I know ! I know Aiden, just be patient.
Islamic lying is a big field !

Foxy,

"Coleman goes on to mention the seat-warmers, the hacks, the
careerists, and the adventurers. None of whom go into
Parliament to make a difference. Morality to most is
neither here nor there. Neither is the pledge of allegiance.
That's unfortunately the reality."

We agree, at last.

Is Mise,

I bet not for long. (grin).

Hi Aidan,

Wikipedia tells us that:

Yarden Mariuma, sociologist at Columbia University writes:

"Taqiyya is an Islamic judicial term whose shifting
meaning relates to when a Muslim is allowed under
Sharia Law, to lie."

Ït's a concept whose meaning has varied significantly
among Islamic sects, scholars, countries and political
regions. It nevertheless is one of the key terms used
by recent anti-Muslim polemicists."

Hope this helps.

Foxy,

"Turnbull blowing the republic debate?
He had a great deal of help from two staunch
monarchists - John Howard and Tony Abbott.

I question Turnbull's disdain of public opinion."

I've made this point before, but I'll repeat. The big question for the republican side of the debate was how the new head of state would be selected - popular vote or appointed by some group of so-called eminent people.

Most Australians who wanted a republic also wanted a popular vote. But the so-called elite, like Turnbull, didn't trust the people to vote in the 'right' type of head of state. So they opposed a popular vote.

The vote that was put to the people was Turnbull's favoured method. It failed. Had they instead put a popular vote as the method of appointing the head of state, it would have succeeded.

Turnbull and the other republican leaders utterly blew it. Howard knew that and utterly made fools of them.

Had they had even a modicum of faith in the people to make sober judgements about these issues, the republican debate would have long since been resolved.

mahze,

Malcolm Turnbull has written two books obout the
republic campaign. Over the 20 years that have passed,
he's remained of the view that we won't have
enough political interest or momentum to win a
referendum until after the end of the Queen's reign.

That will be the next big watershed. And before we have
a referendum Turnbull believes we should have a plebiscite
that offers a choice between direct election and
parliamentary appointment and allows that issue to be
thrashed out over months of debate and resolved.

He believes that with that done, the constitutional
amendment proposed would incorporate the mode of election
chosen in the plebiscite.

He feels that's our best chance of ensuring our head of state
is, at last, one of us.