M61A1

I'm not really sure what the issues are, I just stumbled across that page from the abattoir itself. I had no issue with Halal, as I thought it was just some religious git blessing the food, but having read that, I am now extremely bothered that it goes way beyond a blessing and extends to handing over more than $300K (for one business) a year to fund religious nutters. I have issues also with bleeding hearts that wont send livestock to a country because of their "barbaric" treatment of animals, but then demand on religious grounds the same "barbaric" treatment be allowed here.

I read that the Oakey abattoir gained it's Halal cert in 2009, I'd be fairly sure they didn't find the slaughterman locally. This is a cut and paste from the abattoir's website, could this be what some of the fuss is about? 2013 October. Queensland abattoirs being charged up to $27,000 a month through a religious levy on meat exports in Jakarta to raise money for Islamic schools and mosques20 Scandel has stopped QLD halal meat exports to Indonesia, abattoir operators boycott expensive Halal certifiers endorsed by the Indonesian council of Ulama (MUI)20 certifiers must donate a share of their revenue to mosques and Islamic schools.20 Australian Halal food services (AHFS)was charging quarter of other certified endorser – was suspended by MUI for engaging in unfair competition that could weaken halal certification20 DAFF have no control over approvals for religious certifiers.20 Oakey relied on AHFS for certification and were now unable to sell Halal meat in Indonesia21 Indonesia was an important market for Oakey product

Some fuel for the fire.....for meat to be Halal certified, the beast must have it's throat cut by a Muslim butcher. That means discrimination in the workplace. Imagine the sh1tfight, if we someone's employment criteria was to Christian. I'm no fan of either camp, but I seem to recall some Christian school having a hard time with a discrimination case because wouldn't employ a teacher who wasn't Christian.

You haven't dealt with the Child Support Agency have you? They make the ATO (and Hitler's SS) look like amateurs.

Rape is rape, and should never be acceptable. I suspect though, when I was in, that if it had happened to someone, and it was made known to others, the perpetrator might have found themselves on the end of some fairly rough justice.

I have no problem with women in the defence force. The US and Israel do it just fine. But here in Australia, I have noticed that often, instead of employing capable women, we have pandered to the feminists and lowered the bar. We need soldiers (with no discrimination or consideration for their sex), not men AND women, and any soldier that feel that the rules (for soldiering) need to be relaxed so that they feel better about things, probably should consider other employment.

While I had never seen or even heard of sexual abuse while in the ADF, there was plenty of behaviour that isn't currently tolerated. Usually as some kind of punishment for letting your side down, on the positive side, it did tend to get rid of those not up to service life or get them working that bit harder. I would never tolerate the sexual abuse, but I have to say that their current screening processes does seem to have missed a whole bunch of whiney little bitches that really have no place in a defence force. I think that you are on the money PM, sexual abuse aside, we have a bunch of whiners in defence (some, not all, and probably not just defence) that would be better suited to doing paperwork at Centrelink, but then that might expose them to other inappropriate behaviour that might scar them.

While this does not support privatisation, it doesn't appear that the big winners are the insurance companies... Why Do Other Rich Nations Spend So Much Less on Healthcare?

Spend a few weeks in Beenleigh/Eagleby/Logan/Browns Stains errr.. Plains....and I'm quite sure a lot of them won't vote at all.

Do you not understand the difference between wages and welfare? It's a simple concept.

So then...do you understand where the welfare money comes from?

Ironically, if we stop being. Nanny state, the stupid people will cull themselves. The cost can be reduced by not sending police, emergency services and having enquiries into how some dill killed himself climbing a building while drunk.

When are you putting a claim in for the damage Oakey water has done to your health? Must have affected you somehow FT While it may be a valid "choice", it doesn't give them the right to demand what they couldn't be arxed saving and complaining that others are better off. If bottleshops, takeaway and medical are the economy, then maybe you're right. (oops, forgot big screen tv suppliers).(oops again...tattoo shops)

Well, you described it pretty accurately. We get three papers every day at work, that is one of them. The letters page is the best read, someone wrote in the other day (after an article on how to use a roundabout), to tell them that the rules were all wrong, and we should do it differently. The only surprising thing about the region's road toll, is that it is as low as it is. When you consider that a lot of people earn good money and p1ss it against the wall (and I have worked with a lot of them), while others manage their funds better and go and buy a house which increases in value, live frugally and puts money away for retirement. How is it fair that the person with the house is viewed as "wealthy" and the other clown is viewed as "poor old battler", and expects a govt pension for the rest of his days, because "I've paid taxes all my life y'know". I've not met too many genuine battlers, but they call themselves that all the same.

I was conversing with a Pomgolian one evening a few years back....he told me 28degC was a heatwave. I was inside at 9:00 pm and it was 38degC at the time. Toasty...

You are aware of interest rates of late aren't you? Wouldn't really call it a "shedload" if that's what you've got to live on. Especially if you've worked your arxe off to try and stay off the govt pension. Then if you have to start drawing on it to live, then it's even worse. With long term things like super, it's of no help when you try and build a retirement plan on the rules, and then they go and change the rules halfway through, because they blew the budget.

Just tell her how it had be quarried and finished with mining machinery. I keep seeing anti- quarry stickers on cars around here, dunno why they're even driving on the roads then, as they are so against quarrying.

Yes, performance has been very disappointing, but Billy has made it very clear that he will be spending even more.

Using the Pat Condell logic, they're worth voting for because voting for them is voting against the others. Billy and the Greens have got some pretty wild ideas about what they're going to do with your money, your kid's money and their kid's money.

Yep....The was a dill that wrote to the Toowoomba Chronicle a few weeks ago, proudly stating that all those who voted in the local election have no right to complain, as they got what they wanted, and that only those, like himself, who chose not to vote, have a right of complaint. Makes you wonder.... Some balanced media would be nice.

I used to work with a guy who seemed fairly intelligent....until voting time. He explained how he would be "wasting his vote", if he didn't back the party he thought would win. Pretty much like trying to back a winner at the races, absolutely nothing to with choosing the party he thought would run the country better. Since then I always wonder how many are out there, trying to pick going to win, rather than who they want.

Have a read of the linked article on post #89

I see that in Turnbull. Doing FA except what it takes to remain in power. Unfortunately I see the other options as worse as things stand currently. The problem is that if any of the pollies has the balls to make some tough decisions, they will be removed by the public at the very next election ( aided and abetted by our hysterical media) , and achieve nothing. I think someone mentioned this in a previous post. But as far as renewable energy, yes, more needs to be done, but not willy nilly, it needs to be a well thought out, scientifically effective solution, not just throw buckets of money at every crazy idea. So I would rather that they proceed with caution on that one.

Yes, I understand that the author isn't endorsing dirty alternatives, but I pretty much stand along with the article. I just want any govt involvement to be well thought out and useful, not just a careless, "throw money at it", type of approach. I love the idea of renewable energy and alternates to fossil fuel, but a lot of development is required, and our "green" politicians are a bunch of idiots. Sometimes, doing nothing for a while, is better than acting rashly.

Renewable Energy: The Vision And A Dose Of Reality - The Automatic Earth Interesting read....(although written 2012)