nutbean

my thoughts exactly - he is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Unfortunately, in this day and age politicians are judged as much on "appeal" as they are on policy. I have compared them before - Howard vs Abbott. I am on record as not being a fan of either policy wise but I acknowledge that Howard was an exceptional politician. Howard rarely if ever misspoke and always looked and acted in command. Turnbull comes across as very relaxed and confident and in the "appeal" stakes is miles ahead already of Abbott. Turnbull's resurgence is Bill Shortens worst nightmare. I find Shorten insipid and whilst the spotlight was not on him during Abbott's tenure, the performing ability between Turnbull and Shorten in my eyes is in stark contrast.

Hey Wrecker, Interested in your thoughts on how Turnbull will proceed. If you look at his views on many issues , it does seem to fly in the face of current Liberal Party policy. Do you think he will steer the Liberal Party more to the centre and will the conservatives in the party sit quietly if he tries ? I can see either compromising on beliefs or some rather turbulent times ahead if he chooses to move on his small "l" views.

I can't see him going anywhere except the Cats or stay at the Crows ( but stranger things have happened)

As early stated - a champion for a long period time but not without blemishes ( fined $1000 in his last game for kicking at Thompson.) This does not diminish his accomplishments on field - he is a champion of the game - as was the likes of Matthews and Carey who were also not squeaky clean. His off field accomplishments are a matter of personal opinion. Whether he would have had such a "voice" if not for AFL football to me is a moot point. We will never know. I would rather recognise what he has achieved both on and off the field and say well done.

Interestingly enough - if you look at Australian of the year - 8 have been indigenous Australian. I would suggest that 4 of them gained fame directly through their work with Indigenous communities. 3 were sportsmen who gained fame through sport and and also worked with/ brought attention to Indigenous issues. The other being the singer with Yothu Yindi. It is pure guesswork either way as to whether Goodes would have gained the traction he did if not for his football profile as their is evidence to support both opinions in the list. As to his football - a champion, no doubt but will always sit in the bunch with the champions like Chris Judd's who few blemishes just didn't sit right with me. To me Leigh Matthews was the best footballer I have ever seen but I wouldn't call him an "ornament to the game" as he also had some blemishes. I use Robbie Flower as my benchmark - a champion football both in skill, application and the way he went about it at all times.

I didn't want to trade Dunn until......

Not interesting...freakin hysterical ! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. It doesn't get much better than Ben Hur asking a poster to PM him so they can arrange fisty-cuffs....

Spot on... He learned this off Howard and the Republic Referendum. The difference is that Howard was the consummate politician as opposed to Abbott.

I know exactly what your reply will be but what grates my grits is the dis-ingeniousness of the pollies that they need to go the people to get a decision - issues which have had much less support of the public are voted in parliament on a regular basis without the need for public affirmation. ( yes..I know ...I know... I shouldn't expect anything different from any political party)

Galaxy research 64% Australian 76% ( of 1200) Cosby Textor 72% Iside-with 63% (thats on 69,000 respondents). Give me an hour and I'll get you ten more Not a huge believer in polls dictating policy and action but almost everyone I talk to, everything I read, every inch of publicity dedicated to this debate seems to be consistently in one direction. An honest question - They often talk about a "groundswell of support" for an issue - can you honestly say that you don't believe a sizeable majority either believe in marriage equality/same sex marriage or importantly whilst not necessarily supporting, have no issue with legislation on this issue being passed ?

This is one of my major beefs - "we have a mandate" - that was being trotted out with gay abandon ( pardon the pun) - a 53.5% mandate at the election - but with everything pointing to 70% wanting marriage equality these bozo's can't work out what the population want so we need a plebiscite or referendum ? spare me.

Wiseblood - if we took your approach and moved on we wouldn't have Roos coaching us. With the priviso of not mortgaging the MCG to get a player, and also no focusing entirely on one player only, I would take no for a final answer when the trade period is concluded. Up until then keep on offering and being creative and see what happens. I suspect taking no for an answer was old school MFC and the difference between us asking Ross Lyons manager about Ross Lyon ( and Freo being persistant) vs Peter Jackson being told by Roos 3 or 4 times that he wasnt interested in coming to the MFC but not accepting that answer until he either said yes or ran out of time to appoint a coach.

What worries me is the wording of a plebiscite - I recall the referendum on the Republic. The muddying of the waters in the phrasing of the question by Howard was a political masterstroke. I suspect if the simple question was - "do you want the Queen as your head of state" I think the answer would have been a resounding no. People (IMO) were more opposed to the methodology and complexity of electing a President than they were about removing the Queen as our head of state.

Probably the point of my post - arguments on climate change, refugees and nearly all other issue - I have a position but can make an argument for the contrary view. On this issue, as you have said, would be interested to hear any arguments against gay marriage. I will preempt and tackle the issue of the male/female parent model as opposed to the same sex parent model. I have read that a male and female role model is best for a child but the enormous flaw in this argument is the assumption that male and female in all cases are individually good role models and good parents. I have seen parenting from from male/female that has lead to the child being removed by community services and on the other I know a couple of guys who have raised a child in a nuturing, safe and loving environment.

I think you said in 19 words what took me 200.....

I would be interested in hearing the thoughts on anyone who does not support the change in legislation to allow same sex marriage and if so why ? For me personally - As a hetrosexual male, I do not support same sex marriage but only for myself - I don't support opposite sex marriage either but that's another story. But do I support a change in the legislation ? - absolutely - and the reason is simple. Allowing same sex marriage has zero impact on anyone who does not want to marry the same sex. This is such a no brainer of an issue for me that it makes my head spin. If one truly does not support same sex marriage as I am sure many don't then object in the strongest way possible by not marrying someone of the same sex. It is that easy. If I woke up tomorrow and was told that same sex marriage had been legalised for 5 years it would have had no impact on my life whatsoever except I probably may have got a handful more wedding invitations. I am interested to hear from supporters of not allowing same sex marriage to understand why they believe a Government should be able to dictate on an issue that has no impact on the vast majority of the population.

Fabulous, just fabulous. "Some woman lolling about in a pond, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of government" - actually after seeing the convoluted process of electing Senators and the quality of Senators we got, I am not so certain that I don't prefer Arthur's method.

Saw Dave Graney and the coral snakes Saturday night - he did the "night of the wolverine" from start to finish. He was sensational and I am now proudly wearing a chocolate brown one peice jumpsuit.

said the actress to the bishop

Everything at the moment is just white noise. I have no inside knowledge but if Gold Coast is hot on Howe then who is to say that Prestia will not be part of the deal ? Honouring contracts ? pffftt.. all talk and means nothing. I certainly take posters "done deal" with enormous skepticism - probably the same skepticism I take players comments about "forget contracts - I just want to concentrate on footy" or " I want to honour my contract".

Not sure I understand the dislike of Lynch of Adelaide - every time I see him play he plays well...kicked 23 goals - averaging 7 marks and 18 disposals a game. I like him

He built a tunnel out of the prison camp - spent more time out of the camp than he did in it - pure genius.

He certainly isn't built like a brick shithouse and that is what is so scary. He is already very strong in the one on one's - imagine a couple more preseasons - lordy lordy...

I am not a fan of Tony ( pretty obvious I would have thought) but he is 100% right - he said that not only do they need to ensure that people are following the rules but importantly that the rules are right. What got up my nose more than Bronnie rorting was her "it's in the rules". If it is in the rules that you can take a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong at tax payers expenses then the rules are just plain wrong.