What's what?

Shatner'sBassoon started the topic in Friday, 6 Nov 2015 at 07:48 pm

AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING KALEIDOSCOPIC JOIN-THE-DOTS/ADULT COLOURING BOOK EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT IN NARCISSISTIC/ONANISTIC BIG PICTURE PARASITIC FORUM BLEEDING.

LIKE POLITICAL LIFE, PARTICIPATION IS WELCOME, ENCOURAGED EVEN, BUT NOT NECESSARY.

Blowin Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 06:10 pm

You wanted diversity, you got diversity !

indo-dreaming Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 06:13 pm

Seems Nauru has the right to block any medical (cough cough) evacuations.

https://www.news.com.au/video/id-5348771529001-6004294581001/nauru-has-…

Interesting bit on the end of this video regarding those that arrive by plane and apply for asylum 95% rejection rate last year. (didn't realise it was that high)

blindboy Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 06:44 pm

Optimist, you should read more closely. I said I had never STUDIED the bible. I am actually quite familiar with the New Testament.

factotum Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 06:48 pm

If you look at politics through the same prism of faith and belief that you look at the religion and god of your choosing, well...there's not much to talk about really. Rational political discourse relies on evidence-based thinking at the very least, not faith and belief.

"There is nothing inevitable about any of the developments that are reshaping the international [political] order. They are not laws of nature...but the results of decisions, which can be changed, made within human institutions that can be replaced by others that are more free and more just, as has often happened in the past."

stunet Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 06:50 pm

"...but announced the other day he has never read the bible in which the New Testament became so important our whole free civilization was founded on.."

I've never read any of them either.

Go on, call me a deplorable.

Optimist Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 07:17 pm

Its actually a book of books. 39 books in the old testament and 27 in the new. With lots of authors like Moses, King David, King Solomon, to name a few then the New testament accounts of what Jesus did and said by St Paul, Peter the fisherman and my favorite writer John, its an awesome read....well worth it.
PS I recommend the King James or the more modern New King James version as I've studied several translations and checked them against the original Hebrew and Greek. They are all good but those are best.

factotum Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 07:32 pm

Talking of books, maybe we should throw the lot at Ca$h?

<iframe width="610" height="343" src="

frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

blindboy Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 07:47 pm

The Federal Police requested a sworn witness statement from her and she sent them her unsworn parliamentary transcript. This from a solicitor! Evasive, unreliable and designed to prevent any prosecution ....... and she is still a Minister. But that's the COALition for you, good at telling others how to behave but not so good at playing by the rules themselves. Three in a week! Liitlefoot telling people to buy from Woolworths while he owned shares in it, Cash's devious nonsense and Cormann's little HelloWorld adventure. Responsible government? Not from this lot, as incompetent as they are devious.

factotum Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 07:52 pm

Don't forget Smokin' Joe Hockey the Leaner's role in these HelloWorld escapades.

And stay tuned, there's more to come!

truebluebasher Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 09:33 pm

Michaelia Cash's vocational-skills clocked up $300,000 on a (000 freecall)

Mathias Cormann forks out $300m for Helloworld's free medivac flights.
Finance Minister Cormann claims he doesn't manage his own 'finances'.
[Warning to Oz traders]Finance Minister's credit card doesn't work either.
Is it too much to expect that the T 800 could operate an ATM. (Fuck me!)

Still plenty of time for a few more rats to desert the sinking ship!

mattlock Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019 at 10:29 pm

@Optimist. You are deluded.

Optimist Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 05:55 am

Yes Matt, I've been called that most of my life but I have to share what I believe is the truth. It is written in the scriptures "It is appointed for a man to die once and then the judgement". Regarding political forums, they are tied to religion as it shapes the world view whether we like it or not. Many people feel the spirit world in their gut but are unsure of its true makeup. This leads many to fake religions and false paths with some even being violent in nature to push their beliefs. Your faith should be shared and even argued peacefully which is very healthy. I've had some great discussions with Muslim leaders in Indonesia and have also taught in China where the Bibles I smuggled in were so gratefully received by the people who got them. To learn we are created beings with a God who loves us and sent his own son (His person in visible form) to save us from ourselves is pretty impressive. Faith soon turns to fact, when He sees our interest and starts a personal contact with us that cannot be ignored nor denied.

stunet Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 06:47 am

I don't think you're deluded. Intolerance is your problem.

You're intolerant of other people's beliefs.

Your truth is your truth, but it's not universal, and it's certainly not mine. Religion plays no part in shaping my world.

Blowin Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 07:38 am

Fun is only just starting. Wait till we see what happens to wages when hundreds of thousands more people from cultures accustomed to exploitive work environments and who are ready to outcompete each other on lower pay rates in order to secure their visas and permanent residency are injected annually into a economy getting weaker by the day.

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/02/why-aussie-wages-are-the-weake…

“Labor be warned. If it does not get over itself and cut immigration when it takes power then the endless income recession will kill its government in record time as sure as the Sun rises in the east.”

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 10:06 am

Oi Sypkan, you out there? Remember your old 'broken (bad) record syndrome'?

Right enough, it WAS contagious.

Jeezus wept...

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 10:21 am

"Faith soon turns to fact, when He sees our interest and starts a personal contact with us that cannot be ignored nor denied."

Faith becomes fact. Interesting political concept! Is it ProMo's shtick?

Actually, wanna give your bonce a work-out, people?

Bad faith.

Check it:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201203/jean-paul-…

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 11:16 am

Hotline To Jesus

He said I got a hotline to Jesus going ‘round in my head

He said I got a hotline to Jesus going ‘round in my head

I said don’t you know my friend he’s been a long time dead

All those words going ‘round in your brain

All those words going ‘round in your brain

Listen to them and they’ll drive you insane

That’s not Jesus talkin’ in your head

That’s not Jesus talkin’ in your head

Don’t let yourself be so misled

He said I got a hotline to Jesus going ‘round in my head

He said I got a hotline to Jesus going ‘round in my head

I said don’t you know my friend he’s been a long time dead

sharkman Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 11:57 am

Stu..."I've never read any of them either. " , which makes it hard for you to comment from a pure ignorance point of view...one could call that a fact!

stunet Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 12:02 pm

No it doesn't!

Here's Optimist's assessment of life under a Labor government:

"Also remember that your children and grandchildren's new federal education ministers name will be Jihad...Yep that's right , his parents named him after the "Struggle" for world Islamic community dominance or the "Ummah". "

Tell me why I need to read the New Testament to comment on that unfounded piece of hysteria?

sharkman Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 12:04 pm

Factom , faith is a very interesting subject as we all have some kind of faith in out lives or we wouldn't be here .
some choose religion , some believe/faith in history , some have ffaith in the inherent goodness of man....some even have faith in Trumpy....so really faith is part of man's make up , what 's your poison or faith?

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 12:08 pm

Anyway, back in the real world...

Seen this?

Worth it.

Gotta love the m.o.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/20/historian-who-confronte…

sypkan Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 01:21 pm

"Oi Sypkan, you out there? Remember your old 'broken (bad) record syndrome'?

Right enough, it WAS contagious.

Jeezus wept..."

Gotta be honest I was thinking a bit the same. And while I'm at it, I've stopped reading them. But that doesn't mean they're wrong. They're pretty bloody convincing actually.

Couldn't be confirmation bias again surely...

But yeh, blowin could mix up the links a bit, surely there's more than one group of nutty dissident economists

"Factom , faith is a very interesting subject as we all have some kind of faith in out lives or we wouldn't be here .
some choose religion , some believe/faith in history , some have ffaith in the inherent goodness of man....some even have faith in Trumpy....so really faith is part of man's make up , what 's your poison or faith?"

Facto doesn't want to go there. It would mean him facing his own confirmation bias.

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 01:32 pm

Faith? Nah, look at the evidence. And yes that means trusting some sources ....... those that have a long record of getting it right. Faith is too often a way of pretending there are simple answers to complex questions .... which is an effective way of maintaining ignorance. Christianity has a particularly bad record in this area. "Earth gies around the Sun?" Heretic, burn him at the stake. "Earth 3500 years old?" Whoops out by a factor of a million! "Evolution by natural selection?" Still fighting that one a hundred and fifty years later. Faith? Just gets in the way of seeing reality.

sypkan Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 02:27 pm

I agree with all of the above blindboy

But you've still gotta believe in something. You clearly do

stunet Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 02:45 pm

You make it sound like you have to believe in something supernatural.

Why do you?

I've spent a lot of time thinking about, studied it even, probably spent more time than most people occupied by the process, I've challenged my beliefs and thrown them under the microscope, but even after all of that I don't believe in anything supernatural. And I take umbrage at anyone who thinks that is an intellectual deficiency or in any way a shortcoming on my behalf.

stunet Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 02:58 pm

I don't take real umbrage, I just like using the word.

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:04 pm

I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:06 pm

"Factom , faith is a very interesting subject as we all have some kind of faith in out lives or we wouldn't be here ."

Interesting comment, Sharkman. Dare I say existential?

"We wouldn't be here."

What do you mean?

sypkan Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:07 pm

Not necessarily supernatural

Maybe just natural, or nature, or science. God, gods, anarchy, whatever's your thing

Or political philosophy, blindboy certainly believes in his, as do you stunet. Me too, a bit...

Boris yeltsin was once asked if he believed in god, he said "I believe in the universe".

Me too, a lot..

sypkan Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:18 pm

and anyone can deny it all they want, but not matter how arelgious you may be, we are all greatly influenced by our largely Christian heritage

Pops Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:24 pm

I normally refrain from commenting on these kinds of topics, for fear of getting my head bitten off. Nonetheless...

The word faith can cause a bit of confusion, since it seems to be used slightly differently in the christian and secular worlds. The way many christians understand and use the word (certainly those of "reformed" theology), one's faith is the position that one thinks best explains the available evidence. Quite different to the trope of "blind faith". That's not to say that most christians think that their world view is the only viable explanation of things (though most would of course hold that it is the correct one and try and convince others that it is so, given what is at stake if they are correct).

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:24 pm

House of Reps worth a watch now.

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 05:51 pm

And Sypkan I don't get your confirmation bias bit.

I think that people can, and want to, do good things, not out of self-interest, but in empathy with their fellow humans, and given the opportunity would rather do good things than bad.

Anyone not concur with this?

"In our society, which has unparalled resources and advantages, there is a scandalous failure to meet elementary human needs. Beyond that, we tolerate modes of heirarchy and oppression, based on race, sex, the wage system that compels people to rent themselves to the owners of the economy to survive, and other conditions that should be intolerable to a free and humane person. What can people do about this?

EVERYTHING.

None of these things result from immutable physical laws of nature. They are all results of human decisions in human institutions. The decisions and the institutions can be modified, perhaps extensively, if enough people commit themselves with courage and honesty to the search for justice and freedom."

And I'd add that if people are given the opportunity to see clearly.

Human decisions are made within human institutions. Alternatives exist and can be pursued. Power and its agents can't keep people in the dark forever is my thinking. Paradoxically turn the power down, see the light!

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:41 pm

"House of Reps worth a watch now."

ABC cut off Jim Chalmers again (like yesterday). And returns with Julie Bishop!?

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:42 pm

Julie Bishop will not stand at the next election

indo-dreaming Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 03:59 pm

I think most religions developed out of a way to understand things in the world that couldn't be explained at the time.

In a sense i think the new religion for the modern world is science.

I guess it's the new religion without an afterlife.

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 04:56 pm

Bishop to her core. Bash the opposition even in her valedictory.

Good riddance.

sharkman Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 05:37 pm

Stu , I wouldn't call that hysteria...incomprehensible perhaps , my comment was more aimed at your comment
"I don't think you're deluded. Intolerance is your problem.You're intolerant of other people's beliefs.
Your truth is your truth, but it's not universal, and it's certainly not mine. Religion plays no part in shaping my world."
religion plays no part is shaping your world , when the whole western system is based on a christian history , and still controls our lives?
If you haven't studied the Bible or the credibility of of Jesus as a real person very hard to make comment on christians or religion?

sharkman Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 05:47 pm

BB,"Faith? Nah, look at the evidence. And yes that means trusting some sources ....... those that have a long record of getting it right. Faith is too often a way of pretending there are simple answers to complex questions .... which is an effective way of maintaining ignorance. Christianity has a particularly bad record in this area. "Earth gies around the Sun?" Heretic, burn him at the stake. "Earth 3500 years old?" Whoops out by a factor of a million! "Evolution by natural selection?" Still fighting that one a hundred and fifty years later. Faith? Just gets in the way of seeing reality."

by saying,"Faith? Nah, look at the evidence. And yes that means trusting some sources ...." you have faith or trust the evidence from some sources.....I call that faith?

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 05:49 pm

Sadly true about Christianity's influence sharkman. It was wrong from the start!

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

In other words, the Hebrew tradition from which Christianity arose granted humans, godlike status and gave them control of the planet (and isn't that turning out well?). This was in total contrast to the religious views of virtually every other group on the planet, who recognised the primal importance of nature.

sharkman Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 06:02 pm

BB , no sense trying to troll ...I just pointed out that we all have faith, where you trust some other sources, but don't have faith.

factotum Monday, 25 Feb 2019 at 06:57 pm

Hey Sharkman, how does religious faith work in politics again?

Anyhow...

Meanwhile in Australia...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="

frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hello Joe, whaddya know?

"In Australia there is a great saying: mates look after mates..." - Joe's mate, Tones Abbott.

"Australia is now open for business." - Tones again.

https://www.theshovel.com.au/2019/02/21/liberal-party-asked-to-spread-sc…

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 06:13 pm

Not a troll sharkman, just a fundamental truth and a major reason why we should be listening to first people around the world.

Blowin Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 06:49 pm

Of course. Their religions are so much more realistic.

That’s how we know for a fact that a giant multi coloured snake made all the rivers.

Admire and learn from First Nations people’s knowledge of the environment, but treat their religions with the skepticism you’d apply to any spiritual group think.

indo-dreaming Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 07:05 pm

First nation people in most places of the world religions are the least believable, but they are among the coolest and most interesting.

The Abrahamic religions are possibly the most believable but all pretty shitty.

Buddhism and Hinduism have the coolest temples and statues and art works etc.

And scientology is where the money is at.

Optimist Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 07:06 pm

The earth is very old and this current civilisation we live in according to all the world population calculations is at most 10,000 BC. The algorithms that they use to project population growth also work backwards and 12,000 years ago there was nobody here. I think we are even younger. This would explain why Australia didn't look like Mumbai at peak hour when captain cook landed. These calculations were first done manually but now by computer. The interesting thing is they are almost identical...nobody here around 10,000 years ago. The stats are from the US Census and The UN population division, as well as Livi Bacci 2001, Trager 1994, Galant 1990, Etc Etc right back to the League of nations before 1949. All agree with each other and did forecast the exact population we have now. This throws a spanner in the carbon dating science. Did you ever think that maybe the carbon daters are wrong? Anyway Its all a long time ago, and I think if God is God he can create a world pretty fast if he wants to, but I bet He thought about it and planned it to perfection over a Billion years beforehand.

Blowin Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 07:12 pm

You reckon God needs to figure stuff out beforehand ?

He can’t just conjure it perfectly on impulse ?

blindboy Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 07:31 pm

Ha ha ha Optimist, you are joking surely? God made the world full of really clever tricks to make us think it was much older! The depth of your knowledge is shown by the mention of Carbon dating which is actually pretty much useless beyond 50 kya. Try Potassium-Argon which will give dates back to Earth's formation at 3.5 billion years ago. As for population the world population was several hundred million when Captain Cook landed. Best estimates for Australia's population at the time 750,000 to 1 million. Your opinion is that exactly. There is a vast amount of evidence indicating the true age of Earth and detailed evidence about the evolution of our species and its relatives going back several million years. Why do I believe radio-isotope dating? Well it is based on exactly the same theory as nuclear technology and the dates it produces are not only consistent across multiple tests using different techniques, but when applied to the fossil record produce a logical sequence of the development of life in this planet. Believe your idiotic version if you like but do not lie about the evidence.

factotum Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 07:34 pm

Of the omnipresent (and self-proclaimed?) 'gods' on here - there's only really three - yes, a couple are the least believable. But they are also the least interesting. Cool doesn't even enter into it.

The third ever-present one is a great Satan. Well, to the other two.

Actually, I'm guessing he's an atheist.

stunet Thursday, 21 Feb 2019 at 07:51 pm

"If you haven't studied the Bible or the credibility of of Jesus as a real person very hard to make comment on christians or religion?"

What about studying physics to see if it's possible to walk on water, or feed 5,000, or rise from the freakin' dead?

I've done that.