An open thread where, at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
65 Responses to “Saturday Salon”
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fr1st
victory ha! I own this thread.
Can’t type, poor punctuation, rotten spelling.
yes, but inexorably first nonetheless.
I hate you.
poor pilgarlic
Conan is TEH GAY anyway.
Check out his female “love interests”:
http://www.conan.com/invboard/lofiversion/index.php?t2919.html
And he has a dorky haircut:
Nothing wrong with teh gay. I also hate you because you have a better handle.
Indeed there isn’t.
That’s why I left him for Xena.
But then she cheated on me with Gabriela!
But now I’ve joined the Amazons so I really don’t care about Conan and his neuroses anymore, all that whining about wanting to get on in Hollywood, and the strange changes that the steroids made to his body…
You mean she wasn’t a virgin?
Virgin? Ha! We Amazons aren’t interested in that patriarchal logic!
And my partner showed that Gabriela a thing or two too:
What’s that screaming? A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming…
Well, I must confess Gabriela does have a certain allure, particularly when wearing her riding bikini:
Hang on, she looks just like the rest of us. Do you mean….?
Ha! That’s what you humans think…
Some of us know better…
Let’s rumble! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OxQ-2gR1DU
You might have to help me with this first, though:
No problemo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9d8AvVPZAA
A worthy opponent at last!
Indeed. And now I feel like singing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A-e7UnTa2k
You stole my moniker!
Aaarrggghhh! Somebody spiked my drink!
I wish i could swim out for you
but something tells me
the time ain’t right
in the stream
so hold off
don’t walk to the top of their desire
i wanna be there to catch you
as you plunge into the cold
and drift downstream…
NP: Gone Forever from ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’: Ulrich Schnauss (2003)
I am getting faster typing with my wiimote, but it is still quite awkward. Watching YouTube on the telly is good fun, though.
Swoon! I had such a crush on Gabriela!
(Was that her name, though? Anyway, the young lady in the pictures. Very jealous of Xena…)
Can Thierry bring his slingshot? [Link]
I wonder if Zenobia and friends have read me on what the Amazons had to do to their right breast? If their dimensions are anything like the women in the pictures above, there’s no way they could draw a bow without the snip.
That was Varia.
Kim, from an early age, my darlin’ daughter(now 15) was into Zena; these days it’s Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil). Ms EC takes bull-shit from no one. Especially men. Makes my heart sing.
Fate and circumstance notwithstanding, whatever she chooses to do with her life, it will be on her own terms.
“Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” used to do it for me. Lusting retrospectively with intent, I can’t recall Sheena warriorizing in latex or leather. Pity about that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheena,_Queen_of_the_Jungle
Request for help: The Citizenship Testing Bill 2007 is open for comments until 2007-07-06. If anyone has any opinions that might stimulate or clarify my thinking before I make a submission, add your ideas as comment to this page.
(I’ve already made a couple of notes about things that struck me at first glance – you can tell me I’ve got nothing to worry about if you think I’m paranoid)
If you don’t want to comment on my site, I still encourage people to look at the bill and get any thoughts in to the committee before it closes. Are the windows-of-opportunity for public comment on bills getting narrower?
The big political news today will be the massive headache John Howard will wake up to on Sunday if (and most likely WHEN) Alex Hawke is preselected in Mitchell this afternoon.
Leaving aside the fact that he is ideological fundamentalist and he was likely involved in the downfall of John Brogden; this guy is a complete hack who has never held down a full time job outside a member’s office. And they complain Labor is full of union hacks!
Watch the dirt really start to fly on him once he gets the nod. Howard does not need this now.
John “Watergate” Dean knows a thing or two about US Law. Now redeemed, Johnny is a regular contributor to the topshelf US blog Findlaw and an eminence grise of US Constitutional Law. Here’s his nifty take on whether or not VPOTUS Cheney’s former Chief-of-Staff, Ivre Lewis “Scooter” Libby, is about to sup porridge. The Samurai “Scooter”, was former pointman for PNAC, Project for a New American Century, as well as the WHIG, White House Iraq Group.
The fact that Dean quotes the work of Marcy Wheeler(Next Hurrah) and Jane Hamsher(firedoglake founder) on the Libby case is another indication of the growing oomph of quality blogs.
Mr. Dean does not deal with dilettantes.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/15/1917/
And apparently Alex Hawke was indeed preselected.
This will be very interesting indeed.
Hi Antonio
do you know what the vote was?
My fairly unreliable source says the result was clear although it did go to the final round.
This info could be wrong though. I notice there have been no media reports yet….
Yep seems your source was right.
blogs are starting to report Hawke won 75% of the vote
Sorry I just will never never get past mickey and donald they are just so much right they have no need to vote like many oz teens
Sympathies Antonio,
I went to a neighbouring public school to Mr Hawke, and yet even then I knew of his reputation as a complete prat. If there is any consolation its that deader wood is replacing dead wood (but at least Cadman for all his non-entity status only occasionally mouthed off about abortion and associated bugbears). I can see why Greiner, Flinty and Howard’s old CoS where against Hawke, I think this decision if true adds another 0.5-1% to the vote to off Julie Owens, Maxine McKew and whoever is the Labor Greenway candidate.
Why it hasnt been reported, probably only a few wire-journos working on a Saturday night (might have been smart move by the Libs to put the contraversial pre-selection on Saturday). Sad that the decision was probably decided by a whole section of apathetic stacked members. And if Turnbull loses his seat at the coming election (considering he was eying out Mitchell in 2004), the monopoly the religious right hold on this ultra-safe seat will have to be questioned. Which out of Turnbull and Hawke could be a future leader of the party?
Blimey, Rudd’s run dead the last forntight – and … zippo for the Rodent!
AC Nielsen 57-43.
Thats a massive 1% shift to the coaliton.
In other good news: Government up shit creek sans paddle in Tasmania.
All five look solid ALP.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200706/s1953576.htm
Lefty – oh, thank you for that ray of light!
After two weeks of putting up with Galaxy, Morgan narrowing, and now without the usual consolation of the OzPolitics blogging stalwarts (plus Steven Kaye and Glen for comedy relief), I had taken to pacing the house muttering “Manufacturing Consent”, “Forces of Darkness”, etc.
My only hope was that when Rudd speaks and takes centre stage the polls tend to reflect positively for the ALP, and that he has indeed been fairly silent over the last fortnight. He did this a while ago, before the press gallery started whinging about him not genuflecting before them
I guess this leads to 2 thoughts:
1) If Rudd’s a good campaigner, then victory is in sight.
2) What percentage of two party preferred is simply a measure of which party is in the news the most in the lead-up to a polling period?
Yeah, be interesting to see Newspoll, out tomorrow or Tuesday, I think.
Saw it on ABC – so cant remember the primary figures, but think it was 49-38.
Basically, taking into the imagine of error, the 2PP is broadly resonant with Morgan.
The good news is the MSM wont ignore AC Nielsen.
Galaxy have done themeslves a disservice by ho-polling on commission, and may find themselves on the outer.
After two weeks of Rudd effectively taking a kip, I think this one will really shake the coalition hard; especially if Newspoll backs it.
Depsite the bloated ad budgets, the yabbering, the economic boosterism, and the free ride of the last fortnight – nothings moving their way; except the end.
And Ratty’s latest bid to bribe the Bush begins in earnest, which no doubt will upset Sol and his band of Mexican Amigos :_)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21921155-1702,00.html
And here’s the Grattan take, with all the numbers. Primary is 48-39, not as I recalled above.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/strife-fails-to-reduce-rudd-lead/2007/06/17/1182018938151.html
Enjoy. But dont eat too much and spoil your appetite for Tuesday’s Newspoll.
Should be a fun week in parliament. Brace yourselves for a Force 9 Howard Freakout, wherein predictions of plague, pestilence, and the abduction of first-born children are freely bandied about.
Meanwhile over at the Govt Gazette:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21922704-601,00.html
Yeah, Rudd’s screwed. Slumping to a perilously slim 56-44 massacre of Team Rodent.
And so we have it – the full poll suite. Reliable, cross-checked, with large samples.
It may change, of course, but any swing back aint on yet. And it when it aint on, it aint on.
You know, I have this vision of the Gazette team like some dickhead dad, holding his family hostage in the rain, trying to light the barbie, demanding that the weather will shortly be fine, cos he said so, and he’s the boss …
Yeah, and Shamaham’s “Comment” is sickening to boot.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21923078-601,00.html
And this from Milne:
WITH the Howard Government showing a flicker of life in the west and expectations being lowered by the Prime Minister about any dramatic poll reversals ahead of the declaration of the campaign proper, senior Liberals are now comforting themselves with the idea that this year could see a historic repeat of the 1969 election.
That was the poll where Gough Whitlam fell just short of victory, but ominously perhaps for Peter Costello, built the platform for his successful tilt at the Lodge three years later in 1972. Last week, a more upbeat John Howard told his party room that the “arithmetic” for Kevin Rudd to win the coming election was formidable.
And he’s right. Rudd has to take 16 seats to form government. No matter what the polls are telling us now, the fact is that Rudd has an effort of Augean proportions ahead of him.
Everything has to go absolutely right for a Labor win and there are already some signs Rudd may already be starting to fray at the edges in Western Australia where the mining boom is running Howard’s way. In that state, on the evidence of the latest Westpoll, Labor would lose Swan and Cowan and fail to pick up either Hasluck or Stirling. If that were to be the result on polling day, something miraculous would have to happen around the rest of the country for Rudd to win.
But it’s less the maths of the 1969 election that invites parallels to the present than the circumstances and environment in which both Whitlam and now Rudd respectively, found and find themselves.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21921436-601,00.html
Face it boys – RAtty & Co will be making appointments with their nerarest Job Network provider the Monday after the polls.
hmm, My Quote from Shamaham went awol.
Link as per previous post.
Judging by Perhaps The Australian newspaper lives in hope that George Bernard Shaw’s famous quote is true:
“One who is not a socialist at 20 has no heart,
and one who remains a socialist at 40 has no head�
Me being 31 years of age, I must therefore be half way on a journey between wearing my heart on my sleeve and keeping a head on my shoulders
If The Australian does believe this theory to be true, then at least I know what to say at a future job interview with News Limited.
If asked about my radical blogging past, I can simply say that the evolution of my writing journey was inspired by the likes of “former laborites� Brendan Nelson or Helen Coonan and “former Marxist academic turned independent neo-conservative writer� Keith Windschuttle
Alternatively, I could assert that nobody really has a monopoly over the definitions of Left and Right anyway.
This has been well demonstrated over the last month by a weekly segment on ABC Radio National’s Counterpoint, which expands on the debate in a Prospect Magazine feature that asked ‘If left and right defined the 20th century what next?’.
Actually, The Australian is my favourite newspaper and Counterpoint, also Right-of-Centre in its thinking, is my favourite ABC Radio program.
Yet I doubt that admission alone makes me Right-Wing. Perhaps I’m just slightly right-of-left……..or slightly left-of-right
George Bernard Shaw would have surely known what I am
…From Justin
The APEC forum should have always ruled out speculation about an early election, given the Howard Government’s intention to stay on message about economic management.
The same claptrap that was used by American Conservatives such as Linda Chavez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Chavez
on Fox News prior to the Bush victory. The Australian & Fox News have a media mogul in common.
Chavez helped get Bush elected by promoting such reductionist BS. Look where it has got America.
If Australians don’t want to take the same road as America then think beyond cheap sloganeering & dopey quotes emanating from the mouths of the privileged.
It’s easy to hide the pain of the Workers & the Disadvantaged when you have a Corporate media obsessed w/ using diversionary tactics like promoting wealth, fame, success, celebrity, constructed ‘common enemies’, bimboes, War & their wares.
Social Democracy w/ ‘fair go’ safeguards like a decent ’safety net’, affordable healthcare, aged care, childcare & education…gives individuals the chance to expand their minds & be involved in diverse projects & find time enough for LOVE…the ‘dog eat dog’ world the Coalition are taking us down will see the focus shift to SURVIVAL…& COMPETITION & the Long, dark night of confusion. And the echoing laughter from fortresses, golden palaces & penthouses accompanying the sobs of the homeless…& anxious breathing of the Workers rushing w/ barely a cent to their name…always rushing…
for who? and what?
The NSW Roads & Traffic Authority has contracted out motor cycle training and testing. There is now an obligatory 8 hour course to get your learners’ permit and an 8 hour driving test 3-6 months later, involving on site manoeuvring tests and the other half of the day spent on real roads with a small group of other testees.
Provisional P1 plates are just the next stage on to getting a full licence, perhaps yet another 2 years away, depending on age and/or whether you hold a car licence All this caution is because of the high and growing incidence of motor cycle injury and death on the roads.
My motor cycle (small scooter) driving test is booked this Sat at a site about 25 kms from where I live. I live in suburban Sydney. To get there I will have to travel for a large part of the journey along one of the busiest freeways in Sydney -a roadway I have never been on as a driver, or rider. I must do this, the RTA has ruled, regardless of the weather or I will forfeit the fee I have paid for my driving test.
I rang the RTA and asked if I didn’t feel confident or wish to ride to the test and be on my motor scooter for 9-10 hours in bad weather, likely this Saturday, could I cancel on the morning of the test and not be financially penalised. The considered answer, after referral to a supervisor, was no. To no avail was (my) talk about duty of care, or inflexible rules that could be dangerous in their application.
The test costs about $180 on top of the fee for the learners’ course, and the L license to be followed by a fee for a P1 licence. The RTA’s line to me was that the contractors expect to be paid for the enrolments and riders have to ride in all sorts of weather. I did point out that most motor scooter riders would not ride in bad weather if they could at all avoid it and would certainly not willingly keep riding their scooter, including on busy roads, in bad weather, for 9 plus hours.
Sigh.
You know, jinmaro, you might someday *have* to ride in the rain, or on a busy road. That’s called ‘living in a major coastal city’. What’s the point of a test that you don’t have to take in conditions you don’t like?
If you’re talking about Parramatta Road—I used to ride that on a pushbike, so I have no sympathy for you.
I did my provisional rider’s test on Monday. It was nothing like 8 or 9 hours of riding: more like two or three hours’ riding interspersed with lots of seminar and heaps of breaks.
Poor you. That’s what practice is for, or finding a less busy route.
Amazing, Fiasco. I presume you are for real and mean what you say.
The learners’s course and test involved at least three hours in torrential rain, in a car park, so I expect the drivers’ test could involve at least the same amount of time, in even, cyclonic weather, including in actual traffic, travelling at high speeds.
And it is the Princes Highway I meant, not Parrarmatta Road. This is a road I never intend to ride on, nor will need to. I know of many long time car drivers who say they never travel on it, except perhaps to cross it, and yet drive to and from the places they need to on a daily basis This is their democratic and probably ultra sane
choice given different given levels of confidence, age, health, etc.
If I die on Saturday, as I will ride my 50cc scooter, even in cyclonic weather, the 25kms or so to the test ,s I can’t afford to have to re-do the learners’ course.
Thanks for the advice.
sorry, got all tangled up in fingers and toes. I meant to say, if I die, I hold the RTA responsible, though much good that will do.
Well, ‘real’ is a slippery concept in a comments threads hereabouts. I’m not pulling your leg, if that’s what you mean. I really did pass the Ps test on Monday. I really did get filthy wet riding home from it in the dark.
Then there are heaps of alternative routes for anywhere you want to go. Nobody’s forcing you to go there.
If it’s still dangerous on Saturday, the instructors will cancel the course, and you’ll get a rescheduled test or your money back, I’d expect. They’ve got to work outside as well—which is the point, really. If they’ve got to work in the rain, why shouldn’t you do the training?
According to my SMH, winds are forecast to ease on Wed. afternoon.
This sounds like a pattern, jinmaro. If you’re that concerned about your own death in traffic, perhaps it’s not that the RTA is responsible for keeping you alive, and that it’s more that a 50cc scoot isn’t for you?
Relax. The test will be perfectly safely conducted. You will be fine to get there and back. I reckon you’ll enjoy the day out as much as I did.
Remember to do heaps of headchecks—the instructors look for them.
Hey jinmaro, it’s a tough world out there. Just the other day a friend of mine was hit by a meteorite on his way home after life saving cranial surgery. Talk about a brain exposion……..
Sure the RTA and the outsourced testers are bastards. To them you’re a customer to be turned for a buck, not a citizen whose pays taxes and has rights. Shits me to tears too, the ascendance of economic over community interests, but life goes on.
This country used to have swaggies. Drawing on the example of these impecunious, nomadic cultural antecedents, I suggest you obtain a tent, take all the time you like getting there, and camp on a friendly local’s front lawn near the test site on the night prior. It will be a bonding experience for you and your putt-putt. Tee up the “camping ground” a couple of days ahead, maybe your hosts will bung on a barbie for you. Everyone grousin’ bout The Man. Regular bloody bond-a-thon, mate. No wuckin’ furries.
Next morning you’ll be jinmaro on the spot, bright eyed and bushy, on time and de-stressed for your test. Take a hand held and vid the adventure. Make it fun.
Meanwhile, I really liked the quality and detail of your kvetch. Please keep us posted on your quest.
Thanks for the tip and the encouragement, Fiasco de Gama.
And Enemy Combatant, you must be, or would be, a fantastic father.
As you have both urged, I will indeed now abandon myself to the poetry, unpredictability and assured community of the journey. I will contemplate with steadfast eye the distance between me and Scoot and the abyss of the Princes Highway and its pathway to Loftus and I will ride my chariot there, come hail or come shine, singing at the top of my voice until if need be the very moment the steely cacophonous onslaught swoops me up in its tender arms and whirls me into infinity.
I like your tone, jinnmaro. Put on your rain pants, I reckon, and rev the living rubbish out of your engine. Even the most out-of-condition zero fiddy cee-cee should be able to drop most Japanese four-cylinder cages from a standing start, and you’ve by far got the maneouvrability in heavy traffic.
That’s right. Inside your helmet, no-one can hear you karaoke.