el gordo is starting its own blog then? It’s so good at telling blogmastas how it’s done. Put up ot shut up biatch!

As a matter of interest, this evening I have enjoyed a bottle of 07 Jaraman Shiraz. The food was incidental to the enjoyment of the wine.

”When it comes to the political debate, it’s been a real race to the bottom,” said John Hewson.

Putin is moderately dangerous, he runs a quasi police state. The days of Russian adventurism are over, Afghanistan was the straw that broke the camel’s back and there will be none of that on Putin’s watch.

KL, will be working…

yep, still working, one more night shift then 4 x days off! I plan to ring in the new year with a bottle of moet, bruschetta and nibblies. I’ll be toasting loved ones near and far and those now departed from us. This year I’ll add a toast to TDT contributors, my ‘other family’ I like dysfunctional families!

Sock pupets need a holiday too. It’s slow because most people who actuallly earn a living are having a holiday.

The 2004 bin 407 went down well then? 😆

Well, those that work business hours anyway. Unfortunately these people are the ones that want others ‘earning a living’ like shift workers, hospitality workers and those who provide essential services to receive no penalty pay for their unsocial hours worked. They make out that public holidays and weekends are just ordinary hours.

If that is what business wants, I expect business to operate outside of business hours, I want banks, councils, govt services, accounting firms etc to be all open on weekends, A/H and public holidays too. Lets have some equality of working hours – good for some, good for all.

India has just stepped onto the ladder … Australia is halfway up … Scandinavia is closer to the top … each country will seek its own destiny …

Indian women and men are demanding their voices be heard and demanding change, the govt is hastily trying to placate.

Of course all women deplore violence against other women anywhere in the world. It is sickening to see what an entrenched system of patriarchy delivers for women in a society where no justice is forthcoming and no punishment given to offenders who are protected within that society.

Too hard? Not as much fun as practising misandry at home?

That comment is quite offensive. Why do you feel that women must be the ones responsible for male behaviour, violence and attitudes? Why are aussie men like you not equally outraged and protesting in the streets? This is not simply a ‘women’s’ issue, it is one for society.

just shows there is still much work to be done here!

‘That comment is quite offensive.’

I apologise unreservedly.

The rape in India is shocking, but we shouldn’t forget the violence against women that is so common here.

The recent rapes and murders are usual by repeat offenders. As I’ve suggested, it’s time to get serious about repeat, violent offenders. Anyone convicted of sexual violence against women gets the right to wear a tracking device for a decade.

Many women would still be alive if these people were under surveillance.

—————–
The 407 was great AO, the pleasures of the annual holiday – red of an evening and surf during the day.

India is a Medieval culture.

TB,

Its not a tough sell dude…If you have trouble seeing the differences between the two here I am afraid your living in OZ…

India is a Medieval society because they have ‘untouchables’.

Respect for law and order is certainly a characteristic of culture. Any culture that lacks respect for minority groups, asylum seekers, the disposed or women (or which sees them as fair game) are a few rungs down on civility.

Oh fuck I see

Usual subjects under discussion….

I might swim out to sea and fish .

WTF!
Six blokes attack a couple beat them up … rape the woman and she dies … is a “misunderstanding” …

Yes TB.
I can’t see any misunderstanding at all, it is women being viewed and treated as sexual objects same as it is in western culture.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/29/clash-cultures-india-women?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

…Few among the overwhelmingly youthful protesters had much confidence in their leaders. Many asked why they should trust political parties who in the last five years have fielded candidates for state elections that included 27 charged with rape and scores more under investigation for harassment and assault…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/30/india-gang-rape-victim-cremated

…On the night of the attack, the woman and a male friend, who also has not been identified, were on a bus after watching a film when they were attacked by six men who raped her. The men beat the couple and inserted an iron rod into the woman’s body, resulting in severe organ damage. Both were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police…

… rape is not about sex … it is about power and control …

exactly TB.
And this idea that men are not responsible for their own actions, apparently the mere sight of a woman unleashes powerful and uncontrollable urges in many men. Of course it is the woman’s fault, the way she dresses, looks, talks, acts, etc. If she dares to be out alone and after dark, whatever her circumstances, she is ‘fair game’ and even if she does nothing at all, if he imagines it to be, then it is.

A couple of quotes which to me reflect one modern male’s version of patriarchy, power and control.

…5. ‘I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons’

6. ‘I think there does need to be give and take on both sides, and this idea that sex is kind of a woman’s right to absolutely withhold, just as the idea that sex is a man’s right to demand I think they are both they both need to be moderated, so to speak’…

And if she is overpowered and ‘legitimately’ raped, if her magical female body hasn’t managed to ‘shut the whole process down’ and she becomes pregnant as a result of her attack, she should welcome her attacker’s violent ‘gift’ to her:

Wake up: It’s not just Akin:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/21/opinion/granderson-gop-rape-abortion/index.html

Can you tell me sparta, is the republican party’s attitudes and legislations affecting female fertility any different to male attitudes and beliefs in India?

“What’s the bet the Indian courts are about to see this as the fourth time … politically expedient … and true justice if I was the girls family …”

The country is ass backwards, my father in-law says as much hence why he moved his family to Canada…It is rather disappointing. I have a profound respect for the Indian “people” and their rich history but my god, talk about a country struggling to let go of its past and join the modern world

Hardly…Simply stating the obvious…In one culture it is seen as a minor transgression and in another a completely despicable act that should be condemned on all fronts; prosecuted with the full powers of the law. Here, no country wide demonstrations needed, get the point?

I do sparta, a crime without a lot of convictions.

If it really were seen as despicable act, there wouldn’t be any rapes in the US or Australia would there? I don’t think reality quite matches your rosy view of a much more civilised country eg women not being covered by health insurance for rape, rape kits not funded, police not prosecuting the crime.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/09/cbsnews_investigates/main5590118.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

…Rape in this country is surprisingly easy to get away with. The arrest rate last year was just 25 percent – a fraction of the rate for murder – 79 percent, and aggravated assault – 51 percent. ..

“Somehow all we can do is take the statement from the victim. Take the statement from the alleged perpetrator and then throw up our hands because they are saying conflicting things,” he said. “That’s not how we investigate other crimes.”…

So, not nearly prosecuted to the full extent of the law, almost as much non-reporting of rape as there are rapes because the victims don’t want to be traumatised all over again by the legal process. How she looks, dresses, behaves and her past sexual history is paraded publicly. Where the homelife, lifestyle and pesonal choices of the victim are poured over and she is viewed as either a ‘good girl’ or a ‘bad girl’.

In US in 2008 there were:

Nearly 90,000 rapes
Another 75,000 not reported
Arrest rate of 25%
89,000 rapes & 22,584 arrests

Better than India no doubt, but hardly what you claim as seen as a despicable act and prosecuted to the full extent of the law or even condemned on all fronts.

Likewise…and a very happy new year to my absent friends ToSY and James.

Happy New Year to all!!… including lurkers, adversaries and self-excluded nongs.

I’m off for an overdose of red.

“TB Queensland PERMALINK
December 28, 2012 6:59 pm
… most people who actuallly earn a living are having a holiday.
Wish I could …
Definition: Retirement … work without pay or holidays …”

Perhaps you should not have been so self confident to think you could retire sooooo early

All we hear now is how tough you find it

Get me a violin

In this straw poll 84% said they couldn’t live on $246 a week.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/the-great-vanishing-act-macklins-dole-comment-disappears-20130101-2c3yw.html#poll

After falling into a black hole recently I went cap in hand to Centrelink and they doubled my pension to $200 a week.

Bandt needs to start with the $246 then-

• Make sure his cupboard, fridge and car are all empty
• Put aside 2% of his annual rent or mortgage payment and rates
• 2% of his car registration
• 2% of his home and vehicle insurance
• 2% of any school fees
• Buy a weekly public transport ticket

…then see how hungry he’s going to get over the course of the week.

Macklin might try this too.

Reb will be back in the office by the end of the week, a changed man.

I await his first post with breathless anticipation.

Yeah…

At Uni in the early 90’s, living on spit…we used to make $4 chips last for three days & keep reheating a few at a time. A bottle of Black & Gold tomato sauce & the nutritional requirements were complete!
Of course, this was so that we had enough ca$h over, after paying bills, that we could afford a few 12ltr casks.

Happy Days… 😯

WTF, that was NOT the vid I posted!

“Reb will be back in the office by the end of the week, a changed man.”

Indeed I shall..

Look out….!!

“I pay more in tax than I ever thought I would earn, and I really don’t object. Though like anyone, if I had the choice, I’d prefer to pay less.”

I have that ” preference ” this financial year and on current trend won’t be paying any thanks to Wayne Swan.

Thanks Wayne for raising the tthreshold to $20k. That means $40k for 2 of us plus $25k each in super ie $50k

Oh look $90k and sofar no tax

Thanks for the accelerated I pay more in tax than I ever thought I would earn, and I really don’t object. Though like anyone, if I had the choice, I’d prefer to pay less.

Wayne that’s another $10k goe off the income. Thanks for 2 cars Wayne that’s another $30k in expenses

And thanks for the negative gearing on our 3 investment properties one of which we bought 2 months ago and are renting out before we move in in 8 years time after Wayne has paid for it.

And finally thanks for the negative gearing on our share portfolio .

That sucks up the rest

Thanks Wayne

And thanks for allowing me to prepay so many expenses on 30 June that you have already been told to put a stop to.

That’s another $65k at current estimates

Thanks Wayne.

“…The deviousness of this government is endemic, it starts at the top and pollutes the entire government. ”

The fact that they wont release their own recording is quite damniing of the lie originally told that her reply was “inaudible”.

It was anything but “inaudible”

“After reading Wally’s gloating………….”

Not “gloating”

Just thanking Wayne

The real good news is I have a close nephew who has saved up and taken a year off to hike around SE Asia.

He will likely qualify for the full tax fre threshold so I might just gift him $1,000 in exchange for use of his tax free threshold this year. That’ll save me 30% (Company rate) x $20K = $6K less $1K gift.

So another $5K saved

Thanks Wayne

Now I’m wondering about the girlfriend travelling with him ………………Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Heat wave over the next couple of days, people will flock to the beach. Many will drink too much and get into trouble beyond the break.

Surf lifesavers will swim out and rescue them, they’ll be wearing ‘budgie smugglers’.

At another beach, drunks will be hanging it on the lifesavers for wearing ‘budgie smugglers’.

Alcohol and water don’t mix.

The “hidden message’ is – the following groups use the term “budgie smugglers” as a form of disparagement –

• Bogans who get drunk at the beach
• People who probably can’t swim a lap of their local pool, let alone swim in the ocean
• Latte drinking types who wouldn’t volunteer for any form of community service
• ALP barrackers who can’t stand the notion that Abbott participates in a surf lifesaving club

Yum, I was given some Black Label for Xmas, a fancy small bottle. Nice thought, but a large Red Label would have been better…. under the circumstances.

Al Jazeera acquires Gore TV

The irony burns.

“BTW, I paid much higher taxes between 1964 and 1992 than you ever will … ”

Silly you then

By the way…………….all that money was spent long ago. Its no excuse to retire early and now suck on the taxpayers teat when you could have been a fully funded retiree.

Excuses excuses.

That’s the reason for my Tax Vacation.

Currently checking brochures on some good International Tax Conferences in the more stressful areas of the World.

No not New York or London or Paris……………………….

Other joints like Palm Beach Florida, Puerto Rico and the Canary Islands. The real stress capitals of the World .The personal assistant might need to come along as well.

Thanks Wayne

Johnny Walker is luvly. Had a couple of Italian beer on Xmas Eve and woke up the next morning dry retching.

Can’t talk now, off to eat cake.

Boo !

‘An imported beer ?’

Peroni …Nastro Azzurro

Mmmmmmmmmmm……..

Switzerland ya reckon

The joint was only set up to make chocolate , watches, anonymous bank accounts, cows with bells around their necks, tax evaders. Gorgeous women and some silly looking woman singing about The Hills Are Alive with the Von Crap Family.

I like their attitude to tax

But since I don’t pay any this year I won’t migrate this year.

And they import beer from Italy which I hear makes one dry retch

Does Wayne brew italian beer now ?

😯

Maybe, but I think people will vote for the politicians they believe they can trust, regardless of the policies they announce.

Well that would mean a 100% informal vote, just turn up and get your name crossed off, because there is no-one in australian politics who can be trusted to serve the needs and wishes of the public in a system of complete political enslavement to neoliberal corporocracy.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/campbell-hanging-chads-newmans-excellent-adventure/

…USUALLY, when the tories are in trouble, they change the rules of the game — or that’s what they do in Australia anyway…

‘Behind the healthy and wealthy facade of the northern beaches lies a secret problem: alcohol.

‘For the second year in a row, a Fairfax Media analysis of health statistics has found residents of some of the northern suburbs are the healthiest when it comes to everything but alcohol use.’

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/data-point/citys-poor-get-sick-the-rich-get-drunk-20130105-2c9uj.html#ixzz2H8UeVqxd

This article was copied form The Daily Derp on 6 January, 2013 at 02:40. You can read the original article here: http://thedailyderp.net/2013/01/06/peta-credlin-and-the-streisand-effect/

Peta Credlin And The Streisand Effect

…So Australian voters, do your part and help Peta fulfill her ambition of becoming a mother by making sure her boss gets utterly wiped out at this year’s election.

She’ll thank you all for it…

https://twitter.com/MattDonovanAU/status/287720870032601089

@eddietqldRT @daveyk317: What a load of crap: where is the analysis of #LNPConspiracy #AshbyGate ? Instead we get this: http://t.co/lPcwUCkM what …

I certainly stopped using the word once it was pointed out to me.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/broadcast/abc-fights-to-keep-top-staff-pay-secret/story-fna045gd-1226548580475

”THE ABC could be forced to disclose details of the pay packets of its top broadcasters and producers at programs such as Media Watch, Four Corners and Mornings with Jon Faine after it lost two appeals to block access to the information.
The national broadcaster received $1 billion in government funding in the last financial year and spent $486 million on wages and superannuation.
A further $25m went to “consultants and contractors”.
But the ABC does not want to provide a breakdown of who its biggest earners are.
According to the ABC’s annual report for the 2012 financial year, 401 employees earned more than $150,000 each – an increase from 312 the previous year. The ABC employs the equivalent of 4603 full-time employees.”

Incredible! About 1 in 10 people in the ABC earn over $150K. The proportion earning this has risen by almost a third.

What is it about the public sector that gets that putting their snout in the (taxpayer funded) trough?

What possible reason is there that the expenditure should be withheld from the public? Why shouldn’t it be fully disclosed?

The public sector just leaks cash; the public then has to keep topping it up.

The best option is to contract out the ABC, no need to sell it. Broadcasting contractors would provide a far better and more efficient service.

‘The best option is to contract out the ABC, no need to sell it. Broadcasting contractors would provide a far better and more efficient service.’

Agreed.

“specialist consultants in ministerial roles”

To a degree this is how the US system operates, the president chooses the executive and it is then approved by Congress.

I didn’t used to like the US system, but I’ve become a convert. The Westminster System is tired and limits the gene pool to time serving hacks, sprinkled with a few celebrities. The US system would produce far better political leaders in this country. It would produce a contest between Turnbull & Rudd, people like Peter Beatty or even Paul Keating could be appointed to a cabinet post.

Our system of government is tired and introspective, it needs a kick up the a**e.

————-
But it is the ABC that needs the knife, and putting out a series of contracts for services, where contractors have to specifically deliver in accordance with the charter would provide balance.

“The Charter is in place, it will be a better ABC and Mark Latham won’t be getting his axe.”

Just sell the brand name”ABC”

No one wants its lazy overpaid employees.

My business partner once worked at Gore Hill and I gained the distinct impression that it was a sheltered workshop.

The Australian Brainwashing Corporation is simply beyond the pale, I’m furious. Where’s Latham?

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4455022.html

“…only the Chinese could afford it.”

The Chinese can have the “Red” bits. There are plenty of those

Yes, the wonderful capitalist system and privatisation:

White Paper on Privatization

http://www.corporations.org/privatization.html

Governments are broke because public services and tax dollars have been mismanaged:

One important reason governments have been struggling with deficits during the past few years is that they have lost major sources of revenue. One important source of lost revenues has been ever lower tax rates on those who earn the most and on corporations…
…Nowadays, corporations think they have the right to demand huge subsidies to remain in or come to a city, county, or state. Governments feel they have no choice but to pay when corporations threaten to move if they aren’t given subsidies. The amounts of tax dollars being handed over to corporations is no trivial sum…

Government spending is full of incompetence, waste and fraud. Privatizing would eliminate this problem:

First, this argument assumes that the private sector is free from these problems. Ask whether this belief is based on a private sector which is uniquely competent, thrifty, and honest or one that has managed to escape scrutiny. If the same standards of judgment were used, it is obvious that the private sector does not escape problems of waste and fraud. The past decade has seen many corporate leaders sent off to prison for corruption and misusing their positions…

…Yes, there are a few well-known examples of government overspending…
…These examples are notorious but do not paint an accurate picture of government spending. In any case, the public sector has a long way to go to catch up with the private sector in terms of misused funds…

Market forces and competition ensure that the private sector delivers a higher quality service at a lower cost than the public sector:

First, all of us over the last 15 years have had a chance to see the impact relying on market forces have. These are the forces which have led to the devastation of our cities and the failure of the S&Ls. Given their performance, we can’t assume their results are always benign…

The answer is that most often it isn’t happening. Either it will provide a different service or it will provide the service in a way that makes us uncomfortable or it is given subsidies of public money or services that are not counted in the total of amounts spent…

The Asian Tigers have dumped the Euro, which dashes their hopes of one day toppling the US dollar.

Meanwhile, China is chasing after the thorium dream… safe nuclear power.

Nine is profitable, its only the financiers at the top who have foolishly paid too much.

China is buying media assets in Africa at a rapid pace and they have expansion plans for the US as well. There is resistance in the US because the Chinese are so corrupt… clamping down on freedom of the press at home.

If the Chinese can’t have the ABC they could buy Nine for a song.

How many large organisations, employing it’s workforce in capital cities, ie not in hardship locations, pay 1 in 10 over $150k pa?

It’s a disgrace. The ABC is a self interested cobal, largely unaccountable.

I agree with AO, storm the barricades…and start at the ABC.

From the “Allah the Most Merciful Files”

http://www.smh.com.au/world/raped-girl-15-faces-flogging-for-sex-20130108-2cdd2.html

http://www.smh.com.au/world/saudi-bride-15-escapes-from-husband-90-20130108-2cdff.html

http://www.smh.com.au/world/mother-kills-son-who-failed-to-learn-koran-20130108-2cdfm.html

And yet the Left embrace radical Islam and despise the Christian and Jewish faiths.

You lot make me laugh.

I do hope this creature gets the full 10 year jail sentence that is available in any prosecution by ASIC.

He needs to be made an example of just as an inside trader is from time to time.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/rogue-trader-hoax-triggers-314m-fall-20130107-2cd11.html

“…I do hope this creature gets the full 10 year jail sentence that is available in any prosecution by ASIC….”

“…Made a similar comment @ news.com.au … fraud if ever there was …”

TDT is like the funny pages today, or is it just me?

Ever heard that people shouldn’t believe everything they see on the internet?

It’s like there’s a double standard or something – whenever a consumer gets ripped off, all they get in recompense is glib “buyer beware” statements and the onus on self to research and check up about products.

“……..whenever a consumer gets ripped off, all they get in recompense is glib “buyer beware” statements and the onus on self to research and check up about products.”

So if you get ripped off by an overseas or domestic shopping website its someone elses fault is it ?

‘TDT is like the funny pages today, or is it just me?’

The old spark is coming back.