Dr. Gonzo

Yeah I'm just so sick of hearing 'victims' complain about the dispossession of their traditional lands, the destruction of their culture, their marginalisation from modern society and the genocide of their people. I really wish they would just get over it, I'm all burnt out on compassion fatigue. Haven't we been made to feel bad for long enough??

Nah we need the military, I'd just prefer they were used for the defence of our nation rather being a lapdog to US imperialism.

Wow no wonder this country is going to the dogs. One thing you should never underestimate is the ability of Australians to rationalise racism, the genocide committed against the Indigenous people and the ability to place blame on the victim.

So you'd rather it goes to some Nazi storm trooper invading some third world country to profit mega corporations and expand Americas military hegemony rather than someone who does positive work to try and lift up people whose land was stolen from them and who were almost wiped out thru over a century of genocide?

Haha that is brilliant - I thought I did well/was crazy signing mine up at 2 days old but this takes the cake. Brilliant! Will have to keep it in mind for the next one

I know it's great isn't it? Seriously though who is being taken advantage of, the women who choose to voluntarily participate and get paid to do so or the men who pay to gawp at them?

I won't be able to attend but if like to know whether we've been able to raise the $450k needed so the AFL can match it - unless it's been mentioned and I've missed it?

Re-signed myself, son, mum, brother & sister today so you can add another 5 to the total. Also on the verge of signing up my Geelong supporting wife as she is likely to come to a few games with us this year (she came to the Saints game last year and the Dogs game we won). After a few years of taking out the Trident membership and having a go at MCC/AFL members I bit the bullet and went back on to the AFL Membership (as a full member). I feel guilty doing so as it will cost the club a couple of thousand in our family memberships combined but unfortunately the club just can't compete with what the AFL Membership offers (free entry to first 3 weeks of finals, half price GF ticket, walk up seats on the wing ground level or level 2). To make up for it I'm going to be purchasing a fair bit of gear from the Demon Shop including those old school woollen jumpers they emailed us about late last year.

Reminds me of Jakovich, Lyon, Schwarz.

Say what you will about Hird but he was never afraid to go in and get the ball himself and cop a whack in the process. Haven't really seen that determination from Watts yet, he overthinks things too much. Wow, if Watts comes even close to Pendlebury I will be ecstatic. Pendlebury is close to the best player in the comp and my favourite current (non-Melbourne) player.

Yeah OK, if it helps you sleep better at night. I'm not a "west hater" whatever that means, I just disapprove of supporting invasions, coups, assassinations, terror etc etc and the inhumane treatment of people. You can call that what you want but if that is "west hating" to you then I'd suggest you probably need to reflect a little.

You don't get it so there's no point wasting my time with you. Suffice to say regardless of all the other irrelevant waffle you've posted I continue to be amazed that people can justify the invasion of Iraq which was undertaken on the basis of no reasoning/evidence whatsoever other than a slick PR campaign designed by those high up in the White House with strong links to Halliburton, oil companies, arms manufacturers and security organisations. Anyone with even a slightest clue and a memory that spanned further back than the last 6 months saw through the propaganda for the joke it was (unless of course you still believe to this day that there were WMD in Iraq or Saddam was involved in 9/11....bwahahahaha) You may try and justify it all you want but the fact remains the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people is on our collective hands. The language you use particularly in the last paragraph is quite enlightening, it could be used as a case study in denial and dehumanisation. EDIT: I should also add that I've never said we should just accept everyone who arrives and grant them immediate citizenship - but the policies of successive governments and the way the Immigration Dept handles the issue is disgraceful. Locking people up indefinitely and trying to absolve ourselves of any responsibility by turning people around or now towing them back to Indonesian waters is shocking in its inhumanity.

We are not talking about entire nations migrating here to seek asylum, it is a few thousand tops. My point is the easiest way to help prevent this problem is to refuse to contribute to the conditions which lead to them needing to seek asylum in the first place. And then when people from these countries which we have helped to invade and destroy do risk their lives to travel by sea in boats to get here the least we can do is treat them humanely and not demonise them to score political points by using them as scapegoats to take the average persons eyes off the fact that the people they should really be angry at are those leading the major political parties and those who head the banks and other large corporations who sell them out and fleece them every single day of their lives.

It's hilarious how you speak with such conviction yet wouldn't really have any idea whatsoever of the circumstances of those who would risk their lives, sell off all their possessions just for an opportunity to escape their third world hellholes that have been destroyed by wars and domestic terror just because they happened to be born in a country that was part of the west's "grand chessboard" to conquer. It's easy to judge from a keyboard in Richmond but I could easily say the same for you, that you have been stupid enough to buy the spin of the government that their lives aren't in peril, that they aren't fleeing persecution. I guess it's easier to cheerlead invasions and war crimes when you can laugh off the fact that the people from those nations are just devious criminals trying to game the system. The entire Australian government policy towards asylum seekers (not "illegals" according to the law) from Keating on has been a disgrace. Don't think that I have any love for Gillard or Rudd's policies either. This is of course completely ignoring the point of my post which was in relation to the Vietnamese student who was bashed senseless by some home grown white supremacist heroes and due to being in hospital was unable to attend classes and so "breached" his visa conditions - not only that but the manner in which the immigration department chose to handle the matter and the manner in which Morrison and the government wipes its hands of it is disgraceful whether it was carried out by the ALP or LNP. I despise both major parties in Australia so trying to paint me as some leftist ALP stooge really does your argument no favours (although it's clear you don't really have an argument and only gross generalisations and baiting.)

What's that got to do with anything? I guess we should just invade/overthrow/assassinate any foreign government/official we dislike slaughtering hundreds of thousands if not millions in the process? This is of course completely overlooking the fact that our great allies the US who spearheaded these invasions assisted both Saddam Hussein and the Taliban get into power in the first place and likely trained them in all manner of things including using chemical weapons and torture just like they did in Iran when they overthrew the democratically elected Mossadegh government, put the Shah in power and trained the deadly SAVAK secret police to help torture and assassinate political opponents all because Mossadegh didn't want to completely hand over his nations resources to BP.

That post should be stickied at the top of the board to remind everyone that just because someone is in a position of leadership doesn't mean they have any idea what they are doing or know better than the every day supporters they ridicule.

Forget Abbott, this Morrison is another clown in a long line of LNP scumbags. ALP are corrupt but LNP are soulless fascists. Not only their treatment of asylum seekers in general (most of whom are seeking asylum from countries we have helped blow the [censored] out of and destabilise making them havens for persecution and terrorism) but now the issue of the Vietnamese student who didn't meet his visa conditions because he was in hospital recovering from an almost fatal bashing from neo-nazi scum and has now been told while at the airport leaving to visit his family that he won't be allowed back to complete his final year of study is shameful. This country (the people and the government) can be quite disgraceful at times.

A couple of friends of mine were told the same thing in Year 11, this was in 1999 so not that long ago I wouldn't have thought.

). Assuming that is true, don't you think the parents might have some responsibility for that? You can't just point the finger at the teachers as though they are solely responsible for how your kid turns out. There are rubbish teachers out there but there are also plenty of rubbish parents and students.

It's a false premise anyway. I went to a school where the arts (music, drama Etc) were prioritised over the traditional subjects however I had a number of teachers (mainly my Business Studies, Economics, Accounting etc teachers) who would be classified as "right" or at the very least "centrist". None of the teachers ever pushed their views on us though besides the odd comments here or there and were often at pains to get us to create our own thoughts about issues (probably contradicting somewhat what I said previously haha).

Great post mate. I agree, when I was at school one of the things I hated the most was the fact they tried to "teach" us by teaching us what to think rather than teaching us how to think.

Yeah Thompson would probably be my favourite writer, for his politics and sport as much as his "freak power" type stuff. Alcohol is my main thing these days due to ease of access and ability to relax with a drink or two and not go totally off my head however I can't really say I'm a huge fan of the stuff. I don't mind being tipsy but have grown more and more to hate the feeling of being "drunk" so will generally stop myself before I get there. I think most drugs can have a usefulness but it's all about the circumstances. I wouldn't want to go tripping at a footy game and would prefer to sink a couple of beers or scotches. By the same token I'd rather smoke weed if going to a concert or perhaps a movie but if I was hanging out with a small group of friends or at a music festival I'd rather take acid or something like that.

Sacrilege!!!!

And again, I don't think it's really a motherhood statement to state that our governments (both Liberal and Labour) lack any vision whatsoever for creating a sustainable society. As mentioned there are quite a number of things I would be prepared to give up but I don't really think the fact that I have a TV for instance is going to make any impact whatsoever on the grand scheme of things, it will be like pissing in the ocean. As for my comment about sustainable buildings, solar power and solar hot water systems as well as self-sufficient water supplies that re-use grey water etc are completely feasible and there is no reason why new dwellings can't be made to be completely self sufficient.

My family only has one car, we have one plasma TV, we generally eat home cooked meals other than for birthdays, anniversaries or maybe a night out once every couple of months... You clearly miss the point/we have diametrically opposed views so it doesn't look like we'll have consensus here. Suffice to say I don't see people as "consumers" but as people. There are plenty of useful things for people to do to keep them employed, they don't just have to be working a counter at McDonald's or working in factories producing plasma TV's and cars. As far as Australia goes this is a bit of a fallacy anyway as I would hazard a guess that all (if not close to all) TV's purchased in Australia are built off-shore and this will be the same for cars soon too. One thing that should be done immediately to curb this is to tear up the bogus "free trade agreements" and disband the WTO which only exist to fatten the wallets of those at the top at the expense of those whose jobs you'd seek to save by ensuring every family has multiple cars and TV's.