Yes those dreadful 50s, when women were punching bags. I don't know how much of the 50s most actually saw, but I lived through then, & the post war 40s, as an observant school kid.

I saw the folks, like mine, fathers just back from the war with a new demob suite, & nothing else.

I saw the women, desperate for some security, & stability in their life, pinch every penny to build a bank account. Wanting to own something, preferably a house, not as a status symbol, but as something solid, after years of fear & worry.

I saw my father, & all my mates, [yes all], come home with a pay packet full of money. Remember we were paid in real money back then. I've seen them hand the unopened packet to that downtrodden wife. I've seen the wife hand the bloke a 10 shilling note, or even a pound if he was a high earner, his pocket money for the week. This is how it was for most working class.

She would be down at the bank the next day, putting most of it in the "house fund". This was one of her jobs, he worked. Remember banks only opened from 10AM to 3PM in those days.

Mot having to go to a job most of them took turns at the school tuck shop, making "Oslo lunches" for the kids. Strangely I never did see one of them with a black eye. May be that only happened at the up market Grammar school, not at our state school.

things not said by a male
If you're killed,
you've lost a very important part of your life." -Brooke Shields

things not said by a woman

"The people in the Navy look on motherhood
as being compatible with being a woman."
-Rear Admiral James R. Hogg

by the way media dont get off scot free

"We apologize for the error in last week's paper
in which we stated that Mr. Arnold Dogbody was a defective in the police force. We meant, of course, that Mr. Dogbody is a detective in the police farce."

-Correction notice in the Ely Standard, a British newspaper

and here is one for mr bell

Two duck hunters are out in a blind waiting for some ducks to fly by. One of the hunters is drinking tea, while the other is drinking whiskey. A single duck comes flying by. The tea drinking hunter stands up and takes a shot...he misses. The whiskey drinking hunter stands up and takes a shot...the lone duck falls from the sky. The tea drinking hunter turns to the whiskey drinker hunter and says "nice shot". The whiskey drinking hunter turns and says "Twas nothing really, I usually get four or five ducks out of a flock like that.

then for our statesman
[or one for the girls..I had to visit the emergency ward the other day,
and I was treated by a very cute doctor. She said to me that I have to quit masterbating. I told her I promised my mom I would stop when I needed glasses, and asked "is there something wrong with my eyes". She said, "no, its not that, you have to stop masturbating because I am trying to examine you"

lets not name who this is for eh jules

Where would you find a legless turtle?

Do you give up?

You will find a legless turtle, right where you left it.

4 David,
"When you have eliminated the impossible,
what remains, however improbable, is the truth" Sherlock Holmes.

"there's battle lines being drawn,
nobody's right if everybody's wrong, it's time we stop

RObert slut and sleaze are far different words.
No one I ever saw said Gillard is a slut.
Manners forbid but I found a sleaze here.

Belly perhaps you should link to the post of runners you are referring to. The one I found was at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=5417#147614 and there is nothing in there to suggest that he is referring to the PM.

In what way are the words slut and sleaze substantially different? Both are words generally used to attack someone else's expression of sexuality. Both seem to be able to be applied based on subjective opinions. The meanings are different but beyond that they seem to be very similar in usage.

Unless you are referring to a different post I don't think runner called the PM a slut (or inferred it) which you seem to be suggesting. Am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

If that's what you are thinking then I'd asked would you be as bothered if you had seen or heard a prominent Liberal called a sleaze by a Labor supporter?

R0bert

I agree with most of Houlley's comments on the speech. Yes it was theatric, but theatrics in politics are best accompanied by some honesty and impact best minus the hypocrisy. The gender card is at risk of being overplayed as is the 'I'm offended'. Lots of people standing around being offended on both sides of politics. It is farcical. John Clarke and Brian Dawe are not comedians they are acting 'real parts'.

Tony Abbott probably deserved a good serve to some extent, given the vitriole in his opening attack on the government which also lacked honesty. Overseas reports on the speech will be limited by the commentators knowledge and understanding of Australian politics and I don't think it reflects necessarily on the perceived lack of a similar reaction locally.

We are mugs getting involved too much in this petty politicking and taking it all way too seriously. Perhaps it is from an inner yearning to fill a void that is not currently being filled by anything decent so we fill it with outrage.

Dear Pelican,

You wrote;

“Overseas reports on the speech will be limited by the commentators knowledge and understanding of Australian politics and I don't think it reflects necessarily on the perceived lack of a similar reaction locally.”

While that may be the case among local commentators there is little sign of a lack of reaction among Australian Youtubers.

Here is a link to check the trending videos on Youtube for Australia with preselected age demographics.

http://www.youtube.com/trendsdashboard#loc0=aus&age0=18-24&mode=compare&loc1=aus&age1=35-44&loc2=aus&age2=55-64

While the clip is certainly doing the rounds through the youth cohort, the older the age group - the higher it is ranked.

At the time of writing this the total hits were over 987,000 (amazing) and the split between the age groups I chose was as follows.

18-24 Ranked 7th

35-45 Ranked 3rd

55-64 ranked 1st

What was interesting was that splitting males and females only produced changes in the 18-24 age group where it dropped out of the top 10 for males but climbed one to be sixth for females.

Still to be sixth at that age group has me stunned.

Unimpressed commentators be blowed. This thing has legs.

Past 1,000,000 in the next hour? More than likely.