An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
First Frist
Saturday, 1.30pm, Mahoney Park on the Cooks River, Marrickville.
Balmain take on Wests in the Sydney Women’s AFL Grand Final.
It seems Palin has a wacky preacher as well.
From william Bowe – It’s going to be close, but Colin Barnett may as well start preparing for that retirement
http://www.pollbludger.com/935
Frank, the problem with the WA election is that it really is a choice of dumb or dumber, or perhaps more accurately, crap and crappier. We will see by this time tomorrow night.
Of course, I’m biased against both of them.
Making sure I’ve got enough potatoes for shepherd’s pie. i need to have a good stomach lining to drink AND liveblog the worst of the election all day.
Since the Perthites have taken over Saturday’s open thread while it’s still Friday here… I’ll be spending a sunny Saturday liveblogging the election.
Do come visit…
A simple question – why would, or should, the government spend “hundreds of millions of dollars” to achieve this goal?
More or less.
And if this isn’t corrected immediately then…
Won’t someone think of the grammar!
Ok – here’s an open thread on the WA election:
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/09/06/wa-election-open-thread/
Have nominated LP for “I Love Your Blog” in meme.
A simple answer is to why we would is that we can. We are a rich country. We can afford to spend on indulgences that make us feel good. Crushing the poms on their home turf would be a sublime experience.
The answer to why we should is more difficult but with a three hundred billion dollar-plus federal budget it’s just a line item. A simple tax on alco-pops would more than pay for it. If Rudd wants to get that particular tax through Parliament he just has to call it the Olympic Levy and it will go through unopposed.
We may end up with a surfeit of Olympic size swimming pools though.
That’s not bad GregM.
A similar idea could be a very small tax (Olympics Levy) on all alcoholic drinks sold at sporting events and clubs? That should more than cover it – and ensure that it’s the people who support sport, supporting sport.
Not over my cold beer! They don’t play league or cricket at the Olympics and it costs enough for a beer (usually generic swill except at Bluetongue) at a footy game these days.
Find your sporting dollars elsewhere.
I figured that would be the response, Shaun
Cuckin’ Follywood!
Bloody Crows! Always choking come finals time, if Stevens hadn’t have kicked six we would’ve got murdered, I’ve had enough!
btw teh Quad Stacker update…don’t bother it’s rubbish.
“A similar idea could be a very small tax (Olympics Levy) on all alcoholic drinks sold at sporting events and clubs?”
Not bad, Nick, but I reckon it could be better called… (The fielding Olympics memorial Levy).
The political joke, that is Fundy Steve, will pass it.
So who’s excited about the Paralympics?
Is there any coverage, Kim?
Opening ceremony is on ABC1 tonight at 9.50am, Rob. They’ll have two one hour highlights packages a day – at 6pm and 11pm. Promising a lot more on ABC2.
Looks like live coverage on ABC2 and Iview:
http://www.abc.net.au/paralympics/
Liam, “Balmain take on Wests in the Sydney Women’s AFL Grand Final.”, Say what? AFL?! That’s UnBalmainian!!! Well, I suppose with the junta that runs the People’s Republic Of Balmain, anything is possible, god bless poor Paddy’s soul.
Ultrageek comic of the day: Daily Static
The score at full time, Tyro, was Wests 2.1.13 Balmain 1.5.11. Match report here, and they’re not kidding about the Western Front atmosphere.
Tigtog, I’m surprised at your taste. User friendly? USER FRIENDLY? I’m sorry, but “ultra geek” doesn’t excuse “woeful”. Suffice to say I’m more with John Solomon on the subject.
Liam, that’s the only strip of UF I’ve ever read – I followed someone else’s link. I liked that one, but I’d never heard of the strip before, thus my misIDing the strip’s name as Daily Static due to the crappy site layout. John Solomon’s rant is immensely entertaining, I’ll give you that: I certainly won’t be in a hurry to read UF again..
It’s a pleasure to share the ill-will, TT.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/gay-support-group-gets-straight-no-from-brethren-20080906-4b57.html
This is pretty disgusting.
Not the Exclusive Brethren, a slightly different flavour– the sect the EB splintered off from.
“the post you are trying to comment on does not currently exist in the database”
Why do I keep getting this error and how do I make it go away?
All your comments are coming in CAPS Darryl. Maybe it has something to do with that.
BBB
Paul Burns where are ya?
“It is almost beyond belief that the first big stand the Liberals are taking in the Parliament is to relieve the tax burden on buyers of Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porches. After months of crying crocodile tears over cost of living pressures on ordinary families, the Liberals are effectively saying ”let them drive Ferraris.’”
That is Lindsay Tanner, supposedly one of the decent ones! Why does the ALP feel it necessary to indulge in such lies? They look ridiculous in view of the Liberals’ political irrelevance. Now the central aim of the statement is deception. It is designed to do one thing and one thing only: imply that the new car tax affects only the very rich and that opposition to the tax could only spring from a desire to protect the very rich. The new car tax kicks in at $57,000. How much Lamborghini does $57k get you? Not much. Perhaps the gearbox. It buys a decent slab of a Holden/Ford/Toyota 4WD/minivan/people mover though…
BBB
Family First are supporters of first/old time buyers of Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porches.
Is that what you are say’in BBB?
Family First are supporters of Family First being in the news.
And I’ve been too narrow. There are a zillion cars in, let’s say, the $57k to $80k bracket. This is where the great bulk of the tax will be raised. If Lindsay Tanner has a shred of decency he will immediately announce a raising of the proposed threshold to $100k (if he wanted to catch Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini owners) or $400k (!) (if he wanted to cover just the Ferraris and Lamborghinis). At least then his bleatings would make sense.
BBB
Sure BBB…
But the Luxury Car Tax on a $58,000 car is a whopping $186.
$60,000 = $640
$65,000 = $1777
$70,000 = $2912
A top of the range Ford Territory Ghia Turbo is $65,000 (the rest of the range is all under threshold)
A top of the tange 7 seat Honda Odyssey is $46,000
(etc etc, can’t be bothered looking up any more)
And any car manufactured in Australia isn’t subject to Luxury Car Tax.
(I think I might be wrong on that last point…)
Nick, yes you are wrong about the import-only point. But I don’t really understand the rest of your comment. This is about Porsches, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, isn’t it? Lindsay Tanner said so…
As for the tax actually payable, you are spot on. But like I said, the vast majority of luxury car tax will be paid in respect of the relatively high volume cars that are just above the threshold. While the tax levied on each such car will not be much, in aggregate they represent the bulk of the impost. So clearly this is a tax that is most definitely not about slugging Porsche, Ferrari or Lamborghini owners. They are at the periphery of the exercise.
Please understand that I am not claiming that this tax does monumental damage to households, businesses or the economy. It doesn’t. I am merely highlighting the ALP’s lies on the issue, both implicitly in relation to the tax itself, and explicitly in relation to the Liberal Party’s opposition to the tax. It’s worth noting when a government resorts to deception like this, don’t you agree?
BBB
Yeah, I think you’re right – they would have made a stronger case to the public if they’d highlighted that the Luxury Car Tax on a $60,000 car is only 1%, a $70,000 car is 4.5% and an $80,000 car is 6.5%.
BTW, don’t stare too hard at those figures…they’re wrong and based on the old rate of 25%. That’s what I get for rushing
BUT…the difference of 8% up to the proposed rate of 33% makes bugger all difference in that $57-80,000 range!
It’s revealing stuff. Faced with a rejection of the tax, Tanner shamelessly invokes the politics of class. He turns it into a debate about the Liberal Party and who it represents, rather than a debate about the desirability of the tax and/or the on-the-ground realities of how the tax will work. He doesn’t even try to argue on the merits. Nothing new about that of course (on either side of politics). But if the Liberals weren’t so feeble, you’d have to think Tanner was scared of them.
BBB
I don’t understand this meme that if Labor attacks the Liberals, then they’re running scared. They’re politicians – of course they attack their principle opponents. And why is it such a shock that politicians attack each other?
Kim, when was the last time you attacked something you weren’t scared of at some level? It’s not really human nature, is it? That is a sweeping generalisation of course, but it holds to some extent in politics. Irrelevancies are ignored. If the Liberals were less irrelevant, I would call Tanner’s shrillness an expression of fear. However the situation being what it is, the idea that Tanner is in fact scared of the Liberals is fanciful.
BBB
So I’d just put it down to simple, calm, relaxed point-scoring Kim.
BBB
I’m not scared of Peter Costello at any level, BBB, but I attack him all the time!
No, I don’t think there’s anything in this. There are obvious political gains for Labor in painting the Libs as pandering to wealthier voters and as obstructionists in the Senate. It would be more or less incredible if they weren’t attacked.
Tanner also does the dry as dust public policy justification, btw. But the “Lamborghini” stuff captures a lot more voters’ ears!
“I’m not scared of Peter Costello at any level, BBB, but I attack him all the time!”
Ha ha, I don’t believe that for a second!
Cheers
BBB
I am going to laugh so hard when his book turns out to be completely boring and useless and he subsequently quits politics – never has so much been made of so little by so many.