Litespeed

The big chevron et al projects might sound impressive, but bar some small trickle of local jobs and nut and bolts- almost all that investment was spent overseas and imported here and all probably imported tax free. Then the government did bullshite sweet deals that insure they will never pay any royalties or tax to the feds for about 30 years. All at the same time as we get priced out of our own gas. We probably we be better off it if stayed in the ground. Stupidly we do not have a federal gas reserve like the USA does- this would ensure that our prices would be very cheap and foster local production. Any discussion of such a reserve is always canned but vested interests. It is always the same- Donald Horne was right - Lucky country my ass.

We could always follow the "logic" of Turbs argument to its logical conclusions - It should be unlawful for society to accept children being brought up parents or carers of only one sex So..... We make it illegal to get divorced or live separated We force widows and widowers (me) to immediately remarry We ban all same sex instituitions such as segregated schools especially religious boarding schools (this one I would happily agree with) We make the number one priority of childrens welfare that two people of different sex are the parents and any other factor is secondary and of little importance Same sex couples should by law be banned of having animals incase they sodomise them (Cory "Barnyard" Bernardi) Sorry but life is not black and white nor is simplistic. We can not licence procreation nor should we licence bringing up children. The anti marriage equality arguments are so very similar to those used to separate unmarried mothers and aboriginal families from their children- the stolen generations. And have no more credence or morality, ethics or actual care about those involved. It is just prejudice and ideology

Does that mean you have reached Puberty? I change mine often from old and greying before my time to caveman hairy and still greying

Sorry I didn't have a camera but saw a classic that made me laugh the other day. It was a motorbike with a "Baby on Board" sticker on a wooden board strapped to the back of his rack. And a doll baby strapped to the board. I laughed for ages

But the increase in life expectancy has thrown a major spanner in the works. It was not too bad when you rarely had people live past 50, but we all seem to want to and a lot will be consuming at 90.

You are a wise old bugger at times Phil

I told you mate- traditional remedies is called for. Go get a stake, some birch and flammable liquid or off to the potting shed

Bloody Mirrors- should be banned. Make me look ancient All Red sees is a old codger And poor bloody Phil's face exploded I say we revolt and break the bastards with a Black cat

Phil- Don't worry about the shed floating away mate. Just tie the wifey to it and all will work out in the wash. I absolutely love a big storm except when on a motorbike or in the air. A great Boom Crash Opera

Mate it is not a stupid statement- keep calm and have a bex, cup of tea and a lie down. It is rather simple- as Prime Minister he proposes to cabinet a new law (which is written by parliamentary legal staff and the attorney generals department)- cabinet approves it and then it goes through to the lower house of parliament. The government of the day (lead by same Prime Minister John Howard) is in control of the lower house (otherwise it is called the opposition and has no control) It is only the government which can effectively put forward legislation in the lower house, as they are the government and the lower house is the house of government. The lower house can debate all it wants but as long as the government has the numbers (ie is the government) it passes legislation in the lower house. John Howard ruled with a iron fist and no one dared to not tow the party line of what he wanted- unlike the current LNP rabble. John wanted and John got- always. Then it goes to the Senate- the house of review. Here the government may or may not have numerical control (Howard actually did in his last term). They can argue all they like and kick it back to the house of reps with some changes or vote for a inquiry or pass it through or refuse in which case the government sends it back again to them. If that happens twice it can be used as a trigger to desolve both houses of parliament called a double dissolution and a complete election for all members of the senate plus the lower house is called. That is what just happened here- Turnbull rolled the dice and lost everything bar his torn shirt. One man can ensure the passing of a piece of legislation if he is infact the Prime Minister and holds firm control of his party- John Howard did it all the time. He is as Prime Minister by virtue in charge of the lower house and as such the leader of the government of the day. All that is then required is for it to pass the senate- which unless the major opposition party (in that case Labor )has a majority by itself in the senate- it is powerless to stop. That is where minority senators come in. At no point in any of this does it require the asscent of the Labor party to make legislation lawful or any non government party or independant. It is purely down to numbers on the day of the vote. And when Howard had a majority in both houses- nothing could stop him putting anything he liked into law except a revolt from his own side or plain common sense- neither of which appeared likely. Once it has passed both houses all that then happens is the Governor General signs it and it becomes law. Done and dusted. At no point in any of this can a strong Prime minister be stopped doing their thing as long as they control the numbers in the lower house and can sway enough for a majority of those voting on the day in the upper house. You could have 140 senators but if only 10 are present and 6 are government- bingo it becomes law.( a extreme example) QED For the above to not be true- it assumes that the government of the day does not in fact have confidence in its Prime Minister- for it is he/she that calls the shots. To not approve what they propose in cabinet is the kiss of death to your political career- that is why the are BOSS.

I actually have four very heavy volumes of English law written at the turn of last century and even it is not real supportive of the power of god.

"Grace of God" What a load of codswallop- it just means whilst she continues to breath. Ever heard the old saying " here i go by the grace of god"? It only has some meaning in the sense that under british law royalty must be a member of the church of england to be head of state. Which was purely a measure to stop the catholics getting back in control after the debacles of Henry VIII and bloody Queen Mary. Our Constitution bars explicitly any religious test for been a officer of the crown, which also includes any employee of the comonwealth Lizzy has and the english parlaiment and the Privvy council long since been written out of our affairs. It is merely a figure head and has no legal effect. Lizzy did not approve of Kerr sacking the Whitlam government- it was all done on Kerrs back and she had nothing to do with it. Nor could she have stopped it. Just as she could no longer send us to fight for Queen and Country. We have to be dickheads and volunteer our forces instead. It is only a vestige of the old commonwealth as we have no president to sign into effect our laws

It was Howard that put the law through cabinet, then the lower house and was not stopped by the senate- which is entirely different to been approved by Labor. Our constitution does not have anything to do with god and actually prohibits it. It is merely case law that has agreed to by judges that traditionally have been conservative christians. A lot of our governments laws and spending programs would not stand up to consistent onslaught over the matter of religion and its role in society. It is only by very narrow definitions of case law that so far the high court has not thrown the religious chaff out completely. A case in point is school chaplains- it failed to be illegal narrowly on a technical point of case law and new legislation was hurriedly made to try and provide support. A sustained attack on this case law would eventually win. And the government would no longer be able to fund anything to do with religion. And the country would be far better for it.

Not quite Bex, The referendum has no effect on this. It was Howard who actually changed the marriage act to specifically say "between a man and woman". Hence parliaments ability to just change the law back and be done with it. But cowardice and christian bullyboys will have none of that. Howard knew there was nothing stopping someone actually having same sex marriage under the law and constitution as it stood. It only required bureaucrats to allow it or a appeal to the high court to enforce it.

My bathroom is very retro.................. I just look in the mirror

Hang on to them They are retro they is

Given that the Christian lobby are to get the lions share of 7.5 million to fight against the same sex marriage plebisite, it would appear we are definitely a Christian semi democracy

Anyone notice that one of the biggest neighbors in Asia is vastly catholic and are currently running state sanctioned death squads to purge the country of "drug dealers and users". Thousands are been murdered and no proof is necessary just a rumour will do. Or someone disliked for any reason. The Philipines is hurtling down a very deadly path.

Overnight another leading doctor in the Polio program was shot dead by gunmen on a motorbike in Pakistan.

As a interesting aside, to show the potential of viral warfare or just our luck running out check the series called the "Last Ship" Watch The Last Ship FREE!! A very large % of the world is wiped out and yes some see it as Gods work.

Should sell it to a swingers club

I had the exact same Charger as the one he stands in front of for the ad. Sunfire yellow. Loved that car

Here it is The Galaxy song

Monty Python did a great song about this in "Meaning of Life" from memory.

Not sure about a vaccine yet but current cure is 15 grams of lead- self administered