Bluey's Dad

Come to think of it, I really don't feel much of a difference between home or away games at G. Sitting in the Melbourne members listening to people yell the abuse I'm only thinking makes it just feel like footy to me. The only time I feel the footy differently is when I sit with dad at the MCC. Those bunch of flogs [censored] me right off. It's like they've diluted every annoying characteristic of every football fan ever, fermented it for 100 years and poured it out. Don't get me wrong, the networking advantages would be great for business, but sitting through a game there is... different. Section N13 feels like home to me

Why did you dangle that hope in front of us? I had completely forgotten about that Selwood rumour! Now I'm going to be dreaming about that midfield all day.

Yep no issues today. ISP when it was slow (yesterday) was Telstra if it helps.

That's true, in a political stance I stand nowhere because no-one stands for me. However instead of this stance leading me to protest vote for a stupid minor party with compromised preferences, I chose to register for none. An informal vote is a vote for nothing. It's a demonstration that I'm actively disengaged by the politics that our parties subject us to. I'm happy to vote for 'none of the above'. Grow up and make a decision? That's a little arrogant. There was no decision I could make in this election that I could live with. Your 65 years does not make your decision to vote (for either party) better than mine. Maybe whoever you voted for actually represents your interests. I'd love to be in that position. I'd love to listen to Abbott or Rudd talk about shipping refugees off to PNG and actually agree with them. I'd love to listen to Abbott talk about castrating the NBN and agree. I'd love to listen to Rudd talk about moving single mothers onto newstart and agree. It'd make life so much easier. But life isn't easy and apparently neither is politics. Informal voting is not a cop out. I'd wager I thought longer and harder about my informal vote than others have who simply voted for whatever party they had voted for for the last 50 years. A system where 30% of voters on either side will just never change sides despite their party not reflecting their best interests is, in my opinion, broken. I'm happy to keep engaging with you on this, but I'm sure you'll just say "we each have our own opinion" at the end of it so I guess there isn't much point.

So, in answer to your question, no. I am not one of those responsible for getting that Motor Vehicle party elected.

Well this is my point, I couldn't chose. That's why I feel like the system is broken. There was no choice for me. I could not find a candidate that presented a vision for Australia's future that I agreed with. I couldn't even vote purely on ideology over policy, as someone advised me they do when in this situation. That would have lead me to vote for Labour, and I could not in good conscience give them my vote. Please read my post, it says I voted informal, not for a minor party. That means I sullied my vote, it counted for no one. It was the best option I felt I had, given the poor options on offer.

This is exactly why I left I needed to vote informal. The preference deals are completely hypocritical and compromised, and I disagree with massive swaths of policies the major parties (greens included) hold. Does anyone else feel like our democratic system is broken? Or is it just me feeling unrepresented? I don't think I've ever felt represented by any government we've had so far. Judging by how many people are happy about the Abbott victory, I guess I'm in the minority (although I felt like that in 07 with Rudd as well )

Getting real sick of your [censored], Barrett...

Someone told me Dawes is paying for some of the players to go to Arizona for altitude training. If true that shows some good leadership in my book. I hope he stays on the park next season.

I heard he showered this week. That's more than enough time off. Chop Chop Nasher!

Is Demonland running really slowly for anyone else this afternoon? Started at around 4.30 or so? I had a 'gateway error' earlier as well.

Brilliant. Schadenfreude at its best.

I did in fact know that, but I'm pretty sure the cut-off for that was an income of $100,000 per year. I don't know a lot of people on that sort of money who don't do any sort of salary sacrifice, so I was a little surprised. I'm pretty shocked to hear you have a son who's 40, which puts you past or at age pension age. You know you might get more age pension if you salary sacrifice first right? Or I guess you don't care, because you don't want to take anything from the government. So what are you going to do when you retire? You must be close to that age as stated. I don't see how you CAN'T live without getting a government benefit. Either your super money will be rolled into pension phase, where you will pay no tax on earnings OR DRAWDOWNS (concessionally treated environment), or maybe you'll get an annuity which is also concessionally treated. Better not get the age pension either, that comes with all sorts of government benefits like the pension card and discounted medications, as well as actual money given to you by the government. You could put all your assets into cash or property, but then you'll probably earn a whole lot of nothing from an income perspective, which means you'll get the low income health care card. Or at a minimum, the seniors health care card. I'm not being factitious here, but how are you NOT going to take a government handout/concession?

Yep. It seems he's starved for opportunities at GWS, would love to see us have a crack.

Lol, salary sacrifice and negative gearing are hardly "funny business". It's all above board. Odd thing to say imo. Contributions via salary sacrifice and SG are called "concessional contributions". Call my crazy but I think that's concessional. You're benefiting from a government policy, paying less tax on earnings because of the concessional environment of superannuation. You "get something" out of this superannuation policy because you don't have to pay your marginal rate. I figured that was pretty straightforward. It's your money and you're saving it by paying less tax. The amount you save obviously depends on your marginal tax rate, so unless you're a business owner and are somehow under the tax free threshold, you're benefiting. I assume, not being a fan of handouts, you gave Rudd's $900 stimulus back?

You don't salary sacrifice? I don't think I've ever met someone with a high income who doesn't. Salary Sacrifice isn't mandated. As soon as you do it, you're taking advantage of the government's tax breaks and effectively receiving a handout. Handout has become a dirty word, if you prefer 'concession', that's fine. But you benefit from this policy. If you're not salary sacrificing then either you don't earn enough (unlikely from what has been indicated before) or you're taking advantage of another form of government concession (negative gearing for example).

If you have a superannuation fund, you get something from the government whether you like it or not. Someone of your means (I read that you are a foundation hero) should at least acknowledge the benefits government is giving you via super. The are others as well but this one is the easiest to see. Although I understand many of the points you have made in this thread and even agree with a few, you make a mockery of yourself when you say you get nothing out of government. You may not want anything, but you are getting something just the same.

Yup. You'd love to see what Roos would do with him eh?

This is one step before "If we don't get 8 wins, sack the coach". Let us enjoy the day!

I think it's just you.

I got all excited when I saw a new link, but someone pasted that a few pages back.

I hope the admins have the ability to change EVERYONE'S name and avatar to Paul Roos just for a day. Would be hilarious.

Using the WoW analogy, didn't Blizzard upgrade their servers sometime in 2004 and shortly after all the NPC's vanished from Kalimdor? Also Hakkari plague. Good times.

I came into work this morning with the best of intentions. Unfortunately I think the first 10 minutes of actual work I've done so far will end up constituting my entire work for the day. I just can't close this window.

I don't really think any media organisation should be endorsing any party or candidate.