old man emu

You've just described GON's favourite country - the USA

Hee's an example of the average Australian's political ignorance. A woman neighbour who is involved in operating several farms told me today that she voted One Nation. Her reason? To get a government that would fix to poor condition of rural roads. While I agree that rural roads, especially main roads not being highways, need a lot spent on them to remove potholes and subsidences, I don't agree that such a matter has a major position on One Nation's political platform. I think that instead of improving rural roads, One Nation would route to country.

You'd think that if any one of us would be rabidly anti-American it would be GON. Afterall, if Holt hadn't been wooed by President Johnson. Holt met with President Johnson on a visit to Washington in July 1966, en route to England. At that meeting, Holt picked up the Democratic Party’s campaign slogan ‘All the way with LBJ’. His impromptu addition of the slogan to the text of his remarks on the White House lawn immediately intensified Australian opposition to the war in Vietnam. Tensions were increasing between North and South Vietnam by May 1965. The United States supported South Vietnam. As an ally of the US, Australia agreed to allow national servicemen to be sent overseas to Vietnam.

"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP" This is the very height of international diplomacy. Ravings of a crazy person. What sort of country can put up with a person like this in charge?

Insurance: There but for the grace of God go I.

The present system for costing this insurance is probably the best way to remove the complexity for calculating a premium based on annual mileage. I don't know if it still applies, but back in the day the premium was reduced a little bit for vehicles garaged outside the Metropolitan Area of Sydney. Consider this. In NSW when you get your annual roadworthiness certificate (pink slip), the mileage is recorded. A lot of people wait until the last minute to get their pink slip. The premium for CTP, if based on mileage would have to be calculated before a renewal notice could be sent. Very inconvenient for paying rego on time. As it stands, I get my CTP renewal notice a month before the due date, so I can pay it any time after that, and before the expiry date. Knowing how much the premium will be lets me put a few dollars aside each pension day throughourt the year so that I don't have to worry that I won't have the money necessary when I want to pay it.

I can't see any racism or anti-woke in what you wrote in your first paragraph. In fact I nod my head in agreement. I see no reason in what you wrote to be offended. Actually, I see what you wrote as a lamentation for lost opportunities. A cry of despair for any sort of recovery. "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" translating to "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

We learned in Vietnam and Iraq, and in most wars since WWII is that the average Yank infrantryman is poorly trained and lead by poorly trained leaders in the field. If the Yanks try to put feet on the ground, it will be an unholy slaughter of the innocents. Basically, you can't invade a country whose countrymen are fighting to defend it. And you can't win if your troops have no experience fighting in terrain they have no experience of. I have not learned what the terrain is in Iran becasue I have never been exposed to it. Have you any idea what it is like?

Just had a look on Flightradar24 at airspace over the Middle East. At the moment there is about a dozen USAF Stratotankers flying in an out of Tel Aviv and along the border of Iran. It is very interesting to see how international aircraft are skirting the war zone.

Has anyone ever mentioned India in this conversation? India sits there between the Middle East and the Far East. It has the largest population of any country - more even than China - 1.45 billion. The median age is 29.5 years. Nominal (current) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India is $4.13 trillion ($4,125,213,000,000) as of 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The GDP growth rate in 2025 was 6.6%. India is a predominantly Hindu nation, with 79.8% of its population identifying as Hindu and 14.2% as Muslim according to the 2011 Census. The remaining population includes Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.7%), Buddhists (0.7%), and Jains (0.4%). Conflict between Hindus and Muslims lead to the partitioning of Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1947. India possesses the world's fourth-strongest military, with over 5 million personnel (active/reservists/paramilitary) and a 2024 defense budget of $86.1 billion. It is a nuclear-armed power with significant conventional superiority over neighbors, possessing over 500 combat aircraft, 3,151 tanks, and an advanced navy featuring two aircraft carriers. .

It sounds like GON wnts the system that operates in the USA. Hurt someone with a vehicle and they sue you for millions in damages. They might win the legal argument and be awarded costs, but the average motorist cannot fork out the millions in damages, so the injured party gets nothing and the driver loses everything, if they have anything to lose.

A country's allocation to defence according to the NATO agreement is 5% of its GDP. That means that a small country, say Belgium with a GDP of $US665 billion, would spend fewer dollars than the USA whose GDP is $US30 trillion. NATO allies collectively spent over $1.4 trillion on defense in 2025, with all members meeting the 2% of GDP target for the first time, rising to 5% by 2035. Poland leads with 4.3% of GDP, while the U.S. share of total spending dropped to 59%. The alliance collectively accounts for roughly 30% of global GDP. The chart shows 2023 figures. However, Trump would only see the figure that indicates the number of $US each country spends.He would not understand the simple arithmetic of 2% of X = Contribution, where X = National GDP.

I think that we could agree that your average Achmed and Fatima only want to live in peace, with its attendant safety. No doubt Abraham and Ruth feel the same. The problem is that both sides are dictated to by war lords and their thugs against whom our average Arab and Jew are powerless. There may be some hope of change in the fact that elections are due in Israel later this year. That is if Netanyahu doesn't postpone them due to the 'emergency situation'. About the word "thug" thug(n.): 1810, "member of a gang of murderers and robbers in India who strangled their victims," The thugs roamed about the country in bands of from 10 to 100, usually in the disguise of peddlers or pilgrims, gaining the confidence of other travelers, whom they strangled, when a favorable opportunity presented itself, with a handkerchief, an unwound turban, or a noosed cord. The shedding of blood was seldom resorted to. The motive of the thugs was not so much lust of plunder as a certain religious fanaticism. thuggery(n.) 1839, "system of ritual killing as practiced by the thugs," Also thugee, from the native Hindi form of the name for the system of religious assassination.

I was making mashed potato, so didn't want the skins. Even so, there were no eyes on the spuds to plant.

I was peeling some spuds today and noticed that they didn't have any "eyes". I wonder if that has been bred out of them. Is it gene manipulation? Further, how do they grow the next crop?