Thoughts on Freedom

Australian Libertarian Society Blog

Discussion1

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57 Comments »

  1. I love the new Look!!! I still reckon you need a picture of a pretty girl having her clothes ripped off by lots of hands, with the by-line, “Governments, always taking more, leaving us less and less!!!’, but this will do until then!

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 8, 2007

  2. [...] Discussion [...]

    Pingback by Blog updates « Thoughts on Freedom | May 8, 2007

  3. I’d like to take this opportunity to state my love for big government, “social justice”, “equality”, the “fair go” and the government protecting us from our own harmful desires.

    Comment by Tex | May 8, 2007

  4. I’m just amazed that a bunch of public servants who can’t get a proper job know so much about what’s good for me. I mean, what sort of training must they give them? I want to go to that school.

    Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 8, 2007

  5. Wonder if it is possible to mix a true forum with WordPress? Just a thought.

    Comment by skepticlawyer | May 8, 2007

  6. David – when you’re all grown up then you’ll understand. In the mean time you’ll just have to wait and be respectful. Trust them they know what’s best.

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 8, 2007

  7. The new ALS Poll asks a question and presents an array of optional answers. One of the answers is “I refuse to answer this question”. I am quite worried that if I select this answer the paradox thus created will cause a profound disturbance in the force and I’ll be sucked into a massive vortex as the fabric of space and time violently tears apart. Can somebody else try it first and let me know how it works out.

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 8, 2007

  8. lol — well, I needed to provide some sort of option for the “I hate you john you f#ckin’ @$^*#… HOW DARE YOU ask that question you communist @$^&$^%” crowd.

    Comment by John Humphreys | May 9, 2007

  9. Today is Victory in Europe Day, but I have a naturalised co-worker who emigrated from Germany, so how do I discuss today with her? “Let’s celebrate your home nation being completely routed and defeated!!”? Can anyone suggest a polite way of even mentioning the war, on this day of all days?

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 9, 2007

  10. Oh I see now. You are you trying to capture Graeme Bird in a massive paradox vortex that will suck him into a parallel dimension. That’s the oldest trick in the book, do you really think he’ll fall for it?

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 9, 2007

  11. Terje (say cheese), have you actually heard from GB lately? Maybe he has fallen for it! He might not have read that book of tricks! (There are so many books to read and so little time….)
    Q. How many reliable psychics would it take to change a light bulb?
    A. It’s no use asking, they won’t turn up until after someone else has changed the bulb!

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 9, 2007

  12. Germany was liberated from its Nazi overlords.

    Comment by Brendan Halfweeg | May 9, 2007

  13. I have tried three times to get a comment on Libertarian sub groups and it keeps disappearing. If someone is able to find out where it gets lost in your system I would appreciate it. If I try to resubmit I am told it is already there.

    David, Nicholas I am trying to answer you.

    Comment by Jim Fryar | May 11, 2007

  14. Jim… I found your comment (it was in the spam pile) and it is now fixed.

    Comment by John Humphreys | May 11, 2007

  15. Thanks Mate

    Comment by Jim Fryar | May 11, 2007

  16. Water Barons in Sydney

    This is an exampling of far off meddling and another case for successionism in Australia, or at least new States to break away.

    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/nsw-imposes-stage-four-water-restrictions/2007/05/15/1178995110386.html

    “All towns and cities along the Murray-Darling system in south-western NSW will be forced to move to level four water restrictions by July 1, the NSW government says.”

    Sod off Phil and Morris, we’ve got bore water as well.

    Of course if we had been paying genuine market prices for water in the last twenty years, the private infrastrucutre would now exist to eliminate any shortages.

    Comment by Mark Hill | May 15, 2007

  17. Okay this is really weird. I’ve heard of deep green but this is way out there. Surely such a movement is doomed one way or another:-

    http://www.vhemt.org

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 15, 2007

  18. Mark,
    I think you mean ’secession’. An interesting constitutional point is that the states are listed on paper as having joined in a permanent union, but there is no definition of the area of the states, nor does the constitution claim that new states must be automatically part of the Commonwealth Government! So you could make the case that secession would be lawful. Any constitutional experts out there?

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 15, 2007

  19. Err, yes, that is a rather embarrassing typo.

    A constituional law textbook is what some of us non-lawyers need.

    Comment by Mark Hill | May 17, 2007

  20. Let me be the first to say that while I don’t like the overtones of Police-State implicit in the new laws to protect the APEC meeting, maybe now the damn trains will run on time! There have to be some positives to a police state! And I’ll bet the powers aren’t rescinded, either, but kept for future emergencies.

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 21, 2007

  21. Indeed Nicholas. And free brown shirts for us all.

    The only consolation, if there is one, is that the people most likely to be on the receiving end of those powers are people for whom I have minimal sympathy.

    In a previous age the cartoonist Al Capp coined the term SWINE, meaning Students Wildly Indignant about Nearly Everything. Apart from the fact that many of them are too lazy or thick to be students, I think it still applies.

    But as was also said during that age, if they come for them in the morning, they’ll be coming for me that night.

    Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 21, 2007

  22. Okay this is really weird. I’ve heard of deep green but this is way out there. Surely such a movement is doomed one way or another:-

    http://www.vhemt.org

    I wonder if Paul Ehrlich is a member? Probably not, as population control, like all green concerns, is something that *other people* need to address

    Comment by Tex | May 21, 2007

  23. I’m beginning to suspect that the ABC might be politically biased! It’s shocking, I know, but I’ve picked up a scent of socialism here and there. Why, even the NSW weather, with all that talk of ‘clouds massing’, ‘red sky at night’, and ’sunny days, ideal for socialising’, has a touch of the left about it! Or am I just being a paranoid right-wing ratbag? I mean, if you can’t trust the weatherman, who can you trust?!!!

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 22, 2007

  24. Or has no-one else heard the news, that Mike Bailey is considering being the ALP contender for Joe Hockey’s seat?
    All together now, sing, “Won’t you come home, Mike Bailey, won’t you come home?”

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 22, 2007

  25. As I recall, other ABC types who have gone on to the ALP are Maxine McKew and Barry Cassidy (now back with the ABC).

    Are there any others?

    Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 22, 2007

  26. Clare Martin leads the ALP government in the Northern Territory and previously worked as a journalist for the ABC.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Martin

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 22, 2007

  27. Premier Alan Carpenter in WA was an ABC host of The 7.30 Report and Stateline before turning to politics.

    Comment by Brendan Halfweeg | May 22, 2007

  28. Kerry O’Brien of the ABC “7:30 Report” was press secretary to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 22, 2007

  29. Between the ACTU, the ABC and the pages of OK magazine, where else does the ALP recruit from?

    Comment by Brendan Halfweeg | May 22, 2007

  30. ABC= Anti Business Collective.
    Q How many ABC journalists does it take to change a light bulb?
    A Just one, but you’ll need to wait until after he’s finished his scoop on bad Coalition-government lighting practices in the work-place!

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 23, 2007

  31. This is a suggestion for a new thread.

    There is a lot of discussion currently about the prospects of a “trade war” between the US and China. That presumably means escalating trade barriers.

    Should Americans be concerned that China has a huge trade surplus, partially driven by the inability of the yuan to float freely? Will trade barriers make any difference?

    Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 23, 2007

  32. Today’s “Australian” has a list of 19 ABCers who have joined the ALP, and 5 ABCers who went right. Despite this, I’ll still watch the ABC, if only to get some use out of “my” ABC, since I am, as a taxpayer, paying for it.

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 23, 2007

  33. I also continue to watch the ABC in spite of its faults. If nothing else, it helps me formulate my own opinions. If they’re for it, I’m probably agin it.

    Come to think of it, that makes me a bit like the anti-Bush rabble. But then, the ABC is part of the anti-Bush rabble. This is getting complicated.

    Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 23, 2007

  34. It’s quite simple, David. EVERYONE hates Bush! We’re all anti-Bush, except for Mark Steyn, and the Bush tribe.
    Feel better now?

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 23, 2007

  35. Feel better now?

    No, because the ABC is anti-Bush and I’m anti-ABC. I’m so confused.

    What’s the Bush tribe? Are they like Bushmen?

    Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 23, 2007

  36. Sometimes, even the ABC gets it right, such as being anti-Bush. I started pro-Bush, but evolved in time with Bush’s gaffes to being anti-.
    Maybe Bushmen, or Bushpeople, would be a good name for the Bush clan. I was going to say “Bush Family”, but I wanted to include his extended family.
    Maybe a way out of your confusion would be for you to start being pro-Bush, simply because the ABC is against him!

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 23, 2007

  37. I’m anti-anti which is really confusing.

    The US China trade issue is mostly just the USA not liking competition in some traditional markets. I think the whole argument against the Yuan policy is poppy cock but I agree it probably deserves it’s own thread.

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 23, 2007

  38. Hail all

    How I can change avatar in this forum?

    Comment by MaryJames | May 24, 2007

  39. Sorry, MaryJames, but we don’t have avatars, unless you mean that blinking vetical line which sprouts words? If that’s me, then I’m thin again!!! I think you want Second Life.
    You may have created a new market there, MJ! An Avatar Sale-yard! New and pre-loved Avatars! Can I have an agent’s fee?

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 24, 2007

  40. You need a wordpress.com account to have an avatar.

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 24, 2007

  41. Check out the new Gandhi gun quote… :)

    And Thomas Jefferson doing an impersonation of Ron Paul.

    Comment by John Humphreys | May 24, 2007

  42. Re Gandhi-
    If a true quote, then the reason he led a passive movement for independence was because he couldn’t get his hands on any guns! “Ma-Ma Gandhi” might have made a name for himself as a rebel, and been in all sorts of movies, instead of being an obscure, forgotten non-entity. Oh, well…

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 25, 2007

  43. Is there a source for the Gandhi gun quote? I could use that (as some might have predicted).

    And what the hell is an “entangling” alliance? Is a one night stand when you don’t swap phone numbers a non-entangled alliance? Or should that be disentangled?

    Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 25, 2007

  44. The Gandhi quote comes from Chapter XXVII, “The Recruiting Campaign,” in his autobiography, My Experiments with Truth.

    Some have claimed that he was just referring to the fact that India didn’t have an independent army. I don’t know the context.

    Comment by John Humphreys | May 27, 2007

  45. There seems to be some lock on comments such that it is not possible to select and copy them. This is quite frustrating as it impedes the ability to easily copy text and quote it.

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 29, 2007

  46. Dear ALSers… we need bloggers.

    If you are already an ALS blogger, then get busy.

    If you are an ALS reader who thinks you have something interesting to contribute occasionally, please get in touch.

    If you have your own libertarian blog, then sign up to the ALS blog and cross-post some of your good posts to the ALS blog as well.

    Comment by John Humphreys | May 29, 2007

  47. John
    I havn’t a clue on cross posting, but feel free to use anything of mine that you find useful.

    I dont know, if any of it falls into this category, but my post on Parliamentry Privilege is relevant to the LDP>

    Comment by Jim Fryar | May 29, 2007

  48. John Humphreys, re our religious discussion of a while back- Leviticus 19,v 18. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.
    The New Testament is not a revolution, but an evolution of themes already in the Old Testament. Hence there is no need to discard the Old.
    And what do you make of Deuteronomy 5, verses 1 to 5? Was Moses on drugs, do you reckon? Or was he honestly claiming that the new generation at Sinai really were the same souls that had heard the commandments when originally given 40 years earlier? That’s what the Jewish Kabbalists claim.

    Comment by nicholas gray | May 31, 2007

  49. John @ 46:

    My ramble @ 16 was a draft blog post. I should have noted it somewhere!

    I don’t think I have admin rights here.

    Comment by Mark Hill | May 31, 2007

  50. Holy Zeus. Mark Hill should have authorship rights on ALS. The man is a genius.

    Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 31, 2007

  51. I hope for your own credibility’s sake, you are actually taking the piss, Terje!

    Comment by Mark Hill | May 31, 2007

  52. By the way, chaps, Ninemsn has a story about some new footage of the Loch Ness monster. You don’t get the video, but you do get some text about it.

    Comment by nicholas gray | June 1, 2007

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