Barilla Pasta Faces Global Boycott after Anti-Gay Outburst!
- Guido Barilla says pasta brand will ‘never feature gays in ads’
- Italian chairman said his view of ‘traditional family’ is sacred
- Mr Barilla added if ‘gays don’t like it they can eat another pasta’
Barilla, the world’s biggest pasta maker is staring down a global boycott following an announcement by company chairman Guido Barilla that the popular brand would never feature a homosexual family in its ads.
Mr Barilla sparked an international controversy when he said that his idea of the ‘traditional families’ where the woman played a central part was ‘sacred’.
“If gays don’t like it they can eat another brand of pasta,” he said.
Mr Barilla told Italian radio Radio 24: ‘Our concept is not that of a gay family.”
‘For us, the concept of the nuclear family is a fundamental value of the company.’
When the interviewer pointed out that gay people also eat pasta he said: “Okay, if they like our pasta and our branding let them eat it, otherwise they can choose another pasta.”
“You can’t always please everyone” he said.‘
LGBTI activists around the world are now calling for a boycott of Barilla Pasta.
Aurelio Mancuso, president of gay-rights group Equality Italia said “We accept his invitation to not eat his pasta,” and urged for supporters of LGBTI rights to take up the cause.
“Here we have another example of homophobia, Italian style,” said Alessandro Zan, an MP with the left-wing SEL party. “I’m boycotting Barilla and I invite other MPs to do the same. I’ve already changed pasta brands. Barilla is terrible quality.”
Rich Ferraro, Vice President of Communications for GLAAD, told The Gutter Trash in an emailed statement:
“These insulting anti-gay comments will not only lead to LGBT people skipping Barilla in favour of more inclusive brands like Bertolli, but their family members, friends and co-workers as well.”
“Homophobia is bad for business – plain and simple.”
“Mr Barilla’s opinion is ill informed, and he will soon learn that the new traditional family accepts gay and lesbian families and does not support companies that promote discrimination.”
UPDATE: San Remo have responded with this cool calculated move…
theguttertrash.com 
I’m quite happy to join the boycott!
For a number of reasons:
► It’s the 21st Century – this is obviously a 15th Century company – work methods and hygiene would be questionable
► There is no such thing as a “nuclear family”
► I have gay friends who eat pasta
► I’ve never heard of Barilla so I won’t miss anything
► The bloke is obviously a wanker so who knows what ingredients are in his fkn pasta …
WAY OFF TOPIC! Apologies, sreb …
Hey! Did I tell you The Minister for War, Water, Finance, Fun & Power and I have been married for 45 years today @ 5:00 pm! (Was a Friday too) …
I drove around to the three local Aldi shops and managed to picked up 30 yellow roses* ($4.98 for ten) … waltzed into “Say It with Roses” and asked how much for 15 … after much umming and aaaaing … $75 … 😯 … thanked and left … Coles had ten for $10 …
$40 did the trick … she luvved ’em!
(She didn’t tell me she preferred yellow to red until our 25th!)
Dinner tonight is fish and chips on the beach with family and a couple of bottles of Mumm Brut I picked up on my flower run …
It’s a great marketing strategy by Barilla. How much pasta does Fred Nile eat?
Fred would suck it up wouldn’t he? 🙄
Congratulations TB!
“► I have gay friends who eat pasta”
How long has this been going on….?
How long have I known you?
I’m a big fan of Birdcage too …
oops … ta … manners … 😛
“How long have I known you?”
a long time now TB… 🙂
“I’m a big fan of Birdcage too …”
Have you seen the original French version yet…? It’s way funnier than the remake…
Congrats TB and of course to the Minister in charge of many portfolios.
Ta, egg …
… no I haven’t yet, sreb …
I’m convinced the older you get the faster time goes and this year it seems to have been super fast …
I never seem to home but I’m planning/organising another trip! (good news tho’ The Minister is getting a bit weary of travelling …)
We have a real problem ’cause my jobs from the mid 1970’s to when I retired (finally) in 2007 … entailed a lot of travel both driving and air travel … across Queensland, across Oz and to the USA, Chile and quite a lot to PNG … so when I retired I jut wanted to stay at home!
The Minister however, worked in Brisbane and had been our business manager for 16 years – at home – guess what she wanted to do? She’s been saying that our Asia trip next year will probably be the last one overseas … we’ll see … 😉
BTW, sreb, is this the “weekend” fred or do you have something “speshul” planned?
Take this as the weekend thread TB..
I’ll be asking my local Italian restaurant whether they serve Barilla, because I live in a “family” suburb.
At the risk of being called a homophobe or something (because that’s what happens when you say stuff like this), I still feel compelled to say it:
Lighten the fuck up, gay people. You’ve won the argument. Most people accept you for who you are. Stop being so fucking quick to take offence.
Generally people who support Hawthorn are-
• Crooked lawyers
• Property developers
• Tax cheats
• Jeff Kennett, a zealot, a nutcase
While Fremantle barrackers are-
• Deranged car mechanics
• Welfare recipients
• Bankrupt small businessmen
• Brian Burke, a dishonest nutcase
It is a tough choice for sensible people, although I think Fremantle types are typical of everyone who lives west of Ceduna.
While Hawthorn has the angry runt Clarkson, Fremantle has Ross Lyons, who is both angry and duplicitous (a future ALP leader?), therefore…
GO HAWKS!!!!!
I agree with IPA.
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/bertolli-makes-most-barilla-chairmans-anti-gay-comments-152758
Yeah!!
First they want to be equal with us, then they want to get married just like us, now they want to eat the same f**king food as us!! What’s next??!!! They’ll probably want to slip it to our women!!
I agree!! Enough is enough!!
Fkn homophobe …
I don’t want to hurt your feelings but …
i know I’m wrong to say this but …
Everybody knows stuff like that, its
commonsensecommon-sense… bugger, er, common sense ….If the “argument” was “won” we wouldn’t even have this fred … and there would be gay marriages in Australia … who should lighten the fk up … again? 🙄 🙄
San Remo looks like interesting (and clever) spag … and I know the make too … wonder if the colours run? 😛
“now they want to eat the same f**king food as us!!”
LOL!!
I agree – WHEN WILL THIS INSANITY END??!!
According to ToM, when we all have one big fkn love fest! 🙄
“Lighten the fuck up, gay people. You’ve won the argument. Most people accept you for who you are. Stop being so fucking quick to take offence.”
Guido Barilla’s comments are just the most recent in the barrage of bigoted public declarations that Italian LGBT people read on a weekly basis coming from MPs and other public figures like famous football players, actors, and now also corporate officers. But what made this time different was that, in a country where there is no public condemnation for homophobic speech, boycotting a specific brand is the only practical way of fighting back. Italian LGBT people and Italians sympathetic with the cause have started tweeting with the hashtags #boycottBarilla and #boicottaBarilla and making fun of Barilla’s advertisements. These viral protests have in turn attracted even more support through social media and involved non-LGBT people in the discussion, which is genuinely unprecedented in Italy.
To understand this response, you need to understand the larger state of gay rights in the country; this campaign is not only about the comments themselves. Regardless of what statistics say about the state of homophobia in Italy, there is a general feeling of exasperation among LGBT people there. Just a few days ago, the Parliament decided to respond to a rise in homophobic violence in the last years with an anti-homophobia law, but LGBT activists called it “useless” since it protects anti-gay speech within political, cultural and religious groups. The debate accompanying the law has been characterized by homophobic remarks from members of various political parties who continually spoke of a “right not to like gays” in terms of freedom of speech. So, when Guido Barilla shared his bigoted opinions, his comments became a casus belli to talk about how far the normalization of public homophobia can go.
But the real power of this boycotting campaign is that it has spread over the Italian borders due to the smart use of social media to attract wider European and international attention. While Guido Barilla might have naively thought he was merely in line with “the spirit of the times” in homophobic Italy, his comments sound even more misplaced in Barilla’s global market where many countries have laws that protect gay families. Yes, I know it’s sad that we must engage with corporate forces to start a conversation about LGBT rights in Italy, but if the Italian political institutions do not respond to our demands for protection, what else would you suggest we do?
Now, if you are concerned that your boycott of Barilla in the U.S. or elsewhere won’t have any effect, be assured that Italian politicians are already paying attention. During a political discussion in the Italian Parliament on the “Barilla case” yesterday, an MP from the Lega Party decided to provoke two openly gay MPs with a fennel bulb (finocchio is the Italian slang for “faggot”) and to try to physically assault one of them. I know this scene might sound surreal, but it is indicative of the state of affairs in Italy. In such a charged context, even a simple public boycott becomes a very political gesture.
In the end, this Barilla campaign is not really about the potentially minor impact of boycotting—it’s about the possibility of protesting itself. And it’s about how an invisible minority of LGBT people is finally finding a way to speak for itself to a national and international audience. In a country where there are very few public intellectuals speaking for the LGBT community (and many scared just to come out), this feels grass-roots, this feels fresh. Even if it fades quickly, at least it gave us a chance to talk about the terrible situation of the gay people in Italy—and for that, the campaign deserves your respect.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/09/27/barilla_pasta_boycott_in_italy_italian_lgbt_life_and_homophobia.html
Lighten the fuck up, religious people. You’ve lost the argument. Most people don’t accept your dogmatic prejudices. Stop being so fucking quick to take offence.
Or a gate … Toillette … the buggers will take anything they can … 🙄 🙄
Well said Boss.
“Lighten the fuck up, gay people. You’ve won the argument. Most people accept you for who you are. Stop being so fucking quick to take offence.”
I agree with IPA!
Don’t take offence, hurt them the only place they feel it, the profits.
I’m pleased barilla has been open and won’t complain about an economic protest/boycott of their product. They let me have the freedom to choose.
There should be more of it, that way I can make purchases in line with all of my ethical/moral opinions [I will do so with barilla].
Most gutless corporations think the public should never know what they really stand for, they prefer anonymous lobbying behind closed doors with no fear of any public backlash.
The extreme right wing IPA should divulge their corporate donorship for the same reason, so I can make my personal choices accordingly. The corporate cowards want to have it all, profits plus behind the scenes political power through a puppet government with no chance of the public having the personal liberty to make their own informed choices.
Reckon I read somewhere recently that the new
HowardAbbott government is trying to legislate against corporate boycotts by environmental groups here in Oz.More of the true colours of their ideological underbelly on display.
… underbelly … is a good choice of words, Toillette, in the context of robbers …
G’day, KL … thought we’d lost ya! 🙂
Welcome back KL… We missed you… 🙂
Reckon I read somewhere recently that the new Howard Abbott government is trying to legislate against corporate boycotts by environmental groups here in Oz.
Yes, I saw that too. Apparently consumers should have no freedom of choice, corporations demand protected profits.
Doesn’t that go against the whole capitalist ideology, the mantra of competition and open markets?
G’day, KL … thought we’d lost ya! 🙂
Course not TB, I come and I go – happy anniversary to the golden couple 🙂
howdy reb, how’s things?
I prefer it when the country just runs itself, when we have no politicians polluting our airwaves and no media hysteria. So peaceful. I vote they no longer be heard.
I vote they no longer be heard.
LOL!
I was thinking along similar lines this morning (its a long walk!) but about these stupid “vignette debates” about who should be leader of the ALP … its quite unnecessary … ALP members would know the capabilities of each candidate by now … just hold a fkn vote and get on with the job …
Way too much chin wagging a la Yankee showbiz style politics for me …
And Shorten is just making himself look like a fool … you can’t fake true passion … just be yourself …
Way too much chin wagging a la Yankee showbiz style politics for me …
yeah, we got globalised a long time ago, now the US owns everything, including australia. Howard volunteered us for subjugation. It’s no surprise that a lot of their money is behind our politics through a variety of front organisations [IPA, cory bernardi’s many teabag donor outfits].
I like albo, but I fear the faceless powermongers of the ALP right [debruyn et al] have once again stitched it up to ensure no real democratic outcome. Shorten is of the right, he represents all that we have come to dislike about labor and what we want reform from.
And history just recycles itself ad nauseam …
(These Tom Holland books* are just reinforcing my views … today is no different to the Roman Empire and what followed … human nature is what destroys human beings … )
Part of a gift from someone here … 😉
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-28/accc-receiving-immunity-applications-for-cartel-investigations/4985906
ACCC plays a role in busting car parts price-fixing cartels:
ACCC chairman Rod Sims says it is difficult to know how widespread cartel activity is in other industries in Australia.
Wouldn’t be hard to guess that it is in all industry carried out in australia. There has been little oversight and the watchdogs are deliberately toothless and underfunded & underlegislated to the point of rampant cartel operations as normal business practice.
I’m good thanks KL…
Still fighting the good fight… 🙂
Our insurance dispute with APIA continues with the Financial Ombudsman Service …
It has gone from:
A complaint to APIA – ignored for a month … then an offer of $380
A further complaint by us not ignored but treated with some contempt
Registration with the FOS by us and a flurry of documents back and forth with a FOS Officer.
An assessment of the jewellery in question by a supposed independent jeweller (we numbered and catalogued the jewellery and then delivered it – the “assessor” said the delay was because he was doing this!! Told us one item was crap and then changed his mind – he assessed it in the company of an APIA rep
After an email from AAI (with 18 other dispute claimants emails listed!) arrived saying That AAI was taking over APIA’s claims – I got a phone call from the Claims Manager who should have contacted me 8 weeks earlier – after I emailed the FOS and complained about a lack of professionalism I received (and 17 others!) an email apologising from AAI
I was then contacted by a Legal Analyst who suggested a conciliation meeting … I couldn’t see much point but agreed to try … APIA refused
I got an email a month ago saying that the dispute was now in the hands of a Case Manager and he/she would make a Recommendation – but that they had a high case load … if we don’t agree we can then ask for a Determination … that will be in 2014 by their calculations …
I get the impression that the FOS personnel were just a bit too pally with the insurance employees … after reading all the documents …
This all began in February … we haven’t worn any of the jewellery since … we are concerned that bits will fall of it …
And finally … a ring that cost $4222.00 was insurance valued at $6000 … after the “assessment” it was valued at $9000 …
I translated that to car insurance for them … my new car cost just under $44,000 … but it wasn’t insured for $60,000 and it’s not now valued at $90,000 …
The ring we understand has a market value of about $2000 -$2500 …
We’ll now stick it out till the bitter end …
Gawd, that’s one awful saga TB.. 😯
Might explain some of my angrier posts concerning Robber Barons,sreb!
I might have put the mokkers on the conciliation crap ’cause he asked me if I new what it was – I told him about our run in with the ADF/Comcare and winning my son’s case at the Federal Administration Appeals Tribunal after 12 months and tackling their five solicitors … 😆
“I called the Australian embassy; for 24 hours we were calling them. They told us just send us the position on GPS, where are you,” one survivor, Abdullah, a man from Jordan, said.
“We did, and they told us, ‘OK, we know … where you are’. And they said, ‘We’ll come for you in two hours’.
“And we wait two hours; we wait 24 hours, and we kept calling them, ‘we don’t have food, we don’t have water for three days, we have children, just rescue us’.
“And nobody come. Sixty person dead now because of Australian government.”
SMH
HAWTHORN!!
At least the neighbourhood of shady property developers is happy.
Its official, water found on Mars.
“We tend to think of Mars as this dry place – to find water fairly easy to get out of the soil at the surface was exciting to me,” said Laurie Leshin, dean of science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and lead author on the Science paper which confirmed the existence of water in the soil. “If you took about a cubic foot of the dirt and heated it up, you’d get a couple of pints of water out of that – a couple of water bottles’ worth that you would take to the gym.”
Guardian
Stirring words indeed…
“they may take our
livespasta, but they’ll never take ourfreedompizza!!”Wow
Huge fires in my neighbourhood today. No comms or gas or power today.
Oh My god ………..the Humanity. LOL
Interesting week just watching certain obvious thjngs happen.
I dread the next generation of Leaders.
They will kil all if US
Suck shit Hawthorn. Buddy Billionaire Bighead will be off to GWS shortly.
Hilariously, Duddy Wannabillionaire Dustin has been shunned by all suitors & will end up back at Tigerland on the cheap. Must be a handful, because he’d be worth the price on the field.
I am kinda not enthused about MP’s coming from GenY & beyond either, evil one.
“I am kinda not enthused about MP’s coming from GenY & beyond either…”
Indeedy…
There’ll be the interminable idealist whingers like Sarah Hanson-Young on one side and idiot muppets like Jaymes Diaz on the other…
I get the impression that the FOS personnel were just a bit too pally with the insurance employees … after reading all the documents …
I think that is typical of the
delusionconcept that is ‘self regulation’. I’m glad you have the time and the inclination to fight them to the bitter end TB, most ordinary folks give up along the way because the deliberate delaying process is made too difficult, too time consuming and too exhausting for them to continue. Only the wealthy can afford to hire professionals to deliver a fair outcome. Giving up is what they want you to do.“And nobody come. Sixty person dead now because of Australian government.”
Nauseating stuff, people like neil, the great pretenders of concern for lives lost, will be happy though. Humanity overboard. If they really cared, they would be welcoming their safe arrival to australia, not insisting they push them back to a watery grave.
I liked the newspaper cartoon shown on Insiders this am with the caption which went something like [paraphrasing]
“If you want daily reports and maximum media coverage about boat arrivals, you’ll have to wait til we’re in opposition again”
“I am kinda not enthused about MP’s coming from GenY & beyond either…”
I’m not so sure, I see a lot of caring concern from gen Y on environment, racism and humanity, these young ‘uns communicate in a different way [social media] and they will stand up to authority rather than suck up to it. I think they are a relief from the selfishness and greed of gen X, they just may be our revolutionaries! [I hope].
“Nauseating stuff, people like neil, the great pretenders of concern for lives lost, will be happy though.”
Doesn’t take long for greenslime people to politicize the issue does it??
Doesn’t take long for greenslime people to politicize the issue does it??
Oh, we’ve only had the libs daily media hysteria & fearmongering for three long years on boat arrivals, but when the libs are in government there should be no politicising of issues!
good grief, conservatism really is an exercise in cognitive impairment. Political policy based on bigotry, ignorance, prejudice and much hypocrisy.
I probably shouldn’t have generalised about, genY.
I was thinking of the entitlement mentality & ignorant detachment of the worst of them.
Obviously, they’re not all like that. My own is one of em & she’s certainly an exception. You definitely wouldn’t want to put responsibility in the hands of a large proportion of her immediate peer group though; vain & superficial as they are.
There is definitely a groundswell of cognitive dissonance in the manner which ‘boat people’ have been, erm, ‘ignored’ since the change of government.
If this ‘new’ approach is indicative of how they’re going to ‘handle’ prickly issues, it is ominous indeed.
It’s like they think they can neutralise the dilemma by not mentioning & obscuring it. And, cynically, their fellow-travelling lickspittles are entirely comfortable with them doing so.
You definitely wouldn’t want to put responsibility in the hands of a large proportion of her immediate peer group though; vain & superficial as they are.
I blame rampant consumerism and marketing for that, out of control capitalism. Kids don’t have the maturity to withstand that advertising onslaught from cradle to grave. And parenting, parents who expect their kids to live in their rooms with TV’s, computers and smart phones for company while leaving them to relax with their wine in their lounges after a hard days slavery to ever more demanding employers.
It’s the parents who should be instilling the values, but many of them are too busy accumulating every shiny new thing and spending their money on vain and superficial cosmetic procedures in the search for eternal youth – they are the role models.
“I blame rampant consumerism and marketing for that, out of control capitalism. Kids don’t have the maturity to withstand that advertising onslaught from cradle to grave. And parenting, parents who expect their kids to live in their rooms with TV’s, computers and smart phones for company…”
I tend to agree.
I’m not one of ‘those’ parents. My kid is one of the only ones in her peer group (13yo) who doesn’t have a mobile phone & actually reads books for pleasure. A dwindling breed, imo.
It’s like they think they can neutralise the dilemma by not mentioning & obscuring it. And, cynically, their fellow-travelling lickspittles are entirely comfortable with them doing so.
Howard did it for many years, it really was a fascist control. Abbott is showing he will govern the same way, ban FOI, ensure everything is censored from public view [where are the great libertarian free speech advocates these days?] and act illegally behind the scenes.
Yeah, ain’t it funny how ‘free speech’ seems to depend upon your point of view.
I must admit, it was one of the things which rankled me the most about HowardCorp..
The ALP stands condemned for things like the proposed internet filter & media suppression legislation. And didn’t the wingnuts stomp up & down about that! But now, general silence while the new government battens down its information hatches.
And, cynically, their fellow-travelling lickspittles are entirely comfortable with them doing so.
yes, boat people are to be no longer heard, out of sight out of mind. Everyone can get back to being relaxed and comfortable with super media manipulator, phonytony. Oh hold on, who was it who brought it to everyone’s attention constantly anyway, said we should be very frightened and worried for our national security?
Could there be a ‘political’ motive in banning any media scrutiny and public knowledge of a failure to “stop the boats”? 🙄
poor neil, stockholm syndrome!
It was jools and Kev who started the boat fiasco, Abbott said before the election it would take a little time to undo.
And in order to maintain discipline within the Ministry its important to avoid door stop interviews with the media, this includes Abbott.
It was jools and Kev who started the boat fiasco, Abbott said before the election it would take a little time to undo.
undo what, people fleeing persecution and war? Why did anyone ever assist the jews?
yeah, julia and kev were open and honest about it, sent out press releases when another boat arrived, informed everyone. I can see how it was all their fault, not abbott who screamed hysterically about a non-problem every day through his media megaphones.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-26/green-tony-abbotts-incredible-disappearing-act/4980664
Tony Abbott’s incredible disappearing act:
…We let ourselves be taken for this ride, by participating mutely in a structured political drama that can argue for people’s very lives in one month then turn around the next and do the opposite straight faced. One of these elections we might demand better.
That we collude quietly for now is a particularly dark piece of moral turpitude. It shouldn’t be assessed against the standards of political cunning, it should be judged against the standards of simple decency…
[commenter]
Umberto:
26 Sep 2013 5:20:19pm
I understand Jonathan Green’s central point to be that, as concerning as the behaviour of politicians particularly of the right may be on the issue of refugees and asylum seekers, Australians’ easy acceptance of and even admiration for their distorted and indeed dishonest rhetoric, is the greater human failing. To that I would add, whether through our politicking, cheering of the current government or acquiescence, we have all failed an important test of good conscience. And that is to treat refugees and asylum seekers as we would wish to be treated.
https://twitter.com/vanOnselenP/status/384179039163777024
‘…undo what, people fleeing persecution and war? Why did anyone ever assist the jews?’
You know my feelings on this, whether they are genuine refugees or illegal guest workers they should be processed onshore, but that is someway off.
Best bet, bring the navy home, set up an old cruise liner just outside Indonesian territorial waters, where boat people can be safely accommodated. Genuine refugees would then be spirited to a safe haven in Oz.
The illegal guest workers remaining on the cruise ship could then be given a number of options …. like van dieman’s land.
“It was jools and Kev who started the boat fiasco, Abbott said before the election it would take a little time to
undosweep under the carpet.And in order to maintain
disciplineplausible deniability within the Ministry its important to avoiddoor stop interviewsuncomfortable interrogations with the media, this includes Abbott.”And in order to maintain discipline plausible deniability within the Ministry…
And make asylum seekers the responsibility of a general in defence where everything will be placed under a ‘national security’ cone of silence, defence are really open about their operations aren’t they?
…its important to avoid door stop interviews uncomfortable interrogations with the media, this includes Abbott.”
TEN EYEWITNESS NEWS | PM runs from media
Watch the Prime Minister dodge the media over the the latest asylum seeker tragedy on Australia’s doorstep. Ten’s Candice Wyatt asks the hard questions but gets no response.
See more at tennews.com.au
“Double standards for the 1st lawman”
Laws are for the little people.
The illegal guest workers remaining on the cruise ship could then be given a number of options …. like van dieman’s land.
That would be about 2% of boat people, the illegal guest workers are the 10’s of 1,000’s of visa over stayers.
He came to power promising to fix this festering sore and stop people drowning.
This government has no intention of becoming a media circus, there will be a time and place for considered interviews.
The other day Pyne was rebuked by Abbott for talking shit, which he justly deserved. So discipline is required to give the appearance of competent government.
‘That would be about 2% of boat people’ are genuine refugees.
This government has no intention of becoming a media circus, there will be a time and place for considered interviews.
stockholm syndrome again.
you have heard that abbott has hired his own personal camera man? Taxpayers will pay for pre-recorded government propaganda? No chance of live interviews and pesky media questions.
He came to power promising to fix this festering sore and stop people drowning.
The festering sore was made so by himself, he built it all. never was a big problem and there was only ever fake concern about people drowning for political mileage, libs & their supporters couldn’t care less as it already shows. Libs would prefer they drown than ever come to australia.
“But now, general silence while the new government battens down its information hatches.”
I hope you were not talking about me. I was replying to this nasty comment.
“Nauseating stuff, people like neil, the great pretenders of concern for lives lost, will be happy though.”
No need for comments like that.
The people coming here by irregular maritime arrivals (arriving by boat) are not people fleeing persecution…They’re coming here as economic migrants… We need a tougher, more hard-edged assessment.”
“Recent spike in Iranian immigration, which is overwhelmingly middle-class Iranians… who are coming to these shores as economic migrants”
Bob Carr
‘Libs would prefer they drown than ever come to australia.’
You’re talking nonsense.
ANGELA ISMAILOS: How do you see politics today, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall?
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: It was a very, very difficult moment. I was waiting for that moment, because I understood that it was very selfish, my being, considering myself, a communist. Very selfish. It was very easy for me. I was thinking how difficult it was for the people living across the wall. So it was a good thing that happened. But, of course, the whole left, including me, has been completely destabilised. It’s like having lost your identity, and it’s not easy to find back another identity, to reconstruct a new identity.
Neil, I’d use your name if I meant you specifically.
As for the other apologetics about the media blackout…I might have believed it if the people, now in government, hadn’t spent the past umpteen years screeching about & pantywetting, to overdramatise the issue for blatant political mileage.
None so blind…
‘It’s like having lost your identity, and it’s not easy to find back another identity, to reconstruct a new identity.’
That’s when they joined the Greens and reinvented themselves.
No need for comments like that.
You’re talking nonsense.
As I said, if you were concerned for them, you would have welcomed their safe arrival to our shores and shown compassion for their plight and circumstances. I never once heard that, it was “stop the boats, send them back, they pass through other countries, economic refugees, they are queue jumpers”. You would have condemned the policy of no family reunion for people found to be genuine refugees, which ensured women and children then drowned at sea while mostly men survived .
Neil, for three solid years you have banged the drum on asylum seekers in the nastiest, partisan political way. Almost every comment you placed was on the issue, you bashed labor mercilessly over the boats non-issue.
Now that the libs are in and have the navy deliberately letting people drown rather than saving them, you want it to be a no-go zone!
I for one, never thought your so-called concern was genuine, it’s as genuine as morrison and abbott’s.
It would save a lot of money if the government took the 10,000 asylum seekers waiting in Indonesia and flew them straight to Tasmania…. as long as the locals don’t mind.
I’m not a bleeding heart.
How to really make a stand!!!!
Now for the catliks ….
http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/north/all-saints-anglican-church-chermside-takes-a-stand-on-homosexuality/story-fni9r1kg-1226728763495
ToSY … are you trying to make a point? Or just plastering shit anywhere you can? WGAF about the opinions of a film director?
Next you’ll be posting Polanski’s views on paedophilia …
No-one here cares about communism except you, Wally, egg and sb … even James don’t give a shit … he might be intersted in my last post though … Revelations I … 🙄
Why bring it up?
Is it because the new federal tory government is acting like a bunch of fascists and you know it?
So many questions and no real answers …
“That’s when they joined the Greens and reinvented themselves.”
The left is still trying to find Bertolucci’s “new identity”, in my opinion. Several times on here I’ve asked the open question, what is it that defines modern leftism. Nobody has cared to answer it.
If you were to ask me the fundamental difference between left and right today, I’d say it’s that the right considers the individual to be sovereign over him- or herself, whereas the left thinks the state is sovereign over the individual.
KL, thanks for you noice comments to The Minister and me … 🙂
The right believes in every man/woman for him/herself …
The left believes in helping those worse off than themselves …
eg If the Titanic had been run by the tories there would be no women or children saved …
Just look at the present rabble … already scrabbling to assert their authority at the cost of Australia’s reputation …
“WGAF about the opinions of a film director?”
Guffaw. Bertolucci was a self-declared communist, and an influentual one, so his opinions on the subject should be taken seriously. It finally dawned on him that his great hero Marx had it all wrong. At least Marxism was an explicit ideology. It had a plan. Karl wrote it himself. Modern leftism is just anti the enemies of the old left: Anti-capitalism, anti-personal freedom, anti-American, etc etc. There is no actual founding principle that anyone is willing to explain.
“Why bring it up?”
To annoy you. 😉
“The left believes in helping those worse off than themselves”
Some do, but most are just self-aggrandising wankers who do more harm than good.
If Labor and the wanking classes had left the Pacific Solution alone, at least 1100 people would not have drowned. But unfortunately Kevin was there to “help”.There was no need to change the policy because there were practically no boats coming any more. But in a fit of moral vanity Rudd, and the cavalcade of cunts to the left of him, decided to “help”. Some murderous “help” that was. And the arrogant fuckers can’t admit they got it wrong or take responsibility for the tragic results of their perfidious posturing.
It wasn’t leftist policies that pulled 300 million people out of dire poverty in China, was it? But it is leftist policies that are keeping people in poverty in Cuba. It is leftist policies that have fucked up Greece and given Spain a 50% youth unemployment rate. What history does show is that market economies are the only means by which dramatic increases in living standards have been delivered to large numbers of people. When that happens we can then do something to help the less fortunate.
What we need is a balance between hard-headed realism and a desire to actually help. Sadly, every time conservatives try to inject a bit of realism into the discussion there is a cacophony of wailing and yelping as the dogs of the left reflexively bare their gangrenous fangs.
LOL!
Didn’t i say I don’t GAF? 🙄
The problem you and other tories have is that democracy/Kapitalism is no better … we are destroying people …
“The right believes in every man/woman for him/herself …”
In a way, that’s correct. The right expects individuals to be self-reliant, and not to turn to government to solve their problems.
“The left believes in helping those worse off than themselves …”
If by that you mean the left likes taking people’s money through taxation and spending it on social welfare programs of dubious benefit, then yes. If you mean spending their own money helping out the less fortunate, then possibly not.
Some do, but most are just self-aggrandising wankers who do more harm than good.
At least they try, which is more than i can say about tory/catliks with a long history going back millenia ( I’m currently reading) of misdirection, lies, cheating, thieving, deceit and anything else you can think of in the cesspool of human beings …
Now I’ll read the rest of your post …
And I did read the rest of your post … foul language included …
You do know that:
The Pacific Solution is/was illegal
There has been an illegal war in Iraq – engaged in by Howard
There has been a war in Afghanistan – engaged in by Howard
The Sri Lankan refugees really are refugees under the UN Charter
The ADF is the main cause of refugees coming here … because they are good at their job … winning hearts and minds …
That the …
…. why bother you won’t listen anyway … The Robber Barons have always won … we Freefolk can’t really help the serfs anyway … 🙄
Maybe The End of Days will prove all the religious nutters right and we’ll win … but what a price will have been paid by the Meek … as usual …
Religion has been highjacked to make money and create power
Democracy has been highjacked for the same reason
So has capitalism
At this stage I protect my family first and then my friends …
… nothing is new …………………………..
‘The Sri Lankan refugees really are refugees under the UN Charter’
In reality they are illegal guest workers.
“The Pacific Solution is/was illegal”
The Pacific Solution has to my knowledge never been tested in court.
Labors Malaysian solution was found illegal by the High Court which is why it was never introduced.
More importantly, has anyone upgraded their iPhone to IOS7 and what do you think of it. Thanks in anticipation. :O
Labors Malaysian solution was found illegal by the High Court which is why it was never introduced.
A “solution” that most intelligent ALP supporters lambasted
I haven’t seen the same criticism of the new government’s attempts to “Stop The Boats” …
What a ridiculous concept!
Put your money where your mouth is … we criticised Rudd, Gillard, Swan etc …
Never a criticism from the banner men!
Thanks in anticipation. :O
LOL! Anoter fanboi why am I not surprised …
Just for you ToSY …
http://www.news.com.au/technology/smartphones/really-simple-fixes-for-your-apple-ios-7-problems/story-fn6vihic-1226726240594
Fuck da appleshit.
Monopolist junk.
“LOL! Anoter fanboi why am I not surprised …”
(I know I’m ging to regreat asking this, but here goes:) So what is your phone of choice, TB?
You too, public toilet? And why (apart from hating leftist enemy capitalist dogs like Jobs)?
*ging to regreat
Nice.
Just watching Lord of War, for about the fifth time.
I don’t have ‘leftist enemies’.
Your own categorization of ‘the left’ is a rightist caricature, perhaps.
The invasive nature of appleshit software (particularly) & hardware shits me. So does the perceived ‘trendiness’ of the brand. ITunes is appalling crud.
I’ve been watching Ray Donovan a bit, in my off time.
I like.
All time finale of breaking bad tomorrow.
Expecting a gigantic bodycount with no survivors…but it has constantly surprised, so predictions are probably futile.
I upgraded
Not a lot if difference. Just looks like a very bright fruit salad.
IPA if you don’t like the font size go into settings. Accessibility
And you can make the type bigger. I did
But I don’t think I’ll be buying another iPhone. No progress.
It’s a bit smokey up here in Palm Beach at the moment . We almost lost our iconic lighthouse.
Palm Beach is quite nice, if you like that sort of thing.
word…
http://www.news.com.au/world-news/heavy-metal-loving-jakarta-governor-joko-widodo-tipped-for-presidency/story-fndir2ev-1226729583348
Hmmm, so, given the penchant of the all encompassing ‘non-left’ for claiming that 1930’s era German National Socialism was ‘leftist’… do they also think that ‘neo-nazis are leftist? if so, why?
is it because everything heinous has been fortuitously pigeonholed as ‘leftist’?http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/greek_fascists_arrested/
feintfaint praise?http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/obama_talks_to_irans_president/
* feign praise would have been appropriate too, coincidentally.
“the perceived ‘trendiness’ of the brand”
Hah. That’s as good a reason as any, I suppose.
Works for me…
“The right expects individuals to be self-reliant”
If that statement were genuinely true, then why do “the right” insist on interfering on individual’s rights to make their own decisions about euthanasia, abortion and equal rights??
Oh that right, the right take their lead from dog and the bi(b)le… 🙄
‘why do “the right” insist on interfering on individual’s rights to make their own decisions about euthanasia, abortion and equal rights??’
That would be true for some sections of the right, social conservatives and certain religious groups, for example, but it doesn’t hold true for say the libertarian right.
So what is your phone of choice, TB?
Samsung Galaxy … no, no not the S … its the Ace … (our total bill land line, mobile and cable last month was $107 …)
In fact, my home is now more S Korean than Japanese (I used to be a big fan of Sony until they went all DRM on me)…. unfortunately the DRM disease has hit Samsung too.
=======================================
(apart from hating leftist enemy capitalist dogs like Jobs)?
Trying to figure this out, ToSY …
=======================================
… but it doesn’t hold true for say the libertarian right.
You mean there are factions in the right wing of politics, ToSY?
Well fk me … if you listen to Tony Abbott & The Acolytes and sundry supporters, I was just about convinced that only the left had factions … next you’ll be telling us that there are faceless men running the show in the background … astounding revelation, ToSY … astounding … 🙄
======================================
One door closes … another one opens …
http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/australia-on-the-verge-of-a-gas-boom/story-e6frfkur-1226728691229
======================================
Off to visit the vampires … (blood test!) 😛
“next you’ll be telling us that there are faceless men running the show in the background … astounding revelation, ToSY … astounding …”
That’s what I was thinking… 😆
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-30/mungo-tony-abbott-indonesia/4988030
#onetermTony
“You mean there are factions in the right wing of politics, ToSY?”
It’s a “broad church”, apparently. 😉
“It’s a “broad church”, apparently”
A “broad church” that can only appear in public with the permission of Peta Credlin, apparently…. 😉
Lol.
“That would be true for some sections of the right…”
And isn’t the corollary of that that, rather than ‘the left’ being the great monoculture of wrongness, evil & the ills of the world that you characterise it as, ‘it would be true of some sections of the left’?
Am I to assume that you think that one cannot hold the ideals of the individual at the same time as having a social conscience? After all, why must it be all or nothing? I know you rightists think people are either non-left or outright communists. A symptom of consuming too much dross from internet sites which see everything through the prism of the American political right.
“I know you rightists think people are either non-left or outright communists.”
Leftoid Hyper-bowl.
Only going on statements above which attempt to paint the non-right as monotone.
What else is one supposed to make of it.
And I don’t have a enunciation deficit.
“Only going on statements above which attempt to paint the non-right as monotone.”
Why don’t you have a crack at explaining the principles of modern leftism. We all know what the old left though -, it was well documented in Das Kapital and other works by Marx and Engels. The modern left is more of a mystery. Bertolucci admitted (in 2009) that the left had to find a new identity. What is it?
Interesting…
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/the+left?s=t
*thought
A revision for you, ToSY …
The right believes in every man/woman for him/herself … unless they go to the same church … or they need help with something … profit at all costs (to the rank and file) ..wink wink …
The left believes in helping those worse off than themselves … and building infrastructure to enable ALL the people in society to go about their business (Tony & The Acolytes have recently discovered the latter – apparently – but they want to put a toll on everything the serfs might use)
eg If the Titanic had been run by the tories there would be no women or children saved … unless it was theirs …
eg If the Titanic had been run by the tories there would be no women or children saved … unless it was theirs …
Or they could charge for seats … then their kids might dip out …
Samsung Galaxy … no, no not the S … its the Ace … (our total bill land line, mobile and cable last month was $107 …)
I’m a galaxy user too TB, it’s the first one the S1, I can’t complain. My daughter has an older iphone now but will change over to galaxy S4 next. I badly need a new mobile as mine is very tricky to charge these days, I’ve been waiting on the Galaxy Note 3 to come out, that will be my next purchase.
‘lefties’? what are they?
I think for myself, I don’t see why anyone should feel a need to define me as anything or that I should think along set lines.
“I think for myself, I don’t see why anyone should feel a need to define me as anything or that I should think along set lines.”
Amen to that…
Hear, hear @ KL and Toillette …
In fact we actually tolerate the righties … the rest of us are generally happy to praise good works by pollies and bag the crap … from anywhere in the political spectrum …
You’re all happy to be known as lefties until asked to explain what it acually means to be “of the left”. Hilarious.
“You’re all happy to be known as lefties”
🙄
Hilarious.
I’m only known as a lefty when prescribed to be so by a righty. 🙄
You’ve made up your own version of what a lefty is. I’m not going to validate it.
Or if it’s the labelling you have a problem with, glass houses and stone-throwing come to mind.
I strongly believe in personal liberty & free thought, however I temper that with recognition that sometimes the ‘greater good’ must be considered. It’s deciding whom deduces precisely what & when the ‘greater good’ comprises that is the tricky bit.
I like to think I look at most situations in a non-linear way which doesn’t constrain my opinions.
My views on religion are the obvious exception to above.
I’m more than happy to draw a line in that sand.
It’s the religious who shy away from defending the intangible. Because it can’t be logically defended.
I have never identified as a lefty, it is those of the right who have to scream ‘lefty’ and ‘commo’ at anyone who dares to think differently to them. Can’t think of any ‘conservative’ [as they are known these days] who does think for themselves, they never have an individual thought throughout their entire lives – quite sad. Just cough up whatever mummy & daddy bashed into them or what the pub experts say. It’s all brainless parroting of ideology and white male supremacy.
I think it’s fairly widely accepted what the conceptual difference is between “the left” and “the right,” it’s just that the right get a bit tetchy because so much of their ideology stems from sky fairy worship… And who wouldn’t be embarrassed by that?
Okay, so nobody wants to be known as a leftist. Can’t say I blame them, really.
No one needs to pigeon holed, really..
But the desire to do so generally stems from the right.
“No one needs to pigeon holed, really..
But the desire to do so generally stems from the right.”
(Not wanting to pigeon-hole anyone, of course.)
Wikipedia has some history of the terms.
Toady they are fairly useless. The real distinction is between totalitarianism and anarchy. Somewhere in the middle is a place where free speech, rule of law and representative government coincide, which is where most of us reside, arguing about the details.
What splatter said.
Lefties would hate this, if there were any such thing as lefties any more. It’s American, it’s private enterprise, and it’s to do with space. (You know what space is about, right? It’s about exploiting new sources of minerals, and maybe even looking for new places humans can live so “unsustainable” population growth can continue.)
And this.
Shorten is full of crap, on Q&A. No wonder he’s the favourite of the hacks.
Albo is very ordinary.
Albo is ordinary, that’s what makes him so appealing.
And I’m totally wooed by space, so I’ll be staying on the right for the foreseeable future. Many thanx IPA.
‘Corby has been eligible for 16 months but a complicated bureaucratic process has contributed to the almost glacial pace of putting together and lodging the application. If she is granted parole it will be on condition she does not return to Australia until 2018. Until then she will live with her sister Mercedes and her husband, Widiartha, in their family compound in Kuta and work for their surfwear business.’
Bridie Jabour /Guardian
THE internet’s least notorious left-leaning blog has brokered a deal with an up-and-coming anti-coalition blog in a deliberate push to save itself from oblivion.
At least 90 per cent of contributors to The Political Sword will patch over and join with Cafe Whispers to become arguably the 108th most powerful leftist blog in the country.
Brokered in the past week, the deal includes TPS members handing in their club support gear and erasing or disguising their “Our Julia” tattoos as they wait for official Cafe Whispers colours to arrive.
The patch over of almost the entire blog is believed to be the least noteworthy ever seen in Australia and will see Cafe Whispers become an elderly force of more than 12 members.
The move will realise the Political Sword’s goal of minor recognition, giving them “respect” and a voice in the Blogs for the Elderly sector.
According to their website, Cafe Whispers has chapters in Canberra, Logan, Newcastle, Sunshine, Wagga Wagga and Darling Harbour.
Senior “Swords” have not ordered members to join the “Cafe”, leaving the decision to individual members.
(Read Wednesday’s Internet for Seniors for police reaction to the patch over.)
Lol
Will wonders never cease?
A combined TPS and Cafe is very powerful, particularly when it comes to exchanging scone recipes.
“Lefties would hate this, if there were any such thing as lefties any more. It’s American, it’s private enterprise, and it’s to do with space.”
And the strawman caricature of the left is further embellished. 🙄
“The patch over of almost the entire blog is believed to be the least noteworthy ever seen in Australia and will see Cafe Whispers become an elderly force of more than 12 members.”
Tremendous news for fans of the tragically mundane & paranoia afflicted ALP limpets.
Tremendous news for fans of the tragically mundane & paranoia afflicted ALP limpets.
Maybe this answers, ToSY’s, burning question … what is a lefty …
And so, the king is once again my guest…
?
Gawd, this is painful! I went over my 50Gb limit (57Mb) so down to 256 kbps ….
One more day to go …
My USB movie collection is coming on nicely though!
😉
Apparently Hurley is seeing another Australian, but I can’t get behind the Daily Terror’s paywall to see who. Meanwhile, a little background….
‘A source has told British magazine Grazia that Hurley is jealous that Warne has been spending so much time in Australia with his ex-wife Simone Callahan.
“Shane was often on the phone to Simone in the early hours of the morning. It can’t have been easy for Liz. I’m sure she felt cut off from his other life,” the source said.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/shane-warne8217s-boozy-weekend-with-elizabeth-hurley8217s-ex-hugh-grant/story-e6frfmqi-1226729789944#ixzz2gWqzF0Mo
If anyone thinks Abbott is an embarrassment when overseas, it’s best they are reminded of this!
Or this
Its not the photos that concern me (they are primarily opportunist anyway) … its what they actually say and Abbott really does suffer from foot in mouth disease as we ALL know …
If Kate Walshe and Cred do their jobs, Abbott will avoid doorstop foot in mouth.
Those photos show a cloying “leader”, a complete embarrassment. I cringe whenever I look at them. I always wonder what my US based friends made of it, they were too polite to rub my nose in Gillard’s low grade publicity stunts.
I’m not sure Abbott provided similar embarrassment in Indonesia.
I’m not sure Abbott provided similar embarrassment in Indonesia.
So when does he start buying back boats?
So when does he start paying villagers for info?
Although I realise you are a visual character judge, ToM … there was one handshake with the Indonesian President that reminded me of nutcase Latham and Howard’s infamous radio station handshake … I’ll have look when my bandwidth is restored …
Things are about to get really interesting in Parliament …
http://www.news.com.au/national-news/federal-election/tony-abbott8217s-senate-nightmare-independents-and-minor-parties/story-fnho52ip-1226731816927
Go Clivey!! 😆
I saw it TB, shades of Latham for sure. They say Abbott is a big hugger and thankfully that didn’t happen.
Buying boats and paying for spies was pre-election stuff coming from the Opposition, not to be taken too seriously.
I don’t know whether I’m particularly visual TB, but images are important…and one of “Our Prime Minister” making a complete cloying idiot of herself handballing a Sherrin to the USA President is one that will stick with me as being particularly cringeworthy.
Gillard had no grace, she was a low grade product of hacks and diminished our reputation internationally.
I suppose Abbott hasn’t had the same chance or enough time, yet.
one of “Our Prime Minister” making a complete cloying idiot of herself handballing a Sherrin to the USA President is one that will stick with me as being particularly cringeworthy.
I cringed at the knitting photo.
I cringed when Abbott went to Afghanistan and we got photos of him firing machine guns.
Neil Mitchell labelled him a dill, adding: “He looks like a schoolboy playing with guns… This is not a game. This is war and Australians have died. Guns are dangerous and our soldiers carry them to protect themselves. Tony Abbott didn’t need a gun.”
I cringed at every photo of abbott playing at performing the jobs of ordinary blue collar workers.
Noteably cringeworthy was abbott riding the white steed wearing the white akubra!
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/tony-abbott-saddles-up-for-battle-in-far-north-queensland/story-fni0cx12-1226686857317
At least Julia Gillard didn’t ponce around like a shaven gorilla … Abbott’s aggressive non-verbal/body language will get him in a lot of shite in the next three years … our little Noddy Newman suffers the same “look at me” …
That’s bullshit, Abbott has minders to prevent that happening. No longer a lose cannon, more an international statesman.
Minders can’t stop NVC’s I’m afraid, egg …
One of the reasons I dislike the man … he is not the person he is made out/tries to be …
It’s a matter of taste, and Abbott doesn’t have any.
All those stunts/images are embarrassing, but for Our Prime Minister to take a Sherrin to the Oval Office to handball to the US President is beyond embarrassing.
What a dud she was, thankfully she’ll soon be forgotten.
“an international statesman”
Indeed! Perfectly suited to the Southern States of the US in the 1950’s perhaps.
“he is not the person he is made out/tries to be …”
HEAR HEAR!!
Beneath that superficial veneer of carefully considered statements lies a seething mire of pent up anger…. It’s only a matter of time before he bursts.
“more an international statesman.”
/sarc?
I got burned badly when I thought for a moment Rudd had learned some lessons from first time around. Maybe Abbott is learning – he didn’t do too badly in Indonesia – but I think I might wait a while before giving him the benefit of the doubt.
He couldn’t be worse than ‘that woman’.
‘One of the reasons I dislike the man … he is not the person he is made out/tries to be …’
That doesn’t matter, we are paying him to do a job as PM and the electorate will judge him on her performance. Foreign Affairs maybe his thing.
‘I know that Indonesia’s future is bright. I know that in the years to come, Indonesia will loom economically larger compared to Australia, but for many years to come, we will have so much to offer Indonesia in a spirit of partnership, in a spirit of friendship and I am determined that we will play our part to ensure that in the decades ahead, Indonesia does indeed emerge as one of the leaders of a better world.
‘Bapak President, the best days of this relationship are ahead of us and they will be better days, thanks to your friendship for Australia and for your success as an Indonesian statesman on the global stage.’
Tony Abbott
… his performance…
It looks to me that Abbott had a successful trip to Indonesia notwithstanding the obvious arse-licking in the speech you quoted. I don’t agree with those desperately waiting to pounce without waiting to gauge his form.
Rudd did some good things on becoming leader too. But soon enough reverted to type. The question is will Abbott continue to learn and grow in the job of PM or will he revert to type? Time will tell.
In a sense the expense scandal is more telling, especially in the case of Brandis.
Mark Kenny (not a known Abbott acolyte):
… we are paying him to do a job as PM and the electorate will judge him on her performance …
Indeed he will … as for his speeches in Indonesia … if you think their “off the cuff” and written by Abbott … then you have a big problem …
Ok .. “they’re” …
Rather, he projected strength and purpose in Australia’s interests, and respect and sensitivity for the host country.
I agree with the “outcome” … cattle prods can make people do all sorts of things well …
‘if you think they’re “off the cuff” and written by Abbott … then you have a big problem …’
The problem is not mine, Tony writes his own shit.
‘Intellectually, his athletic prowess and knockabout persona obscure that Abbott has more degrees than a thermometer, including from his Rhodes scholarship at Oxford. Drawing on his wide reading of history and ideas, even now Abbott writes most of his own speeches in the rich nineteenth-century English of Lincoln and Disraeli that he unconsciously favours. He’s written books as well as hundreds of newspaper and journal articles. Articles under a politician’s by-line are usually ghosted, but never in former journalist Abbott’s case.’
Terry Barnes / Quadrant
Don’t reply with facts, egg – you will cause derangement among those who have already made up their “minds”.
Groupthink is alive and well at Trash.
“More degrees than a thermometer” yest still doesn’t know the difference between suppository and repository…
(confirming my long-held belief that a qualification is not necessarily proof of intelligence)
Arselicking the new PM, primarily on account of his aggressive moves against AGW policy, is alive and well at Trash.
It was a Freudian slip.
BTW, I loathe Abbott, but I thought he played his visit to Indonesia relatively well. Given that it was potentially aprecarious diplomatic engagement for him.
Only time will tell if he can maintain a steady hand.
Give the man a traditional honeymoon period to settle in and yes his stance on AGW, ‘the science on climate change is crap’, did attract me to the dark side.
Abbott is an intelligent, revolutionary leader.
“Abbott is an intelligent, revolutionary leader.”
You shit-stirrer. 🙂
Wow…………………….can you believe it’s almost a month since we had the Federal Exorcism………………………..eh………….I mean Election ?
‘You shit-stirrer.’
Yep 😉
More ‘regressive’ than ‘revolutionary’.
To my knowledge no other western leader has taken his stand on CC, which puts him ahead of time. His speech in Djakarta emphasised food security and increased trade between our two nations, this is a big plus.
Not regressive, but we should see his true colours when he starts talking about infrastructure. Does he have the bottle to do other revolutionary things?
Mr Popularity
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/03/australia-infrastructure-idUSL4N0HT05B20131003
For the fact minded …
Another “version” … for patronising pricks …
After graduating University with a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Law, he went on to study at Queen’s College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) in Politics and Philosophy.
After returning to Australia, he entered the St Patrick’s Seminary in Manly where he studied to become a Catholic priest.
While at the Seminary, he wrote articles for The Catholic Weekly and The Bulletin.
In 1987, he quit the Seminary and started looking at a future in politics, although he continued writing for The Bulletin.
Later that same year, Tony Abbott met New Zealander Margie Aitkin, who would later become his wife.
After marrying Margie, Abbott decided that writing for The Bulletin was boring and he wrote to a number of “business leaders” asking them for a job.
His plea for a job was answered by Sir Tristan Antico, a “prominent member of the wider Jesuit network” who offered Tony Abbott the position of Plant Manager at Sydney Concrete in Silverwater.
Abbott soon quit the job as it wasn’t paying enough money and accepted a position with The Australian as a journalist.
He continued writing at The Australian until John Howard recommended Tony Abbott for a position as the then Federal Liberal leader John Hewson’s press secretary.
Read all about it!
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/16/tony-abbott-at-oxford-university
No wonder the man is a monarchist, a catlik, an anglophile, arrogant, a misogynist and a wannabe … typical LibNit pollie I suppose … and the same cap might just fit more than a few on the cross benches …
I suppose Abbott might have time to write a few speeches he doesn’t want to actually DO anything, just stop stuff being done. I’ll just wait for the next “difficult” question where he freezes or simply runs away … “a solid second” indeed …
Three duds in a row … do we really have any honest, sensible, visionary, articulate political leaders in this country?
So much for secular democracy …
Mr Popularity
LOL! What a new idea … if memory serves a few governors of NSW came up with the same idea when things economical got a bit rocky back in the 17/1800’s!
And many infrastructure projects were left to rot under Howards regime … infrastructure development was resurrected under the last two governments and state governments … one of the reasons some states had to borrow so much money … can’t get coal, iron, gas out of the country without railways, roads and ports … you’d think that businesses making the profits would have to fund it …
It will be lucrative for pension funds to come onboard, a Canadian pension fund bought Sydney’s desal plant and they’re laffing.
I don’t know that it is particularly common to be both a staunch monarchist and a committed catholic.
Two adherences to unsubstantiable, mindless subservience. The conservative minion clings to tradition for tradition’s sake.
Regressive.
I’d never thought of that, ToM … however it is true (read the link above- it contains “facts”) … I guess he can’t be king … thank christ … 🙄 🙄
FACT! BACK TO THE FUTURE!
ZIGGY SWITOWSKI TO CHAIR NBN CO BOARD!
(Look for your own fkn link!)
Bandit Sol will be back onshore within weeks … OPINION!
When will LiBnit cronyism ever end!
‘Turning back the boats – or, more accurately, the people on them – was once widely described as a “provocative” policy that was an “insult to Indonesia” and one it “rejects”. But now Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says he’s “reassured” it’s not a breach of Indonesian sovereignty, and with “co-ordination” the two countries can work out this “technical aspect”.
Andrew Bolt
Nothing changes …
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/catholic-church-backs-abuse-compo-reform/story-e6frfku9-1226732000183
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Toillette, are you still reading, Tom Holland …?
If you are, wait till you get to the book I’m now reading about Christian/Muslim/Jew saga of the first millennium and end of days … at this stage I feel quite sorry for the Jews (1010 AD) …
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egg, why you think Bolt is worth quoting is beyond me. Quote me some facts … 🙄 🙄
The left hates Bolt, so I reckon he can’t be all bad.
… that fkn left again! Bunch o’ bastards!
I have given thought to toilet’s protestations on the issue of left/right, but cannot resolve it. All I can say for sure is that the left is more abusive than the right and Nils will back me up on this.
“All I can say for sure is that the left is more abusive than the right and Nils will back me up on this.”
No, mindless types of any persuasion are abusive when they develop their pack mentality, they hunt in packs and take comfort in their mutually abusive and narrow minded mentality.
You and Neil, and a range of others, have experienced this, it really isn’t related to your political orientation, it has more to do with testing the groupthink.
‘it has more to do with testing the groupthink.’
I’ll pay that.
BTW, I loathe Abbott, but I thought he played his visit to Indonesia relatively well. Given that it was potentially aprecarious diplomatic engagement for him
We got the sanitised and staged version of abbott’s indonesia trip, the one where he has employed his own photographer to show only what he wants us to see and where journo’s just re-write his press handouts without question. No chance of any stuff-ups or embarrassing questions when you control the message and have a compliant press – that’s what he’s done ever since he first became LOTO.
The indonesion journo’s weren’t so impressed, they were not even allowed to be present – why would that be? why so afraid of of having a non-staged press conference? why the need for such rigid control – was he worried that people back home might hear a different version of events?
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-broke-law-with-media-shutout-say-indonesian-journalists-20131002-2usnn.html
…Tony Abbott has incurred the wrath of Indonesia’s journalists by excluding them from a press conference, and even committed a criminal offence, according to the head of the country’s journalists’ union.
Local journalists were incensed that, on the Australian Prime Minister’s first official visit, he locked them out of his Tuesday morning press conference.
Indonesian language newspaper Rakyat Merdeka spent a large part of page 10 of its Wednesday edition focused on the snub, saying it was discriminatory.
“What’s the use for him coming all the way to Indonesia if he only gives a press conference to Australian journalists?” the paper asked.
.
Abbott didn’t stumble too severely, which came as a surprise (to me). The Indonesians were polite and accommodating.
I don’t think there is much point in trying to beat up a story about it being anything other than a reasonable success.
The Indonesians were polite and accommodating.
Most people are if they are hungry … and they know Australia has friends with big guns …
Do you really think we went into E Timor to ‘liberate” them — or was it to liberate the LNG in the Timor Sea … how do you think our piddly little ADF waltzed into Indonesian “territory” so easily?
Just my OPINION of course … and I know FACTS are preferable to some people around here … but WGAF … 😆
The cattle industry was very happy with the Indonesian visit … they will get to fill some hungry indonesian tummy’s …
And before the Barnaby flag wavers turn up … stopping the export of cattle so absolutely was a knee-jerk and stupid decision …
tummy’s ????? Tummies … there ya go, sreb … 🙄
Abbott didn’t stumble too severely, which came as a surprise (to me).
It should be no surprise when it is a completely controlled exercise, not a genuine press conference where questioners are invited or questions answered.
I don’t know why the media play his game, they shouldn’t turn up at all. They are just the government propaganda wing.
KL, I just received this from Samsung it mentions the Galaxy Note 3 … thought you might be interested …
http://www.samsung.com/au/galaxy-note-3-galaxy-gear/?cid=au_email_monthly-b2c-newsletter-note3_20131002
“The left hates Bolt, so I reckon he can’t be all bad.”
Erm, it’s Bolt who makes it his life’s work to promulgate hatred of the left, from on high, via his disproportionate media soapbox.
When the right shits where it sleeps…complicit silence; 99% of the time.
However, you don’t have to be a genius to realise that he’s generally just massaging the ignorance glands of his crotchsniffers & lickspittles across the blogosphere. Why, he even holds presumably intelligent contributors here in thrall on occasion (some more than others).
Thank Barrilla for speaking up for what the MAJORITY of humanity thinks and feels! Not a Gay Hater, but tired of them in All my TV shows. Sorry lbgt. Mouse but that’s just not real life anywhere except maybe California. Stay in the closet, DON’T adopt…if you can’t make you weren’t intended to raise one! I boycott any company that supports lbgt mouse because I’ m entitled to my thoughts, views, and feelings. As the money is held back the world business community will soon turn a cold shoulder to all this lbgt mouse BS. You’ re right, I do feel better. On, did I mention that the Ronald is planning to ship all the openly lbgt sorts to Mexico. Finally life as it should be.😊
Barilla for me from now on. It’s always been one of my favorites.