darth silliness

Reply to Sorry is on my behalf in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Point 422 was stating the evidence placed before the court, in this case presumably by the plaintiff, it was not saying that was what happened.[/quote] The evidence includes statements by public servants at the time, who presumably have some idea of what it is they are doing: "The commitment of the Commonwealth and the States to the policy of assimilation was reaffirmed at the Native Welfare Conference of 1963. 429 In a minute from the secretary of the APB to th

Reply to Sorry is on my behalf in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Darth, did you even read that judgment or did you just listen to the mob?[/quote] I read the judgement. [quote]The case actually proves there was no policy of removal in South Australia[/quote] This is inconsistent with what the judge said: 422 Evidence placed before the Court demonstrates, that the South Australian Government, during the early to mid 20th century, engaged in the policy and practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families a

Reply to Sorry is on my behalf in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]That all being said, no one has ever actually been proven to have been stolen simply for being Aboriginal.[/quote] You can read Bruce Trevorrow's sad story here: [link="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/sa/SASC/2007/285.html?query=^trevorrow"]WWW Link[/link] QED

Reply to Sorry is on my behalf in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]What this country needs is competence on aboriginal matters, and I hope Big Kev has what it takes. [/quote] Agreed, not sure either side has it but hope both can find it. Good idea for the joint committee too, though I wonder how long it will last. I must say Bolt the Dolt looks more a fool day by day, but anything to sell a paper I guess. The apology is a good start, but unless concrete measures make progress addressing the issues faced by indigenous communiti

Reply to A Big Drop In Emissions Is Possible With Today's Technology in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]Perhaps we should be having the federal government provide about $20,000 per family in free money to deploy solar arrays in as many places as we can. [/quote] In the not too distant future it won't cost $20,000 for solar panels to provide enough power for a home to have zero net electricity needs: [link="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/18/nanosolar-is-gunning-for-coal/"]WWW Link[/link] At a price less than coal, you would be better off spending on these to put on your

Reply to Evil Left's Aboriginal Permit system in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Why should Aboriginal people have the right to decide who comes onto their land and the circumstances in which they come? [/quote] I loved this line! As far as I am concerned the Murdoch press can hardly complain about this issue since the Daily Telegraph endorsed Krudd during the election. It's hardly a surprise Labor would roll this one back.

Reply to My organs are mine to donate. in Current Events JoeUser Forums

One of the problems is that the wishes of would be donors are often over-ruled by family members. I would rather remove the ability of families to reverse the deceased's decision to be donor first and see how that affects the waiting lists. Presumed consent really should be a last resort.

Reply to Iraqi Gov't reaches another US set benchmark in Politics JoeUser Forums

Obviously a good move but weren't the former Ba'ath members fired by order of the CPA, not the Iraqi Government?

Reply to Bush not responsible for liberating Pakistan from tyrrany in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Bush not responsible for liberating Pakistan from tyrrany[/quote] A pity Bush didn't take your advice before liberating Iraq from tyranny.

Reply to Break out the champagne, socialists! in Politics JoeUser Forums

I normally vote Liberal but voted for Labor this time, mainly because of the difference in their repective environment policies (principally Kyoto) and that the Liberals (though not necessarily Howard, I think you've been a bit harsh on him, although his normally reliable political judgement had left him of late) had been in power too long. The other policies either didn't affect me or were too similar to influence my vote. While Work Choices wouldn't have affectd me if I still lived i

Reply to Australia's new citizenship test in Politics JoeUser Forums

Are you aware of Australia's other administered lands?: The Australian Government also administers Ashmore and Cartier Islands, hristmas Island, he Cocos (Keeling) slands, he Coral Sea Islands, Heard Islands, he McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island and the Australian Antarctic Territory. I've never even heard of most of these! hehe, i think some refugees have, since they usually aim for some of these islands <img s

Reply to Paternalism in Indigenous Affairs in Politics JoeUser Forums

I'm an unabashed Howard fan, but I am totally confused about this action they're taking. I understand they had some sort of inquiry that made some recommendations, but I'm almost certain this wasn't one of them. For me the problem can be summarised as the Aborigines have an awful standard of living. The old paternalism didn't work. The more recent (last 30 years) programs haven't worked. Going back to paternalism won't work (though I hope it does, since no-one could wish what they s

Reply to Looking For Trouble in International JoeUser Forums

Some information on the decision to knight Sir Salman can be found here: WWW Link On a personal note I saw the Queen being driven past my office at lunch today, but the thought of jumping in front of the car to protest the award never entered my head, for the obvious reason that Sir Salman's knighthood was well deserved. And I was hungry.

Reply to Looking For Trouble in International JoeUser Forums

I don’t think any literary critic even suggested that Rushdie's writings are considered anything more than ordinary. So why was he honored by a Knighthood? Well he did win the Booker Prize, and also the "Booker of Bookers" (ie his award winning novel was judged to have been the best of all the award winners in the first 25 years of the award's existence). His Knighthood wasn't for the Satanic Verses, it was for his contributions to literature over his w

Reply to Electric Company Kills Woman For Unpaid Bills in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Sorry I forgot to post the link to the website I got my above information from: WWW Link

Reply to Electric Company Kills Woman For Unpaid Bills in Current Events JoeUser Forums

What in the world possessed the Mercury Energy reps to turn the power off Evidently they say they were not informed of her illness and the requirement to maintain power to the oxygen machine: Mercury Energy's General Manager, James Moulder, said: "Our interview with the contractor indicates there was a discussion with Mrs Muliaga, who simply discussed possible bill payment and reconnection timeframes, but did not alert the contractor to her me

Reply to Cos I'm just an anti-American foreigner, baby in Politics JoeUser Forums

I've always preferred an oversized PW. You just don't get the loft to clear the fence with anything else. My own preference is a cricket bat, i figure they are about the same size as a cricket ball. and it makes a satisfying noise if you middle it. But I have nothing to do with what happened to Baz: WWW Link And aborigini, too! yes but t

Reply to Cos I'm just an anti-American foreigner, baby in Politics JoeUser Forums

Aussies are a cruel people, slaughtering bunny rabbits and toads for sport but i like killing toads...

Reply to The Gun Issue in Current Events JoeUser Forums

In Austrialia, I was told, they went house to house confiscating guns. Guess what happened? Crime went up like 80%. I think you were told wrong. There were two separate buyback programs, neither of which involved anyone going house to house to confiscate guns. Rather the government outlawed certain guns (firstly high powered semi automatics in 1996, then handguns in 2003), after allowing for an amnesty during which people could surrender their guns for

Reply to Why is it only Aussies can get it right? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Quote: "IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians." "However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the 'politically correct' crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not agai

Reply to Why is it only Aussies can get it right? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Funnily enough someone used that second passage as a submission to a Senate Committee inquirying into a Citizenship Bill. Its at number 11. WWW Link As for its origins, googling any of the passages brings up a vast number of pages (mainly blogs), so I'm not sure anyone can be certain of where it came from. The earliest reference i've found was 2002, and I've found American and

Why did the chicken cross the road? in Humor JoeUser Forums

hope this doesn't catch on, personally i think the queues at kfc are long enough WWW Link

Reply to The Right sees Left bias everywhere in Politics JoeUser Forums

Just curious. Are your TV Stations nationalized like Great Britian's? Depends if you mean owned by the state? Or broadcast their content nationally? Only ABC and SBS television, and a few associated radio stations are state owned. Most television content is broadcast nationally, with exceptions for local news or local interest television programming, and sport. Ten is publicly listed company that doesn't seemed to be controll

Reply to Why is it only Aussies can get it right? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Mark Steyn has written previously on Australian politicians habit of talking straight (i'd link to it but its been removed), in particular John Howard. But its a habit not limited to the conservatives, Labor's former PM Paul Keating called Howard a "little desiccated coconut" yesterday. I'd guess you'd be hard pressed getting John Major or Bill Clinton to say something similar on the record about their successors <img src="http://images.stardock.com/ju/T_JU/smiles/Smile.gif" border=0 a

Reply to The Socialist and the Capitalist in Politics JoeUser Forums

I think both Draginol and Sean make excellent points. Rather than repeat them i'll just make an observation that at the moment labour's share of income is at a low compared to corporate profits. If the trend continues I wouldn't be surprised if labour attempted to redress this through political means (eg raising minimum wages, higher taxes for the wealthy etc). While I'm a capitalist, it won't pay in the long run to be too greedy.