A couple of days ago I thought that this discussion
had become quite silly. Now it's become positively
funny. "Expodential" indeed! Just goes to show that
what some people believe has little connection to reality,
I guess.

If this keeps up I shall become quite hystericential!

Posted by Dan S de Merengue, Wednesday, 1 December 2010 12:32:25 AM

A man who has a full beard, long hair, wears sunglasses cannot be seen? Nobody relates to this. Have a look at the bloke on SBS evening program? If he had 'sunnys' on you couldn't see him?
Aborigines were in different parts of Australia for different lengths of time. My little book states, 120,000 before present, in the Lake George Basin in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. Your projection of population fails to take into account those who were murdered during the 100 yr war(estimated at a conservative 20,000), or who died from illness and/or disease. I raised the question of aboriginal people to counteract the argument of 'this is OUR Australia' sort of rubbish!

Liz writes

'. I raised the question of aboriginal people to counteract the argument of 'this is OUR Australia' sort of rubbish!' and then she writes a lot of mythology to justify her position. I suppose if you can't reason just make it up.

So, just to bring the discussion a little bit back to the topic...

I think there are legitimate concerns with visibility while driving as well as identity verification (banks etc.). But banning something that is not in itself dangerous can set a bad precedent for the future.

If more and more young Muslim girls in Australia are indeed choosing the burqa or niqab as a form of political protest....shouldn't we be asking why they are protesting in the first place?

In an earlier comment, someone I think mentioned that the spread of the burqa and niqab is a sign of growing conservatism in the Islamic world. I would say that there is also growing conservatism in the Christian world, yet is this an issue that we worry about? Should we even worry about it?

Not quite the burqa- or niqab-related, but a few links from Turkey, majority Muslim country with a strong secular tradition:
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-227856-more-women-to-enter-workforce-if-headscarf-ban-lifted-survey-finds.html &
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2010/11/11/allahs-tailors-gaining-profile-in-turkey-with-chic-headscarves/

Turkey actually has a ban on headscarves in universities and state institutions. As is mentioned in one of the articles, this keeps religious women who do not want to remove their headscarves from education and work options, but it has no effect on religious men. From memory, Turkey is not the only Muslim-majority country that bans head coverings in certain areas.

Have Fred Nile and Cory Bernardi ever sat down with the women they target to express their concerns and figure out a way to make sure they are not ostracised from society if a ban is imposed by our ever-competent politicians? And I am seriously asking, does anyone know if they have?

http://currentglobalperceptions.blogspot.com/

<<81% percent of the victims were boys>>

<<You have the stats to back that up?>>

The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors
by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States
http://www.usccb.org/nrb/johnjaystudy/

Table 4.3.1 - GENDER OF ALLEGED VICTIM
Gender - Count - % of Total
Male - 8,499 - 80.9%
Female - 2,004 - 19.1%
http://www.usccb.org/nrb/johnjaystudy/incident3.pdf

<<I believe that exponential is a particular case of expodential, which is the more general term>>

You may be thinking of explodential which is the likelihood of a burqa-clad humanoid being a suicide bomber